Li Shimin was in Shangjun to get the news that Taiyuan was lost and Qu Tutong killed himself, Li Shimin was overwhelmed with grief and ordered the whole army to mourn, and he personally sacrificed Qu Tutong. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Although Taiyuan was lost and the entire state fell into the hands of the Zhou army, Li Shimin did not intend to withdraw his troops, but he decided to continue north, recapture Yan'an County, and relieve the great threat faced by the northern part of Guanzhong.

The northern part of Guanzhong is undulating, across the vast area of the Loess Plateau, the traffic is very inconvenient, from Guanzhong to Shangjun and then to Yan'an County, generally go to Luochuan County, along Luoshui to the north, then enter Yan'an County, Li Shimin left the general Qin Qiong to lead 10,000 troops to garrison Shangjun, he personally led 50,000 troops north to Yan'an County.

On the morning of this day, the army arrived in Yincheng County, southwest of Yan'an County, the county seat is located on the north bank of Luoshui, about 250 miles away from Zhifushi County, Yan'an County, this area is convenient for irrigation, rich land, large population, there are tens of thousands of people in the county, it is the only large county in the west of Yan'an County rich in grain, very suitable for the army to be stationed and supplied.

On the one hand, he sent 300 scouts into 30 teams to spy on intelligence in various parts of Yan'an County, and on the other hand, he ordered the soldiers to seize the time to rest and recuperate.

In the big tent, Li Shimin stood alone in front of the sand table and pondered, the east of Yan'an County is the Yellow River, the other side of the Yellow River is Bingzhou, and the west of Yan'an County is parallel to Honghua County, Pingliang County and Huining County, and Yan'an County together form the outer defense of Guanzhong.

There are also several counties side by side to the south, namely Longxi County, Tianshui County, Anding County, Beidi County and Shang County, and these five counties form the inner defense of Guanzhong.

These nine counties plus the five counties of Hehuang and the three counties of Hanzhong, as well as the three counties of Shangluo, Hongnong and Guanzhong, a total of twenty-two counties, are the last territories of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin sighed lowly, twenty-two counties, less than three million people, how can they afford to raise 200,000 Tang troops, Li Shimin can finally understand why his father wanted to attack the Guanlong nobles, but the question is, after the Guanlong nobles' money and food are exhausted, what should they do?

At this time, Zhang Gongjin walked into the big tent and said in a low voice: "Your Highness, the pioneer scout of Fushi County has returned. ”

Before the Tang army set off from Guanzhong, Li Shimin sent more than a dozen people disguised as caravans to Fushi County to investigate intelligence, it should be that they are back, Li Shimin nodded, "Let him in!" ”

After a while, a scout brigade commander walked into the big tent quickly, knelt down on one knee and reported: "The lowly man is here to report on the situation in Fushi County!" ”

"Tell me, what's the situation in Fushi County?"

"Your Highness Qiqi, I took ten brothers to form a caravan and went north, but we found that we couldn't enter Fushi County at all."

"Why?" Li Shimin looked at him puzzled.

"Fushi County is very tightly controlled, as early as two months ago they did not allow any outsiders to enter the county, even if the local farmers sell vegetables and buy things can only be carried out in the urn city, the north and south of the two urn cities have become a big bazaar, the people in the city will be issued a hand card when they enter the urn city, and when they return to the city, they will enter the city with their hand cards, although we can not enter the county, but we still learn some of the situation in the city from some farmers outside the city."

"Go on."

"After the Zhou army occupied Fushi County, it transferred a large number of people in the city to Yan'an, Yanchuan and Suide counties, the people in the city originally had tens of thousands, and now there are only a few thousand people left, but the army has 20,000, the main will be the tiger Benlang general Sun Changle, the deputy general is the original Song Jingang general Lu Chongmao, and from the Fenglin Mountain outside the city, you can see the situation in the city, the city wall has obviously increased and strengthened, the moat has become very wide, there are eighty heavy trebuchets on the head of the city, the only thing that can not be found is how much grain is stored in the city, However, according to farmers outside the city, in the past two months, boats have been entering the Qingshui River from the Yellow River to bring a large amount of supplies to Fushi County, and it is estimated that there is no shortage of food. ”

Li Shimin pondered for a moment, and then asked, "You only explored Fushi County, and didn't go to Jinming County in the north to see?" ”

"Back to Your Highness, Jinming County has already been there, and like Fushi County, most of the people have migrated, and the two city walls to the east and south of Jinming County have been demolished, and stones and bricks are used to increase the height of the city walls of Fushi County."

