To the north of Xinping County, in the wilderness on the edge, the main force of 80,000 Sui troops is slowly approaching. Just as Li Shimin placed the 50,000 elite Tang troops by his side, the 80,000 troops brought by Yang Yuanqing are also the most elite Sui troops.
, including 6,000 Modao heavy armored infantry and 5,000 heavy armored cavalry.
The Tang Army's camp stood on a slightly raised high ground, with an area of about ten miles. A small river gurgled through the left camp. The camp was built like a board wall, about two feet high. Soldiers patrolled and sentry on the board wall.
On the high wooden wall, King Zhao Li Xuanba and General Yu Chigong were looking at the Sui army camp five miles away. Under the clear sky, they could see very clearly that the Sui army soldiers were busy building the wooden wall.
They haven't finished building the camp yet.
"Why don't you rush up and beat them to a pulp?"
Li Xuanba pointed his whip at the Sui army's camp. His tone was extremely dissatisfied. Since the last time he was injured at Hulao Pass, he had never had a chance to go to the battlefield. The news that the Tang army had been defeated repeatedly forced him to
Going crazy, he wanted to lead an army into Taiyuan and kill Yang Yuanqing and all the Sui Dynasty officials to relieve his hatred.[
But after Li Xiaogong was killed in battle, Li Xuanba seemed to have changed. He became taciturn. From time to time, a fierce light of hatred flashed in his eyes. Hatred accumulated in his heart day by day. He was waiting, waiting for the moment of revenge.
.
At this moment he saw the Sui army's camp, and the fire of revenge began to burn in his heart, which could no longer be suppressed. He turned around and ran towards the camp. Yu Chigong was afraid that he would make a mistake, so he also followed him.
In the camp, Li Shimin was meditating in front of the sand table. He received intelligence from the scouts. Only 80,000 Sui troops came. There were clearly 150,000 troops, so where were the other 70,000? He had a bad feeling in his heart.
, although a Sui army also appeared on the other side of Tongguandao, with banners overwhelming, Li Shimin believed that this was a bluff by the Sui army, which only had 10,000 or 20,000 people at most.
Could it be that Li Shimin was well aware of the weakness of the Tang army's deployment in Guanzhong. What he was most worried about was the weak defense of Guandong. There were only 30,000 troops in Tongguan and Pujinguan. If the Sui army really marched south from Luoshui Road to Fengyi County, copy
On the eastern front's retreat, the situation in Kanto is worrying.
Fang Xuanling next to him saw Li Shimin staring at Feng Yijun, and understood his worries, "Your Highness, I am also worried about the Eastern Front in this humble position."
Li Shimin turned around and looked at Fang Xuanling, "Do you also think that Yang Yuanqing will divide his troops and go south to Feng Yi County?"
Fang Xuanling nodded, "The key is that the current head coach of the Sui army is Yang Yuanqing, not Qin Qiong. Qin Qiong will not divide his troops on the eastern front. The eastern front is not his war zone, but Yang Yuanqing is different. He considers the overall situation. If he discovers that the eastern front
Weak, he will definitely consider it, and now his military strength has been significantly reduced."
Fang Xuanling did not say anything further, but his meaning was very obvious. Yang Yuanqing must have sent troops to the Eastern Front. Li Shimin's eyes showed unconcealable anxiety. If the Eastern Front was breached and the Sui army marched straight into Guanzhong and headed straight for Chang'an, then he would
What's the point of staying here?
It's like a bucket. No matter how strong the other parts are, as long as there is a problem in one part, the water in the bucket will also drain out.
"Sir, what do we think we should do?" Li Shimin was a little confused. He didn't know what to do.
Fang Xuanling sighed slightly. "There are not many choices now. If you have to choose, then I can list three strategies."
"Sir, please speak!"
