The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 539 Detour Strategy
The setting sun slanted, and the afterglow of the setting sun sprinkled on the dome of the Chinese military tent, and the white tent gleamed with a touch of magnificent color.An inner tent used as an imperial study room was very quiet, the curtains had been drawn down halfway, and the sunset glow penetrated through the hollowed-out curtains, turning the whole room red.

Emperor Tang Li Yuan sat behind a royal table, like an old monk in meditation, no one knows how long he has been sitting like this, an hour?Or, two hours?
He was annoyed by the news from Xiyang. On top of the imperial case, there was an urgent report from Xiyang. It was the news that Li Shimin and Zhang Shigui, the guard of Waiwu Pass, retreated without a fight and were defeated by the Sui army.

The former, shocked him!But I can bear it.The news that Li Shimin retreated without authorization made him furious.

The phrase "If you save people and lose land, all people and land will survive; if you save land and lose people, all people and land will be lost." This sentence naturally did not exist in the Sui Dynasty, but it did not hinder people's understanding of the truth.After weighing the pros and cons, Li Shimin's resolute abandonment of Zhuyangguan and Waiwuguan is the best practice of this sentence. If Li Shimin fights all people where he shouldn't fight, everything will be over.For Li Shimin's decisiveness this time, even Yang Tong, who is an enemy, had to praise again and again, but Li Yuan didn't think so.

Li Shimin's decisive retreat made Li Yuan feel that the emperor's authority had been challenged.He has always believed that all the troops are his troops, and he has the right to know everything and decide everything. This is why the imperial court makes deployments on the map and hand them over to the generals in front. If the generals want to make strategic adjustments, they have to report to the imperial court. Weird military policy.

Military power is undoubtedly Li Yuan's opponent. The eldest son Li Jiancheng only slightly mentioned that "the imperial court interfered too much in the military", and he was moved by Yi Chu's thoughts, but the second son Li Shimin dared to offend him openly. Li Yuan was furious and murderous.

The breeding of murderous intentions against Li Shimin is not only an issue of military power, but also a series of failures that made Li Yuan extremely anxious.

The fall of Henan, Hongnong, Xiangcheng, and Fuyang, Li Yuan was only regretful and lost, because these places were not his in the first place, and they did not threaten the safety of Xiangyang and Nanyang, while the fall of Xiyang and the northern half of Nanyang, It was as if a sharp sword was in his heart, making Li Shimin's logical retreat to him become an act of preserving the Jin royal family and disregarding the righteousness of the country.Li Shimin's decision to retreat without authorization caused the Tang army at Zhuyangguan to fall into chaos. Otherwise, Zhuyangguan would not have fallen. In other words, the current predicament was caused by Li Shimin's unauthorized withdrawal of troops.

. . . . . . .

And outside the big tent of the Chinese army, Li Shimin was kneeling upright!

After setting up defenses in Xiyang, he came to plead guilty overnight under the escort of the Red Armored Army, but his father ignored his pleadings. He has been kneeling since morning until now, running for a day and a night, dripping water. Mi didn't eat his stomach, and his whole body was shaking.

"Second brother, get up, you need a good rest, if you go on like this, you won't be able to hold on." His eyes dimmed, but his eldest brother Li Jiancheng appeared in front of him again, Li Jiancheng ignored Li Shimin's resistance, and pulled him away Get up, press on a Mazza, and have a big bowl of sticky rice porridge served.

The fragrance of rice porridge made Li Shimin, who had been hungry for nearly two days, feel hungry. His heart sank, he took the big bowl, drank it all in one gulp, wiped his lips with his dirty sleeve, and felt more energetic.

"Thank you bro."

"No need!" Li Jiancheng waved his hand and sat on another Maza.

Li Shimin raised his head and asked, "Brother, do you think I did something wrong?"

