In the past few days, Li Yuan has been in a state of rapid heartbeat, joy and surprise, happy that Li Mi's feat of slaughtering the Jiangnan Shi clan did not cause much turmoil in the Wei State, which made Li Yuan very encouraged. He felt that the Guanlong nobles under his command did not seem to be so terrible, as long as he could be like Li Mi, and slaughter the heads and core personnel of the various gate lords of the Guanlong nobles with a fast horse, each family would fall into a leaderless situation, and when the time came, he could concoct the children of the Guanlong nobles as he wanted, as for the protégés of the Guanlong nobles, they had lost their followers, and they were only effectively loyal to the Li royal family.

What surprised him was that Yang Tong led 100,000 Sui troops to approach Xiangyang, and the arrival of the Sui army plunged the whole city into chaos.

After the urgent recruitment of monks and Taoist priests to join the army, the current garrison in Jingxiang area has reached as many as 35, in addition to the 70,000 troops of Yiling County and the 120,000 troops of Chungling County, there are 40,000 garrisons outside Xiangyang City, respectively, led by Li Xiaoji, King of Yong'an County, and Li Shentong, King of Huai'an, stationed in the eastern suburbs of the capital, as the backup of Yincheng County and Anyang County, Xicheng Shiquan, Xicheng Xunyang, Xicheng Loess, Xicheng Fengli, Xiyang Xunxiang, Xiyang Wudang, Xiyang Junyang, Xiangyang Yincheng each have 10,000 garrisons, and there are 10,000 yuan from the forbidden army in Xiangyang City, and the 20,000 new troops under Li Jiancheng, if you count the 10,000 Wuchuan soldiers.

But everyone knows that these 350,000 troops seem terrifying, but except for Li Shimin's 20,000 descendants, 100,000 elites in Chungling, 10,000 elites in Zhang Shigui, 10,000 in the forbidden army, 20,000 new troops, 10,000 Wuchuan soldiers, 10,000 elites in Li Xiaoji, and 10,000 elites in Li Shentong, the remaining 16 armies are all forcibly recruited recruits, and the training can't keep up, not to mention, and even the armor and weapons can't be put together. These soldiers are especially good in numbers, and if they are allowed to fight against the Sui army, I am afraid that not only will they not be able to help the elite division, but will cause panic and lead to the rout of the whole army. Du Fuwei, who was killed by Xiao Milling Army, isn't it a living example?

He only received a letter from Li Shimin in the early morning, in which Li Shimin mentioned that Yang Dong was very likely to attack Li Mi, and all actions in Nanyang were only to paralyze Li Mi, and that Yang Dong would use the method of attacking Goguryeo to deal with Li Mi, that is, to send a strange army south along the coast and attack the capital city from the Yangtze River. Although this is just Li Shimin's speculation, Xiao Yu quite agrees with this point of view, because he also thinks that Yang Tong likes to take the sword and take the edge of the battle style, and it is very likely to take this risky move, this tactic has been effective in Goguryeo, and it is normal for Yang Tong to repeat his old skills.

At the same time, Xiao Yu also believes that Li Mi is a natural ally of the Tang Dynasty, and only by maintaining the three-legged momentum of the Sui, Tang and Wei dynasties can the Tang Dynasty gain a long-term foothold, otherwise, the next one will be the Li Tang Dynasty. As for Lin Shihong and Meng Haigong's banditry is difficult to change, small and rich, and short-sighted, they are not qualified to be compared with the Sui, Tang and Wei dynasties at all, if they hadn't lived in the south of the water network and staggered several major princes, these two would have been wiped out countless times.

Xiao Yu walked into the Wude Palace, and soon came to the imperial study, and he said to the eunuch on duty: "Please report to the saint on my behalf, just say that Xiao Yu has 100,000 urgent things to see!" ”

"Please wait."

