As the main force led by Zhang Xuan set up a net of heaven and earth on the eastern front, thousands of Youzhou soldiers who fled back could not escape the siege and had to surrender to the Sui army. This fierce battle caused more than 3,000 casualties in the Youzhou army and nearly 1,000 cavalry in the Sui army. However, due to Zhang Xuan's previous strict orders, when the Youzhou army was defeated and fled, they were not allowed to kill again, but forced to surrender, which greatly reduced the rate of defeat. In the end, more than 15,800 soldiers surrendered, and about 1,000 soldiers fled, mainly fleeing south.

However, the Luo brothers were not caught, and they escaped the pursuit of the Sui army and were indecisive. At noon the next day, when Jin Wenyan, the garrison of Ji County, learned that the general's entire army was destroyed, he stopped defending the city and surrendered to Zhang Xuan, causing the soldiers in Ji County to be occupied by the Sui army without bloodshed.

Zhang Xuan immediately appointed Cui Hong as the prefect of Zhuo County, abolished the position of governor of Youzhou, and changed three military envoys to guard the key areas of Liaodong and the grasslands south.

At this time, Li Jing sent people to send news that the army had occupied Beiping County and Yuyang County, but it was unable to encircle and annihilate Gao Kaidao. Gao Kaidao had already escaped from Youzhou from Miyun Road and led his troops to flee to Khitan.

At this point, the Youzhou Battle came to an end in full, and it took only ten days to complete it.

This time, Zhang Xuan dispatched all the elite troops in the northern expedition, which can be said to be sure to win, especially this battle is of great strategic significance to him.

Li Yuan invaded Guanzhong and obtained Guangtong Cang, two major granaries, Guanlong and Bashu. Wang Shichong controlled Luokou Cang and Luoyang Cang, and had a lot of food and food resources. Although Zhang Xuan obtained Liyang Cang, he did not have much food. He now had only 100,000 troops, and he controlled more and more land. If he wanted to be at ease, he had to have at least more than 200,000 troops.

To recruit troops and expand troops, you must have enough money and food. Therefore, Zhang Xuan not only needs to solve the threat from Youzhou, but also needs to obtain the Lushui Warehouse with millions of stones of grain. This will have a crucial impact on his military expansion plan.

The day after taking Ji County, Zhang Xuan led 10,000 troops to the Lushui Cang, and Li Jing and Zhao Liang left the city to welcome Zhang Xuan's arrival.

"Last the general Li Jing pays homage to His Highness the King of Qi!" As Li Jing knelt down, hundreds of soldiers behind him knelt down on one knee.

Zhang Xuan quickly turned over and dismounted, helped Li Jing up and said with a smile: "The old general doesn't have to be too polite, please get up quickly!"

Although Li Jing was a veteran in the Sui Dynasty army, this was the first time he saw Zhang Xuan. He couldn't help but look at Zhang Xuan secretly. Seeing that he was tall, tall, tall, deep, young and heroic, and cunning, Li Jing praised in his heart, "I am a good person."

In fact, Li Jing learned all the details of Zhang Xuan from his old friends Yang Yicheng and Lai Huer. He knew how Zhang Xuan started his career. A person without a background in his life, relying entirely on his unremitting efforts to emerge from Beihai County step by step. Only such people understand the hardships of entrepreneurship and cherish the great mountains and rivers more. Therefore, Zhang Xuan took the initiative to take on the heavy responsibility of disaster relief in the Central Plains. Li Jing was not surprised at all. A person with a heart of the world must first be kind to the people of the world.

"I heard that Your Highness will not kill and try to accept the army of Youzhou as much as possible. This is a blessing for the soldiers of Youzhou and the people of Youzhou!"

Zhang Xuan smiled slightly, "The veteran general has been awarded. Most of the Youzhou soldiers are children of various counties in Youzhou. Many of them do not know that Luo Yi has surrendered to Chang'an. Luo Yi's decision has nothing to do with them. Moreover, their military discipline is strict and does not harm the local area. I cannot bear to massacre this elite army. It is better to leave them to defend their hometown and resist the Turks and other invaders."

Li Jing secretly praised Zhang Xuan for being able to speak. Another meaning of this sentence is that the elite army should be used for me, but the same meaning is much more pleasant to say in the words of defending my hometown.

Li Jing smiled and asked Zhang Xuan to get on the horse and enter the city. The two of them walked and talked about the matter of the Sui Dynasty. At this time, Li Jing suddenly remembered something and said to Zhang Xuan: "Your Highness knows, General has gone north."

The general came to Hu'er, and he has always been the person Zhang Xuan is focusing on. He wrote to Hu'er more than a month ago and asked him to work in Hebei. Then there was no news, but he didn't know that he had gone north.

Zhang Xuan was overjoyed and asked quickly: "How did the old general know?"

