Late Tang

(Thanks to Golden Earth and Jun Zibai for their support!)

The Zhenwu Army was wiped out in World War I, Li Keyong was still angry, and planned to continue going south and wipe out the Tuoba tribe of the Dangxiang clan.Li Guochang was also quite angry with Tuoba Sigong. In his opinion, the defection of the Zhenwu army had a lot to do with the party members.Without the collusion of party members, the Six Thousand Zhenwu Army would never dare to rebel against him.

Hearing the military order to go south, Gai Yu hurried over.

"Marshal, stay here, absolutely not, at this time you must not go south again!"

Li Keyong, father and son, planned to go south. First, they wanted to avenge Tuoba Sigong's severe injury to them. They also wanted to scare other forces who were ready to take advantage of the fire, and let them know that although the Shatuo people were defeated for a while, Still not easy to mess with.Of course, it would be even better if the soldiers and horses of the imperial court could be brought to the south.

However, Gai Yu didn't think it was a good plan. He had been interrogating the captured Zhenwu Army just now, and he understood from the interrogation that the rebellion of the Zhenwu Army in the Jinglue Army City and the tooth extraction by the Tuoba Tribe all had reasons. The shadow of Zhendong Army Li Jing manipulating behind.

"It is basically clear now that after Li Jing entered the Jin Dynasty, he first took Weizhou, and then secretly arranged with Yu Juan and Helian Duo to attack the Chanyu Governor's Mansion. Even Tuoba Sigong insisted on being our enemy, The Zhenwu army's rebellion was also planned and promoted by Li Jing. This is a very terrible thing. Judging from the situation of Li Jing's defeat of Lu Longjun in Youzhou, Li Jing's strength is quite strong, but they have been fighting for so long. , but only took down Weizhou, which his wife voluntarily abandoned. Even after capturing Taixi Pass, he did not pursue the defeated soldiers in Weizhou, which is unusual." Gai Yu said with a worried face.

Li Keyong had always trusted Gai Yu, so he couldn't help being surprised when he heard this: "You suspect that Li Jing has been hiding his strength?"

"It's not doubt, but certainty. Li Jing is playing a huge game of chess right now, and he's laying out a huge trap, ready to trap us all." Gai Yu himself was startled by the result he guessed one jump.

According to his speculation, the soldiers and horses of the seven towns of the entire imperial court may have united, and they are laying down a huge sheet to enclose them.Li Jing has been making small troubles in Weizhou, but in fact he has a very powerful army in his hand, and Yu Jian copied the old place of Zhenwu Army.

Especially after he learned from the interrogation of the captives that both the Zhenwu Army and the Tuoba tribe were sent out by Li Jing's emissary, he became even more worried.It was heard that Li Jing had given 3000 taels of gold to the Tuoba tribe, so Tuoba Sigong sent troops.As for the Zhenwu Army, they were all bought with a lot of money.Both a Tuoba tribe and a Zhenwu army were bought by Li Jing, so more people might be bought.Now that they are dispatched, the base camp Daibei is empty, and the three armies of Li Jing, Yu Yu, and Zheng Congxuan are already in their positions.

If the three groups send troops together, they can directly siege Yunshuo.No matter how strong the Shatuo army is, if the foundation is lost, not to mention other things, just the problem of logistics, food and grass supply can directly destroy the Shatuo army.

If they still go south at this time, then there will be no chance of escaping.

"If we fight alone, one Shatuo warrior can deal with three officers and soldiers of the Tang army. We are not afraid of the three soldiers and horses of the Tang Dynasty fighting against any one alone. Can't stand it."

"Then what do you think we should do?" Li Ke looked at Gai Yu expectantly.

"Turn away from the limelight for now, go back to Yunshuo first, take the tribe's population out of the fortress, and avoid the limelight before we come back." Gai Yu gritted his teeth.

Li Guochang held his forehead, "Will we come back then?"

