The messenger came to report that Qi Shanxing and Cheng Mingzhen led 2,000 cavalry and 2,000 infantry to the west bank of Yongji Canal and faced off across the river with Liu Heitai's troops who were attacking Wei County.
Li Shan sat aside with his legs crossed, listening to the discussions among Tian Liuan, Xue Zhong, Ling Jing, and Zhang Xuansu, and introduced Su Dingfang to Li Kai, Yuchi Baolin... and plugged the loophole by the way.
How do I know about Su Lie and Su Dingfang?
It was this Li Demou who informed me.
Of course, with Li Shan's current relationship with Su Dingfang, these are all trivial and irrelevant.
"Is there no one in Shaanxi Province?" Liu Jun said in a low voice: "How can Wang Junkuo be allowed to lead the army?"
Li Kai and Yuchi Baolin didn't say a word. Liu Jun looked at Li Shan and said, "This man has bad conduct. He gathers people to be thieves and plunders everywhere."
Liu Jun was a descendant of the Liu family in Jingzhao, a wealthy family that could be compared with the Wei family and the Du family. He didn't care about Wang Junkuo, who was born as a commoner, and was very rude in his words.
"In the early years, he defected to the Tang Dynasty, then went to Wagang, and then defected to the Tang Dynasty... Luoyang and Hulao both made military exploits, but last year it was this man who killed Luo Shixin in battle."
Li Shan couldn't help but click his tongue after listening for a long time. Wang Junkuo was the kind of person who wanted to make money when he saw benefits and quit when he saw losses. He couldn't bear the pressure.
During the offensive and defensive battle of Luoshui County at the beginning of the year, Li Shimin knew that Wang Junkuo could not defend and was unwilling to defend, so he asked Luo Shixin to defend the city on his behalf. Unfortunately, he died on the battlefield.
Li Kai smiled bitterly, leaned forward slightly, and whispered: "Donggong wants to personally conquer Hebei. I advise the sage to select generals from His Highness King Qin... His Highness dispersed his troops. Now, except for Wang Junkuo, the only one left in Shaanxi Province who is suitable to lead the army is Wang Junkuo." Zhang Liang."
Liu Jun was speechless for a moment, then said after a while: "Then we can only use Wang Junkuo."
Li Jiancheng tried to transfer generals from the Qin King's lineage, which was quite effective. He even tried to reach into the Qin King's palace. In this case, Li Shimin transferred several generals under his command from Shaanxi Province... for fear that Li Jiancheng would lead his troops south. When traveling to Shaanxi Province, I took advantage of the situation.
Therefore, there were only two generals of the King of Qin's lineage who stayed in Shaanxi Province, one was Wang Junkuo, and the other was Zhang Liang who was later listed on the Twenty-Four Meritorious Officials List of Lingyan Pavilion.
But Zhang Liang... was also from Wagang. After the battle at Hulao Pass, he defected to the Tang Dynasty and served as the general manager of Xiangzhou. At the beginning of the year, Liu Heitai sent a partial army south. Zhang Liang was cowardly by nature, so he abandoned the city and fled.
Zhang Liang was appointed as a hussar general in the palace of the King of Qin, but Zhang Liang was really not as good as Wang Junkuo.
In fact, historically, when Li Jiancheng personally conquered Hebei, he transferred Wang Junkuo from Shaanxi Province.
While Li Shan was chatting with a few peers, laughing and joking from time to time, he listened carefully to the discussion of the battle situation by the people at the next table.
In fact, Tian Liuan, Ling Jing, Li Daoxuan, Xue Zhong and others all have strange feelings in their hearts...
From attacking the county government to retaking Yugushe, exchanging hostages with the Turkic army, and so on, Li Shan was the presiding officer and acted decisively.
Even these days when the city is defended, regardless of the battle situation, although Li Shan is not the decision-maker, he has always been the most important person among the people who make plans. Every day after the war, Tian Liuan has to go to the wounded barracks in person to talk to Ling Jing and Li Shan. Negotiate.
In the eyes of everyone, although he has not yet been crowned, Li Shan has the courage to do his job and has the talent to not be inferior to others.
But today, he was sitting next to Li Kai and Yuchi Baolin, looking quite honest.
For example, Ling Jing couldn't help complaining in his heart and pretending!
“Watching the fire at Beizhou with my own eyes, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it!”
"Could it be that the Xingzhou granary was not burned down?"
"Anyway, there are grain ships on the Yongji Canal every day. Obviously Liu Heitai's army is not short of food."
Everyone is talking about it. Even if tens of thousands of Turkic troops return north to the grassland, if Liu Heitao's army does not lack food and grass, it will be difficult to defeat Liu Heitao with the strength of the Tang army from Weizhou, Xiangzhou and Weizhou.
Therefore, food and grass have become the key among the keys.
Qi Shanxing, Cheng Mingzhen stepped into the Yongji Canal, do you want to cross the river?
Tian Liu'an and Li Daoxuan are sticking to Guantao. Should they lead the army south and attack Liu Heita?
