Xinye County, Nanyang County, is the place where many rivers converge, dozens of large and small rivers originating in the Funiu Mountains in the north, rushing south, converging near Xinye County, and finally flowing into the Han River in the southern Xiangyang area.

It is a number of rivers crossing, abundant water, fertile land, so that Nanyang County has also become a rich land, in the late Sui Dynasty chaos, Nanyang County also suffered a huge impact, the bandit Zhu Wei burned and looted all the way, and finally garrisoned Nanyang County.

After several years of destruction, Nanyang County has also become devastated, the people's livelihood has withered, the villages are barren, the county seat is dilapidated, and the population has dropped by more than 60% compared with the heyday of the early years of the Great Cause.

However, in the latest agreement reached by the Sui and Tang dynasties, Nanyang County and Xiyang County to the west were included in the territory of the Sui Dynasty, and the new Taishou appointed by Yang Yuanqing had taken office, and the census of population and land was in full swing, laying a solid foundation for the next step of the implementation of the equalization system.

But on the other hand, because Nanyang County was close to Xiangyang County and became the forefront of the Sui and Tang dynasties, not long after the signing of the contract, Xu Shiji sent his deputy general Gao Zikai to lead an army of 10,000 troops into Nanyang County, but this was just a security garrison.

Soon after the New Year, the Sui army stationed 30,000 troops in Nanyang County, bringing the garrison of Nanyang County to 40,000, led by Xu Shiji himself, 40,000 troops stationed in Xinye, and the troops pressed Xiangyang, only 20 miles away from Xiangyang County.

In a wilderness about 30 miles south of Xinye County, close to the west bank of the water, stands a huge barracks covering an area of hundreds of acres.

The battle flags fluttered and waved over the barracks, and the three-zhang red eagle battle flag fluttered over the camp gate.

On both sides of the camp gates. There are two sentry towers that are also three zhang high, each with two sentries patrolling the sentry towers, and Jǐng Ti watches the surrounding situation.

About seven or eight miles away from this camp, there is a low hill, the hill is about a dozen zhang high, and the wide avenue that is two miles long from east to west to Xiangyang passes through this hill. ，

The hills are lush with trees. The vegetation is lush, and the vegetation is full of life. All kinds of birds and finches chirped in unison on the big tree, and at this time, on a lush big tree, two Tang army scouts were looking at the Sui army camp in the distance

From their seats, they could clearly see the situation in the camp in the distance. White tents are neatly arranged, teams of soldiers practice on the school grounds, and hundreds of patrolmen can be seen walking back and forth on the board walls.

"Do you count clearly? How many big tents are there? A Tang Army scout asked in a low voice.

"There are about a thousand large tents, all of them medium-sized tents, one tent and one team of soldiers."

"That's 50,000 Sui troops."

The Tang Army scout on the tree shook his head, "If you want to remove the ordnance tent, there are about 40,000 Sui troops, and half of them should be cavalry." ”

The Tang County scout under the tree quickly drew a map of the terrain and camp on the paper, and marked the number of troops and horses on the side.

"Do you see the handsome flag clearly?"

The Tang Army scout on the tree looked at it for a long time, frowned and said, "I can't see the words on the handsome banner clearly." However, their Red Eagle Army Banner is silver-edged, so it should be the chief general of the general level, and it is very likely to be Xu Shiji. ”

As he spoke, a group of Sui patrol cavalry rushed towards this side from the official road, and the scouts on the tree jumped off the tree in fright. Creeping in the grass.

When the patrol cavalry passed, the two men quietly left the hill, took out their horses in the woods at the foot of the mountain, turned over their horses, and galloped south......

Xiangyang City, here is the location of the Tang Dynasty Jingxiang Xingtai governor. Li Xiaogong, who had just been promoted to King Jing, served as the head of the Xingtai and held the military and political power of Jingxiang.

