A goshawk flew from Yingchuan County, flew over the Yellow River, and headed towards Heyang City. It brought the extremely important discoveries of the Sui army scouts in Yingchuan County.

The Sui army in Heyang City had gathered 90,000 troops. General Xie Yingdeng and Xue Wanche led another 20,000 troops south and just arrived in Hanoi County. These 20,000 troops were the elite Youzhou army that were reorganized.

At this point, the Sui army deployed 140,000 people on the Yellow River front line. In addition to the 90,000 troops in Hanoi County, there were 20,000 troops led by Pei Xingyan in Hedong County, and 30,000 troops deployed in Liyang City and led by Qin Qiong.

In addition, on the Yellow River in Heyang City, the Sui army also assembled more than 2,000 warships, which was a sure-win battle.

On the eagle tower at the highest point in Heyang City, a goshawk circled and slowly landed on the eagle tower. An eagle slave took off the message tube and ran downstairs and shouted: "It's a red message tube!"

This was emergency information. The messenger waiting under the tower received the information and turned over to the horse and urged the horse to gallop towards the Sui army camp located outside the city.

In the central army's tent, Yang Yuanqing was discussing military information with Li Jing. As the battle of Luoyang began, various important information came one after another. The Tang army and Zheng army started a war outside Luoyang City, with Li Shimin and Wang Renze against each other, and Wang Renze lost two consecutive games, and the situation in Luoyang was unfavorable.

At Hulao Pass, Luo Shixin and Cheng Yaojin have successfully seized the pass and laid an important chess piece. In Chenliu County, a fleet of 200 large ships was heading north along the Tongji Canal. This should be the fleet sent by Li Mi to officially sign the contract.

But Yang Yuanqing was considering the capture of the Central Plains at this time. The reason why he continued to increase his troops was to deal with the continuous changes in the battle situation.

More importantly, Li Mi already showed signs of giving up the Central Plains and moving south to the Jianghuai River. So the timely capture of the power gap left by Li Mi's retreat in the south is the top priority in front of Yang Yuanqing.

"I think we should first occupy Dongjun, then conquer Jiyinjun to the south, followed by Xingyangjun, so that we can connect with Luoyang and connect our forces in Henan."

Li Jing was persuading Yang Yuanqing. "I guess Li Mi will not give up Liang County easily for the time being. I also recommend that the general manager not attack Liang County for the time being, leaving him as a third party. In this way, the east side will use Dong County as a logistics center to attack Dou Jiande, and the west side will build Luoyang as a support center to deal with the Tang army, echoing east and west, forming a horn with Hebei."

"If this happens, it will also become a situation where the enemy is both behind the back. Once Li Mi's plan to go south is frustrated, he will definitely make a comeback. Then collude with the Tang army and attack both sides at the same time. We will be in a difficult position. Have the Chief Secretary thought about it?"

Li Jing thought for a while and said, "Then he would leave behind a weak Wang Shichong. Let him become a barrier to the west and block Li Tang's eastward advance. We will concentrate on taking the Central Plains, so as to resolve the dilemma of being attacked from both sides."

"This is also a way to concentrate on attacking the Central Plains."

Yang Yuanqing looked at the sand table with his hands behind his back and pondered for a moment: "I heard from my grandfather that there are two counties in Henan that are extremely important, one is Liang County, which contacts Jianghuai and the other is Yingchuan County, which contacts Nanyang Jingxiang. I can not attack Liang County for the time being, but I still consider taking Yingchuan County."

Li Jing sighed slightly, "I'm afraid that the front line will be too long and the troops in the rear will be empty, and that Dou Jiande will attack Hebei. It will be more than worth the loss."

Yang Yuanqing was silent. This was indeed a problem. Dou Jiande was a wounded wolf, hiding in Qingzhou. Although he was injured, he could not be careless.

Once Qin Qiong's army was too far south, this would give Dou Jiande an opportunity to take advantage of it. He destroyed the ferry, cut off Qin Qiong's retreat, and then launched a large-scale attack on Hebei. There were only some county soldiers in Hebei, and he could not resist Dou Jiande's counterattack. In this way, Hebei was in danger!

