Chapter 80 Li Shimin's Shock
After leaving the wounded soldiers' camp, Li Yuanji wandered aimlessly in Mingshui City until it became completely dark, and then he moved into the house prepared for him by Qu Tutong.
It was a large house that was not luxurious. The main house and the back house were smashed beyond recognition by huge rocks. Only the side rooms on the left and right were still intact.
Li Yuanji's residence was in the left wing.
The furnishings inside were also very simple, with only a bed and a long table.
After Li Yuanji simply washed up, he went to bed.
…
Just when Li Yuanji fell asleep, the people sent by Qin Qiong rushed to Li Shimin's temporary station.
After chasing Liu Heita for a day, Li Shimin temporarily settled down on the bank of Zhang River, some distance away from Quzhou where Liu Heita was.
The reason for stationing on the banks of the Zhang River was to avoid pushing Liu Heita into a corner and engaging in a fight to the death.
Li Shimin didn't care about Liu Heita's life or death.
But Li Shimin cared a lot about the lives of the rebel soldiers under Liu Heita.
Those rebel troops were rebels under Liu Heita's command, but under his command, they were the people of the Tang Dynasty.
As long as those rebel troops were willing to lay down their arms, he would forgive them, let them return home, and bring them back under the rule of the Tang Dynasty, allowing them to contribute to the population and tax revenue of the Tang Dynasty.
The Tang Dynasty was currently experiencing a shortage of food and people, and every single person was very important to the Tang Dynasty. Li Shimin was unwilling to start a massacre unless it was absolutely necessary.
"Have the people who went to negotiate with Liu Heita returned?"
Li Shimin, wearing armor and holding a golden sword, sat in a makeshift tent and asked Changsun Wuji who was beside him.
The war in Hebei had already come to an end when Liu Heita was forced into a desperate situation.
In this situation, there is no need to rush to kill the enemy. If you can persuade them to surrender, you must do so.
It would be a good thing for both sides if this battle could be ended without bloodshed.
Therefore, after forcing Liu Heita into a desperate situation, Li Shimin did not rush to mobilize troops again, but instead sent important ministers under his command to persuade him to surrender.
Chang Sun Wuji sat below Li Shimin, heaved a long sigh and said, "I did come back, but the negotiation was not successful."
Li Shimin frowned slightly, "How could the negotiation fail? Did Liu Heita think that he still had a chance to turn things around? Or did he think that the Turks could come and rescue him now?"
He, Li Yi and Du Fuwei, with tens of thousands of troops, surrounded the small Quzhou, while Liu Heita had less than 30,000 defeated soldiers.
How did Liu Heita turn things around?
Liu Heita was not Xiang Yu, the King of Western Chu, who was so brave that he could not resist thousands of men and could lead 30,000 to 50,000 men to fight against more than 100,000 men.
Some small groups of Turkic troops broke through the defense lines of Li Shentong and Li Shiji and appeared in the territory of the Tang Dynasty, but the large groups of Turkic troops were still blocked outside the Tang Dynasty.
Even if the Turks broke through the Tang Dynasty's defense and appeared in Tang territory, they would not have time to reach Quzhou to save Liu Heita's life.
Liu Heita doesn't even have room for a last-ditch struggle now, why doesn't he surrender?
Chang Sun Wuji smiled bitterly and said, "Liu Heita's request was a bit excessive, so the negotiation failed."
Li Shimin was stunned for a moment, looked at Zhangsun Wuji puzzledly and asked: "What request can he make?"
Zhang Sun Wuji hesitated for a moment, then said frankly, "Liu Heita said that as long as the Tang Dynasty recognized the identity of the King of Handong and gave him the ten states of Hebei Province as his fiefdom, he would be willing to surrender."
Li Shimin's face suddenly turned dark.
Liu Heita is just making demands, Liu Heita is just dreaming.
Let the Tang Dynasty recognize his identity as the King of Handong and allocate the ten states of Hebei to him as a fiefdom?
Why did the Tang Dynasty invade him? When he took over the entire Hebei Province, they could have just sent someone to confer a title on him .
"He is unwilling to surrender, so he is trying to tease us with this wishful request!"
Li Shimin said with some annoyance.
Li Yi and Du Fuwei surrendered to the Tang Dynasty with a large piece of territory and tens of thousands of elite soldiers and generals, but neither of them dared to make such a request.
Liu Heita had already been beaten to a pulp, and he still dared to make such a request? !
"Pass the order down. All tribes will gather in Quzhou after dawn tomorrow! I want to see where Liu Heita gets the courage to make such a request to the Tang Dynasty."
After Li Shimin knew that Liu Heita would not surrender, he gave up the idea of continuing to persuade Liu Heita to surrender, and immediately ordered the entire army to gather in Quzhou to deal a final blow to Liu Heita.
Changsun Wuji agreed and ordered a messenger to go out and pass on the message. After the messenger left, Changsun Wuji said with emotion: "Liu Heita is really unwilling to give up until the last moment."
At that time, there was no saying "Don't cry until you see the coffin, don't give up until you reach the Yellow River", otherwise Changsun Wuji would definitely say so.
"Then let's send him to his last moment."
Li Shimin said without emotion.
Since Liu Heita
He will never be polite to those enemies who would rather die than surrender.
"marshal……"
At this moment, the guard guarding the door suddenly appeared in the tent and bowed to report.
"General Qin's troops are asking for a meeting."
