In order to avoid becoming the first target of the Sui Dynasty's attack last year, Li Mi decided to abandon the vast Central Plains and reached a secret agreement with the Sui and Tang dynasties on non-interference and non-aggression.

If it is a war between the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Wei army that stabilized the rear can send the Central Plains from Xuzhou and Jianghuai, and contain the Sui army from the east and south, if the Sui army attacks Wei, the Tang army attacks Heluo and Guanzhong from the west, forcing the Sui army to withdraw from the Central Plains.

This is a copy of Wei Shu Wu at the end of the Han Dynasty, as long as the three-legged Ding is established, the confrontation situation is likely to continue for decades, which is the result that Yang Tong does not want to see, so he wants to knock down a foot when the Tang and Wei dynasties are the weakest, and first destroy the weak and easy to fight Li Mi, so that the Three Kingdoms will become a duel between the two powers.

But Yang Tong also knew that even if Tang Wei did not form an alliance to advance and retreat together, Li Yuan would not be unaware of the reason of the cold lips and teeth, and it was very likely that he would take this opportunity to take the initiative to attack. Although Li Tang was demoralized and cowardly, it was unlikely that he would send troops, but in this kind of major strategy that determines the ownership of the world, Yang Tong did not want any changes.

Therefore, he recruited retired troops to guard Yongliang, so that the Tang army in the direction of Bashu could not move, while Xiyang Xue Wanjun, Nanyang Yang Shanhui, and Nanjun Duan Decao targeted the Jingxiang Tang army; Qin Qiong of Jiangxia clamped down on Lin Shihong, coupled with Pei Renji's 30,000 military troops sitting in Baling, forcing Li Yuan and Lin Shihong not to act rashly and dare not participate in the battle of Sui and Wei.

This is the layout of the Great Sui from the strategic direction, and in terms of tactics, it is to use the strategy of prior consultation to let Yang Yu, who is very similar to Yang Dong, play the banner of the Great Sui Emperor and enter the Nanyang military camp in a high-profile manner, creating the illusion that Yang Dong himself is on the front line of the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

More than 400,000 Sui Dynasty troops sharpened their knives around Li Tang, putting Li Yuan under great pressure, but the strong threat of the Sui army also alleviated the very sharp contradictions between the Li father and son, forcing them to abandon their previous suspicions, correspond to the Sui army with one heart and one mind, and cut off the internal tumor.

On the one hand, Li Yuan ordered Li Yuanji, the king of Qi, to enter Bashu for the Yizhou Daoxing Taishang Shuling, control the local military and government, ensure the Li family's absolute control over Bashu, and avoid the risk of the Guanlong nobles opening the door and allowing the Sui army to enter Bashu; On the other hand, Li Yuan let Li Shimin sit in Yiling, one is to ensure that the life passage of Bashu and Jingxiang is not cut off by the Sui army, and at the same time, it can also threaten the southern county of the Great Sui Dynasty.

There are only three counties in Yiling, from north to south are Yuan'an, Yiling, Yidao, from Yuan'an County along the south of the water, you can attack the downstream of Nanjun Dangyang, and Yidao County is the confluence of Qingshui and the Yangtze River, the downstream is the Songzi and Zhijiang counties of Nanjun, relatively speaking, Yiling County, which is the county of Yiling, is facing Bashu, and its strategic position is far less important than Yuan'an and Yidao at this time.

In view of this, the 70,000 troops controlled by Li Shimin, except for the 10,000 new troops led by Hou Junji stationed in Yuan'an, the remaining 60,000 were all stationed near Yidao County, and the troops were directly aimed at the two counties of Songzi and Zhijiang in Nanjun, which were easy to attack and difficult to defend.

However, Duan Decao, who was in charge of the defense of Nanjun, was not good at stubble, so he naturally would not let himself be in a position of being beaten passively, and he asked Shi Jin and Xue Wanbei to lead 20,000 troops to garrison Yichang County in the northwest of Nanjun, which could not only threaten Yiling County, but also attack Badong County in the northwest and Qingjiang County in the southwest. On the other side of the Yangtze River in Yichang County is Liutoutan, where Bashu materials are unloaded, and then transported to Xiangyang through the official road, if the Sui army crosses the Yangtze River and occupies Liutoutan, or Yiling County, then the connection and material lifeline between Jingxiang and Bashu will be interrupted. Li Shimin did not dare to be careless at all, and in desperation, he only divided 20,000 troops, and Zhai Changsun and Luo Jun sat in Yiling County, so that the strength in Li Shimin's hands was weakened to 40,000.

