Just when Li Shimin was about to go out to negotiate with Quangai Suwen, the crown prince's side concubine Wu Cong begged to see Li Shimin.

Wu Cong saw Li Shimin and said: "Father, before I came to the Eastern Expeditionary Army, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that when you want to negotiate with the Goguryeo people, let me hand over this letter to you. ”

Li Shimin took the letter and said, "Okay, you go down first." ”

After reading Li Su's letter, Li Shimin forwarded the letter to Li Jing, Fang Xuanling, Wei Chigong and others for reading.

After everyone finished reading it, Li Shimin asked: "Look, which of these suggestions is feasible?" ”

Fang Mou made a decision, what he said was that Fang Xuanling's brain was turning fast. As soon as Li Shimin finished speaking, Fang Xuanling said: "According to the current situation, the minister thinks that the last one should be more appropriate. ”

Li Jing also said: "The minister agrees with Lord Fang's opinion. ”

Wei Chigong, however, agreed with the first opinion.

Li Shimin thought for a while and said, "That's it, I want to talk to Quan Gai Suwen before talking." ”

In Nanpu City, Hou Junji's Tang army has fallen into a critical situation.

With the departure of the naval army, Hou Junji also cut off the way of communication with the Eastern Expeditionary Army, and he only knew now that the Eastern Expeditionary Army was approaching Pyongyang, and it was not clear when it would be able to join him.

Originally, the city's material reserves were sufficient, and it would not be a problem for Hou Junji to hold on for another three months, but just a few days ago, there was an accident.

In a material warehouse, there was a Goguryeo Changcao and several Goguryeo soldiers, who had dug a tunnel under the warehouse to steal and sell military supplies.

After the Tang army entered the city, these people hid in the tunnels and were not discovered by the Tang army.

It has been more than 20 days since the Tang army entered the city, and the security in the city is very good, and the vigilance of the people guarding the warehouse has decreased.

Goguryeo's Cangcao and his subordinates, familiar with the situation in the warehouse, took advantage of the night to set a fire, the warehouse stocked clothing, arrows, wooden shields and other materials are flammable, the fire could not be controlled, most of the stored materials were burned.

After more than 20 days of bloody battles, the Tang army has lost nearly 10,000 people, and the remaining food in the city can support it for 5 days, but there are very few other materials, especially arrows, and there are less than 20,000 left in the whole army, and no one can spread one.

Without the threat of bows and crossbows, the Goguryeo people could directly garrison the city, and the preparation for the siege was more convenient.

Hou Junji began to have a headache, he now needed to know the progress of the Eastern Expeditionary Army, but now that the army was besieging the city, he couldn't get the news, so he decided to grab a few prisoners and ask.

The task was handed over to the commander of the guard battalion of the 6th Infantry Division, and his recent performance made Hou Yingjie very satisfied.

On this day, the Goguryeo people began to attack the city again, a Goguryeo officer climbed the ladder and tried to climb up, he climbed to the point of approaching the city, and found that there was no one guarding it, he was pleasantly surprised, and quickly climbed to the top and stepped on the top of the city.

The Goguryeo people below saw him go up and cheered.

When the Goguryeo officer stood on the city wall, he was dumbfounded when he found that a group of Tang soldiers were bent down behind the battlements and ambushed. Before he could react, several hooks reached over and dragged him to the ground.

The soldiers who followed the officer were climbing upwards vigorously, and a group of Tang soldiers came out, pressed the ladder with a scratching hook, and pushed it outward, overturning the ladder, and the three soldiers on it were smashed to pieces.

Hou Junji interrogated the Goguryeo officer and learned that the Tang army was still in the area west of Suncheon, and it seemed that it would not be able to fight for a while.

Hou Junji believed that he could not sit idly by, and he analyzed that the main force of the Goguryeo people was in the Pyongyang area, and the strength of the Goguryeo people in the area east of the Taedong River was weaker. He decided to take the remaining grain and smuggle it to the Taedong River to the east bank, crush the Goguryeo army on the east bank, and move closer to the combined forces of Silla and Baekje.

When Wang Baosheng left, he left behind 16 sentinel ships to assist Hou Junji in blocking the river. These sentinel boats can carry 120 soldiers each. Hou Junji decided to cross the river overnight.

Half past two in the morning. Hou Yingjie personally led the guard battalion and a battalion of the 1st Infantry Regiment to board the sentinel ship and sail to the east bank of the Datong River.

In the darkness of the night, 16 sentinel ships quietly approached the east shore. When there were still a few dozen meters from the shore, due to the deep draft of the sentinel boat, it would run aground any further, and the commander of the guard battalion led more than 100 soldiers who were familiar with the nature of the water and went into the water to swim over.

As soon as they landed, they were spotted by the Goguryeo sentinels, and soon a large number of torches were lit on the riverbank, and at least a thousand Goguryeo people poured out.

The guard battalion commander saw that the Goguryeo people were on guard, and hurriedly beckoned the soldiers to go into the water and swim back, the Goguryeo people shot arrows indiscriminately, and the Tang soldiers were hit by arrows one after another, and the guard battalion commander was also hit by an arrow in his back, but fortunately the injury was not serious, he gritted his teeth and swam to the sentry boat, and was rescued by the Tang army.

Of the 120 Tang soldiers who followed him to smuggle in, less than 40 escaped, and the rest were buried in the icy waters of the Datong River. The smuggling failed. Hou Junji had no choice but to give up his plan to smuggle out.

What to do? Hou Junji discussed with several division commanders, thinking that he couldn't wait for death here, and although it was also dangerous to break out, there was a glimmer of hope, at least he could rely on robbery to eat.

Hou Junji decided to hold on to the last day and break through in the early morning of the day after tomorrow.

The next day, all the units were preparing to break out, and the logistics department made the remaining grain into food and distributed it to all the fighters, so that everyone could carry it separately.

At this time, they did not know that the Goguryeo people had received a report from the troops on the east bank of the Datong River that the Tang army in Nanpu City was showing signs of breaking through.

The Goguryeo were ready to deal with the Tang army's breakthrough, they dug many traps outside the city, set up tripwires, laid ambushes, and strengthened their guard at night.

At half past one o'clock in the morning, the Tang army quietly opened the west gate, and the cavalry opened the way in front and were about to rush out. Suddenly, a lot of torches were lit outside, and some people were riding horses and carrying torches towards the city gate.

The commander of the 11th Cavalry Division at the gate of the city said to Hou Junji: "Chen Guogong, the Goguryeo people are prepared, what should I do?" ”

Hou Junji said decisively: "After today, the Goguryeo people will be more prepared, rush." ”

The commander of the 11th Cavalry Division puffed up his chest, raised his horizontal sword, and shouted: "Brothers, rush with me." ”

At this moment, someone outside shouted: "Don't release the arrows, I am the messenger of the Eastern Expeditionary Army, and I want to see Chen Guogong." ”

Hou Junji heard the shouts of the comer, and hurriedly said, "Don't move yet, wait a minute, let him come over." ”

Soon, a Tang army messenger came to Hou Junji, and he said, "Grandpa Guo, the emperor's letter." ”

Hou Junji didn't answer the letter, he asked vigilantly: "Who are you, the emperor's seal?" ”