Wang Ren showed embarrassment on his face, and he sighed! "I don't know how to speak, but we have indeed encountered great difficulties, our army is running out of food, I would like to ask Your Highness to lend us 30,000 stone of food for the sake of the same Sui army, my uncle is grateful."

Yang Yuanqing sneered in his heart, "Wang Shichong's military food is affordable, but he is not allowed to send troops to Hongnong, how can there be such a good thing in the world." ”

He didn't show his face, picked up the buttermilk and drank it slowly, enough to hang Wang Renze's heart to his throat, and then said slowly: "It's not impossible to borrow grain, but at least King Yue needs to give me a letter, after all, he is the master of the army, in addition, I'm very worried, Wang Shangshu is single Bo Shuangli, can he handle it?" ”

Yang Yuanqing said that Shuangli refers to Li Yuan and Li Mi, which Wang Ren knows, in fact, this is also what his uncle Wang Shichong is very difficult about, in fact, Wang Shichong also hopes that Yang Yuanqing can send troops to Hongnong to help him drive away Li Yuan, after all, it is difficult for him to deal with the two major forces of Li Yuan and Li Mi alone.

But Wang Shichong is worried about luring the wolf into the house, once Yang Yuanqing's forces enter Hongnong County, will he still be willing to leave? In particular, Hongnong County is the Yang family's lair, so Wang Shichong did not write in the letter what to do after driving away Li Yuan? He let his nephew see the opportunity.

Wang Ren hurriedly said: "Return to His Royal Highness the King of Chu, because of the army, the Holy ......"

Wang Ren said this, he suddenly froze, he just reacted, just now Yang Yuanqing called the king of Yue, he didn't recognize the court of Luoyang at all, Wang Ren scratched his head, he seemed to feel something, but he couldn't see it clearly for a while, like a fog in front of him, his thoughts were a little confused, and he didn't know what to say.

Yang Yuanqing glanced at him and said with a faint smile: "Let's talk about military rations first!" ”

"Yes!"

Wang Ren hurriedly continued: "Because the Holy ...... No! Emperor Tai handed over the military power to my uncle, so he didn't have to ask about the military rations, and my uncle directly discussed with a few ministers. ”

"That's strange, why didn't Wang Shangshu ask Lu Chu and Duan Da for military rations, but instead borrowed food from me, which is a bit funny!" Yang Yuanqing smiled slightly.

"This ...... Ay! ”

Wang Ren sighed, "Because my uncle and Lu Chu and they are already on the same page, they will not give us a grain of grain at all, and the grain of Hanjiacang is also exhausted, only the palace still has 20,000 stone of grain, Emperor Tai listened to the slander of Lu Chu and others, saying that it was used to help the people, and refused to give it to the army, which is extremely infuriating, without our desperate efforts, Luoyang City would have been broken long ago, and now that the crisis in Luoyang City has disappeared, they will kick the military away, and the soldiers will rebel." ”

What kind of character Yang Yuanqing has been cheating in the officialdom for more than ten years, how can a little Wang Renze be his opponent, Yang Yuanqing immediately heard the clues in Wang Renze's words, Wang Shichong must still have food in his hands, and he wants to fight the idea of saving people's food, so Yang Tong refused to give it to him, secondly, Wang Shichong deliberately publicized the ruthlessness and righteousness of the emperor and important ministers in the army, and deliberately aroused the resentment of his soldiers against the court and the emperor, in order to prepare for the next step of seizing power.

However, the contradiction between Wang Shichong and Lu Chu and others is very interesting, if he is Lu Chu, if he fights with Wang Shichong, he must have an army in his hands, either ask him Yang Yuanqing to borrow troops, or find Li Mi or Li Yuan, could it be that Li Yuan's invasion of Hongnong County was attracted by Lu Chu and others?

