After the dispersal of the dynasty the next day, Li Yuan's father and son and several ministers went to the imperial study to discuss matters. Li Yuan's eagle-like gaze swept over the people in the main hall, and said slowly: "Fang Xuanling's envoy to the Tang Dynasty this time is because Yang Tong wants to use a one-year truce time in exchange for our five counties of Xiangyang, Fangling, Chungling, Jingling, and Yiling. Let me tell you what you think. ”

Everyone frowned and remained silent when they heard this.

The Emperor had already spread the news to everyone's homes last night, so that they could be mentally prepared in advance so that they could discuss it today.

"Xiao Xiang, can we come up with a plan ourselves?" Dou Liang looked at Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu arched his hand and replied, "Fang Xuanling said that he can represent Emperor Sui with full powers, which means that we can propose different plans. ”

With Xiao Yu's words, Dou Liang immediately said: "Holy Lord, since Fang Xuanling said this, then we don't need to consider exchanging the five counties for a one-year truce, we can exchange money, food, goods and other places, and then talk to him." ”

Liu Wenjing next to him shook his head: "Dou Xiang, I think there is a problem here!" ”

"Please make it clear to Liu Xiang."

Seeing everyone looking at her, Liu Wenjing said unhurriedly: "First of all, the items, we don't have the items to satisfy the other party; Secondly, if we replace them with the remote Luchuan, Qianwei, Yueshan, Qike, and Qian'an, they will definitely not agree, Fang Xuanling is not a fool. ”

"Liu Xiang thinks that the other party really wants to exchange the five counties for a one-year truce? The two sides are now in a state of hostility, if Yang Tong wants these five counties, he can directly send troops to fight, do you need to talk to us? Dou Liang asked.

Liu Wenjing threw out his own proposition: "I think Yang Tong wants to fight Li Mi, not my Datang." ”

Ms. Liu's claim caused an uproar.

"How so? The reason? Li Yuan was in high spirits, and he wanted to hear the good news now.

"There are five reasons!" Liu Wenjing stood up and put together what he thought last night: "First of all, although the Sui army has made frequent movements in Xiyang and Nanyang, there have never been warships or merchant ships. ”

"Secondly, Xiangyang City is high and deep, easy to defend and difficult to attack, so in view of the situation of my Datang, they took the opportunity to propose the conditions of exchanging the five counties for a one-year truce, once we hand over Xiangyang and other five counties, and the army withdraws into Bashu, they only need to station a small army in Yiling, they can block our army in Bashu, and then they can deal with Li Mi, Lin Shihong and others with absolute strength."

"Third, compared to my Tang Dynasty, the territory of Li Mi and the Sui Dynasty is intertwined, especially the Henan County where Luoyang is located and Liang County are only separated by a Xingyang. At the same time, Li Mi's army can also go up from the coast of Donghai County, wave the army to attack Qingzhou, which has an empty population and empty troops, and Qingzhou is the place where the longest chaos is today, many anti-kings were born here, after more than ten years of war, there are countless fierce bandits, the brutal suppression and slaughter of the military department of the Sui Dynasty made these people uneasy day and night, and Li Mi, who started with Wagang, is very famous in this area, if it is twisted into a rope, it will be a powerful army, causing the land of Qingzhou to be turbulent again. Whether it was for the safety of the imperial capital, or to cut off Li Mi's connection with these people, Yang Tong would beat Li Mi to the south of Huaishui, so that Luoyang, Qingzhou and other places would not be poisoned by the war again. ”

"Fourth, if Du Fuwei misses Liyang, Li Mi's army will occupy the land of Jianghuai, and my Tang Dynasty's Lingling will become a horn, and the land of Jingzhou south of the Han River will be divided into one, and as far as I know, Yang Tong unscrupulously fought the local tyrants and inferior gentry in the land of Jingzhou, and divided the land equally, although these people were killed a group and fled to the territory of the Tang Dynasty and Lin Shihong, but their influence in Jingzhou is difficult to eliminate in the short term, if they enter again, the land of Jingzhou will be full of war, which is also not allowed by Yang Tong."

