In the past few days, Li Yuan suffered a series of heavy blows, the Eastern Expedition was defeated, his younger brother Li Shuliang was unfortunately killed, 35,000 troops became prisoners of war of the Sui army, the political situation in Chang'an was unstable, morale was low, Li Yuan's mood was also extremely bad, and he had been restless for several days, and locked himself in the Tang Palace.

In the afternoon, Li Yuan sat alone in his study to read a letter just sent by his eldest son Li Jiancheng, in which Li Jiancheng profoundly analyzed the reasons for the failure of the Eastern Crusade, and at the same time expressed his willingness to take all the responsibilities and ask his father to remove him from all his duties.

Li Yuan couldn't help but let out a long sigh, he knew very well in his heart that in fact, the responsibility was on himself, it was he who forced them to go east to Hebei and hit the impact caused by Zhang Xuan's move to Anyang, but it was self-defeating, but he suffered huge humiliation and losses, and the top priority now is not to hold him accountable, but how to deal with the aftermath.

At this time, a guard reported at the door: "Lord Qiqi, Liu Xiangguo asks to see!" ”

Liu Xiangguo is Liu Wenjing, who was Li Yuan's military advisor, Li Yuan didn't want to see anyone, but after his eldest son Jiancheng wrote this letter, Li Yuan also felt that he couldn't escape anymore, he nodded, "Please let him in!" ”

After a while, Liu Wenjing hurriedly walked in and bowed down, "Weichen see the prince!" ”

"Sangkook, please take a seat!"

Li Yuan invited Liu Wenjing to sit down, and a maid came in and served them tea, Li Yuan was ashamed and said: "I really have no face to see people these days." ”

Liu Wenjing fully understood Li Yuan's mood, he said calmly: "Anyone will feel ashamed of the defeat of the army, but victory or defeat is a very normal thing, the prince has not tasted defeat since the beginning of the army, this is a bit abnormal, so I don't think it is terrible to lose once, the key is to learn a lesson, and not to lose in the same thing again." ”

"What lesson do you think we should learn?"

Liu Wenjing was silent. Li Yuan understood that he was very embarrassed, so he said sincerely: "I have been friends with Zhaoren for many years, and it can be described as friends in adversity. I'm afraid I'll never hear it again. ”

Liu Wenjing sighed slightly, "I am also responsible for this failure, knowing that it was inappropriate, I failed to dissuade the prince in time."

Without waiting for him to finish, Li Yuan waved his hand, "Don't say this kind of thing now, even if you speak out, I want to hear your truth." ”

Liu Wenjing nodded, and said slowly after half a sound: "This defeat is fundamentally a failure in principle. It was a speculative action that disregarded principles, and the strategic direction was wrong, and it was impossible to be defeated. ”

Li Yuan smiled bitterly, "Please keep talking!" ”

"On the surface, the Tang army does have a chance, Youzhou has Luo Yi to respond, and Zhang Xuan led a large army to intercept Yu Wenhua, it seems that it is only because of Wei Wentong's unexpected appearance that there is a problem with the transportation of grain in Hanoi County. The failure of the operation is really just a façade. Even if Wei Wentong does not appear, even if we succeed for a while, we will not be able to take Hebei in the end, and we will still retreat in a fiasco. ”

"Why do you say that?" Li Yuan stared at him sharply.

Liu Wenjing got up and walked to the map by the wall, he pointed to Guanlong and said: "There is Li Rail in Hexi, and Xue Ju in Longxi." These are the two enemies behind us, Bashu is also not at peace, and there are Liang Shidu and Liu Wuzhou in the north, both of whom are supported by the Turks and threaten Longyou and Bingzhou. We are obviously surrounded by enemies in the house, but we have to open the door to meet a stronger enemy, once Zhang Xuan's army enters the state, Xue Ju, Li Liang and others attack us from behind, do you think the prince can still support us? ”

Li Yuan's face changed greatly, his eyes showed a look of fear, and after a while, he suddenly gave Liu Wenjing a deep salute, "If it weren't for Zhaoren's reminder, I would have almost been mistaken." ”

"Lord Wang, our situation is very serious now!"

Li Yuan sighed for a long time, "I know that we are now suffering from internal and external troubles, but I don't know what to do, so I implore Zhaoren to teach me!" ”

"Weichen is here for this matter, we must make peace with Zhang Xuan as soon as possible, we can't let him invade and merge the state, as long as we reach a reconciliation with Zhang Xuan, and the two sides are bounded by Taihang Mountain, then we can concentrate our forces against Li Liang, Xue Ju, Liang Shidu, Liu Wuzhou and others."

Li Yuan hesitated for a moment, and said worriedly: "I'm afraid that Zhang Xuan will not make peace in this current situation!" ”

"Actually, we have a chance, Weichen brought one person, I don't know if the prince is willing to meet him?"

Liu Wenjing stepped forward and whispered a few words to Li Yuan, Li Yuan frowned, "This person has been in Chang'an?" ”

"No, this person just came from the Wagang Army."

"Alright! I'll see her. ”

Liu Wenjing got up and went out, and after a while, he brought in a young woman, dressed brightly, with a compelling fragrance, Huo Ran was Gao Hui, who had been missing.

