Li Yuan suffered a series of heavy blows in the past few days, and was defeated in the Eastern Expedition. His companion Li Shuliang was unfortunately killed. Thirty-five thousand troops became prisoners of war in the Sui army. The political situation in Chang'an was unstable and his morale was depressed. Li Yuan was in a very bad mood. He had been restless for several days and locked himself in the Tang Palace and kept him away from leaving. ≤,

In the afternoon, Li Yuan sat alone in the study and read a letter just sent by his eldest son Li Jiancheng. In the letter, Li Jiancheng deeply analyzed the reasons for the failure of the Eastern Expedition, and at the same time expressed his willingness to take all responsibilities and asked his father to remove him from all his positions.

Li Yuan couldn't help but sigh. He knew very well that the responsibility was actually on him. It was because he forced them to march east to Hebei and attacked Zhang Xuan's move to Anyang. Unexpectedly, he backfired, but instead caused him to suffer huge humiliation and losses. The most urgent task now is not to hold them accountable, but how to deal with the aftermath.

At this time, a guard reported at the door: "Report to the Prince, Liu Prime Minister is asking for a meeting!"

Liu Xiangguo is Liu Wenjing, who was once the military advisor of Li Yuan's rebellion. Originally, Li Yuan didn't want to see anyone, but after his eldest son Jiancheng wrote this letter, Li Yuan felt that he could no longer escape. He nodded, "Please come in!"

Soon, Liu Wenjing hurried in and bowed, "I'm going to see the prince!"

"Prime Minister, please sit down!"

Li Yuan asked Liu Wenjing to sit down, and a maid came in to serve them tea. Li Yuan said ashamedly: "I have no face to see people these days."

Liu Wenjing fully understood Li Yuan's mood. He said calmly: "If anyone fails to send troops to fight, he will feel ashamed. However, victory or defeat is normal. The prince has never heard of defeat since he started his army. This is a bit abnormal. So I don't think it's scary to lose once. The key is to learn from the lessons and not lose in the same thing again."

"What lesson should we learn from the Prime Minister?"

Liu Wenjing pondered silently. Li Yuan understood that he was embarrassed, so he said sincerely: "I have been with Zhaoren for many years, and I have been in trouble. Without Zhaoren, there would be no such thing as Li Yuan today. I am also aware of the truth, but if Zhaoren didn't say it, I'm afraid I will never hear it again."

Liu Wenjing sighed slightly, "I have a responsibility for this failure. I know it is inappropriate and failed to dissuade the prince in time."

Before he could finish his words, Li Yuan waved his hand, "Stop saying such things now. Just say it bluntly, I want to hear your truth."

Liu Wenjing nodded and said slowly for a while: "This defeat was fundamentally a failure in principle, a speculative action that ignored principles. If the strategic direction is wrong, how can we not defeat it?"

Li Yuan smiled bitterly, "Please continue talking!"

"On the surface, the Tang army did have a chance. Youzhou had Luo Yi to help, and Zhang Xuan led the army to intercept Yu Wentong. It seemed that it was just because of Wei Wentong's accident that caused the problem of grain transportation in Hanoi County, which led to the failure of the operation. In fact, this is really just an appearance. Even if Wei Wentong did not appear, even if we succeeded for a while, we would not be able to win Hebei in the end, and we would still be defeated and retreated."

"Why do you say that?" Li Yuan stared at him with sharp eyes.

Liu Wenjing stood up and walked to the map beside the wall. He pointed to Guanlong and said, "There is Li Gui separatist in Hexi and Xue Ju separatist in Longxi. These are the two major enemies behind us. Bashu is not peaceful. There are also Liang Shidu and Liu Wuzhou in the north. They both received the support of the Turks and threatened Longyou and Bingzhou. We were obviously enemies on all sides in the house, but we had to open the door to fight a stronger enemy. Once Zhang Xuan's army entered Bingzhou, Xue Ju, Li Gui and others attacked us from behind. Do the prince think we can still support us?"

Li Yuan's face changed drastically, and his eyes showed a look of fear. After a while, he suddenly bowed deeply to Liu Wenjing, "If it weren't for Zhaoren's reminder, I would have been almost misled."

"Prince, the situation in our country is very serious now!"

Li Yuan lamented long, "I know that we are suffering from internal and external troubles now, but we don't know what to do. Please ask Zhaoren to teach me!"

"Weichen came for this matter. We must make peace with Zhang Xuan as soon as possible and we cannot let him invade Bingzhou. As long as we reach a reconciliation with Zhang Xuan, both sides are bounded by the Taihang Mountains, then we can concentrate our troops against Li Gui, Xue Ju, Liang Shidu, Liu Wuzhou and others."

Li Yuan hesitated for a moment and said worriedly: "I'm afraid that Zhang Xuan will not make peace in the current situation!"

"Actually, we have a chance. Weichen brings one person. I wonder if the prince is willing to receive him?"

Liu Wenjing stepped forward and said a few words to Li Yuan in a low voice. Li Yuan frowned, "This person has been in Chang'an?"

"No, this person has just come from the Wagang Army."

"Okay! I'll see her."

