Chapter 578: Events Change

"Yuwen Yushi is reasonable, and this strategy is indeed a dangerous plan with no way out!" Hou Junji did not refute Yu Wenshi's objections, because the facts were so that they could not be refuted, but asked rhetorically: "If this dangerous plan is not followed, what is the chance of winning for the elite division of Yang Shanhui opposite our army?" If defeated, our army is still outflanked by the Sui army, how to break the situation? Where is the way out? ”

All of a sudden, the problem came back to the old difficulty of not being able to afford to lose.

"This ......," the scholar was speechless.

"Your Highness, the last general thinks that General Hou's strategy may not be impossible." In the silence of the crowd, Zhang Gongjin stood up.

"Tell me your reasoning." Li Shimin's spirits were lifted.

Hou Junji also looked expectantly.

Zhang Gongjin said eloquently: "Our army is mainly foot soldiers, if you want to get the effect of a surprise attack, the only way is to give up the grain and grass baggage, victory is like a broken bamboo, defeat is like a landslide." In case the war is unfavorable and it is difficult for the soldiers to restrain, the major events will be suspended. The last general means to add a safe method within General Hou's dangerous plan...... To put it simply, it is to divide the army into two, advance steadily in the way of one front and one behind, and if the front army wins, the rear army will take advantage of the victory to expand the results of the battle; If the front army is unfavorable in the war, the rear army will take advantage of it... Even if the rear army is not strong, the rear army can become the front army, tearing a gap for the army to break through... In this way, even if our army is damaged, it is still invincible. ”

The generals' eyes lit up.

Li Shimin thought for a while, and then asked: "Yang Shanhui's strength is not weaker than our army, our army can be divided into two, and he will not be weak after dividing his troops." How do you think you should face Yang Shanhui? ”

This is the crux of the matter, Yang Shanhui, who stared at them in Changyuan, is not a soldier on paper, let alone a blind man, and it is impossible for him not to know the changes in the Tang Army.

"This requires the cooperation of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!" Zhang Gongjin glanced at Li Shimin, who had a slightly gloomy face, and said: "Zhuyang Pass originally had 20,000 soldiers of Li Xizhi, and now, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince led 40,000 cavalry to support, not counting the original defenders, the total strength is as high as more than 60,000 people, and they are all elite divisions. At this time, Luoyang's troops were empty, and Emperor Yang Tong of Sui was in charge of it. At that time, our army will have two choices: one is to attack Tongguan according to General Hou's policy; The second is to take the camp of Yang Shanhui nearby, and then join forces with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to storm Luoyang, and catch turtles in Yang Tong's urn, and the last general's thinking is more inclined to the latter. In the end, Zhang Gongjin took the opportunity to express his attitude.

Li Shimin and the generals flickered in their eyes, and they all fell into a short thought: I have to say that Zhang Gongjin's method is extremely feasible.

Li Shimin actually has some calculations in his heart, but Zhang Gongjin's self-proclaimed 'steady' strategy is even crazier than Hou Junji, and if it doesn't work, his two brothers will fall into Luoyang. What's more, Li Jiancheng may not necessarily cooperate with the battle, his eldest brother is very cautious.

"Your Highness, the minister thinks that General Zhang is a little taken for granted, and the feasibility is very small." Liu Wenjing shook his head and said the reason for his opposition: "Not to mention the Luoyang garrison and county soldiers, just in the Sui Dynasty, the Xiaoguo Fifth Army and the Xuanjia Army, which had the Son of Heaven's pro-army, were by Yang Tong's side, and the number was as high as fifty or sixty thousand, how could Luoyang's troops be empty?" This army is the elite of the Sui Dynasty, followed Yang Dong to fight in the south and the north, from no defeat, although not strong to the exaggerated extent of a block of hundreds, but with the same strength of other armies, this army has a great chance of winning, not to mention Henan County, a horse Pingchuan, is the natural battlefield of cavalry, and when it comes to riding experience, who in our dynasty can compare to Yang Tong, who has been fighting outside the territory? If our army goes less than 60,000 men, they will die in vain; There are too many, and you can only use foot pawns to make up the numbers. Don't forget, King Zhao Jun, who rides on foot, is a lesson for us. ”

Liu Wenjing is scheming and strategic, and has a very high prestige both in the court and in the army, so his words directly stopped some people. But Zhang Gongjin is obviously not among them, he ignores Liu Wenjing's prestige, and calmly argues with reason: "Xiangguo, since the last general dares to mention this, he naturally has a basis, instead of talking nonsense."

Liu Wenjing is a scholar, but he is not a person who can't listen to opinions, everyone works together to plan a way out for the army, and naturally he will not bring personal emotions, and said with a smile: "General Zhang, please speak." ”

"Whoa!" Zhang Gongjin bowed and said: "Yang Tong ruled a place every time he went down to the city, and then carried out a series of reforms to vigorously promote the governance program of the Sui Dynasty. In the past few days, I heard that Yang Tong not only deposed all the meritorious officials who had surrendered to him, but also held them accountable, violating the interests of many people, which caused turmoil within a certain range of Henan County! At first glance, this is no different from other places in Hebei, but before, he was executed after the war was completely over, and he had time and energy to face the internal rebellion, but now there is very little time for him to use, and there are many constraints, and his strength and prestige in the Central Plains are difficult to help him quell the different voices of the Henan counties in the short term. Why don't we take this opportunity to rush into Henan? Do you have to wait until you have complete control? ”

Liu Wenjing shook his head and said: "General Zhang's words are wrong, not to mention that Yang Tong is now taking very strict precautions against our army, there are heavy troops led by Yang Shanhui and Xue Wanjun in the first line of Bear's Ears and Shangluo, and it is now a hot summer, although the morale of the generals of the two armies will be frustrated, but the Sui army can continue to transfer troops to fight in turns, but our army is not good." Once the war is stalemate, our soldiers and horses will inevitably fall under the city of Luoyang. ”

"If it is unrealistic to attack Luoyang, doesn't our army still have the option of attacking Tongguan?" Zhang Gongjin frowned.

