Song Laosheng led a large army to pursue Li Yuan, there were only two thousand defenders in Huoyi Gu City, and most of the two thousand defenders were stationed in the north city, which was to defend Li Yuan's army to the north, and Huoyi County was close to the mountain, there was no west gate, and there were only a small number of troops in the east and south gates.

The defenders guarding the southern gate were less than two hundred men, most of them on the city walls, and only a dozen soldiers were squatting by the city gate, the city gate was closed, and a dozen soldiers had nothing to do.

At this time, a group of Sui soldiers rushed to the city gate, about 100 people, all of them were burly, with vigorous steps, helmets and armor, spears and huge shields in their hands, horizontal knives at their waists, and arrows on their backs.

The person at the head was none other than Zhao Yuan, the county lieutenant of Huoyi County, who held an arrow in his hand and said sharply: "I am ordered by General Song to take over the defense of Nancheng, please evacuate!" ”

More than a dozen soldiers stood up in panic, and a fire captain shouted to the city: "Captain! ”

An officer at the head of the city asked, "What's the matter?" ”

He glanced at the hundred soldiers in full armor, and asked Zhao Yuan suspiciously: "County Lieutenant Zhao, is there something wrong with you?" ”

Zhao Yi raised the arrow and said in a loud voice: "On the order of General Song, the county government will take over the defense of Nancheng, and you can go back to the camp to standby." ”

The officer guarding the city glanced at the arrow in his hand, and without the slightest suspicion, waved his hand and said, "Brothers, go back to sleep and rest." ”

Two hundred soldiers came down from the city one after another, some yawned, lazily lined up, and went to the military camp in the city, Zhao Yan waved his hand, fifty soldiers rushed to the city, and the other fifty soldiers were guarding the city gate.

Li Shimin led 3,000 people from Huoshan Road to the south of the city, they hid in a forest two miles away from the city gate, his eyes were firmly fixed on the city gate, the appointed time has been ah, suddenly, the city flashed a burst of dazzling light, this is the bronze mirror shining in the sun, they succeeded, only to see the drawbridge began to slowly lower, the city gate opened, Li Shimin was overjoyed, shouted, "Kill into the city!" ”

Three thousand people rushed out of the forest and rushed towards the city gate, and Li Shimin took the lead and rushed into Huoyi City.

Song Laosheng led the army to chase out less than ten miles, and some soldiers shouted in horror: "General Song, Huoyi County Tower!" ”

As soon as Song Laosheng turned around, he saw the Beicheng City Tower blazing into the sky and thick smoke billowing out, he was taken aback, and immediately realized that he had been fooled, and shouted: "Go back to the city!" Return to the city now! ”

20,000 Sui troops turned around and rushed to the city, at this time Li Yuan personally led 80,000 troops to arrive, waved troops to cover the killing, Song Laosheng saw that the army could not enter the city, he couldn't help but be furious, and shouted: "The three armies line up, and the rebels fight to the death!" ”

Song Laosheng led the army to Li Yuan's army to kill, the two armies broke out in the north of Huoyi County, the Sui army was finally outnumbered and defeated, Song Laosheng was surrounded by Li Yuan's general Liu Hongji led hundreds of people, Song Laosheng swore not to surrender, exhausted and died.

The main general was killed, the army of Song Laosheng was disheartened, the whole line collapsed, countless surrenderers surrendered, and 20,000 Sui troops were wiped out in Huoyi County.

Li Yuan's army conquered Huoyi County, opened the gate to the south of Hedong Road, the morale of the army was greatly boosted, Li Yuan divided his troops to the south, the momentum was like a bamboo, all the way to Linfen County, Jiang County, Wencheng County, Changping County, Shangdang County Taishou Sima Yong surrendered Li Yuan under the persuasion of Li Jiancheng, so far, except for Hedong County in the south of Taiyuan, the rest of the counties were all occupied by Li Yuan's army, in the middle of April of the twelfth year of the Great Cause, Li Yuan personally led an army of 150,000 to attack Hedong County.

Qu Tutong, the defender of Hedong County, led 40,000 troops to defend Hedong City, and at the same time sent people to Luoyang for urgent help.

The confrontation between the Turkic army and the Sui army has been nearly 20 days, during which the Turkic army has completely razed the outer city to the ground, and the original large number of houses, the lively and prosperous outer city of Dali has become an empty battlefield, and the Shibi Khan ordered 40,000 Turkic troops to line up in the city, ready to launch an attack on the city immediately.

But Shibi Khan was not in a hurry to attack, he was still waiting for news from Hekou City, he already knew that Hekou City and Dali City were connected through Eagle Letter, if Hekou City was conquered, then Yang Yuanqing could not sit still anyway, and he would definitely be able to lure him out of Dali City and fight a decisive battle in the wilderness.

The main camp of the Turks was still three miles away from the city of Dali, and on this morning, Shibi Khan, as usual, went to the outer city of Dali to inspect the military situation, and he usually stayed in the camp in the outer city in the morning and returned to the main camp in the afternoon.

As the Khan went to the outer camp, the number of guards near the king's tent decreased significantly, and Shibi Khan's second brother Philip quickly came to the camp where his sister Asto was under house arrest, and several guards stepped forward to salute, "Your Highness, the Khan does not allow outsiders to visit the princess. ”

He said coldly: "I'm not an outsider, I'm her brother, can't my brother come to visit my sister?" ”

"Don't dare to be humble, Your Highness, please come in, please don't take too long."

He snorted and walked quickly into the big tent, where the dome was divided into an inner tent and an outer tent, and the tent was covered with carpets, and all the supplies were available, most of which were gold and silver brought by Sogdian merchants from the West, and were completely configured according to the specifications of the Turkic princess, but there was no freedom.