Gai Yu thinks it is possible, the imperial army consists of seven towns, they cannot spend here all the time.As long as they retreat and fight alone at that time, no one in Shatuo will be afraid.And Gai Yu also has a lot of research on the current situation in the Tang Dynasty.

The Nanzhao Kingdom has already started to invade Xichuan again, so the imperial court transferred Gao Pian, who is the most capable player, to Xichuan.In Henan, Huang Chao Wang Xianzhi's grass army was in chaos in the Tianping Army, and Wang Jingwu was still in rebellion in Ziqing Town.

"Cao Jun and Wang Jingwu have come together. Although I haven't heard of their alliance yet, just by being together, the momentum has been greatly boosted. Ziqing Town and Tianping Army have begun to decay, and Yicheng Army is right next to Tianping Army, the turmoil will burn back to the Yicheng Army at any time. Li Jing's Zhendong Army is also under Ziqing Town. If Wang Jingwu's rebellion persists for a long time, Song Wei will definitely have to transfer Li Jing back. Once they go back, the court wants to transfer them again Come here, but it will be difficult."

"That's true." Li Guochang nodded. After the battle of Jinglue Military City, he now thinks a little further, and he is not as arrogant as before.Even a strong soldier like the Shatuo Army can hardly resist the siege of the towns.

Under Gai Yu's persuasion, Li Guochang and his son decided to go back to Yunshuo first.

"We can't just run away like this, otherwise, even if we escape into the grassland, the soldiers and horses of the imperial court will chase us all the way." Although Li Keyong agreed to retreat first, he did not agree to retreat directly like this. "We have to find a way to fight a battle first. It is best to destroy all the soldiers of the three groups, so as to deter them from chasing all the way."

"Then fight the Tiande Army. The Tiande Army is the weakest of the three armies, with only 2000 men." Li Guochang directly proposed to fight the Tiande Army, not only because the Tiande Army was the weakest, but also because the Tiande Army copied his lair. , his wives and concubines are all in Shanyu Duhu's mansion.

"No, hit the strongest one if you want to fight. Only in this way can it be effective. Otherwise, even if you defeat the Tiande Army, it won't have much effect." Li Ke clenched his fists tightly and said with anger in his tone .

After careful discussion for a long time, Li Guochang and his son finally decided.Go back to Hedong first, find a way to fight Zheng Congxuan's Central Route Army once, and then retreat.

Before setting off, Li Guochang summoned Gao Wenshun, the governor of Shengzhou, and asked him to take the soldiers and horses of Shengzhou to escort the wounded soldiers back to Yunzhou, and asked him to strengthen the guards of Yunzhou, so that the passage out of the fortress must be kept smooth.

Gao Wenji, the guard of Shuozhou, was Gao Wenshun's younger brother. Li Guochang asked him to pass through Shuozhou first, and then together with Gao Wenji, transfer some troops from Shuozhou to Yunzhou.He and Li Kehe first went to Lanzhou to look for fighter planes, and then joined them.

Taiyuan Mansion, in the city of Jinyang, the northern capital.

The envoys of Li Jing and Yu Jian arrived one after another, and sent the good news of the east and west camps to the envoy Zheng Congxun.

Li Jing of the Dongjun Army on the East Road Camp has recovered the entire Weizhou, and captured the important Guancheng Taixi Pass on the border of the Wei Dynasty, and has recovered Daizhou a few days ago. Now the Zhendong Army has only part of the garrison Outside the two prefectures of the Wei Dynasty, the army came to Niupi Pass in the north of Yunzhou.Li Jing returned to the two prefectures and beheaded five thousand Shatuo rebels.And captured Li Guochang's three sons, Li Kexiu, Li Kerou, and Li Kezhang alive.

