Li Shimin, one emperor through the ages

Chapter 19 Entering Chang'an (1)
4
Huo Yi has overcome, and there is no danger in the southwest.Li Yuan appeased the people, rewarded the three armies, and sent his troops to continue southward.All the way to Ke Linfen, Longquan, Wencheng and other counties, by the tenth day of September, Li Yuan led the left, middle and right armies to surround Hedong.

Along the way, heroes along the way, eager for her, came to seek refuge one after another.Li Yuan's troops, like a snowball, grew to 13 in two months.Even so, Hedong City was high and strong, and the terrain was steep. In addition, the guard Qu Tutong not only had a sense of loyalty and courage, but also was particularly good at guarding the city. Li Yuan launched fierce attacks again and again, all of which ended in failure.

In the cold wind and autumn moon, Li Yuan wandered around outside the tent, all night long, but finally had no good plan, and was extremely sleepy, so he fell asleep with his clothes together.After waking up in a while, it was already dawn, Li Yuan ordered all the ministers to be summoned to discuss the countermeasures.

Attacking Hedong, Li Shimin's subordinates suffered heavy casualties. He charged forward and was almost injured by hidden arrows from the city.Seeing his soldiers filling the ditch of the moat on the east side of the river one after another, Li Shimin was quite sad. When his father was wandering in the moonlight and thinking hard, Shimin also stood alone at the window, looking into the distance and meditating:
The city of Hedong is strong and cannot be attacked for a long time. If this continues, we will not only suffer heavy casualties, but also easily lose the morale of the army.Capture the thief first and capture the king first. If we temporarily abandon Hedong and go directly to capture Chang'an, it will definitely be more beneficial to us.Now that we are heading south all the way, the Sui army in Chang'an has long been terrified. If we go to attack under such circumstances, Chang'an will be easier to take down.Conversely, if we are stuck in Hedong and cannot attack for a long time, it will definitely increase the confidence of Chang'an's defenders, and it will increase many difficulties if we want to take Chang'an at that time... Thinking along this line of thought, Li Shimin gradually gained confidence .He stretched and walked into the bedroom, thinking of Changsun.Ever since he got married, he had been troublesome, he always stayed with her less often, and couldn't stay together, which increased his nostalgia for her.Taking out the piece of silk she gave him when he was leaving the door, Li Shimin looked at it affectionately for a long time, as if he saw Changsun's pretty face.

"Changsun, I miss you so much." Li Shimin murmured and lay down, covering his face with the square silk.Although he has become the commander of the army and commanded tens of thousands of troops, he is still too young after all. When he left his subordinates and his general, he would often miss his relatives and his mother.Now, he misses his wife, Changsun Shi more.Under Fang Silk, he thought of her warm body and her small red mouth, and felt a kind of passion surging in her body.Li Shimin finally fell asleep. When he was in love with the eldest grandson, he heard the call of his elder brother.He hugged Changsun's tightly, and tried his best to tell his eldest brother not to come in, but he opened his mouth wide open, but he couldn't make a sound.He was in a hurry, and with all his strength, he finally yelled and opened his eyes, only to see his elder brother standing in front of his bed.

"I slept so soundly, I must have just fallen asleep." Li Jiancheng asked Shimin.

"Yes." Shimin agreed, turning over and getting out of bed.

"Want to attack the city?"

"Ah."

"Is there a good strategy?"

"Have some ideas."

"Let's go, father summoned us to his big tent, it must be to discuss the siege of the city."

When the two brothers walked into Li Yuan's big tent, Pei Ji and a group of ministers arrived early.Li Yuan waited for his brothers to sit down, and said: "I invite you here today to discuss the matter of attacking Hedong. If anyone has a good plan, please speak up."

After hearing this, Li Shimin was the first to stand up and said, "In my opinion, it's better to abandon Hedong temporarily and go straight to Chang'an." He talked about his thoughts last night in an orderly manner, and looked at his father and elder brother confidently. .

