"Humble Li Chuan see His Royal Highness the Prince." In the East Palace of Xiangyang, Li Xiaogong, who was in the dust, visited Li Jiancheng.

"No courtesy." Li Jiancheng waved his hand and asked worriedly, "Has Xiaogong withdrawn his troops?" ”

"Back to Your Highness, after King Jing received your order, he quickly evacuated the Huyang camp; is marching in the direction of Zaoyang. Li Chuan said quickly.

"Zaoyang?" When Li Jiancheng and Chen Shuda heard this, they had expressions of disbelief.

"Exactly." Li Chuan hurriedly said:

Li Jiancheng only felt dizziness in his head, and almost fell to the ground, Chen Shuda hurriedly held him up, and asked urgently: "Do you take the official road?" ”

Li Chuan saluted: "In order to avoid the cavalry of the Sui army, the army did not take the official road, but passed through the mountainous ......"

Chen Shuda sighed: "Before dark, there was a rout army to report that Zaoyang had been lost. ”

"It can't be, it can't be! Zaoyang has 5,000 elite soldiers, and King Jing asked Liang Jungong to mobilize the people to defend the city, how could it be lost so quickly? The stakes are very high, and Li Chuan also forgot that the two people in front of him were big people he couldn't afford to offend, and roared very out of shape.

"It is said that the Sui army used more than 1,000 giant crossbows to form a crossbow array, firing huge arrows the size of spears, and our army lasted less than an hour before the Sui army occupied the city. Liang Jungong, life and death unknown. Li Chuan is not only Li Xiaogong's personal guard, but also a general who has served Li Xiaogong's family for generations, Li Jiancheng is very familiar with him, and knows that he is worried about Li Xiaogong and the army, so he doesn't mind Li Chuan's gaffe.

"This ......" Li Chuan's face was bloodless.

"Xiaogong avoided the cavalry of the Sui army, you don't have to worry too much, and our army has 120,000 people, the number is there, as long as Xiaogong is cautious and widely spreads scouts, the Sui army will not be able to sneak attack at all." Hearing that it was not an official road, Li Jiancheng was relieved.

"If the Sui army wants to annihilate this huge army, it will have to dispatch sixty or seventy thousand people, and such a large-scale army dispatch will not be able to hide from King Jing's scouts at all, and there is no point in ambushing and attacking." Chen Shuda also said.

Li Chuan thought about it carefully and felt that this was also the case, and the tense heartstrings finally relaxed.

"By the way, Xiao Gong let you take the risk, why did you come here?" Li Jiancheng asked.

"Returning to His Royal Highness, King Jing thinks that if the Sui army sends troops, it will definitely not only target the Chungling army, he asks you to send scouts widely to pay attention to the movements of the Sui army in Nanyang and Xiyang; If the Sui army invades Xiangyang, you only need to stick to the city, if Xiangyang is lost, Yiling can not be defended, so that the road to Shu will be broken, please be sure to focus on the overall situation. Li Chuan said.

Li Jiancheng was a little hesitant for a while.

Chen Shuda asked at this time, "How is the situation of the army?" What do you think is the biggest difficulty for the army? ”

Li Chuan thought for a while, shook his head and said, "I don't know what the biggest difficulty is. However, the humble position can tell the situation, and ask His Highness and Xiangguo to decide, how about it? ”

Chen Shuda glanced at Li Chuan appreciatively and said with a smile: "Yes, please be sure to explain it in detail." ”

"Huyang to Zaoyang has to walk more than 200 miles, in the middle is a hilly area, distributed with large forests, there are some dangerous mountains to climb, deep valleys to cross, so the car can not pass, but Zaoyang has no food; Before leaving, each soldier carried a month's dry rations, but due to the difficult roads, heavy rain, and the soldiers marching with heavy loads, the difficult journey of one night exhausted everyone's physical strength, but the march distance was less than thirty miles. Speaking of this, Li Chuan worriedly said Li Xiaogong's final decision, "King Jing also realized the difficulty of marching, and set the road from Huyang to Zaoyang for four to five days in advance; But Zaoyang has now been lost, I'm afraid I can only turn west and continue in the mountains and forests, with the fatigue of the army, it will take ten days to say the least, right? ”

Chen Shuda's face was gloomy, and his brows were deep and he pondered for a long time, and then he said in a deep voice: "The army is marching between mountains, forests and valleys, and its physical strength is declining all the time, in order to preserve the physical strength to fight at any time, the progress of the march will decline every day, and without half a month, it will not be possible to go to Cai Yang at all." ”

"I understand that Xiaogong's biggest difficulty is the lack of food." Li Jiancheng sighed and said: "Xiaogong calculated the route and time of the march, but he didn't expect Zaoyang to be lost so simply, so he could only continue to march in the mountains and forests. After all, military rations are the foundation of the army's stability, the premise of undefeated, and the guarantee of victory. If there is no food, the army will be in chaos without a fight. But now the problem is that the food is available, but the soldiers can only carry it on their own, dry food plus armor, swords, spears, fire curtains, etc., each person has to bear the weight of more than one stone, not to mention the war, walking is tired. ”

Chen Shuda smiled bitterly and said, "King Jing is repeating the mistakes of Yu Zhongwen and Yuwenshu." ”

Li Jiancheng nodded silently.