"The fifth and most important point; Li Mi's army was cut in half by Huaishui, Huainan's Du Fuwei was like a sharp blade, ready to attack Li Mi's capital Jiangdu, the slightest movement can make Jiangdu into a mess, the existence of Du's army made Li Mi sleep, plus Li Mi was defeated by Yang Dong and Du Fuwei last year, and the elite division lost tens of thousands of people, so that he did not have many troops to support Xu Shiji and Wang Bodang in Huaibei; And Xu and Wang will each defend one side, to a certain extent, they are a lone army fighting alone, Yang Tong only needs to defeat these two generals, and Huaibei is at his fingertips. ”

Based on the above five points, Weichen believes that Yang Tong hit Li Mi first. As for Fang Xuanling's five counties for a one-year truce, it is actually blackmail. After Liu Wenjing finished speaking, he saluted Li Yuan.

Liu Wenjing analyzed it very thoroughly, and everyone finally understood Yang Tong's sinister intentions, he was nothing more than to intimidate the Tang Dynasty with a powerful force, and then obtain the five counties of Jingxiang out of thin air through negotiation, so that the Tang army was isolated in Bashu.

Li Yuan's eyebrows fluttered and sneered: "He wants my Jingxiang, unless he defeats my army, he is a pipe dream!" ”

"Could it be that Yang Tong's 500,000 army expansion is a pretense?" Seeing Liu Wenjing in the limelight, Pei Lian said very unhappily: "And with the millions of troops of the Sui Dynasty, it is completely possible to start a war in many ways, Liu Xiang ......"

"Yang Tong has indeed expanded his army!" Without waiting for Pei Lin to finish speaking, Liu Wenjing interrupted him, "Yang Tong's main battle division is all elite cavalry outside the territory, and the troops are quite single, they really have no resistance in the plains, but in the south of the Yangtze River, where the water network is all over the place, there is not much place for elite cavalry to play, if hundreds of thousands of elite cavalry go south, I am afraid it is with Li Mi's intentions." In the same way, the cavalry in Bashu, where the mountains and rivers are all over the country, is not of much use. According to intelligence, the expanded army is mainly infantry and sailors, which shows that Yang Tong is also aware of this problem. This also shows that although the Sui army has a million heroes, half of the troops that can be put into the southern battlefield are already a lot. ”

Pei Lin retorted without showing weakness: "It is difficult for foot soldiers to become cavalry, and it is easy for cavalry to become foot soldiers. The battle between King Jin and Yang Shanhui in Changyuan is enough to prove that after the Sui army dismounted, its combat power was no worse than that of cavalry, and the battle that took place at Zhuyang Pass also showed the Sui army's ability to fight on foot and attack fortifications to the fullest. Another point is quite crucial, Liu Xiangguo used the embankment to force the Sui army to give way, but Yang Tong also threatened us in the same way, and now there is a large embankment built on the east and west sides of the Hanchuan River. The Hanshui embankment burst, and Xicheng County was destroyed. If the embankment breaks on both sides at the same time, the downstream city and barracks will be destroyed in the water, and the Sui army can take boats and bamboo rafts to kill the heart of our Tang Dynasty. ”

Liu Wen was silent.

He was not unreasonable and had to fight for a long time, knowing that what the other party said was an unavoidable fact, but he didn't refute anything.

"Liu Xiangguo, if the embankment is broken, do you still insist that the Sui army will not attack my Tang Dynasty?" Pei Lin saw that Liu Wenjing was speechless, and said triumphantly.

Although Pei Lin made sense, the appearance of this villain's ambition made everyone frown.