It's impossible to think about it, Zun Yuan is the Tang Emperor, and the consequences of finding Li Yuan are very serious, Lu Chu should know that Yang Tong will not agree, so it is more likely that he should find Li Mi, but no matter who Lu Chu wants to find to support him, Luoyang will have a good show.

Thinking of this, Yang Yuanqing quickly sorted out his thoughts, Wang Shichong wanted to borrow grain from him, and at the same time wanted to ask him to assist in attacking Li Yuan, but he didn't want him to occupy Hongnong County in the end, but from Wang Ren's somewhat contradictory performance, he felt that Wang Shichong had a deeper purpose, and he was testing what he was.

For him Yang Yuanqing, it is okay to borrow grain, and it is okay to assist in attacking Hongnong County, but Wang Shichong needs to pay the price, so Yang Yuanqing said slowly: "I can give you 30,000 stone of grain, and I don't want you to pay it back, but I have the conditions, I want Hongnong County." ”

Yang Yuanqing said very directly, of course, he didn't want Hongnong County, but he needed to ask for a sky-high price.

Wang Renze's mouth opened wide, and he couldn't close it for a long time, and he actually wanted Hongnong County, which was the result that his uncle was most afraid of, his lips moved, and he muttered: "Your Highness, can you change the conditions?" ”

"I can't think of any other conditions, unless I ......" Yang Yuanqing glanced at him meaningfully.

Wang Ren perked up, "Unless what? ”

At this time, the soldier brought in a cup of hot tea, Yang Yuanqing took it directly from the soldier's hand, he took a sip of hot tea with the teacup, and experienced the comfort of the heat entering the internal organs, he was not in a hurry to answer, but was observing Wang Renze's performance, he needed to capture Wang Shichong's deeper purpose.

Wang Ren bit his lip, he was very anxious, his uncle had great hopes for his mission, and he was also eager for his success, now it depends on what conditions Yang Yuanqing proposes and how the conditions can be accepted, then the uncle is very likely to reach a consensus with Yang Yuanqing, which is the first step for them to form an alliance.

"Your Highness...... Unless what? Wang Ren whispered again.

Yang Yuanqing saw from Wang Renze's anxiety that Wang Shichong had high hopes for his nephew's envoy, and Wang Renze was like a mirror, reflecting the predicament faced by Wang Shichong, which made Yang Yuanqing understand that the so-called borrowing grain was just an excuse, and Wang Shichong actually wanted to form an alliance with himself and gain his own support.

Yang Yuanqing squinted his eyes and smiled: "Unless you give me the three thousand craftsmen of the Ordnance Prison and their families." ”

Wang Ren bowed his head and was silent, although this condition was a little better than the occupation of Hongnong County, but it was also harsh, his uncle valued these three thousand excellent military craftsmen very seriously, how could he agree, for a while, Wang Ren sighed and said: "I can't make the decision below, I will go back and report to my uncle, if my uncle agrees, we will immediately send people across the river." ”

Yang Yuanqing nodded, his gaze softened, "In order to express my sincerity to Wang Shangshu, I can express my attitude first, I support Wang Shangshu to take another step up, and in addition, Li Yuan's side I can also use power to suppress him to support Wang Shangshu's crusade against Li Yuan......."

Wang Ren said goodbye and left, Yang Yuanqing was still in contemplation, Wang Shichong's overtures made him find an excellent chess piece, Wang Shichong's presence in Luoyang can greatly contain Li Mi and Li Yuan, although it is impossible to have eternal allies, but at least now Wang Shichong is extremely useful to him.

For Wang Shichong, the biggest enemy is Li Mi, followed by the threat of Li Yuan's eastward expansion, and this is precisely his Yang Yuanqing's needs, he needs someone to contain Li Yuan's eastward expansion for him, since they have a common enemy, maybe they can become allies.

