The first year of Emperor Kaihuang of Qin (the thirteenth year of the Great Cause), November.

Winter has arrived.

Guanzhong portal, Tongguan.

This pass is located in the eastern part of the Guanzhong Plain, and is located in the key place of the three provinces of Qin, Jin, and Henan.

Its situation is very dangerous, there are Qinling Mountains in the south, there is the Forbidden Valley in the southeast, there are Weiluo Erchuan in the north and the Yellow River hugs the river down, and the west is close to Huayue.

The surrounding mountains are mountainous, peaks are peaks, valleys are deep and precipices are exclusive, and the mountains are high and the roads are narrow.

"No wonder they all say that the road is dangerous and the apes are fighting, and the road in the world is dangerous." Luo Cunxiao looked at this Guanzhong portal, and couldn't help shaking his head after reading it.

"We're still a step late, Wang Shichong, the old turtle, ran fast, and actually went directly into Tongguan."

Luo Cunxiao looked at it for a long time, and finally waved his hand, "Give the order to go down and retreat." ”

"Just quit?" Several generals were a little surprised, and they chased Wang Shichong all the way here, and then withdrew?

Luo Cunxiao said twice, "Don't think that Lao Tzu is stunned, this Tongguan is so dangerous, and Li Yuan also sent the prince Li Jiancheng to come in person, and now there are 80,000 Tang troops stationed in Tongguan, not to mention that Wang Shichong, the old boy, was arranged by Li Jiancheng in the forbidden valley in the southeast of Tongguan, and 60,000 Zheng troops were stationed in the twelve cities, and they choked the trail east of Tongguan. ”

In addition, Yang Yichen personally led 60,000 Hedong soldiers and horses to the southern foot of Zhongtiao Mountain in Xie County, Hedong County, on the north bank of the Yellow River, and the current situation had nothing to be nostalgic for Luo Cunxiao.

He came from Xingyang, and did not stay in Luoyang, and kept chasing him, during this time, he marched thousands of miles, and at this time there were 20,000 people around him, and the soldiers were also very tired.

If you're not careful, maybe this soldier and horse will be dumplings here.

"Since Wang Shichong, the old boy, has fled into the gate, then forget it, let's withdraw."

Luo Cunxiao said that he would withdraw, and he did not drag the mud and water, and while several soldiers and horses had not yet arrived, he retreated from Tongguan to the east.

This withdrawal is two hundred miles.

He withdrew all the way from Tongguan to Shaanxi County, and he no longer withdrew here.

The soldiers were divided into two divisions, one stationed in the city of Shaanxi County, and the other stationed in Changping City in the southwest of Shaanxi County.

This Changping warehouse was set up in the third year of the emperor's reign, and it was also one of the six granaries of the Sui Dynasty. Because the Yellow River near Shaanxi County has dangerous shoals and rapids, it is difficult for the water transport ships to pass, so when the grain ships arrive here, they can only transport the grain ashore first, transfer it by land for dozens of miles, and then transport it to Chang'an, Guanzhong, by water.

In order to transshipment grain, a permanent liquidation warehouse was specially set up in Shaanxi County, and the grain from the east was first entered into the regular closing warehouse, and then transferred to Guanzhong.

"King Wei, this Chang Closed position is almost an empty warehouse city."

Hearing the news, Luo Cunxiao didn't care.

Li Mi and Wang Shichong fought fiercely in this Luoyang area for three years, and they were the masters of no development and no production, and they relied on the Yellow River Canal and several large granaries near the capital to support.

"Just those guys, just know how to fight and seize territory, sooner or later they will lose."

There are many grain cellars in Changping City, and one cellar can store 3,000 stone of grain. Because of the use of underground grain cellar storage technology, the most storable husked millet can be stored in the silo for nine years.

But no amount of grain stored is enough for them to squander like that.

After retiring to Shaanxi County, Luo Cunxiao did not move, did not strengthen the city defense, nor trained soldiers and horses.

This movement made Li Yuan's probe very strange, and the news was returned.

Li Yuan in Chang'an City couldn't help but be suspicious.

"Luo Cheng has an army of 100,000 in Huainan, Shandong, and recently took the opportunity to steal Luoyang Xingyang, and got Li Mi's tens of thousands of old troops to be attached, why Luo Cunxiao, as the marshal of the puppet Qin Central Plains, led an army of more than 20,000 people to garrison Shaanxi County?"

"What about the other Qin troops?"

