The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 921

Daxing Palace Royal Garden, Yang Tong stepped ashore, Yang Qinfang followed behind him like a low-browed little wife, pursed her mouth, blushed, lowered her head shyly, her charming and shy attitude with a shy smile People are shocked.

Luo Shixin glanced at the tigress in surprise, and then showed a knowing smile, then focused on Yang Tong, saluted and said, "See Your Majesty."

"Exemption!" Yang Tong took the lead to walk towards Qianqiu Hall, and asked as he walked, "How did Li Shangshu lose?"

The tenth army headed by Li Jing and Du Fuwei has a total strength of [-]. They are elite soldiers selected from hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers, county soldiers, and militiamen. One of them has combat experience. After more than half a year of training, his combat ability may not be as good as the other nine legions, but it is by no means weaker than Li Shimin's most elite soldiers.

The Tang army confronting the Tenth Army was the Badong Governor's Mansion. Before the reinforcements arrived, the number of Tang troops was only [-]. Their weapons and equipment, high training intensity, individual soldiers' quality, morale and fighting will were not qualified to be compared with the Sui army at all; From the perspective of the coach, Li Jing, Du Fuwei, and Duan Decao were on the side of the Sui Dynasty. Under the three were generals such as Shi Jin, Kan Leng, and Zhou Xiaojie. The generals under his command are Yang Daosheng, Xu Xuanche, Li Guangdu, Wan Zan, Chen Puhuan and other former generals of Xiao Xian. Are these people so strong?
Luo Shixin introduced: "My lord, Zigui County in Badong is located at the exit of the Yangtze River. The terrain is steep, the water is fast-flowing, and the river and land are extremely narrow. Four large iron cables were tied across the river to prevent our warships from advancing westward. In order to guard the gorge and prevent our army from destroying the iron cables blocking the river, the Tang army set up a water village on each official road on both sides of the Yangtze River. The water villages are condescending. The tidal flats of the Yangtze River are densely covered, and the Five-Year warship cannot fight flexibly here. If it enters the river by force, it will only become a living target for the catapults in the water village of the Tang army. It is an inevitable result to be smashed and burned. On the one hand, we can only rely on the smaller "Yellow Dragon Warship", but new problems have emerged. Although the Yellow Dragon Warship is a little more flexible, the turbulent water flow also slows down the westward speed of the Yellow Dragon Warship sailing against the current. The height is much lower than the Tang army's water village, so the Tang army, which occupies a dangerous place, uses bows and crossbows to defend, and the combination of water and land prevents the Tenth Army, which has a huge advantage in strength, from advancing an inch; It only takes a few hundred soldiers to stop our army to the east of the water stronghold, and it is also impossible to advance an inch."

"I understand." Yang Tong was silent for a moment, then asked again: "And then?"

Luo Shixin was stunned for a moment, and asked back: "Then?"

"Yes."

"Then Li Shangshu, General Du, and General Duan, taking into account our army's rich experience in actual combat, formulated a night attack plan and implemented a plan to exhaust the Tang army. I'm back. They've been doing it for more than ten days."

"In this way, Li Shangshu and the others are clearly conducting a tentative attack, not a decisive battle. Even if our army suffers losses, it will not be too great." Speaking of this, Yang Tong gave Luo Shixin a vicious look: "You bastard , Still talking about a big defeat? It made me think that the whole army was wiped out."

"The problem is that we have fought for so many years, and we have never lost a war, and we have never fought a war so unpleasantly. Moreover, according to the theory of 'If you win, you lose', what is it if it is not a big defeat?" Luo Shixin hehe Smiling, I said to myself: If I didn't see a big bag on your crotch, I was afraid of embarrassing you, so I 'lied about the military situation' to scare you soft.

"What you said makes sense, but I'm speechless." Yang Tong didn't know Luo Shixin's 'good intentions', and when he heard that 'big defeat' was such a thing, his hanging heart finally let go. down.

It's no wonder that Li Jing and the others didn't send a battle report after fighting for more than ten days; but at this time, Luo Shixin was so frightened, not only did his lower face soften, but his nose, which had been stuffed for several days, was actually ventilated.

When they arrived at Qianqiu Hall, the three of them entered through the side door together.

As soon as I saw it, I saw Yang Shanhui, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Ling Jing, Yang Lun, Xie Yingdeng, and Cheng Yaojin standing in front of the sand table and pointing, talking and laughing, without the dignified atmosphere of 'big defeat' at all.

After entering the hall and asking, I realized that the Eagle Letter I just received today had not received any news from Li Jing and the others before.

The doors and windows of the main hall were all open, but the sultry evening wind was blowing, which made people feel a little uncomfortable, but the right servant shot Yang Shanhui with great interest. After the monarch and ministers were seated, he took a sip of iced herbal tea, and then said: "Your Majesty, Your Excellency We think that we don't have to worry about the war against the puppet Tang Dynasty, and we can't lose."

"Tell me." Yang Tong said wearily.Although a cold is not a serious illness, it also made him very spiritless.

"Yes!" Yang Shanhui saluted: "Today, the Puppet Tang's national power is weak, the soldiers have no fighting spirit, and even the weapons and equipment are very tight. No matter how strong Li Shimin is, he has actually lost the courage to fight us. What's more, The advantage of the terrain gave him hope. Even though he was unwilling, he knew very well that choosing a national policy that puts defense first would have far less loss than a direct decisive battle with us. If this still doesn't make him willing to defend, "Kill brother kill As soon as the news of Father's word got out, he had to think about it seriously. Although we don't want to suffer heavy losses in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, we are willing to let it go. Only one year of taxation can drain the strength of the Puppet Tang Dynasty. Li Shimin did not dare to bet on the consequences of the ruin of the country and his family. Slowly change from radical to conservative. Once he succeeds in keeping our army out of the country, he will lay down part of the army and rest with the people. I think that in this respect, Li Shimin has done better than Li Yuan, who turned himself into a soldier, and he has performed quite well. Steady and calm, I didn't lose all my strength because of my great Sui power, like a frightened bird."

