Gao Shilian pondered for a moment, and then turned the topic to today's meaning, "I think Brother Qu Tuxian also understands in his heart that I am coming from Li Gong's camp, but I am not yet Li Gong's minister, and I will return to Jiaozhi after a while, but I will come back sooner or later, and I will serve Li Gong and build up my strength for his great cause in the world." ”

Qu Tutong was silent, and Gao Shilian said: "If Li Gong sends troops to attack, I think I can completely annihilate Qu Tu's army without blowing ashes, but Li Gong is a benevolent and righteous person, what he is thinking about now is not to rush into the pass, but to the safety of the people in Bingzhou, and he can't let the epidemic spread to the counties of Hedong County and even other counties and counties in Bingzhou, in his opinion, helping Xiandi defeat the epidemic is the best way, I believe that Xiandi has felt Li Gong's sincerity." ”

Gao Shilian didn't mention the personal relationship between Qu Tutong and Li Yuan, nor did he mention the worldly friendship between the two of them, he knew that it was useless to say this, so he could only use righteousness to persuade Qu Tutong.

Gao Shilian took out Li Yuan's handwritten letter again and handed it to Qu Tutong, "This is Li Gong's handwritten letter, please take a look at it." ”

Qu Tutong no longer rejected Li Yuan in his heart, or he had been moved by Li Yuan's sincerity, he took Li Yuan's letter and read it again, Li Yuan pointed out the suffering brought by the war to the people, and begged him to help him to settle the world together, so that the people of the world can live and work in peace and contentment, and no longer suffer from the war, his words were full of sincerity, Qu Tutong's heart was deeply shocked.

Thinking of Chang'an's indifference and ruthlessness, and comparing Li Yuan's sincere help, Qu Tutong was finally moved, and he nodded, "Brother Shilian, please tell Shude for me, I can surrender him, but I only have one condition, if I want to lead the troops to fight, I must not face the Sui army." ”

Gao Shilian was overjoyed in his heart, and said with a smile: "Who said that the virtuous brother must continue to fight, even if he manages the military and politics." The virtuous brother is also an expert. ”

"Good! Please Li Gong continue to help me fight the epidemic, the day the epidemic dies will be the day I surrender. ”

……….

In late May of the thirteenth year of the Great Cause, after nearly 20 days of struggle, the epidemic of Qu Tutong's army finally disappeared, but only 21,000 people remained in the 30,000-strong army. Qu Tutong thanked Li Yuan for his sincerity and officially surrendered to Li Yuan.

Qu Tutong's surrender meant that the gate of Guanzhong was officially opened to Li Yuan, and Li Yuan left his second son Li Shimin to lead an army of 30,000 to continue to attack Hedong City, and he led an army of 50,000 from Pujin Pass to Guanzhong and marched to Guangtongcang.

Just three days after Li Yuan marched into Guanzhong, Li Shimin feinted to retreat from Pujin Pass, leading Song Laosheng to follow and pursue, and the eldest grandson Shunde led the army to cut off Song Laosheng's retreat. Song Laosheng, who found that he had been fooled, turned around and ran, desperately trying to find a way out, but he encountered Li Xuanba head-on, and was hammered off his horse by Li Xuanba, and died tragically on the spot.

Song Laosheng was killed, Hedong City surrendered to Li Shimin, and Li Shimin collected more than 20,000 soldiers. The south of Loufu County surrendered to Li Yuan.

Li Yuan was also in Guanzhong, at the same time that Li Shimin captured Hedong City. The general of Guangtong Cang also surrendered to Li Yuan, Li Yuan got the largest granary in Guanzhong, obtained nearly one million stones of grain, and all counties in Guanzhong surrendered to Li Yuan, and there were countless soldiers until the beginning of June. The total strength of Li Yuan's army has exceeded 150,000.

On the fifth day of the sixth month, Li Yuan personally led an army of 100,000 to surround Chang'an City.

．．．．．．．．．

As Li Yuan's army entered Guanzhong, the war in Hebei gradually reached a critical moment, and Dou Jiande was defeated in both battles in the north of Raoyang, and had to lead the remnants of the army back to Raoyang County. But the Bohai Navy refused to let go of Dou Jiande, Gao Lie personally led an army of 80,000 to besiege Raoyang County, attacking the city day and night, the battle was fierce, Gao Lie issued a reward order, and those who got Dou Jiande's head were rewarded with a bounty of 10,000 taels.

At the same time, the situation in the Central Plains also underwent subtle changes, and although a fire in Wagang Mountain was not resolved, it finally made Zhai Rang give up the decision to attack Qingzhou.

Although attacking Qingzhou has been Zhai Rang's wish for many years, he now has to face the reality, the burning of the Wagangshan grain depot has made their military food face a serious shortage, Zhai Rang can only accept Shan Xiongxin's plan, concentrate his troops to the west to attack Luokoucang, only by taking Luokoucang, his grain can be fully guaranteed.

On the second day of the first month of June, at the wharf of Qijun, more than 400 large warships, including nine transoceanic boats, were ready to sail, and 50,000 soldiers boarded the warships, and just waiting for an order, the fleet marched to the north bank of the Yellow River.

And the 10,000 cavalry of Qinghe County, under the leadership of Pei Xingyan, were gearing up, waiting for the order to set off north.

This was an unprecedented large-scale northern expedition of the Qingzhou army, and Zhang Xuan used Dou Jiande to successfully contain the Bohai Society, so that Gao Lie had no time to expand, and created an opportunity for the Qingzhou army to counterattack on a large scale.

At the bow of the transoceanic boat at the head, Zhang Xuan stared at the north bank of the Yellow River, but there were many thoughts in his mind.

