From the evening onwards, the blizzard became more and more violent, the wind whined and roared, and the dark sky mingled with the sea of snow, and the sky and the earth became vast.

On a mound, Yang Yuanqing stood for a long time in the face of the land where hundreds of thousands of troops had fought fiercely, there was no joy of victory in his eyes, and there was no fatigue after the war, only a deep pathos, countless fresh lives, countless soldiers who followed him to the south and the north, were drowned in this blizzard that ravaged the world.

The snow fell heavier and heavier, falling on his helmet and body, turning him into a snowman, and behind him, the soldiers exchanged uneasy glances, His Highness had been standing for half an hour, and he could not drag it any longer, he would be frozen.

At this time, the sound of horses' hooves came from a distance, and they quickly rushed to the front, and Li Jing's voice came from the wind and snow, "Is Your Highness here?" ”

The soldiers were overjoyed and greeted one after another, and one person walked quickly in the wind and snow, it was Li Jing, the governor of Daizhou, "Manager Li, persuade Your Highness!" He's been standing for half an hour. The soldiers said in a low and anxious voice.

Li Jing was startled, this would freeze his body, he walked towards Yang Yuanqing quickly, and when he was about to get closer, Yang Yuanqing's deep voice came from the mound, "Is it Manager Li?" ”

"Your Highness, it's me!"

Li Jing slowed down, in Yang Yuanqing's tone just now, he could feel a kind of sadness like losing a loved one, Li Jing could understand Yang Yuanqing's grief, as a sympathetic soldier commander, such a heavy casualty was indeed unacceptable.

But...... The war was far from over, Li Jing slowly walked to Yang Yuanqing's side, and persuaded in a low voice: "Now is not the time to be sad, there are still 30,000 Turkic cavalry wreaking havoc in the hinterland of Hedong, and the Tang army is taking advantage of the fire to loot, and our crisis has not been eliminated." ”

"I know."

Yang Yuanqing's tone became very calm, "I want to go south overnight, and before leaving, I want to say goodbye to them and ask them to forgive me for not being able to send them to the ground." ”

Li Jing was stunned, speechless for a long time, Yang Yuanqing was about to go south overnight, at this time, Yang Yuanqing turned around and walked down the hill, walked towards the war horse, and heard his voice from a distance, "Let's go back to the camp!" I have a lot to tell you. ”

Li Jing suddenly understood that Yang Yuanqing was going to hand over the aftermath of the Turkic campaign to himself, and his heart was hot, and he walked down the hill quickly.

In the wind and snow, hundreds of cavalry turned their horses' heads and rushed to the Sui army camp more than ten miles away, and the wind and snow soon annihilated the cavalry's figure, only on the battlefield, several Sui soldiers were still identifying the corpses, and the corpses of a Sui army fallen soldiers were carried onto the carriage.

……

……

Different from the blizzard in Mayi, it also snowed heavily for two days in Hedong County, the sky has cleared, the villages are dressed in white plain clothes, the trees have turned into bloated silver bars, and a long abandoned wall in the distance is like a giant snake with a white back, stretching out into the purple and red sunrise in the distance, and the bumpy depressions and ditches on both sides of the official road have been filled in by the snow and turned into a white flat land.

This is Wuliu Town, about 30 miles north of Hedong City, it is early in the morning, the official road is full of pedestrians, the thick snow has been trampled firmly, people step down, let out 'squeak! Creak! 'Sound.

On a big rock by the side of the road, sat an old farmer with a sad face, the wheels of his carriage sunk into a ditch, and five or six young strong men were helping him carry the cart together, but several times without success, attracting the laughter of several young girls passing by like silver bells.

In the distance, a group of children ran out of the village, laughing and laughing along the snow-covered ridges, with a few domestic dogs running in front.

In the snow, a group of farmers are intently measuring the thickness of the snow, and everyone's face is filled with inner joy that they have been longing for for most of the year, this heavy snow has moistened the extremely dry land and restored the land to life.

At this moment, the sound of horses' hooves was heard in the distance, and a troop of five or six hundred horsemen galloped from the north, and they could be seen from afar, like a long black line running through the snowfield.

The pedestrians on the official road dodged to both sides, and in a moment, the cavalry galloped forward, each with two horses, because this was a junction, and there were many pedestrians, the cavalry slowed down, but still galloped in front of the people very quickly.

The old farmer sitting on the boulder suddenly stood up and said to the young people next to him in surprise: "Do you see who the leader of the officer is?" ”

Several young people shook their heads together, they didn't notice, they saw the old man's surprised expression, and immediately asked, "Daddy Qin, who is it?" ”

"You fools, aren't the leading generals His Royal Highness the King of Chu?"

Several businessmen next to him also surrounded him and asked anxiously: "Dad, can you be sure, is it really His Royal Highness the King of Chu?" ”

"That's right, I've met him several times, and when he inspected Hedong last year, he also came to our village and asked me how many acres of land I had, and it must be him."

Everyone immediately discussed, didn't His Royal Highness the King of Chu fight against the Turks in the north? How did he appear in Hedong County, the old farmer stroked his white beard, and a knowing smile appeared in his eyes that had experienced the vicissitudes of life, and he said excitedly to everyone: "If I guess correctly, our army must have defeated the Turks and achieved a great victory!" ”

Everyone cheered, but several businessmen glanced at each other, and their eyes showed shock, this important information, they should immediately report to His Royal Highness the King of Qin

……

Although most of Hedong Road was immersed in the joy of Ruixue, Yang Yuanqing was not in the mood to celebrate Ruixue with the officials and people along the way.

