"Wang Shangshu, can you tell me and all Aiqing about the current battle situation, how is the situation on the front line?"

Hearing the emperor call his name, Wang Bo, the secretary of the military department, hurriedly surrendered his hand: "Obey the order." Your Majesty, at present, the main war is still divided into four directions. The Turkic Helian Xiong continued to storm Mahongjie's defenses, and the nearest battlefield was less than two hundred miles to the east. The Turkic tribe is acting strangely and is believed to be showing signs of movement towards Ichuan. ”

"Ikawa?" Li Bing was slightly stunned: "Isn't that the south of Luoyi?" Could it be that he wants to join up with Lao Jianhua's rebels? ”

"That's true." Wang Bo said: "The ministers also judge in this way. Recently, Bao Yuchun has made frequent moves, repeatedly testing our army's Shahe defense line, and General Murong has repelled their attacks six times in a row. However, if Ronia really went south, General Murong would face the danger of being attacked on his back. ”

Li Bing said in a deep voice: "Is there any way to deal with it?" ”

Wang Bo looked at Dong Tianxing next to him, and Lao Dong understood and replied for him: "On the one hand, we informed General Murong and General Ma that they were on guard, and on the other hand, we transferred 50,000 newly recruited soldiers to Yichuan to deploy defenses, and try to block the Turks from moving south. ”

Li Bing pondered for a moment and shook his head: "The combat strength of the recruits is worrying, and they may not be able to stop the Turkic Temple Prince, according to me, they still have to rely on those veterans." How is Chang Tao, when will he be able to get rid of Li Jiong and turn back to support Murong Xue? ”

Wang Bo responded: "Your Majesty, three days ago, the Huaiyang rebels had been repulsed, and Chang Daduhu was cleaning the battlefield and treating the wounded at this time, and they could set off after a little rest." The minister estimates that it will be a matter of these two days, and it will not be later than the seventh day of the first month of this month at the latest. ”

"Okay, Chang Tao performed well this time and taught the Huaiyang Army a hard lesson." Li Bing bowed slightly: "This time, Li Jiong is probably going to lose his old capital." Wang Aiqing, you said that there is still one left in the military situation in the four directions, it should be the Western Army, right? ”

Wang Bo replied, "Yes, Your Majesty." Half a month ago, the Turkic prince Tanli suddenly led his troops to surrender, and the Zhenjiang army occupied Lanzhou bloodlessly. Subsequently, Xu Youchang commanded an army of 200,000 to implement a strategic detour and encircled Tianshui County. After six days of fierce fighting, the elite of the Turkic Empire, the 10th Legion of the Golden Clan, was completely annihilated, and the commander of the legion, Count Lorensik, was killed on the spot. ”

As soon as these words came out, the entire court hall suddenly burst into cheers.

The great victory of Tianshui County indicates that the great counteroffensive of the Holy Tang Dynasty against the Turkic invasion has really arrived!

Li Bing was also quite pleased with this, and rarely praised: "The Zhenjiang Army has done a good job!" The 10th Legion of the Golden Clan, one of the main Turkic forces that attacked the imperial capital, was stained with the blood of the loyal martyr Xu family. Xu Youchang, this can be regarded as seeking a little justice for his family and for Shengtang! ”

Dong Tianxing said: "What Your Majesty said is very true. The Zhenjiang army has successively recovered Lanzhou and Tianshui, so Baoji County will be fast. Next, there is the imperial capital! The day is not far off to wash away the shame of Saint Tang. ”

Li Jiangyao's previous analysis was indeed correct, when the news of the victory came, and the emperor was in sight, the imperial court, which was still hesitant, was immediately full of confidence. From the emperor Li Bing to the civil and military officials, they all naturally began to consider the issue of marching eastward and recovering the imperial city as soon as possible.

