The river south of Fengzhou is also covered with heavy snow. The snow has stopped, and the sun rises far away in the air, shining gently on the earth.

On the surface of the Yellow River, which is more than ten miles wide, there are small black dots. From a distance, it looks like a handful of black sesame seeds scattered on the white snow.

As the black spots get closer, there are thousands of large sleds loaded with Sui soldiers and supplies. Each sled is pulled by two horses and runs rapidly in the thick white snow.

Next to each sled, there were more than a dozen war horses running. They wrapped their belly and legs in thick soft cloth, running on the ice for a long time. The cold air on the ice would make the war horses unbearable.

These are 15,000 Sui soldiers, and the leader is Pei Renji, the general of Fengzhou. At this time, Lingwu County had been occupied by 10,000 Tang troops, and their mission was to go south to retake Lingwu County.

It can be said that this was the beginning of the Sui army's counterattack. When the Sui army defeated the Turks in the decisive battle in Mayi County, the deployment of the Sui army to counterattack the Tang Dynasty was fully implemented.

In fact, as early as when the Sui army was forced to evacuate Lingwu County, Yang Yuanqing had already delivered the plan to counterattack the Tang army to Pei Renji. The so-called crisis is a combination of danger and opportunity, and he saw opportunities in danger.

After overcoming the danger of the Turks, they had an opportunity. Almost every Sui army soldier was filled with anger, including veteran Pei Renji, who was also full of murderous intent for revenge, defeating the Tang army and driving them out of Lingwu County.

"General Pei, if the Tang army actually lets the Tang army occupy Lingwu County, they will migrate the population from Longyou and Guannan. At that time, we will occupy Lingwu County again. Wouldn't it be more rewarding?"

The question was about Qin Huaiyu sitting behind Pei Renji. Pei Renji also liked this young and clever disciple and always brought him by his side.

Pei Renji smiled and said, "Lingwu County has abundant water sources to irrigate and has enough heat. The land is fertile and vast. It has always been our granary. If it is taken away by the Tang army, it will have a great impact on our food. More importantly, we must cooperate with His Royal Highness the King of Chu's comprehensive counterattack strategy to combat the arrogance of the Tang Dynasty."

Seeing that Qin Huaiyu was still thinking, Pei Renji knew that he was not very satisfied with his reply, and smiled and said, "It's like you are fighting with someone. There are many people watching next to you, including many people who rely on your protection. At first, you were knocked down by someone, but you immediately had the ability to fight back. Do you think you would wait a few days before taking revenge, or would you beat the other party down immediately?"

Qin Huaiyu also laughed, "The General Manager thinks I am a child! I understand what the General Manager means. Our counterattack now is to inspire the morale of the military and civilians of the Sui Dynasty and regain an important strategic place."

Pei Renji nodded, and his eyes turned to the distance again. He was full of confidence in defeating the Tang army and regaining Lingwu County.

...........

In Wanqiu County, Huaiyang County, a team of 10,000 cavalry was moving south quickly. This was also a Sui cavalry. The general was the head of Henan general Xu Shiji. He also received an order from Yang Yuanqing, ordering him to feint attack Jingxiang.

The cavalry team ran south along the wide official road on the endless snow fields. On both sides were scattered wheat fields, and winter wheat had been planted and covered with thick snow. Waiting for the arrival of spring next year, there were villages far away, surrounded by rivers and woods. It was early morning and smoke from cooking fires was raised.

Xu Shiji pursed his lips and said nothing. He was in a bad mood during this period. After the Central Plains War, he had almost nothing to do. He had no share in either the war expedition to Goryeo or the Sui Tu battle in Mayi County. He felt that he was a little marginalized.

Of course, he also understood that the key was that the Sui army did not attack Qingzhou, otherwise he would not have been so idle. Although he was a little uneasy in his heart, he was the general manager after all, and he had to obey the overall situation and the command of Yang Yuanqing.

The team ran forward for a while, not far from Wanqiu County. Xu Shiji saw a dense pine forest next to the road. Although the pine trees were covered with snow, the forest seemed to be dry. He then pointed a horse whip and everyone went into the woods to rest for a while.

A dozen scouts ran to the woods first, and came out for a moment and shouted: "Master, you have nothing to do in the woods, you can rest!"

The cavalry left the official road and led their horses into the pine forest. The pine forest was filled with the fragrance of pine resin, and piles of snow were everywhere. This was the snow falling from the trees. Most of the places were relatively dry, and thick pine needles were covered with thick pine needles.

The soldiers sat down with the pine trees, fed hay and water to the war horses, took out the frozen noodle cakes and dried mutton slices from the horse bag, sprinkled with salt and spicy ingredients, rolled them up and bit them, took a kettle and took a few sips, and whispered about the Sui Tu battle in Mayi County, which is something everyone cares about.

Xu Shiji was also sitting under a tree, slowly eating dry food, but was thinking about attacking Qingzhou. He had a premonition that after solving the Turks, the next step of the King of Chu was most likely to be to take Qingzhou.

At this time, his deputy general Gao Zikai sat beside him and smiled and said, "Master, you said we just took down Jing Xiang, why do we have to attack?"

"If we take down Jingxiang, we rely on our ten thousand cavalry?"