"What's the difference between asking me and asking you?" After a long silence, Li Jiancheng smiled bitterly, and said ambiguously: "If you kill people where you shouldn't fight, everything will be over."

Li Shimin was taken aback for a moment, and then he sighed deeply.He knew that his elder brother actually agreed with his actions, but he was very wary of himself, so he said such vague words.

"As for the next step of my Great Tang, do you have any plans, big brother?"

"If you want me to say, it's better to move the capital to Bashu!" Li Jiancheng pondered for a while, and then said: "Bashu has a dangerous terrain, with vast and fertile land, and rich products. Now we own Bashu and most of Jingzhou, we can follow Liu Bei's example and guard the dangerous places. , to reconcile with the various ethnic groups in the west, and appease the barbarians in the south, unite with Li Mi externally, reform politics internally, first ensure stability in the rear, and when the time is ripe, send a general to send troops from Xiangyang to the area around Guiyang and Luoyang.”

"Brother's idea, younger brother can't agree with it!" Li Shimin shook his head and said: "First of all, we have more than 20 troops, and we are far from down to the point of moving the capital; Compared with Sun Quan, who has firmly established the foundation, if we retreat, Yang Tong will definitely deal with Li Mi with all his strength. Once Li Mi is wiped out, the next step will definitely be to attack Jingxiang and Bashu. We are in a corner and have no allies outside.

Li Jiancheng frowned and said, "Second brother is in charge of the military and doesn't understand government affairs. Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, wars have been going on and on, and the imperial court is on the verge of collapse. The support of more than 20 yuan and the compensation for those killed in battle are all on the heads of the people. , It has already caused complaints, and the public's anger has reached its peak. If we continue to stop fighting, recuperate, and appease the people, we will collapse if we don't need the Sui army to fight... If the people's rebellion continues, we will not even have a foothold."

"I understand what the elder brother said, but we have so many troops that are retreating steadily. Once we relax, at least half of our troops will be laid off. How can we deal with the aggressive Sui army? Brother, don't forget, Yang Tong is not Cao Cao in his twilight years, he is younger than us, he has time to spend with his father."

"But second brother, can the troops we squeezed out the power of the people to support can repel and defeat the Sui army?"

"..." Li Shimin was dumbfounded, and after a long while, he said again: "Struggling for world hegemony is a road of death if you don't advance. When we raised troops in Taiyuan, we were destined to fight forever with the heroes of the world. Up to now, no matter how difficult it is, we must fight to the death." Bite your head."

"You are unreasonable. You are betting the lives of the whole family, betting on the fate of the country and the fate of the clan."

"It's better than living for a while."

"You..." Li Jiancheng choked for a while, then shook his head and said, "Forget it, anyway, none of us can convince anyone... There's no point in arguing, we'd better wait for the emperor to make a decision."

"I think so too!"

"..."

A soundless silence!

The two brothers thought about each other's point of view, but in the end they both felt that what the elder brother/second younger brother said was actually right!
Who is at fault?

Yang Tong?Of course not, as an opponent, what's wrong with people struggling to resist?Speaking of which, Yang Tong is the most wronged, you all rebelled, why don't you allow others to fight back?
The fault lies in their own incompetence.

At the beginning, it was clear that Tang was strong and Sui was weak, and the Sui Dynasty led by Yang Yu had fought foreign wars for several years. What was Tang Dynasty doing when the Sui army was criss-crossing the Great Wall?He writes and draws on the map, and then fights everywhere, but the roads are blocked, and finally he has achieved results. Yang Tong immediately turns his horse's head and ravages Li Tang. If he wins, Li Tang will pay for it. Not long after the lie passed, they came to fight Li Tang, who had improved a little, and lost money again if he won Li Tang, but Li Tang's monarch and ministers were like this. The Sui Dynasty just became stronger and stronger, and Li Tang became weaker and weaker.

Who is to blame?Naturally, it was Li Yuan who was lucky, and Li Yuan who was lucky after losing the money.