When the eunuch entered the house to report, he quickly brought back Li Yuan's message, and saluted in parallel: "Xiao Xiangguo, the Holy Lord, please go in." ”

Xiao Yu knew that it would be difficult to convince Li Yuan now, but he also thought that he had to explain it clearly to the Holy Lord so that he could realize the importance of Li Mi to the Tang Dynasty.

……

In the imperial study, Li Jiancheng was briefing Li Yuan on the progress of pig iron.

"Father, in the past two months, we have collected pig iron and iron tools from temples, Taoist temples and people, and obtained a total of 2 million catties of pig iron and 400,000 catties of copper, which can basically meet the needs of the recruits' weapons and equipment.

"Did the Sui Dynasty keep its promise?" Li Yuan asked a little nervously, now he has no energy to deal with the messy government affairs, Li Jiancheng will do it for him, only listen to one result in everything, food is the top priority, so whether the Sui Dynasty abides by the promise made by Fang Xuanling is very important.

"The Sui Dynasty kept its promise, and the grain was all high-quality rice, but it was ......"

"But what?"

"It's just too expensive."

"In the midst of war, Wanguan's cold family wealth is not as good as a bucket of rice, and it doesn't matter if it's expensive." Li Yuan pondered for a moment, and then said: "A weapon and a set of armor take too long, and you can't make much in a while, so you can postpone it a little." First of all, all the copper materials collected were minted into Kaiyuan Tongbao, and all gold, silver and copper coins must be exchanged for grain before the outbreak of war. ”

"The retainers obeyed." Li Jiancheng hesitated for a moment and responded.

"How's the mine going?"

"The iron mine in Pingqiang County, Meishan County has been found, but the mineral deposits are located in the lower layer of the rock, it is difficult to mine, if you mine with all your strength, you can only produce about one million catties of iron at most every year, far from meeting the needs of the army and the people, Erchen has now ordered the local government to mine with all your might, and establish a smelting workshop in Pingqiang County, and the first furnace of pig iron can be smelted in three months at most. It is transported from Pingqiang County to Longyou County, and then directly reaches Yiling Liutoutan through the river. Speaking of this, Li Jiancheng glanced at his father, and said: "Erchen took charge of his own initiative and ordered the Meishan County Guard to dig an official road from the Pingqiang County mine to the riverside of Longyou County. ”

"It's all a small section, and the emperor has done a good job." Li Yuan waved his hand and asked again, "Can there be associated copper mines in the Pingqiang mine?" ”

Li Jiancheng shook his head, "Basically, no." ”

Li Yuan was silent, and suddenly felt a little uncomfortable in his heart, just because the pig iron and copper materials that Li Tang collected from the people were actually eating the old books of the Sui Dynasty that he scolded and denounced, which made him extremely embarrassed. What worries him even more is that he can't eat his old money for a long time, and he can only collect it once or twice at most, otherwise it will provoke a civil uprising.

After a while, Li Yuan said slowly: "We held a court meeting specifically for copper and iron before, because pig iron and copper ingots are important and imminent, without copper and iron, we can't achieve an empire, if we don't have a stable supply of copper and iron, we can't make weapons and armor, we can't make Kaiyuan Tongbao, and our Tang Dynasty can't last, so although we have discussed, if we can't find a stable source for a long time, the crisis will always haunt us, and even intensify, until our Tang Dynasty can't support it, I hope the emperor knows the seriousness of this matter. ”

"Erchen understands."

The emperor continued.

"Father, copper and iron are produced in mines, as long as you find it, it will be easy to do. Since Erchen discovered the lack of copper and iron, he sent craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry to Bashu to find ore veins, but this is a very time-consuming thing, and sometimes even if the mine is found, it cannot be transported out due to transportation. ”

"Have you ever thought about solving it from the outside?"

"Erchen has thought about it, but it's basically impossible." Li Jiancheng said with a wry smile: "There are ten famous iron mining areas in the world: one is Liyang, the second is Jiangxia, the third is Wu'an Handan, the fourth is Liaodong, the fifth is Zhuojun and Youbeiping, the sixth is Wuyuan, and the seventh is Yanmen......"