Pei Ji listened to Li Shimin's words, stood up quickly and said, "This is absolutely impossible. Qu Tutong defended against danger and devoted himself to being filial and loyal to the Sui Dynasty. If our army abandons Hedong to attack Chang'an, he will definitely sacrifice his life for the savior to attack." My queen. At that time, our army will be confronted with the enemy, and will be in a difficult situation. If we want to advance, we will not be able to retreat. Therefore, for the current strategy, we can only take down the east of the river, without any worries, and then we can take Chang'an in one fell swoop."

After hearing this, Li Shimin went to see his father, only to see him nodding his head slightly, feeling anxious, cold sweat pouring out row after row from his wide forehead.

4
The eldest grandson Wuji beside him saw the cold sweat dripping from Li Shimin's broad forehead, so he hurriedly took out a silk handkerchief and handed it to him.Li Shimin pushed Sipa back and shook his head at Changsun Wuji.Under Changsun Wuji's puzzled gaze, Li Shimin took out a pure white silk handkerchief from his bosom, and took out the silk handkerchief that Changsun himself stuffed into his bosom when he was about to leave the house.

Li Shimin looked at this silk handkerchief full of emotion, shook it carefully, and slowly wiped the sweat from his forehead.He seemed to smell the crisp fragrance of Changsun's body, and his anxious heart gradually calmed down.Only then did he realize that although his father nodded slightly to Pei Ji's words, his expression was still serious, and he was painstakingly meditating.Li Shimin knew that this showed that his father did not fully agree with Pei Ji's words, and he still had a lot of doubts and concerns in his heart.Immediately, Li Shimin gained confidence, he stood up again, and calmly analyzed:
"The Art of War says: 'Soldiers are expensive and fast'. Our army came out of Taiyuan, and all the way to attack the city and plunder the land, covering all the ground, which greatly boosted the army's morale and everyone's expectations. It also shocked the enemies of Chang'an; the guards were panicked and frightened. If we take advantage of this good opportunity to attack Chang'an in one go, it will definitely be easier than taking Hedong. Chang'an is the capital of the Sui Dynasty, and it is the purpose of our campaign. Being trapped here will definitely dampen my spirit and increase the confidence of the enemy in An’an, and I’m afraid it will not be so easy to capture Chang’an when the time comes.”

Hearing this, Li Yuan couldn't help but nodded slightly.Seeing this, Li Shimin's confidence increased greatly, and he raised his voice and said:
"What's more, for us, Chang'an and Kedong are very clear in terms of priority and priority. The so-called capturing the thief first captures the king, and Qu Tutong sticks to Hedong because he is loyal to the Sui Dynasty. We took his lair, Naturally, he has no master, and he will be defeated in one blow. What's more, as far as the moment is concerned, all the heroes in Guanzhong have risen to raise an army of righteousness to me. Qu Tutong is too late to deal with them alone. Where is the energy left? After attacking me, rescue Chang'an?"

After hearing this, Li Yuan's face gradually brightened, and he nodded approvingly at Li Shimin. With a smile, he fell into deep thought again: Shimin's analysis has shown his superior strategy and courage, and he should be really happy for him.Shimin saw the emptiness of Chang'an, saw that it was easier to attack Chang'an at this time than capturing Hedong, and also saw that Chang'an was more valuable to us than Hedong.Conquering Chang'an in one fell swoop can trap the enemy passively and achieve our goal.Pei Ji didn't think enough about this.However, Pei Ji's analysis also has his reasons.The power of Hedong cannot be underestimated.More attention should be paid to Qu Tutong's loyalty to the Sui Dynasty.If we abandon Hedong and attack Chang'an now, Qu Tutong will come to flank us, Shimin underestimated this point, but Pei Ji was blindfolded by this point.It seems that if I combine the reasonable parts of his two opinions, I will definitely win.

Thinking of this, Li Yuan's face became more and more cheerful. Finally, he stroked his long beard and laughed haha.

"Now, I order: Pei Ji and Liu Wenjing will lead the partial division to stay, continue to besiege Hedong, and firmly contain Qu Tutong's troops. Late tomorrow night, the left, middle and right armies will go west to Guanzhong and capture Chang'an!"

