A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

On Huang Ce's advice, Zhang Huai followed the example of Wu Qi, a general from the pre-Qin period. In order to win over the hearts of his troops, he gave up his own camp as commander-in-chief and the delicacies of the land, and ate and lived with ordinary soldiers, personally applying medicine and bandaging their wounds.

He treated all soldiers equally, regardless of which military governor they were under.

The troops under the command of the various military governors were extremely grateful for this, and Zhang Huai's status in their hearts gradually surpassed that of their respective military governors.

When he lived and ate with the soldiers, he learned that some of them had financial difficulties at home, so he gave them some money and sent them away from the army to go home and take care of their families.

If it's out of gratitude and a desire to repay the debt, then wait until things are settled at home before returning to the army.

Huang Ce also suggested that someone spend a lot of money to send letters from home to the soldiers in the army.

Meanwhile, in his spare time, Zhang Huai personally led many civil officials of the military governor to write letters home for soldiers who had been away from home for a long time and had never returned, and ordered people to deliver the letters to the soldiers' homes by hand.

After these two things were accomplished, he completely won over the hearts of all the soldiers.

Before the various military governors could react and were still singing and dancing in their tents, their armies, except for some of their confidants, had already fallen into Zhang Huai's hands.

When they realized this, they were horrified to find that they could no longer mobilize their own army and were under house arrest by Zhang Huai, unable to leave the camp.

Zhang Huai did not intend to kill them, because if he did, there would definitely be an uprising in the rear.

However, in order to prevent these people from hindering him, he decided to place them under house arrest. Once he captured Fanyang City and the great cause was accomplished, these people would have no choice but to admit defeat and completely submit to him.

At that point, they will be formal superiors and subordinates, rather than allies of the same level.

After thoroughly integrating the army, Zhang Huai was able to command it with ease, and there would never again be a situation where the army did not obey his control.

In addition, his actions made countless noble families willing to die for him, and the defensive pressure on Geshuhan was increasing.

Although the Tang army was well-trained, the rebel army was also composed of seasoned veterans, and the ratio of losses on both sides gradually decreased.

Three days after Zhang Huai completely took control of the army, Tian Chengsi once again led his troops to storm the city wall and held the breach. A steady stream of allied soldiers used this breach to rush up the city wall and engage in hand-to-hand combat with the defenders on the wall.

Zhang Huai seized this opportunity and committed all his troops to the attack, completely capturing a section of the city wall.

After this section of the city wall fell, a steady stream of troops climbed up the wall through this section, and the Tang army could no longer hold out. Under the command of Geshu Han, they fought and retreated.

Once the city walls fell, the entire city of Fanyang could not be defended. Geshu Han made a decisive decision and led his remaining troops to retreat from Fanyang.

Leading his defeated troops, Geshu Han was utterly unable to resist the rebels. He fought and retreated, while Zhang Huai seized the opportunity to successively occupy Jizhou, Dingzhou, Hengzhou, Xiangzhou, and Weizhou, thus establishing his dominance over the world.

Geshuhan met up with the reinforcements sent by the imperial court in Liyang and decided to hold Liyang, the largest crossing point for the rebels to advance south.

The rebel army now numbers nearly a million strong, and Liyang is their only option if they want to cross the Yellow River as soon as possible.

Moreover, this place was one of the important locations for the imperial court to store grain and fodder, and it was an extremely important official granary.

The grain and fodder in this official granary are enough to feed a million-strong army for a year. If Liyang also falls into the hands of the rebels, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Moreover, Liyang is the only place before Hulao Pass that still has defensive capabilities.

More importantly, there was also a naval force stationed in Liyang. The navy was a major weakness of the rebels, who were mostly from the north and relied on cavalry and infantry, but had no navy.

By taking advantage of the navy's mobility, they were able to hold the rebels firmly at Liyang, and even restore their morale to launch a counterattack.

Although Geshuhan now commands a force of 60 men, including the rebels, he is still inferior to the rebels.

In addition, nearly 60 of these 20 troops had been defeated by Zhang Huai in Fanyang and had been chased for hundreds of miles, so their morale was long gone.

The morale of these 20 troops also affected the court's 40 reinforcements. He had to restore their morale and do everything he could to win a few battles, no matter how great the losses. Only in this way could he boost morale and fight a decisive battle against the rebels.

Now, we can only hope to achieve some success on the front line, forcing Zhang Huai to reveal a weakness. If we can force Zhang Huai to retreat, that would be even better.

……

Luoyang City.

Li Heng has received the battle reports from the front lines. Gao Shi's side has experienced both victories and defeats, but overall, they have won more battles and are gradually approaching the homeland of the rebels in the western frontier.

However, the war in the northern frontier is in disarray. Since Fanyang was captured, the imperial army has suffered repeated defeats and has now been driven to the banks of the Yellow River by the rebels.

"Geshuhan has ruined me!"

Li Heng was furious and slammed his fist on the table.

"If changing commanders on the eve of battle weren't to avoid causing chaos in the army, I would gladly dismiss Geshu Han from his post right now!"

Liyang is very close to Luoyang, separated only by Xingyang. It can be said that he has already been brought to the front by the rebels. Regardless of whether he can eliminate the rebels in the future, he has already lost all face.

"By my order, another 300,000, no, 500,000 troops will be drawn from the garrisons around Liyang and sent to support Liyang immediately."

"Tell Goshuhan that if he can't wipe out the rebels, he doesn't need to come back."

In a fit of rage, Li Heng issued a death order, drawing 50 troops from the surrounding garrisons at any cost. Now that they were being brought to the front lines, no one else stopped him. As long as Li Heng wasn't blinded by anger and decided to replace the generals on the spot, that was fine.

Although the court now has some generals, none can surpass Geshu Han in terms of strength and fighting ability.

Not to mention changing generals on the eve of battle, they would not be able to control the army in a short time. Instead, the rebels would seize this opportunity and might be able to break through Liyang in one fell swoop.

If Liyang falls, the natural barrier of the Yellow River is lost, and the rebels gain control of the imperial granaries, then the Tang Dynasty will really have to consider either moving the capital or defending it at all costs, which risks national annihilation.

"How's the situation at Zhenbeiguan?"

Li Heng asked again.

"Judging by the time, the battle report should be arriving soon."

Du Fu calculated that, given the speed at which intelligence was transmitted by the imperial court, news from the northern frontier should arrive in the next few days.

"Inform me as soon as you have any news."

Lee Hyung-do.

……

Ten days ago, in Yunzhou.

The garrison commander of Yunzhou City suddenly appeared, and a black line appeared on the horizon. The battle-hardened soldiers immediately realized that this was a large cavalry force.

He quickly rang the alarm bell, closed the city gates, and warily looked at the ever-growing black line opposite.

Upon hearing the alarm bell ring, Zhang Huai's eldest son Zhang Chong, who was stationed in Yunzhou, and Huang Ce's eldest son Huang Yi, hurriedly led several veteran generals who were still in Yunzhou to the North Gate.

A general squinted at the approaching cavalry in the distance. "Your Highness, there are at least 5 elite cavalry on the other side!"