The courtyard where Li Hong stayed was not big, but it was very luxuriously decorated, and it was obvious that Wang Mao and Cui Jie knew that he was coming to Hezhou and deliberately prepared an apartment for him. Li Hong doesn't like extravagance and waste, but he also knows that Wang Mao and Cui Jie, who are children of a family, are understandable for the two to do this, and under the premise of showing urgency, it is too unnecessary for him to entangle these details, so he doesn't care about the intention of the two of them to do this.

And the maid who arranged to serve Li Hong had clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, and there was the bearing of a woman from a big family between her gestures, which made Li Hong also surprised, Wang Mao and Cui Jie's methods were really not covered.

By the time Li Hong finished bathing and changing, Wang Mao and Cui Jie were already waiting for him in the living room. As soon as he arrived in the living room, he followed everyone to the banquet hall located in the county office.

The hall was already full of people, they were the scholars of Chu County, some of them were officials of Chu County, and the other was the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs who followed Li Hong. Seeing Li Hong, everyone hurriedly got up and saluted.

Li Hong sat on the main seat, and his subordinate positions were Sun Chuyue and Dai Zhide and others, even if Wang Mao and Cui Jie were the county commanders of Chu County, their positions were also very low, because their official positions and grades were not high, and the seats at the banquet were decided according to their official positions and grades.

The banquet was very simple, but the dishes were very sumptuous, which made Li Hong feast.

It's just that during the banquet, Guo Huai suddenly got up and asked Li Hong, "Your Highness, the war in Hezhou City is imminent, I don't know when you will send troops to support?" ”

As soon as Guo Huai's voice fell, the banquet hall suddenly became quiet, and everyone moved their eyes to Guo Huai, and at the same time cursed in their hearts that Guo Huai had eaten the courage of an ambitious leopard, and dared to sweep away His Royal Highness the Prince's Yaxing at this time? Can't you see that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is very happy now, and he has no intention of going to support Hezhou City at all?

The atmosphere in the banquet hall suddenly turned cold, making Wang Mao and Cui Jie sweat coldly.

Because this banquet was held by them, if it was messed up, they would not be able to eat and walk around. Guo Huai's generals, if they offend His Royal Highness the Prince, they can atone for their sins, or go to the Northeast Front and leave, but they are civil officials, and there is a huge family behind them, so they can't just leave.

Li Hong did not get angry because of Guo Huai's questioning, but smiled faintly, put down the wine glass in his hand, and asked Guo Huai, "General Guo, do you know the situation in Hezhou City?" ”

Guo Huai also knew that he had been a little reckless just now, so he restrained his aggressive momentum and replied respectfully, "Lu Dongzan sent 120,000 troops to besiege Hezhou City, and the casualties of the Hezhou defenders have already exceeded half, and it is estimated that they will not be able to hold out for a few days. ”

"You give Lone a clear answer, how many days can Hezhou City last?" Li Hong asked with a smile.

Guo Huai was stunned for a moment, not knowing what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wanted to ask him, and after thinking for a long time, he replied truthfully, "With Lu Dongzan's current siege strength, it is still necessary to hold on for four days. ”

This is his conservative estimate, if he defends the city to the death, with the shortcomings of the Tubo cavalry who are not good at attacking the city, coupled with Guo Shifeng's command ability, there is no problem in defending it for six or seven days.

"How many men and horses did the Tibetans lose?" Li Hong continued to ask.

Guo Huai replied without thinking, "The casualties are probably between 10,000." ”

"So, there are still 110,000 people in Lu Dongzan's hands who can occupy it now?" Li Hong asked.

Guo Huai nodded slightly, "Yes." ”

Li Hong asked with a serious expression, "General Guo, do you know how many armor soldiers there are around you when you come to Hezhou City alone?" ”

Guo Huai shook his head and said, "This, the last general doesn't know." ”

"There are 800 guards, 600 Tubo elite cavalry, and 4,000 guards and two guards, a total of 5,400 people." Li Hong said simply, "Do you think that with this little bit of people from Yigu, now that he is rushing to Hezhou City immediately, how much help can he give Guo Shifeng?" In addition to letting Guo Shifeng unable to let go of his hands and feet because of the existence of Lone when he commanded the city, what role could it play? ”

"You yourself know that cavalry is not suitable for siege, then you should know that cavalry is not suitable for defending cities." Li Hong questioned again, "In the face of Lu Dongzan, who has an army of 110,000 troops, what problem can Gu solve by sending these 5,400 people to the head of Hezhou City?" ”

"This?" Guo Huai was stopped by Li Hong, he didn't know how to answer for a while, because the prince's reasons were very sufficient, which made him a little unreasonable, "Do you just let it go?" ”。

"It's not that I don't care, but the time has not come." Li Hong said, "In war, the upper is good at scheming, the second is good at fighting, and the lower is good at fighting." You must know that we are not dealing with anyone else, it is Lu Dongzan, it is the great minister of Tubo, and it is the traitorous male of the Tubo generation, not ordinary generals. In the face of 200,000 Tibetan iron horsemen and Lu Dongzan, who is good at intrigue and trickery, you will only die worse if you don't rely on your brains to fight. ”

"If you want to destroy Lu Dongzan, and if you want to destroy the 200,000 elite horsemen in Tubo, you have to rely on your brains." Li Hong said in a stern tone. As soon as his words fell, Guo Huai's face became ugly, because when Li Hong said this, he was indirectly scolding him for having no brains. In the same way, everyone in the banquet hall gasped, His Royal Highness the Prince's tone was too big, not to mention that it would be difficult to retreat from the enemy outside the country, and he also wanted to destroy Lu Dongzan and Tubo 200,000 elite horsemen, is this... In addition to being surprised, everyone also despised His Royal Highness the Tang Prince, who was only sixteen years old but wanted to say such a bold thing. Only a very few people showed deep thought when they heard Li Hong's words.