"Enough!" Li Yuan rudely interrupted the other three mines that Li Jiancheng was about to say, and he didn't have to listen to him to know that these three iron mines were located in Yang Dong's territory. Listening to this, it's so terrifying, why don't you know?

"......" Li Jiancheng shut up in embarrassment.

Li Yuan said with a dark face: "I don't believe that there are no mines in Bashu except Meishan, so let the officials of the Ministry of Industry collectively read the book and find them one by one from the "Ouyu Tuzhi". ”

"The retainers obeyed."

Li Jiancheng paused for a moment, and then said: "Wenshan County Shou sent a letter, saying that there are many Qiang people who have entered the country and come to exchange daily necessities, and most of their items are cowhides, horse skins, sheepskin and wool. ”

Li Yuan's eyes lit up: "It couldn't be better." ”

"Erchen can let the local officials give it a try."

"Good!"

As soon as the words fell, Xiao Yu quickly walked inside, bowed down and saluted: "Weichen see the saint!" ”

"Xiao Xiang, but there is something important to say?" Li Yuan asked.

"On the sage, Wei Chen thinks that the weak Yao Junsu and Du Fuwei's attack on Li Mi is very likely to be the bait thrown by Yang Tong, in fact, Yang Tong is very likely to have gone south along the coastal road and attacked Jiangdu City from behind. Shengshang, once Jiangdu City is breached, Li Mi is very likely to become the second Gao Jianwu. ”

Li Shimin focused on explaining Xiao Yu in the letter, so that he would take the content of the letter as his own thoughts, which was exactly Li Shimin's shrewdness, so as to avoid the crime of befriending the emperor's close ministers, so as not to disgust his father; the second is that Xiao Yu is his supporter, and if Xiao Yu gets a reward, it will also be good for Li Shimin; The third is that after Xiao Yu finished speaking, Yu Wenshi and then brought his letter to the palace to face the saint, and then Li Jiancheng, after the three-pronged approach, the proposal to send troops to support Li Mizhi became more convincing, and the father and emperor would also seriously consider Li Mi's importance to the Li Tang Dynasty, rather than vetoing it when he opened his mouth.

In fact, Li Yuan knew the importance of Li Mi to the Tang Dynasty, and at today's court meeting, Li Tang Junchen discussed the matter of asking for help from Zheng Yuanbi, and Li Mi was contained in Xuzhou, Jianghuai, and Jiangnan, and the Sui army would not and did not dare to attack the Tang Dynasty with all its might, which was the consensus reached today. It was the first time that Yang Tong had heard of the idea of marching into Jiangnan by sea, but when Xiao Yu said the word 'Gao Jianwu', he immediately recognized this statement.

For a while, my heart was full of joy and sorrow.

The good news is that Yang Tong's preferred enemy is not himself, so that he has enough time to deal with the internal enemy; Once the worried Li Mi is defeated, the Li Tang Dynasty will lose its most powerful natural ally.

After a while, he let out a long sigh: "Even if we see through Yang Dong's strategy, it is too late to inform Li Mi, from Xiangyang to Jiangdu, it will take ten days to say the least, and the messenger will avoid the heavy investigation of the Sui army, and the time spent on the road will be even more, and when the messenger arrives at Jiangdu City, Jiangdu City may have fallen." ”

"Holy Lord, maybe there is a way to save it!"

"What can Xiao Xiangguo do?" Li Yuan immediately understood what Xiao Yu was going to say, just because at the court meeting, some people said that they wanted to march into Jianghuai, but he vetoed it.

Xiao Yu said: "Shengshang, we can send troops to Nanjun and force the Jingxiang Sui army to concentrate in Nanjun, so that the army of Chai and Ma can attack Yao Junsu and Du Fuwei's Sui army from behind......"

