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Chapter 676 What I Can Do and What I Can't Do

Just when Li Xian gradually stabilized his position in Chang'an City with a series of carrots and sticks, Li Shimin, the king of Qin in Fangling County, ushered in another big victory. Taking advantage of the heavy rain for several days to build water and increase the flow, he cut off the river and then released the water to wash Yongqing City, and the defenders of the Liang State in the city were washed away. The army of King Qin rowed a small boat and was able to rush to the city wall in one breath, conquering Yongqing in just one day, killing more than 3,000 enemies and capturing tens of thousands of people.

After Yongqing Chengke, the Qin Wangjun was not far from Xiangyang, the capital of Liang State, as long as Nanzhang, Hannan, and Xiangyang City were close at hand.

When the flood receded, Li Shimin, the king of Qin, stood on the Yongqing city wall and looked at the mess in the city, the smile on the corner of his mouth became clearer and clearer, Liang Guoxiao claimed to have 400,000 soldiers, but the elite soldiers who could really be used for fierce battles were less than 100,000 at all. And there are few famous generals under Xiao Mill who can handle it, so although Li Shi has few militiamen, he actually has no fear in his heart. Since he dared to provoke this war, he did not regard the so-called 400,000 Liang army as too strong and difficult to defeat.

Li Xiaogong was in Wudang Mountain, choking the throat of the northwest of Liang State. Even if he didn't do anything, Xiao Mo wouldn't dare to be unguarded. Gucheng is too close to Xiangyang, and once Gucheng is lost, Xiangyang is in danger. Therefore, Xiao Mo had to send heavy troops to garrison Gucheng, and only by holding Gucheng could Li Xiaogong's Tang army be kept out.

In order to ensure that there would be no loss south of Xiangyang, he had to divide his troops to garrison the two cities of Nanzhang and Hannan. It is also necessary to send troops to garrison Handong County, Jingling County, Anlu County, and Yiyang County, after the so-called 400,000 troops are dispersed, compared with Li Shimin and Li Xiaogong in terms of troops, Xiao Mo actually does not have any advantage. Now there are less than 50,000 troops in Xiangyang City, 30,000 men and horses in Nanzhang, 10,000 in Hannan, and 50,000 troops in Gucheng.

More than 100,000 troops had to be completely dispersed, and such a situation was actually extremely unfavorable to Xiao Miao. When Li Shimin occupied Xicheng County, the number of troops increased from more than 30,000 to nearly 60,000, and after Kejingling County moved to the city, he absorbed troops and recruited the people, and recruited tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in Jingling, and now Li Shimin's troops have exceeded 100,000. Zaike Yongqing had to surrender more than 10,000 troops, and Li Shimin's strength was enough to threaten the safety of Liang State.

In just a few months, he has changed from a poor outlaw to a king of Qin with more than 100,000 soldiers, how can Li Shimin not be proud? And this time to conquer the important town of Yongqing almost did not cost a soldier, now he controls the area of Xicheng, Fangling two counties, and these two counties occupy a huge area, there are few wars, although it is not rich, but Li Shimin is not too short of soldiers and supplies under the forced conscription.

Now that he is in a position that makes him act without scruples, he is not afraid of anything. Anyway, if you don't want to fall again, then don't care about so many so-called benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and faith.

He thought that he had fled into that mountain in embarrassment, and thought that even if he wanted to recover his strength after leaving the mountain range, he would have to stagger forward, but who would have thought that he would get Han Shicao, with tens of thousands of troops in his hands, and an entire county, hundreds of thousands of people, and a territory of nearly 1,000 miles was enough for him to settle down......

Life is so wonderful, how can it not make people feel emotional?

Just when he sighed, the marching marshal Han Shixu walked quickly onto the city wall, wiped the sweat on his forehead, bowed to Li Shimin and said, "Lord, something is not very good. ”

"What?"

Li Shimin retracted his thoughts and asked with a slight frown.

"Although the flood saved a lot of trouble, there was no loss of soldiers and horses...... But the water flooded the granary, and the food in Yongqing City could not be used. The army did not have time to wait for the weather to clear and dry the grain before setting off, and the grain and grass in the army were not enough to support it for more than ten days, and it would take at least half a month for the grain and grass from Xicheng County to be delivered...... If they don't find a way to solve the problem of food, the army will have to retreat to Guangqian City and wait for the grain and grass to be delivered before sending troops. ”

"It's not going to work!"

Li Shimin shook his head and said: "The soldiers are very fast, Lone originally planned to lead the army to attack Nanzhang immediately after taking Yongqing, as long as Nanzhang City is broken, the men and horses arranged by Xiao Mo outside Xiangyang will be cleaned up, and Lone can lead the army to Xiangyang." Although there were many Liang troops in Gucheng, they didn't dare to move lightly to guard against Li Xiaogong. If it is delayed for a long time, Xiao Mo will transfer troops from Handong County and Jingling County to rescue, and we will have no advantage. ”

"Grain and grass ......"

