On the official road outside Chang'an City, a team of cavalry rushed to the front. The general was wearing a golden helmet and silver armor, holding a wolf-toothed spear. It was Li Shimin, the West Road Marshal who rushed back from Dazhen Pass.

Ten days ago, Li Shimin led 50,000 troops to join forces with 30,000 troops from Li Gui of Hexi to defeat Xue Ju's army in Xiangwu County, Longxi County, and killed more than 40,000 enemies. Xue Ju was defeated and fled to Shihan County. Just when Li Shimin was preparing to wipe out Xue Ju's army in one go, another crisis occurred in Hedong, forcing them to give up this opportunity to wipe out Xue Ju's entirely and lead 20,000 troops to help the east.

From Li Shimin's original intention, he wanted to give up Hedong and fight for Guanlong, but his father refused to give up Hedong. However, Li Shimin could understand his father's reluctance. Hedong was a place of Longxing, with a large population and a fertile land. Unlike Henan, Hebei was deeply affected by bandits. But the problem is that they attacked from all sides and fought on the three fronts of the east and south, and in the end, they would probably be defeated on both east and west.

Li Shimin's face was gloomy, and his eyes showed unconcealed worries. He wanted to persuade his father to give up Hedong, but he didn't know how to convince his father.

Li Shimin entered the city and headed straight to Wude Hall. He saw Pei Ji standing in front of the hall gate from a distance. He walked up quickly, "Pei Changshi!"

Pei Ji waited for Yang Yuanqing to lead his army north before leaving Wenxi County and returning to Guanzhong. He asked Li Yuan for guilt. Li Yuan did not blame him, but he still used him as usual. However, Pei Ji heard from people around Li Yuan that Liu Wenjing impeached him for not promptly reporting his crime, which made him extremely angry.

Pei Ji was waiting for Li Yuan to summon him when he suddenly heard someone calling him behind him. When he turned around, he saw that it was Duke Qin Li Shimin. He hurriedly stepped forward to greet him, "Erlang, when did you come back?"

Only Pei Ji, Liu Wenjing, Wu Shiyao, Gao Shilian and others can call Li Shimin Erlang. Among them, Pei Ji and Li Shimin had the best relationship. The crisis caused by Li Shimin's shooting of his brother Li Zhiyun last time was due to Pei Ji's strong handling. Li Yuan finally forgives his son, and Li Shimin is deeply grateful to Pei Ji for this.

Li Shimin smiled politely and said, "Just arrived just now, my father wanted me to go to Hedong to rescue Taiyuan."

When talking about Hedong, Pei Ji looked a little sad. Although he knew that Li Shuliang would be defeated, he did not expect that the entire army would be wiped out, which made him feel unforgivable. He sighed. "In the Battle of Hedong, we underestimated the enemy and thought that Yang Yuanqing could not go south so quickly, but he did not expect that his cavalry would be killed in a few days. I also have the responsibility for the defeat of Shuliang."

Li Shimin knew Pei Ji very well, and Pei Ji was very talented. However, his talent was not planning and strategy, but logistics for Anmin. This time, his father used Pei Ji as his uncle's adviser, but did not use Liu Wenjing. This was his father's mistake in employing people. Seeing Pei Ji's face was depressed, he comforted him and said, "Chief Shi, don't blame him too much. Yang Yuanqing is a hero in the world, fighting against the 300,000 Turkic troops with his own strength. He is not the one you can deal with. This is his mistake in employing people and has nothing to do with Pei Changshi."

Li Shimin's comfort made Pei Ji feel much more smooth. He looked at both sides and saw that there was no one on the left and right, and whispered: "Although this is the case, Erlang must not be said to be a mistake in the lord's employment. The lord's prestige has not been fully established shortly after he entered Guanzhong. The prestige should not be fully established. This matter should not affect his prestige, which is not conducive to the overall situation."

Li Shimin nodded silently, "I understand. Thank you for your reminder."

At this time, a guard walked up to salute. "Changshi Pei, Prime Minister invites you in."

Li Shimin and Pei Ji walked towards the inner hall together.

Li Yuan was arranging troops in the east in the room. This time he was planning to use 50,000 people to rescue Hedong. Shimin himself brought 20,000 people back, and he still had to send 30,000 troops, as well as food and grass arrangements. He also admitted that the first time the troops were sent was a bit hasty, and this time he did not dare to be careless.

"Prime Minister, Duke Qin and Changshi Pei are here."

Li Yuan was excited, and he was waiting for Shimin to come back and said quickly: "Please invite them in."

Soon, Li Shimin and Pei Ji walked into the official room, and they saluted each other. Li Yuan waved his hand and said, "Sit down!"

Pei Ji came to see Li Yuan today to report on the affairs of Wenxi Pei family, but unexpectedly he happened to meet Li Shimin to discuss the second dispatch of troops. In comparison, the Pei family in Hedong seemed insignificant. He stopped talking and sat quietly by the side to listen.

Li Shimin sat down and asked, "Father, what's the situation in Hedong now?"

Li Yuan took out a volume of information and handed it to Li Shimin, "This is just received by Taiyuan Quick Step this morning, you can take a look!"

Li Shimin opened the information and looked at it. His brow frowned slightly. The war in Taiyuan City was fierce, and his fourth brother Yuan Ji asked for help urgently.

"Father, Yang Yuanqing seems to want to take down Taiyuan City before our reinforcements arrive."

Li Yuan was worried and sighed, "I am very worried that Yuan Ji will not be able to defend Taiyuan, which will make all my previous efforts waste. If Taiyuan is lost, Hedong will be unable to protect him. I will break my wings."

