Lu and his army were rebelling against the military leaders of the three towns and demoted Wang Chengyan and Cui Jie. Before they could breathe a sigh of relief, someone rushed into the Political Affairs Hall with documents.

"An urgent report from Sizhou!"

When several prime ministers of the Political Affairs Hall heard that it was an urgent report from Sizhou, their bodies trembled.

Although the court's plan to defend Huang Chao in Sizhou was proposed by Lu Xie, and other prime ministers and Lu Xie in the court did not have the same political views. If there was a serious situation in the Sizhou defense, it was indeed a great opportunity to attack Lu Xie, but the current Sizhou defense plan was also of great importance. If the Sizhou defense line was broken by Huang Chao and the thief went north to the Central Plains, this would be able to support the foundation of the Tang Dynasty.

Once Huang Chao crossed the Huai River and entered Henan, the bandits would go north, and naturally go north along Bian, Ying, and then gather in Luoyang. At present, the four towns in Hebei rebelled, causing the troops and horses of Henan to gather on the front line of Luoyang to defend. If the thiefs entered Henan, not to mention threatening the Eastern Capital, they would be Zhongwu, Xuanwu, influence, Taining, Tianping, and Yicheng towns, and they would be afraid of confrontation. Once Huang Chao was like joining with Wang Jingwu back to the river, he would join the four towns in Hebei across the river and converge back to back... When he thought of this consequence, Lu Xie would be cold and groan.

Then the facts were extremely cruel. After the Sizhou defense plan proposed by Lu Xie reached the local area, the vassal states cut corners when they implemented it.

In front, two generals Li Jing and Gao Pian were the examples, while later, the rebels from Hebei and the bandits from Huainan were threatened. The vassal states on the front lines of Henan became lazy in the will of the imperial court.

In November, after Huang Chao ran and plundered under Gao Pian's nose, his troops expanded to 150,000 again.

Although Huang Chao once forced his army to the city of Yangzhou, he did not dare to attack easily for this famous city. Huang Chao understood very clearly that there were at least 30,000 Huainan troops in Yangzhou. Although Gao Pian's elite troops lost a lot in Jiangxi, they still maintained at least 20,000 troops. Especially after the strong walls of Yangzhou defended, Huang Chao did not dare to attack the city easily. Especially now, there is an elite Navy fleet on the Yangtze River patroling the river. At the estuary of the Yangtze River 300 miles away, there are 20,000 troops stationed in Hudouzhou, and they can reach the city of Yangzhou in two days.

Therefore, Huang Chao grabbed a vote in Huainan and plundered a lot of money, grain, gold and silk. He led his army to show off his power at the city of Huainan, and then he arrogantly left north and headed straight to Sizhou.

In November, Huang Chao approached Sizhou and arrived at the southern bank of the Huai River.

However, this important center that the imperial court planned to focus on defense, only 6,000 Tang troops were assembled.

Facing the 150,000 thieves on the other side, Cao Quanyue, who had just been appointed as the deputy commander of the Southeast and the governor of the Tianping Army by the imperial court, was extremely disappointed at this time. Due to the struggles in the court, Cao Quanyue's official positions have been transferred in recent years, from the governor of Zizhou under Ziqing Town to the Duaya of the Tianping Army, to the governor of the Tianping Army, and then to the governor of the Jiangxi Army. In a blink of an eye, he was transferred back to the Tianping Army from Jiangxi and was awarded the position of deputy commander of the East, responsible for the defense line of Sizhou.

It was only when Cao Quanyue led the three thousand Tianping Army to Sizhou that he found that the other towns either had no soldiers or had only sent 5,100,000 troops, so when Huang Chao's 150,000 troops arrived, he had only 6,000 soldiers in his hands.

Six thousand to ten thousand. Huang Chao's troops are twenty-five times that of Cao Quanzhong, and the enemy is very different!

Even the blind man could see that this battle would be of great luck.

Cao Quanru had to report the message to the court urgently while asking Gao Pian for help.

However, while guarding Yangzhou City, Gao Pian sent a group of elite troops to defend Hailing in the east of Yangzhou. He was determined to guard the town of Jiangkou, for fear that Li Jing would take his base at this time. At present, he did not even listen to the emperor's edict, so how could he pay attention to Cao Quanzhi, the governor who was transferred by the emperor.

Cao Quanyue sent several envoys to Gao Pian for help every day, but Gao Pian was completely reluctant to save him, and he held the army and sat down to the end.

On November 8, Cao Quanshi did not wait for Gao Pian's reinforcements or other reinforcements from other towns. He waited for Huang Chao's attack.

