Chapter 566: The soldiers were sent to Hanzhong

There was not a trace of brightness yet, and the night was still deep. At the fifth o'clock in the morning, Li Qing'an got up quietly. This was his habit for many years. No matter what day it was, he had to get up at the fifth o'clock in the morning. He was very light and did not want to alarm the beauty beside him. In the faint light, he looked at his newlywed wife carefully. She was so young and beautiful. Her hair was as black as black jade, her eyes were as gentle as an antelope's eyes. Her fingers with the beauty of ancient Greek carvings, her light and flowing figure, and her well-proportioned and plump legs. Everything seemed so beautiful and so full of vitality.

The beautiful woman's graceful figure made him unable to help but reach out to caress her gently. Pei Wan'er opened her eyes with a 'Yeah!'. She hadn't actually slept all night. She fell asleep at the fourth hour. Her lover's caress made her wake up again. She quickly got up. Her lover got up and she had to wait for him to wash. This was what her mother told her again and again. It was the duty of being a bride, but her weakness and weakness made her unable to sit up. Li Qing'an smiled and pressed her down, "Continue to sleep well, I don't need you to serve her."

At this time, Pei Wan'er's heart was filled with the loss of saying goodbye to the Girls' Generation, and made her depend on Li Qing'an. This man would be her lifelong dependence. She didn't want him to leave her and longed for him to be with her again. A woman's instinct made her hug Li Qing'an and act coquettishly: "Don't leave, stay with me again."

Pei Wan'er's spoiled behavior reminded Li Qing'an of her shyness last night. He originally liked this woman, but last night, he was a little too much. He felt an inexplicable emotion in his heart, as if he had received some pleasure when torture her. But now, a trace of guilt arose in Li Qing'an, and hugged her and smiled: "I won't leave, I just went out for a walk. I'm used to getting up at this time and breathing the early morning air. You can continue to sleep!"

He bent down and kissed her lips, then got up and went out. This kiss actually made Pei Wan'er feel happy. The pain and confusion of last night disappeared without a trace. She finally felt like being a wife. A touching tears filled her eyes and could no longer fall asleep. She sat up. The night was still dark, but she had no intention of falling asleep. She began to comb her long hair. Today she was going to enter the palace to accept the enthronement. The imperial decree that once made her extremely disgusted was also expected in her heart. Her mind was full of the shadow of Li Qing'an, which was her husband, her lifelong reliance.

Li Qingan simply tied his hair into a bun and walked out of Penglai Pavilion. The air outside was very fresh, with a fishy smell of the lake and a hint of chill. The wind blew over him. Li Qingan felt refreshed immediately. He walked to the lake and stretched his waist long. He liked this lake water and the island in the lake. When did he ask for a few days off for himself and locked himself in Penglai Pavilion and thought about it for a few days. Now he needed to think about it.

Li Qing'an has been quite concerned about the affairs of the Cui family these days. In order to curb the Pei family's growth, he needs to find an opponent for the Pei family. The Cui family is undoubtedly the best choice, but he doesn't want Cui Huan. He wants Cui Ping to control the Cui family. In this way, the Cui family will become his loyal hunting dog. However, the Cui family's reluctance to reply made him feel a little uneasy. Li Qing'an also knew that the reason why these aristocratic families have not fallen for hundreds of years is their character, their uniqueness, and they will never easily become tools for those in power. After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, there has never been a family like Cui Pei bent over the face of imperial power. He was really worried about whether Cui Huan would make concessions under his threat and pressure.

"General!"

Someone was calling him behind him. Li Qing'an turned around and saw a small boat approaching. On the boat was one of his personal soldiers responsible for delivering letters. Li Qing'an quickly met him, "What's the matter?"

"Report to the General, Cui Ping sent an urgent letter last night, and he said he would like to ask the General to read the letter immediately."

"Where is the letter?"

Li Qingan felt a little uneasy. His personal soldiers took out a letter and handed it to him. It was indeed Cui Ping's handwriting, but he was in a hurry and seemed very hasty. It was obvious that he was very anxious when he wrote this letter. Li Qingan opened the letter and saw that there was only one sentence in it. The clan sacrifice was postponed until the first month of next year. The clan leader had officially decided to hand over the position of the head of the Cui family to Cui Ning.

