Li Ji made a decision in his heart and started thinking about how to strengthen himself.
As soon as I thought about it, I thought about midnight.
At the third watch of the day, people in Hangu Pass had already woken up and were already busy with the new day. Only then did Li Ji realize that he had not slept yet.
I lay on the bed with my clothes on, and as soon as I closed my eyes, most of the day passed.
When the sun began to set in the west, Li Ji was woken up by someone shaking him.
When I opened my eyes, I saw Xie Shufang standing in front of the bed.
"What are you doing? I just slept for a while."
Li Ji felt that he just took a nap, just for a while.
Xie Shufang grimaced, bowed and said, "Your Highness, it's already past noon. You've been sleeping for most of the day."
Li Ji stared, a little dazed.
Xie Shufang continued: "The coach said before leaving that we have been delayed at Hangu Pass for many days and should leave as soon as possible."
Li Ji blinked, "Is it that important whether I am in a hurry or not?"
He has given all the power of supervising the transportation of grain and fodder to Han Liang, which means that he has nothing to do.
Guarding Luoyang was Qu Tutong's duty, but it was not his duty. He could not overstep his authority.
"Hebei urgent report, in the past few days, Liu Heitai has successively conquered Xingzhou, Weizhou, and Shenzhou, and killed Pan Daoyi, the general manager of Weizhou. Liu Heitai has restored Dou Jiande's old territory, and his troops are directed at Ming.
Prime Minister, Wei Sanzhou.
Huang Junhan, the new general manager of the Left Army, will probably take a few days to arrive at Hangu Pass. We must lead the troops of the Left Army to Luoyang first to prepare for emergencies."
Xie Shufang said with a grimace.
Yin Qiao's illness delayed him for several days, which also caused a series of chain reactions.
The person to replace Yin Qiao has not yet arrived. As the highest commander of the place, Li Ji naturally has to shoulder some of the responsibilities.
"I always feel..."
Li Ji spoke subconsciously and stopped midway through his words.
He felt that Li Shimin was probably afraid that if he stayed here, he would be too involved with Yin Qiao, so he urged him to leave quickly.
Compared with him, Qu Tutong is obviously more suitable for commanding troops.
"Since it's the commander's military order, let's pack up and get ready to go."
Li Ji pouted and said.
The corner of Xie Shufang's mouth twitched and he whispered: "The army has already been ready to go. We are just waiting for Your Highness."
Li Ji looked embarrassed.
After working on it for a long time, he was already lagging behind.
Li Ji stood up in a hurry, washed briefly, ordered the guards at the door to help him put on his armor, carried the cross sword and the horse shaft, and left the barracks.
The guards carried some trivial things that Li Ji had left in the barracks, as well as Li Ji's hard bow and arrow kettle, and followed them.
Li Ji rushed to the school grounds, and nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses had already lined up, waiting for him.
The 2,000 armored troops of the Prince of Qi were at the top, followed by the 3,000 soldiers and horses of Shaanzhou and the 3,000 soldiers and horses of Guozhou.
Qu Tutong stood on one side with his Bu Qu and part of Yin Qiao's Bu Qu.
The iron armor of Prince Qi's Mansion is obviously different from the soldiers and horses of Shaanzhou and Guozhou.
The iron armor of Prince Qi's palace is all uniform, and all the cavalry are uniform.
There are only more than 200 soldiers and horses in Shaanzhou and Guozhou, and most of them wear leather armor. Only some generals wear iron armor.
The weapons of Prince Qi's armor are relatively uniform, while the weapons of Shaanzhou and Guozhou soldiers and horses are of various kinds, and they can be used for anything.
As soon as Li Ji showed up, Qu Tutong came forward with two state governors from Shaanzhou and Guozhou.
"See His Highness King Qi."
The three of them clasped their fists and saluted on horseback.
Li Ji just nodded slightly and said calmly: "This march is led by General Qu Tu, and you all obey General Qu Tu's orders."
Marching tens of thousands of soldiers and horses is not a simple task.
There is a lot of knowledge involved in when to go, when to stop, how to conduct a rapid march appropriately, how to prevent someone from fleeing in fear of battle, and how to distribute the food and grass in hand.
Li Ji didn't understand it very well, but my predecessor did.
But judging from the memory of his predecessor, it is obvious that his predecessor was not as good as Qu Tutong in this aspect.
Therefore, it is more appropriate to leave this matter to Qu Tutong.
Since Liu Heitai has occupied Weizhou and other places, the day when he will become king and dominate is not far away.
The Tang Dynasty must give Liu Heitai a lesson when he becomes king and hegemon.
Otherwise, Liu Heitai's thief's power will increase, and I don't know how many people in the world will follow his example.
The Tang Dynasty will become even more chaotic by then.
Therefore, the soldiers and horses of the Tang Dynasty must rush to Luoyang as soon as possible.
When Qu Tutong saw that Li Ji had given him the task of supervising the march, he did not refuse. He immediately clasped his fists and said, "Here!"
The two general managers of Shaanzhou and Guozhou were also very convinced of Qu Tutong, so naturally they would not refuse, and they immediately agreed with clasped fists.
Qu Tutong rode his horse back to the front of the army formation. After a few brief explanations, a group of scouts rushed out of Hangu Pass first.
After the scout cavalry returned the news that the official road was clear, Qu Tutong asked Li Ji to take the lead and led the remaining troops out of Hangu Pass.
As soon as he left Hangu Pass, Li Ji saw that Yin Qiao's tribe actually followed him out and gathered around his subordinates intentionally or unintentionally. He felt suspicious and immediately summoned Qu Tutong.
