In Xia Jun's imperial tent, Dou Jiande's face was as ugly as ever.
It has been more than half a month since the army arrived at Hulao Pass. Not only did their attack on the city suffer repeated setbacks and they made no progress, they also killed the vanguard general Wang Wan and wounded the imperial general Yin Qiu.
What a disgrace!
Dou Jiande glanced at the silent civil and military ministers, and couldn't help but feel a little annoyed: "They are all talking. Could it be that I have raised a group of mutes?"
The faces of all the civil and military officials turned bitter: The Tang army was unable to defend itself, so what could they do?
Xu Yuanlang and Meng Jiagong looked at each other with something moving in their hearts.
To be honest, these two grass-headed kings are not convinced by Dou Jiande. We all have a rough background, so why should you be the boss!?
Li Tang is different.
The Li Tang royal family was not only descended from Longxi Li, one of the Five Surnames and Seven Hopes, but also had the support of many powerful families. It looked like it had unlimited future.
Therefore, they resolutely surrendered to Li Tang to seek a future.
Before, if Yanjin had not suffered a disastrous defeat and had no way to escape, they would never have considered surrendering to Dou Jiande.
At first, the two of them didn't dare to have any small thoughts when they saw Xia Jun's strong soldiers and horses, but now it seems that Dou Jiande is in trouble.
Eighty percent, this guy can't beat Li Shimin.
I also remembered that two days ago, the Tang Army's secret envoy had made a generous promise to the two of them to forget the past and to be promoted to a higher position, and I no longer hesitated in my heart.
At this time, Dou Jiande was completely unaware of the coming terrible danger.
"Qi Shanxing, tell me." He pointed the finger at Qi Shanxing: "Aren't you usually pretty good at talking? What should you do now?"
Qi Shanxing secretly thought something was wrong, so he could only say cautiously: "Your Majesty, didn't General Zhang go to explore the mountain roads? I heard that the results have been obtained, so you might as well ask him."
Dou Jiande was overjoyed and looked at Zhang Qingte.
Zhang Qingte secretly complained, and had no choice but to go out and say: "Your Majesty, although there is a small road that can lead directly to the back of Hulao Pass, it is rugged and dangerous, making it difficult for the army to pass."
"What's worse is that after the inspection horse reported, the Tang army was also heavily guarded at Houguan and patrolled day and night. As a result, a small number of our army's elite soldiers sneaked into Houguan, and it was difficult for us to successfully launch a surprise attack."
Dou Jiande was immediately discouraged. At this time, he already regretted not listening to Ling Jing's words and wasting half a month of precious time.
If you change your mind now, one of you will not look good, and the other two may not have a chance.
In the past few days, he had received several waves of emissaries sent by Wang Shichong to ask for help, and he knew that a terrible famine had broken out in Luoyang City.
Not to mention civilians, even the army has run out of food, and many people starve to death every day.
Even Wang Shichong began to eat hungry and satiated.
The reason why Luoyang is still hanging on is because it relies on one breath, and this breath is his hundreds of thousands of reinforcements outside Hulao Pass.
Therefore, he could not move to the east of Hedong, otherwise Wang Shichong would surrender in despair.
Just when Dou Jiande was in a state of confusion and hesitation, suddenly, a scout horse came in hurriedly: "Your Majesty, the Tang army has made a move."
When Dou Jiande heard this, he was overjoyed: Has this bastard finally shown up after a thousand years? He quickly said: "Say it quickly."
"Early in the morning, the Tang army drove more than a thousand war horses and transported them in warships to the sandbanks in the river for grazing. They also sent people across the river to explore Guangwu."
Ling Jing's eyes lit up. He seemed to have discovered a loophole in the Tang army!
"Your Majesty," Ling Jing came out and said excitedly: "The Tang army is probably short of fodder! Guangwu is also a famous pasture."
"Lack of fodder?" Dou Jiande touched his chin thoughtfully.
You know, it is not easy to raise a war horse well. In addition to fodder, you also need to feed it soybean meal, even eggs and other refined grains.
If any one of them is missing, the war horse will lose a lot of fat, will soon be useless, and will no longer be able to charge into the formation.
"Yes." Ling Jing's eyes were excited: "Hulao Pass is an important place. There will definitely be no shortage of food, but there will definitely not be much fodder reserves."
"Because originally, the Zheng army in Guanzhong only had a thousand cavalry, and it was useless to store more."
"But later, Li Shiji's troops stormed in, and I heard that there were at least three thousand cavalry among them!"
"Immediately afterwards, Li Shimin led another 4,000 men, including Xuanjia soldiers, to come to the rescue. I heard that they were still riding two horses per man. You can do some calculations. How many war horses does the Tang army have in Hulao Pass?"
"Twelve thousand horses!" Kong Desao responded quickly.
Upon hearing such a large number, there was a gasp in the tent. Although Xia's army numbered more than 100,000 people, they only had 20,000 horses!
"That's right." Ling Jing laughed: "The number of war horses has increased by more than ten times, and the forage in Guanzhong must be quickly exhausted. In order to maintain horse power, the Tang army can only go out to herd horses, otherwise, these war horses will soon be useless!"
"According to some estimates, these more than a thousand war horses are just the beginning. Later, the Tang army will definitely drive more and more war horses out of the pass to graze."
"Your Majesty, our opportunity has come!"
"Ling Aiqing's plan will be revealed?" Dou Jiande was also excited: Have you finally waited for the opportunity?
