After the words fell, Xie Shufang and Duan Zhixuan still didn't quite understand. Before they could ask, Li Zhiyun was the first to explain.
"The scouts sent by this king sent back news that Luo Yi is behind to contain Dou Jiande."
Isn't this a good thing?
With Luo Yi restraining Dou Jiande, wouldn't it be helpful for the Tang army to defeat Dou Jiande?
"But." Li Zhiyun changed his words, "You must know that if Luo Yi attacks Dou Jiande with all his strength, Dou Jiande will not dare to leave Le Shou to fight against this king."
The current Dou Jiande is no longer the former Dou Jiande. Ever since Li Shimin almost killed Dou Jiande, Dou Jiande has been lingering on his last breath and is no longer in his prime. Therefore, even if Luo Yi's strength is not as good as Dou Jiande, it will not make Dou Jiande despise him so much.
"Your Highness means that Luo Yi is waiting and watching?" Duan Zhixuan guessed.
Li Zhiyun shook his head and said: "I don't know. Although Luo Yi openly submitted to our court, he supported his own troops and relied on his own troops. He listened to orders but not to propaganda. I don't know what he thinks in his heart.
Under this circumstance, we must proceed with caution. You all know about the Turkic invasion of the south and merged the state, so you should understand. We must not fail, otherwise Hebei will be lost."
Duan Zhixuan cupped his hands and said, "It's the last general who didn't think enough about it."
"No problem." Li Zhiyun waved his hand.
In the first month of the fifth year of Wude, for more than a month, Tang Jun seemed to have taken root in the river and remained motionless, making it difficult to tell what Tang Jun's plan was.
During this period, Dou Jiande repeatedly sent troops to attack Changhe, but was defeated again and again, losing nearly 20,000 troops.
In addition to the frontal assault, Dou Jiande also sent cavalry to surround the Tang army's rear in an attempt to cut off the Tang army's food routes.
But it's a pity that it still failed, and it still plunged into the pockets laid by Li Zhiyun, and it failed with heavy casualties.
Camp.
"Are you Cheng Mingzhen?" Li Zhiyun looked at the man kneeling in front of him.
Li Zhiyun defended the camp in Changhe, so he naturally knew that Dou Jiande might send cavalry to quietly cut off his food routes. So he took advantage of the strategy and used the food routes to set up ambushes to continuously trap and kill Dou's cavalry, causing Dou Jiande to suffer heavy losses.
Li Zhiyun can control the general direction, but he cannot control some small details.
The day before yesterday, the Tang army was transporting grain from Yongnian, Mingzhou, and was attacked by Dou's cavalry. At the critical moment, Cheng Mingzhen stepped forward and led hundreds of people from Yongnian County to repel the invading small group of Dou's cavalry.
"Yes." Cheng Mingzhen replied.
Li Zhiyun stretched his arms and asked: "Have you ever fought in a war?"
"After fighting, I followed Dou Jiande before. Later, the King of Qin conquered Dou Jiande, and he surrendered to the imperial court. He was favored by the saint and was granted the title of Yongnian County Magistrate." Cheng Mingzhen said truthfully.
Cheng Mingzhen, Cheng Mingzhen.
Li Zhiyun recited the name and felt it was a bit familiar. He recalled the history carefully and remembered that there was indeed such a famous figure in history.
"Do you have a son named Cheng Wuting?"
Cheng Mingzhen was stunned, "How did His Highness the King of Chu know about Quanzi?"
He does have a son named Cheng Wuting, but he is only a few years old this year.
Li Zhiyun said casually: "I heard my second brother say before that Cheng Mingzhen, the magistrate of Yongnian County, is rarely brave. You know, my second brother rarely praises others, so I asked about it."
"I don't dare to praise His Highness the King of Qin." Cheng Mingzhen said humbly.
Li Zhiyun smiled and said: "You should get fame immediately, why waste time governing the county. I want to use you as a general to attack Dou Jiande, are you willing?"
Cheng Minzhen responded without even thinking about it, cupping his fists.
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness, I am willing!"
Li Zhiyun raised his hand to let him stand up, and then asked: "How is the situation in Mingzhou?"
