A pro-soldier walked in from the outside and presented a red letterbox to Zhang Xuan, the highest level of intelligence in the Northern Sui is the purple letterbox, which means the most urgent and important, but the purple letterbox can only be used by the superiors, and for the Chang'an Intelligence Agency, the red letterbox is the most urgent information. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

When everyone saw the red letterbox, they all knew that something big would happen, so they stopped what they were doing and looked at Zhang Xuan together, Zhang Xuan looked at the information, and said lightly to everyone: "Yesterday, the Tang Dynasty made a final decision and ordered Li Xiaogong's Eastern Expeditionary Army to withdraw west to Jiangxia County. ”

Everyone hurriedly looked at the sand table, only to see that there was a Jiugong Mountain Range hundreds of miles long between Jiangxia County and Yuzhang County, and it was not so easy to withdraw directly from Yuzhang County to Jiangxia County. ”

Zhang Xuan said again: "According to the rules of sending letters in the Tang Dynasty, the Ministry of War will send Li Yuan's edict to Jiangxia with a pigeon letter, and then take a boat from Jiangxia to Yuzhang County, which will take three days at the earliest, that is to say, Li Xiaogong will not receive the edict of the Son of Heaven until at least this time the day after tomorrow, even if he immediately starts to march north, then it will take four to five days before he can enter Jiangxia County, that is to say, we still have eight days, and I hope to make all the preparations for war in these eight days." ”

Fang Xuanling said on the side: "Since Li Shenfu knows that Li Xiaogong's army is going to enter Jiangxia, I'm afraid he won't abandon Jiangxia so easily." ”

Zhang Xuan nodded, this was actually what he expected, since the Sui army occupied Baling, Changsha and Nanjun and cut off the retreat of Li Xiaogong's army, then Li Xiaogong had no way out except to withdraw his troops back to Jiangxia.

Zhang Xuan looked at Yuzhang County and said halfway: "Li Xiaogong's coming to Jiangxia is not necessarily a bad thing. ”

.........

Li Xiaogong's army is currently stationed in Yuzhang County, although the logistics area has been captured and the backup grain has been cut off, Yuzhang County and Poyang County are relatively wealthy counties, and there is a lot of grain in the official warehouse, which can also be bought in the market, so that the Tang army can still guarantee the supply of military food.

With food in his hands, he is not panicked, the food in Tang Jun's hands can last for at least more than a month, and Li Xiaogong is not so nervous.

But everything can't be so perfect, although the grain can stabilize the morale of the army after the solution, but the morale is declining day by day, which makes Li Xiaogong really helpless.

Of the 90,000 Eastern Expeditionary Army led by Li Xiaogong this time, most of them were Xiao Miao's surrendered troops, and the Tang army brought from Bashu was only 20,000, and the rest were changed by the Liang army to become the Tang army, and at least half of these 70,000 soldiers were from Nanjun, as well as from Changsha County, Baling County and Luling County.

When the Sui army captured the three counties of Nanjun, Changsha and Baling, although Li Xiaogong ordered to conceal the news, most of the low-level generals surrendered, how could this kind of news be hidden? The news of the fall of the three counties soon spread throughout the army, causing an uproar among the soldiers, and demoralization was inevitable.

In the big tent, Li Xiaogong was pacing back and forth with his hands in his hands, just now, he received an edict from the Son of Heaven sent from Jiangxia, and the Son of Heaven ordered him to return to Jiangxia immediately, and defend against the upcoming attack of the Northern Sui army on Jiangxia with the Jiangxia garrison.

Abandoning Yuzhang County and retreating north to Jiangxia was no problem for Li Xiaogong, but Li Xiaogong was worried about his army, and the reason why the morale of the soldiers was low and stable now was because everyone thought that he could lead the army to recover Baling and Nanjun, and if he finally led the army to Jiangxia, he was very worried that the army would be in turmoil under extreme disappointment.

However, apart from leading his army north as soon as possible, he did not seem to have a third way to go.

At this time, the general Huang Junhan persuaded on the side: "Your Highness, the more you feel that the more you drag on, the more unfavorable the situation will be for us, the soldiers' low mood is largely caused by the unknown future, the top priority is to withdraw to Jiangxia County, although it will disappoint some soldiers, but at the same time, it will also give the soldiers a sense of security, and then we will reorganize the army in Jiangxia County, remove its branches, retain the backbone, and remove the general's unstable heart, and the soldiers left behind must be the elite army, and the morale will slowly recover, and the situation will be clear." ”

Another general, Lu Zushang, also said: "What General Huang said is extremely true, now the enemy is dark and I am clear, Zhang Xuan knows our situation very well, but we don't know anything about the Sui army, we don't know where they are?" I don't know how many of them are, I feel that it is this unknown fear that invisibly brings a kind of coercion to the soldiers, which is also an important aspect of affecting morale, in this case, it is not appropriate to be still, as long as we move, the other party will also move, so that we will not be so passive. ”