Yang Yuanqing also sighed, "Then it's better to follow the original plan! Qin Qiong's army only took Dongjun."

At this time, a soldier reported at the entrance of the tent: "Report to the Chief Executive, the scout in Yingchuan County has urgent information coming!"

Yang Yuanqing was stunned. He had just talked about Yingchuan County, and the information from Yingchuan County arrived, "Come on!"

The soldiers entered the tent and presented a red letter tube with the words "Yingchuan County" engraved on it. Yang Yuanqing shook out a roll of fine silk paper from the letter tube, with only one sentence on it, "Eighty thousand Tang troops were found in Ye County, Yingchuan County."

This news immediately surprised Yang Yuanqing. It was very surprising that in addition to 100,000 main forces attacking Luoyang, the Tang army actually sent 80,000 troops to attack Yingchuan County.

"Master, what happened?" Li Jing asked hurriedly when he saw that the manager's face was strange.

"You can take a look!"

Yang Yuanqing handed the information to Li Jing. He quickly walked to the sand table and soon found Ye County. At the junction of the five counties, there were actually 80,000 Tang troops here. This could only be a large army led by Li Xiaogong of Jingxiang. Li Yuan actually sent out the Jingxiang army. What kind of chess was he playing?

At this time, Li Jing walked forward and said, "It is obvious that the Tang army not only wants to capture Luoyang, but also wants to capture the counties in the Central Plains. It seems that Li Yuan has also seen through Li Mi."

"You mean, Li Yuan also discovered that Li Mi had signs of retreating to the southeast?"

Li Jing nodded, "That should be true!"

The situation suddenly changed. Yang Yuanqing stared at the sand table with his hands behind his back and fell into deep thought for a long time. If the Tang army in Jingxiang headed north in large numbers, it would obviously have a loophole in the empty force of Jingxiang.

So can Xiao Xian seize this opportunity to launch a large-scale counterattack and retake Jing Xiang? Yang Yuanqing felt that it was necessary to remind Xiao Xian.

.........

Because the Tang army's main force of 80,000 Jingxiang unexpectedly appeared in Yingchuan County, disrupting the Sui army's plan. Yang Yuanqing immediately divided his troops to go south with four routes, and the East Road ordered Qin Qiong to lead 30,000 troops to cross the river from Liyang to occupy Dongjun.

The West Road ordered Xu Shiji to lead 10,000 Hedong Army and 10,000 Henei Army, with a total of 20,000 troops crossing the river from Shan County, occupying Hangu Pass, and cutting off the connection between Guanzhong and Luoyang.

The middle route was divided into two groups. One was led by Li Jing to Xingyang, and went south to Yingchuan County to intercept Li Xiaogong's Jingxiang Tang army to the north. The other was led by Yang Yuanqing to cross the river from Mengjin, and directly took the Luoyang atrium, and put pressure on Li Shimin who was attacking Luoyang.

Several large armies crossed the river at the same time, but Yang Yuanqing did not send troops immediately. He had to wait for Li Shimin to fight and consume Luoyang before he could continue. Crossing the river too early was not conducive to weakening Wang Shichong. In addition, he had to wait for Li Mi's special envoy to arrive for the second time.

.........

The battle in Luoyang has lasted for more than ten days, and two battles have been fought, both ending with Wang Renze's defeat, causing the Zheng army to lose 20,000 elite troops.

Wang Shichong was furious and dismissed Wang Renze as the chief marshal. He demoted him to the people and ordered the prince Wang Xuanying to be in charge of the government. He personally led the army and appointed himself as the Grand Marshal of the World, and took all the remaining 50,000 elite troops in his own hands.

Although Wang Renze was dismissed from his position as the military commander, he was not convinced. That morning, he found out that his uncle was inspecting the military commander. He immediately rushed to the military commander.

In the Military Arts Supervision Square, two thousand craftsmen were busy creating various heavy defensive weapons. Inadequate materials, Wang Shichong ordered some palaces to be demolished and obtained a large number of high-quality giant trees. He was particularly pleased to see the manufacturing of giant stone cannons and rows of giant crossbows.

