Cheng Yaojin also straightened up. He had previously talked about internal affairs and public security. He could still maintain a tacit understanding with the prince and not break the relationship between the two parties. He had tolerated the release of Chunming Gate for the time being. However, when Li Jing entered the palace, he was bound to talk about the current war situation. Cheng Yaojin
Jin couldn't avoid it even if he wanted to.
Of course, he didn't want to avoid it.
Li Jing was dressed in military uniform, wearing a helmet and armor. He walked briskly into the palace. He knelt down on one knee to perform military salutes to the prince, then stood up and nodded to everyone one by one. When his eyes fell on Cheng Yaojin's face and his eyes met,
He squinted slightly.
He is over seventy years old, but his back is still straight without any rickets, his three-locked long beard is white and neat, his face is clear and his eyes are bright, and he has a certain air of immortality. If he is said to be a famous commander in charge of the three armies, he is even more so.
Like those alchemists who seek immortality in Mount Zhongnan...
Li Jing took his seat, and without waiting to ask, he immediately reported the situation of the battle: "The entire army of the Youhou Guards has withdrawn. They retreated without chaos. It was obvious that they had a premeditated plan. The veteran did not dare to send troops to pursue too closely to avoid being ambushed by them.
"
"Zuo Zhuan" contains Cao GUI's discussion about the Battle of Changshao. There is a sentence in it: "I regard the enemy's path as chaotic and hope that his banner will be defeated, so I chase it away." This means that when the enemy retreats, beware of ambushes.
Only when the track is messy and the flag is down can you pursue it, otherwise you must be cautious.
The right Houwei retreated without chaos, obviously well prepared. If they pursued rashly, they would most likely fall into the opponent's ambush, resulting in a huge defeat.
The reason is extremely sufficient, but the actual reason is that Li Jing ordered not to pursue...
Li Chengqian nodded and said: "Although the pheasant slaves are unfilial and rebelled before the funeral of the late emperor was completed, I cannot ignore the peace of the soul of the late emperor. Therefore, the funeral is the first priority and other matters will be slowed down for the time being. Now there is peace in the world.
, the prosperous age, Gu is the prince canonized by his father's golden code, and his righteousness lies in it. How can the country's foundation be shaken by the perverse actions of one or two greedy people? Let him retreat to Tongguan, but he must strictly guard the dangerous places in the capital.
We must not allow them to escape into the pass and cause harm to the people."
Li Jing solemnly said: "That's right. Your Highness is just and right. He will ascend the throne just after the funeral. How can a clown change his destiny? The old minister is determined to strictly guard Guanzhong, stabilize the capital, and not let the scoundrels succeed."
Li Chengqian looked at Cheng Yaojin again and said solemnly: "The capital is an important place. Duke Lu needs to pay more attention to not causing chaos in the capital and the breeding of thieves. Otherwise, we will be ashamed of our late emperor and have no face to our elders in the capital."
The atmosphere is a little weird.
Cheng Yaojin just opened the city gates and allowed the right Houwei to enter the city and storm the Taiji Palace. It was obvious that he was leaning towards the King of Jin. But instead of asking for guilt, you once again entrusted him with the important task of guarding the capital. You can't even describe this stupidity as seeking skin from a tiger.
It means giving away one's own lifeblood...
Cheng Yaojin was also stunned for a moment, paused briefly, and nodded heavily: "Your Highness, don't worry, as long as I have a breath, I will definitely defend Chang'an and prevent bandits from causing trouble."
Besides lamenting the prince's open-mindedness, what else could he say?
Do you really think that the prince is a fool?
It’s just that I’m sure that I will only benefit from the fishermen, but I will never become one of the snipe and clams...
If the prince was held accountable for allowing the right marquis guard to enter the city, he would refute it on the grounds that "the King of Jin was holding the late emperor's photo". After all, who knows whether the photo in the hand of the King of Jin was true or false? And afterwards, he could also blame the prince for being narrow-minded and venting his anger.
To people.
But now that I am doing this, I will be embarrassed if I do anything harmful to the East Palace behind my back...
The temptation of the "feudal world" was indeed great, but it was never enough to make him willing to go to war with the Prince of the East Palace and be scolded as a "rebel" by the people in the world for the rest of his life.
Li Chengqian gave Cheng Yaojin a few words and gave him full respect. Seeing that Cheng Yaojin had understood, he nodded with satisfaction and asked: "The reason why the slaves retreated to Tongguan must be to hold on to the dangerous pass and wait for reinforcements.
Since the nobles in Shandong and Jiangnan dare to seduce him to rebel, they must have made preparations in advance. Perhaps the reinforcements and baggage organized by the nobles in the two places are moving towards Guanzhong in a steady stream. I wonder if you have any good strategies to retreat from the enemy?"
Everyone was silent.
When the clans were prosperous, they would hoard wealth and manipulate politics. In times of trouble, they would recruit troops and dominate one area. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the clans in Shandong and Jiangnan were dishonest, and many families participated in the struggle for world hegemony.
With the profound background of the clans in these two places, it is not a problem to form an army of more than 100,000 people, and the amount of food and baggage can be carried on the truck, which is endless.
It should be noted that when Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was oppressed by the clans in Guanzhong, he took the initiative to go to Jiangnan to plead for help from the Jiangnan clan. The strength of Jiangnan is evident...
Now that he dares to support the King of Jin to seize the throne, he will definitely use all his strength, even if he doesn't come, he will give up. Once he comes, he will definitely come with great force.
Previously, His Majesty Li Er personally conquered Goguryeo. Although he claimed to have mobilized millions of soldiers and horses from all over the world, the main force was still the Sixteenth Guards Army stationed in various places in Guanzhong. This battle was very difficult and the losses were extremely heavy, resulting in the loss of soldiers, money, food, and equipment from all over Guanzhong.
