The news of the Sui army's march into Shanggu County had reached Youzhou City a few days earlier, and this news made the officials of Youzhou City frightened, although they knew that the Sui army would attack Hebei sooner or later, but when this day finally came, it still made many officials feel anxious and uneasy.

In particular, the Sui army's offensive was not the spring of next year as everyone imagined, but was launched in November, which made Youzhou officialdom in an inexplicable panic, and everyone began to think about their own way back.

Early in the morning, Sima Wen Yanbo of the Youzhou Governor's Mansion came out of the house in a carriage, and the carriage drove towards the Governor's Mansion, Wen Yanbo was the younger brother of Wen Daya, the historian of the Tang Dynasty, Luo Yi surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, and Wen Yanbo played a key role.

Like all officials, Wen Yanbo was also worried about the eastward expansion of the Sui army's power, whether it was from the strategic position of Youzhou or Yang Yuanqing's personal feelings, Youzhou was definitely the first target of the Sui army's attack.

What made Wen Yanbo even more sad was that the Tang Dynasty gave up Youzhou, and in the reconciliation agreement reached between the Sui and Tang dynasties, it was already clear that Youzhou was not in the inherent territory of the Tang Dynasty, although Wen Yanbo also knew that Luo Yi did not really surrender to the Tang Dynasty, but at least Luo Yi did a good job on the surface, calling himself Tang Chen, and all his subordinates were called Tang officials, and the Tang Dynasty took the initiative to give up Youzhou for the sake of a truce, but it lost morally.

Although the Tang Dynasty appointed Luo Yi as a Nayan, transferred him back to the dynasty as a high-ranking official, and appointed Liu Hongji as the new governor of Youzhou, depriving Luo Yi of his military power, the intention of the saint was obvious, that is, to anger Luo Yi, let Luo Yi break with the Tang Dynasty, and get the Tang Dynasty out of moral embarrassment.

Unexpectedly, Luo Yi saw through the intentions of the Tang Dynasty, on the one hand, he wanted to return to the dynasty to report on his work, but on the other hand, he did not set off for a long time, which made the Tang Dynasty's wishful plan fail, and now the Sui army is attacking Hebei on a large scale, and Luo Yi is even more unlikely to go back, so what should the Tang Dynasty do? Is it just a tacit acquiescence to the Sui Dynasty's attack on Youzhou?

Wen Yanbo is not worried about his fate, what he is worried about is that the Tang Dynasty will lose its trust in the matter of Youzhou, and who will dare to surrender to the Tang Dynasty in the future?

The carriage drove across the street, and Wen Yanbo looked through the window at the bustling street. Pedestrians are weaving, many people are carrying large bags and small bags, Wen Yanbo only then remembered that it was less than a month before the New Year, and he felt a little strange in his heart, the news of the Sui army's attack on Hebei had spread, did the people of Youzhou still have the heart to celebrate the New Year?

"Stop!"

Wen Yanbo gave an order, the carriage slowly stopped, and he pointed to a middle-aged man carrying a large bag and ordered his entourage left and right: "Call that person up for me." ”

Several attendants hurried forward. Brought the middle-aged man to the carriage. The middle-aged man trembled and shouted, "Master, I didn't break any law!" ”

Wen Yanbo smiled softly: "You don't have to worry. I just asked you a few words, and I didn't say that you broke the law. ”

When the middle-aged man heard that he was just asking, his heart was relieved. "What does the master want to ask?"

Wen Yanbo pondered for a moment and asked, "Don't you know that the Sui army has begun to attack Hebei?" ”

"Yes, everyone knows, this matter has already spread."

"Aren't you afraid, then? Still so happy to celebrate the New Year. Wen Yanbo looked at the man and asked.

The middle-aged man scratched the back of his head and grinned, "This.... Does the lord want to hear the truth? ”

"Of course, I will listen to the truth, and if you tell the truth, I will forgive you for your innocence."

The middle-aged man smiled bitterly and said, "Actually, as long as Wei Dao'er doesn't call, then no one will be afraid." Everyone said that Mr. Yang was good, he led the army and people of the city to prevent epidemics and saved the entire Youzhou City, and many people are still grateful to him, and I heard that the Sui Dynasty also divided land tax-free, and did not force people to serve as soldiers, to be honest. Everyone is still looking forward to Mr. Yang's return! ”

Wen Yanbo didn't speak for a long time, he waved his hand and let the middle-aged man go, and after a long time, he let out a long sigh. The people's hearts actually hoped that the Sui army would call, which made them embarrassed.

"Let's go! Go to the Governor's Mansion. ”

The carriage starts. Sail towards the Governor's Mansion.

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Youzhou Governor's Mansion, Luo Yi paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, looking worried, he had just gotten the news that the Sui army had captured Shanggu County, and Yang Yuanqing personally led 50,000 troops to enter Yi County, Shanggu County was about to become a backup town for the Sui army to attack Hebei, or rather, it was a support town for attacking his Youzhou, and then it would take Youzhou as the foundation, and then sweep Hebei.

Luo Yi was very irritable in his heart, starting from this summer, in order to cope with the upcoming crisis, he desperately expanded his troops, so that his army reached 50,000, although it was not like Wei Dao'er, but it had reached the level of two households and one soldier, which made the people of Zhuo County, Yuyang County and Anle County under his jurisdiction boiling.

Fortunately, he still has a lot of old backgrounds left by Yang Guang when he conquered Goryeo, which stabilized the people's anger, and what he is most worried about now is that the newly recruited 20,000 people are undertrained and their morale is unstable, whether they will collapse like Wei Dao'er's army, so that the Sui army will win without a fight, although this is unlikely, but the strong pressure of the Sui army's eastern expedition still made Luo Yi insomnia for several nights, and insomnia caused him to be more irritable.

