The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 333 Sui's Fatal Point Is Yang Tong

At the same time when Qin Qiong led the allied forces on Hubu Grassland and defeated Jieli Khan's 18 troops in Yemachuan, the South Route Army led by Wei Yunqi also won successive victories on the Zhangye battlefield. The army entered Zhangye County through Yanzhi Pass in Wuwei County. After conquering Minle City outside the pass, Wei Yunqi sent Xue Wanjun to capture Zendan County, and he personally led the army westward to occupy Zhangye County, and then joined forces to attack Liaoquan City.The army continued to advance westward, and defeated Li Gui's confidant Cao Zhen who was repairing the defense line in Lexi City at the northern foot of Kongtong Mountain.

At the same time, several support troops arrived in Fulu County one after another, broke through the city and beheaded An Xiuren, Li Gui's Minister of Civil Affairs, and the Jiayu Mountain Fortress was also breached by Su Dingfang. Su Dingfang led [-] cavalry to sweep the west of Zhangye. Mao was defeated all the way and withdrew to Yumen City in Dunhuang County.

Since then, Zhangye County has returned to the embrace of the Sui Dynasty, Wei Yunqi is quite excited, not because he cares about this little credit, but because Zhangye County is too important.

Zhangye County is the ruling center of the Sui Dynasty over the Western Regions. The reason why it became the center of the Sui Dynasty in the Western Regions is that it extends in all directions and its geographical location is very important. The Hexi Corridor under its jurisdiction is the only way for the Silk Road. Ruoshui can reach Juyanze in the north, which is an important road leading to the Mobei grassland. In the south, Dadouba Valley enters Hehuang Valley, and in the west, it enters Xihai County, which has been reoccupied by Tuyuhun.

On the other hand, Zhangye County was an important place for raising horses in the Sui Dynasty. At the peak of the Sui Dynasty, there were more than 70 war horses on the prairie around Zhangye and Wuwei.Li Tang and Xue Ju beat their lives to this piece of prairie that could raise a large number of war horses. Its recovery gave Sui another horse farm that could provide a large number of war horses besides Liaodong. It is firmly in the hands of Sui.

Jiayu Mountain, the west gate of Zhangye, is the gateway of Zhangye and the belly of the Henan Corridor. Occupying Jiayu Mountain also opened the door to attack Dunhuang. At this time, Li Gui was unable to retake Jiayu Mountain and was forced to retreat to Yumen City.

A day later, Wei Yunqi left Mai Mengcai and five thousand soldiers to guard Jiang Xingben and other craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry to survey the terrain, design barriers, and guard the rear and grain roads.He personally led [-] Sui troops out of the Jiayu Valley and marched towards Yumen City.

That night, they camped twenty miles away from Yumen City. At this time, a weak bonfire was lit in the open field of the entire camp.

After inspecting the camp, the head coach Wei Yunqi led the generals into the main tent of the Chinese army to discuss, "Next, we will discuss the next plan and the entire battle situation."

Everyone listened carefully.

The flames shone on Wei Yunqi's side face. Wei Yunqi, who got off the battlefield, was not as cold as on the battlefield, and looked very friendly.He went on to say: "Since the loss of Wuwei and the tens of thousands of troops, Li Gui has become ineffective. With Li Gui, Li Mao brothers and other mediocre people, the so-called Great Xiliang Kingdom will be broken in one battle. It's not difficult. This is the consensus of His Highness, and even everyone. However, His Highness still goes to war, why?"

When Wei Yunqi talked about what everyone was most puzzled about, they all looked at Wei Yunqi in surprise.

Seeing that everyone was listening carefully, Wei Yunqi said in a deep voice, "I have a lot of generals who can fight in the Sui Dynasty. Although it is not said that there are thousands of generals, there are more than a hundred generals, but they can command 10,000+, There are only a handful of generals in the battle with hundreds of thousands of troops. After counting this war one by one, we came to the conclusion that there are no generals available. This made His Royal Highness, who didn't want to go to the battle, have to go on his own. Generals, everyone's growth is a bit shocking. People are in a hurry."

