Traveling through the early Tang Dynasty starts with hanging

Chapter 119
This is a rare good weather. Although there is still a chilly breeze blowing by, the high sun brings the long-lost warmth to the earth.

The lazy Li Shan sat on a rock basking in the sun without any manners, with his legs spread apart, wishing to split his fork.

It was already the second day to go south from the north of Liting. There were no wounded soldiers, and the speed was much faster. Although Su's mother was still far from recovering from her injury, Su Dingfang insisted on taking it with her personally. For a period of time, Li Shan and Zhou checked the injury, and the condition was not bad.

Therefore, Li Shan has had a hard time these few days... Before going south, the speed was not fast, Li Shan could barely keep up, but when the speed increased, the inner thigh was bloody again, and now he had to be helped to get on and off the horse.

Guo Pu sat on the side, and said with a smile: "How can a cocoon be worn out in a month, at least half a year."

Li Shan sighed, and Ling Bo sneered...Yesterday Li Shan had a whim and spread a quilt on the saddle. If Guo Pu hadn't been quick, Li Shan would have fallen to his death.

"The front is Yongji County." Zhang Wenguan pointed to the front, "After passing Yongji County, you will enter the territory of Weizhou, which is only a few dozen miles away from Guantao."

Li Shan gave Zhou Zhao an appreciative look, and kicked Zhou Zhao beside him, "Are you also a Beizhou native?"

Zhou Zhao patted his shirt expressionlessly, and moved away a few steps in disgust.

Zhang Xuansu pointed to the west side, "That is Yongji Canal."

Li Shan couldn't help standing up and looking at it. The Yongji Canal was an important part of the Sui and Tang Dynasties so-called by Emperor Sui Yang. However, unlike other rivers, the main function of the Yongji Canal was to transport military supplies...it was the main traffic artery for the Sui Dynasty to use troops to Liaodong. .

If there was no Yongji Canal, history might not have been like this... The capital of Beijing in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the capital and the northeast defense line were maintained by water transportation, mainly because of the north-south canal, and Yongji Canal is the most critical section.

Zhang Xuansu said softly: "In the fourth year of Daye, Emperor Sui ordered more than one million people in Hebei counties to open Yongji Canal to divert Qinshui River to Yuhe in the south and Zhuojun in the north."

"In the past few years, Shandong has fought year after year, and there is no such thing as a hundred boats competing for the stream or a thousand sails racing."

Li Shan looked at it intently for a while, then suddenly asked: "If there are enemies coming from the west...is there a bridge in Yongji Canal?"

Zhang Wenguan raised his voice and said, "Of course there is a bridge, but it's still far from here."

"Is there an enemy coming from the west?" Ling Bo stared at Li Shan.

Li Shan waved his hand, "Don't worry, further south is Yongji County, after Yongji County is Weizhou... Now Liu Heita must be attacking Luozhou..."

In the middle of speaking, under the glaring eyes of everyone, Li Shan shut up embarrassingly.

Zhang Wenguan looked around curiously, a little puzzled, he casually pointed to the tied up Turkic youth, "I heard from Mr. Zhou earlier that this person is of extraordinary status... won't there be any Turkic soldiers chasing him?"

"In Wucheng County, Fan Yuan asked about this person's whereabouts. Naturally, he has an extraordinary status." Li Shan thought for a while before saying, "However, Liu Heita should not let Turkic soldiers invade Beizhou."

"Think about it, if the Turkic people lost their temper and killed people in Qinghe, then Liu Heita must be pointed out by Wanfu."

"If Liu Heitai can break through Luozhou, he will definitely attack Xiangzhou and Weizhou. Then this Turkic man might come in handy."

After only a few words, the people around had dispersed. Zhou Zhaolian, who had injured his calf yesterday, was bouncing around, Zhang Xuansu and Ling Bo were walking fast, and even Guo Pu and Su Dingfang walked away while chatting.

"Uh...this is..."

Li Shanqian laughed a few times, and everyone almost covered their ears while running and shouting... I don’t listen, I don’t listen!
Does it mean that I didn't say anything because you didn't hear it when you walked away?

wrong!

