At the same time that Zhang Xuan led the army to expedition to Goguryeo, the Tang army also stepped up the campaign on the Western Front, Xue Ju, Li Rail, Liang Shidu, and Liu Wuzhou were like four sharp daggers on the back of the Tang Dynasty, so that Li Yuan was like a fish in the throat, like a mang's back thorn, and it was precisely for this reason that the Tang army immediately withdrew back to Taiyuan after the defeat in the attack on Huguan, no longer entangled in the attack on the empty Hebei, but turned around to deal with Liu Wuzhou's southern invasion.

Almost all of the 200,000 troops of the Tang army were dealing with these four separatist forces, of which Liu Wuzhou was dealt with by Li Yuanji, Li Liang was dealt with by Li Jiancheng, and Xue Ju and Liang Shi were annihilated by Li Shimin's 100,000 troops.

The Tang Dynasty poured the strength of the country to deal with these four forces, and did make great progress within half a year, Li Jiancheng secretly sent Wuwei Haoqiang An Xinggui to feign to Li Rail, and persuaded his brother An Xiuren to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, and the An brothers secretly colluded with the Hu people in Hexi to rebel against Li Rail, and when Li Rail led the army west to conquer the Qiang people, persuaded Li Rail's troops to rebel, Li Rail was cornered, defeated and captured, and was beheaded by Li Yuan in Chang'an.

Although Xue Ju in Longxi is huge, he is brutal, forcibly expropriated and extorted, and all the men in Hehuang are driven to join the army, and the people in Longxi are very angry.

Although Xue Ju defeated the Tang army in the battle of Shallow Water Plain, he was killed by the assassins sent by Li Shimin, and the Tang army immediately counterattacked, Xue Ju's army was defeated, and his son Xue Rengao led the remnants of the army to retreat to Xiping County, and his subordinates all rebelled, Xue Rengao was killed by the general Zong Luohu, and the head was dedicated to Li Shimin.

Hexi Hehuang two roads are flat, the morale of the Tang army was greatly boosted, Li Shimin led an army of 80,000 troops to divide the three routes to the north to conquer Liang Shidu, Li Shimin's general Duan Decao defeated Liang Shidu's cousin Liang Luoren in Liangchuan County, Huining County, and killed 5,000 enemies, and the other army was commanded by the hussar general Lin Xingcang, and defeated the fierce general Xin Fang'er in Pingliang County, Xin Fang'er only led hundreds of horsemen to flee north.

And the third route of the military department Shangshu Qu Tutong led, in Honghua County to meet the 30,000 cavalry led by Liang Shidu, the two sides fought fiercely for three days and three nights, Li Shimin led reinforcements to kill, Liang Shidu was defeated and returned, on the one hand, he urgently asked for help from the Turks, on the other hand, he summoned the remnants to refuse to defend Lingwu County.

Li Shimin's army of 80,000 was then killed to Lingwu County, and at this time, the Turkic Shibi Khan was angry and sick due to the defeat in the internal struggle for the Turkic throne, and soon died of illness, and was succeeded by his younger brother, called Luo Khan, and the Turks were in turmoil, and there was no time to look south.

However, Zhang Xuan had destroyed the Khitan and occupied Liaodong, and Chu Luo Khan did not want the Tang army to sit in the west, so he sent his brother Mo He Lushi to lead an army of 30,000 to Lingwu County to aid Liang Shidu.

At the same time, an eight-hundred-mile express from Chang'an arrived in Lingwu County.

Li Shimin's army was stationed in Mingsha County, which was located in the southernmost part of Lingwu County, with few oases and many Gobis, and it was August, and the area around Lingwu County was dry and hot, and the earth was like a fire, sweeping thousands of miles in a radius.

However, the heat stroke was not only a difficulty encountered by the Tang army, the Liang division took advantage of the advantages of cavalry and familiarity with the terrain, and sent more than a dozen small-scale cavalry teams south to harass the Tang army's military grain transportation.

In the big tent, Li Shimin was pacing back and forth worriedly, at this time, Qu Tutong, Duan Decao, Changsun Wuji and Zhang Gongjin walked into the big tent quickly, Li Shimin glanced back at everyone, waved his hand and said, "Everyone please sit down!" ”

The eldest grandson Wuji saw that Li Shimin's face was worried, so he asked, "Your Highness is worried about the lack of food?" ”

Li Shimin smiled bitterly, "There are too many troubles, not to mention food." ”

At this time, Qu Tutong said slowly: "When Zhang Xuanya was a bandit in Langya County, he also failed because of the difficulty of grain transportation, and later they adopted the way of building a military fort in the mountains to store grain, and advanced to the south step by step, and finally solved the food problem, and defeated Sun Xuanya and Wang Bo in one go. ”

Li Shimin nodded, he appreciated Qu Tutong's pragmatic attitude, not because Zhang Xuan was an enemy, everyone could learn from each other, at this time, he saw that Duan Decao wanted to speak and stopped, so he asked: "What does General Duan want to say?" ”

Duan Decao owed: "The transportation of grain and grass is indeed a big problem, consider it humbly, can we use the Yellow River transportation to solve this problem, humbly observed, from Jincheng County to Lingwu County, this section of the Yellow River has a gentle flow, which is very conducive to water transportation, and the Liang division and the Turkic army are mainly cavalry, and water warfare is their weak link"

Without waiting for Duan Decao to finish speaking, everyone unanimously praised it, this is a good way, why didn't they think of it before?

