Liaodong, Liaoyang.

Chen Kefu gently tapped the imperial case and said, "Issued an imperial edict to Xiaoguan to tell Chen Kedi that this time the soldiers of Xiaoguan will be a great achievement. All the soldiers and lieutenants of Xiaoguan will be promoted to the first level, and the lieutenants of the lieutenants will be promoted to the first level, and the lieutenants of the lieutenants will be added to the second level. In addition, except for various books and archives in Xiaoguan, all the remaining gold, silver and wealth will be rewarded to all the soldiers. During this battle with various countries, the situation in Xiaoguan has affected the entire northwest. If Chen Kedi is given a secret edict, we can temporarily withdraw from Xiaoguan and protect the strength of the troops. In addition, let Chen Kedi release Xue Ju's two sons, regardless of whether Xue Ju surrenders or not, temporarily maintain the current situation with Western Qin."

Fang Xuanling nodded: "Okay, I will hand it over to the Ministry of Education for review and issuance after drafting the edict."

Du Ruhui hesitated and said, "Your Majesty, if General Chen defended Xiaoguan this time and could make new contributions, then his contribution this time would be great. It would be not enough to just upgrade the first level of the scattered level."

Fang Xuanling frowned and said, "General Chen Kedi is only sixteen years old now. After just being promoted to the first level of scattered rank, he will be promoted from the champion general of the third-rank army to the second-rank general of the army. In addition, he is already a marquis of the third-rank country with a fief of two thousand households. Although he has achieved great achievements, he has only been half a year before and after he became an official in the court. This speed of improvement is already rapid. If he is promoted again in a short time, it will be inconsistent with the rules for promotion of officials of the Ministry of Personnel. Besides, how will the court be promoted again in the future if he is promoted several times within a year?"

"In the opinion of my ministers, it is better to reward him more. It is not good to promote him again. This time, he will be promoted to a level one scattered rank first, and the general of the Jinzhen Army. After this war, he will reward him according to his merits and will be promoted again. Now he should reward him more, increase his titles and fiefs, and reward him with more gold, silver and wealth, and give him some land. It is also appropriate."

Chen Kefu pondered for a while, and finally nodded in agreement. After all, Chen Kedi was too young, and when it comes to realism, the contributions of many marshals and generals in the court were actually not much worse than Chen Kedi. Now that the court's promotion system is really broken, it will be in chaos.

Northwest, within Xiaoguan City.

After receiving the imperial edict from the court's flying eagle, the generals of the Pioneer General's Mansion were all happy. This time, he took Xiaoguan. The emperor Longyan, who was far away in Liaodong, was very happy. Not only was he promoted from top to bottom, but he also gave all the property of Xiaoguan to the entire army without any penalties.

"Congratulations to the general for being promoted to deputy commander and congratulations to General Hu Hai and other generals congratulated Chen Kedi one after another.

Above the imperial edict just now, Chen Kedi not only promoted from the champion general to the second-rank general of the army, but also specially promoted him to the deputy marshal of the Western Expedition, the vanguard general of the Western Expedition, and the general of the Xiaoguan Governor.

A team of soldiers rushed from outside, and Xu Shiji said, "A scout came to report!"

"Talk quickly!" Chen Kedi said anxiously.

"Report to the general. The ranger squad was fifty miles northwest of the pass and discovered the vanguard of the Qin army. The Western Qin army was advancing east along the Yellow River. At present, its vanguard has entered the Ulan City in Lingwu territory in the north of Pingliang County." The scout reported.

Shan Xiongxin shouted: "Does Xue Ju still want to attack Xiao Guan?"

Chen Kedi frowned and said, "It is unlikely that Xue Ju's two sons are still in our hands. As far as I know, Xue Ju only has two sons, and except for these two legitimate sons, there is not even a son born of illegitimate son. Xue Ju cannot be here to fight Xiao Guan, and he cannot even want his son. In addition, His Majesty said in the imperial edict just now that he has sent someone to surrender Xue Ju. Although it is unlikely that a hero can support his troops with just a few words. At least Xue Ju knew that we had no plans to deal with him for the time being, he would not be able to provoke us at this time."

"Wulan City." Xu Shiji stroked his short beard under his jaw, and his eyes suddenly lit up. "Xue Ju must not be here to attack us. Since he sent troops along the Yellow River, and the forward aimed directly at Wulan City. In my judgment, the biggest target of his attack was Liu Wuzhou. Otherwise, Huining, Longxi and Tianshui, the Qin army would attack Xiaoguan from any county, and he should not run to Wulan. Xue Ju, the cunning old fox, must have seen that Liu Wuzhou was having a hard time now, so he wanted to take the opportunity to swallow Liu Wuzhou's territory."

"What should I do now? Brother Xue Rengao still wants to let go?" Hu Hai asked.

"Let me go, of course, let me go. Our main force will not reach Xiaoguan for a while. At present, we are alone in Xiaoguan. Yu Wenji, Liu Wuzhou, and Xue Ju, each of them is not something we can easily deal with. Since Xue Ju wants to pick up Liu Wuzhou's advantage, it is better to give him this opportunity temporarily. Let Liu Wuzhou and Xue Ju bite the dog, we can just do our best to deal with Yu Wenji. When we get Yu Wenji, no matter which one Xue Ju or Liu Wuzhou is the winner, we can still stop us in the end." Xu Shiji said with a sinister smile.

While everyone was talking, another guard came to report that the rafts outside the pass sent out a team, and the other party claimed to be the envoy of Qin.

