Xu Youchang walked into the coach's room dejectedly and sat down cross-legged opposite Li Jiangyao's desk.
Neither of the two people spoke, and the atmosphere seemed a bit dull.
After a while, Li Jiangyao raised his hand to pick up the teapot on the small stove next to the case, poured a cup of hot water for Xu Youchang, and then sighed again.
Xu Youchang's eye circles gradually turned red, but he still said nothing. He only clenched his fists tightly and his body trembled slightly.
He was born into a prominent general of the Shengtang Dynasty, and his ancestors had made countless military exploits for the empire. Therefore, as a descendant of the Xu family, Xu Youchang has always regarded the honor of his family as more important than his own life. But now, in the eyes of others, he has become the murderer of Commander He Jingming and a shameless traitor. How can this not make him feel deeply sad and angry?
Li Jiangyao felt sad for his brother and sad for the death of his mentor. For a moment, he didn't know where to start with the words that were on his lips.
Xu Youchang suppressed the anger in his heart, calmed down for a while, and broke the silence: "Jiang Yao, you let me go so easily, aren't you afraid of disobeying military orders?"
"Bullshit!" Li Jiangyao breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that the other party finally spoke, and said leisurely: "When did this happen? You are such a prude and you are still thinking about those nonsense."
Hearing what he said, Xu Youchang also felt much more comfortable in his heart. He originally planned to explain to Li Jiangyao that He Jingming was not killed by him, but after thinking about it, this was still nonsense.
If Li Jiangyao didn't understand this, could he release him without saying a word?
There is no room for any nonsense in a heart-to-heart relationship between brothers.
Xu Youchang smiled with relief, and then started talking about the Xuanjia Army squadron returning to the court after the first battle in Western Xinjiang: the soldiers threatened the imperial capital, the real and fake princesses, forced their way into Jingzhao Yin Mansion to snatch Qi Ying, and were ordered to come to Liangzhou to train troops. , was suddenly surrounded by an army led by Shen Lie, fled for his life in a panic overnight, and entered the Western Xinjiang to seek refuge in Metasequoia City. Later, he was captured alive by Lin Fengluocheng in a trap. 1510. Tell Li Jiangyao everything, including Murong Xue's various analysis and judgments.
Li Jiangyao listened carefully to what the other party said for an hour. When Xu Youchang stopped talking, he nodded slightly: "Murong Xue guessed it right, that guy Xie Guang did have evil intentions. The current situation in Western Xinjiang and the Imperial Capital should be It was all caused by his collusion with the Turks. The existence of Teacher He was the biggest threat to Xie Guang's entire conspiracy, and naturally became a thorn in his side. Regardless of motivation or strength, only Xie Guang was the most suspected in the world, and As for you, you were just used as a weapon."
"I'm fucking my mother's mother!" Xu Youchang punched the case: "It's in vain that I keep worshiping him and following him! I'm really blind!"
"You're blind?" Li Jiangyao was startled for a moment, then burst into laughter: "I'm a fool, no matter how regretful you are, you still don't scold yourself like this?"
Xu Youchang was also slightly stunned at first, and then realized that the "dog eyes" were referring to himself, and he couldn't help but laugh along with Li Jiangyao.
"Damn, speaking of it, I really deserve to be scolded!" Xu Youchang wiped the tears from his eyes and said, "If I had known this, I should have listened to Murong Xue's advice and asked grandpa to come forward and transfer me away from Xuanjia. Army. Go to the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, go to the Qilin Army, even come to the Zhenjiang Protectorate, anywhere is better than being with that bastard Xie Guang!"
Li Jiangyao shook his head and said with a smile: "There is no regret in the world! Don't I understand you? Join the army. The last thing you want to do is to follow the path of your Xu family. Besides, for you, the Xuanjia Legion is also the best. The reason for the choice is very simple. The First Army of the Holy Tang Dynasty always has battles to fight, so it is easier to make meritorious deeds, isn’t it?”
Xu Youchang scratched his head in embarrassment when he revealed his feelings, and then sighed depressedly: "Oh, I was tricked by Xie Guang this time. I was accused of killing Commander He for no reason. I don't know what it will bring to my family." After all the trouble, Grandpa’s face has been completely humiliated by me.”
"It's useless for you to worry." Li Jiangyao took a sip of hot tea and said, "Teacher He's case is a major case that breaks the news. In the 800 years of the Holy Tang Dynasty, I'm afraid there has never been a commander-level general who was attacked and killed by friendly forces. The matter, therefore, is not so easy to finalize. If my prediction is correct, the three judicial departments are not qualified to intervene in this matter. The only way is for His Majesty to personally come forward and assign Beiya to investigate. You are not afraid of the shadow of the person, things always happen. One day the truth will come to light.”
Xu Youchang curled his lips dejectedly: "It's okay if you don't mention it. I get so angry and have a headache when I mention Bei Ya. Have you heard of Shi Chenlie, the director of Bei Ya's department? That guy is simply an inhuman bastard!" "
Li Jiangyao laughed dumbly: "Shen Lie? Not only have I heard of him, but I also fought side by side with him to repel the Turkic horse bandit coalition."
Xu Youchang was dumbfounded and quickly asked what was going on. Li Jiangyao told him everything that had happened before. After listening, Xu Youchang was stunned for a long time, and then sighed quietly: "I can't tell, but Shen Lie is still a good man. Now I finally understand why he appeared in Liangzhou and commanded Lieblade. The army surrounded us."
Li Jiangyao nodded: "Judging from Shen Lie's behavior, it is indeed a bit different from the past."
Xu Youchang heard the meaning of Li Jiangyao's words and agreed: "You are right. If it were anyone else, Shen Lie might not be so easy to talk to. They had obviously surrounded me, but in the end they allowed me to escape. . When this happens, it’s probably because he doesn’t want to force me to death directly for your sake.”
