A few days later, the cavalry led by Li Shimin arrived in Chang'an first. Li Yuan had already received a message from Feige and knew that his second son had withdrawn. He immediately sent someone to wait outside the city. When Li Shimin arrived in Chang'an, he was immediately taken to the Tai Chi Palace.

Li Yuan was already very anxious. He received information from Luoyang's internal response. Zhang Xuan invited Wang Shichong to hunt Wagang together. Li Yuan sent a 800-mile express report to inform Li Shimin of withdrawal.

Of course, Li Yuan did not want to destroy the Liang Shidu in one go, but Li Yuan considered that the problem of Liang Shidu was essentially a Turkic problem, so it was not so easy to solve it. Even if the Liang Shidu was temporarily wiped out, as long as the Turkic support was supported, the Liang Shidu would soon make a comeback, and it would not be able to be wiped out in a short while.

On the contrary, once Zhang Xuan and Wang Shichong reach an agreement to divide the Central Plains, he will then break in later, which will only lead to Wang Shichong and Zhang Xuan joining forces to deal with him. Once the North and South Sui form an alliance, the Tang army will be passive, so Li Yuan is particularly anxious. He must use the excuse of extermination of the riot bandits to enter the Central Plains to get a share, and at the same time prevent Zhang Xuan and Wang Shichong from forming an alliance.

Li Shimin came to the imperial study of Wude Hall in a hurry. A guard immediately reported to the emperor Li Yuan. After a moment, an old eunuch came out to salute and said, "Your Highness, please come in! Your Majesty is waiting in the room."

Li Shimin sorted out his clothes and walked quickly into the imperial study room. Li Yuan's imperial study room was very spacious, like a small hall. At this time, more than a dozen important officials had gathered in the imperial study room, including the prime minister Pei Ji, Liu Wenjing, Chen Shuda, Dou Wei, Dugu Huaien, and the Crown Prince Li Jiancheng, as well as the Secretary of the Left and Secretary of the Shangshu, the Minister of the Ministry of State, the Minister of State, and other important ministers.

Li Shimin nodded to everyone, stepped forward and bowed, "Son of mine, please see my father!"

Li Yuan's eyes showed a sense of relief. He was afraid that his second son would not be willing to return by the imperial edict and would make him lose the majesty of the king. He smiled and said, "The emperor has worked hard all the way, so I will sit down!"

A eunuch laid a cushion for Li Shimin. Li Shimin was about to report on the battle situation in Lingwu County, but Li Yuan understood his thoughts and waved his hand and said, "Report the situation in Lingwu County again, let's continue to discuss the matters in the Central Plains."

Li Shimin felt a little disappointed. He knew that his father had no longer considered the Liang Shidu. He solved Xue Ju and Li Gui. The rear of the Tang Dynasty was much more relaxed, and even the remaining Liang Shidu could not make any trouble. As for Liu Wuzhou, he might threaten Taiyuan, but he could not threaten Guanlong. The Tang Dynasty's strategy was no longer reversible.

But Li Shimin is not an ordinary person. After seeing the Tang Dynasty's strategy of turning eastward, he quickly adjusted his state and temporarily forgot about the battle against Liang Shidu. At this time, he noticed that a huge map of the Central Plains was hung in the lobby, and Zhao Cijing, the Minister of War, stood in front of the map.

Li Yuan nodded and said to Zhao Cijing: "Mr. Zhao will tell the King of Qin about the situation in the Central Plains!"

Zhao Cijing is Li Yuan's son-in-law, with an extremely handsome appearance. He is known as the most beautiful man in Chang'an. He is very filial to his mother and has good talent and knowledge. He is currently serving as the Minister of War. He is extremely powerful and has control over the real power in the Ministry of War. In fact, he has undermined the Minister of War Qu Tutong. Qu Tutong also understands this, so he took the initiative to follow Li Shimin to fight in the east.

Zhao Cijing bowed slightly to Li Shimin and pointed to the map with a wooden pole and said: "According to the latest information, the Sui army divided into four groups, one by Pei Xingyan's cavalry. After capturing Xuzhou, he divided 10,000 cavalry to the south, captured Qiao County, Ruyin County, Runan County and Huaiyang County. Another 20,000 cavalry marched into Liang County. Currently stationed in Gushu County east of Songcheng County, this is the cavalry one by one, and the second is Luo Shixin's army. They rushed from Qi County to Dongping County and Jiyin County, and have now taken the two counties into the capturing. Currently, Luo Shixin's army is stationed in the area of ​​Kaocheng County north of Liang County, and the third is Li Jing leading 10,000 troops into Dong County, preparing to capture Wagang Village, and Wang Shichong's side."

"Wait a minute!"

Li Shimin interrupted Zhao Cijing's introduction and asked: "Justice Zhao just said that Zhang Xuan's troops were divided into four groups, but now he has only introduced three groups, so what if there is one group?"

Zhao Cijing pointed the wooden pole at Hanoi County, "There is still a journey here. Wei Wentong's army is ready to cross the Yellow River and enter Xingyang County at any time."

