On the official road outside Chang'an City, a team of cavalry galloped to the city, led by the general dressed in gold helmets and silver armor, holding a wolf's tooth lance, it was Li Shimin, the marshal of the West Road who rushed back from the Great Earthquake Pass.

Ten days ago, Li Shimin led 50,000 troops and 30,000 troops of Li Liang in Hexi to defeat Xue Ju's army in Xiangwu County, Longxi County, killing more than 40,000 enemies.

From Li Shimin's original intention, he wanted to give up Hedong and fight for Guanlong with all his might, but his father refused to give up Hedong, but Li Shimin could also understand his father's reluctance, Hedong is the land of Longxing, with a large population and fertile land, unlike Henan and Hebei, which are deeply affected by bandits, but the problem is that they attack from all sides, fighting on three fronts, east, west and south, and in the end it is likely that both the east and west will be defeated.

Li Shimin's face was gloomy, and his eyes showed unconcealed worry, he wanted to persuade his father to give up Hedong, but he didn't know how to convince his father.

Li Shimin entered the city, and went straight to the Wude Palace, and saw Pei Lin standing in front of the palace gate from afar, and he walked up quickly, "Pei Changshi!" ”

Pei Lin waited until Yang Yuanqing led the army to the north before leaving Wenxi County and returning to Guanzhong, he asked Li Yuan for his guilt, Li Yuan did not blame him, and still reused him as before, but Pei Lin heard from Li Yuan's people that Liu Wenjing impeached him for not reporting in time, which made him very annoyed.

Pei Lin was waiting for Li Yuan to summon him, and suddenly heard someone calling him behind him, and when he turned around, he saw that it was Li Shimin, the Duke of Qin, and he hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "Erlang, when did you come back?" ”

Only a few people who can call Li Shimin Erlang, Liu Wenjing, Wu Shitong, Gao Shilian and so on, among which Pei Lin and Li Shimin have the best relationship, the crisis caused by Li Shimin's shooting of his brother Li Zhiyun last time was thanks to Pei Lian's vigorous maneuvering, which finally made Li Yuan forgive his son, and Li Shimin was deeply grateful to Pei Lian.

Li Shimin also smiled politely: "I just arrived, and my father wanted me to go to Hedong to rescue Taiyuan." ”

When it came to Hedong, Pei Lian's expression was a little gloomy, although he knew that Li Shuliang would be defeated, but he didn't expect that the whole army would be wiped out, which made him feel guilty, he sighed, "In the battle of Hedong, we underestimated the enemy, thinking that Yang Yuanqing could not go south so quickly, but I didn't expect his cavalry to be killed in a few days, and I am also responsible for Shuliang's defeat." ”

Li Shimin knows Pei Lin very well, Pei Lin is very talented, but his talent is not planning and strategy, but logistics and security, his father used Pei Lin as his uncle's adviser this time, and did not use Liu Wenjing, this is his father's mistake in employing people, he saw Pei Lin depressed, so he comforted him and said: "Changshi don't have to blame himself too much, Yang Yuanqing is the hero of the world, fighting against 300,000 Turkic troops with his own strength, he is not someone you can deal with, this is my father's mistake in employing people, and Pei Changshi has nothing to do with it." ”

Li Shimin's comfort made Pei Lian's heart feel a lot smoother, he looked to both sides, and saw that there was no one left and right, so he said in a low voice: "Although this is the case, Erlang must not say that it is a mistake of the lord to use people, not long after the lord entered the customs, his prestige has not been fully established, and this matter must not be allowed to affect his prestige, which is not good for the overall situation." ”

Li Shimin nodded silently, "I understand, thank you for the reminder." ”

At this time, a guard stepped forward and saluted, "Pei Changshi, the prime minister invites you in." ”

Li Shimin and Pei Lin walked towards the inner hall together.

Li Yuan is arranging the Eastern Expeditionary forces in the room, this time he is going to use 50,000 people to save Hedong, Shimin himself has brought 20,000 people back, he still has to send 30,000 troops, as well as grain and grass arrangements, he also admits that the first time he sent troops was a bit hasty, this time he didn't dare to be careless.

"Prime Minister, Duke Qin and Pei Changshi are here."

Li Yuan's spirits perked up, he was waiting for Shimin to come back, and hurriedly said, "Please let them in." ”

Soon, Li Shimin and Pei Lin walked into the official room, and the two of them saluted together, Li Yuan waved his hand and said, "Sit down!" ”

Pei Lin came to see Li Yuan today to report on the matter of Wenxi Pei's family, but he happened to meet Li Shimin to discuss the second dispatch of troops, in comparison, the Pei family in Hedong seemed insignificant, and he didn't say much, and sat quietly to listen.

Li Shimin sat down and asked, "Father, how is the situation in Hedong now?" ”

Li Yuan took out a volume of information and handed it to Li Shimin, "This is the Taiyuan Kuaibu that I just received this morning, you can see for yourself!" ”

Li Shimin opened the information, read it, frowned slightly, the battle in Taiyuan City was fierce, and the fourth brother Yuanji urgently asked for help.

"Father, Yang Yuanqing seems to want to take Taiyuan City before our reinforcements arrive."

Li Yuan was worried, and sighed: "I'm very worried that Yuanji can't hold Taiyuan now, so that my previous achievements will be wasted, if Taiyuan is lost, Hedong will be difficult to protect, and I will break a wing." ”

Li Shimin's eyes stared at the floor, and his lips moved, "Father....."

He still couldn't help but say: "Why does my father have to fight for Hedong?" ”

"What did you say?" Li Yuan stared at Li Shimin gloomily, and anger began to slowly rise in his eyes.