The loss is huge.
Just after the Eastern Expedition returned to the DPRK, another mutiny broke out among the Guanlong clan. After a series of fierce battles, Guanlong was defeated miserably, and more than half of Guanzhong's vitality was depleted.
How can we recover in such a short period of time?
At present, the Right Houwei has sworn allegiance to the King of Jin, the Zuowu Guards are watching the fire from across the bank, and most of the other sixteen guards are standing by and watching... With the six rates of the East Palace alone, how can we resist the reinforcements formed by the Right Houwei and the powerful clans from Shandong and Jiangnan?
supply?
If you are not careful, the empire will fall into a situation of confrontation and separatism between east and west. This is by no means as simple as dividing the country into two, but means that from now on, with Tongguan as the center, the east and west will start an endless war.
How much food, fodder, troops and horses were used up, not to mention how many Chinese men lost their blood.
The situation is precarious.
Li Chengqian glanced at Li Ji, who was silent, and asked Fang Jundao: "What do Erlang think?"
At such a critical moment, all the important civil and military officials were present, but the prince was addressed so affectionately, which shows that Fang Jun's status in the heart of the prince inevitably made everyone present have different thoughts. However, although there was envy, there was not much jealousy.
Because the reason why Fang Jun was so valued and so close to the prince was because he had spared no effort and endured many hardships in exchange for it.
This is what Fang Jun deserves. On the contrary, if the prince had not been so close and respectful to Fang Jun and obeyed his words, it would have made others feel chilling...
Fang Jun looked relaxed and said with a smile: "Your Highness, don't worry. Even if the clans in these two places fully support King Jin, they may not be able to allocate too many resources. Even if they send one soldier, it will be equivalent to giving excuses to the ministers. They
All the goods piled up in the warehouses of Huating Town will be confiscated by the ministers, and Your Highness will be able to make a windfall, which will just fill the shortage of the national treasury."
Everyone suddenly realized that in recent years, the powerful families in Shandong and Jiangnan have been escorted by the navy. The sea trade between the east and the south has grown bigger and bigger, earning huge profits every year. But the foundation of sea trade lies in the port of Huating Town, which is open to the outside world.
And Huating Town is Fang Jun's territory.
Li Xiaogong reminded: "The wealthy families in Shandong and Jiangnan have great businesses. Although the maritime trade goods and colonies are confiscated and fined by you, the losses are huge, but the family has a strong financial background. If you grit your teeth and squeeze, you can still come up with a lot of money and food. And the biggest threat at the moment is
Once the coalition forces formed by the powerful clans from the two places unite at Tongguan and attack Chang'an, we may not be able to stop them."
If we can't stop the opponent's first wave of offensive, everything will stop. Even if the warehouses of the two places are emptied, what will happen?
As long as they assist the King of Jin to ascend to the throne, they will surely receive extremely generous political rewards. As long as they master political power, the money, food, gold and silver they have lost now will be earned back tenfold and a hundredfold in a few years.
Cen Wenwen also frowned and said: "As long as the King of Jin sends his troops into the pass again after receiving the reinforcements and gains the upper hand, the troops of the Sixteenth Guards who are waiting and watching will definitely respond one after another, increasing their strength in a short period of time and cannot be ignored."
As the saying goes, a single move affects the whole body. Any change in the current situation may suddenly lead to unexpected changes.
Fang Jun nodded slightly and said calmly: "Don't worry, everyone, Shandong aristocratic families have suffered heavy losses since the chaos of the late Sui Dynasty, and their strength has been severely reduced, especially the population of each family has dropped sharply. Even if they are squeezed, how many people can be squeezed out to help the King of Jin?
?As for the Jiangnan clan... they want to reach Tongguan with all their beards and tail, I'm afraid it's just wishful thinking."
Everyone was stunned at first, then suddenly realized, and suddenly became excited. Cheng Yaojin also looked at Fang Jun with complicated eyes.
Why did Fang Jun dare to say such "wild talk"?
Because of the navy!
The Jiangnan region is crisscrossed with rivers and has abundant water conservancy. This was originally an advantage for the Jiangnan clan. They could transport the newly formed army and their baggage to Tongguan along the Grand Canal quickly and with minimal loss.
But because of the existence of the navy, the crisscrossing rivers may have become a noose around the necks of the Jiangnan clan.
The navy not only wreaks havoc across the oceans but has no rivals. It transfers those arrogant and powerful generals to flat-bottomed and light river boats, relies on its unique boating skills, and supplements them with powerful guns and artillery. How can those hastily formed private armies
adversary?
Cheng Yaojin asked: "The main force of the navy is currently stationed in various ports in the East and Southeast Asia. How long will it take to mobilize the main force to return to Huating Town to attack the private armies of Jiangnan clans?"
He asked a key question. Countries such as Annan and Johor in Nanyang are thousands of miles away from the Tang Dynasty. The winds and waves on the ocean are more unpredictable than those on land. Long-distance voyages are time-consuming and labor-intensive. If they can't come back in a while, what will happen to the Jiangnan clan?
The private army formed has arrived at Tongguan. Even if the navy can really block the main rivers in the south of the Yangtze River, what is the use?
But based on his previous attitude of sitting on the sidelines, asking questions like this now will inevitably lead to the suspicion of "spying on military intelligence"...
Fang Jun was full of infinite confidence in the navy he had built with his own hands, and said suddenly: "It's just a ragtag group of people. Even if there are 100,000 or 80,000 people in total, why bother to mobilize the main force of the navy? A partial division, transferred to a flat-bottomed river boat, is enough
It is wreaking havoc in the south of the Yangtze River, and every time a boat is launched along the Yangtze River from Huating Town to the south of the Yangtze River, it will be sunk."