Li Shimin's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he remembered what his father had said to him:
Fighting is a life-and-death game, you can only win, not lose.If you win a hundred times, even if you lose just one time, you will lose all your efforts and die.Therefore, for every battle, you must be cautious and do your best to prevent those possible incidents from happening.Thinking of this, Li Shimin shouted in his heart:

It's still my father who is smarter and more thoughtful than me!When I stand alone, I must listen to other people's opinions, consider all aspects of the gains and losses clearly, and then make a decision.

4
In the Yellow River in September, the rapids are flying, and the waves are shocking and the fish are jumping.On the yellow land by the bank, rows of poplar trees stand like guards.As far as the eye can see on the East Bank Avenue, Li Yuan's three-way army is rushing towards the Yellow River like a torrent.

While the autumn wind was dancing, Li Shimin raised his head and looked at the tumbling river bank: "Good man, work hard, since ancient times, heroes are born young."Riding the horse and flying the dust, I will kill the enemy first, and now we are going straight to Chang'an, who will go to the city first to change the banner?After Li Shimin groaned in a low voice, he galloped his horse and jumped into the thousands of troops.

After crossing the Yellow River, Li Yuan entered the Changchun Palace in high spirits, and the scholars and people in Guanzhong came here upon hearing the news.In the main hall, civil servants and military generals gathered together, waiting for Li Yuan's orders.I saw Li Yuangao sitting in the hall with piercing eyes. After looking around, he stroked his beard and said:

"In order to ensure the victory of the Battle of Chang'an, Li Jiancheng was ordered to lead Wang Changxie and other [-] followers to garrison Yongfeng warehouse and guard Tongguan, so as to prevent the Sui army from attacking from the east and form a pincer attack on Chang'an; Hongji and more than [-] people went to Weibei, occupied the area north of the Weihe River, and turned Chang'an into an isolated city." At this point, Li Yuan stood up, raised his voice and continued: "When the time comes, your two brothers must work together , Divide up and attack together, take Chang'an!"

The two brothers looked at their father excitedly, nodded to each other again, and replied loudly:
"Follow the order!"

Following their father's order, the two brothers led their respective armies and headed southwest.Li Shimin bid farewell to his eldest brother, led the army on the right, and entered Sanfu from Weibei.All the way to the south, I saw Ziwu Ridge from north to south, meandering and stretching on the border of Shaanxi and Gansu. When it was about to reach the southern end, it turned around gently and threw out a piece of forest sea running from west to east, like a green ribbon. , dancing at the northern end of the Weibei Plateau.Li Shimin rode on the hillside beside the road, looking at the green sea with great carelessness.Changsun Wuji, Liu Hongji, Hou Junji and others followed closely behind.

"Look at the mountains here, they are very gentle and gentle. There are no solitary peaks, and there is no domineering momentum. It seems that we lack the masculinity of our northern mountains." Li Shimin looked at Lin Hai and said with emotion: "But these are ordinary people. They have worked together to create this ten thousand hectares of forest, showing a kind of unspoken self-prestige and self-respect, a kind of tolerance and momentum. We should really learn from them.”

"Second brother is right. A wise man enjoys water, and a benevolent man enjoys mountains. With such a magnanimity and momentum, we will definitely be the first to attack Chang'an City." Changsun Wuji said.

Li Shimin nodded with a smile, and with a shout, he swung his whip and ran forward.Changsun Wuji smiled at Hou Junji and Liu Hongji, and hurried after him.When they arrived in Xicheng, the troops set up camp outside the city. Li Shimin took Hou Junji and was about to go to the Xicheng county government office when he saw Changsun Wujixing rushing in, panting and shouting:

"Second brother, distinguished guest, a distinguished guest has arrived!"

"Brother?" Li Shimin's eyes lit up and he asked loudly.

"No, it's your little sister Pingyang!"

"Little sister Pingyang? Little sister Pingyang!" Li Shimin shouted happily, and rushed out of the big tent.

Pingyang little sister is precisely the smart and bold little Pingyang little sister since she was a child.At this time, she was dressed in armor and looked heroic, leading ten thousand elite soldiers to help her favorite second brother.

"Pingyang, Pingyang!"

"Second brother, second brother!"

