In the Liangyi Hall of Chang'an Taiji Palace, an emergency court meeting on the rescue of Hongnong County is being held here, and the Liangyi Hall is the inner court, which is the place where the small court meeting is held, and only some important ministers are qualified to attend the pilgrimage here

Li Yuan sat on the high jade-stepped dragon couch, because he had not slept all night last night, his eyes were bloodshot, and his spirit looked a little haggard.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let's discuss the first thing first! Regarding the matter of changing military dependents for important ministers, do you think it is feasible? ”

Two days ago, Yang Yuanqing ordered Taichang Shaoqing Xue to send an envoy to Chang'an, proposing to exchange the corpses of Dou Dan, Yu Wenxin, Liu Zhenghui, and Li Shuliang and Xiahouduan for the families of more than 10,000 Guanzhong soldiers who were captured in Li Shuliang's battle.

This matter was very hotly debated in the court, almost half in favor and half against, Li Yuan himself was in favor, Dou Dan was his son-in-law, Yu Wenxin and Liu Zhenghui were his henchmen when he raised the army, Li Shuliang and Xiahouduan's bodies He wanted to take them back for a thick burial, but if he decided arbitrarily, it seemed that he was a little too selfish, so he hoped that the important ministers would support him.

Pei Lin knows Li Yuan's mind very well, Dou Dan, Yu Wenxin, and Liu Zhenghui are all Li Yuan's henchmen, Dou Dan is still his son-in-law, and most of the families of more than 10,000 soldiers are old and weak, women and children.

Pei Lin stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the ministers heard that Dou Dan, Yu Wenxin and Liu Zhenghui were trapped in the enemy camp, but they were loyal and did not surrender, if we can't treat this loyal minister well, ignore it, and treat it indifferently, I don't know how many ministers' hearts will be cold, and how many talented people will be prevented from coming to take refuge, and more than 10,000 soldiers have surrendered to the Northern Sui, and they are willing to die for Yang Yuanqing, but our family members are supported by the Northern Sui, the loyal are cold, and the betrayers are thick, isn't this a thing that makes the relatives painful and the enemies happy?" Your Majesty. The opponents just don't want Yang Yuanqing to be happy, but they didn't expect that our loyal ministers are still tortured in the prison of the Northern Sui, the ancients had a saying that a thousand dollars buy bones, but we are narrow-minded, blind-eyed, thick traitors and light loyal ministers, which is more important, Your Majesty should be self-determined. ”

Liu Wenjing just wanted to get up and object. Li Jiancheng motioned to him with his eyes not to say much. Liu Wenjing swallowed the words that she was about to oppose Pei Lin back into her stomach.

Li Yuan nodded, Pei Lian's statement was deeply in line with his wishes, and he asked Dou Wei again. "What does Dou Aiqing think?"

Dou Wei's body was weak, and he trembled and said: "Your Majesty, Dou Dan is the nephew of the old minister. Lao Chen didn't dare to say much, but Yu Wenxin and Liu Zhenghui are talents and should not give up easily. ”

Dou Wei turned a corner in favor, Li Yuan understood his thoughts, and asked the left servant to shoot Dugu Zhen, "Can Dugu Aiqing approve?" ”

Dugu Zhen smiled slightly: "The old minister very much agrees with Pei Xiangguo's words. ”

Li Yuan glanced at everyone again, and seeing that no one objected, he resolutely made a decision, "Since all of you Aiqing are not opposed. Then I decided, and this matter will be fully responsible for Dou Shangshu. ”

Dou Jin, the head of the household, stepped forward and bowed, "The minister obeys the order!" ”

After finishing a matter on his mind, Li Yuan breathed a long sigh of relief, and his thoughts turned to today's important matter, giving up or sticking to Hongnong County.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let's talk about today's major event. Regarding Hongnong County, Li Xiaogong urgently asked the imperial court for help, and the situation was clear to everyone, I was a little conflicted, whether to give up Hongnong County. I still stick to Hongnong County and want to hear everyone's opinions. Speak up! ”

This time it was Liu Wenjing who took the lead in standing up and said: "Your Majesty, the minister advocates temporarily giving up Hongnong County, Yang Yuanqing has just defeated Dou Jiande, Li Mi has also returned in vain, the morale of the Northern Sui army is booming, from Yang Yuanqing's troop deployment can be seen clues, he deployed troops in Fenglingdu, it is obvious that he wants to cut off our back road, once the back road is broken, and the east road is attacked by Wang Shichong and Yang Yuanqing, Li Xiaogong's army morale is low, this battle is bound to be a fiasco, rather than a fiasco, it is better to temporarily give up Hongnong and withdraw. ”

There is a famous saying in the imperial court, 'With Liu Wenjing's approval, there will inevitably be Pei Lian's opposition, and vice versa', everyone quietly glanced at Pei Lin out of the corner of their eyes.

