The news that 20,000 elite soldiers were completely annihilated by Yang Yuanqing and that the commander Li Shuliang was killed in battle finally reached Chang'an five days later, shaking the government and the opposition, and the crisis in Hedong made the civil and military officials panic.

Outside the Wude Palace, Liu Wenjing paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, the anxiety in his heart made him sigh in a low voice from time to time, as early as Li Yuan sent Li Shuliang to fight as the commander, Liu Wenjing realized that there would be today's consequences, but unfortunately Li Yuan did not listen to his advice, not only lost 20,000 elites, but also caused the situation in Hedong to deteriorate, now Li Yuan regrets what's the use?

At this time, a guard hurriedly walked out, "Prime Minister, please come in!" ”

Liu Wenjing did not take the initiative to come to Li Yuan, but Li Yuan sent someone to invite him, Liu Wenjing tidied up his coat and hat, and walked quickly to the inner hall.

In the room, Li Yuan was wrapped in a turban, lying on the sickbed, the imperial doctor Qiao Shantang was checking his pulse, and Li Jiancheng next to him was worried, his brows were furrowed, and he looked at the imperial doctor worriedly.

Qiao Shantang put down Li Yuan's hand and said with a smile: "Prime Minister Li Cheng's health is very good, there is no major problem, it's just a moment of extreme pain, which causes angina, as long as you relax your mind and rest for two days, everything will be normal." ”

"Thank you, Imperial Doctor Joe."

Li Yuan immediately instructed Jiancheng to "send Imperial Doctor Qiao out, and seal a cake of silver." ”

"Don't dare to be!"

Imperial Doctor Qiao hurriedly postponed, "This is within the next division, and I don't dare to be rewarded." ”

"This is a little bit of my heart, the imperial doctor will accept it!"

Imperial Doctor Qiao retreated with great gratitude, and at this time, a guard stepped forward to report: "Prime Minister, Mr. Liu is here." ”

"Let him in."

Li Yuan struggled to sit up, the two concubines next to him hurriedly helped him up, and wrapped the headscarf for him, Liu Wenjing walked in, bowed down and said, "See the prime minister." ”

"Sir, please be seated!"

Li Yuan instructed the concubine again, "Go and pour two cups of tea." ”

Liu Wenjing sat down, and when he saw Li Yuan's sick face, he asked cautiously: "I met the prince and Imperial Doctor Qiao just now, and said that the prime minister was sick." Does it matter? ”

Li Yuan showed a look of shame on his face, and sighed: "This is a heart disease, Shuliang died in battle, and 20,000 elites were annihilated." My heart can not hurt, I should not have rejected Mr.'s suggestion at the beginning, a thousand regrets are irretrievable, I hope Mr. will help me again. ”

Although Li Yuan didn't trust Liu Wenjing very much, now that life and death were at stake, he was so anxious that he couldn't care about anything else. I only hope that Liu Wenjing will give him a good plan and get out of the predicament in front of him.

Liu Wenjing had already read the detailed report of the Battle of Hedong, he thought all the way, he already had a little idea in his heart, and he sorted out his thoughts a little and said: "I think that we should first analyze the cause of defeat, and then we can prescribe the right medicine, this failure." The biggest problem is that the soldiers are strong and the generals are weak, and the main generals make mistakes because they underestimate the enemy. ”

Li Yuan was silent, Li Shuliang had already died. Although he knew in his heart that Li Shuliang's ability was insufficient, he didn't want to put all the blame on Li Shuliang, because he was not using people properly, and it was his Li Yuan's responsibility in the end, even Liu Hongji said that Li Shuliang was very cautious, and he saw through Yang Yuanqing's strategy several times, and his defense was stable, and in the end he was defeated by Yang Yuanqing's heavy infantry.

