Zhu Di was the general left behind who was personally appointed by Dou Jiande when he led his army to Dongling. After he ordered the withdrawal of troops, although many Xia soldiers were confused and puzzled by this, after all, the military orders were like mountains, and they finally obeyed them.
After Yang Gao led the victorious division back from Dongling, he learned that the remnants of the Xia army led by Zhu Di had abandoned Xingyang and withdrew to Hebei. He couldn't help but secretly mock: "This Ming Chengzu escaped quite quickly." He immediately waved his hand and led his army to occupy Xingyang County.
Zhu Di led the remnants of the Xia army to flee back to Hebei, and the Sui army occupied Xingyang County. This marked the end of the nearly two-year-long Central Plains Campaign. More than 200,000 soldiers cheered and celebrated the victory in their own way.
Generals such as Chang Yuchun, Li Siye, and Zhou Dewei all asked for battle to pursue Zhu Di, suggesting that they should take advantage of this opportunity to enter Hebei and expand the results of the Central Plains Campaign.
After careful consideration, Yang Gao finally rejected the proposal of Chang Yuchun and others. Chang Yuchun and others were military generals, and their request for war was more from a military perspective. Now that Dou Jiande was captured and Hebei was leaderless, it was indeed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
But the Central Plains is not like Jingxiang, Jiangnan and other places. It has experienced many years of military disasters. It has suffered devastating blows both politically and economically. The people have been displaced and there are victims everywhere who are crying for food. Therefore, in the next period of time, the focus of the court will inevitably be on appeasing the victims and stabilizing people's livelihood, and it is not appropriate to engage in large-scale war.
Moreover, in the past few years, although the Sui army had won many battles, it also consumed a large amount of food and supplies. Although the south was mostly a land of plenty, the Central Plains was now full of hungry people, so the food and grass hoarded must be mainly used to provide relief to the victims. After excluding the needs for relief to the victims in the Central Plains, the remaining grain and grass were simply not enough to support the Sui army in launching a campaign to attack Hebei.
The suggestion of Chang Yuchun and others to take advantage of the situation to march into the Central Plains was rejected, which shows that the Sui army's next strategic goal in the Central Plains is to defend.
To the west is Wang Shichong who occupies Hongnong County, half of Henan County and Xiangcheng County. Although Wang Shichong is now nominally surrendered to Yang Gao, Yang Gao does not dare to trust this traitor who is known for his treachery and scheming. Xue Rengui and Chang Yuchun, the famous generals who had already shocked the world, were specially left to guard Jin Yong to frighten Wang Shichong and other people with ulterior motives.
The Xia army in the north had just suffered heavy losses, and even Xia King Dou Jiande had been captured. His vitality was severely damaged and he was not expected to make a comeback in a short time. However, after all, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang and Ming Chengzu Zhu Di were still present in Hebei, and Yang Gao did not dare to be careless. He specially appointed veteran general Yang Ye to send 30,000 troops to Xingyang to guard against raids by bandits in Hebei.
Another area that needs to be strengthened is the land of Jingxiang. In recent years, the Tang Army has repeatedly used Jingxiang as a breakthrough in its eastern expedition. In addition to the important strategic location of Jingxiang, it is also related to the lack of defense in Jingxiang.
In view of this, Yang Gao immediately with a stroke of his pen divided a hundred thousand troops from the current two hundred thousand troops in the Central Plains, with Li Jing as the chief general, accompanied by five generals Su Dingfang, Lu Junyi, Zhou Dewei, Zhang Dingbian and Lu Zhishen, and marched under the stars at night , rushed to Jingxiang to take charge.
After that, Yang Gao appointed Xiao Yu, the Minister of Duzhi, as the governor of the Central Plains to supervise the distribution of grain to the victims in the Central Plains. Xiao Yu is an extremely upright person who has always hated corruption and malfeasance. Presumably, with him here, he should be able to ensure that the court's relief food is distributed to the victims to the greatest extent.
In addition, Yang Gao also transferred the Qingtian envoy Zhang Juzheng to the Central Plains to carry out the Qingtian affairs. Now the Central Plains is in ruins and waiting for reconstruction. The Central Plains gentry has suffered heavy losses due to military disasters. It is the best time to overthrow everything and start over. Otherwise, as time goes by, these nobles will definitely come up with some tricks.
After arranging these things, Yang Gao took Liu Bowen, Yu Wen Chengdu, Lu Wenlong, Cheng Yaojin and You Junda as well as 30,000 troops to escort Dou Jiande, Xiong Kuohai, Cao Dan and Wang Zuo, who had broken his arm and pretended to surrender. A group of prisoners marched back to the court in a mighty manner.
. . . . . . . . . .
The news that Yang Gao captured Dou Jiande alive and occupied the Central Plains soon spread to Guanzhong. After Li Shimin, who had just returned to Chang'an, heard the news, he could no longer sit still and rushed to the palace to see Li Yuan.
At this moment, Li Yuan also got the news that Yang Gao had completely occupied the Central Plains. When he heard Li Shimin's request for an audience, he guessed why he came and immediately declared his audience.
Li Shimin quickly walked into Li Yuan's imperial study, straightened his clothes, knelt down and saluted Li Yuan and said: "My son, I see you, my father!"
"Your Majesty, no gifts!"
Li Yuan chuckled, and then said calmly: "Is the emperor coming to see me because Yang Gao'er captured Dou Jiande alive? It's all about the Central Plains, right?"
Li Shimin stood up slowly, then slightly arched his hands towards Li Yuan and said, "My father is wise, and this is why my sons and ministers are here. Now Yang Gao has completely conquered the Central Plains, and Yang Gao has only five points in the world. The situation is very important to me." Something is very wrong with Tang!”
Li Yuan nodded and said: "What the emperor said coincides with me. I never thought that a young boy would become me and become the great enemy of the Tang Dynasty."
After a pause, Li Yuan asked again: "Your Majesty, what do you think I should do based on the current situation?"
Li Shimin raised his hands and said: "Father, I think that our Tang Dynasty should quickly wipe out Zhao Kuangyin who is entrenched in Bingzhou. This thief has been hindering the development of our Tang Dynasty, and I think this thief must be destroyed!"
Li Yuan nodded and said, "I am ordering you to return from Hongnong this time so that you can deal with the evil thief Zhao Kuangyin. What other suggestions does the emperor have?"
Li Shimin immediately said: "Father, I think that in addition to sending heavy troops to destroy the evil thief Zhao Kuangyin, we should also send a strong force of elite troops to Bashu to help Xiaogong. Although we don't know Yang Gao's next troop movement at the moment, Bashu Located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, for Yang Gao, who holds Jingxiang and Jiangnan, it is undoubtedly a sharp sword hanging over his head. Therefore, we must take precautions before it happens."
Li Yuan nodded when he heard this, then sighed and said: "It's no problem to send troops to support Bashu, but I don't know who to send to support Xiaogong. In the past few years, Jiancheng, Yuanji, and Sichang were successively defeated by the Sui army. I don’t even know who else is available to me in the Tang Dynasty?”
"It's not that there's no one available? It's just that, Father, you always reuse people from the clan, and that's why you've been defeated so many times!"
Li Shimin complained helplessly in his heart, raised his hands and said, "Father, I recommend General Youwuhou Li Shiji to serve as the deputy general manager of Bashu and lead troops into Bashu to support Xiaogong."
Li Yuan was slightly stunned, looked at Li Shimin and said: "Li Shiji, can he take on this important task? I remember that when Yuan Ji defeated Hanoi, he was the deputy commander of the army!"
