Liu Ziqiu nodded: "A stupid method is also a method, it's better than no method." I have already decided to send troops to attack Chang'an! ”

Wen Hao hurriedly said: "Lord, the art of war, plan and then act." Isn't it a bit hasty to attack Chang'an at this time? ”

"The soldiers are very fast, we are not prepared, and Yang Xuangan definitely didn't expect us to attack him." Liu Ziqiu's tightly knit brows suddenly relaxed, and he said with a smile, "Don't worry, He Chou and Yu Wenkai will bring us good news." ”

Speaking of this, Liu Ziqiu patted Wen Hao's shoulder hard, and said: "It's just that this battle will not be short, and when your child is born, I'm afraid you won't be able to stay by Fan Lihua's side." ”

Wen Hao straightened his chest and said loudly: "For the great cause of the lord, this sacrifice is nothing!" ”

Jiao Liyan said excitedly: "Lord, please allow me to be the vanguard!" ”

Liu Ziqiu waved his hand and said, "No, in this battle of Mobei, the soldiers are already exhausted, you take them back to the West Sea to rest." In the next battle, Shi Danai and Zhang Liang made their efforts. ”

As they spoke, Mullin was there. Hearing that Liu Ziqiu was going to march eastward, he secretly rejoiced in his heart. Although it was with Liu Ziqiu's support that he became a Turkic Khan, in his heart, he didn't want to get rid of Liu Ziqiu's control. Even if his daughter is now like glue with Liu Ziqiu, what does it matter? Compared with the family affection between father and daughter, the interests of the tribe are naturally above all else. However, Liu Ziqiu did not use this iron cavalry, which terrified the Turkic tribes, but let them return to the West Sea to recuperate. As long as these battle-hardened warriors take a short rest, they will soon be able to regain their strong combat strength, and they can still launch another war to sweep through Mobei. Mu Lin had no choice but to put away that little bit of caution, and no longer dared to act rashly.

In fact, Liu Ziqiu has never regarded Mu Lin as an opponent, and he is unwilling to use Jiaoliyan and this nomadic cavalry, but there is still a trace of residual nationalism in his heart. Yes, Liu Ziqiu is now the leader of the Xihai tribe, a large new tribe that blends many different ethnic groups, including Han Chinese, Dangxiang people, Xianbei people, Murwei people, and Turkic people, but he is still a Han at heart. This time he marched into the Central Plains, his opponents were mainly Han Chinese, and he did not want to slaughter his compatriots with foreign strength, which was his original intention of refusing to use nomadic cavalry.

Although the soldiers are fast, Liu Ziqiu is not a reckless person, he waved his hand, and asked Mu Lin to lead the people back to the grassland, and Mu Lin himself went to discuss their respective boundaries with Du Mi, and then said to Wen Hao and Jiao Liyan: "You also bring the team back to Weiding City." Wen Hao, you stay at home for ten days and half a month, accompany Fan Lihua well, and then rush to Xiping to meet Liu. ”

Of course, Wen Hao was worried about his pregnant beloved wife, and Liu Ziqiu's words moved him very much, and he hurriedly said, "Lord, I will go to Xiping with you." ”

Liu Ziqiu shook his head and said, "I still have some things to deal with in Xiping, and this battle will not start for a while, so there is no point in you going." After you go back, tell Zhang Liang, Shi Danai, Gui Haiqiu, He Chou, and Yu Wenkai, and let them quietly transport grain, grass, equipment, and soldiers and horses to the outskirts of Xiping in batches. ”

After a pause, Liu Ziqiu said to Jiao Liyan again: "This part of Liu's Eastern Expedition, the safety of the West Sea will be entrusted to you and Tumulu, don't disappoint me!" ”

Jiao Liyan hugged his fists and said loudly: "Please rest assured, my subordinates will fight for their lives, and they will never let Daman step into the West Sea!" ”

Liu Ziqiu nodded and did not speak. In fact, what he was most worried about was not the Western Turkic Chuluo Khan Ashina Daman, but his future father-in-law's Tuoba Mumi. Tuoba Mumi's ambitions have already been revealed, but with Liu Ziqiu sitting in the West Sea, he will definitely not dare to mess around. But Liu Ziqiu himself knew in his heart that this time the Eastern Crusade would not end in a year or two, and at that time, who knew if Tuoba Mumi would have any special ideas.

However, Jiao Liyan's words also reminded Liu Ziqiu. Although he knew that Daman of the Western Turks could not afford to make any big noise, the strength of the Eastern Turks had been greatly damaged after this winter, and the pattern of being strong in the east and weak in the west had completely fallen, and it was difficult to guarantee that Daman would not have any ideas. If Daman took the opportunity to attack the Eastern Turks, Liu Ziqiu would definitely send troops to reinforce Mu Lin and Du Mi, and these soldiers and horses could only be transferred from the West Sea, which would leave Tuoba Mumi with an opportunity.

Liu Ziqiu thought about it, and called Ji Rentai again, and ordered him to go to Xue Yantuo, bring the will of the Great Sui Emperor, crown Xue Shixiong as the Khan of Loyalty, and support him to fight against Daman. In this way, the Western Turks would also be split in two. Daman has Xue Yantuo's containment, so he naturally has no time to look east. As long as summer comes, when it is the season of grazing horses and sheep, the pressure from the north will naturally be greatly reduced.

