On the day of the conquest of Shengzhou, the officers and men of the Datong Army were almost carnival and feasted all day, and at dusk, except for the sergeants on duty, the rest fell asleep because of the fatigue of the past few days.

There was nothing to say all night, and the next morning, when Zhang Daqian, Chen Li and other Datong generals came to see Li Congjing, they saw Li Congjing holding a pamphlet in his hand, and Wang Pu was talking about something.

Seeing the generals of the Datong Army, Li Congjing motioned for them to sit down, then raised the pamphlet in his hand and said with a smile: "This is the policy of pacifying the people and securing the city, the generals will take a look first, if there is no objection, they will hand it over and arrange it for implementation." ”

Fumin Ancheng this kind of literary affairs, Zhang Daqian and other military warriors have never paid much attention to it, in their opinion, there is not much to say here, the army does not loot after conquering the city, it is the biggest move to Fumin Ancheng, as for what happens after that, it is not what they care about - what else? How the big guy should live, how to continue to live.

After Zhang Daqian took the booklet, he glanced at it casually, and said to Li Congjing with a smile: "How to appease the people and settle the city, General Li has the idea, and we have no objection." ”

Li Congjing didn't let Zhang Daqian be confused, he said with a straight face: "The other generals can ignore the measures in this, but there are two of them, and the generals must know everything and do it." First, the re-appointment of the Shengzhou officials to temporarily carry out civil affairs, which you must all know; Second, recruitment, which is something you need to do. ”

"Appointing officials?"

"Recruitment?!"

Zhang Daqian, Chen Li and others looked at each other, they all saw the look of doubt in each other's eyes, Zhang Daqian put down the booklet, cleared his throat, and hesitated a little, but still said tentatively: "General Li, Shengzhou is a city behind enemy lines, our army captured this city, only to supply its food, ordnance, wounded medicine and other supplies, and will soon evacuate this place, go east to Yelu behind the enemy's martyrs, and support Sangganguan." At this time, the officials of Shengzhou were appointed, and it was not said whether we had this power, it was appointed, and once we left, the Khitan barbarians would attack again...... I'm afraid this appointment will be in vain. ”

Li Congjing waved his hand to interrupt Zhang Daqian's words, and said to him seriously: "Shengzhou, we can leave, but the city must not fall into the hands of the Khitan again!" ”

All the generals were shocked, and Chen Li said softly: "General Li, once we leave this place, there will be no army to garrison this city, and I am afraid it will be difficult to ensure its safety." ”

Li Congjing and Wang Pu naturally saw it thoroughly, and they had discussed it before, Li Congjing said: "This is related to the second thing, recruitment." Recruitment, firstly, is to supplement the Datong Army, make up for the casualties of the previous battles, and enrich the existing combat strength of the Datong Army, so as to prepare us to support Sangganguan; Second, it is to form the Shengzhou Town Army and defend Shengzhou City. ”

"This ......" Zhang Daqian and others didn't know what to say for a while. In their opinion, it is good for Li Congjing to have this idea, but it is a little unrealistic to implement it. First of all, the Datong army does not have much time, and now Yelu is attacking the Sang Kat Pass, which can support ten days and half a month, which is the limit, and the Datong army needs to rush over to support immediately, which makes everyone have no time to recruit new pawns, let alone train new pawns; Second, the Khitan army is strong in combat after all, although it is still a short board in siege, but it is no longer the barbarian who only knows how to wreak havoc back and forth with cavalry to obtain results, and it is too difficult to shape an army that can hold Shengzhou City.

