~.< Shuhai Pavilion >-~ In order to cooperate with the battle situation in Hedong, Lingwu County, led by the prefect Yang Xuanzhao, 20,000 cavalrymen from Lingwu County went south from the west bank of the Yellow River along Henan Mountain and launched an offensive attack on Wuwei. 20,000 troops entered Wuwei County and were at the city of Wuwei. At this time, Li Gui's army was attacking Xue Ju with all its strength, and the rear was empty. Fengzhou army came to make Li Gui retreat in panic and gave up his siege on Xue Ju.

Xue Ju took the opportunity to counterattack and defeated Dou Kang's general Qiu Xinggong in Weiyuan County, Longxi County, and killed more than 6,000 Tang troops. The morale of the Western Qin army was high, and they divided their troops to attack the 20,000 Tang troops stationed in Xiangwu County. Dou Kang was unable to support him and was forced to retreat to Guanzhong. The Western Qin army fought hard to recover Longxi County, Jincheng County and Tianshui County, and launched an offensive to Dazhen Pass.

At the same time, another route of Fengzhou Army was about 10,000 cavalry, led by the general Pei Xingyan, and marched from Yan'an Army to Honghua County, heading south along the Maling River Valley, and advancing towards Guanzhong. Three days later, Pei Xingyan led 10,000 cavalry into Beidi County and besieged Anding City. Sun Hua, the prefect of Beidi County, organized civil servants to defend the city, and urgently asked Li Yuan for help.

A dangerous situation appeared on the west and north sides at the same time, which shocked Guanzhong and the severe situation made Li Yuan very worried.

Four porters carried their shoulder carriages and walked quickly through Wude Hall Square, stopped in front of the steps, put down their shoulder carriages, and a guard carefully helped Dugu Zhen out of the carriage.

Dugu Zhen had no expression on his face, but there was a hint of dissatisfaction in his eyes. He was dissatisfied with Li Yuan. Li Yuan's stall was too big, and he had the will but lacked strength, which led to water leaking everywhere now.

Although he also agreed to Li Yuan compete for Hedong, Li Yuan patted his chest and promised him that he could protect Taiyuan and that there would be no accident in Guanlong, but now...

Dugu Zhen felt it was necessary to have a good talk with Li Yuan.

In the official room, Li Yuan was discussing a solution with Pei Ji and his prince Li Jiancheng. Li Yuan did not sleep all night last night and looked very exhausted. His eyes were red and his voice was a little hoarse.

"Although Xue Ju attacked Dazhen Pass, I don't think he can last long. After all, the loss in the early stage is too great. As long as our mother guards Dazhen Pass, he will withdraw his troops in a short time, so I don't have to take Xue Ju too seriously."

He waved his hand and stopped Li Jiancheng who wanted to speak, and said, "As for Yang Yuanqing's 10,000 cavalry, that's even more an attitude. They didn't just surround Anding City without going south? Because they also knew very well that cavalry could not capture the city, food and grass were difficult to solve, and only 10,000 cavalry. I think Yang Qiangqing was just putting pressure on us."

This is the conclusion that Li Yuan thought hard all night and his thoughts were not unreasonable. After all, Li Yuan was a hero. He had a vision that ordinary people could not meet and looked at the problems thoroughly. He firmly said: "This should be the strategy of siege Wei and saving Zhao in order to cooperate with the Hedong Battle. The purpose is to force us to give up Hedong, but the more this happens, the less I will let him succeed."

Li Jiancheng finally couldn't help but say: "But the repeated tug-of-war in Guanlong like this in his father Guanlong has caused too much harm to the people. The child is worried that if we unify Guanlong, it will be riddled with holes. The food and grass taxation will not support our world strategy. The child believes that we should concentrate on unifying Guanlong, especially the horse farm in Hexi, which has a profound impact on our future hegemony. If we delay this, it will become increasingly unfavorable to us."