Li Shimin's army did not live in the county seat, but was stationed on the north bank of the Yangtze River, and could attack both Zhijiang County and Songzi south of the Zhijiang River.

In the tent of the commander of the Chinese army, Li Shimin stood in front of a huge map and was silent, although he was not in Xiangyang, he was still able to get the latest urgent report, including the matter of Li Mi's envoy asking for help, and Li Yuan also sent the urgent report at the first time.

When he strung together the bits and pieces of information and zoomed in to look at the world, Li Shimin found that a huge crisis hung over the head of the Li Tang Dynasty. It's just that there are still some things that he hasn't figured out, so he needs to sort out the overall idea, as long as he sees through Yang Dong's strategy, he can make a targeted layout.

At this time, the strategists Yu Wenshi, Yin Kaishan, and Su Shichang walked into the tent, and Yu Wenshi came to Li Shimin's side and said in a low voice: "Does Your Highness think that Yang Tong is not in Nanyang, and the imperial flag is just a trick for the Sui army's suspicious soldiers?" ”

Li Shimin nodded, looked at Yu Wenshiji, frowned, and said: "I always feel that the three points of Duan Decao, Yao Junsu and Du Fuwei are a little weird, and the three of them seem to have a great relationship with my Datang." ”

"Why does Your Highness think that?" Yu Wenshi asked.

Li Shimin sighed and said, "I've been thinking, why isn't Duan Decao afraid of our army attacking Nanjun?" Why wasn't Yao Junsu in Huainan worried about Zhongli and the Ruyin Wei army outflanking? Why didn't Du Fuwei of Liyang worry about Jiangdu Shan Xiongxin and Danyang County Shou Zheng Detao outflanking? As a result, news came from the father's side that Yang Tong and Yang Shanhui led an army of 100,000 out of Xinye County and stationed at the mouth of the four rivers in Nanyang, less than dozens of miles away from Xiangyang City. This made me suddenly enlightened, feeling that Yao Junsu and Du Fuwei were about to attack Li Mi, and the three-way army of Xiyang Xue Wanjun, Nanyang Yang Tong, and Nanjun Duan Decao was actually to solve the threat of the Tang army for Yao and Du Er, so as to avoid the enemy on the back. As for Li Jing in the direction of Huai'an, it is very likely that he is the backup of the second general, and at the same time, he can also cut off Li Mi's army in the north and south of Huaishui, so that it cannot be connected from end to end. In this way, Yang Dong's real target is actually not my Tang Dynasty, but Li Mi of Wei State. ”

Speaking of this, Li Shimin smiled bitterly: "There are countless generals and famous generals under Yang Tong's command, but we only stare at Yang Tong himself, and when we saw him arrive in Nanyang, we became nervous and suspicious, completely ignoring these generals under his command. Now Huai'an has Li Jing, Yingchuan has Xie Yingdeng, Lujun has Yang Gongren, Lang Xie has Pei Xingyan, Huainan has Yao Junsu, Liyang has Du Fuwei and other generals, all of these people are generals with great achievements in war, and all of them can fight well. With these generals dealing with Li Mi, why should Yang Tong go into battle in person? In fact, Yang Tong had already appointed Li Jing as the commander-in-chief, but as soon as Yang Tong appeared on the battlefield, our eyes revolved around him, and we were accustomed to seeing him as the commander of the Sui army, so we made habitual mistakes. ”

Yu Wenshiji, Yin Kaishan, and Su Shichang smiled bitterly when they heard this: As Li Shimin said, the Li Tang Dynasty was afraid of Yang Tong, and Yang Tong's world-famous achievements won the glory of the world's famous generals, causing Li Tang and the opposition to take him too seriously, staring at him like a thief, and finally ignoring the ability of those generals in the Sui Dynasty cleanly.

