Baling County was conquered by the Sui army's naval divisions, and the Eastern Expedition logistics grain and grass land was lost, and Yiling County was raided by the Sui cavalry, killing more than 4,000 people and burning more than 400 warships, these two major news were sent to Chang'an almost at the same time. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The government and the opposition in Chang'an were in an uproar, not long ago I heard that Du Fuwei raised troops again in Jianghuai, and the Northern Sui was anxious, making everyone high-five and celebrate, but it was only a few days later, and the situation immediately reversed, which made the courtiers really difficult to accept, and difficult to understand, and the top and bottom were talking about it, what happened in the south?

The Tang Army's Eastern Crusade had always been carried out in secret, and only a very small number of important ministers knew about it, so many courtiers did not understand what it meant for Baling County to be captured by the Sui army. It's just that failure is frustrating.

But Li Yuan, the Son of Heaven, and the core ministers knew what it meant to lose Baling City, and they also knew what it meant for Yidao County to be raided by the Sui cavalry?

There was silence in the Wude side hall, and after a long time, Li Yuan said in a hoarse voice: "The matter has come to this point, and I don't want to hold anyone responsible, I can only say that we are not well prepared, let's talk about it!" What do we do now? ”

Li Shimin stepped forward and said, "Father, there is a sentence that I don't know if my sons should say or not?" ”

"The emperor said it!"

Li Yuan's tone softened a lot, he knew that he had wronged his second son to some extent, and he couldn't help but feel a little guilty in his heart.

Li Shimin said: "So far there is no news about Jianghuai's investigation, but Erchen is very worried, the people we sent to investigate have been detained, so it is not a way to wait, it is very likely to delay the fighter, Erchen suggested that immediately increase troops to Jiangxia to prevent the Sui army from raiding Jiangxia, once Jingbei is defeated, we will not be able to gain a foothold in Jingnan, and the entire Jingzhou can not be saved, we can not delay any longer." ”

At this time, Pei Lin came out and said, "Your Majesty, Rong Weichen said a few words." ”

"Pei Xiangguo, please speak!"

"Your Majesty, the Sui army's seizure of Baling County is a very ingenious technique, seizing the logistics of the important place, forcing the Tang army to be unable to go east, and the burning of the Yiling County warship is also to destroy the Tang army's water transportation capacity, and the capture of Baling County is the same thing, but this does not prove that the Sui army has been planning for a long time, on the contrary, Wei Chen feels that the Sui army's strength is still a little reluctant, so he hit the key point, Wei Chen thinks that we should not mess up the position for the time being, and the army of the Eastern Expedition should not be in a hurry to withdraw, and should wait and see the situation calmly."

Li Shimin heard that Pei Lin was still trying to justify himself, deceived himself, and was extremely angry in his heart, and immediately refuted Pei Lin and said: "Why did Pei Xiangguo's words mislead the country, since the Sui army had thousands of cavalry running to Yidao County from a long distance, could it not exterminate Du Fuwei's rabble, since Du Fuwei was very powerful in Jianghuai, why didn't the main force of the Northern Sui Navy Division deal with it in Jianghuai, but ran to attack Baling County?" I remember very well, when it was said that Du Fuwei was powerful in Jianghuai, and the Northern Sui Navy Division left Pengze County in a hurry to save Hefei, then they should have confronted Du Fuwei in Lujiang County, why did they appear in Baling County again? Can Pei Sang-kook explain it to everyone? ”

Pei Lian's face was red and white for a while, and he was speechless, Li Yuan saw that he couldn't get off the stage, so he said to Li Shimin: "Everyone puts national affairs first, and they can have different opinions, but they are not allowed to hurt people, and I don't want to hear the 'words of misunderstanding the country' in the Wude Palace." ”

Li Shimin lowered his head and said: "The son is anxious for a while, and the words are inappropriate, please forgive my father!" ”

"Well, which minister still has a high opinion?"

At this time, Chen Shuda came out and said, "Your Majesty, the old minister has something to say." ”

"Chen Xiangguo, please speak!"

Chen Shuda said slowly: "Actually, His Royal Highness the King of Qin is reasonable, and now, the minister has also begun to suspect that Du Fuwei's news in Jianghuai is wrong, and all kinds of news have spread before, but now it is suddenly quiet again, either the Sui army has controlled the situation in Jianghuai, or it was fake news before, and the minister doesn't know what is true and what is false, but there is a little bit of Weichen's attitude that can be clear, since Baling County has been captured and logistics and food have been cut off, then the Eastern Crusade should be suspended and the division should be returned to protect Nanjun and Changsha County, Firmly control the passage to withdraw to Bashu, otherwise the Sui army will occupy Nanjun, Changsha County and Baling County, and our Eastern Expeditionary Army will not be left alone? ”

Li Shimin sighed, "Changsha County and Nanjun have no troops stationed, but I am afraid that they have been captured by the Sui army now." ”

The hall was silent again, and everyone realized that the consequences were very serious, not only was the Eastern Crusade difficult to continue, but it lost the hard-fought Nanjun, and the loss of a Baling County caused such serious consequences, which no one expected.

Li Jiancheng, who had been silent, said slowly: "Father, the son also wants to say a few words. ”

Li Yuan nodded, "Although the emperor is blunt!" ”

Li Jiancheng walked out and said to everyone in a heavy tone: "I've been thinking about why Zhang Xuan sent cavalry to attack Yidao County, in fact, as long as he sent a naval army westward, he could also burn all the warships, but he didn't do this, I think Zhang Xuan is warning us?" ”

"What is a warning?" Li Yuan asked again.