It should be, does it mean that the Turks will come after me if I said it?

After resting for half an hour, the group set off again and passed Yongji County soon.

After all, they hadn't entered Weizhou yet, and everyone discussed non-stop. They entered Weizhou first, and before they had gone far, there were scouts flying back in front of them.

Fan Shiyi, who insisted on stepping forward to explore the road with his injuries, was quite happy, and he reined in his horse and shouted: "Director Wei Zhou leads the army and is stationed in front."

Long and short sighs sounded around, and the long journey was finally over.

Starting from Xiabo, he went through three prefectures, more than ten battles, big and small, and even the feat of attacking the enemy's camp at night and breaking the city... Li Shan thought in his heart, this is not a big or small legend.

The sound of horseshoes was getting closer and closer, Li Shan squinted his eyes to look closely, more than a hundred riders came galloping, the leader was wearing bright armor, tall and straight, with his helmet lifted, he was a middle-aged man with a broad face and a straight nose.

"Brother Tian!" Liu Jun stepped forward, he and Tian Liu'an were colleagues in the past, they both followed Li Shimin to attack Luoyang and also attacked Dou Jiande.

"Brother Liu." Tian Liu'an got off his horse, "Where is King Huaiyang?"

Liu Jun smiled miserably, "In the first battle of Xiabo, the king of Huaiyang led his fine cavalry to break through the formation. Shi Wanbao stood still and was trapped in a heavy siege. The king of Huaiyang ordered someone to lead his troops to the east and west by himself to break through the encirclement in two ways."

"Xiangxi..." Tian Liuan's cheeks moved, "Qi Shanxing led his troops to retreat south to Luozhou."

"Zhaozhou has long since fallen, and Xu Shanxing, the general manager of Beizhou, was defeated and died."

In other words, the chances of Li Daoxuan trying to escape from the siege are almost non-existent, and it has been several days. If he does, he should go to Luozhou and Weizhou.

Tian Liu'an sighed, he was from the Fourth Commander Army of Prince Qin's Mansion, he was quite familiar with Li Daoxuan, and knew very well how much King Qin valued him.

Looking at the queue, Tian Liuan frowned slightly. Although they were all cavalry, there were actually quite a few women and even children, "They are..."

"Oh, brother let's talk about it separately." Liu Jun introduced them one by one.

Zhang Xuansu, who joined the army as a recorder in Jingcheng, has been famous for a long time. Zhang Wenguan, a descendant of the Zhang family in Qinghe, has also heard of it. He returned to Beizhou and got acquainted with many generals of the Tang army.

"Su Dingfang?" Tian Liuan felt as if he had heard of this name somewhere.

"This is Mr. Jijiu Ling, the son of King Xia."

Tian Liu'an's face changed slightly, and he saluted and said, "After the first battle at Hulao Pass, His Royal Highness King Qin Zeng asked about the whereabouts of Mister."

After capturing Dou Jiande, Li Shimin interrogated the captives, and was startled into a cold sweat by Ling Jing's suggestion.

Ling Bo still had the same temper, "Does the King of Qin want to kill them all?"

"I'm joking, sir, your highness has heard about it for a long time."

Zhang Xuansu smoothed things over and said: "Shandong Lingjing is always ambitious and resourceful, such a character, the King of Qin will not accept him as his disciple, but will kill him all?"

Uncle Ling wanted to retort, but Li Shan behind him coughed twice, and the old man stopped his mouth angrily.

Tian Liuan's eyes fell on Li Shan, but Zhang Xuansu in front of him whispered: "How is the battle in Luozhou?"

Tian Liu'an took a few steps to the side, Su Dingfang and Ling Bo both paced in the opposite direction, avoiding them.

"The Xiabo army was defeated, and Qi Shanxing, the governor of Xingzhou, led the army and retreated to Luozhou."

"Yesterday's military newspaper reported that Liu Heita stormed Luozhou, and the king of Lujiang County summoned the general manager of Xiangzhou to go north, and the soldiers were defeated and died."

