Zhai Rang obviously made a decision that was not conducive to his future. Just as Zhai Rang had just evacuated the battlefield without authorization, Li Shimin's urgent military order was sent. The military order clearly required Zhai Rang to occupy Yique County and defend Yique County to death. However, Li Shimin's letter was one step late. Just as Zhai Rang's army had just withdrawn, Wang Shichong sent his nephew Wang Renze to lead 5,000 troops to seize Yique County to prevent Zhai Rang from killing him again.

At the same time, Li Shimin also received a quick letter from Zhai Rang. Because of insufficient food and grass, he had to retreat west temporarily, which made Li Shimin furious. Li Shimin's roar was heard from far away from the tent. This was the first time that the generals saw the King of Qin lose his temper.

"Did he think he is, or he think he is King Wagang? Do whatever he wants!"

"Don't listen to my orders and evacuate without authorization, it will ruin my big deal!"

Li Shimin was heartbroken. A hard-won game of good chess was destroyed by Zhai Rang's unauthorized withdrawal. Zhai Rang not only destroyed the opportunity to wipe out Wang Shichong, but also destroyed the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to destroy Luoyang.

If he had his own control over Wang Shichong, as long as Zhai Rang guarded Yique to death and cut off Wang Shichong's food and supplies, Luoyang's army would have to come to Yique to rescue him. At that time, a surprise soldier would leave Tongguan and take advantage of the situation to seize Luoyang.

Unfortunately, Zhai Rang gave up Yique and gave up this precious opportunity, so how could Li Shimin not stomp his feet and curse?

But even though he scolded him, Li Shimin was helpless in the end and had to order Zhai Rang to go south to meet him again.

After reorganizing the army and horses, Li Shimin divided his troops into two groups. He led 50,000 troops to confront Wang Shichong in Xiangguo County, and Qu Tutong led 30,000 troops to occupy Yingchuan, Runan and Huaian counties respectively. Li Shimin did not dare to advance eastward to Liang County. He knew that it would violate Zhang Xuan's interests and Zhang Xuan would definitely launch a large counterattack.

Wang Shichong and Yuwen Chengdu joined forces, and about 40,000 troops were stationed in Chengxiu County, the county seat, to build fortifications, consolidate the city walls, strengthen defense, and prepare to rely on the strong city Chengxiu County and Li Shimin to fight a protracted war. Wang Shichong's key is to buy time for Su Liang. As long as Zhang Xuan is willing to send troops, Wang Shichong still has a chance to turn the tables.

Zhang Xuan did not go south, and he didn't need to make a big move against the little Du Fuwei. Xuzhou had long been exploited by Yu Wenhua and his army. Du Fuwei's army could not get food supplements in Xuzhou. As long as his logistics and grain transportation line was cut off, Du Fuwei's army would have to retreat to Jianghuai.

Zhang Xuan's king's camp is located ten miles south of Dangshan County. Dangshan County is located at the junction of Liang County, Pengcheng County and Qiao County. The geographical location is very important. Zhang Xuan's troops stationed here can command the military operations of Luo Shixin, Pei Xingyan and Su Dingfang in Xuzhou, and at the same time, he can observe the battle between Wang Shichong's army and Li Shimin's army.

He could not really give up Wang Shichong and make the Tang army successful in the Eastern Expedition. He had already deployed everything and was patiently waiting for Wang Shichong to negotiate with him.

It is already mid-September, and it is the season when the autumn is clear and the fruit grain is ripe. The early millet in Dangshan County has matured. Farmers, regardless of gender, age, and young, enter the millet fields and start to harvest the millet vigorously. The Central Plains is filled with a busy autumn harvest.

Dangshan County is also rich in fruit pears. Dangshan crispy pears have been famous since ancient times. The fruits are huge, bright yellow, beautiful, thin and juicy skin, and fine and sweet flesh. They were tributes to the palace during the Han Dynasty.