"Your Majesty, let us sit patiently for two days while the Tang army drives more horses to Shazhou or even Guangwu on the north coast to graze."
"At that time, we will see the right opportunity, move forward by land and water, and make a posture of seizing the horse."
"When the Tang army saw this, they must have been in a panic. They could either sit back and watch us take the horse away, or they could only fight me and take the horse back."
"Your Majesty, as long as the Tang army is willing to come out, our army's strength will be several times that of ours, so why worry about being victorious?"
"Brilliant plan!" Dou Jiande applauded, and Long Yan said happily: "Ling Aiqing is truly an unparalleled talent. If this plan comes true, I will reward you heavily."
When Qi Shanxing heard this, his face turned as dark as the bottom of a pot.
Although he was very unconvinced, but in a hurry, there was no better plan, so he could only gnash his teeth and secretly get angry.
Many generals who usually stayed close to Qi Shanxing also applauded at this time.
They were not fools either. They all saw the danger of heavy troops under the fortified city. Seeing that they had a chance to defeat the enemy at this time, they didn't care whether Prime Minister Qi was unhappy or not.
"Very good," Dou Jiande said with great interest, "If you have no objections, this matter is settled. I want to see how long Li Shimin's kid can keep jumping around!"
At the same time, on the sandbar of the Yellow River.
This is a large sandbank, about 2,000 acres in size, long and winding. Although it is late autumn, there is still a lot of green grass.
Hundreds of black armored soldiers, driving more than a thousand war horses, grazed leisurely on the sandbank.
Li Shimin, Xia Yu, and Yu Chigong reined in their horses and stood up, looking at everything in front of them. The sky was high, the clouds were clear, and the fields were green. Their moods became better.
"Military advisor," suddenly, Yuchi Gong scratched his head: "Will your horse herding strategy work?"
Xia Yu smiled: "Why, Jingde doesn't have confidence in me?"
It is a fact that the Tang army was short of fodder, so in history, Li Shimin took advantage of the situation and lured Dou Jiande to reveal his flaw, and succeeded in one blow.
Now, it's just that Xia Yu brought it up first, how can there be any reason to fail!?
"no no."
Yuchi Gong waved his hand quickly: "I'm not worried that Dou Jiande won't be fooled, it's just, hey, I'm stupid, so I can't explain it."
Li Shimin laughed: "Let's talk alone. Jingde is worried that although the Xia army has been blunted for a long time and its energy has been greatly reduced, it is still a huge number. Even if it falls into the trap, our army has too few troops and we are not sure of winning with one blow, right?"
"
"Your Highness, I know you." Yu Chigong grinned: "I'm not afraid, it's just——"
"I understand." Xia Yu smiled and waved her hand: "Although our army has made all preparations, the number of enemy troops is dozens of times greater than mine. If you want to win, you have to have some luck."
"It's just that Jingde believes that there is a chosen one in this world?"
"Chosen son?" Yuchi Gong scratched his head. He, a big old man, was very unfamiliar with this new word from later generations and was not sure what it meant.
Li Shimin blinked, but seemed to have some realization.
Xia Yu explained: "The so-called 'chosen son' is someone who is determined by the fate of heaven and is destined to sweep the world and achieve great things."
"This kind of person is born with the aura of a king and a domineering person, and with good luck, he will always be auspicious in times of adversity and turn into good luck in times of adversity."
"Just like Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, when he was in Kunyang, meteorites rained from the sky, helping his eight thousand soldiers to defeat the new army of 400,000 people and achieve his imperial career."
"When I look at the world, I see the same kind of 'chosen son'."
"So, Liu Xiu can defeat 400,000 with 8,000, and our army has 4,000 with more than 100,000. What's the problem? Jingde, just keep your peace of mind."
"Hahaha!" Yuchi Gong was so happy when he heard it, he slapped his thigh and said: "The military advisor is still knowledgeable. I think your highness is worthy of this 'chosen son'."
Li Shimin was so happy that he didn't even notice.
Good guy, Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, was a hero of his generation, and he was blessed with real luck. He had the halo of being the protagonist all the way and was invincible.
Xia Yu compared him with Liu Xiu and said that he was also the "chosen son", which made Li Er feel as beautiful as drinking a big bowl of iced sour plum soup in the dog days of summer - so refreshing!
"Hahaha!" Li Shimin was happy and modest at the same time: "The military advisor said too much, too much. I dare not compare with a hero like Guangwu."
Li Shimin doesn't know yet, but he will do a great job in the future, especially Guangwu!
The rule of Zhenguan is famous throughout the ages!
However, Yu Chigong and even Li Shimin didn't react. There seemed to be something wrong with Xia Yu's comparison.
Li Ertong is not the head of a country now, not even the prince.
Xia Yu is now quietly planting grass in Li Er's heart.
But Li Shimin also had a strong desire in his subconscious. Even Yu Chigong felt that the position should belong to Li Shimin.
Therefore, neither of them felt anything was wrong.
Xia Yu secretly laughed in her heart, but just pretended to be stupid and didn't mention it.
"Okay, let the soldiers herd the horses and go back after eating and drinking in the afternoon. Tomorrow, the horses will be herded twice, and the day after tomorrow, twice as much."
"Let's see how long Dou Jiande can endure it."
Li Shimin's confidence increased greatly and he was very interested.
He was preparing to make a desperate move and bring out all the horses except the black armor soldiers and winged cavalry to seduce Dou Jiande.
Anyway, to defeat the enemy in the end, black armor soldiers and winged cavalry are enough.