Li Congjing stood up, glanced around at the generals of the Datong Army, and took in everyone's expressions, and said solemnly: "This commander knows what the generals are worried about, it does take time and is quite difficult to establish a town army with independent combat capabilities in Shengzhou, and Shengzhou does not belong to the Datong Festival, whether it is worth spending such a spirit here is also what the generals hesitate. However, Shengzhou is my territory of the Tang Dynasty, not long ago for the Khitan stealing, now for me to wait for the recovery of the difficulty, to hand it over to others, it is unreasonable! ”

Li Congjing walked out of the desk, came to the hall, and then walked to the hall door, looking beyond the courtyard wall and looking into the sky, "Feng and Sheng Erzhou, my Tang territory, Feng and Sheng people, my Tang people, the same ancestry, the same origin, how can you bear to abandon it and be insulted by barbarians?" And not to say that the land of the two states of abundance and victory is rich, and the good horses are produced, only that there are abundant and victorious, and the troops can refer to the grassland, gallop to the aid of the Tatar and other grassland departments, and retreat to guard the Great Wall, keep the Khitan barbarians out of the pass, and defend our Central Plains, which cannot be ignored. ”

He turned his head and looked at the generals of the Datong Army again, "Those of you who don't want to do this today are because you are worried about Sangganguan and can't wait to help General Qin in the east. ”

Zhang Daqian lifted his spirits slightly, "How to take care of both?" ”

"The main force galloped to the aid of Sanggan Pass, leaving a commanding soldier to train new soldiers and assist in the defense of the city!" Li Congjing said.

Chen Li was a little skeptical, "But our troops are only 4,000, all of them are coming to the east, and there are not enough to defeat the Yelu enemy, and then leave a commanding soldier, this time the east will return to Sangganguan, and we will retreat from the Yelu enemy, and the strength is not enough." ”

Li Congjing had a plan, he said: "The new soldiers obtained from the recruitment can be the first to supplement the Datong army and return east with the main force, which can ensure that the number of troops is not less than the original." ”

"This, the new pawn's combat power ......"

"It doesn't matter." Li Congjing showed a meaningful smile, "The battle method of returning to the east, the commander has a plan, and the new pawn is enough to do it." Speaking of this, he paused, which meant even more profoundly, "Besides, this time to defeat the enemy of Yelu, it is not only the Datong army. ”

When Zhang Daqian and the others heard this, they didn't know why, "It's not just the Datong Army, so who else can it rely on?" ”

Li Congjing said with his hand: "The heavenly will be a lion." ”

……

After half a day of military discussions, the final result was that Li Congjing's initial proposal was successfully passed.

It is urgent to support Sang Kang Pass, after all, how long Sang Kang Pass can support in front of Yelu Enemy Lie, no one dares to say that there is an exact calculation, so it cannot be delayed for a moment. However, in the end, Qin Shide personally guarded the Sang Kat Pass, so he didn't think it would be successfully captured by Yelu Enemy Lie in just a few days.

On the same day, Li Congjing ordered the Datong Army to make preparations for the expedition in Shengzhou, and this time to assist the Sangqing Pass, the necessary baggage must be well prepared, and the damaged ordnance in the hands of the officers and men of the Datong Army must also be replaced and replenished in time. In addition, Li Congjing used the method of reorganizing the civil affairs official team in Pingzhou that day, and temporarily appointed a group of Han officials to take care of the civil affairs of Shengzhou.

The second is recruitment. It is not difficult to recruit troops in Shengzhou, although it is located in the border area, the Han Yi in the city live together, but the Han people still occupy the main part, Shengzhou is solid as the territory of the Tang Dynasty, recruiting local sons and daughters to protect the family and defend the country, and there is no shortage of property and silver money in the city of Shengzhou, so this matter is also going very smoothly.

On the second day, Li Congjing left a command of the Datong Army to guard the city, continue to recruit new soldiers, and train them, while he himself took the 800 new soldiers recruited in one day, and the main force of the Datong Army, out of the city and went to the eastern front to rush to the aid of Sangganguan.

Wang Pu stayed in Shengzhou temporarily, he was in charge of civil affairs, and the generals in the Datong Army who stayed to preside over the defense of the city, recruitment, and training were Chen Li, the general of the infantry army.

