Xu Youchang walked into the coach's room dejectedly and sat down cross-legged opposite Li Jiangyao's desk.

Neither of them spoke, and the atmosphere was a little dull.

After a while, Li Jiangyao raised his hand to pick up the teapot on the small stove next to the desk, poured a cup of hot water for Xu Youchang, and then sighed again.

Xu Youchang's eyes gradually reddened, but he still didn't say a word, only clenched his fists tightly, and his body trembled slightly.

He was born in the illustrious military of the Holy Tang Dynasty, and his ancestors had made countless military exploits for the empire, so as a son of the Xu family, Xu Youchang has always regarded the honor of the family as more important than his own life. But now, he has become a murderer and a shameless traitor who killed Commander He Jingming in the eyes of others, how can this not make him feel outright grief and indignation?

Li Jiangyao felt sad for his brother and sad because of the death of his teacher, and for a while, he didn't know where to start with the words on his lips.

Xu Youchang forcibly suppressed the resentment in his heart, calmed down for a while, and opened his mouth to break the silence: "Jiang Yao, you let me go so easily, aren't you afraid of disobeying military orders?" ”

"!" Li Jiangyao heard that the other party finally spoke, but he was greatly relieved in his heart, and said leisurely: "When is this?" You're still thinking about that. ”

Hearing him say this, Xu Youchang's heart also felt much more comfortable. He originally planned to explain to Li Jiangyao that He Jingming was not killed by him, but after thinking about it, this is still nonsense.

If Li Jiangyao didn't understand this, could he release him without saying a word?

Brotherly friendship cannot tolerate any nonsense.

Xu Youchang smiled with relief, so after the end of the first battle of Western Xinjiang, the Xuanjia Army returned to the dynasty: Bing threatened the imperial capital, true and false princesses, forced into Jingzhao Yin Mansion to rob Qi Ying, was ordered to come to Liangzhou to train troops, was suddenly surrounded by Shen Lie's army, fled in a hurry overnight, entered Western Xinjiang and took refuge in Metasequoia City, and then was captured by Lin Feng and Luo Cheng. 1510, all the original told Li Jiangyao, which also included Murong Xue's various analysis and judgment.

Li Jiangyao listened to the other party seriously for an hour, and when Xu Youchang stopped talking, he bowed slightly: "Murong Xue guessed right, that guy Xie Guang is indeed plotting against him." The current situation in Western Xinjiang and the imperial capital should have been caused by his collusion with the Turks. Teacher He's existence is the biggest threat to Xie Guang's entire conspiracy, and naturally it has become a thorn in his side, no matter the motive or strength, only Xie Guang is the most suspicious in the whole world, and you, you are just being used as a gun. ”

"My mother's mother!" Xu Youchang punched the case: "In vain, I still worship him and follow him!" What a blind dog! ”

"Blind?" Li Jiangyao was slightly stunned, and then laughed: "I said foolish, no matter how you regret it, you don't scold yourself like this?" ”

Xu Youchang was also slightly stunned at first, and then reacted, realizing that "Dog Eyes" was talking about himself, and immediately couldn't help but laugh with Li Jiangyao.

"Damn, I really should scold myself when I talk about it!" Xu Youchang wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and said, "If I knew this, I should have listened to Murong Xue's advice and asked my grandfather to come forward and transfer me from the Xuanjia Army." Go to the tiger and leopard riding, go to the Qilin Army, even if you come to Zhenjiang to protect the mansion, it is better to go anywhere than by Xie Guang's bastard! ”

Li Jiangyao shook his head and said with a smile: "There is no regret medicine in the world!" I don't know you yet? Joining the army and joining Rong, the last thing you want is to follow the path of your Xu family. Besides, for you, the Xuanjia Legion is also the best choice, the reason is very simple, the first army of the Holy Tang Dynasty always has battles, and it is easier to make meritorious contributions, isn't it? ”

