end song

At night, a battle temporarily stopped.

The two camps were very close to each other, and the distance between the two camps was only more than [-] li.

The wind blew with the smell of blood.

Yang Ben walked into the camp with his bloody helmet in his arms, his eyes were completely different from usual, as if he had lost a lot of power.

He saw Li Xia standing in front of the wounded barracks, paused on his feet, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the statistics are probably out..."

"Go ahead."

"Including those who were disintegrated and seriously injured, the Yan'an Army lost more than [-] people, and the Ningxia Army lost more than [-] combat strength. More specific casualties will have to wait until tomorrow."

Li Xia was silent for a moment, then asked, "What about last night? Ai Hua's subordinates, including those who fled and were seriously injured, how much combat power did they lose?"

"I haven't counted, it must be more than tens of thousands."

"Ah."

Li Xia didn't comfort Yang Ben any more, saying: "Cheer up and follow me."

He strode into the big tent of the military conference, and first saw the big map hanging there.

After standing and watching for a while, Li Xia said, "Kublai Khan is here."

Yang Ben was a little dazed, as if he hadn't recovered from today's battle.

Li Xia said to himself, "It can be seen that Kublai Khan's troops are running low."

"Your Majesty, please forgive me for speaking bluntly. Kublai Khan personally conscripted. Counting the original troops in Hetao, including Tacha'er and Aibuhua, 10 people can still come together..."

"Is there a lot? If I want, I can make up 10 people."

Li Xia walked to the map, clicked on the Zhixia Sixth Road, and said: "I only need to deploy the defenders in Chongqing, Hanzhong and other places, and then deploy troops to maintain law and order in various places. I can still recruit [-] officers and soldiers."

Yang Ben was surprised.

In terms of military affairs, he knows Li Xia's combat style very well. He has always been streamlined if he can, because the population under his rule is sparse and food is scarce.What's more, can the various places not be guarded?
But today he suddenly said these things. Could it be that he wanted to recruit a large army to fight Kublai Khan in Hetao?

But Li Xia continued pointing at the map, and said, "Even if Kublai Khan gathered 10 people in Hetao, is that too many? Not many. You divide these 10 people into Kaiping, Yanjing, Yinshan, Taihangshan, Are the passes in the Yanshan Mountains enough?"

"not enough."

Yang Ben finally recovered from his frustration, stepped forward, drew a circle on the Central Plains area on the map, and said: "At least in these places that do not border us, the strength of the Yuan army must be empty. Therefore, Kubi Lie can only defend us in the Hetao, once we are allowed to gain a foothold in the Hetao, his troops will no longer be enough to defend the various places, is this the reason for his own conquest?"

"He cannot lose this battle, but no matter who he appoints as commander in chief, there is no guarantee that he will win...except himself."

"But although the Central Plains is empty, Kublai Khan has still arranged defenses on the border with us. Shanxi and Henan have always been heavily guarded, so His Majesty chose to bypass the Hetao. Now that the Hetao is blocked, how can we enter the Central Plains? "

Li Xia didn't answer directly, but looked contemplative, and said: "Actually, Meng Yuan, like us, has a vast land and sparse population, and the number of troops is not large. In this case, offense is the best defense."

He was still digesting the news of Kublai Khan's personal conquest.

Yang Ben stopped thinking about his defeat by Zhang Hongfan today, and began to look at the map and think about the battle situation.

"Offense is the best defense... Your Majesty and Kublai Khan both use offense instead of defense..."

Suddenly, Yang Ben's eyes moved, and he said, "Here!"

He tapped his finger and clicked on Shandong.

"Today I fought with Zhang Hongfan, and found that many of his soldiers spoke with a Shandong accent. His Majesty also said that Kublai Khan's troops were not enough to defend the various places. It can be seen that he must have drawn troops from Shandong. It is not difficult to enter the land of no one and go straight to Yanjing!"

Li Xia raised his hand, pointed to the table case, and said, "There is a draft."

"This is……"

"I have already dispatched my horse back to Chang'an, ordered the court to send envoys to the Song court, and invited the Song army to go north. But this is only a temporary trial, so don't expect it. On the contrary, what I worry about is... if I confront Kublai Khan Go on, after a long time, will Song Ting trip us up?"

Yang Ben couldn't quite keep up with Li Xia's train of thought.

He didn't think it would be a good idea to stand for a long time, and said, "Your Majesty, is it better to retreat temporarily?"

"Do not."

Li Xia frowned, then turned his back, and said: "Looking at the experience of Mongolia in destroying Xixia and Jin, Mongolia is good at mediating, plundering and killing, constantly weakening the enemy's national power, and came here while Kublai Khan was furious. , A fight to the death is better than procrastinating."