The brothers and sisters embraced each other tightly and shed tears of happiness.It turned out that when Li Yuan raised troops in Taiyuan, he asked Li Shimin to notify the Pingyang couple in Chang'an to go to Taiyuan quickly.However, at this time Li Yuan had already been noticed by the court, and his relatives in Chang'an were naturally also under surveillance.If the husband and wife leave Chang'an together, it may be difficult to escape.Pingyang insisted on letting her husband, Chai Shao, go to Taiyuan alone, while he returned to his villa in E County, scattered all his family wealth, recruited soldiers and sold horses.Soon, she successively persuaded He Panren, Li Wenzhong, the leaders of the peasant rebel army to join her, and then captured Wugong and Shiping in one fell swoop.Now, Pingyang has more than [-] subordinates.After hearing this, Li Shimin couldn't help but praise Pingyang and said:
"Little sister, you are really amazing, really amazing!"

Pingyang smiled brightly, like a blooming lotus flower. "Second brother, you are amazing. I have heard about it. You cried and persuaded your father to take Huo Yi by force, and you suggested using light cavalry to lure Song Laosheng out, and then..."

"Okay, don't talk about it, my good sister, we are all descendants of Tang Gong and Li's family, with the blood of heroes flowing in our bodies, and we are mutual." Li Shimin laughed loudly after finishing speaking.After laughing, he couldn't help but shook his head again, looked at Princess Pingyang and said, "It's a pity, it's a pity!"

"What are you sorry about?"

"Originally, Chai Shao was with me all the time. But my father took a fancy to him and insisted on keeping him by his side. Otherwise, you would be able to see Chai Shao now."

Pingyang smiled and said, "I really miss him, but I'm already here with you, so I'm afraid I won't see Chai Shao?"

"But it will be two days later."

"Two days late, I can afford to wait."

"You just..."

"Stop talking about me, talk about the Changsun family." Knowing that the second elder brother was coming to make fun of him, Ping Yang interrupted him.

Li Shimin listened, looked at his little sister, nodded with a smile, and said, "It's still the same as before, good or bad!"

That night, Li Shimin set up a grand banquet and drank with Pingyang Xiaomei, He Panren, Li Wenzhong and others. The two brothers and sisters talked over wine until late at night.The next day, Li Shimin introduced Pingyang to the generals.Pingyang saw Li Shimin's strong generals like clouds and well-trained troops. After thinking for a long time, he invited He Panren and Li Wenzhong aside and said:
"My second brother, Shimin, is a hero, and now I want to hand over all the troops to his command, and you will follow him, what do you two think?"

Generals He and Li were taken aback when they heard this, and looked at Pingyang and asked, "After handing over the troops, why are you dealing with yourself, commander?"

Pingyang smiled and said: "I am a girl. When I raised my troops to revolt, I was forced to do so. Now that I have met my second brother, I should take a rest."

When He Panren and Li Wenzhong saw Li Shimin, they admired him very much. They were naturally happy to be able to serve as generals under him. They only asked about Pingyang when they thought about it.Seeing Pingyang like this now, he readily agreed and said: "In this case, we will obey!"

After hearing this, Ping Yang nodded to the two generals, and said, "That's the deal. If you follow my second brother, you will definitely do something great."

4
When Li Shimin woke up, it was already daylight, thinking of his little sister, Li Shimin was filled with joy.He never dreamed that his little sister Pingyang would become the coach of tens of thousands of people.Now, Little Sister Pingyang handed over the tens of thousands of copies to herself, and everything seemed like a dream.Before the war, having an extra army of tens of thousands of people was like adding wings to a tiger to Li Shimin.Pingyang sister gave him such a big benefit, what he can give Pingyang is to help her find a good place nearby, let Chai Shaolai live with her for a few days.Li Shimin thought of this, called Hou Junji and said:
"Let's go to Xicheng to find a good place for Pingyang."

After saying that, the two mounted their horses with whips and galloped to Xicheng County Yamen.Entering, I saw a middle-aged man with clear features and a long beard, holding a medicine jar with a tired face, coming out of the side room carefully.Seeing Li Shimin coming in, the middle-aged man cheered up, came forward and asked:
"The person here is Li Shimin, the commander-in-chief of the right leader?"

Li Shimin was startled when he heard this middle-aged scholar, he seemed to have seen it somewhere before, but he couldn't remember it for a while, so he nodded and said, "Exactly, I don't know who Mr. is, how do you know Shimin?"