When the Bohai Navy was defeated in Hejian County, Gao Hui was not in Hebei, but in Liang County, and she also escaped the defeat, although the supporters of the Bohai Society in Hebei rebelled against the water, and the forces were uprooted by Zhang Xuan, but Gao Hui's force remained relatively intact, and she still had hundreds of people under her command, holding all the wealth of the Bohai Society outside Hebei, and still had a certain amount of dark power.

Gao Hui stepped forward and folded his hands in front of his lower abdomen, and bowed slightly, "See the prince!" ”

"Madame, please be seated!"

Li Yuan glanced at Gao Hui, he had heard of this woman a long time ago, and she was still the number two person in the Bohai Society, it was said that this woman was extremely beautiful, but Li Yuan seemed a little disappointed now, just a little bit of beauty, and she was far from being extremely beautiful, and her new concubines were much more beautiful than her.

Gao Hui felt Li Yuan's gaze, she stroked the tips of her hair and smiled, "The prince has been very busy lately!" The little woman has been in Chang'an for a few days and has been stopped outside the house. ”

Li Yuan raised his eyebrows, "Madame has been here?" ”

"Today is the third time, thanks to Liu Xiangguo's introduction!"

Liu Wenjing next to him was afraid that Li Yuan would misunderstand, so he hurriedly explained: "My prince is in a bad mood these days, and no one has seen him, and it is definitely not aimed at Mrs., please don't be surprised by Mrs. ”

Gao Hui covered her mouth and chuckled, "It seems that I misunderstood the prince, but if the prince had met me earlier, he would definitely not be so troubled." ”

This sentence touched Li Yuan's heart, and he hurriedly asked, "Madame, do you have any good news to tell me?" ”

Gao Hui nodded, "Although we failed in Hebei, we are not discouraged, and we are ready to counterattack again, and we hope to get the support of the prince." ”

Li Yuan suddenly understood what Liu Wenjing meant when he said that there was an opportunity, that is, the Bohai Society was going to counterattack Hebei, and Zhang Xuan would inevitably concentrate on dealing with the Bohai Society, so that the pressure on the annexation would be reduced, and they could also reach a reconciliation with Zhang Xuan, but Li Yuan still didn't understand a little bit, the Bohai Society army had been wiped out, what would they do to counterattack?

After a deep sigh, Li Yuan asked, "I don't know where the Bohai Society will counterattack?" ”

Gao Hui's thin lips touched lightly and said two words, 'Liaodong!' ’

Li Yuan suddenly realized that the Bohai Society either borrowed the power of the Khitan or the troops of Goguryeo, and actually took a fancy to the land of Liaodong, and he really had a vision, but even if he Li Yuan would never give up Liaodong, let alone Zhang Xuan.

Li Yuan's eyes narrowed, "I don't know how Madame needs me to support you?" ”

Gao Hui smiled slightly, "I also know that the Tang army is unfavorable in Hebei, so I will not ask the prince to send troops to Hebei again, this is unrealistic, in fact, our request is very simple, it is just a gesture for the prince." ”

"Madame, you might as well be specific."

"That's the case, we have twelve estates in Guanlong, nearly 10,000 hectares of land, although the resources are abundant, but we can't call it, I also know that the Guanlong nobles have a lot of properties in Jiangdu, and there are also many estates in Xuzhou and Jianghuai, I hope that our two families can exchange, or the prince can allow us to sell these estates."

Li Yuan issued an order after entering the customs, the purchase and sale of land of more than 100 mu in various places must be examined and approved by the imperial court, the purchase and sale of land of more than 500 mu is completely prohibited, and at the same time, the grain trade of more than 100 mu must be handed over to the government for the record, which is mainly to prevent land annexation, in order to win the hearts of the people, and to facilitate the collection of military rations, under this order, the twelve manors of the Bohai Society cannot be sold, and at the same time, the various resources of the manors cannot be used, which is a huge pressure on the Bohai Society, which is in urgent need of money.

Gao Hui received an order from her brother to ask her to raise 50,000 taels of gold as soon as possible, at present, Gao Hui only has 10,000 taels of gold in her hands, although Hebei, Central Plains and Jianghuai have a large number of assets, but it is not easy to realize, first, there is no such a big buyer, and secondly, she does not want to sell the assets in the east, and the Guanlong nobles are all extremely rich, and Guanlong's grange is of little use to the Bohai Society, and once it is found by Li Yuan, these granges may not be able to be saved, so selling them is the best choice.

Gao Hui was also anxious, this time she came to see Li Yuan to solve this matter, to change the manor to Xuzhou Jianghuai, or sell it directly, she caught Li Yuan's mentality of being eager to reconcile with Zhang Xuan at this time, and it could be used to bargain.

Gao Hui smiled again: "If the prince can agree, then we can discuss with the prince when we send troops to Liaodong." ”

Li Yuan pondered for a moment, this was indeed an opportunity, he glanced at Liu Wenjing again, Liu Wenjing nodded, indicating that it was acceptable.

Li Yuan smiled happily: "The twelve manors in Guanlong, I think many people will be red-eyed, okay!" I will give you special permission to sell these estates, and as for the time for your troops, I ask you to send troops now, I guess you will not be able to do it, I can only say that the sooner the better. ”

"Then we'll make up our minds!" (To be continued.) )