Liu Wenjing got up and went out. After a moment, he brought in a young woman, dressed beautifully and smelled so strong that she was Gao Hui, who had been missing.

When the Bohai Army was defeated in Hejian County, Gao Hui was not in Hebei, but in Liang County. She also escaped the defeat. Although the supporters of the Bohai Association in Hebei turned against each other and their power was uprooted by Zhang Xuan, Gao Hui's force remained relatively intact. She still had hundreds of people under her command, and she still had certain dark strength.

Gao Hui stepped forward and folded her hands in front of her lower abdomen, bent her knees slightly and saluted, "See the prince!"

"Madam, please sit down!"

Li Yuan looked at Gao Hui. He had heard of this woman for a long time, and was the second person in the Bohai Society. It is said that this woman is extremely beautiful, but Li Yuan seems a little disappointed now, but he is a little bit handsome, far from being extremely beautiful. The few newly accepted concubines are much more beautiful than her.

Gao Hui felt Li Yuan's gaze, she gently stroked the ends of her hair and smiled sweetly, "The prince is very busy lately! The little girl has been blocked outside the mansion for several days."

Li Yuan raised his eyebrows, "Have you been here?"

"It's the third time today, thanks to Liu Xiangguo's recommendation!"

Liu Wenjing next to him was afraid that Li Yuan would misunderstand, so he quickly explained: "My prince is in a bad mood these days and no one has seen him. It is definitely not targeting his wife. Please don't be surprised by her."

Gao Hui covered her mouth and chuckled, "It seems that I misunderstood the prince, but if the prince had seen me earlier, he would not have been so worried."

This sentence came to Li Yuan's heart, and he asked quickly: "Madam, do you have any good news to tell me?"

Gao Hui nodded, "Although we failed in Hebei, we are not discouraged and are ready to counterattack again. We hope to get the support of the prince."

Li Yuan suddenly understood what Liu Wenjing said about an opportunity, that is, the Bohai Association is going to counterattack Hebei, and Zhang Xuan will definitely concentrate on dealing with the Bohai Association. In this way, the pressure on Bingzhou will be reduced, and they can also reach a reconciliation with Zhang Xuan. However, Li Yuan still doesn't quite understand that the Bohai Association army has been eliminated, so what will they use to counterattack?

After pondering for a while, Li Yuan asked, "I wonder where the Bohai Sea will counterattack?"

Gao Hui touched his thin lips gently and said two words, "Liaodong!"

Li Yuan suddenly realized that Bohai would either borrow the power of the Khitan or Goguryeo's troops, and actually took a fancy to the land of Liaodong. He really had vision, but even Li Yuan would never give up Liaodong, let alone Zhang Xuan.

Li Yuan narrowed his eyes, "I wonder how my wife needs me to support you?"

Gao Hui smiled slightly, "I also know that the Tang army is not good in Hebei, so I will not ask the prince to send troops to Hebei again. This is unrealistic. In fact, our request is very simple, and it is just a small task to the prince."

"Madam, why not talk about it in detail."

"That's right. We have twelve manors in Guanlong, with nearly 10,000 hectares of land. Although we have abundant resources, we cannot call them. I also know that the nobles of Guanlong have many industries in Jiang, and there are many manors in Xuzhou and Jianghuai. I hope our two families can exchange or the prince can allow us to sell these manors."

After entering Guanzhong, Li Yuan issued an order that the land transactions of more than 100 acres in various places must be reviewed by the court, and the land transactions of more than 500 acres are completely prohibited. At the same time, the grain transactions of more than 100 stones must be filed with the government. This is mainly to prevent land annexation and win people's hearts and facilitate raising military rations. Under this order, the twelve manors of the Bohai Association could not be sold, and the various resources of the manor could not be used, which is a huge pressure on the Bohai Association, which is in urgent need of money.

Gao Hui received an order from her brother to raise 50,000 taels of gold as soon as possible. At present, Gao Hui only has 10,000 taels of gold. Although Hebei, Zhongyuan and Jianghuai have a large amount of assets, it is not easy to cash out. First, there are no such big buyers, and secondly, she does not want to sell the assets in the east. The Guanlong nobles are all rich, and the Guanlong farmlands are not very useful to the Bohai Sea. And once Li Yuan finds out, these farmlands may not be able to be saved, so selling them is the best choice.

Gao Hui was also anxious. This time she came to meet Li Yuan to solve this problem, and exchanged the manor to Xuzhou Jianghuai, or sold it directly. She captured Li Yuan's mentality of being anxious to reconcile with Zhang Xuan at this time, so she could use it to bargain.

Gao Hui smiled again and said, "If the prince can agree, then we can discuss with the prince when we send troops to Liaodong."

Li Yuan pondered for a moment. This was indeed an opportunity. He looked at Liu Wenjing again, and Liu Wenjing nodded, saying that he was acceptable.

Li Yuan smiled happily and said, "I think many people will be jealous of the twelve manors in Guanlong, okay! I will specifically approve you to sell these manors. As for your time to send troops, I ask you to send troops now, I believe you can't do it. I can only say that the faster the better."
Chapter completed!