This information made Yang Yuanqing slightly stunned, he remembered that before entering Guanzhong, he had also investigated the strength of Huining County, Huining County should only have 10,000 troops, how could it increase to 20,000 troops?

"Is the intelligence confirmed?" Yang Yuanqing asked in a deep voice.

"Back to Your Highness, the intelligence will definitely be confirmed, we saw it with our own eyes, and later caught the Tang Army Grain Officer, and his confession also confirmed our judgment."

Yang Yuanqing pondered for a moment, he gradually figured out the reason, this must be Pei Renji's power in Lingwu County, either the army of Lingwu County retreated south to Huining County, or Li Jiancheng realized the danger of Huining County and increased troops to Huining County.

But in any case, Huiyeong-gun has become 20,000 troops, and his strategy needs to change slightly.

In Yang Yuanqing's chess game, Guannei Dao and Henan Dao were the focus of contention, Henan Dao was mainly to force Li Shimin to withdraw his troops, while Guannei Dao was to fight for rights and interests.

Among the Guannai Dao counties, the Sui army's focus was on Lingwu, Huining, and Yan'an, which actually represented three strategic resources, grain, silver, and oil.

At the same time, Yan'an County is the bridge of Guannei Road into Hedong Road, and its strategic significance is even more significant, so these three counties are inevitable for Yang Yuanqing.

Knowing that the strength of the Tang army in Huining County had increased to 20,000, Yang Yuanqing decided to change his tactics, and he immediately wrote a letter by the light of a torch, stamped it with a seal, and handed it to the scouts.

"You immediately go to Lingwu County and hand over this letter to Chief Pei."

"Yes!"

The scout took the letter and turned to leave, but Yang Yuanqing stopped the young scout again, and said with a slight smile: "What's your name?" ”

The scout immediately bowed down and said: "The lowly position is called He Desheng, and the lowly father fought side by side with His Royal Highness in the nineteenth year of the emperor's reign......

He was the head of the hundred people at that time, and he always mentioned His Highness to me. ”

Yang Yuanqing was stunned, he immediately thought of the first time he received the task, he won the death lot, the He Baichang who likes to draw lots to decide the task, Yang Yuanqing couldn't help laughing, that He Baichang is good, he takes care of himself very much, and later when he was fighting against the Turks, some people said that he was killed, and some people said that he was injured and retired, and then he never heard from him again.

"It turned out to be the son of He Baichang, is your father still alive?"

"Back to His Royal Highness, my father is farming in Youzhou, he broke an arm, and now he is doing well, and the family has been allocated 100 acres of land."

"Okay, I'll go see him when I have time, you can go! Be careful along the way, this letter is important. ”

"The lowly duty will definitely be sent safely."

Scout He gave a military salute, turned his horse's head and galloped away, the sound of the horse's hooves fading away, and soon disappeared into the darkness.

"Your Highness, what should we do now?" Luo Shixin asked next to him.

Yang Yuanqing now needs time to wait for Pei Renji's news, and he said after a little hesitation: "Go to Pingliang County to rest first, and then decide the next move after seeing the situation." ”

After saying that, he urged his horse to run into the night, and Luo Shixin beckoned back and shouted, "Everyone keep up!" ”

The cavalry quickened their horses and galloped north.

At the same time that Yang Yuanqing led his army in the direction of Pingliang County, Li Jiancheng, the son of Taiyi, had already led an army of 30,000 to Shangjun in the east, and was heading south along Luoshui to Fengyi County.

Luoshui Road is also a strategic road from Yan'an County in Guannei to Guanzhong, from Yan'an County through Shangjun, into Guanzhong Fengyi County actually along the Luoshui River Valley south.

This Luoshui and the Luoshui flowing through Luoyang are not a river, this is the Luoshui of the Loess Plateau, such as Luochuan County and Luojiao County are named because of this river, but the Luoshui Road is not conducive to the narrow and rugged road of the march, and it is difficult for the army to walk with heavy baggage.

But winter is an exception, and the army can walk on the frozen river, which is very convenient and fast.

At the time of the third watch, the Tang army camp was stationed near Luojiao County, Shangjun, and the army drove from Yan'an County, after a day and a night of marching, the Tang army walked out of 120 miles, and the soldiers were exhausted, and fell asleep.

There was silence in the barracks, the snow reflected the camp clearly, the intermittent sound of horses' hooves of the patrol soldiers all around, and it was very quiet surrounded by mountains.

Although the third watch has passed, there is still a glimmer of light in the big tent of the Chinese army, Li Jiancheng did not sleep, his legs were covered with a thick blanket, and a pot of charcoal fire was placed next to him, and the red charcoal fire was crackling and burning.

Although he led the army to the north to conquer Guannei Road, a large number of government affairs still followed him, and he had to be busy until the third watch every night before falling asleep.

The night was extremely cold, Li Jiancheng's hands quickly froze, he reached out to the charcoal basin from time to time to bake, gently rubbed his fingers, the movement was very slow, sometimes stopped, seemed a little preoccupied, in the middle of the night last year, he got an urgent flying eagle message from his father, knowing that the Sui army had entered the pass, this news made him extremely nervous.

This is also what Li Jiancheng is most worried about, Guanzhong is empty, if the Sui army sneaks up on Chang'an, there will be extremely serious consequences, but he feels that it is unlikely in his heart, the Sui army is fighting with the Turks in the north, and it is impossible to distract the two fronts.

But it turned out that his worries were not superfluous, and the Sui army really raided Guanzhong, and Li Jiancheng immediately realized that the Sui Tu Battle should be over.

