Zhai Rang obviously made a decision that was not conducive to his future, just when Zhai Rang had just evacuated the battlefield without authorization, Li Shimin's 100,000 urgent military order was delivered, and the military order clearly required Zhai Rang to occupy Yique County and hold Yique County to the death, but Li Shimin's letter was a step late, just as Zhai Rang's army had just withdrawn, Wang Shichong sent his nephew Wang Ren to lead 5,000 troops to seize Yique County to prevent Zhai Rang from killing back again.

At the same time, Li Shimin also received a fast letter from Zhai Rang, because of the lack of food and grass, he had to temporarily retreat to the west, which made Li Shimin furious, Li Shimin's roar was heard from a distance outside the big tent, and it was the first time for the generals to see the King of Qin lose his temper so much.

"Who does he think he is, and does he think he is the king of Wagang? Do whatever you want! ”

"If you don't listen to my orders and evacuate without permission, you'll ruin my big thing!"

Li Shimin was heartbroken, a hard-won game of chess was ruined by Zhai Rang's unauthorized withdrawal, Zhai Rang not only ruined the good opportunity to completely annihilate Wang Shichong, but also ruined the golden opportunity to destroy Luoyang.

has his own containment of Wang Shichong, as long as Zhai Rang defends Yique, so that Wang Shichong's grain and grass are cut off, Luoyang's army has to kill Yique to rescue, at that time, a strange army out of Tongguan, you can take advantage of the void to seize Luoyang.

It's a pity that Zhai Rang gave up Yique, and he gave up this precious opportunity, so how could Li Shimin not stomp his feet and scold.

But scolding and scolding, Li Shimin was finally helpless, so he had to re-order Zhai Rang to go south to join him.

He led 50,000 troops to confront Wang Shichong in Xiangguo County, and Qu Tutong led 30,000 troops to occupy Yingchuan, Runan and Huai'an counties respectively, Li Shimin did not dare to enter Liang County eastward, he knew that it would offend Zhang Xuan's interests, and Zhang Xuan would inevitably counterattack in a big way.

And Wang Shichong and Yuwen Chengdu gathered troops, about 40,000 troops stationed in Chengxiu County, building fortifications, consolidating the city wall, strengthening defenses, and preparing to rely on the strong Chengxiu County and Li Shimin to fight a protracted war, Wang Shichong's key is to buy time for Su Liang, as long as Zhang Xuan is willing to send troops, then he Wang Shichong still has a chance to turn around

Zhang Xuan did not go south, he did not need to make a big move to deal with the little Du Fuwei, Xuzhou had long been exploited by Yu culture and exploited cleanly, Du Fuwei's army could not get food replenishment in Xuzhou, as long as his logistics grain line was cut off, Du Fuwei's army had to retreat to Jianghuai.

Zhang Xuan's Wang Tent camp is located ten miles south of Dangshan County, Dangshan County is located at the junction of Liang County, Pengcheng County and Qian County, the geographical location is very important, Zhang Xuan garrisoned here, on the one hand, he can command the military operations of Luo Shixin, Pei Xingyan and Su Dingfang, three generals in Xuzhou, and at the same time can also observe the battle between Wang Shichong's army and Li Shimin's army.

It is impossible for him to really give up Wang Shichong and let the Tang Army's Eastern Crusade succeed, he has already deployed everything and waited patiently for Wang Shichong to negotiate with him.

The time has come to the middle of September, it is the season of autumn high and cool, the fruit grain is ripe, the early millet of Dangshan County has matured, the peasants regardless of men, women and children, have entered the corn field, and began to harvest corn in full swing, and the Central Plains is a busy scene of autumn harvest.

Dangshan County is also rich in fruit pears, Dangshan crisp pears are famous since ancient times, the fruit is huge, yellow and bright beauty, the skin is thin and juicy, the meat is fine and sweet, it is the palace tribute in the Han Dynasty.