Pei Ji also advised Li Yuan, "Your Highness, what I am worried about is that we have insufficient troops. Now, the Chang'an defenders, including General Chai's 30,000 troops and General Dou's 20,000 troops, have only 100,000 troops, and 50,000 of them are undertrained. If Shimin lost to Yang Yuanqing in Hedong and returned with a loss of troops, we would become extremely passive, and I am afraid we will not be able to turn over within three to five years."

Pei Ji knew Li Yuan very well. Seeing that Li Yuan was still unwilling to give up on Hedong, he began to worry in his heart. At this time, a guard reported at the door: "Prime Minister, Dugu's Right Master She asked for a meeting!"

"He comes in!"

Li Yuan dared not neglect Dugu Zhen. Dugu Zhen is not only his uncle, but also his biggest supporter at present.

Li Yuan said to Jiancheng and Pei Ji again: "You two will retreat first!"

"yes!"

The two stood up and bowed, and left the room.

After a moment, Dugu Zhen quickly walked into the room, and he stepped forward and bowed: "Dugu Zhen, the humble official, meets the Prime Minister."

Dugu Zhen is currently the Minister of Shangshu Youpushe. According to the official system of the Sui Dynasty, Shangshu Youpushe, the Minister of the Left and Right, the Minister of the Menxia, ​​and the Minister of the Inner History, can be called the Prime Minister, but it is not in Chang'an. Since Li Yuan himself was named Prime Minister, the heads of the three provinces could no longer be called the Prime Minister. Therefore, although Dugu Zhen was appointed as the Minister of Shangshu Youpushe, he was only a high-ranking official and could not be called the Prime Minister.

Despite this, Li Yuan respected him very much and quickly replied: "Your servant doesn't have to be too polite, please sit down!"

Dugu Zhen sat down, and one of the people served tea for them. Dugu Zhen pondered for a moment and said, "I came to find the Prime Minister, because I have a few questions to raise."

Dugu Zhen was also very careful. Although he was Li Yuan's uncle, the head of the Dugu family, and the leader of the Guanlong nobles, he also knew that Li Yuan's growth was not entirely supported by their support. He also had strong strength. Li Yuan is now in power and will ascend the throne to the emperor soon. In this case, if Li Yuan is too oppressed, it will be detrimental to the Dugu family in the future. He must leave some room.

Li Yuan was also very cautious about Dugu Zhen. He was preparing to recruit soldiers from Guanlong again, which required the support of Guanlong nobles. Guanlong nobles directly or indirectly controlled a large population in Guanlong, and more than 90% of Guanlong's business were also controlled in their hands. Whether it was food, taxes or military sources, Li Yuan had sought the Guanlong nobles. To some extent, he was the second Yuwen Tai.

Li Yuan bowed and smiled, "If you have any questions, please raise it."

Although Dugu Zhen used a tactful method to express his request, he thought for a while and said: "Twenty days ago, the prince led 30,000 troops to capture the counties within the Guanzhong. In just half a month, he captured seven counties including Shangjun, Yan'an County, Beidi County, Honghua County, Pingliang County, Anding County, Huining County, and other officials and civilians all over the country. The progress was rapid, but the problem was that Yang Yuanqing returned and took Yan'an County with almost no effort. His cavalry went south, (-< Shuhai Pavilion >-Wu. The fastest update.) The road was unstoppable and there was no resistance. If Yang Yuanqing wanted to take away the counties within the Guanzhong, it would be easy. So how could we consolidate our victory? If Yang Yuanqing could not take it away, the counties within the Guanzhong really became our territory. What should the Prime Minister thinks should we do?"

Dugu Zhen’s problem is very sharp, which is also a bit embarrassing for Li Yuan. The Fengzhou army’s 10,000 cavalrymen fought from Yan'an County to Honghua County and then to Beidi County, with almost no obstacles, which exposed Li Yuan’s weak control over the inner control of the inner control. In the seven counties within the inner control, he did not station a soldier, and he really had no extra army stationed.