Although Shengzhou is newly restored, Li Congjing is not worried that a large number of Khitan troops will immediately rush to attack, because the supreme military commander of the Khitan here is Yelu Enemy Lie, and he holds the Khitan military power here, and he himself is now fighting with Qin Shide under the Sangjia Pass, and he has no time to take care of Shengzhou for the time being.

Li Congjing guarded Shengzhou, of course, because there was no reason to give up the territory of his ancestors, and because of his important location, it can be connected with Yunzhou, but the most important point, Li Congjing did not tell Zhang Daqian and other generals of the Datong Army.

Shengzhou, the bridgehead obtained by Li Congjing on this trip will serve as a fulcrum to support the overall situation of his westward journey.

……

Sangkanguan.

Qin Shide stood at the head of the city, overlooking the Khitan army in front of the pass, with a solemn face.

Beside him, stood his henchman Qin Lin, a young general in the army who had already experienced countless killings.

Looking at the Khitan army array with banners like a forest, Qin Lin had a strong look of worry on his face, and he said to Qin Shide: "Military commander, according to the fierce attack methods of the Yelu enemy for several days, it will not be long before the Sang Kang Pass is guarded. "The Khitan army was ten times larger than the defenders of Sangganguan, and they took turns to attack day and night, causing great casualties to the defenders of Sangganguan and bringing great pressure. If it weren't for the fact that the Sangkan Pass was a Xiongguan, the contact area for the Khitan army to attack was small, and the Khitan army would not be able to exert it, I am afraid that this border pass was already in the hands of the Khitan army at this time.

Qin Shide's gaze stayed on the Khitan army outside the gate and did not move, his expression was still resolute, after most of his life, although he had only suffered heavy losses, but he was still as solid as a rock, but his eyes were also a little worried, "Yelu Enemy Lie suddenly appeared here, the horizontal army was in front of the pass, cutting off the return route of my Datong army, and I don't know what happened to Li Congjing and the soldiers of my Datong army." They are in the wilderness, with no cities to hold onto, no supplies, not even military rations, and they are in a much more difficult situation than we are in the face of thieves who are many times their size! ”

Although Qin Lin was also worried about the more than 4,000 comrades, and even had a strong pessimism about their future in his heart, at this moment, he comforted Qin Shide and said: "The Khitan barbarians have not released the news of defeating them so far, I think they are safe at least temporarily, otherwise, the Khitan would have already flaunted their might in front of the pass, so as to hit the morale of our defenders." After speaking, he was silent for a while, and added: "That Li Congjing is known for his prestige, whether it was fighting against the Liang army before, or fighting against the Khitan barbarians after going north, his record is not bad, he is not a wasted person, with him, the army may have a chance to get out of the predicament." ”

This remark made Qin Shide's eyes rise a little hope, and he sighed: "I hope so!" ”

……

In the Khitan army, Yelu Enemy Lie learned the news that Shengzhou had been breached.

Jereh sat in the tent and said nothing, and the sergeant who had come to report the news had already separated his body.

"Where is Jeribona?" After a long time, Yelu Martyr asked the military envoy beside him.

Cold sweat was dripping on the forehead of the military envoy, for fear of saying the wrong thing and angering Yelu Dilie, who was already extremely angry, and said cautiously: "In this morning's military report, the second prince arrived on the bank of the Yellow River and was about to cross the river and continue to pursue the Datong army. ”

Yelu Enemy Lie said indifferently, "The order is to let him go back, nearly 10,000 people have chased and lost 4,000 people, and he is still crossing the river to do something, do you treat yourself as fat meat and send it to Li Congjing's mouth?" ”

The envoy did not dare to answer.

"Li Congjing is not something you can deal with, it was this king who underestimated him before." Yelu Erlie stood up, "Order, the army continues to storm the Sanggan Pass. When this king wins the Sang Kat Pass, he will go to the Good Life Club to meet this Tang Dynasty milk tiger! ”