On the top of Taiyuan City, Qu Tutong stood in front of the battlements with his hands behind his back and was watching a team of cavalry returning. The Zhou army refused to attack the city or go to war. He was also a little anxious.

Qu Tu has been through many battles, and he is very clear about the principle that the two armies are fighting and attacking the heart first. At present, the Zhou army has the initiative in attack, and the entire Bingzhou is under the control of the Zhou Dynasty, and Taiyuan has become an isolated city. The pressure brought by this lonely city and the passive defense will gradually weaken the morale of the Tang army, and eventually lead to the collapse of the morale of the Zhou army, and the Zhou army will win without fighting.

Moreover, it is difficult to boost morale weakening caused by this long-term pressure. Unlike the accidental failure, the soldiers can regroup with just a few words. This psychological long-term pressure will only make soldiers desperate.

Qu Tutong knew that there were too many such examples in history. The long-term siege made many soldiers crazy in the end, killing each other, jumping into the city to commit suicide in despair. A little better would be to surrender the city, so that the siege army would win without fighting. Qu Tutong's unwilling army would also take this step.

He hopes that the Zhou army will come to attack Taiyuan City and use the defense advantages of Taiyuan City to kill a large number of enemy troops, which will help boost morale.

Soon, a team of cavalry entered the city. Qu Tutong turned around and walked down the corridor, turned over and dismounted for the cavalry, handed the letter of invitation to Qu Tutong, and shook his head at Qu Tutong.

Qu Tu received the invitation letter and saw that it was not opened at all, but he just wrote two big words behind his back, "No fight!"

He felt anger in his heart, tore the letter of invitation to the battlefield to pieces and threw it hard on the ground. At this time, Deputy General Wang Junkuo walked up and whispered: "General, the Zhou army obviously used the Bingzhou battlefield to restrain the energy of the court and create conditions for the battle situation between Bashu and Hexi. Instead of being besieged and defeated in the end, we should take the initiative to break the situation."

"I also want to take the initiative to break the situation, but Yuchi Gong is not fooled!"

"General, since the Zhou army is stationed in two counties, if we attack Yuci County, the cavalry of Jiaocheng County will definitely come to the battle. We can ambush the enemy's crossbow halfway, and the general thinks."

Qu Tutong shook his head, "If one side is a weak brigade, you can use this strategy, but the opponent's troops are too strong. This plan will cost the opponent at most two or three thousand cavalry, but the opponent has 30,000 cavalry. Maybe our ambush will be taken away by the opponent in one fell swoop. Unless it burns Jiaocheng County with a fire, or breaks the river embankment and flood it with water, it will not have any effect. If you attack Jiaocheng County, you will not need Yuchi Gong to support it at all. Thirty thousand cavalry is enough to deal with us. Yuchi Gong's army can directly capture Taiyuan City. The other party also wants this plan and will not give us a chance. The only way is to let the opponent attack the city."

"What will the general do?"

Qu Tutong pondered for a moment and said, "I want to use fierce battles to stimulate the Zhou army to come and attack the city."

"But Yuchi Gong has always been famous for his steadiness. Will the provocation method be effective?"

Qu Tutong smiled bitterly, "I have no better way other than that."

The next morning, several huge cloth pictures were hung on the east city wall of Taiyuan. These cloth pictures were two zhang long and one zhang wide. They were vividly painted on them with a portrait of a human-headed dog with a few big characters on them, such as the image of a Yuchi dog and a thief, and also with a human-headed rat, which also read "The image of a Yuchi Rat", ridiculed Yuchi Gong as timid as a mouse.

Qu Tutong sent dozens of soldiers wearing mourning clothes and holding soul-summoning banners to approach Yuci County to deliver mourning to Yuchi Gong.

But what disappointed Qu Tutong was that Yuchi Gong responded to his insult in another way. At noon the next day, several huge cloth pictures were hung on the wall of Yuci County. On it was a portrait of a human-headed turtle with a turtle, which read, "Qu Tutong Old Tortoise", and a portrait of a headless turtle, which also read, "Qu Tutong, a turtle with a headliner". A group of soldiers knocked and beat Qu Tutong on the top of the city to deliver the funeral. Both sides were coming and going, it was very lively.

Although there was a war of words similar to a farce in Taiyuan, there was a thrilling and tragic war in Hedong County.

When the Zhou army captured Yan'an County, the situation in Guanzhong suddenly became tense, and invisibly put huge pressure on Li Shimin, who was fighting in Hedong County.

