.~

On April 6, 999, the Empire was in the Sichuan-Shaanxi Province, Tongguan Fenglingdu.

At this moment, Jing Zhan, who is far away at the junction of Sichuan-Shaanxi Province and Central and Southern Provinces, is working hard to recover a new cavalry army; Lei Dongfeng and Sima Nan and others in Tongguan are also working hard to study the next goal of the two armies day and night.

At this moment, in Tongguan, in the Han Army's pre-war command center, Lei Dongfeng, Sima Nan, Jiang Zhuying, Li Changlin, Li Ruoxi, Zhang Ce and others were standing in front of the sand table, deducing the actions of the Western coalition forces.

It has been a day since the Western Allied Forces set off from the other side of the camp. Since the Central and Southern Provinces on the other side are still under the control of the Western Allied Forces, detailed information has not been conveyed.

At present, the only clear news is from the downstream Han soldiers stationed in the important town of Tongguan, a wolf smoke alarm from Jincheng Prefecture, Yanbei Province - the Western coalition vanguard has arrived in Lingbao. If you travel another day, you will arrive near Longyang, Zhongdu. Obviously, the Western coalition is not as simple as withdrawing Longyang, but goes straight downstream and heading eastward.

"According to the information currently obtained, the enemy is temporarily divided into two groups." A staff officer of the Fenwu Army reported to several commanders.

"All the way is a partial army, and the way is to go east along the water road, heading straight to the East and Sea provinces; the way is the main force, and the goal is unknown at present; but the way is to stay on the opposite bank, waiting for an opportunity to cross the river."

"It seems that the main force in the West does not want to fight against the large corpses such as the Benlei Army of Yanbei Province, but goes to the Central and Southern Provinces and turn north from the East China Sea Province. That side division should be echoing the main force by land to prevent the corps of the East China Sea and the Jiangnan provinces from suddenly attacking. As for those who stay behind, it is not worth worrying. As long as they can not echo the Western coalition forces stationed in Zhongdu, there will be no big problem." Lei Dongfeng touched his head, and although his tone was firm, he always felt that something was wrong there.

"It is easy to lose Long Yang, but it is difficult to take it back. If Long Yang is not in my hands, our army will attack rashly and if Jose suddenly returns, our army will definitely be defeated." Li Ruoxi glanced at Lei Dongfeng and pointed out his worries directly.

"I've always wondered why the Benlei Army has been unable to hold on? If this is the order of the military headquarters, why is the military headquarters arranged this way?" Sima Nan pointed to Benlei's position on the left wing of the Western Alliance now marching. If they were willing to lead troops out, although they could not cause fatal damage to the Western Alliance, they could at least hold them back.

"I have also written to Fei Ge of the State Privy Council several times and reported that the matter between Lei Jun, but President Zhuge never responded to it..." Li Changlin was also helpless.

"Actually, I feel that the military headquarters does not have their reasons. After all, the Yanbei Province is the last barrier of the imperial capital. Once it is spread, the Western enemy will inevitably march straight into it. Moreover, Longyang is also close to the Yellow River. If the garrison in Yanbei wants to attack, they must cross the river first. During this period, the Western coalition forces will definitely prevent and will not play a role in sneak attack. However, if the 50,000-strong army is organized, if it is head-on to confront the 300,000 Western coalition forces, Xiahou Junjie is afraid that he will not be able to catch up." Li Ruoxi analyzed.

On the map, the water of the Yellow River faces Tongguan from north to south, but suddenly turns east under Tongguan, just splitting the Central and Southern Provinces and Yanbei Province into two.

"Of course, although things can be explained like this, it is not what a good fighter is doing. If I were Xiahou Junjie, if I received the news that the Western Army had taken the route to Guanglin Prefecture to attack the Central and Southern Province on the same day, I would have led an elite army to the other side of the Wei River and cut off its retreat. You must know that at that time, the Emperor* team was still standing in resistance on the back of the Western Army, but Xiahou Junjie did not do this, but waited and watched. There were many concerns, and Xiahou Junjie did not have the courage to do this. In my opinion, the current role of the Benlei Army is not to resist the enemy, but to defend the enemy and resist the enemy. As long as the enemy is intercepted south of Yan north or even south of the Yellow River, even if the task is completed. Therefore, those who give such an order must have some intentions and their hearts can be punished!" Li Ruoxi said lightly.

After saying this, almost everyone present changed their expressions. Chuck even frowned, shook his folding fan, and said, "Miss Li means that Xiahou Junjie is just a chess piece? And some people hope to see such a situation happen, then this person is really playing with fire!"