"Impossible." Without waiting for Xiao Yu to finish speaking, Li Yuan was like a cat that had been stepped on by his tail, and immediately exploded, and unceremoniously and categorically refused: "I am destroying the Buddha and forbidden the way, and I have offended all the gods and Buddhas in the sky, so I can get such a little soldier, these soldiers have been trained for less than a month, and they are even short of equipment, how can I fight?" Take a wooden knife into battle? This is the last strength of my Datang, I can't afford to lose, and I will never agree or agree to send a single soldier. ”

"......" Xiao Yu had a black line, he never expected the emperor to refuse so neatly, he had a plan, and he couldn't say a word.

Li Yuan was furious, and his gloomy face was silent.

Yang Tong finally stopped, but you Xiao Yu let me take the initiative to start a war, didn't this let my soldiers go to death? My soldiers are gone, and so are my lives.

Li Jiancheng understood why his father was angry, and hurriedly became a peacemaker: "Father, Li Mi and us have a cold relationship, and the importance is self-evident. Xiao Xiangguo is so eager because of the general trend of the world. You canonized Xiao Xiangguo as the Minister of Political Affairs and the Imperial Doctor, don't you just like Xiao Xiangguo's upright and upright quality? ”

Speaking of this, Li Jiancheng bowed his hand to Xiao Yu and said, "Xiao Xiangguo, I understand your feelings. But my father also said that most of our soldiers are recruits who are unbearable for a battle, and we can't even get together armor and weapons, so how can we save Li Mi? The key is that Yang Tong has the strength to start a full-scale war, if we provoke him, the battle of Sui and Tang and the battle of Sui and Wei are very likely to break out at the same time, and we can't resist the hundreds of thousands of tiger and wolf divisions on the Sui and Tang borders. ”

If Li Shimin heard Li Jiancheng's words, he didn't know how he would feel, anyway, Xiao Yu was speechless.

"Xiao Xiangguo, it's not that I'm cowardly, it's really not as good as others, I have to recognize it. In the past, we were so ambitious, empty-sighted, and afraid to face the reality, so we would be defeated again and again, and if we didn't remember it for a long time, we would really lose the country and extinct the species. Li Yuan also relieved himself at this time, and sighed: "Li Mi's side, I can't help, the only thing I can do is to send a few more messengers to let him pay attention to the movements at sea, whether it can be delivered to him in time, can only be left to fate." ”

Xiao Yu sighed helplessly and said in a low voice: "Weichen understands. ”

Li Yuan said in a harmonious voice: "It's good to understand, if Li Mi is destroyed, the Sui and Tang wars will also start, and the time for us to prepare is running out, Xiao Xiangguo should put his mind on the government and politics, and we can give Yang Tong a fight in the future." ”

Xiao Yu knew that in the final analysis, the saint was afraid of being beaten by Yang Tong, and he had completely lost the fighting spirit to fight for the upper reaches and fight for the air, so he couldn't wait to withdraw from Xiangyang immediately, run to a corner of Bashu, and spend the rest of his life in peace; But Yang Tong wiped out Li Mi, no, as long as he controlled the overall situation, he could draw hundreds of thousands of male soldiers, and then attack Li Tang with a big victory.

The current Li Tang Dynasty has even lost the emperor's ambition to forge ahead, so what is the use of Bashu having four dangers? How long can Li Tang Guozuo, who has lost the hearts of the people, hold on? How long can the days of life last?

Looking at Yang Tong again, although he occupies the middle of the four passes, he has never relied on it. Although he spent countless manpower and material resources to build a tall, strong new Great Wall, he positioned it as a fortress before the attack from the beginning, so as not to empty the rear and make the people suffer a great loss after sending troops. With this Great Wall, the army can conquer outside the territory without worries.

This is the momentum that a king should have.

Comparing them one by one, Xiao Yu felt an indescribable sense of exhaustion in his heart, and bowed down and said, "Weichen retires." ”