On the battlefield on the Western Front, Yang Yuanqing's main force was stationed in Yiyang County, Henan County, and it was only sixty miles away from Changyuan County in Hongnong County.

Li Shimin also led his army back to Changyuan County, he led an army of 100,000 to Luoyang, and now he has lost 25,000 men, but Luoyang is standing still, this outcome makes him feel very depressed.

In the big tent, Li Shimin stared at the sand table for a long time and was silent, he already clearly felt that he was being held by Yang Yuanqing's nose, and whether to fight or not to fight was decided by the other party.

Now the situation makes him feel very passive, and if this passive problem is not solved, the Tang army will be fierce and auspicious in this battle.

At this time, the eldest grandson Wuji slowly stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, the best way now is to enlist reinforcements from the imperial court, once the reinforcements arrive, you can break the current deadlock." ”

Li Shimin sighed slightly, "I also hoped that my father would send reinforcements, but my father refused." ”

"Your Highness, I think there is a misunderstanding in this, and it is not that the Holy One is unwilling to send reinforcements."

"Misunderstanding?"

Li Shimin glanced at him, "What misunderstanding?" ”

"I remember that His Royal Highness asked for reinforcements at the beginning, because he wanted to fight a decisive battle with the Sui army, and if he wins, the Tang Dynasty will win the world, and if he loses, the Tang Dynasty will perish, and the saint can't bear such consequences, so he is reluctant to send reinforcements, which is the key to the problem."

"But this is a fact, the Tang Dynasty's 300,000 army, almost 200,000 have been put into the battlefield, and then send reinforcements, 20,000 or 30,000 is meaningless, at least more than 50,000, isn't that an army that overthrows the country?"

Speaking of this, Li Shimin pointed to Yan'an County with a wooden pole, "The Sui army has 10,000 garrisons in Yan'an Army and 10,000 garrisons in Hedong County. It will cause great pressure on Guanzhong. I'm afraid I'm going to lose on all three fronts. ”

Li Shimin sighed, "Actually, now I think the best way is to withdraw the army and retreat to Guanzhong to preserve strength." Temporarily cede the Central Plains to the Sui army. ”

"But is it saintly?"

"Herein lies the problem."

Li Shimin said worriedly: "I'm just worried about the height of my father's imperial palace, he can't see the current grim situation, and he doesn't understand the passivity of the Tang army now." In fact, I'm not worried about my side, it's a big deal that I stick to the barriers, I won't fight the Sui army, I have enough food to fight a protracted war, I'm worried about Xiaogong's side, his army is dominated by the Shu army, and he hasn't fought for a long time, can he beat the elite northern army of cavalry, if he is defeated. Li Jing's army returned to Hongnong, and my side couldn't support it. ”

It seems that Yang Yuanqing is also aware of this. The eldest grandson Wuji said.

Li Shimin shook his head, "It's not that he realizes this. It's just that he deliberately arranged it. You see that he is now stationed in Yiyang County, confronting me from afar. He did not mean to fight with me, so it can be seen that he was also waiting for victory on the Eastern Front, and he knew as well as I did that where our weaknesses were? ”

Speaking of this, Li Shimin finally made up his mind, "I still have to persuade my father to send troops, even if it is 20,000 or 30,000 people, as long as we put pressure on the Sui army from the direction of Tongguan, we may be able to change our current passive situation." ”……

Just as Li Shimin judged, Yang Yuanqing was indeed waiting for news from Li Jing on the Eastern Front, a big battle is not a battle between the two armies, and after a fight, whoever wins and who loses will be over.

This big war affects the overall situation, is related to the gains and losses of the entire Central Plains, and even affects the weakening of the entire national strength, so Yang Yuanqing is also facing huge pressure, and he also does not want to act rashly.

In the big tent, Yang Yuanqing said to Wei Zheng, the envoy who came from Taiyuan: "You go back and tell the Xiangguo of Ziwei Pavilion that this battle will not end so quickly, one month soon, two months slowly, I hope the imperial court can fully support this, once we win, we can take most of the Central Plains." ”

Wei Zheng bowed and said with a smile: "Everyone is not urging to speed up the war situation, but His Highness has been in the Central Plains for a long time, which has a little impact on the government and politics, and many things cannot be implemented because of the lack of His Highness's approval, and some major matters require His Highness's participation in the discussion." ”

Yang Yuanqing nodded, "I also understand this question, I will delegate power to a certain extent, give Ziwei Pavilion more decision-making power, some major matters that need to be discussed, please also ask them to wait, and deal with it when I go back, in addition, I heard that the Turkic envoy is coming, is there such a thing?" ”

"Returning to Your Highness, there are indeed Turkic envoys who have arrived, saying that they are seriously ill with Luo Khan, but the news we have heard is different from what the Turkic envoys said."

Yang Yuanqing frowned slightly, "Where did you get the news?" ”

Wei Zheng said: "We got news from the Turkic tribes who moved south to Fu and beg, saying that it was because of the Chuluo Khan's large-scale attack on the northern Turks, and he was shot in the forehead by a stray arrow in a battle, and now he is seriously injured, and it is very likely that he will not be safe, and the Turks will face a major event, listen to the envoy, and the Turks are ready to consider changing the khan." ”

Yang Yuanqing was silent for a long time with his hands behind his back, in history, after the death of Chuluo Khan, it was Jieli Khan who ascended the throne, which was a very ambitious and talented Khan who brought the Turks into their heyday.

