The Tang army drove more than 2,000 war horses to graze on the sandbanks in the river, twice as many as the previous day.
November 26th.
The Tang army increased their efforts again, not only filling the sandbar with horses, but also mobilized Huang Junhan's navy to help transport some horses to Guangwu Pasture on the north bank of the Yellow River for grazing.
The total number of herding horses reached more than 4,000.
November 27th.
The Tang army continued to maintain a daily grazing quantity of more than 4,000 horses, which seemed to be a regular practice.
That afternoon.
In Xia Jun's imperial tent, Dou Jiande summoned all the civil and military officials to discuss the matter. Seeing that the opportunity had really come, he was ready to take action.
"My dear friends," Dou Jiande said excitedly: "The Tang army is really short of fodder. Every day they take turns driving a large number of war horses out to graze."
"Ling Aiqing, in your opinion, is it okay to take action?"
Ling Jing thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty, the number of horses herded by the Tang Army has been maintained at more than 4,000 horses in the past two days, which seems to be a rule."
"In this case, we don't have to wait any longer. We can start tomorrow!"
"Very good." Dou Jiande was overjoyed. At the critical moment, he felt that Ling Jing was more reliable, so he asked: "Then how to deploy troops, does Ling Aiqing have any suggestions?"
Seeing that Dou Jiande was so open-minded, Ling Jing was very happy and finally overcame Qi Shanxing.
"Your Majesty, I think we can ask General Guo Shiheng to lead 10,000 naval troops to attack, so as to block the Yellow River and seize the horses."
"In this case, the Tang army will definitely be in a hurry and will go out in large numbers to assist its navy and seize the horses back."
"At this time, our army also used its main force to form a formation on the bank of Si River. As long as the Tang army dares to come out to respond, they will win."
Ling Jing said with a proud and confident face.
"Excellent!" Dou Jiande was very satisfied and turned to ask General Guo Shiheng of the Zheng Army: "General Guo, is your naval force usable?"
"Return to your majesty, I will be confident in the end."
"The navy of the Tang Army wanted to defend the river for hundreds of miles from Mengjin to Hulao. This time, up to 5,000 people came to help Li Shimin transport horses."
"Our army will win two against one!"
Guo Shiheng patted his chest and assured that although Zheng Jun was in dire straits and his morale was low, there would be no problem if two against one were to fight.
"General Guo," Ling Jing reminded hurriedly: "The point is not to win the battle, you just need to make a posture of seizing the horse and force the Tang Navy to transport the horse back quickly."
"Then, you harass all the way, forcing the Tang navy to ask for help, and just ask Li Shimin to come out to respond."
Guo Shiheng suddenly realized: "Ling Jijiu, I understand, this is just a show, the point is to catch the big fish Li Shimin, right?"
"Of course." Ling Jing laughed.
"No problem." Guo Shiheng felt there was no difficulty.
To defeat the Tang Navy, it might take a bloody battle and a lot of cost. If it was just threats and harassment, it would be easy.
If he couldn't do this well, Guo Shiheng could really buy a piece of tofu and kill him.
At this time, Qi Shanxing couldn't bear it anymore. When he saw everyone surrounding Ling Jing, he felt extremely unhappy and jealous.
"Dare you ask Ling Jijiu," he snorted coldly: "How did you know that Li Shimin would take risks?"
"If he can't come out, what will you do?"
When everyone heard this, they couldn't help but hesitate: Yes, even if the Tang army came out in full force, the Xia army was six times more numerous than the opponent!
With such a huge gap in military strength, would Li Shimin dare to come out?
Anyway, if it were them, they would probably feel frightened and have to hesitate again and again.
Ling Jing didn't show any weakness and immediately said tit for tat: "If Li Shimin is too afraid to come out and is willing to give up the four thousand horses, we will snatch them all."
"You must know that the Tang army also lacks horses. The biggest source is the 3,000 horses purchased every year from the Turks for large sums of money."
"I don't believe that Li Shimin wouldn't feel bad if he lost so much at once."
"Furthermore, there is a shortage of fodder in Hulao Pass. If the Tang army does not want all the remaining horses to be destroyed, sooner or later they will have to come out to graze again."
"When we rob it again, I won't believe that Li Shimin can remain indifferent."
"Of course." Wei Zheng immediately added: "If we can destroy the more than 10,000 good horses of the Tang army, it will also be greatly weakened."
"By then, even if we cannot save Wang Shichong, we can retreat safely."
"However, I think that Li Shimin is young and vigorous, and he is a well-known victorious general all over the world. He will not be so aggrieved."
Upon hearing this, all the civil and military officials nodded, feeling that this move had a great chance of winning.