"Indeed." Yang Tong nodded, and asked again: "Then what's next? What are your plans?"

Yang Shanhui said in a deep voice: "One word is stability. What we need to do next is to suppress and advance steadily in the military; in politics, we don't need to take the puppet Tang too seriously, and we don't need to pay attention to it with all our power. To support this war, continue to govern what should be governed, continue to build projects that should be built, and continue to fight against corruption that should be anti-corruption... In terms of public opinion, he criticized Li Shimin and let the people of Yizhou know that he's killing his brother and killing his brother. Father', see his bad face, and then everyone scolds him."

Yang Tong nodded slightly. Since the Baimacang case surfaced, the Sui Dynasty has cleaned up the interior in the past few months without precedent. The anti-corruption storms again and again have caused panic in the official circles. After completing this operation, To stabilize the internal management, although the official warehouses in various places must continue to be investigated, they can no longer be published in "Half Moon Talk", so as not to cause greater fluctuations. Now the use of strong means to clean up the remnants of the "Chunqiu Hall" has indeed achieved its purpose. The next strategy that depends on the situation also needs to be adapted to them, so political stability is the current top priority of the Sui Dynasty, and it will not be worth the loss if it is carried out so vigorously.

Thinking of this, Yang Tong said: "I have no opinion on the military or political aspects. But the public opinion may not be effective, right? After all, the puppet Tang Dynasty won the hearts of the people in Yizhou by fighting the local tyrants and dividing the land; , unite as one.”

Yang Shanhui smiled slightly: "Beating the local tyrants to divide the land and rewarding the land with military meritorious deeds did make the puppet Tang Dynasty a world-changing place and successfully took root in Yizhou. But what does it have to do with Li Shimin?"

"It is Li Yuan's national policy to divide the land by beating the local tyrants and rewarding the land with military service. It really has nothing to do with Li Shimin." Yang Tong suddenly realized, and said with a smile: "The people are grateful to Li Yuan, not Li Shimin who 'killed' Li Yuan."

"exactly."

"But I don't quite agree with this statement. For the common people, they don't care who the emperor is, as long as they can give them a good life, they will support whoever. Li Yuan certainly gave them land, but his military arrogance also made some people feel Disappointment and resentment, and Li Shimin's disarmament strategy just caters to the needs of the people."

Yang Shanhui said again: "That's true, but Li Yuan's time in Yizhou was too short, and he never fought a big battle with us, so he didn't cause any trauma to Yizhou. It is a false prosperity that is flourishing, so most of the people support Li Yuan. If we achieve military achievements and force Li Shimin's disarmament policy to fail to be implemented, then Li Shimin will naturally bear the name of military aggression, and the people will start to miss Li Yuan. At this point, Li Shimin will be greatly disappointed, and this vicious act of 'killing his brother and father' will be his fatal blow."

Yang Tong took a sip of the hot tea, and said slowly: "Then what do you think about the right servant shooting at the military? After all, no matter whether we want to recover Yizhou or let the puppet Tang itself collapse, we need the army to get it." A major breakthrough."

Yang Shanhui pondered for a while, and said slowly: "Although the puppet Tang Dynasty is weak, its minions have not weakened, and even reached an unprecedented peak in terms of people and harmony. I think we can just follow the trend in the military, and don't be too oppressive. We can’t relax our vigilance either. The key point is that Li Shimin now has an enemy so powerful that he can’t defeat him besides our Great Sui Dynasty, so at this time, it’s probably not a good idea for us to attack the Pseudo-Tang with the same heart.”

Yang Tong asked, "What is Li Shimin's archenemy?"

Yang Shanhui said: "Time."

"Time?" Yang Tong was a little puzzled.

"That's right." Yang Shanhui said: "Li Yuan swept the land into soldiers and brought all the young and strong people who could use Yizhou to the army, but lost these main labors for farming. Although the fields controlled by the puppet Tang court increased, but in the first half of this year The harvest is less than half of last year; it won't take long before the Tang army, which is huge in number and highly trained, will eat up all the money and food they got from confiscating their homes; what about Li Shimin? Either disarm the army or increase taxes. Progressing step by step in a moderate manner, the disarmament strategy is a joke that cannot be realized even if the country is subjugated, so he can only get food from the people who are barely able to meet their food and clothing."

Hearing this, Yang Tong couldn't help laughing.After all, it is still necessary to open up the situation militarily and force Li Shimin to be defeated by the military. In short, it is to consume him to death.However, this is also in line with the usual style of the Sui Dynasty's steady progress.He smiled and asked, "What do you think about the Tenth Army's military operations?"

"I think it's good to let them do their best. As long as we don't lose a lot, we will win." Yang Shanhui said with a smile: "Gao Shilian's strategy of blocking the river with iron chains is just a copy of the old skills of the general of the Chen Dynasty, Lu Zhongsu. Lu Zhongsu can't stop Yang Su, Gao Shilian still can't stop Li Jing."

"I just said that Li Shangshu and Gao Shilian's style of play is very familiar. It turns out that the 'Battle of Qiting and Yanzhou' led by Yang Su also played like this. Yang Su couldn't break Lu Zhongsu's water fortress and iron chain head-on, so he let everyone General Liu Renen made a detour and attacked Chen Jun's rear... It seems that Li Shangshu is going to appoint someone to be General Liu Renen."

"Isn't it the Beizhen Army led by General Su Dingfang?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Yang Tong suddenly laughed, "This battle is interesting."

(End of this chapter)