In Xue Ju's bedroom, only Xue Ju's father and son were left.

"Aren't you unwilling?" Xue Ju looked at Xue Rengao, who was blushing, and knew that this would be the result.

"Father, I ......" Xue Rengao wanted to say something, but was stopped by Xue.

"I have Li Yuan in the south and southeast of Western Qin, Liang Shidu in the east, and Yang Dong's elite division in the northeast and north, and Tuyuhun is becoming more and more arrogant now. And our land is sparsely populated, money and food are insufficient, and the Han people fled to the Sui Dynasty and the land of Li Tang in large numbers, which is about to become Tuyuhun's territory, once Tuyuhun advances eastward, Western Qin will face the realm of internal and external attack, even if Tuyuhun does not come, the food problem of Western Qin will make the army collapse without a fight. I really can't hold it anymore. ”

"This ......" Xue Rengao was stunned when he heard this, and looked at Xue Ju puzzled: "Aren't we allies of the Sui Dynasty?" ”

Xue Ju gasped a few times, and said with a hollow gaze: "Stupid, there are only enemies of life and death in this troubled world, how can there be allies?" Allies are the most dangerous enemies. Yang Tong helped us, in fact, he just let us contain Li Yuan, wait for us to fight and lose both, and then fight to settle the situation. If you can't even see through this, it means that you don't have the qualifications to be a human master! ”

"I, I can fight." Xue Rengao blushed and defended with a thick neck, which also indirectly expressed dissatisfaction with the inheritance issue.

Xue Ju sighed and said, "There are no soldiers and no food, how can you fight?" You take pleasure in beating soldiers at every turn, do you think soldiers will die for you? Moreover, Yang Tong has won every battle, and even the Turks, who have millions of people who control the strings, have been defeated by him repeatedly, do you think you can beat such a strong army? If you don't say it's you, even I don't dare to oppose him. ”

"This ......" Xue Rengao was speechless, thinking that he might be against Yang Tong in the future, Xue Rengao was a little apprehensive in his heart.

"The food problem alone can make tens of thousands of troops collapse without a fight, so there is no hope for Western Qin, I only hope that the Xue family will not stop now. Yue'er, your temperament is weak, but you also have some ability to deal with internal affairs, if you can't do anything, your brothers will go directly to Chang'an, although Li Yuan has an enmity with me, but if you surrender, in order to show his magnanimity, benevolence and generosity, he will not only not embarrass you, but will also give you great wealth and wealth...... Of course, Li Mi and Wang Shichong are also okay, and they can always find a home. ”

Xue Ju sighed, politics is cheating, he is very worried that after he leaves, the two sons will kill each other, so he repeatedly emphasized that there is no hope for Xiqin, he knows that only if the hope of his sons is gone, they will work together.

Xue Rengao said: "Why didn't my father say Yang Tong? ”

Xue Ju sighed and said, "Silly boy, we are traitors to the Sui Dynasty!" Anyone can surrender to Sui, but we who oppose the king cannot, because rebellion is a great crime to exterminate the nine clans, even if Yang Tong can tolerate you, his courtiers will not agree. ”

"Father, don't worry, I believe that our brother will be able to keep the Xue family." Although Xue Rengao is simple-minded, he is not as stupid as a pig, and after his father analyzed them one by one, his unwillingness faded.

Xue Ju knew that Xue Rengao was a person who couldn't hide things, and seeing that his unwilling color disappeared, he finally put his mind at ease, and then explained:

"Li Yuan is now stationed in the Great Earthquake Pass, eyeing my West Qin, this is an external trouble, once the war starts, your brothers will concentrate their forces to defeat one first, frustrate the enemy's spirit, and at the same time you can send people to join Yang Dong and Liang Shi to attack it together, Liang Shi may not send troops, but Yang Dong will definitely send troops to contain it! If you have the opportunity to take the Great Earthquake Pass as a barrier, Li Yuan's father and son are not easy to follow, and they can come out in large numbers, don't be too greedy, if your brothers can do this, next, you will take Hanyang, Hechi, and Shunzheng, give up the current territory, and go all out to develop in the southern Shu land. Shu does not have a strong army, and it is a country of abundance, densely populated, as long as you use a small number of troops to suppress the Ningxian Mountain Pass, you can become a hero like Liu Bei, and this is also the only little chance for your brothers. ”

Xue Ju's face showed a strong look of remorse, if Li Yuan had gone away to the densely populated Shu land after entering the customs, instead of longing for the so-called Xijing, and Li Yuan would have died in the pass, now Bashu would be Xiqin's, but unfortunately he woke up too late.