Qi Shanxing's face turned red with anger, but he couldn't find enough reasons to refute.
"Very good." Dou Jiande also made up his mind: "I will use my main force tomorrow to have a showdown with Li Shimin, and we will definitely win!"
"promise."
All civil and military officials responded.
In the crowd, Xu Yuanlang and Meng Jiigong glanced at each other secretly, feeling a little uneasy in their hearts.
The secret envoy of the Tang Army only said that there was a way to defeat Dou Jiande and asked them to act accordingly and cooperate, but he did not say any specific strategies.
Now, Xia Jun seems to have seized the opportunity first. Tang Jun will not lose, right?
After the meeting.
As soon as Xu Yuanlang returned to his military tent, Meng Jiong, who was following him, couldn't help but said: "Gong Lu (Xu is from Lu County, Lu Gong is the honorific title), what do you think of Ling Jing's plan?"
Xu Yuanlang looked worried: "Sure enough, there is nothing more sinister than a scholar. Ling Jing's strategy is very poisonous!"
"Then you say Tang Jun will not lose?"
Xu Yuanlang touched his chin. In terms of bravery, Meng Jiong was a little stronger than him, but in terms of brains, he was much stronger than him.
"I can't say for sure."
"Although Li Shimin is young, he has defeated Qu Tutong, Song Laosheng, Yin Shishi, Xue Ju, Liu Wuzhou and other heroes since he started his army. He can be said to be a god in using troops."
"Wang Shichong was also a hero of the time, but he was also defeated and his army was in danger."
"Do you think it's not that easy to deal with such a God of War figure?"
Suddenly, Xu Yuanlang's eyes lit up, and he seemed to have thought of something, and whispered: "Tell me, is this Tang Army's horse herding a trick?"
"You mean, Xia Jun was fooled instead?" Meng Jiigong was stunned.
"It's not impossible." Xu Yuanlang touched his chin with interest and reminded: "Don't forget, there is a genius beside Li Shimin!"
"Gong Lu refers to Xia Yu, the disciple of Guigu and known as the 'Fox of the Tang Dynasty'?" Meng Jiigong responded quickly.
"Exactly." Xu Yuanlang chuckled: "I heard that this person is so imaginative and unpredictable in his schemes. Wang Shichong is such a hero, but he was beaten to the point where he was unable to fight back."
"With the help of such a genius, it is not difficult to understand that he could set a trap for Xia Jun without leaving any trace, right?"
"Of course, the level is limited, everything is just speculation, but the specific inside story is not clear."
"Then what should we do?" Meng Jiigong's eyes darted around, and he couldn't help but have confidence in Tang Jun again, and whispered: "How about we send someone to inform Li Shimin of Xia Jun's plan?"
"No, we won't do anything." Xu Yuanlang smiled faintly.
"Do nothing?" Meng Jiong was a little stunned.
Xu Yuanlang said meaningfully: "Yes, do nothing. If Li Shimin is more skilled and the Xia army will be defeated, we will follow the trend and help the Tang army, and the credit will be great."
"But if Dou Jiande wins, we just have to work hard and follow the crowd, and we will still have merit."
"So, if you don't do it now, it's good. If you do it, there may be hidden dangers."
Meng Haigong's eyes lit up: Good fellow, this is another hedging of bets! He said excitedly: "Lu Gong is wise! This is very good."
Anyway, the Tang Army's emissary came to see them, but no one knew about it, and there was no paper evidence.
It’s so satisfying to eat everywhere with such a big mouth!
"Then it's settled. Tomorrow, you will look at a certain look and act accordingly." Xu Yuanlang looked proud, feeling that he was too smart.
"Okay, just listen to Mr. Lu." Meng Jiong slapped his thigh cheerfully.
Xu Yuanlang was very excited: "That's it. I'll let you order the food and drinks on the hour, and we brothers will have a nice drink tonight."
Meng Jiigong was stunned and reminded: "Dou Jiande does not allow the army to drink alcohol."
Xu Yuanlang couldn't help but sneer: "Look at your rat guts! This is our army, surrounded by confidants, what the hell are you afraid of?"
"Besides, haven't you seen Xia Jun's military discipline these days? That's it."
"Not to mention drinking, there are also people who secretly brought prostitutes into the army. Who else was reported? Who was punished?"
Meng Jiong was right when he heard it.
He is also a good drinker, so why can't he do what others can do? He immediately laughed and said, "Well, it's been killing me these past few days."
"That's right." Xu Yuanlang smiled heartily. If Dou Jiande didn't have many soldiers, he would be nothing in his eyes.
