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Qu Tutong never expected that even the county seat of Mianchi would be lost. He has also heard of this Qin Qiong, who is the general under the former Sui famous general Zhang Xutuo, the word Shubao, who has the courage of ten thousand people. I heard that after returning to Yuming, he was also deeply reused. The great elite troops of the Zhou army, Yulinwei, ironclad cavalry and Modao army. This Qin Qiong is the supreme commander of the Mo Dao Army.

Don't look at Qin Qiong's current command of more than 10,000 people, which is comparable to his own soldiers and horses. But they are all Modao Army, tiger and wolf warriors who dare to fight head-on with the Xuanjia Heavenly Soldiers, the most elite troops of the Tang Army. Don't say that your troops can't beat them in their current state. Even in its heyday, I'm afraid it's not an opponent.

Therefore, now Qu Tutong has only one word in his heart, and that is "escape"!

He immediately turned his horse's head and galloped westward with Qu Tushou, not daring to think about going into the city to rest any more.

But if he rode a horse and could run away, the rest of his soldiers and horses would be miserable. Most of them were infantry, and only some of them had horses. As a result, the remaining Tang soldiers all chose to surrender when they saw the Modao Army killing in a big way. After all, desperate resistance is death, if people can live well, who would want to die?

When Qu Tutong and his Qu Tushou ran wildly for a day and a night, the horses were exhausted and several horses died, and when they ran to the city of Tongguan, there were only dozens of personal soldiers around them.

However, when he saw the banner of the Tang Army on the gate, he finally relieved his heart, now that he was safe, how could he face Li Yuan? How to explain it to His Majesty the Tang Dynasty?

As soon as Qu Tutong thought of this, another panic hit his heart......

……

From Tongguan to Chang'an, only two miles, the Tang army guarding the pass saw Qu Tutong return in a fiasco, and they were also frightened in their hearts, for fear that the Zhou army would take advantage of the situation to attack. So he hurriedly ordered to strengthen the vigilance, and even the number of soldiers on duty at night more than doubled.

And Qu Tutong also used the method of one person and two horses, galloping to Chang'an day and night, and finally arrived at the gate of the palace in Chang'an City the next night.

At this time, Qu Tutong asked Qu Tushou to tie a few wattles on his back, and then went to Li Yuan's imperial study with a sad face to report the news of the defeat in the Battle of Luoyang.

When Li Yuan heard that the battle was defeated because Yu Ming returned to the division in time, and only a few dozen horsemen were left of the 200,000 army, the brush in his hand suddenly fell to the ground with a "snap".

"Qu Tutong, you're dead!" Li Yuan spurted blood from his mouth at this time, and fell on the dragon chair in the imperial study.

Qu Tutong was startled, and hurriedly shouted: "Your Majesty has fainted!" Where is the doctor? Come and save Your Majesty......"

About half an hour later, under the treatment of the doctor, Li Yuanfang slowly woke up.

At this time, Fang asked Qu Tutong with red eyes: "Qu Aiqing, how did you lose the battle of Luoyang?" Tell me more about it! ”

Qu Tutong hurriedly recounted the battle. Of course, he naturally exaggerated the difficulties a lot, and also improved the strength and combat effectiveness of the Zhou army.

After Li Yuan heard this, Fang Chang sighed: "Old General Qu, hearing you say this, defeat is inevitable. But I'm afraid you don't know yet, the land of Bashu was also occupied by the Zhou army! My second brother Li Xiaogong died in battle! ”

"What? The land of Bashu is also lost! Qu Tutong was taken aback.

"Your Majesty, Yuming has returned to Luoyang, how can he still have the strength to occupy Bashu?" He asked, a little confused.

According to the people who returned from defeat, Yuming left 250,000 horses for his teacher Li Jing, and ordered Li Jing to be the commander, with Wei Chi Jingde, Zhou Tao, Song Jingang and others as deputy generals, and broke Badong, Wushan, and Fengjie, and drove straight into the hinterland of Bashu. And because Li Xiaogong had concentrated his troops in the White Emperor City earlier, the interior was extremely empty. In the battle of White Emperor City, Li Xiaogong's entire army was annihilated, and the main force of our army in the land of Bashu was lost...... Naturally, Li Jing's army of more than 200,000 was effortlessly taken! Li Yuan sighed at this time.

Then, the other side said to Qu Tudao: "You go down first!" In the battle of Luoyang, although you have a certain responsibility, you can't be blamed for it! I will punish you for the year of the Fortune of Lu, as a punishment! ”

Qu Tutong was overjoyed when he heard this, he was originally worried that he would be pushed out of the noon gate by Li Yuan. But now I know that it is only a fine of one year, which is really light.

So, he hurriedly kowtowed his head and said, "Your Majesty Xie is magnanimous!" ”

With that, he bowed down and exited the door, then turned to leave.

