When Li Wenzhong saw Xiong Kuohai being captured, he was horrified and did not dare to quarrel with Yue Fei anymore.
At the same time, Zhou Dewei also led tens of thousands of elites to attack from behind. Seeing that their retreat was cut off, the soldiers of Xia Army were demoralized and they all dropped their weapons and surrendered.
Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di and his son, protected by Li Wenzhong and Tang He, fought their way out of the siege and fled into the mountains. As for the 30,000 elite Xia troops they brought, less than a thousand remnants managed to escape the siege, and the rest were either killed or captured.
After the news of the annihilation of Zhu Yuanzhang's partial army reached Xingyang, Dou Jiande, who was already suffering from mental distress due to the capture of his beloved daughter, once again vomited blood and fell into a coma, and a dark cloud enveloped Xingyang City.
And Yang Gao in the Sui army camp was not having a good time at the moment. Although Luoyang was victorious, he also received another piece of information at the same time.
Xue Ju, the overlord of the Western Qin Dynasty, died mysteriously and suddenly, and his son Xue Rengao succeeded to the throne. However, Xue Rengao was cruel and murderous by nature, and had deep conflicts with many of his generals, which led to unstable military morale. Li Shimin took the opportunity to lead his army to a decisive battle with Xue Rengao, and defeated Xue Rengao in Qianshuiyuan. Xue Rengao had no choice but to surrender and was taken to Chang'an for execution by Li Shimin.
The fall of the Western Qin Dynasty shook the rule of Li Gui in Hexi like a chain reaction. Li Gui's general An Xiuren rebelled, captured Li Gui and escorted him to Chang'an.
After reading this information, Yang Gao looked solemn and shouted loudly to the outside of the tent: "Go and invite Mr. Liu and Mr. Fang here quickly."
The guard outside the door responded and hurriedly asked Liu Bowen and Fang Xuanling to come over.
The two of them walked into the big tent one after another, and Yang Gao calmly passed the information in his hand to the two of them. After reading this, the two people's faces began to become solemn.
"After Li Yuan, a traitor, rebelled in Guanzhong and proclaimed himself emperor, he never used troops against Jingxiang except the last time he sent Prince Li Jiancheng to lead 30,000 elite troops to attack Jingxiang. This is not because he did not want to go to war with me in the Sui Dynasty. It was because Xue Ju and Li Gui had restrained a large number of his troops that he had no troops to send."
Fang Xuanling said solemnly: "Now Xue Ju and Li Gui have been defeated one after another, Li Yuan's rear is stable, and the war situation in the Central Plains is still undecided. It is very likely that he will come in to disrupt the situation."
Yang Gao nodded and said, "I'm not afraid of him coming to the Central Plains to stir up trouble. I have an army of 200,000 here, so I'm afraid he won't succeed. What I'm worried about is Jing Xiang."
Liu Bowen gently shook his feather fan and said, "What your Majesty said is absolutely true. Nanyang is guarded by eighty thousand troops from Prince Changping, and Wuguan is a dangerous pass in the world, so there is not much of a problem here. Zhang Xun of Yiling County defends the city well and has four garrison troops." Fifty thousand people. The Tang army in Bashu did not know how to fight by water and could only march by land. I believe Zhang Xun should be able to withstand it. However, Longzhi, who was stationed in the west city, had only 20,000 defenders. In addition, the Tang army had once experienced Shangyong. Tao, it is very likely that we will break through from here again this time.”
Yang Gao nodded and said: "Yes, I have evaluated Li Mi and Zhang Shuye who arrived in Xingyang two days ago. They are both good talents. I have decided to promote Li Mi to be a member of the Ministry of War and a prefect of Xicheng County to go to Longzhijun. He served as military advisor. In addition, Zhang Shuye was appointed as the prefect of Langya County to assist Di Renjie in governing Xuzhou."
After a pause, Yang Gaoqing coughed and said, "In addition, do the two beloved ministers think that Xue Ju's sudden death has something to do with Li Tang?"
Liu Bowen and Fang Xuanling said in unison: "It's absolutely related. Xue Ju was a warrior on the battlefield, how could he die suddenly for no reason? Li Tang must have sent an assassin to assassinate Xue Ju."