Li Jing smiled and said, "The General is my close friend. I received a letter from him a few days ago. He said that Xiao Xian came to ask him to come out twice, but he did not agree. He heard that Zhu Jie was also making up for him. He took his family out of Jingzhou overnight, went to the Huang family in Liyang for a while, and then went north to go."

Zhang Xuan thought secretly that if he came to Hu'er to surrender to him, it would be impossible for him to just write letters to Li Jing and not to him. It should be that he led his army north, and I believe Yunqi will handle this matter well.

At this time, Duan Xianda stepped forward to pay homage to Zhang Xuan and said, "Report to His Highness, the warehouse has been packed, please go and inspect!"

Zhang Xuan smiled happily and said, "I have been thinking about Lushui Cang for a long time, so I really want to take a good look today."

After Li Jiancheng suffered a setback in Hanoi County, he had to lead his army back to Bingzhou, and instead promoted the northern strategy, attempting to enter Youzhou directly from the north. Youzhou was like an extremely attractive piece of bait. When Li Yuan successfully swallowed this piece of bait, he was restrained by the Hebei region and was determined to use Youzhou to annex Hebei and then wipe out Zhang Xuan, the biggest enemy. As long as Zhang Xuan fell, Li Yuan's army would sweep the world.

Frankly speaking, Li Yuan’s strategic direction is completely correct. Zhang Xuan is indeed the biggest obstacle for Li Yuan to annex the Great Sui Dynasty. However, the right direction does not mean that the time is ripe. Even if he sees the right things, he has to wait for the opportunity. Even for several years. It can only be said that Li Yuan is a little eager for quick success and has not adjusted his mentality. He is too eager to unify Hebei, which leads to his hasteness being ineffective.

After Li Jiancheng's army failed to clear out Liu Wuzhou, it was forced to retreat to Taiyuan County due to difficulties in food transportation. Li Jiancheng's military yamen was located in the temporary office of Jinyang Palace. Seventy thousand troops were stationed in the north of Jinyang Palace. Li Jiancheng stood in front of the map with his hands behind his back, his face full of fatigue. He had been exhausted for nearly a month and a half for his father's strategy of advancing into Hebei. Dou Wei also returned to Chang'an because of his old age and weakness. However, the battle to march into Hebei was not cancelled. Li Jiancheng had to bite the bullet and continue to implement this increasingly difficult strategic plan.

Dou Wei returned to Chang'an, and the person who replaced him as the chief secretary was Li Jiancheng's clan uncle Li Shuliang. Li Shuliang was about fifty years old and was quite capable of leading the army to fight. Li Yuan sent him to serve as the chief secretary, to some extent to urge Li Jiancheng to accelerate the Hebei strategy.

Li Yuan's anxious attitude was fully revealed, but there was a reason. Just twenty days ago, the new Sui Dynasty court controlled by Zhang Xuan was established in Beihai County. Famous officials including Su Wei and Pei Ju held important positions in the new court. The establishment of the new court had a huge impact. Sui officials in Lingnan, who were originally planning to surrender to Chang'an, also changed their courses and prepared to be loyal to the new court.

Even the former prime minister Xiao Yu, who promised to come to Chang'an to serve as Minister of Justice, suddenly disappeared in Hanzhong and disappeared, which gave Li Yuan a heavy blow. Li Yuan felt huge political pressure and originally planned to ascend the throne to establish the Tang Dynasty in October, but now he has to postpone it again until early next year.

The huge political pressure forced Li Yuan to seek breakthroughs in the military. If he could enter Hebei, it would be an extremely heavy blow to the new court that was preparing to establish a capital in Wei County. Chang'an's influence in the world would overwhelm the new court. It was precisely for this consideration that Li Yuan rejected Li Jiancheng's proposal to withdraw his troops and asked him to enter Youzhou at all costs.

"Criminal, I think it is no longer realistic to go to Feihu Xing. Maybe we can consider changing to Jingxing." Qu Tutong, who was standing beside him, suggested in a deep voice.

Li Jiancheng nodded silently. He understood what Qu Tutong pointed out, but Li Shuliang, who was standing on the other side, didn't understand very well and asked in confusion: "Why is it unrealistic to go to Feihu Xing?"

Li Jiancheng smiled bitterly and said, "Uncle San doesn't know that the biggest problem when we go to Feihu Xing is that we cannot establish a logistics base. Whether it is Yanmen County or Loufan Pass, it is too far from Feihu Xing. The grain road will be severely harassed by Liu Wuzhou, which will make the army unable to supply food. Only then will there be a helpless move that we have won a battle but have to withdraw our troops. There is no problem when we go to Jingxing. We can use Taiyuan as a logistics center. Loufan Pass blocked Liu Wuzhou's army from going south. The food road behind us has not been harassed, and the food supply is sufficient. We can concentrate on the east expedition. In fact, our repeated unfavorable expeditions are all due to food problems. Only by going to Jingxing can this problem be completely solved."
Chapter completed!