The location of the Zhang Xuan King's Camp was located just next to a pear garden covering an area of ​​thousands of acres. Zhang Xuan bought the pear production of this pear from more than a dozen local farmers, and obtained hundreds of thousands of kilograms of crisp pears. He sent someone to transport some of the pears to the Xuzhou army. At the same time, he ordered Cui Huan, the prefect of Qi County, to immediately send 300 cargo ships to Dangshan County to transport pears, preparing to reward them to the northern army and the civil and military ministers of Zhongdu.

That morning, Zhang Xuan and his soldiers picked pears in the pear garden. At this time, a soldier rushed over and shouted under a pear tree: "Master, Mr. Su, the envoy of Wang Shichong, is here. If you have an urgent matter, please see the Master!"

Zhang Xuan's laughter came from the top of the tree, "Please invite Mr. Su to come here, just say I'll treat him to the best crispy pear."

Soon, Su Liang hurried to the pear garden under the leadership of the soldiers. Zhang Xuan jumped out of a big tree and held a pineapple as big as a grapefruit in his hand. He smiled and threw the pear to Su Liang, "Next, this is the pear king this year, I'll give it to you."

Su Liang hurriedly caught Li and smiled bitterly, "Your Highness is in great interest!"

"That's of course. I like it when I see a good harvest. Whether it's a good harvest or a good harvest of fruits, it will make people feel excited."

Su Liang was anxious and had no intention of discussing the pear garden with Zhang Xuan. He handed the pear to the soldiers next to him and bowed deeply: "Luoyang is in danger, I beg your highness to help him."

Zhang Xuan pointed to a stone pavilion not far away, "Let's go there and sit!"

There were soldiers who had already laid mats in the pavilion and set up a small table. Zhang Xuan and Su Liang sat down, and the personal soldiers served them tea. Su Liang sighed and said, "Li Shimin blocked the news of the arrival of reinforcements, which caused Zhu Jie to underestimate the enemy and fall into the siege and the entire army was wiped out. The Tang army headed north in large numbers, and Zhai Rang cut off our food route from behind. We were attacked from both sides. King Zheng and Luoyang were already in danger. Your Highness, his lips were dead and his teeth were cold. If we perish, your Highness would have to face the Tang army and beg your Highness to send troops to rescue!"

Su Liang became more and more excited as he spoke. Finally, he knelt in front of Zhang Xuan. Zhang Xuan drank tea and pondered and said for a while: "It's true that Doctor Su is in danger. Luoyang is in danger. I'm also very anxious, but the expansion in the past six months is too fast. We have insufficient troops. Goguryeo wants to garrison troops, Liaodong wants to garrison troops, Jiangdu wants to garrison troops, Xuzhou and Zhongyuan are also preparing to garrison troops, and they also have to send troops to deal with the threat of Du Fuwei of Jianghuai. The lack of troops is enough. We are really trying to reorganize a part of the surrendered troops, but our food and armor are insufficient. Can Luoyang support us?"

Zhang Xuan offered a price to ask for food and military armor. Su Liang was mentally prepared. Wang Shichong also told him that he could only be in Luoyang's tolerance range. They could agree. Su Liang hesitated and asked: "I wonder how much military armor and military armor and military armor your highness needs?"

Zhang Xuan needed a lot of food to restore production and order in Xuzhou, and he could only pay for the needs of the army when he obtained the war dividends from Liaodong, so he had to garner another source of food elsewhere.

Zhang Xuan smiled and said, "Although the grain in Luoyang warehouse is well preserved in the cellar, it is too long after all, and it will be moldy and broken in two years. I guess Luoyang will not be used up. Instead of rotting it, it is better to let me help the victims of Central Plains and Xuzhou. This is how it is! In addition to the 300,000 shi of grain that King Zheng had promised before, I need a total of 500,000 shi of grain. This is only 300,000 shi of grain in Luokou warehouse. I hope King Zheng can agree."

Su Liang thought about it and asked again: "In addition to food, Your Highness also needs military armor. I wonder how much it is?"

Zhang Xuan took a sip of tea and said calmly: "Before talking about military armor, I want to talk about Yingchuan County first. I said that the two families each account for half of Yingchuan County, but I later considered it. This could easily lead to conflicts between the two families. Just like brothers splitting up their families, it is best to divide them cleanly so as not to leave hidden dangers. So I think it is better for Yingchuan County to be allocated to us. As compensation, you can occupy Xiangyang County to the south and exchange half of Yingchuan for Xiangyang. You are actually not at a disadvantage."

