Chapter 79: The Sword Camp
"What does the commander say about Yuchi Gong's matter?"
Li Yuanji turned his head to look at Qu Tutong and asked.
Qu Tutong hesitated again and again, and said guiltily: "His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin is still chasing Liu Heita..."
Li Yuanji was stunned for a moment, and said in astonishment: "Then what about Wang Junkuo and Li Quhuo..."
Before Li Yuanji could finish his words, Qu Tutong quickly confessed, "I sent it on your behalf..."
Qu Tutong was Li Shimin's deputy. When Li Shimin was not in the general's tent, Qu Tutong could also send some documents on his behalf.
Confiscating Wang Junkuo's troops and surrendering Li Quhuo's official position were not big deals, and Qu Tutong could do it on his own.
Li Yuanji didn't know what to say for a moment and glared at Qu Tutong fiercely.
"You want to protect Wang Junkuo?"
Qu Tutong hurriedly explained: "Wang Junkuo and I have no friendship, why should I protect him? I just think that you just beat up Yuchi Gong, and if you kill Wang Junkuo, you will definitely be criticized.
If the saint knew about this, he would definitely punish you.
It is not worth being punished by the saint for someone like Wang Junkuo."
No matter what, Wang Junkuo is still a duke.
If Li Yuanji killed him, all the civil and military officials in the court would be furious. Li Yuan would punish Li Yuanji severely and give an explanation to all the civil and military officials in the court.
Li Yuanji also knew what consequences he would have to bear after killing Wang Junkuo, so he kept suppressing his anger.
Li Yuanji was quite satisfied with Qu Tutong's explanation, so he stopped denouncing him and turned his attention to the war at the front.
"How is the battle situation ahead?"
Li Yuanji asked.
Qu Tutong bowed and said, "The Marshal led the central army to attack Liu Heita's grain camp, Li Daozong and Liu Hongji attacked from the left and right sides, and His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu also led their troops from Beizhou and Xingzhou respectively to block Liu Heita's retreat.
Liu Heita was badly defeated and led his troops to retreat to Quzhou.
The people of the King of Yan and the King of Wu have been waiting for a long time. I believe that it won’t be long before Liu Heita will be executed.”
Li Yuanji glanced at Qu Tutong.
The situation may not be as optimistic as Qu Tutong said.
In history, the situation Liu Heita faced was much worse than it is now, but he still escaped.
Not long after he escaped, he borrowed the Turkic troops to rebel against the Tang again and fought all the way to Mingzhou.
Li Yuan first sent his predecessor to conquer Liu Heita, but his predecessor could not withstand Liu Heita's attack. In the end, it was Li Jiancheng who took action and completely conquered Liu Heita.
Although Li Yi and Du Fuwei blocked Liu Heita's retreat, Liu Heita was not without allies.
Xu Yuanlang of Yanzhou was an ally of Liu Heita.
Xu Yuanlang was right behind Du Fuwei. If he took the opportunity to stab Du Fuwei, there would definitely be a gap in Du Fuwei's body, and Liu Heita would be able to escape through this gap.
"Li Fuwei may not be able to stop Liu Heita."
Li Yuanji reminded thoughtfully.
If less than half of his soldiers had not been killed, he would have been able to lead his troops to Du Fuwei, help him, do him a favor, and completely get rid of Liu Heita.
However, more than half of his soldiers had been killed, and most of the surviving soldiers were injured, making it difficult for them to travel a long distance to Beizhou to help Du Fuwei.
So he could only remind Qu Tutong and let Qu Tutong report the matter to Li Shimin, and let Li Shimin find a solution.
When Qu Tutong heard Li Yuanji's words, he was obviously stunned for a moment, " The Saber Battalion under the command of His Royal Highness the King of Wu is feared by the world, and the remnants of Liu Heita's army are no match for them.
How could His Royal Highness the King of Wu not be able to stop Liu Heita?"
The Paida Battalion under Du Fuwei was truly powerful. Even a veteran like Qu Tutong was full of admiration when he mentioned them.
The Paidao is a special kind of knife with blades on both sides. It is ten feet long and weighs one hundred pounds. Only a strong man can wield it.
From a distance, it looks like a long broadsword.
The knife can sweep and smash.
When sweeping, it is like a sickle cutting wheat, and one strike can kill several enemies.
When it hits, it's like a blunt weapon, which can kill the enemy in one blow.
The reason why Paidao is called Paidao is also related to this.
The Paida Battalion under Du Fuwei was led by his adopted son and subordinate Kan Leng. Kan Leng was a first-class general, and the Paida generals under his command were also carefully selected warriors.
Although there were only a few hundred Paidao generals in the Paidao Battalion, they dared to fight against thousands of enemies.
When Qu Tutong mentioned the Paidao Camp, Li Yuanji's eyebrows raised noticeably.
The Paidao Battalion and its commander Kan Leng were exactly the people he was thinking about.
However, he did not take advantage of the fact that Du Fuwei might be stabbed in the back by Xu Yuanlang to control Du Fuwei and force Du Fuwei to give up Kan Leng and the Paidao Camp.
Even if Du Fuwei was stabbed and let Liu Heita escape, his life would not be in danger.
Under such circumstances, it was impossible for Du Fuwei to give up Kan Leng and the Paidaoying.
Only if he came to the rescue when Du Fuwei was at his wit's end, would Du Fuwei give up Kan Leng and the Paidaoying.