"Everyone fell into Yang Dong's obstacle. His Royal Highness can jump out of this mystery, which is really admirable! Yu Wenshi sighed in admiration, and said: "It's easy to do it after Yang Tong is put aside." ”

Li Shimin asked, "What do you think?" ”

"Returning to His Highness, it is also quite strange that Yao Junsu and Du Fuwei jointly attacked Li Mi." Yu Wenshi and pondered for a moment, and then said: "Yao Junsu's army belongs to Xiao Miao's army, although it has been reorganized, but in the last war, the main force is actually Du Fuwei, and Xiao Miao's elite is unbearable, and it also dragged down Du Fuwei's army, the two suffered heavy losses, and even Du Fuwei's brother-in-law Fu Gongqi was killed. This shows that even if Xiao Mi's army is reorganized, it is still a weak soldier who is afraid of Li Mi. And Du Fuwei didn't take long to fight with Li Mi in Xiang'an, although Yang Tong helped him defeat Li Mi, but the loss was also not small. According to the information we have received, Yang Tong only replenished Du Fuwei with weapons and equipment, money and food, and the soldiers were recruited by Du Fuwei himself, which was only less than three months, how could Du Fuwei be relieved? Judging from Li Mi's invitation to King Zhaojun to send troops to Jianghuai, it can be known that the army of Yao Junsu and Du Fuwei is not strong, otherwise Li Mi would not dare to take the initiative to attack when the army is overwhelmed and the internal chaos is overwhelmed. This means that Yao Junsu and Du Fuwei are very likely to act as spectators in the next big war. ”

After Yu Wenshi and this statement, Li Shimin's thinking became clearer, and he used the wooden pole in his hand to point out the seven counties of Huaibei occupied by Li Mi on the map one by one, and then said: "I have one thing that I can't figure out, that is, since Yang Tong is fighting Li Mi and his strength is at its peak, why don't he conquer the seven counties of Huaibei first, but let Yao Junsu and Du Fuwei, who are not strong, provoke a war?" There are also seven counties in Huaibei in between, in case Yao Junsu and Du Fuwei are defeated, and Li Jing and Xie Yingdeng are blocked by Wang Bodang in Huaiyang and Ruyin, won't all the land of Jianghuai fall into the hands of Li Mi? If it is from Lu County and Langxie, it is also impossible to bypass Xu Shiji of Pengcheng County, if the light cavalry gallops south to help, it is very likely to be killed by Xu Shiji and Li Mi's combined army. ”

"Yang Tong has isolated the Tang, Chu and Wei dynasties, and almost no one can help anyone with each other, Yang Tong at this time, whether it is attacking the Tang Dynasty, or conquering Lin Shihong of Chu and Li Mi of Wei, he can advance step by step, if I am Yang Tong, and I am attacking Li Mi, I must first defeat the seven counties of Huaibei. The strength is so strong that he doesn't need Yao Junsu and Du Fuwei to take risks at all, and the two generals only need to protect themselves. However, the two generals who should not have moved the most acted instead, what is this Yang Tong doing? Li Shimin was very puzzled.

Yin Kaishan on the side sighed: "This may be Yang Tong's cleverness, he did not supplement the strong army to Yao and Du Er, in fact, he deliberately confused Li Mi and gave Li Mi a false impression that he could enter the army." But Li Mi didn't know that in addition to Yang Tong's land army, the Sui Dynasty's naval army was not weak, wasn't Goguryeo conquered by Yang Dong's naval army? ”

Li Shimin was taken aback, he hurriedly looked at the map carefully, and found that it was not far from Bohai Naval Port and Gaomi Military Port to Donghai County and Jiangdu County.

At this moment, all the incomprehensions in Li Shimin's heart suddenly came through, and the weak Yao Junsu and Du Fuwei were just a bait, whether Li Mi took the initiative to attack, or the second general marched, Li Mi would do his best to try to annihilate the Jianghuai Sui army in a battle. And when his elite was exhausted, the Sui Dynasty naval army took Jiangdu City in three or two strokes as if it were attacking Goguryeo, and then leisurely used Jiangdu City as bait to mobilize various Wei troops to fight, which gave the Sui Dynasty cavalry the opportunity to gallop across the country.

This method is exactly the same as attacking Goguryeo. Gao Jianwu was the old man of Yang Dong back then, and let Yuan Taizuo and Yizhi Wende take the main force to the north of Yalushui, causing the nest to be easily eliminated by Yang Dong.

Goguryeo bowed his head and became a vassal.

