Time flies quickly, half a year has passed, in this half year, Liangzhou's agriculture and animal husbandry, mining, and commerce have made great development, and the development of Yizhou and Qinzhou is getting better and better.

In the warehouse of Nanzheng City, all kinds of materials prepared for the Northern Expedition were piled up, enough to support the 100,000 army for ten years, in order to solve the pressure of baggage, the armory hall successfully invented a variety of baggage vehicles adapted to the mountains and complex terrain, in order to greatly reduce the pressure of logistics and transportation.

After the spring ploughing, all the officers and men of Qin and Liang Prefecture conducted a large-scale drill in their respective stations to temper the combat ability of the troops.

According to Hua'an's expectations, it won't be long before Zhao will take action to attack Liang in order to avenge an arrow, and once the two kingdoms of Liang and Zhao start a war, Hua'an decides to no longer watch from the sidelines, but to lead the army to flank the army of Zhao, thereby greatly weakening the strength of Zhao and exercising the combat effectiveness of the troops under his command.

In order to gain insight into the movements of Liang and Zhao at any time, Hua'an sent a large number of scouts and nearly half of the cong to the northwest, and a small number of scouts and congshi were sent to Tuyuhun in the west.

In order to guard against a possible attack by the Zhao army in Guanzhong, Hua'an transferred the 20,000 troops under Zhao Wu back to Baozhong City, and the 30,000 troops under Chen Ting to Hechi City to deal with the situation in the northwest.

In the camp of the Pro-Guard Army in Nanzhengcheng, Hua'an was inspecting the troops, after more than a year of hard training. The tactical ability of the soldiers has been greatly improved, and at the same time, due to the abundance of raw materials of pig iron, Pu Tie has created more sophisticated weapons, which has greatly changed the equipment of the pro-guard army.

Now, the Pro-Guard Army in front of Hua'an is already a well-equipped and well-trained elite division, which is enough to match any opponent.

The only regret is that only 20 percent of the officers and men of this unit have received actual combat training. The remaining eighty percent of the soldiers have never been on the battlefield at all. It's a little immature.

"General, scout report, the army of Zhao in Guanzhong has begun to assemble abnormally, and it seems that there is a big move." That's when it happened. A ministry general reported to Huaan.

Hua'an heard this. asked, "How many soldiers and horses has the Zhao army gathered?" In what direction to assemble. ”

"General, according to the scout's report, the Zhao army has gathered more than 100,000 soldiers and horses in many places. Mainly in Linwei, Luoyang and Ji County, in addition to Chengji, Qingshui, Gangu several cities also have thousands of soldiers and horses to assemble. The ministry will report truthfully.

Hearing this, Hua An nodded, and through the report of the general, he was already sure that the army of Zhao was ready to attack Liangguo, and gathered troops and horses in Tianshui and Luoyang counties, obviously to attack Longxi.

"Big brother, Shi Hu is finally going to do something to Liangguo again, how should our army deal with it?" Wang San said softly.

Hua An smiled, pointed to Qishan not far north of Wudu County on the map, and said: "This is Qishan, only a few dozen miles away from Wudu County, and this city next to it is Shichang City, as long as our army captures Shichang City and controls Qishan, then we can attack Tianshui County, and retreat can defend Xiafen City, as long as the Zhao army attacks Liangguo, our army will immediately seize Shichang City, so as to threaten the back of Zhao's army." ”

After listening to Hua'an's analysis, Wang San felt that it was very reasonable, nodded, and said, "What the eldest brother said is that if we want to seize Shichang City, our army must be prepared now." ”

Hua An nodded and said: "Order the pro-guard army to prepare immediately, the baggage battalion will bring enough materials for the army, and early tomorrow morning, march to Hechi City, and after the 30,000 horses of my pro-guard army and the Liangzhou army converge, they can march into Shichang City and threaten the hinterland of Zhao State." ”

"Yes, big brother, I'll go and prepare." Wang San answered, turned around and went to prepare.

After making sufficient preparations, early in the morning of the second day, Hua An led the personal guards and the baggage battalion to leave Nanzheng City and slowly march towards Hechi City.

On the occasion of leaving, Hua'an handed over all kinds of things in Nanzhengcheng to Madang, and let him handle it with full authority, without having to report to himself, in order to increase the efficiency of work.

On the way to Hechi City with his army, Hua'an also ordered Yang An to gather an army of 10,000 and stand by in the city to listen to his orders at any time.

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In the main army camp of Ma Qiu in Ji County, the main general Ma Qiu has ordered all the troops gathered in nearby cities to move closer to Ji County, so as to attack Hezhou in Liangguo at any time.

With the lessons of last year's defeat, this time Ma Qiu decided to be cautious and attack Ryokuni with superior forces, vowing to avenge last year's one-shot victory.

In the direction of Yecheng, Shi Hu in order to support Ma Qiu, mobilized 50,000 reinforcements, is rushing to Guanzhong day and night, as long as Yecheng's reinforcements arrive, Ma Qiu's direct command of the troops will be as high as 150,000, can form an overwhelming advantage over Liangguo.

"General, Xinyang's 5,000-strong army has arrived, and Shangbang's 3,000-strong army is not far away." A general walked into the tent of the Chinese army and reported to Ma Qiu the latest assembly of the army.