"It's true that Shuliang's ability is a little weaker, but Mr. should see that Yang Yuanqing's heavy infantry and powerful cavalry are difficult for us to deal with now. This question cannot be evaded. ”

"Yang Yuanqing understands that there are strange soldiers, but even if there are strange soldiers, they will not be defeated like this, Li Shuliang has 20,000 elite soldiers in his hands, but in the end he was defeated like a rabble, doesn't the prime minister think it's strange?"

Li Yuan was silent, and Liu Wenjing said again: "Li Shuliang's defeat." Defeated in his too cautious, he pinned his hopes on the camp defense, so it was very passive, once Yang Yuanqing broke through his camp, his 20,000 troops were trapped in a small camp, and could not be arrayed to fight, and it was at night, so that a single combat situation was formed, the great advantage of the cavalry could be fully exerted, but the advantage of the infantry formation could not be displayed, the cavalry fought one and two, and there was heavy infantry to cooperate, Yang Yuanqing was undoubtedly victorious, in this case, the best way is to break and flee, It may still be possible to retain more than 10,000 troops, but the gun arrays around the camp trapped the army to death, and there was no way to escape, and the main general was killed, so naturally the whole line collapsed. ”

Li Yuan sighed, "I understand what Mr. means, if Shuliang lets go of his courage and can fight against Yang Yuanqing in the daytime, give full play to the advantages of the infantry formation, and take two against one, even if he is defeated in the end, he will not be wiped out, I only consider that Shuliang is good at defending the city, not good at fighting, this is my responsibility, and it has nothing to do with Shuliang." ”

Liu Wenjing bit her lip, "Actually, Pei Lin also has a major responsibility, didn't the prime minister find out?" ”

Li Yuan was stunned: "Why?" ”

"Yang Yuanqing's army went to Wenxi County first, and then returned from Wenxi in a hurry, he must have gotten information from Wenxi County, and Pei Lin is also in Wenxi County, how can he not know about Yang Yuanqing's arrival? If he can send someone to inform Li Shuliang in time, as long as Li Shuliang can know that Yang Yuanqing is coming half an hour in advance, then he will have time to hide in Zhengping County, and the final fiasco will not happen, but Pei Lin did not report in time, Dugu Huaien's report said that the person sent by Pei Lin was nearly two hours late, why could Yang Yuanqing capture the fighter in time and seize the opportunity to succeed in the first battle, and Pei Lian, as a marching Sima, realized it later, shouldn't he be responsible? ”

Li Yuan was silent for a while, and said slowly: "Maybe Pei Changshi is trapped in Pei's mansion, maybe he has other difficulties, we don't know the details at that time, but he can send someone to report, it means that he has also done his duty, I think Zhengping's defeat has nothing to do with him, sir, now is not the time to discuss responsibility, we should consider how to deal with the current predicament." ”

There was also a hint of dissatisfaction in Li Yuan's tone, Liu Wenjing's insistence on pursuing responsibility made Li Yuan unhappy, who wouldn't be able to do it in hindsight? He summoned Liu Wenjing not to ask him to be held responsible.

In fact, this is Liu Wenjing's scholarly side, he is very strategic, he is Li Yuan's military advisor, but he is far less shrewd and slippery than Pei Lin in the officialdom, he doesn't understand that the so-called self-blame of the leader is just a gesture, and as a subordinate, the leader cannot be allowed to take responsibility at any time.

Liu Wenjing only thought of talking about things on a case-by-case basis, starting from analyzing failures and finding out how to deal with them, but he didn't know that Li Yuan was embarrassed in this matter, forgot the relationship between Li Shuliang and Li Yuan, and didn't realize that Li Yuan didn't want to take responsibility, Li Yuan had already reminded him that this matter had nothing to do with the main general, it was Yang Yuanqing's cavalry and heavy infantry that were powerful, but Liu Wenjing thought it wasn't, which made Li Yuan's face more and more gloomy.

