Chang'an is good

Just as Li Suining said, Cui Jing knew she would come.

He didn't want her to come, but he knew she would come.

He said, "I thought the Master could persuade him."

"Teacher didn't persuade me this time." Li Suining smiled and said, "He even personally sent me out of Taiyuan City."

She looked at the young man who had just retreated from the battlefield and said to him, "Cui Jing, I will help you to defeat the Northern Di first, and then you can help me take back the capital."

The young man cupped his hands, and the sword in his hand and the wrist armor made a sound of collision: "Yes, Cui Jing obeys your command."

The rest of the generals and Military Advisor Jiao and others also followed suit and saluted.

With morale high, Li Suining, Cui Jing and others walked towards the camp. A voice that was out of tune with the exciting atmosphere rang out beside them: "Your Highness... at this critical moment, you should not come here in person."

He was a veteran with great experience and was very old. In the current Xuan Ce army, except for Cui Jing, he was the most prestigious.

He also went to the front-line battlefield in person this time. He took off his helmet and held it in his hand. His hair was a little messy, and there were clotted blood on his drooping gray hair.

He knew that he should not say this to the Crown Princess, whom he had only met a few times, but he said it anyway. Perhaps it was because of the familiar temperament of the other person, or perhaps it was because everyone was calling him "Your Highness" at this moment, which made him feel dazed for no reason.

Obviously, he wanted to persuade Li Suining to go back to the capital.

"General Zhong, the capital doesn't need me right now." The woman's voice sounded particularly clear in the bloody military camp after the war. "Uncle Wang is already working on expelling the bandit Bian. I couldn't be more relieved that Uncle Wang is dedicated to helping me and the Li family quell the civil strife."

General Zhong was stunned for a moment. The supporters of Prince Rong did not acknowledge the identity of the Crown Princess. It was impossible for her to say these words out of naive trust in Prince Rong. It could only be that she had already weighed and arranged it.

In Li Suining's opinion, since Uncle Wang likes to act, it would be better to let him complete the play first.

Allowing Prince Rong to attack the Bian army was actually a way to restrain and consume Prince Rong's forces.

He should be the one to take the trouble to resolve the disaster that he had contributed to.

After that, it remains to be seen who will be the one making the wedding dress for whom.

She had to make sacrifices and concessions in order to care about the North, but these concessions did not mean abandoning everything and letting things go.

It would be even better if her uncle thought that she was just impulsive.

Li Suining did not elaborate on her arrangements, but General Zhong felt relieved. In any case, as long as her decision to come here was not made blindly or impulsively, it would be fine.

However, no matter what the arrangement was, the fact was that she had risked her life...

General Zhong always speaks directly: "Since Your Highness has come here, if you want to return to the capital smoothly, the prerequisite is that we can win the battle against Beidi..."

But at this moment, no one was sure enough to say this.

But Li Suining said, "If I am included, the outcome of this battle is still uncertain, and we can't let you soldiers support it alone. In this case, I have to come."

Upon hearing this, General Zhong looked at the woman in the black robe who was half a step forward, and was speechless for a moment.

"I think we will definitely win this battle." Li Suining said, looking to Cui Jing on the left: "What do you think, General Cui?"

Cui Jing: "Your Highness, if you come in person, you will definitely be able to defeat the Northern Di villains."

Gong Dou and others echoed with great enthusiasm.

General Zhong, who was always down-to-earth, was a little worried when he heard this. He had never doubted the reputation of the Crown Princess, but she had no experience in fighting against the Northern Di. How could she "kill" them? The general was always pragmatic, so why did he say such unfounded and beautiful words?
It's understandable that such words are used to boost morale, but the general's expression is so firm that it's obvious that he believes it himself.

As the crowd echoed the shouts, Cui Jing looked silently at Li Suining in front of him, with the faith in his heart even stronger than his expression.

This time they had two generals.

Even two Xuan Ce armies.

The Xuan Ce Army can be a general term for an elite force. As long as the soldiers she leads are soldiers, they can all be members of the Xuan Ce Army.

With her, we can win.

What he had to do was to do everything he could to make her win as safely as possible.

Of the 100,000 people Li Suining brought with her, more than 90,000 were infantry, archers, and baggage soldiers. The 10,000 cavalrymen she brought to Taiyuan had arrived in the northern border with Cui Jing's 40,000 Taiyuan cavalrymen in the first month of the year, and then another 2,000 were sent back to Taiyuan with her, and they were only returning now.

After an inventory, it was found that, including the Longyou Army and the Shuofang Army, plus the troops brought by Li Suining, the total number of troops stationed in the northern border was 320,000. Excluding casualties, there were nearly 80,000 available cavalry, including about 4,000 elite cavalry.

The number of cavalrymen gathered together was huge, and they were extremely powerful, but the Northern Di cavalry they needed to resist was still several times their number.

A few days later, Tang Xing and Kang Zhi arrived from Fan Yang with an army of 30,000 and brought several thousand cavalry.

