Although it was a wise move for Li Shimin's army to withdraw to Chang'an, it did not conform to the strategy of Li Yuan, the son of heaven, and even made Li Yuan feel humiliated, he lost every time he planned to advance eastward, the previous time was Hebei, and this time it was the Central Plains, especially when the Central Plains had been defeated and was forced to withdraw from it, which made Li Yuan feel more aggrieved.

Of course, Li Yuan also knew that the Sui army had launched a large-scale attack on Bingzhou, and they not only occupied Hedong City and Pujin Pass, but also occupied Shangdang County and Changping County, and the situation in Bingzhou also made Li Yuan very anxious.

It is precisely for this reason that when Li Shimin returned to Chang'an, Li Yuan did not get angry, nor did he reprimand Li Shimin for not following his will and evacuating from the Central Plains without authorization, and Li Yuan also admitted that they had underestimated Zhang Xuan's determination to defend the interests of the Central Plains.

The Wude Hall is extremely quiet, Li Shimin, Li Jiancheng and a group of important ministers sit solemnly, Li Yuan, the son of heaven, sits on the dragon couch and carefully reads Zhang Xuan's text message to Li Shimin, he seems to want to see through the deep meaning behind each word, indeed, some of the contents of this letter are very imaginative, such as 'gather the country's troops to attack Guanzhong, and the troops are under the city of Chang'an', showing Zhang Xuan's ambition, and then 'the autumn harvest has arrived, Jinnan has enough food', and it hides Zhang Xuan's desire for Jinnan.

Li Yuan read the letter silently, handed the letter to the eunuch next to him, "Circulate it to the ministers!" ”

The eunuch first handed the letter to the crown prince Li Jiancheng, and after Li Jiancheng read it, he handed it to Chen Shuda next to him.

"Let's talk about it!"

Li Yuan's gaze fell on Pei Lian, suggesting that he would make a statement first.

Pei Lin understood the hint of the Son of Heaven, he stood up and saluted: "Weichen thinks that Zhang Xuan's letter is more threatening than substantial, of course, it also exposes some of his ambitions, and even some of his future plans can be seen. ”

"Pei Xiangguo, don't forget, Pujin Pass is still in the hands of Zhang Xuan." Next to him, Liu Wenjing said coldly.

"Liu Shangshu is too arrogant!"

Pei Lin replied unceremoniously: "Can you capture Pujin Pass and capture Guanzhong?" In this case, why did Zhang Xuan not move, didn't he know that the capture of Chang'an would destroy my Tang Dynasty? Is Zhang Xuan too stupid, or is Liu Shangshu thinking too much? ”

Pei Lian's series of interrogations made Liu Wenjing speechless, and at this time, Chen Shuda got up and said haha: "Don't argue about the two of you, let's discuss the matter and discuss how to solve the current crisis in Bingzhou!" ”

The topic turned to practical issues, Li Yuan also nodded, and asked the crown prince Li Jiancheng: "Let's talk about it after it is built!" ”

"The retainers obey the order!"

Li Jiancheng got up and saluted his father and the ministers, and then said unhurriedly: "I thought that the crisis in Pujin Pass and the crisis in Shangdang and Changping counties were one thing on the surface, and Zhang Xuan tried to force us to withdraw our troops from the Central Plains, but if we think about it carefully, we will find that these are actually two things, Pujin Pass is only a temporary crisis, while Shangdang and Changping Second Counties are an inevitable step in the westward expansion of the Sui army, and our threat is not Pujin Pass, but Shangdang." ”

"Brother, how can you see that?" Li Shimin asked with some puzzlement.

Li Jiancheng smiled slightly, "So I said that I want to scrutinize it, last year Zhang Xuan occupied Xiping Pass and Huguan before signing the armistice agreement, it seems that it is to prevent us from going east, but if it is just to prevent the Tang army from going east, it is enough for them to hold Weize Pass, there is no need to occupy Xiping Pass and Huguan at all, this will cause us discomfort, and eventually lead us to attack Huguan, Zhang Xuan is not ignorant of the principle of doing what he does not want to do to others, he does this for only one reason, to prepare for his attack and annexation of the state, he in this letter - ”

Li Jiancheng raised Yang Zhang Xuan's text message, and continued: "Jinnan has enough food, from the four words he said, you can see the biggest weakness of the Sui army, that is, the lack of food, he can now support nearly 300,000 troops, completely because of the dividends he obtained from the Goguryeo War, but the war dividends will be used up sooner or later, what should he do then?"

Taking precautions and seizing the grain-producing land is his next plan, and his desire for the grain-producing area can be seen from the occupation of Yingchuan County, so I can be sure that Zhang Xuan's next war plan must be Jianghuai and Jinnan, which are two important grain-producing areas. ”

Li Jiancheng's analysis was reasonable and profound, and everyone unanimously agreed, at this time, Li Shimin muttered and said: "Brother Huang thinks he will start a war on two fronts, but I think it is unlikely, with his current strength, he can't support a two-front war." ”

"Here's the problem!"