This is exactly what he has been thinking about tonight, whether to retreat or fight?

This time he attacked Hetao, Li Xia thought he was "stealing" Hetao.

He didn't want to cause a decisive battle with Kublai Khan because of stealing the Hetao. He didn't have such national power and was not ready.

Facing Kublai Khan's personal conquest, he really felt tremendous pressure.

But he didn't want to retreat in his heart, he wanted to hold on.

He believed that Kublai Khan was also not ready for a decisive battle.

So, if it is a war, where is the chance of victory?

Li Xia thought about it, touched a certain place on the map, and whispered: "The Central Plains is empty of troops. Unfortunately, even the road to Hetao is blocked. We can't kill the Central Plains. But maybe it is not necessary to kill the Central Plains. If you continue to fight, maybe over time, people in the Central Plains will also change?"

The problem under consideration in front of him is like suddenly putting ten years of hard work and everything on his shoulders on the gambling table, and the outcome will be determined in one game.

But he can actually take a step back, return to Chang'an, and operate slowly.

To gamble or not to gamble?
~~
Yuan army camp.

Zhang Hongfan greeted the close ministers sent by Kublai Khan, and described today's military exploits.

"Jiu Badu is really brave."

Heli Huo Sun nodded repeatedly after hearing the battle situation.

He is a Mongol and was born in Kublai Khan's Qi Xuejun, but he is proficient in learning and painting, and he speaks fluent Chinese at this time.

"However...why didn't Jiubodu take advantage of the victory to pursue Li Xia today?"

Zhang Hongfan said: "Your Majesty has already personally marched. If you want to defeat Li Xia, this day is not in a hurry."

He Li Huo Sun asked again: "But if Li Xia escapes, what should I do?"

Zhang Hongfan pondered for a while, and said: "It's fine if he returns to Xingqing Mansion. At least His Majesty will conquer it himself, and the Hetao will be preserved right away. The rest can be done slowly."

"This?"

Heli Huo Sun smiled and said, "Forgive me for not understanding."

"Li Xia has only seven or eight thousand troops. If he doesn't retreat, he will surely die when the army surrounds him. If he retreats, it will be His Majesty's arrival, and Li Xia will flee upon hearing the news."

Heli Huosun still didn't understand, and asked directly: "But, there seems to be a big difference between the two? One is all done in one battle, and the other can only show the majesty of your majesty...Of course, the majesty of your majesty does not need to be frightened away." Li Xia came to appear."

Zhang Hongfan couldn't help laughing, and said frankly: "Well, then considering the risk of me directly attacking Li Xia today, the difference is not that big."

Heli Huo Sun didn't expect him to be so frank, and was taken aback for a moment.

Zhang Hongfan said again: "I am just afraid that I will lose, and I dare to speak so bluntly with Your Majesty. There is no shame in being afraid of losing, and the real shame is in losing."

He Li Huo Sun got up, bowed again, and said: "Understood, I will report it to His Majesty."

"It's work."

Zhang Hongfan sent Heli Huosun away, and then climbed to the small peak of Yinshan Mountain, staring at the Tang army camp in the distance, analyzed the situation, and became more confident.

In the middle of the night, Heli Huosun had reported the situation of the battle to Kublai Khan, and came to Zhang Hongfan's camp again.

"Congratulations to Jiubadu, Your Majesty is very satisfied with Jiubadu's results today."

Zhang Hongfan was not surprised, he knew that His Majesty could understand his careful choice on the battlefield.

"I didn't continue to attack Li Xia, is Your Majesty angry?"

Heli Huosun shook his head, walked quickly into the big tent, and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty has a map for Jiubadu, come and have a look."

Zhang Hongfan frowned, already feeling something, he quickly ordered the guards to guard the big tent, and followed inside.

He lit up the candle, and saw that Heli Huosun had spread out a small map on the desk.

Just looking at those few arrows, Zhang Hongfan couldn't help admiring.

"My Emperor Shengming!"

This sentence of admiration came from his sincerity, and he believed that his majesty's personal conquest was completely different from Shi Tianze, Tacha'er, and Hedan.

Including Ali Boke.

Thinking about it now, the reason why Li Xia has been invincible all these years is just because His Majesty never shifted his eyes to Li Xia.

He approached, carefully analyzed the arrows, and nodded.

"In this way, the battle will be sure... By the way, what is this army?"

"Jiuba doesn't know yet, does he?" Heli Huosun looked a little complicated when he mentioned this matter, and said, "King Anxi is already on his way back with his troops."

Zhang Hongfan was surprised, and then quickly figured out the Central Plains plot, and instead of asking more questions, he said: "Your Majesty originally wanted to pacify the Western Regions first... It seems that Li Xia stole the Hetao this time to set himself on fire."