First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 234 Ling Jing's Plan
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As Dou Jiande's food and grass were in short supply, the Xia army's offensive momentum was also slowed down. The nearly [-] troops were helpless in the face of Hulao Pass where thousands of Tang troops were stationed.

Even with all the troops attacking, Hulaoguan has high walls and thick walls. Li Shimin mobilized the people to defend the city, and managed Hulaoguan like an iron bucket.

In the Banzhu Palace, Dou Jiande had a gloomy face. King Xia, who used to show benevolence and righteousness to others, is naturally full of anger now.

One hundred thousand troops have besieged Hulao Pass for several months. Not only has there been no progress, but they have also lost troops. Now the Yellow River waterway and grain road have been cut off. The road from Mingzhou to Banzhu is thousands of miles away. Transporting grain by land will not only consume a lot of money, but also take a long time. It's hard to get there in a while, as the saying goes, the water can't quench the near thirst.

Now Xia's army is in a stalemate, unable to advance or retreat. If they advance, they will be blocked by Xiongguan, and then they will be short of food and grass.If Wang Shichong withdraws from the army, he will surely be defeated. After all, his lips are dead and his teeth are cold.

Just when everyone fell into a trough, Ling Jing, the son of the country, came out to offer wine.

He said directly: "My lord, now that the battle situation is rigid, we are blocked at Hulao Pass, and the food and grass are not enough. It is better to retreat temporarily and find another opportunity to stay safe."

Hearing Ling Jing's words, everyone was shocked, and Dou Jiande raised his eyebrows and asked, "Retreat?"

"I waited for the soldiers of the whole country to attack, and the opposite Tanggou had only a few thousand people, and they retreated in such a haste that they hadn't made any achievements. This would make us lose face and become a laughing stock," some generals retorted immediately.

Seeing this, Ling Jing shook his head and said, "It's just a temporary retreat from Hulao Pass. Now Hulao Pass is unbreakable. Your Majesty, why not change the direction of attack, cross the river to the northwest, and attack Huaizhou, Heyang and other places. This place is the key point of the Tang army. Once the land is broken, you can cross the Taihang Mountains, march into Shangdang, take a little bit of Fenzhou and Jinzhou, and rush to Pujin, so as to go through the east of the river and push into Guanzhong."

"Access through the east of the river, and push into the pass...".

Ling Jing's words shocked everyone greatly. Dou Jiande is not a stubborn and pedantic person. Since Hulao Pass can no longer be breached, he may be able to change the direction of his advance. There is no need to fight Li Shimin at Hulao Pass. There are many places where Daxia borders Li Tang.

"The land of Hedong has just gone through war, Liu Wuzhou's influence is still there, and Li Tang's troops are weak. This is a great opportunity for me to conquer Hedong in the Great Xia." , West can advance to Guanzhong, and North can attack the Three Jins. At that time, it will be the beginning of the Great Xia’s dominance of the world.”

Dou Jiande was immediately excited when he heard the words. He walked to the desk, spread out the map, looked carefully, and nodded repeatedly, "What Ling Qing said is very true."

At this time, another general in the palace retorted: "I have come from a long distance to rescue Zheng Guo. If we retreat here, Zheng Guo will be destroyed by Li Tang. What should we do?"

Hearing this, Dou Jiande waved his hands and said: "There is no need to worry too much about this. The Tang army is here. Once the king has a taste of Hedong, he will be able to contain the main force of the Tang army and the siege of Luoyang will be easily solved."

Ling Jing also nodded in agreement when he heard the words, the King Xia who was open-minded and accepting advice was still there.

Only some generals in the army felt that it was shameful for the [-] troops to be forced back by the [-] Tang troops. In order to prevent Dou Jiande from changing his mind, Ling Jing continued: "There are three main reasons for the attack on the east of the river.

First, the Tang army in Hedong is weak, and our army of [-] will surely win when we enter the country.

Second, open up a large area of ​​​​Hedong, and Hebei and Hebei will become one piece, and the country will become stronger and stronger, and the world will be unified, just around the corner.

Thirdly, as your majesty said, if you march into Hedong, Chang'an in Guanzhong will definitely be shaken, and the siege of Luoyang will be easily solved.

Therefore, appreciating the strategy of Hedong is the best strategy at present."

Hearing Ling Jing's words, Dou Jiande nodded straightly, "Pass down the king's military order, the three armies will be rectified, and the troops will withdraw soon."

Ling Jing finally breathed a sigh of relief.

However, things turned out to be contrary to expectations. Wang Wan, the acting king of the Zheng Kingdom, and Sun Anshi, the chief internal historian, heard Dou Jiande's military orders in the Banzhu palace, and they were terrified. Army, but in this way, Luoyang may be destroyed at any time if it is delayed for a long time.

At this time, Changsun Anshi and Wang Wan united the front, took all the gold and silver brought by the envoy, and used them to bribe the generals of the Xia army. The two went outside the palace and cried day and night, begging Dou Jiande to send troops to rescue Luoyang out of righteousness.

For example, Meng Haigong, Xu Yuanlang and others were originally big bandits. After surrendering to Dou Jiande, they were still in command of the old army.

"Your Majesty, we were originally heroes. We served Daxia just now because of His kindness and loyalty. Now that Luoyang's allies are at stake, how can Your Majesty listen to the words of the corrupt scholars and just sit back and watch the suffering of our allies and ignore them?" Xu Yuanlang said righteously Said naturally.

"That's right, that Ling Jing is just a scholar, how can he know how to lead troops to fight? Your Majesty has always been good at doing good, so he is respected by all the soldiers. In this matter of war, Your Majesty should not just listen to the words of a scholar, but disregard the requests of all the soldiers! " Meng Haigong also echoed from the side.

The words of these two people happened to touch on Dou Jiande's main point.

Dou Jiande is loyal to Yuntian, donates money with righteousness, always treats people with kindness and righteousness, and wins the respect of the world, so Xu Yuanlang persuades him from the spirit of the world.

On the other hand, Dou Jiande is open-minded, good at following the opinions and suggestions of his subordinates, and never overbearing and dictatorial. This is also the reason why Meng Haigong, Xu Yuanlang and other forces surrendered to Dou Jiande. Under Dou Jiande's command, the leading generals have great independence.

Hearing these two people's words, Dou Jiande committed another problem. While accepting advice with humility, he was somewhat indecisive. One moment he felt that this person's opinion was very good, and the next moment he felt that the other person's suggestion was also very good.

Just as Dou Jiande was hesitating, the palace guards at the gate of the hall came to report, and the generals of the army begged to see him outside the hall together.

Dou Jiande was very surprised and hurriedly opened the door to meet him.

As soon as they saw Dou Jiande, those generals in the army fell to the ground without saying anything.

"Your Majesty, the one hundred thousand troops are retreating now, how can we save face?"

"Your Majesty, if you break your promise and abandon your allies in Luoyang, I will lose my reputation in the rivers and lakes."

"Your Majesty, Ling Jing is just a scholar who can't even lift a knife, how dare he speak about military affairs.......

Seeing the bravery of all the generals, Dou Jiande couldn't help being very astonished, he hurriedly asked: "You don't want to change the way to attack Hedong?"

"Fight to the end, never fear."

"If you retreat and divert your troops when you encounter danger, what will be the face of our Great Xia army?"

Hearing these words, Dou Jiande was thoughtful and pondered for a long time, "Since you have such ambition, then this king will not disobey your wishes, send orders, prepare the army for war, and swear to take Hulao Pass."

(End of this chapter)