Sure enough, Pei Lin stood up and said loudly: "Why did Liu Xiangguo say defeat before he fought?" ”

He walked out of his seat and saluted Li Yuan, "Your Majesty, there are no more than two strategies to deal with, one is to respond positively, the other is to retreat passively, Hongnong County is the first step for us to fight for the pass, if Yang Yuanqing is on the north bank of the army, we will retreat to Tongguan, then in the long run, the soldiers will be afraid of 'Yang', and when they hear that Yang Yuanqing's army is coming, they will be so frightened that they will flee, what else are we talking about fighting for hegemony in the world?" Therefore, the minister thinks that Yang Yuanqing's troops are pressing Hedong County, and our countermeasures should be to increase troops, increase the strength of Ruxiang County, block the river, and defend Yang Yuanqing from crossing the river from Fengling, which is only the worst result, in fact, the minister thinks that Yang Yuanqing's troops in Hedong County are just putting pressure on us, he may not really cross the river, even if he wants to cross the river, Wang Shichong will not agree, please Your Majesty Mingjian! ”

After speaking, Pei Lin glanced at Liu Wenjing arrogantly, retreated, and there was a whisper in the court, and Dou Wei also stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the minister agrees with Pei Xiangguo's suggestion, Hongnong County is our first step towards the Central Plains, and we can't give up easily." ”

Dou Wei reciprocated the favor, just now Pei Lin advocated for Dou Dan and others, which made him grateful in his heart, and at this time he also had to support Pei Lian's opinion.

At this time, the important ministers of the court spoke one after another, there were many people in favor of increasing troops, and few people advocating withdrawal, Li Yuan finally made up his mind, "I decided to send reinforcements out of Hongnong County, I don't know who Aiqing recommends as the commander?" ”

Dugu Huaien, the secretary of the Ministry of Works, stepped forward and saluted: "Your Majesty, the minister recommends Qi Wang Yuanji as the aid commander. ”

This is also a practice of Li Yuan's army, the commander of the army will inevitably be the Li clan, and rarely send people with foreign surnames as the commander, so as to ensure that the military power is firmly controlled in his hands, so there are also many factions in the Tang army, such as Li Shimin's faction, Li Jiancheng's faction, Li Yuanji's faction, Li Shentong's faction, Li Xiaogong's faction, Li Xiaoji's faction, etc., and occasionally there are people with foreign surnames, who are also his sons-in-law or absolute henchmen, such as Chai Shao and Pei Lian.

Now in the Li clan, Li Shimin is dealing with Xue Ju in Longxi, Li Shentong is in Hexi to pacify the counties, Li Xiaoji is in Shuzhou to fight the Nanban rebellion, Chai Shao and his wife are in Fangling County to defend against the invasion of Nanyang Zhu Ji, the prince Li Jiancheng will not go, and only Li Yuanji in Chang'an is in charge of training, so he can only lead the troops to aid Li Xiaogong.

At this time, Qu Tutong, the secretary of the military department who had not spoken, stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, there are no two commanders in the first war, since there is the king of Hejian County as the commander of Hongnong, the reinforcements should also be commanded by him, which is convenient for scheduling." Moreover, the minister did not agree with what Pei Xiangguo said just now, and the minister thought that Yang Yuanqing would only judge the situation with his troops, and whether to cross the river to fight, he had the initiative, and there was no reason why he was afraid of Wang Shichong and did not dare to cross the river, and the minister was at least eight points sure that Yang Yuanqing's army would definitely cross the river. As for crossing the wind and crossing the Lingdu. It's still a ferry in Hebei County, and the minister is not sure. ”

