In the side hall of the East Palace, Li Jiancheng stared at the window not far away with a gloomy expression. Through the half-closed window, he could see the snowflakes flying in the sky blown by the strong wind. Just like Li Jiancheng's mood today, it was chaotic and disorderly.
Wei Zhengzheng and Wei Ting on the side were arguing with each other, their faces were red and furious, and even the prince Zhan Shi and Wang Gui looked gloomy and almost cursed.
Li Daoxuan defeated Liu Heitai. This battle report was a huge blow to the East Palace.
Within half a year, ever since Liu Heita fled north to the grasslands and attached himself to the Turks, the East Palace began to plan for Shandong and Hebei. After all, the Qin Palace had the Shanxi Road, and the East Palace did not have its own territory because the prince Li Jiancheng had been in Guanzhong for a long time... It could not be under the control of the saint Li Yuan.
Are you trying to grab territory right under your nose?
The confidants made several plans to suppress the King of Qin, and asked Qi King Li Yuanji to test Liu Heita's combat power. He also sent Wei Zheng, a famous scholar from Shandong, to go with him. The East Palace spent a lot of manpower and material resources on this.
It took a lot of effort to wrest the power to control Daxingtai of Shaanxi Province from the Qin Palace. Although they failed to drive away Yu Zhining and Han Liang, Li Jiancheng and several counselors had already planned to use the prince's wife's family in Xingyang
The Zheng family is the foundation and holds the Shaanxi Province in its hands. At least it must be in the same line as the King of Qin.
Li Jiancheng once thought privately that in the cold winter, not in the time of war, leading troops to conquer could be postponed until spring or even later... Only then would his foundation in Shandong, Hebei, and Shaanxi Province be firmly established.
For this reason, Li Jiancheng also specially selected generals such as Wang Junkuo and Chang He from among the civil and military officials of Shaanxi Province... These were officials who followed Li Shimin to sweep the Central Plains and were barely considered to be part of the Qin King's lineage, but had not entered the Qin King's palace.
In the Liangyi Palace, Li Jiancheng was still wondering how long this battle could last... Unexpectedly, the bubble in front of him disappeared in an instant, and the battle was almost over.
Thinking of this, Li Jiancheng couldn't help but want to scold Liu Heita... You are too useless. Where did your ability to win consecutive games by sweeping Hebei last year go?
Now Wei Zheng, Wei Ting, Wang Gui and other counselors are quarreling over the time to send out troops. Wei Zheng and Wang Gui have reminded Li Jiancheng more than once that even if the Turkic army has not returned to the north, they should still invite themselves to go out. When they reach the east Shaanxi Road across the Yellow River, they will
, inquire about the military situation before heading north.
Wei Zheng and Wang Gui both vaguely sensed that something was wrong. Previously, Li Shimin urged the prince to send troops and did not hesitate to allow Donggong to control Shaanxi Province. However, not long ago, Li Shimin's attitude changed drastically and he delayed several times... Now they naturally know the reason.
Both Wei Zheng and Wang Gui can confirm that this incident cannot be unprovoked, and there must be King Qin's hands and feet involved.
"The King of Qin has delayed so far, probably just to wait for this battle report..."
"Absolutely impossible!" Wei Ting blushed, "Even if the Turkic army has returned to the north, and Liu Heita has tens of thousands of troops, how can Li Daoxuan dare to say that he will win?"
This is also something that Wei Zheng and Wang Gui find difficult to understand... But one thing is certain, it was Wei Ting who persuaded the prince to postpone sending troops.
If Li Jiancheng has already sent troops at this moment, even if the battle report comes, he can quickly send his troops eastward in the name of not being affected by the foreign monarch's life, and join the King of Qi to attack Hebei Road, whether it is to seize military exploits or suppress the lineage of the King of Qin.
...it's all a matter of course.
At the most critical moment, the battle report came, ruining the efforts of the East Palace for more than half a year.
But Li Jiancheng was still not ready to give up. In the past few years, his second brother had conquered all directions and conquered most of the territory. Without some perseverance, Li Jiancheng would have been unable to hold on.
"Shi Wanbao."
"Cheng Mingzhen."
Li Jiancheng stood up and said, "Li Daoxuan is the commander-in-chief of the march in Hebei Province. He led his troops to defeat Liu Heitai. What about Shi Wanbao?"
"It has been more than half a month since the first battle in Xiabo. Li Daoxuan suddenly appeared in Guantao. Where is Shi Wanbao?"
Wang Guiqiang cheered up, "Yes, Liu Heitai was defeated, and our army regained Hebei and Shandong. As the deputy general manager of the march in Hebei Province, Yuan Guogong should..."
I can't go on talking about this anymore, using words like sharing profit and grabbing credit... Wang Gui is shameless.
"There is no news about the original Duke, but Cheng Mingzhen, the general manager of Weizhou... did not send troops this time?" Wei Zheng's voice was a little hoarse.
