In the autumn of the second year of Li Hengqian, the first year of Li Jixuan Yuanshuo, and the first year of Yan Shi Siming Shuntian, these are the names of the three regimes that existed at the same time.

In the autumn and October of this year, Shi Siming's attack on Taiyuan failed, and Hedong Jiedu made Deng Jingshan win the final victory.

Deng Jingshan looked back to the south from the joy of victory, but found that the Shangdang had already changed hands, the imperial court had lost Guanzhong again, and the emperor Li Heng fled directly south to Xiangyang, and he had no one to be loyal to. And now he is also in the gap between the two traitors, as long as he is caught between them on both sides, he will definitely die.

In Deng Jingshan's view, the biggest threat is not Shi Siming, who is far away in Youzhou, but Li Chongbao, who is dormant in the party.

His judgment is correct, although Shi Siming has ascended the throne and called the emperor, but Youzhou and Bingzhou are not the same geographical range, if Shi Siming wants to enter the east of the river, he must be blocked and restricted by the terrain. However, the Shangdang occupied by Li Chongbao is within the geographical range of Hedong, and the other party occupies the Shangdang Basin and the entire southern section of Taihang Mountain and Taiyue Mountain.

Deng Jingshan hadn't felt that he was going through a fateful choice before, but now that he had a sense of crisis, he should think about what he should do once Datang Sheji didn't exist.

He finally decided to lead his army south to conquer Shangdang, even if it was to protect his own safety, he also wanted to take all the land east of the river in his hands.

Li Chongbao learned that Deng Jingshan was going to attack Shangdang, and led his troops to march into Wuxiang County and Qin County in advance. Deng Jingshan had no choice but to lead his troops to retreat to Taiyuan and continue to hold on to Hedong, looking for a new opportunity to attack.

Just one month after Li Jixuan ascended the throne, Li Siye asked the puppet emperor for a decree to personally lead 60,000 people to stabilize the situation in the Hexi Corridor. Why is it stability rather than reconquest? Because at this time, the Hexi Corridor had not yet been fully occupied by Tubo, at least the four county cities of Hexi, Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang were still in the hands of the imperial court that was shrinking and defending.

He left Yan Xiaosi to guard Chang'an, and appointed Cao Anding as the guard of Gyeonggi, and Cheng Yuanzhen as the supervisor of the Inner Service Province and the general of the right prison guard, using the structure of a troika to maintain stability in the rear of Chang'an.

Now is the best time to attack Hexi, although the Tubo people have repeatedly invaded, the main transportation routes and major cities are still in the hands of the Tang army. Now that the imperial court is newly defeated and shrinks to Jiangdong, there will be no pressure on Wuguan, Tongguan has Tian Zhen in charge, but Shi Siming is newly defeated in Taiyuan, and he will not have the strength to enter the Central Plains for the time being, and the only thing he needs to watch out for is Guo Ziyi, who fled to Hanzhong.

This Guo Sikong was a great loyal minister of the Tang Dynasty, and he was sure that Guo Ziyi would be the last opponent to be eliminated by him. Li Guangbi can surrender, and Fugu Huaien can be forced to rebel, but Guo Ziyi, with his stubborn will, can definitely insist on fighting him to the end, even if the Tang Dynasty is eliminated at that time, as long as Guo Ziyi is not eliminated, he will not have a day of stability.

Therefore, before he set off for Hexi, he deliberately settled Ashina Silu as the Taishou of Fengxiang County and served as the guard of Dasan Pass, monitoring the movements of Chen Cangdao, and the other three roads were like praise and oblique, and Dang Luo and Meridian Dao all had capable guards in charge, and Yan Xiaosi and Cao Anding assisted Zhongshu Shilang and Li Xu, the son of King Yong, to supervise.

At the beginning of November of the first year of Yuan Shuo, Li Siye took Xu Bin as the main secretary of the march, Duan Xiushi and Bai Xiaode as the left and right vanguards, and led 70,000 Hexi troops to march to Longyou Road.

Yang Zhilie, the current envoy of Hexi Jiedu, sat in Liangzhou City and waited and watched, and the news from Chang'an became worse and worse, which also made Yang Zhongcheng's mood gradually deteriorate. He thought it was time for him to adjust his mindset. Now Hexi is empty, and it urgently needs the assistance of the Central Plains court. He felt that he might as well lower his standards and no longer demand that Datang be the same as before. Children who are about to starve to death still care whether they are their own mother, as long as they have milk, they are mothers.