The most important thing is that when Du Fuwei was at his wit's end, he came to the rescue. Du Fuwei and Kan Leng would be grateful to him. Once Kan Leng joined his team, he would follow him loyally, and he would not have to go to great lengths to win over Kan Leng's heart.
"We should be prepared for the worst. Xu Yuanlang of Yanzhou rebelled under the banner of supporting Liu Heita. If Liu Heita is forced into a desperate situation, I'm afraid Xu Yuanlang will not sit idly by."
Li Yuanji pointed out the key point without hesitation.
Although there are no relevant records in history, Liu Heita was able to escape from the ambush set by Li Shimin, Li Yi and Du Fuwei when he was at his wit's end and successfully fled to the Turks. There must have been someone helping him behind the scenes.
In the current situation, the only one who can help Liu Heita is Xu Yuanlang.
Therefore, it is very likely that in history Xu Yuanlang suddenly attacked Du Fuwei, creating an opportunity for Liu Heita to escape.
After hearing what Li Yuanji said, Qu Tutong fell into deep thought.
Li Yuanji reminded him again: "Once the Tang Dynasty has wiped out Liu Heita, the next person we will deal with is Xu Yuanlang. With the few troops Xu Yuanlang has, he can't even take down Ren Gui, let alone the hundreds of thousands of troops formed by my second brother, Li Yi, and Li Fuwei.
If Xu Yuanlang is not stupid, he will definitely find ways to save Liu Heita and let Liu Heita continue to cause trouble for the Tang Dynasty, so that he can hide behind and quietly attack cities and plunder lands. "
Although Xu Yuanlang became king before Liu Heita, he ran into the tough guy Ren Gui, Duke of Guan, as soon as he started the rebellion.
Ren Guiying relied on thousands of soldiers and horses to block Xu Yuanlang outside Yucheng.
Up to now, Xu Yuanlang has not crossed Yucheng.
Xu Yuanlang only occupied a few cities in Yanzhou, and the troops and food supplies he had were no match for Liu Heita, who occupied more than a dozen states in Hebei.
Qu Tutong and Luo Shixin, leading several thousand soldiers, were able to beat him to the point of crying for his parents, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of troops formed by the combined forces of Li Shimin, Li Yi, and Du Fuwei.
Qu Tutong's face darkened, and he said solemnly: "Your Highness's concerns are not unreasonable. I will report this matter to the Marshal as soon as possible."
Li Yuanji looked at Qu Tutong and said earnestly, "Not as soon as possible, but immediately. Xu Yuanlang may have already started to act."
Li Yuanji put himself into the role of Xu Yuanlang and thought about it for a while.
If he were Xu Yuanlang, he would definitely not start deploying troops when Liu Heita showed signs of disadvantage. He would definitely send troops to ambush in places where others were not paying attention the moment the war in Hebei started.
If Liu Heita won, he would pretend to be rushing to help Liu Heita and get a share of the pie from Liu Heita.
If Liu Heita was defeated, he would definitely seize the opportunity to create an opportunity for Liu Heita to escape.
Only in this way can he be invincible.
Qu Tutong nodded deeply, "I understand. I will send someone to report immediately."
The life and death of Liu Heita is the key to the pacification of Hebei this time.
If Liu Heita ran away, it would be the same as not pacifying Hebei at all.
Because Liu Heita had the support of the Turks behind him, as long as he fled to the Turks and used the Turks' troops, he would surely rise again.
It will definitely come back at that time.
Therefore, Liu Heita had to be kept in Mingzhou and not given the opportunity to recover.
Qu Tutong knew very well that if Liu Heita escaped, there was a great possibility that he would be reinstated, so he did not dare to delay.
After Li Yuanji woke Qu Tutong up, he did not say anything to him. He rushed to the place where the wounded soldiers were recuperating before night fell.
He has already visited all the soldiers who died in the battle.
He has not yet visited the injured soldiers.
After arriving at the wounded soldiers camp, Li Yuanji was slightly stunned.
The sanitary conditions in the wounded soldiers' camp were very clean, and there was no dirty or messy scene at all.
The doctors accompanying the army, accompanied by their medicine boys, frequently walked past the soldiers one by one, checking their injuries from time to time and asking if they had any discomfort.
Except for a few seriously injured soldiers who took tranquilizers and fell asleep , most of the soldiers were just like nothing happened, chatting nonsense with a white-bearded doctor.
A slightly stronger soldier grabbed the doctor and asked him to open and re-sew the wound on his chest.
He said that the stitches the doctor had sewed were too dense, and that maybe there wouldn't be any scars left after the wound heals.
They also say that scars are a warrior's merit, and that without scars one would not be able to hold his head up among his comrades.
Li Yuanji's mouth twitched when he heard this.
The doctor was so angry that he blew his beard and glared.
"You are blind and don't know what is good for you!"
The little pharmacist beside the doctor glared in anger and stood up for the doctor.
Li Yuanji was stunned again. From the voice, it seemed to be a girl.
No wonder the injured soldiers didn't cry out in pain or yell.
It turned out that he saw a girl present, so he was pretending to be a warrior.
The guy who insisted on asking the doctor to open and re-sew his wound probably wanted to attract the girl's attention.
"No future!"
Li Yuanji curled his lips in disdain and took a detour to leave the wounded camp.
The wounded soldiers were screaming because they were attracted by the girl. If he ran in, they would definitely feel uncomfortable.
Seeing that the wounded soldiers were being well taken care of, he felt relieved and there was no need for him to run in to ask about their well-being.
