The river south of Toyosu was also covered with snow, and the snow stopped, and the sun rose far in the sky, shining gently on the earth.

On the surface of the Yellow River, which is more than ten miles wide, it is covered with small black spots that are pressed by black, and from a distance, it looks like a large handful of black sesame seeds are scattered on the white snow.

When the black dot got closer and closer, there were thousands of large sleds full of Sui soldiers and supplies, each pulled by two horses, running fast in the thick snow.

Next to each sleigh, a dozen war horses galloped, wrapped in thick soft cloth around their stomachs and legs, and ran on the ice for a long time, and the cold of the ice would make the horses unbearable.

This is 15,000 Sui army soldiers, led by Pei Renji, the governor of Fengzhou, at this time Lingwu County has been occupied by 10,000 Tang troops, and their task is to go south to recapture Lingwu County.

It can be said that this was the beginning of the Sui army's counterattack, and when the Sui army defeated the Turks in the decisive battle of Mayi County, the deployment of the Sui army's counterattack against the Tang Dynasty began to be fully implemented.

In fact, as early as when the Sui army was forced to withdraw from Lingwu County, Yang Yuanqing had already sent the plan to counterattack the Tang army to Pei Renji.

After surviving the danger of the Turks, they ushered in an opportunity, and almost every Sui army soldier was holding a breath of anger in their hearts, even the veteran Pei Renji, whose heart was also full of revenge, defeated the Tang army, and drove them out of Lingwu County.

"Chief Pei, in fact, let the Tang army occupy Lingwu County, they will move the population from Longyou and Guannan, and then we will occupy Lingwu County, wouldn't it be more rewarding?"

The question was about Qin Huaiyu, who was sitting behind Pei Renji, and Pei Renji also liked this young and clever apprentice, and always took him with him.

Pei Renji smiled slightly: "Lingwu County has abundant water for irrigation, and there is enough heat, the land is fertile and vast, it has always been our granary, if it is taken away by the Tang army, it will have a great impact on our grain, and more importantly, we must cooperate with His Royal Highness the King of Chu's comprehensive counterattack strategy to combat the arrogance of the Tang Dynasty." ”

Pei Renji saw that Qin Huaiyu was still thoughtful, and knew that he was not very satisfied with his answer...... He smiled again: "It's like you fighting with someone, there are many people watching next to you, including many people who rely on you for protection, at first you were beaten down, but you immediately have the ability to fight back, you said you would wait a few days to take revenge, or immediately beat the other party down?" ”

Qin Huaiyu also laughed, "The manager is a child!" I understand what the governor means, our current counterattack is to boost the morale of the army and people of the Great Sui and recapture important strategic places. ”

Pei Renji nodded, his eyes turned into the distance again, he was full of confidence in defeating the Tang army and recapturing Lingwu County.

……

In Wanqiu County, Huaiyang County, a team of 10,000 cavalry is marching southward, which is also a cavalry of the Sui army, and the general headed by Xu Shiji, the governor of Henan, also received an order from Yang Yuanqing, ordering him to feint to attack Jingxiang.

The cavalry hurried south along a wide official road on an endless snowy field, flanked by fields of wheat where winter wheat had been planted and covered with thick snow, waiting for the next year's chūn, and in the distance villages surrounded by rivers and woods, and the smoke of the villages was rising in the morning.

Xu Shiji pursed his lips and didn't say a word, he was not in a good mood during this time, after the Central Plains War, he had almost nothing to do, whether it was the war of the expedition to Goryeo or the Battle of Sui Tu that took place in Mayi County, he didn't have his share, he felt that he was a little marginalized.

Of course, he also understood that the key was that the Sui army did not attack Qingzhou, otherwise he would not be so idle, although he was a little unhappy in his heart, but he was the head of a party after all, and he had to obey the overall situation and obey Yang Yuanqing's command.

The team ran forward for a while, not far from Wanqiu County, Xu Shiji saw a dense pine forest next to the road, although the pine trees were covered with snow, but the woods seemed to be relatively dry, he immediately pointed at the horsewhip, and everyone went into the woods to rest for a while.

A dozen scouts rushed into the woods first, and after a moment came out and shouted, "Chief, it's okay in the woods, you can rest!" ”

The cavalry left the official road one after another, and led their horses into the pine forest, which was filled with the fragrance of pine resin, and everywhere there were piles of snow, which were falling from the trees, and most of the place was relatively dry, and the ground was covered with thick pine needles.

The soldiers sat down with pine trees, fed the horses hay and water, took out the frozen bread and dried mutton slices from the horse bags, sprinkled them with salt and spicy ingredients, rolled them up and took a big bite, took a few sips from the kettle, and whispered about the battle of Sui and Tu in Mayi County, which was a matter of concern to all.

Xu Shiji also sat under a tree, slowly eating dry food, but he was thinking about the attack on Qingzhou in his heart, and he had a hunch that after solving the Turks, the next step for the king of Chu was most likely to take Qingzhou.

At this time, his lieutenant Gao Zikai sat beside him and said with a smile: "Chief, you said that we will take Jingxiang if we ask for xìng, why do you want to feint?" ”

"Winning Jingxiang depends on our 10,000 riding period ......"

