This is a war without any suspense, 10,000 elite cavalry against nearly 5,000 infantry, the narrow mountain road cannot be set up, and the infantry cannot form a gun formation against the cavalry.

In addition, the Tang army was attacked by a sneak attack, and the army's morale was already in turmoil, and after a few charges, the army quickly collapsed and became a one-sided massacre, and the escape roads were blocked all around, and there was no other way but to surrender.

The desperate Tang army raised their hands and surrendered, the ground was full of Tang soldiers begging for mercy, Chai Shao's encirclement battle also ended quickly, the guards died or surrendered, Chai Shao was shot in the thigh, turned over and fell off the horse.

At this time, Chai Shao was sitting on the ground, his face was gloomy as water, a female guard of the Sui Army was quickly bandaging the wound on his leg to stop the bleeding, and dozens of Sui soldiers were standing around him with horizontal knives.

A Lang general rushed over and reported to Pei Xingyan: "General Qiyu, the Tang army has all surrendered, a total of more than 4,000 people, and our army has less than 100 casualties, including 22 killed in battle. ”

Pei Xingyan nodded, "Pick up the bodies of the fallen brothers, take the prisoners of war, and return to Liangchuan County immediately." ”

Catching the big fish of Chai Shao, the Sui army began to withdraw to the west, they escorted more than 4,000 prisoners of war, marching westward, Chai Shao was locked in a carriage, hundreds of cavalry left and right guarding the carriage, mixed in the ranks.

Chai Shao leaned weakly against the wall of the car, staring blankly at the hills on both sides, his heart was filled with an unspeakable bitterness, he was caught by the Sui army, which meant that there was no hope for him to fight for Guannei Dao......

An hour later, a group of more than 3,000 cavalry galloped from the east and rushed to the place where the Sui army was ambushed.

Li Xiuning turned over and dismounted, looking at the miserable situation around her blankly, the Sui army had already evacuated, she was a step late, Li Xiuning was a woman after all. Although she sent a letter to her husband not to support her, she was still not at ease, and sent several cavalrymen to report the news, but the cavalry encountered the defeated soldiers who escaped from the battlefield on the way, and Li Xiuning knew that her husband had been ambushed.

At this time, several Tang soldiers found a defeated captain from the woods, and this captain escaped up the mountain by luck and saw the Sui army walking away. He quietly descended the mountain. The soldiers brought this person to Li Xiuning, "Your Royal Highness Princess, this person knows a little bit about the situation. ”

Li Xiuning walked quickly in front of him. Seeing that he seemed a little familiar, as if he was a veteran who followed him at the beginning, the biggest characteristic of a woman is that she can remember a lot of past things. Especially when it comes to names and details, the average woman's memory is far greater than that of a man.

"Are you...... Zhang Shun'er? Li Xiuning finally remembered his name.

The lieutenant knelt in front of her and cried, "The villain is exact, Her Royal Highness the Princess." ”

Li Xiuning asked him urgently: "How did the Tang army lose?" Didn't you hear from me? ”

"It was when the princess received a letter for help that he rushed to the rescue! There is also a princess's bracelet as a basis. ”

Li Xiuning was stunned, she only felt that the world was spinning for a while, needless to say that she also understood, it must be the messenger she sent who was caught by the Sui army, and her bracelet was used instead. After a while, she forced herself to come back to her senses, and asked, "What about the colt?" Did he escape? ”

The lieutenant shook his head sadly, "The horse was surrounded by the Sui army, and he was finally captured, princess, more than five thousand brothers. Most of them became prisoners of war, and we were not opponents at all. ”

The lieutenant was taken down, and Li Xiuning walked a few steps to the place where her husband was captured, and the dusk mountain wind blew the woods with a rattling sound. Looking at the empty galloping road, tears welled up in Li Xiuning's eyes. She sat down slowly on the ground, buried her head in her knees, and sobbed silently, and the three thousand soldiers looked at the princess silently, and no one dared to come forward to persuade her.

After crying for a while, Li Xiuning stood up, she wiped away her tears, turned over on her horse, and urged her horse to Wei Chigong and said, "General Wei Chi, you lead the army to Longxi to find His Royal Highness the King of Qin, and I will immediately go back to Chang'an to report to my father." ”

Wei Chigong said in a deep voice: "Your Royal Highness Princess, the Sui army is not marching with prisoners of war quickly, we can catch up, and there are still thousands of Tang troops in Yuntian Castle, maybe we can still fight." ”

Li Xiuning shook his head, "Thank you General Wei Chi for your righteousness, but the horse is in the hands of the Sui army, we don't dare to act rashly, or find a way to let my father rescue him." ”

Wei Chigong saw that she was unwilling to fight with the Sui army, so he had to put down this idea and arched his hand to Li Xiuning: "If you are lowly, you will go to Longxi County, and I hope that Her Royal Highness the princess will take care!" ”

"General Wei Chi be careful all the way!"

Li Xiuning also bowed like a man, she turned her horse's head and shouted to her own soldiers: "Follow me back to Chang'an!" ”

She whipped her war horse, the war horse galloped, and Li Xiuning galloped towards Chang'an with five hundred soldiers......

The news of Chai Shao's army being ambushed and captured by the Sui army soon reached the imperial court, and although the court was accustomed to the defeat of the Tang army, Chai Shao's capture still shocked the government and the public.

This was the highest-ranking official captured by the Sui army since the Sui and Tang wars, and the bad effects of Chai Shao's capture far exceeded that of Dugu Huaien and Qu Tutong.