Taking advantage of the shallow water season in winter, Huang Chao's 150,000 troops launched the battle of crossing the river. Cao Quandu only had 6,000 soldiers and horses, so he did not dare to leave the city to seize the river and fight. Seeing Huang Chao's army easily crossing the Huai River, then directly rushed to the city of Xuyi, the capital of Sizhou.

Cao Quanshi led 6,000 troops to fight bloody battles for one day and night, and finally outnumbered. Facing the Huang Chao army with countless ants attached to the city, the governor only sent his sons and nephews to break through with his blood letter.

Among the six thousand Tang troops, only Cao Quanzhi's son Cao Xiang and nephew Cao Cunshi led more than ten cavalry to break through, and the remaining more than six thousand were killed with the city.

What Lu Xie received was the bloody letter written to the court when Cao Quanru was dying, reporting that the Sizhou defense line was broken.

When Lu Ji proposed this Sizhou defense plan, he really expected not to rely on Cao Quanzhi, but to Gao Pian from Yangzhou. He hoped that Gao Pian could send troops from Huang Chao's back when Huang Chao crossed the Huai River.

It’s a pity that Gao Pian held his troops from beginning to end.

Based on this wrong judgment, Lu Xie never thought from the beginning that the Sizhou defense line could block Huang Chao and Sizhou defense line was just waiting for Gao Pian to send troops. Because of this, Sizhou was originally the territory of the Invasion Army, but the Invasion Army was transferred by Lu Xie to the Invasion Army.

The Han River is a tributary of the Huai River and later called Shahe. It originated from Funiu Mountain, which borders the eastern part of Henan Road and the east of Shannan Road, and entered Huai through Ruzhou, Henan, Xuzhou, Caizhou, Chenzhou, and Yingzhou in Xuanwu Town.

The military water converged with the Rushui River, which also originated from Ruzhou, on the border between Ruzhou and Xuzhou, and then merged with Xiaoqiu River in Caizhou, and finally formed Daqiu River. Then it merged into the Yingshui River, an important tributary of the Huai River in Chenzhou, and went south to merge into the Huai River.

The entire river is 830 miles long and spans the four prefectures of Ru, Xu, Cai and Chen from east to west.

Although this river cannot be called a natural danger, it is also a natural barrier between the host and Chang'an in the flat eastern Henan.

Compared with the Sizhou defense line, Lu Xie paid more attention to this shui defense line. After all, if Huang Chao broke through Sishui and entered Henan, it would not be the most disastrous. What the court was most worried about was Huang Chao's attack on Luoyang and westward to Chang'an. Therefore, defending Luoyang is the most important thing.

Setting the defense line at the Wushui line instead of gathering in the Huai and Si line is also worried that Huang Chao would abandon the Huai and Si line across the river, and fight to the west and head straight to Chang'an, Luoyang. For Lu Xie and others, Chang'an and Luoyang are the most important.

Moreover, Lu Xie had previously transferred Xu Si's Instrumental Army and Yishu's Taining Army to the Noi Shui River, and in fact he had another expectation, that is, just as the defense in Sizhou was to hope that Gao Pian could send troops in the end.

Now Lu Xie has transferred the Restoration Army and Taining Army along the way from Sizhou to Ziqing to the west. He hopes that Huang Chao can see the situation clearly and hopes that he will not go west, but will run directly towards the richer Ziqing Denglai.

If Huang Chao really ran to Ziqing Town, then no matter how calm Li Jing was, he would have to be forced to send troops to deal with Huang Chao.

Under Lu Zhi's repeated urging, the towns in Henan did not dare to start their mothers one after another, regardless of whether they were willing or not. At this time, they did not dare to start their mothers like Gao Pian and Li Jing.

Liu Kerang, the governor of the Taining Army, actively launched an army and led his army to Ruzhou.

When he was invading the army, Pu also entered the Yingshui River.

Xue Neng, the new governor of Zhongwu Army, performed very positively. After all, Huang Chao went north and Zhongwu Army was the first to bear the brunt of the Zhongwu Army. However, although Xue Neng could write a lot of poems, he did not understand military affairs. Therefore, Xue Neng sent Zhongwu general Qin Zongquan and Sun Ru to Caizhou to dispatch troops. Then he handed over the main force of Zhongwu Army to another general Zhou Ji, and asked him to lead him to meet with Zike Rang.

The Tianping Army and the Reason Army were stationed in Sizhou.

Zhongwu Army, Taining Army, and a part of the influence army stationed in Wushui!

At the same time, Cui Anqian, Zhang Zimian and Du Qing led several troops from Yicheng, Dongduji, Shannan, Shaanxi and Guo, and Hezhong to gather in Luoyang and establish a third line of defense.

The court headed by Lu Xie faced the rebels in the north and south. Until now, the main conservative countermeasures have been formulated.