Li Shimin was stunned for a moment, "Shubao's people?"
Li Shimin murmured in confusion, "Why did Shubao send someone to see me? Could it be that there are some changes in the battle of Mingshui City?"
In Li Shimin's opinion, there are Qu Tutong, Luo Shixin, and a group of soldiers from the Prince of Qi's Mansion in Mingshui City, and four brave generals Qin Qiong, Yuchi Gong, Wu Heita, and Niu Jinda outside Mingshui City. It should be more than enough to deal with the few enemies in the corridor of Mingshui City, and there should be no variables.
"Call him in!"
Li Shimin gave orders while thinking about what would happen in Mingshui City.
The guard agreed and left the makeshift tent.
The next moment, Qin Qiong's troops appeared in the tent, knelt on one knee in front of Li Shimin and saluted Li Shimin.
After the salute, Qin Qiong's troops told Li Shimin in a deep voice everything that had happened outside Mingshui City without any omission.
When Li Shimin heard that Yuchi Gong ran to compete for credit with Li Yuanji's people, he was a little amused.
He knew Yuchi Gong's character and knew that Yuchi Gong was capable of doing such a thing.
Upon hearing that Yuchi Gong had taken action against Su Dingfang, Li Shimin frowned slightly.
In his opinion, it was a bit shameful for Yuchi Gong to fight with the generals of the Prince of Qi's Mansion.
No matter what, Yuchi Gong was still a great general. Going to fight with the small fry in the Prince of Qi's mansion was not only humiliating, but also a loss of status.
When Li Shimin heard that Su Dingfang, holding a horse lance, could exchange a few moves with Yuchi Gong on horseback on the ground, he widened his eyes in surprise.
In his impression, there are very few .
It was even more rare that Su Dingfang could use a horse lance to deal with Yuchi Gong on the ground and even exchange a few moves with Yuchi Gong.
You have to know that the horse lance is a weapon for use on horseback, and it can only demonstrate its full power on horseback. If it is on the ground, no matter how strong your lance skills are, half of it will be useless.
Su Dingfang could fight with Yuchi Gong for a few moves on the ground, and he might be able to fight with Yuchi Gong for a long time on horseback.
"When did Yuanji have such a powerful figure under his command?"
Li Shimin blurted out.
In his impression, among Li Yuanji's subordinates, only Xie Shufang and Yuwen Bao were barely useful.
Xie Shufang is a man of both literary and martial talents, and with some training he will be able to stand on his own.
Although Yuwen Bao is neither good at literature nor martial arts, he is a man of courage and can help Li Yuanji solve many problems that Li Yuanji is not convenient to deal with.
He had never heard of a person named Su Dingfang.
If it were someone else, they would definitely not be able to answer Li Shimin's question, but Qin Qiong's followers happened to know some inside information.
Because he was also present when Li Yuanji took Su Dingfang and Gao Yaxian away by name in Feixiang.
"Your Highness, Su Dingfang was captured by Your Highness the Prince of Qi when he was in Feixiang. He was previously a general under Gao Yaxian under Liu Heita, and now he serves as a brigade commander under Your Highness the Prince of Qi."
“…”
Li Shimin sighed with regret.
Such a person should have been recruited by him, but was intercepted by Li Yuanji.
For a person like this who can turn from darkness to light, the least he should be granted is a deputy commander-in-chief or a brigade commander, which is a bit stingy.
Li Yuanji is wasting his talent.
If he wasn't worried about Li Yuanji getting angry, he would definitely poach people.
"Your Highness, after Su Dingfang and General Yuchi fought for several rounds, His Highness the King of Qi ordered General Yuchi to stop, but General Yuchi did not listen..."
Qin Qiong's troops had no idea what Li Shimin was thinking, so they continued talking.
When Li Shimin heard this, his eyes widened and his heart began to beat faster.
Yuchi Gong did not take Li Yuanji seriously at all.
Given Yuchi Gong's arrogant character, it is understandable that he does not take his defeated generals seriously.
The problem is that Li Yuanji is not easy to mess with now.
If you get angry, you will go crazy.
"General Niu and General Wu tried to persuade him, but General Yuchi still ignored him. This angered His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi, who ordered his men to prepare war horses and personally went down to fight General Yuchi..."
"Yuanji is not injured, right? Did Jingde, that idiot, take Yuanji's horse lance again?"
Li Shimin asked nervously.
If Yuchi Gong hurt Li Yuanji, he would have to be punished on behalf of Yuchi Gong.
If Yuchi Gong took Li Yuanji's horse lance again and humiliated Li Yuanji, Li Yuanji would get furious and it would be unknown what he would burn.
Qin Qiong's troops shook their heads slightly, and said with a complicated expression: "No... His Highness the Prince of Qi has a spear..."
What is a spear?
Defeated with just one strike?
Li Shimin stared at Qin Qiong's troops nervously and anxiously.
Chang Sun Wuji couldn't help but urge, "Come on, tell me, what happened to Yi Liu?"
Qin Qiong's troops gritted their teeth and said, "One spear knocked General Yuchi off his horse. Three of General Yuchi's ribs were broken, and his horse was killed on the spot..."
The reason why Qin Qiong's troops were hesitant when talking about this was because they still couldn't believe that Li Yuanji, who was easily fooled by Yuchi Gong in the past, could easily beat Yuchi Gong today without any chance of fighting back.
"bass!"
