Although Sheng Yan's troops had led the crowd to surrender to the Sui army, this was just a move in Yang Yuanqing's chess game and a key "temptation". Using the crisis of Huining County to lead out the Tang army in Hexi is also the real reason why Yang Yuanqing had to fight Huining County first instead of Yan'an County.

Since it is used as a "tempter", the most important thing is two things. One is to block the news and never allow the surrender of Shi Yanshi to leak out.

So except for the generals brought by Sheng Yan, all the other soldiers were concealed. Not only that, Yang Yuanqing sent hundreds of scouts to patrol along the Yellow River, and no one was allowed to cross the Hexi River.

The second is to continue to make arrangements. The Sui army set up a siege in Huining County, surrounded but did not attack, and waited for the Hexi army to take the bait...

In the central tent of the Sui army outside the city, several generals stood in front of the sand table to discuss the combat plan. Yang Yuanqing said nothing and listened carefully to Master Sheng Yan's statement. He hoped to find a way to defeat the enemy from Master Sheng Yan's narrative.

"Just when His Highness led his army to Huining County, I received the report from the sentry and immediately went to the prince..."

Master Sheng Yan said this, his tone was a little sluggish, and he quickly looked at Yang Yuanqing. Yang Yuanqing waved his hand, "It's okay to call the prince, continue talking."

"yes!"

Sheng Yanshi continued: "Bizhi immediately sent a letter of eagle to the prince for help, because the prince repeatedly advised him before leaving that the silver mine in Huining County was related to the fate of the Tang Dynasty and could not be lost anyway. Therefore, Beizhi knew that the court would definitely send troops to rescue Huining County."

"How can General Sheng be sure that Tang Ting will definitely send troops from Hexi?" Yang Yuanqing asked him again.

"Report to Your Highness, from the distance, Wuwei County is closest to Huining County, and you will be there after crossing the Yellow River. It will take up to two days. Wuwei County has 20,000 troops and Zhangye County has 10,000 troops, which is enough to support Huining County. Although Honghua County is similar to Huining County and Wuwei County, Honghua County has only 5,000 troops, and its troops are insufficient. In addition, Bei Zhi knows that the prince actually has some selfishness..."

Yang Yuanqing was filled with curiosity and smiled and said, "Tell me, what is the prince's selfishness?"

"This involves the power struggle of the top leaders of the Tang court. Originally, Guan Nei Dao was Li Shentong's territory. Later, because Chai Shao was captured, Li Yuan transferred the power of Guan Nei Dao to the prince, which made Li Shentong very dissatisfied with the prince. Some time ago, the King of Qin recommended Li Shentong to stay in Luoyang because Li Shentong showed signs of getting close to the King of Qin, so the prince wanted to plot against Hexi. This is because Hexi was guarded by Li Shenfu, the younger brother of Li Shenfu, so the prince would definitely strongly advocate that Li Shenfu come to rescue Huining County and let me take the opportunity to seize Li Shenfu's military power."

Although Master Sheng Yan said this briefly, Cheng Yaojin and Luo Shixin looked at each other, and even Pei Renji did not fully understand it. Yang Yuanqing knew it well. This was the fourth-ranking military figure in the Tang court, Li Shentong, changed his resignation to Li Shimin, which triggered an internal strife.

This complex relationship of internal struggle in the Tang court can be used to design and lead Li Shenfu to take the bait.

At the same time, Yang Yuanqing also carefully discovered that although Master Sheng Yan called Li Yuan's name, he still called Li Jian the crown prince. This shows that he still had a lot of feelings for Li Jiancheng, which made Yang Yuanqing think secretly that he had to be careful of Li Jiancheng and then drag Master Sheng Yan back.

At this time, Pei Renji also added: "Your Highness, the old minister also believes that the Tang court is likely to send troops from Hexi. The defenders of Honghua County and Anding County are all infantry, but the Tang army in Hexi are all cavalry. As far as I know, there is no snow on the Gobi Desert hundreds of miles west of the Yellow River. In fact, it takes less than two days, only a day and a night can be reached."

‘One day and one night!’

Yang Yuanqing recited it silently several times, stared at the sand table for a moment, and then slowly said to everyone: "There are many ways to deal with the Hexi army. We can use a method with the lowest cost."

Seeing that everyone's eyes showed great interest, he smiled slightly and said, "My plan is called asking you to get into the trap."

......

It is not far from Liangzhou City, Wuwei County to Huining County, only more than 100 miles. In fact, as long as you cross the Yellow River, it is the boundary of Wuwei County. Wuwei County is Liangzhou, including Ganzhou (Zhangye County), Suzhou (Jiuquan County), Shazhou (Dunhuang County), etc., which have formed a famous Hexi Corridor. It was a strategic location of the imperial court in the old Sui Dynasty. At the peak of the Great Sui Dynasty, nearly one million horses were raised in the Hexi Corridor.

It was precisely because of the war horses on the Hexi Corridor that the powerful cavalry of the Great Sui Dynasty were built, which made the Great Sui Dynasty win repeatedly during its battle with the powerful Turks, and then expanded its territory, with its territory thousands of miles from the Western Regions.

At present, the Tang Ting took over the pastures and war horses of the Sui Dynasty. Although the number of war horses has decreased, there are still as many as 400,000.

The Tang court also attached great importance to such an important strategic location. After destroying the Xiliang Kingdom, Li Yuan appointed his clan brother Li Shenfu as the marshal of the Hexi marshal and the general manager of Liangzhou, commanding the three Hexi counties except Dunhuang County, with a total of more than 30,000 troops.

The crisis shrouded over Huining County. The Huining County Silver Mine was related to the national destiny of the Sui and Tang dynasties, and also became the focus of the competition between the two dynasties. During Li Jiancheng's military deployment, he also considered that Yang Yuanqing's 10,000 cavalry might go north to Huining County, so he deployed 20,000 troops in Huining County.

