Late Tang

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So, Liu Yuniang, who was full of worries, entered the Forbidden City all the way, strode into the political affairs hall, and found that Li Jing and those who participated in the political affairs in Yanjing had arrived.

The Zhengshitang is located in the Forbidden Palace, and the furnishings are magnificent and gorgeous. The floor is covered with Persian carpets instead of ordinary rush mats.In the corner of the hall is a red sandalwood screen from Dongying, on which there are hundreds of lifelike and colorful rare birds and animals carved. A congratulatory gift.The walls are covered with exquisite brocade produced in Shu.On both sides of the temple gate are a pair of statues of winged Sirius, with round ruby ​​eyes shining brightly on the blue marble head.

As soon as Mrs. Liu stepped into the room, Zhang Chengye, the eunuch among the important ministers, leaned over. "Madam, I also said to pick you up. You have heard about Daibei's affairs, and now it is completely out of control. Considering Madam's familiarity with that place, King Qin specially invited Madam to attend the meeting. I hope not Disturbing you and the baby in your womb." He had a fake mustache on his lips, and he didn't have the scratchy smell and the sweet smell of powder and perfume used to cover up the smell that other eunuchs often had, and he didn't even talk. , His voice is not shrill either.Those who did not know his identity would never have thought that such a general-like man would be an eunuch.

"You must have known something on the way here." Li Jing, who was sitting at the top, had a solemn expression and a low tone. "Just now, the Supervisory Office received an urgent report from the CIA from Daibeichuan. Daibei is in chaos!"

Liu Shi followed Zhang Chengye to the side of the hall and sat down. She glanced at everyone in the hall.There are only eight people participating in political affairs in Beijing tonight, but right now the palace is full of people.In addition to her attendance, all the generals above the fifth rank who were in Beijing tonight were notified to come to attend the Zhengshitang meeting.

"What happened to Daibei, did Li Ke use it back?" Li Cunxiao asked loudly.

"Li Keyong should still be in Hezhong Town at this time, but the matter of Daibei is more complicated than Li Keyong's fight back." Li Jing said and turned to look at Gongsun Lan, "Gongsun, please introduce to everyone in detail first. Tell me about the current situation in Daibei."

"Okay." Gongsun Lan nodded.

Gongsun Lan has just been promoted to the title of Duke of Pingyang County, and he is one of the few who have not been relegated but have been promoted.But she was promoted not entirely because she was Li Jing's woman.Gongsun Lan is in charge of the Qin Fan Supervision Office, and is the director of intelligence, leading the Supervision Office is also a commendable performance.In addition, Li Jing also intends to further enhance the status of women, and she is Li Jing's woman, so this time she will not be degraded but promoted, and she will be successfully promoted to the duchess.

Gongsun Lan, who was newly promoted as Duke of Pingyang County, is in a very good mood now. At today's emergency meeting, she was wearing a women's long-sleeved shirt with wide sleeves and a long skirt around her waist. Around her waist is a jade belt, which is rare for women, with a green palace sash hanging on it, and a small incense ball and a jade dragon pendant at the bottom.Coupled with her high-raised flying bun, there are also a hundred birds waving towards the phoenix, and a purple treasure is pasted on the forehead above the two black eyebrows.

The whole person looks dignified, majestic, noble and glamorous.

"The situation in Daibei can only be described in one word, that is out of control! It's like a wild horse that has run wild!" Gongsun Lan summed up the current situation in Daibei in one word.Then he said slowly, "Not long ago, Li Keyong suddenly came back from the dead, and he first appeared in Yanjing. This one-eyed wolf was so bold that he sneaked into the city of Yanjing and broke into Mrs. Liu's mansion. They snatched away a pair of sons and daughters that Li Siyuan sent as hostages."

"Afterwards, he returned to the camp of the Hedong coalition army in Hezhong Town, killed Li Sizhao, the Jiedu envoy of the Datong Army, and then appeared and seized control of [-] Shatuo soldiers and horses. Li Cunzhang, Li Cunjin, Li Sien, Li Siben and other Shatuo generals They all swear allegiance to him. When we heard the news, we immediately tried to contact Li Siyuan in Daibei, hoping to instigate a rebellion against him."

It cannot but be said that the Oversight Office moved too slowly. In fact, everything went well before.

Li Siyuan has already decided to surrender to Qin, and released Li Cunxin, a spy of the Qin army.However, just when Li Cunxin and Li Siyuan were about to strike first and try to eliminate the generals loyal to Li Keyong, the matter was not confidential and someone leaked the news.

