In fact, Li Yuan did not need to issue an imperial edict. After Li Xiaogong showed up in the Northern Sui Guards, he immediately realized something was wrong. On the one hand, he sent him to report to Li Shimin, and on the other hand, he led the army to chase north, but was intercepted by the Sui army at the city of Wuguan.

Wu Pass has two levels of defense. At the moment, the Dongwu Pass River in front of the pass has a large drop in the river and the water flow is very turbulent. It is also early summer, which makes the water flow more urgent and dangerous, making it very difficult to cross the river.

There was originally a wooden bridge on the Dongwu Pass River. The merchants and troops came and went from the wooden bridge and were not affected by the river. However, after the Sui army occupied Wu Pass, it completely demolished the wooden bridge, which made Li Xiaogong's army, who came to support, face the first obstacle.

The Dongwu Pass River is about twenty meters wide and the bank is about three meters deep. The river is covered with stones of all sizes. The Tang army has already gone down the river to test to see if it can cross the river. However, all eight soldiers who participated in the test were washed away by the water. Two were seriously injured. The whereabouts of the other six were unknown. This made Li Xiaogong completely die and his heart to cross the river directly.

Not only was the water flowing fast, but there were hundreds of Sui soldiers holding bows and crossbows on the other side of the river waiting for battle, but they could shoot and kill the soldiers crossing the river at any time.

In the afternoon, Li Xiaogong stood by the river bank and looked at the turbulent river water below his feet. He felt really worried. They could not fly over and knew that they would cross the river, but whether they were using a boat or swimming directly, they had to have a support. This support was a thick rope or an iron chain connecting the two sides of the river. How could they send a soldier? This was another thing that made Li Xiaogong extremely troublesome.

At this time, Lu Zushang, the general next to him, whispered: "Your Highness, I have a plan to cross the river."

"What plan, you said!"

"I see that although the river water is turbulent, the water is not deep. It can prevent the river water from being cut off from the upstream and make the river bed dry up."

Li Xiaogong pondered for a moment and said, "This method is good, but the risk is also great. If you are not careful, we will face a catastrophe."

"It should be no big problem in a short period of time, and it doesn't have to dry up completely. As long as half of it is blocked, the water flow will become smaller and the impact will not be too big. At that time, you can directly wade across the river. What does Your Highness think?"

Lu Zushang's plan was feasible, and Li Xiaogong immediately made a decision: "You can immediately lead 10,000 troops to the upstream to find a place where the river is cut off. It is best to be able to lead the river away. I hope to complete this task before dawn tomorrow."

"I understand!"

Lu Zushang immediately led 10,000 troops to go west along the river bank. In fact, Lu Zushang also hoped to find a place to cross the river. Even if the flow could not be cut off, he could lead the army to cross the river.

Just as Lu Zushang left, a team of informants rushed over and shouted loudly for the cavalry: "Your Highness, the imperial edict has arrived!"

Li Xiaogong was shocked and hurriedly came forward. A soldier who sent the order turned over and dismounted, knelt down on one knee, and presented the imperial edict to Li Xiaogong. "This is the emperor's eight hundred miles of urgent imperial edict, and sent it to His Highness Qin, who ordered us to send it again."

Li Xiaogong quickly opened the imperial edict and read it. The imperial edict ordered him to lead 35,000 troops to withdraw back to Shangluo County and cooperate with the Tang army in Guanzhong to encircle and suppress the Sui army in Shangluo County.

Li Xiaogong frowned. He was retreating to Shangluo County in the north, which coincided with the imperial edict. The imperial edict only required him to lead 35,000 troops to head north, and he only commanded 20,000 troops, and 15,000 troops in the hands of Samurai. He didn't know where Samurai was now. What should I do?

Li Xiaogong's heart suddenly moved. Since it was delivered to the King of Qin first, the King of Qin should have dispatch. He hurriedly asked the sending army and said, "Where is the army of Governor Wu, do you know?"

"Your Highness, Governor Wu has led his army north, not far from here, and I guess we will arrive tomorrow morning."

Li Xiaogong felt a little disappointed. If all the troops were headed north, what should we do if Xiyang County?

"Is this the order of His Highness the King of Qin?" Li Xiaogong asked again.

“That’s right!”

Li Xiaogong sighed secretly. It seemed that the situation was much more serious than he thought. How could the King of Qin not know the consequences of all the troops heading north? Since Shimin had made a decision, he would just accept the order.

Li Xiaogong no longer considered Xiyang County, but only thought about how to regain Wu Pass as the top priority.

.........

