Traveling through the early Tang Dynasty starts with hanging

Chapter 90 Crow's Mouth

In ancient times, talent was important, birth was also important, but appearance was equally important.

In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, appearance was also a very important part of the evaluation of grades. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the examination of Jinshi and the selection of officials by the Ministry of Officials also had to evaluate appearance.

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the selection of Jinshi and the selection of officials depended on demeanor.

Li Dewu is a talented person, articulate and eloquent. He described the situation in Eastern Shaanxi, King Qi, and Hebei Road one by one. It sounds easy to understand and impressive.

"His Royal Highness Qi Wang is stationed around Hulao. Although he wants to go north, but the Eastern Shaanxi Road is not enough to transport food and grass, and there is also a shortage of ships. The army has the will to fight, but it is really difficult to go to battle."

The crown prince and Wang Gui looked at each other. The meaning of Li Dewu's words was quite obvious. Li Yuanji hadn't entered Hebei Road so far, so it was actually the meaning of the East Palace.

Li Dewu used plausible reasons to explain that King Qi did not send troops... In fact, he sat on the side of the East Palace.

They are all well-rounded people, everyone present can see that Li Dewu intends to take refuge in the East Palace, the crown prince kept silent and only listened to Li Dewu's continuation.

"Liu Heita's army was sharp and swept across most of Hebei Road. Although King Huaiyang had a small victory, it was irrelevant to the overall situation."

Wei Ting asked curiously: "The king of Huaiyang won all three battles, and he pacified Jizhou and Shenzhou. Why is it irrelevant to the overall situation?"

Xu Shimo was under Gao Kaidao's command in the early years, mainly in the area north of Youzhou, bordering Turks, but he heard something: "What is the overall situation?"

Li Dewu clasped his hands and said: "A few months ago the Turkic general situation went south, the crown prince went out in person, fought first and then joined forces to force the Turkic back, this is the general situation.

But in the past few months, it has been difficult to take Hebei Road into account, so the Tang army in Hebei can only lose first and then win. This is also the overall situation. "

Pausing here for a moment, while everyone was still thinking, Li Dewu bowed and saluted, "I offend you, although my body is worth ten thousand gold, please ask the crown prince to go to Hebei."

As soon as the words came out, the room was silent, the old Wang Gui and Xu Shimo were fine, and Wei Ting, who was still young, looked at Li Dewu with extremely surprised eyes, and then turned to look at Li Jiancheng who was also surprised.

In fact, Li Dewu's eloquent words mainly include two aspects.

First, King Qi will definitely not send troops, and Li Daoxuan will definitely not be able to win.

why?
Liu Heitai went south when the Turkic soldiers in Hedong Road and Guanzhong began to retreat. In this case, Liu Heitai went south in a big way, obviously backed by Turkic soldiers.

Under such circumstances, it is difficult for Lee Daoxuan to win a complete victory, and there is even the possibility of defeat.

Second, Liu Heita's resurgence is naturally not for the Turks, but for himself.

But it is impossible for Turkic soldiers to stay in Hebei all the time, they are going back to their hometown.

At this time, Li Jiancheng, the crown prince of the East Palace, is personally conquering Hebei. It will be very easy to capture and kill Liu Heita, a dead snake, and he will naturally be able to extend his hand into Hebei smoothly, so as to check and balance the Eastern Shaanxi Road.

Wang Gui looked at Li Dewu with great interest, thinking that when his father went to the north to enter the Sui Dynasty, he saw with his own eyes that the two Shen Guogongs, Li Mu and Li Hun, were very human.

Wei Ting asked tentatively: "You have been in Wuling for nearly a month, and are you familiar with Wei Xuancheng?"

The letter came from Li Shan, and Li Shan and Wei Zheng have a very close friendship... Li Dewu felt tense, "Because there are some contacts in the wife's family, but they are only casual acquaintances, so I dare not approach them."

Wei Ting nodded and explained to the crown prince in a low voice, "Brother Xuan Cheng's wife is also Wenxi Pei from the east of the river."

The prince knew the meaning of Wei Ting's question, because Li Dewu's words were roughly similar to Wei Zheng's secret letters sent back to Beijing one after another.

If Li Dewu's thoughts did not come from Wei Zheng, it means that this person's strategy is not much worse than Wei Zheng's.

Squinting his eyes and staring at Li Dewu, the crown prince waved him back, and then said with a smile: "Although there are loopholes, I take it for granted, but it is wrong."

Wang Gui shrugged and shook his head, "This man went out with the army and returned to Beijing after more than a month. That's why he said this. Although he wants to cling to His Highness, he is really talented."

Naturally, there are omissions... In that letter, Li Shan only speculated based on the current situation and the impression in the history books, trying to get Li Dewu firmly on the thigh of the Prince of the Eastern Palace.