"Back to the prime minister, Luo Cunxiaotun was stationed in Shaanxi County, Pei Xingyantun was stationed in Luoyang, and he was stationed in Xingluo, Pei Renji marched into Xiangcheng County, and Wei Wensheng sent troops to Yingchuan. Guo Xiaoke was stationed in the Tiger Prison, Du Fuwei stayed in Huainan, and Kan Ling led the Jianghuai First Army to attack the front line of Ruyin, Runan, Huai'an, and Nanyang, all of which were taking the opportunity to seize Li Mi's territory. ”

"It's moving so fast." Li Yuan couldn't help but sigh when he heard it, but it was a pity. On the one hand, he sent troops to reinforce Tongguan, and on the other hand, he also asked Li Yuanji, the son of Wuguan, who was stationed in Shangluo County, to send troops to the east, and took the opportunity to seize the two counties of Xiyang and Hongnong.

He took Li Mi's letter of persuasion and came westward this way, and almost encountered obstacles.

Now it turns out that Li Mi's territory, from western Henan to Huaixi, those big cities have basically been occupied by Luo Cheng's command, and Li Yuan only grabbed the two counties of Xiyang and Hongnong, plus the Shangluo that he captured when he returned to the west, and there are only three counties.

And Xiangyang, an important town on the Han River, was robbed by Xiao Milling.

In addition, Xiao Mo also robbed the three counties of Chungling, Handong and Yong'an.

As for the Qin army, they captured Henan County, Xingyang County, Yuyang County, Nanyang County, Huai'an County, Xiangcheng County, Yingchuan County, Runan, and Ruyin County.

The Qin army seized the most, including the eastern capital of Luoyang.

Although the Qin army has only seized the big cities of each county now, and many places below have not been fully controlled, the other two are almost the same.

Not to mention, when the Qin army captured Luoyang, the four counties of Qian'an, Wuling, Liyang, and Yiling, which were originally in Shandong Province, which respected the Luoyang court, were now also sent to join Luo Cheng, the son of Fanyang.

Although these four counties were divided by Xiao Miao, on both sides of the Jing River under the Three Gorges, even if they were annexed, they were only nominally attached, but these four counties were attached to the Qin Dynasty, which still made Li Yuan and Xiao Mi feel pressure.

Especially for Xiao Miao, he is now in Jiangdu, and Jiangling is in Nanjun, that is, under the Three Gorges, and the four counties of Yiling, which are attached to Luocheng, are on all sides of Nanjun, two north and two south, almost surround Nanjun.

Yiling Tongshou Xu Shao, is a native of Anlu, his grandfather and father have served as the assassin of Chuzhou, and his father has a very good relationship with Li Yuan, and he is a good classmate in Guozijian.

In the last years of the great cause, he served as the general guard of Yiling County.

After Yang Guang was killed, he honored the Yue King of Jiangdu. After Li Yuan entered the customs, he also sent envoys to recruit this nephew several times, but Xu Shao ignored Li Yuan at all.

Xu Shao protected himself according to the county, and even pulled the three counties around Nanjun such as Qian'an to form a four-county alliance to support each other, so as to repel Xiao Miao's attacks many times.

Now that Wang Shichong's army has been defeated and Luoyang is occupied by the Qin army, this Xu Shao has also seen the opportunity quickly, and immediately sent Luo Cheng, the son of Fanyang, to the table.

This makes Li Yuan angry, I am so close to you in Guanzhong, you don't belong to you.

"Xu Shao has already sent his son Xu Zhiren to Fanyang to join the table, it seems that he is iron-hearted."

"Prime Minister, I think we can leave the Jianghan area aside for the time being, as long as we hold the three counties of Shangluo, Xiyang, and Hongnong, we can protect the Wuguan, the gateway to the southwest of the country."

"We should first find a way to take advantage of Luo Cunxiao's entry into Henan, gain an unstable foothold, and defeat him. Now that the puppet Qin soldiers and horses are attacking from all sides to seize territory and divide all places, this is a good time for our army to seize the opportunity, concentrate its forces, and break them all. Pei Lin suggested to Li Yuan.

Li Yuan thought about it, and now Luo Cheng is the primary enemy.

"Since this is the case, then send someone to Jiangling and persuade Xiao Mo to send troops to attack Luo Cheng in Henan, and promise him that in the future, he will defeat the puppet Qin army in Henan, and my court and Xiao Mo can use Qinling and Huai River as the boundary. The south of the Huai River in the Qinling Mountains is owned by him, and the north of the Huai River in the Qinling Mountains is owned by me. ”