Xu Shiji glanced at him and sneered, "Do you think it's that simple to occupy a place?" There are 200,000 Tang troops in Luoyang, once they capture Luoyang, the next step is to annex the Central Plains, it is okay, they occupy the Central Plains, we take Jingxiang, do you think it is realistic? ”

Gao Zikai scratched his head, "That's the same!" Jing Xiang and our Sui Dynasty are not next to each other, and the court can't send an official document. ”

"Occupying a place is not as simple as you think, whether the local scholars are willing to accept you, whether the people support you, whether the officials are loyal, how to solve the army's food, these are all big problems, when Yang Xuangan occupied Guanzhong, were the people of Guanzhong willing to accept him? In the end, it is not a complete defeat, and we occupy Hebei, just occupy, in order to really control Hebei and let the people of Hebei return to their hearts, His Royal Highness the King of Chu does not know how much effort has been spent, how much food has been spent, and only now has it begun to move Hebei officialdom, which has been almost a year. ”

Xu Shiji said this, sighed and said: "There is also the Central Plains, in fact, it is also a troublesome matter, when we evacuate, who do you think will keep us?" When the Tang army came, who did you see revolting again? The people of the Central Plains agree with the Wagang Army, if the Wagang Army is still there, and we want to seize the Central Plains, it will be very difficult, I understand this better than anyone else, which is also the reason why His Highness asked me to stay in the Central Plains. ”

Gao Zikai lowered his head and pondered for a moment, and then said: "So, Li Mi's departure from the Central Plains was actually a mistake, is that so?" ”

"Quite the opposite!"

Xu Shiji smiled, "Although Zhai Rang is short-sighted, he is very righteous, everyone eats meat, everyone uses money, fights local tyrants, seizes official warehouses, and distributes grain to poor farmers, so the people of Henan are very supportive of the Wagang army led by him, but Li Mi thinks that Zhai Rang offended the Shi clan and could not achieve a big deal, so he killed him and established himself as the king of Wei, but after killing Zhai Rang, he gradually couldn't stay in the Central Plains, and could only be forced to move south to Jiangnan, on the one hand, to avoid the threat of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and on the other hand, to seek the support of the southern Shi clan. ”

Although Gao Zikai was also born in the famous Gao family in Beihai, he was a military general, and he only knew how to obey the task to fight, and never considered this overall situation.

He nodded silently, "I understand, I will ask Manager Xu for more advice in the future, I really want to know these things, not blindly fighting." ”

Xu Shiji patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Then I'll give you a question first, and you think about it yourself, why didn't His Highness directly take Qingzhou for disaster relief, but let the Qingzhou disaster victims flee to Hebei for disaster relief?" ”

Gao Zikai frowned, thinking hard about this question, but Xu Shiji smiled and said, "Think about it while you go!" ”

He said to the officers around him: "Tell the brethren to go out of peace!" ”

"Woo, the horn sounded, this is the order to set off, the Sui cavalry packed up their horses one after another, and rushed onto the official road, the horses' hooves roared, and the 10,000 cavalry galloped towards the south.

……

……

Just as Tang Xiang Dou Liang predicted, Yang Yuanqing led his army to Chang'an at noon, and the army occupied the Bashang barracks, where they were replenished with food, meat, and forage, and the soldiers had a full meal and rested.

After a night of forced marching, the men and horses were already stuck, and in an empty room, Yang Yuanqingfei stood in front of the sand table and pondered his next move.

When he marched last night, he had already seen the beacon fire along the way, and Chang'an must have known the news of the Sui army's killing, and he could imagine the current battle in Chang'an City.

Although from the beginning, Yang Yuanqing did not plan to seize Chang'an, it was not realistic after all, they did not bring siege weapons, and it was almost unrealistic to capture the nearly three-zhang high city wall.

But just walking around the city like this is not in line with the purpose of his trip, he wants to disturb Chang'an and Guanzhong, force Li Yuan to withdraw his troops on all fronts, at least withdraw most of the troops, and create conditions for his counteroffensive.

How should Chang'an fight this time? Yang Yuanqing pondered for a long time, and at this time, there was a sound of praise from outside the door, "Your Highness Qiti, the scout is back." ”

Yang Yuanqing shook his head and immediately said, "Order him to come in!" ”

After a while, a scout lieutenant hurriedly walked into the room, knelt down on one knee and said: "Your Highness, you have obtained information about Chang'an." ”

"Say it!"

"Report to Your Highness, Chang'an City today nine city gates closed eight, only the Mingde Gate opened for an hour, now closed, the humble investigation of some of the situation, I heard that the main defender of the city will be Xiangguo Dou Rail, the soldiers defending the city are all Yulin Army and Jin Wuwei, and also mobilized twenty or thirty thousand young people to assist in defending the city, the city is chaotic, they are mainly concentrated in the east city and the south of the city."

Yang Yuanqing looked at the sand table, and then his gaze fell to the north, which was extremely familiar to him, where he had been hunting for a living since he was a child.

"How many garrisons are there in Longshouyuan?" Yang Yuanqing remembered that there was a large military camp in Longshouyuan.

"Your Highness, the original military camp of Long Shouyuan is the military camp of Jin Wuwei, they have all entered the city, and the military camp is empty."

"Empty?"

At this time, Yang Yuanqing suddenly gave birth to a bold Du Yue in his heart.

……