Xiaohuaili is eighty miles away from the county seat of Youfufeng County, Chengguo Canal in the north and Weishui River in the south.

Li Hong's 40,000 infantry troops lined up on the plain, and the large battalion stretched for several miles, with flags fluttering in the wind and hunting sounds. The Iron Riders of Fengyun and the Black Panther Yi were all stationed ten miles away from the camp from 12,000 horses.

Three days later, Tai Lieutenant Zhang Wen led an army of 20,000 troops and set up a large camp ten miles away from Fengyun Iron Cavalry.

Li Hong and Xian Yufu went to see Zhang Wen.

Zhang Wen is in his fifties, his face is full of red light, there is not even a wrinkle on his face, and he looks very rich. He speaks slowly and softly, and treats people very kindly. When Zhang Wen saw Li Hong, he was also surprised by his youth. He told Li Hong with a smile that even he was a little jealous of Li Hong's talent and official fortune, not to mention many other ministers. It is normal to be dissatisfied because of jealousy, resentful for a few words, and unwarranted suspicion.

"Actually, most of the local officials who know you, the ministers of the DPRK and China, have praised you and praised you. Some time ago, when you were still marching on the road, I received a letter from Lord Liu, the Taishou of Youbeiping, who repeatedly asked me to take care of you. As far as I know, you haven't been in contact with Lord Liu for a very long time. ”

Li Hong thought of Liu Zheng, and remembered that Liu Zheng carefully straightened his long hair when he left Lu Longsai, his heart was sour, and he was speechless for a while.

Zhang Wen glanced at him and continued: "Lord Liu values you and appreciates you, not because you used to be his subordinate, but because you have done a lot of things for the Great Han Kingdom in a down-to-earth manner, and you are indeed a loyal and fierce general, so he has traveled thousands of miles to write to me to recommend you." There are fewer and fewer local officials like Lord Liu, who are wholeheartedly thinking about the interests of our Great Han Kingdom. ”

Li Hong nodded vigorously.

Liangzhou Thorn Shi Geng, who was sitting on the side, smiled disdainfully: "Brother Zhengnan also praised Li Zhonglang very much in front of Lord Taiwei, especially your Fengyun Iron Cavalry is very high, so Lord Taiwei put your cavalry in the most important position this time, which shows Lord Taiwei's trust and appreciation for you." ”

Geng is forty years old, with a kind complexion, well-dressed, and looks like a very particular person. After the former assassin Yang Yong was dismissed by the imperial court because of the unfavorable counterinsurgency, he took over, but then he was driven out of the county of Longcheng by the rebels, and has been staying in Huaili on the right side of the wind. This time, he went to war with Zhang Wen and was ambitious to return to Liangzhou.

When Li Hong heard Geng Yan say this, he hurriedly stood up and gave Zhang Wen another salute to express his gratitude.

Zhang Wen waved and said, asked him to sit back, and said with a smile: "Whether the Fengyun Iron Cavalry can stop the Qianghu cavalry is the key to the final victory in this battle. I have arranged this important task for you, first, to believe in your strength. Zhengnan said, that day in the gall, you fought with 15,000 blood soldiers and more than 100,000 ant thieves, and won a complete victory, which shows the courage of Youzhou Iron Cavalry. ”

"Second, because now all the cavalry units are fighting on the front line, after they withdraw in a hurry, the physical exertion must be very large, and it will take time to regroup, so it is impossible to wait for work at all, so I specially arranged for you to take on this heavy task."

Geng Wei took Zhang Wen's words and said, "Because of this incident, Lord Taiwei offended several of his subordinates. After the rebels have been put down, you should thank Lord Tai Lieutenant. ”

Li Hong and Xian Yufu glanced at each other, thinking in their hearts, whether this Lord Thorn Shi was telling the truth or flattering Lord Taiwei.

Sang Yang hurriedly explained: "On the battlefield of Xiliang, we have three iron horses, all of which are very powerful. The iron cavalry of the general Dong Zhuo Dong, the iron cavalry of the leader of the Northern Army, the general Zhou Shenzhou, and the iron cavalry of the Liangzhou Mansion Geng. Of these three iron cavalry, the cavalry led by Master Geng's subordinate Sima Ma Teng was the most proficient in warfare. General Dong Zhuo and Jun Sima Ma Teng both took the initiative to ask Lord Taiwei to fight, asking to bring their own troops to block the Qianghu cavalry, but they were both rejected by Lord Taiwei. ”

Geng said to Li Hong with a disdainful smile: "Li Zhonglang's Yan Zhao knight will definitely not disappoint Lord Taiwei." ”

Li Hong immediately said a few bold words.

Zhang Wen chatted with him for a while, and then asked, "Zimin, what do you think are our chances of winning this time?" ”

Li Hong pondered for a moment and whispered: "My lord, I don't know anything about the generals of the two sides participating in the battle, the combat capabilities of the soldiers on both sides, and the current positions of the troops on both sides, and the situation of the entire battlefield, so I really can't guess. ”

Zhang Wen looked at him in surprise.

Li Hong hurriedly explained: "My lord, what I don't know is that I don't know, I can't talk nonsense, if you talk nonsense, it is likely to affect your arrangement of the entire battle situation." Although I have a lot of information about Xiliang, it is information after all, and it is just a reference. ”

Zhang Wen nodded appreciatively and said, "I asked many people, even those who had never been in a war, and they all sat in front of me and talked eloquently. You're the only one who told me I didn't know? Many people tried to let me know what he was capable of, and I was dizzy. Good. The people are straightforward, good. If it weren't for your great achievements and unique use of soldiers, I would have really kicked you out. ”

Geng Xian, Sang Yang and Tao Qian and several officials who were sitting with him all glanced at Li Hong, thinking that this person was not bad at fighting, how could he talk and act like an idiot. This kind of person can also be a Zhonglang general? It's an incredible thing. Is there really such a thing as a fool and a fool?