After Li Jing and Gao Pian successively supported troops but failed to launch, the court's strategy was mainly inclined to defend. In particular, it formulated a defense plan with Luoyang and Taiyuan as the main one. The Tang army focused on defense, especially against the thieves in the south, and the task of attacking the nine Hu soldiers was handed over to the nine Hu soldiers.

Sizhou was lost, Gao Pian was still sitting there, Huang Chao's 150,000 troops had entered Henan, and the news reached Chang'an, which made the emperor, Lu Xie and others worried.

On November 15th, the imperial court was appointed as the governor of the Southern Jiedu and the Secretariat of the Central Secretariat, the Taiwei, the Jianghuai Salt and Iron Transportation Envoy, and the King of Bohai County, Jin.

On the same day, he issued an order to be appointed as the governor of Zhenhai Zhou Bao, and was appointed as the Minister of the Central Secretariat, Situ, and the deputy envoy of the world's rented-in-law. He was promoted to the title of Prince of Runan County.

On that day, the emperor issued an order to add the Northeast, Hebei Dao Marshal, and the Central Secretariat, the Central Secretariat, Li Jing, the Taifu, and the Taiwei, and the Shizhong, Hebei and Northeast Salt and Iron Transportation Envoy, Yingtian Branch Ambassador, Hebei and Dongdao Dao Luyong Ambassador, and also to add the Jiedushi, Ziqing Town, Denglai Town, Hengqing Town, Jian'an Town, Liaoxi Town, Fushun Town, Lulong Town, Yiwu Town, Chengde Town, Weibo Town, Yichang Town, Datong Town, and Jiedushi, and held the military military commanders of the 12 Towns of Jiedushi.

In order to allow Li Jing to send troops, the court has made repeated exceptions now.

Li Jing was originally the Grand Tutor of the Third Division, but now he was given the Grand Marshal of the Three Dukes at the same time. Although the positions of the Third Division and the Three Dukes were a first-rank official position, they were extremely honorable. Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, only Emperor Taizong of Tang Li Shimin had become the Grand Marshal and the Situ, and held two positions at the same time.

In addition, Li Jing served as the envoy of Tongping Zhangshi, and was originally appointed as the Secretary of the Central Secretariat, and this time he was appointed as the Chief Secretary.

These are all repeated exceptions, which shows that the court is now afraid of Li Jing.

Outside the position of marshals in Hebei and Northeast China, the court saw that Li Jing's soldiers had not been dispatched for a long time. Li Yan, who was anxious and worried, personally proposed to be appointed as the governor of Li Jing, the governor of the Jiedushi, and the governor of the twelve soldiers in the Jiedushi.

If you want to give the position of Marshal Li Jing, it is not too much. After all, generals such as Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi have held positions such as Marshal.

But the Jieduo makes this position, but it is not easy.

After the Anshi Rebellion, Emperor Xuanzong issued an edict to use Prince Li Heng as the Grand Marshal of the World, and divided the country into four major combat military regions, each with the prince as the governor and served as the highest military and political chief of the war zone. That is, Shuofang, Hedong, Hebei, Pinglu Jiedu District, Li Heng also served as the governor; Shandong East Road, Lingnan, Qianzhong, Jiangnan West Road, Yongwang Li Zi was used as the governor; Jiangnan East Road, Huainan, Henan Jiedu District, Shengwang Li Qi was used as the governor; Hexi, Longyou, Anxi, Beiting and other roads, Fengwang Gong was used as the governor.

The Grand Marshal of the World was the four Jiedushi. Below the four Jiedushi, they were the marshals, deputy marshals, and finally the Jiedushi of each town.

At that time, there were a few Jiedushi in the world. Each Jiedushi commanded the Jiedushi area in which he was commanded generally had four to five towns.

Now, there are more than fifty towns in the world. The emperor divided a total of twelve vassal states in Hebei, Northeast China, Henan and Hedong into a Jiedu District, with Li Jing as the Jiedu Chief.

Li Jing suddenly controlled more than one-fifth of the world's military power, equivalent to one-quarter of the world's military power.

Although. This is only nominal, it is enough to shock the world.

Since the Tang Dynasty, this order has been enough to compare Li Jing with Li Jing, Li Ji, Li Sheng, Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi.

If it weren't for the King of Yizi, who could not be like the governor, and the Marshal would have cancelled the war after the war, Li Yan would have been ready to be named Yizi, to Li Jing.

The pressure he faced was too great. Anyone who was in the hands of Li Jing and Gao Pian could immediately play a decisive role in the battlefield. But that's it. The court clearly had so many troops and was still in the rear of the rebels, but it couldn't be used. It can be seen that the pressure in the hearts of Li Yan, the young emperor.

