The Guanlong nobles resigned to exert pressure to force Li Yuan to cancel the southern tour plan, and finally ended with Li Yuan's bowing, as Li Shimin said, the Guanlong nobles are the foundation of the Tang Dynasty, and they can't easily shake the foundation when the storm is in turmoil now.

Although Li Yuan was forced to dispel the idea of moving the capital to Bashu, he was not reconciled, and he sent a secret decree to his fourth son Yuanji, ordering him to sit in Chengdu and prepare to move the capital to Bashu.

Li Yuan's temptation was just a small episode, but now the urgent problem facing the Tang Dynasty was the danger of Jingxiang, how to solve this crisis?

In the evening of the same day, Li Yuan held a military meeting in the side hall of the Wude Palace, which was attended by a total of nine people, including the five ministers of the political affairs hall and the crown prince, the king of Qin, the general Chai Shao, the internal history squire, and the Fengde Yi clan, to discuss countermeasures.

The lights in the side hall are bright, more than a dozen arm-thick blubber candles will illuminate the side hall as if it were day, the hall is filled with a faint fragrance, nine people sit on both sides, everyone has a couch, they straighten their waists, and their expressions are solemn.

Li Yuan sat on the jade step dragon couch and said slowly to everyone: "I just got the news from Xiangyang, Yang Yuanqing has already incorporated the army of Xiao Mo and Du Fuwei, plus part of the Sui army, about 150,000 people, from both sides of the Yangtze River at the same time to Jingxiang, our worries are about to become a reality, now at the critical juncture, everyone speak freely!" Whatever I say tonight, I will forgive my innocence. ”

Everyone has already obtained the content of tonight's discussion in advance, in fact, everyone knows very well that after the Sui army conquers Jiangnan, the next step must be to attack Jingxiang, and the strategy of the Sui army is already very clear. The following is to see how the Tang Army responds.

Li Yuan told everyone about the three countermeasures, his meaning was obvious, he was ready to choose one of the three strategies, and everyone also knew that it was impossible to choose the third strategy to give up Jingxiang, if Li Yuan had the courage, then choose the best strategy. If you want to be stable, you can only choose the strategy.

At this time, Xiao Yu got up and said, "Your Majesty." Please speak first. ”

Li Yuan nodded, "Xiao Xiangguo, please speak." ”

Xiao Yu also has his own ideas in his heart, and he is more supportive of Zhongce. But he didn't agree with some details, Xiao Yu walked to the main hall, glanced at everyone, and saluted Li Yuan: "Your Majesty, first of all, the minister must make his attitude clear, Jingxiang can't be lost, lose Jingxiang granary, only Guanlong and Bashu are left, I'm afraid we can't support 300,000 troops, so the minister supports Zhongce." The imperial court had to send troops to aid Jingxiang, but the ministers had different opinions on the details of sending troops. ”

Li Yuan smiled slightly, "If you have different opinions, just say it." I have to listen to all the different opinions. ”

Xiao Yu continued: "The key is to send 100,000 troops to support, His Royal Highness the King of Qin's opinion is that 70,000 troops support Jingxiang and 30,000 troops defend Bashu, but the problem comes, we only have 100,000 troops left." Can you hold Guanlong? First of all, the capital needs at least 50,000 troops, so how to distribute the remaining 50,000 troops? So I think it's a little too much to transfer 100,000 troops. ”

Xiao Yu's words caused a whisper in the hall, and even Li Yuan's brows frowned slightly, not to mention that he didn't feel it yet, Xiao Yu's analysis like this, Li Yuan also felt that leaving 100,000 troops to defend Guanlong was indeed a little less, although the 100,000 troops themselves were a lot, but the main thing was to defend the capital, and he still felt that the 50,000 troops were a little less.

On the side, Li Shimin said: "Although Xiao Xiangguo's analysis is reasonable, but the transfer of 100,000 troops is the bottom line, because now Bashu and Hanzhong are empty, the garrison is only 15,000 people, and it is still necessary to concentrate in Hanzhong, if there is no 30,000 troops to defend, once the Sui army enters Bashu from Yiling or from Longxi, Bashu will be finished, and the Sui army is 200,000 troops besieging Jingxiang, and Jingxiang only has 80,000 troops, even if we increase our troops by 70,000, we can only have 150,000 troops, and the strength is not as good as the Sui army, and the Sui army also has cavalry and naval troops, Xiao Xiangguo, Transferring 100,000 troops to the south is actually very conservative. ”

When Li Shimin said this, he gave everyone a feeling of being overstretched, obviously there were still 300,000 troops in the Tang Dynasty, but he actually felt that it was not enough, at this time, Chen Shuda said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, if this is the case, you can only consider conscripting again." ”

As soon as his words fell, Dugu Zhen and Dou Liang sneered at the same time, this kind of sneer in unison made everyone feel a chill, and the side hall suddenly quieted down, Li Yuan was slightly displeased, and he remembered that these two people threatened him with resignation, although they had taken back their resignations, but at the cost of their own bows, he had a fire in his heart.

But just now he had already spoken, he could speak freely, he couldn't be untrustworthy, Li Yuan had to hold back his anger and said to Dugu: "Dugu Xiangguo, do you have any suggestions?" ”

Dugu Zhen stood up and gave a salute, "Your Majesty, Dou Xiangguo's thoughts are unknown, but just now Chen Xiangguo said about recruitment, but Weichen felt that he was thinking too simply, now the word 'recruitment', but can it be said so easily?" ”

Dugu Zhen didn't say it explicitly, but everyone understood what he meant, it was really because the Tang Army had recruited too many troops in recent years, and no less than five or six hundred thousand troops had been forcibly recruited before and after, almost to the extent of sweeping the ground into soldiers.