Wei Yunqi and others didn't want it very much, and even disliked Yang Tong's act of wearing armor to go into battle, but the reality was very helpless.

Because of the anxious mood of the top management, the progress of the generals is like a turtle. This kind of pickiness is actually extremely unfair to the generals, but compared with Yang Tong's safety, what is this unfairness?
As Minister of the Ministry of War, Wei Yunqi was not only dissatisfied, but also under tremendous pressure.Taking advantage of this opportunity today, I want to motivate everyone, let everyone know their shame and be brave.

Wei Yunqi's good intentions caused all the generals to burn their faces, and they were too ashamed to lift their heads, so low that they almost touched the little... head in their crotch.

Fang Xuanling looked amused, and knew it was his turn to go out, coughed heavily, and after successfully attracting the attention of the generals, he asked the generals: "You generals, do you know what is the most fatal weakness of our Tai Sui? ?"

Su Dingfang, who had a fiery face, hesitated for a moment, and said cautiously, "Could it be from an aristocratic family?"

"wrong!"

"Wrong?" The generals were stunned. After many years of indoctrination by Yang Tong, everyone knew that all kinds of princes are not scary, but what is scary is the family behind them.But now, Fang Xuanling actually said that the aristocratic family was not the most deadly in the Sui Dynasty...

"If it's not an aristocratic family, what is it?" Niu Jinda asked everyone's common aspirations.

Fang Xuanling said with a serious face: "The biggest weakness and lifeline of our army is not the aristocratic family, but Your Highness."

"Your Highness?"

Niu Jinda looked at Fang Xuanling in surprise, and said puzzledly, "Your Highness is highly skilled in martial arts, proficient in the art of war, and accompanied by Luo Shixin and Yu Chigong. Looking at the world, who can touch His Highness? Why has His Highness become the biggest weakness of our army? "

"A qualified monarch should intimidate the center and have an overview of all directions, and should not charge into battle like a fierce general. Overlord Xiang Yu is martial arts for success and martial arts for defeat. He is the number one general in the world, and his martial arts skills are unmatched. But why was he defeated by Liu Bang? How about such people with poor martial arts and moral character retreating steadily and Wujiang committing suicide? Because what is needed to rule the world is strategies, means, and knowing how to use them well, rather than trying to turn things around with one's own power."

The pupils of all the generals shrank, and they all showed deep thought. Everyone felt that what Fang Xuanling said was very reasonable, but Xiang Yu was too attached to martial arts, and he was too far behind in employing people, managing troops, and managing politics. .

"His Royal Highness on the battlefield does have few opponents, but that's why His Highness always takes the lead in every battle." Fang Xuanling said sharply: "Have you ever thought that if the enemy sets a trap specifically for His Highness, If something goes wrong with His Majesty, the young Young Master has just been born and is not strong enough to lead everyone against the pack of wolves, then we will have no leader in the Sui Dynasty, and I am afraid that we will face the disaster of collapse."

The big tent of the Chinese army suddenly fell into a dead silence, and everyone showed a clear look.

"His Royal Highness is also aware of the importance of himself. Although he still leads the army, he rarely crosses the battlefield. This is something to be thankful and congratulate. However, the war changes rapidly, and it is very dangerous after all. Yang Pushe, Wei Shangshu and I, They don't even want to see His Highness go to war in person. But the world is always unpredictable, and wars will always come unexpectedly. With no one available, His Highness has to take risks. In short, Wei Shangshu's request to everyone is as important as His Highness is. No matter how high you are, I hope that everyone will practice and study hard in the future, so as to relieve His Highness' worries as soon as possible."

Everyone was very ashamed when they heard it, and then they all nodded with understanding, the complacency and impetuosity after victory were lost in their expressions, and there was a little more calm temperament.