Li Jiancheng had already returned, and he saw a hint of something wrong next to him, coughed heavily, and reminded Liu Wenjing: "I propose that Shimin be the main general, and then lead an army of 30,000 to aid Hedong, what does Mr. think?" ”

Liu Wenjing still didn't realize the mistake he had just made, but his attention had been diverted by Li Jiancheng, and he thought for a while: "Of course, it is most appropriate for Duke Qin to go to Hedong, but how can Xue Ju deal with it?" There are also people who only have 30,000 troops, and their troops may be insufficient. ”

Li Yuan saw that he was no longer responsible for the defeat, his face softened slightly, and he smiled: "Xue Ju's army was defeated by Shimin ten days ago, and it has been defeated and retreated to Caohan County, and it is out of breath for a while, and now the army of Dou Kang and Li Liang continues to suppress Xue Ju, and Shimin can free up from the western front, as for the problem of insufficient troops, Mr. Don't worry, Shimin's 30,000 troops are just the vanguard, and I ordered Qu Tutong to lead 20,000 troops as the rear army, a total of 50,000 troops and horses, which should be able to deal with the danger of Hedong." ”

Liu Wenjing pondered for a moment and said: "In fact, you can let Qu Tutong go north to take the pass, now that Yang Yuanqing's troops are concentrated in the east of the river, the pass must be empty, you can take this opportunity to seize it, and at the same time, you can also put pressure on Yang Yuanqing, what does the prime minister think?" ”

Li Yuan nodded, Liu Wenjing's suggestion was very good, he pondered for a while, and said to Li Jiancheng: "I still plan to make Qu Tutong the deputy general of the people, the pass is empty, you will lead 30,000 troops to seize it, I will let your second uncle assist you, as for the troops, I plan to order Chai Shao to rectify Zhu Wei and Xue Ju's subordinates to guard the pass, so that the elite soldiers in the pass can be used on the blade." ”

Li Jiancheng glanced at Liu Wenjing and said with a smile: "Can you let the military advisor go with me?" ”

Li Yuan hesitated for a moment, and finally agreed, then smiled and said to Liu Wenjing: "Then Mr. Hard." ”

Liu Wenjing bowed and saluted: "Wen Jing is willing to do his best to assist the prince." ”

……，

Liu Wenjing retreated, Li Yuan took out the letter written by Liu Wenjing, and handed it to Li Jiancheng, "You take a look at this letter first!" ”

Li Jiancheng looked at the letter, and he suddenly understood why his father didn't trust Liu Wenjing a little, and Liu Wenjing expressed his good impression of Fengzhou in the letter.

He pondered for a while and said: "Father, Liu Wenjing is a bit of a scholar, and his heart is straightforward, it is not necessarily that he betrayed his father, from his suggestion to take the guan, it can be seen that he is not on Yang Yuanqing's side, and the child feels that his father is too worried." ”

Li Yuan said with a gloomy face: "Even if I am too worried, I don't like this person, you can use him, but I won't use him again, and I have to remind you again that you can only listen to three points of his words, and you can't believe them all." ”

"The child understands, please rest assured father."

Li Yuan glanced at Li Jiancheng, and said slowly: "Compared to Guannei, in fact, I want to seize the land of Hexi to raise horses, I heard that there is a great drought in Hexi, so I sent an envoy to Hexi, and proposed to exchange 50,000 stone rice for 50,000 war horses, but I didn't expect Li Rail to agree, it can be seen from this incident that Li Rail lacks strategic vision, in order to take Hexi as soon as possible, this time you send troops to Guannei, there are some things I have to explain to you." ”

"Ask the father to explain, and the child will remember it with his heart."

Li Yuan nodded, and continued: "We already have Xue Ju's big enemy in Guanlong, and then it will be Li Liang, so we can't make enemies with Yang Yuanqing again, this time we can take Guannei, Yan'an County can be taken among the six counties in Guanbei, and the other five counties can't be touched for the time being." ”

Li Jiancheng was puzzled and asked: "Father, why is it only possible to touch Yan'an County?" ”

"Because only Yan'an County is not bordering Fengzhou among the six counties in Guanbei, it does not threaten Yang Yuanqing's fundamental interests, and I also want to test where Yang Yuanqing's bottom line is?"