When the assignment stopped, Mu Duoli suddenly asked, "Master, then am I going back to Weiding City or going to Xiping?" ”

Liu Ziqiu smiled and said, "You decide this matter yourself." ”

Mu Duoli hadn't seen the young children for two months, she missed it in her heart, and she wanted to go back to Weiding City, but she was reluctant to leave Liu Ziqiu's side, this was a difficult choice for her, she hesitated again and again, but she still couldn't make a decision, she lowered her head and said, "The slave listens to the master." ”

Liu Ziqiu laughed, waved his hand, and said, "Then you go to Xiping with me, and I will have a gift for you there." ”

Mu Duoli was still struggling in her heart, but after listening to Liu Ziqiu's words, she immediately gave up resistance, put aside her thoughts about her children, and nodded vigorously.

"Alright, let's go!" Liu Ziqiu rode his horse and whipped his horse and took the lead in galloping eastward.

He didn't take Mu Duoli with him for fun, but to find a bodyguard for himself. Although the Turkic strength is strong, it is better in riding shè, and there are not many people who are strong in individual martial arts, and even a few are won by brute force. However, the Central Plains is a real land of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, where strong martial artists abound, and there are many people who are in Taoluo, Liu Ziqiu doesn't want to stage a tragic drama where he dies before he can get out of school. Mu Duoli's archery skills are amazing, and taking her with her is equivalent to carrying a sniper with her. Liu Ziqiu, who was born in special forces, certainly understands what it means to have a sniper to help him when he is on a mission?

……

Outside Moling Town in the south of the Yangtze River, a large army gathered. Li Jing, Hua Yun, and Han Shige were all fully clothed, and there were 50,000 troops behind them. With the treasures left behind by Nan Chen, Li Jing and Hua Yun quickly expanded their army, and in just half a year, they had raised an army of 70,000 people. It successively controlled the five counties of Yuhang, Wujun, Xuancheng, Xin'an and Piling. Because Danyang is the foundation of the Xie family, Li Jing did not use troops to Danyang for the time being, but a large army was stationed around Danyang. Otherwise, last time Xie Wenda forced Xie Wengshan to the palace, Han Shige's soldiers and horses would not have come so quickly.

Although the number of Jiangnan troops has increased greatly, they lack war horses, so they can only barely piece together a cavalry of 2,000 people, and most of the war horses used are not good at long-distance running rich horses, which is also Li Jing's biggest regret. However, the weapon drawings and the method of smelting steel sent by Liu Ziqiu last autumn helped Li Jing a lot. The army in Jiangnan was dominated by infantry, and in order to be able to effectively counter the cavalry from the north, Li Jing greatly increased the number of archers and crossbowmen, especially crossbowmen, who accounted for one-third of the army. There is also a force that is strong enough to fight the cavalry, which is the Mo Sword Soldiers.

The people in Jiangnan are generally short in stature, but they can always pick out three or five big people out of a hundred, and after several months of hard work, Li Jing finally formed a 2,000-strong Modao army. Because of the lack of horses, in order to train this Modao army, Li Jing replaced the galloping horse with a running bull as an "opponent" against them. Although the speed of the bull's running is not as fast as that of a war horse, the damage caused by its huge weight is worse than that of a war horse. However, in front of the powerful Mo Dao Array, hundreds of running bulls became a pile of severed limbs and wreckage in the blink of an eye, which instead gave the soldiers a full meal of beef. Of course, under the powerful impact, some soldiers were wounded, but it is always better to be wounded on the training ground than on the battlefield.

It was precisely because of the sufficient army, strict training, and good equipment that Li Jing had the confidence to start a decisive battle with Wang Shichong in Danyang.

In order to ensure the safety of the Xie family, Li Jing decided to place the battlefield on the river bank north of Danyang City. At this time, Danyang City must be defeated first, so as not to fall into the situation of being attacked on the back of the belly. Although Danyang is the foundation of the Xie family, but Danyang Taishou Lu Wennan was sent by Yang Guang to monitor the Xie family, he was not friendly to the Xie family, and when he heard that Wang Shichong's army was going south, he had already sent someone to get in touch with Wang Shichong and was willing to submit to Wang Shichong. At this moment, Lu Wennan had already closed the gate of Danyang City, waiting for the arrival of Wang Shichong's army.

Li Jing saw that the team had been assembled, waved his hand, and said, "Let's go, we must capture Danyang City before dark!" ”

The Danyang City of the Sui Dynasty was not the Danyang County of Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, but the Nanjing City of the later generations. It's just that the Danyang City of the Sui Dynasty is far inferior to the Nanjing City of the Ming Dynasty in terms of scale and the solidity of the city wall, because in this era, the political and economic center of the country is always in the north.

Even so, the siege was fought very hard. A long ladder was erected on the city wall, and a group of soldiers climbed up with horizontal swords in their mouths. The arrows and stones in the city rained down, and the archers and crossbowmen under the city desperately counterattacked. From time to time, soldiers fell down the long ladder, and those who were not seriously injured got up and rushed up again, and those who could not afford to be seriously injured were quickly dragged down by their comrades for treatment. In fact, in the eyes of Li Jing, Hua Yun and others, it was completely unnecessary to treat the wounded soldiers in the process of besieging the city, but Gao Xiuer insisted on this, and they had to arrange a special team of ambulances.

The siege of Danyang lasted from dawn to noon, and the soldiers went forward one after another, and finally climbed to the top of the city.

On a small hillside not far from the city, Xie Yun, Xie Zhiwu, father and son were nervously watching this siege battle.