Early in the morning, Li Shimin and Xia Yu set off with 3,500 black armor soldiers and 500 winged cavalry, a total of 4,000 elite troops.
Because of the large number of horses, Huang Junhan's navy could not operate at all, so he had to go overland.
Taking into account the speed of the troops, the two of them did not plan to take a detour from the south like Li Shiji, which would take at least half a month to reach Hulao.
Li Shimin decided directly to take the shortest road all the way east from Luoyang.
At this time, there were only three disconnected territories left in the huge Zheng Kingdom.
The first area was the Xiangyang area, which was guarded by Wang Honglie, son of Wang Shichong. At this time, it was already occupied by Shi Wansui at Longmen and was isolated from the outside world.
The second area is the Xuzhou area, which is guarded by Wang Shichong's younger brother Wang Shibian. Currently, due to the fall of Zhengdong Shizhou, it has also become an enclave.
The last piece of land is the small area between the east of Luoyang and Hulao Pass. Now there are still three cities of Yanshi, Gongxian and Luokoucang.
In other words, Li Shimin and Xia Yu had to go deep behind enemy lines three hundred miles before they could reach Hulao Pass.
Undoubtedly, this is risky, but the advantage is that it only takes three days to get to Hulao Pass, so they will have enough time to prepare for the war.
Li Shimin and Xia Yu discussed it and felt that the risk was not high.
There are only three to five thousand Zheng troops in Yanshi, Gongxian, and Luokou. Their strength is limited. Even if they come together, they will not be enough to deal with the black armor soldiers and winged cavalry.
Besides, they traveled in a light carriage and carried five days of dry food with them, and there were no food channels for the other party to harass.
So, what is there to fear?
As a result, Li Shimin and Xia Yu swaggered all the way eastward, deep into the hinterland of Zheng's army, simply treating the enemy as if they were nothing.
The result was as expected.
The remaining Zheng army had long been frightened by the Tang army. They watched Li Shimin and Xia Yu pass by without any movement.
In addition to shrinking, it is still shrinking.
Although Li Shimin and Xia Yu were laughing at him, they were not interested in pursuing these three cities. Their top priority was to get to Hulao as soon as possible.
As long as Dou Jiande is destroyed, these three cities will probably surrender without having to fight.
Just like that, three days later, on the evening of October 21st, Li Shimin and Xia Yufengchen rushed to Hulao Pass.
Li Shiji, Wang Junkuo, Zhang Gongjin and Shen Yue came out to welcome him.
"Maogong, Junkuo."
Li Shimin dismounted, happily greeted him, patted the second general on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "Hard work! Hard work! Well done."
Li Shiji said humorously: "Your Highness, after all this hard work, I want to do more."
During this expedition, he was busy traveling and receiving goods, and basically fought without a single blow. Don't be too comfortable with such an easy job.
Li Shimin burst into laughter upon hearing this.
At this time, he caught a glimpse of Zhang Gongjin and Shen Yue behind Li Shiji, and stepped forward and said enthusiastically: "You must be General Gong Jin and Shen Yue, right?"
Zhang Gongjin hurriedly said respectfully: "The last general, Zhang Gongjin, has met His Highness the King of Qin."
Shen Yue was also very excited. This is the King of Qin who dominates the world and is invincible in battles. He also quickly greeted him and said: "General Shen Yue, I have met His Highness the King of Qin."
"well."
"Gongjin helped him with all his strength and raised seven states to join him, which was a great achievement. But Gu was not happy to win the seven states, but he got another good general from Gongjin."
"General Shen abandoned the dark and turned to the light, and sacrificed himself to protect the enemy. It is truly an unparalleled achievement. He is so young and promising, and it really makes him happy."
Li Shimin didn't notice anything, he patted the two of them on the shoulders with a smile and praised them fiercely.
"I dare not be praised by His Highness like this."
This made Zhang Gongjin and Shen Yue feel flattered, and they both felt that surrendering to the Tang Dynasty was the right thing to do. His Highness the King of Qin was indeed a courteous and virtuous corporal with a royal demeanor!
At this time, Xia Yu stepped forward with a smile. It was the boss's "performance" time just now, and he couldn't be ignorant and steal the show.
"Come on, come on, let me introduce you to the two generals. This is Gu's right-hand man, Military Advisor Xia Yu."
Upon hearing Li Shimin's introduction, Zhang Gongjin and Shen Yue's eyes lit up.
Good guys, they have all been frightened into submission by Xia Yu's unpredictable tricks recently, and now they are even more respectful when they see outsiders.
Even Xia Yu's short hair felt like a master's style and different from others.
"The last general, Zhang Gongjin, has met the military advisor. I have heard for a long time that the military advisor, Guigu Gaotu, is a genius in this world. I should pay my respects to him when I have time in the future."