Instigated by generals loyal to Li Keyong, Shatuo soldiers in Yanmen heard that Li Keyong was still alive, and that Li Siyuan had secretly colluded with Li Jing and betrayed King Jin, most of the Shatuo soldiers mutinied.The Yanmen Shatuo Army was in conflict, and Li Siyuan was besieged by his soldiers. At this time, apart from his Hengchong Capital, even his new Black Crow Army was no longer credible.

Li Siyuan obviously underestimated Li Keyong's prestige in the Shatuo army. Li Keyong did not appear in Hedong, but some Shatuo generals he contacted shouted loudly, and immediately responders gathered.If it wasn't for the critical moment, the spies of the Qin army had been aware of their plan to mutiny in advance, Li Siyuan might have died in Yanmen.

"Where is Li Siyuan now?"

Gongsun Lan picked up the bamboo whip, pointed at the sand table and said, "Here, Shuozhou!"

"Yanmen has been controlled by generals loyal to Li Keyong, and the entire south of Yanmenguan, the Dai and Xin prefectures, have basically turned against Li Siyuan. Originally, our Weizhou garrison received a previous report from Daibei's spies. When we received the news that Li Siyuan was ready to surrender, he had already moved quickly to Taixi Pass. Unfortunately, we were still one step behind. Cheng Huaiyi, the general of Taixi Pass, who was loyal to Li Keyong, refused to guard the pass and blocked our troops from the pass. Now Li Siyuan has retreated to Shuozhou New City with thousands of troops, where there are still some people loyal to him. For the time being, he still controls the two prefectures of Yunshuo, but his total number of troops does not exceed [-]. There are only more than [-] soldiers. Li Ke's troops may go north at any time, and these soldiers under Li Siyuan's command are not necessarily reliable, and they may betray Li Siyuan at any time."

"Time is running out!" Li Jing said in a deep voice. "If we can send troops into Datong before Li Keyong, then it is possible to win the Yunshuo and Yunshuo states in one fell swoop."

"Li Keyong is still in the river, and now Li Siyuan is only facing mutiny subordinates, and they don't have many troops. We will immediately send troops from Wei, Xin, and Wuzhou to enter Yunzhou, and then reinforce Shuozhou. There is still a good chance of winning. Big." Cui Anqian, who attended the meeting, said.

Cui Anqian also participated in the first battle against Li Keyong and his son on behalf of the North. At that time, he was the commander of Zhongwu Jie and led the eight capitals of Zhongwu to participate in the battle.Although this time was a civil war between feudal clans, Cui Anqian didn't like Li Keyong. Li Keyong was capricious, and he was a barbarian, cruel and untrustworthy.He is supportive of Li Jing's plan to send troops to seize his territory.

"If it's just that, you really don't need to worry too much." Gongsun Lan interjected, "But it's not just that Daibei is out of control right now. Li Keyong is very cunning in the urgent letter we sent back from the Tanma outside the Yinshan Mountains. Before, he had already sent people into the grassland to contact the various grassland tribes inside and outside the Yinshan Mountains, and invited them to go south to Daibei to help him clean up the family. Li Keyong offered a very generous condition. After defeating Li Siyuan, he and they would each get half of the population. If the tribal coalition forces take down Weizhou, Xinwu and other states, no matter how many places they take down, the territory will belong to Li Ke, and all the money, food and population will be given to the tribe. This condition is very tempting, and the tribe also knows that our main force is now in the northeast , Therefore, the news shows that many tribes have already moved their hearts and summoned tribal fighters to go south."

"How many soldiers are there?" Zhang Zimian asked.As a general who had beheaded Wang Xianzhi and defeated Huang Chao, he never asked who the enemy was, only where the enemy was.

"Ten thousand soldiers!" Gongsun Lan replied.

"Ten thousand soldiers? According to the customs of the grasslands, a warrior will bring two auxiliary soldiers, one to fight the grass valley, and the other to guard the camp. Although it is said that they are auxiliary soldiers, the grassland tribes all live on horseback. Even the auxiliary soldiers often It is equivalent to the light cavalry in a general feudal town. Ten thousand soldiers and twenty thousand auxiliary soldiers, that is [-] cavalry, and the momentum is not small." Zhang Zimian immediately calculated.

"More than that." Li Jing clasped his fingers together, "It is true that the warriors dispatched by the tribe this time only had [-] cavalry, but they thought that this trip south was just for robbery. Therefore, each of their warriors brought four auxiliary soldiers. , In addition, many auxiliary soldiers also brought helpers such as brothers and sons, and some tribes even dispatched slaves and women together. There are [-] Hu people who went south. They completely regarded this as a one-off Knowing how to hunt, it’s a feast of robbery. It is estimated that they are not only planning to rob Guangdaibei, they are even planning to rob our pre-mountain states, and even want to visit Youzhou.”