At the beginning, Tang Xing and others led the troops to Fanyang, and they also subdued the remnants of the Fanyang army along the way. Naturally, the number of troops in the Fanyang area was more than 30,000. But the total number of troops is one thing, and the number that can be gathered and transferred is another. Hebei Province has just been recovered, and the troops need to be dispersed to suppress it. This matter is now in the charge of Bai Hong——

In addition, the governor of Pinglu Army had changed his master again, and sufficient troops were needed to guard against invasions by nomadic tribes in the northeast of the border. These 30,000 troops were the maximum number that could be mobilized.

After meeting Kang Zhi, Li Suining asked whether Kang Cong's succession as the governor of Pinglu was going smoothly.

"Envoy... Your Highness, rest assured, everything will go well!" Kang Zhi said, "Thanks to Your Highness's kindness!"

After hearing the news that the capital had been breached, she had originally planned to get rid of the Jiedushi of Pinglu who was appointed by the empress. The plan was already prepared and was about to be implemented when she suddenly heard a message from Taiyuan saying that her Jiedushi had become the Crown Princess!

Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess quickly issued an imperial decree appointing Kang Cong as the new Jiedushi of Pinglu.

The governor of Yuanpinglu was transferred to Jiangdu to await appointment.

Therefore, the Yuanping Lu Jiedushi who escaped the disaster kowtowed repeatedly in the direction of Taiyuan, packed his bags and obediently went to Jiangdu to undergo ideological transformation.

As a result, the Pinglu Army changed its surname back to Kang again.

But Kang Zhi was very clear that her brother's abilities and prestige still needed to be honed and consolidated, and he would need the help of Shi Man, the former general of the Pinglu Army. So she gritted her teeth and agreed to her brother's marriage with Shi Wen - just as if her brother was marrying for the sake of the overall situation!

But she didn't want to stay for the wedding banquet at all. When she heard the order to mobilize troops was issued, she hurriedly followed.

After asking about the situation in the Pinglu Army, Li Suining asked Kang Zhi, "Why don't you stay in Hebei Province with General Bai?" "I think that although Your Highness didn't ask me to come, he didn't say that I can't come either..."

Kang Zhi said, seeing that her master didn't seem to blame her, she straightened her back gradually: "Besides, your highness, with his worth of millions of gold, can come here, so there's no reason why Ani, with her worthless life, can't come."

The girl's deep eyes showed undisguised ambition: "Ani wants to fight with His Highness, kill the fiercest enemy, and achieve the most courageous military exploits!"

"Okay." Li Suining said to her, "Go find Shepherd's Purse and ask her to take you to see General Gong Dou. Starting tomorrow, you will train with them."

"Yes!" Kang Zhi clasped her fists vigorously: "I obey your orders!"

After Kang Zhi left, Tang Xing was left alone by Li Suining.

"Don't worry, I have something I need to entrust to you, and you are the best person to do it." Li Suining said frankly in front: "But this journey is extremely dangerous and difficult, you need to concentrate on it, do what ordinary people cannot do, and survive a hundred deaths. If you don't want to, I will never force you or blame you."

Upon hearing this, Tang Xing raised his hand and saluted: "Your Highness, please entrust me with this. I am willing to go!"

Li Suining looked at him: "I haven't told you what it is yet--"

"To do something that ordinary people cannot do must be extraordinary." Tang Xing smiled, his eyes firm: "Accompanying His Highness to accomplish things has long been Xing's lifelong goal. Whatever His Highness entrusts me with, there is no reason not to do it!"

After this conversation, Tang Xing set off secretly two days later.

Li Suining personally saw him off.

Watching the team leave and the smoke and dust gradually settling, Li Suining said, "I know that Xiu Kun has been chasing after great things all his life. As long as I ask him, he will agree to go no matter how dangerous it is. I am using his lifelong pursuit as bait. Isn't this a calculation?"

Cui Jing stood beside her and said, "A plan that is not concealed is not a plan. Your Highness, you must know how to use people well when you are in this position."

"And His Highness knows where he is going, and he knows what His Highness needs. His Highness has entrusted me with trust, and I will trust him with life and death—" Cui Jing also looked at the direction where the group of people left, and said: "If my heart is good, I will not regret it even if I die nine times."

Tang Xing was like this, and the soldiers who escorted Tang Xing away were equally worthy of respect.

Anyone who protects the country with his life and body, whether openly or secretly, is a hero of Dasheng.

The wind blew up dust and the war broke out again.

There were more than ten tribes of various sizes in the Northern Di forces that participated in the attack on the northern border of Dasheng. In recent years, there have been serious divisions among the tribal forces of the Northern Di, but when it comes to dividing the interests of Dasheng, their goals are highly consistent.