But as ministers and sons, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin didn't dare to say it, they could only complain secretly once or twice in their hearts, and then they had to wipe their father's ass.

Li Shimin finally resisted for a while, knelt for a whole day, and still had to be summoned. When we meet, I'm afraid a violent storm will be inevitable.When he made the decision to withdraw his troops, Li Shimin had this awareness, and Yin Kaishan persuaded him to think twice because of this.

Just when the two brothers were silent, a guard came out to report: "His Royal Highness, Your Majesty announces your audience."

Li Jiancheng glanced at Li Shimin, didn't speak, got up and went in, the curtains in the room were drawn, only a sliver of the setting sun slanted, and the light was very dim. , full of broken teacups and the Four Treasures of the Study, etc. Li Yuan obviously lost his temper before that.

Li Jiancheng hastily stepped forward to salute, "I will see my father!"

"Sit down!" Having said this, Li Yuan sighed, "What should we do now?"

Li Yuan cast his eyes on Li Jiancheng, and asked him, what should Li Tang do now?
Li Jiancheng has also considered this issue for a long time. He has his own plan, especially after arguing with Li Shimin, this idea became clearer. It's just that he never dared to express his thoughts easily, but now, it's impossible not to say it. , as the prince, he should bear some pressure.

"Father, my son suggests moving the capital to Shu and establishing a new capital in Chengdu."

"Relocate the capital?"

Li Yuan's eyes became sharper, "More than [-]% of the officials in the imperial court are from Guanlong, Guandong, and Jiangnan. Do you think it is possible to move the capital to Shu County?"

"Father, without long-term considerations, there must be near-term worries. We must prepare for the worst. At least we should reserve a way out. If Jingxiang is in danger, we can move to Bashu in time; now at least we should make some preparations, my son. It means to send reliable and trustworthy people to manage Bashu first, so as to create a Bashu with strong people’s hearts and no internal and external troubles.

Li Jiancheng was not intimidated by his father's gaze. He knew that his father had actually wanted to move the capital a long time ago. He was just worried that various forces would oppose it, so he dared not implement it. It is not a problem to send good officials to manage Bashu.

"The army of the Sui Dynasty is powerful now, and it is temporarily invincible. The most important thing is to keep the army. More importantly, we must face the reality and prepare for the worst. If there is no prior arrangement, the Sui army suddenly enters Xiangyang. Even if there is no way to retreat, even if you successfully retreat to Bashu, you may face a chaotic Bashu. How long can you hold on? Therefore, the imperial court must have absolute control over Bashu, and gradually move some strategic resources to Bashu, so as not to be defeated. At the beginning, I hurriedly went south to Xiangyang, and I remember that when I went south, Xiangyang could not accommodate so many people, which caused serious military-civilian conflicts, government-civilian conflicts, and finally had to use the army to quell it forcibly. Tang is very disgusted, so far they don’t have much affiliation. Lessons learned from the past are irrelevant. And as long as we are fully prepared in Bashu, we can calmly retreat to Bashu when the war suddenly burns to Xiangyang, close the dangerous fortress, and prevent the Sui army from taking advantage of it. Chance to pursue."

Hearing this, the stern look in Li Yuan's eyes gradually faded. After a while, he sighed and said with a wry smile: "I'm just worried that once we show signs of moving the capital to Bashu, it will cause chaos in the government and the people, especially the nobles in Guanlong, Jiangnan and Guandong. I will not accept it, and it will cause even greater disturbances, so I am in a dilemma, and it will be difficult to make a decision."

Li Jiancheng smiled bitterly: "Father is too worried. He just sent good officials and generals to Shu to control the chaos and stabilize the rear. This is a very reasonable arrangement. As long as we don't talk about moving the capital, they will have doubts and can't say more What. When that day comes, they will have to retreat even if they don’t want to, it’s called the situation.”