Li Shimin stared at the floor and his lips moved, "Father..."

He still couldn't help but say, "Why did my father have to fight for Hedong?"

"What did you say?" Li Yuan stared at Li Shimin in a hurry, and his anger began to slowly rise in his eyes.

Li Shimin mustered up the courage and said: "The child believes that the troops should be concentrated to fight for Guanlong and Hexi. If the battle for Hedong fails and his strength is greatly damaged, it will probably not be so easy to fight for Guanlong again. First give up Hedong first, withdraw Hedong's troops, money and food back to Guanzhong, and fight for Guanlong with all our efforts. When we consolidate Guanlong, then turn around to fight for Hedong. This is actually the same, but we have already obtained Guanlong."

Pei Ji knew Li Yuan very well. Seeing that Li Yuan was about to take off, he quickly smoothed out and said, "Erlang means that we have only been two months after we have captured Guanzhong, and we have not yet established a foothold, so we should not attack from all sides. Erlang is worried that we are not strong enough and it is difficult to support the battle on both sides."

Li Yuan's anger that was about to explode was slightly suppressed by Pei Ji's smooth field. He suppressed the anger in his heart, even though he said in a gentle tone: "I talked with Dugu Zhen and Dou Wei in detail this morning. He promised to convince other Guanlong nobles to fully support us in the battle for Hedong. The problem now is not whether we want to fight on both sides, but that Taiyuan City has launched a fierce battle and cannot retreat even if they want to retreat. Either go to rescue Taiyuan or watch your brother be killed by Yang Yuanqing."

Speaking of this, Li Yuan glanced at Li Shimin again and asked coldly: "Do you want to die another brother?"

Sweat beads oozing from Li Shimin's forehead. He knew that his father could not give up Hedong, so he knelt down and said, "The child has no intention of doing his best to rescue Taiyuan."

"It's not about doing everything we can, but we must keep Taiyuan!" Li Yuan raised his voice.

Li Shimin's lips moved and finally didn't speak. Pei Ji understood his thoughts and said to Li Yuan: "I'm afraid that Taiyuan will be lost before he arrived."

Li Yuan snorted, "If this is the case, I can't blame you, but you can't use this as an excuse to deliberately delay the marching time. If that is the case, I won't spare you."

"Don't dare!"

Li Yuan's face calmed down a little more. He glanced at Li Shimin quickly, expressed satisfaction with his changing attitude, and his tone softened, "This time you lead the army eastward. In addition to the 20,000 troops you brought back from Longxi, I will give you another 30,000 people, and all the 30,000 war horses seized from Xue Ju are also given to you. As for military rations and materials, you don't have to worry about it. I will use Hedong City as your logistics base. There are 30,000 troops in each county in Hedong, and you are fully in charge. I only have one requirement for you, and I will send troops overnight tonight!"

...........

Li Shimin returned to the military camp outside the city in a heavy mood, walked into the big tent, and Fang Xuanling, a strategist who was sorting out the documents, asked with a smile: "When will the Prime Minister order to send troops?"

Li Shimin sighed and sat down and said, "My father ordered me to send troops overnight tonight, but I don't know where the other 30,000 troops are. How do I send troops? There are 30,000 war horses to be rated for soldiers. It takes one month to train and cooperate with the cooperation. It is really too hasty, and I have a lot of chaos. I don't know where to start."

"The horses can be left to Changsun Wuji for arrangements. The army ordered the Ministry of War to transfer them before dark. You don't have to consider the logistics of food and grass. Just order the soldiers to rest and set off at night, and then you also fall to bed. When dusk, I ask you to get up and pack up. It's that simple."

Fang Xuanling's few words made Li Shimin laugh. In fact, he thought things too complicated. Li Shimin frowned and said, "My father ordered me to rescue Taiyuan first. According to his opinion, he just used whether to save Taiyuan to measure my Eastern Expedition. If I can't save Taiyuan, I will fail and I am under a lot of pressure."

Fang Xuanling shook his head, "The last time it was the wrong employer, and this was the inappropriate strategic goal setting. If you really rushed to save Taiyuan, then the general would inevitably suffer a crushing defeat in this trip. I am not saying that Taiyuan would not be saved, but that Taiyuan cannot be saved. The general's ultimate goal should be to protect Hedong. The gains and losses of Taiyuan are actually not important."

Li Shimin sighed, he didn't know! But his father took Taiyuan too seriously and pondered for a moment. Li Shimin suddenly remembered something and asked, "I remember the gentleman told me that there is a way to delay Yang Yuanqing's attack on Taiyuan. I wonder what it is?"

Fang Xuanling showed a bitter smile on his face. That method is meaningless now. It must be useful when Yang Yuanqing and Liu Wuzhou confront each other. However, since Li Shimin asked, he was not good enough to say it, and said: "I want to suggest that the general join forces with Youzhou Luo Yi to deal with Yang Yuanqing. When Yang Yuanqing attacked Liu Wuzhou, Luo Yi sent troops from Duxing to restrain Yang Yuanqing and Liu Wuzhou from the north. In this way, Liu Wuzhou would not dare to act rashly, and Yang Yuanqing would not dare to go south to attack Liu Wuzhou. As long as he could hold it for a month, then time would be up and we can deploy it calmly, but now that Liu Wuzhou has been destroyed, it would be meaningless."

Li Shimin was a little moved. Joining Luo Yi should have strategic significance now. He walked a few steps behind his back and asked again: "But what if Luo Yi refuses to join us?"

"He must be willing!"

Fang Xuanling smiled and said, "Because he knows better than anyone else, Yang Yuanqing will definitely seize his Youzhou."

............

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