Du Zhenglun and Xu Shiji are old friends of Wagang, and they told Xu Shiji everything they heard and saw from Yang Chong, Xu Shiji's face was a little embarrassed and said: "Brother Du, Yang Chong sees through me like this, does he have any follow-up measures for me?" ”

Du Zhenglun smiled dumbly, shook his head and said: "You don't know Yue Guogong, he is a person who can sit without standing, and now you are still outside the battlefield, he just hopes that you can join the Hexi Army as soon as possible." Shiji, I know that Li Shimin's envoy has arrived, but have you thought about it, Li Yuan really wants to dominate the world, what should you do? Did he resign from his official position and go home to be a prince of the country? ”

Xu Shiji was about to refute, but after thinking about it carefully, his face changed abruptly; Guo Xiaoke knew that it was not good at a glance, and motioned Zhang Liang on the side to come out and stir up the situation, but Zhang Liang was a person who had no opinions, and he didn't dare to come out when he saw Xu Shiji's face. Xu Shiji's younger brother Xu Shibi saw it and immediately said: "General Guo, you don't need to be in charge of your brother's affairs, if you want to take refuge in Li Yuan, it has nothing to do with us." ”

Xu Shiji's third brother Xu Shigan was in charge of business at home, and his second brother Xu Shibi followed Xu Shiji in the army; Yang Chong, the Cui family and the Xu family have always had business dealings, and in the minds of Xu Shibi and the others, they naturally tend to Yang Chong. But Xu Shiji understood that if these words spread out, his road to Li Yuan would be blocked, so Xu Shiji hurriedly shouted: "Second brother, how did you speak, and you still don't apologize to Guo Changshi." ”

Du Zhenglun smiled and said: "Xiaoke, don't worry, Yue Guogong is a meritocracy, but he has a little friendship with Shiji, so he has to pay a little more attention." You should see how much wind and waves Li Shimin can not even hold on to Taiyuan, where he raised troops, and how much more storm he can set off in Hebei; I understand, you see that the power of Yue Guogong is still very weak in the Central Plains, but a few months ago, can you imagine that the Hexi Army captured Taiyuan and trapped Chang'an? ”

Guo Xiaoke reluctantly smiled: "Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong are huge, if there are no reinforcements, it will be difficult for us to hold such a large territory." ”

Du Zhenglun said: "Xiaoke, this is how much you think." Does the Duke of Yue need you just because of the territory in your hands? Wrong, he will only make a wish if he values you as a person. When he recruited Shiji for the first time, Shiji was still a turbid son, and he didn't even have the Wagang Army; The Hexi Army stabbed Song Jingang in Daizhou, and he didn't have a piece of territory in Daizhou, and he only had 4,000 remnants at the beginning, so he didn't still become a trusted general of the Yue Kingdom. ”

Yang Chong will definitely applaud Du Zhenglun's remarks; Guo Xiaoke let out a long breath of turbidity, knowing that he could only look at Xu Shiji's own decision at the moment. Xu Shiji looked at the other generals in the room, and said loudly: "Brother Du, I know that Yue Guogong loves me, but now there are so many brothers following me, if they lose their territory, their survival will be a problem." Yue Guogong doesn't want more than 100,000 people to become his burden, right? ”

Du Zhenglun bowed his head, took out Yang Chong's handwritten letter, handed it to Xu Shiji, and said: "Yue Guogong said, Guo Xiaoke is the Dengzhou Assassin Shi and Yangzhai County Prince, Xu Gai is the Huazhou County Prince, and Xu Shibi is the Weiwei Shaoqing. You are not subject to Qu Tutong's control, and the officials under your command appoint themselves, and you have no contact with Meng Rang and others. ”

Zhang Liang, Du Caigan, Qi Gongshun, Tian Liuan and others were overjoyed when they heard this, they turned out to be second-rate generals in Wagang, Qin Qiong, Cheng Yanjin and others defected to Wang Shichong, so they had a chance to come out, and the most feared thing was that Meng let those people come back, hindering their way to promotion and wealth. Xu Shiji was shocked when he heard this: "Is there still someone in Henan and Shandong?" ”

Guo Xiaoke also reacted, Yang Chong sent troops before Xu Shiji sneaked in, and he must have prepared a response, but Xu Shiji's strength is here, and Yang Chong is the first to solve it.

