Three things happened yesterday and today that Li Yuan felt a little calm. One was that his second son Li Shimin led an army of 50,000 to Longyou, stationed in Honghua County, Huining County and Jincheng County to defend against the Northern Sui army's invasion of Longyou and Hexi. The second was that this morning, the eldest son Li Jiancheng publicly admitted at the court meeting that Duan Decao's surrender and the loss of Diaoyin County were strategic mistakes he let go, and expressed his willingness to take responsibility, which made Li Yuan clear the responsibility in this matter.

The third thing was that Li Yuan had just received an urgent report from his nephew Li Xiaogong. The Tang army officially took over the five iron ores and two copper ores in Xiao Xian's Guiyang County and Hengshan County. The annual output could reach tens of millions of kilograms. In particular, four million kilograms of pig iron and six hundred thousand kilograms of thick copper hidden by Xiao Xian's army were found in a secret warehouse in the mine.

This urgent report made Li Yuan overjoyed, and at the same time he became more determined in his previous thoughts, and he would never hand over Changsha, Guiyang, Hengshan and other counties to the Northern Sui Dynasty.

At this time, Chen Shuda had already returned from the VIP hotel and was reporting to Li Yuan about his meeting with the Northern Sui envoy.

Li Yuan narrowed his eyes and said nothing. He walked in the room with his hands behind his back. Even if Chen Shuda finished speaking, he did not express his opinion. After a long time, he slowly said: "There is no need to continue talking about the Hetao matter. Zhang Xuan will never retreat. It is a waste of talk. Xiao Xian and his daughter changed to Loufan County. I agreed last time, and this time it will not change. The key is Diaoyin County. I hope that with Sheyanshui as the boundary, they will not continue to move south. As for the spoils, as long as they promised the army not to cross the Sheyanshui, I can do it."

"Is Your Majesty afraid that Zhang Xuan will enter Yan'an County in the name of suppressing bandits?"

Li Yuan nodded, "When they marched into Hetao, I thought of this. One was Song Jingang and the other was Liang Shidu. They were all good excuses for them to march south. If they really wanted to attack Liang Shidu, I would not be able to stop me, but Song Jingang would never allow them to intervene again. The Tang army would wipe it out by itself."

Chen Shuda was a little dissatisfied with Li Yuan's idea. Li Yuan repented about Xiao Xian's affairs, which was equivalent to tearing down the previous one-year armistice agreement. The Sui army had no restrictions at all. Even without Song Jingang, they would still attack Yan'an County, just like attacking Diaoyin County. The emperor thought that the Sui army wanted to use Song Jingang as an excuse to attack Yan'an County. This was a misunderstanding. The Sui army's attack was entirely based on its own combat plan and had nothing to do with the agreement.

Although he thought so, Chen Shuda did not dare to mention it. He was afraid that he would further anger Li Yuan in this matter. Chen Shuda had to whisper: "Your Majesty, I have said just now. Wen Yanbo may not be able to make the decision on the matter of Diaoyin County."

Li Yuan snorted, "Then let's send envoys to Zhongdu. In short, it's just a word. The Sui army must not appear in Yan'an County!"

Wen Yanbo and Ling Jing went on a mission to Chang'an for a month, and finally reached only one agreement, which was to exchange Loufan County for Xiao Xian and his daughter. As for the negotiation on the division of spoils, Li Yuan proposed to give up the spoils in exchange for the Sui army's Sheyanshui that did not cross the Diaoyin County, so it was postponed.

Two days later, the Tang Dynasty sent Feng Deyi as an envoy to the Imperial Household Department, and followed Wen Yanbo and his party to Zhongdu.

Lingwu County belongs to Xitaka of the Hetao Plain, which is today Yinchuan Plain. This is the richest area among the three Yellow River groups. Compared with Wuyuan County and Yulin County, the climate here is more mild and has a long frost-free period, which is conducive to the growth of crops. The wheat in Wuyuan County can only ripen once a year, but Lingwu County can ripen three times in two years. In addition, the water source and convenient irrigation make the population of Lingwu County much larger than that of Wuyuan County and Yulin County. By the 13th year of Daye, the population of the whole county was 400,000.

Although the population of Lingwu County has dropped sharply by half in recent years due to the rebellion of Liang Shidu in recent years, it still has a population of 200,000, mainly distributed in Huile County, the most developed agricultural area. Huile County is the county seat of Lingwu County, with rivers and canals, dense forests, and large fertile arable land. The annual grain output accounts for 60% of the entire Lingwu County. This is simply the cabbage core of Lingwu County, living with a population of 150,000.