Li Shimin plucked up the courage and said: "The child thinks that now we should concentrate our forces to fight for Guanlong Hexi, if the battle for Hedong fails and the strength is greatly damaged, and then go back to fight for Guanlong, I'm afraid it will not be so easy, first give up Hedong, withdraw Hedong's troops and money and grain to Guanzhong, and fight for Guanlong, and wait for us to consolidate Guanlong, and then turn around and fight for Hedong, so it is actually the same, but we have already got Guanlong." ”

Pei Lin knew Li Yuan very well, and he saw that Li Yuan was about to have a seizure, so he hurriedly said: "What Erlang means is that we have only captured Guanzhong for two months, and our foothold is not stable, so it is not appropriate to attack from all sides, Erlang is worried that our strength is insufficient and it is difficult to support the two-front battle." ”

Li Yuan's anger that was about to erupt was slightly suppressed by Pei Lian's circle, he held back the anger in his heart, although he said in a calm tone: "I talked to Dugu Zhen and Dou Wei in detail this morning, and he promised to persuade other Guanlong nobles to fully support us in the fight for Hedong, and now the question is not whether we want to fight on two fronts, but Taiyuan City has already started a fierce battle, and if you want to retreat, you can't come back, either go to the rescue of Taiyuan, or watch your brother be killed by Yang Yuanqing." ”

Speaking of this, Li Yuan glanced at Li Shimin again and asked coldly, "Do you still want to die another brother?" ”

Beads of sweat oozed from Li Shimin's forehead, and he knew that it was impossible for his father to give up Hedong, so he quickly knelt down and said: "The child has no such intention, the child is willing to do his best to rescue Taiyuan." ”

"It's not about doing everything you can, but about keeping Taiyuan!" Li Yuan lengthened his voice.

Li Shimin's lips moved, and he didn't speak in the end, but Pei Lin understood his thoughts, and said to Li Yuan: "I'm afraid that before we arrive, Taiyuan will be lost." ”

Li Yuan snorted, "If that's the case, I don't blame you, but you can't use this as an excuse to deliberately delay the march, if that's the case, I won't spare you." ”

"Don't dare!"

Li Yuan's face softened a little, he glanced at Li Shimin quickly, expressed satisfaction with his change of attitude, and his tone softened, "This time you lead the army to the east, in addition to the 20,000 troops you brought back from Longxi, I will give you another 30,000 people, and all the 30,000 war horses captured from Xue Ju will also be given to you, as for the military food and materials, you don't have to worry, I will use Hedong City as your logistics base, and there are still 30,000 troops in the counties of Hedong, which are also under your full command, I have only one request for you, send troops overnight tonight!" ”

．．．．．．．．

Li Shimin returned to the barracks outside the city with a heavy heart, walked into the big tent, and Fang Xuanling, a strategist who was sorting out the documents, asked with a smile: "When will the prime minister order to send troops?" ”

Li Shimin sighed, sat down and said, "My father ordered me to send troops overnight tonight, but I don't know where the other 30,000 troops are, so how can I send troops?" There are also 30,000 war horses to be rationed to the soldiers, and it takes a month just to train and cooperate with the battle, which is really too hasty, and I don't know where to start. ”

"The horses can be handed over to the eldest grandson Wuji to arrange, the army ordered the military department to be transferred before dark, you don't have to think about the logistics of grain and grass, you just order the soldiers to rest, set off at night, and then you also go to sleep, and when dusk, I will tell you to get up and pack up your things, it's as simple as that."

Fang Xuanling's words made Li Shimin laugh, in fact, he also thought about things too complicated, Li Shimin frowned and said: "Father ordered me to first aid Taiyuan, listen to him, he is to measure my crusade by whether to save Taiyuan, if I can't save Taiyuan, I will fail, and I am under a lot of pressure." ”

Fang Xuanling shook his head, "The last time it was an improper use of people, and this is an improper formulation of strategic goals, if it is really rushed to save Taiyuan, then the general's trip will inevitably fail miserably, I am not saying that Taiyuan is not saved, but the ultimate goal of saving Taiyuan cannot be saved, the ultimate goal of the general should be to keep Hedong, and the gains and losses of Taiyuan are not important." ”

Li Shimin sighed, how could he not know! It's just that his father took Taiyuan too seriously, and after pondering for a while, Li Shimin suddenly remembered something again, and asked: "I remember that my husband told me that there is a way to delay Yang Yuanqing's attack on Taiyuan, I don't know what way?" ”

Fang Xuanling showed a bitter smile on his face, that method is meaningless now, it must be useful when Yang Yuanqing and Liu Wuzhou confront each other, but since Li Shimin asked, he couldn't say it, so he said: "I want to suggest that the general join Youzhou Luo Yi to deal with Yang Yuanqing together, when Yang Yuanqing attacked Liu Wuzhou, Luo Yi sent troops from the army to contain Yang Yuanqing and Liu Wuzhou from the north, so that Liu Wuzhou did not dare to act rashly, and Yang Yuanqing did not dare to go south to fight Liu Wuzhou, as long as it could be contained for a month, then time would come, We can deploy calmly, but now that Liu Wuzhou is gone, there is no point. ”

Li Shimin was a little tempted, uniting Luo Yi should still be of strategic significance now, he walked a few steps behind his back, and asked: "But what if Luo Yi refuses to join us?" ”

"He must be willing!"

Fang Xuanling smiled slightly: "Because he knows better than anyone else that Yang Yuanqing will definitely seize his Youzhou." ”