At dusk, the sound of rapid horse hooves broke the restless din of Chengdu City. The guards at the east gate saw at the end of the official road a group of cavalry in a state of embarrassment and incomplete armor rushing towards this side. The torn white flag was stained with stains.

The word on the dried and blackened blood stain is vaguely the word "Dou".

The gatekeeper was stunned. The Dou family was a popular surname in the Tang Dynasty. Although he had lost elite disciples such as Dou Kang, Dou Cong, Dou Jing, Dou Fengjie and others over the years, Dou Gui was still one of the Seven Prime Ministers of the Tang Dynasty.

, it’s just that all the adult Dou family children are fighting on the front line. Could it be that a certain general named Dou came back from defeat?

The captain was thinking about these things, but he saw that the other party had already rushed closer. Looking closer, he saw that there were only more than thirty people in this group, and each of them had traces of fighting. When he saw clearly that the leader

When the general looked at his appearance, his expression changed drastically, and he exclaimed: "General Dou Lun, aren't you in Luo County? Could it be that..."

"Stop talking nonsense, Luoxian County has been lost. Send people to monitor closely within ten miles. Once the enemy is discovered, return to the city and report immediately."

Dou Lun warned the captain, but without waiting for a response, he anxiously rode towards the Jiafu Gate, the south gate of the East Palace of Tai Chi Palace.

"General Dou, what are you..." The guard of the East Palace was startled when he saw Dou Lun.

"I have something urgent to report. Is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in the East Palace?" Dou Lun got off his horse and asked loudly.

"Yes, the prince has just returned from the imperial city. I will go and pass the news right away..." the guard said quickly.

"Can't wait any longer." Dou Lun said this and rushed in unceremoniously.

Li Shimin had just returned from the imperial city. When he heard someone outside saying that Dou Lun had broken in on horseback, a heavy haze immediately enveloped his heart.

Since the Sui army surrounded the county seat of Luoxian County three days ago, the imperial court has completely cut off contact with the Luoxian County defenders led by Dou Gui. Although Li Shimin also tried to order the Tang army in Xingle City to open up a communication channel, they were violently attacked by the Sui cavalry.

The attack could not get close to Luoxian County at all, and it cost a lot of casualties in vain, so it had to be given up in the end.

However, no news of the defeat came, which finally gave Li Shimin a glimmer of hope in his heart. After all, no matter what Dou Gui and Changsun Shunde said, they still had nearly 50,000 troops. It was impossible to say that they were gone, right?

But now, when Dou Lun, who was supposed to be in Luoxian County, barged in in such a rude way, Li Shimin felt a pain in his head and his body shook uncontrollably. Without guessing, he knew that Luoxian County was over. He hurriedly

He took a deep breath and hurriedly walked outside, just in time to see Dou Lun dismounting outside, "Dou Lun, why are you back?"

"Your Highness, Your Highness, Luoxian County has been lost... The Prime Minister and General Changsun were all killed in the battle, and our entire army was wiped out..." The moment Dou Lun turned around, he suddenly fell to his knees with a pop. At this time, everyone, big and small, was crying.

It's like a child.

"What?" Although Li Shimin was mentally prepared, when he heard Dou Lun's confirmation, he still felt as if he was struck by lightning. He stepped forward, picked up Dou Lun, and roared: "Tell me something.

, what exactly is going on?”

Dou Lun said with tears rolling down his face: "Your Highness, we are surrounded by more than 100,000 Sui troops, and the walls of Luo County are short and cannot withstand the Sui army's simultaneous attacks from heaven and earth. We can only be passively beaten. Originally, we had sufficient troops, but

It could barely be defended. However, Niang Shangnang did not obey Prime Minister Dou yesterday. General Changsun ordered. When the Sui army retreated, he was good at opening the city gate and led 20,000 Tibetan cavalry out of the city to attack. As a result, the Sui army killed one with an arrow array.

Not even the horses were left. All our soldiers witnessed the scene of thousands of arrows being fired. The morale of the whole army was in chaos. Everyone was as afraid of the Sui Dynasty as a tiger. This morning, the Sui army took advantage of yesterday's power and attacked Luoxian County.

A fierce offensive was launched. In addition, the rolling wood and stones were exhausted. The Prime Minister and General Changsun personally led the troops to the city, but were attacked by the Sui army's slave soldiers. General Changsun first died in the hands of Pei Xingyan, and was surrounded

The prime minister committed suicide in the city. The last general disguised himself as a dead body and took advantage of the chaos to escape. The rest may have been captured alive by the Sui army..."

At this point, Li Shimin staggered a few steps and was supported by Li Xuansu who came after him. But he couldn't hear a word of Dou Lun's next words.