Like the Chang'an government and the opposition, Li Xiaogong was also paying attention to the changes in the political situation in Chang'an, and like everyone else, he was deeply anxious about the internal and external troubles of the Tang Dynasty, he did not cover his eyes, he also saw that the Sui Dynasty was becoming more and more powerful, and it was only a matter of time before he attacked the Tang Dynasty in an all-out way.

In fact, Li Xiaogong did not believe that the Sui army would abide by the agreement at all, and the armistice would not be able to wait for two years, I am afraid that he would not be able to wait for half a year, if the Sui army did not take advantage of the opportunity to defeat the Turks, which was not conducive to the civil strife of the Tang Dynasty, it was really Yang Yuanqing's incompetence.

Thinking of the civil strife in the Tang Dynasty, this made Li Xiaogong even more deeply worried, he was a high-level bystander, he could see more clearly than the people involved, and more thoroughly than ordinary bystanders.

Several wars made him slowly come back to his senses, in fact, the defeat of the Tang Dynasty was defeated in civil strife, from the defeat of the first Central Plains War to the defeat of the second Central Plains War, the two defeats laid the foundation of today's Sui strong and Tang weak situation.

And this fiasco was precisely the defeat in the Tang Dynasty's civil strife, high-level decision-making mistakes, the crown prince and the Qin Wang brothers' seizure of power seriously affected the Tang Dynasty's military decision-making, so it is said that internal instability is the source of chaos.

On the contrary, the Sui Dynasty was condensed into iron, Yang Yuanqing dared to delegate power, let the Ziwei Pavilion decide government affairs together, and he commanded the military, Wenji and Wuxue, complementing each other, so that the Sui Dynasty was not only defeated in the face of a serious Turkic invasion, but more powerful.

Li Xiaogong stood in front of the window with his hands in his hands and sighed for a long time, the defeat of the Tang Dynasty was not defeated by a strong enemy, but by the internal struggle for power and profit.

At this time, the Holy Lord finally understood and began to cut the military power of the King of Qin, but now that the King of Qin has completed his wings, is it too late?

Li Xiaogong was originally a staunch supporter of the King of Qin, but in order to stabilize the internal stability of the Tang Dynasty, he also resolutely gave up his support for Li Shimin, and instead fully supported the Tang Emperor Li Yuan to carry out internal purges.

This is not to say that Li Shimin is the chaotic minister and thief of the Tang Dynasty, at least Li Xiaogong does not think so, Li Shimin has military talent and strong ability to command troops, but in the current situation, the Tang Dynasty can only win a new life by breaking the wrist of a strong man.

If the saint wants to keep the society in chaos, he can undoubtedly only protect the prince, so he has to give up Li Shimin, the king of Qin.

After thinking about it for a long time, Li Xiaogong finally accepted Li Yuan's knighthood and was named King Jing, becoming the first Li clan to be crowned king without being a descendant.

After deciding his position, Li Xiaogong's mentality also changed, and he now hoped that the Shengshang would succeed in seizing the military power of the Qin Dynasty as soon as possible and stabilize the Tang Dynasty, so that maybe they still had a glimmer of hope.

At this moment, a report from his own soldiers came from outside the door: "Your Highness Qiqi, there is information from the Xinye scout!" ”

Li Xiaogong turned around, he had been waiting for news from Nanyang County for the past two days, and two days ago he received urgent information that the Sui army brigade had entered Nanyang County, which made him feel a kind of pressure and a trace of murderous aura.

"Bring it in!"

The door opened, the soldiers walked in quickly, knelt down on one knee and presented a volume of information to Li Xiaogong, Li Xiaogong opened the information and took a look, his face changed slightly, there were actually 40,000 Sui troops, stationed in Xinye County, about twenty miles away from Xiangyang County, and it was very likely that Xu Jiye was the commander.

Li Xiaogong walked quickly to the sand table, and according to the place mentioned in the intelligence, he found the Liangjiangkou where the Sui army was stationed, and his face changed even more, from there there was a flat avenue to the south, and it only took half a day to kill the city of Xiangyang.