Wang Shichong walked to a giant stone cannon. He patted the cannon body made of the palace beam and asked with a smile: "How far can this stone cannon be thrown?"

The 2,500 military weapon supervisors who stayed in Luoyang were all the best craftsmen in the world. Yang Yuanqing helped Wang Shichong several times, just to leave these 2,500 craftsmen.

But Wang Shichong knew in his heart that he only gave Yang Yuanqing five hundred people, and he kept the remaining two thousand craftsmen. At this moment, it was these two thousand craftsmen that brought Wang Shichong the last glimmer of hope.

An old craftsman bowed and replied: "Report to the Lord. This is called 'Stone General', which is the largest stone cannon in the world. It can throw a huge stone weighing fifty kilograms away from 200 steps, can easily destroy enemy aircraft vans and attack infantry."

"Not bad! I deserve to be General Shi."

Wang Shichong praised him. He thought of the Sui army's turtle oil again and couldn't help but sigh: "It's a pity that there is no turtle oil in Luoyang. Otherwise, I would use turtle oil to deal with Li Shimin and burn him into coke!"

"uncle!"

Someone called him behind him, and Wang Shichong turned around and saw Wang Renze rushing over. Wang Shichong's face darkened. He asked a little unhappy: "Is there anything wrong?"

Wang Shichong once had high hopes for Wang Renze, but Wang Renze disappointed him. He lost two battles and lost 20,000 elite soldiers, which made Wang Shichong extremely heartbroken. He had no good attitude towards Wang Renze.

Wang Renze knew his uncle's dissatisfaction with him, and he still bowed and said, "Uncle, please allow my nephew to say something, and my nephew will die without regrets!"

Seeing that he was talking seriously, Wang Shichong nodded, "Tell me!"

"Uncle, the defeat in the two battles is not because of the incompetence of nephew, but because of another reason."

“What’s the reason?”

"Report to my uncle, the reason for the defeat was because of the royal family's leadership, which was because of their incompetence. The first time was that King Zhao refused to obey the command and attacked without authorization, resulting in the defeat. The second time was that King Jing left the army and fled at a critical moment, causing the army to collapse. In fact, the Tang army could not support it. If the uncle did not change the situation of the royal family's leadership, he would still be defeated again in the future. These royal families really could not fight."

Wang Shichong fell into deep thought. After a while, his face gradually calmed down and he sighed: "You are right, and I understand in my heart. But now the enemy is strong and I am weak, and people are unstable. If I use a general, I am afraid that they will turn against each other in the face, and the consequences will be even more serious. I dare not trust outsiders too much!"

Wang Renze was silent and said, "At this point, does your uncle still want to ask Yang Yuanqing for help? My nephew heard that Yang Yuanqing had deployed more than 100,000 troops on the Yellow River North Line, and it was obvious that he wanted to deal with the battle in Luoyang. If Yang Yuanqing was willing to send troops in advance and disperse Li Shimin's army, then we would be more sure of defending the city. As long as we delay time, the Tang army would have to return in vain in the end."

"What should Yang Yuanqing do? What can you use to satisfy his appetite?" Wang Shichong said coldly.

"Uncle, my nephew has been thinking that having us exists is actually beneficial to Yang Yuanqing but not harmful. We cannot attack the Sui Dynasty, stand between the Sui and Tang Dynasties and become his barrier. In this way, he can concentrate on attacking the Central Plains. If the Tang Dynasty wants to plan for the Central Plains, it will not be able to bypass Luoyang first. Isn't this more beneficial to Yang Yuanqing?"

Wang Shichong walked a few steps behind his back, and resolutely turned back to Wang Renze and said, "Anyway, it's all dead, so just treat it as a living horse. You go to Heyang again and convince Yang Yuanqing."

Wang Renze hurriedly said, "My nephew is willing to share his worries for his uncle, but can Yun Dingxing and his nephew go with him? He is very eloquent and has an old age with Yang Yuanqing. In addition, his nephew also wants to bring Yuwen Eying with him and move him with his old love."
Chapter completed!