"General Qutu, what is this?"
Li Ji sat on the horse and pointed at Yin Qiao Buqu not far away, with a puzzled look on his face.
Qu Tutong rode his horse and followed Li Ji and said with a smile: "The sage has appointed Yin Qiao to accompany you to Luoyang. Yin Qiao cannot afford to be ill now, so he naturally has to send troops to stay by your side.
Yin Qiao told me that you are a life-saving benefactor to him, and you can dispatch these troops as you wish, and even if you ask them to charge into battle, they must obey."
Li Ji was happy, "Yin Qiao is a person who knows how to repay kindness."
He rescued Yin Qiao just at the right time. He had no intention of recruiting Yin Qiao, nor did he have any plans for Yin Qiao.
So he actually didn't care whether Yin Qiao would repay him or not.
But looking at Yin Qiao's current intention, it is obvious that he wants to repay him.
For him, it is also a good thing.
Qu Tutong saw that Li Ji didn't resent Yin Qiao's people following him, and said with a smile: "If he was ungrateful, he wouldn't come together with us, would he?"
Qu Tutong used the word ‘we’ well.
Secretly gave Li Ji a thumbs up.
Li Jiming knew it was flattery, but he accepted it with a smile.
"When did my second brother leave last night?"
Li Ji asked with a smile.
Qu Tutong was stunned for a moment and said: "The coach stayed with me in front of the mountain bed for a long time and only left at midnight."
Li Ji smiled and nodded, with a look of emotion on his face, "Second brother really values Yin Qiao. When I was struck by lightning, second brother didn't even visit me at home."
Li Shimin really knew how to win over people's hearts. When a misunderstanding arose and made the people under him speculate and uneasy, he really couldn't come in a hurry and leave in a hurry.
In that case, the people under my command will still be a little worried.
Li Shimin stayed by Yin Qiao's bedside for most of the night, which not only made Yin Qiao completely relieved, but also showed him a favor.
It is not unreasonable for Li Shimin to gather a lot of outstanding people around him.
Among those people, not everyone values glory and wealth.
People like Luo Shixin value friendship more, and people like Yu Chigong care more about trust.
Li Shimin can't win them over with glory and wealth, Li Shimin must give them something they care about.
Qu Tutong looked embarrassed when he heard Li Ji's words.
Li Shimin treats his subordinates better than his younger brother, which is indeed a very embarrassing thing.
It was even more embarrassing for Li Ji to say it so openly.
Qu Tutong quickly changed the subject, cupped his fists at Li Ji and said with a smile, "I would like to thank Your Highness."
Li Ji was stunned for a moment and asked: "Thank me for what?"
Qu Tutong smiled and untied the sleeve armor, revealing a piece of cloth sleeve. The sleeve was very thick and obviously filled with stuff. In order to prevent the stuff inside from piling up, there were relatively dense stitches on it.
This is... the Tang version of the down jacket that he had previously instructed Qu Tutong to make?
Li Ji said in shock: "Did you really do it? And put it on?"
Qu Tutong tied up his sleeve armor and said with a smile: "I must believe what your highness said. After your highness said this, I immediately ordered people to prepare.
In the past few days at Hangu Pass, my men have done several things.
Chen has been taking care of Yin Qiao, so he didn't have a chance to try it.
After Yin Qiao got better, I gave it a try.
I didn’t expect that with two sides of cloth stuffed with pheasant feathers, it would be so warm and not stuffy, and it could also hold up my armor.”
Having said this, Qu Tutong clasped his fists at Li Ji again, "Your Highness has really taken the trouble, how can I not thank you?"
Li Ji waved his hand, "Since the effect is good, let's keep wearing it."
He instructed Qu Tutong to make a Tang version of down jackets. It was because Qu Tutong was so old that he tortured himself with leather jackets in order to show dignity in front of the soldiers without seeking retribution.
Then, after Qu Tutong heard Li Ji's words, he said solemnly: "I think that this uniform should be presented to the commander's tent, or to Chang'an, and given to the commander or a saint.
If the Commander-in-Chief can find a way to get more of these uniforms, the battle losses of our Tang Dynasty's expedition can be reduced by 10%."
It's the twelfth lunar month now, and it's surprisingly cold in the north.
There are many people with frozen faces, frozen ears and frozen toes.
Many people froze to death.
The army is out on an expedition, running around in the freezing cold, and the chance of frostbite is even greater.
Battle losses also increased.
Leather armor and iron armor cannot protect you from the cold.
If each person could be given a Tang Dynasty version down jacket, the battle losses would indeed be reduced.
Qu Tutong's suggestion is good.
But it’s useless for Li Ji to take this credit.
Do you want him to take the Tang Dynasty version of the down jacket and run to Li Shimin? Li Yuan said, 'Look, I have come up with a good thing that can keep out the cold in winter and reduce battle losses. Do you have to give me a title or something?'
.
In that case, he is not losing value, but being stupid.
He has basically reached the end of his title and official position, and this kind of small merit is of little use to him.
Li Ji's thoughts changed and he shouted to Xie Shufang behind him.
"Xie Shufang?!"
Xie Shufang hurriedly rode forward.
Li Ji decisively ordered: "The cold-proof things worn by General Qu Tu were created by you?"
"ah?"
Uncle Xie was a little confused.
Li Ji did not give Xie Shufang a chance to react, and said carelessly: "This suit has a miraculous effect in keeping out the cold and can reduce the battle losses of our army. I will report it to the commander's account and my father to ask for credit for you."