Li Xiaogong nodded, "You are all right, the key problem is that we don't know anything about the enemy, even the imperial court doesn't know, and Jiangxia doesn't know anything, we are really too passive, I'm worried that the other party will intercept us in Jiangxia County, a big war is inevitable, I actually consider simply doing the opposite, kill directly to Changsha County, and then break through from Changsha County to Nanjun, kill Zhang Xuan by surprise, I believe that there will not be too many troops over there, we can retreat with our whole body." ”

Huang Junhan and Lu Zushang glanced at each other, and Huang Junhan hurriedly said: "Your Highness, the Son of Heaven means that we are going to support Jiangxia, and I am afraid that the situation in Jiangxia is not good." ”

Li Xiaogong didn't speak, he walked to the window with his hands down, looking out of the window from afar, he didn't know the intentions of the Son of Heaven, he was worried that he would not only not be able to support Jiangxia, but fell into the trap of the Sui army, he really didn't have much confidence in this Eastern Expeditionary Army composed of surrendered troops, it was wise to go to Changsha, but the will of the Son of Heaven could not be disobeyed.

After a long time, Li Xiaogong let out a long sigh, "Pass my order, the army is ready to set off and go north to Jiangxia!" ”

.......

The reason why the waterway of the Yangtze River is very important to the army in the south is that the land march is really difficult, the mountains are high and the forests are dense, the population is sparse, and most of the time the army needs to cross the mountains and mountains, and the official roads are intermittent, which is a severe test for the army's march.

Especially in Yuzhang County, more than ninety percent of the county is mountainous, the mountains are towering, the roads are difficult, there are reckless primeval forests everywhere, the towering trees are visible, and even the palace construction in the Sui and Tang dynasties, the most important bucket beams and wooden pillars are from Yuzhang County.

Yuzhang County and Jiangxia County are bordered in the northwest direction, but between the two counties lies hundreds of miles long and hundreds of miles wide Jiugong Mountain Range, where the population is sparse, the official road is cut off, and they can only take the sheep intestine path, and the several hunters who gave them guides clearly told them that they should lose all the unnecessary baggage, and it is more meaningful for livestock to eat meat than to use it as a means of transportation, and the implication is that the baggage cart cannot walk, so it can only be carried lightly, which is much more difficult than the road to Baling County.

Although Li Xiaogong was fully mentally prepared for this march of hundreds of miles, after entering the Jiugong Mountains, the bad roads still made him regret in his heart, and he knew that he should still go to Changsha County.

The cold air in the mountains was heavy, and it was raining lightly, and the soldiers were shivering with cold, and the narrow paths were muddy and difficult to walk, and after a whole day of marching, they had only walked less than fifty miles, and the soldiers were exhausted, and when they rested in a forest, many of the soldiers had not even eaten, and fell to a coma.

However, although the carts could not walk, the horses could march like people, and thousands of livestock carried food, which still played a great role.

Li Xiaogong looked at the continuous mountains in the distance, and couldn't help but sigh a long sigh, when will this difficult torture end.

"Your Highness!"

General Wang Renshou urged the horse to catch up with Li Xiaogong, panting and said: "I feel that something is wrong. ”

"What's wrong?"

"Just now, I was still thinking that it was a wise decision for the soldier who sent us the letter to choose to take a boat instead of taking the damn land route, but I suddenly thought again, since it was a boat, why wasn't it intercepted by the Sui army's sailors? You must know that they are not disguised, but are still wearing the armor of the Tang army, will the Sui army patrol ship let them leave Jiangxia and come to Yuzhang County? ”

Li Xiaogong frowned, Wang Renshou had some truth in what he said, he thought for a while and said, "Maybe the soldiers who delivered the letter took advantage of the cover of night and were not discovered." ”

"I thought about it too, but I don't think it's very likely."

"Do you mean that the soldier who sent us the letter was pretended to be by the Sui army?"

"Not really, but I think it must have been the order of the Sui army general not to intercept them, so they came to deliver the letter."

Li Xiaogong nodded, "I understand what you mean, you think the Sui army is waiting for us in front." ”

"Highly likely!"

Li Xiaogong pondered for a moment, turned around and instructed his guards: "Pass my order, and send another three hundred scouts to the front to investigate, and we will explore two hundred miles away." ”

"Obey!"

The soldiers took the arrow and went to deliver the order, Li Xiaogong took out a gilded arrow again, handed it to the other two soldiers, and said: "The two of you will rush to Wuchang County immediately, and ask Li Dashuai to send troops to Yongxing County to respond." ”

"Obey!"

The two pro-soldiers received the order and turned around to leave, but Li Xiaogong stopped them again, "Remember, if you are intercepted by the Sui army patrol, immediately break the order arrow!" ”

The two pro-soldiers agreed, urging the horses to gallop away, Li Xiaogong looked at their distant backs, and really didn't have much confidence in his cousin Li Shenrune in his heart, everything could only rely on himself.

(To be continued.) )