Yang Gao responded and said: "My two dear friends agree with me. Since Li Yuan's rebellion, he has repeatedly used assassins to assassinate his enemies. I also encountered assassinations in Nanyang in the past. If General Tianbao hadn't saved him, I would have been killed. I was already dead at that time."
Fang Xuanling looked worried and said: "Most of the assassins are people from the world of martial arts. I know nothing about their methods. If they really assassinate, their methods will be really hard to detect!"
Yang Gao said in a deep voice: "In view of this situation, I plan to establish a secret force, recruit people from the Jianghu with heavy sums of money, and be directly commanded by me. Assassins specifically responsible for fighting against hostile forces. As for the name, let's call it Jinyiwei!"
"Jin Yiwei, what a good name!"
Liu Bowen chuckled and said: "However, His Majesty is busy with state affairs, and I thought that someone should be appointed as the commander of the Jinyiwei to be responsible for handling the daily affairs of the Jinyiwei."
Yang Gao said without hesitation: "My bodyguard Zhan Zhao is from the Jianghu. He is highly skilled in martial arts and understands the rules of the Jianghu. He should be able to scare those unruly knights in the Jianghu. In addition, Dai Zong, who delivered a message for me last time, is also considered a If you are a strange person, please go to Jinyiwei as a deputy commander to assist Zhan Zhao!"
"Your Majesty, I think your Majesty's purpose of setting up the Jin Yiwei is right, but I think the power of the Jin Yiwei should be restricted to a certain extent."
Fang Xuanling expressed her worries: "What if someone in the Jinyi Guards is at odds with others and takes the opportunity to frame his enemy as an assassin sent by Li Yuan. This would violate your Majesty's original intention of setting up the Jinyi Guards and would also cause harm to the world." The subjects’ dissatisfaction and misunderstanding of His Majesty.”
"What Fang Qing said is absolutely true." Yang Gao nodded in agreement: "If the Jinyiwei has too much power, it will indeed have adverse consequences. So I decided that the Jinyiwei that will be established in the future will only have the power to arrest but not to interrogate. Once the criminal is arrested, he will immediately Move it to the Ministry of Criminal Justice, which will be responsible for the trial and conviction.”
Fang Xuanling cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty is wise!"
Yang Gao waved his hand and continued: "In addition, now that winter is approaching and the weather is freezing, Dou Jiande will not mobilize troops at this time. I decided to go back to Jiangdu to deal with the deployment of Jingxiang's defenses, the establishment of Jinyi Guards, and the Then we will arrange the imperial examination for next spring."
Liu Bowen raised his hands and asked: "I wonder who will command the 200,000 troops in the Central Plains after your Majesty returns to Jiangdu? Who will return to Jiangdu with your Majesty? How many soldiers and horses will be needed to protect him?"
Yang Gao said lightly: "Xingyang to Jiangdu has been recaptured by our army. The Sui Dynasty is still stormy, and I don't want to talk about any ostentation. General Tianbao and Shen Guang will lead the three thousand inner guard frigates. In addition, Xuanling Come back to Jiangdu with me."
Fang Xuanling immediately raised her hands and said, "Wei Chen obeys your order!"
Yang Gao continued: "As for the Central Plains area, I have decided that Xue Rengui will be the main general, and Chang Yuchun, Li Jing and Yue Fei will be the deputy generals to lead the army and continue to confront Dou Jiande."
Xue Rengui was Yang Gao's master, and his prestige in the army was not inferior to that of Lai Hu'er, Yang Lin and other veteran generals. With him in charge of the entire army, Liu Bowen and Fang Xuanling had no doubts. They both raised their hands and said, "Your Majesty is wise!"
Yang Gao suddenly remembered something again and said calmly: "In addition, bring Dou Jiande's daughter Dou Xianniang to me. It seems that Dou Jiande does not intend to retreat for the sake of this precious daughter. There is a mixed bag of fish and dragons in the military camp. It is difficult to guarantee that there will be no spies from Xia Jun. I am here When we get back, we will take her to Jiangdu and keep her under strict supervision."