Chai Shao's capture caused Li Yuante to suffer a heavy blow, Chai Shao, like Li Jiancheng, was Li Yuan's right-hand man a long time ago, and when he raised troops in Taiyuan, Li Yuan even positioned Chai Shao as the third general after Jiancheng and Shimin.

Now Chai Shao's capture made Li Yuan almost lose confidence in the future, one afternoon, Li Yuan locked himself in the imperial study, no one was seen, the door of the imperial study was full of anxious ministers, they talked a lot, did not know how to persuade the saint.

At this time, a guard shouted loudly: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has arrived!" ”

The ministers flashed to both sides, and Li Jiancheng hurriedly walked over, and he also knew about Chai Shao's capture.

Although this incident has a great impact, the damage to the interests of the Tang Dynasty is not as good as Qu Tutong's death, let alone Li Shuliang's death, so as long as this matter is taken lightly, it is actually not a big deal.

Li Jiancheng walked to the door of the study, and everyone surrounded him, and said gossipingly: "Your Highness, I want to persuade Your Majesty to think about it a little, victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, don't hurt the dragon body." ”

Li Jiancheng arched his hand to everyone: "Thank you for your concern, I will persuade my father to go back to the court, stabilize the mood of the court, and hold the court normally tomorrow morning." ”

After a few more words, everyone dispersed, and Li Jiancheng walked quickly to the door of the imperial study, and said loudly: "Father, Jiancheng asks to see!" ”

After a while, Li Yuan's tired voice came from the room, "Come in!" ”

Li Jiancheng pushed the door into the imperial study, there were no eunuchs in the room, I saw my father Li Yuan standing in front of the window with his hands in his hands, looking up at the white clouds and blue sky in the sky in a daze, Li Jiancheng hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "Sons see the emperor!" ”

Li Yuan asked for a while, "Are they gone?" ”

"Back to my father, they were all persuaded by their sons to return to the court."

Li Yuan let out a long sigh, "Repeated defeats, how about Nai?" ”

"Father, in the past, Liu Bang was defeated by Xiang Yu ten times, and finally succeeded in the next battle and established the Han Dynasty for four hundred years, this time Chai Shao was captured, in fact, it was just a small defeat, and it did not hurt the main force of the Tang army, why should my father be so pessimistic?"

Li Jiancheng persuaded his father softly, he understood his father's feelings, he had lost confidence after repeated defeats, and now he had to let his father rebuild his confidence.

Li Yuan knows what Li Jiancheng said, but the problem is that he is not Liu Bang, Yang Yuanqing is not brave and unscrupulous, and the combat effectiveness of the Tang army is weaker than that of the Sui army, which is an indisputable thing.

What's more important is that Yang Yuanqing has a lot of generals who can fight well, Li Jing, Xu Shiji, Luo Shixin, Qin Qiong, Pei Xingyan, Su Dingfang, etc., but he has no such generals under him, and he relies on his second son Shimin to fight in the east and west.

In addition, the Wenchen of the Sui Dynasty was also very capable and governed the country well, and now the Sui Dynasty is only temporarily lacking in national strength because of the drag of Hebei and the Central Plains.

But once Hebei and the Central Plains begin to recover, the Sui Dynasty will become stronger, and will the Tang Dynasty still be able to resist the Sui Dynasty's efforts to unify the world?

"After it was built, I have a strong sense of crisis, and I am also willing to work hard, but I really don't know how to keep the Tang Dynasty, and I even dreamed that the Sui army would enter Chang'an." Li Yuan covered his face, he was so depressed in his heart that he almost burst into tears.

Li Jiancheng bit his lip and said: "Father, it's not that we don't have a chance, it's just that Yang Yuanqing doesn't give us time to work hard and harass us from time to time. ”

A glimmer of hope rose in Li Yuan's heart, and he hurriedly said, "Although the emperor said, what is the plan?" ”

"Father, the first step is to admit defeat, promise Yang Yuanqing all the conditions, and bring back the prisoners of war and ministers, although the negotiations will end and the nightmare of the Central Plains War."

"However, Yang Yuanqing wants 500,000 stone of grain, which is almost half of our treasury." Li Yuan was still a little unwilling.

"Father, just give it to him, if you don't agree to him, he will have an accident, we have to learn to practice, grovel, lie down and taste courage, and then work hard to strengthen the army and enrich the country."

Although Li Yuan was unwilling in his heart, he also understood that Jiancheng made sense, and now was the time for the Tang Dynasty to clamp his tail and be a man, and he had to accept the reality.

Li Yuan had to grit his teeth and agree, "Okay! I give it to him, I give him whatever he wants, even my princess, give it to him! ”

Li Jiancheng said again: "Father, groveling is just an attitude, but Yang Yuanqing is not a husband, and he will also work hard, so we must find strong allies to help us deal with the Sui army and curb the development of the Sui Dynasty." ”

Li Yuan hesitated, "You mean.... Li Mi? ”

"No!"

Li Jiancheng shook his head, "Erchen is talking about Turkic. ”

"Turkic!"

Li Yuan was stunned for a moment, Turkic seemed to him to be a very distant thing, which made him a little confused for a while.

But Li Jiancheng is very sober, he has long had the idea of the Northern Union Turkic, but he also knows that it is a little morally inappropriate, his father may not agree, he has been waiting for the opportunity, and today is the best opportunity to persuade his father......

[On the first day of February, I beg for support from a monthly pass! ] 】