"The victory document contains the seals of Li Daoxuan, Tian Liu'an, and Qi Shanxing, but there is no seal of Cheng Mingzhen." Li Jiancheng paced back and forth, "What are the three Hus doing?!"
"Are you going hunting every day again?"
"In the cold winter, are there still birds and beasts?"
"The battle in Wei County, Liu Heitai fled north, the battle report has been sent to Chang'an, but the Sanhu still haven't heard from him?!"
Li Jiancheng gritted his teeth, "But today Prime Minister Pei proposed to send Sanhu to the north. Master Wang should send a letter... Cheng Mingzhen was originally the general manager of Weizhou, and he had a deep hatred for Liu Heitai."
"The battle report has been sent to the capital. We still don't know the eastward direction of King Qi's command, but Cheng Mingzhen will definitely send troops. That's all, let's just send the letter." Wang Gui turned around and said: "I also ask Xuancheng to write."
Li Jiancheng instructed: "If Shi Wanbao shows up, Cheng Mingzhen will be able to promote his merits."
Wei Zheng nodded to indicate that after Li Daoxuan turned defeat into victory, the only person in Hebei Province who could compete with Li Daoxuan for military exploits was Shi Wanbao, the deputy general manager of the march in Hebei Province.
Li Daoxuan is favored by the saint, and Shi Wanbao is not bad either... If they compete for military exploits from each other, as long as they can compete with each other, it will be unclear in the future.
Originally, there was Li Yuan, the king of Lujiang County, but unfortunately, the former general manager of Luozhou abandoned the city and fled back to Chang'an several days ago.
Thinking of this, Li Jiancheng cursed secretly, why did his second brother gather around Li Daoxuan and Li Daozong, but he himself attracted a loser like Li Yuan!
At this moment, in the Chengqian Hall not far from the East Palace, Li Shimin pointed at Li Kai with a smile, "The Danyang House of the Li family in Longxi has both civil and military skills, and the family has passed down the art of war. This move by De Mou can be said to have mastered the secrets of the art of war. In the future, he will be the best at what he does."
Better than blue.”
On the side, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and Changsun Wuji also praised him frequently, which made Li Kai blush.
Li Kai rushed to Beijing and asked his mother, the eldest grandson, to take him into the palace. As a result, Princess Qin informed him that today the sage had ordered the prince to fight in person.
Li Kai made a decisive decision and immediately left the palace. He asked his bodyguard to rush to Taiji Palace with the first letter of victory report prepared to urgently report the military situation and relieve today's embarrassment.
However, when Li Shimin and others praised Li Kai for mastering the secrets of military art, it was not because of his prompt decision-making, but because of the three-part victory document.
Li Kai raised his hands in embarrassment and said: "I don't dare to be your highness. All the princes are boasting. This matter was drawn up by Mr. Ling and Huairen."
"Analyze people's hearts to lure the enemy deeper..." Changsun Wuji clicked his tongue twice, "Li Huairen is really thoughtful."
Du Ruhui thought for a while, "That may not be the case. It should be Ling Jing's contribution."
Li Shimin's eyes once again fell on the second victory document on the table, thinking that at this moment, his eldest brother must still refuse to give up and want to intervene in the war in Hebei.
"The third good news can be delayed a little bit." Du Ruhui said loudly: "Now that the East Palace is in chaos, the second good news can be sent out today and tomorrow."
Li Shimin sneered and said: "Just today, let's make the East Palace more chaotic."
With Li Shimin's mind, he could naturally see that in the Liangyi Hall today, his father had the intention of asking the East Palace to appease Shandong... and these three documents of victory sent would make all the attempts of the East Palace fail.
This is really a great gift.
Thinking of the letter Li Kai had just sent in private, Li Shimin couldn't help but wonder why Li Shan so firmly chose Gu... and sent such a heavy gift, was it just because the Hedong Pei family was attached to the East Palace?
At dusk that day, Hebei War Report arrived in front of Taiji Palace again.
In fact, this is not a battle report, but a joint letter signed by Tian Liuan, the general manager of Weizhou, and Cui Xin, the Taoist order.
In the Battle of Xiabo, Shi Wanbao, the former deputy general of the army marching in Hebei Province, forged a sage's edict to stop the army from advancing, causing the entire army of 30,000 to be wiped out. After hearing that Li Daoxuan, king of Huaiyang, had won a great victory in Wei County, he went to Guantao County Yameni
He committed suicide in shame.
If the battle report in the morning silenced the officials all over the city, then the battle report in the evening caused a sensation in the huge Chang'an City, and countless opinions circulated among officials, children of aristocratic families, and ordinary people.
That night, Li Shimin had a good sleep.
And Li Jiancheng was furious...because just in the afternoon, he had already written to Li Yuanji and Cheng Mingzhen, saying that regardless of whether Shi Wanbao was found or not, he wanted to use his name to take credit for the war in Hebei.