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"It is advisable to chase the poor bravely, not to sell the overlord! Now that we have all the wounded soldiers in place, we should continue the pursuit while the enemy is defeated and fleeing and morale is low! Strive to recapture Hedong in one fell swoop! After discussing with Xu Shiji and the generals, Yuming agreed that he should attack while he was victorious, so as not to change later.

The Zhou army had to expel the Tang army while it had just captured Hedong and had not yet gained a firm foothold. Otherwise, after the Tang army gained a firm foothold in the local area, it would be difficult for the Zhou army to recapture it. After all, the largest city in Hedong was originally the nest of Li Tang's family, and the Li family's influence in the local area was also very large.

"Our army will divide the troops and begin the battle to recover Hedong!" Yuming sat in the hall of the castle guard mansion in Kawama County, pointing to the map and said.

"The Northern Army is dominated by the former Beiping garrison and herdsmen of various ethnic groups from Liaodong, with a total strength of 60,000 troops, including 40,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry. The main will be Luo Cheng, and the deputy will be Luo Shixin. Starting from Beiping, attack Yanmen County first, and after conquering Yanmen, continue to sweep westward through Dingxiang, Mayi, Loufu and other counties, strive to recover the northeastern part of Hetao, and cut off the connection between Hetao and Hedong, and prevent the Tang army of Hetao from coming to support! When he said this, he glanced at Luo Cheng and said, "Luo Cheng, Shixin, do you have any opinions?" ”

"The last general will live up to His Majesty's trust!" Luo Cheng and Luo Shixin stood up and answered in unison.

Both of them were good at cavalry combat. The northeastern part of the river is close to the steppe, and the terrain is relatively flat, which is suitable for giving full play to the advantages of cavalry. Therefore, Yuming handed over the combat mission of the northern front to the two of them. Judging from the current situation, the Tang Army's strength on the northern front is not large, with a total of less than 10,000 people. With an army of 60,000 against the Wantang Army, it should still be said that it has a considerable advantage.

Yu Ming nodded with satisfaction, and then continued: "The Chinese army of our army has a total strength of 80,000 people, including 20,000 cavalry and 60,000 infantry. Led by me personally, with Xu Shiji as the military advisor and Qin Qiong and Cheng Yanjin as the deputy generals, they set out from Hejian County and attacked Wu'an County to the west, and after Wu'an County was breached, they attacked the original to the west, striving to recover within a month, and then swept Linfen, Jinyang and other counties in the east and west of the river, and recovered the lost territory west of the Yellow River. ”

The marching line of the Chinese army is almost the line where Li Jiancheng withdrew his troops from Hebei, and it is also the necessary route from Hebei to Yuan.

When Liu Wuzhou and Li Shimin were fighting fiercely, Yuming sent troops into Hedong, and it was from then on that he marched.

The tasks of the Chinese army are also the heaviest in the army. Because they want to recover Hedong Province, the largest city of Yuan. And this is the place where Li Yuan raised his troops, and Li Tang's power in this city is very strong. It turned out that during the occupation of the Zhou army, there were often people who rebelled and launched riots.

And half a year ago, when Li Jiancheng led his army to attack Hedong, the fortified original city would have been lost in such a short period of time. The rebellion lurking in the city can be said to be a great factor. When the Tang army attacked the city, these rebels who had defected to the enemy set fire to the city to stir people's hearts. It made the defenders in the city feel very confused, and as a result, they were attacked by the Tang army like mowing grass and mustard.

Now, the Tang army has become a defender, but the Zhou army is going to attack, and the difficulty of fighting is naturally greater than when defending the city before.

It's just that this also gave Yuming the opportunity to reorganize Hedong. Just like Hejian County, if it weren't for the Tang army fighting here, the Zhou army would not have known that there were so many remnants of the Shi clan gathered in Hejian County, and they had such great hostility towards the Zhou Dynasty.

In the battle of Hejian County, although the Zhou army paid a lot of casualties, it basically wiped out the hidden opposition forces in this county, and made the people in this area unified. Although there is short-term pain, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages in the long run.

Therefore, Yu Ming also planned to take advantage of the opportunity of the Tang army to capture Hedong and make those hidden anti-Zhou personnel move from underground to the public, to wipe out these people and take advantage of the good opportunity to recover the counties of Hedong, to uproot Li Tang's forces in Hedong, so that Hedong, like Hebei, would become a stable territory of the Great Zhou.

Immediately afterwards, he continued: "As for the Southern Army, it is the largest number of troops among our soldiers and horses, with a total of 100,000 people, including 10,000 cavalry and 70,000 infantry, with Wei Chi Jingde as the main general and Guo Yi as the deputy general. Block the pass where the Tang army in Guanzhong reinforces Hedong. ”

Yuming knew that the key to the battle in Hedong was to see if he could separate the Tang Army in Hedong and the Tang Army in Guanzhong. If the reinforcements of the Tang army in Guanzhong can be stopped, then Hedong has a ninety percent hope that it can be recovered. But if he couldn't stop the reinforcements of the Tang army in Guanzhong, even if the troops in Guanzhong were empty now, Li Yuan could also recruit private soldiers from the large households of the Guanlong nobles and recruit the Minzhuang army, causing major trouble to the counteroffensive of the Zhou army. After all, Hedong is also a battleground for Li Tang.

