First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 50

48. Sure enough, a good general

Liu Hongji's efficiency was very fast, and in a short while, he dragged a dead man to the tent of the Chinese army.

As soon as he received the money, Liu Hongji knelt down and bowed to the ground, "Sign up to Duke Tang, this person is a grain transporter, and he is the one who spread the news. When I found this person, he committed suicide in the tent. If you don’t do enough, please punish Tang Gong.”

Everyone's faces were not very good when they heard the words, it was actually a dead man.Li Shimin looked at Liu Hongji, "Where are the noisy soldiers?"

"A total of three accountants know the news. The five leaders have been executed, and the remaining 25 people have been detained and await disposal."Liu Hongji replied.

Li Yuan sat down and took a closer look at the grain transport soldier who committed suicide, then looked at Cui Shanwei, "What is his origin?"

Cui Shanwei knelt down on the ground in panic, sweating on his forehead, "Mr. Tang forgives the crime. The soldiers who transported the food were all dispatched by Jinyang, and the subordinates didn't know it."

Li Yuan nodded when he heard the words, and looked at the generals in the tent with a very gloomy expression.

"Everyone, it seems that someone is really thinking about me in Taiyuan." After finishing speaking, he looked at Pei Ji, who nodded slightly with a helpless expression on his face.

"The sky is not beautiful, what can I do?" Li Yuan looked up to the sky and sighed, "All generals obey orders."

Li Shimin and the others thumped in their hearts.

Sure enough, Li Yuan ordered: "Changsun Shunde leads an army to garrison Jiahu Fort, and the rest of them will return to Jinyang early tomorrow morning with light clothes."

"Father can't".

"Don't do it."

Li Jiancheng, Li Shimin, Tang Jian, Yin Qiao and others all changed their faces when they heard the words, and they knelt down to the ground. Gao Chong did not hesitate, and also accompanied them. The eldest grandson Wuji and Fang Xuanling saw this together.

What a joke, to withdraw troops because of an unconfirmed news, this is a rebellion, and it will not be able to stop halfway.

"I intend to go back to Jinyang first to solve Jinyang's difficulties, and then find another opportunity to go south. You don't have to worry about it." Li Yuan's heart sank when he saw this, and he knew that the generals should not be chilled, so he immediately comforted him.

"Father, let's go all out, then decline again, and exhaust three times. There is no reason to retreat halfway through the rise of troops and chaos," Li Jiancheng said with his brows furrowed.

Seeing that his father really wanted to retreat, Li Shimin immediately knelt on the ground.

"Father, once the army retreats, the morale of the rebels we recruited over the years will be lost in an instant, and they will disperse all the way. Song Laosheng is a veteran general, and he will definitely chase after him. In this way, defeat will only happen in a moment." .

Li Yuan was originally cautious by nature and could not tolerate failure. At this moment, he was very displeased to hear the unlucky words "defeat is only a moment away". He waved his sleeves and said, "I have made up my mind. I will step down and act as ordered." .

"Father..." Li Shimin looked sad and indignant, and wanted to persuade him, but Li Yuan was furious, and shouted: "Stand back".

Li Jiancheng had no choice but to pull Li Shimin out, and the generals were also downcast.

As soon as he got out of the Chinese army tent, Li Shimin broke away from Li Jiancheng's pulling, and fell to his knees in the heavy rain. No matter how Li Jiancheng and others pulled, Li Shimin couldn't get up.

Li Yuan was furious when he found out, "Zhu Zi, you actually want to use this to persecute me?"

"Don't dare, my child," Li Shimin said loudly, "We are waiting for the rebel army to rise up for the world, so we should enter Chang'an quickly, order the world, and conquer non-subjects. Now retreating to Jinyang City, is it because of the rebel army? How is the thief of the separatist regime different from Liang Shidu and Liu Wuzhou?"

Li Yuan was startled when he heard it in the tent, but he was still unmoved, and there was silence in the tent.

When Gao Chong saw this, even if he knew that the army had not retreated on the original trajectory, he was very anxious at this moment.