After a pause, Tian Liu'an continued, "Today's battle report shows that the King of Lujiang County abandoned the city and could not escape. Qi Shanxing gathered his army and retreated south."

The faces of Zhang Xuansu and Liu Jun changed drastically. The capture of Luozhou was of great significance to Liu Heitai. It represented a banner, and it also meant that Hebei and Shandong would no longer be the land of Li and Tang.

"Let's retreat, cross the river and go to Shandong Road." Zhang Xuansu suggested: "Liu Heita's soldiers are sharp, and he also has tens of thousands of Turkic cavalry,..."

"Never back!" Zhang Wenguan blushed.

"King Qi led the army to stand still, watching with cold eyes, Weizhou and Xiangzhou could not support alone." Zhang Xuansu said sharply: "Could it be possible that the Tang army in the three states will be wiped out?"

"If you don't retreat today, how can you make a comeback in the future?!"

"It's a cold winter, and the Turks will definitely return to the north..."

The two argued endlessly, Tian Liu'an also hesitated, and turned to look at Liu Jun.

Liu Jun thought for a while, then said in a low voice: "Just now there is another person who has not been recommended by brother Tian, ​​although this person has not been crowned, he is indeed a hero, my younger brother will not escape being chased by the enemy, he should have died, but he got his help. "

"who?"

Liu Jun leads Tian Liuan towards Li Shan.

Tian Liu'an was a little surprised. As the manager of Weizhou, Liu Jun introduced him, but he didn't bring people over, but himself... I don't know whether Liu Jun did it on purpose or not.

His footsteps paused slightly, Tian Liuan suddenly noticed that the arguing voices behind him disappeared, he turned his head and looked, and Zhang Xuansu and Zhang Wenguan unexpectedly followed.

What does this represent?
"Li Shan, a native of Chengji in Longxi, hit it off with the King of Huaiyang at Xiabo that day, and once urged His Highness not to fight, but unfortunately..."

Li Shanxing saluted, "The right time, right place and harmonious people, brother Daoxuan didn't get one, he attacked rashly, and was defeated in the end, this should be heartbroken, how can we boast about it?"

Tian Liu'an's expression eased, he nodded and said: "Today's Hebei Road, Weizhou, and the north of Xiangzhou have all fallen..."

Liu Jun murmured a few words in his ear, Li Shan did not change his face, "I will follow King Qi to the south to Shandong Road, then escort the grain and grass to Xingzhou, and go east to Xiabo to meet brother Daoxuan."

Tian Liu'an frowned, he came with King Qi.

Li Shan didn't say much, just reached out and took out two letters and handed them over.

One was written by Master Li Ke, and the other was written by Fang Xuanling.

Although Master Li's status in Prince Qin's mansion is not very high, he was born in the Danyang family of the Li family in Longxi. His brother Li Jing is pacifying the south of the Yangtze River, and Master Li's wife is the Changsun family, the cousin of Princess Qin.

Needless to say, Fang Xuanling is the first-class confidant of the King of Qin. The most important thing is that Tian Liuan and Li Junxian voted for the Tang Dynasty in the second year of Wude, and they were recommended by Fang Xuanling to enter the Qin Palace.

After reading the two letters, Tian Liuan's attitude took a 180-degree turn, "To be praised by His Highness and recommended by Mr. Fang, he must be a hero."

Only then did Li Shan get to the point, "The next battle report must have already entered Chang'an. Do you think that the sage will order King Qin to attack Hebei again?"

Tian Liu'an hesitated for a while, "Liu Heita's army is sharp and unstoppable, sweeping Hebei, if it is not the king of Qin who leads the army, who else?"

"It will definitely not be the King of Qin leading the army." Li Shan looked indifferent, "Even if the whole of Hebei is lost, it is difficult for the King of Qin to leave Beijing!"

"East Palace?"

"Not only the East Palace, but also saints." Li Shan's words were unscrupulous, "Now there are still Xiangzhou, Weizhou, and Weizhou in Hebei Road. Chief Qi went to Xiangzhou south, Chief Tian guarded Weizhou, and Cheng Mingzhen guarded Zhou. Two of them were from In Qin Wangfu, Cheng Mingzhen also served under Qin Wang's command at the beginning of the year."