After a long time, Li Shimin came back to his senses and told the guards: "This matter must not be spread to outsiders. You go and invite all the prime ministers to come here to discuss the matter."

"Here." The guard responded and dispersed.

Li Shimin, who had made arrangements, seemed to have aged more than ten years at this moment. He shook his head vigorously and said to Dou Lun: "Follow me in and wait."

"Here." Dou Lun followed Li Shimin into the hall.

Soon, Chen Shuda, Xiao Yu, Dou Lukuan, Zhao Cijing, Yu Wenshiji, and Yin Kaishan arrived at the Chongjiao Hall one after another. When they saw Dou Lun, their expressions changed with shock. The six of them, like Li Shimin before, had already

Guessing that the most terrifying thing had happened, after everyone sat down, Li Shimin asked Dou Lun to recount everything that happened in Luo County.

After everyone listened, they all remained silent.

After Chen Shuda was silent for a moment, he asked: "General Dou, after listening to your words, I feel that Yang Tong is capable and strong enough to end the battle. If he really wants to capture Luoxian County, even if Niang Shangnang does not go out to fight, in fact, you

You can’t hold on, right?”

"What Chen Xiangguo said is true." Dou Lun's face suddenly turned red. Although it was embarrassing to say it, if he knew what Chen Shuda was confirming, he nodded bitterly: "If Yang Tong really wants to seize the city, they will

The first time they used the big lantern, they were actually able to capture Luoxian County. No, no, no, it should be said that after they defeated General Zhang Changxun, they were able to capture Luoxian County, which was seriously under-strength."

"But Yang Tong delayed it for half a month." Chen Shuda's expression became more solemn, and he said to Li Shimin: "Your Highness, you still remember that on the day when Yang Tong's troops surrounded Luo County, Xue Wanjun also attacked Li Zhongwen in Brazil County.

On the day when Li Gaoqian moved, at the same time, Li Jing suppressed Hou Junji in Ziyang, and Su Dingfang attacked Zhang Shigui in Suining. Our eyes were attracted to these places at that time."

"Chen Xiangguo is absolutely right." Li Shimin seemed to have thought of something, and his face became even more ugly.

Yin Kaishan suddenly had an idea and lost his voice: "Chen Xiangguo is saying that Yang Tong built the plank road openly and secretly attacked Chen Cang. The real purpose is General Liu Hongji and the others?"

"Yang Tong's real intention before was not to the south of Shu County, but to the north. As long as he defeated General Liu Hongji, he would have no worries and could even bring more Sui troops to Shu County. Now Yang Tong is suddenly in

If Luoxian County shows its power, I am afraid that General Liu Hongji will be defeated and Yibei will change its owner." Chen Shuda said solemnly: "As for Brazil, Xincheng, and Suining, it cannot be said that it is incidental, but in terms of strategy, Yang Tong is obviously based on Liu Da

The generals come first, and then the middle of Shu. In other words, the various Sui armies led by Yang Tong soon launched the most violent attacks on each army."

After analyzing it to this point, even if Chen Shuda didn't say anything, everyone knew that Yang Tong wanted to wipe out the Li Tang Dynasty in one fell swoop and end the troubled times. And this situation was a matter of life and death for everyone here.

A series of unfavorable events made Li Shimin's head feel heavy. He also knew that since Yang Tong had launched an attack, it meant that the war in the north had subsided. The Sui army must have defeated Liu Hongji. He suddenly laughed at himself: "The Sui army was huge, and Yang

Dong actually advances step by step, he really looks up to us! Shouldn't we be proud?"

After hearing this, everyone was speechless.

The huge difference in power between the Sui and Tang dynasties is not only a known fact, but also something that will not happen within a year or two. If Yang Tong was willing to take risks, he could have unified the world long ago. Why wait until today? But Yang Tong

He did not do this. In order to achieve absolute victory, he just let all the armies fight steadily and advance step by step. This was certainly a good thing for the Sui Dynasty to win or not, but for the weak and barely surviving Li Tang Dynasty

However, it also lost even a little opportunity and could only fight according to the established routine of the Sui Dynasty. However, a head-on confrontation was a price that the Tang Dynasty could not bear.

At this time, Dou Lun reminded: "Your Highness, the Sui Dynasty's tactics are very similar to the Qin Dynasty. Whenever they attack a city, they first use crossbow formations to suppress it, making people feel incapable of defense, thereby suppressing the enemy's morale.

.Wait until the war is almost over, and then use cavalry to attack. It can be said that crossbowmen and cavalry are the two most powerful services of the Sui army."

Li Shimin nodded and said: "Yang Dong has been asking skilled craftsmen to improve crossbows, and uses wealth, military exploits, and titles to encourage the craftsmen to innovate. As far as I know, in addition to the powerful and long-range hand-held repeating crossbows, the Sui army also has accompanying troops.

