At Loufan Pass, the confrontation between the 30,000 infantry and cavalry mixed army of the Sui army and the 30,000 Tang army had entered the tenth day. Although Liu Wuzhou had perished, the battle for Bingzhou between the Sui and Tang Dynasties did not begin.

Hearing thunder in silence, under the shadow of the war clouds, both dynasties were intensively deploying wars. The Northern Sui Dynasty requisitioned 300,000 civilians for the first time, and from Zhongdu and Yi County, a large amount of food and supplies were continuously transported to Yanmen County and Shangdang County.

The Tang army also increased 30,000 troops from Guanzhong to Taiyuan, and at the same time recruited 200,000 civilians and transported 200,000 stones of grain and armor from Hedong City to Taiyuan, increasing the defenders of Taiyuan City to 70,000. If the 30,000 troops of Li Jiancheng of Loufan Pass were added, the Tang army guarding against Taiyuan would reach 100,000.

Taiyuan was the place where the Tang Dynasty rose, and it had a crucial impact on the stability of the Tang Dynasty. Once Taiyuan was lost, it would most likely lead to the collapse of confidence in the government and the public. Li Yuan knew this very well, so he had to defend Taiyuan City at all costs.

Loufan Pass is located among the mountains, with a high terrain and a strong city. It is a must-pass place for Yanmen County and Mayi County in the north. It is part of the Great Wall. It is located in a mountain pass, forming an extremely important north-south passage through this mountain pass.

Loufan Pass is easy to defend and difficult to attack in the south, but it is just an ordinary pass to the north. The terrain is flat and the city wall is only two meters high. It is easy to be captured. It cannot accommodate 30,000 people at all, and can only accommodate 30,000 people at most. Most of the Tang soldiers can only be stationed outside the pass in the south.

However, the Sui army did not seem to be in a hurry to attack Loufan Pass, but instead built a plate-type military camp covering an area of ​​2,000 acres opposite Loufan Pass, with 30,000 troops stationed in this huge military camp.

That afternoon, an emergency eagle letter sent from it was placed on the desk of military advisor Fang Xuanling.

This is the eagle letter written by Zhang Xuan. In the letter, he told Fang Xuanling that the 30,000 troops sent by Chang'an had arrived in Taiyuan City. The time was ripe and he could take down Loufan Pass.

Fang Xuanling admired his lord's ability to play the world and control the rhythm of war. He could clearly capture Taiyuan in one fell swoop, but he did not take action. Instead, he used Taiyuan as his eyes, taking advantage of Li Yuan's unwillingness to lose Taiyuan's psychology, restraining and depleting the national strength of the Tang Dynasty. In the end, Taiyuan would still fall into their hands, but not everyone could understand this brilliant strategy of attracting but not being able to exert it.

The city of Taiyuan is far from being able to support the consumption of a hundred thousand troops. In order to defend Taiyuan, the Tang army only continuously sucked blood from the counties in southern Shanxi. The heavy labor and heavy taxes will sooner or later make the people of the Tang Dynasty in Bingzhou lose their hearts. This is like a dirty body that ends up exhausting all its property and still cannot escape death.

The capture of Loufan Pass was attacked in Loufan County and Shangdang County, forming a situation of surrounding Taiyuan. Even if Li Yuan knew the strategy of the Sui army, they could only defend it, unless they had the courage to give up Taiyuan City as a hero, but once they gave up Taiyuan, the Sui army formed a breakthrough and could go south to conquer the counties in southern Jin. In the end, the Tang army could only lose Bingzhou.

Fang Xuanling pondered for a moment and said, "Come General Pei and General Su to come to my tent to talk."

Soon, Pei Xingyan and Su Dingfang hurried to Fang Xuanling's tent and bowed together, "See the military advisor!"

"You don't have to be polite, please sit down, two generals!"

Fang Xuanling was not the commander, but the coordinator of the two armies, but he had a high prestige in the army. The soldiers were very convinced by him and faithfully implemented his suggestions and plans.

The two sat down, Fang Xuanling took out a wooden model from the box next to it and put it on the table. Pei Xingyan and Su Dingfang both came forward curiously and looked carefully. After a while, Pei Xingyan asked, "Is this Loufan Pass?"

Fang Xuanling nodded, "This is what I made several carpenters take ten days to make it. It's not easy! Lou Fanguan is basically like this!"

Pei Xingyan and Su Dingfang looked at each other and suddenly understood what the military advisor meant. Both of them were very surprised. Is the war finally going to start? They had been holding it in the open for ten days outside Loufan Pass and were already impatient. The military advisor's hint made them see hope.

Fang Xuanling took out Zhang Xuan's handwriting and smiled and said, "This is the command of the Grand Marshal. The Tang army heading north has entered Taiyuan and requires us to take down Loufan Pass."

"Coach General doesn't want to take Taiyuan?" Su Wei finally reacted a little and asked carefully.

Fang Xuanling smiled slightly, "Liu Wuzhou restrained the Tang army for many years, creating one opportunity after another for us. Liu Wuzhou was eventually defeated, but we can also inherit Liu Wuzhou's career and continue to restrain the Tang army!"

Pei Xingyan didn't understand it very much and said in confusion: "In other words, it was the Tang army who was restraining us!"

"It can be said that, but whoever restrains whom in the end depends on the chess of both sides. When the commander took Shangdang County and Changping County, he wanted to use the food from these two counties to supply our army in Bingzhou. The army did not need too much. Just like fishing, a bait was enough!"

