The news of the Sui army's total annihilation of Li Xiaogong's army on the eastern front reached the Sui army camp on the western front, and the Sui army camp was full of jubilation.

After more than a month of confrontation, the Sui army finally achieved a brilliant victory, the remnants of the army were intercepted by Xu Shiji, Changshi Dugu Huaien was captured, and Li Xiaogong led less than a thousand people to flee back to Xiangyang.

This is the battle that determines the entire pattern of the Central Plains, the end of this battle means that the Tang Dynasty forces will be completely driven out of the Central Plains, Li Mi retreated, Dou Jiande infighting, and Wang Shichong defended the lonely city, which indicates that the Central Plains will become the territory of the Sui Dynasty.

In the camp, the soldiers of the Sui army sang and danced jubilantly, celebrating the victory of the Eastern Front in their own way, but the Chinese army's tent was very quiet, the inner and outer two layers of curtains were lowered, and the light in the tent was dim, Yang Yuanqing stood alone in front of the sand table, staring at the sand table, but his mind was full of thoughts.

Despite the exhilarating victory on the Eastern Front, Yang Yuanqing, as the commander of the whole army, needs to remain calm at this most critical moment.

The big victory in the Central Plains was expected by him, he took it step by step, planned far-sightedly, and the whole game of chess came to this day, if it will fail, it can only prove Li Jing's serious incompetence.

At this time, Yang Yuanqing was most concerned about the next move, he had just received the news that Jiangdu Chen Ling had surrendered to Li Mi, which meant that Li Mi's forces had moved eastward and taken the most critical step.

At the same time, he also received another news that Du Fuwei's 30,000 troops were defeated by Shan Xiongxin in Xucheng County, Xiapi County, and Du Fuwei only led a few hundred men to flee back to Liyang.

Chen Ling's surrender and Du Fuwei's defeat brought about great changes in the pattern of Jiangdong, and Li Mi's strong entry into Jiangdong became a foregone conclusion.

And the defeat of the Tang Dynasty in the Central Plains will also force Li Yuan to take a defensive position, Li Mi will concentrate on running Jiangdong, and where will he Yang Yuanqing be next?

Although Li Jing suggested in a letter to him to expand his advantage and seize Jingxiang, Yang Yuanqing was very calm, the battle line was stretched too long, and unrealistic blind expansion would only lead to the rout of his entire front.

If he had to choose, he would rather choose to destroy Dou Jiande first and relieve Hebei's troubles.

Li Jing was unaware of the pressure from the imperial court. But Yang Yuanqing knew better than anyone that the reason why Wei Zheng came was because there was a huge disagreement within the imperial court over going south to the Central Plains.

This year's agriculture was a small year, the harvest was generally poor, and the continuous eastward expansion of the Western Turks seriously threatened the security of Fengzhou, forcing the imperial court to move a large number of Fengzhou's population back to Hebei, causing the cultivated land of Fengzhou to drop sharply. This year's grain production can be imagined.

The dilapidated Hebei is still a huge burden for the imperial court. Without a year or two, it is very difficult to recover, actually. The Sui Dynasty relied entirely on the support of Hedong alone, and had to maintain the military rations of the 200,000 army, as well as the huge relief expenses of Hebei. Coupled with the poor harvest this year, the pressure on the imperial court can be imagined.

The seizure of the Central Plains was only a military victory, but economically it was a huge burden for the Sui Dynasty, no less than Hebei.

The peasant rebellion at the end of the Sui Dynasty dealt a devastating blow to the economy of the Central Plains, and the savings of the Sui Dynasty for 30 years were gone, and the Liyang Cang and Luokou Cang were already empty, the fields were barren, and the people were displaced.

With Li Mi moving south. Taking away a large amount of grain, the heavy responsibility of relieving the victims of the Central Plains had to be transferred to the Sui Dynasty, and the battle of the Central Plains had consumed a lot of financial and material resources of the Sui Dynasty, and there were only 100,000 stone left in Taiyuan's grain stockpile.

This is the reason why a large number of ministers in the imperial court oppose the seizure of the Central Plains, and the struggle for hegemony in the world is by no means a unilateral military action, and there is no strong national strength to support it. Military expansion also did not go far.

It can be frankly said that a battle in the Central Plains made the Sui Dynasty's financial resources on the verge of bankruptcy, and it was simply unable to afford to continue the war.

Just a reward for the three armies after winning the battle is a big headache for him Yang Yuanqing, what reward will he take to reward the three armies?

Yang Yuanqing paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. He was thinking about how to clean up the mess in the Central Plains, now that he had drunk the wine of military victory. Then he will have to bear the huge pressure brought by the mess in the Central Plains.

All the problems are focused on food, which is the hard currency of this era, as long as he has food in his hands, he can appease the victims, reward the three armies, and appease the anger of the ministers of the DPRK and China.

But it takes time for food to appear, so how can we solve the urgent need now? Yang Yuanqing was worried.

At this time, a personal soldier reported outside the tent: "Chief Qiyu, Li Changshi's second battle report has arrived." ”

There were only a few words when he received the battle report in the early morning, and he urgently needed more news, so Yang Yuanqing immediately said, "Take it in!" ”

Yang Yuanqing took the letter, took out the yarn in the letter, and the second battle report reported the results of the battle, captured more than 20,000 enemies, and seized a large amount of grain and grass military funds.

Yang Yuanqing was not interested in how many ordnance tents were seized, he was more concerned about the grain seized at this time, and 30,000 stone was captured with the army grain, and 100,000 stone of military food that could not be transported away in Yingchuan County, which was 130,000 stone.