Li Yuan's eyes brightened. This method is not bad. After thinking about it, he sighed again and said unwillingly: "Although Bashu is a place where dragons are hidden, it is also a place where dragons are trapped. If we retreat into it, it will be very difficult." Difficulties come out, that is, there are great changes in the world, and because they are far away from the Central Plains, they cannot respond in time. Bashu alone is not a long-term solution. The Shuhan is the most typical example. There are a group of capable ministers and generals, but there is no support. The population and money and food for the battle made Zhuge Kongming and Jiang Wei only lead a small number of troops to the Northern Expedition, and they missed many good opportunities because of the lack of follow-up."

Li Jiancheng had thought about this for a long time, and expressed his opinion, "Father, the Northern Expedition of the Shu Han Dynasty was actually caused by the wilderness in the south. However, the world has changed, and there are countless ethnic groups living in the south. As far as I know, in the In the south of Luchuan County, Qianwei County, and Yuejuan County, there are six imperial edicts, namely Mengjuan Zhao, Yuexi Zhao, Langqiong Zhao, Bilui Zhao, Shi Lang Zhao, and Mengshe Zhao, with a population of about one million. You might as well imitate Yang Tong's strategy of raising the army and the people by fighting, and conquer them. The Six Edicts are now in a state of ignorance, and they are constantly conquering each other. At the same time, send a general to lead an army from Zangke County to the Lingnan counties, and then go north to attack the Jianghan Yuanxiang counties and Huainan Jiangbiao counties, which are empty of troops in the south of Xiao Xian and Lin Shihong. In the counties, the above-mentioned areas are either steep mountains or criss-crossed by water, and the cavalry of the Sui Dynasty will be useless. At that time, they can take advantage of the terrain to lure the enemy deep and wipe out the Sui Dynasty's vital forces one by one."

Hearing this, Li Yuan's frowning brows slowly opened, and his eyes lit up. Ever since he received the news of Li Shimin's defeat, he had lost all his thoughts. His lifelong dreams seemed to have been shattered. You can only walk towards death step by step, so you shut yourself in the room, no one sees you, and you don't care about the military and politics.It felt like everyone had betrayed him.And the blueprint outlined by Li Jiancheng seems to see a bright light in the dark.

"That's right! I only stared at Sui and Wei, why didn't I think of moving back to the rear of the two?"

Li Yuan jumped up suddenly, his heart suddenly brightened, a sudden joy made his heart almost explode, and he said repeatedly: "Why didn't I think of that?"

He laughed out loud, even the guards outside were in admiration, His Highness the Crown Prince was the most powerful, he only said a word when he went in, the Holy Majesty seemed to have been beaten with chicken blood, unlike King Jin, who made the Holy Majesty angry every time.

But Li Jiancheng couldn't be happy. He knew that the big and small forces in the Tang Dynasty would not be able to implement his plan quickly because of the distribution of benefits. This would miss the best time. The imperial edict connected the territory of the Tang Dynasty to Jiaozhi and the sea.Otherwise, you will be a few big steps slower in everything and controlled by others everywhere.Li Jiancheng also hopes that the generals who implement this policy will be capable and capable generals, rather than those who talk on paper. Not only can Datang not afford to lose again, but also because time waits for no one.

At present, the most suitable candidates are undoubtedly Li Shimin and Li Xiaogong. They are the most reliable people no matter their loyalty to Datang or their personal abilities.Officially speaking, Li Jiancheng hoped that his father would transfer Li Shimin, a restless guy, to Bashu so that he would not cause trouble in Jingxiang. If you are not a servant, even your father will be reduced to a puppet.As for Li Xiaogong, he is undoubtedly Li Jiancheng's favorite person, but he is his most loyal supporter after all. If he recommends Li Xiaogong as a general, will his father doubt himself like he is worried about Li Shimin's actions?
For a while, Li Jiancheng only felt in a dilemma.

(End of this chapter)