Li Shimin's army finally arrived at Tongguan before dark, and under the city of Tongguan, there were 5,000 cavalry standing in the dark, and in front of the team, hundreds of torches illuminated the city gate as if it were day.

Li Shimin's eyes were gloomy, this damn Luo Yi, knowing that he was coming, dared not to open the city gate, was he impatient?

Li Shimin didn't know that Luo Yi also had to be pretending, otherwise as soon as Li Shimin came, he would open the door to greet him, even if the saint didn't care, how could the prince spare him.

Li Shimin's face sank, and he snorted coldly, "Does a small Tongguan guard dare to turn this king out of the city?" ”

Next to him, Wei Chi Gong took the lead and shouted under the city: "His Royal Highness the King of Qin has arrived, and you won't open the door yet?" ”

A captain at the head of the city shouted loudly: "Please wait, Your Highness, we have already gone to report to General Luo, we will be there immediately, we have no right to open the city gate." ”

Li Shimin said nothing with a gloomy face, and after about a quarter of an hour, the gate of Tongguan rumbled open, and Li Shimin's nearly 1,000 relatives and guards waiting outside the city had already held back the fire in their stomachs, and as soon as the city gate opened, they rushed in.

In Tongguan City, thousands of guards held torches, illuminating Tongguan City as if it were day, and every soldier was wearing armor and knives, murderous.

In the middle stood Luo Yi, the general of Tongguan, with a silver helmet and iron armor, and a sharp blade at his waist, he was burly, like a half-cut black tower, his eyes were cold, and he was also gambling, betting on whether he could save his life tonight.

The seizure of military power has always been cruel and ruthless, and he will not open up to himself because of his obedience, otherwise, how can he Li Shimin explain to the saint?

Although the attitude of the Tongguan defenders was a little rude, Li Shimin's personal soldiers did not dare to attack, what did they dare to do, once the infighting between the two sides was triggered and His Royal Highness the King of Qin was injured, who could afford this responsibility?

The soldiers all endured their anger and dodged to both sides, and Li Shimin entered Tongguan City surrounded by hundreds of cavalry.

The murderous situation in front of him made him slightly stunned, and he had to admire Luo Yi's courage and dare to fight against himself. Death and resurrection.

It's easy for him to kill Luo Yi, and if he wants to add to the crime, he has no excuse, and he doesn't care if he commits this crime, but Luo Yi put on a desperate posture, that is, he is telling himself that his military power is not so easy to win.

Luo Yi saw that Li Shimin had entered the city, and he took a deep breath. Stepped forward and fell to one knee. Clenched his fists high with both hands: "Chen Yan Guogong, the right martial guard general Luo Yi see His Royal Highness the King of Qin!" ”

He was reminding Li Shimin that he was a dignified prince and general, and he wanted to kill him. Gotta take it easy.

Li Shimin sneered in his heart, he actually threatened himself with the official, thinking that he didn't dare to kill him? A terrifying murderous intent flashed in his eyes. His face was silent, and he said lightly: "General Luo has worked hard to guard Tongguan." ”

"I don't dare to call it hard work, but Your Highness is hard work."

Luo Yi stood up, turned around and shouted, "Sons, see His Royal Highness King Qin!" ”

As soon as he gave the order, the eight thousand defenders knelt down on one knee together, "See His Royal Highness King Qin!" ”

The movements are uniform. The momentum was huge, and the sound resounded throughout the city, which made Li Shimin secretly frightened, although he knew that this was Luo Yi protecting himself, but he really didn't expect Luo Yi to have such a strong appeal.

This made Li Shimin vigilant, if he rashly killed Luo Yi or imprisoned him, it was likely to provoke contradictions. To cause a mutiny, you still have to cut him with a soft knife.