When they heard the figure of 8 people, the faces of the generals in the palace all became serious.Although it has been heard that this barbarian team going south is completely a mob.But no matter how mob, when the number exceeds 8, it cannot be underestimated, let alone [-] people.There are more than [-] people, a sea of ​​people. [-] people, that is even more boundless.

Jing Xiang, the envoy of the Left Staff Council, raised his head from his seat in the front row, "Your Highness, if only the barbarians go south, it is not something to be afraid of. But now the key is the timing of their going south. If we send troops to fight these barbarians, then we will It is possible that they do not have the energy to support Li Siyuan. If they support Li Siyuan, they may be temporarily unable to stop the Hu people from entering Daibei."

Gai Yu, the envoy of the Right Staff Council, also said: "Right now, Daibei is like a quagmire. If you are not careful, you may swallow anything that enters. Eighty thousand Hu people are going south, and the two prefectures of Xindai, south of Yanmen It has completely lost control, and Li Siyuan can't really control the two states of Yunshuo in Datong. If we want to enter Datong, we must have at least [-] elite soldiers to stabilize the situation in Datong, and we need at least [-] elite soldiers to defeat Hu. Renhe cleared out Datong's soldiers and horses loyal to Li Ke."

"If you want to take down Dai and Xin from Yanmen together, and completely occupy Li Keyong's lair, how many troops will you need?" Guo Chengan asked.

Without waiting for Gai Yu to answer, Zhang Zimian said directly: "At present, Qin Fan does not have the strength to take back Yanmen Town. Even if he wants to take this opportunity to annex the land of Datong Town and the two prefectures in one fell swoop, it is a bit risky." .”

"But this risk is worth taking. If we can win Datong Town, even if we only win Datong Town, it will be a huge victory. After capturing Datong Town, our power in Hedong Daibei will be stronger, and Li Ke The power of Yong will be weaker, and it will be able to block Li Keyong's way out of the fortress, which will play a huge role in isolating and besieging Li Keyong in the future. If this opportunity is missed, under normal circumstances, we may be powerless within three years Send troops to the east of the river." Li Jing said slowly.According to the usual situation, it is impossible for Li Jing to go to Hedong before he puts down Hebei Weiping.

Because the Hedong area is easy to defend and difficult to attack, it is an excellent site for inside battles, which can be attacked or defended.

But now, because Li Ke used to force against Li Siyuan, the Qin army had Li Siyuan's internal support, and had an excellent opportunity to seize and replace the north. Even if it was just to capture the Yunshuo two states of Datong, it would be a huge victory.Li Ke's main force was still in the south, and it was too late to come back.

"But now we have invested five corps in the Northeast War, with 35 horses. The war has just begun, and there is no spare power to enter the Daibei War." Cui Anqian, the new left and right governor of the Fifth Army Commander's Mansion, had to remind Li Jing.

"We have only [-] soldiers in the five prefectures of Wei, Xin, Wu, Confucianism, and Gui to the west of Taihang outside the military capital pass," he pointed out.

"Yanjing, Shanhaiguan, Junduguan, Lulongsai, Mozhou Sanguan, Hejian Fortress, Tianjin City, Tangshan, and Cangzhou, all add up to only [-] soldiers and horses." Jing Xiang added.

Cui Yunqing suggested: "Perhaps we should let Li Siyuan lead his troops to withdraw into Yuzhou, and we Chen Bing border, defend the city and give up Datong."

"There is only one chance like this, don't miss it, it won't come again!" Li Jing frowned.

At this moment, Zhang Zimian said loudly: "If the king of Qin trusts Zhang, as long as he sends [-] elite soldiers to him, he is willing to win the two prefectures of Datong and Yunshuo for King Qin."

Li Jing's eyes lit up, Zhang Zimian was a rare general talent, if he was really willing to lead his troops to fight against Daibei, there would be a turning point for this matter.

"Is this true?" He sat up straight and looked directly at Zhang Zimian.

"I would like to issue a military order. If I can't take Datong Town, I would like to apologize for my crime." Zhang Zimian replied without fear.

"Good Zhimo smiled, servant Yan, so it is decided that the king now appoints General Zhang as the marshal of the Westward Expedition Battalion, and the Staff Council, the Five Armies Governor's Office, and the Ministry of War will immediately issue a document to transfer [-] elite soldiers from Hebei, and recruit another [-]. The soldiers of the township are under Marshal Zhang, that is to say, the troops will be dispatched to replace the north!"

When the Four Treasures of the Study were served, Cui Yunqing personally wrote the military order. After writing, Zhang Zimian took a pen to sign his name and put his fingerprint on it.Seeing how bold and generous he is, Li Jing has more confidence in him for this battle. (To be continued.)