Therefore, shouldering the heavy task of intercepting Li Tang's reinforcements, it was handed over to Wei Chi Jingde. This is also the reason why the Southern Army has more troops than the Chinese Army.

Yuming did not ask Wei Chi Jingde to recover the entire southeast of Hedong, as long as he could prevent the Tang army from reinforcing Hedong, he would be considered to have completed the task.

"The last general will swear to complete the task and never let down His Majesty's trust!" Wei Chi Jingde and Guo Yi bowed, and then Fang retreated into his queue.

"Good! Now everyone will mobilize their troops and enter the designated assembly place. Ten days later, on October 28, our army will launch a simultaneous attack. Yu Ming stood up at this time and said: "Brothers, let's fight for a decisive battle, recover Hedong, and lay the advantage of dominating the world!" ”

……

On October 28 of the first year of Yongchang, after the reinforcements from Shandong, Liaodong, Henan, and Beiping gathered, the 240,000 troops of the Zhou army marched into Hedong, preparing to pursue and recover the lost territory by taking advantage of the victory.

After Li Jiancheng was defeated and returned to the original place, he collected the defeated troops, and requisitioned a lot of people from Hetao and Hedong, and barely assembled an army of 200,000 people. Among them, there are 10,000 troops in Yanmen, Dingxiang, Mayi, Loufu and other places in the north, 120,000 troops in the core areas of Hedong such as Yuan, Jinyang and Linfen, and 50,000 troops in Shangdang and Changping counties in the southeast of Hedong. Whether it is in terms of the quantity or quality of the army, it does not have any advantage over the Zhou army.

Liu Jing was also very anxious about this, and he immediately made a suggestion to Li Jiancheng, hoping that he would send people to Guanzhong and Jingxiang for help. Ask Li Yuan and Li Shimin to send reinforcements, otherwise Hedong will not be able to hold it.

However, Li Jiancheng disagreed, and he wanted to wait. In his opinion, although the Zhou army supplemented the reinforcements and was stronger than when fighting in Hebei, these soldiers were uneven, and the soldiers and horses in Liaodong were from Goryeo, Khitan, Murowei, Xi and other foreign races, and there were still many contradictions between these foreign races. If the own army held the city and sent a small force to cut off its grain route, it may not be impossible for the Zhou army to retreat.

After Liu Jing heard this, she could only sigh. He knew that although Li Jiancheng's words seemed reasonable, they couldn't hold it at all. How could such a shrewd person as Yuming not focus on protecting his grain and grass transportation? Relying only on the unprofessional scout troops of the Tang Army to cut off the food routes of the 240,000 army is idealized.

Liu Jing understood in her heart that the main reason why Li Jiancheng was unwilling to ask Li Yuan and Li Shimin for help was that he didn't want the emperor and King Qin to know that he had lost the battle again.

Li Yuanji's experience is in front of him. This young King of Qi was defeated by Yu Ming four years ago, and after losing his original, he was beaten into the cold palace by Li Yuan, and he was never allowed to lead the troops again. was also ostracized in the palace, and both Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin were allowed to set up their own staff teams. There is a group of military generals to serve it. But Li Yuanji didn't give this power, so that everyone could see that Li Yuanji had no chance with the next emperor.

Therefore, Li Jiancheng is also very afraid that he will follow in the footsteps of Li Yuanji and lose the identity and power of the East Palace. He lost Hejian County before and lost the opportunity to occupy Hebei, and he can still explain it to Li Yuan. After all, he took Hedong and Hetao. But if he can't hold Hedong anymore, I'm afraid that Li Yuan will be furious, and whether his position in the East Palace can be kept is a question mark.

Two days ago, news had come from Jingxiang that after the arrival of Li Shimin's army, it had launched many attacks on Li Jing, although on the surface there were victories and defeats, but due to the large number of Tang troops and the small number of Zhou troops, Li Shimin still occupied a lot of advantages and conquered several acropolis on the periphery of Xiangyang. and began a tentative attack on Xiangyang.

In this case, even if Li Jiancheng asks Li Shimin for help, I am afraid that Li Shimin may not be willing to give up his upcoming victory and help this imperial brother who has a lot of competition with him.

And it is not impossible to ask Li Yuan in Guanzhong for help. It's just that there are not many troops in Guanzhong, and even if Li Yuanken sends troops to rescue, the number of reinforcements will inevitably be limited.

Moreover, in this way, Li Jian will inevitably leave a useless image for Li Yuan. Li Shimin on the Xiangyang side is playing a triumphant song, but Li Jiancheng's Hedong side is unable to hold it. Compared with the two, even if he is in Li Yuan's corner, he must feel that he is really inferior to King Qin.

These situations, whether it is Liu Jing or Li Jiancheng, are tacitly understood. Therefore, although Liu Jing knew that it was inappropriate to do so, it would be unfavorable to Li Tang. But with the factor of winning the second heir mixed in, he could no longer persuade Li Jiancheng to change his mind.

"Forget it, one step at a time! Maybe God has eyes, but it doesn't have to be a miracle. Liu Jing could only pray secretly.

It's just that the idea is beautiful, but the reality is cruel. After the start of the war, Li Jiancheng and Liu Jing discovered that they underestimated the combat effectiveness of the Zhou army and also overestimated the fighting spirit of the Tang army.

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