Gui Ren Pu, this is the final battlefield set by Di Qing for Duan Zhigui.

  From Pennsylvania over the Qu'yun Pass, and then southwest for twenty or thirty li, we emerged from the mountains and forests, and before us lay a broad expanse of land shaped like a trumpet.

  On the pipeline leading to Yongzhou, there is a relay station called Guirenpu. This large area of empty land is also called Guirenpu.

  If you go a bit further in the direction of Pennsylvania, unless Zhang Zhi is an idiot, he won't fight a decisive battle here... tens of thousands of people are packed in, and the edge is right next to the mountains.

  The king's teacher arrived at the designated battlefield ahead of time, with troops ambushing on both wings. When the battle was deadlocked, they suddenly killed out... no need to think, the outcome was directly decided.

  Zhao Xi was no stranger to such a formation, but with over 20,000 people, the Western Army and the Jingxi Road Imperial Guard gave him completely different feelings.

  The layout of the camp is exactly the same, but the atmosphere it conveys is vastly different. Entering the Western Army's camp, you can feel the murderous intent and the will to fight, whereas the Imperial Guard of Jingxi Road at that time gave Zhao Xie a feeling like... well, it was like an organized outing.

  The military is a place where you can't afford to be even slightly lax. The country has been at peace for decades, and the imperial guards around the capital have already forgotten their own identity.

  Zhao Xi really wants to have an in-depth exchange with the officials of the imperial court, what kind of foundation did they establish that allowed them to set a national policy of not speaking of military affairs for twenty years?

  The country does not have the advantage of natural barriers, nor does it have a core strength that can intimidate neighboring countries. With such a porous border defense like a sieve, shouldn't military preparations be the top priority for the country?

  Scared of being hit! This is probably the only reason!

  While discussing the suppression of bandits with civil and military officials, they were browsing through the camp in such a casual manner. Zhao Xi's face was tense throughout.

  "Your Highness, what's troubling you?"

  Yu Jing is in a good mood today, and it's easy to take down Kunlun Pass. Next, we'll recover Yongzhou, annihilate the bandits, and bring peace back to Guangnan.

  So, seeing Zhao Xi's unnatural expression, he deliberately asked a question.

  "Gentlemen, Commander Di, esteemed elders, Xi has something unclear. Dare to ask, why fight? Why stop fighting?"

  This problem is definitely not about the country's dynasty. Since the opening of the country, most of the national dynasties have been passive, whether with Liao or Xia, they are all riding on each other's heads, shitting and urinating, and can't help but resist.

  Just like the present-day bandits.

  This topic is too broad and not what scholars worry about. They usually discuss who has a new article during their leisure time.

  So after Zhao Xi made his suggestion, there was an awkward silence.

  "Your Highness, I have heard that you are wise and have a deep understanding of the situation. When you were appointed to govern Guangnan, those who knew about it in the past, as well as the imperial court, all had their own opinions on this matter."

  "Te Mo Dao and Guang Yuan Zhou are both deep mountains and dense forests, with no output. What is called 'inner attachment' means that the intention is to seek rewards and gifts from the imperial court."

  Zhao Xi stared blankly at Yu Jing, confused by his response. He really wanted to figure out whether this old man was pretending to be muddled or genuinely understood things in such a way.

  Zhao Xi's intention was to bring up the topic and express his own views on the relationship between war and politics, using some arguments from later generations to illustrate the necessity of military preparedness in a small scope.

  In the end, you want to talk about the grand gate, but others will only mention the monkey's buttocks. Both have a hint of red, but the problem is that they are fundamentally unrelated.

  Looking at Zixuan and the others below, all the officials nodded in agreement. Looking again at Di Qing's pale face... Forget it! There's no use talking more, let's just go and see.

  "What the Bachelor says is absolutely right!"

  Zhao Xi didn't say much, just these simple words, and that's all she could express her dissatisfaction.

  Whether the bureaucrats like it or not, the battle is coming anyway.

  In less than two days, there was a report that the bandits had sent troops from Yongzhou, with tens of thousands of soldiers stretching for dozens of miles...

  These words with a romantic tone were used in military reports, and surprisingly, they didn't cause any confusion among the entire army headquarters, but instead, they were used to deploy troops.

  It's said that no matter how many troops the enemy has, we have around 35,000 on our side. The Western Army has 20,000, and the newly recruited soldiers from Guangnan have 15,000... No one considers the Guard Battalion as a real combat unit, even though they performed exceptionally well in the night raid on Kunlun, they still can't be included in the battle sequence.

  This is a battlefield, and it's true that we lack soldiers and generals, but the safety of Your Highness is even more important.

  They were not absolutely sure of victory and did not dare to use the prince's guards.

  Zhao Xi also didn't have an absolute grasp of victory, or rather he had no impression of the great army's warfare in this era.

  All records of war have too much uncertainty, it seems that cold weapon combat is too accidental.

  For example, the alliance of Tan Yuan originally had a defeated general, but because of an accidental shot from a crossbow, it unexpectedly brought nearly a hundred years of peace to the border.

  For example, Hao Shui River, the Western Army originally repelled the enemy at Zhang Yibao, with many gains, but because of greed for merit and rash advance, they opened several silver boxes, resulting in a defeat.

  Your troops have indeed arrived in great numbers, standing on the last high platform of this military camp, Zhao Xi can see a dense crowd of people surging towards this side in batches.

  And the king's army, after Di Qing waved his command flag repeatedly, had formation after formation of troops entering their predetermined positions.

  One spark can start a prairie fire!

  When seeing two groups of people with one side red and the other black approaching each other, the whole Guirenpu was boiling.

  Ears were instantly filled with all sorts of shouts, and eyes saw scenes of blood splashing everywhere.

  Guangnan has many mountains, so there are no cavalry in the army of Nong Zhigao. At first contact, it was a melee between infantrymen.

  Zhao Xi felt a strong desire when he saw this pure close-range combat, and truly had the heart to participate in it... just thinking about it.

  Looking around again... Zhao Xi wanted to find someone with a similar feeling, but what he saw most were pale faces.

  As for Zhao Qinglan, that little girl, with tears on her face, kept shouting: You'd better hide! Hack him... hack him!

  The battle started in a fierce state. The vanguard Zhang Yu had already penetrated deep, while the left and right armies' Jia Kui and Sun Jie repeatedly charged to join forces with Zhang Yu, but were repeatedly blocked.

  The entire Western army was cut into three parts by the dense Nong troops, each of which seemed to be surrounded and beaten... The Nong troops were too numerous, at least three times as many as the Western army in terms of numbers.

  Zhao Xi's fists were clenched tightly, he could understand the situation on the battlefield, and it was not optimistic.

  I always thought that you were a mob, I always thought that you would collapse with one blow, now it seems that this is not the case.

  Let's not mention Zhang Yu, who was surrounded, but look at the soldiers of Nong who were fighting with Sun Jie on the left wing... From Zhao Xi's perspective, this is absolutely not a military literacy that ordinary mountain people can possess.

  If it weren't for your intelligence and long-term planning, these so-called mountain people wouldn't have reached today's combat capabilities; there must be some hidden reason.

  The battle has evolved from the initial charge to a state of intense heat. In the areas where both sides have made contact, a melee has formed, although not yet to the point of teeth-gnashing intensity, nor is it still a clear-cut situation.

  Zhao Xi knew that Di Qing had other arrangements, and now he and Deputy General Yang Wenguang had not yet joined the battle... But Old Di, isn't it time yet?