Li Bing looked radiant, and ordered loudly: "Your military department will go back and sort out your thoughts, see how to transfer troops and send generals, defeat the enemy in the Central Plains as soon as possible, and then concentrate your forces and advance to the imperial capital." The heroic spirit of the first emperor has been waiting for the Holy Tang Battle Banner to return to the imperial capital, and it has been waiting too long. ”

Hearing this, Wang Bo and Dong Tianxing hurriedly surrendered their orders, saying that the military headquarters would immediately start arranging for a counteroffensive.

However, the court thought well, but the reality was very cruel.

Even if the military department came up with a hundred counteroffensive strategies, it would not be able to withstand the joint attack of Bao Yuchun and Ronia.

On the fifth day of the sixth month, the day after Li Bing convened the Imperial Council, an army of 40,000 under the command of the Prince of the Turkic Temple suddenly attacked Yichuan County for a long distance.

The 50,000 soldiers who had just arrived here to deploy their defenses were completely defeated by the ferocious Turks overnight. Those panicked new soldiers fled in all directions all over the mountains, throwing away their armor and being embarrassed.

The Turkic soldiers and horses did not waste time on the rout, nor did they attack the nearby eastern capital of Luoyi. As soon as they succeeded, they immediately turned south and went straight to the Shahe defense line a hundred miles away.

At this time, Murong Xue was commanding more than 80,000 Saint Tang troops, struggling to resist Bao Yuchun's attack.

Although he had received Dong Tianxing's warning in advance and knew that the Turks had the intention of threatening Yichuan in the near future, he still didn't expect that Ronia's soldiers and horses would come so quickly!

And it is clear that Bao Yuchun and Ronia maintain an extremely efficient contact. When the Turks came, it was at the height of the rebel offensive.

Under the front and rear attacks, Murong Xue tried her best but failed to withstand the enemy, and the Shahe defense line finally collapsed.

What followed was that the defensive battle turned into a breakout war, and the breakout battle quickly turned into a scattered escape.

Murong Xue saw that he had no skills to return to the sky, so he had to organize the existing troops in his hands and began to break through to the north.

When he fought all the way back to the Eastern Capital, less than half of the original 80,000 troops remained.

Shahe fiasco, the government and the opposition were shocked!

The Turks and the rebels joined forces, and there was no danger to defend the south of Luoyi, and the eastern capital was in danger of being attacked at any time. Since the fall of the imperial capital, the Emperor of the Holy Tang Dynasty and the imperial court have once again faced the blade of the enemy!

At the same time, the southern army, which was resisting Helianxiong with all its might, was also worried about the surprise attack on its flank because of the large-scale detour of the Temple Prince Ronia, so it had to take the initiative to shrink the defensive line and retreat to the outside of Luoyang City.

The 60,000 soldiers and horses responsible for guarding Wuguan immediately became a lone army.

The whole war situation suddenly became inferior.

The Turks seemed to be crazy, leaving the Zhenjiang army approaching the imperial capital alone, and beating Li Bing with their lives. Ronya, Helianxiong, Druhan, Durham, and almost all the famous Turkic generals were dispatched, and the iron cavalry of the Golden Clan swept everywhere, defeating the imperial army one after another.

Bao Yuchun also took advantage of the fire to rob, and Liankeruzhou, Xuzhou, Chenzhou, and half of the Central Plains fell one after another, becoming the territory of the rebels.

In this case, not to mention launching a counteroffensive and recovering the imperial capital, whether the eastern capital can be kept has become a big question.

In the tenth month, Ma Hongjie's Southern Army, Chang Tao's Liaodong Governor's Mansion, Li Meng's Yinshan Governor's Mansion, Xiao Hongyan's Hebei Provincial Governor's Army, plus the Emperor's direct army commanded by Murong Xue and Gong Chengze, all gathered in Luoyi City and waited for battle.

They all have the feeling that the Turks want to fight in the Eastern Capital!