"I don't know if my father has considered it, our Bashu army is empty, and the naval force is extremely weak, if Zhang Xuan sends the main force of the naval division to march west along the Yangtze River and directly enter Bashu, how can our army intercept it on the shore? Erchen has already thought of this, can't Zhang Xuan think of it? Since he sent cavalry to annihilate the defenders of Yidao County and burn all the warships, is it possible for this cavalry to march west along Qingjiang Road and kill all the way to Bashu, if Zhang Xuan did not do this, the ministers would be happy, but the only explanation is that Zhang Xuan is warning us. ”

Li Jiancheng's words opened up another way of thinking for everyone, and everyone suddenly realized how hasty their plan for the Eastern Crusade was? How flawed are they? They didn't have a strong army to sit in the rear, but they talked about the Eastern Crusade, which was really a bit inconsiderate.

Li Shimin said: "Brother Huang's concern is reasonable, but if Zhang Xuan is just warning us, I think this is a bit too much praise for his benevolence, he is by no means a warning, but his strategic plan does not have the intention of killing Bashu, so he did not take action, just like he did not order the army of Hetao to attack the Hexi Corridor, he has his rules, I still insist that Zhang Xuan's strategic goal is to capture Jingzhou, but it just coincides with our Eastern Expedition, which seems a little chaotic, Otherwise, it would not be possible to explain his intention of sending tens of thousands of cavalry to hide in Huoshan County. ”

Liu Wenjing also stood up and said, "Your Majesty, Wechen fully agrees with the analysis of His Royal Highness the King of Qin, Wechen also thinks that the Northern Sui Army has already made war preparations, Du Fuwei will not gain anything in Jianghuai, and may have perished a long time ago, the so-called rumors of Du Fuwei disturbing Jianghuai are just a strategic deception of Zhang Xuan, the purpose is to let us rest assured that the Eastern Crusade will be carried out, and it can be seen from the fact that General Li Xiaogong has nothing to gain in Pengze County, the Sui army has long been prepared for our Eastern Crusade, and now the situation is very unfavorable to us, if Nanjun, Changsha County and Baling County have been lost, then we must keep Jingbei, otherwise the Eastern Expeditionary Army will not be able to withdraw, and there will be a danger of annihilation. ”

Although Liu Wenjing's words could only be hindsight, his judgment that he could not be withdrawn from the Eastern Expeditionary Army caused Li Yuan's concern, and Li Yuan pondered for a long time and said: "Then according to Liu Xiangguo's meaning, how should we keep Jingbei?" ”

Li Yuan didn't ask Li Shimin, he knew that Li Shimin would still bring up the topic of Qu Tutong, and he didn't want to talk about it anymore.

Liu Wenjing said: "Weichen's idea is the same as that of His Royal Highness King Qin, which is to increase troops in Jingbei. ”

Pei Lin on the side interjected and asked, "May I ask Liu Xiangguo, how should we increase our troops?" Bashu is empty, and it will take at least half a month to send troops from Guanzhong, does Liu Xiangguo think it's still too late? ”

Liu Wenjing said unhurriedly: "There are two plans for increasing the number of troops in Weichen, the first plan is to open up Nanxiang Road, and the army will enter Xiangyang directly from Nanyang County, which is the most convenient way, but in this way, we will declare war on Wang Shichong, and when fighting with the Sui army, we should not make a strong enemy, so this plan can only be calculated, and the second plan is to withdraw the Eastern Expeditionary Army to Jingbei, and directly take Jiujiang County to return to Jiangxia County by land, but in this way, we will completely lose more than a dozen counties in Jingnan, and the cost is too great, So this plan is not complete, it can only be regarded as the middle policy, as for the best policy, Wechen has not thought of it. ”

At this time, Li Yuanji, the king of Chu, who had never had the opportunity to express his opinions, said: "Father, the son has important information to report first, and it is about Wang Shichong. ”

Due to the vagueness of the pigeon letter sent by Li Xiaogong, Li Yuan did not realize that the fundamental reason for the failure of the Eastern Expedition was that there was a problem with the deployment map of the naval army obtained by Li Yuanji, and he also thought that it was the Sui army that withdrew the grain and materials in Pengze County first, which caused Li Xiaogong to pounce.

Therefore, Li Yuan had not yet transferred his anger to his fourth son, Li Yuanji, and he immediately asked, "What important information?" ”

"Father, the Northern Sui Imperial Court sent an envoy to Luoyang a few days ago, and Erchen just got the news today that Wang Shichong has increased his troops to Nanyang County by 30,000, plus the garrison of Xiyang County by 30,000, and the garrison of Nanxiang Road has reached 60,000."

This news made everyone suddenly react, I am afraid that the judgment of Li Shimin, the king of Qin, is correct, and Zhang Xuan is really going to attack Jiangxia.

Li Shimin immediately decided: "Father, the son fully agrees with Liu Xiangguo's middle policy, time is not waiting, we must immediately withdraw the 100,000 Eastern Expeditionary Army to Jiangxia County, as long as we can keep the seven counties of Jingbei, then we still have a chance to recapture Jingnan, otherwise Jingbei is lost, and we will have no place in Jingzhou." ”

Li Yuan also knew that the situation was critical and he did not allow them to discuss and wait and see any longer, so he no longer hesitated, and immediately issued an order: "Quickly pass on the edict of me, and order General Li Xiaogong to immediately lead the Eastern Expeditionary Army to withdraw to Jiangxia County." (To be continued.) )