Lei Dongfeng and others had just hated the fact that they were greedy and afraid of lust, and refused to cross the river to help Central and South China. But now, after Li Ruoxi said this, and Zhang Ce's final summary, everyone couldn't help but think deeply.

Nowadays, except for Lei Dongfeng, the people in this room, who have traveled through time, and their predecessors are not political experts in this life. Anyone else is a veteran who has been struggling in the officialdom for many years. Although a wise man like Li Ruoxi and Zhang Ce has not been in politics, he has a sharp vision and has seen the opportunity.

"Miss Li, what you said is just a guess. If this is true, Sima Nanding will not let go of this bastard who exchanges the territory of the empire and the dignity of the nation for benefits!" Sima Nan bit his teeth.

What this man who fought desperately with the Westerners and never retreated most could not stand was that the warriors bleed and sacrificed in front of him, while the conspirators were playing with power tricks behind him.

"Mu Tong, what do you mean is that someone deliberately indulges the Western coalition forces, but he is always on guard against them?" Lei Dongfeng's face also became very ugly.

Since traveling to this time and space, Lei Dongfeng has been excited about having such a Han Empire that stands proudly in the East and admires all nations.

You should know that such a huge empire was the dream of a passionate man in which era of Lei Dongfeng.

But when the Battle of Dragon City came step by step, Lei Dongfeng also saw too many shameless traitors' faces. He really found it difficult to accept the fact that such a great Han Empire was going to be destroyed by the traitors.

According to Li Ruoxi's analysis, the invasion of the Western coalition forces to this extent may be that some of the big men in the empire were at work for some of their own interests.

Such an act of disregarding the interests of this country and the nation, and condoning the Western Army invading the country and killing the people of the empire, regardless of the ultimate purpose, is unforgivable.

Lei Dongfeng hoped that all Li Ruoxi analyzed was wrong, at least not the intentional actions of some powerful people in the empire. But he also understood that Li Ruoxi was definitely not a targetless person. Although this girl seemed to speak viciously and mercilessly. After such a long time of contact, Lei Dongfeng knew that Li Ruoxi's words were almost thoughtful in his heart and felt that there were no loopholes before he said it...

Is the empire, the great Han Empire, really going to be destroyed in the hands of some lunatics?

"Which faction is Xiahou Junjie from the Benlei Army?" Li Ruoxi seemed not to feel the sudden excitement of everyone. The girl only had the facts in her eyes.

"I haven't heard that Xiahou Junjie is too close to anyone. The Xiahou family was originally the ancestor of the Cao family among the thirteenth family. However, after the Cao family rose, the Xiahou family became increasingly declining. If Xiahou Junjie could become the commander of the Benlei Army, his own abilities were indeed good, but I heard that the head of state recommended it to him." Jiang Zhuying thought for a while and replied.

Li Ruoxi's words just now also touched Jiang Zhuying, but what she thought was that all this must be just a guess. If this is true, the adoptive father would never ignore it!

"Well, when I was in the imperial capital, my brother also told me that Xiahou Junjie was a professional soldier and was not very close to the various factions of the imperial capital. I heard that once, the Speaker of the National Assembly Cao Ganlong visited his house in person, saying, 'You and I were the ancestors of the family a thousand years ago, and we should advance and retreat together." However, Xiahou Junjie took the lead back with a sentence of 'I am a general of the empire, not a soldier of the Cao family, please respect you.'" Sima Nan recalled that when he said this, he felt a little gloating. It seems that their Sima family had a very bad impression of the Cao family.

"In this way, Xiahou Junjie is quite honest and famous. Why can he protect himself like this? Is all this his disguise? Then this person is really terrible!" Lei Dongfeng calmed down and pondered.

"It may not be disguised as a disguise. It can be hidden from Sister Jiang's ears and the eyes of Sima's elder brother. This man has long brought the Xiahou family into the ranks of the great families. This man is not biased, but he can still do a high position and control one of the top ten legions of the empire. Someone must secretly support it. The head of state has no real power, and if he really recommends it, he is afraid that the role it will play is the opposite. After all, the military headquarters and the National Assembly have always been worried that the head of state will interfere in internal affairs and military affairs, so I think Xiahou Junjie is likely to be a pawn of the military headquarters, which is also the only reasonable explanation at present." Li Ruoxi analyzed.

"Why did the military headquarters do this?" Sima Nan asked.

