On the Western Front battlefield, Yang Yuanqing's main force was stationed in Yiyang County, Henan County, only 60 miles away from Changyuan County, Hongnong County.

Li Shimin also led his army back to Changyuan County. He led a 100,000 army to fight against Luoyang. Now he has lost 25,000 people, but Luoyang is still standing still. This ending made him very depressed.

In the big tent, Li Shimin stared at the sand table for a long time and said nothing. He had already clearly felt that he was being held by Yang Yuanqing, and whether to fight or not is decided by the other party.

The current situation makes him feel very passive. If this passive problem is not solved, the Tang army will be in danger in this battle.

At this time, Changsun Wuji slowly walked forward and said, "Your Highness, the best way now is to fight for reinforcements in the court. Once reinforcements arrive, they can break the current deadlock."

Li Shimin sighed slightly, "I also hoped that my father would send reinforcements, but my father refused."

"Your Highness, I think there is a misunderstanding in this, not that the Lord refuses to send reinforcements."

"Misunderstand?"

Li Shimin glanced at him, "What misunderstanding?"

"I remember that when His Highness asked for reinforcements, he wanted to fight the Sui army to a decisive battle. If he wins, the Tang Dynasty will win the world, and if he loses, the Tang Dynasty will perish. The emperor could not bear such consequences, so he was reluctant to send reinforcements. This is the key to the problem."

"But this is the fact. The Tang Dynasty's 300,000 troops had almost 200,000 troops put into the battlefield. If it was sent to reinforcements, it would be meaningless to have 20,000 or 30,000, and at least 50,000. Isn't that a huge army that is scattered?"

Speaking of this, Li Shimin pointed to Yan'an County with a wooden pole, "The Sui army had 10,000 troops in Yan'an Army and 10,000 troops in Hedong County. If we had too many reinforcements, which led to the emptiness of Guanzhong, these two armies would enter Guanzhong at the same time. It would put great pressure on Guanzhong. I was worried that all three lines would be defeated at that time."

Li Shimin sighed, "Actually, I think the best way is to withdraw the troops and retreat to Guanzhong to preserve their strength. Temporarily give up the Central Plains to the Sui army."

"But is the Lord willing?"

“This is the problem.”

Li Shimin said worriedly: "I am just worried that my father's emperor is so high that he cannot see the current grim situation. He does not understand the passiveness of the Tang army now. In fact, I am not worried about my side. At most, I can stick to the barriers and not fight the Sui army. I have enough food to fight a protracted war. What I am worried about is Xiaogong's side. His army is dominated by the Shu army and has not fought for a long time. Can it be better than the elite Northern Army of Cavalry and Shooting? If he is defeated, Li Jing's army will return to Hongnong, and I will not be able to support it."

"It seems that Yang Yuanqing also realized this." Changsun Wuji said.

Li Shimin shook his head, "It's not that he realized this. It's that he made a deliberate arrangement. Look at his troops stationed in Yiyang County, and he confronted me at Yaoyao. He did not mean to fight with me. This shows that he is also waiting for victory on the Eastern Front. He knows as well as me, where is our weakness?"

Speaking of this, Li Shimin finally made up his mind, "I still want to persuade my father to send troops. Even if there are 20,000 or 30,000 people, as long as we put pressure on the Sui army from the direction of Tongguan, we may change our current passive situation."

.........

As Li Shimin judged, Yang Yuanqing was indeed waiting for news from Li Jing on the Eastern Front. A big battle is not the end of the two armies, and after a fight, whoever wins and loses.

This battle is a big deal, which affects the gains and losses of the entire Central Plains, and even the weakening of the entire national strength. Therefore, Yang Yuanqing is also facing tremendous pressure, and he also does not want to act rashly.

In the big tent, Yang Yuanqing said to Wei Zheng, the special envoy who came from Taiyuan: "Go back and tell the Prime Ministers of Ziwei Pavilion that this battle will not end so quickly, as fast as a month, as slow as two months. I hope the court can fully support this battle. Once we win, we can win most of the Central Plains."

Wei Zheng bowed and smiled, "We are not urging us to speed up the war. It's just that Your Highness has been in the Central Plains for a long time and has some impact on the government. Many things cannot be implemented because of the lack of Your Highness's approval, and some major events require Your Highness to participate in the discussion."

Yang Yuanqing nodded, "I also understand this issue. I will delegate power to a certain extent and give Ziwei Pavilion more decision-making power. I will ask them to wait for some major issues that need to be discussed before I go back. In addition, I heard that the Turkic envoys are coming. Is there such a thing?"

"Report to Your Highness, there are indeed Turkic envoys coming, saying that they were seriously ill in Luo Khan, but the news we heard is different from what the Turkic envoys said."

Yang Yuanqing frowned slightly, "Where did you get the news?"

Wei Zheng said: "We got news from the Turkic tribe who migrated south to Fuqibo, saying that it was because Chuluo Khan launched a large-scale attack on the northern Turks and was shot on the forehead by a wandering arrow in a battle. Now he is seriously injured and may be out of protection. The Turks will face a major incident. The Turks are ready to consider changing the Khan."

Yang Yuanqing kept his hands behind his back and said nothing. In history, after Chuluo Khan passed away, Jie Li Khan ascended the throne. This was a very ambitious and talented Khan who brought the Turks to full prosperity.