Xu Shiji glanced at him and sneered: "Do you think occupying a place is that simple? There are 200,000 Tang troops in Luoyang. Once they capture Luoyang, the next step is to annex the Central Plains. It is okay. They occupy the Central Plains. We take Jingxiang. Do you think it is realistic?"

Gao Zikai scratched his head, "That's true! Jingxiang and our Sui Dynasty are not on the border, and the court can't even pass the official documents."

"Occupying a place is not as simple as you think. Whether the local gentry is willing to accept you, whether the people support you, whether the officials are loyal, and how to solve the food of the army are all big problems. When Yang Xuangan occupied Guanzhong, was the people of Guanzhong accepted him? In the end, it was not a complete defeat. In addition, we occupied Hebei, just occupied. In order to truly control Hebei and let Hebei people return to their hearts, His Royal Highness the King of Chu did not know how much scheming and how much food he spent. It has only started to move into the Hebei officialdom. It has been almost a year since it has been."

Xu Shiji said this and sighed and said, "There is also the Central Plains, which is actually a troublesome thing. When we evacuate, who will keep us? When the Tang army comes, who will revolt? The people of the Central Plains agree with the Wagang Army. If the Wagang Army is still there, it will be difficult for us to seize the Central Plains. I understand this more than anyone else. This is also the reason why Your Highness asked me to stay in the Central Plains."

Gao Zikai lowered his head and pondered for a moment, and then said, "So, Li Mi left the Central Plains was actually a mistake. Is that true?"

“Quality on the contrary!”

Xu Shiji smiled, "Although Zhai Rang is short-sighted, he is very righteous. He has meat to eat, money to everyone use it, beat local tyrants, seize official warehouses, and distributes the grain to poor peasants. Therefore, the people of Henan support the Wagang Army led by him very much. However, Li Mi believed that Zhai Rang offended the gentry and could not accomplish any major events, so he killed him and proclaimed himself the King of Wei. However, after killing Zhai Rang, he gradually could not stay in the Central Plains and could only be forced to move south to Jiangnan. On the one hand, he avoided the threat from the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and on the other hand, he wanted to seek support from the gentry in the south."

Although Gao Zikai was also from a famous Gao family in Beihai, he was a military general and only knew how to obey tasks and fight, and never considered this overall situation. Today, Xu Shiji's words suddenly made him understand a lot of things.

He nodded silently, "I understand. I will ask General Manager Xu for more advice in the future. I really want to know these things instead of just fighting."

Xu Shiji patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "Then I will give you a question first, and you can think about it yourself. Why doesn't Your Highness directly take down Qingzhou to provide disaster relief, but let Qingzhou victims flee to Hebei to provide disaster relief again?"

Gao Zi frowned and thought about this question hard, but Xu Shiji smiled and said, "Think while walking!"

He said to the officers around him again: "I inform the brothers to set off!"

‘Woo--’ The sound of the trumpet sounded, and this was the order to set off. The Sui army cavalry packed up their horses and ran to the official road. The horse's hooves roared, and ten thousand cavalry rushed to the south again.

...........

As the Tang prime minister Dou Gui predicted, Yang Yuanqing led his army to Chang'an at noon the next day. The army occupied the Bashang military camp. In the camp, they received food, meat and forage supplements. The soldiers had a full meal and all had rested.

The forced march overnight made the people and horses very difficult. In an empty room, Yang Yuanqing stood in front of the sand table and pondered his next action.

When he marched last night, he had seen the beacons along the way. Chang'an must have known the news that the Sui army came. He could imagine the high-level battle in Chang'an City.

Although Yang Yuanqing had no intention of seizing Chang'an from the beginning, it was unrealistic after all. They did not bring siege weapons and wanted to capture the city wall nearly three meters high, which was almost unrealistic.

But just walking around the city like this was not in line with the purpose of his trip. He wanted to disturb Chang'an and Guanzhong, force Li Yuan to withdraw his troops across the board, and at least withdraw most of the troops, creating conditions for his counterattack.

How to fight in Chang'an this time? Yang Yuanqing pondered for a long time. At this time, a report came from outside the door, "Report to Your Highness, the scout is back."

Yang Yuanqing was excited and immediately said, "Let him come in!"

After a moment, a scout lieutenant hurried into the room and knelt down on one knee to report: "Report to Your Highness, I have found information from Chang'an."

"Tell me!"

"Report to Your Highness, the nine gates in Chang'an City have been closed today, and only the Mingde Gate has been opened for an hour. Now it has been closed. Bei Zhi has investigated some situations. I heard that the main general guarding the city is Dou Gui, and the soldiers guarding the city are all Yulin Army and Jinwu Guards. They also mobilized 20,000 to 30,000 young and thirty thousand young men to help defend the city. The city was in chaos, and they were mainly concentrated in the areas of Dongcheng and Nancheng."

Yang Yuanqing looked at the sand table, and at this time his eyes fell to the north, which was something he was very familiar with. He had been hunting there since he was a child for a living.

"How many garrisons are there in Longshouyuan?" Yang Yuanqing remembered that Longshouyuan had a large military camp.

"Report to Your Highness, Longshouyuan Military Camp is the military camp of Jinwu Guard. They have all entered the city and there is no one in the military camp."

"No one?"

At this time, a bold plan suddenly arose in Yang Yuanqing's mind.

......(To be continued...)

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