"Guo Huai, His Royal Highness the Prince of Freedom in military affairs and the others have discussed with Ben Xiang and others, what qualifications do you have as a little lieutenant to roar in front of the hall, and you will not give Ben Xiang a retreat!" At this time, Sun Chuyue immediately shouted. As the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, what he said in the prime minister's group did not carry much weight, but in front of other officials, his words were still very deterrent.

Guo Huai didn't expect Sun to reprimand him on a date, and he was still stunned, when he heard the black tooth Changzhi yelling, "Don't retreat yet!" ”

"No!" Guo Huai immediately came back to his senses, bowed to Li Hong, and left the banquet hall angrily.

Because of Guo Huai's matter, the atmosphere of the banquet suddenly became cold, and everyone had no intention of continuing to have fun, and after drinking a few more glasses of wine, Li Hong got up and left.

Back at his apartment, Li Hong drank a bowl of sobering soup and was about to go to the study to read, when he heard Chen Gongyu report that Sun Chuyu, Dai Zhide, Li Jingxuan, Wang Mao, Cui Jie and others asked to see him. Li Hong knew what the purpose of everyone seeing him was, so he asked Chen Gong to lead everyone to the study to wait for him. Chen Gong was ordered to leave, and Li Hong rested for a while, and then came to the study slowly.

In the study, Sun Chuyu, Dai Zhide and others had been waiting for him for a long time, and when they saw Li Hong, everyone immediately got up and bowed to him.

Li Hong waved his hand to signal that everyone didn't need to be polite, walked straight to the first place and sat down, and then asked, "You guys are looking for Lone, is there anything wrong?" ”。

"Today's banquet is a minister's inconsiderate decision, and he defeated His Highness's Yaxing, and I ask His Highness to atone for his sins." Suddenly, as soon as Li Hong's words fell, Wang Mao immediately opened his mouth to plead guilty. Then Cui Jie also got up and said, "The minister also has a bad arrangement, and I ask His Highness to punish him." ”

"You have a piece of your heart, you are not wrong, and Lone has not thought of blaming you, so don't think about it, come quickly!" Li Hong said lightly.

With Li Hong's character, he would not have attended tonight's banquet, but he did, which shows that he had a deep meaning in attending tonight's banquet. Now is an extraordinary period, Li Hong has his own considerations for what he does, he will not be untargeted, and he will not give Lu Dongzan a trace of exploring the gaps in his scheme.

Seeing that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince no longer pursued the wrongs at tonight's banquet, Li Jingxuan opened his mouth and asked, "Your Highness, although Guo Huai's words at tonight's banquet were a little reckless, what he said was true, I don't know what His Highness thinks of the war in Hezhou?" ”

"Didn't Guo Huai say that Guo Shifeng could still hold out for four days? In that case, let's talk about it in four days, it's too early to tell. Li Hong replied lightly.

"So Your Highness already has a countermeasure in mind?" Dai Zhide asked.

Li Hong nodded slightly, "Have you ever thought that in Chu County, there are also Tibetan spies monitoring our every move?" And if Gu Yao guessed correctly, everything that happened at tonight's banquet would reach Lu Dongzan's ears by tomorrow morning at the latest. Think about what Lu Dongzan would think if he knew what Gu said at the banquet tonight? ”

When everyone heard Li Hong's words, their eyes lit up, and they seemed to vaguely guess what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was thinking, but for His Royal Highness the Prince's question, they wanted to stop talking, because this answer was really a bit of a big rebellion.

"He will feel that Lone is an arrogant and unsightly man, a straw bale prince who leads the army to fight." Li Hong smiled, "If Lu Dongzan thinks so in his heart, what will he do?" ”

"He will despise Lone, and he will also despise the reinforcements we are about to arrive in Hezhou City." Li Hong continued, "And this kind of contempt is what Gu needs, because in the face of the fierce Tubo elite cavalry, whether in terms of numbers or in terms of the combat power of the army, the only key to victory is to let the other side despise us, so that the other party is arrogant, there are omissions in command and arrangement, and then seize the opportunity to annihilate them in one fell swoop." ”

After Li Hong's words were finished, everyone's faces showed expressions of relief, because the words at the banquet made them afraid of what the prince would do if he was really a straw bag? In this way, this time to fight against Tubo, won't Datang be finished? Now they found that not only was the prince not a straw bale, but everything he said at the banquet had a deep meaning, all of which was calculating Lu Dongzan. This reversal made them both excited and a little apprehensive. After all, what they suspected was the current Highness the Crown Prince and the future Emperor.

"Your Highness, since Chuxian has the fine work of the Tubo people, what should we do now? Do we continue to monitor them, or do we send someone to find them right away and ask them what we want? Wang Mao asked.

"Wait!" Li Hong said slowly, "When they pass on the news of what happened at the banquet tonight, we won't be too late." ”

Wang Mao's body was shocked, and at this moment he suddenly realized how terrifying His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was in front of him, so he hurriedly replied immediately, "No! ”