Ma Qiu nodded and asked, "Is there any news about the reinforcements in Yecheng, and the general is most concerned about the reinforcements in the direction of Yecheng." ”

"General, the Yecheng reinforcements have entered Tongguan five days ago, and it is estimated that they will arrive in Ji County in three days." The ministry will reply truthfully.

When Ma Qiu heard this, he was very satisfied, looked at the generals in the tent, and said loudly: "Yecheng reinforcements can arrive in five days, and the people and horses of Yongzhou and Qinzhou can only come here in a few days, so after three people, our army can gather 150,000 troops in Ji County, and three days later, it will be the day when our army will attack Xiliang and take revenge." After speaking, he looked at the generals in the tent quite excitedly.

"General, our army must defeat the Liang army in this battle, and then destroy the Liang country in one fell swoop, and help the king fulfill his grand wish to unify the north." One of the generals said loudly.

"That's right, in this battle, our army wants to destroy Liangguo in one battle, especially that Pifu Xie Ai, we must capture him alive and send him to Yecheng." Another general said fiercely.

Ma Qiu smiled and said: "Last year, there were several consecutive fiascos, all of which were due to Xie Ai's tricks, this time our army marched, we must be cautious, and don't let Xie Ai have a chance." ”

"General rest assured, we must be cautious and never let Xie Aipifu take advantage of it." The generals said loudly.

Seeing that all the generals were full of confidence, Ma Qiu was relieved a lot, in his heart, he still didn't take Xie Ai too seriously, after all, he had several consecutive fiascos, all of which were caused by underestimating the enemy and carelessness, so he thought that as long as he was cautious and relied on the advantage of troops and combat power, he could defeat Xie Ai in one fell swoop, so as to realize the ambition of destroying the Liang Kingdom and helping Shi Hu unify the north.

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Three days later, the personal guard army and the baggage battalion led by Hua An had arrived in Hechi City, and joined forces with the 30,000 Liangzhou army under Chen Ting, and Yang An of Wudu City also gathered the 10,000 horses under his command and gave the order to attack at any time.

At the same time, near Ji County, Zhao's 150,000 troops had been assembled and were ready to march at any time.

However, the scouts arranged by Ma Qiu in Qinzhou detected the abnormal assembly of Hua'an's army, and quickly reported this emergency to Ma Qiu.

When Ma Qiu heard this, he couldn't help frowning, but at this moment, he had an army of 150,000 under his command, and 50,000 of them were elite soldiers in Yecheng, facing Hua'an's tens of thousands of troops, he would naturally not be afraid, but if he wanted to fight on both sides, facing Hua'an and Xie Ai at the same time, he would be under some pressure.

"General, the Jin General Hua'an has gathered 70,000 horses in Wudu County, and there is a great possibility of sneaking up on the rear of our army!" A subordinate general was the first to speak.

"Yes! After several years of development, the strength of the Hua'an Department of the Jin Army cannot be underestimated, and our army must be on guard to avoid being cut off. Another general persuaded.

When Ma Qiu heard this, he felt that it made sense, looked at Sun Fudu next to him, and ordered: "General Sun, you lead 30,000 troops to stay in Ji County, and closely monitor the direction of Wudu County, and you must ensure the safety of our army's rear." ”

"Rest assured, the general will definitely complete the task." Sun Fudu accepted the task of staying behind.

Ma Qiu thought about it carefully and ordered: "The main force will set off immediately, first attack Great Xia City, and then attack Caohan. ”

"Yes, General." The generals received the order, turned around and left the big tent, and went to their respective armies to mobilize troops.

A few hours later, Ma Qiu led the main army of 120,000 to kill the Great Xia City of Liangguo, while Sun Fudu led the 30,000 army to stay in Ji County, preparing to deal with the threat in the direction of Wudu County, and at the same time taking into account the escort of grain and grass in the rear to ensure the food supply of Ma Qiu's main army.

In the direction of Liangguo, Jiuquan Taishou Xie Ai was still serving in Jiuquan County in the rear, and Zhang Chonghua, who was sitting in Guzang, learned that the army of Zhao was about to enter the Kou again, and hurriedly issued an order for Xie Ai to go to Guzang immediately, and to let him lead the army to resist Ma Qiu again.

During the time when Xie Ai arrived in Guzang, Ma Qiu's army attacked extremely fast, and in just a few days, it broke through more than a dozen cities on the border of Liangguo, and then took Daxia City in one go, and stationed troops in Daxia City to rest, preparing to attack Caohan City again.

In the Great Xia City, the general Wang Zheng looked at Ma Qiu, and said: "General, the city of Caohan is easy to defend and difficult to attack, even if our army attacks with all its might, it will be difficult to capture it in a short time, and in this way, the morale of our soldiers will inevitably decline, once this is the case, the reinforcements of the Liang State will arrive in the Han Dynasty, and they can attack from behind our army, and our army will fight against the reinforced Liang army with a tired division, which is very disadvantageous to the soldiers of our army!" ”

"General Wang, what is your plan?" Ma Qiu looked at Wang Zhen and asked softly.

Wang Zheng immediately hugged his fists and said: "General, it is better for our army to march north with all our strength and go straight to Guzang, as long as we take down Guzang and capture Zhang Chonghua alive, we can be done." (To be continued......)