At this time, Li Shimin waved his hand again and said to everyone: "My concern is not the food problem, nor the soldiers' lack of adaptation, let alone the Turkic cavalry coming to help, but that I have just received the will of the Son of Heaven from Chang'an, and my father urged me to withdraw my troops back to Chang'an immediately." ”

Everyone was stunned and asked in unison, "Why is this?" ”

Li Shimin took out the urgent express report he had just received for eight hundred miles, and handed it to everyone: "The situation in the Central Plains has changed suddenly, Zhang Xuan and Wang Shichong have joined forces to hunt the Wagang Army, that is, to carve up the Central Plains, and my father does not want the Tang Army to be absent from this carving-up feast, so he asked me to return to Chang'an." ”

Everyone looked at each other, the enemy in the west had not been completely quelled, why did they start to be tempted by the Central Plains again?

The eldest grandson Wuji hurriedly said: "If we withdraw the army, I am afraid that it will fall short, and the Liang division will recover its vitality, although we are now encountering difficulties, but the Liang division is more difficult, his army is less than 20,000, the Turkic army is far away in the Hetao, hesitant and unwilling to go south, as long as we wait until the autumn is a little cooler, we can defeat the Liang division in a battle, and His Royal Highness cannot withdraw the army!" ”

Zhang Gongjin also persuaded: "Although it is difficult to transport grain now, we can borrow the large sheepskin raft of the Hu people from Hexi to transport grain, and walk on the ground in the Yellow River, and there are still 100,000 stones of grain stored in Jincheng County, and transport the grain over, and our grain problem will be solved immediately. ”

Qu Tutong also persuaded, "Since ancient times, there have been generals outside, and the king's order is not subject to it, His Highness can only explain the specific situation to the Holy Lord, and I believe that the Holy Lord can understand His Highness." ”

Everyone persuaded one after another, Li Shimin just smiled bitterly, and the eldest grandson Wuji reacted first and asked in a low voice: "Your Highness, does the Son of Heaven have to withdraw his troops and go back?" No room for accommodation? ”

There was silence in the big tent, everyone looked at Li Shimin, Li Shimin sighed and said to everyone: "Actually, I understand my father very well, the Son of Heaven has been on the throne for less than a year, and the majesty of the monarch is the first important.

But now that even my son is a general, and the king's order is not affected, how will the father feel? He may not blame me, but he will anger you, and that's not what I want to see, that's one of them.

The second is the change in the Central Plains, the father's desire to go east, everyone also knows, even when Zhang Xuan went north to Goguryeo, his father couldn't help but sneak attack Huguan, not to mention that now is the time to carve up the Central Plains, how can he stay out of the matter? ”

"But we are Luoyang to the east, how can we participate in the carveup of the Central Plains?" Duan Decao asked suspiciously.

Qu Tutong next to him knew the situation in the Central Plains very well, and said in a deep voice: "The idea of the Son of Heaven should be to go to Wuguan to enter Nanyang, seize a piece of the southwest of the Central Plains, and then use this as a foundation to march to Jingxiang, and the other possibility is to take advantage of Wang Shichong's troops to the Central Plains and Luoyang is empty to capture Luoyang in one fell swoop." ”

Li Shimin nodded, "It should be both possibilities, so my father asked me to return to the army immediately, otherwise with the existing army in Chang'an, it should be enough to capture the counties of Nanyang." ”

"Has His Highness decided to return to Chang'an?" The eldest grandson Wuji knows Li Shimin, and he knows that Li Shimin must have already made a decision.

Li Shimin let out a long sigh, "I decided to withdraw my troops and return to the south, and then fight the Liang division in the future." ”

He then said to Duan Decao: "I will ask my father to make General Duan the governor of Pingliang, and General Duan can lead an army of 20,000 to defend Pingliang and Honghua counties, and not give Liang Shidu a chance to go south." ”

Duan Decao stood up and saluted, "The humble position will never disappoint His Highness!" ”

The next day, Li Shimin's army was unable to return from the camp, Li Shimin ordered Qu Tutong to command the army to the south, and he himself led 5,000 cavalry to go first, all the way to Chang'an. (To be continued.) )