The night was hazy and the bonfires were blazing.

Li Jing and the others hurriedly came, sat on the ground around the bonfire, pondered silently after hearing the information, deduced all kinds of possibilities in their minds, and the atmosphere was a little solemn.

Jincheng County is a place where soldiers must fight, the location is dangerous, it can be called the gateway of Longyou Road, once lost, Tubo can threaten Chang'an, Shou can choke the northwest portal, retreat can sweep the entire Longyou Road, in Tubo, all are alive, but in the imperial court, such as a broken arm.

Qin Huaidao can not care about the imperial court, that is Li Er, but he has to care about the people of Longyou Dao, if he slaughters the city like Zhangye County, it will be tens of thousands of fresh lives, and after taking Jincheng County, Tubo will definitely continue to take Xiping County, Wuwei County, expand to the north, and greatly increase the strategic depth, Zhangye County will become a lonely city.

If there is no support in a lonely city, it is a mortal enemy, and it cannot be defended, and there is no value in defending.

Zhangye County to the west is Suzhou, Guazhou, Shazhou, Jiuquan County, Dunhuang County two big cities, then Yumen Pass, Yumen Pass to the north is Yinzhou, Xizhou, to the west continue to move forward is Qitun, and the end of the Hanzhou boundary taken by Qin Huaidao, it can be seen that the importance of Yumen Pass.

Qin Huaidao's eyes fell on the map Yumen Pass, there is a border army of the imperial court stationed here, two thousand people, the Turks are already attacking Qitun, Xizhou has also become a lonely city, surrounded by regiments, without military support, can Yumen Pass be held?

Once the Yumen Pass is taken by the Turks, their own way is blocked, but the problem is not big, I am afraid that the Turks will not gather together, it is not easy to fight on horseback, and it is good to bomb when they gather in one place.

The spark crackled, fluttered with the wind, like an elf, and suddenly disappeared.

Everyone frowned and thought about how to crack it, but they couldn't figure it out for a while.

After a while, Li Jing suddenly spoke: "Virtuous nephew, the top priority is to determine the next goal of the army and continue to move forward?" Or retreat to attack Tubo, take Jincheng County, and dredge Longyou Road? ”

The next goal is the focus, which can only be determined by Qin Huaidao.

Cheng Yanjin also agreed: "That's right, the key is what are we going to do next?" As for the loss of Jincheng County, according to the old man, the problem is not big, and the imperial court is not a vegetarian, so the saint will inevitably deploy troops on a large scale to conscript. ”

"Who's the general?" Qin Huaidao asked rhetorically.

One sentence stopped everyone, and they were all a little dumbfounded.

The first batch of reinforcements from the imperial court is a general, although the stubbornness can still fight, but after all, he is old and should not go out again, but the imperial court generals are not able to continue, who else can be sent?

Li Jing thought for a while and said: "There are many good seedlings in the younger generation of the imperial army, and they can emerge at the first opportunity, and it is difficult to say how to recapture Jincheng County, but it is not a big problem to hold the western front, and the imperial court will not have to worry about it in a short time." ”

This judgment is very important to Qin Huaidao, as long as the western front is not lost, the situation will not be corrosive, the Central Plains will not be in flames, and the war will only be limited to the northwest.

Qin Huaidao had no doubt that if he waved his troops back, he might face the double attack of the Turks and Tibet, and if he continued to advance westward, he would only face the enemy of the Turkic side, and the two powers would harm each other, whichever would be less.

The next moment, Qin Huaidao's gaze fell on Yumen Pass again.

With artillery in hand, it is most advantageous to fight siege warfare, but Tubo and Turks do not, as long as they hold the Yumen Pass, Tubo will not be able to continue to advance westward, and they can concentrate on cleaning up the Turks, and the Turks will not dare to continue to detour to Chang'an from the north arrogantly, and the people north of Chang'an will be able to avoid military disasters.

Moreover, holding the Yumen Pass is equivalent to guarding the west gate of Longyou Road, in case of defeat, the army can withdraw into Longyou Road, the whole Longyou Road is long and narrow, east-west direction, north and south are towering and continuous mountains, there is no way to go, natural passages, can become a base.

One thought flashed through him, and Qin Huaidao gradually made a decision.

The next moment, Qin Huaidao's eyes fell on An Guogong, An Guogong realized something, sat down, hugged his fists and said, "Please give the order of King Han." ”

"Jincheng County is lost, Tubo is very likely to be doing it to Xiping County and Wuwei County, and finally the soldiers are coming to Zhangye, Zhangye County has no value to defend, I intend to continue to move westward, the official road was robbed, and it is a problem for the imperial army to stay, there is Lao An Guogong to talk to everyone, Chen Ming is very good, and he is willing to stay with this king, and he will stay after the war, and he wants to copy the road back to Chang'an to distribute grain and grass to go, and he will not be blocked, but he must decide tonight."

"Okay, the old man will go find them." An Guogong agreed and hurried away.

"It's good to continue to move westward, Hanzhou can't be lost." Li Jing agreed.

Cheng Yanjin also agreed: "That's right, Longyou belongs to the imperial court, and the imperial court will find a way to recover it, but Hanzhou is yours, and if we lose it, we will have nowhere to go." ”

Qin Huaidao nodded, looking at Luo Ying with wise eyes.