Seeing that Fang Xuanling convinced the generals, Wei Yunqi immediately smiled with satisfaction. After this time of ideological rectification, he believes that these generals with unlimited potential will grow up quickly and continue to play the role of black faces: "This time His Highness mobilized everyone to join the battle. The purpose is not to be Li Gui, who is like a dry bone in the tomb, but to temper everyone and give everyone growth experience, so that you can go through battle after battle and transform from a famous general to a famous commander who commands thousands of troops. I hope everyone will always remember His Highness's good intentions and never forget to improve their military literacy. Only in this way can they be worthy of His Highness's kindness, do you understand?"

"Understood!" The generals responded loudly with admiration and guilt.

"Report!" At this time, a guard hurried over and said loudly, "Report to Commander, several spies from the Liang Kingdom have been caught."

"Bring it up!"

"Here!"

Xi Zuo was indeed Li Gui's man, who was ordered to seek help from Ye Hu, the governor of the Western Turks, but was caught on the way back.

At this time, a soldier handed a letter to Wei Yunqi: "Commander, this was found from a spy. It seems to be a reply letter written by Tong Yehu Khan to Li Gui."

Wei Yunqi took it out and read it again. It was indeed Tong Yehu's reply to Li Gui. He expressed his attitude of sending troops to aid the Western Turks, but hoped that Li Gui would last for half a month. Wei Yunqi asked for a while, and then asked The man brought down Xi Zuo.

"Western Turkic has 25 soldiers, and His Highness is under a lot of pressure. I want to end the war in the shortest possible time, and then try to reduce the pressure on His Highness." Wei Yunqi raised the letter in his hand and addressed the generals. Said: "Tell me, how to use this letter to make a fuss."

"Commander! I have a suggestion at the end." Su Dingfang cupped his hands.

"you say!"

"If we want to end the battle quickly, the way is to wipe out Li Gui's family. The Western Turk's reply fell into our hands, but Li Gui didn't know it. This is our greatest opportunity." Su Dingfang suggested:
"In addition to the regular army, our army also has tens of thousands of Turkic people who can be pretended to be soldiers of the Western Turks. In order to confuse Li Mao in Yumen City, our army can even retreat to Wuwei County and give Li Mao a big Turkic attack." Invaders, the illusion that our army is afraid of war, wait for Li Mao to open the city to welcome, the 'reinforcement' will attack again, and occupy Yumen City in one fell swoop."

Wei Yunqi secretly agreed that Su Dingfang's ideas coincided with his own, he was able to think of a countermeasure in an instant, and he was indeed the general that His Highness thought had the most potential.

"And then?" Wei Yunqi did not express his opinion.

"I wrote a letter to Li Gui in Jinchang City in the tone of Li Mao, saying that Tong Yehu defeated His Highness and personally led the army to help. He will definitely come from Jinchang to thank him. At this time, our army beat him on the way. Ambush, catch them all."

Wei Yunqi asked, "What if Li Gui isn't fooled?"

Su Dingfang smiled and said: "If Li Gui is not fooled, he will attack with a thunderous force. Anyway, our army plans to attack by force. And this letter is just another opportunity for us to defeat the enemy. Don't rely too much on it. The most important thing is It is necessary to end the battle as soon as possible, support His Highness, or relieve His Highness's pressure from the side."

"Well said!" Hearing these words, Wei Yunqi's eyes flashed with admiration.

In the hands of famous generals and marshals, his pawns are pawns. Under his fiddle, he will defeat his opponents with various unpredictable tactics.As a famous general, one must have the psychological quality of breaking when he decides, killing when he kills, and sacrificing when he sacrifices, without any hesitation.

For the Sui Dynasty, Yang Tong's safety was above all else, not to mention 10 people, even if he sacrificed a million people, he would not hesitate to sacrifice one million people. Having this kind of ruthless heart to sacrifice millions of people is also the basic quality of a famous general.

Wei Yunqi was very satisfied with Su Dingfang's answer that he wanted to conquer Li Gui at all costs and relieve Yang Tong's pressure. He seemed to see a rising star.

(End of this chapter)