But Li Jiancheng did not expect that Pei Renji would lead 15,000 Fengzhou troops to move south from Lingwu County, forming a force of attacking the Tang army from north to south. When he realized this serious problem, the crisis had already formed.

After Li Jiancheng's repeated begging, Li Yuan finally agreed to send troops from Hexi to support Huining County. Although Li Yuan did not want to fight again with Yang Yuanqing, he was never willing to lose Huining Silver Mine.

.........

On the vast Gobi Desert, a vast cavalry was running eastward along the wide road on the Gobi Desert, with flags covering the sky. This was a 20,000-person Tang cavalry, and the leader was Li Shenfu, the prince of Xiangyi County.

Li Shenfu was about 37 or 38 years old and looked very similar to his brother Li Shentong. He had a very tall and straight nose with bright eyes, making him a long sword weighing 60 pounds, with skilled bows and horses, and outstanding martial arts.

Hexi Road was originally Li Shentong's sphere of influence. After Li Shentong took over the five southern counties of Guannei Road, he recommended Li Shenfu to be in charge of Hexi's military and political affairs.

It can be said that everyone has their own scheming. Li Jiancheng wanted to take the opportunity to regain the power of Hexi, and Li Shenfu also wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to take over Huining County and regain control of the five counties in Guannan.

After receiving Li Yuan's flying eagle handwritten order, he led 20,000 cavalry to Huining County overnight. As Pei Renji judged, in just one day and one night, Li Shenfu's army gradually approached the Yellow River.

It was already afternoon, and the sun was shining on the Gobi Desert covered with sand and stones. This was an interesting phenomenon. Perhaps affected by the Helan Mountains in the north, there was abundant precipitation east of the Yellow River and snowy in winter, while the large area of ​​land west of the Yellow River had few precipitation and very rare snow in winter, forming a Gobi Desert that is nearly a hundred miles long.

Li Shenfu was very familiar with the terrain of this area. He knew that he had arrived at the Yellow River soon, so he ordered the army to slow down the horse speed and walk slowly, waiting for news from the scout.

At this time, a group of cavalry rushed to the distance, and Li Shenfu was excited. This was the scout he sent back.

After a moment, the cavalry team rushed to him. There was a sergeant in the team. The scouts were leading the sergeant up and knelt down on one knee to report, "Report to the Commander, there is no ambush by the Yellow River, but we met the sergeant sent by General Sheng."

Li Shenfu looked at the captain and felt familiar, as if he was the personal captain of Sheng Yanshi, "Are you... Captain Sun?" Li Shenfu barely remembered his name.

The captain knelt down on one knee and saluted, "The humble position is Sun Da. He sent a letter to His Highness a few months ago by General Sheng's order."

The captain took out the order arrow and presented it with both hands: "Because he was afraid that the Sui army would intercept the information, there was no written letter, only verbal letter."

Li Shenfu took the command arrow and looked at it, then asked again: "What's the message?"

The captain said in a deep voice: "At noon today, Yang Yuanqing led his army south to the Yin Mine, leaving only 15,000 Pei Renji in the north of Huining County. General Sheng hoped to divide the work with His Highness. Pei Renji in the north was dealt with by us. Yang Yuanqing in the south had only 10,000 cavalry, and His Highness was responsible for annihilation. The credit was made for 37% and His Highness accounted for 7% of the time."

Li Shenfu laughed to the sky. Master Sheng Yan's plan was really wonderful. He actually asked him to deal with Yang Yuanqing, as if he had taken advantage of him. Master Sheng Yan hoped that he and Yang Yuanqing would both suffer losses. Then he was coming to seize this great contribution and take over his army by the way. No wonder the prince regarded him as his confidant. He was really scheming!

Li Shenfu's face sank, "I am the prince and the marshal of the Hexi marshal. It's not his turn to set me up. Since the imperial edict is to order me to protect Huining, I will decide here."

"But... Your Highness, General Sheng has led his army north to fight Pei Renji's army."

"That's his business, what does it have to do with me!"

Li Shenfu shouted angrily, plucked his war horse and rushed towards the Yellow River several miles away. He is now going to the county town, and after a little supply and rest, he will arrange a battle.

Li Shenfu sneered all the way, and actually wanted to use the fait accompli to threaten himself. The emperor wrote his edict very clearly, asking him to come to save Huining County instead of Sheng Yanshi. What does Sheng Yanshi have to do with him?

......

When Li Shenfu arrived in Huining County, Huining County was already an empty city with only more than a hundred guards. The head officer was Sun Da, the personal captain of Sheng Yan's army.

Sun Da also arrived later. He called all the soldiers guarding the city to his side. Everyone turned over the horse. Sun Da bowed and said angrily: "Your Highness is a royal family member, and I can't afford it. Since Your Highness refuses to accept General Sheng's arrangement, I have to report to General Sheng. Please take care of him!"

After saying that, he waved his hand, "Let's go!"

More than a hundred cavalry followed the horse and ran quickly to the north. Li Shenfu snorted heavily, but did not stop them. He hoped that Sheng Yan's army would come back and he happened to take over his army.

He kept watching the cavalry team walk away, and turned around and said, "The whole army enters the city and immediately bury the pot to cook!"

...........

[To be clear here, the county seat of Huining County is Liangchuan County. The previous article has been written as Liangchuan County. In the past few days, it has been written as Huining County. Lao Gao made a mistake and it is difficult to correct it. He can only make the mistake just by mistake. I hope everyone can forgive me]

Also, it's Monday, I'll ask you for a recommendation vote.

.....(To be continued...)
Chapter completed!