Han Shixuan opened his mouth, but he had no idea in his head.

"Collect food from the people!"

Li Shimin pondered for a while and said four words categorically.

"Within three days, all the grain within a radius of 200 miles from Yongqing City must be requisitioned. How much should be levied, at least enough for the army to meet for ten days, and the urgent need for food and grass can be alleviated after conquering Nanzhang. There were tens of thousands of Liang troops in Nanzhang City, and they must have prepared a large amount of food supplies. ”

"But in this way, it will lose the hearts of the people."

Han Shixuan hesitated for a moment and said: "It has rained heavily for several days, and most of the summer grain is rotten in the ground, and it is too late to collect it, and within a radius of hundreds of miles, I am afraid that the people will have to rely on storing grain to survive, if the grain and grass are collected, the people will have nothing to live by, I am afraid that it will immediately stir up a civil uprising, lose the hearts of the people, in case it ......."

"Lone is not afraid of losing the hearts of the people now."

Li Shimin shook his head, looked at Han Shixuan and said seriously: "Only those who have already sat in that position will worry about losing the hearts of the people, what Gu wants now is to rapidly expand his strength, and if he wants to achieve this goal, he must fight to raise the war, and he will plunder wherever he fights." Lone also knew that this was not an unrighteous act, but now Lone didn't have the heart to do anything that was benevolent and moral, but made it difficult for him. ”

He looked at the scene of the people in the city supporting each other and gathering, and raised the corners of his eyebrows and said: "If Lone can bring this game back, he will naturally treat the people well and do more benevolent government in the future...... But now Lone doesn't have this ability, so he can only make them suffer. ”

"Another ......"

He turned his head and glanced at Han Shixuan and said, "The people have no food and it is difficult to survive, so they have become refugees, and they have no way to support them, but they are useful to them...... Recruit all the strong men into the army, drive the old and weak women and children to the direction of Xiangyang, and if they don't go, kill a few people and force them to go. When the time comes, a large number of refugees will pour into the city of Xiangyang, if Xiao Mo can't open the city gate to accept the refugees, then it will not be Lonely, but he who will lose the hearts of the people. ”

Li Shimin picked the corners of his mouth and said: "Because this is originally his territory and his people." ”

Han Shixu's face changed, and he sighed in his heart.

……

……

Heavy rains fell for several days in June, turning what had been a bumper harvest year into a disaster year. Thousands of miles away, the grain in the fields near Chang'an City was almost no grain for several months of drought, and the people of Fangling County had already seen the hope of a bumper harvest, and a heavy rain for many days turned the hope of a bumper harvest into despair. The rain was pouring down, and the fields were muddy, and there was no way to recover the grain that had already matured, and the grain was all poured down, and there was no place to eat it if it was soaked in water.

In July, although the weather was sunny after the heavy rain, the people were not at all relaxed in their hearts, and the grain in the field had sprouted, and only a few days later, a layer of green appeared. It is impossible for the seedlings that grow in the reverse season to lay grain, and even if they grow, they will all be deflated. And wait until the field can enter the people, and then pull out the seedlings and replant coarse grains, the season has already passed a lot, at least until late autumn to harvest, the yield is naturally not too high.

And now they need not only food rations, but also seeds. Tighten your belly and sprinkle the seeds, even if you boil one meal a day, you may not be able to survive for months. To add insult to injury, their already small stock of grain was forcibly requisitioned by the Qin army, and not a single copper plate was left for them.

Yongqing City was hundreds of miles in radius, and the people became nothing in an instant.

From the beginning of July, hundreds of thousands of people had to leave their homes and be driven by the Qin army in the direction of Xiangyang. They had no food, and they didn't know how many of them would make it to Xiangyang City alive. In just a few days, there was no human population within a radius of hundreds of miles, and it was actually a dead place.

The grain requisitioned and distributed by the Qin army within three days was enough for half a month for more than 100,000 troops, and the apology in Li Shimin's heart was replaced by joy. After resting for two more days, Li Shimin ordered the army to march straight to Nanzhang. Nanzhang is already close to Xiangyang, and the cavalry can rush from Nanzhang to Xiangyang City in one day, and the infantry can complete this road in one day and one night. As long as Nanzhang is conquered, the capital of Liang will have no southern barrier.

