Late Tang

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Although Li Jing was far away from Niupi Pass in Daibeiyun Prefecture, he had actually been paying close attention to the entire battle situation in Hedong.

In the military tent of the big camp, a huge sand table of the east and the meander of the river has already been built. This is a sand table built after combining the detailed information obtained by the scouts of the flying eagle camp and the plum blossom gate. It is very standard, with mountains, rivers, and cities. Guan Zhen is clear at a glance.In particular, every city and gate has a small flag marked with a number. On one side of the sand table, there is a large screen with a piece of paper pasted on it, and a series of numbers are listed on it. A small flag, behind the number is precisely written the number of troops stationed in each city and town, as well as the population, and even food supplies, etc.

There are several other maps next to them, on which the attack routes and situation maps of the soldiers and horses of the two sides are marked in red and blue colors.

More than a dozen military staff officials, such as counselors, staff officers, secretaries, and clerks, are constantly collecting the information received, and then analyzing the information.Finally, the analyzed information will be summarized and displayed on the sand table and the site.

This is the staff department that Li Jing has been working hard to form since the dispatch of troops.Originally, although the Tang army also had positions such as staff officers and painting praise, the number was too small, and there were only one or two people in the army, so it was difficult to play a big role.

In the past, it was okay to have fewer soldiers and horses, but now that there are more troops, intelligence and intelligence analysis are becoming more and more important.Li Jing already planned to set up a separate intelligence department and another staff department.Reporting the situation, specializing in collecting and inquiring about all kinds of intelligence, and developing spy insiders, instigating rebellion and surrender, and even assassination and beheading tasks.Right now, one of the sources of intelligence for the Zhendong Army is the Flying Eagle Battalion, and the other is the Plum Blossom Gate.The two sides do not belong to each other, and the Flying Eagle Battalion is still a military battalion, and the Plum Blossom Gate is a secret anti-Tang organization that is currently only cooperating.

It is obviously inappropriate to rely on them for information all the time.

The new intelligence department is still being formed secretly. The name Li Jing is tentatively proposed to be Xiaoqisi, and it will carry out investigation, vigilance, search, capture, and counter-inference!Waiting for the opportunity to infiltrate, intersperse, and detour, in order to use it as a surprise soldier.The first task of the Xiaoqi Division is to collect intelligence, and it also undertakes tasks such as interrogation, interrogation of prisoners, infiltration, espionage, instigation, surrender, and assassination.

The first chief officer of the Xiaoqi Division is Lang Jiang, and his rank is tentatively set at the same level as the box-level soldiers and horses.The first chief officer, Li Jing, hesitated for a long time between Li Wei and Gongsun Lan.Li Wei is good at reconnaissance on the battlefield, but Gongsun Lan is good at infiltration, espionage, and assassination.However, Li Wei's loyalty is more trustworthy, and even if Gongsun Lan is his lover, Li Jing has always been a little wary of her background, and secondly, she is a woman.After hesitating for a long time, Li Jing finally decided to hand over the position of the first general of Xiaoqisi to Li Wei, and Gongsun Lan was appointed as the deputy general to share the tasks of infiltration, espionage and assassination.

The establishment of the Xiaoqi Division is quite secretive, except for the announcement to Lin Wu, Wang Zhong and other senior civil and military subordinates at the first level of the army, it is kept secret from the bottom.On the surface, Li Wei still served as the top ten generals of the Flying Eagle Battalion.The first batch of Xiaoqi Division's personnel is not too many, but they are all elites in this field, mainly composed of backbones drawn from the Flying Eagle Battalion and the Guard Battalion.

Regarding the staff department, Li Jing did it openly.Equivalent to the level of the Xiaoqi Division, the staff officer Chong is temporarily named the Staff Division, the chief officer is the Marching Staff Officer, and there are two deputies, the Counselor and the Counselor, and set up multiple staff officers.The staff department is only established at the military level for the time being, and their responsibilities are not easy. The first one is to summarize and analyze the intelligence collected by the intelligence department.What information is true and what information is false, and even from some small information, to find clues and discover more useful information, this is their basic duty.In addition to analyzing intelligence, they will also serve as assistants to the general, responsible for formulating corresponding countermeasures based on intelligence, and making some major strategic layouts and tactical arrangements.It can be said that although the rank of the staff department is not high, the highest marching staff officer is the last one among the first-level officers in the army, lower than the marching judge and secretary, but the lower rank has a lot of power to speak.

This is also the reason why Li Jing directly set up the three chief officers of the marching staff, the counselor, and the counselor.

The General Staff Division takes the marching staff officer as the main officer, and the counselors and counselors as the secondary officials, and there are a number of staff officers and secretaries, yamen and clerks, accompanying the army, important records, driving, random ordering, Kongmu officials, and followers. , Don't play and other low-level staff.

Li Jing intends to appoint Li Liang as the Marching Staff Officer of the Staff Department, but Li Liang has now gone south to the east of Zhejiang, so Li Zhen, the Marching Sima, is temporarily acting as his deputy.