Thinking of this, Li Shimin also had a smile on his face, and he urged him to step forward, his slender face shining and darkening in the firelight. He raised his voice and said aloud to the army: "Brothers, guard Tongguan. Shouldering a heavy responsibility, this king, as Shang Shuling and Admiral Tiance, is deeply aware of the hard work of your brothers, and I will commend your merits to the Holy Lord. ”

The army shouted again: "His Royal Highness King Xie Qin! ”……

Li Shimin did not pass the pass, but stationed in Tongguan, the reason is very simple, it was dark, the soldiers had worked hard all the way, and they needed to rest for a night before leaving.

Luo Yi arranged hundreds of big tents and dinner, and was busy for nearly an hour before finally breathing a sigh of relief.

Li Shimin didn't kill him on the spot, at least his life was temporarily saved, Luo Yi knew very well in his heart that it was his prestige in the Tongguan garrison that made Li Shimin a little jealous.

At the sound of an order, nearly 10,000 soldiers knelt down on one knee in unison, this kind of military quality is not something that everyone can cultivate, if Li Shimin dares to kill himself, his army will turn around and mutiny on the spot.

Luo Yi was just about to go back to his lodging place, and just walked to the door of his room, when a Li Shimin's personal soldier ran up from behind and bowed down, "General Luo, His Royal Highness the King of Qin invites you to go." “

Luo Yi's heart tightened, now that the time has passed, will it be good to call himself so late? Maybe he had an ambush in his tent.

Luo Yi's forehead was already sweating slightly, and he reluctantly smiled and said, "It's so late, it's not good to disturb His Royal Highness King Qin's rest, I'll go to see His Highness tomorrow." ”

The soldier sneered and said, "What is the identity of His Royal Highness King Qin, if he wants to kill you, does he need to ask you to go to the big tent?" General Luo can't help but think too highly of himself. ”

Luo Yi's face was hot, and he was really a little annoyed in his heart, he actually said it so harshly, but then again, this pro-soldier did have a point, if King Qin wanted to kill himself, there was no need to call himself to the big tent, it was okay now.

"Alright! I'll go. ”

Luo Yi glared at the soldiers fiercely, turned around and walked quickly towards Li Shimin's big tent, and after a while, he came to the big tent, and immediately had a personal soldier report: "Your Highness, General Luo has arrived." ”

"Let him in!" Li Shimin's voice came from inside the big tent.

Luo Yi walked into the outer tent, the big tent of the main general is a double-layer tent, there is a three-foot wide sandwich road between the outer tent and the inner tent, which can directly lead to the back tent, and the legend says that the knife and axe hand is ambushed in the sandwich road, smashing the cup for the number, and swarming out.

At this moment, the passage of the big tent was empty, with Luo Yi's intuition, there was no ambush, which made Luo Yi's heart relax suddenly, he walked into the big tent, at this time Li Shimin had already taken off his armor, changed into a white brocade robe, wearing a purple and gold crown, and a jasper belt around his waist, looking quite handsome and chic, he was sitting in front of the couch and reading.

Luo Yi hurriedly stepped forward and bowed, "See Your Highness!" ”

Li Shimin put down the book and smiled, "General Luo has worked hard tonight!" ”

His smile was no longer as cold as it was at dusk, and it had a little human touch. The tone was also a little more grateful, and Luo Yi hurriedly said: "Serving His Highness is a matter of duty, and I dare not accept His Highness's praise." ”

Li Shimin nodded, "The word 'service' is used very well, but there are still a little shortcomings, if the word 'labor' is changed to the word 'loyalty', it will be complete." ”

After speaking. Li Shimin looked at Luo Yi with a smile. Waiting for his official reply, he took a fancy to Luo Yi's commanding ability and training ability, and he could train 8,000 soldiers so coordinated. He had never seen it.

On the battlefield, these 8,000 people are an army with strong combat effectiveness, and they are worthy of being the governor of Youzhou. Even Dou Kang couldn't compare to him, Li Shimin was moved by his love for talent, so he wanted to take Luo Yi for his own use.

