The heavy rain made it difficult for the main force of the Zhao army, which was advancing westward to Chang'an.

The carriage was moving slowly on the mountain road, and there were steep cliffs on the side, and the soldiers did not dare to slack off and push the carriage forward step by step.

It was raining heavily outside, and inside the carriage, Li Chongjiu, Zhang Xuansu, Ji Chuan, and Yu Shinan were discussing military affairs.

Under an oil lamp, a simple parchment map was spread out on the car, and four people sat around.

"Duan Zhixuan was captured, and all the defenders of Jiangzhou surrendered, I didn't expect to capture Jiangzhou so easily." In the carriage, Li Chongjiu looked at the good news sent in front of him, and after the initial surprise, he frowned.

Zhang Xuansu said: "Yes, Your Majesty, it is indeed a great victory." ”

Li Chongjiu asked: "Duan Zhixuan was captured, and it is understandable that the Tang army lost courage, but the Tang army collapsed so quickly, obviously they did not have enough confidence to hold Jiangzhou City." This Jiangzhou City is the base camp of Li Tang's Hedong Army, so is capturing Jiangzhou equivalent to annihilating the entire Hedong Army? ”

"Is the Tang army vulnerable, or is our army too brave and good at fighting."

Zhang Xuansu replied: "Your Majesty, after the surrender of several generals of the Tang Army, it turned out that when Li Chen, the king of Xiangwu, was the governor of Jiangzhou, the Hedong Army had 30,000 people, and when Duan Zhixuan took over as the commander, the soldiers and horses were transferred away by Li Shimin, and now there are only more than 10,000 troops left in the Hedong Army, and they are not the original elite, the equipment is insufficient, the daily supplies are not enough, and the morale of the soldiers is not high. ”

When Li Chongjiu heard this, he nodded and said, "I understand, leaving such a few people to guard Jiangzhou, it seems that Li Shimin really has the intention of giving up Jiangzhou and fighting me in Hedong." Then it is certain that Li Shimin's current elite main force is not in Hedong. Zhang Qing, where do you look? ”

Zhang Xuansu thought for a while and said, "It's not easy to judge. It may be in Tongguan, it may still be in Chang'an. More likely in Hexi. From the perspective of Weichen, Li Shimin is not a person who sits idly by. It may not be big in Chang'an, so either it is a decisive battle with Wang Junkuo's Western Route Army as far west as Hexi, and defeat the main force of our army all the way in advance. Either they learned that my Luoyang was empty, so the army marched east from Tongguan, took Luoyang directly, and reversed the current unfavorable situation. ”

Listening to Zhang Xuansu's analysis, Li Chongjiu pondered: "So when the temple was calculated, did you take this situation into account? ”

Zhang Xuansu said: "Your Majesty, we have all considered it. Whether Li Shimin led the main force of the Tang Army to the west or eastward, Chang'an was bound to be empty, so our army only needed to capture Chang'an. Chang'an is the heart of Guanzhong, if there is no Chang'an, the Guanlongmen valve will not support Li Shimin. ”

"Not necessarily!" Ji Chuan objected, "I heard that in the Tang Dynasty Hall before, due to the exhaustion of Guanzhong, there were several discussions about moving the capital. I think that if Li Shimin gave up Chang'an, left an empty city, and deliberately led us to attack, he led the main force to capture Luoyang. Or the Western Route Army that defeated Wang Junkuo. ”

Seeing that Li Chongjiu was noncommittal about his own construction, Ji Chuan also said: "I heard that Li Shimin is also preparing to move the queen and the crown prince to Sichuan Shu, and it seems that he has plans to become the king in Sichuan and Shu. ”

Li Chongjiu heard Ji Chuan say this and asked, "Zhang Aiqing." Yu Aiqing, do you think Ji Shilang's analysis is reasonable? Will Li Shimin move the capital to avoid the advance of our army? ”

Zhang Xuansu said very cautiously: "Weichen thinks that there is indeed this possibility. Don't dare to judge. ”

Yu Shinan said: "Weichen thinks it's impossible, and Li Shimin can't give up Chang'an." If that's true. Li Tang's foundation was shaken. ”

Li Chongjiu said: "Yes, I also think it is impossible, with my understanding, if Li Shimin really retreats without a fight and moves the capital to Sichuan and Shu for temporary refuge, he will not be Li Shimin." However, what the movement of the Tang army is, we can know when our army attacks under the city of Chang'an. ”

After finishing speaking, Li Chongjiu opened the car window, and the heavy rain fell outside, and a puff of fishy and wet air rolled up the car.