"Why don't you talk about it, just talk about it according to your intuitive view. What do you think is lacking in our program? Tao Qian asked. He put a lot of effort into this project and was eager to succeed.

Li Hong hesitated for a moment and said, "If everyone implements this plan faithfully and to the letter, it will definitely succeed." The question is......" He looked at Tao Qian's eager eyes, and suddenly remembered what he had said to him before leaving, and immediately swallowed back the second half of the words.

"What is the problem? Why didn't Li Zhonglang say it. Zhang Wen asked curiously.

Li Hong hurriedly covered up: "The question is whether Bian Zhang and Han Sui will be fooled. If they get the news that our reinforcements have arrived in Chang'an, will they stop? Or meet Beigong Boyu's troops in advance, and 130,000 people rush over at the same time. If so, we don't have a chance. ”

Zhang Wen and Tao Qian glanced at each other, and both of them laughed.

"In order to prevent the whereabouts of the reinforcements from being leaked, we have specially arranged the route of your march, and you can avoid many places where the people live on the way. After arriving at Sansuke, you basically march at night. So, the chances of the enemy knowing that you have arrived at the right side of the wind are slim. Zhang Wen said confidently.

Then a few chatted for a while, and Li Hong and Xian Yufu said goodbye and left. Tao Qian kept sending them out of the camp.

"People." Tao Qian suddenly grabbed him affectionately and whispered, "You didn't tell the truth. ”

Li Hong smiled: "My lord said that I was joking, where did I tell a lie." ”

Tao Qian glanced at him carefully, and said arrogantly: "When you told Lord Taiwei that you didn't know, I thought you really had a problem. Tao Qian pointed to his head, meaning that he suspected that he was an idiot as rumored, "but then you suddenly changed your tune." Do you think I can't see it? ”

Li Hong smiled awkwardly: "Do adults must want to know?" ”

"Yes, you can tell me. Although this strategy was decided by Lord Taiwei, it took a lot of effort from me. You have to say, what's the problem? ”

"My lord, do you think this plan is feasible?" Li Hong asked rhetorically.

Tao Qian was taken aback. Xian Yufu also looked at Li Hong puzzled. Li Hong's words are a bit shocking.

"What do you mean, people?" Xian Yufu asked in a low voice, "In front of Lord Sima, don't talk nonsense. ”

Li Hong sighed and said, "We are all from Youzhou, so it's okay to talk about it, and Lord Tao can understand it." ”

"Lord Taiwei's strategy itself is indeed very good, and it is very successful, although we have too few troops to encircle and annihilate the enemy, but we are still sure to annihilate the 80,000 troops of Bian Zhang Han Sui. The problem is that Lord Taiwei is anxious to pacify Xiliang, and he always wants to fight a battle, and he has forgotten what it means to exhaust Ze and fish. ”

Tao Qian looked at Li Hong and said with a smile: "Zimin, I didn't expect you to have such insight at a young age, and your perspective and method of looking at problems are different. Not bad, very good. I did question this plan at the beginning, but he was a lieutenant, what could I say? ”

Xian Yufu reacted immediately. He cautiously asked, "Zimin, do you mean that the strength of the troops is not enough to carry out such a large-scale campaign to encircle and annihilate?" ”

"Yes, if we have 300,000 troops, this battle will be easy to fight." Li Hong said: "150,000 against the enemy's 160,000, and the first battle is to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Xiliang rebels of 80,000, this battle is too difficult to fight." The number of troops participating in the encirclement and annihilation is too small to form an absolute superiority. Even if you lay down the side chapter, it will be a miserable victory, and it will be difficult to defeat Beigong Boyu's 50,000 step rides. ”

"After this battle, the best result is that the Xiliang rebels are completely annihilated by us, but we must have little left. In the end, the end result was to let Qianghu cause trouble to the counties of Xiliang, and we had no troops to deter them for a long time. If the imperial court wants to form an elite army of tens of thousands of people to enter Xiliang to attack the rebels, it will require a lot of time and money, and the investment in the later period is also very large. ”

"If we don't carry out this big war now, the troops will enter Xiliang in batches, move the battlefield to Hanyang, Jincheng counties, support each other, cover each other, divide and surround Qianghu, divide and appease the rebels, and patiently look for opportunities, after a long time, the rebels will fail because they have no food and no support from Qianghu."

"In this way, our hundreds of thousands of troops will remain, and we can continue to garrison the frontier. With troops, with soldiers, many problems can be solved for the country. ”

"The hundreds of thousands of rebels in Xiliang can also survive. With these hundreds of thousands of people, the total population of Xiliang will be maintained at about 600,000, and it will be possible for Xiliang to recover and develop. In the frontier, in Xiliang, there is no population, and even if it stabilizes, it will not develop. If it does not develop, the people will be poor, and the local bureaucracy will become even more corrupt in order to accumulate wealth, and the results are self-evident. Therefore, it is very important to ensure the population of western Xinjiang, which is the foundation of ensuring the stability of western Xinjiang. ”

"If everyone has nothing to eat, the rebels will not be able to fight, and the Qianghu will not be able to fight. Look at the Yellow Turban Army in Jizhou, can you finish the fight? To solve the rebel problem, first solve their stomachs, not their heads. To solve the Xiliang problem, just like to solve the Youzhou problem, it is necessary to focus on appeasement and supplemented by crackdowns, and at the same time appropriately reduce or exempt taxes for the common people, and arrange for more Hu people to live in the Han realm. I think that the set of methods implemented by Lord Liu in Youzhou can be completely copied to Xilianglai. As long as the state and county officials carry out the good work, Xiliang will definitely gradually settle down. ”