Just when Luo Yi was thinking hard about what to do, a guard reported at the door, "Lord Qiqi, Wen Sima asks to see!" ”

Luo Yi nodded, "Please let him in." ”

He tried to calm his emotions, and he didn't want his subordinates to see his anxious mood, which was not good for stabilizing the mood of the officials.

Soon, Wen Yanbo walked into the room and bowed, "See the prince!" ”

"Sima, please take a seat!"

Wen Yanbo sat down, he saw that Luo Yi's eyes were red, which was obviously caused by continuous insomnia, which showed that Luo Yi's pressure was also extremely high.

Without waiting for Wen Yanbo to speak, Luo Yi asked him first, "I want to know, what is the people's mood now?" Is there any chaos? ”

Luo Yi was worried that the chaos of the people's hearts would affect the stability of the army's morale, Wen Yanbo didn't dare to tell him the truth, so he had to smile bitterly and said: "Now the people in Youzhou are still relatively calm, everyone is busy with the New Year, and the subordinates estimate that the Sui army only wants to get an eastward expansion entrance when they conquer Shanggu County, and they can't leave Wei Dao'er as a hidden danger, Yang Yuanqing will inevitably get rid of Wei Dao'er first, at least they won't attack Youzhou before spring, and the people's hearts will not be chaotic during this time." ”

"Wen Sima, how likely do you think it is that we will form an alliance with Dou Jiande?" After hesitating for a moment, Luo Yi finally couldn't help but ask in a deep voice.

"Ally with Dou Jiande!"

Wen Yanbo was taken aback, and hurriedly said: "Dou Jiande is the sworn enemy of the Youzhou army, Chief Xue died in the hands of Dou Jiande, and the soldiers of Youzhou all hate Dou Jiande, if the prince and Dou Jiande form an alliance, how can they explain to the soldiers?" The Xue brothers will not agree, besides, Gao Kaidao has made it clear that he is willing to work with the Youzhou army to resist the eastward expansion of the Sui army, and his subordinates think that there is no need to get involved with Dou Jiande anymore, even if it is an expedient measure, it will also arouse the disgust of the soldiers, what does the prince think? ”

"I'm just a thought, just talk about it."

In fact, Luo Yi has been thinking about forming an alliance with Dou Jiande for the past two days, and Dou Jiande secretly sent an envoy to see him a month ago, expressing his desire to reconcile with the Youzhou army, which shows that Dou Jiande also has the idea of uniting with him to deal with Yang Yuanqing.

It was for this reason that Luo Yi's desire to form an alliance with Dou Jiande in the past two days became stronger and stronger, but he was worried about being resisted by his subordinates, so he asked Wen Yanbo tentatively, and he found that Wen Yanbo was very resistant, so he immediately did not mention the matter.

But Wen Yanbo knows Luo Yi very well, Luo Yi will never mention this matter for no reason, he must have this idea in his heart, Wen Yanbo said earnestly: "Lord Wang, Dou Jiande is a wolf ambition, he has been plotting Youzhou for more than a day or two, to a certain extent, he Yang Yuanqing is even more terrifying, of course, now we are common enemies, it may be possible to jointly deal with the eastward expansion of the Sui army, but what about the future?" Has the prince thought about it, once Dou Jiande's forces enter Zhuo County, I am afraid that the person who will destroy us in the future will not be Yang Yuanqing, but Dou Jiande. ”

Luo Yi was silent, of course he knew the risk of uniting with Dou Jiande, but now he could not bear the pressure of the Sui army's eastward expansion, so he thought of uniting with Dou Jiande, everything has a price, the key is whether he can bear this price.

Wen Yanbo saw that Luo Yi did not completely dispel the idea of uniting with Dou Jiande, so he persuaded him again: "Lord Wang, in fact, we have enough food in our hands, and there are hundreds of thousands of deputy armor, this is our advantage, we can make full use of this advantage, we don't have to rely too much on outsiders, and we have such vast land as Zhuo County and Yuyang County, as long as the strategy is right, we can completely resist the Sui army, and the prince doesn't have to worry too much." ”

Wen Yanbo's words hit Luo Yi's heart, Luo Yi sighed, "I think my troops are still too small, if I can have 80,000 troops, maybe I can resist the eastward expansion of the Sui army, I have armor and food in my hands, but there is no source of soldiers, is there any way Mr." ”

Wen Yanbo smiled slightly: "Now there are still two months left before the spring flowers bloom next year, the prince can make full use of these two months to send people to various parts of Hebei to publicize, saying that Youzhou is preparing to release grain on a large scale for disaster relief, at that time, there will inevitably be a large number of people from Hebei to receive rice, is it not easy to recruit 30,000 troops from these people?" ”

Luo Yi was overjoyed, this was a wonderful way, why didn't he think that the entanglement in his heart for a few days suddenly became clear, and he said repeatedly: "That's it!" I want immediate relief. ”

Wen Yanbo said again: "At the same time as disaster relief, we also need to stabilize Yang Yuanqing and tell him that there are too many hungry people in Hebei, and we are appeasing the victims, I think the Sui Dynasty will not risk the world's condemnation and attack Youzhou when we are in disaster relief, which gives us time to train, what does the prince think?" ”

Luo Yi nodded, "Sima is absolutely right, I will send someone to Shanggu County." ”

Wen Yanbo stood up and saluted, "My subordinates are willing to share the worries of the prince and go to Shanggu County to negotiate with Yang Yuanqing." ”