Among the 200,000 new troops added by the Sui army, 20,000 troops were deployed on the front line of Tongguan to prevent the Tang army from entering the Central Plains. Another 80,000 troops were deployed at Pujin Pass in Hedong, commanded by Li Jing and Pei Xingyan. Their mission was to enter the eastern part of Guanzhong.

The 100,000 troops on the northern line were deployed to Guannei Road. At this time, there were already 120,000 troops in Guannei Road, including the 100,000 troops led by Qin Qiong and the 20,000 troops led by Sheng Yan's division on the western front. The 100,000 troops added were divided into two, and Qin Qiong's troops added 50,000 troops.

In addition, another 50,000 troops were added to the western front, with Pei Renji, the general manager of Hexi, as commander of the western front, and appointed Sheng Yanshi as deputy commander. Together with the 20,000 troops in Huining County and the 20,000 troops in Hexi, a total of 90,000 troops were rushed into Longxi, where the Tang army was stationed in empty troops, and the troops were suppressed by Dasan Pass, in order to defend the Tang army from escaping from the western front and block their retreat.

In this way, Xu Shiji's troops on the southern line Hanzhong, Li Jing's troops on the eastern line Hedong, and Pei Ren's troops on the western line Longxi. In addition, the main force of the Sui army on the northern line 150,000 will surround Guanzhong from four directions, forming a strategic encirclement.

At this time, there were still 130,000 Tang troops in Guanzhong. As Yang Yuanqing expected, the Tang army once again forced recruitment. All men over the age of fourteen and under the age of fifty-six were required to sign up for the Tang army. For a time, people in Guanzhong were in panic and a large number of young and strong fled. Many young and strong hide in various manors in Guanzhong and were hidden by Guanlong nobles such as the Dugu family and Dou family.

Although the recruitment was not smooth, the Tang army carried out unified defense. Li Shimin transferred 20,000 troops to Guandong. The leader of Tongguan Li Shentong led the troops to reach 30,000 troops. In addition, the area of ​​Dasanguan was deployed in 10,000 troops, led by Changsun Wuji to resist the Sui army from Dasanguan to the west and entered Guanzhong.

Li Shimin personally led 50,000 main forces to deploy in Xinping County and Qianshuiwon in the central part of Beidi County, which is the strategic road from Guannei Road to Guanzhong.

There are three main roads to enter Guanzhong from the northern Guannei Road, one of the Luoshui Road to the east, and you can enter Fengyi County along the Luoshui River Valley.

One is the Tongguan Road, which is later the Tongchuan Line. You can also enter Guanzhong along the Tongguan River, but this road is broken and rugged, requiring crossing mountains and ridges, which is not conducive to large-scale military marching. Therefore, the Tang army did not consider focusing on defending this road, but only 3,000 troops were stationed in Jinsuoguan Pass north of Tongguan County.

The third road is the Jingshui Road, which is the most conducive to the army's southward movement, which is flat and wide. It is conducive to the transportation of supplies. If the Sui army heads south from the Jingshui River Valley, it will directly kill Chang'an, and Li Shimin's 50,000 troops will be stationed on the Jingshui Road.

The Tang army camp is located north of Xinping County. The camp stretches for more than ten miles and is constructed by plate walls. It is wide and strong, like a small city. There are thousands of large tents arranged in the camp. From time to time, you can see teams of sentries appearing inside and outside the camp, with very tight defenses.

Li Shimin's central army tent was located in the middle of the camp, surrounded by dozens of small tents. At this time, in the central army tent, Li Shimin stood in front of a sand table, looking worried.

Although he thought it carefully, he still seemed powerless in the face of the surrounding area of ​​more than 300,000 Sui troops. The key is that he lacked enough troops and had only 90,000 soldiers to be used. He could not cover everything at all. For example, in the south, he had no arrangements in the defense of the Sui army in Hanzhong.

If the Sui army in Hanzhong did not dare to go north easily because the Battle of Bashu was not over and could temporarily ignore the threat from the south. Then the defense of Tongguan Road and Dasan Pass made him unable to sleep or eat. How could only 10,000 troops led by Changsun Wuji in Dasan Pass resist the attack of nearly 10,000 Sui army?

There is also Jinsuo Pass. There are only three thousand defenders to defend. Thinking of this, Li Shimin sighed and said to Fang Xuanling next to him: "How likely is the Sui army to enter Guanzhong from Tongguan Road?"

"Your Highness, everything is possible."

Fang Xuanling picked up the wooden pole and pointed to the Jinsuo Pass in the north of Tongguan County and said, "Jinsuo Pass is not a powerful pass. I have visited this pass. It can only be said to be Shang Pass, which is useful to merchants, but it is difficult to defend against the army. There can only be 3,000 troops in the pass, but if the enemy sends 20,000 troops, it can break through this pass. Moreover, there is a mountain next to the east of Jinsuo Pass, called Centipede Ridge. As long as the Sui army occupy this Centipede Ridge, and bombards with huge rocks, Jinsuo Pass will face a catastrophe."

Fang Xuanling pointed the wooden pole to the south of the Tongguan Road, "The so-called Tongguan Road is actually the Tongguan River Valley. I rode a donkey through it. Although this road is bumpy and undulating, and the baggage vehicles are indeed difficult to pass, it does not prevent light troops from passing. I rode a donkey and the cavalry could also come. The Sui army could send an army of 20,000 to 30,000 people to bring dry food for several days and break into Guanzhong, and then they could get supplies. Your Highness, this road is a dangerous road, and army must be sent to defend."

Li Shimin sighed, "But I only have 50,000 troops in my hands. If I divide another 20,000 troops to defend, the troops will be too scattered and will be easily defeated by the Sui army and cannot be defended in one place. After all, it is because my troops are insufficient!"