Xu Youchang scratched his head embarrassedly when he said something, and then sighed depressedly: "Alas, this time I was killed by Xie Guang, and I was charged with killing Commander He for no reason, I don't know how much trouble it will bring to my family, and my grandfather's face has been lost by me." ”

"It's useless for you to bother." Li Jiangyao took a sip of hot tea: "Teacher He's case is a big case that pierces the sky. In the eight hundred years of the Holy Tang Dynasty, I am afraid that there has never been a commander-level general who has been attacked and killed by friendly troops, so ah, it is not so easy to finalize. If I expected it to be correct, none of the three law divisions were qualified to intervene in this matter, so His Majesty could only come forward in person and assign the Northern Ya to investigate. You are not afraid of shadows, and things will always come to light one day. ”

Xu Youchang pursed his lips depressedly: "It's okay if you don't mention it, I will be so angry that I have a headache when I mention Beiya." Shi Shenlie, the director of the reverse scale department of the Northern Ya, have you heard of it? That guy is a dehumanized bastard! ”

Li Jiangyao smiled dumbly: "Shen Lie? Not only have I heard of him, but I have also fought alongside him in repelling the Turkic horse bandit coalition. ”

Xu Youchang was dumbfounded when he heard this, and hurriedly asked what was going on, and Li Jiangyao told him everything that had happened before. After listening, Xu Youchang was stunned for a long time before he sighed faintly: "I can't see it, Shen Lie is still a good man." Now I finally understood why he appeared at the border of Liangzhou, and commanded the Fierce Blade Army to besiege us. ”

Li Jiangyao nodded: "Judging from Shen Lie's style of acting, it is indeed a little different from the past." ”

Xu Youchang heard the meaning of Li Jiangyao's words and agreed: "That's right. If it were someone else, Shen Lie might not be so good at talking. They had already surrounded me, and in the end, they even let me get away with it. In this case, most of the time he saw it in your face and didn't want to force me to death directly. ”

"There is another important reason, and that is Xie Guang." Li Jiangyao said: "Shen Changshi knows that Xie Guang is plotting against him, and your Xu family is full of loyalty, so he will definitely not really get involved, so he will leave you a glimmer of life, so as not to make an unjust case, but fall for Xie Guang's tricks." ”

Xu Youchang patted his thigh: "Damn, in the end, it's still Xie Guang's bastard!" I immediately wrote a letter to my grandfather, asking him to meet His Majesty and expose Xie Guang! ”

Li Jiangyao shook his head: "I don't think it's useful." First, you don't have ironclad evidence, so you can't directly bring down the dignified Shangzhu Kingdom, and second, I'm afraid that the connection between the imperial capital and Western Xinjiang has been completely cut off. ”

Xu Youchang also knew about the tragic defeat of Shengtang in Crescent Bay at this time, and understood that what Li Jiangyao said was true. This general battle, which affected the Holy Tang Dynasty, the ghost desert of Western Xinjiang and the Turkic Empire, has completely reversed the pattern of thousands of miles of rivers and mountains. With the demise of the main army of 120,000, the entire western frontier has completely fallen into the hands of the Turks and rebels.

According to the latest report of the Pegasus scouts: Soon after the end of the Battle of Crescent Bay, the Turkic Prince of the Templars, Ronia, led his troops and horses to directly approach the Zijin Pass of Shengtang and the Shengyu Pass further south, and set up the northern and southern camps respectively. It seems that they intend to completely cut off the Silk Road trade route from the Central Plains to Western Xinjiang and cut off all connections between the two places.

The main forces of the rebels, the Loulan Army and the Shule Army, as well as Gelhan, who had regained the power of Chechi, began to attack from all sides, sweeping the Western Frontier vassal states one by one. All those who still have their hearts set on the Holy Tang have been defeated and destroyed by them one after another; The rest of the countries all chose to surrender and surrender to the rebel New Western Alliance.