Speaking of this, Fang Xuanling waved his hand, "Let's not talk about this anymore, let's talk about how to attack Lou Fanguan!"

Fang Xuanling moved the Chengguan model to the middle of the table and pointed to the city wall in the north and said: "It is much easier to attack Loufan from the north than the south. I considered two plans. One was to directly attack the city head with a siege ladder, and the other was to attack with a catapult. I would like to ask the two generals' opinions."

Su Dingfang smiled and said, "Do you still need to ask us this small question? The military advisor just made a decision."

Pei Xingyan suddenly lost his passion because he did not decide to attack Taiyuan and said listlessly: "My opinion is the same, the military advisor will decide!"

Fang Xuanling smiled and said, "In fact, using a catapult is the most labor-saving, but I wonder if I can attack the city by combining infantry and cavalry. I have no experience in this regard, so I would like to ask the two generals."

Although Pei Xingyan respects Fang Xuanling, as the saying goes, the military advisor is to plan and plan, and the general is responsible for commanding the battle. Especially Pei Xingyan has rich cavalry experience, so he immediately shook his head resolutely.

"You must report to the military advisor that cavalry must not be used to attack the city. The cavalry is too big, even if it keeps running, it is difficult to escape under the siege of arrows. The role of cavalry in siege is nothing more than robbing the city gate or the impact after the collapse of the city wall. If the military advisor decides to use a catapult, the cavalry can be ready to attack at any time."

Su Dingfang also said: "Military advisor, General Pei is right. Cavalry training is not easy, and war horses are more precious. Try not to make unnecessary sacrifices. It's a pity."

Since both the main generals opposed, Fang Xuanling stopped insisting. He smiled and said, "Fortunately, I have built the cross-cale troopers in the past ten days, otherwise I would have been stumped by the two generals."

He pointed to the city wall on the model and said, "I won't talk about the southern city wall of Loufan Pass. The Tang army could not capture it for two months. This shows that the city wall is tall and solid. Although the northern city wall is only two meters high, most of it is double walls. It has just been repaired last year and is very strong. But it is not the southern city wall after all. It has weaknesses, and its weaknesses are in the northwest corner."

Fang Xuanling pointed to the northwest corner and said, "There is a warehouse inside the city wall, which cannot be repaired, so the city wall is still a single wall so far, with a weak bearing capacity. We can use a catapult to attack the northwest corner. General Pei, I will hand over the ten catapults to you. Be sure to take me the Loufan Pass before it will dark tomorrow."

Pei Xingyan immediately bowed and said, "Abide by the orders with humble duties!"

Fang Xuanling smiled and said, "Please take a slow step, I have something to explain."

Loufan Pass could not accommodate all the Tang army, and only stationed three thousand Tang army. They confronted the Northern Sui army for ten days and were somewhat exhausted. Despite this, the three thousand Tang army still forced themselves to guard the city wall to prevent the Sui army's sudden attack.

On the top of the city, Li Jiancheng looked at the Sui army camp covered by night with his hands behind his back, his eyes full of reluctance and doubts. It was because they fought hard for three years that they finally wiped out Liu Wuzhou, but Mayi and Yanmen counties were taken away by Zhang Xuan without any effort, and he was even full of anger.

The doubt was that he could not understand the real intentions of the Northern Sui Army. Why did he confront them here for ten days without attacking, so that they could seize the opportunity to increase their troops in Taiyuan? What was the intention of the Northern Sui Army?

At this time, Wei Zheng slowly walked to Li Jiancheng and asked with concern: "Your Highness has been watching the enemy camp here since the afternoon. Are there any troubles?"

Wei Zheng knew Li Jiancheng very well, and Li Jiancheng would only be like this when he was worried.

Li Jiancheng sighed, "There are too many troublesome things. I really don't understand. Half a month ago, there were only three thousand defenders in Taiyuan City. The Sui army in Shangdang County had a chance to seize Taiyuan City. Why did they stop moving? I don't believe that Zhang Xuan, who has always attached importance to intelligence, would not know the situation in Taiyuan City."

"Actually, your highness's question has reached a critical point." Wei Zheng also looked at the Sui army's camp.

Li Jiancheng was stunned and turned around and looked at Wei Zheng, "How do you say this?"

"Have your highness ever thought that Zhang Xuan actually didn't want to take down Taiyuan City?"

Li Jiancheng frowned, he didn't quite understand the meaning of this sentence. Wei Zheng explained: "Taiyuan is not a strategic place for Zhang Xuan. Taking over Taiyuan County is nothing more than sending the prefect to govern like other counties. However, Taiyuan City has extraordinary significance to us. It is the land of the dragon rise of the Tang Dynasty. If it is lost, it will shake the foundation of the country. But in this way, Taiyuan becomes a burden for us. Liu Wuzhou dragged us three years. How much resources and army have we consumed? 40% of the food in Yongtong Cang supply Taiyuan. If the Sui army leads Taiyuan without attacking Taiyuan, how many troops and resources will we have to be restrained by the Sui army?"

Li Jiancheng couldn't speak for a long time, and he was very shocked. He felt that Wei Zheng had seen through Zhang Xuan's layout. If this was the case, what could they do?

Wei Zheng said in a deep voice: "I believe that it is necessary for Your Highness to write a letter to tell the Lord the current situation so that the Lord can understand that giving up Taiyuan is not necessarily a bad thing." (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!