"The best strategy is for Your Highness to fight the Sui army quickly, defeat Yang Yuanqing's troops as soon as possible, and then quickly rescue the eastern front. The middle strategy is to attack the Chang'an garrison and send 50,000 troops to reinforce the eastern front, increasing the strength of the eastern front to 80,000, which may be able to withstand the
The Sui army's next strategy for attacking the eastern front was for the Tang army to abandon Guanzhong, withdraw to Chang'an, and hold on to the city of Chang'an."
Li Shimin shook his head, "Don't consider the next strategy first. Although the middle line is the best, it is still a question whether the prince is willing to give in. Not to mention that there is still a restraint from the father. I estimate that there will be at most 30,000 troops, and 10,000 will be divided to guard Tongguandao.
, then the Eastern Front only has 50,000 troops for defense at most, can it hold on?"
"What do you mean, Your Highness, you can only choose the best policy?" Fang Xuanling understood what Li Shimin meant.
Li Shimin's face showed a bitter look, "It should be said that only the best strategy is in my hands, but"
Li Shimin walked slowly to the door of the tent, stared at the Sui army camp in the northeast, and seemed to be saying to himself, "In a decisive battle between the two armies, stability should be the most important thing. If we rush into the battle, we will lose more than we gain, and ultimately lead to failure. I should
Where to go?”
At this time, he suddenly saw his third brother Xuan Ba running toward the tent like a gust of wind. No one on either side could stop him, followed by Yu Chi Gong. Li Shimin frowned, what happened?
"Don't stop him, let him come directly into the tent!" Li Shimin immediately ordered his soldiers.[
After a moment, Li Xuanba rushed into the Chinese army's tent and shouted loudly: "Second brother, the Sui army is building a camp. If we don't take this opportunity to attack the Sui army, how long will it take?"
"Don't yell like that!"
Li Shimin was extremely unhappy and said: "I know in my mind whether I should attack or not, and I don't want you to teach me."
"Your Highness!"
Fang Xuanling next to him whispered: "We should understand King Zhao's eagerness."
He was actually hinting to Li Shimin that King Zhao was not an ordinary person, so don't anger him. Li Shimin nodded and said to Li Xuan, "Wait a moment, I will lead the troops and go take a look with you."
At this time, Yuchi Gong also entered the camp, and Li Shimin immediately ordered him, "Order 15,000 horse infantry troops and go out to plunder the camp."
The critical situation on the Eastern Front made it impossible for Li Shimin to confront the Sui army for a long time, but he did not want to rush to a decisive battle, so he decided to have a tentative battle with the Sui army first.
The civil war drums of the Tang Army's camp rang loudly, the camp door opened, and groups of cavalry and infantry rushed out of the camp. Flags were flying, and the sky was overwhelming. They quickly organized their teams in the camp and began to line up to march towards the Sui Army's camp.
Although the Sui army camp was still under construction, the defense was very tight. There were 6,000 cavalry to defend against Tang army sneak attacks. They were commanded by Yang Wei. When the civil war drums in the Tang army camp were beating, the Sui army sentries immediately looked up to the sky and blew their horns.
‘Woo——’
With the sound of the horn, six thousand cavalry rushed out of the camp. Under the leadership of Yang Wei, they lined up in front of the camp for defense. Six thousand spears rose from the ground with murderous intent. Immediately afterwards, four thousand heavy crossbow troops also followed.
He ran out of the camp, raised his giant crossbow in front of the cavalry, and aimed it at the slowly approaching Tang army.
Yang Yuanqing had received the report, and he immediately led 10,000 horse infantry out of camp to fight. Contrary to the Tang army, Yang Yuanqing was not in a hurry to engage in a decisive battle with the Tang army. He was waiting for the changes in the battle situation on the Eastern Front.
The Sui army had 150,000 troops on the eastern front. Li Jing, Qin Qiong, and Pei Xingyan were all the main generals. However, the opponent's main general was Li Shentong, who had only 30,000 troops. Even if there were more troops, the maximum number would be 50,000 to 60,000 troops, which was far from being comparable to the Sui army.
