Four hundred and ninetieth chapters: the war is imminent
Wei Ting reminded Li Jiancheng that Li Jiancheng also remembered what Wei Ting had just said about sending the vanguard army to investigate. He nodded and said: "Brother Wei is reminding me, someone, please send me a message for Feng Li to come."
As Li Jiancheng's order was conveyed, the first person to arrive was not Feng Li summoned by Li Jiancheng, but Li Shimin. Li Shimin rushed to Li Jiancheng's side, first glanced at Wei Ting next to him, and then said to Li Jiancheng: "Brother, why do you want to summon Feng Li?"
Li Shimin's question even had the flavor of interrogation. Li Jiancheng frowned and felt very unhappy in his heart. He hummed: "I summoned Feng Li here because I have important matters to deal with. Second brother, the commander of this army is my brother. Could it be that, Why can’t I report everything to you first, brother?”
"This..." Li Shimin also knew that there was something wrong with the tone of his words, which made Li Jiancheng dissatisfied. Li Shimin immediately paused, then smiled and saluted Li Jiancheng with his fists, and said: "Brother, I was rude just now. Please ask me." I'm sorry, I'm just thinking about my elder brother, please be considerate of me."
"Huh," Li Jiancheng naturally didn't believe everything Li Shimin said, but since Li Shimin had already given in, Li Jiancheng couldn't hold on to this point, so he could only snort coldly and say nothing more. , at this time, a general rode a horse and galloped in front of Li Jiancheng, got off his horse, knelt down to Li Jiancheng, and shouted: "General Feng Li, please see the crown prince, what are your orders for calling the crown prince?"
Looking at the tiger general in front of him, Li Jiancheng nodded repeatedly, while Li Shimin had a complicated look on his face. Feng Li was only loyal to Li Jiancheng, and sometimes even Li Yuan's words didn't work. For Feng Li, Li Jiancheng was also very relieved, and Li Jiancheng immediately He nodded and said: "Feng Li, we are about to arrive in Hongnong. I order you to be the vanguard general and lead five thousand elite soldiers to Hongnong to find out the true situation. Remember, use your troops flexibly. If you are defeated, return immediately. Don't be reluctant to fight. "
"Here," after hearing Li Jiancheng's order, Feng Li didn't even think about it. He immediately clasped his fists and responded. It was regarded as accepting Li Jiancheng's order. Perhaps for Feng Li, even if Li Jiancheng ordered him to commit suicide, he would not hesitate. Just draw your sword and kill yourself.
"Wait a minute." Just when Feng Li was about to carry out Li Jiancheng's order, Li Shimin, whose face changed greatly, immediately shouted to stop Feng Li, turned his head and stared at Li Jiancheng, and shouted: "Brother, this is so important. Decided, brother why didn't you discuss it with me before?"
Li Jiancheng had already guessed that Li Shimin would object, but Li Jiancheng was prepared and immediately said: "I am the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, why don't I even have the power to appoint vanguard generals? Second brother, didn't you say that before? You have to be careful in this trip and don't rush ahead for the sake of success. I am also following your advice and let Feng Li lead the vanguard to explore the road first. Is there any problem with this?"
Li Shimin did not expect that Li Jiancheng would turn his own army against him, and his words could not help but hesitate. However, Li Shimin quickly retorted: "What the elder brother did was right, but I had already sent scouts to explore the road before. Now the elder brother will send another one." Pioneer, it’s a bit unnecessary,”
It's a pity that Li Jiancheng was determined to confront Li Shimin. Li Shimin's words could not move Li Jiancheng at all. Li Jiancheng waved his hand and said: "Although the scouts march secretly, they are very inconvenient. It is better to send the vanguard army to explore the way. It’s more effective. Okay, second brother, I’ve made up my mind. You don’t need to persuade me any more. This army will be stationed in Huayin ahead for the time being. Second brother, if you can do more work, please help with it," Li Jiancheng finished. After that, he just turned away and said no more words.
Li Shimin didn't expect that Li Jiancheng would suddenly act so tough, and he couldn't react for a while. He could only give Li Jiancheng a fist salute and said: "In this way, the younger brother will obey the instructions of the elder brother." After saying that, Li Shimin also turned the horse's head and rode. After leaving, and watching Li Shimin leave, Li Jiancheng turned around and looked at Wei Ting and smiled. This was his first victory in a fight with Li Shimin.
Let's say that Li Shimin retreated to his tribe with a gloomy face. When he saw Li Shimin retreating, several generals immediately came forward to greet him. One of them was tall and calm-looking, but he was Li Shimin's general Duan Zhixuan. Duan Zhixuan He is one of the fierce generals under Li Shimin. He is very skilled. In the previous attacks on Huoyi and Chang'an, Duan Zhixuan was a pioneer general and made a lot of contributions to the Li family. The most rare thing is that Duan Zhixuan is loyal to Li Shimin and has always been loyal to him. Led by Li Shimin.