After Qu Tutong left, a person came out of the screen of the imperial study, and he sighed lightly: "I don't know why my father wants to let this Qu Tutong go." This person's attack on Luoyang failed, causing my Tang Dynasty's 200,000 troops to be wiped out, and it stands to reason that it is not an exaggeration to kill ten heads! ”

After Li Yuan heard this, he shook his head slightly and said: "It has been completed, it is not difficult to kill Qu Tutong, but now that our Tang army has been newly defeated, it has lost the land of Jingxiang and Bashu." Your second uncle was defeated and died again, and there is a shortage of generals. If this Qu Tutong is cut again, I am afraid that it will make the generals panic. After all, for Shang Yuming, except for your second brother, I'm afraid it will be difficult for anyone to resist it! ”

It turned out that the person behind this screen was actually Li Jiancheng, who had been helping Li Yuan deal with the music before. And when Qu Tutong asked to see him, he didn't have time to avoid it, so Li Yuan let him stay behind the screen. Therefore, Qu Tutong's words made him hear it clearly.

Li Jiancheng listened to his father's words, but a trace of anger flashed in his eyes. secretly thinking that his father still respects his second brother so much, it seems that it will take time for him to regain the position.

At this time, Li Yuan said again: "Completed, now that our army has been newly defeated, Guanzhong is empty, in order to prevent the enemy from taking the opportunity to attack Tongguan, you must transfer your second brother back from Hetao!" And from Hetao to Guanzhong, although it is a flat river, but there are thousands of miles, so I want to send you to Luoyang, pretend to negotiate with Yuming, in order to delay the army, I wonder if you are willing? ”

"Pretend to negotiate?" After Li Jiancheng heard this, he was also stunned for a moment.

"Yes! Yu Ming has always been famous, and your sister is his imperial concubine, so it is expected that he will not be rude to you. It would be best if we could sign an armistice agreement with him like before. This will give us time to reorganize our troops and fight the world again! Li Yuan said with a straight face at this time.

Li Jiancheng was a little silent at the moment, because he knew the difficulty of this trip. Yu Ming has already gained the upper hand, the army is strong, if there are ten points in the world, he has already taken eight points. The Tang Dynasty now only holds Guanzhong and Longxi, how can it compete with him? As long as Yuming is not an idiot, it is impossible to agree to a truce.

Li Yuan looked at Li Jiancheng and sighed: "Jiancheng, I also know that you are dissatisfied with your father, blame me for depriving you of your position!" But there is no way to do this, Hebei failed to capture, but the Hedong that had been occupied was lost, and so many troops were lost, and I couldn't explain to the ministers and surnames of the court. ”

"Father, you should punish your sons! Erchen never blamed you in his heart! Li Jiancheng said sincerely. He didn't say this duplicity, because he knew very well that his father was actually a little biased towards him, otherwise he wouldn't have announced his appointment as soon as he usurped the throne. It's just that he was unlucky, he had a younger brother who wanted to take his position, and he was defeated miserably in the hands of Yuming, giving the other party the truth to attack.

Li Yuan smiled slightly and said: "Completed, if this negotiation with Yuming can drag on for a year and a half, let him not attack my Datang, then you have made a great contribution." Father can now promise you that if you can reach an armistice with Yuming, I will declare you back as soon as you return! ”

Li Jiancheng waited for this sentence, although he also knew that it was difficult to convince Yuming, but he still had some opportunities.

"Good! Since the father and emperor looked up to the son so much, the son boldly gave it a try! Then he gave his hand and said.

"Hmmm! You'll be on your way tomorrow morning! I will let Liu Jing be your deputy, and the two of you will go to Luoyang together and have a good talk with this son-in-law of mine!" Li Yuan let out a long breath and said with a tired face.

Li Jiancheng naturally heard his father's hint, asking him to get closer to Li Xiuning more, take the harem line, and tell Yu Ming how to have a son-in-law attack his father-in-law.

He nodded yes quickly, and then hurriedly said goodbye, returned to his residence, and prepared to go.

……

At this time, the Zhou army outside Luoyang City was thunderous. They finally defeated the Tang army in a battle and relieved the siege of Luoyang. Moreover, what they didn't expect was that among the more than 100,000 Tang troops, in addition to the dead and wounded who escaped, there were as many as 60,000 surrenderers, which made Yuming overjoyed and felt an extra responsibility on his shoulders.

How to reorganize and appease these 60,000 people, but he urgently needs to deal with the problem at the moment!

Fortunately, Xu Shiji had long considered that this raid on the Tang army, under the internal and external attacks, it was possible to capture a large number of prisoners, so he contacted Shumeng, Yu Yuqing and other women in the city early, and transported a batch of grain and grass in Luoyang City.

At the same time, since the original camp of the Don Army was destroyed. Yu Ming ordered to pull out part of the tents of his army and give them to the surrendering army, and many officers and soldiers of the Zhou army had made their homes in Luoyang City, so naturally they no longer needed to live in camps outside the city.

Therefore, although the 60,000 Tang soldiers surrendered, they could still ensure that they had no worries about food and clothing, and no worries about their accommodation.

That night, the campfire in the camp of the Zhou army was blazing and the tents were lined up. The 60,000 troops have been properly settled and set up in the middle of the camp. Around them was the big tent of 100,000 Zhou troops, and Xu Shiji arranged it like this, because he was afraid that if there was any change in the surrender of the soldiers, his army would be able to suppress it.

At this moment, in the middle of the large camp of the surrendering army, a vacant space was vacated, and the officers above the rank of the surrendering army gathered here, all of them stood up straight, waiting silently, waiting for the emperor of the Great Zhou to come and decide their fate!

...