"Second son, I don't know when the heavy rain will stop, and it is impossible to capture Huoyi for a while, why not retreat to Jinyang for the time being, and find another opportunity." Pei Ji has always been on good terms with Li Shimin, and saw Li Shimin kneeling in the rain at the tent door Then, I couldn't help but come out to persuade.

However, Li Shimin was also determined and unmoved. The father and son stood in one tent with their hands behind their backs, and kneeling in the rain at the door of the other tent, deadlocking each other.

Gao Chong was accompanying Li Shimin in the rain outside the tent. When he saw Pei Ji, he couldn't help but had a flash of inspiration, and hurriedly said: "Pei Changshi, you need to know about raising troops. If you advance, you will live, and if you retreat, you will die. Everyone can retreat. Only Mr. Tang You can't go back."

It was also when Gao Chong was chatting with Li Shimin some time ago, he heard Li Shimin talk about the depth of friendship between Li Yuan and Pei Ji, and then he understood what Gao Junya told him when they parted.

According to what Li Shimin said, among all the people, the one who thinks about Li Yuan the most should belong to Pei Ji, and the one who is least likely to betray Li Yuan is Pei Ji.

Pei Ji was startled when he heard the words, frowned and thought about the words, paused suddenly, then slapped his legs and shouted: "I almost missed Mr. Tang", before finishing speaking, he turned around and entered the tent up.

Li Shimin was taken aback at the beginning, then suddenly turned his head to look at Gao Chong, with a look of joy on his face, "If things come to fruition, you must have made great contributions."

"Uncle De, I can't withdraw." Pei Ji turned around and entered the account, and hurriedly said, "I didn't think carefully, and I almost missed you."

Li Yuan was stunned, "Xuanzhen, you...".

"Let's not talk about whether there is a chance to go south in the future. I will prepare for the worst first. Once the army retreats, Song Laosheng will chase after him. It will be a big defeat. Once the big defeat, we will all survive, but you, uncle..."

Li Yuan was startled when he heard this, and seemed puzzled.

"We can all retreat or surrender, but Uncle Deyi can neither retreat nor surrender." Pei Ji stomped his feet with an anxious expression on his face.

Only then did Li Yuan suddenly realize that he took Pei Ji's hand, full of emotion, "Xuanzhen, it's lucky to have Qing."

Pei Ji was stunned.

In the big tent of the Chinese army, "Fortunately, Xuanzhen woke me up in time", Li Yuan expressed his rejoicing, and then sent an order: "Send an order to Jinyang, order Dou Dan to be the general manager of Jinyang's march, in charge of the military, and Yu Wenxin to assist, be sure to Stick to Jinyang, nothing will be lost." Waiting for the personal guards to go down to pass orders, Li Yuan can't rest assured that Li Yuanji will take over the military power in times of crisis.

Pei Ji was quite ashamed, bowed and said: "Mr. Tang, the remonstrance just now was all said by Gao Chong, the recorder of the right leader's mansion who joined the army."

Li Yuan was startled when he heard the words, and looked at Pei Ji with a little embarrassment. He was full of emotion just now, but now he found that someone else was thinking about him, so he immediately looked at Gao Chong and nodded in praise: "After the matter is done, You should be rewarded for this merit."

Gao Chong wiped the rainwater off his face, and he was speechless in his heart. There will be rewards only after things are done... Why does it feel like a blank check.

At this time, Li Yuan suddenly remembered something, and looked at Cui Shanwei, "Cui Canjun, you just said that there is good news and one bad news, what is the good news?"

Poor Cui Shanwei was wet before, and was thrown out by Li Yuan to take a shower. He was even more embarrassed. Hearing this, he hurriedly straightened his appearance, and bowed back: "Back to Tang Gong, Shi Gaojunya, the leader of the right army, has led the army." We broke through Lishi, captured Yang Zichong, the governor of the county, and collected all five counties in Lishi County, and now we have marched towards Wencheng County."

As soon as this statement came out, everyone in the hall was shocked.

"Okay", Li Yuan was overjoyed, "Gao Junya is really a good general", Li Yuan had been depressed for a long time, but now this good news suddenly swept away the gloom.

(End of this chapter)