Luo and Li were overjoyed upon hearing this and immediately thanked him. Afterwards, they discussed some specific arrangements after Gao Yulan surrendered, and then Luo and Li resigned.

When he came out of the house, he saw the bright moon hanging high and the sky full of stars. Li Bu immediately said to Luo Tianbao: "Young Marshal, this time my subordinates are convinced of you."

Luo Tianbao was stunned when he heard this: "Brother Li, why did you say this?"

"I am admonishing the eldest lady out of guilt and out of love for my old friend. These are easy to say, but you are different. I can see that your admonishment to the eldest lady is entirely out of love for talents and a kind heart.

It is commendable, and your subsequent aggressive strategy of retreating to advance was even more exciting, and my subordinates admire you greatly."

Luo Tianbao couldn't help but smile bitterly when he heard this: "Brother Li is so flattering. In fact, I had no choice at the time, so I took the risk, but now I think about it, I'm scared."

The two couldn't help but look at each other and laugh when they said this. Just when they were about to leave, they suddenly saw Ding Xie running towards them in a hurry. When they saw that it was Luo Tianbao, they quickly stopped and said hello: "Young Marshal, General Li."

Are you here too?"

As soon as Luo Tianbao saw Ding Xie's anxious look, he knew that something big had happened, and immediately asked: "Second brother, has something happened?"

When Ding Xie thought that Luo Tianbao was the son of Lin Yunfei, the young commander of the rebel army, there was no need to hide some things. He immediately said: "I just received the news that the army has captured Xiaguan."

Luo and Li were both shocked when they heard this, and couldn't help but look at each other in confusion. Although everyone knew that the army stormed Xiaguan, there was always debate among all parties about whether it could be captured and when it could be captured.

, I didn’t expect that this day would come so early. Kasumigaseki is the gateway to the interior. Once the government troops capture it, it means that a large area of ​​rebel territory, including Xinjing, will be directly exposed to the imperial court’s offensive.

This also meant that the rebels were completely passive in the inland battlefield. This was a major event that could affect the situation of the entire world. Luo Tianbao even couldn't believe it at the time, and immediately asked: "Is the news reliable?"

"It's absolutely true. If you don't verify such a big thing, your subordinates wouldn't dare to make false reports."

"What's going on?"

"Well... how about you two go with me to see the commander-in-chief, and I'll tell you what happened then."

Luo and Li thought this would be a good idea, so they went back with Ding Xie. When they saw Lin Yunfei telling him what had happened, the latter was shocked and hurriedly asked for details. Ding Xie then introduced the whole process in detail.

In fact, the original rebels also knew that Xiaguan was very important, so they deployed 100,000 elite troops there, and the leader was the famous rebel general Cui Tianyou. Coupled with Xiaguan's unique terrain advantages, the original offensive of the army was extremely difficult. However,

Recently, there have been some changes within the rebels.

Ning Zeen had three sons in total. The eldest son, Ning Siyuan, stayed in the capital as an official in his early years as a hostage. Later, Ning Zeen rebelled, and Ning Siyuan's family was implicated and imprisoned. At that time, the Supreme Emperor was still in power, so he wanted to borrow Ning Zeen's help.

The Siyuan family might still be able to blackmail Ning Zeen, so they did not kill them at first. Later, the imperial court sent people to persuade Ning Zeen to surrender many times, but to no avail.

cut.

As a result, Ning Zeen now has only two sons. The second son, Ning Sixiao, is brave and good at fighting and has great prestige in the army. However, he has a violent temperament, so he is not very popular with his father. The third son, Ning Sizhong, is still young.

She was young and had no achievements in military and political affairs, but because she was well-behaved and obedient, she was favored by Ning Zeen. In addition, her biological mother was Ning Zeen's current queen, Liu. As the saying goes, a child is valued by his mother, so now Ning Zeen is

He tends to establish his third son as his successor.

However, this will inevitably arouse the dissatisfaction of the second son Ning Sixiao. For this reason, the conflict among the upper echelons of Dayou is quite fierce. The civil and military officials are divided into two factions. Because Ning Sixiao's title is "King of Wei", his faction

It is called the "King of Wei Party", and Ning Sizhong's title is "King of Qi", so those who support him are naturally called the "King of Qi Party". For this reason, Ning Zeen was also quite troubled, and finally after repeated weighing, he

He still chose to side with his younger son, but Ning Sixiao held military power and had a group of civil and military support around him. In order for Ning Sizhong to successfully succeed to the throne, he must first attack the forces of the "King Wei Party".

Originally, this matter had little to do with the Xiaguan offensive and defensive battle, but unfortunately the guard Cui Tianyou had a close relationship with Ning Sixiao. Although there was no direct evidence that he also belonged to the "King of Wei Party", most people in the government and the public still regarded him as Ning Sixiao.

Si Xiao's supporters, this makes Ning Zeen somewhat uneasy. After all, Cui Tianyou now has a hundred thousand soldiers, and Xiaguan is not far from Xinjing. If he touches Ning Si Xiao, Cui Tianyou launches a mutiny.

What should we do? At this time, Ning Sizhong's party also took a fancy to the 100,000 Xiaguan soldiers, so they tried their best to persuade Ning Zeen to replace Cui Tianyou and let someone from the "King Qi Party" serve as the guard general of Xiaguan. Ning Zeen weighed

After repeated attempts, he finally agreed to the proposal. At this time, the rebel army captured Linzhou and threatened the eastern front of the Dayou Army. Ning Zeen used this as an excuse to transfer Cui Tianyou back to Xinjing to discuss the matter of the Eastern Expedition.

, thus taking away the military power in his hands, and the general of Xiaguan was replaced by Niu Gan of the "King Qi Party".

It is said that Niu Gan is also a veteran general of the rebels. Together with Tian Yu, Cui Tianyou and others, he followed Ning Zeen and made many military exploits. Although his ability is not as good as Cui Tianyou, he is still competent enough to guard Xiaguan, which is correct.

That's why Tian Yu, Qie Jilie and other high-ranking rebels did not interfere with Ning Zeen's arrangement. However, they ignored that people will change. Today's Niu Gan has made many military exploits and climbed to the top of Ning Sizhong.

He became arrogant and confident. After taking office, he basically copied Cui Tianyou's previous defense strategy. He thought it would be foolproof. However, after all, he was not as thoughtful as Cui Tianyou and exposed a valley in the southwest of Xiaguan to the enemy.

Officers and soldiers.

In Niu Gan's view, this valley is of no importance, but many people in the army and army know that this valley is connected to a rugged mountain road that can go around the flank of Xiaguan. Therefore, both the army and Cui Tianyou were there when they were guarding Xiaguan.

Heavy troops were stationed here, which was called the "Forbidden Valley". Now that Niu Gan had voluntarily abandoned this place, it undoubtedly gave the officers and soldiers an opportunity to take advantage of it. So in the end, the officers and soldiers were led by Xue Gang, the chief general of the Huben Army, and crossed the mountains and ridges to bypass Xia County.

After a fierce battle, Xiaguan was captured. There are different legends about the number of casualties among the rebels. The only certainty is that less than 20,000 people followed Niu Gan and successfully escaped.

The biggest defeat.

Now the emperor has appointed the prince as the general marshal of the world's soldiers and horses, Li Guozhong as the supervisor of the army, and Huo Daoliang as the marching commander. He led the main force of the official army of 120,000 to march eastward, approaching Xinjing. If there was no one between the official army and the rebels before,

It was still a bit unpredictable who would win, but now everything seems to be clear.
Chapter completed!