Since the two marshals of Li Jing have been added, the emperor now doesn't care about adding a military commander to Li Jing. As long as he can exchange for Li Jing's troops, even if he just sends some troops first, he can immediately dispel the suspicion and concern of other towns, and play an important role in encouraging morale in the world and attacking the arrogance of the rebels.

Li Jing remained silent at this time, so Li Yan and Lu Xie and others couldn't eat well and couldn't sleep, for fear that they would hear the news that Li Jing would be in rebellious when they woke up.

Now the emperor dares not ask Li Jing to lead a large army into the pass and quell the rebellion. What he hopes now is that Li Jing will express his opinion immediately. He declares that he is still loyal to the court and insists on suppressing the rebellion.

Just when the court was about to collapse and despair, Li Jing finally replied to the envoy who went to announce the imperial edict and would immediately draw some troops to participate in the fight against the rebellion.

Just three days after the news came back to Chang'an in almost five days, Chang'an received the news.

Li Jing finally moved. The two troops stationed on Yuzhou Island in Haizhou were finally dispatched first. The town suddenly landed in Haizhou at the fastest speed, and then entered Xiapi City, the important town in Huaibei, and stationed troops in Shuyang, Haizhou, and Qushan, the capital of Haizhou. The 12,000 towns used Yuzhou Island as the food and grass logistics base. Then they controlled the three major cities on Sishui, Yishui, Shuyang, and Qushan on Shushui. They quickly blocked the passage of Huangchao along the Yishu River Valley and the passage of Yimi, Ziqing and Denglai to the north.

The news reached Chang'an, and Li Yan's face turned red with excitement and almost shouted. The other ministers were also extremely excited. They were waiting for speculation, fearing that Li Jing would also rebel with his troops at this time. Even if Li Jing did not rebel, if he kept holding troops and refused to send troops, it would be a huge blow to the court.

Now, Li Jing finally dispatched. Although Li Jing's dispatch of troops this time only dispatched 12,000 troops, and forcibly entered three cities along the eastern coast of the Insurgent Army. And from this operation, perhaps Li Jing was just to prevent Huang Chao from heading north to avoid attacking Ziqing and other territories. However, in any case, the significance of this dispatch of troops was also very important.

Then, news came from Hebei again that Li Jing sent 10,000 troops stationed at the border of Baoqiu River in Jiyou Prefectures and the east bank of Lushui River in Tanyou Prefectures.

After Li Jing sent troops, Gao Pian, who had been holding troops unmoving, finally sent general Liang Zhang and his nephew Gao Jie to lead 20,000 troops north to "recapture" the important cities of Xuyi, Huaiyin, Shanyang, Zhaoyi, Zhongli and Shouchun on the southern bank of the Huai River.

Zhou Bao from western Zhejiang and Liu Hanhong from eastern Zhejiang also began to send some troops and escort a batch of money and grain to the water defense line.

Li Jing sent troops to garrison Xia Pi, and Gao Pian sent troops to recapture Xuyi opposite Linhuai in Sizhou. Under such circumstances, Huang Chao did not stay in Linhuai. Although he had many soldiers and horses, he did not dare to fight against Gao Pian and Li Jing's army at the same time. Although Li Jing and Gao Pian were not present in these two armies, they had less than 20,000 troops. However, Huang Chao still abandoned Sizhou and left.

Facing the imperial court's defense line in the Yishui River, Li Jing's defense line in the Yishu River, and Gao Pian's defense line in the south of Huaihe River, Huang Chao thought carefully for a long time. First, he gave up the idea of ​​going north along Shuyi to Ziqingzhu. Li Jing sent troops to guard Xia Pi, and his consciousness was very obvious, but he didn't want him to go to Ziqing.

Li Jing’s town is too perverted. Last time I went to fight Ziqing, Huang Chao, who almost couldn’t come back, refused the route without hesitation.

When he turned around and went south, although Gao Pian retreated and avoided the war last time, Huang Chao fought with Gao Pian's army and was defeated nine out of ten battles, and the only victory was very lucky. Now that Gao Pian has sent troops again, he dare not try his luck again.

After thinking about it, there is still a way out to go north. First, the towns in the Central Plains are now very weak and have no strong opponents, and they just rush in Henan. Second, if they can take advantage of the opportunity of the four Hebei towns to rebel, they will be the real carp leaping the Dragon King. Even if they can't, if they can seize Tianping Town and unite with the Hebei army to fight against the court, they will have the opportunity to establish a stable base, and there is no need to wander around like this anymore.

After repeated thoughts, Huang Chao finally made up his mind to go north to attack Luoyang. If he fails, he will fight back to his hometown Caozhou, where he will build a base with the Hebei army.
Chapter completed!