The Tubo army was defeated twice by Su Dingfang at the foot of Qingxi Pass, losing General Dazalugong and tens of thousands of troops and horses. The Tibetan army was distraught and almost changed its tone when talking about the Sui Dynasty. However, the morale of the Sui army in the pass was unprecedentedly high. Seeing this, Langri Songtsan had no choice but to take Lun Qinzan's suggestion. He first set up camp to form a confrontation with the Sui army at Qingxiguan, and then sent another People cut down bamboo and wood everywhere to build siege equipment, waiting for the opportunity to attack the city again.
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At the same time, Yang Gao, who had rested in Hebei for the whole winter, also left Hebei, crossed the Yellow River and marched towards Luoyang, with flags covering the sky along the way and a huge momentum.
"Instruct all armies to divert to Hanoi!"
Although there were rumors outside that Yang Gao was about to lead his army south to Bashu and engage in a decisive battle with the main force of the Tang army led by Li Shimin. But in fact the purpose of Yang Gao's trip was to inspect Luoyang, which was about to become the capital. Hedong was still in the hands of Li Yuan, so inspecting Hanoi became the first stop of Yang Gao's trip.
Hanoi County belongs to Hedong Road, located to the south of Taihang Mountain and north of the Yellow River. It governs ten counties. It has a dense population, fertile land and numerous rivers. It is a famous grain-producing area.
After the Battle of Luoyang, although the Sui army took advantage of the situation to regain Hanoi, its real focus was south of the Yellow River. The garrison in each county in Hanoi did not exceed a thousand people.
On the one hand, Yang Gao's strategy at that time was to regain Hebei. Hedong was the place where Li Yuan started, and it was of great significance to Li Yuan. If he accumulated a large number of troops in Hanoi, it would definitely greatly stimulate Li Yuan's nerves. Once a war broke out, Yang Gao would definitely be disrupted. overall strategy.
Similarly, Li Yuan did not want to seize the overly sensitive area of Hanoi, especially when Li Shimin was defeated in Luoyang and the Tang army suffered countless casualties. Later, the strategic target of the Tang army turned to Bashu, and Li Yuan did not want to cause trouble, especially since Xue Rengui, who was stationed in Henan, had 100,000 troops, which was almost the same strength as Chai Rong in Hedong. Li Yuan did not have the courage to fight on two battlefields at the same time.
Therefore, although Hanoi nominally submitted to the Sui army, it was actually a no-nonsense area. The troops stationed in each county mostly acted as government officials to maintain security in the county.
"Pass an order to mobilize the Luoyang garrison of 10,000 troops to go north to Hanoi!"
However, now that the war in Hebei is over, Li Shimin's main force has gone south to Bashu, and Yang Gao is no longer polite to Li Yuan. Before he reached the Yellow River, he issued an order, and General Lin Renzhao immediately led 10,000 elite troops north to Hanoi to garrison.
Although Li Yuan received great help from the Guanlong nobles, he lost troops and generals in several expeditions and wasted money and food. Even the Guanlong nobles with profound knowledge have been severely weakened. Yang Gao wanted to see how long the Tang Dynasty's treasury could support two battlefields at the same time!
When the news reached Guanzhong, Li Yuan was naturally furious and almost ordered Chai Rong to send troops on the spot. Fortunately, Prince Li Jiancheng led a group of civil and military officials to dissuade him. They took out the list of officials in recent years and explained to Li Yuan that in order to support Li Shimin in the war in Shu, The Tang Dynasty's treasury was almost at its bottom, and it was really unable to open another battlefield in Hanoi.
In order to prevent Li Shimin's southern expedition plan from accidents, Li Shimin's party members also fiercely opposed sending troops to Hedong. This was also a rare agreement between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin brothers.
All the civil and military officials in the dynasty disapproved of sending troops to Hanoi. Looking at the national treasury that was indeed about to bottom out, Li Yuan could only grit his teeth and endure the resentment. He secretly swore in his heart that sooner or later, Yang Gao would be cut into pieces with a thousand swords. To calm the hatred in my heart.
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"Brother, brother!"
Wen County, Sima family.
Sima Guang trotted all the way to his brother Sima Yi's courtyard, but Sima Yi was nowhere to be seen. Hearing his nephew Sima Shi say that Sima Yi was planting vegetables in the backyard, he ran to his brother's vegetable garden without saying a word.
Hearing Sima Guang's cry, Sima Yi, who was pouring water and fertilizing, stopped working and looked up at Sima Guang coming from a distance.
"Brother, why do you still have the heart to do these things at this time?"
Sima Guang stopped in front of the garden and shouted at Sima Yi inside.
Sima Yi wiped his hands, walked slowly to Sima Guang, smiled and said to Sima Guang through the fence: "It is spring plowing, doing some farm work can also strengthen your body, Junshi, your body bones are a little weak! "
"His Majesty the Emperor is coming to Hanoi!"
Sima Guang did not continue along with Sima Yi's topic and said in a deep voice.
Sima Yi was startled when he heard this and said: "Emperor Sui came to Hanoi?"
Sima Guang nodded, and Sima Yi stopped farming. He looked around and waved to Sima Guang, saying, "We'll talk about it when we get back."
The two returned together, and Sima Yi went to the back hall, changed clothes, and returned to the front yard. At this time, in addition to Sima Guang, his two sons, Sima Shi and Sima Zhao, also came after hearing the news.
Sima Zhao was the first to speak: "Why did the Sui Emperor come to Hanoi?"
Master Sima immediately said: "Second brother, you have forgotten what my father said before. The Sui Emperor is likely to move the capital to Luoyang. At present, Hedong is still in the hands of the Tang Dynasty. For the safety of the capital, the Sui Emperor will definitely inspect Hanoi. Don't I forgot, not long ago, Sui general Lin Renzhaohuan led his army to Hanoi."
"This is all thanks to my father's foresight!"
Sima Zhao said happily: "In the past two years, several other big families in Wen County have thought about moving their families to Jiangdu, and now they have lost all their money. Our Sima family is now the largest family in Wen County. .”
Master Sima also nodded, admiring his father Sima Yi's foresight.
"Brother!"
Sima Guang spoke slowly and said: "Your Majesty is currently pacifying Hebei, defeating the Turks, and repeatedly defeating Li Yuan. He has six points in the world. In my opinion, why not take advantage of the opportunity of your Majesty's visit to Hanoi to serve as an official?"
It is not difficult to see from the conversations between several people that Sima Guang was partial to the Sui Dynasty in his heart. He had deep orthodox thoughts and believed that only Yang Gao, who took over the throne from Yang Guang, was the destined emperor, and he would definitely call him the emperor. .
However, Sima Yi and his son were ambitious. In their opinion, no matter whether it was the Sui Dynasty or the Tang Dynasty, only the interests of their Sima family were real.
Sima Yi frowned slightly and said in a deep voice: "Jun Shi, with our talents, it is not difficult to get an official position in the Sui Dynasty, but have you ever thought about the descendants of our Sima family?"
Sima Guang was stunned when he heard this, and Sima Yi continued: "Emperor Wu implemented the imperial examination system to abolish the old practice of selecting talents for aristocratic families for thousands of years. Our Emperor Yang even took the word meritocracy to the extreme. Not long ago The reason why Yang Gongren, the governor of Jingzhou, rebelled was not because his noble clan was not allowed to be promoted for many years. If the clan is treated like this, not to mention us, children of aristocratic families, if our descendants are unfilial and have mediocre qualifications, then won't our Sima family be doomed?"