Li Qing'an breathed a long sigh and looked at the lake with complicated eyes. As expected, he guessed it correctly. Cui Huan refused to surrender to him. He really understood the character of the aristocratic family. Li Qing'an's fist gradually tightened. Very good. He wanted to see how long the Cui family's character can last?

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Cui Huan also did not sleep all night. Last night, he finally made a major decision. He convened more than 20 important figures of the Cui family to hold a short meeting. There were only two contents of the short meeting. One was that the clan festival was postponed to the New Year for four months, and the second was that he resigned from the position of head of the Cui family and gave it to Cui Ning, who was a teenager younger than him. This was his final decision. He would rather the Cui family fall into ruin than be a royal lackey. Li Qing'an wanted to use the Cui family to deal with the Pei family, but he refused.

There was already a twilight in the sky, and the milky gray morning mist enveloped the back garden of Cui Mansion. Cui Huan was walking in the garden with his hands behind his back. At this time, his mood was very calm and full of leisure and elegance. He started to pass the Jinshi exam at the age of 20 and had been in the officialdom for nearly forty years. He knew the consequences of playing games of thrust with superiors. Perhaps the Cui family would make a profit for a while. There were more than a few Cui family children who could become officials, and there would also be several Cui family backbones entering the power center of the Tang Dynasty. But what about the future? Birds were gone, good bows were hidden, cunning rabbits died, and lackeys were cooked. Once the Cui family became Li Qing'an's lackey, there would be no more days to turn around. At that time, the Cui family's character made the Cui family stand up for hundreds of years interrupted, and the Cui family was really destroyed in his hands.

Not only that, Cui Huan, who had a deep vision, saw another danger. Now Li Qing'an needs to get the support of the aristocratic family and get up to power. Once he controls the Tang Dynasty, he will inevitably attack the aristocratic family. This cannot be questioned. The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty never allowed the aristocratic family to become a big shot. Emperor Gaozong of Tang used Wu Zetian to eradicate the Wang family. After the fall of Emperor Wei of Zhongzong, the strongest Wei family was cruelly cleaned. Who will be the next one? Is it the Pei family or his Cui family? Cui Huan is very clear about this. It may not be a good thing to get too close to Li Qing'an.

After walking around the back garden, his will became stronger. If Li Qing'an wanted to clean up the Cui family, he would let him go. The Cui family has its own ethics. For hundreds of years, the Cui family has stood firm and storm without falling. How could he care about setbacks once or twice?

When he returned to the study, Cui Huan spread out a piece of paper. He picked up his pen and pondered for a moment, then wrote the word "resignation" on the paper.

The sky gradually became bright, and a news spread rapidly within the court. Cui Huan, the Minister of Rites, resigned from his post as prime minister of the Zhengshi Hall for physical reasons. The news shocked the court. The Zhengshi Hall immediately held an emergency meeting. At the meeting, Cui Huan's resignation was accepted by voting. At the same time, the Zhengshi Hall adopted Pei Zunqing's proposal and accepted Cui Ping's subordinate minister into the cabinet, replacing Cui Huan's position in the Zhengshi Hall.

This news really surprised many people who were interested. Cui Huan gave up the position of head of the family to Cui Ning, but his position was obtained by Cui Ping. Is there some ulterior motive secret here? However, as those who came to Chang'an to participate in the clan festival left Chang'an, Cui Ning's affair with the Southern Tang Dynasty was left, as if nothing had happened, and all kinds of speculations were difficult to maintain. Then the Cui family fell silent.

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Another day later, the Censor General Song Zhi impeached the Hanzhong Jiedushi Li Huan and had an affair with the Southern Tang Dynasty. He had already been loyal to the Southern Tang Dynasty. The Political Affairs Hall immediately issued an order to summon Li Huan to the capital to respond, but Li Huan strongly rejected the Zheng Affairs Hall's will and made a public statement: If you are away, the imperial court's will will not be accepted.

Li Huan's tough attitude aroused the indignation of the court. Li Qing'an formally proposed to the Zhengshi Hall to attack Hanzhong and push the defense against the Southern Tang to the front line of Hanzhong. This proposal was approved by the Zhengshi Hall and authorized Li Qing to plan the battle in Hanzhong safely.