Soon, the ideas of the generals of St. Don were confirmed. After sweeping through the surrounding counties, a large army of 200,000 Turks approached Luoyi from the west and south. At the same time, Bao Yuchun led 100,000 soldiers and horses under his command to set off from Ruzhou and appeared in the southeast of Luoyi.

The imperial court set up a temporary headquarters in Longmen Town, outside the eastern capital, with Ma Hongjie as the commander, Murong Xue as the deputy commander, Chang Tao as the Sima of the army, and Dong Tianxing as the supervisor, unified and coordinated the command of 650,000 troops, mainly light infantry.

To tell the truth, 650,000 against 300,000, the hearts of the Shengtang generals are still very bottomless.

Guarding the city is not a big problem; But if the enemy only besieges and does not attack, the Holy Tang Army will have no way to take the enemy outside the city.

Lack of iron cavalry, no hoplites, you fart!

The tension in the eastern capital was transmitted to Tianshui for the first time. Li Jiangyao and Xu Youchang were also a little surprised by the Turkic approach. According to the enemy's current deployment, all the main elites have been transferred to the Luoyi front, which means that the defenders of the imperial capital are at an extremely dangerous threshold.

In other words, the imperial capital's defenses were fragile.

"Is Ashina crazy?" Xu Youchang frowned: "Did he think he couldn't stop us at all, so he decided to give up on himself and break the jar?" ”

Li Jiangyao thought about it and said, "I can somewhat understand his considerations. In the end, Ashina is still struggling, but he uses another method. ”

"How?" Xu You grew up curious.

Li Jiangyao didn't rush to answer him, and looked at the map carefully for a while before he said quietly: "He may be planning to make full use of the Turkic people's specialties to revitalize the current predicament. ”

Xu Youchang thought for a while and suddenly realized: "You mean, the riding combat style that comes and goes like the wind?" ”

"That's pretty much it." Li Jiangyao nodded: "Originally, guarding key cities and pass fortresses was a means that our Shengtang army was good at, while the Turks were just the opposite. They come and go like the wind, aggression like fire, and they play with the words 'fast and flexible'. However, I found that since the capture of the imperial capital, the fighting style of the Turks has gradually changed, and they have actually lost their advantages and began to defend the city carefully. ”

Xu Youchang nodded: "Well, this is indeed the case. Thinking about it carefully, at the beginning, they were able to defeat the Zhenjiang Protectorate, the Fierce Blade Legion and the Long Knife Legion in a row, successfully conquer the two levels, and seize the imperial capital, precisely because they didn't care about the gains and losses of one city and one place, and even such a vast land in Western Xinjiang could be left behind and directly rushed forward. Any opponent will have no resistance in the face of this style. However, when the Turkic armies, centered on the imperial capital, began to cherish the territory that had already been acquired, the characteristics of agility and rapidity disappeared. ”

"We both agree on the same page." Li Jiangyao agreed: "In recent years, the high mobility of the Turkic cavalry has not brought them any outstanding achievements, and the main reason is that the thinking of its commanders has changed. When the cavalry began to face the war with the thinking of the infantry, it could only shrink back and fight more and more difficult. ”

Xu Youchang smiled convincingly: "So you judge that Ashina Jin is planning to regain the soul of the Turkic army." ”

Li Jiangyao patted the map: "I am more and more convinced of this." A Turkic army that is stubbornly defending the imperial capital is a lamb without a fighting spirit, and sooner or later it will be drained of blood! And a Turkic army that doesn't care about the imperial capital is a mad wolf, enough to tear any prey apart. If you think about it, two or three hundred thousand guerrilla regiments like horse bandits, relying on the method of fighting to feed war, looting and sweeping everywhere, who can stop them? ”

Hearing this, Xu Youchang couldn't help but gasp: "In that case, the Central Plains, Lianghuai, Jingxiang, and Jiangnan will all become the world of the Turks, let them gallop at will, and no one can beat them!" ”