Although Dugu Zhen asked very sharply, Li Yuan could not avoid it. He sighed and said, "I am also very clear about this question. We need to garrison troops in these seven counties, but garrison alone is not enough. We must reach a compromise with Yang Yuanqing. Both sides recognize each other's interests. Otherwise, if you fight over and I take it over, there will never be any result. Unless my army goes north to destroy Fengzhou, or the Fengzhou army goes south to destroy us, I don't want to deny this. Now we really do not have enough troops to control the counties in the pass."

Dugu Zhen smiled, "The Prime Minister wants to say that we want to deal with Xue Ju, Li Gui, and go south to capture Bashu, and compete with Yang Yuanqing for Hedong. The troops in his hands are catching the elbows. Is that true?"

Li Yuan nodded, "It's true!"

"The second question for humble vocation is about Yang Yuanqing. Where is the Prime Minister's next goal?"

"The next petite pepper..."

Li Yuan didn't understand what he meant for a moment, and hesitated and said: "Are you talking about Yang Yuanqing's goal after our failed battle for Hedong?"

Dugu Zhen has already approached what he wanted to express step by step. Although he said in an understatement, "It is normal for both armies to fight and win or lose. Of course, I hope Shimin can defeat Yang Yuanqing and regain Taiyuan City, but it cannot be denied that Shimin may be defeated by Yang Yuanqing. I mean, if Shimin is defeated by Yang Yuanqing, what is Yang Yuanqing's next goal?"

Li Yuan had probably guessed something about Dugu Zhen's meaning. He sighed in his heart and said, "I personally think that Yang Yuanqing's next target is Youzhou?"

Dugu Zhen shook his head slowly, "I think it's not Youzhou, but Guanzhong."

Li Yuanl was shocked, and he wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked, "How can I tell me?"

"Prime Minister, this is common sense. If he wiped out Shimin's army, then there would be only tens of thousands of troops left in Guanzhong, and Xue Ju was in the west. Yang Yuanqing could use the remaining troops of Fengzhou and Lingwu County to seize the counties in Guanzhong in the south and forcing Guanzhong. His Hedong army crossed the river and entered Guanzhong. At that time, it would be difficult to capture Guanzhong from one north and one east? In this way, why did he compete with the army of hundreds of thousands of Dou Jiande for Youzhou?"

Li Yuan sighed long and said, "The meaning of Youpushe is to ask me to withdraw from Hedong, right!"

Dugu Zhen nodded slowly and said, "This is not just what I mean. All the nobles of Guanlong hope that the Prime Minister can temporarily give up the East of the Yellow River and make every effort to pacify Guanlong..."

Dugu Zhen took out a booklet from his arms and placed it on the table and pushed it to Li Yuan. "This is my famous book of the heads of the twenty-one Guanlong nobles. Everyone unanimously asked the Prime Minister to give up Hedong and preserve Guanlong's strength."

Dugu Zhen said goodbye and left. Li Yuan stood in front of the window with his hands behind his back. For the first time, he felt a huge pressure. This was the pressure put on him by the Guanlong nobles collectively. Although Dugu Zhen did not say the words behind him, he understood that if he still refused to give up Hedong, the Guanlong nobles would not support him anymore, but instead supported others, perhaps it was to support Yang Yuanqing.

The huge political pressure made Li Yuan unable to bear it anymore. He felt extremely tired and wanted to find a place to have a good sleep and didn't think about anything, but even if he went to bed, he still couldn't escape some things.

At this time, Tang Jian, a military officer in the journal room, walked into the room, "Prime Minister, are you looking for me?"

Li Yuan nodded slowly, "Transfer my order quickly, order Qin Gong to give up Hedong, and immediately lead his army back to the pass.

”~.< Shuhai Pavilion >-~

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Chapter completed!