Li Shimin asked a few more words, and then let the scout brigade marshal retreat, at this time, Zhang Gongjin said: "Although there are 20,000 Zhou troops in Fushi County, 9,000 of them are Lu Chongmao's surrendered troops, and the combat effectiveness is relatively low. ”

Li Shimin didn't say anything, he didn't know the comparison of the forces of the two sides, he even knew better than Zhang Gongjin when he would be able to capture the city, Zhang Gongjin was still too conservative, Li Shimin judged that he could take Fushi County in three days, and the casualties would be between three or five thousand.

It's just that Li Shimin is not only thinking about capturing the city, he also has to take into account the reinforcements from both sides, if he captures Fushi County, he can't retreat south in time, once the 200,000 Zhou troops come from Bingzhou, it is likely to be like Taiyuan and trap them in Fushi County, he is also worried about whether there is a cavalry hidden somewhere in Yan'an County, once the Tang army goes north to Fushi County, will the cavalry attack Yincheng County and burn down their logistics powerhouse.

The 50,000 army went north, grain and grass and logistics support were particularly important, once they were lazy, and even if they captured Fushi County, how could he establish a complete defense system between Guanzhong, Shangjun and Yan'an County, instead of just capturing Yan'an County and ending it, the key was to prevent the counteroffensive of the Zhou army.

Li Shimin has been thinking about this matter for the past two days, and he found that to build a defensive wall to prevent the Zhou army's westward expedition in the three counties along the Yellow River, at least 100,000 troops are enough, and he only has 50,000 troops now, plus the 10,000 garrisons in Shangjun are only 60,000 troops, the number is still not enough.

"What is Your Highness hesitating about?" Zhang Gongjin saw Li Shimin's indecisiveness.

In fact, from the beginning of the dispatch of troops, Zhang Gongjin found that Li Shimin had been worried, not only for Yan'an County, but also for the sake of Yan'an County, he had deeper worries.

Li Shimin wanted to speak and stopped, he was just about to speak, when an urgent report from the guards came from outside the tent, "Your Highness, the holy decree has arrived!" ”

Li Shimin was taken aback, and hurriedly gave Zhang Gongjin a look, and the two went out, Li Shimin was puzzled, his father came to the holy decree at this time, was he urging himself to attack the city as soon as possible?

When they came to the outside of the tent, they saw a proclamator in the distance walking briskly surrounded by a group of guards, and the proclamator also saw Li Shimin, and hurriedly stepped forward and bowed, "See His Royal Highness King Qin!" ”

Li Shimin nodded, and when he saw that the soldiers had already set up the incense case, he said, "Let's announce the decree first!" ”

The proclamator raised the decree and said loudly: "King Qin listens to the decree!" ”

Li Shimin knelt down in front of the incense case with more than a dozen civil and military officials, and the proclamator unfolded the holy decree and said loudly: "I look at the celestial phenomena, when the army is not exchanged, the special edict orders the King of Qin to lead the Tang army to withdraw south to the county, and the order will be carried out immediately, not a moment of delay, Qin this!" ”

Li Shimin was confused when he heard it, this was his father who ordered him to withdraw his troops quickly, the reason turned out to be celestial phenomena, this is a bunch of nonsense, when did the major decisions of the Tang Dynasty look at celestial phenomena, Li Shimin knew that this was obviously just an excuse.

The proclamator stuffed the holy decree to him and smiled: "Your Highness, quickly withdraw the army!" Wechen had to go back immediately to reply to the decree. ”

"You tell me the truth, what happened when the Holy Lord was in such a hurry to ask me to withdraw my troops?"

The proclamator pulled him aside, and then said in a low voice: "There is news from Zhongdu that the Zhou Dynasty has agreed to a one-year truce, on the condition that we must evacuate Yan'an County. ”

Li Shimin was speechless for a long time, and after a long time, he let out a long sigh, Zhang Xuan didn't need any reinforcements at all, and a small condition of an armistice and peace talks forced them back to Shangjun.

The proclamator left in a hurry, Li Shimin had not recovered from the loss, Zhang Gongjin smiled: "Actually, His Highness doesn't want to attack Yan'an at all, right?" ”

"Why don't I want to attack Yan'an County, Yan'an County threatens Shangjun and Guanzhong, if we don't control Yan'an County in our hands, I can't sleep!"

After a pause, Li Shimin saw Zhang Gongjin smiling and silent, so he had to smile bitterly and said: "Actually, what you said is not bad, I don't really want to fight Yan'an County, and I can't defend Yan'an County in the end, what's the point?" ”

"Your Highness's reluctance to fight Yan'an County is not entirely due to this reason!"

Li Shimin knew that his mind was seen through by Zhang Gongjin, he nodded silently, walked to the door of the tent with his hands in his hands, looked at the white clouds in the sky, and said for a long time: "I do have unspeakable hardships, don't hide it from Mr. I'm afraid that I will repeat the mistakes of my eldest brother, and my lips will be cold!" ”