The honeycomb chariot crossbow for action, the city-breaking crossbow for siege, and the breaking crossbow for breaking the army, these four crossbows constituted the most sharp arrow array of the Sui army. However, among these four kinds of crossbows, except for the chariot crossbow with carriage protection, the rest

The three crossbows cannot be fired once it rains. In other words, if we fight the Sui army on rainy days, we have a better chance of winning than on sunny days."

Everyone looked at each other and Yu Wenshiji asked: "Is Your Highness ready to fight the Sui army?"

"Not bad." Li Shimin nodded.

If there had not been a decisive battle, the Tang army would have been annihilated one by one by the Sui army just like they are now. By the time they reached the gates of Chengdu, the Tang army would have been completely defeated. What else could they use to make an enemy? Instead of this

, it is better to gather the troops together and fight a decisive battle as Zhang Shigui suggested. If they wait for a while, they may have to face more Sui troops and the pressure will be greater.

Chen Shuda said: "If this is the case, His Highness has two things to prepare for. One is to check the weather, and the other is to find a suitable place for a decisive battle."

"What is a suitable place for a decisive battle?" Xiao Yu asked.

Chen Shuda said: "It is the terrain that is not conducive to the performance of cavalry and crossbowmen, such as winding mountain roads or hills that are not conducive to direct crossbow arrows, and swamps that are not conducive to cavalry galloping."

"But is there such terrain in the suburbs of Chengdu?" Xiao Yu smiled bitterly upon hearing this. This decisive battle place must not only be able to offset the advantages of the Sui army's cavalry and arrow formations, but also have to rain heavily during the battle; first of all, these conditions must be met.

Only with these three conditions can the Tang army have a glimmer of hope of victory. Such conditions are extremely harsh and difficult to find, and the Sui army is not a fool. How could it be possible for the Sui army to be led by the Tang army? Wouldn't they come to Chengdu with a clear goal?

?

"If you don't have it, you have to create it." Li Shimin made the decision on the spot and told Zhao Cijing: "Xiangguo Zhao, before the Sui army arrives, you can find this kind of terrain in the south and north of Chengdu. If it doesn't exist, then divert water to irrigate the fields.

Use this as the outer line of defense in the defense of Chengdu."

"Here." Zhao Cijing responded with his hands raised.

Li Shimin asked again: "Is there anything else you need to add?"

Doulukuan said: "Your Highness, Chengdu is a big city that can accommodate a million people. There are so many places that need to be defended. Even if the existing troops do not go out to fight outside the city, they can spread out defenses within the city."

It is impossible to form a combat effectiveness at all. The Sui army not only has siege weapons, but also can attack the city from the sky and eliminate the city's advantage. Once the army reaches the city, the Sui army in the sky and underground only have to fight on all sides of the city at the same time, and we will not be able to defend Chengdu.

"

When Li Shimin heard this, he was shocked and asked hurriedly: "In your opinion, what should we do now?"

Doulu Kuan bowed and replied: "Your Highness, I believe that all the young men in the city should be recruited immediately for emergency training to assist the army in defending the city."

"This is a very good idea, but I'm afraid there aren't many young men in the city who can be recruited..." Li Shimin thought for a while and then said: "I'll ask Doulu Xiangguo to be responsible for recruiting young men and serve as the general manager of city defense. I will let Lujiang King Li

Yuan is here to help."

"Wei Chen takes orders!" Doulu Kuan stood up and bowed.

Yu Wenshiji also said: "With Yang Dong's current situation, it will be very difficult for our army to fight him alone... In my opinion, Your Highness still needs to make appropriate adjustments to the existing armies, especially King Li Xiaogong of Jing

, we must let him put aside all affairs in Nanzhao and not dare to delay for a moment."

"Pass on my order and order Li Xiaogong to quickly return reinforcements and attack Meishan Shen Guang's army from Yuexun County. If you dare to shirk and delay it again, you will be severely punished." At this point, Li Shimin gritted his teeth and said: "If you order Hou Jun to gather again, Zhang Shigui will give up Ziyang County.

, Hou Junji was stationed in Pingquan County, Shu County, and he joined forces with Zhai Changsun in Longshan to defend the Sui army in the south, and Zhang Shigui led his troops back to Chengdu to aid."

"Here."

…

In Anju County, Ziyang, the offensive and defensive battle in front of the Sui army's camp continued on the third day. In this battle, Zhang Shigui was the one who took the initiative to attack. Li Shimin followed his advice that day and sent 30,000 new troops to Jinyuan County to prepare for the attack.

He successfully contained Su Dingfang's troops in the north. So he took advantage of the heavy rain and the Sui army's arrow formation could not show its power, and took the initiative to launch a fierce attack on Xue Wanjun.
To be continued...