Li Shimin also fell into deep thought.

"As for traveling lightly to capture Tongguan, it's even more of a joke!" Liu Wenjing smiled coldly and criticized loudly: "Fang Caiyu Yuwen Yushi also said the old things of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, so I won't repeat them one by one!" Let's talk about this Tongguan on a case-by-case basis. Tongguan faces the Yellow River natural danger, standing in the middle of the mountain, overlooking the east of the Guandong, is the east gate of the Guanzhong, since the beginning of the construction of the pass is the only way to go out of the Guanzhong in the west and enter the Central Plains in the east, you are now lightly armed to attack Tongguan to try it? Besides, the defenders of Hangu Pass are not blind, if our army storms Tongguan, they can go out of the pass to support, and the area along the river in the eastern part of the country is flat, and the cavalry can gallop vertically and horizontally; Many warships cruising in the Yellow River are also not furnished, and with the range of trebuchets and large bed crossbows, they can completely cover the banks of the Yellow River. General Zhang has suffered a big loss from the Sui army's ship-borne trebuchet, so he should have experienced it, right? ”

Zhang Gongjin's face was flushed with shame, and he was about to refute with his neck, Liu Wenjing said again: "Take 10,000 steps back, how do we know that the Sui army will be fooled?" Not to mention, Luo Shixin, who destroyed the entire army of King Zhaojun, is not a decoration, I dare to guarantee that if the prince rashly marches east along Yishui at this time, he will definitely be hit hard by him. This kind of stupid idea is purely to stretch out your neck and let others cut a knife, which is completely looking for death, and it is a complete waste of time for you to talk about it in high spirits. ”

Liu Wenjing's refutation of the remarks of traveling lightly can be said to be well-founded, although the words are ugly, but the rules are convincing, and now when I look at it again, the designer Hou Junji and the supporter Zhang Gongjin seem to be shallow.

Hou Junji, Zhang Gongjin and others blushed, but they couldn't find the loophole, but they only felt more and more embarrassed......

Hou Junji's eyes widened: "I'm afraid of wolves in the front, and I'm afraid of tigers in the back...... Why don't you just stop this battle and wait for them to strike at us first? ”

Liu Wenjing was in no mood to pay attention to these guys who didn't know the height of the sky, so she didn't bother with this problem anymore, she bowed to Li Shimin and sighed: "Your Highness, withdraw your troops." ”

At this moment, a soldier stepped inside and saluted: "Your Highness, there is urgent information delivered in Zhuyang Pass." ”

Li Shimin took the information and read it quickly, his expression became solemn, and he got up and said to everyone: "The Sui Dynasty spread rumors in Nanyang, saying that the king of Huai'an resold the weapons of the soldiers, causing chaos in the whole army, Qin Qiong sent the general Zuo Tiancheng to lead the army to ride 30,000 elite cavalry from Nirvana into Nanyang County, if Xincheng County is lost, the Nanyang army will be attacked on the back of the enemy, and Xiangyang will be suppressed. ”

Liu Wenjing was amazed: "That is to say, Yang Tong deceived all of us, his strategic idea is to attack Xiangyang directly, and the reason why he keeps pressuring our army is actually to use the strategy of diverting the tiger from the mountain to reduce the pressure for Qin Qiong's victorious march into Xiangyang." ”

"Maybe! Maybe not. But it doesn't matter anymore. Li Shimin smiled bitterly and sighed, but his eyes became shining at this time.

Liu Wenjing was stunned, and instantly understood what Li Shimin meant by 'maybe', and immediately smiled bitterly.

Li Tang's national strength has been greatly damaged, the loopholes in the defense line are everywhere, the powerful Sui Dynasty can change the direction of operations at any time, today they can change to Nanyang, tomorrow the direction of the main attack may be Xicheng, the day after tomorrow may be Wudu, and the day after tomorrow, it may return to Hongnong, Xiyang, Nanyang, this is purely a game of cat and mouse.

However, this shocking turn of events was a reasonable reason for Li Shimin, who was in a dilemma, to withdraw his troops. At that time, no matter how dissatisfied Li Yuan is, Li Shimin can also use the reason of worrying about the safety of the national capital to push it.

Thinking of this, Li Shimin felt the pressure on his shoulders suddenly lighten in an instant, and the whole person became refreshed.

"Your Highness, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Let's withdraw. Liu Wenjing suggested in a timely manner.

"That's exactly what I mean." Li Shimin nodded: "But Yang Shanhui will definitely not be easy, and the withdrawal of troops also needs to be particular, I intend to adopt General Zhang's strategy to divide the whole army into two, and the two armies alternately cover the south." At the same time, ask the eldest brother to be ready to respond. What about Xiangguo? ”

"Feasible!"

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