Under his rule, the Turks began to invade the Central Plains. Now the Wutu tribe has almost collapsed and there is no restraint within the Turks. At most two or three years later, a powerful Turkic force will appear in the north of the Central Plains.

Although history has turned a small turn because of the rise of the Wutu tribe, it has not changed the general direction. Under the survival law of the strong in the grassland, new nomadic peoples have always risen.

Judging from the current grassland situation, the rise of the Turks is inevitable. The rise of the Turks is first of all a huge threat to the Sui Dynasty.

Thinking of this, Yang Yuanqing slowly said to Wei Zheng: "You go back and tell Ziwei Pavilion that we should support the remaining Wutu troops to grow as soon as possible, and at the same time, we should prohibit private trade and never allow any strategic materials to flow into the Turks."

.........

Wei Zheng left, and Yang Yuanqing stood in front of the sand table and pondered. Although Wei Zheng did not say it clearly, his arrival indicated that there were differences within the Ziwei Pavilion about the battle in the Central Plains.

It also shows that war-weariness began to appear within the Sui Dynasty, and this kind of opposition should be quite fierce, which led to Wei Zheng going south.

At this time, Xie Sili said beside him: "Your Highness should understand the difficulties of the court. Now Hebei is in ruins and everything is in trouble. The court has already invested a lot of manpower and material resources to appease the victims and resume production. Now Your Highness is going to take back the mess in the Central Plains, which has increased the burden on the court. It is understandable that many ministers are resistant."

Yang Yuanqing sighed slightly, "I can understand their dissatisfaction, but some things cannot be given up because of difficulties. If you want to seize the world, the Central Plains is an unavoidable hurdle."

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but sneer, "I understand the idea of ​​some ministers. They hope that the Tang Dynasty would occupy the Central Plains, let the Tang Dynasty spend money and effort to restore the vitality of the Central Plains, and we will take over again, but there is no such cheap thing in the world. Once the Tang Dynasty occupied the Central Plains, it would be almost unrealistic to try to seize it from the Tang Dynasty. At that time, the Tang Dynasty would be even stronger and we would not be able to compete with it at all."

"Can Your Highness speed up the attack and end the Battle of the Central Plains as soon as possible to calm some criticism from the court?"

Yang Yuanqing shook his head, "Those who do not plan the overall situation are not enough to plan a territory. The reason why I have been slow to attack is because I need time to do something."

"Your Highness is referring to..." Xie Sili felt enlightened.

Yang Yuanqing smiled faintly with his hands behind his back, "There is a good show in Chang'an that has begun."

.........

Chang'an City, like the Sui Dynasty, there was also controversy within the Tang Dynasty about the Central Plains War. The Tang army failed to capture Luoyang City on the Western Front and was forced to retreat to Hongnong County. The news of the Tang army defeating the Weishi on the Eastern Front also reached Chang'an.

The unfavorable situation of the war made the dissatisfaction in the court more high-profile, especially the prince Li Jian became the leader, and strongly criticized the unfavorable performance of the Qin King in the war.

In the imperial study of Wude Hall, Yu Wenshi and once again came to persuade Li Yuan on the order of the King of Qin. Li Yuan's mood was really low these two days. The disadvantages on the front line brought him great pressure, and he also realized that he had made a strategic mistake.

He misjudged the situation and estimated that Wang Shichong's strength was insufficient, which led to the Tang army attacking Luoyang being relatively small, and spent too much time on attacking Luoyang, which led to the Tang army being forced to evacuate Luoyang.

On the other hand, he was too optimistic and believed that the Central Plains was bound to win, so he ordered Li Xiaogong to send troops to seize the Central Plains. He made a mistake in this major decision. If he had ordered Li Xiaogong to support Luoyang and merged with the Qin King's army into one, Luoyang would have been taken over long ago and would not have been the passive situation today.

"Your Majesty, the King of Qin means withdrawing troops back to Guanzhong to maintain his strength. Next time we can attack Luoyang again. Learn from this lesson and will definitely succeed."

Li Yuan sighed, "I understand his difficulties, but once we withdraw our troops, the Sui army will occupy the Central Plains. If we want to do so, it will be even more difficult."

He walked a few steps behind his back and said, "In fact, we have not fought with the Sui army on the Western Front, and our troops are slightly superior. We retreated because of fear. This is a bit inexcusable to both the court and the people. I still hope that the King of Qin can work harder and defeat Yang Yuanqing and preserve the counties south of Hongnong."

Li Yuan's words were very tactful, and Yu Wenshi understood it. In fact, the emperor disagreed with the withdrawal of the Qin king and hoped that the Qin king could defeat Yang Yuanqing. Yu Wenshi sighed secretly in his heart. The emperor's attitude was as expected by the King of Qin.

Since the emperor refused to withdraw his troops, Yu Wenshi could only retreat and seek second best. "Your Majesty, if there is really difficulty in retreating, can we increase our troops appropriately? The King of Qin hopes to send 20,000 or 30,000 troops from Tongguan and put pressure on Yang Yuanqing's army from the west, so that we will have one more point in our victory."

"this....."

There were not many troops in Guanzhong, and if they wanted to increase their troops, Li Yuan was a little embarrassed and said for a while: "Let me think about the increase of troops again!"
Chapter completed!