After the summons, a middle-aged scholar was led. After some politeness, the envoy handed over a letter to the Western Qin State and a surrender.

According to the letter of the State, Emperor Xue Ju of Qin accepted the advice of Emperor Chen to surrender, formally submitted the letter of surrender to the State, and since then he was demoted to the King of Qin. In order to show his sincerity in this surrender, the King of Qin was willing to raise all the troops in Longxi and help the Chen army unify Guanlong.

As for why since he had surrendered, the Qin army did not come to Xiaoguan to accept command, but suddenly headed straight to Lingwu, but all this did not explain. However, the truth of the matter was, in fact, the generals of the Chen army had already made a conclusion. With the emperor's order first and the military discussion just now, no one had to pick the assassin among them. After Chen Kedi said a few nice words, he took the envoy down.

After meeting the Qin army's envoy, he became more and more determined to make the judgment of the current situation by the generals of Xiaoguan and Chen army. Everyone had decided to stick to Xiaoguan and wait for the arrival of the main force of the Western Expedition.

November 7th.

Wei Wensheng led 40,000 infantrymen and 10,000 light cavalry from Chang'an to Xiaoguan at night. In the evening of that day, Xu's army followed the Jing River to Xinping County, Beidi County. At the same time, Chen Jie personally led 20,000 light cavalry from Yan'an to travel twice the way, and finally passed through Ziwu Mountain and entered Luochuan County, Beidi County. The two armies were only a hundred miles apart!

The rangers sent by the two armies discovered each other almost at the same time, but when the Xu army's cavalry were running back to report the news, Chen army's rangers released the flying eagle carried by the army.

The reinforcements of Chen Jun obtained the latest information first. After obtaining the information, Chen Jie immediately summoned the generals and lieutenants of his subordinates to discuss. The final military proposal was to take advantage of Chen Jun's communication advantage and immediately marched overnight, take the lead in Xu Jun and seize the city of Zheliu.

Zheli City, an important military town on Longshang, is located in Anding territory at the junction of Beidi County and Anding County. It is the key to the ancient "Silk Road" and is known as the "Sanqin Barrier and Qinlong Gate". Its strategic status is self-evident! Zheli City is an important barrier to Xiaoguan, an important gateway between Guanlong. Once Zheli City is lost, the between Guanzhong and Xiaoguan will be cut off.

Chen Jie was born in the Li family of Guanlong, and was very familiar with the Guanlong area. In this blocking battle, he had 20,000 light cavalry, while Wei Wensheng had 50,000 infantry cavalry. Moreover, Wei Wensheng was his elder. The Li family and the Wei family were family friends in the past, and he once called Wei Wensheng a uncle. Now that we meet on the battlefield, this pressure can be imagined.

The troops and horses were neither superior, and the opponent's general was a famous general. In order to narrow the gap between the two armies, Chen Jie chose the important military city of Zhelicheng.

Zheli was an important city in Guanzhong, and originally had heavy troops stationed. However, the former Wei Wensheng took away a large part of his troops and was transferred from Zheli City. Later, Yuwen Chengzhi attacked Jitou Mountain and then pulled a part from it. At this time, Zheli City was extremely empty and completely an empty city. Chen Jie had enough confidence to easily take Zheli City.

Chen Jie's choice was to consider the result after repeated consideration and seize the Zheli City. First, Zheli is on the necessary path between Guanzhong and Xiaoguan. After occupying Zheli City, Wei Wensheng could not bypass the Chen army and attack Xiaoguan, and could complete the plan to block the Xu army and rescue Xiaoguan. Second, Zheli is a military center with a high city and a strong wall. As long as Zheli City can be taken down, Chen's reinforcements can wait for their leisure and rely on the hard city.

The resolution has been decided, and the rest is to march quickly and seize the city of Zheliu.

Chen Jun's actions soon came back to Wei Wensheng's ears. When he heard Chen Jiezheng leading 20,000 light cavalry into Zheliu City, Wei Wensheng couldn't help but change his color. As the former General Xiao Guan, he certainly understood the importance of Zheliu City. Once Chen Jun took Zheliu, it would be a big problem.

The Chen army had 20,000 troops and horses, and then occupied the city. If they wanted to capture Zheli, according to the common military rules, they would have to be at least three to seven times the troops of the defenders. With the high combat power of Chen army, it would be impossible for him to take Zheli without ten days and half a month. Even if Yuwen Chengdu could arrive later, he could only sigh at the city. What's more important is that even if Zheli was taken by then, there would be a more solid fortress Xiaoguan behind it.

Once the time is delayed, Chen's subsequent reinforcements will arrive. At that time, Xiaoguan's offensive and defensive battle will become a huge meat grinder that slowly devours all the power in Guanzhong.

As a famous general of a generation, Wei Wensheng had clearly calculated the evolution of things before and after in one thought.

"We can't let things develop like this." Wei Wensheng pushed his forehead with his hand, sat down and immediately called the messenger.

"Come to upload my commander's military order immediately! Ten thousand light cavalry stop resting immediately, the entire army sets off and marches quickly. You must hurry to Zheli City before Chen's army!"

The generals accompanying him were shocked: "Master, the soldiers came all the way from Chang'an. The soldiers were tired and rushed to the road overnight. The soldiers were unable to maintain their physical strength. What's more, the infantry could not keep up with the speed of the cavalry."

Wei Wensheng shook his head: "I am the general who will take 10,000 light cavalry to gallop in the city. You will then march quickly. The faster you can run, the faster you can run. No need to speak too much, set off immediately!"...)
Chapter completed!