"Where's the car?"

"Returning to Your Majesty, it's almost time to hear the joy."

Li Chongjiu said: "The order goes down, the army accelerates its advance, and orders Wei Chi Gong, Su Dingfang, and Luo Shixin to attack Pujin Pass, and the forward must cross the Yellow River three days later and set up a pontoon bridge for the army." ”

"No!"

Heavy rain fell and hit the waves of the Yellow River.

In the upper reaches of the Yellow River, the waves are muddy. Hundreds of warships are heading down the river.

In the past, Li Yuanji, the king of Qi of Li Tang, and Li Ming, the king of Lujiang, were sitting on the same battleship and going down the Yellow River. Fifteen thousand Zhao troops were sitting on battleships and were heading down the river.

Shipbuilding from the upper reaches of the Yellow River was proposed by Li Yuanji to Li Chongjiu, and it was adopted. At the beginning, Li Yuanji's plan was to build a fleet of sailors at the place where Fenshui flows into the Yellow River, and then go straight down the Yellow River, directly through the Weishui or Guangtong Canal to the city of Chang'an.

This water transport route was used by the Qin State in the Spring and Autumn Period. At that time, the Jin State was short of grain and borrowed grain from the Qin State, and Qin Mugong, one of the five tyrants of the Spring and Autumn Period, agreed, and sent a grain ship to set off from Yongcheng, the capital of Qin, to transport Wanhu grain, along the Weishui River to the Yellow River, and then changed to the Fen River to transport it to the Jin capital Jiangcheng. The white sail of transporting grain from the capital of Qin to the capital of Jin, eight hundred miles of land and water, connected from end to end, endlessly, the history books call this the battle of rafting.

Therefore, Li Yuanji's construction is very insightful, and it is very useful for the Zhao army, which has always used waterways to transport troops and grain, if it is to transport grain by boat, this time the Tang Dynasty can be exempted from the hard work of 200,000 civilian servants running on the road to transport grain for the army. When Li Chongjiu began to hear about it, he couldn't even believe that it was Li Yuanji who came up with the plan.

Li Chongjiu took Li Yuanjijian to Zhongshu Province to discuss it to see if it was feasible. But in the end, the Chinese Ministry of Books vetoed Li Yuanji's plan.

Because now the Wei River is no longer comparable, the original Wei River, the river is silted up strictly, it is not enough for big ships to pass through, and later the Guangtong Canal opened by Emperor Wen of Sui Emperor Yang Jian is too far away, and it must be detoured from Tongguan. Therefore, it was considered infeasible to send a large army to attack Chang'an by boat from the upper reaches of the Yellow River.

But later, Zhang Xuansu looked at Li Yuanji's plan, but was greatly inspired, and proposed a replacement plan, thinking that it was possible to build a ship in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, and instead attack Pujin Pass by land and water. After capturing Pujin Pass, warships were used to erect pontoon bridges over the Yellow River in order to allow the army to cross the Yellow River.

This plan was appreciated by Li Chongjiu and considered it feasible. Therefore, last year, under the instruction of Li Chongjiu, Wei Chigong captured the three counties of Hedong and seized the entrance of the Fen River. Then Li Yuanji and Li Ying moved here to build ships.

Now Li Yuanji, Li Ying led 10,000 soldiers and horses adapted from the Tang Army, and Xue Wanjun's 5,000 Xiao Guards, and went down by boat to Pujin Pass. On the other hand, the three generals of Wei Chi Gong, Luo Shixin, and Su Dingfang captured Jiangzhou, and led 30,000 soldiers and horses to approach Pujin Pass by land.

At the beginning, Zhang Xuansu's strategic concept of a land and water attack had been achieved.

But for Cheng Yanjin, the defender of the Tang Army, this is not good news. (To be continued......)