The Jiedu envoy of the Tiande Army, Yu Jian, who was camping on the West Road, had also recovered the Shanyu Duhu Mansion, Zhongshoucheng City, and Dongshoucheng City on the north of the Yellow River.Annihilate [-] Shatuo soldiers, and recruit [-] Shatuo soldiers.Of the entire Zhenwu Army, only the Sheng and Yin prefectures in the south of the Yellow River have not been recovered.

When Zheng Congxuan announced this good news in front of the generals of the five towns, the generals of the five towns couldn't believe it.They have seen the bravery of the Shatuo people before. A general as powerful as Cao Xiang was directly defeated and killed. From this we can see.

Zheng Congxuan was also a little skeptical at the beginning, so after he received the victory report, he did not announce it immediately. Instead, he sent someone out to check it first, and finally confirmed that the victory was true.Although he thinks that the number of enemy kills by the two armies may not be as high as reported, the recovery of Zhenwu and Weidai states is not false.

The generals went from being unbelievable at the beginning, to being surprised and shocked later, and gradually turned into envy and jealousy.

"Report! The envoy of General Li Jing from the east camp has arrived!" A guard reported loudly outside the meeting hall.

"Pass!" Zheng Congxuan heard that it was Li Jing's messenger, and hurriedly asked someone to bring it up.

The one who came in was Li Yang who had just arrived from Youzhou. As soon as he entered the lobby, Li Yang immediately congratulated Zheng Congyu.

"Why do you like it?" Zheng Congxuan asked in surprise.

"Congratulations to Zheng Xiangguo for his excellent command. I have made new achievements in recruiting the army, and I will spread the good news again. Under the planning of the recruiting envoy, my family is in charge of the liaison and layout, and finally succeeded in persuading Tuoba Sigong, the governor of Yuzhou, to lead the party Xiangbing to participate. To suppress the rebellion, the Zhenwu Army was also instigated to fight back. Just a few days ago, under the plan of Li Dutong, [-] Dangxiang Tuoba troops and [-] soldiers from the Zhenwu Army defeated the traitor Li Guochang, and killed [-] Shatuo in one battle The elite soldiers and horses captured Shatuo soldiers and horse envoy Li Jinzhong, and Shatuo general Cheng Huaixin alive, Li Guochang was defeated, the whole army was wiped out, and he fled with only a hundred or so cavalry."

When all the generals in the hall heard the news, they all took a breath of air.

Zheng Congxuan couldn't restrain the excitement in his heart, and stood up suddenly: "What you said is true? Li Guochang's entire army was wiped out, and Shatuo's soldiers were wiped out by six thousand?"

"It's absolutely true." Li Yang nodded, "Here is the detailed before and after written by my subordinates. In addition, Li Jinzhong has also been escorted to Jinyang, and the heads of six thousand Shatuo bandit soldiers have been sent to Chang'an City to report victory!"

After reading the letter, Zheng Congxuan understood what happened.In the letter, Li Yang not only stated the history of Jinglue City, but also added a few sentences according to Li Jing's meaning, indicating that the behind-the-scenes planners of this battle were Li Jing and Zheng Congxuan. More than half of the credit was given to Zheng Congxuan.

In the end, it also explained how the Zhenwu Army advanced greedily, but Li Ke, who was driven to Luotuoyan in Shengzhou, was lured into the ambush circle, and the entire army of more than [-] soldiers was defeated in the end.

Zheng Congxuan didn't like the erratic Zhenwu Army either.Seeing their entire army wiped out at this time, they didn't show any expression at all. Instead, they felt that there was one less troublesome matter in their hearts, and it would be better if it was gone.On the contrary, he was more interested in the Dangxiang cavalry. Hearing that Tuoba Sigong led [-] cavalry to come, he quickly asked for the five Tuoba brothers to come.

Tuoba Sigong originally took Yinzhou with soldiers and horses, but when he heard that Li Ke used Shengzhou, and the five thousand Zhenwu troops were wiped out in the first battle, he couldn't help being terrified.They just received Li Yang's invitation to go to Taiyuan, so they went south to Suizhou, then entered Hedong Shizhou from Mengmenjin, and finally rushed to Taiyuan.