At this time, Li Jing slowly walked to Zhang Xuan's side and said with a smile: "Why doesn't Dashuai take this opportunity to take advantage of Youzhou Luo Yi to also take it away?" ”

Zhang Xuan smiled and said: "I want to solve Luo Yi at once, but now is not the time, he is still Sui Jun after all, and if I do it to him, it will make me morally untenable." ”

"But Li Yuan didn't have so many concerns, he marched to Guanzhong under the banner of Qingjun's side, and even Qu Tutong surrendered to him, and he didn't encounter much criticism."

Zhang Xuan glanced at Li Jing and said lightly: "Li Yuan is related to the support of the Long nobles, and I don't, this is the difference, the Guanlong nobles have the right to speak in the world, no matter what Li Yuan does, the Guanlong nobles will give him a perfect explanation, but we don't, so we have to be cautious, the fight for the world is not an advantage in the strong by force, and there is also the support of the corporal in the world, which is often more important than force, just like the dispute between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, Xiang Yu's force is stronger than Liu Bang, but it is Liu Bang who wins in the end, the same reason. ”

"But Dashuai also has the support of the Hebei Shi clan."

Zhang Xuan shook his head, "It's not going to talk about it yet, the Hebei Shi clan is still in a kind of neutrality, Ming Zhe protects himself, only if we completely destroy the Bohai Society, can I really get the support of the Hebei Shi clan, so this battle is especially important to us." ”

At this time, the marching Sima Jia Runfu stepped forward quickly, bowed and saluted: "Commander Qiqi, everything is ready!" ”

Zhang Xuan glanced back at the big ship, nodded and ordered: "The army is leaving!" ”

Hundreds of warships, laden with soldiers and food, sailed toward the north bank of the Yellow River.

．．．．．．

For the Qingzhou Army, the role of these tens of thousands of boatmen is logistical support, and the adequate supply of food and materials is the key to the victory of this Northern Expedition.

Among the various means of transport, shipping is undoubtedly the most effective and economical means, there is no need to recruit too many people, and the cargo capacity is large, for the Qingzhou army that attaches great importance to the sailors, water transportation of grain and grass materials is of course the first choice.

The grain fleet of the Qingzhou Army is about 500 ships, all of which are flat-bottomed boats below 1,000 stones, mainly because of the restrictions of the Qinghe waterway, unable to drive large ships above 1,000 stones, the Qinghe River is a small waterway connecting the Yellow River and the Yongji Canal, which has a vital strategic role for the Qingzhou Army, although it is not long, only more than 100 miles, but it is called a strategic waterway by Zhang Xuan.

The grain ships of the Qingzhou Army could even sail out to sea from Yidu County through the giant ocean water, and then sail into the Yellow River, and directly sail into the Yongji Canal through Qingshui.

In the night, the 50,000 Qingzhou army was marching north along the Yongji Canal, and the 10,000 cavalry had already taken the first step north, and they were killing Hejian County and the nest of the Bohai Navy in a roundabout way.

In the Yongji Canal on the east side of the army, a dense fleet of ships was one after another, loaded with grain, grass and weapons.

It is not far from Yongji Canal to Raoyang County, where war is currently breaking out, the straight-line distance is only three hundred miles, according to the current marching speed of the Sui army, it can be killed in Raoyang in two and a half days at most, but Zhang Xuan is not in a hurry, and after two watches, he ordered the army to rest on the spot.

The siege battle of Raoyang County was very fierce, the offensive under the city was like a tide, the black pressure of the Bohai Navy launched a wave of fierce attacks under the encouragement of heavy rewards, the arrows at the head of the city were like rain, overwhelmingly shot at the soldiers under the city, a siege ladder was overturned, and the soldiers on the ladder screamed and fell to the ground.

Blood was splashed on the head of the city, limbs were flying, Dou Jiande mourned the soldiers to the death, slashed with knives, stabbed with spears, smashed down with boulders and rolling logs, and smashed groups of siege soldiers into rolling down the city, and both sides suffered heavy casualties.

At this time, the army of the Bohai Society had expanded to 110,000 people, leaving 20,000 troops to defend Hejian County, and the remaining 100,000 troops were all invested in the attack on Raoyang County.

And Dou Jiande was defeated in the previous two battles, and the army was rapidly reduced from 30,000 to 8,000, these 8,000 people are Dou Jiande's elite, who has followed him for many years, as long as Dou Jiande does not surrender, this army will not surrender.

But the siege of the city for four consecutive days also caused the defenders on the city to be seriously reduced, the defenders only had less than 5,000 people left, and the Bohai Navy also suffered tens of thousands of casualties, but after all, the disparity in strength between the two sides, although the Raoyang city was tall and strong, Dou Jiande's army was still almost unable to support it, and it was about to break the city.

In the stands of the Bohai Navy Battalion, Gao Lie, surrounded by dozens of generals and strategists, was watching the siege of Raoyang County by the army from afar.

Temporary Sima Gao Tan looked a little worried on the side, bowed his head and said nothing, Gao Lie glanced at him and asked, "What is on my brother's mind?" ”

Gao Qin sighed and said: "I am still worried about the news from last night, the main force of the Wagang Army has been transferred to attack Luokoucang, the Qingzhou Army is no longer contained, and the army is likely to go north, I think the master should prepare early, instead of focusing on Dou Jiande." ”

Gao Lie said coldly: "********, if Dou Jiande doesn't cut the grass and eradicate the roots, he will become our henchman sooner or later, and now that Raoyang County is about to be captured, how can I give up for a little speculation?" ”

At this moment, a soldier rushed to the scene and shouted from under the high platform: "Master, there is urgent information!" (To be continued.) )