When the Emperor's three successive orders to urge troops came, he brought even more shocking news, it turned out to be Yang Yuanqing who personally led the troops, which completely confirmed his inference that the Sui army had defeated the Turks.

Li Jiancheng's heart is heavy, in the dispute between the Sui and Tang dynasties for more than two years, they are always at a disadvantage, maybe now it is because the Sui Dynasty is not strong enough to destroy the Tang Dynasty, but what about the future? As time passed, Hebei's economy recovered, and then it would be easier for the Sui army to destroy the Tang Dynasty.

Li Jiancheng's strategy is to focus on the development of the south, the development of internal affairs, and the enhancement of their own strength, he opposes the provocation to the Sui Dynasty, and opposes the expansion to the north, but his father just listened to the words of his second brother, and the last battle for the Central Plains was defeated, and this time he wanted to use the battle of Sui Tu to seize the Guannei Road and the Central Plains.

But will Yang Yuanqing really succumb? Will he watch his interests being seized by the Tang Dynasty, and will he acquiesce to the fact that Kannai Province and the Central Plains will be taken away by the Tang Dynasty? Yang Yuanqing personally led the army to attack Guanzhong, which was actually an attitude, showing that he would never compromise or give in.

This is what makes Li Jiancheng's heart heavy, and he feels that the Tang Dynasty is slipping into an extremely dangerous situation.

Li Jiancheng sighed, put down the pen, his heart was very chaotic, he had no intention of dealing with government affairs, he stood up, walked out of the big tent with his hands behind his back, outside the big tent, a fresh cold wind blew in his face, the cold air was cold, making him tremble, but the whole mind also became sober.

Li Jiancheng looked up at the bright stars in the night sky, Li Chunfeng told him that everyone has a corresponding life star, but he doesn't know which one his life star is, and he wants to ask Li Chunfeng for advice when he turns around, just thinking about it, there are footsteps behind him.

"Your Highness!" It seems to be Wang Qi's voice.

As soon as Li Jiancheng turned around, it was indeed Wang Jue in the middle of the Tai Yi son, this time Wang Jue was appointed as the marching Sima and followed him on the expedition, Wang Jue himself was also resourceful, and gave him a lot of good strategies, and he was a person that Li Jiancheng relied on very much.

"It's so late, why hasn't Zhongyun slept yet?" Li Jiancheng asked with concern.

"There's something on my mind, and it's hard to sleep."

Wang Jue sighed, "Isn't Your Highness not sleeping?" ”

Li Jiancheng smiled, "Is it because Yang Yuanqing led the army into Guanzhong?" ”

"It's really for this, but I guess Yang Yuanqing's goal is not Guanzhong, attacking Guanzhong is just his means."

Li Jiancheng nodded, "Let's enter the account and speak!" It's too cold outside. ”

The two walked into the big tent and sat opposite each other in front of the charcoal fire, a guard served them two cups of hot tea, Li Jiancheng took a sip of the hot tea, and said with a smile: "Go on, I want to hear it."

"Your Highness, I think that Yang Yuanqing's intention is still Guannai and the Central Plains, at least to restore the pattern before the Turkic invasion, the six counties of Guanbei and Huining County, these are his territory, and he will never give up, so his attack on Guanzhong seems to be a dangerous move, but it just pinched the lifeline and forced His Highness's army to return to Guanzhong, and then he recaptured Guannei Dao."

Li Jiancheng closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, and then said: "What you said is very reasonable, if I only withdraw Duan Decāo's 20,000 troops to defend Chang'an, and the remaining 80,000 troops still remain in Guannei Dao, what do you think of this plan?" ”

Wang Jue shook his head, "What's the use of keeping Chang'an, what about Guanzhong?" If the Sui army turns the pass upside down and the saint is angry, can His Highness afford it? ”

"But there is the army of the King of Qin to defend the pass, won't he withdraw his troops from Luoyang?"

"Your Highness!"

Wang Qi smiled bitterly, "Didn't His Highness think about it, in fact, King Qin didn't want to withdraw his troops?" ”

Li Jiancheng was a little stunned, he really didn't expect this, he hesitated for a moment and said: "King Qin dares to resist the order and not obey the order and not withdraw his army back to Guanzhong?" I don't think it's likely! ”

"Your Highness, it is entirely possible, it was the King of Qin who took advantage of the opportunity of the Sui Sudden Battle to send troops, if this time the troops ended in a fiasco again, it would be difficult for the King of Qin to gain a foothold in front of the Shengshang, so he must gain something, take Luoyang, and occupy part of the Central Plains counties, so that he can give the Shengshang an explanation, otherwise it will ......"

Although Wang Jue's last words were not finished, Li Jiancheng had fully understood, and he sighed slightly, "It seems that I am not allowed to return to the military pass." ”

"That's right, Yang Yuanqing is going to be a clear plan, we can obviously guess his intentions, but we have to go back to the military pass, this is the power of this person."

Li Jiancheng was not very interested in Yang Yuanqing at this time, he was thinking about the affairs of the second brother Shimin in his mind, the second brother actually dared to resist and disobey the order, even if he took Luoyang and the Central Plains and made great achievements, could his father still trust him? Will the army still be handed over to him?

Li Jiancheng knows his father very well, and regards the throne as more important than anything else, once the second brother forms the matter of taking military power by himself, his father will never spare him.

At this moment, Li Jiancheng hoped that Li Shimin would resist and disobey the order.

Thinking of this, Li Jiancheng turned around and smiled at Wang Jue: "There is actually a lot to do here, don't Zhongyun think?" ”

Wang Jue understood what Li Jiancheng meant, and he nodded slowly, "That's why I can't sleep tonight." ”