The Chief of Staff has its own tent, but now they are all working intensively in Li Jing's large tent of the Chinese army.

A young man ran to report and sent in a new piece of information, which was sent from Li Wei.The information was sent to a staff officer, who immediately began to analyze the information to judge the authenticity of the information.Based on other information he had, he quickly judged that this information was very likely to be true.

With excitement, he immediately sent the information to a senior staff officer at a higher level, and after another analysis, it was delivered to the counselor.

"Dutong, according to the information sent from Hequ, the Zhenwu Army is anyway, Li Guochang's army defeated the Jinglue Army City, and his south sent an army of 6000 troops, the Zhenwu Army turned back, and all the Shatuo Army died in battle. Li Guochang's [-] Shatuo Army, including The [-] Shatuo troops reinforced by Hedong, with [-] soldiers, were almost wiped out. Li Jinzhong, the Shatuo soldier and horse envoy, was captured. Staff officer Li Zhenxi smiled, excitedly shaking the information in his hands, and reported to Li Jing.

Standing in front of the sand table, Li Jing couldn't help showing a smile. He stretched out his hand and pulled up a black flag planted in Youzhou on the sand table, and threw it aside, "Six thousand Shatuo elite cavalry were destroyed. Anyway, the Zhenwu Army is an extremely Big win."

Soon a staff officer planted the flag again on the Youzhou area on the sand table, but this time it was replaced by Tuoba Sigong's white flag and Zhenwu Army's blue flag.

Only half a day later, the Chief of Staff received another urgent report.

"The Zhenwu Army entered Shengzhou, Li Guochang bluffed to lure the enemy, the Zhenwu Army was ambushed by Li Ke with [-] elite cavalry, and the [-] Zhenwu Army was wiped out!"

Li Jing pinched his chin, nodded in disappointment, and stretched out his hand to pull down the small blue flag of the Zhenwu Army that had just been planted. In this war, the Zhenwu Army has been completely eliminated.Immediately, a staff officer marked the battle locations of the two sides on another map, and marked the marching route used by Li Ke in blue.

With the continuous collection of intelligence, Li Ke returned to Hedong Lanzhou with his soldiers and horses on the map.

After that, the five towns in the middle road attacked Lanzhou and Xinzhou in two ways.

Then, two bloody crossed red swords were drawn on Jingle and Honggu respectively on the map, and then the flag representing the Xiongnu army was pulled down on the sand table.

"The Shatuo people first sent Kang Junli to Jingle County to challenge Su Hongzhen and Tuoba Sigong, and then feigned defeat. When the pursuers reached a mountain range in Luliang Mountain, Li Guochang and Li Ke fought out with ambushes. After half a day of fierce fighting, However, he still feigned defeat and fled, luring the officers and soldiers to pursue him all the way to Honggu, where the real ambushes came out. Su Hongzhen pursued all the way, exhausted, was killed by ambushes, surrounded on all sides, and died in a fierce battle. More than [-] of his subordinates Soldiers and horses never escaped. But Tuoba Sigong saw the situation was not good and reacted very quickly. Although he was intercepted by the Shatuo soldiers, he still escaped with nearly two thousand cavalry in the end, and the loss was not too great."

In this battle, Li Ke used a series of tricks that can be described as very clever. First, he cheated to lure the enemy, and then a fake ambush completely lured the officers and soldiers into the bait. Finally, a real ambush in Honggu wiped out the officers and soldiers. Pioneer this way.If it weren't for the vigilance of the party members, it is estimated that Tuoba Sigong would have escaped death.If Tuoba died, there would probably be no Xixia in the future.

Knowing the details of the Battle of Honggu, Li Jing not only became a little more jealous of Li Keyong, but also became very interested in Li Keyong's adopted son, Shi Jingsi in a white robe.In Honggu's battle, Li Guochang and his son personally made the bait. In fact, when they arrived in Honggu, they were indeed exhausted and had no fighting power.In this battle, it was all thanks to the thousand cavalry led by Shi Jingsi that the victory was guaranteed.

The two ambush battles at Luotuoyan and Honggu gave Li Jing a better understanding of the strength of the Shatuo people.If it were an ordinary army, after the defeat of the Jinglue Army City, the destruction of Shanyu Duhufu's old lair, and the capture of the Wei Dynasty in the backyard, people were already panicked and their morale was gone.But this Shatuo soldier was actually able to cross the east and west of the river, and wiped out more than ten thousand enemies in the two battles.

The Zhendong Army is completely inferior to this kind of toughness that is not afraid of death.

The Shatuo people are a group of desperadoes, relying on their fierceness with their heads pinned to their waistbands. Whoever wants to kill him must be killed by him first.