"Your Highness, how is the recruitment situation?" Fang Xuanling asked again.

Li Shimin shook his head, his eyes even more worried, "I heard that the situation was very bad. No one in Guanzhong was willing to join the army, and they all ran around. There were thirty recruiting points, some of which only raised hundreds, and the most were only one or two thousand. It was estimated that the total amount was only 20,000 or 30,000. What was even more troublesome is that unlike the past when they could recruit soldiers from the palace, now they are all new soldiers, without any training, just a group of mobs, asking them to guard the bronze official road, I was worried that they would collapse without fighting."

Fang Xuanling said, "Your Highness, what I mean is to let the new soldiers guard Chang'an and replace the Chang'an army. After all, Chang'an's army has been trained. After all, it will be replaced with 30,000 troops, 10,000 reinforcements to Dasan Pass, and 20,000 guards the bronze official road. In this way, the defense line will be complete."

Li Shimin walked a few steps behind his back, and was really annoyed. His father gave him military power, but at the last moment, he took back the military power of Chang'an. At this critical moment, he still had to play the technique of power balance. It was because of the 40,000 troops in Chang'an that did not belong to his command that his deployment was extremely passive.

There was also King Yuanji of Qi who fled back to Chang'an. With Luo Yi surrendered to the Sui army, he covered up all the responsibilities. But according to his information, this was not the case at all. It was the father's secretly order for the King of Qi to seize power, which triggered internal strife. The Sui army occupied Hanzhong without bloodshed. In the final analysis, the responsibility was still the father's.

The King of Qi was extremely stupid to deal with Luo Yi. Since he seized military power, he should immediately send Luo Yi back to Chang'an. However, he did not do this. He didn't know whether it was a woman's kindness or carelessness. In the end, the Sui army caught the loophole and the counter-espionage plan was successful. How should these responsibilities be handled? He was confused, with unclear power and responsibilities and unclear rewards and punishments. How could the Tang army be unbeaten in such a variety of things?

Although he was angry, Li Shimin had no choice but to do anything. Chang'an's military power was not in his hands, so he could only discuss with the prince in a low voice. Li Shimin immediately returned to his seat, wrote a letter quickly, and then ordered: "Let Mr. Yuwen come to see me!"

After a moment, Yu Wenshi hurried into the tent and bowed, "See Your Highness!"

Yu Wen and the current General Tiance Mansion Record Office joined the army and also served as General Cavalry. They were a person who Li Shimin trusted him. Li Shimin handed the letter to him and instructed him: "Tell the letter to the prince and tell him the current situation so that he can understand that the situation is serious. Be sure to ask him to do it according to the strategy in my letter."

"I understand, I will go back to Chang'an now!"

Yu Wenshi took the letter, bowed and hurriedly left the tent. Li Shimin looked at him and walked away and said worriedly: "I don't know if it's still time."

"It should be too late."

Fang Xuanling smiled and said, "The Sui army cannot come so quickly. They also need to deploy troops and arrange logistics, but now they should strengthen the scout's strength and collect as much intelligence as possible."

Li Shimin nodded, he understood the importance of intelligence.

......

Tongguan County is located in the transition zone between the Loess Plateau and the Guanzhong Plain. Here, hills are undulating, rivers are crisscrossing, and hills are continuous and extending into the distance.

Between the hills are narrow and long gullies, most of which are distributed east-west. Small gullies are only one or two miles long, while large gullies are dozens of miles long. Farmland, villages, and cities are all located in these narrow and long basin-like gullies.

Since most of the gullies are distributed east-west, transportation in the south becomes very difficult, and it requires crossing mountains and ridges. However, some rivers have also washed away many north-south valleys, which have become natural channels for north-south directions.

The Tongguan Road is composed of countless river valleys of all sizes. This is because there is no large river like Luoshui in the east and Jingshui in the west, and it cannot form a complete river valley. Therefore, dozens of scattered river valleys cannot be connected, and they can only go up and down the slope, cross mountains from one valley to another. Mules and horses can cross mountains and ridges with people, but large supplies and carts will definitely not be able to walk.

There is a pass on the northernmost side of the Tongguan Road, called Jinsuo Pass, which was built during the Han Dynasty and rebuilt during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. However, because the terrain of the Tongguan Road is not as high and dangerous as the Qinling Mountains and Longshan Mountains, and there are low hills, it is destined that Jinsuo Pass cannot become a dangerous pass like Tongguan and Dasan Pass. It has little military effect and was originally built to prevent merchants from evading taxes.

That afternoon, a Sui army scout appeared in a forest about ten miles north of Jinsuo Pass, composed of about a hundred cavalry. The headed officer was Xiao Yannian, who followed Qin Huaiyu, the son of Qin Qiong.

The two stayed in Yan'an County all winter. When they heard that the Southern War was magnificent, they were extremely envious. They had already breathed a sigh of relief. Now they finally waited for the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The two were eager to try and wanted to make military achievements.

"Brother Xiao, do you think our main force of the Sui army will follow the bronze official road?"

Qin Huaiyu is sixteen years old this year, tall and burly, and extremely strong in martial arts. She can be regarded as the best among young generals. Xiao Yannian is also eighteen years old this year and has become an experienced scout leader. According to his accumulated achievements, as long as he can make another contribution, he can be promoted to Lang General.

Xiao Yannian looked into the far pass for a moment and smiled faintly: "I heard that his highness personally instructed to investigate the information on the Tongguan Road. I guess it is very likely to walk the Tongguan Road, but I don't know if it is the main force.
Chapter completed!