After being repeatedly attacked by Duan Decao, the Liang army had already declined to its extreme strength, with only 6,000 troops left, and morale was sluggish and panic. However, due to the Tang army's disastrous defeat in Yan'an County, Song Jingang's army threatened Guanzhong and the iron ore in Diaoyin County. In order to restrain Song Jingang's army from going south and protect the iron ore, Li Yuan forced Duan Decao's army to turn to Diaoyin County, causing Liang army to escape the catastrophe.

The Liang army took advantage of this period to recruit soldiers and force the men to expand their army. In just two months, his army quickly increased to 30,000 people. However, due to backward equipment and extremely weak combat power, Lingwu County was not only rich in agricultural resources, but other resources were relatively scarce. In order to obtain resources, the Liang army began to move again and prepared to lead the army to attack Longyou.

At this moment, unfavorable news came from the direction of Diaoyin County. Duan Decao surrendered to the Northern Sui Dynasty, and tens of thousands of Northern Sui troops rushed towards Lingwu County.

Attacking Lingwu County was the established strategy of the Sui army. If the Tang Dynasty had not put a house arrest on the Northern Sui delegation, then the Northern Sui army should have marched from the north from half a month ago.

It was precisely because of the war in Diaoyin County that the Sui army's attack on Lingwu County was delayed by half a month. Not only that, the strategy of the attack also changed significantly. The Sui army not only attacked Lingwu County from the north, but also launched an offensive against Lingwu County from the east.

However, the hot summer is very unfavorable for the Sui army's march, especially the northern part of Shuofang County and Yanchuan County are vast deserts. The 35,000 Sui army advanced westward from the southern desert area. This is a semi-arid area and is a little better than the desert. Most areas are Gobi with thorns growing. It is as hot as a stove during the day, and the temperature drops sharply at night, making it extremely cold. However, an oasis and grassland occasionally appear on the Gobi, which gives the Sui army the opportunity to rest.

The Northern Sui army hid in the daytime and walked at night. It took ten days to walk 600 miles. After entering Lingwu County, it was a completely different scene. The Gobi Desert disappeared and turned into an endless grassland. There were large forests everywhere, and clear rivers were distributed on the grassland. This place was undeveloped land, but the land was very fertile. If you throw a seed, you can grow crops.

That afternoon, tens of thousands of Sui troops hid in a forest covering an area of ​​thousands of acres to rest. The sun was scorching, and the air on the grassland seemed to solidify, turning into a transparent fluid.

Although the environment in Lingwu County is much better, the heat wave is still there. In order to preserve the soldiers' physical strength, Zhang Xuan still adopted the strategy of hiding day and walking at night, trying to let the soldiers rest during the day, marching and fighting at night, and at the same time, he can also exercise the soldiers' night combat ability.

During this Western Expedition, the Sui army dispatched a total of 35,000 people. In addition to the 30,000 Sui army, 5,000 people were reorganized by Duan Decao's elite Tang army. Among the 35,000 people, 25,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry, with very strong combat power. In addition, Li Jing led 20,000 troops to fight from the north. The Sui army invested a total of 55,000 people to attack Lingwu County, and this battle was bound to be won.

In front of a stream next to the woods, Zhang Xuan looked at the vast grassland from afar. The fertility of the land here surprised him and also gave him many ideas. At this time, Duan Decao slowly walked up and smiled and said, "Master, this place was originally a farmland during the Han Dynasty. During the Jin Dynasty, it was occupied by the Hu people and gradually returned to the grassland. Now, this area is still a territory of the Qiang people."

"There are Qiang people here?"

Zhang Xuan was a little surprised. He saw no trace of the Qiang people along the way.

"Of course there is, the Qiang people here are called Dangxiang Qiang. Now they are basically called Dangxiang people. They are widely distributed, both in Hexi and Longyou. Our area is the Dangxiang Tuoba tribe, and it is also the largest tribe among the eight Dangxiang tribes, with a population of more than 100,000."

"But we didn't meet a single Dangxiang person along the way. Where are they living?"

Duan Decao laughed and said, "They are just south of us, but their living habits are exactly the opposite of ours. They are wandering day and night, and they will not provoke the army, so we did not meet them."

"Do they support Liang Shidu?" Zhang Xuan asked the most critical question.

Duan Decao was silent for a moment and said: "The Liang Shidu and the Dangxiang people were controlled by the Turks. The Liang Shidu had exchanged food for the Dangxiang people's war horses many times. In addition, they did not interfere with the well water, but now I don't know whether the Dangxiang people support the Liang Shidu."

At this moment, a team of scouts rushed over and shouted, "Master, a cavalry came to the southwest, about two thousand." (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!