As for Wang Shichong's self-proclaimed emperor, in fact, it was also the political need of the Northern Sui, thinking of this, Yang Yuanqing wrote an order, handed it to a personal guard, and instructed him: "Send the letter of credit to Luoyang Zhang Sheng." ”

At this time, another personal soldier walked in and presented a letter to Yang Yuanqing, "Chief, this is a handwritten letter sent by Dou Jiande."

Yang Yuanqing opened the letter, only to see that there was only one line of big characters written on it, 'Yang Gong is not dead' Jiande can't sleep peacefully!.

Yang Yuanqing smiled slightly, this sentence contained a lot of helplessness and resentment of Dou Jiande, but he also admitted that Hanoi County belonged to him Yang Yuanqing from one side.

He also wrote a sentence behind his back, 'Each cultivates his virtues, each has his own people's affairs', and it is up to the people to make things happen......

Yang Yuanqing handed the letter to the soldiers, "Let Dou Jiande's people bring it back." ”

He stood up and ordered: "Pass my order, the army will rest for three days and prepare to leave for Hedong County!" ”

In the night, Dou Jiande's army began to retreat slowly, and a group of soldiers withdrew eastward along the bumpy mountain road under the cover of night, and the generals were silent, riding horses with gloomy faces to follow the team, and everyone's faces showed a kind of hatred and unwillingness.

Dou Jiande sat on a chariot carried by more than 100 soldiers, covered with a thick blanket, he was also injured, he was hit by an arrow in the side waist in the chaos of fleeing, he couldn't ride a horse, Dou Jiande lay on a soft mattress, staring at the extraordinarily bright starry sky in the night sky, his heart was emotionally fluctuating, and it was difficult to calm down for a long time.

This was the most tragic battle he had lost since the uprising, 38,000 veterans were wiped out in one night, including his most elite 8,000 Dragon Army, which was the Royal Forest Army he spent a huge amount of blood to build, the strongest armor, the sharpest spear, the strongest war horse, and the soldiers who were one out of ten, and in the end there were only 3,000 people left, which made Dou Jiande feel painful, and the arrow sores on his left waist began to hurt again.

Dou Jiande let out a long sigh and learned from the pain, he needs to learn the lesson of this time, why did he lose, of course he can't blame the military advisor Song Zhengben, Dou Jiande looked back at Song Zhengben not far behind him, he was also wounded by an arrow, lying on a shoulder, depressed, and has been in self-blame for the past few days.

Song Zhengben's strategy is right, the key is that he chose the wrong time, he should not choose to march at night, forget that Yang Yuanqing's army is good at night fighting, and also forget that Yang Yuanqing's army is mainly cavalry, they will not choose mountain ambushes, they will definitely attack on the plains, this is a confidant does not know the other, more importantly, their strategy was seen through by Yang Yuanqing, in the final analysis, it was he who chose the wrong enemy, he should not attack Hanoi County.

Dou Jiande closed his eyes in pain, he recalled the familiar faces, one by one passing through his mind, they would be buried in the land of Hanoi County, and even the corpses could not be brought back to their hometown.

"Lord Wang!"

A cavalryman rushed quickly, Dou Jiande heard this voice, it was the personal soldier he sent to deliver the letter to Yang Yuanqing, he opened his eyes and asked, "Did the letter be sent to Yang Yuanqing?" ”

"Yes, he also sent a letter back to the prince." The soldiers handed him the letter.

Dou Jiande hurriedly took the letter, several personal soldiers lit the torches, and Dou Jiande looked at it by the light of the fire, and there was only one sentence: 'Each cultivates its virtues, each has its own people's affairs', and it is in heaven to make things happen......

Dou Jiande read it several times, and a wry smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, Yang Yuanqing still had to seek Hebei sooner or later, he slowly lay down, looking up at the brightest star in the night sky, and the star next to him looked a little dim.

After staring at it for a long time, he took out a gold medal and handed it to a personal soldier, "Go to Qi County quickly and tell Xu Yuanlang that I accept his request to marry and can marry his sister as a side concubine." ”

……