Li Qing'an immediately appointed Li Siye, deputy envoy of the Anxi Jiedushi, as the Grand Marshal of the Southern Expedition, and led 40,000 Anxi Army to conquer Hanzhong. He also ordered Longzhou, Qizhou, Fengzhou and other three states to share logistics. The prelude to the war slowly opened again.

Outside the Xianyang camp, more than 40,000 Anxi soldiers lined up in an orderly manner, with flags waving, bright armor, and swords and halberds spread all over the sky, as dense as a black forest. Li Qing'an, accompanied by Li Siye, slowly rode his horse past the team. At this time, Li Qing'an turned his horse's head and faced tens of thousands of Anxi soldiers. The 40,000 Anxi soldiers were silent in the formation. Every soldier looked up at their commander, his eyes full of determination.

"Soldiers of the Anxi Army!"

Li Qing'an's voice was very low, but every word he said reached every soldier's ears, "I don't think that attacking Hanzhong is an arduous task. You have experienced many battles and have defeated the army ten times stronger than the Hanzhong army. Therefore, you will win the Hanzhong army without any capital to show off. But you can also use this battle to tell the people of the world that the true strength of the Anxi army, I will only give you ten days, right! Only ten days , From now on, I will come here again in ten days, and accept your triumph. Even if you are a quarter of an hour late, you will be a shameful failure. If you fail, the general will be reduced to three levels and the entire army will be fined for one year. If you succeed, then you will not only receive a heavy reward, but also each of you will receive the Golden Hero Medal of the Tang Dynasty's Battle Army. Okay, that's all I want to say, let your actual actions prove the strength of the Anxi Army. We are the number one army in the world."

Speaking of this, Li Qingan raised his right arm and stared into the eyes of 40,000 soldiers. The 40,000 soldiers waved their arms and shouted: "We will win! We will win!"

The shouts shook the sky and earth, and Li Qing'an waved his arm westward, "Set out!"

Teams of Anxi soldiers lined up, cavalry, crossbow army, heavy infantry, majestic and murderous intent, tens of thousands of camels carrying various supplies, followed the team westward. Li Qing'an and Li Siye rode together on horseback. Seeing Li Siye's solemn look, he smiled and said, "Why, is the pressure for ten days too great?"

Li Siye did not hide his worries, so he nodded and said, "Yes, it takes three days at the earliest from Luogu Road to Hanzhong from here to Luogu Road, and from Luogu Road to Hanzhong. After going back and forth, the time on the road took six days. Our actual combat time was only four days, so I was really nervous. My demotion was second. I was worried that it would affect my morale."

"Don't worry! I know what you can take Hanzhong within four days. I will not put pressure on you at will. I will never mention things that cannot be done. Just let go of your hands and fight without any scruples, and don't use any surprises. Just pay attention to scout information and don't be ambushed by Hanzhong's army."

Seeing that Li Qingan was very confident, Li Siye felt a little relieved. He suddenly remembered something again and asked, "What should I do after taking Hanzhong? We won't let us stay in Hanzhong forever!"

"How could it be? I want you to fight An Lushan!"

Li Qing'an smiled and said, "I have already made arrangements. Cui Qing'an will lead 30,000 people to take over Hanzhong's defense, and he will serve as the Hanzhong left-behind."

At this time, a cavalry rushed over and reported to Li Siye: "General Li, the central army is about to set off, please return to the team!"

"All right!"

Li Siye clasped his fists and bowed to Li Qing'an, "General, I'm going to set off now."

Li Qing'an bowed his fists and returned the gift, "Take care all the way, I wish you a victory!"

"Helping!" Li Siye whipped his war horse violently and ran westward. Li Qingan looked at his back and said to himself lightly: "If you return within ten days, you will be worthy of the title of the No. 1 army in the world."

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Hanzhong is located south of Zhongnan Mountain and is affiliated to the East of Shannan Road. In a narrow sense, Hanzhong only includes Liangzhou, Yangzhou and Jinzhou, with Liangzhou as the center. Among them, Nanzheng County in Liangzhou is the political, cultural and military center of the Hanzhong area. The city is tall, deep and vast. If heavy troops and sufficient food and grass are gathered, Nanzheng County can defend at least half a year.