"I can only say that the Western coalition forces can raid the world and raid Longcheng, but no one noticed it before. Wouldn't they be slapping the imperial scout? In addition, the Westerners went from the Anxu Province to the Guhekou and entered the empire, and there were so many people surrendering without fighting. If there were no traitors and no one secretly responded, no one would believe it. Therefore, there must be someone in the empire colluding with the Westerners, and the Westerners would be so determined to invade the empire in a situation where the form is unclear. Who can get the greatest benefit from the Westerners invasion? It is nothing more than the military headquarters, the Pushman The Secret Court and some local tyrants in China. The military department can take this opportunity to completely suppress the National Assembly, and local tyrants can use this to separate and independent. I heard from the Jiang army that the military department has always felt that the empire has not been enterprising in recent years and is powerless in expansion. Therefore, it hopes to establish a government formed by soldiers, replace the State Privy Council, and even cancel the National Assembly. However, because the public opinion polls in various places all opposed it, they had to give up. The military department even entrusted the power of the local corps, was dissatisfied with the dispatch, and interfered with local government affairs. They had long wanted to take back the military power and unified management." Li Ruoxi had no emotion in his eyes.

"So, the military headquarters, local legion commanders, and even anyone with hidden power may be the mastermind behind the scenes, and Xiahou Junjie is just a chess piece. He can know or not. No matter what, this is reality!" After Li Ruoxi said, his little face suddenly turned from rosy to pale. Obviously, this exhausted thought made her quite troublesome.

"This is impossible, it's too crazy!" Sima Nan shook his head.

The military headquarters of a country, which leads wolves into the house, and delusions are taken to take the opportunity to rise up, break and then establish?

Or do the army of one province, or even the legions of several provinces want to be independent and separatist under the control of some ambitious people?

"Don't think about why the Western Alliance did this first. What we need to do now is to pull out the nails left on the other side and Zhongdu Longyang!" Lei Dongfeng shook his head and said.

"It is useless to hide. The truth of some things is only the word cruel..." Li Ruoxi glanced at Lei Dongfeng and sighed quietly.

~

At this moment, the Western Allied Forces camp on the other side had already become a mess.

Since the defeat of the Tongguan offensive and defensive battle the day before yesterday and supporting the commander of the Western coalition, the voice of Jose, the general of the Kingdom of Falls, has risen. The commanders of many countries have asked to evacuate Tongguan as soon as possible. Only some people who know that they are weak but still want to seize the best interests here are reluctant to leave.

People are lucky. This is the mentality of these Western coalition forces who chose to stay in the camp and continue to attack Tongguan.

In their opinion, although the Han soldiers on the other side achieved victory in the previous battle, it was just because Jose did not cross the river to rescue in time, and after this war of attrition, the Han soldiers on the other side must be at the end of their strength. Therefore, as long as there is overwhelming force, the rich Chang'an Prefecture and Sichuan Grain Store on the other side still belong to them.

Although Jose was the commander, he did not want to stop the crazy ideas of this group of people, and he might not have lost the idea of ​​getting rid of these burdens. Moreover, being able to leave a group of people here echoes the Western coalition in Longyang, Zhongdu can also leave a safe retreat for the army.

Therefore, Jose was not stingy and left many elite soldiers and generals behind. Even if some people did not want to stay, they were still subdued by military orders.

Five thousand heavy infantrymen were left in the camp, a Sisley 10,000 swordsman squad, two thousand Saxon longbowers, and five thousand Gaul light cavalry.

Because the Xianbei could not protect itself in the Battle of Tongguan and later joined the Han army, Jose was not at ease to leave the Xianbei cavalry here.

Duan Haide of the Xianbei Revival Army also felt that he had no face and took the initiative to divide his army into two and hand over 30,000 of them to Jose.

Jose arranged 10,000 of the 30,000 cavalry in Longyang, Zhongdu as a mobile unit, and took out 10,000 heavy infantry, 10,000 Gaul cavalry, 10,000 Gaul light infantry, 10,000 Luodan light infantry, and 10,000 light infantry of the sea blue kingdom.

A total of 60,000 people remained in Zhongdu Luoyang.

The command of these 60,000 people was Als, the famous "Moon Knight" of the Western Allied Forces.

But, after all, the army has gone, and the remaining troops are a little nervous, and those who are forced to stay according to the orders feel that they will inevitably face the endless harassment of Han soldiers on the other side in the future.

Both sides spent a rare peaceful day when they started the war, while watching and guarding each other.
Chapter completed!