When Li Siye's army arrived in Lanzhou, Zhao Zhengyi, the Taoist leader who was hiding in the temple, completely recovered his vitality, he wiped his snot and tears and cried: "Lord, I have been waiting for you in Lanzhou for two years, I knew that you would come back, I didn't wait in vain." ”

Li Siye held his shoulder and comforted him: "Don't worry, I will reunite with you today and will never leave you behind." Due to the fact that in the past two years by the imperial court in the Central Plains, Yan Xiaosi's Xuanwu artillery battalion has wasted gunpowder projectiles, and has never found a supplement.

The old Taoist leader hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed excitedly: "Thank you Lord for giving me the title, but the poor Dao is a person who is an outsider, how can he receive worldly wealth." ”

"This is not a conflict, you can be either a Taoist monk of Xianyun Yehe, or my Ministry of Works. We haven't been able to come to Lanzhou for two years, you must have something to give me. “

"My lord, please come with me," Zhao Zhengyi raised his sleeve to wipe his tears and nose, and took him to the Qingliang Temple, passed through the mountain gate into the main hall and the front yard, and then detoured back to the back yard, only to see that the backyard was full of straw shops and straw mats, Zhao Daochang casually lifted one, and he could see a heavy cannon lying below. In one of the side halls, Li Siye saw a mountain of gunpowder boxes and spherical projectiles.

Li Siye held these projectiles in surprise and said, "Okay, now my Xuanwu artillery battalion is useful again." ”

He requisitioned 30,000 people as auxiliaries in Lanzhou City, responsible for carrying grain, grass, artillery and ammunition, and entered the territory of Hexi from Wusheling.

At this time, Li Siye has been fighting for half his life, wearing heavy armor and still being able to cut off the enemy's horse head with a Mo knife, but the years are urging people to grow old, the hair on his sideburns has turned pale, and no matter how powerful a hero is, there will be a twilight day.

When the army was stationed at the foot of the Wusheling Ridge, at dusk he climbed one of the mountains, looked back at the direction of Longyou Guanzhong, the mountains and rivers intertwined and crossed under the sky, the Yellow River flowed slowly between the mountains like a jade belt, and those raised ridges were like the back of a dragon. Everything in the past reappeared in front of him like a picture, marching all the way from Hexi, and then returning to Hexi from the Central Plains, his life seemed to have taken a big arc. Lost a lot, but also seems to have gained a lot.

If he had been so determined today, he would have been in a different situation.

He was full of emotion in his heart, and opened his mouth to recite: "The general has a hundred battles and a broken reputation. To the west of the river, turn back thousands of miles, the old people are extinct. The wind is cold in the west, and the seats are full of clothes like snow. is a strong man, and the sad song is not thorough. The bird still knows that it is like a hate, and it is expected that it will cry tears and blood. Who is with me, drunk with the bright moon. ”

Xu Bin stood behind him, as if he felt what he was thinking, and suddenly said: "Lord, you are also taking a detour now, since you have already invaded Guanzhong and torn your face with the imperial court, why do you still want to support a puppet, you should establish a new dynasty and ascend the throne as the emperor, so that the world can only remember the brilliant moment of the Tang Dynasty in the past and create a new glory." ”

Li Siye shook his head and smiled: "You really don't understand me, the current situation is still for us, and it is much easier to do things with the name of Datang." ”

He turned and walked down the hill, and suddenly turned back and said, "Let's go, go down the hill and discuss the next direction of attack." ”

Li Siye and Xu Bin returned to the camp tent, and immediately sent someone to call Duan Xiushi and Bai Xiaode over, sat on the chair and said: "When we return to Hexi, of course we have to make some movements, which direction should we choose in the first battle." ”

Bai Xiaode immediately crossed his hand towards Li Siye and said: "Of course, it is to go straight to Liangzhou Wuwei, give Yang Zhilie a dismount, and force him to surrender." ”

"Oh?" Li Siye asked him rhetorically: "What if he is not willing to surrender?" ”

"Then attack the city directly and subdue him."

Xu Bin sat on the right side squinting and shaking his head and laughing, Bai Xiaode suddenly felt that something was wrong and asked him: "Does the military advisor have a different opinion?" ”

Xu Junshi smiled and said: "Yang Zhilie is not an opponent, we don't need to give him a horse, and we don't need to subdue him." The lord led his troops to Hexi in order to stabilize our rear Longyou Road. If you want to stabilize the situation, you should not first show your majesty to your own people, but should expel Tibet and restore stability to Hexi. When the time comes, where Yang Zhilie goes, we will solve it internally behind closed doors. ”