Yang Yuanqing knew that there were at least 200,000 stone of military grain in the Tang army camp in Changyuan County, and Li Shimin withdrew to Guanzhong, and it was impossible to transport this grain, so he had more than 300,000 stone of grain in his hands, which could be used to relieve the hungry people in Henan Province.

With 300,000 stone of grain as a guarantee, Yang Yuanqing's heart was slightly lowered.

At this time, his attention turned to Li Shimin's army again, two days ago there was a strange thing in Li Shimin's army, Li Shimin's 80,000 army evacuated to the northwest the day before yesterday, but just walked dozens of miles, and then turned around and returned to the Changyuan camp, this situation made Yang Yuanqing a little puzzled, what happened here?

Li Shimin now has 80,000 troops in his hands, these 80,000 troops are the elite of the Tang army, and their combat effectiveness is very strong, Yang Yuanqing only has 50,000 troops in his hands, and they are inferior to the Tang army in terms of strength, and the battle is not very strong.

His army was not the main force of the Sui army, it was all new recruits and some of the Sui troops transferred from the army of Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang, and their combat effectiveness was relatively weak, and the only one who could handle it was 5,000 heavy armored infantry.

It was also the outstanding performance of this heavy infantry during the landing that successfully deceived Li Shimin, making him suspicious and afraid to fight a decisive battle with him.

Compared with the advantage of the Sui army on the eastern front, the Sui army on the western front was not optimistic, Yang Yuanqing's 50,000 Sui army not only had to face Li Shimin's 80,000 elite soldiers, but also faced the 30,000 Tang army reinforcements in Shaanxi County, plus Xu Shiji's 20,000 people also went east to support the decisive battle on the eastern front of Yingchuan County.

This made the situation for Yang Yuanqing very serious, but he eventually withstood the test, and it should be said that it was a victory for his political strategy, and he successfully exploited the power struggle within the Tang Dynasty.

Now that Li Xiaogong has been defeated, then Li Shimin will not easily fight with him, these 80,000 troops are Li Shimin's last political force, if these 80,000 troops are weakened again, he Li Shimin's political career may end early.

It was precisely by taking advantage of Li Shimin's mentality of cherishing war that Yang Yuanqing's 50,000 troops successfully held back the 110,000 Tang Army on the Western Front and ensured a great victory on the Eastern Front.

Now that this game of Central Plains chess has reached the final stage, Yang Yuanqing is also extremely cautious, he can't have any accidents.

At this moment, another soldier reported outside the tent: "Chief Qiqi, the Tang army of Changyuan County has withdrawn to the northwest again, and there are only 1,000 ox carts on its baggage." ”

This news came at the right time, and Yang Yuanqing immediately ordered: "Order Xie Yingdeng to lead 5,000 cavalry to Changyuan County as soon as possible, and be sure to capture the Tang army camp." ”……

Li Shimin did not consider fighting to the death with the Sui army at all, he led the army into the Central Plains to attack Luoyang, not to fight a decisive battle with Yang Yuanqing, so when he heard the news that Yang Yuanqing led the crossing of the river from Mengjin, he resolutely decided to give up attacking Luoyang and retreat to Hongnong County.

The attack on Luoyang was first Li Shimin's suggestion, and Li Yuan finally made up his mind, which was also the result of his repeated persuasion, if Li Yuan took Luoyang in order to pull out the thorn in his eye and open the door for the Tang Dynasty to enter the east, then Li Shimin's request to attack Luoyang had a deep political purpose.

Of course, he also wanted to take Luoyang, and taking Luoyang could increase his political bargaining chips, but he also knew that Yang Yuanqing would definitely send troops to intervene, in this case, he hoped to put pressure on the imperial court through Yang Yuanqing's troops, so that his father could send troops to help.

He knew very well in his heart that almost all the troops left in Guanzhong at this time were the prince's faction, and once his father agreed to send troops, it would definitely be the army of the prince's faction, and he could take this opportunity to annex the army of the prince's faction in Kwantung and completely take the military power into his own hands.

Therefore, Li Shimin proposed to use the army of the country to fight a decisive battle with Yang Yuanqing, also out of this consideration, of course he would not risk a decisive battle with Yang Yuanqing, once he had all the military power in his hands, he would retreat to Tongguan.

But he didn't expect that his father was tempted by Li Mi's eastward migration and sent Li Xiaogong to lead the Xiangyang Tang army into the Central Plains, which made him feel a great pressure, once Li Xiaogong was defeated by the Sui army, his power would be greatly weakened.

This result surprised Li Shimin, he had to suppress his regret in his heart, and he didn't even say Fang Xuanling and the eldest grandson Wuji,

On the official road west of Changyuan County, a huge army is slowly withdrawing to the northwest, this is Li Shimin led his 80,000 main force to retreat westward, he also received a message from the Flying Eagle that Li Xiaogong's army was retreating south in panic.

With Li Jing's 60,000 troops in the north chasing after him, and Xu Shiji's 20,000 troops in the south intercepting him, he didn't need to think about him to know what the result would be, and Li Xiaogong would inevitably be defeated.

In this case, there is no need for Li Shimin to confront Yang Yuanqing anymore, he must keep his 80,000 troops, which is his last political force.

But yesterday another thing happened that made him a little frustrated, Qi Wang Yuanji rushed to the Shaanxi County Army overnight and took over the command of the 30,000 new army from Chang He.

Li Shimin didn't expect this kind of change to happen, which can only show that because of something, his father gave in to the crown prince.

Whatever the reason, this disrupted Li Shimin's plan and made his plan to seize military power in the New Army come to naught.

At this time, Fang Xuanling and the eldest grandson Wuji rode over and asked, "Your Highness, is there something wrong with us?" ”

Li Shimin groaned and said, "I want to lead 5,000 cavalry back to Tongguan first!" ”