"There is another important reason, and that is Xie Guang." Li Jiangyao said: "Shen Changshi knows that Xie Guang has evil intentions, and your Xu family is full of loyal people, and they will definitely not really get involved, so I leave you a chance. , lest there be an unjust case and fall into Xie Guang’s scheme.”
Xu Youchang slapped his thigh: "Damn it, after all, it's that bastard Xie Guang! I'll write a letter to grandpa immediately and ask him to meet His Majesty and expose Xie Guang!"
Li Jiangyao shook his head: "I see no use. Firstly, you have no ironclad evidence and cannot directly overthrow the mighty Shangzhu Kingdom. Secondly, the connection between the imperial capital and Western Xinjiang has probably been completely cut off."
Xu Youchang also knew about Shengtang's defeat at Crescent Bay at this time, and understood that what Li Jiangyao said was true. This great battle, which affected the Holy Tang Dynasty, the Ghost Desert of Western Xinjiang, and the Turkic Empire, had completely reversed the pattern of the country. With the demise of the 120,000 main force, the entire Western Xinjiang has completely fallen into the hands of the Turks and rebels.
According to the latest report from the Pegasus scouts: Shortly after the Crescent Bay War ended, the Turkic Temple Prince Roniya led his troops and directly approached Zijin Pass in Shengtang and Shengyuguan further south, respectively. Set up north and south camps. It seems that they plan to completely cut off the Silk Road trade route from the Central Plains to Western Xinjiang and cut off all connections between the two places.
The main forces of the rebels, the Loulan Army and the Shule Army, as well as Geerhan, who had regained the royal power of Chechi, began to attack from all directions and sweep away the Western Xinjiang vassal states one by one. All those who still had their hearts attached to the Holy Tang were defeated and destroyed one after another by them; the remaining countries were all turned into enemies and chose to surrender and submit to the Xinxijiang Alliance composed of rebels.
In a sense, in the entire world of Ghost Desert in Western Xinjiang, it still belongs to the rule of Shengtang, and perhaps their Metasequoia City is the only one left.
After all, Xu Youchang was an upright soldier of the Holy Tang Dynasty. When facing a national crisis, he naturally weighed the priorities. So, Xu Youchang put all his worries aside and began to seriously discuss with Li Jiangyao the future strategy of Metasequoia City. Come.
The two brothers talked over each other and decided to discuss their strength first. Unexpectedly, Li Jiangyao himself was shocked when he mentioned the military strength of Metasequoia City at this time.
When he was ordered to take over the defense of Metasequoia, he was accompanied by less than 500 Pegasus scouts, and the local defense force of Metasequoia was only more than 2,000 militiamen. After a battle with the horse bandits and the Turkic Iron Pigeon Army, Metasequoia City not only did not lose any troops, but instead expanded its armaments, raising its strength to about 6,000.
Looking at now, in addition to the original soldiers and horses, Metasequoia City has unknowingly added a large number of new blood:
The first is Xu Youchang's Xuanjia Army vanguard camp. There are three thousand elites, all of whom are well-trained and powerful Shengtang soldiers.
Next was Nanhua Princess Huoliya who brought 5,000 Shanshan royal guards. Each of these soldiers is the enemy of the country and the family. It is not an exaggeration to say that there are five thousand dead soldiers who do not want their lives.
Next were the remnants of the Shengtang soldiers collected by various scout teams from the Crescent Bay battlefield. Although the soldiers were injured, sick, and exhausted, the total number reached six thousand. As long as they were properly rested, they would become powerful combat power in an instant.
Finally, counting the soldiers and civilians from various countries who fled to Metasequoia City, many people requested to sign up to join the army, and the number was as many as five to six thousand.
With this rough calculation, Metasequoia's current total military strength can actually reach 25,000 people!
According to Shengtang's military system, a general who can command an army of this size must be at least a titled general of the fourth rank or above. In other words, Pegasus Scout Captain Li Jiangyao became a veritable "general" unintentionally.
However, the newly promoted general Li Jiangyao couldn't care less about being happy. Compared with the rebels of the Western Xinjiang Alliance, the power in his hands is still insignificant, not to mention that there are 100,000 Turkic cavalry of Prince Ronya watching eagerly.
The only thing Li Jiangyao has to do now is to race against time to reorganize his troops, strengthen training, and improve as much combat power as possible.
Only in this way can he survive in this troubled world. If your life is gone, why do you want to return to your own world?
After careful discussion with Xu Youchang, Li Jiangyao decided to divide the troops into five armies: "left, right, front, center" to cope with the war that may come at any time.
Xu Youchang's vanguard battalion added another 3,000 men to the original base to form a front army with 6,000 pure cavalry, giving full play to its characteristics of being good at assaulting fortresses.
The Left Army and the Right Army each had 6,000 troops and were composed of the Zhenjiang Protectorate Army and the Shanshan Army. Du Jian and Ho Liya served as the commanders of the Left Army and the Right Army respectively.
Lin Feng led five thousand people as the rear army and was responsible for guarding Metasequoia City. In addition, 10,000 civilian craftsmen under Ma Mu were assigned to the rear army for assistance.
Li Jiangyao carefully selected 2,000 soldiers of all ethnic groups to form the Chinese army. These people are all veterans with strong bodies, extraordinary courage, and rich combat experience. Although their number is not large, they serve as the core assault group and shoulder the key mission of the final victory of the battle.
Black armor, white cloaks, iron masks, long spears and hard crossbows became the standard equipment of this Chinese army. Later, the "Ghost Faced White Robe Army", which shocked the Ghost Desert of Western Xinjiang and became famous in the Central Plains of the Holy Tang Dynasty, was formally established.