The large Beidi tribes mobilized tens of thousands of troops, and the small tribes also gathered thousands of troops. The latter mostly fought on their own at first and launched raids everywhere, but because they could not break through the defense of Xuan Ce's army for a long time, they gradually moved closer to the large tribal forces and temporarily chose to march under the orders of Ashide Yuanli, the commander-in-chief who was loyal to the current Beidi Khan.

This time, the Northern Di tribes, led by Ashide Yuanli, once again gathered 100,000 soldiers and deployed them in front of the Yinshan fortress.

This pass was rebuilt by Xuan Ce's army. The stone walls were raised and reinforced, and the supply route to the rear was opened again.

As the Northern Di army approached, a Northern Di general who was leading the battle line squinted at the gatekeeper on top of the stone building, and suddenly burst into laughter, loudly mocking in Chinese: "He is indeed a woman!"

"The female emperor of Dasheng just lost her country, and now they have appointed another female crown prince! This female crown prince even dares to go to the battlefield. It seems that Dasheng really has no one left to use!"

He said something in Northern Di language to the generals on his left and right. The laughter became more outrageous. Someone pointed a knife at Li Suining on the tower and asked loudly: "You are also a princess of Dasheng, so do you know Chongyue? Have you heard how she was torn into pieces by our Khanate warriors?"

"I only know how your former coach died before the battle—"

Li Suining didn't care whether they could hear this answer clearly or not. She drew her bow on top of the stone building and narrowed one eye slightly: "Whether you are the crown prince or the princess of our dynasty, if I can kill you once, I can kill you a second time!"

"call out--!"

The arrow flew at him, and the general who spoke first raised his sword to block it angrily, but his block was in vain, because the arrow flew past his head, which was two or three feet high.

With such damn accuracy, he dares to shoot the first arrow before the battle, isn't he afraid of destroying the morale of the army!
Just as the Northern Di general was about to laugh out loud, the sharp arrow flew to the chariot behind him in an instant and hit the tallest Khanate flag.

The flagpole cracked in the middle, and although it did not break completely, it was enough to make the vertical flag fluttering in the wind fall down like a lifeless branch or leaf.

"Today, this place can be the burial place for all of our army, and no living foreigner can pass through this pass!" Li Suining ordered loudly: "Beat the drums! Kill the enemy!"

Inside and outside the pass, war drums sounded loudly and shouts of killing shook the sky.

First they used arrows, crossbows, fire arrays and stones to attack, forcing the Northern Di army in the front line to retreat a hundred steps. Then they took the opportunity to open the gates wide, and Cui Jing, wearing black armor, led the cavalry in the front, followed closely by Chang Sui'an, with their iron hooves rolling, and rushed towards the enemy formation.

In the wind and sand, the bloody mist of war rose into the sky.

People from both armies kept falling off their horses.

In this battle, the Sheng army cavalry tried a new cone formation, which consisted of twenty people and was more suitable for fighting in mountain canyons with insufficient openness.

This formation was led by two of the most valiant and elite cavalry vanguards of the Xuan Ce Army, with nine cavalrymen on each wing, using horse sculptures as weapons to break through the enemy's ranks and disperse their formation. Behind this formation were chariots, surrounded by infantry to fill the gaps between the chariots. The infantry and chariots worked together to form a formation, and when the enemy was thrown off their horses by the cone formation in front, they rushed forward with all their might.

He Wuhu, Kang Zhi and others were all placed in the chariot formation. They had no experience fighting against the Northern Di and could not serve as the vanguard. They needed to get used to this unfamiliar battlefield first.

The running-in process was brutal. They witnessed the brutality of the enemy and kept witnessing the death of their own soldiers. They watched their blood feed the dry sand under their feet again and again, and the sand filled with blood turned into a sea of ​​blood.

In addition to the repeated surprise attacks, the Northern Di Army launched three such large-scale offensive battles in more than a month.

The soldiers guarding the pass demonstrated their loyalty to the territory behind them with their blood, and did not allow anyone outside of their race to enter the pass.

In this solemn place with extremely long days, no one dares to be lazy or sad for a moment.

As the Northern Di army retreated without success time and time again, they gradually showed impetuous spirit. Some tribal generals began to question Ashide Yuanli. He once said that the Sheng army could only hold out for a month at most and then they would be unable to defend, and the Northern Di cavalry would be able to cross the Yinshan Mountains... But in the end, their attacks were unsuccessful and they lost nearly 10,000 soldiers!
But even so, they had no intention of retreating. Instead, their impatience made them even more anxious and violent, like wild beasts that became more frenzied due to injuries.

It was June, the height of summer, and the battle was as fierce as the scorching sun.

The news that the Crown Princess was leading her army to the northern border spread throughout Da Sheng along with the chirping of summer cicadas, and everyone knew about it.

When people heard the news, reactions varied.

In Luoyang City, Luo Guanlin, who had become increasingly taciturn since learning about this, stood alone under the jujube tree in the courtyard for the entire night during a sleepless night.

At dawn, he made a decision. (End of this chapter)