Li Jiancheng said with a smile: "I also think that he can't support a two-front battle, for example, the east and west fronts are fighting at the same time, one side is Goguryeo, and the other side is us, this kind of two-front battle Zhang Xuan really can't support it, but Du Fuwei is different, does the imperial brother think he will raise an army to attack Du Fuwei?" Obviously not, but it was impossible for him to attack Du Fuwei and Bingzhou at the same time, so he occupied Shangdang and Changping, and then took a defensive position, as long as he did not attack Bingzhou in a big way, then the two-front battle could still be done, which is why Zhang Xuan sent Wei Chi Gong and Wei Wentong to stationed in Shangdang and Changping counties, both of which were known for being good at defending. ”

Li Shimin pondered for a moment and then asked, "How does the elder brother think the crisis in Pujin Pass and Hedong City will be resolved?" ”

"Send people to negotiate in the central capital, since the crisis between the two places is not the same thing, then Pujin Pass and Hedong City should be able to get it back through negotiations."

"If Zhang Xuan proposes to return Pujin Pass and Hedong City on the condition that the two counties of Shangdang and Changping are recognized as returning to Sui, then what should we do?" Li Shimin asked sharply.

Li Jiancheng said slowly: "We hope to solve the problem through negotiation, if the negotiation can't solve the problem, then it's time for the army to play, I believe that the imperial brother is ready." ”

On the one hand, he sent envoys to Zhongdu to demand that the Sui army withdraw from Pujin Pass and Hedong City, and on the other hand, the Tang army actively prepared for war.

Li Yuan accepted this plan, and he immediately appointed Wen Daya, a squire of the Yellow Gate, as a special envoy to negotiate the retreat of the Sui army from Pujin Pass and Hedong City.

Although he found a solution to Pujin Pass and Hedong City, Li Yuan was still worried about the Sui army's westward expansion and annexation of the state, and returned to the imperial study, where he immediately asked his two sons to be found.

Not long after, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin hurried to the imperial study.

"You two don't have to be polite, sit down and talk."

The two brothers saluted and sat down, Li Yuan said slowly: "In the court meeting, I was afraid that you two brothers would quarrel, so I suspended the follow-up discussion, but I am still very worried about the recovery of Shangdang County and Changping County, there are only three of us father and son here, if you have anything to say, just say it, Shimin will say it first!" I see that you have been silent since then, and I guess you have reservations. ”

Li Shimin hurriedly said: "The dispute between Shimin and the eldest brother is a dispute, it is a public matter, but it will not affect the feelings of our brothers." ”

Li Jiancheng also said: "The second brother is right, don't worry about us. ”

"That's good!"

Li Yuan nodded with satisfaction, "Since your brother said so, then I will rest assured, and the people of the world will continue!" ”

Li Shimin continued: "Erchen thinks that the eldest brother's previous opinion has a certain truth, Hedong City and Shangdang Second County are indeed two things, but that is only the state of Erchen in the Central Plains, the state will change, when Erchen led the army to withdraw to Guanzhong, the state has changed, Erchen is sure that Hedong City and Shangdang County have become one thing, that is, Zhang Xuan wants to gain a firm foothold in Bingzhou." ”

"Do you mean that Zhang Xuan wants to control Pujin Pass and Hedong City all the time?" Li Yuan asked puzzled.

"Of course he wants to control Pujin Pass, but whether he can hold it or not depends on the strength of our army, what Erchen means is that Hedong and Pujin Pass are already part of whether the Sui army can hold the second county of Shangdang, and they will inevitably defend Pujin Pass and Hedong City to prevent us from attacking Shangdang County and Changping County, and it is actually meaningless to send envoys to negotiate in Zhongdu."

"How pointless!"

Li Jiancheng said with some displeasure: "Zhang Xuan violated the armistice agreement we signed last year, of course we should send someone to the Central Capital to accuse, maybe Zhang Xuan is a kind of tyrant who disdains the agreement, but the ministers of the Central Capital may not think so, these ministers are all cheeky people, and the agreement also has the signatures of Su Wei and Pei Ju, Erchen believes that our cultural offensive will allow Su Pei and the others to put pressure on Zhang Xuan, and will achieve unexpected results." ”

Li Yuan greatly appreciated Li Jiancheng's words, and he smiled gently at Li Shimin: "Shimin, after all, your eldest brother has experienced many years of tempering in Wagang Mountain, and he is much more mature than you in terms of sophistication and politics. ”

Li Shimin had no choice but to bow and say: "My father taught me the right lesson, but my son's son really didn't think about the problem." ”

At this time, Li Jiancheng smiled again: "Speaking of Wagang Mountain, I can't help but feel the old feelings, whether the second brother can hand over Zhai Rang's army to me, I really can't give up this army." ”

Li Shimin was silent for a moment, "Don't hide it from my eldest brother, I plan to let the Wagang Army go to Badong to defend the town in order to prepare for our second southern expedition in the future!" ”

Li Jiancheng's face suddenly changed, "No!" He spoke out against the plan.

(To be continued.) )