Li Shenfu is mediocre, which only refers to the battlefield. However, in the officialdom, he is extremely smart and is a well-known tumbler in the officialdom. During the founding of the country, his achievements were far inferior to his brother Li Shentong, but his title and official position are no less than his brother. Even when he is valued by the emperor, he is even better than his brother Li Shentong.

The fundamental reason is that he has super eyesight. Others either support Qin King Li Shimin or Crown Prince Li Jiancheng, but he holds the thighs of Emperor Li Yuan tightly. He sees that the emperor and the prince have conflicts in imperial power, so he volunteers to stay in Taiyuan. The first thing Li Shenfu does when he takes office is to deprive Li Jiancheng of his two close confidants Wang Junkuo and Wang Bodang of the military power, and demote them to train new recruits.

Although his actions offended the Crown Prince Li Jiancheng, he received great praise from Emperor Li Yuan, who rewarded 5,000 hectares of land and 10,000 taels of gold, and was granted the title of Prince Shaobao. This time he was in Jiangxia. Although he was not willing, he also knew that the emperor wanted to weaken the Qin King's military power. The emperor insisted on Duan Decao's surrender, just to hit King Li Shimin, and thus find an opportunity to weaken his military power.

Li Shenfu certainly understood this emperor's mind. This was to balance power among princes. He weakened the prince's military power in Taiyuan, and naturally weakened the Qin King Li Shimin's military power in Jiangxia. At the same time, he strengthened the power of King Li Yuanji of Chu, and handed over the prince's external intelligence rights, the Qin King's internal surveillance rights, and the military surveillance rights to King Li Yuanji of Chu, which perfectly formed the three kings' checks and balances.

Li Shenfu could see through all kinds of things. He knew that if the emperor was worried about Qu Tutong, he could send a military supervisor to Jiangxia. Now the emperor, Qu Tutong transferred back to the army and handed over Qu Tutong's army to himself, hoping that he would repeat the scene in Taiyuan.

So after Li Shenfu entered Jiangxia, he began to clean up Qu Tutong's old subordinates. In fact, he was the backbone of Li Shimin's army. Some of Qu Tutong's famous generals, such as Yin Kaishan, Changsun Shunde, Qin Qiong, Hou Junji, Wu Yunzhao, etc., were all transferred from the main force of the Jiangxia army. They were either transferred to the Xiangyang army or assigned to the county commanders to maintain public order. All important military positions were occupied by Li Shenfu's confidant.

At this time, Li Xiaogong sent someone to contact him. Of course, Li Shenfu knew what it meant and must have asked him to go south to support him. However, the main force of the Sui army had already entered Yongxing County, and it was obvious that he wanted to intercept Li Xiaogong's army. At this time, he led his army to go forward. Will Zhang Xuan's thoughts be true?

Although Li Shenfu didn't want to see the people sent by Li Xiaogong, he also knew it would be bad if he didn't see him. Once Li Xiaogong caught the handle and sued him in front of the emperor, wouldn't he be a villain in Jiangxia?

Li Shenfu had no choice but to say, "Let them come in!"

After a moment, two personal soldiers who delivered the letter hurried in, knelt down on one knee and said, "See the Prince!"

"What did my nephew ask you to do?" Li Shenfu took a sip of tea and asked lightly.

The two personal soldiers looked at each other and were quite dissatisfied. This was a big matter of military action. When the prince said, it seemed to have become a housework.

The head soldier said anxiously: "Report to the prince, our highness has led our army to cross Jiugong Mountain, but the food is seriously insufficient and the troops are scarce. His Highness Zhao County Prince begs the prince to send troops to respond."

Li Shenfu snorted softly, "Isn't it a bit funny if the emperor asked the Eastern Expedition Army to support Jiangxia's defense, but now it has become Jiangxia Army to support it?"

"Prince, we are indeed here to support Jiangxia, but the main force of the Sui army blocked Fushui, so it is difficult for us to go north, and we cannot carry baggage, and the military rations carried by the soldiers cannot support us to walk to Wuchang County. If the prince does not rescue us, we may be wiped out. I beg the prince to put the overall situation first."

Li Shenfu hesitated for a moment. At this time, Wang Jun, a staff member next to him, coughed gently. Li Shenfu understood and said, "You wait a moment, I'll go and come back."

Li Shenfu got up and went out, and Wang Jun followed him out. He followed the prince into the room next to him. Li Shenfu asked, "What do you say?"

"Prince, if you don't have any expression, I'm afraid the emperor will not be able to explain."

Li Shenfu stroked her beard and nodded, "I think so too, because I'm afraid that the Sui army will intercept it halfway."

"Prince, isn't it good for the Sui army to intercept it halfway?"

Li Shenfu suddenly woke up and smiled and said, "If it weren't for the reminder of me, I really wouldn't have thought of it."

