The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 285
After one night, in the official residence of Hualong County, Xiping County, Hou Junji, who was burnt and bald, knelt on the ground with blood bubbles all over his face. Li Shimin sat on the main seat, his face was livid, and his burly body was trembling slightly. , Wen Wu below also looked shocked, and some people even showed a hint of fear on their faces.

The [-] elite Tang troops were wiped out by a fire in Bayan Valley, and the general Hou Junji was also burned into a ghostly appearance, with countless arrow holes on his body soaked in blood. Such a miserable appearance shows the tragedy of the time. Everyone knew that Hou Junji had saved his life before the gate of hell.

It's just that this battle destroyed nearly [-]% of Tang Jun's strength.

"What a treacherous Yang Yu, who actually destroyed my 1 troops in a big fire. If I don't take revenge, I, Li Shimin, will not be a human being." After listening to Hou Junji's report, Li Shimin kicked the desk in front of him angrily. Turning around, with a deep distressed look on his face, the entire [-] elite army was gone, and among them, there were more than [-] precious war horses.

"The last general owed His Royal Highness a great trust, and he lost the [-] elites of Tang Dynasty. He should have committed suicide and apologized! But in order to let His Highness know that the Sui army was attacking, the last general has survived till now! I implore Your Highness to give the guilty general a death penalty." Hou Jun's pupils gathered. Shrinking back, he raised his saber high above his head, with unconcealable hatred and unwillingness in his eyes!

"Junji, stop talking!" Li Shimin waved his hand violently, stopped Hou Junji, let out a long breath, and said in a deep voice: "It's my fault, I don't understand the military situation, I think I'm right...caused Junji I was the one who killed the [-] troops of the Tang Dynasty because of the treachery of the Sui Army, and it is my responsibility as the commander to investigate it, and it has nothing to do with Junji...Come here and help Junji's military doctor treat the wound."

I have to say that Li Shimin's arrogance to take on everything is really admirable.

"Sinner Hou Junji, thank Your Highness for your innocence!" Hou Junji kowtowed heavily, his eyes showing deep gratitude. Speaking of which, he was indeed defeated unjustly, but the [-]-strong army After all, it was lost in his hands. As the chief general, he has an unshirkable responsibility, but now, Li Shimin has taken all the blame for his crimes, how can Hou Junji not be grateful?

"Heal your wounds! Don't think too much." Li Shimin comforted him gently.

"Here!" Hou Junji relaxed in one breath. He lost too much blood, only felt dizzy, fell heavily to the ground, and finally was carried down by several guards.

Li Shimin managed to regain his composure, and scanned all the civil and military personnel with sharp eyes, and finally stared fiercely at a pale and trembling general, and said coldly: "Pan Ren's scout battalion in charge of intelligence is weak. , Inaction, only [-] elites were buried in the sea of ​​flames, if Junji hadn't reciprocated desperately, we would have been kept in the dark! Someone, show Pan Renxiao the first."

"Here!"

Several guards stepped forward quickly and escorted the paralyzed Pan Ren out. Not a moment later, there was a scream from outside.

"Dai Zhou! I appoint you as the head of the scout battalion! Immediately spread scouts to find out the movements of the Sui army." Li Shimin issued the appointment.

"Here!" A general hurried away.

"The Sui army obviously entered Xiping from Wuwei County, took advantage of our unpreparedness to hit Huangshui, and then caught Junji by surprise." Li Shimin is a person who can afford it and let it go, and will not pursue what has happened.

"That's right, the Sui army is insidious and cunning, and it's their usual tactic to take advantage of it from behind." Yin Kaishan smiled wryly, and then said: "The imperial court decided to use troops against Yongbei. The Sui army killed them before the troops were reorganized. A military operation that had been planned for a long time. There were no internal worries in the Sui Dynasty, and there was no external aggression. It was very likely that we would have a decisive battle with the Tang Dynasty. The humble official thought that His Highness’s first task was to warn Guanzhong, and then recalled General Chai Shao from the West Sea. Concentrate the field soldiers to deal with the unknown number of Sui troops. In addition, Xiangwu County in Longxi is an important food area for our army, and we must send a large army to sit in the town. Once Xiangwu falls, our army will be defeated."

"Sir, what you said is very true!" Li Shimin followed the instructions one by one.

At this time, Li Shimin saw that Liang Luoren was about to say something, and said with a smile: "We are a family now, General Liang has something to say, but it doesn't matter."

"Here!"

Liang Luoren plucked up his courage and said: "His Royal Highness, Hualong County is already dilapidated, there is no food left, and the defense equipment is exhausted. If the Sui army comes to attack massively, or besieged in groups, what should our army do?"

The faces of all the generals turned pale immediately, and they looked at Li Shimin worriedly.

Li Shimin stood up suddenly. Liang Luoren's words reminded him of the current situation in Hualong City. He was so surprised that his voice changed, and he said decisively: "Quickly, order Chai Shao and the Tuntian Army of Piaohe County to quickly withdraw to Shuichi County! Evacuate east immediately."

Li Shimin almost vomited blood. This order means that the two counties of Xiping and Piaohe were given to the Sui army for nothing, but these two counties have no food to defend. The army fought a large-scale decisive battle, and the logistics base of Longxi, which was far away from the army, had only [-] defenders. If the Sui Dynasty attacked Longxi from Huining County, it would be all over.