"Father!" Li Jiancheng got up and arched his hand: "Liu Xiangguo has analyzed all aspects in place, and he has pointed out the advantages and disadvantages of the Sui, Tang and Wei dynasties everywhere, from the current situation of the Sui Dynasty, it is estimated that it will not be an enemy of the Tang Dynasty before it occupies Huaibei." Moreover, before the embankment burst, our Datang completely dug the canal in advance and irrigated the farmland at ordinary times, and if the Sui army really broke the embankment, it could also play a role in flood distribution, so that the defense facilities of Xicheng and Qinghua would not be damaged by the flood. Our army can still use the previous defensive means to defend the Sui army from the country. ”

Li Shimin said: "It is necessary for the imperial brother to take precautions; But we also have to recognize the strength of the Sui army, Yang Tong now has the strength of two-front combat, and the strength of Xu Shiji and Wang Bodang is not strong enough for Yang Tong to attack with the strength of the country, Yang Tong only needs to send 200,000 troops to pocket the seven counties of Huaibei, even if he dispatches 500,000 troops, there are still 3.5 million troops in his hands, and he can still attack Bashu from various places. Therefore, I think it is very necessary to change our defense plan that is tight on the outside and loose on the inside. ”

Li Shimin's words made everyone realize how flawed their defenses were? They don't have a strong army to sit in the rear, but they talk about defending themselves from the enemy outside the country, which is really not considered.

"Holy Lord, Weichen fully agrees with His Royal Highness King Jin's plan!" Liu Wenjing also said: "The Sui Dynasty is too strong now, and our situation is very unfavorable, so we must consider the issue of evacuation." If Fangling, Chungling, Jingling, and Yiling are lost, then Xiangyang will become an isolated city, and we must establish a second line of defense after Xiangyang, otherwise when the war is unfavorable, we will not be able to withdraw into Bashu, and there will be a danger of annihilation of the whole army. ”

Although Liu Wenjing's words were a bit of an afterthought, what he said about the judgment that he could not withdraw into Bashu attracted Li Yuan's attention, and Li Yuan pondered for a long time and said: "Then according to Liu Xiang's meaning, how should we lay out the second line of defense?" ”

"Yiling, Badong!" Liu Wenjing pointed to two places, and then said: "Especially Yiling, it is the throat of Bashu and Jingzhou, from ancient times to Ling, Yiling, Zigui, Fengjie, and Badong on the Three Gorges Road must have heavy troops to garrison, but we only have insufficient combat strength in these places to defend, if the Sui army takes advantage of the loophole and sends troops from Nanjun to occupy Yiling, the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

Li Yuan was taken aback, nodded silently, and said: "The King of Jin led your army and half of the recruits to Yiling to sit in the town, while defending the Sui army and ensuring the smooth flow of Bashu and Jingxiang, while training the army and training a strong army for my Datang." ”

"Whoa!" Li Shimin's heart was excited, he was defeated from Zhuyang Pass to this, after the post-war distribution, there were only 20,000 descendants in his hands, and this recruit counted 100,000 people, including homeless people, monks, Taoist priests, with the order of his father, he could select 50,000 elite people stationed in Yiling, so that there were 70,000 troops, the key is that the grain of Bashu must pass through Yiling to Xiangyang, and there is no need to worry about the risk of running out of food.

"Although Yang Tong will not attack the Tang Dynasty before he occupies Huaibei, but Yang Tong's strength is there, and I don't know how long Xu Shiji and Wang Bodang can hold out, when he occupies Huaibei, he may not adjust the direction of the attack, so the time for us to prepare is very short, it is a matter of life and death for my Tang Dynasty, and you must use this time on military politics." Li Yuan commanded.

"The retainers obey!"

"Wechen obeys!"

The crowd answered.

At this time, Xiao Yu arched his hand and asked, "Holy Lord, what about Fang Xuanling?" Do we still need to talk? ”

Li Yuan snorted coldly, "Xiao Xiang continued to negotiate with him, if he can't get along, just let him go, didn't he say that he can represent Yang Tong with full powers?" Then I will use Luchuan, Qianwei, Yuewei, Qike, and Qian'an for a year of truce time to see if he can represent Yang Tong. ”

Seeing everyone get up and leave, Li Yuan suddenly said, "Chen Xiangguo stays." ”

"Whoa!" Chen Shuda took a seat.

After everyone left the imperial study, Li Yuan opened the confidential box and handed the Dugu Quanquan secret letter that 'Li Xiuning stole' to Chen Shuda to watch.

