Fang Xuanling thought for a long time and then shook his head, "Your Highness, I am at a loss for words. I can only infer that the Sui army's attack on Qingzhou was a ruse by suspicious soldiers. But what their true purpose is, I cannot imagine."
"Could this be a ploy by the Sui Dynasty to lure troops?"
Changsun Wuji pondered for a moment and said, "Perhaps the Sui army deliberately set out to attack Qingzhou to lure us into attacking the Sui Dynasty?"
"It shouldn't be a trick to lure troops. Yang Yuanqing has just completed negotiations with us. He also needs time to recuperate and will not come back to deal with us. This matter must have nothing to do with us."
Fang Xuanling rejected Changsun Wuji's idea, but he couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation. The inner hall was silent. After a long while, Li Shimin said: "I must report this matter to my father. No matter what, I can't hide it."
Father, no matter what the purpose of the Sui army is, we should seize this opportunity."."."...
In the imperial study room, Li Yuan was comforting Yu Wenshiji. He had known Yuwen Shiji for many years and had always had a good personal relationship. Moreover, Yu Wenshiji's sister was Li Yuan's Zhaoyi and was very favored by Li Yuan. The personal relationship and marriage made Li Yuan very fond of him.
Yuwen Shiji also liked it very much.
This time, Yu Wenshiji went to the Sui Dynasty as an envoy and wanted to reunite with his wife and children. Unexpectedly, his wife, Princess Nanyang, had severed her love for him and decided to become a nun.
His son, Zen Master Yuwen, did not want to bear the shame of regicide, so he took his mother's surname and changed his name to Zen Master Yang. He did not want to serve the Tang Dynasty, and refused to return to Chang'an with his father. Finally, Master Yuwen and his wife and children separated and returned to Chang'an sadly.
When he returned to Chang'an, he was impeached by Xiao Yu, saying that he was seeking personal gain by taking advantage of state affairs and insulting the dignity of the Tang envoy. He suggested that the court remove him from office. This made Yu Wenshiji even more decadent. The Political Affairs Hall summoned him to testify.
He didn't go either. He resigned himself to fate and handed a paper of dismissal edict to Li Yuan's court.
The Holy Spirit's comfort made Yu Wenshiji unable to suppress the sorrow in his heart any longer. He knelt on the ground and cried sadly, "My family has been ruined. Even if there are senior officials of the prime minister's country, what use are they to me? It is better to serve the people and find a remote mountain with no one."
I live in a hut, a woodcutter and a fisherman, and live my whole life."
Li Yuan knew that Yu Wenshiji had a deep relationship with Princess Nanyang. Unfortunately, Princess Nanyang had become a monk, and it was difficult to mend a broken mirror and to recover from flooding. He also sympathized with Yuwen Shiji, and he did not take the impeachment of Yuwen Shiji by the Political Affairs Hall to heart.
"Yuwen Aiqing, the princess is heartless. You have to be more open-minded. In fact, even if she agrees to reunite with you, you can no longer live together. You have to understand this."
"I also understand in my heart, but I am alone and cannot sleep at night. The pain of a middle-aged man with a broken family and the loss of his wife is difficult for me to face. I beg your Majesty to let me serve the people."
"You don't need to explain anymore. I understand in my heart that there is no need for a man to have a wife. Since the princess of the Sui Dynasty does not want to marry you, I will let the princess of the Tang Dynasty marry you. This matter is settled. I will arrange it as soon as possible. You can rest assured
As an official, don’t look for trouble anymore.”
Li Yuan's attitude was very firm. Although Yu Wenshiji did not want to remarry at this time, he had no choice but to say goodbye.
As soon as Yu Wenshiji left, Li Yuan asked the eunuch beside him who was hesitant to speak, "What's the matter?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, King Qin has something urgent to report."
Li Yuan nodded, "Announce his appearance."
"Your Majesty has a decree to declare the King of Qin's audience!"."...
"Your Majesty has a decree for the King of Qin to pay an audience!"
The loud shouts passed down, and a moment later, Li Shimin followed a eunuch and walked in quickly. He walked into the imperial study, bowed and saluted, "My son, I see you, the emperor!"
Li Yuan was quite satisfied with Li Shimin during this period. The reason was that Li Yuan planned to let Li Shimin serve as the general manager of Guannei Road concurrently, but Li Shimin politely declined, and instead strongly recommended Chai Shao as the general manager of Guannei Road, which greatly exceeded Li Yuan's expectations.
This kind of humility made Li Yuan very happy. The status of his second son Shimin in his heart was invisibly heavier. Li Yuan smiled and asked: "Is there anything urgent you want to report to me?"
"Reporting to my father, Tang Feng sent an urgent message today. The Sui army is going to attack Dou Jiande in Qingzhou."
With that said, Li Shimin presented Tang Feng's information to Li Yuan. The smile on Li Yuan's face disappeared and became extremely serious. He quickly looked at Tang Feng, and his thick eyebrows were twisted into a '1' shape. The Sui army was actually going to attack.
Qingzhou Dou Jiande.
But even so, Li Yuan didn't have the courage to take the opportunity to attack the Sui Dynasty again. The negotiations had just ended, and he really didn't want to cause any more trouble.
Li Yuan sighed, "What does the emperor think of this matter?"
"Let me tell you, my father, I still have the old opinion. Regardless of whether the Sui Dynasty really attacked Dou Jiande or not, it is actually an opportunity for us."
"no!"
Li Yuan decisively rejected Li Shimin's idea, "I need time now to work hard and do not want to go to war with the Sui Dynasty again."
"Father, I don't mean to start a war with the Sui Dynasty. I mean that we can continue to expand our advantages in the south while the Sui army has no time to worry about."
