Naoli, Kyoto Castle.

In the forbidden army camp in Kyoto City, Yun Bi looked at the columns of forbidden army soldiers with a serious expression, and the atmosphere was quite heavy.

"Soldiers, presumably everyone already knows the news of Huya Pass, the Rong clan has occupied Huya Pass, and Bu Ri will invade Zhili, you are all from the Central Plains, you should know what will happen if you can't drive those barbarians out of the pass."

Yun Bi's sharp voice was very infectious, and the soldiers who heard the words were all nervous.

In fact, there is no need for Yun Bi to say that they also know that if the cavalry of the Rong clan is allowed to wreak havoc in the Central Plains, it will be their relatives who will suffer, and what will be plundered is what belongs to them.

The war between warlords does not have to be life and death for these big-headed soldiers, and the first thing many people think of when the two armies go to war is how to survive, but the alien race is different.

They are different from the Great Xia people, in history, different races have not regarded each other as equal human beings to themselves, and they will not feel too much guilt in their hearts even when they are slaughtered.

Although after the Rong army entered the customs, Zong Yu had adopted a series of policies to reassure the people, but the soldiers in the Zhili Forbidden Army did not know and would not understand.

Once on the battlefield, they are faced with a choice question of life and death.

After Yunbi's mobilization, the soldiers of the forbidden army in Kyoto City were mobilized, and the next step was to wait for the Rong clan to lead the army over.

This time, Yun Bi was not prepared to defend Kyoto or a certain county city, and now that Huya Pass had been lost, if the invasion of the Rong tribe could not be stopped, the forbidden army that could not control the land would be completely broken from now on.

And this time Yun Bi is not alone, he also has allies.

Not long ago, Yun Bi had received replies from all parties, like Yangcheng Xiao Jiu, needless to say, after receiving the news of the Rong people's entry into the customs, he immediately stationed troops in Jizhou, and dispatched a large number of materials from his own territory to Kyoto, which will arrive in a few days.

Jizhou Governor Xia Ming also responded immediately, although the current local warlords in Jizhou are divided, but once the war starts, they will definitely give some assistance.

The most surprising thing for Yun Bi was the rebel army in Yuzhou, which was still a hostile side not long ago, and Gu Chong actually replied with a letter promising to send a part of the rebel army to Zhili.

With these reinforcements, Yun Bi also felt a little more confident in his heart, at least he was not the only one in the Central Plains who was struggling to support, and there were still some people of insight with national feelings.

With the passage of time, more than a month has passed since the Rong people occupied Huya Pass, but the Rong army outside the pass still has not moved.

But everyone knew that the temporary calm was only the eve of the storm, and it was not long before a great war would inevitably break out in the land of Naoli.

Both sides are preparing for the upcoming big war, and once the war starts, the competition will not only be the bravery of the soldiers, but also the national strength.

During this period, some wealthy families in the Zhili area defected one after another under the leadership of the Cui family, and they fell in love with the Rong clan in Huya Pass.

The forbidden army led by Yun Bi also had no time to manage the landlords entrenched in Zhili for the time being because of the preparations for the upcoming war.

Zong Yu, the leader of the Rong Alliance, did not refuse this, and gave enough benefits to the first few families to take refuge, and promised some official positions to the children of these families.

All the forces are preparing for the eve of the war, and Xiao Jiu has not been idle, and has been staying at the station in Annan County, Jizhou during this time, arranging war arrangements with the soldiers of Xiao Zi's battalion.

At the same time, there is also the Lingshui Chamber of Commerce in Yangcheng County, which also showed amazing energy at this time, transporting a large number of materials to the front line.

Along with the grain, grass and materials, there were also new artillery pieces produced by the arsenal, all of which were shipped to Jizhou at this time.

These things are all treasures at the bottom of Xiao Jiu's box, in order to prepare for the war that will come at any time, Xiao Jiu has hoarded several cannonballs in the warehouse.

In this era when human life is not valuable, many armies are actually piled up by numbers, but Xiao Jiu's Xiao Zi Battalion is different.

Since the Yangcheng County Academy sent a large number of young officers to the army, Xiao Jiu can be said to attach great importance to these new-style talents.

Therefore, Xiao Jiu has been committed to the research and development of new weapons and the improvement of the army's medical system, with the aim of avoiding reducing casualties among soldiers in war.

Watching the truckloads of artillery, shells, and explosives being sent to the Annan County garrison one after another, Xiao Jiu's heart was a little more steady.

This time, he wants to let the Rong clan outside the gate see the power of firearms, although it can't play a decisive role, but it will definitely make the other party suffer a little.

Ten days later, the Rong coalition army, which had taken a short rest in Huya Pass, had arrived from outside the pass one after another and began to send troops to the country.

In this expedition, the Rong tribe dispatched a full 100,000 troops, with banners covering the sun, and all the heads were densely packed as far as the eye could see.

Among these 100,000 people, the number of Rong soldiers accounted for only about half, and a large part of them were conscripted border civilians and militiamen recruited by some surrendering families.