Before ascending the throne, Li Yuan trusted Pei Lin and Liu Wenjing the most, but now, Li Yuan has given this trust to Chen Shuda, mainly because Liu Wenjing and Pei Lin are too close to the prince and the king of Jin, which makes Li Yuan a little more taboo in his heart, and Chen Shuda is shrewd and skilled, although he competed with Xiao Yu for the leadership of the southern scholar clan and was classified into the prince's line, but he kept a certain distance from Li Jiancheng, and gradually won Li Yuan's trust, and therefore, Chen Shuda and the prince Li Jiancheng gradually drifted apart and became Li Yuan's confidant.

"It's... Is this true? Chen Shuda quickly looked at the two letters on the top, and his face was already pale with shock. The previous letter Dugu revealed the secret of the great changes in Daxing Palace; The content of the latter letter was Dugu Quan's promise to Yang Tong to donate eighty percent of the land, fifty percent of the money and grain, and act as an internal commitment.

"It's Dugu's handwriting, there is no doubt!"

"Holy Lord, where did these letters come from?"

"It was Pingyang who stole it from Ziwei Palace and hid it in the gift for Fang Xuanling to bring to me. If it weren't for Pingyang, I wouldn't know where I would have failed. ”

Chen Shuda didn't speak, but waited patiently for the emperor to make a statement, Li Yuan stood in front of the window for a long time, and suddenly asked: "In addition, the head of the Dugu faction visited Fang Xuanling collectively yesterday, and when these people left, they were all smiling, I am afraid that some kind of agreement was reached." Chen Xiang thinks I should deal with the Dugu faction among the Guanlong nobles? ”

Chen Shuda suddenly felt in his heart, on the surface, it was Dugu's betrayal that angered the emperor, but he knew that the emperor had always had to deal with the Guanlong nobles, the reason was that the Guanlong nobles occupied the land and population of Bashu, which not only seriously affected the tax revenue of the imperial court, but also led to a serious shortage of soldiers, and this serious problem had reached the point where it could not be solved if it was not solved. The emperor was originally worried that the Guanlong nobles with countless private armies would launch a coup d'état, and Duguquan's promise to be the internal response of the Sui Dynasty touched the emperor's backlash.

"Holy Lord, the situation in my Tang Dynasty is unstable, and the nobles of Guanlong have become an urgent need that has to be solved." Chen Shuda looked at the emperor's face, and said: "Everyone thinks that Yang Tong will not attack the Tang Dynasty before occupying Huaibei, then this short time is just a good opportunity for the Holy Lord to eradicate internal worries, as long as the carrion is cut, my Tang Dynasty can concentrate on the outside world." More importantly, you can use the money and food of the Dugu faction to make up for the lack of financial resources of the imperial court; The land of the Dugu faction was used to reward meritorious soldiers to play a role in rallying the morale of the army and boosting morale. ”

Li Yuan asked again, "Where should I start?" ”

"Shengshang, Weichen remembered that Yang Tong wrote a poem like this: 'Hold the bow when you are strong, and use the arrow when you use the long. Shoot the man first and shoot the horse, and capture the thief first and capture the king. ’”

Although Chen Shuda said it very implicitly, Li Yuan knew that he meant to start with the Dugu clan first, as long as the Dugu clan was dealt with, the other Dugu faction's Guan Long family would fall into a situation where the dragons had no leader, and it would be much easier to clean it up.

A complicated expression appeared on Li Yuan's face, and it took a long time before he said in a trembling voice, "I know what to do!" ”

"If there is nothing important in the saint, Weichen will retire first!" Chen Shuda also understood what Li Yuan meant.

"Good!"

As early as when he saw these secret letters, Li Yuan had already given birth to a murderous intention, but he was worried that the Guanlong nobles would evolve into an uncontrollable position, and finally cheapen Yang Tong. However, the conclusion that 'the Sui army attacked Huaibei first and then made strategic adjustments' gave him time to rectify the interior, and Chen Shuda's words prompted him to put this killing plan in place. He no longer hesitated, took out a note, wrote down three words with a pen, locked it in a box the size of a palm, and asked a henchman eunuch to send it to Li Yuanji.