Late at night, the Governor's Mansion of Qinzhou.

The oil lamps illuminated the chamber, the night wind whistled outside the window, there was faint thunder, and the moonlight was like water, pouring into the house through the window, lying on the ground to rest, motionless.

In the inconspicuous corner, several guards remained motionless, as if they were statues.

At the door, Luo Wu pressed the sword in his hand, his eyes were cold, and he didn't let go of anyone who passed by outside the door.

On the main seat, Qin Huaidao also stared motionlessly at the battle statistics on the eucalyptus, in the first battle of Qinzhou, the Hanzhou army suffered more than 5,000 casualties and more than 3,000 deaths, which was the largest loss since the expedition, and it was not advanced weapons such as crossbows, grenades and explosives bags, and the losses were even greater.

However, being able to kill 50,000 Tibetan troops in one battle is also a bad breath.

Fortunately, there are a lot of weapons used by 50,000 people, as well as a lot of food, gold, silver and jewelry, at least there is no need to worry about food and salary for a period of time in the future, not to mention the capture of 10,000 war horses.

"Luo Wu!"

"In!" Luo Wu hurried over.

Qin Huaidao instructed: "Arrange a battalion of brothers to go to Minzhou overnight, bring broken weapons, let Xue Zhi help smelt into iron, make a crossbow, and bring 10,000 pieces of silver over, let him help buy more iron to build, fight repeatedly, the crossbow is not enough, the more you build, the better, fast." ”

"Obey!" Luo Wu hurriedly responded.

"Report!" A guard hurried in.

Qin Huaidao looked at the other party, a little surprised, what else could be done at this point?

The other party hurriedly said: "King Qihan, the scout flying pigeon came to report, fifty miles to the south, I found a government soldier, numbering about 5,000, and was marching towards Qinzhou. ”

"Southside?"

Qin Huaidao was a little surprised, the south of Qinzhou is Fengzhou and Xingzhou, Fengzhou was besieged by the Tubo army, it was impossible to send troops out for a long time, could it be Xingzhou soldiers, what are they doing here?

His thoughts flashed, and Qin Huaidao advised: "Send someone up to interrogate the situation, and report it at any time." ”

"Obey!" The other party hurriedly went.

There are only 5,000 people, there is a city defense, Qin Huaidao didn't take it to heart, continued to study the current situation, and received news at dusk that the Turks had gone south and had reached Yanzhou, which was the area of the red holy land in later generations, and instantly changed the entire battle situation.

At the beginning, Xu Shiji laid down heavy troops in Xiazhou, focusing on the defense of the Wuding River, but after Wushi Tong took over, he transferred all the soldiers and horses to Huaiyuan and Helan Mountain, wanting to fight a decisive battle with the Turks and completely solve the Turkic troubles, but they did not know that the Turks did not engage in the war, but went east to Xiazhou.

Most of the court were infantry, and where could they outrun the cavalry, it was too late to realize that something was wrong.

Wu Shi Tong quickly led the troops to retreat, along the Luoshui to block, to block the Turks to the south, the Hedong Province soldiers and horses also pounced to intercept, but in this way, the soldiers and horses of King Qin from the north could not support Chang'an, fortunately, the cement road was repaired, and the soldiers and horses of the states of Shannan Province had arrived in the south of Chang'an, containing part of the troops of Tubo.

Chang'an is worry-free for the time being, but no one knows what will happen next.

Xingzhou belongs to Shannan Road, if you don't go to Chang'an, what are you doing in Qinzhou?

A suspicious fox flashed in Qin Huaidao's mind, but he quickly suppressed it and continued to study the situation, since the Turks were going south, then Lanzhou and Hezhou did not need to hoard too many troops and horses to take precautions, and some people could be transferred over.

After pondering for a moment, Qin Huaidao shouted: "Order, let the old ghost uncle come over." ”

Not long after, Old Ghost Li hurriedly came in with his body bent: "See King Han!" ”

"Uncle Ghost, are you okay?"

"King Xie Han cares, and he can hold on."

"When you get to Chang'an, let Doctor Sun show you." Qin Huaidao said politely and explained: "Uncle old ghost, the flying pigeon sent a message to Luo Zhang, Liu Wei was stationed in Lanzhou, and Hezhou also left a division, and all the other soldiers and horses came to converge." ”

"Understood!" Old Ghost Li hurriedly went.

Luo Zhang has five full-strength divisions in his hands, leaving two and three, that is, more than 20,000 people.

Qinzhou suffered tens of thousands of casualties in the first battle, and the troops were somewhat insufficient, and more than 20,000 people would have a much better chance of winning.

Qin Huaidao continued to analyze the situation in Chang'an and look for a way to break the situation.

The night light was dancing and silent.

I don't know how long it took, a guard hurriedly came in: "King Qiqi, the scouts are coming, the soldiers and horses from the south are coming to defect, and the leading general calls himself Duan Qiang, and there are still twenty miles." ”

"Duan Qiang?"

