Although Wu Shitong revealed the imminent arrival of 50,000 reinforcements from the Tang Army when he persuaded Zhai Rang, in fact, this matter was ordered by Li Shimin to be tightly sealed, and Qu Tutong led an army of 50,000 troops to Xiyang County and hid in Danshui County, while at this time Li Shimin led an army of 30,000 troops stationed in Nanxiang County, which was only 30 miles away from Danshui County, where the reinforcements were located.

At this time, the enemy army Li Shimin faced was the 100,000 army led by the bandit Zhu Ji, Zhu Ji's forces were in Nanyang and Xiangyang, and the Tang army's eastward expedition was first to exterminate Zhu Ji, and Wang Shichong's forces went south to invade Zhu Ji's territory.

Nanyang County became the focus of the entire war, because Wang Shichong moved south, Li Shimin was forced to lead the army to withdraw from Nanyang County, stationed in Nanxiang County, which was only 50 miles away from Nanyang County, to pay close attention to the changes in the situation.

In the military office of Nanxiang County, Li Shimin was discussing countermeasures with Wushi Tong and Qu Tutong, who had just arrived, and Wushi Tong brought news from Zhai Rang, who led 30,000 troops to enter Xiangguo County, cut off the three grain routes from Luoyang to the south, and destroyed two Wang Shichong's grain teams.

Li Shimin took a few steps and said: "The grain road was intercepted, Wang Shichong's 80,000 army will be unsustainable, Wang Shichong will inevitably counterattack Zhai Rang, Luoyang army is only 30,000, and Luoyang needs to be held without loss, so the counterattack Zhai Rang's army can only be Yuwen Chengdu or Wang Shichong himself, judging from the performance of Wang Shichong's army before, I think it is more likely that Wang Shichong will personally lead the army to counterattack Zhai Rang." ”

Qu Tutong smiled and asked, "I don't know how Wang Shichong's army behaved before?" ”

"I led the army to fight fiercely with Zhu Wei, but Wang Shichong's army stood by and did not take the opportunity to attack on the side, which is very strange."

"Could it be that Wang Shichong hopes that His Royal Highness and Zhu Ji will fight and lose before making a move?" Qu Tutong continued to smile and asked.

Li Shimin pondered for a moment and said: "I don't think it's like it, judging from Wang Shichong's several times in the past when he asked Zhu Ji to surrender, he is more like forcing Zhu Ji to surrender to him." ”

"Does it work?"

Li Shimin nodded, "Zhu Wei has a staff member named Duan Tao, who persuaded Zhu Wei to surrender to Wang Shichong several times before, but it angered Zhu Wei and was imprisoned, this person was released two days ago, and he also served as Zhu Ji's mastermind, which shows that Zhu Ji's attitude towards Wang Shichong has changed subtly. ”

Qu Tutong thought for a while and said, "In this case, we need to annihilate Zhu Ji's army as soon as possible to prevent the two armies from uniting." ”

"I also know that the situation is critical!"

Li Shimin said worriedly: "The key now is to see when Wang Shichong's army will counterattack Zhai Rang, and then our opportunity will come." ”

At this moment, a soldier outside the door reported, "Your Highness, there is urgent information from Yingchuan County!" ”

Everyone looked at each other, and almost at the same time realized that the information they wanted might have arrived, and Li Shimin immediately ordered: "Let the messenger come to see me!" ”

After a while, a scout was ushered into the room, and the scout knelt down on one knee and saluted, "See His Royal Highness King Qin!" ”

"Tell me, what's going on in Yingchuan County?"

"There is two pieces of information, one is that Zhang Xuan led a large army to Xuzhou, and it is said that Du Fuwei's army invaded Xuzhou."

Li Shimin was overjoyed, and sure enough, he expected it, Zhang Xuan didn't want to help Wang Shichong, so he found an excuse and went east, and he asked urgently: "Then what about another piece of information?" ”

"There is also information that Wang Shichong led 50,000 troops into Xiangguo County, and it is said that Zhai Rang cut off Wang Shichong's grain route in Xiangguo County."

Li Shimin was overjoyed, patted his forehead again and again, and said, "God help me!" ”

At this time, Qu Tutong smiled slightly: "I have a plan, but I can break Zhu Ji, Your Highness is willing to listen?" ”

Li Shimin asked the messenger to go down, and said happily: "Qu Tugong's plan must be wonderful, and the people of the world are willing to listen to it!" ”

Zhu Wei is the most brutal of the princes of the late Sui Dynasty, he has more than 100,000 soldiers, when the army is raised in Jingxiang and Nanyang area to burn and loot, there is no grass in the place where he passes, and even eats human flesh when the military food is scarce, he is a well-known cannibal demon king in the world.

Prior to this, Wang Shichong had sent people to persuade Zhu Wei to surrender several times, but Zhu Wei refused, and this time the Tang Army went east, Zhu Wei felt great pressure, and he also knew that he was guilty, I am afraid that except for Wang Shichong, no one dares to contain him.

However, Zhu Wei still has 100,000 troops in his hands, and there is still hope of defeating the Tang army, so Zhu Wei has not expressed his willingness to surrender to Wang Shichong.

Zhu Wei is seven feet tall, his head is as big as a fight, his body is broad and majestic, especially his belly is huge, especially his dark skin and a messy beard, he looks like a dark lord from a distance, and his appearance is terrifying.

