On September 27, Li Shiji and Guo Xiaoke arrived in Chang'an, and Li Yuan greatly rewarded Li Shiji and Guo Xiaoke for their behavior of returning to Tang for thousands of miles, so that their titles remained unchanged and each worshiped as the governor of the state.

After Li Shiji heard that Li Yin was still fighting with Song Jingang in Baibi, he took the initiative to ask Ying to go to Baibi to help Li Yin, and Li Yuan agreed to his request, appointed him as the head of the march, and led thousands of troops north to support Li Yin.

Li Yin confronted Song Jingang from the beginning of July to Baibi, and it has been more than two months now, during which Song Jingang went to the Tang army camp almost every day to provoke and seek war, but Li Yin closed the camp and did not come out, no matter how Song Jingang provoked, he refused to fight, and Song Jingang was also helpless.

However, although the main forces of the two sides did not engage in battle, there were no less battles on the battlefield in Hedong, such as the sneak attack of the cavalry in the rear, the attack and defense, rescue and ambush warfare in Xia County, and the intrusion and encirclement battle at Yanmen Pass......

In addition, Liu Wuzhou also personally led the army to attack Hexi City several times, but was repelled by Li Zhongwen, without the shackles of Jiang Baoyi, the general of the Left Wuwei, Li Zhongwen's level of commanding the army seems to have improved a lot at once, and Hexi City can still hold on to this day, Li Zhongwen is indeed indispensable.

After learning the news that Li Shiji was going to bring troops to Baibi, Li Yin was overjoyed, and personally led people out of the camp for ten miles to welcome Li Shiji to the camp.

Li Yin and Li Shiji, since the last time they parted, they haven't seen each other for more than a year, and when they get together again at this time, they are in the same camp again, and they are in a great mood.

In order to wash the dust for Li Shiji, Li Yin summoned the lieutenant general Zuo to hold a dinner in his military tent and had a lively time together. In Li Yin's army, no matter what status people are, they are not allowed to drink, in order to celebrate Li Shiji's arrival, Li Yin originally wanted to make an exception to allow everyone to drink fruit wine, but Li Shiji sternly refused.

During the dinner, Li Shiji sat in Li Yin's subordinate position, and the two talked to each other for a long time, Li Yin said to Li Shiji in high spirits: "According to the news from the spies, Song Jingang's military rations are about to bottom out, and this time the second brother came to Baibi just to break the enemy with me!" ”

Li Shiji said happily: "This is very good, our brothers can finally kill the enemy and defend the country on the battlefield together!" ”

Song Jingang's army food was indeed about to run out at this time.

The reason for the food shortage was that when Liu Wuzhou invaded the south, he was limited by the territory he controlled, and there was not much grain in reserve, and second, after successfully annexing the vast area of Hedong, although he received a lot of grain, the army also expanded greatly, and the daily consumption of grain was innumerable.

Another important reason is that Li Yin's troops were stationed behind Baibi, and those non-stop various interference tactics had a great impact on Song Jingang's army, which greatly accelerated the time of food shortage for Song Jingang's army.

At this time, in Song Jingang's big tent, the candlelight was dim, and Song Jingang, whose temples had turned white at some point, listened to the quartermaster's report with a sad face.

After the quartermaster left, Song Jingang paced to the door of the military tent, lifted the door cloth, and a cold wind blew fiercely, making Song Jingang shiver.

"It's going to snow!" Song Jingang muttered a sentence in his mouth.

"General, be careful of the cold!" The soldiers guarding the tent said with concern.

After hearing this, Song Jingang remained silent, stood there quietly for a long time, and then returned to the military tent, and then cheered up and walked to the map of the Hedong battlefield, and kept chanting in his heart: "There must be a turning point to turn the situation around, where is the turning point?" ”

In the end, Song Jingang fixed his eyes on Hanoi County, Zezhou (formerly Changping County), and Luzhou (formerly Shangdang County), and the current controller of these three places is Li Mi, the famous Duke of Wei.

Li Mi has been dormant in Hanoi County for more than a year, because the Yellow River is dangerous, it is not easy to attack, and he only has one county, so Wang Shichong did not take him to heart, and was busy with the matter of becoming the emperor and capturing the territory of the Tang Dynasty, so Li Mi was able to gain a firm foothold in Hanoi County.

When the situation in Hedong was erosive, Li Mi's ambition resurged, and when no one paid attention to him, he suddenly led his troops to attack and captured Zezhou and Luzhou in the Tang Dynasty in one fell swoop, and now has 20,000 elite soldiers in his hands, and has the ability to influence the situation in Hedong.

When Li Yin sent troops to Baibi, Song Jingang sent someone to contact Li Mi and wanted to form an alliance with him to fight against Li Yin, but Li Mi neither objected nor refused to this, and his attitude was really unpredictable.

But at this time, Song Jingang was on the verge of defeat, if Song Jingang was defeated, Li Mi alone would definitely not be able to preserve, if Li Yin was allowed to pull out his hand, Li Mi could only go back to Hanoi County.

Therefore, Song Jingang felt that Li Mi would definitely help him at this time, so he wrote a letter with a pen and sent someone to Li Mi overnight.

In the letter, Song Jingang confessed to Li Mi that there was no food in his army, and the next day he would withdraw his army to Jiexiu City, where there was still some grain in stock, and that he would fight Li Yin to the death there, begging Li Mi to come to help, and if he defeated Li Yin, he was willing to persuade Liu Wuzhou to divide the east of the river with Li Mi equally, and form an alliance forever!

On October 14 of the second year of Wude, Song Jingang led the army to leave Baibi, and after the general looked for the palace, he led the main force to begin to flee to the north.

After galloping all the way, Li Yin caught up with the army of Xunxiang when he was in Luzhou (now Huo County), defeated him, and then continued to pursue and flee the enemy by victory, walking more than 200 miles in a day and night, and fighting dozens of battles of all sizes.

When the army pursued to Gaobiling (twenty-five miles southeast of present-day Lingshi County, also known as Han Houling), Qu Tutong, the secretary of the military department, grabbed the reins of Li Yin's horse and persuaded: "The king defeated the enemy and pursued the fleeing enemy here, and the credit is enough, and if you continue to go deeper, don't you cherish yourself?" Besides, the soldiers were hungry and tired, so they should stay and camp here until the soldiers and horses had all the food and grass, and then it was not too late to attack. ”

Li Yin shook his head and said: "Song Jingang has nothing to do to escape, and the army is disheartened; It is difficult to make credit, but it is easy to fail, the opportunity is rare, but it is easy to lose, and we must take this opportunity to eliminate him. If we hold back and give him time to think about countermeasures and strengthen his defenses, we will not be able to defeat him easily. This king is dedicated to the Tang Dynasty, how can he only care about his own body? ”

So despite Qu Tutong's dissuasion, he continued to chase after his horses, and when the soldiers saw this, they did not dare to mention hunger and exhaustion, and followed him closely to continue to kill the enemy.