At this time, whatever Zhang Xuan said was, but the conditions were not too excessive. King Zheng did not expect them to get Yingchuan County before.

Su Liang nodded, "I can make the decision to agree to this condition, so let's talk about the military and armor."

Seeing that Su Liang promised so well, Zhang Xuan stopped mentioning Yingchuan and continued: "I heard that there are 80,000 sets of Mingguang armor in Luokou Cang, and I want to use it to expand the army."

Su Liang was startled and waved his hand in a hurry, "I'm sure you must be hiding your highness. We have all replaced the 80,000 sets of bright light armor. There are still hundreds of thousands of sets of leather armor in the Luoyang Military Equipment Supervision Warehouse. If your Highness doesn't mind,"

Zhang Xuan's face immediately became gloomy. He had so many leather armor that he had seized 200,000 new sets of armor from the Goguryeo warehouse. What he wanted was Mingguang armor or heavy armor. The heavy armor of the Sui Dynasty itself was not much, and it was consumed in previous wars. Only Mingguang armor still had inventory.

The Mingguang Armor is only in stock in Luoyang, Chang'an and Taiyuan, and there are many Goguryeo. Zhang Xuan has 100,000 troops equipped with Mingguang Armor. He hopes that the entire army can be equipped, so he has been thinking about the Mingguang Armor. Unexpectedly, Wang Shichong used it first, which made Zhang Xuan not angry.

However, Zhang Xuan also wants something in Luoyang, that is, the craftsman. Luoyang's Yujifang, Tongtufang and Shanglinfang live in the world's best 20,000 craftsmen. They can build the most exquisite weapons and the strongest armor, which has always been coveted by all parties. If Wang Shichong cannot produce 80,000 sets of Mingguang armor, then Zhang Xuan will want these craftsmen.

Thinking of this, Zhang Xuan said slowly: "I don't need leather armor. Since the Mingguang armor is gone, I can only find a way to build it myself. However, there are too few craftsmen in Zhongdu. I asked King Zheng to give me the Luoyang Army Artifact Supervisor and the 20,000 craftsmen who are the generals. With these two conditions, as long as King Zheng agrees, he guarantees that the Tang army will be withdrawn from Guanzhong within ten days."

Su Liang was a little hesitant. He was a civil servant. He knew very well that the importance of these craftsmen would be the basis for their re-emergence in the future. If Zhang Xuan was given it, it would be difficult to find these experienced craftsmen.

Zhang Xuan saw his concern and smiled and said, "At least so far, this group of craftsmen has no meaning to you. As far as I know, the pig iron in the Luoyang warehouse was used up two years ago. These craftsmen have nothing to do at home. Many people secretly do odd jobs or sell their hard work to support their families. Instead of waiting for the Tang army to capture Luoyang and make a profit from Li Yuan, it is better to give me the craftsmen and I will help you keep Luoyang. I believe that King Zheng will agree without hesitation. Why should Doctor Su make trouble for himself?"

A sentence reminded Su Liang that Wang Shichong should have decided on this matter. He hesitated. He immediately said: "I understand. I will send a pigeon letter to ask King Zheng for instructions, and there will be a clear reply the day after tomorrow!"

As Zhang Xuan expected, the 500,000 stones of grain that was about to become moldy and the 20,000 chicken ribs did not make Wang Shichong feel a pity. Moreover, he originally wanted to give Zhang Xuan 300,000 stones of grain, but now he is only adding 200,000 stones.

Wang Shichong was glad that Zhang Xuan did not ask for hundreds of thousands of weapons and armor in the military weapon treasury, which was a treasure that he could not give up. As long as the Tang army could withdraw within ten days, how could he not agree? Wang Shichong immediately replied to Su Liang and fully accepted Zhang Xuan's two conditions.

Zhang Xuan immediately sent a letter to the Yuchi Gong army who had already assembled in Hanoi County, and ordered him to start action immediately.
Chapter completed!