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The first year of Guangming, May.

The four Northern Expedition Army had been out of the customs for half a year, of which Zeng Yuanyu led 50,000 troops out of Andong Province, and finally entered the Xiande Prefecture of Zhongjing, Bohai Kingdom. Zhou Dewei led 50,000 troops out of Liaodong Province, and entered the Fuyu Prefecture of Bohai Kingdom. The Bohai court also withdrew into Zhongjing Prefecture, mobilized troops to station in the two prefectures, cooperated with the Qin army, and prepared to fight the decisive battle with the Khitan coalition forces at the city.

Among the two groups of troops, Zeng Yuanyu's army in Zhongjing Prefecture was the first to face the main force of the coalition forces heading towards the attack on Shangjing Longquan Prefecture. Zeng Yuanyu used Xiande Prefecture as the base camp and divided his troops to station in Chongshan, Chongzhou, at the junction of Shangjing and Zhongjing. The troops stationed along the Hukhan River and guarded the southern bank of Hukhan Sea.

The Zhou Dewei Army was stationed in Fuyu Prefecture, northwest of the Bohai Kingdom, and its base was located in Fuyu City, Fuzhou. The vanguard was stationed in fortification along the Weimo River from northwest to southeast.

The Qin army's two Northern Expedition Army were built east and west, and built along the river with the Qingmo River and Huhan River. It formed a Ya-shaped triangle with the logistics camp located at the source of Yalu Water. In addition, the Qin army's naval generals Megan and Zhu Li also led the joint fleet. After the Liaohai Sea was thawed, they set out from Pyongyang, went to Zhang Yingying's Qinghai Town in southern Silla to replenish supplies, and then bypassed the Sanhan Peninsula, arrived at the eastern coast of the Bohai Kingdom, landed in Nanjing and Tokyo Prefectures in the Bohai Sea, and supported the war at sea.

For many vassal states in the Central Plains, this is just a battle outside the pass.

But for Li Jing and the Qin vassal soldiers, this was a battle that was crucial to the Qin vassal and had a great impact.

Strategically, this will be a major battle that determines the overlord of the Northeast and the pattern of the future at least 30 years. In terms of scale, the Khitan, Shiwei and Heishui jointly dispatched 200,000 Hu cavalry. The Bohai Kingdom also mobilized all the remaining 200,000 horse and infantrymen, and Li Jing also mobilized a total of five armies, including horses, infants, waters and lands to join the battle. Zeng Wuyu's army 50,000, Zhou Dewei's army 50,000, Guo Chongtao's army 50,000, Lin Wei's army 150,000, Julie and Meghan's joint fleet 50,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Bohai, Qinfan coalition forces were 550,000, Khitan, Shiwei, and Heiwater coalition forces were 200,000, a super battle that brought together nearly 800,000 troops. If it were considered Khitan soldiers and horses on the Huangshui grassland, this battle might reach the scale of millions.

This is also the battle that the Qin army has invested the most at one time and has the widest combat area so far. The 350,000 troops and the regular combat troops reached 30 armies, with a total of 150,000 troops.

Zeng Yuanyu was the one who was most under pressure in this battle.

This former general of the Tang Dynasty, who was late for a long time and had been in a idle position for half his life and could not be reused, has always performed extraordinary since he joined Li Jing's command. It can be said that Zeng Yuanyu's experience is somewhat similar to that of Li Jing, the god of war in the late Sui Dynasty and early Tang Dynasty. Although he had written all the military strategy in his heart, he had never been able to get the opportunity to prove himself.

A thousand-mile horse requires a man.

Li Jing is Zeng Yuanyu's Bole, and Li Jing has always given Zeng Yuanyu a chance. Zeng Yuanyu's performance did not disappoint Li Jing, and he led his own side many times. But now, as the most critical point in the entire battle, Zeng Yuanyu must use his 10,000 combat cavalry, 20,000 combat insurgents, 20,000 auxiliary troops, and 100,000 Bohai corrupt soldiers to block the 100,000 main cavalry unit of the Khitan coalition in Xiande Mansion.

In the strategic plan of the entire battle, Zeng Yuanyu was the eye of the overall situation. Only when he supported the coalition's offensive, blocked the coalition's footsteps, and dragged their main force to the Zhongjing Prefecture. Then other legions have opportunities, especially to create opportunities for Guo Chongtao's legion.