Qu Tutong's admonition annoyed Pei Lian, and he snorted heavily: "Qu Tutong's book." Now the king of Hejian County is threatened by two armies and three places, but you let him deal with it alone, if the Northern Sui crosses the river from Fengling and attacks Ruxiang County. Could it be that the county guard of Ruxiang County also sent people hundreds of miles away to ask the king of Hejian County for instructions? Not to mention the delay of the fighter, it will really trap the king of Hejian in the predicament of being attacked on his back. ”

Pei Lin reported to Li Yuanyu again: "Your Majesty, these are originally two different battlefields, one is Baotong Pass, which also defends Ruxiang County, and the other is Baoshan County, against Wang Shichong, the minister is very much in favor of Dugu Shangshu's suggestion, with Qi Wang Yuanji as the main commander. Led the army to the east. ”

Pei Lin is very strong in the imperial court, and at the same time he is also an extremely cunning politician, what he really thinks about is not what Li Xiaogong's battle situation is, he is thinking about how to pull the Dou family and the Dugu family to the faction of Li Shimin, the king of Qin, so he strongly advocates replacing Dou Dan to curry favor with Dou Wei, and at the same time opposing Qu Tutong is also to support Dugu Huaien's proposal, although it can not be successful at one time. But the long-term subtlety will definitely make him get his wish.

Li Yuan pondered for a moment, and Pei Lin mentioned the safety of Tongguan, and immediately reminded him that he should not only consider the battle situation in Hongnong County. It is also necessary to consider the safety of Tongguan, and Qu Tutong's advice also has a little truth. You can send important ministers to assist Motoyoshi.

"I am ready, the king of Qi is the generalissimo of Tongguan, and Zhao Cijing, the squire of the military department, is the chief of the march, and he leads an army of 30,000 to aid Hongnong County."

The holy decree was issued, and Li Yuanji, the king of Qi, led 20,000 troops to Tongguan that night, together with the 10,000 troops of Tongguan itself, a total of 30,000 troops supported Hongnong County.

Li Yuanji, the king of Qi, led the army to Tongguan on the third day, at this time the official road from Tongguan to Huayin County was crowded with the people of Luoyang who had retreated westward, these were the Guanzhong people who were forced to move to Luoyang in the first year of the Great Cause, and the soaring rice prices in Luoyang made them homesick and thirsty, and they moved their families back to their homeland.

At this time, the westward evacuation movement of the Luoyang people was interrupted by the imminent outbreak of war, and this group of people moved from Hongnong County, and they were also the last group of Guanzhong people to move west.

Li Yuanji led 20,000 Tang troops to the east on the official road, and countless fleeing people passed by, not far ahead, Li Yuanji looked at these fleeing people indifferently, after returning from the defeat in Taiyuan, he was reprimanded by his father, he was not allowed to lead the troops again, only let him be responsible for training, which made him unhappy all the time, his heart was full of a tyrannical impulse, he wanted to kill, but in Chang'an he didn't dare, now out of Chang'an, his heart is more and more tyrannical.

At this time, an old man was staggering, the pedestrians were too crowded, he did not stand firmly, his body was crooked, and he was falling next to Li Yuanji's war horse, Li Yuanji's war horse hurriedly avoided to the side, making Li Yuanji's body shake violently.

Li Yuanji was furious, he pulled out his battle knife, grabbed the old man's hair sideways, and slashed it down

The surrounding passers-by were all exclaimed, stumbling into the ground and running, Li Yuanji laughed, and threw the head into the crowd casually, causing a frightened scream.

Li Yuanji wiped the blood from his sword with a cloth, put it into its sheath, and continued to move forward as if nothing had happened.

Before the team finally arrived at Tongguan, there were many shops on both sides of the place, all of them were open for business, selling dry food and some daily necessities, and the business was very good, and the last to leave was a group of family members and children of large families, they bought a lot of things, and the front of each shop was crowded with customers.

At this moment, a gold-painted carriage drove past the army, followed by four attendants, and in the window of the carriage showed a very delicate face, a woman of about twenty years old, with a pair of foxy eyes that seduced the soul, and her hair was full of pearls, but she was curiously looking at the mighty army.

Li Yuanji saw this woman at a glance, his eyes lit up, and he stared at her directly, Li Yuanji was moved.