Under his rule, the Turks began to invade the Central Plains, and now the Utu Department has almost collapsed, and there is no containment within the Turks, and in two or three years at most, a strong Turkic force will appear in the north of the Central Plains.

Although history has taken a small turn because of the rise of the Utu tribe, it has not changed the general direction, and under the law of survival of the jungle, there are always new nomads rising.

Judging from the current situation in the steppe, the rise of the Turks is inevitable, and the rise of the Turks is a huge threat to the Sui Dynasty in the first place.

Thinking of this, Yang Yuanqing slowly said to Wei Zheng: "You go back and tell Ziwei Pavilion that we must support the growth of the rest of Utu as soon as possible, and at the same time prohibit private trade, and never allow any strategic materials to flow into the Turks." ”……

Wei Zheng left, Yang Yuanqing stood in front of the sand table and pondered, although Wei Zheng did not say it explicitly, his arrival showed that there was a disagreement within the Ziwei Pavilion about this battle of the Central Plains.

It also shows that war-weariness began to appear within the Sui Dynasty, and this opposition should be quite fierce before it would lead Wei Zheng to the south.

At this time, Xie Sili said beside him: "Your Highness should understand the difficulties of the imperial court, now Hebei is full of devastation, all kinds of waste to be rebuilt, the imperial court to appease the victims, resume production, has invested a lot of manpower and material resources, and now His Royal Highness wants to take back the mess of the Central Plains, which has increased the burden on the imperial court, and it is understandable that many ministers have resistance." ”

Yang Yuanqing sighed slightly, "I can understand their dissatisfaction, but some things can't be given up because of difficulties, if you want to win the world, the Central Plains is a hurdle that can't be bypassed." ”

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but sneer, "I understand the thoughts of some ministers, they want the Tang Dynasty to occupy the Central Plains, let the Tang Dynasty spend money and effort, restore the vitality of the Central Plains, and we will take over again, but how can there be such a cheap thing in the world, once the Tang Dynasty occupies the Central Plains, it is almost unrealistic to want to seize it from the Tang Dynasty, then the Tang Dynasty will be even stronger, and we will not be able to compete with it at all." ”

"Then can Your Highness speed up the offensive and end the battle of the Central Plains as soon as possible to quell some criticism from the imperial court?"

Yang Yuanqing shook his head, "Those who don't plan for the overall situation are not enough to plan for a domain, and the reason why I didn't attack for a long time is because I need time to do something." ”

"Your Highness means ......," Xie Sili said.

Yang Yuanqing smiled faintly, "Chang'an has already opened a good show." ”……

Chang'an City, like the Sui Dynasty, also began to have controversy within the Tang Dynasty about this Central Plains War, the Tang army on the western front failed to capture Luoyang City, and was forced to withdraw to Hongnong County, and the news of the defeat of the Tang army on the eastern front at Wei also reached Chang'an.

The unfavorable situation of the war made the discontent in the court even more high-profile, especially led by the crown prince Li Jiancheng, who strongly criticized the unfavorable performance of the Qin king in the war.

In the imperial study room of the Wude Palace, Yu Wenshi and once again came to persuade Li Yuan on the order of the King of Qin, Li Yuan's mood was really low in the past two days, and the disadvantage of the front line brought him great pressure, and he also realized that he had made a strategic mistake.

He misjudged the situation and underestimated Wang Shichong's strength, which led to the small number of Tang troops attacking Luoyang, and too much time was spent on attacking Luoyang, resulting in the Tang army being forced to withdraw from Luoyang in the end.

On the other hand, he was also too optimistic, thinking that the Central Plains was bound to win, and ordered Li Xiaogong to send troops to seize the Central Plains, he made a mistake in this major decision, if Li Xiaogong was ordered to support Luoyang at that time, and the army of King Qin was combined into one, then Luoyang would have been taken long ago, and there would be no passive situation today.

"Your Majesty, King Qin means to withdraw his troops back to Guanzhong in order to maintain his strength, next time we can attack Luoyang again, learn the lessons of this time, and we will definitely succeed."

Li Yuan sighed, "I also understand his difficulties, but once we withdraw our troops, the Sui army will occupy the Central Plains, and if we try to do it again, it will be even more difficult." ”

He took a few steps with his hands behind his back, and said: "In fact, we have not fought a battle with the Sui army on the Western Front, and we still have a slight advantage in troops, so we retreat out of fear, which is a bit unexplainable to both the court and the people, I still hope that the King of Qin can work harder and be able to defeat Yang Yuanqing and keep the counties south of Hongnong." ”

Li Yuan's words were said very tactfully, Yu Wenshi and understood, in fact, the saint just did not agree with the withdrawal of King Qin, hoping that King Qin could defeat Yang Yuanqing, Yu Wenshi and secretly sighed in his heart, the attitude of the saint was expected by King Qin.

Since the saint refused to withdraw his troops, Yu Wenshi could only retreat and ask for the second, "Your Majesty, if it is really difficult to withdraw the army, can we increase the troops appropriately, the King of Qin hopes to be able to send 20,000 or 30,000 troops, send troops from Tongguan, and put pressure on Yang Yuanqing's army from the west, so that we have more certainty of victory." ”

"This ......"

There are not many troops in Guanzhong, and there are more troops, Li Yuan is a little embarrassed, and he said for a while: "Let me think about the increase of troops!" ”