On the twelfth day after Li Shimin arrived at Pujin Pass, Li Shimin received the gold medal urged by his father for the third time, and Li Shimin had no choice. Although some of the special siege weapons he had made had not been completed, he knew that if his father gave the fourth gold medal, Hedong County might have to change his generals again. He didn't care about losing his position as the chief general. He was just worried that the exchange would have an adverse impact on the Hedong County battle.

At the first update, 60,000 Tang troops began to set off from Pujin Pass and head towards Hedong City on the other side of the Yellow River. Li Shimin, wearing a golden helmet and armor, stood on the head of the city and stared at the vaguely visible Hedong City Wall in the distance. Duan Zhixuan felt the complicated mood of His Royal Highness the King of Qin and walked forward and said, "I will fight this battle sooner or later. Your Highness, let's do our best!"

Li Shimin shook his head, "It's not easy to attack the east city, not to mention that there are 50,000 troops watching the enemy. It is obvious that the enemy is strong and we are weak, and the time, place, people and people are not on our side. I don't know how to fight this battle. Maybe my reputation will fall in this battle."

"Your Highness will persuade the Lord again, and we should wait patiently for the arrival of the fighter plane."

Li Shimin still shook his head, "The more we go backward, the more unfavorable the situation will be. When the Zhou army takes over Bashu Hexi and concentrates its forces to attack Guanzhong, we will have no chance of fighting," he said.

Li Shimin sighed deeply, "Let's go!"

Li Shimin and Duan Zhixuan got off the city, turned over and followed the army toward the outside of Pujin Pass.

At night, the dark night enveloped the land of Hedong, but tens of thousands of defenders at the head of Hedong had already rushed to the head of the city, and everyone's eyes were full of expectations for a war.

The vast fields outside the city were covered with fire, forming an extremely huge square of flames, spreading on the ground outside the city. The square array became larger and larger, and gradually gathered into a sea of ​​fire, extending to the edge of the Yellow River more than ten miles away. Moreover, on the two iron cable bridges on the Yellow River, two red fire streams continued to flow from the other side and injected into this ocean of fire.

Li Shimin's main army and Duan Zhixuan's logistics army marched towards Hedong City almost at the same time. It was not until the third hour that the injected forces on both sides began to gradually weaken. People west of Hedong City shouted horses neighed, and torches shone the fields like daytime. From the top of the city, you can clearly see that tens of thousands of Tang troops were building a large camp, and a large tent rose up from the ground on the fields.

On the top of the city, Wei Wentong, the chief general of the Zhou army, was also paying attention to the progress of the Tang army. He was not worried that Hedong City would be captured. Not to mention the tall and solidity of Hedong City itself, it is easy to defend but difficult to attack. More importantly, there are 30,000 elite Zhou troops in the city, and 20,000 young and strong civilians to help defend the city.

This is something that Wei Wentong has always been puzzled. Logically, the Tang army has been operating Hedong County for many years, and the people in Hedong City should share the same hatred of the enemy as the Tang army, but the people in the city unexpectedly welcomed the arrival of Zhou army. The young and strong man even signed up to help defend the city. It can only be said that Li Shentong was very unpopular in Hedong City.

In addition to 30,000 elite soldiers and 20,000 young and strong militia, there were 50,000 Zhou troops led by Su Dingfang a hundred miles away. They guarded the official road to Jiang County north, but if there was a crisis in Hedong City, Su Dingfang would lead his army to support at any time.

For Wei Wentong, he did not need the support of Su Dingfang. He had such good conditions. If he could not defend Hedong City, Wei Wentong would be ridiculed by the world and he would have no face to see His Majesty the Emperor.

"Leave a thousand troops to continue monitoring the enemy, and the other brothers rest on the spot, and don't care about movements outside the city."

Wei Wentong knew that the Tang army would not attack the city overnight, and there was no need for the soldiers to be nervous all night. Maintaining sufficient physical strength to better defend the city.

Wei Wentong issued a rest order, and the soldiers wrapped themselves in blankets and fell asleep at the top of the city, leaving only a thousand soldiers to continue to monitor the Tang army outside the city. Wei Wentong himself also went down to the city and returned to the army yamen.

The next morning, the sky finally dawned, and the warm sunlight shone on Hedong City. The soldiers guarding the city finally saw clearly what was happening outside the city. They saw dense tents three miles away, like mushrooms growing after a night of spring rain. Tens of thousands of tents were next to each other, surrounding the west and north of Hedong City.
Chapter completed!