Qin Huaidao was a little surprised, he didn't have the memory of this person in his mind, and couldn't help but look at Luo Wu who was waiting next to him.

Luo Wu thought for a moment, suddenly thought of someone, and said, "Uncle, could it be someone from the Duanfu of Baoguo." ”

Duan Zhixuan, the prince of Baoguo, and his sister-in-law Duan Zhan, but who else in his family really doesn't know, Qin Huaidao is not sure, and immediately called Fang Yiai to inquire about the situation.

Fang Yiai was a tyrant in Chang'an, with a wide range of contacts and many acquaintances, and he laughed when he heard Duan Qiang, and said in a loud voice: "King Han, the second son of Bao Guogong is indeed called Duan Qiang, whether the same person needs to see it to know, however, Duan Qiang's kid is funny, his father wants him to study, so he has the word 'Qiang', the one who is the one who is beautiful, but I don't know that he is also a bastard, he is as good at martial arts as me, but he is not like his brother who practices the art of war, and he is a famous general." ”

"Which of you is stronger and which is weaker?" Qin Huaidao asked curiously.

"Naturally, I'm stronger." Fang Yiai said confidently, suddenly thought of something, frowned, and continued: "Regardless of it, he seems to be the county lieutenant of Xingzhou, where did he get the five thousand soldiers and horses?" ”

"Oh, and this, you go and take a look, since you two are familiar with each other, if you really come to vote, then the five thousand centaurs are just right to replenish you." Qin Huaidao said with a smile.

"Really? Thank you, King Han, I'll go. When Fang Yiai heard that he added it to himself, he was immediately overjoyed, and he hurried away after seeing Qin Huaidao nodding.

Luo Wu watched Qin Huaidao leave and said, "Uncle, just now I went to check the treasury and found a lot of sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter, which may have been looted by Tubo from the occupied city pharmacy, could it be that they know the power of explosives, and they want to make it?" ”

"How many?" Qin Huaidao's eyes lit up.

"You can make a hundred explosive packs."

"Take me to see it." Qin Huaidao was overjoyed.

The two of them hurried to a storeroom, the door was guarded by guards, and when they entered, they saw that some large wooden barrels were indeed filled with sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal, but they were all shoddy, mixed with many miscellaneous items, and there was no match.

The ratio is a core secret, Qin Huaidao doesn't plan to pass it on to anyone, and immediately asks the people from the Guards Regiment to come over to screen, remove the sundries, and then command everyone to refine.

After the finishing was completed, Qin Huaidao was alone to mix gunpowder, and then handed it over to the people of the Guards Regiment to make explosives bags, and this busy time came to dawn.

Back at the Governor's Mansion, Qin Huaidao ate something casually, and fell asleep, he was too sleepy.

When he woke up, it was already noon, Qin Huaidao asked Luo Wuyi to inquire, that section was really the second son of the Duke of Baoguo, since he was an old man, of course he couldn't be lazy, and he would welcome the other party.

After some talking, I found that the other party has a bold personality and is upright, but he is really not proficient in the art of war, and the five thousand soldiers and horses are not government soldiers, but local rangers recruited from the government, gangsters who have nothing to do, and want to fight for a future.

But Duan Qian is not stupid, he claims to organize spontaneously and go to King Qinwang of Chang'an, there is great righteousness, and no one dares to stop him.

Qin Huaidao saw that the other party was burly, and tried it on the spot, if he was really strong and strong, he was a fierce general, so he appointed him as the head of the heavy armored cavalry regiment, and no longer let Fang Yiai concurrently serve as the commander, lest the other party kill crazy and mess around, Duan Zhan's brother, and he was the first to come to vote, so he naturally had to be treated preferentially.

Duan Qian was very surprised when he heard that he was the commander of the heavy armored cavalry regiment, and the commander of the regiment didn't understand it at all, and he hadn't heard of it, but the heavy armored cavalry was a legendary invincible class, and his fighting style was rough and happy, which was so suitable for him that he agreed with his mouth, and he didn't care about the five thousand men and horses he didn't care about.

……

Temple of Manna.

Niu Jinda knelt on the ground, covered in blood, his armor was also tattered, his hair was scattered, his face was gray, he stared at the head with a pair of bloodshot eyes, and said unwillingly: "Shengshang, the minister was defeated, he was ashamed of the court, and he should be beheaded, and please give the saint another chance for the sake of the minister's loyalty, the minister is willing to be a pawn, and would rather die in the city and atone for his sins." ”

On the royal eucalyptus, Li Zhi was silent and looked at the eldest grandson Wuji.

The eldest grandson Wuji was about to speak, Wei Zheng preemptively said: "Shengshang, the minister thinks that victory and defeat are a common thing in soldiers, General Niu is not at fault in command, Qizhou is very good, the attack on the road is just an accident, Tubo is cunning, it can't be prevented, and the fault is not General Niu." ”