Li Xiaogong had not slept all night and was waiting for news from Lu Zushang nervously. Before dawn, Li Xiaogong, who was dozing in the tent, was suddenly awakened by a burst of rapid footsteps. Someone outside shouted: "Your Highness, the river is dry!"

Li Xiaogong sat up, and was immediately driven away without a trace of sleepiness. Li Xiaogong strode out of the tent and saw two personal soldiers scolding the soldiers who had just reported the message. His voice was too loud.

"Has the river dried up?" Li Xiaogong's voice became louder and he asked in a hoarse voice.

The soldier hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down on one knee and said, "Your Highness, the river water gradually decreased from half an hour ago, and it had completely dried up just now."

"Did the army cross the river?"

Li Xiaogong hurriedly asked, knowing that it would be impossible for the upstream to block the water too long, otherwise it would cause a catastrophe to the downstream army. So he made an appointment with Lu Zushang that the water was cut off for only a quarter of an hour at most. He was most afraid that time would be delayed after reporting to him.

"General Shi Huaiyi led three thousand soldiers to cross the river, and the Sui army on the other side had withdrawn from Guancheng."

Li Xiaogong immediately breathed a sigh of relief. As long as his army crossed the Wuguan River, they could build an iron chain bridge in the air.

The Tang army crossed the Dongwu Pass River, which meant that it would be one step further from the goal of regaining Wu Pass. On the morning of the same day, the Tang army built two iron chain bridges on the Dongwu Pass River, and the army began to cross the river on a large scale and assembled in front of Wu Pass. At this moment, the warrior led a 15,000 army to Wu Pass.

This was Li Shimin's helplessness and compromise. He also knew that the Sui cavalry that entered Shangluo County must be the most elite inner guard of the Sui army. Ten thousand inner guard cavalry was enough to compete with the 50,000 Tang army. Li Xiaogong's 20,000 people could not defeat the 10,000 Sui cavalry. It was very likely that the entire army would be destroyed. At critical moments, the second uncle Li Shentong could not lead the army to come and fight bravely to fight the enemy. Only by heading the army of Wu Shigui and going north together can it be possible to compete with the Sui army of Shangluo County.

As for Xiyang County, Li Shimin was certainly unwilling to give up, but he had no choice in the face of the strong Xiangyang Sui army.

Thirty-five thousand Tang troops lined up under Wu Pass and were preparing to attack Wu Pass in a large-scale attack. The commander who guarded Wu Pass was Li Keshi. He led a thousand cavalry to properly block the Tang army from entering Shangluo County.

Li Keshi stood on the top of the city and stared coldly at the Tang soldiers gathering hundreds of steps away. Wu Pass was located on a high ground, condescending, easy to defend but difficult to attack. Even if he could not defend Wu Pass in the end, it would cause severe damage to the enemy.

However, the fundamental purpose of the Sui army's attack on Shangluo County was not to occupy Shangluo County, but to force Li Shimin to give up Xiyang County, that is, to introduce Li Xiaogong and Wu Shiguo's army into Shangluo County. Therefore, Li Keshi did not really intend to intercept the Tang army outside Wu Pass. On the contrary, they wanted to create conditions for the Tang army to enter Shangluo County.

The reason why Li Keshi did not retreat was because he was waiting for news from coach Liu Lancheng that the two armies needed to join forces before acting together.

Seeing that the Tang army had already assembled outside Wu Pass, a soldier rushed over and knelt down on one knee to report, "Report to General Liu, General Liu has sent his brothers."

Sure enough, when it came in time, Mr. Li smiled and said, "Where are the people?"

After a moment, a captain walked up quickly and saluted: "See General Li!"

"Where is General Liu now?"

The captain took out a map and handed it to Li Keshi, "The map is clearly marked, and the humble official will lead the way."

Master Li looked at the map and nodded and said, "I understand, let's go out immediately!"

He immediately sent an order: "The whole army gathers and prepare to go out!"

Soon, Li Keshi led a thousand cavalry to leave Wuguan and rode his horse toward Liu Lancheng's army hiding in the north.

The Tang army soon discovered an abnormality on the top of the city. The city was full of Sui soldiers, but in a blink of an eye, there was no one at the end of the city, and even the flag disappeared. Li Xiaogong was really surprised. The Sui army could not have left the gate and left like this! But if it weren't for leaving the gate, what did this mean? Could it be that the city was empty?

At this time, General Shi Huaiyi said: "Your Highness, I will lead a team of brothers to see!"

Li Xiaogong nodded, "You must be careful and be careful!"

Shi Huaiyi waved his hand and said, "Come with me!"
Chapter completed!