On the morning of the next day, in the Ziwei Pavilion of Jinyang Palace, Yang Yuanqing held a military meeting, and the Hebei Campaign was about to begin, and this time the Sui army would be thrown into the army of the country to fight against Dou Jiande's 300,000 army.

"Ministers, at present, the Sui army has a total of 170,000 troops, considering the necessary border defense, it is impossible for the Sui army to put all the troops into the Hebei campaign, but in order to ensure the victory of the Hebei campaign, at least 140,000 troops must be invested, so that there are only 30,000 people left in the east of the river and the border, and the pressure on the defense is very great."

At the meeting, more than a dozen important ministers sat in two columns, Yang Yuanqing sat in the front, he looked at the five ministers and the chief officials of the various ministries and temples, and slowly said to everyone: "I have two plans, one plan is to recruit 50,000 troops in Hedong and invest in the defense of the border, and the other plan is not to recruit troops for the time being, and use Huairou means to stabilize the enemy, I want to hear everyone's opinions." ”

The meeting hall was very quiet, everyone was silently pondering, Yang Yuanqing nodded slightly to Su Wei, "Su Xiangguo, you are the elder of the court, you can speak first!" ”

Perhaps the older the person, the stronger the vanity, Yang Yuanqing's respect made Su Wei really proud, yesterday afternoon, Yang Yuanqing has passed on the content of today's deliberations to everyone, everyone thought about it last night, Su Wei also thought about it all night, although he has a strong sense of vanity, but only from the perspective of government affairs, Su Wei has rich experience, and he sees the problem more thoroughly.

Su Wei pondered and said: "Lao Chen also thought about it for a long time last night, if this campaign is launched in winter, it is actually okay to recruit troops, but now is the time when spring ploughing is busy, every household is busy plowing the fields, and at the same time, they are also responsible for plowing the military fields. ”

In fact, this is also Yang Yuanqing's worry, at this time is the spring ploughing is busy, agriculture is the foundation of a country's stability, if the spring ploughing delayed due to recruitment, affect agriculture, resulting in a reduction in grain production, this will outweigh the losses Yang Yuanqing is not only a military commander, he is also the regent, Shang Shuling, he can not only consider the war, people's livelihood is also extremely important to him.

On the Turkic side, the Sui Dynasty had reached a reconciliation with the Turkic Luo Khan, temporarily removing the threat from the north, while Wang Shichong in the south was at war with Li Mi, and they had no time to look north, and the greatest threat to the Sui Dynasty was the Tang army in Guanlong.

Although the Sui and Tang dynasties had reached a reconciliation agreement, Yang Yuanqing had received news that Li Shimin had defeated the Liang division in Xiping County, the 40,000 troops of the Western Qin had surrendered, and the Liang division had self-immolated and died, and the Tang Dynasty had pacified the great calamity in the west, whether they would take advantage of the opportunity of the Sui army and Dou Jiande's battle in Hebei to tear up the agreement and launch an attack, which worried Yang Yuanqing.

Pei Ju next to him understood Yang Yuanqing's worries, and he smiled slightly: "After all, the Tang Dynasty is not a heroic force like Dou Jiande and Li Mi, only considering interests and not influences, they are a formal dynasty after all, they are in the name of the imperial court and we have reached a settlement agreement, he will not easily destroy his reputation If they tear up the agreement, they will lose their trust in the world, why should the people of the world trust them again?" ”

Du Ruhui smiled and said: "I also agree with Su Xiangguo and Pei Xiangguo's words Although the Tang Dynasty pacified the rebellion of Liang Shidu, it does not mean that they can launch a war against the East, on the contrary, I think that the reason why they signed a reconciliation agreement with us is not because of the rebellion of Xue Ju or Liang Shidu, but that they are also eager to resume production and stabilize the internal situation. It is possible to concentrate the main forces in Hedong County, so that even if the Tang Dynasty braves the world's condemnation and tears up the reconciliation agreement, then they can only march to the six counties of Guanbei, and they will not be able to hurt the main body of Hedong, and the loss to us will not be great. ”

Everyone suggested one by one, and their opinions gradually unified, and now the threat of the Tang Dynasty is not great, and there is no need to affect spring ploughing for the sake of recruiting troops, and Yang Yuanqing finally decided to accept everyone's opinions.

"Alright! In order to ensure that Hedong is foolproof, it is necessary for us to contact the Tang Dynasty again, emphasize the reconciliation agreement signed last year, Du Xiangguo, please go to Chang'an again. ”

Du Ruhui nodded, "Without further ado, my subordinates will set off this afternoon!" ”

……

The atmosphere in Chang'an City is obviously warmer than at the end of last year, not only because of the arrival of spring, but because the Tang army won a big victory in Xiping County, Qin King Li Shimin led 50,000 Tang troops to defeat the Liang division in a battle in Xiping County, more than 40,000 people of the Western Qin army surrendered, and Liang Shidu also burned to death, completely pulling out this thorn nailed to the back of the Tang Dynasty, and Tuyuhun Khan, who supported Liang Shidu, also personally came to Chang'an to surrender and sent 500,000 cattle and sheep to make amends.

This long-lost victory swept away the clouds shrouded in the sky of Chang'an in one fell swoop, making the weather in Chang'an clear, and the city celebrated.

It was in this warm atmosphere that Du Ruhui, the envoy of the Sui Dynasty, arrived in Chang'an City.

In the imperial study room of the Taiji Palace in the imperial city, Li Yuan was discussing the arrival of the Sui envoy with the crown prince Li Jiancheng, Xiangguo Xiao Li, and Chen Shuda, the secretary of the ministry.