Since the end of June, Qi Shuming, the defender of the Liang army in Nanzhang, has continuously sent people to Xiangyang City to ask for instructions. In mid-June, when the Qin army had not yet conquered Guangqian, he asked the Liang Emperor Xiao Mo to mobilize a large army to meet the battle, rather than a passive defense. But Xiao Mo didn't care about it at first, and just looked down on Li Shimin's people. Xiao Mo never thought that in just over a month, Li Shimin's strength would swell to a staggering point.

After discovering that the Qin army conquered Yongqing and forcibly requisitioned the people and food, Qi Shuming knew that Nanzhang was in crisis, so he sent people to Xiangyang City again to meet Emperor Liang, and asked the emperor to quickly mobilize people from Handong and other counties to help Xiangyang. This time, Xiao Mo did not delay, and in fact, he had already sent people out of his order to transfer troops more than ten days ago.

It's just that it has been raining heavily for several days, and the trip to transfer troops will not be too fast.

"Li Shimin, this madman!"

Qi Shuming scolded while pacing hurriedly: "Such an inhumane thing can be done, hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to die by him, isn't he afraid of being punished by God?!" ”

Chen Suru, a staff member of his subordinates, sighed and said: "This situation and this scene are so similar to the last years of the Great Cause!" ”

These words made Qi Shuming stunned, and then he came to his senses and nodded: "Yes...... How similar! ”

Chen Suru looked at Qi Shuming, whose face was ugly, and said: "When the Great Sui overturned, the world was in turmoil, and the rebels from all over the country rose up, but they had no territory of their own, no backup, grain and grass, soldiers, these could not be solved, only where to grab where, kill, grab food, and then pounce on the next place after grabbing one place, such as locusts crossing the border, leaving no grass behind." Often, the whole county can't see a single grain of wheat in the field, not a grain of grain in the warehouse, and not a single common person in the city! ”

"Now that I've managed to get through that period, it seems like ...... Li Shimin didn't plan to leave any bottom line from the beginning, he didn't care about anything in order to turn over. ”

"But there is no doubt that this will be good for him!"

Qi Shuming said angrily: "The refugees have been forced to go to Xiangyang by him, and the people who have fled in Nanzhang City in the past few days are no less than three or five thousand!" Li Shimin can abandon the people, but we can't, this is the people of Daliang and His Majesty's subjects...... If we turn away the refugees, we are afraid that it will be Your Majesty who will lose the hearts and minds of the people. ”

"Your Majesty would not have failed to think of this."

Chen Suru said with a headache: "But just because Your Majesty can think of it, we can also think of it, but it is even more of a headache, because whether it is Your Majesty or us as courtiers...... There is no way to break this game. The refugees want to be accepted, but who can guarantee that there are no refugees mixed in with Li Shimin's meticulous work? And the refugees are constantly going to Xiangyang, and the city gate is not closed! ”

He glanced at Qi Shuming, hesitated for a while and said, "We can't lose Nanzhang City, in comparison, it's more important to defend the city...... General, it seems that there is only one way now, but this infamy......"

Qi Shuming was stunned for a moment, shook his head painfully and said: "I can't do this kind of thing, thousands of refugees, the smell of blood is too strong, so strong that I will not be able to linger for the rest of my life!" ”

At this time, in the camp of the Qin army, which was less than a hundred miles away from Nanzhang City. Li Shimin looked at the secret report from the north in his hand and couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

"He's prettier than Lone."

Li Shimin burned the secret letter that said that Li Xian, the king of Yan, had conquered Chang'an, and the unwillingness and anger in his eyes gradually disappeared, replaced by a clear one: "So Lone must catch up with him quickly." ”

(Say a few sentences after this chapter: some people say that it is not good to write clearly, some people say that it is written well, and they insist on their own words, but I myself know that it is not good to write clearly, and it is actually a very nonsense to basically maintain the update volume of 10,000 words every day and ensure the quality, this is the helplessness of the writer, there is no money to make when you write less, and you can write more, where can you pursue any quality?)

Gu Long once said that the reason why his early works did not have a style was because he wrote purely for food, and later improved his conditions and no longer struggled for his livelihood, so he had his unique style.

Every person who codes words, even if they write badly, has a heart to create classics. Just like the soldiers who stood below and looked up at Li Xian, they also wanted to stand at that height one day, although most of them were talking about foolish dreams, but this mood was scorching.

Forgive me, the quality of Shomei is not enough to satisfy everyone. Writing a novel with a heart full of mundane things, few can write beautiful words. I can't, I really can't. But watching my books be pointed out for all kinds of shortcomings, the sorrow and entanglement in my heart are known only to me. I'm not a person who writes for ideals, I'm a layman, a villain, who codes words for a few dollars.

Gibberish, I don't know what to say. Please ignore my complaints, but it is really hard in my heart. Sorry, forgive me. ）