Luo Yi's heart jumped suddenly, it turned out that Li Shimin actually wanted to buy himself and make himself loyal to him, in fact, he had thought about this issue a few months ago, and he also knew the political situation in the Tang Dynasty, if he wanted to gain a foothold in the military, he would not take refuge in King Qin. It is to take refuge in the crown prince.

From the perspective of military power, King Qin is obviously stronger than the crown prince, and it seems to be more promising to follow King Qin, but Luo Yi understands in his heart that there are many generals under King Qin, and there are also descendants and collateral lines, such as eldest grandson Wuji, Wei Chi Jingde and others. I followed him for many years and won his trust.

Collateral relatives such as Duan Zhixuan, Liu Hongji, Yin Kaishan and others all follow him in their positions, and he is the head of Youzhou and has no background background. Basically, it can't become a descendant, and even can only become a second-rate collateral lineage.

King Qin had many generals under him. It is difficult for him to get ahead, and he himself has extremely strict control over military power, and following him is at most a big soldier.

But the crown prince is not the same, the prince has a lot of officials, but the generals are lacking, if you take refuge in him, with your own qualifications, you will be reused and become his right-hand man.

What's more important is that the crown prince does not lead the troops, and he does not have a strict grasp of military power, but he is more hands-on and let him do it, so he can use brainwashing methods to train soldiers in Tongguan, so that the 10,000 Tongguan garrisons are loyal to him, which is absolutely impossible to do under the King of Qin.

Luo Yi's heart is like a mirror, he will never give up the reuse of the prince and be loyal to King Qin, which is called Ning as the head of the chicken rather than the queen of the ox.

Luo Yi knelt down and kowtowed respectfully, Li Shimin thought he had agreed, and a pleased smile appeared on his face.

Unexpectedly, Luo Yi said in a deep voice: "Thank you His Royal Highness King Qin for his love for the humble position, the humble duty is loyal to the Tang Dynasty, loyal to the saint, this is the duty of the courtiers, His Royal Highness is the Prince of the Tang Dynasty, the head of the Shangshu, the general of Tiance, it is natural to serve His Royal Highness, and the humble position will abide by the military order and do a good job as a subordinate." ”

Li Shimin's face changed, Luo Yi was implicitly rejecting himself, he was annoyed for a while, did Luo Yi dare to toast and not eat and drink?

"General Luo, you have to think about it carefully, the consequences of rejecting this king!" Li Shimin said coldly.

Luo Yi sighed in his heart, and his attitude became tougher, "Your Highness, this is still a time of war, and the Tongguan garrison is on first-level alert, if I have an accident, I am afraid that it will trigger a mutiny, and I am afraid that it will endanger the safety of His Highness." ”

"You dare to threaten me?" Li Shimin's eyes flashed with murderous intent, and his hand was already gripping the hilt of the sword.

"Don't dare to be lowly, if Your Highness wants to kill your lowly position, it will indeed cause a rebellion in Tongguan, if Your Highness just wants to take over the defense of Tongguan, as a subordinate, you will naturally obey the order."

Li Shimin's eyes stared at him fiercely, and after a while, his face finally eased a little, and he nodded, "I don't want to kill you, but I'm worried that Yang Yuanqing will attack Tongguan, and you are not capable enough to hold the pass, so I decided to take over the defense of Tongguan and personally serve as the chief general of Tongguan, as for General Luo, he can temporarily serve as the deputy general of Tongguan." ”

"His Royal Highness has an order, and the humble duty can only be followed, and the humble mother is not in good health, and the humble wife wants to ask for leave to return to Beijing to visit his mother, I hope His Royal Highness will approve it!"

Li Shimin stared at him for a moment, and finally nodded, "I will allow you to go back to Beijing to visit your relatives!" ”……

A quarter of an hour later, Luo Yi took nothing, and led more than 100 of his own soldiers to rush out of Tongguan City on horseback and gallop towards Chang'an.

That night, Li Shimin purged the generals of Tongguan overnight, and all the officers above the rank of lieutenant were replaced by his own personal guards, completely turning the 10,000 defenders of Tongguan into his own forces