As for the Zhendong Army, although they have won many battles, Li Jing knew very well in his heart that the current Zhendong Army is really head-to-head, and it is not an opponent of the Shatuo people at all.The Zhendong Army is strong in military discipline, excellent equipment, and strategic and tactical advantages. It is not like the Shatuo people used by Li Ke. Although they are fierce, they fight indiscriminately and attack from all directions. The situation is getting worse and worse for them.

Staring at the series of marching routes of the Shatuo people on the sand table, Li Jing was slightly lost in thought.

Guo Chengan asked: "Mr. Jun, although the Shatuo people won a battle, the situation is becoming more and more unfavorable to them. One or two victories alone will not change the situation. Should we take action now? If it's later, I'm afraid the Shatuo people will be finished, and we won't have our share by then."

Li Jing pursed his lips, and suddenly asked Li Zhen: "The movement of Li Ke's soldiers and horses?"

"After the Battle of Honggu, Shatuo soldiers and horses entered Xinzhou, and it seems that they intend to return to Shuozhou from Xinzhou via Daizhou! The judgment of the Chief of Staff is that Li Keyong and his son are preparing to station troops at Yanmen Pass."

Yanmen Pass is the gateway for Daizhou to enter Shuozhou. After the Zhendong Army captured Taixi Pass, Li Keyong's wife Liu Shi took all the soldiers and horses of Daizhou to Taiyuan to join Li Keyong.After Wang Zhong asked Li Jing, he led his army through the territory of Daizhou and announced that the Zhendong Army had recovered Daizhou. Afterwards, he did not garrison Daizhou, but returned to Taixi Pass again.As for Yanmen Pass, when the Liu family withdrew, they did not withdraw the soldiers and horses from Yanmen Pass on the border of Daishuo. Instead, they sent some soldiers to strengthen the strength of Yanmen Pass.

The Chief of Staff judged that Li Keyong was planning to go to Yanmen Pass, which is a reasonable guess. After all, Yanmen Xiongguan is the gate guarding Rushuo.There is a man in charge of the gate, and there is no danger for ten thousand men.

However, Li Jing disagreed with this judgment, which was based on his understanding of Li Ke's character and habits of using soldiers several times.

Li Keyong, who had just won two consecutive battles against Luotuoyan and Honggu, would not give up so easily, especially now that the soldiers and horses in the five towns were divided into three groups.The vanguard who had just defeated Hong Gu, Li Keyong entered Xinzhou at this time, and it would never be as simple as returning to Shuozhou by way.To return to Shuozhou, he could go back to Shuozhou directly from Lanzhou.Now they are going to Xinzhou, which can only explain one thing.

After Li Keyong defeated the left vanguard Xilu army, he had already set his sights on Li Jun's Yicheng army.

"Li Keyong wouldn't have such courage, would he? The Yicheng Army has [-] soldiers and horses, and although Li Keyong has won several battles now, the number of soldiers and horses is less than [-], and the soldiers are exhausted. Going from Lanzhou Honggu to Xinzhou to fight Li Jun is unlikely." A staff officer said doubtfully.

"When analyzing intelligence and judging the enemy's movements, the general's character is also very important. Li Keyong was young and unruly, at least he has not suffered a big defeat. Looking at his behavior after he captured Yunzhou, one can guess the character of this person. Now that he has not reached the end of his life, with his aggressive personality, how could he miss every opportunity to break through? I can almost predict that Li Keyong will definitely go straight to Li Jun, and he will not come out. Unexpectedly, before Zhang Yanqiu's left army arrives, Li Jun will be defeated." Li Jing expressed his judgment.

"If Li Jun is defeated, will Shatuo people fight Zhang Yanqiu again?"

"Zhang Yanqiu has 2 troops. Li Keyong shouldn't beat Li Jun after he beats him." Li Jing shook his head. Li Keyong was crazy, but he was still very powerful in using troops.Li Ke is weaker than the strategic layout, but tactically, the use of troops is unpredictable, and he is very bold and likes to take risks.But after fighting Li Jun, the Shatuo people don't have the strength to fight another big battle. At that time, Li Keyong will probably directly enter the generation from Xin and retreat to Yanmen Pass.

"Should I inform General Wang Zhong to send troops from Taixi Pass to support Li Jun, or set up an ambush in Daizhou to intercept Sha Tuo's soldiers?" Li Zhen suggested.

This is a very tempting proposal. Maybe the Zhendong Army can capture Li Guochang and his son in one fell swoop.But this idea just turned around in his mind, and Li Jing finally vetoed it.Wang Zhong only had [-] troops in Taixiguan, which was far inferior to Shatuo's army.At this time, it was too late for him to send troops south for reinforcements.Although it is tempting to capture Li Guochang and his son, the risk is too great.

The troops must be used steadily, the Zhendong Army is currently in an absolutely advantageous layout, and he will not take such a risk.

"No, let them fight, let's prepare to take over Niu Piguan first."

There is a saying that Li Jing didn't say, anyway, if Li Keyong defeats the Yicheng Army, it won't have a big impact on his layout. If so, why not let them fight, they sit here and watch the tigers fight! (To be continued.)