"Report, Li Po personally led more than 70,000 troops to surround Pu Ban..."
Li Shimin was silent after receiving the battle report from Tang Jian's department. Li Po personally led the army into Puzhou, and his generals Li Nian, Chen Yuan and others led troops to station on the north bank of the Yellow River. The main force of the cavalry army was on the opposite side.
Dragon Gate?
Li Shimin rubbed his forehead and felt that his head began to hurt slightly again.
A serious illness in winter, although it was just a cold, and he recovered quickly under everyone's careful care, but let alone the doctors, even he himself understood that the illness was caused by overwork, and he needed to rest for a period of time before he could fully recover.
get well.
However, the military situation was raging. As the general manager of Shaanxi Province, there were so many important matters pending that he could not rest peacefully. Therefore, to this day, his condition has not really recovered, and he will feel some discomfort from time to time.
That is to say, he is young and has strong muscles and bones since childhood, so he can still bear it. Otherwise, he might have to be sent back to Chang'an in the winter.
It's actually similar to Li Po's place. From winter to now, military discussions have been going on one after another, and some more troops have been transferred from the northwest and Shu.
Originally, Tongguan was very close and there were large armies gathered there, so it was easiest to mobilize troops from there.
But Prince Li Jiancheng said that once Tongguan is empty, Wang Shichong will definitely wait for the opportunity, and then it will become a joint force between Li and Wang to attack the Tang Dynasty.
Does that make sense? Of course it makes sense...
But in Li Shimin's view, there were hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses stationed in Tongguan, a small area. They were originally prepared to capture Luoyang, not to defend the key point of Tongguan.
Today's situation is very different from that of the past. How could the Tang army dare to take even half a step out of Tongguan without Jin in hand?
In other words, attacking Wang Shichong and defending Tongguan are two different things. If we only defend the city, how can we use so many troops? We should divide our troops and try our best to help him defeat Li Po, and take back the Jin land first before talking about anything else.
But having said that, in fact Li Tang's army was roughly divided into three parts.
The princes and kings of Qin each supported one side of the army. In addition, there was Li Xiaogong's tribe in the center of Shu. If there was another side to be added, it would be the guards of the David's Mansion stationed in Chang'an, the capital, as well as the followers of the East Palace, the royal Xiaoguo, etc.
Compared with the external armies, the capital garrison is the smallest and the weakest. From this, it can be seen that Li Tang's battlefield is also divided into three parts.
On the Tongguan line, troops were prepared in Henan, and on the west bank of the Yellow River, in order to prevent Li Po from invading the bandits, a part of Shu was entangled with Xiao Xian.
There are heavy troops in the northwest, but there is no war. There, although the King of Qi Li Yuanji and Minister of War Qu Tutong are in charge, everyone knows that the soldiers and horses in the northwest are the direct descendants of the King of Qin.
But once Li Shimin left the northwest, it would not be so cheap to mobilize troops from the northwest. The prince and his family were obstructed by many parties, and the emperor Li Yuan was not willing to let his second son support the army too much.
Li Xiaogong had always been close to the Qin Palace, but the war situation in Shu was so bad that he was unwilling to divide his troops.
Looking at the overall situation, Li Shimin actually did not want to mobilize troops from Shu, because Du Ruhui, Fang Xuanling, etc. have said that there are only two people in the world who have the image of an emperor. One is of course the Li family of Chang'an, and the other
One must be Xiao Mian.
Because the Jiangnan Xiao family is a descendant of the Nanliang royal family, and their family background is extremely noble, even better than the Li family. In other words, the Xiao family's ascending to the throne has natural justice.
And Xiao Xianxiang has a reputation as a virtuous person and has great ambitions. He wants to enter Shu from Jingzhou and seize the hometown of Shu Han. Such people are the kind of people the Li family should take great precautions against.
Li Shimin believed deeply in the words of Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui and others. Now that there are many heroes in the world, only the Xiao family can be ranked slightly with the Li family in Guanxi, and the rest are not worthy of discussion.
If the occasion arose, Li Shimin would actually like to have a cup of green plum wine with Xiao Xian and talk about the heroes of the world.
Of course, it is not the Three Kingdoms fighting for supremacy at this time. The great enemy Li Shimin will face is Li Po who has risen in the Jin Dynasty, and Li Po is not Liu Wuzhou. He will no longer be able to follow the established trajectory of history and retake the Jin Dynasty with overwhelming force.
Just like now, Li Shimin's biggest headache is not the lack of troops, but the fact that beyond the constraints of the rear, the military situation in the Longmen area on the other side cannot be ascertained at all.
Yes, he encountered the same trouble as Li Shentong. Under the shield of Bingdai cavalry, the Tang army scouts could not cross the river. Almost the entire east bank of the Yellow River was covered with Bingdai cavalry.
They galloped back and forth, flaunting their belligerence and the bravery of the border soldiers, blocking all prying eyes along the Yellow River, and also preventing Li Shimin from knowing the opponent's combat intentions.
Of course, no matter how many people there are in Jin, dividing them into three parts is still the limit.
There were Li Nian and Chen Yuan on the north bank of the Yellow River, and Li Po personally led the army to attack Puban. If there were large troops stationed at Longmen, they would undoubtedly be the main force of the cavalry.
Now that the Yellow River has not yet thawed, Li Shimin imagined the scene of horses treading on the glacier, and couldn't help but tremble.
It wasn't that he was scared, but he was reminded of the snowstorm last winter. It was one of the coldest winter days he had ever experienced in his life, and it was so cold that it could kill one's soul.