When the expedition to Goguryeo was made, Yuwenshu, who went deep into the land of Liaodong, issued an order to "kill those who discard food and weapons" in order to ensure that the army had food to eat and weapons to fight.

The soldiers who were unable to carry heavy loads could not afford to lose their weapons and equipment to save their lives, so they dug pits in their tents and buried food, but halfway through, the food was gone.

At this time, the Sui army starved to death when they retreated, and starved to death when they entered.

What to do?

Yuwen recounted the destruction of the cauldron and the battle against the water.

He won seven battles and seven victories in one day, but this was the plan of the Goryeo people to clear the wilderness, the Sui army was so hungry that they could only retreat, and when the hungry Sui army retreated to Sashui, the Goguryeo army rushed to kill from behind, and the Sui army had no intention of fighting, and as a result, more than 300,000 troops who crossed Liaoshui were left with only more than 3,000 people alive!

Isn't that the case with Lee Hyo-gong now?

He turned westward, which was equivalent to Yuwenshu who retreated from the army after falling into the plan of clearing the wilderness.

The difference between the two is that Li Xiaogong still has food for the time being, but if the Sui army follows, he has to order the grain to be abandoned in order to preserve the physical strength of the soldiers. But this decision also meant that the army was short of food and hungry. The Sui army launched an attack, and that was another battle of Sashui. However, the Sui army won this time, and the Tang army became the Sui army led by Yu Zhongwen, Yu Wenshu and others.

Of course, Li Xiaogong can also hold on, the problem is that Li Jiancheng has no help to send, once the food is exhausted, the hungry and besieged Tang army will be defeated worse than discarding the food now.

This is the most basic common sense, and Li Xiaogong is sure to abandon the grain and march. Therefore, Li Jiancheng said that his biggest difficulty was the lack of food.

Li Chuan also heard it at this time, and he said anxiously: "Your Highness, the Sui army has now blocked Zaoyang, it is difficult for King Jing to go south, and our army cannot carry heavy baggage and large ordnance. King Jing wanted the army to be brought back to Xiangyang safely, and he would definitely let the soldiers abandon the military rations and march lightly, but if the army ran out of food, our army would definitely collapse without a fight, and if the Sui army launched an attack at this time, I am afraid that our army would be completely annihilated. ”

"Xiaogong is my brother and a minister of the same palace, and now that he is in trouble, I will not sit idly by for private or public affairs." Li Jiancheng thought for a while about the map that was deep in his mind, and said: "Xiaogong has a strong army, what he lacks is only food, and everything else is not a problem, you go back and tell him, just say that I will send 20,000 stone of grain to Xiangyang Anyang and the junction of Chungling Caiyang through Hanshui and Bishui, that is, the place where Wazigang and Bishui are connected." But Xiangyang only has more than 20,000 troops, and if the Sui army attacks there, even if I send out the nest, I won't be able to last long, so I hope you let him send some troops and set up defenses there lightly to prevent the Sui army from burning grain. ”

"Thank you, Your Highness." Li Chuan was overjoyed.

When they left, Li Jiancheng ordered: "Pass my order to carry 20,000 stone of grain and 100 bed crossbows onto the ship; In addition, Ling Ling Wu Chuanwei infiltrated Xinye and Caiyang, responsible for finding out the news of the Sui army, and keeping in touch with Xiaogong, if there is an accident, be sure to report to me as soon as possible. ”

。。。。。。。。

After six days of walking, Li Xiaogong lost more than 3,000 soldiers, some of whom died, but more of them became deserters.

At this time, a group of scouts rushed in fear, and the leader of the scouts stepped forward and whispered, "See Your Highness." ”

"What's the situation in Zaoyang City?" Li Xiaogong asked eagerly, the army had marched more than 200 miles with heavy loads, and its physical strength was already long, and it was in urgent need of a county town to recover its physical strength. Zaoyang City, which was close at hand, was too important to the Tang Army.

"Zaoyang has been lost yesterday, the camp outside the city can accommodate at least 100,000 troops, I saw the main flag above the barracks with my own eyes, and the main general should be Yang Shanhui himself." The scout at the head whispered anxiously.

The news of "Ah, this ......" was like five thunderbolts, which made Li Xiaogong stunned and dizzy; But he knew that he couldn't lose his cool, so he quickly pinched himself fiercely, regained his composure with pain, thought for a while, and ordered: "Continue to inquire about the news of the Sui army." ”

"Obedience." The scout saluted and galloped away.

