The so-called pulling a trigger to move the overall situation, the Sui army unexpectedly occupied Shanggu County in November, not only exerted huge pressure on Youzhou Luo Yi, but also made other Hebei forces nervous, among the four major forces in Hebei, the weakest is Wei Dao'er, followed by Gao Kaidao, the second is Youzhou Luo Yi, and the most powerful is Dou Jiande.

In the face of the strong eastward expansion of the Sui army, the major forces in Hebei realized that it was difficult to resist the Sui army with the strength of only one side, in this case, the call to abandon the previous suspicion and unite to resist the Sui gradually appeared in the major forces, first of all, the alliance of Luo Yi and Gao Kaidao, they united more than once in the battle to deal with Dou Jiande's northward expansion, and this time the Sui army expanded eastward, Luo Yi and Gao Kaidao naturally reached an alliance agreement to jointly deal with the Sui army.

At this time, Dou Jiande also had the idea of uniting Luo Yi to resist Sui, as early as a month ago, he sent Song Zhengben to Youzhou secretly to contact Luo Yi, Dou Jiande originally considered contacting Luo Yi many times, easing the hostility between the two sides, and then put forward a proposal for the joint of the two sides, but the Sui army occupied Shanggu County in advance, disrupting Dou Jiande's plan, but at the same time it also brought Dou Jiande an opportunity.

As night fell, a carriage drove into Youzhou City, and in the carriage, Song Zhengben stared at the streets shrouded in night, but his mind was thinking about the next direction of the Sui army.

Like Wen Yanbo, Song Zhengben also believed that the purpose of the Sui army's capture of Shanggu County was to open the door to attack Hebei, establish a granary and military capital, and lay the foundation for the Hebei campaign next spring.

This shows that the Sui army did not change its plan, and they also need time to build warehouses and carry materials, Youzhou is not Shanggu County, once it enters a state of confrontation, if there is no sufficient supply of grain and grass, it will be difficult for the Sui army to win this war in such a cold winter. It's not a surprise to win.

Therefore, the time for the Sui army to launch the Hebei offensive should still be in the spring of next year, which gives them two months, and they can use this time to establish a temporary alliance. Cooperate with the Sui Dynasty.

Song Zhengben is still very confident in the task of his trip, when he secretly went to Youzhou last month, he saw that Luo Yi had been tempted, and now Luo Yi is facing huge pressure, as long as the strategy is right, then the possibility of success is greater.

As for Gao Kaidao's side, Song Zhengben was not worried. As long as Luo Yi is convinced, Gao Kaidao will naturally become one of the alliances, and a powerful triangular alliance will be formed at that time, and he will no longer be afraid of the eastward expansion of the Sui army.

At this time, the carriage began to slow down, "Master, it's here!" "There was a coachman's voice outside.

Song Zhengben looked over, but happened to see Luo Yi sending Wen Yanbo out of the house. As if to say something, Song Zhengben immediately instructed the coachman, "Slow down!" ”

Song Zhengben knew that most of Luo Yi's subordinates hated Dou Jiande. Before he negotiated with Luo Yi, he didn't want to be seen by Luo Yi's subordinates, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble.

Wen Yanbo got into the carriage and said to Luo Yi: "My subordinates will set off early tomorrow morning, and they will definitely bring good news to the prince." ”

Luo Yi smiled slightly: "I wish Sima a smooth journey!" ”

The carriage started, gradually walked away, and disappeared into the darkness, Luo Yi was just about to go home, but when he turned around, he saw another carriage. The carriage curtain opened, and he saw Song Zhengben with a smile on his face, and Luo Yi was stunned for a moment.

…………

In the study, Luo Yi and Song Zhengben sat down, Luo Yi really didn't expect Song Zhengben to suddenly visit at this time, he had just discussed with Wen Yanbo the strategy of dealing with the eastward expansion of the Northern Sui. Song Zheng appeared,

A maid served them tea and retreated, Song Zhengben picked up the tea bowl and said with a slight smile: "What did you say about the last time I talked to the manager?" ”

Of course Luo Yi knew what Song Zhengben was talking about, originally he was very tempted to form an alliance with Dou Jiande, but Wen Yanbo's persuasion made him a little shaken, he knew Dou Jiande very well, when he needed to use people, Dou Jiande bent down and lowered his head, but once he didn't need you, he immediately turned his face, and the hand that had just patted his shoulder was stabbed with a knife, Luo Yi really didn't believe in Dou Jiande's sincerity.

He pondered for a moment and said, "Let me think about this again." ”

The corners of Song Zhengben's mouth twitched slightly, when is it now, his eyebrows have already been burned, Luo Yi actually has to think about it again, Song Zhengben immediately guessed Luo Yi's thoughts, I am afraid that Luo Yi thought of something to deal with Yang Yuanqing, so he became less enthusiastic.

Song Zhengben couldn't help sneering in his heart, with Dou Jiande's hundreds of thousands of troops, the forces that divided most of Hebei were not sure to confront the Sui army, and he had to find a way to fight against the Sui army, Luo Yi only had a small force of 50,000 troops and only three counties on his territory, did he think he could compete independently with the Sui army?