Li Shimin is different from his father Li Yuan. He is a pragmatic person who does not blindly regard land as the most important thing. He has a pragmatic thought of "if people lose land, all people will survive; if land is lost, all land will be lost".
"Just throw away Xiping and Shuhe?" Liu Hongji regretted.

"If you are willing to give up, you will gain if you are willing. Only when the army is there, we in Datang will have the opportunity to recover the entire Yongbei. Tactics can't care about the gains and losses of a city or a place. Keeping our army's vitality is the kingly way." Li Shimin sighed With a sound, he ordered with a fierce look: "Immediately order to go down, and the whole army will evacuate."

"Here!"

The crowd will leave quickly.

"General Liang, thanks to your reminder, our army has been spared more losses! I will definitely report your contribution to the emperor." Li Shimin said warmly to Liang Luoren.

"Thank you, Your Highness!"

Liang Luoren saluted. Although his suggestion contained evil intentions, he admired Li Shimin's decision very much.Abandoning the city that one has worked so hard to build is easy to say, but it is not something ordinary people make up their minds, because giving up means that all previous efforts will be in vain.

Less than half an hour into the march, a scout reported urgently: "Your Highness, there is urgent news from the Jincheng defenders. Li Jing led an army of [-] cavalry to attack Hualong, which is less than a hundred miles away; Duan Decao, the governor of Wuwei County, took [-] troops After entering Longzhi County in Fanghan, Xue Wanjun, governor of Huining County, has an army of [-] soldiers who have captured Jincheng County and are heading to Didao County."

Li Shimin and others gasped, the Sui army came too fast, and the three armies all took the trend of crushing, making Jincheng and Fanghan defenseless.

"Hurry up, quickly divert to Lintao, and order the Huahan, Jincheng defenders, and Tuntian troops to retreat to Longxi County and stand firm."

The Sui army's [-] cavalry were already hundreds of miles away. According to their speed, it would take less than half a day to catch up with the infantry-based Tang army. Leaving aside the sundries and luggage, they fled south in panic.

"Hurry up, quickly divert to Lintao, and order the Huahan, Jincheng defenders, and Tuntian troops to retreat to Longxi County and stand firm."

The order to retreat was passed on quickly.

……

"Really withdrew."

At the foot of Bayan Mountain, eighty miles away from Hualong County, Li Jing was shocked when he received the news that Li Shimin had left Xiping and abandoned the three counties of Jiaohe, Jincheng, and Fanghan.

"Yes, Governor Li! The two eunuchs, Duan and Xue, sent out a letter one after another, saying that all the defenders of Juhan County and Jincheng County were retreating to Longxi. Li Shimin, Chai Shao, and Dou Kang put down their previous missions and sent Heading towards Lintao quickly, now the four gates of Hualong City are wide open." A guard reported excitedly.

"Has anyone entered the city to see, is there an ambush in the city?" Xie Yingdeng, who was beside Li Jing, asked suspiciously. The development of the matter was so fast that he couldn't believe it.

"I took people to check it carefully three times, and it was indeed withdrawn, but they took all the food away without leaving a single grain."

"This is the way to cut off our army's pursuit!" Li Jing understood Li Shimin's intentions, and then praised: "Li Shimin knows that Liangzhou has no food and no people, and if he defends for a long time, he will lose, so he simply adopted the method of a strong man cutting off his wrists, and then exchanged the empty city for land. With vitality, this decisiveness, this courage, not everyone can make a decision, it's amazing, it's really amazing. No wonder His Highness often said that Li Shimin is my biggest enemy in the Sui Dynasty. Li Yuan gave birth to an amazing son."

"Captain, the last general begs for orders, and is willing to lead the troops to pursue." Cheng Yaojin looked at Li Jing expectantly.

Li Jing ignored Cheng Yaojin, frowned slightly, and said, "Li Shimin's logistics base is in Longxi. If I guessed right, he changed his way to Lintao to avoid our army, and his final goal was Longxi County. Immediately report to him. Xue Wanjun sent a letter to Ying, handing over Jincheng to General Duan Decao to take it back, and let him command all the Turkic slaves, and when Li Shimin arrives, he will capture Longxi County for me."

"Here!"

Soon, an eagle soared into the sky.

"Captain, what about us? What should we do?" Cheng Yaojin asked again.

A dangerous and ruthless glint flashed in Li Jing's eyes, and he said viciously: "Give me an order, the army will go after Li Shimin with all its strength, give full play to the advantages of the cavalry, and let the Tang army have a taste of the tactics of the prairie people."

For their own selfishness and the benefit of the family, the Li family colluded with the Turks again and again. They did not have the slightest national righteousness in their hearts, and they did not care about the life and death of the people in the Central Plains. What they had was only the great cause of their Li family.Back then, if the Sui Dynasty hadn't killed Shibi Khan and hundreds of thousands of troops going south in Mayi, millions of people in Bingzhou would have been reduced to the meat of the Turkic cavalry.Therefore, everyone in the Sui Dynasty hated Li Tang, a selfish and puppet court.Now, Li Jing decided to use grassland tactics to give Li Shimin a long memory. Only after tasting it, these sinister people will know the pain of the people, and will leave the deepest impression and the deepest pain.

"Here!"

All the generals responded with a bang.The [-] cavalry followed the Tang army in the direction in which they were fleeing.

(End of this chapter)