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About half an hour later, all the important ministers of the Tang Dynasty returned to a private room in the Zuixian Building in Chang'an. Bi·Qi Medium·· Net·· hair

After Wang Gui, Yang Shidao and Ma Zhouping retreated, only they were left in the private room.

This person can be said to be the most powerful official in the Tang Dynasty except for Pei Lin and Liu Jing. He held the positions of the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, the secretary of the household department and the secretary of the criminal department. And they were also Guan Long's important ministers who declared their allegiance to the Tang Army shortly after Li Yuan raised his army. It can be said that he made great contributions to the establishment of the Tang Dynasty. But now, they are all gathered together to discuss the current situation with great concern.

"Lord Wang, how long do you think the Tang Dynasty can last now?" Yang Shidao asked with a worried face.

Among the people, Wang Guima has always been the king. He was also recognized as one of the most sober-minded ministers among Tang officials.

Wang Gui sighed and said, "The Zhou army has pressed the border from the east, west, south, and north, and the strength of each direction has surpassed our army. And His Majesty did not concentrate his forces to gather and annihilate one of them, but also divided his troops into four to meet the attack. This could lead to defeat in all four directions! ”

After Yang Shidao heard this, he also thought it was true and said, "Yes! After all, our army is not only inferior to the enemy in every direction, but also inferior to the Zhou army in terms of the allocation of generals. And the soldiers are also demoralized and have no fighting spirit. It's weird to be able to defeat your enemies like that! ”

Ma Zhou said with a sigh at this moment: "If we knew this, we should have voted for Yuming in the first place!" This small rise is nothing short of a miracle! Seven years ago, when everyone was optimistic about Li Yuan, who occupied Guanzhong and established the Tang Dynasty, he quietly developed in Liaodong, and then waved his army into Guannei, surrendered Luo Yi, broke Dou Jiande, destroyed Li Mi, and occupied Hedong. Then he entered Luoyang and established his absolute advantage. In the world, he has already accounted for nine points, and it has become inevitable to sweep Guanzhong, two adults, I don't know what you want to do? ”

Wang Gui smiled slightly and said, "Master Ma, we have a good relationship with each other, and we have always been free from the ****** and Qin Wang Party in the court, and we remain neutral. In today's situation, even if you are blind, you can see that Yuming will definitely unify the world. And we still want to use this seven-foot body to do something good for the surname! Naturally, he can't disappear into the court with the fall of Li Tang......"

"So, we must contact the Zhou Dynasty to discuss the matter of returning to Shun?" Ma Zhou hurriedly grabbed the conversation and asked.

Wang Gui nodded at this time and said, "Within a court, it will definitely be divided into many political factions, just like the ****** and the Qin Wang Party in this dynasty. The Zhou Dynasty was also divided into the Liaodong faction and the general faction, and all along, it was the Liaodong faction that had an absolute advantage. In recent years, with the emergence of Xu Shiji, Song Jingang and others, the general faction has begun to improve. But compared with the Liaodong faction, it is still far behind. ”

"And Yuming, as an emperor, will definitely not allow his subordinate party to dominate. He will inevitably introduce a checks and balances mechanism among the court officials to support the general faction and the Liaodong faction! This is exactly the same strategy adopted by the former Sui Emperor Yang Jian and Yang Emperor Yang Guang! Although they are also from the Guanlongmen valve, in order to balance the Guanlongmen valve, they have been supporting the Shandong Shi clan and the Jiangnan Shi clan! ”

"Therefore, Wang Mou thinks that once Yuming dominates the world, it will inevitably change the current situation of the Liaodong faction being dominant!" When Wang Gui said this, a mysterious smile appeared on his face and said, "And at this time, it is our chance to rise again in the political arena!" ”

Yang Shidao suddenly realized: "Listening to Lord Wang's words, it really made Zaimao stop!" Merely...... It's just that now we have to send someone to contact the Zhou Dynasty? ”

Wang Gui glared at him and said, "As long as you are not afraid of being captured and killed by Li Yuan, just send someone to contact you!" ”

Ma Zhou explained to Yang Shidao at this time: "Recently, many officials in the DPRK and China have secretly sent people to contact acquaintances and friends in the Zhou Dynasty, trying to find a retreat. And I don't know how to do this, but someone told Li Yuan the secret, and now Li Yuan has sent a large number of spies to monitor the matter. I heard that some officials have been secretly arrested. However, Li Yuan was afraid of causing panic among the officials of the DPRK and China and causing chaos in Guanzhong, so he kept it a secret, and the arrested officials only said to their families that they had gone on a business trip. ”

Yang Shidao shuddered when he heard this, and he sighed: "I don't know what Li Yuan is thinking. If he surrenders now, Yu Mingnian will not do anything to Li Xiuning, maybe he can still be a rich man and live the rest of his life in peace. But now that he has to resist to the end, Yu Ming may not let him go! ”

Ma Zhou patted him on the shoulder and said, "Lord Yang, we don't have to think much about the Li family's affairs. Anyway, Li Yuan chose it himself! In contrast, I'm more worried about Li Shimin! ”

"Oh? Li Shimin? After Yang Shidao heard this, he was stunned: "Among the four major armies, he is actually the least worried about him!" Although his troops are smaller than Yuming, he is the key to Tongguan, and his command and combat ability can be called the first in Datang. Even if the situation is not advantageous, there is no problem to ensure that Tongguan is not lost! ”

Ma Zhou shook his head at this time and said, "Lord Yang, you misunderstood what I meant!" Ma is not talking about Li Shimin and Yuming fighting, but that Li Shimin may launch a coup d'état! ”

"Coup d'état?" Yang Shidao's pupils suddenly shrank, and he was taken aback.