Zhang Xuan's camp is close to a pear orchard covering an area of thousands of acres, Zhang Xuan bought this year's pear output from more than a dozen local large households, and got hundreds of thousands of catties of pears, he sent people to transport some pears to the Xuzhou army, and at the same time ordered Cui Huan, the Taishou of Qi County, to immediately send 300 cargo ships to Dangshan County to transport pears, ready to reward the northern armies and the ministers of civil and military affairs in the central capital.

On this morning, Zhang Xuan was picking pears in the pear orchard with the soldiers, when a soldier rushed to the scene and shouted under a pear tree: "Dashuai, Wang Shichong's messenger Mr. Su is here, and I have an urgent matter to see Dashuai!" ”

Jang Hyun's laughter came from the top of the tree, "Please invite Mr. Su to come here, just say that I will invite him to eat the best pear." ”

Not long after, Su Liang hurried to the pear orchard under the leadership of the soldiers, just as Zhang Xuan jumped down from a big tree, holding a yellow pear as big as a grapefruit in his hand, he threw the pear to Su Liang with a smile, "Then, this is this year's pear king, for you." ”

Su Liang hurriedly caught the pear and smiled bitterly, "Your Highness is so interested!" ”

"Of course, I like it when I see a good harvest, whether it's a good grain harvest or a good fruit, it will make people feel uplifted."

Su Liang was so anxious, how could he have the heart to discuss the pear orchard with Zhang Xuan, he handed the pear to the soldier next to him, and said with a deep salute: "Luoyang is in danger, I implore His Highness to come to the rescue." ”

Zhang Xuan pointed to a stone pavilion not far away, "Let's go sit over there!" ”

There were already soldiers who laid out mats in the pavilion and set up a small table, Zhang Xuan and Su Liang sat down, and the soldiers served them tea, Su Liang sighed and said: "Li Shimin blocked the news of the arrival of reinforcements, causing Zhu Wei to fall into the encirclement, the whole army was annihilated, the Tang army marched north, and Zhai Rang cut off our grain from behind, we suffered from the enemy, King Zheng and Luoyang were in danger, Your Highness, your lips are cold, if we perish, Your Highness will have to face the Tang Army, and I implore Your Highness to send troops to rescue!" ”

The more Su Liang spoke, the more excited he became, and finally knelt straight in front of Zhang Xuan, but Zhang Xuan drank tea and pondered silently, and said for a while: "Don't hide it from Dr. Su, Luoyang is in danger, and I am also very anxious, but the expansion in the past six months is too fast, our troops are insufficient, Goguryeo wants to garrison, Liaodong wants to garrison, Jiangdu garrisons, Xuzhou and the Central Plains are also preparing garrisons, and we have to send troops to deal with the threat of Jianghuai Du Fuwei, the lack of troops, we are really overstretched, we plan to reorganize a part of the army, but our food and armor are insufficient, can we ask Luoyang to support us?" ”

Zhang Xuan offered a price code to ask for food and armor, Su Liang had already been mentally prepared, Wang Shichong also explained to him, he could only be within the range of Luoyang, they could agree, Su Liang hesitated and asked: "I don't know how much armor and food Your Highness needs?" ”

Zhang Xuan needed a lot of grain to restore production and order in Xuzhou, and the war dividends he received from Liaodong could only pay for the needs of the army, so he had to find another source of food elsewhere.

Zhang Xuan said with a smile: "Although the grain in Luoyang Cang is well preserved in the cellar, after all, it is too long, and it will rot in two years, and I estimate that Luoyang will not be able to use it up. Together with the 300,000 stone grain promised by King Zheng before, I need a total of 500,000 stone grain, which is only 30% of the inventory of Luokou Cang, I hope King Zheng can agree. ”

Su Liang thought for a while and asked, "In addition to food, His Highness said that he still needs armor, I don't know how much is needed?" ”

Zhang Xuan took a sip of tea and said unhurriedly: "Before talking about Bingjia, I want to talk about Yingchuan County first, before I said that the two families each occupy half of Yingchuan County, but I thought about it later, this can easily lead to conflicts between the two families, just like the brothers divide the family, it is better to divide it cleanly, so as not to leave hidden dangers, so I think it is better to assign all Yingchuan County to us, as compensation, you can occupy Xiangyang County to the south, and exchange half of Yingchuan for Xiangyang, you actually do not suffer." ”

At this time, Zhang Xuan said whatever he wanted, but this condition was not too much, and King Zheng didn't expect them to get Yingchuan County before.