If Zeng Yuanyu could not hold on, then the entire smoky water, sudden sweat, and the Yalu water, the strategic defense line on the east coast might be comprehensively broken through with the point, and not only will the Bohai Kingdom perish, but also the Qin vassal state of Liaodong, which was spent countless efforts to operate, may be destroyed in one go.

Zeng Yuanyu, who entered Zhongjing, met with the King of Bohai at the first time and forced the King of Bohai to hand over the command of the Zhongjing Bohai army to him. Immediately afterwards, Zeng Yuanyu unified the 150,000 Qin troops and the Bohai coalition forces in Zhongjing into war, auxiliary and preparatory third grades. Most of the Bohai army was classified as auxiliary troops, and more were incorporated into the reserve troops. Then a combat soldier was assigned to two auxiliary troops and three reserve troops, and a mixed army was reorganized. Then, Zeng Yuanyu did not intend to stay in Zhongjing City and passively wait for the coalition forces to attack.

Instead, take the initiative to defend, play strategic defense, and there will also be counterattacks in defense.

Along the Hukhan River from Zhongjing to Shangjing, Zeng Yuanyu leaned against the mountains along the river, set up passes and villages, and arranged several armies to defend in a tiered manner.

Chongshan, Baishan, Dongmushan, and each had heavy troops. His strategy was to never let the Khitan coalition easily fight all the way to the city of Xianzhou. Instead, he had to rely on the right mountains, rivers and territories to block one after another, and use space and time to make the Hu cavalry bleeding continuously, gathering less and becoming more numerous, and finally effectively attack them. When the attack and defense war in Zhongjing Prefecture finally started, the enemy lost 20 to 30% of the troops.

In addition, Zeng Yuanyu also formulated a plan to clear the world.

Starting from the border between Shangjing Prefecture and Zhongjing Prefecture, all the people along the way must move to Zhongjing Prefecture and to the south of the west. In addition, all the food, grass, livestock and livestock must be taken away, and no grain or grass must be left for the Khitan coalition forces. Even the houses must be burned and the wells must be blocked.

Zeng Yuanyu even ordered that the water sources and water from various prefectures, counties, mountains, villages, rivers and other places that had withdrawn, all of them were invested in the dead animals, actively creating diseases and plagues, and making difficulties for the Khitan coalition forces.

It is best to have difficulties, but there are no difficulties. If you create difficulties, you cannot let the Khitans come easily.

At the same time, while actively defending, he had not forgotten to send dozens of special forces to the Longquan Prefecture of Shangjing, which had been occupied by the Khitan coalition, and led the Bin Prefecture, Anbian Prefecture, Anyuan Prefecture, Huaiyuan Prefecture, Dongping Prefecture, Tieli Prefecture and other enemy rears to carry out sabotage. Assassinate their generals, burn their granaries, attack his logistics troops, poison water sources, instigate counter-revolution, spread rumors, etc. Zeng Yuanyu even sent several missions to Silla, Dongying, Heishui, Shiwei and other places to lobby Silla, and Japan sent troops to support the Qin army in battle, or raise food and grass for the Qin army. At the very least, he wanted to obtain permission to purchase food and grass from the two countries. However, he promised various benefits to Heishui and Shiwei and persuaded them to retreat.

Zeng Yuanyu even sent a delegation to the Khitan commander, proposing that as long as the Khitan coalition forces stopped fighting, the Qin army would withdraw immediately. Even the Qin army was willing to persuade the Bohai royal family to accept that the actual control area of ​​both sides was the new border. The Qin army and the Bohai were willing to no longer make a request for return to the areas currently occupied by the Khitan coalition forces.

Originally, when Li Jing handed over the most important burden of the entire battle to Zeng Yuanyu this time, there were some objections within the Qin vassal. But when Zeng Yuanyu passed these arrangements back to Yanjing, no matter who it was, he was very satisfied with Zeng Yuanyu's plan.

This plan is perfect!

Judging from this plan, Zeng Yuanyu definitely deserves Li Jing's trust.

"Is this a delaying strategy for the army? Or is there a arrogant strategy?" More than 100,000 Qinfan Bohai coalition forces were already actively preparing for the war, and the food and supplies in the rear were also continuously transported to the front through the Liaohai and Yalu water, and the war was about to begin. At this time, Zeng Yuanyu sent an envoy to meet the Khitan commander and proposed to quit the war. It was obviously deliberately showing weakness and delaying the time, so that the Khitan commander would feel underestimated, and at the same time, it also gave the Qinfan Bohai coalition forces more time to prepare.

