() Although there are nominally nearly 300,000 troops in Chang'an City today, only 70,000 to 80,000 of them are old, weak, sick and disabled. The actual number of usable elite soldiers is less than 200,000, and among them there are more than 10
Wan are the tribes of Hu and Qiang who were forcibly conquered from Xiliang.
This time Li Jiancheng allocated 100,000 elite troops to Li Shentong in one go, which can be said to have paid off!
If Li Shentong cannot win this battle, then the Li Tang Dynasty will basically be completely hopeless!
Feeling the great responsibility, Li Shentong summoned his elite soldiers and generals to discuss the battle strategy on the day he received the order.
"Your Majesty's order to us is to capture Dashan Pass and prepare for our army's western expedition. If you have any thoughts on this, you might as well tell us!"
After hearing this, all the generals felt contempt in their hearts.
Returning to the west to march westward, or fleeing to the west?
Who doesn’t know that the entire Xiliang area west of Guanzhong has been completely robbed by Yuwen Chenglong’s bandits! . . .
In Xiliang now, let alone people, even mice will starve to death if they go there!
Why are we Tang soldiers going on the Western Expedition? Are we going to the Western Regions collectively to eat sand?
Although he is so slanderous, Li Shentong is a nominal commander after all, and the necessary respect is still necessary, unless the Tang Empire is officially over!
As for now, I am a monk ringing the bell every day!
Especially those from aristocratic families who have some connection with Luoyang, such as Pei Ji, Liu Chongli and others, they don't care much about it!
According to the news received by these guys, the Wenxi Pei family and the Hedong Liu family seem to have been connected to the Yuan Dynasty.
Among them, Pei Ju, the patriarch of the Wenxi Pei family, is now compiling books for the Yuan Dynasty; and the Liu family of Hedong is following Wen Dianjian's fifth daughter, Princess Yang Awu of Lanling, because Liu Shu married him.
Boarded the big ship Princess Leping.
Although the two families have not yet negotiated specific surrender matters with the Yuan Dynasty, as long as they pay a certain price, there will not be much problem in surviving under the rule of the Yuan Dynasty in the future!
Therefore, Pei Ji and Liu Chongli were not very interested in this expedition.
In addition to Pei and Liu, there are several people who also have the same mentality, namely Dou Jing, the second son of old man Dou Kang, Dou Dan, the third son of old man Dou Kang, and Dou Fengjie, the son of old man Dou Gui.
These three guys each followed their father's orders to win over important figures in the army. Naturally, they would not want to help Li Shentong make plans to win the war.
Although these dandies are not very concerned about this expedition, there are some people who are very concerned about it. This person is Duan Zhixuan, General of the Hussars of Leyou Prefecture and Duke of Linzi County.
Duan Zhixuan can be regarded as a strange person. He followed Zhutou Huangdianguang to conquer Korea at the age of fourteen. Moreover, he was not just a fool, but a real charge. Duan Zhixuan was quite brave. At the age of fourteen, he
I have fought all three armies without any rival! Unfortunately, this guy is unlucky. He didn't find a good boss, and he defeated his husband every time. He went on several expeditions without getting any military merit. Finally, he returned in depression and followed his father back to Taiyuan.
The land has gone.
Later, Li Yuan's old bastard rebelled, and Duan Zhixuan recruited a team of more than a thousand people, and then led them to join Li Yuan.
Duan Zhixuan's famous battle was when he planned an emergency landing in Chang'an during the Sui Dynasty and left the left-back general Qu Tutong. At that year, Duan Zhixuan was not yet twenty years old.
It was because of this battle that Duan Zhixuan was awarded the title of Duke of Linzi County and the actual post of General of Hussars in Leyou Prefecture.
Now seeing that His Majesty the Tang Dynasty finally thought of using himself again, Duan Zhixuan quickly prepared his homework and waited for Li Shentong's inquiries at any time.
