Chapter 2 (6 I)

In the wax moon, the weather is getting colder and colder. From Tongding Town, which is close to the Khitan in the north, to the old estuary that enters the sea in the south, nearly 300 miles of the lower reaches of the Liao River are frozen. Li Xu rode the black wind to the river to inspect several times, only to see that the ice was already dark blue. Even in the middle of the river, there are no traces left by the Khitan savages digging ice to take fish.

"If you go to the army to fight, you only need to burn the granary of Huaiyuan Town. The attack time of the Great Sui soldiers and horses has to be delayed for at least half a year! When everyone sat together to discuss the matter, Li Jiancheng's words were full of worry.

As the eldest son of the family and the right-hand man of his father, he often organized small gatherings of the Li family's descendants. Although the current scale of Tang Gong's subordination is far less than when he was a big official, there are still many famous heroes and wise men among them.

Because of their recent performances, Li Xu and Liu Hongji were exceptionally allowed by Li Yuan to participate in this kind of gathering of their descendants. It's just that the two of them don't talk much, and they still need time to get used to the atmosphere here.

Most of the time, Li Xu was fiddling with the charcoal in the brazier. The weather outside was terribly cold, not the same as when it was on the shore of Crescent Lake. Although it snowed all day in the winter of Susibu, the air was very dry, and as soon as the sun came out, the body would be warmed up immediately. However, the wind here in Liaodong is so wet that it can condense ice foam, and the water vapor will inadvertently burrow into any crevices, and if you run on a horse for half an hour, no matter how thick the felt armor is, it will freeze into an ice shell. The people wrapped in felt armor were also cold, like dead fish lured out of the ice by the Khitan savages in early winter.

"They will come sooner or later, if I am the lord of Goguryeo, I will definitely not wait for you to start fighting when the soldiers and horses of the Great Sui Dynasty arrive!" Looking at the sky outside the window, Liu Hongji made the following judgment. To defend such a long border, the more than 30,000 soldiers and horses under the command of Xin Shixiong, the general of Zuotunwei, are inevitably overstretched. If the Koreans come to attack, they can find a place to cross the river on foot. If it weren't for the fear that the Great Sui Dynasty would retaliate with the power of the country, they could even take advantage of the freezing of the Liao River to sweep all the three counties of Liaodong into their pockets.

"I guess our emperor wants to find a more suitable reason for going to war, so he is going to use Huaiyuan Town as a bait to the Koreans!" Qian Jiulong, the guard of the Li Mansion, muttered and complained. When the word emperor is mentioned, he always has a strange tail note, which sounds particularly sarcastic.

He turned out to be a thief who had been confiscated and was redeemed from the quarry by Li Yuan because of his skill in arching horses. Loyalty to the Li family is loyal, but resourcefulness is very unbearable. And because of his big mouth and impulsive speech, he has always become the target of criticism.

Sure enough, as soon as his words fell, Sun Shunde, the former head of the right guard, frowned. "Now is not the time to complain, the problem is, if there is any loss of grain and grass in Huaiyuan Town, the responsibility will be borne by Tang Gong alone!" He looked around at everyone and set the theme for this meeting, "We just want to have a way to survive this winter safely, and it is best to talk about irrelevant topics in private!" ”

"It is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, and the best way now is to expand the strength of the defenders. While strengthening training, we will see if we can ask Liucheng and Yanjun to send some reinforcements over. There are also scouts, so try to make the search as wide as possible! Joining the army, Chen Yanshou said with a frown. He is an old strategist who has followed Li Yuan for many years, and is known for his quick changes. So far, I can't think of a good way to deal with it.

"I'm afraid it's difficult!" Si Kai joined the army, Ma Yuangui shook his head with a blue face. Since the snow had fallen, no new soldiers had been sent from Luronse's side. Although General Yu Wenshu, who was stationed in Liucheng County, sent more than 500 soldiers into Huaiyuan Town to assist in the defense, for Huaiyuan Town, which was less than 70 miles away from Liaodong City, an important town in Goryeo, this assistance was obviously a drop in the bucket.

"Even if there are soldiers coming, Tang Gong has no right to dispatch them. If you recruit people into the army, you will be given a handle! The eldest grandson Shunde sighed and added.

The biggest problem at the moment is that Li Yuan, the Duke of Tang, is not trusted by the current emperor Yang Guang, and his position has been reduced from the third rank to the fifth rank. For the soldiers and horses in the vicinity, he has no right to dispatch. In non-critical moments, there is no power to expand the size of the food guards. The identity of not being embarrassed or embarrassing makes other generals unable to help, and sending fewer people will not work, if a Lang general is sent with thousands of soldiers and horses to assist in the defense, Li Yuan will have to obey the other party's orders.