But the intelligence said that the Sui army built the Banqiang barracks, which made him a little relieved, and the Banqiang barracks were more defense-oriented, but ......

Perhaps this was a fictitious tactic of the Sui army, making them think that the Sui army only defended and did not attack, and not for attacking, why did they not station in the city.

Is it because 40,000 troops are stationed at the border...... Li Xiaogong thought of another piece of information he had gotten, Xiao Mo and Du Fuwei were deploying troops at the same time, and they were preparing to jointly attack Li Mi.

Li Xiaogong suddenly understood, this was the Sui army restraining himself, and he was not allowed to attack the Xiao Du coalition army from behind, it must be like this.

Li Xiaogong's eyes were firmly fixed on Jiangdu, and he became more and more suspicious that Yang Yuanqing was not going to attack the Tang Dynasty, but to attack Li Mi first.

At this moment, there was a report from the soldiers outside the door: "Your Highness, Li Mi's envoy arrived in Xiangyang and asked to see His Highness." ”

Li Mi's envoy actually came, which was reasonable, but it was a little surprising to Li Xiaogong, he groaned slightly, and guessed the envoy's intention, probably wanting to let himself attack the Xiao Du coalition army from behind.

Li Xiaogong smiled bitterly, it seems that Yang Yuanqing has already calculated that Li Mi will come to him, and the layout of Jiangnan is interlocking!

But it's not good if you don't see it, so Li Xiaogong nodded, "Please invite someone to wait in the outer hall!" ”……

After a short time, several soldiers invited Li Mi's envoy to the outer hall of the governor's mansion, Li Mi's envoy's name is Zu Junyan, Li Mi's secretary joined the army, this person is short in stature, ugly in appearance, not good at words, but the literary talent is extremely high, Li Mi's military books and feathers are all from his hands.

This time, he was sent by Li Mi to send an envoy to Xiangyang, indeed to unite with Li Xiaogong to deal with the Xiao Du coalition army.

Zu Junyan was invited to the outer hall, and after only waiting for a while, Li Xiaogong walked in unhurriedly with his hands behind his back, and Zu Junyan hurriedly stepped forward and gave a deep salute, "Jun Yan see His Royal Highness King Jing!" ”

Li Xiaogong smiled slightly, "It turned out that the ancestor joined the army, and I have heard of the name for a long time, please take a seat!" ”

As soon as he waved his hand, the two sat down separately, and a maid came up with two cups of tea, Li Xiaogong asked with a smile: "Ancestor joined the army from Jiangdu!" Can the journey go smoothly? ”

"Alas! Don't mention it. ”

Zu Junyan smiled bitterly, "I originally crossed the border from Du Fuwei's territory, where the security was heavily guarded, and I checked all the way, and then I should have taken the waterway, so I escaped the investigation, and it was really not easy to come here!" ”

"Now I heard that the situation in Jiangnan is very tight, and Du Fuwei and Xiao Mo have signs of joining forces to deal with Jiangdu, it is estimated that another big war is about to break out, and the Wei army should be ready!"

"We are already making comprehensive preparations, not only to deal with Du Xiao's coalition army, but also to prevent the Sui army from invading from the north, and the pressure is very high, so my lord sent me to Xiangyang, hoping that Wei and Tang can join forces to deal with Du Fuwei and Xiao Miao, after the two families are wiped out, Xiao Miao's territory will return to Tang, and Du Fuwei's territory will return to Wei, I don't know what His Highness thinks?"

Li Xiaogong will not wade into this muddy water, not to mention that the Sui army will contain the Tang army in Xinye, even if there is no Sui army to contain him, he will not join forces with Li Mi, but sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, and wait for them to lose both, and then come to pick up the results.

However, he couldn't explicitly refuse Zu Junyan, he had already thought of a way to refuse, Li Xiaogong sighed and said: "Of course I am willing to hunt Jiangnan with Lord Wei, but I don't have the right to send troops without authorization, I must ask the Holy Lord for advice on this matter and wait for the Holy Lord's consent." ”