Li Shimin understood a little, and he said to Li Yuan: "Father, did Zhang Xuan want to take Hulao Pass north as the boundary, and they occupy most of the Central Plains, including Xingyang County."

Li Yuan snorted coldly and said, "The emperor is right. Judging from the current direction of Zhang Xuan's troops, he planned this way. Hulao Pass is bounded in the north, Yingchuan County is bounded in the south, and the North Sui Dynasty is bounded in the east, and Wang Shichong is bounded in the west."

"What about our goals?"

Li Shimin remembered Qu Tutong's speculation and thought to himself, "You won't be told correctly by Qu Tutong!"

Li Yuan glanced at Li Jiancheng, "Dalang, come and tell Shimin!"

"Son of yourselves obey your order!"

Li Jiancheng got up and walked to the map. Zhao Cijing quickly presented the wooden pole to him. Li Jiancheng nodded and pointed to the map with the wooden pole and said, "Walking on the line of Tongguan, we are sad to be at the risk of Wuguan. If we can't take Luoyang, we can't move eastward, so we can only go to Wuguan at the moment!"

Li Jiancheng pointed the wooden pole at Shangluo County and said to Li Shimin: "First organize the people to transport food and supplies to Shangluo County, then go south along the Danshui River, use Danshui to transport food and supplies, and leave Wuguan and enter Nanyang County. Now Wang Shichong has sent general Yuwen Chengdu to lead 20,000 troops south. In other words, we will compete with Wang Shichong's army for the six counties including Nanyang and Xiyang in the southwest of the Central Plains. A big battle is inevitable."

Li Shimin was stunned and didn't say anything. He was very shocked, but he was shocked not because Qu Tutong said that the Tang army's plan was accurate, but because Zhang Xuan's foresight. After a while, Li Shimin slowly said: "Zhang Xuan had already been sure that we were going south of Wuguan!"

Li Yuan's face looked a little ugly. Although he knew that he was not as far-sighted as Zhang Xuan, he did not want to lose face and said coldly: "This is normal. If we can't pass Luoyang, anyone can think that we will take the Wuguan road."

He didn't want to talk about Zhang Xuan anymore, so he said to Lee Kin-cheng: "Continue talking."

Li Jiancheng continued: "At present, Nanyang and Xiangyang are occupied by the bandit Zhu Jie. This person has an army of 80,000, using human flesh as food. It is extremely cruel. The army of Yuwen Chengdu is fighting fiercely with Zhu Jie's army in the Luyang Pass area. We can take the opportunity to enter and capture Nanyang County and Xiangyang County."

Li Shimin frowned. In this case, 30,000 troops would be enough. What should I do if I was so anxious to urge myself to come back?

Li Yuan saw the dissatisfaction of the second son, and felt a little unhappy, and said to Li Shimin: "Although we have 200,000 troops, it is not enough. Your third brother led 50,000 troops to confront Liu Wuzhou in Bingzhou. It takes 20,000 troops to defend Yizhou, and 30,000 troops are needed in the custody of the Central Committee. This is a 100,000 army. There are also garrisons in Hexi and Hehuang to prevent the return of the former Xue clan and the Ligui tribe. We actually have no soldiers to send, just waiting for your 80,000 troops to come back."

"Kerchen's 80,000 troops will not be able to come back at least three days later, and the child is afraid of missing the military plane."

"It's okay. There are 20,000 imperial guards in Chang'an that can be used temporarily. I will hand over your 30,000 troops from your magical uncle. You will lead the south to Wuguan. Be sure to seize Nanyang for me, open up the Nanxiang line, and lay the foundation for our march to the south."

Only then did Li Shimin understand his father's ambition, seize Nanyang Xiangyang, and march south with this as the foundation. Although he wanted to take his old subordinates to fight, he had no room for refusal now and immediately bowed and said, "The child will never let his father down!"

After a pause, Li Shimin said again: "The southern expedition requires a large number of civil servants, and it takes time to dispatch civil servants. It is better for the sons to wait for the Western expedition army to come back. I don't care about these three days."

Li Yuan thought about it and agreed, "Well, then wait for another three days!"

At this time, Li Shimin remembered something again and hurriedly said, "Before his return, Mr. Duan Decao was appointed as the governor of Pingliang, leading 20,000 troops to continue to deal with Liang Shidu, and begging his father to approve his appointment."

How old is Li Yuan? He smiled faintly and said, "Since the emperor has been appointed, I will just approve it."

Li Shimin was overjoyed and hurriedly bowed, "Thank you for your kindness!"

In the afternoon of the same day, Li Yuan ordered Pei Ji to recruit 200,000 civilians in Guanzhong to transport food. Li Yuan appointed Qin King Li Shimin as the marshal of the East and led 30,000 troops to attack the rebels Zhai Rang and Zhu Jie.

Li Shimin, who had only rested for three days in Chang'an, led 30,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry to march towards Shangluo County. Li Yuan immediately appointed Prime Minister Liu Wenjing as the marshal of the grain army, the governor of 200,000 civilians and logistics for food and grass transportation.

This was a major decision of the Tang Dynasty, marking the Tang army's strategy shifted from the West to the East and began the journey of fighting for hegemony in the Central Plains.
Chapter completed!