"Since the beginning of the month, we have lost fourteen veterans, twenty-seven scouts!" Qian Jiulong stared at his reddened eyes and reported a string of numbers. The old soldiers under his command who gave up their fame to follow Tang Gong were the pillars of the Li Mansion to survive in the troubled times. Fold one less than one, he didn't want to watch the brothers around him break it down.

Everyone is gossiping, but no one can think of a better way. Bad weather, unsusceptible soldiers, and a court harboring evil intentions, all kinds of unfavorable factors are gathered in one place, ready to launch the deadliest blow.

"Zhong Jian, what do you think?" Li Jiancheng's gaze swept over everyone, and finally stopped at Li Xu. My father had a very high opinion of the boy, and when everyone was helpless, maybe he could bring some new ideas.

"If it's just to burn food, sending a small number of elite soldiers to surprise attack is probably more effective than launching a large-scale attack!" Li Xu's views are relatively optimistic compared to others. "Since the last failed sneak attack, there hasn't been a large-scale attack on the Goryeo side. There has been a lot of harassment across the border recently, and there are signs of increasing frequency as the ice thickens over the river. But the brothers in Huaiyuan Town were also slowly frightened. You can take the initiative to go to the city to face the battle every time! ”

"Are you saying that the Koreans will not use troops on a large scale in winter?" Chen Yanshou's eyes flashed and asked in a low voice.

"It's hard to say, the key depends on whether the opposing generals are willing to take risks. The cold weather has a great impact on both the enemy and us. Especially camping in the wild, the risk is high. Li Xu shook his head and said. Last winter, Xu Dayan also analyzed Suotou Xibu in this way. But at that time, Xu Dayan's judgment was wrong, and he was almost successfully attacked by Suo Tou Xiren. However, there is a difference between the situation of Huaiyuan Town and Su Sibu, the city wall of Huaiyuan Town is high enough, as long as the city gate is not taken by surprise by the enemy, there is still hope for holding out for a day or two. And the men and horses stationed in the field to attack the city have to endure the test of the harsh winter.

He has a stupid mouth and is wordy for a long time, but he has no point. Everyone's eyes suddenly dimmed again. so much so that he ignored Li Xu's inference about the surprise attack of elite soldiers at the beginning.

"Brother Zhong Jian is right, the weather is too cold, and it will be a big trouble for both the enemy and us. If you go all out to attack, once you are blocked by the wind and snow, I am afraid that the gains outweigh the losses. After all, Goguryeo has few soldiers and horses, and its lord is reluctant to spend so much money! Li Shimin, who was sitting on the side and listening, suddenly stood up and interjected. His views are somewhat similar to Li Xu's. Out of respect for his opponents, he did not contemptuously refer to the country on the other side of the Liao River as Goryeo, as everyone else did. Instead, it called its official name, Goguryeo.

Everyone smiled, and no one took the two of them to heart. Although the two are extremely brave, after all, one is in his early fifteens, and the other has just turned fourteen, and their age and experience are not comparable to others.

"In the future, Brother Zhong Jian and my words will come true, don't regret not listening to our reminder!" Li Shimin looked at the smiling crowd, and then at Li Xu, who never knew what anger was, and shouted indignantly.

"Then you say, what other good ways do we have besides strengthening patrols?" Li Jiancheng gently touched his younger brother's forehead and asked with a smile. My younger brother is good at everything, but he is too stubborn. Once the things that are determined are questioned, they will immediately play a child's temper.

"It's the same river anyway, if they can come over, we can cross it. Sending people over there to harass them every day made the Goguryeo people tired of coping. The pressure on our side is naturally relaxed! Li Shimin did not hesitate to put forward a bold proposal.

As soon as the words fell, even a person like Liu Hongji, who maintained deliberate respect for the second son, smiled bitterly. There is no doubt about the feasibility of this plan, but what Tang Gong Li Yuan lacks is elite soldiers. When the enemy's situation is unknown and there is no power to protect itself, it is simply a fool's dream to attack the other party in turn.

"Big brother, what do you think. Zhong Jian, don't patronize playing with fire! Li Shimin was a little annoyed, glaring and shouting. If he was an elder brother, these people would definitely not dare to take their advice lightly. But he was born as a younger brother, so no one takes anything seriously. Ma Yuangui is like this, Chen Yanshou is like this, and even Liu Hongji, who just came, was damaged by others.

"Okay, okay, everyone is not laughing at you, but we don't have any troops to send!" Li Jiancheng straightened his younger brother's hair and comforted him with a smile.

"If I can get together fifty good players, I'd like to cross the river and give it a try!" Suddenly, Li Xu raised his head from the charcoal fire and said solemnly.