"Don't worry, Your Highness, when the official comes, Chen Junbin, the governor of Mingzhou, has already summoned the young men to defend Yongnian."
Chen Junbin, this person is also a talent.
Li Zhiyun thought for a while and then said: "Go to General Duan Zhixuan and say that I asked you to go. Li Zhen, take him there."
"yes."
Li Zhen left with Cheng Mingzhen.
Afterwards, Li Zhiyun put down the documents, stood up and went behind the screen, opened the curtain and walked in.
A map curtain of Hebei was hung in the center, with Du Ruhui, Xue Shou, Xue Yuanjing, Chu Suiliang, Cen Wenwen, Wei Zheng and others gathered on both sides.
The map shows Dou's army's garrison information at various locations.
Seeing Li Zhiyun coming, everyone quickly stopped talking and saluted Li Zhiyun.
"No need." Li Zhiyun stepped forward and asked, "Keming, maybe you can tell what Dou Jiande wants to do?"
Although Dou Jiande has been attacking continuously during this period, Li Zhiyun knows very well that he has not used all his strength yet. The fact that he has not used all his strength can only mean that he has other plans.
Du Ruhui said: "According to the current news, Dou Jiande has been shrinking the defense line. Previously, his troops were deployed to Shenzhou, Zhaozhou, and Jizhou. However, they began to shrink on a large scale ten days ago and are now gathered in Jizhou.
My subordinates and colleagues feel that Dou Jiande may want to have a decisive battle with His Highness."
"Decisive battle?" Li Zhiyun narrowed his eyes and stepped forward to look at the location of 'Jizhou' on the map. To the north of Jizhou is Leshou, the capital of Dou Jiande. To the south of Jizhou are Beizhou and Dezhou.
Xue Shou said: "However, this is just a guess. As His Highness said before, Dou Jiande was too arrogant this time. He ignored Luo Yi and transferred a large number of troops to the south. I am afraid there is something fishy."
Wei Zhengdao: "We speculate that there are two possibilities. One is that Dou Jiande is attacking in the east and west, fighting us openly, but secretly preparing to lure Luo Yi and then ambush Luo Yi. However, this possibility is relatively small, because our army can go north at any time.
Secondly, Luo Yi may collude with Dou Jiande to lure His Highness to attack."
"What do you mean?" Li Zhiyun asked.
Chu Suiliang explained: "According to our guess, if Luo Yi and Dou Jiande collude, they may kill each other first so that Luo Yi can gain His Highness's trust. Then Luo Yi pretends to defeat Dou Jiande, invites His Highness to fight together, and then launches a surprise attack."
attack.
Based on the fact that Luo Yi has not yet been able to go south, we feel that there must be some kind of tacit understanding between Luo Yi and Dou Jiande. They may not have reached a cooperation yet, but they have already begun to collude."
Li Zhiyun didn't frown and didn't speak for a while.
Seeing this, everyone fell silent, not daring to disturb Li Zhiyun's thoughts.
After a while, Li Zhiyun said: "I have sent people to see Luo Yi to inquire about the news there. In a few days, we will know why Luo Yi still hasn't moved."
Although he had doubts in his heart, Li Zhiyun would not act rashly as long as there was no confirmation. Anyway, he could afford it.
Cen Wenwen looked at the map and asked, "Your Highness, could it be that Gao Kaidao has joined forces with Dou Jiande, and Gao Kaidao is holding Luo Yi in the rear?"
Li Zhiyun did not refute, but said thoughtfully: "We don't know yet. Gaokaidao is a bit far away from us, and the information is not well-informed at the moment."
Xue Yuanjing said: "Dou Jiande, Luo Yi, and Gao Kaidao from Hebei Province all have grudges against each other. If we talk about joining forces, I'm afraid they won't be able to achieve cooperation so quickly."
"We can't place our hopes on others. We have to annihilate Dou Jiande ourselves so that everything can be clear." Wei Zheng said: "Our army now has an absolute advantage. As long as we don't make mistakes, Dou Jiande won't be able to hold on for long."
Li Zhiyun nodded and said: "Yes, you need to be strong in order to defeat Dou Jiande. No matter whether Luo Yi has his heart or not, I can defeat him."