Of course, Song Zhengben couldn't say this, this would annoy Luo Yi, he persuaded euphemistically: "We also know that the Youzhou army has strong combat effectiveness, and there are 100,000 troops from Gao Kaidao to assist and support, as well as sufficient food, such strength is indeed not to be underestimated, but General Manager Luo does not understand the strength of the Sui army, with hundreds of thousands of Turkic troops to attack Fengzhou, and was defeated and returned, just ask our Hebei forces, who can do it?" Moreover, in the first battle of Hanoi County, tens of thousands of elite veterans who had followed my lord for many years were all wiped out, and we deeply realized that we could not confront the Sui army by relying on our own strength, and only when the entire Hebei forces were united, we could not withstand the Sui army. ”

Song Zhengben's serious persuasion made Luo Yi a little moved, he originally wanted to join forces with Dou Jiande, but was only temporarily persuaded by Wen Yanbo to retreat, at this time Song Zhengben laid out the facts, Luo Yi also suddenly realized that he was a little too naïve, thinking that he could confront the Sui army by himself, and the Turkic army of 300,000 was defeated by Yang Yuanqing's powerful force, and his tens of thousands of Youzhou troops could defeat the Sui army?

Song Zhengben saw that Luo Yi was already moved, so he used his killer weapon, and said unhurriedly: "Manager Luo, with all due respect, in fact, it shouldn't be us who is in a hurry now, judging from the deployment of the Sui army now, the first thing he wants to attack is obviously Youzhou, not us, I can sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, and when the Sui army and the Youzhou army are defeated, we will send troops to attack the Sui army, I believe that our army will drive the Sui army out of Hebei, but my lord did not do this, we are thinking about the cold lips and teeth, If Youzhou is finished. Then it will be our turn next, although our two families have always been at odds, in the face of a common foreign enemy, we should abandon the old suspicions. It is wise to unanimously oppose the Sui Dynasty. ”

Song Zhengben's words hit Luo Yi's key point, if the Sui army and the Youzhou army really lost both, then it must be Dou Jiande who has the last laugh, he will send troops to drive the Sui army out of Hebei, and then eat himself, isn't it easy?

Although Song Zhengben did not say it explicitly. But Luo Yi understood, and he suddenly felt a little creepy, can't! Dou Jiande must not be allowed to watch from the sidelines, and he must also be pulled into the water and let him also bear the price of fighting against the Sui army, so that he will not be able to eat himself.

Thinking of this, Luo Yi finally made up his mind, and he nodded slowly. "Mr. Song said very well, his lips are dead and his teeth are cold, and Youzhou is over. The next one is your turn, Yang Yuanqing is our common enemy, everyone should put aside the past grievances and join hands to fight against the Sui, please tell King Changle that Luo Yi is willing to join hands with him to fight the eastward expansion of the Sui army. ”

"Then General Gao Kaidao's side ......," Song Zhengben asked tentatively.

Luo Yi said without hesitation: "There is no problem on Gao Kaidao's side, he himself advocates joint resistance to Sui, if I promise to cooperate with you, he will also agree, I can convince him." The key is how we work together, and I think we need to work through the details. ”

Song Zhengben took out a document from his arms, put it on the table, pushed it to Luo Yi, and said with a smile: "This is a specific plan that we proposed, Manager Luo might as well take a look." I will stay in Youzhou for three days to discuss the details of cooperation, but there is one thing I want to remind Mr. Luo that this matter must be kept absolutely confidential, I mean, I am worried that it will be leaked out, and if Yang Yuanqing knows, it will be unfavorable to us. ”

Luo Yi nodded, "I understand this, you can rest assured!" ”

…………，

The night was already very deep, and by the hour of the hour the streets were empty, and not a single pedestrian could be seen, when occasionally a few small dogs galloped through the streets, gathered together to fight, and soon dispersed again, and the weather was unusually cold, and there were piles of dirty snow everywhere, and the ice ridges under the eaves were two feet long.

On a small street in the northeast of Youzhou City, a tall and thin black figure was hurrying along the root of the wall, he looked back vigilantly from time to time, watching the changes in the surrounding situation, he walked through a street corner, saw a wine shop not far ahead, his neck shrunk, and quickened his pace towards the wine shop.

The wine shop is called Hongfeng Wine Shop, a very common name, the wine shop is not big, covering an area of about one acre, two floors, in Youzhou City, such wine shops abound, and this location is not too good, it seems a little remote, so the business of the wine shop does not seem to be very good, and it closed early.

At this time, the door of the wine store opened, and a guy walked out, followed by a middle-aged man, who looked dressed like the shopkeeper of this wine store.

"Shopkeeper, then I'll go back first."

"Be careful on the road, take good care of your mother, you can't come over tomorrow, you can come the day after tomorrow."

"I'll try to come tomorrow!"

The man gathered the sheepskin jacket on his body, and took his leave, and the shopkeeper was just about to go back, but in the darkness, a tall and thin shadow flashed out.

"Who is it?" The shopkeeper was shocked.

"It's me!"

The shopkeeper looked left and right, and quickly pulled the thin black man into the restaurant, and in the light, it was a young man, with dark skin, bright eyes, and two long arms, which looked very powerful.

This person's name is Luo Shanwen, a spy sent to Youzhou by the Northern Sui Internal Guard, and the shopkeeper of the wine shop is also a spy of the Northern Sui Army, surnamed Zhang, who opened this wine shop as a cover, they have been in Youzhou for two years and have collected a lot of information.

"What's the catch?" Shopkeeper Zhang asked, he was in charge of transmitting information, and he knew that Luo Shanwen must have important information so late.

"There's an important piece of information!"

Luo Shanwen nodded, "We squatted in front of the governor's mansion today, and found that Dou Jiande's military advisor Song Zhengben had arrived, and after he entered Luo Yi's mansion, he never came out. ”

"Do you see clearly, is it indeed Song Zhengben?"

Luo Shanwen nodded affirmatively: "I can be sure, it's Song Zhengben, this information is very important, I hope to send it away as soon as possible." ”

"Good! Tomorrow as soon as the gates are opened, I will go out of the city to release the eagle. ”