Although for ordinary people, the victory of the Western Qin army is a long-lost victory, and it is a major event that inspires the hearts of the people and the army, but for the high-level of the Tang Dynasty, this is actually just the result of a political contest.

This is the real reason why Li Yuan transferred Pei Lian, to put pressure on Li Shimin, forcing him to take Pingliang County, if Li Shimin does not move again, Li Yuan will directly appoint Li Shentong to replace Li Shimin's position as the main general.

Li Yuan knew very well in his heart that the army's spirit was unstable, the army's spirit was about to collapse, and he needed to appease the army's heart, in fact, it was just an excuse for Li Shimin, he was going to delay the time of the Western Expedition, and gradually control the military power, of course, Li Yuan did not object to Li Shimin's control of the military power, after all, it was his son.

It's just that Li Shimin has delayed for too long in order to control the military power, which makes Li Yuan a little dissatisfied, the army needs to spend a lot of money and food to fight, and the treasury is already difficult to support.

And many important ministers saw that when Xue Ju died violently, his two sons had internal strife, which was actually the best opportunity to destroy Western Qin, but Li Shimin did not move and wasted this opportunity, which made many ministers complain, and Li Yuan was also under great pressure.

Therefore, this victory in Xiping County did not cause much excitement within the high-level, and everyone looked at it with a calm mind, on the contrary, the Sui army's capture of Youzhou and the imminent war against Dou Jiande caused shock and great concern within the Tang Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, the purpose of the Sui envoy's trip is obvious, this is the harbinger of the Sui army to launch the Hebei campaign, Weichen heard that Dou Jiande has gathered 300,000 troops, and the Sui army will inevitably try its best to deal with it, in this way, the Hedong army is empty, and the Sui envoy can understand the arrival at this time, that is, to stabilize us."

It was Xiangguo Xiao Li who spoke, he was quick-witted, sharp-eyed, able to see through the essence of the problem, and was deeply trusted by Li Yuan, in court affairs, he faintly replaced Pei Lin and became the first powerful minister of the imperial court, but he was honest and low-key, and did not participate in the internal struggle of the Li family, which also made Li Yuan trust him more.

Li Yuan's brows furrowed slightly, he also realized this, at this time, the Tang army pacified the rebellion of Liang Shidu, the Tang army had no worries, Li Yuan also couldn't resist the temptation, Taiyuan is his place of Longxing, he takes Hedong very seriously, although it was taken away by Yang Yuanqing, but Li Yuan has always been obsessed, and now Hedong's troops are empty, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Li Yuan hesitated for a moment and said, "I'm thinking about it, is it possible for us to use this opportunity to recapture Hedong?" ”

"Father, this is not right!"

Li Jiancheng immediately objected, "We signed a reconciliation agreement with the Sui court, this is signed in the name of the imperial court, if we tear up this agreement, it will make us lose our trust in the world, people stand by faith, and the country builds with faith, if we lose our trust, it will not only make the world cold to Li Tang, but also make the courtiers centrifuge, my father, the emperor will lose the righteousness of Hedong, and the sons will not approve." ”

Li Yuan pondered silently, at this time, Xiao Li persuaded him from a more pragmatic angle, "Your Majesty, it is one thing for the prince to lose his trust, and it is another thing for me to lose my trust in Hedong, if we send troops to Hedong, Yang Yuanqing will inevitably give up the battle with Dou Jiande and lead the main army to come back to help, for him, the difference is only to take Dou Jiande later, but for us, it is Hedong that did not take it, but lost the army, and at the same time lost faith in the world, Your Majesty, the price is too great." ”

Li Yuan nodded, and asked Chen Shuda again, "What does Chen Shangshu think?" ”

Chen Shuda is a nobleman of the Chen Dynasty, knowledge, talent are good, he was originally Jiangjun Taishou, when Li Yuan raised troops, he offered Jiangjun surrender, and was later named Huangmen Shilang, Pei Lin resigned from the position of the Ministry of Shangshu, taken over by Chen Shuda, but at this time he has not yet entered the phase, until the beginning of the year Xiangguo Dou Wei died, the prince Li Jiancheng strongly recommended Chen Shuda as the phase, Chen Shuda officially took over Dou Wei's phase, became one of the five phases of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Yuan was also consciously weakening the power of the Guanlong nobles, although he quickly sat down in Guanzhong because of the full support of the Guanlong nobles, but the strength of the Guanlong nobles also made Li Yuan very passive.

However, due to the support of the Shandong Shi clan for the new Sui, Li Yuan could not find a confrontation force with the Guanlong nobles for a while, so he gradually introduced the southern Shi clan, such as Xiao Li and Chen Shuda, and he wanted to cultivate a new force group that could confront the Guanlong nobles, so Chen Shuda could be promoted one after another in just a few months, which is the reason.

Chen Shuda bowed and said: "Your Majesty, we just arrived in Guanzhong and met Xue Jufa, then lost Hedong, several defeats in the Northern Sui, until today it is easy to pacify the Liang Shidu, the people of Guanzhong have never been rested, has been under the weight of the war, now Chang'an although the price of rice is still stable, but all kinds of materials are scarce, Your Majesty, now the people are determined, the minister thinks that it is not appropriate to start a war again, should be based on internal affairs." ”

The unanimous opposition of the crown prince and the three ministers made Li Yuan finally dispel the idea of taking the opportunity to attack Hedong, and he nodded, "Okay! Xiao Xiangguo, the Sui envoy will be received by you, and tell them that my Tang Dynasty is a dynasty of benevolence and faith, and since a reconciliation agreement has been signed, it will never go back on its word. ”