A person came in from outside, laughed and reprimanded, "Du Zhenglun bullied me today." ”

When Du Zhenglun saw it, he also laughed, it was his friend Liu Lancheng; Liu Lancheng character Wenyu, a native of Beihai, Qingzhou, dabbled in historical books, was originally a scholar of Poyang County, saw that the world was in chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, returned to Beihai County, took the initiative to join Qi Gongshun's army, and helped Qi Gongshun defeat Haizhou Zangjun Xiangshuai's 50,000 army, and then followed Qi Gongshun to Wagang. Because they are both scholars, Liu Lancheng and Du Zhenglun can still talk well in the Wagang Army.

Du Zhenglun said after giving the salute: "Why did Brother Liu Xian say this? ”

Liu Lancheng walked up to Xu Shiji and said: "General, we are waiting for Shandong to hang alone, let's ask Brother Du to talk about Yue Guogong's plan, is it a bluff, or is it ready to fight with all his might." ”

Xu Shiji and others suddenly became enlightened, what title territory is fake, Yang Chong and Li Yuan can send troops to occupy Shandong, and it is true that they can join with themselves, otherwise there is no food and grass, materials, war horses and other supplements, and they do not have to rely on their own strength. Du Zhenglun smiled, called in an entourage from outside the tent, and spread a map on the table, Xu Shiji and others came around to see that it was part of Shandong, Henan, and Hebei, and it was marked in detail, and many places were marked, and it was obviously a place where soldiers were used.

Du Zhenglun pointed to the map and said: "Yue Guogong believes that with the help of the Turks, Dou Jiande will definitely be able to eliminate Yu Wenhua, Xu Yuanlang, Meng Haigong and others and unify Hebei; Even though Li Shimin had Luo Yi's help, under the control of the Turks and Gao Kaidao, he did not have a year and could not go south. It is only a matter of time before Wang Shichong occupies Henan, and what Shiji can hold is actually only the area around Liyang. ”

Liu Lancheng pretended to be dissatisfied and asked, "Isn't the Duke of Yue Guo making a loss-making deal?" ”

Du Zhenglun shook his head and said, "This is an outsider's opinion. The Hexi Army took the route of elite troops, and the Ministry of War estimated that if Shiji took the initiative to shrink the defensive line, it would be able to gather 60,000 or 70,000 people, and after eliminating a part of the Tuntian soldiers, there would be about 40,000 strong soldiers, and as long as they were trained and equipped with armor and war horses, they would be able to compete with the Tang Army in less than half a year. As for the territory, the Yue Guogong believes that as long as there are people, they can take it back at any time, and now that the Central Plains is constantly fighting and there is a shortage of food and materials, whoever occupies the city will have the same difficulty. ”

Xu Shiji bowed his head and said: "So Yue Guogong is ready to Tuntian in this area?" ”

Du Zhenglun said bluntly: "Qu Tutong has appointed Hao Xiaode as the captain of Tuntian, and Hao Xiaode has participated in the affairs of Tuntian in Hedong. ”

Xu Shiji and Guo Xiaoke have actually considered these problems for a long time, first, they are reluctant to lose the territory, anyway, there is still grain in Liyang Cang, and second, they are worried that their generals will leave Germany, so they have been delayed until now. Xu Shiji invited Du Zhenglun out, everyone discussed, and welcomed Du Zhenglun to the tent, expressing his willingness to submit; However, Yang Chong did not claim the title of emperor, Xu Shiji refused to give the surname Yang, did not ask for an iron factory, and sent his father Xu Gai and other family members to Hedong.

(End of chapter)