Li Shimin immediately said in a loud voice: "We can't sit back and watch Li Mi perish, we must notify Li Mi as soon as possible, so that he can guard against the Sui Dynasty naval army." ”

Yin Kaishan sighed and said with a wry smile: "Your Highness, Yang Tong and Yang Shan will force into Xiangyang, just like Fang Xuanling forced into Yuan Taizuo's army back then, and the Sui Dynasty Navy Army is probably already in Jiangdu at this time, and we are afraid that it is really too late to remind us now." ”

"This...

Li Shimin's face turned pale, revealing a deep look of disappointment, and he sighed worriedly: "If Li Mi is determined by the Sui army in a battle, then no one in the east will be able to contain Yang Dong." In the next step, the Sui army will definitely move westward and attack Lin Shihong with Qin Qiong, and another army can annihilate Meng Haigong from the south to the north, while Li Jing, Yang Gongren, Xie Yingdeng and others can break away from the battlefield and quickly assemble in Nanyang and Handong, and forcibly break through the Hanshui defense line with absolute superiority, and the troops will come to the city of Xiangyang. Gentlemen, once Li Mi is defeated, my Datang is also in danger! ”

Su Shichang said at this time: "There is a strategy for humiliation, which may be able to save the general trend, but I am afraid that the Holy Lord and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will not agree." ”

Li Shimin pondered for a while, then understood what Su Shichang meant, and said with a wry smile: "Mr. is it said that he will send troops to Nanjun to implement the policy of encircling Wei to save Zhao and relieve Li Mi's pressure?" ”

"Exactly." Su Shichang nodded and said: "Duan Decao is divided into three places for Yiling, if His Highness goes downstream, he can completely take Songzi County, Duan Decao can only join forces in one place, Zhai Changsun and General Hou Junji can also enter Nanjun, Jiangxia Qin Qiong and Baling Pei Renji can only return to Nanjun, so that Lin Shihong can attack Qichun and Tong'an from Jiujiang, and Chai Shao of Huyang in Chungling can break away from Chungling and attack Handong, Yiyang, and Yiyang in the east. Li Jing, Xie Yingdeng and other troops had already been invested in the seven counties of Huaibei at this time, and they would not be able to pull away for a while, while Yang Tong and Yang Shan on the Nanyang side were handed over to Li Xiaogong and Xiangyang to contain them. In order to ensure that Jianghuai was not lost, Yao Junsu and Du Fuwei could only return to the division to stop Chai Shao. If the Holy One was willing to act in this way, Li Mi might still have a chance to live. ”

"I'm afraid it's hard, it's hard." Li Shimin smiled bitterly, he knew that his father was afraid of being beaten by Yang Tong, and regarded Yang Tong as a beast in a flood, Yang Tong went to beat Li Mi, and his father couldn't ask for it, how could he catch the Tang Dynasty for Li Mi?

"I feel that it is difficult to be humble." Su Shichang, who gave the idea, also sighed.

Li Shimin gritted his teeth and said: "The situation is critical, we have to give it a try no matter what, and we must not sit back and watch Li Mi fall, otherwise we will not be far from death." I wrote a letter to my father and explained to him that I was very close. ”

Speaking of this, he hurriedly wrote the book, and after writing it, Li Shimin thought about it for a while and sighed: "I will write another letter to the emperor's brother, if the two of us brothers work together, we can't convince my father, then there is really no way at all." ”

"Your Highness, it's best not to write to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." Yu Wenshi and stopped.

Li Shimin wondered: "Why? ”

Yu Wenshi shook his head and sighed: "In fact, His Royal Highness the Prince's mind is the same as that of the Holy Lord, and now it is not easy to recover a little strength, and most of our army are new soldiers, how can the prince who pays attention to the people's livelihood and the people's hearts and is based on a steady path agree?" ”

"This ......" Li Shimin suddenly thought of Li Tang's internal worries, as well as the various traps laid by his father to the nobles of Guanlong. Suddenly, I felt that the battle of Sui and Wei was a godsend opportunity to rectify the interior, and at this time, it was really not appropriate to launch the war of Sui and Tang. As soon as he thought of this, he tore up the letter to his father and sighed, "Gentlemen, go down and rest first, let me think about it." ”

"Whoa!" Yu Wenshi, Yin Kaishan, and Su Shichang bowed and retreated.

Li Shimin watched the three of them leave, and wrote letters with different meanings and contents to his father, brother, and Xiao Yu.