"It's easy to say, it's easy to say. From now on, when we all work together as ministers, there will be plenty of opportunities."
"Military advisor," Shen Yue couldn't help but have the doubts that had been hidden in his heart for many days: "The general is so frightened, how did you know that the general is going to surrender to the Tang Dynasty?"
The conscience of heaven and earth, he prepared it very secretly, and it was impossible for anyone hundreds of miles away to know about it early.
This really made him think hard and not understand it.
Li Shimin waited for a moment: What's going on? Isn't this Shen Yue an internal agent arranged by the military advisor? Why don't the two of them seem to be familiar with each other?
Xia Yu was also a little confused, so she could only say vaguely: "General Shen, don't worry about these details. Although you don't know me, I have known the general for a long time."
"I, the Guigu sect, still have many means of predicting the past and understanding people's hearts, but these secret skills are not suitable for others to know."
Everyone was astonished: God, could it be that the military advisor was just like a god?
Doesn’t this mean that all major events in the world are in the hands of military advisors, and everyone has become a chess piece acting according to orders without even realizing it?
This is really so smart that it’s almost like a demon, it’s so scary!
However, fortunately, this is one of our own. Wouldn't it be bad if the military advisor was helping Wang Shichong, Dou Jiande, Jin Zhi or others!?
Then, Li Shimin introduced the five current tiger generals, Qin Qiong, Yuchi Gong, Cheng Yaojin, Zhai Changsun, and Li Daoxuan.
Everyone was also very happy to see each other, and they were very affectionate.
"Well, let me tell you, Mr. Mao, you won't just invite His Highness and me to have a drink here, right?"
"It's late autumn now, and the autumn wind is sad and miserable. It's not a pleasant feeling."
Xia Yu had been traveling for days and was almost exhausted. Seeing everyone chatting away, she smiled and said something humorous.
Li Shiji woke up from a dream and quickly smiled and said: "Commander Haihan, it's the last general's fault. Your Highness, counselors, generals, please come in quickly, the reception banquet has been prepared."
"Okay, okay, all the gentlemen also invite you."
After a while, the main hall of the city guard's mansion came.
The banquet started, everyone was chatting and laughing, and they made some idle remarks about the previous chapter. Li Shimin had something on his mind, so he put down his wine glass.
"Mr. Mao, you are on the front line. How is the enemy's situation lately?"
"Back to Your Highness," Li Shiji quickly reported: "As soon as the general occupied Hulao Pass, he sent countless spies to report on the enemy's situation every day."
"Currently, Dou Jiande's entire army has arrived in Yanjin and is fighting fiercely with Xu Yuanlang and Meng Jiigong."
"Oh, how is the battle going?" Li Shimin asked anxiously.
"Not great!"
"The last general has been in Liyang for a long time. He has been close to Xu and Meng and has had old friendships. These two men are more brave than brave, but they are short of resourcefulness."
"A few days ago, during the first battle between the two sides, Xu and Meng came out in full force and led their troops to attack fiercely."
"Xia's army fought fiercely for a while, but were defeated and retreated. The two were overjoyed and took advantage of the situation to pursue them, but they did not want to be lured away from Yanjin City by Xia's army."
"Soon, Xia Army generals Zhang Qingte and Han Hong led their ambush troops to come out from behind and surrounded the two of them."
"The two men were defeated in the battle and had no choice but to retreat in panic. As soon as they fled back to Yanjin City, they found that they had been captured by Xia Army General Zhang Qingte."
"The two had no choice but to retreat more than ten miles and set up camp again in the southeast of Yanjin."
Li Shimin: "..."
Xia Yu: "..."
The two of them looked at each other in confusion. Although they both knew that these two guys were nothing more than fools in troubled times, it was really shocking to see such losers.
Li Dao
Qin Qiong and others also looked disdainful and shook their heads.
Li Shimin glared at Li Daoxuan. Is this the time to gloat? He asked Li Shiji with a headache: "How many soldiers do the two of you have?"
Li Shiji smiled bitterly and said: "The loss of troops is not much, there are still more than 20,000 people, but the trouble is that the food and grass for both of them are in Yanjin City, and they are completely lost!"
"Now, we can only scavenge grain and grass from the surrounding areas while quickly asking Shandong to transport grain."
"It's just that Xia's army is not stupid. He immediately divided his troops and attacked the two people's food road. The general estimated that they would not be able to hold on for a few days."
Li Shimin slapped his forehead.
He is the world's best at calamity and food, so he naturally knows that losing all the food and grass will have more serious consequences than losing some soldiers and horses.
There are still more than 20,000 people left under the second general. As long as the stronghold is defended, we can always hold on for another ten days and a half.