It is only a matter of time before the army can counterbalance and break through on the eastern front.
As long as the Sui army enters Guanzhong from the east, Li Shimin will not be able to defend it and will inevitably withdraw to Chang'an. At this time, it is a good opportunity for the Sui army to launch a large-scale attack. No matter how resourceful Li Shimin is, the situation is over and he will not be able to recover.
.
Under this situation, Yang Yuanqing did not necessarily need to use any surprise troops, let alone sneak attacks or night battles. As long as he made every step of the way and defended watertight, Li Shimin would definitely lose this battle.
"Your Highness, the Tang Army seems to have realized the crisis on the Eastern Front."
Luo Shixin, who was standing next to him, laughed and said, "We actually came to raid so quickly."
Yang Yuanqing watched the Tang army slowly approaching and shook his head, "The opponent only has 10,000 troops. It's obviously just a test. Don't challenge them."
He immediately ordered: "Withdraw the cavalry and deploy another three thousand crossbowmen to suppress the formation!"
Yang Yuanqing's military orders were overwhelming. Although Yang Wei was eager to fight the Tang army, he did not dare to resist the order and led 6,000 cavalry back to the camp slowly. At the same time, 3,000 crossbowmen came out of the camp and were deployed among the giant crossbowmen.
Afterwards, he raised his crossbow and aimed it at the Tang army.
At this time, the Tang army was two miles away and consisted of 5,000 cavalry and 5,000 infantry. Li Shimin was wearing a golden helmet and holding a wolf fang in his hand. On both sides of him were many famous generals, including Li Xuanba, Yuchi Gong, Li
Jun Xian, Lu Zushang, Hou Junji, Liu Hongji, etc.[
In contrast, there are not many famous generals around Yang Yuanqing, only Luo Shixin, Yang Wei, Niu Jinda, Xue Wanche, etc. However, this just shows that Yang Yuanqing's famous generals are scattered all over the country. Li Jing, Qin Qiong, Pei Xingyan are on the eastern front, and Xu Shiji is on the southern front.
On the line, Wang Junke is in Bashu and Xie Yingden is in Jingxiang.
Li Shimin stared at the Sui army's formation from a distance. It was obvious that the Sui army deployed a large number of crossbow troops in the front because they did not want to fight with him. This further confirmed his guess. The Sui army's focus had been placed on the eastern front. This
The side becomes defensive.
"Second brother, let me attack the Sui army's formation!" Li Xuanba held two sledgehammers in his hands, anxiously shouting for a fight.
"Are you made of iron?"
Li Shimin finally couldn't bear it anymore and angrily scolded this stupid brother, "The Sui army's crossbows have seven or eight thousand people, how can you dodge them? I'll shoot you like a hornet's nest, and you won't scream anymore."
Li Xuanba lowered his head after being scolded. Yuchi Gong could not bear it and stepped forward and said: "Your Highness, if we withdraw the troops back to the camp like this, it will inevitably affect morale. It is better to lead an army in a humble position and attack the Sui army from the south to disperse the Sui army."
The army defends, and then we attack from the front."
Li Shimin stared at the Sui army for a long time, and finally sighed, "So what if we attack? We only have 10,000 troops. How can we defeat the Sui army? If we send troops unfavorably, it will only shake the morale of the army."
He immediately ordered: "Take the troops back to camp!"
The Tang army retreated at the sound of gold and retreated slowly. At this time, Li Shimin waved to Liu Hongji and whispered to him: "The main camp of the Sui army is in Luojiao County. The grain and grass transportation line is long. You can lead five thousand cavalry tonight.
Send troops to attack the Sui Army's grain and grass transportation lines, and if possible, burn down the Sui Army's main logistics camp."
At this point, Li Shimin could only use surprise troops to deal with the Sui army. Cutting off the Sui army's food, grass and logistics might be a way.