On the one hand, it was true that the tragic outcome of the Battle of Sui and Tu made him depressed, and on the other hand, the worry of the Tang army taking advantage of the fire and robbery always weighed heavily on his heart.

He doesn't know where the situation has been? Especially in the Central Plains, has he broken through his bottom line? Along the way, he couldn't get the latest situation in Luoyang, only knew that Luoyang was besieged, but that was the situation three days ago, and now?

In fact, Yang Yuanqing was not worried about the destruction of Luoyang City, and the fall of Wang Shichong was a matter of time, either in the hands of the Tang Dynasty or killed by the Sui army.

Although Luoyang is a big place in the Central Plains, it is also a place of four wars, easy to attack and difficult to defend, Wang Shichong is sandwiched between two strong enemies, and this balanced situation cannot last long.

Wang Shichong is also a hero, Yang Yuanqing does not care about his life or death, he cares about the eastward expansion of the Tang army, once the Tang army takes Luoyang, and the battle between the Sui army and the Turks is not over, then Li Shimin will inevitably continue to expand eastward and take most of the Central Plains.

This is Yang Yuanqing's bottom line, and it is the result he absolutely does not want to see, so he gave Wang Shichong a five-day deadline, which is just to motivate Wang Shichong to defend the city and buy time for him, and today is the fourth day.

At this time, an exclamation came from behind him, interrupting Yang Yuanqing's train of thought, and as soon as he turned around, he saw a war horse falling to the ground, foaming at the mouth, and his four hooves were constantly twitching, which was extremely tired.

Yang Yuanqing immediately reined in the war horse, looked at the pro-soldier who fell from the horse with concern, the pro-soldier rolled out more than a zhang away, and quickly got up, there was thick snow on the ground, he was fine, Yang Wuqing nodded, and looked forward again, it was only a dozen miles away from Hedong City.

"Everyone slow down and rest the horses!"

He said to Cheng Yanjin again: "Zhijie, you go to Hedong City first, tell the general to come, and say that I have arrived." ”

"Hey!"

Cheng Yanjin agreed, changed a horse, and accelerated his speed towards Hedong City.

At this time, Luo Shixin finally found an opportunity, stepped forward and said in a low voice: "Your Highness, to relieve the siege of Luoyang, we should go to Hanoi County, we will come to Hedongwei, isn't it ......?"

"You kid want to say that my bull's head is not the right horse's mouth, right?" Yang Yuanqing glanced at him, and finally a smile appeared on his face.

Luo Shixin's face turned red, scratched the back of his head and said: "I don't dare to say this, I just want to say that far water does not quench my thirst." ”

"Forgive me, kid doesn't dare to talk nonsense."

Yang Yuanqing smiled, but did not answer his doubts, they walked for a while, Luo Shixin finally couldn't help it, and asked again: "Are we going to cross the river from Fengling?" Cut off the rear road of the Tang army. ”

Yang Yuanqing smiled and knocked on his helmet with a horsewhip, "Do I have such a stupid junior brother?" Give you time to think about it, you actually thought of Fenglingdu, it really disappoints me, why don't you want to go to Pujindu? ”

"Kamatsuto!"

Luo Shixin was stunned, and suddenly a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, and he suddenly understood Yang Yuanqing's intentions, he covered his mouth all of a sudden, and was so excited that he almost shouted, Yang Yuanqing was going to attack Chang'an directly!

Yang Yuanqing saw that he was excited, knowing that he understood his intentions, so he smiled and asked, "What, do you think it's inappropriate?" ”

"There's nothing wrong with that!"

Luo Shixin waved his hand again and again, "I just think it's too exciting, attack Chang'an directly, it's best to break through Chang'an and drive Li Yuan'er off the throne!" ”

The more Luo Shixin spoke, the more excited he became, he slapped his head, "I'm really stupid, I didn't expect such a good strategy to be empty, this is Wei Wei to save Zhao!" ”

Luo Shixin suddenly thought of something, hesitated, and asked, "It's just...... Why didn't this strategy be implemented earlier, in fact, it could have been implemented when the Tang army left Tongguan, and we didn't need to rush thousands of miles to come, and we were frightened along the way. ”

"Do you think I can't think of it?"

Yang Yuanqing shook his head, "This strategy is too risky, if you rush into Guanzhong, Li Jiancheng withdraws from Guannei, and Li Xiaogong reinforces from Tongguan, it will become a turtle in an urn, and what's worse is that the Sui army will enter Guanzhong, Hedong will inevitably be empty, at this time, Li Shimin will take advantage of the void to go north to Hedong, and Sui Tu is still fighting in Mayi, what do you say?" ”

Luo Shixin came to his senses and nodded silently, "This will outweigh the losses." ”

Yang Yuanqing also sighed slightly, "Not only does the gain outweigh the loss, but not only can we not encircle Wei to save Zhao, but we will lose my wife and lose my soldiers." ”

After a pause, Yang Yuanqing said again: "The key to this strategy is the end of the Sui Tu Battle, so that the Sui army can free up their hands, Li Shimin does not dare to go north to Hedong easily, so I am in a hurry to go south, as long as I show up in Hedong County, Li Shimin can know that the Sui Tu Battle has ended, he does not dare to act rashly, and in case of emergency, I will transfer 10,000 people from Hanoi County to strengthen Hedong County, so that this policy of encircling Wei and saving Zhao can be implemented." ”

As soon as Yang Yuanqing said this, he saw a team of people running in the distance, and the general led by him was the main future protector of the east of the river.

……