Needless to say, the combat effectiveness of the Rong soldiers naturally goes without saying, they live on the grassland all the year round, and the attacks between the various tribes are continuous, and the natural folk customs are fierce.

Moreover, the grassland is rich in war horses, and 20,000 of the more than 50,000 Rong soldiers are cavalry, which can be regarded as the elite of the entire army.

After Zong Yu vigorously studied the Great Xia culture in the six border states, these cavalry were no longer the barbarian warriors who wore animal skins before, and they were basically equipped with armor and better quality weapons.

A full 20,000 cavalry charged together, and it was undoubtedly a meat grinder-like existence on the battlefield.

In addition, cavalry also has super mobility that infantry does not have, and undoubtedly has a huge advantage in field combat.

On the other hand, in the Central Plains, although there are also cultivated war horses in Zhili, Jizhou and other places, they will not exceed 5,000 when they are full, not to mention the quality of war horses.

However, the ragtag army composed of half of the Great Xia people seemed to be a gift at this time, and it should be a weight for this war.

The soldiers of the Rong tribe on the grassland are strong and strong, and the warlords in the Central Plains can probably only take advantage of the number of people.

The Zhili area was controlled by Yunbi's forbidden army, and under the conscription policy in a short period of time, a full battle could probably make up a force of 50,000 troops.

Xiao Jiu's Yangcheng army is 30,000, Yuzhou can probably send 20,000 soldiers, and Jizhou promises to send 80,000 troops, but in fact, it can make up about 30,000.

However, the two counties of Wanzhou and Xuzhou, which border Zhili, showed a wait-and-see attitude at this time, and Yun Bi couldn't say anything about it.

After all, the two sides were still fighting each other before, and it was still very difficult to shake hands in such a short time.

Now that the Rong army has set off from Huya Pass to Zhili, Yun Bi, who received the news, immediately ordered to collect the forbidden army under his command and defend the county seat.

As soon as the battle broke out, Xiao Jiu and his Xiao Zi battalion also immediately set off and led the army into Zhili.

This is the second time Xiao Jiu has led troops to Zhili, but this time his identity is very different from the last time.

I still remember that when Xiao Jiu was a small mountain bandit leader before, he was coerced by the Qingzhou Army to go to King Qinwang in Kyoto, and this time he was in charge of an army alone, above 10,000 people.

In addition to Kyoto Castle, the Naoli area is roughly divided into eight prefectures, of which Kyoto is in the middle of the position, and the remaining eight prefectures are distributed in eight directions.

After Xiao Jiu entered Zhili, the first place to arrive was Fufeng County, the easternmost county, with a land area about half the size of Yangcheng County now, with a large population, and it was a relatively prosperous place in the Zhili area in the past.

But since Xiao Jiu entered this rumored rich land, what he saw was a devastated scene.

Large swathes of land were barren and abandoned, and villages that had once thrived were in ruins due to the baptism of war.

Occasionally, I came across one or two villages with smoke wafting from cooking, and the villagers were all desperately hiding when the Xiao Ziying army arrived.

These people were really bullied and afraid, and they trembled when they met the soldiers.

As the saying goes, soldiers are like combs, and in the cruel war years, there was no essential difference between soldiers in military uniforms and mountain bandits, and even worse.

The mountain bandits may also consider the need for long-term blood transfusions from these people, but the soldiers passing by don't care so much, and they won't consider whether the food is your ration for living through tomorrow.

In addition, because of the long-term war, the warlords who occupied Zhili needed a large number of soldiers, and forcibly recruited a large number of young and strong people into the army, which directly led to the fact that there were few decent laborers in the existing villages.

In this way, a vicious circle is formed, in which the more you fight, the poorer you get, the poorer you get, and in the end, you can only rely on continuous aggression to prevent the regime from collapsing.

Whether it is the Yuzhou army that ravaged Zhili before, or the forbidden army that is now in charge of Kyoto City, it seems that only disasters are left for this land.

Take the land tax issued by Yunbi as an example, although the original intention was only to forcibly levy the money and grain of those landlords and large households to replenish the army, it did not consider whether the soldiers under his command had the ability to carry it out.

Regardless of the quality of the newly recruited soldiers of the forbidden army, when the power of life and death of the people is delegated to the martial artists in the army, it undoubtedly opens a Pandora's box.

These people don't care who is tomorrow's emperor, it's just a game for the nobility, they only think about whether they can continue to live tomorrow.

And this is also the reason why the Rong people were able to recruit a large number of Daxia people as cannon fodder after occupying the six border states, after all, they all died horizontally and vertically, and it was better to give the Rong people a full meal than to starve to death directly.

Looking at the noisy villages and towns and the numb villagers on their faces, Xiao Jiu had a cold attitude towards all this.

His ability is limited, and now he has no ability to save more people in dire straits, and all he can do is to discipline his soldiers well, and try not to disturb these frightened villagers.

There is still a long way to go, but Xiao Jiu secretly swore in his heart that sooner or later he would bring the troops back here, just to no longer see that suffocating look of despair.