Zhu Jie himself is superior in martial arts, strong and brave, so that an eighty pound of green dragon glaive knife, self-named Zhou Cang reincarnation, although Zhu Jie is brave on the battlefield, but he himself is a brave and unscrupulous person, not to mention no political mind, he likes to fight the army to press, to bully the weak, he very much like the pleasure of the army to press the city, especially after the city is broken, the army into the city to wash the city with blood, it makes him excited to go crazy.

On the morning of this day, Zhu Wei got the news that Li Shimin led 30,000 troops into Nanyang County and was killing Nanyang City. ”

Zhu Wei is a stubborn person, he re-appointed Duan Tao as the mastermind, more to show Wang Shichong his attitude, he can consider surrendering to Wang Shichong, but he doesn't like others to interfere with his decision.

Zhu Wei asked with an unhappy face, "What's the news?" ”

"I heard that the price of grain in Nanxiang County has skyrocketed, and the army is buying civilian grain on a large scale, and I suspect that it is likely that there is a problem with the food of the Tang army, so they are eager to fight a decisive battle with the king."

"What's the point?" Zhu Wei's voice is rude and his voice is very loud, and it takes a lot of courage to talk to him.

Duan Tao was a little timid in his heart, but he still mustered up the courage to say: "If we close the city and don't fight, the Tang army will inevitably be forced to retreat back to Shangluo County, and the king can chase down the Tang army and defeat it in a battle." ”

Zhu Wei thought about it, and after two days without a fight and no losses, he poked Duan Tao's chest heavily with his fingers, revealing a mouthful of white Sensen's teeth, and said coldly: "If you say it wrong, Lao Tzu will steam you!" ”

Duan Tao was frightened, this man-eating demon king was not joking.

Zhu Wei immediately ordered to close the door without fighting, and the Tang army sent generals and soldiers to Nanyang City every day to scold and provoke, trying to provoke Zhu Wei to fight, but Zhu Wei also saw the Tang army's eagerness to fight, and began to believe Duan Tao's words in his heart, and he was even more determined to close the door without fighting.

Three days later, just after dawn, the soldiers at the head of the city suddenly shouted, the Tang army actually retreated, someone hurried to report to Zhu Jie, Zhu Wei was overjoyed, and personally led the army out of the city to check the Tang army camp.

The Tang army retreated very hastily, at least thirty percent of the camp tents did not retreat, but there was not a single grain.

At this time, a soldier rushed over, holding a cake in his hand and said to Zhu Ji: "King, this is found in the Tang Army's head tent. ”

Zhu Yu took the cake and slowly crushed it, there was only a very small amount of wheat flour, and there were bran husks, wild vegetables and wheat bran in it, he was secretly happy in his heart, Tang Jun really ran out of food, he hurriedly said: "Where is the fire head tent?" Take me to see it. ”

The soldier led Zhu Yi to the Huotou tent, most of the tents were jars and jars that could not be taken away, and there was nothing in them, at this time, Zhu Ji found that the corner was a little damp, and he immediately ordered: "Dig it up for me!" ”

Several soldiers dug up the soil, which was the leftover vegetables eaten by the Tang soldiers, Zhu Yi picked up the vegetables and looked closely, they were all cooked wild vegetables and leaves, without a little oil and water, Zhu Yi no longer doubted that the Tang Army had really run out of food and retreated.

Zhu Wei immediately decided: "Gather the army and pursue the Tang army for me!" ”

The 100,000 army quickly assembled, under the leadership of Zhu Wei, and slaughtered into Xiyang County, leaving only 5,000 people to guard Nanyang City, and the 100,000 army followed the official road where the Tang army fled.

"Give me chase! They only have 30,000 troops, and our 100,000 troops can be annihilated in one fell swoop! ”

The Tang army lost its armor and lured the enemy army to chase after it, Zhu Wei's army was very excited, and chased it for more than 100 miles in one go, killing near Danshui County, but there was no trace of the Tang army.

Just when he was puzzled, a soldier caught up with Zhu Yu and reported: "King, a Tang army of more than 10,000 people has entered Nanyang City, Duan Tao opened the city and surrendered, and Nanyang City fell!" ”

Zhu Wei was shocked, how could there still be a Tang army in Nanyang County, and more importantly, his grain and grass were hoarded in Nanyang City, Nanyang was lost, what did his army eat? Zhu Wei had already realized that the situation was not good, and he was very likely to fall for the trick, so he hurriedly ordered: "Withdraw the army immediately!" ”

The 100,000 troops were panicked, the rear team turned into the front team, and quickly retreated, at this moment, the front and rear of the thief army suddenly sounded the rumbling war drums, Li Shimin personally led 70,000 troops to kill from all directions, shouting killing and shaking the sky.

If it was an army of 30,000, or Zhu Jie's army could still resist, but now it was 70,000 Tang Army elites, Zhu Jie's army could not resist and was quickly defeated, but the back road had been cut off, and the soldiers had nowhere to flee for their lives, and there were countless surrenders.

Zhu Wei took more than 1,000 to the north to fight a bloody road, defected to Wang Shichong, Li Shimin reorganized the surrender of soldiers, had to surrender more than 80,000 people, he immediately led the army into Nanyang County, and ordered Wu Shi Tong to lead an army of 10,000 into Xiangyang. (To be continued.) )