When he walked into the tent, a Turkic girl was helping Asto comb her hair, and when she turned around and saw that it was the second prince, she hurriedly whispered, "Princess, the second prince is here."

Ah Siduo hurriedly stood up and said happily: "Second brother, you are really here." ”

Liversh smiled and asked her calmly, "Are you looking for me?" ”

Most of the Khan's guards are the old Khan's subordinates, Asduo asked a veteran she knew to quietly send a letter to the second brother last night, she is very aware of the contradictions in the family, the second brother has always had a bad relationship with his brother, the two are fighting openly and secretly, and her father Khan is very sad about this, so she knows that the second brother is a person who can be fought for.

"Second brother, please speak."

He nodded and walked into the tent with her, the brother and sister sat down, and Asto smiled bitterly and said, "Big brother said that I was naïve and stupid, what do you think?" ”

"That depends on what."

He said slowly in a gentle tone: "For example, if you persuade him to withdraw from the army and let him return to the grassland, it is really stupid, he will not listen to your advice, but you can have the courage to come back, and you can have the courage to assume the responsibility of a Turkic princess, not a cowardly evasion, let alone help the Sui army kill your own compatriots, I think you did the right thing, Father Khan is also proud of you, you can stand up when the Turks are in danger, we all admire your courage......"

Asto sighed lowly, "Actually, I know that I can't persuade him, and I didn't come to the Turkic camp to persuade him, I hope to contact those who oppose him, everyone can work together to overthrow him and re-establish a new khan." ”

"You ......," said Lever in surprise as Asto.

Asduo's eyes showed a resolute look, looked at his brother and said: "Although he is my brother, what he is doing is destroying the Turks, I will not condone him because he is my brother, ignore his treachery, the survival of the Turks is more important than any family affection, if he continues to be so obsessed with Fengzhou, there is no need to wait for the revival of the Central Plains Dynasty, next year, even this autumn, the Western Turks will destroy us, and Tiele and Khitan, they are all wolves on the steppe, just waiting for the bloody Turks to return to the grassland, Can't you see the consequences of this, big brother? ”

Philip nodded silently, in his mind, Asto has always been that naughty and innocent little sister, but her words made him suddenly realize that Asto has matured and is a real Turkic princess.

Asduo said in a low voice: "There are still some things you don't know, as early as two months ago, my husband sent someone to contact Utu Utu Big Brother Zeng broke an arrow and promised that if Fengzhou is in trouble, he will definitely send troops to help, I think there is an accident in the Turkic tooth tent, but you don't know yet, second brother, I know that you have to be calmer than the eldest brother, there is no personal enmity between you and Yang Yuanqing, if you are willing to help me, I will persuade Utu to support you as a khan, and I will also persuade my husband that he can let the Great Sui Emperor canonize you as a khan." ”

Litfushi's heart sank, he had actually been worried about the Utu Ministry, not only he was worried, but many people were worried, their wives and daughters were all in the grassland, if the Utu Bu really attacked the tooth tent from behind, the consequences would be unimaginable, he was silent for a long time, and slowly asked her: "How do you want me to help you?" ”

"I want the second brother to persuade the tribes to give up their greed, return to the grassland immediately, stop working for him, and stop interfering in the internal affairs of the Great Array."

"I'll think about it!"

Liversh stood up and smiled, "No matter what, you are a princess of courage, and I am proud to have a sister like you." ”

Esligrean walked quickly, Asto slowly breathed a sigh of relief in her heart, she knew that the second brother had been moved, the internal fire of the Turks had been ignited, they would not be able to support it for long, and this damn war was about to end.

After talking to his sister Asto, the second prince rushed to the northeast corner, which is the station of the Turkic Siluo tribe, which sent more than 40,000 troops this time, ranking third among all the tribes, second only to the tribe of the tooth tent and the tribe of the second prince.

He ran all the way to the chief's tent, and when Siluo Huji heard the news, he came out and laughed, "Do you want to come and drink the mare's milk wine that I brewed?" ”

The eldest son led an army of 10,000 to follow the third prince to attack Hekou City, the second son also led an army of 10,000 to fight in the outer city of Dali, and Siluo Huji himself led an army of 20,000 to stay in the camp.

He turned over and dismounted, and pointed to the big tent, "Go inside and talk about it!" I have important things. ”

Seeing that his expression was serious, Si Luo Huji no longer joked, so he walked into the big tent with him, the two sat down, and he sighed and said: "You said yes, the Utu Department really sent troops to attack the tooth tent, Yang Yuanqing sent an envoy to the Utu Department two months ago, if the time on the road is removed, then half a month ago, the army of the Utu Department should have launched an offensive." ”

Si Luo Huji was taken aback, "How do you know so detailed?" ”

"I went to find Asduo today, she sent me a note last night, and she told me that Utu had an oath to Yang Yuanqing."

Siluohuji's heart also became anxious, and he asked again, "What else does Asto say?" ”

"She wants us to join forces, overthrow Duji, and establish a new Khan."

Siluo Huji nodded, "She is very courageous, and she deserves to be a princess." ”

Liversh asked in a low voice, "What should I do?" Are we going to start early? ”

Siluo Huji walked a few steps with his hands behind his back and shook his head, "Among the thirteen tribes that sent troops, only five supported us, and the Tata tribe was destroyed by him again, and now there are only four left, just wait for the news of the Utu tribe to come, I think there will be more people who are dissatisfied, as long as we have the support of eight tribes, then we can do it." ”