"Call the generals to come and discuss matters..."
At another military meeting, Duan Zhixuan, Liu Shirang, etc. all talked a lot, but they still couldn't agree on what to do, and no clever plan came out that made people's eyes brighter.
There is no way, although they have been in battle for a long time, they are almost all generals who have been tempered in the northwest war.
Xue Ju's army in the northwest was a mixed bag. Although it was different from most of the rebel armies in the late Sui Dynasty, which were like rogue bandits, it was not far different. Therefore, the strength of the troops was quite insufficient. With Xue Ju's army also having the help of Turks, the generals from Li Shimin down had to
It is full of combat ideas of accumulating small victories into big victories.
But Li Po's army was different. Most of his lieutenants, generals and soldiers were out of their homes to serve as soldiers, just like a regular army. When fighting with such an army, it would be difficult to use tactics such as luring the enemy deep and counterattack.
For example, when the two armies are facing off against Xue Ju's army, the brave ones will rush forward, while the timid ones will hide behind. They have too many characteristics of the peasant army and are full of loopholes. Even if they don't win a battle, they can still take a lot of advantage.
But Li Pojun was completely different. What impressed Li Shimin and others the most was the winter battle. Even if they found a fighter, it would be difficult to turn a small victory into a big victory like Xue Jujun did.
If Li Po's entire army looks like that...well, that's the worst case scenario that Li Shimin thinks.
In fact, this was one of the reasons why he wanted to continue fighting Li Pojun. He wanted to see if the current Jin rebels were as capable of fighting as the Longmen defenders.
Of course, that was the worst guess, and Li Shimin knew what it meant. If it was really like that, with the current strength of the Tang army, it would be impossible to cross the river and compete with Li Po.
In other words, the war will turn into a long-term confrontation. For Li Tang, the situation is very bad, and for Li Shimin himself, it is even worse.
He may be dragged on the bank of the Yellow River, unable to focus on other things...
The biggest difference between Li Pojun and Xue Jujun is that once Xue Jujun is defeated, it is difficult to deal with it because their foundation is unstable. On the other hand, Li Ding'an... It is said that the business in Jinyang is very good, the government is stable, and everyone is loyal.
Therefore, even if they win a big victory, if Li Ding'an is allowed to retreat to Jinyang, the war will continue.
These military and political considerations gave Li Shimin a headache, and at the same time made this military meeting extremely long.
It was actually pretty much what Li Po had expected. Because he lost a little strategic advantage, he gave the Tang army an extremely difficult choice: take the risk and divide his troops to garrison the ferry to wait for the enemy, or play it safe and only defend one place, or even use the most powerful force.
Conservative tactics were used to cut through the ice of the Yellow River and burn the Pujin Bridge, making it impossible for Li Pojun to cross the river.
The last one obviously does not conform to Li Shimin and others' original decision, which is to use the natural dangers of the Yellow River to consume Li Po's troops. If he wins a battle, he may be able to switch from defense to offense...
This was also the tactic Li Shimin used when fighting Xue Jujun.
Therefore, the final result of the military discussion can be predicted. They are divided into two places, waiting for opportunities to move. A choice that looks good or bad, but is also full of helplessness.
After the military meeting, the generals dispersed. Li Shimin immediately ordered two famous doctors recruited from Chang'an. His headache became more and more severe.
The two famous doctors were also helpless. They had seen many cases of minor illnesses turning into serious illnesses. Even though the person in front of them was extremely noble, he could not escape birth, old age, illness and death. If he could not rest peacefully, a small cold might turn into a chronic disease.
.
So, the two of them deliberated and prescribed some warm medicinal soup for His Highness the King of Qin. After boiling it, they drank it for Li Shimin. Li Shimin's brows knit together in pain.
But before he could suppress the churning in his stomach, someone came to report that a monk had been captured on the bank of the Yellow River. What was even more bizarre was that the monk was personally escorted by Shangyi Tongyu, a scholar of literature.
Yuwenshiji was the son of Yuwenshu, the younger brother of Yuwenhuaji, and Princess Nanyang of the Sui Dynasty. She was a typical member of the Guanxi family, and she was also a relative. From this point of view, she must have died or not after surrendering to the Tang Dynasty.
But there are relatives in Guanxi clan. This is no joke. His sister is married to Li Yuan and is Li Yuan's Zhaoyi. Not only that, he has a good relationship with Li Yuan.
At the beginning of his surrender to the Tang Dynasty, everyone said that he should be killed, but Li Yuan said, "The time for him to talk to me about the affairs of the world was much earlier than that of Bill."
Therefore, according to the moral character of the world, Yu Wenzi, who was originally a heinous sinner, turned around and became Li Tang's Shang Yitong. His reputation was not as good as before, but he was undoubtedly Li's confidant.
Now, he has come with the army, serving as the Sima of the Palace of the King of Qin and also as the Sima of the March in Shaanxi Province, making him a confidant of the King of Qin.
He was originally under Tang Jian, transporting grain and grass from Yongfengcang, and in charge of military discipline matters. Now that the war was about to begin, he came to Li Shimin with a monk in his arms... This gave Li Shimin an immediate and ominous premonition. Obviously,
Something big happened.
When he saw Yu Wenshiji, whose face was as dark as water, Li Shimin's heart jumped a few times, and he immediately dismissed the rest. Only then did Yu Wenshiji take out a letter from his arms and presented it to Li Shimin without saying a word...