Dou Liang also said: "Dugu Xiangguo is right, now among the farmers, there are not many young people under the age of forty, the last time the Sui army attacked Guanzhong, the imperial court temporarily recruited 60,000 young people in the capital, originally said that the Sui army would let them return to the people after they retreated, but they did not let them go, so that the credibility of the court suffered a great blow, I am worried that if the forced recruitment, the people of Guanzhong will flee to Guanbei and Hedong in large numbers, which will cause a greater crisis." ”

Li Shimin stood up and saluted Li Yuan: "Father Qi, Dou Xiangguo and Dugu Xiangguo are indeed reasonable, but the reality is here, if you don't recruit troops, then you can only protect Guanlong with 100,000 troops, although there is a bit of a dilemma, we have to make a decision, whether to recruit troops or not?" ”

At this time, Li Jiancheng, who had not been silent, sighed and said: "If you really want to recruit troops, you can only recruit them in Bashu, let them understand that joining the army is to defend their homeland, and at the same time ensure that they do not leave Bashu, I think it should be possible to recruit as little as 350,000 or as much as 70,000 or 80,000 troops." ”

Chai Shao also said: "Your Majesty, the minister also agrees with the prince's opinion. ”

Li Yuan slowly looked at the crowd, and saw that everyone had no objections, so he nodded and said: "Since there is no objection, then it is so decided, transfer 70,000 troops to Hanzhong to urgently assist Jingxiang, and recruit another 80,000 troops in Bashu, and decompose the number of recruits into counties, and each county must complete the number of recruits, otherwise it will be dismissed on the spot." ”

At this time, all eyes looked at Li Shimin, but Li Jiancheng thought it was inappropriate, it should be Li Xiaogong as the main general, and a deputy general should be sent to help, if Li Shimin went, there would be a situation where the two powers would be tied together, and there would be problems in command.

Li Jiancheng suggested in a deep voice: "Father, Erchen recommended Yang Gongren, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, to lead the army to rescue Jing Xiang. ”

Xiao Yu also smiled and said: "Your Majesty, the minister agrees with the prince's proposal, Yang Shangshu participated in the rebellion to destroy Yang Xuangan, defeated tens of thousands of thieves with thousands of troops, and as early as Liangzhou was too punctual, leading the officers and soldiers to pacify the horse bandits in the Hexi Corridor, and his reputation is far and wide, so let him be the deputy general of King Jing, I think it is more appropriate." ”

Li Yuan has an idea, of course he knows that Yang Gongren is an all-round talent in civil and military affairs, but his brother Yang Shidao is the prime minister of the Sui Dynasty, and it is rumored that his sister is Yang Yuanqing's side concubine, let him be a deputy general, Li Yuan is not very relieved.

However, he also understands Li Jiancheng's thoughts, and letting Shimin lead the army to aid will inevitably form a situation where the two powers will stand side by side, especially Li Xiaogong also betrayed his second son Shimin, I am afraid it will be difficult for the two of them to cooperate tacitly, and Li Shentong, Li Xiaoji and others are relatively mediocre.

In fact, Li Yuan already had an idea, although Yang Gongren is good, but he must not be the chief general of the reinforcements, his eyes fell on Chai Shao, smiled, and slowly said to everyone: "My idea is that General Chai Da is the main general of the reinforcements, Yang Shangshu is the deputy general, and King Jing is the marshal of the march, and the Jingxiang battle situation is over, do you have any opinions?" ”

This plan is more modest, which is equivalent to putting Yang Gongren in the third place, Chai Shao is sleek, good at coordinating various relationships, he can cooperate with King Jing's command, it should be said that this is a more compromised plan, and everyone nodded in approval.

Even Li Shimin did not object, he himself did not want to go to Jingxiang, his army was in Guanzhong, and at the juncture of life and death in the Tang Dynasty, he should guard Guanzhong.

Seeing that everyone had no objections, Li Yuan immediately made a decision, "Then General Chai Da will be the chief general of the reinforcements, and Yang Gongren will be the deputy general, lead 70,000 troops to aid Xiangyang, and set off in two days!" ”……

In Yuan'an County, in the north of Yiling County, the Tang Army, which had been 5,000 people, was rapidly advancing towards Yichang County, the county of Yiling County.

Yichang County has an extremely important strategic position, this is the throat road from Jingxiang to Bashu, it can be said that the occupation of Yichang County will also cut off the exchanges between Xiangyang and Bashu.

Li Xiaogong also knew the strategic position of Yichang County, and he himself deployed 3,000 troops in Yichang County, but when he heard the news that the Sui army was marching westward into Jingxiang, he was afraid that Yichang County would lose, so he added 5,000 troops to garrison Yichang County's danger and 8,000 troops, which was enough to hold this choke point.

The 5,000 troops had already passed Yuan'an County, and there were still 150 miles away from Yichang County, and according to the normal speed, they could reach Yichang County in two more days.

Due to Li Xiaogong's urgency, the Tang army did not rest, and marched all the way south, between the lofty mountains and mountains, along the winding mountain road to Yichang County in the distance.

But the Tang army never dreamed that about fifty miles to the south of them, a cavalry of the Sui army of 10,000 horses was also rushing towards Yichang County.

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