In a sense, in the entire Western Ghost Desert, the thousands of miles of heaven and earth still belong to the rule of the Holy Tang, and perhaps only their Metasequoia City remains.

After all, Xu Youchang was a bright and upright soldier of the Holy Tang Dynasty, and when facing the national crisis, he naturally weighed the priorities, so Xu Youchang put all his troubles aside and began to seriously discuss with Li Jiangyao the trade-off strategy of Metasequoia City in the future.

The two brothers talked on their knees and decided to take stock of their strength first. Who knows that this is not to say, but when it comes to the strength of Metasequoia City at this time, Li Jiangyao himself was taken aback.

When he was ordered to take over Metasequoia's defenses, he was accompanied by less than 500 Pegasus scouts, and the local garrison of Metasequoia was only more than 2,000 militiamen. After a contest with the horse bandits and the Turkic Iron Pigeon Army, Metasequoia not only did not lose its troops, but expanded its armament, raising its strength to about 6,000.

Looking at the present, in addition to the original soldiers and horses, Metasequoia City has unconsciously added a large number of fresh blood:

The first is the Xuanjia Army Pioneer Battalion of Xu Youchang. There are 3,000 elites, all of whom are well-trained and powerful St. Tang strong soldiers.

The second was that Huo Liya, the lord of Nanhua County, brought five thousand Shanshan royal court guards. These soldiers are all hated by the country and the family, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is 5,000 dead soldiers who did not want to die.

Next is the remnants of the Holy Tang Army that the scout teams gathered back from the Crescent Bay battlefield, although those soldiers are wounded and sick, and they are exhausted, but the total number has reached six thousand, as long as they are properly rested, they will be strong in the blink of an eye.

Finally, counting the soldiers and civilians of various countries who fled to Metasequoia City, many of them asked to sign up for the army, and the number was as high as five or six thousand.

In such a rough calculation, the current total strength of Metasequoia can reach 25,000 people!

According to the military system of the Holy Tang Dynasty, a general who can command an army of this size must at least be a titled general above the fourth rank. In other words, Pegasus Scout Captain Li Jiangyao inadvertently became a veritable "general".

However, Li Jiangyao, who was newly promoted to the general, couldn't care about being happy at all. Compared with the rebels of the Western Frontier Alliance, this little power in his hands is still insignificant, not to mention the 100,000 Turkic iron horsemen of Prince Ronia.

The only thing Li Jiangyao has to do now is to race against time to reorganize the troops, strengthen training, and enhance as much combat strength as possible.

Only in this way can he survive in this troubled world. If your life is gone, what can you say about returning to your own world?

After careful discussion with Xu Youchang, Li Jiangyao decided to divide the soldiers and horses into five armies, "left, right, front, front, and center" to deal with the big battle that might come at any time.

On the basis of the original, Xu Youchang's vanguard battalion was increased by 3,000 men to form a front army with 6,000 pure cavalry, giving full play to its characteristics of being good at assault and attacking fortifications.

The left army and the right army also have 6,000 troops each, which are mixed by the Zhenjiang Protector Army and the Shanshan Army, and Du Jian and Huo Liya serve as the commanders of the left army and the right army respectively.

Lin Feng led 5,000 people, as the rear army, responsible for guarding Metasequoia City. In addition, 10,000 craftsmen and craftsmen under the control of Ma Mu were also assigned to the rear army for assistance.

Li Jiangyao carefully selected 2,000 soldiers of various nationalities to form the Chinese army. These are all veterans who are physically strong, courageous, and have a wealth of combat experience, although they are not very numerous, but as the core assault group, they take on the key mission of the final victory of the battle.

Black armor, white cloak, iron mask, spear and hard crossbow became the standard equipment of this Chinese army, and later the "ghost face and white robe army" that shocked the ghost desert in Western Xinjiang and became famous in the Central Plains of the Tang Dynasty was officially established.