After all, the side is defending, and the opponent is attacking. The longer the time is delayed, the more beneficial it is to the Qin army.

"It must be." Li Jing smiled.

Since ancient times, if the troops were strong, there would be no point in the end and fair trade. If the Qin army claimed at this time that if the Khitan coalition did not immediately surrender and retreated troops and would have to slaughter the three units, Hu Man would probably be a little worried. But now the Qin army was abnormal and proposed to quit the army. Even the Qin army did not even have any move to counterattack the Bohai Sea. It just seemed to strengthen the city defense with Fuyu and was ready to defend the dead. Under such circumstances, the performance of the Qin army would only be regarded as weak by them, or the Qin army was powerless or did not want to contribute too much to participate in the affairs of the Bohai State.

It is not surprising that Hu Man has this idea, as this idea is very consistent with the thinking of this era.

After all, although the Bohai Kingdom is an ally of the Qin vassal state, it is just an ally after all. Although the demise of the Bohai Sea is worried about the death of the lips and teeth, if half of the Bohai Sea can be saved and the Qin army does not have to work hard to fight from afar, in most cases, they will choose this.

But this is different from Li Jing's thinking, because although Li Jing is an ally of the Bohai Sea and the son-in-law of the Bohai King, he had already planned to use a knife to kill people and drive away tigers and wolfs when the Black Water invaded. Li Jing's combat plan was not to protect the Bohai Kingdom, but to use it to annex the Bohai Kingdom. If it were just to protect the Bohai Kingdom, Li Jing would naturally not work so hard. But if Li Jing wanted to use it to annex the Bohai Kingdom, this battle would have to be fought.

It is precisely because the Khitan coalition forces failed to find Li Jing's true bottom line again and again, and thus made misjudgments one by one!

"If this battle can be won, we can take the opportunity to annex the Bohai Kingdom in one fell swoop." Li Jing said with a domineering spirit, "After this battle, there is no need for the Bohai Kingdom to exist anymore, and after this battle, the Bohai Kingdom will inevitably be extremely weak. We just let the army stationed in the Bohai Sea take over the various prefectures and counties of the Bohai Kingdom. However, for the sake of success, we can consider temporarily abdicating the Bohai King, and then let the current Bohai Prince succeed to the throne, and we will control it. In this way, when the time is ripe for a few years, we can completely incorporate the Bohai Kingdom into our Qin vassal."

Although Li Jing is still Bohai's son-in-law, this time is not the time to be merciful.

Jing Xiang, the envoy of the General Staff, said: "I am not very worried about the situation in the Northeast, let alone the Bohai Sea situation. What I am more worried about is another thing. Now that Huang Chao's situation has turned sharply, the court's momentum has risen again, and the emperor seems to be a little uneasy about the status quo. This time he suddenly granted officials and generals to Qin's civil servants and generals, and they are all high and generous rewards. This is not a good sign. I think this is not just the emperor who wants to win over the hearts of the Qin's soldiers. He is Xiang Zhuang's sword dancing, aiming at Pei Gong, and is completely aimed at the palace down. For this reason, what can your highness do you have to deal with?"

Although in the emperor's edict, Jing Xiang, Li Jing's dog-headed military advisor, directly awarded the title of Fengyi County Prince and was appointed as the Minister of the Secretariat Zuo Pushe in the Procuratorate. However, Jing Xiang knew very well who he was with and had no affection for the emperor at all.

"He is the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. He led the king's guest. Could he be the king's minister? He wants to give him a reward, how can I object?" Li Jing said. This is indeed a troublesome thing, but this can only be regarded as the emperor's open conspiracy. He came with a clear sword and a spear. Li Jing could only stand and take it, not hide.

Over the years, Li Jing has been very good to Li Yan.

At the beginning, Li Jing had a low position and was in need of the protection and support of the emperor, so he could be said to be willing to please him wholeheartedly. He provided countless money and food every year, and never disobeyed the emperor's edicts and decrees. Later, the power became stronger and Li Jing gradually had the ability to say no, and did not completely turn against the emperor. It was Li Jing's usual attitude that made the emperor afraid of Li Jing, but he was not afraid much.

"Since that's the case, why not do it again." Jing Xiang said after pondering for a long time.

"What do you mean?" Li Jing looked at him and asked knowingly.
Chapter completed!