Seeing that it was lunch time, Li Xiaogong ordered the army to rest on the spot, and more than 100,000 troops thundered with joy and chose a place to rest.

Chai Shao, Lu Zushang, and Wu Shi Tong came to converge, after hearing the news of the loss of Zaoyang, the generals were also extremely shocked, and after a while, Chai Shao said solemnly: "The soldiers of the Sui army are all riding, and they have official roads galloping, and the speed is far beyond the reach of our army. To be honest, the loss of Zaoyang was actually expected by me. ”

He and Li Xiaogong had a dispute on the march route, Chai Shao thought that he had more than 100,000 troops, as long as the scouts were widely distributed, the Sui army's ambush and sneak attack would become meaningless, so he advocated taking the official road to the south; However, Li Xiaogong suffered a big loss from Luo Shixin, and thought that if the army walked the official road, it would be harassed by the Sui army day and night, and the result would be to repeat the mistakes of the past and end up with the whole army annihilated.

Li Xiaogong, the master, was strongly supported by Lu Zushang and Wu Shitong, who had suffered losses, so Chai Shao was difficult to support alone. But it has already happened, and there is no point in saying anything now, and everyone can only discuss countermeasures with one heart and one mind to deal with the next crisis.

Chai Shao is also a smart and elegant person, knowing that at this time, it is all about relying on the authority of the commander to deter the generals and colonels of the whole army, and once the authority of the commander is questioned and provoked, it will be fatal to the Tang Army. So after complaining a little, I silently thought about countermeasures.

"Your Highness, now we can only turn west, but Cai Yang only has three thousand troops, and it is estimated that news of the loss will come soon. Once the Sui army has completed its strategic outflanking, war will come. In order to regain the strength to fight, I think it is best to rest here for two days. Chai Shao quickly thought of a safer way.

"Yes, Your Highness, our army is really too tired now, and using such an army to confront the arrogant Sui army is tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg." Lu Zushang also said.

Li Xiaogong was noncommittal, but asked about an important matter: "How many days can the soldier's food last?" ”

"It's not even six days, how can the grain last for more than 20 days." When Lu Zushang said this, he gritted his teeth and complained: "In the final analysis, the map provided by the imperial court is wrong, which makes us mistakenly think that this is a flat plain. ”

"The imperial court entrusted us with the affairs of the military and political affairs of Chungling, but we only focused on the terrain north of Huyang and the Hanshui defense line to defend the Sui army, thus ignoring the terrain in the south...... This is our own dereliction of duty, and the court is not to blame for this. Li Xiaogong sighed and said, "I didn't expect that it would take six days to cross this mountainous area, and the hunters told us that four days would be enough, but who knew that it would rain heavily in a row?" If it hadn't rained, we would have been able to reach Zaoyang City the day before yesterday, and we can only say that providence makes people! ”

"It's just that our soldiers don't have ten days and a half of rest and recuperation, and they can't recover from their heyday at all. It's not that the last general will grow up to destroy his own prestige, and with such a weak brigade to fight against the elite of the Sui Dynasty, our victory is really not big. ”

"I know, but there is no need to say these words that shake the morale of the army. The order was given, and the army rested for an hour and immediately marched westward. It was too close to the Sui army, and the army would choose a place to rest at night. ”

"Whoa." Chai Shao, Lu Zushang and others saluted and went to issue orders.

Li Xiaogong had no intention of eating, so he ordered his guards to hang a white cloth and spread it out, and the white cloth was painted with a very scribbled pattern of mountains, rivers and rivers, which was a map drawn by Li Xiaogong after he went south, after consulting hunters and many soldiers who were familiar with the nearby terrain. The error of the map of the imperial court was too great, and he did not dare to use it at all, if he followed the map, he was afraid that he would be bored in the Sui army camp.

Although he said that he had made a decision, his heart was full of gloom.

As soon as the Tang army showed fatigue, or went to a place conducive to the galloping of cavalry, hundreds of thousands of Sui troops without worries would swarm in, or in less than a day, the Tang army would be torn to pieces by the fierce Sui army and be defeated in the barren mountains and mountains.

And this army is the life-saving army of the Li Tang Dynasty, if it falls here, it will be a major blow to the Tang Dynasty, so it must be brought back to Xiangyang no matter what.

The only thing Li Xiaogong wanted to be able to rely on was this mountainous area, using the terrain here to fight with the Sui army for ten days and half a month, and when the Sui army was tired and tired, the Tang army would stand out again, or fight back to Xiangyang, or move to the south. In short, as long as there is still food, Li Xiaogong will not give up easily.

Zaoyang has been lost, and he has made a decision in his heart, Li Xiaogong is no longer afraid of gains and losses, and immediately ordered: "Put away the map, rest and eat!" ”

"No!" The guards carefully put away the map.