Hanzhong Mountain has high forests and a steep terrain. Since ancient times, it has been a difficult place to march. It is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is not only an important gateway for Bashu to defend the Northern Army, but also a major obstacle for Bashu to go north. Zhuge Liang went to Qishan seven times and was largely unable to cross Hanzhong smoothly. However, after the Eastern Han Dynasty, the road from Guanzhong to Hanzhong was no longer as simple as before. Especially the three roads, Ziwu Road, Luogu Road and Baogu Road, were repaired on a large scale, making them a shortcut to cross Zhongnan Mountain. From Chang'an to Nanzheng in Hanzhong, it can be reached in just three days at the fastest, and it can pass an army of more than 100,000 at one time.

Currently, the chief general of Hanzhong is the governor Li Huan. Li Huan is seven feet tall and has wide shoulders. He uses a large iron spear of 120 kilograms. He has a very good marksman and can be called a powerful general. He is a member of the Li Tang royal family and attaches great importance to the bloodline of the royal family. He has always believed that Li Heng is the orthodox Li Tang royal family, and the young emperor established by Chang'an is just a trick played by Li Qing'an. Sooner or later, Li Qing'an will be usurped by Li Qing'an. How could he allow him to inherit the throne?

It is precisely for this reason that Li Huan nominally belongs to Chang'an Political Affairs Hall, but in fact he has already been loyal to Li Heng, Chengdu.

Li Huan was not stupid. When he was impeached by the Censorate and the Political Affairs Hall ordered him to go to Beijing to investigate, he guessed that Li Qing'an was going to attack him, but he wanted to find a glamorous reason and dared not go or not. A war to attack Hanzhong in the south would inevitably break out.

Li Huan had 30,000 troops in his hands and could fight with the Anxi Army. At the same time, he sent people to Chengdu for emergency help, and hundreds of scouts were sent out by him to inquire about the Anxi Army.

That afternoon, Li Huan received information that the Anxi Army Brigade had about 40,000 people heading south from Luogu Road, and 10,000 vanguards had occupied Huayang County and stationed there.

Huayang County is located in Yangzhou, about two hundred miles away from Nanzheng. The road is rugged and there are many canyons, so Li Huan fell into deep thought.

In the evening, Li Siye's main army arrived in Huayang County one after another. This was the second day after setting off from Xianyang. After marching for two days and one night, the army arrived in Hanzhong smoothly. It would take at least one day and one night to go from Huayang County to Nanzheng. If the army did not rest and set off directly in Nanzheng, then tomorrow evening, the army would arrive in Nanzheng County, which would complete the plan to enter Hanzhong for three days. However, Li Siye was not in a hurry to complete this task, but ordered the army to rest on site for four hours and set off at the third update.

Huayang County is a small county with only more than a thousand families. The county town is also very small and cannot station so many troops. The Anxi brigade is stationed in an open space outside the county town. Thousands of large tents are arranged in sequence, with huge camp bars erected around, burying deer antlers and thorns, and six looking out towers. Dozens of scouts sent out to patrol within a radius of ten miles, with extremely strict vigilance.

The lights were basically turned off in the camp, very quiet. After forcing the troops for two days and one night, the soldiers were exhausted and exhausted. They fell down and fell asleep. Only Li Siye's tent was still on.

The tent was brightly lit, and a huge sand table was placed in the middle. This was the topographic map of the Hanzhong states. The cities, passes, roads, military camps, etc. on the sand table were marked very clearly. Li Siye was discussing a plan for combat with several generals.

Li Siye looked very serious. According to the sign on the sand table, he should have encountered two Hanzhong troops stationed, one is Luogu Pass and the other is Huayang Fort. Both passes should have 500 soldiers stationed, but they passed by these two passes, but none of them stationed. They saw that there were originally garrisons in the two passes, but they had just withdrawn for a long time. This is a strange thing, which shows that the other party had already known their arrival and did not resist, so they withdrew the defenders.

In fact, it is not that easy to capture Luogu Pass and Huayang Fort. The pass is very steep. To capture them, you have to go through at least a bloody battle, killing and injuring more than a thousand people. But in fact, they have not encountered any resistance. This should not be Li Huan's style. Is he showing weakness to lure the enemy into the deeper?
Chapter completed!