But in fact, as the prince of the East Palace, Li Jiancheng can not give a certificate, but if he wants to go out, he must win... Otherwise, the blow to his prestige will be too great.

Donggong's plan to conquer Hebei Road actually started a few months ago. Wei Zheng set off with the army to investigate the military situation as much as possible and determine whether Li Jiancheng needed to personally conquer.

There are many reasons for King Qi to stop moving forward, but the most important reason is...the Turkic cavalry who invaded Hebei Road have not retreated.

The King of Qi entered the River East Road, went south to the East Shaanxi Road, and then went north to the Hebei Road. However, the battle report was transmitted, and the correspondence did not follow this route.

Donggong has been paying attention to the news of Hebei Road, until the battle reports came in these few days, the remnant army led by Shuang Shiluo, the general manager of Dingzhou, encountered Turkic cavalry several times... Obviously, the Turkic cavalry who followed Liu Heita into Hebei Road did not retreat.

Now the main force of the Tang Army in Hebei Province is under the command of Li Daoxuan, King of Huaiyang, and the deputy general Shi Wanbao is a direct descendant of the Eastern Palace. Letters enter Beijing almost every two days, which emphatically mentions this point. They have won all three battles, but they have never seen Turkic cavalry... But Liu Heita has always been known for his cunning.

After a long discussion, Wang Gui said softly: "Wait a little longer, Shi Wanbao sent a letter saying that the King of Huaiyang wants to go north to face Liu Heita's main force. If he wins, he will send King Qi to go north. If he loses, His Highness will immediately write a letter to ask for a fight."

Wei Ting also agreed, "Your Highness lives in the East Palace firmly, so proceed with caution."

Li Jiancheng nodded slightly, and said with a smile: "Li Dewu is... a bit talented, and he is the son-in-law of Prime Minister Pei. I remember that the Chang'an Order was taken away by the Sanhu House, this time..."

Wei Ting suggested: "Li Dewu is now the county captain of Chang'an, why not be the prince of the Eastern Palace?"

The news spread to the East Palace that very day that the crown prince was a thousand-year-old official, but he was only a junior official of the seventh rank, but he could not be a young man, nor could he be a close official of the crown prince.

When the crown prince ascends the throne, Li Dewu, the crown prince, will surely skyrocket ninety thousand miles.

That night, Li Dewu hugged the sleeping baby indoors thinking about something, and suddenly he laughed.

"Husband, why are you laughing?"

Li Dewu shook his head, he was thinking... If Li Shan hadn't died in Hebei, how would he react to the news?
"What did father-in-law say?"

"I didn't say anything."

Li Dewu smiled gently, but he was thinking in his heart that Lord Taishan was a slippery man in the previous court. Although he also served as Prince Zhan Shi, he was always vacillating. Knowing that he entered the Eastern Palace to prepare himself for Qianniu, he might not be happy.

Mrs. Pei took the baby and put it on the bed, "Although my husband has gone through hardships, his talents have not diminished, and my father and brother are also very pleased."

Li Dewu's face changed slightly, he felt that this sentence sounded a bit harsh... He thought it would be more appropriate for that guy to die in Hebei.

At this moment, in Xiabo, Jizhou, Hebei Province, Li Shan found out with surprise and fear that the nonsense in his letter had become a fact.

"There were no Turkic soldiers in the previous three battles?" Li Shan grabbed Zhu Ba by the collar.

"Really not!" Guo Pu said from the side, "I asked very carefully. The hundred or so Turkic cavalrymen I met the day before yesterday showed their faces in Jizhou for the first time."

Li Shan grinned and pointed at the wounded soldier not far away, "What about now?"

Guo Pu's expression became serious, "Yesterday and today, the king of Huaiyang ordered hundreds of cavalry to attack in turn. There have been more than ten battles, and almost every battle has encountered Turkic cavalry."

Li Shan was stunned for a while, and really wanted to give himself a big slap, saying that Zhu Ba was a crow's mouth, but in fact he was the crow's mouth!

He just speculated based on the history books that in the end it was Prince Li Jiancheng who put down Liu Heitai and made up some reasons for Li Dewu to attach himself to the East Palace.

Now it seems that Huaiyang King Li Daoxuan has won three battles and three victories. It is obvious that Liu Heita's strength has dropped a lot compared to last year.

In this case, in the end it was Li Jiancheng's personal conquest, and it is only possible that the Turkic soldiers affected the battle situation.

I just don't know whether the Turkic soldiers did not participate in the war before, whether Liu Heita did it deliberately, or whether he didn't want the Turkic soldiers to plunder his hometown.

But no matter what, Li Shan can be sure of one thing, Li Daoxuan will lose in the next battle.

(End of this chapter)