"I don't know the Dudu, but after the Dudu entered Weibei, he had nothing to do with Minqiu, and the officials, people, and heroes returned like a stream. The Dudu's name has long been known. Therefore, when you see the Dudu's appearance, you can guess it. "

"You are..." Li Shimin looked at him seriously.

"I'm Fang Xuanling, Xicheng Wei."

"You are..." Li Shimin looked at the medicine jar in his hand.

"Oh, I've been negligent. My father is sick in bed, and Xuanling is bringing him medicine. Please sit down, Commander. I'll take the medicine for my father, and I'll come to accompany the crime."

Fang Xuanling was originally from Linzi, Qizhou. He was intelligent since he was a child, and he was well-versed in classics and history.At that time, he was admitted to Jinshi and awarded Yuqiwei.At the beginning of last year, my father fell ill, and it has lasted for more than a year.Xuanling devoted herself to herbal diet and never undressed to sleep peacefully, which is why her face was full of tiredness.

"What is the crime of serving father? I will go with you." Li Shimin looked at the tired Fang Xuanling and said calmly.

After Fang Xuanling heard this, her heart felt hot, she took a serious look at Li Shimin, nodded and led him to her father's bedroom.When Li Shimin entered the room, he saw that the bedroom was not big, nor luxurious, but it was kept spotless, even the shoes in front of the bed were neatly arranged.Suddenly, Shimin thought of his mother.When I was young, my mother asked me to do so.Whether it is a living room or a study room, it must first be clean and tidy.My mother said: If it is clean, it will be hygienic, and if it is tidy, it will be comfortable.This is the bedroom of the Chengwei's sick father, it's unexpected that it can be like this.Li Shimin's heart couldn't help getting closer to Fang Xuanling's.Opening his eyes, he saw an old man with gray beard and hair lying facing the door with his eyes closed.

"Father, father, the governor is here to see you." Hearing Fang Xuanling's soft call, the old man opened his eyes, looked at Li Shimin, sat up unexpectedly, nodded his head and said:

"Sure enough, a handsome man with an extraordinary appearance! Heroes come out of youth, a generation of outstanding people, a generation of outstanding people! My son has something to rely on all his life." After finishing speaking, he looked at Li Shimin and nodded repeatedly.

"You drank the medicine." Fang Xuanling sat on the edge of the bed, let his father rest on his left arm, held a spoon in his right hand, and fed the medicine into his father's mouth spoon by spoon.

Li Shimin was very moved when he saw it. "Such a filial person must be a loyal minister." Li Shimin thought to himself, when they came out of the bedroom, they seemed to be old friends for many years.

"I seem to have seen you somewhere, a long, long time ago." Li Shimin said while holding on to Fang Xuanling's hand.

"Me too, I know you from the moment I see you. I think we've hit it off a long time ago." Fang Xuanling said.

"Good friends! That's really good, we have long been good friends." Li Shimin said, laughing.After he finished laughing, Fang Xuanling said apologetically, "I was just talking about this, but I forgot to ask you. The governor is here, why?"

After hearing this, Li Shimin talked about finding an apartment for Pingyang.After Fang Xuanling heard about it, he said happily: "This matter is easy to handle. There is a very beautiful small courtyard in Qingshuitang not far from the county government office. I'll take you to have a look."

After speaking, he brought Shimin and Hou Junji together, and arrived in a small courtyard not long after.Shimin looked around, and it turned out to be an exquisite courtyard.The furniture inside is all available and all new.Besides a few servants, there was no one else in the courtyard.Li Shimin couldn't help being a little curious, and asked, "Who owns this yard, why does it seem like no one has lived in it?"

After hearing this, Fang Xuanling murmured and said: This small courtyard was originally built for his wife with his life savings.The wife is chosen and the date is fixed, but the father suddenly falls ill.In order to take care of her father, the marriage was postponed again and again, and her father's illness would never recover. Fang Xuanling was worried that the woman would lose her youth for herself, so she simply broke off the engagement and asked her to marry someone else.This small courtyard has been empty for nearly two years.

(End of this chapter)