Wang Junkuo is leading reinforcements a hundred miles away. Should he march westward and join forces?
Liu Heitao bypassed Guantao, captured Yuancheng, and then attacked Wei County. Could it be that he was repeating his old tricks, luring the Tang army out of the city, and encircling and annihilating them in the field?
All this is based on whether Liu Heitai's army is short of food.
In the end, it was also based on this premise that Li Shimin chose to take a chance and secretly sent Li Kai, Yuchi Baolin, and Wang Junkuo to lead the army across the river to rescue.
Of course, if the guess is wrong, Li Shimin will not be greatly affected, but the Tang army in Hebei Province will be a bit miserable and may be defeated and killed.
However, there is certainly conclusive evidence for Zhang Wenguan to rush to Beijing.
Based on the information from Tian Liuan, Li Daoxuan, and Xue Zhong, as well as the information Li Shan inquired from Ashina Sheer, and the interrogation of prisoners, the Tang army in Guantao City had this consensus.
Liu Heitai's army was short of food and grass.
But just after Zhang Wenguan left, grain transport ships suddenly arrived on the Yongji Canal every day, which surprised the Tang army and greatly boosted the morale of Liu Heitai's troops.
The room gradually fell into silence, Zhang Xuansu couldn't help but turned around and shouted: "Li Huairen, why don't you come over to discuss the situation of the war?!"
"Everyone is here, I dare not speak nonsense."
Ling Jing sneered and said, "Are you afraid that those two people will see your true face, Li Huairen?"
"For more than a month, you, Li Huairen, planned a night attack, captured Liu Heitai's right-hand man, captured him alive, and urged Ashinashe'er's army to return north, but today you are silent?"
Li Kai was okay, Yuchi Baolin's eyes were widened. How could you, Li Shan, get in on such a big deal?
Li Kai smiled bitterly and sighed, his friend is really as tormented as His Highness said.
Li Shan really wasn't pretending today, but he just didn't want to affect the relationship between himself and Li Kai... He knew very well that the relationship between himself and the Qin Palace was through Li Keshi, Li Kai and his son, even if it was just
The fact that the father and son knew about Li Dewu was enough for them to deal with it cautiously.
"I had known Huairen's abilities, so I will listen attentively to my brother today." Li Kai pushed Li Shan away with a smile.
Li Shan breathed a sigh of relief, took out a booklet from his arms and threw it on the table, "Liu Heitai's army is definitely short of food and grass, and the grain transport ships on the Yongji Canal are just a cover-up."
"How to determine?"
"In the army, who has the most important food and grass?" Li Shan chuckled and said, "If the food and grass are not available, the first most important person is war horses."
Everyone nodded slightly. This statement cannot be wrong, but if the war horses are not short of food and grass, they will be able to fight or flee much more calmly.
"Liu Heitao was in Wagang and served as a general under King Xia successively. He has always been a cavalry general. He will not understand this truth." Li Shan opened the booklet and said, "It has been seven years since there were grain ships on the Yongji Canal.
Every day, every day, we will either capture or kill the enemy scouts alive."
"Someone disemboweled him. Maybe the war horses had food, but the cavalry probably had less food. As of now, the war horses are half-fed."
In other words, Li Shan discovered by dissecting corpses that the scouts in Liu Heitai's army could only ensure the food of their horses, but not their own rations.
To this day, the scouts can no longer guarantee that the war horses are well fed.
Scouts have always been incapable of serving unless they are the elite of the army, and even such elites cannot guarantee food rations.
And Liu Heitai was a cavalryman. If he was defeated, he would definitely have to flee north to the grasslands and rely on the Turks... then war horses would be indispensable.
Li Shan absolutely didn't believe Liu Heitai's army had enough food and grass.
The ancients had to keep within their normal thinking patterns when making plans, such as adding more stoves and reducing stoves, but methods like dissecting corpses were like using gas stoves... They were definitely in the blind spot of the ancients' thinking.
After listening to Li Shan's long explanation, and then looking at the booklet carefully, Ling Jing's mouth moved, "He really does everything!"
"Soldiers are important matters of the country, the place of life and death, and the way of survival. We must observe them." Li Shan sneered and said, "You should use your best in everything. The winner is the king and the loser is the bandit!"
After Tian Liu'an was silent for a moment, he whispered: "Liu Heitai's plan has two purposes. One is to boost the morale of the army, and the other is to force Qi Shanxing to retreat and Cheng Mingzhen's troops."
Everyone's attention was focused on Li Shan, who said calmly, "Maybe the Yongji Canal will be temporarily cut off?"
"Yes." Tian Liu'an nodded and said, "There are many ships in Yongji County and Guantao County."
Li Shan waved his hand and said: "Liu Heitai's plan is nothing more than telling everyone inside and outside that the army has sufficient food and grass..."
"So, set the boat on fire!" Ling Jing blurted out.
Zhang Xuansu was confused, "Set the boat on fire?"
Although Li Kai had just arrived in Guantao not long ago, he understood it and explained softly: "Set fire to burn our ships."