Li Yuan finally understood what Li Shimin meant, "What the emperor means is to attack Xiao Xian?"
Li Shimin nodded, bowed and said: "Father, Xiao Xianhe and Laihu'er were having internal strife. It was he who destroyed the Great Wall. My son is willing to lead 50,000 elite troops to Jingxiang, and take advantage of the opportunity when the Sui Dynasty has no time to visit south, and annihilate it in one fell swoop."
Xiao Mian, don’t give him a chance to stand up again.”
Li Yuan thought for a long time, but did not agree immediately, "I will discuss this matter with the Prime Ministers of the Political Affairs Hall.".".".".
The political affairs hall of the Tang Dynasty was still debating whether to take advantage of this opportunity to continue to attack Xiao Xian, but there was still no result. However, the Sui army was mobilizing on a large scale. An army of 130,000 crossed Jingxing, Taihang, and headed for Hebei, marching toward the southeast in a mighty manner.
In the evening of that day, 130,000 troops arrived in Wuqiang County, Xindu County. Since it was getting late, the army set up camp in a wilderness outside the county town.
Most of the soldiers were exhausted. After dinner, they went to sleep and rest. Chief Shi Li Jing walked through several tents and hurried toward the Chinese army's tent. At the entrance of the tent, he met Lieutenant General Qin Qiong.
"Uncle Bao, what can I do for you, manager?"
Li Jing didn't know what important matter Yang Yuanqing came to discuss with him. In fact, Li Jing did not agree with attacking Qingzhou at this time. Li Jing believed that at this time, the main focus should be on recruiting troops, training, and recuperation. Not long after the Central Plains Campaign, he launched the Qingzhou Campaign.
, which will make soldiers too tired,
Qin Qiong shook his head, "The manager didn't say anything, it's just something important."
Qin Qiong was very careful. He pulled Li Jing and whispered: "Chang Shi, I think this attack on Qingzhou is a bit strange!"
"What's weird?"
"Since we are attacking Qingzhou, why is there no movement from Xu Shiji's side? I think his subordinates should cooperate from the west."
Qin Qiong's suspicion was somewhat reasonable. In fact, Li Jing had already felt that there was something wrong. The biggest question was that this battle in Qingzhou was approved by Ziwei Pavilion. This was so unreasonable.
Secondly, the fleet transporting military supplies actually used the canal. It should have been more convenient to go directly to the Yellow River, which puzzled Li Jing. Also, Yang Yuanqing was very mysterious and never discussed military affairs with the generals.
This is also very abnormal.
All kinds of abnormal things made Li Jing suspicious. Even if Yang Yuanqing didn't summon them today, he would still ask clearly about the situation.
"Let's go! Ask the manager, what's going on?" The two of them walked quickly towards the Chinese army's tent.
In the Chinese army's tent, Yang Yuanqing was standing in front of the sand table studying Lai Hu'er's marching route. He had already received news from Xie Sili that Lai Hu'er had agreed to return to the Sui Dynasty and led five thousand trusted naval troops and fifty large ships to Lu Hu'er.
Sailing to Zhuojun Military Port at the mouth of Shuihe River.
They should take the Yangtze River waterway and then sail along the coastal waters. The route is very clear. Judging from the time, they have been walking for twenty days and are almost at the military port.
This military plan can be called openly building plank roads, secretly attacking Chencang, and nominally attacking Qingzhou, but in fact it was preparing to sneak attack Goryeo and plunder supplies from Goryeo.
This plan was very secretive. Except for Pei Ju, who gave the advice, only the two prime ministers, Du Ruhui and Cui Junsu, knew about it, and then the emissary Xie Sili. Except for five people, including Yang Yuanqing, no one knew about it.
However, the army has arrived at Xindu County, and it is time to separate. At this time, there are soldiers outside the tent reporting: "Qi General Manager, Li Changshi and Vice General Qin are here."
"Invite them in."
After a moment, the curtain was lifted, and Li Jing and Qin Qiong walked in. They both bowed and saluted, "See the manager!"
"You two are welcome, please come and talk."
The two stepped forward and saw that Yang Yuanqing seemed to be studying the route. Li Jing and Qin Qiong looked at each other. Li Jing smiled and said, "We have many questions. Can we ask the manager to help us answer them?"
Yang Yuanqing smiled slightly and said, "I know you have doubts. I brought you here today just to tell you something."
Li Jing and Qin Qiong remained silent, waiting for Yang Yuanqing's explanation. Yang Yuanqing pointed at Pingyuan County Road with a wooden pole: "This time, Li Changshi led an army of 100,000 to station on the north bank of the Yellow River in Pingyuan County to maintain a state of oppression against Dou Jiande's army.
, but there is no need to cross the Yellow River, it is just suppressing but not fighting, do you two understand?"
Li Jing put his hands on his hands and laughed, "I'm telling you! It's not appropriate to attack Qingzhou now. As expected, I guessed it. Attacking Qingzhou is just a show."
Qin Qiong asked curiously: "General Manager, if we are not attacking Qingzhou, then where is our goal?"
Yang Yuanqing pointed at Pyongyang with a wooden stick, "The attack on Qingzhou is just to hide the enemy's eyes. I will personally lead an army of 30,000 to attack Pyongyang in Goryeo by sea."
"Attack Goryeo!"
Li Jing and Qin Qiong both screamed in surprise, which they had never imagined in their dreams.
Yang Yuanqing nodded solemnly, "This matter has been planned for a month and is extremely secretive. Now that the army has arrived in Xindu County, it is time to separate. I will lead an army of 30,000 to the military port at the mouth of the Lushui River, and you two
Then continue to lead the army southward, and under my banner, station troops in the north of the Yellow River to build up momentum and maintain coercion."