"Hmmm! It is said that when Li Shimin received Li Yuan's order to withdraw to Guanzhong in Hetao, he jumped like thunder, thinking that Li Yuan was too timid. Because he could immediately drive Luo Cheng and Luo Shixin out of the Hetao. At that time, he had the heart to break away from Li Yuan and be the best of his own. It's just that he was still in the bud and was persuaded by Pei Lian, thinking that the land of Hetao was too barren and the population was very sparse, which was not enough to feed the more than 200,000 troops led by him. Therefore, Li Shimin had to accept Li Yuan's order and lead the army back to Guanzhong. And now the difficult situation of the Tang Army, Li Shimin thinks that it is caused by Li Yuanguo's incompetence, reusing wastes such as Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, and refusing to listen to him. According to the inside line I planted, Li Shimin has frequently consulted with his subordinates in the Tiance Mansion recently, and the army directly under him has also been frequently transferred, so it seems that the plan is not small! Ma Zhou sighed and said.

"Not to mention Li Shimin! Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji are also preparing, I think this brother is still not forgetting infighting when the Tang Dynasty is crumbling in the face of the great enemy. It can be seen that the Tang Dynasty is indeed exhausted! Wang Gui said: "So, the two adults don't need to sigh, they will come, we just need to protect ourselves and our families when this big storm comes!" ”

Yang Shidao and Ma Zhou both thought so. After discussing how to strengthen the defense measures of his house in this private room, he left in a hurry. Guanzhong has been shrouded in a solemn atmosphere of rumors.

……

A few days later, in Hanzhong on the southern front, a new round of war between Tang and Zhou began again.

Li Jing has the reputation of the most resourceful military general of the Zhou Dynasty, and he has proved this with his performance, he is worthy of the title of emperor.

As early as when he had just captured Chengdu and there were still many counties in the land of Bashu in the hands of Li Tang, he keenly felt that after taking Bashu, the next offensive focus of the Zhou army would inevitably be Hanzhong.

So, he immediately led 100,000 Zhou troops, set off from Chengdu, passed through Mianyang and Jiangyou, and went straight to Jianmen Pass. And the task of receiving other counties in Bashu was entrusted to Wei Chi Jingde.

And his action did disrupt Li Yuan's original plan to withdraw the remnants of the Tang army in the land of Bashu to Hanzhong for garrison. So that the Tang army that finally withdrew from Sichuan was only more than 20,000 people.

Although Wei Chi Jingde later received an order from Yuming to return to Luoyang. But his troops stayed. At the same time, Yuming also sent the 60,000 Tang troops of the Battle of Luoyang to Bashu and handed them over to Li Jing for command.

The arrival of this reorganized army also greatly changed Li Jing's original situation of shortage of troops. This frees up more forces for him to devote to the attack.

……

At the beginning of the second year of Yongxing, Li Jing's 200,000 troops were all in place and began a strategic war against Hanzhong.

Li Jiancheng only had 100,000 troops in his hands, but he had to guard against the Zhou army attacking from Jianmen Pass, Ziyang, Shangyong and other directions.

He knew very well in his heart that if he scattered his forces and guarded them layer by layer, he would only be broken by the enemy when the Zhou army had strong troops and siege equipment. As a result, he abandoned a series of small passes and fortresses on the periphery, and concentrated all the Tang troops in Hanzhong into the city of Hanzhong. This city is surrounded by mountains and rivers, with the Qinling Mountains behind it, and the Han River in front of the city gate, and the defenders only need to defend a city wall facing the Han River.

If the attacking army wanted to attack the city wall, it would first have to cross the Han River. The defenders, on the other hand, could condescend and shoot at the enemy in the Han River on the city walls. Can inflict heavy casualties on the attacker.

If Luoyang is the strongest city in the world, then Hanzhong is the most difficult city in the world to conquer.

Li Jiancheng believed that even if the Zhou army was more than twice as numerous as him, there were catapults with long range, powerful siege vehicles and well fences, it would be difficult to capture Hanzhong.

And as long as Hanzhong does not fall into the hands of the Zhou army, the south gate of Guanzhong can rest easy. He can also successfully complete the tasks assigned by his father and lay a solid foundation for returning to the throne.

Only two days after Li Jiancheng shrank into Hanzhong City, Zhou Jun arrived at the foot of Hanzhong City, and after seeing the location of this city, Li Jing couldn't help but gasp.

I saw that this city is close to the mountains and rivers, the terrain is very dangerous, although the city is not big, the city wall is not very high, but it is built by digging the mountain wall in the mountains. If you want to use trebuchets to blast over its walls like you would attack other cities, it's hard to do it.

Moreover, its gates open to the river, and if you want to enter the city, you have to take a wooden boat or swim across the river to reach the gate and the city walls. But crossing the Han River without any precautions in this way, the soldiers on the attacking side were afraid that before they reached the city gate, they would be shot to death by the defenders on the city wall.

No wonder Li Jiancheng chose to fight with him here. The forces and siege equipment that give them the upper hand are completely ineffective. It seems that this Datang is really not to be despised in front of him!

...