Su Liang nodded, "I can agree to this condition, or talk about the armor." ”

Seeing that Su Liang agreed happily, Zhang Xuan stopped mentioning the matter of Yingchuan, and continued: "I heard that there are still 80,000 sets of Mingguang armor in Luokou Cang, and I want to use it to expand the army. ”

Su Liang was startled, and hurriedly waved his hand and said: "I really don't hide it from Your Highness, we have all changed the 80,000 sets of Mingguang armor, and there are still hundreds of thousands of sets of leather armor in the warehouse of the Luoyang Ordnance Prison, if Your Highness doesn't like it."

Zhang Xuan's face immediately became gloomy, his leather armor was so much, 200,000 sets of brand new armor were seized from the warehouse in Goguryeo, he wanted Mingguang armor or heavy armor, the heavy armor of the Sui Dynasty itself was not much, it was exhausted in previous wars, and only Mingguang armor was still in stock.

Mingguang armor is only stored in Luoyang, Chang'an and Taiyuan, and there are a lot of Goguryeo, Zhang Xuan currently has 100,000 troops equipped with Mingguang armor, he hopes that the whole army can be equipped, so he has been fighting the idea of Luokoucang Mingguang armor, but it was used up by Wang Shichong first, so how can Zhang Xuan not be annoyed.

However, Zhang Xuan still wants one thing in Luoyang, that is, craftsmen, Luoyang's Jade Chicken Fang, Copper Camel Fang and Shanglin Fang are inhabited by the world's best 20,000 craftsmen, who can build the most sophisticated weapons and make the strongest armor, which has always been coveted by all parties, if Wang Shichong can't get 80,000 sets of Mingguang armor, then Zhang Xuan wants these craftsmen.

Thinking of this, Zhang Xuan said slowly: "I don't need leather armor, since the Mingguang armor is gone, then I can only find a way to build it myself, but there are too few craftsmen in Zhongdu, I ask King Zheng to give me the Luoyang Weapons Supervisor and the 20,000 craftsmen who will be the supervisors, on these two conditions, as long as King Zheng agrees, I promise to let the Tang army withdraw to Guanzhong within ten days." ”

Su Liang was a little hesitant, he was a civil official, he knew very well the importance of this group of craftsmen, and it would be the basis for their re-emergence in the future, if it was given to Zhang Xuan, it would be difficult to find these experienced craftsmen.

Zhang Xuan saw his worries, so he smiled: "At least so far, this batch of craftsmen has no meaning to you, as far as I know, as early as two years ago, the pig iron in the Luoyang warehouse was exhausted, these craftsmen have nothing to do at home, many people secretly do odd jobs, or sell coolies to support their families, instead of waiting for the Tang army to capture Luoyang and cheapen Li Yuan for nothing, it is better to give me the craftsmen, I will help you keep Luoyang, I believe that King Zheng will definitely agree without hesitation, why should Dr. Su bother himself?" ”

One sentence reminded Su Liang that this matter should be decided by Wang Shichong, what did he hesitate about, he immediately said: "I understand, I will immediately send a pigeon letter to ask King Zheng, and there will be a clear answer the day after tomorrow at the latest!" ”

Just as Zhang Xuan expected, the 500,000 stone of moldy grain and 20,000 chicken rib artisan households did not make Wang Shichong feel sorry at all, and he was originally going to give Zhang Xuan 300,000 stone of grain, but now it is only an increase of 200,000 stones.

Wang Shichong was glad that Zhang Xuan did not ask for hundreds of thousands of weapons and armor in the armory, that is the treasure that he could not give up, as long as the Tang army could withdraw within ten days, how could he not agree, Wang Shichong immediately returned to the good and fully accepted Zhang Xuan's two conditions.

Jang Hyun then sent an eagle letter to Wei Chi Gong's army, which had been assembled in Hanoi County, ordering him to start action immediately. (To be continued.) )