As soon as Li Shentong opened his mouth this time, Duan Zhixuan immediately realized that his opportunity had come. He quickly stepped forward and said, "I'd like to report to the general, the general will have something to say!"
"Oh, it's General Duan, please tell me something!"
Li Shentong still valued this young man Duan Zhixuan, and his words were much more polite.
"As reported to the general, the general believes that it may not be difficult to capture Dasan Pass. The real trouble is the three Yuan armies of Xinwu, Xinxiang, and Pujin. As far as the general knows, most of these three Yuan armies are
The Xiliang cavalry comes and goes like the wind, and it is very convenient to respond to each other. Especially the Yinwu garrison is very close to Dashan Pass and can be reached in less than half a day."
"If these three enemies attack us when our army is storming Dasanguan, our army will definitely be exhausted to deal with it, and it will be difficult to achieve half the result with twice the effort!"
"Then how should we deal with the relationship between General Yi Duan?"
In fact, Li Shentong also knew about this problem, but he just couldn't deal with it.
"According to the wishes of the last general, why don't you ask your Majesty to send other troops to hold off the enemies in Pujin and Xinfeng. As long as the enemy forces in these two directions can be blocked for a few days, the general can concentrate on dealing with Xinwu.
This is the Lu Yuan Army."
"Based on what the general can do, it is not difficult to conquer the Yuan army of 50,000 troops with a hundred thousand troops. As long as we open up the front line of Dashanguan, even if the two Yuan armies arrive, it will be too late!
"
Yes, I am just obsessed with the fact that other generals are no match for the Yuan army. But in fact, I don’t need them to win the battle at all, I just need them to be able to delay it for a few days!
This is not impossible!
For example, my brother Li Shenfu, King of Xiangyi, and my cousin Li Xiaoji, King of Gaoping County, are also immediate choices. If they are matched with a few generals, even if they may not be able to defeat the Yuan army, they can be compared with them.
How many days of fighting should not be a problem?
After making up his mind, Li Shentong discussed with the generals for a while, and then ordered everyone to assemble the army and prepare to set off, while Li Shentong himself hurried into the palace to meet the saint.
We still need to send troops? What about my safety?
After hearing Li Shentong's request, Li Jiancheng couldn't help but frown!
It turns out that after allocating 100,000 elite troops to Li Shentong, Li Jiancheng had less than 100,000 elite troops! The others were old, weak, sick and disabled. It was okay to scare people with numbers. They were stationed in Chang'an City to do some transporting and rolling.
They can do things like repairing bows and arrows, but if they are really sent out of the city to fight, they are basically just giving credit to others!
Now, if the Tang Dynasty were to send out more troops and resist Xinfeng and Pujin, which totaled 100,000 troops, then at least a considerable number of troops would have to be sent. In this way, Li Jiancheng would have basically nothing left.
Got it!
But if he doesn't send troops, if Li Shentong loses the battle again, then even if he still has troops on hand, he will have no chance to break out of the siege. Sooner or later, he will be trapped in Chang'an City!
Looking at Li Jiancheng's gloomy face, Li Shentong also knew that his suggestion seemed a bit difficult for this newly minted Majesty of the Tang Dynasty!
After thinking about it for a while, Li Shentong quickly added, "Actually, the troops from Pujin and Xinfeng only need to plant false flags and make a good show. They don't necessarily have to fight to the death with the Yuan army!"
"So, Wei Chen thinks that your majesty can send 20,000 elite troops to each of these two groups, and the rest can be made up with other armies. As long as the superficial skills are done well, the Yuan army will not dare to attack easily! As long as they can
Give Wei Chen a few days of hard work, and wait until Wei Chen wins the Great Sanguan!"
"The emperor's plan is very good, so let's do it according to the emperor's wishes! I will order the king of Xiangyi and the king of Gaoping to lead the army on a certain day!"
As Li Jiancheng made up his mind, the last vigorous struggle of the Tang Empire finally began. (To be continued.)