"Uncle, give the order." Luo Ying said solemnly.

"The special operations division and the guards regiment will follow me, bring enough food and grass overnight, day and night, and raid Yumen Pass, and the rest of the soldiers and horses will be handed over to Shibo." Qin Huaidao looked at Li Jing as he spoke, his eyes were cold, and his fighting intent surged.

"No problem, but what if Yumen Pass is still in the hands of the imperial court?" Li Jing reminded.

It is not advisable to act against the border army of the imperial court, it is not advisable, Qin Huaidao will not be stupid, and explained: "An Guogong and his 10,000 soldiers are accompanied by him, and the border army of the imperial court is coordinated by An Guogong along the way. ”

"This method is feasible, don't worry, as long as the old man is here, make sure you don't have to worry." Li Jing agreed.

"That's right, and the old man." Cheng Yanjin agreed.

"Go get ready." Qin Huaidao looked at Luo Ying, a special operations division, a special operations regiment, plus the 10,000 soldiers of An Guogong, even if Yumen Pass was occupied by the Turks, he could take it down, his eyes looked around, and continued: "Chu Mo, Yi Ai, Luo Zhang, take the baggage team into the city to load all the grain and grass materials that can be used, Luo Wu, continue to make explosives bags, work hard tonight, and set off early tomorrow morning." ”

"Obey!" The four of them answered in unison and hurried away.

Soon there were only three people left at the scene, and Qin Huaidao motioned for a guard to bring a cleaned sheep to roast on the bonfire, while chatting casually with Li Jing and Cheng Yanjin about the situation.

Not long after, Li Jing suddenly sighed and said: "At the beginning, the virtuous nephew proposed to send troops to Tubo in the upper, middle and lower three ways, and the court did not accept it, now it seems a pity, if the three-way attack at that time, Tubo will inevitably divide the troops, and the initiative is in the hands of the imperial court. ”

"Why are you mentioning this? The saint has too many worries and has lost his former sharpness, but after this battle, he may be able to restore his ambition and reactivate Li Xiaogong, and then the Western Front will be worry-free. Cheng Yanjin said that the entire Datang Theory has a grasp of Li Er's thoughts, and no one can compare with Cheng Yanjin and the eldest grandson Wuji.

"What you said makes sense, Li Xiaogong, the king of Hejian County, can fight well, with him on the horse, the western front is worry-free, and the old man can rest assured." Li Jing's eyes lit up, and the whole person relaxed.

At this time, Xiaoyu hurried over.

Qin Huaidao asked in surprise, "But is there something wrong with Madame?" ”

"Miss asked me to give this to you, I just received it." Xiaoyu handed over a small note of the battle.

The small note is a special paper made by Qinjiazhuang, lightweight, flexible, specially used to fly pigeons to transmit messages, Qin Huaidao realized that something was wrong, and quickly took it and opened it to take a look, Tong Kong shrank reluctantly and handed it to Li Jing next to him.

Li Jing was also taken aback when he took it, and handed it to Cheng Yanjin.

"What's wrong?" Cheng Yanjin realized that something was wrong, took a look, and exclaimed: "Just talking about him, the old man died?" This...... How can it be? ”

Qin Huaidao didn't know what year Li Xiaogong died in history, but he knew that the older generation of princes in the court would die one after another in the past few years, so he frowned and said, "Remember that the king of Hejian County is only fifty years old, right?" ”

"yes, at this juncture...... It's a pity! Li Jing replied with a frown.

"Then only Liu Hongji will be in command." Cheng Yanjin said.

Tubo was lost, Liu Hongji, the Duke of Kui Guo, had a lot of responsibility, he had been left out in the cold during this time, and now no one is available, Liu Hongji, who had been the governor of Tubo for a while, knew Tubo the best and was an ideal candidate.

"It has nothing to do with who the court uses to wait for us, it's not early, the two Shibo will eat something and go to rest." Qin Huaidao interrupted the topic, but his eyes fell on the map, motionless.

Li Jing and Cheng Yanjin exchanged glances, didn't say anything more, just ate some cushions and left.

The wind is whistling, and the chill is refreshing.

The bonfire danced in the wind, as if to get rid of the disturbance of the wind and explode sparks.

An Guogong ran over in a hurry, sat down by the bonfire, took a large piece of mutton handed by Qin Huaidao and took a bite, and said while chewing: "King Han, brothers are willing to stay." ”

"Willing to do both?" Qin Huaidao was a little surprised.

"That's right, the way back has been broken, even if you copy the path, it's dangerous, nine deaths and one life, it's better to follow the King of Han, however, everyone has an idea, can you report to the court that everyone died in the attack on Zhangye County, and from now on stay incognito, and follow the King of Han to make contributions."

Qin Huaidao's heart warmed, and it felt so good to be trusted and followed.

"Okay, how do you report to look at it, prepare, take your 10,000 soldiers to set off with the king early tomorrow morning, go straight to Yumen Pass, along the way the city court defenders by you to negotiate, willing to defect to take in, don't be embarrassed if you don't want to, the remaining 20,000 soldiers and horses will be scattered and incorporated by the king, how about it?"

"Obey the decree of the King of Han!" Zhi Sili promised that as long as his clan soldiers were not scattered and absorbed, the imperial army was originally a temporary command, and it didn't matter if he handed it over.