"If you can't beat the Great Earthquake Pass, it means that there is no hope for Western Qin, and while you have soldiers in your hands, you will surrender Li Yuan as soon as possible! You have the merit of sacrificing the land, and you have a large army to serve, and you will not dare to harm your brothers...... Otherwise, he will lose his trust in the world, and no one will take refuge in him in the future. Don't forget! Xue Ju took Xue Rengao and Xue Renyue's hands, with a lot of worry and reluctance in his eyes.

"Father, rest assured, our brothers will strictly follow our father's teachings!" Xue Rengao took a deep breath and said.

"Father, we all listen to you!" Xue Renyue had already stopped crying.

The two didn't see Xue Ju answer for a long time, and when they looked up, they saw that Xue Ju was already leaning against the head of the bed, and his eyes were closed forever.

In April 619, Xue Ju died of illness in Tianshui, and his second son Xue Renyue obeyed his father's orders, and canonized his brother Xue Rengao as the generalissimo of the national soldiers and horses, Zong Luohu as the deputy marshal, Chu Liang as the Shangshu Ling, and Chang Zhongxing as the hussar general......

After Xue Renyue ascended the throne, in accordance with Xue Ju's will, he held a grand funeral for his father to cover up people's eyes, but Xue Rengao led an army of 30,000 to overcome the Great Earthquake Pass, which was caught off guard, and all the 8,000 defenders were killed.

The Great Earthquake Pass is also known as Longguan, Daning Pass, and Ancient Rice. Guancheng is built on the top of Longshan Mountain, which is determined by the characteristics of Longshan and its unique geographical location.

The Longshan Mountains lie between Shaanxi and Gansu, northwest to Liupan Mountain, southeast to Qinling, stretching for more than 1,000 miles, across more than 10 counties, the mountain is upright, tall and majestic, making Longshan become the natural boundary between Shaanxi and Gansu provinces and the natural barrier between the Han nationality in the ancient Central Plains and the ethnic minorities in the west. However, because of its communication with Guanzhong in the east of the Thousand River Valley, Longshan is the traffic artery that runs through the east and west since ancient times, after crossing Longshan, it can reach Shu in the south, go to Hexi in the west, and go to the Guannei Road in the north, its military status is prominent, and it has always been a place where soldiers must fight.

The slope of the west of the Kansai is steep, the surrounding mountains are shielded, only a canyon between the peaks can reach the pass, and there is a tendency of "one husband is the pass, ten thousand people cannot reach".

Xue Ju was at the peak of this pass, there were more than 200,000 troops, but there were heavy losses here, and in the end, he had to march into Pingliang County, cross the Danzheng Gorge and enter Anding County, trying to launch an offensive from Xiaoguan Road to Guanzhong, and defeated Li Shimin in the shallow water plain, if it were not for Li Liang stabbing the knife in the back, the form of Guanzhong would have changed greatly.

Xue Ju was strong at that time, but he had to make a big circle to Beidi County to attack the equally difficult Xiaoguan Road, which shows how difficult the Great Earthquake Pass is. But now he was beaten down by Xue Rengao, which was certainly a surprise, but it also showed the fierceness of the Western Qin army, but Xue Rengao also paid more than 20,000 lives.

At the same time, Zong Luohu broke into Hechi County, and Dasanguan was also in a hurry, and Xue Rengao freed up his hand to join forces with Zong Luohu, Nanke Hanyang, and Danchang......

The sudden change caused another big earthquake in Guanzhong.