Duan Zhixuan was discussing the next battle with Li Shimin before, but suddenly he heard that Li Jiancheng wanted to summon Feng Li to discuss the matter. Li Shimin also left in a hurry. Now seeing Li Shimin coming back with a bad look on his face, Duan Zhixuan also knew that something was wrong and hurriedly stepped forward and asked: "My lord, something happened,"
Li Shimin looked up at everyone with a gloomy face, squeezed out a smile on his face, but said everything that had just happened helplessly, and then said to everyone: "Brother has appointed Feng Li as the vanguard general. , went to explore the way. Although I objected, I couldn't change my brother's decision."
"What," Li Shimin said, Duan Zhixuan immediately fell into silence, but a short general behind Duan Zhixuan couldn't help shouting. This man was Hou Junji, the general who had been following Li Shimin for a long time. , when the Li family was still in Luoyang, Hou Junji followed Li Shimin as a guard, and now he has become a general under Li Shimin. When Hou Junji heard what Li Shimin said, he immediately shouted: "How can the prince do this? , when will it be Feng Lin’s turn for the position of vanguard general? He will be the vanguard, and I will be the first to refuse to accept it. I will go to him to challenge him, and I must snatch his vanguard general.”
"Hou Junji, don't cause trouble, please step aside." After Hou Junji finished speaking, he picked up the sword and prepared to leave. Li Shimin shouted to stop, glared at Hou Junji, and Li Shimin said again: "Brother He is the commander-in-chief of the three armed forces. It is reasonable for him to appoint the vanguard. Why should we object? Well, let’s not mention this matter again."
Although Hou Junji was irritable, he still obeyed Li Shimin's words. Li Shimin had said so. Naturally, he did not dare to resist, so he could only stand aside obediently. Duan Zhixuan, after thinking for a moment, said to Li Shimin: " Mr. Guo, this matter is a foregone conclusion. There is no point in further arguing. Since the prince has asked Mr. Guo to handle the matter of the army stationed in Huayin, Mr. Guo will lead an army to Huayin first and leave this place to the end. "Come on, the Duke of Guo will just wait and see what happens."
Li Shimin still trusted Duan Zhixuan. Since Duan Zhixuan said so, Li Shimin followed Duan Zhixuan. Even after ordering all the troops and horses, he specially took Hou Junji with him and rushed directly towards Huayin. , but all his cronies in the army remained, headed by Duan Zhixuan.
At the same time, Hongnong City, far away in Hongnong County, ushered in another army. The leading generals were Qin Qiong and Luo Shixin, Wanhe's generals. They held Wanhe's military order and Pang Yu's token. , Qin Qiong and Luo Shixin easily obtained the military and political power of Hongnong City, and nearly 100,000 troops directly entered Hongnong, a small city.
Sitting in the meeting hall of the Hongnong County Sheriff's Mansion, Qin Qiong carefully checked the information about the movements of the Tang army's troops, and finally nodded and said: "This time the Li family is leading the army not only Li Jiancheng, but also Li Yuan's. Li Shimin, well, this is a bit difficult to deal with,"
Luo Shixin, who was next to Qin Qiong, heard this and asked curiously: "Shu Bao, is there anything special about this Li Shimin? Why do you say that with him around, this battle will be difficult to fight?"
Qin Qiong nodded lightly, put the information on the table at hand, and said: "If Li Jiancheng is the only one to lead the army, then this battle will be much easier. Although Li Jiancheng is the prince of the Tang Dynasty, he has never fought before. He has never fought on the battlefield, so such a novice is naturally easy to deal with. But Li Shimin is different. I heard that this man has already joined the army when he was more than ten years old. Although he is young, he can be regarded as experienced in the battlefield. Especially after Li Yuan raised his army, this person has made extraordinary achievements for the Li family many times, and his marching methods are ruthless, making him an extremely difficult opponent to deal with."
After several battles, Luo Shixin is no longer the reckless and impulsive person he used to be. After hearing what Qin Qiong said, Luo Shixin no longer dared to underestimate Li Shimin. He even frowned and said: "If Li Shimin really It’s so powerful, so what should we do?”
What Luo Shixin asked was exactly what Qin Qiong was thinking. How to fight this battle really gave Qin Qiong a headache. If there were no other factors in this battle, just one attack and one defense, then what Qin Qiong and Luo Shixin would lead An army of 100,000 people could easily win against 30,000 Tang troops. But the problem is that this battle is very delicate. Wan He can't break up with the Li family yet, so at the beginning of this battle, Qin Qiong We can't really start a war with Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin. The task assigned by Wan He to Qin Qiong and Luo Shixin is to scare the opponent back with a hundred thousand troops.
Li Jiancheng is the first brother on the battlefield. When he sees an army several times his own, he will definitely be frightened and retreat. But Li Shimin is different. If this person insists on fighting Qin Qiong, then Qin Qiong will still fight in this battle. I really don't know how to continue the fight. After thinking for a moment, Qin Qiong didn't come up with any good ideas. He could only say: "I don't know how to deal with it at the moment. It's better to send a team of people to try the opponent first." Shi Xin, this important task will be left to you,"
"No problem," Luo Shixin immediately patted his chest and agreed. Seeing that Qin Qiong was still a little worried, Luo Shixin immediately shouted: "Don't worry, Shubao, I know what you are worried about, and I won't do anything wrong."