Li Shenfu walked back and his attitude immediately changed. He smiled and said to the two personal soldiers: "Xiao Gong is my nephew, and we are also ministers in the same palace. Now he has difficulties, how can I sit still? Go back and report to Your Highness, just say that I will give up Jiangxia's army to rescue, and I will break through the enemy's blockade and deliver 50,000 stones of food. I ask him to persevere and not give up easily."

The two personal soldiers were extremely excited and knelt on the ground and cried, "The prince is righteous and righteous, we are saved."

Two personal soldiers went back to deliver the letter. Li Shenfu pondered for a long time and said, "Tell me my order and carry 5,000 stones of grain on board!"

After six days of difficult marching, the 90,000 Tang troops finally walked out of Jiugong Mountain and arrived in Jiangxia County after losing more than 5,000 people.

It was lunch time. Seeing that the scout had not yet received any reward, Li Xiaogong ordered the soldiers to rest on the spot. Tens of thousands of soldiers cheered and rushed to a small river to drink water and rest.

At this time, General Huang Junhan stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, there are at least fifty miles away from Fushui here, so we'd better have two days off here."

Li Xiaogong understood Huang Junhan's meaning. The army was too tired. Using such an army to confront the Sui army was tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg. He nodded and said, "Wait for the news of the scout before deciding."

After pausing, Li Xiaogong remembered another important thing and asked, "How many days can the brothers last for food?"

"I have been taking care of everyone to save food again and again, and I guess I can hold on for another four days."

Speaking of this, Huang Junhan gritted his teeth and said, "The court did not understand the truth, and did not know the difficulty of crossing Jiugong Mountain. He did not expect that we could not carry the supplies, and there would be major problems with the supply of food. He made a decision just by slapping his head and let us support Jiangxia. Do they think going to Jiangxia is a carriage to explore the scenery?"

Li Xiaogong's face darkened, "No objection to the court!"

"The humble position is the truth. In fact, Your Highness's idea is completely correct. It is wise to retreat in Changsha County. The Sui army is a false and the deployment of troops in Changsha and Jiangling is a false. It is a true that the garrison in Jiangxia is a true but the imperial court cannot see this. We must support Jiangxia, but we just fall into the trap of the Sui army.

Li Xiaogong sighed, "We didn't expect that it would take six days to cross Jiugong Mountain. At that time, the hunters told us that three days were enough, but who knew that God would rain continuously! So we can't blame the court. The court considered the overall situation and wanted to protect Jiangxia's iron ore. So it was indeed a clever strategy to let us withdraw our troops from Jiangxia. It was just that there was a problem in the specific actions. It can only be said that God would do so!"

"Weizhi didn't want to criticize the court, it was just that we only had four days of military rations left, and our soldiers did not have ten or half a month of rest, so we could not recover their physical strength. We used such a weak brigade to fight against the elites of the Northern Sui Dynasty. Weizhi didn't want to damage our morale, but we really didn't win."

"I understand, don't say these words anymore. Kill all the mules as a military ration!"

Huang Junhan also knew that he had said something too much just now, and he no longer mentioned the court's mistakes, but turned his attention to more than a thousand mules.

"Why don't you wait a few more days before killing them? Wait for the end"

Li Xiaogong shook his head and said, "Look at how thin they are. If you wait a few days, you will only have bones left."

"I understand, let's make arrangements."

Huang Junhan bowed and left in a hurry, but Li Xiaogong was extremely worried, with only four days of food left. The key is that he has not yet responded. He is close to 90,000 troops, killing a thousand mules can last at most one day. What should he do if the food is finished?

In fact, Li Xiaogong felt like a mirror in his heart. The decision to make the Eastern Expedition Army aid Jiangxia in the north was completely fine. The problem was Li Shenfu. How could he let the main force of the Sui army land on Jiangxia? He also allowed tens of thousands of Sui army to deploy calmly and intercept his own army. He should do his best to fight the Sui army to prevent the Sui army from landing in Jiangxia, and then wait for his reinforcements to come and join forces to defeat the Sui army. This is the original intention of His Highness the King of Qin.

If Qu Tutong was still stationed in Jiangxia, he would definitely do this, but why did his third uncle watch the Sui army land on Jiangxia without blocking it? Li Xiaogong was so angry that he would have gone crazy. If he hadn't been relying on the third uncle's support, he would have written a letter to impeach the emperor.

At this time, a team of scouts rushed over and the leader of the scouts turned over and dismounted, stepped forward and knelt down on one knee to salute, "See Your Highness!"

"Have you found out clearly? How many troops does the Sui army have and who is the chief general?"

Li Xiaogong asked anxiously that this information is very important to his strategic response, and he was waiting for this information to arrive.

"Weizhi has already found out that the Sui army has about 70,000 to 80,000 troops. Their chief general is Zhang Xuan, the King of Qi himself. Weizhi saw the king's flag above the military camp with his own eyes."

"ah!"

When Li Xiaogong heard that Zhang Xuan was in charge of Yongxing County himself, he was stunned. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!