Li Shan stared into Tian Liu'an's eyes, "Qi Wang Yuexu stopped moving forward, and now he will not lead troops northward."

"That……"

"East Palace intends to personally conquer Hebei." Li Shan, who had read the answer, said decisively: "East Palace has been spying on Shandong for a long time. The King of Qi led his army south to the Eastern Shaanxi Road. The crown prince Xima Wei Xuancheng came with the army to inquire about the military situation."

"but……"

Li Shan ignored Zhang Xuansu's interjection, and interrupted: "If it wasn't for the Eastern Palace's personal conquest, who else can suppress King Qin?"

"In half a month, it will be cold winter, and the Turkic people will inevitably return to the north. Liu Heita is a dead snake."

"If we withdraw south and cross the river at this time, and let Liu Heita occupy Weizhou, the East Palace will surely be happy, and the King of Qin will definitely decline."

Tian Liu'an said in a daze: "That's true... King Huaiyang was defeated, Qi Shanxing abandoned Xingzhou, if a certain crossed the south of the river and withdrew..."

Zhang Xuansu on the side opened his mouth to speak, but after thinking about it, he closed his mouth.

It sounds a bit unbelievable, you said it would be difficult for the King of Qin to attack Hebei again, which is quite reasonable... But why do you think that the East Palace will conquer Hebei?

But following Li Shan's analysis, Zhang Xuansu began to be dubious.

Indeed, the Hebei Road Army Chief was defeated, and if he dispatched troops from the pass, the only one who could hold King Qin down was the crown prince... The sage never left Jingzhao after the founding of the country.

There is a reason why everyone knows it well but can't say it out loud. Li Tang established the country and fought in all directions, basically with the sons of the clan as commanders. This is also the reason why Li Daoxuan was able to command the Hebei Tang army.

But Li Xiaogong was still in Jiangnan, Li Shentong was defeated by Dou Jiande and Liu Heita several times in Hebei, Li Daozong was Li Shimin's direct descendant, and even Li Shentong was biased towards King Qin.

Under such circumstances, only the Crown Prince himself can suppress the lineage of the King of Qin. You can't count on Li Yuan, the king of Lujiang County who fled after abandoning Luozhou, right?

In the final analysis, the Hebei battlefield is the battlefield between Tang Jun and Liu Heitai, and it is also the battlefield between the East Palace and Prince Qin's Mansion...the proportion of the latter is even heavier.

Li Shan almost broke the matter and talked about it, Tian Liu'an finally made up his mind to stick to Weizhou.

As long as you don't run away, it's fine... Li Shan finally felt relieved.

Li Shan had a rough plan before going out, and in the end he chose to push Li Dewu into the East Palace, but now he doesn't know if he succeeded.

The second is the Prince Qin's Mansion. Even if Li Shan cannot enter the Prince Qin's Mansion, he still has to be protected by the King of Qin... It's not that he wants to lick Li Er, it's all linked together.

Pei Ji was originally inclined to the East Palace, Pei Shiju was originally Prince Zhan's affairs, and Li Shan tried to push Li Dewu into the East Palace...The only one who can protect him is the King of Qin.

But now Li Daoxuan was defeated in Xiabo, and he was likely to die... But Li Shan left Xiabo early after asserting that Li Daoxuan would be defeated. Li Shimin's attitude is hard to say.

You have already run for the first time, so you can't run for the second time... Li Shan thought in his heart, and he didn't know how many points he could get back by persuading Tian Liuan to stick to Weizhou.

At this moment, the desolate horn sounded faintly, and Su Dingfang's expression changed drastically, "The Turkic people are coming!"

Except for Tian Liuan and Zhang Wenguan, everyone's eyes were on Li Shan.

It seems that during the break just now, you asserted that the Turks will definitely not appear in Beizhou? !
Li Shan's face turned blue and pale, he was a little desperate, and the trust he had built up with great difficulty disappeared in an instant.

(End of this chapter)