Zheng Congxuan personally met the five Tuoba brothers in the hall, and asked about the battle situation. He was very satisfied with Tuoba, ordered a lot of rewards on the spot, and placed [-] Dangxiang cavalry in his central army.

I heard that Li Guochang and his son had returned to Hedong again, and they were in Lanzhou at this time, and the generals of the five towns all called for a fight.

Among them, Li Jun, the former recruitment envoy and Jiedu envoy of the Yicheng Army, was the most active.From his point of view, now that there are many good news from various sources, Li Ke and his father and son have no more than [-] soldiers, and this is the time to beat the dog in the water.Even thousands of party members can defeat Li Guochang, how could they be inferior to a few barbarians.

If it was slower, maybe Li Jing and Yu Yu over there would attack and directly recover the Yunshuo states, and then they would have nothing to do.

Although Zheng Congxuan felt that it was best to stick to Taiyuan right now, Li Jing's Zhendong Army and Yu Juan's Tiande Army suppressed and attacked from the east and west, and finally surrounded the Shatuo rebels with soldiers from the three routes, using siege tactics as the top priority.As long as the Shatuo people have no bases, no matter how powerful they are, they will not be able to become a climate. At that time, they will have no supplies, and winter will soon come. The snowstorm alone can kill this rebel army.

However, this prudent plan was opposed by almost all the generals. Not only the Yicheng Army, Zhaoyi Army, Zhongwu Army, and Heyang Army opposed it together, but even the generals of the Hedong Army opposed the overly conservative plan. Give the Shatuo people a chance to breathe.

"Dutong, I am willing to lead [-] soldiers from the headquarters of the Yicheng Army as the vanguard of the army, and take back Xinzhou first!" Li Jun, the governor of the Yicheng Army, stood up and asked for a fight.

Su Hongzhen, the envoy of the Zhelu army, also called for battle immediately. The Zhelu army was originally in Lanzhou, but was defeated by Li Keyong before. Su Hongzhen led the defeated troops and retreated into Jinyang.Seeing that the opportunity for revenge is right in front of him, how can he miss it.Immediately asked to send troops back to Lanzhou.

Zhang Yanqiu, Marquis of Duyu, was well-known among the generals of the Hedong army, and at this time he also proposed to take advantage of the opportunity to send troops. In his words, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses from their five towns were stationed in Jinyang City, but they watched Li Jing and Yu Jian go out. It is really unreasonable for Pianshi to defeat all the way and play triumphant songs.

Zhou Congyu, the envoy of the Supervisory Army in Hedong, also actively supported the dispatch of troops at this time. Seeing this, Zheng Congyu agreed that the will of the generals must not be violated, and finally decided to send troops according to the wishes of the generals.In the end, the troops were divided into two groups. Li Jun led 8000 Yicheng troops from his headquarters out of Chitang Pass and Shiling Pass, and entered Xinzhou to recover Xinzhou.

Zhaoyi, Heyang, and Zhongwu sent troops to Lanzhou, and most of the Hedong army stayed in Jinyang, Taiyuan. However, Su Hongzhen, an envoy of the concubine army, was sent as the left vanguard, and Tuoba Sigong was the right vanguard. , Each led three thousand soldiers and horses of the headquarters to go first.Take Zhang Yanqiu, the Marquis of Yu, the capital of the Hedong Army, as the envoy of the soldiers and horses of the three towns, leading an army of [-], and Zhou Congyu, the superintendent of the army, went out with the army.

Zheng Congxuan himself led [-] soldiers and horses to sit in Jinyang and command them from the center.

At the same time, Zheng Congxuan flew to send orders to Tiande Army Yu Ju and Zhendong Army Li Jing to send troops to the east and west battalions in order to wipe out the Shatuo rebels in one fell swoop. (To be continued.)