Chapter 326 Time waits for no one
Prince of Zheng Li Shenfu was the father of Prince of Zhao Li Huaizhen.

He is Li Yuan's cousin and the only one among the royal family who was conferred the title of prince, except for the prince.

The reason for this is that he has a long history and great prestige. He was a general in the Former Yan Dynasty. The reason why Li Yuan was able to quickly complete the integration in Shu was because Li Shenfu once guarded Yizhou and had connections.

After the uprising, Li Shenfu was trapped in Luoyang. Although he escaped later, he was in poor health. Li Yuan also estimated that his cousin's reputation was too high, so he did not use him to lead the army.

After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, he was named King of Zheng, General of the Auxiliary State, Commander-in-Chief of All Military Forces at Home and Abroad, and Grand Tutor.

It can be said that he was in a high position, but he had no real power. Firstly, his reputation was high, and secondly, his health did not support it.

Now that he is said to be dying, he is probably on his deathbed.

So Li Yuan hurriedly got up, changed into casual clothes, and ordered people to go to Prince Zheng's palace, and at the same time ordered the princes to follow him.

When Li Yuan's carriage arrived at the Zheng Palace, the palace was filled with princes of the Li clan, who all bowed to the emperor upon seeing him.

"We are all family, no need to be polite. How is my brother?"

Yingchuan County Prince Li Zhu shook his head and said: "Your Majesty, my brother is not feeling well right now."

Li Yuan walked straight into the room, where there were several cousins ​​of the same generation, all of whom were given the title of Prince, standing far away by the bed.

The person sitting in front of the bed was Jin Wang Li Xuanqing. When he saw Li Yuan coming, he immediately stood up and gave up his seat.

Li Yuan sat over and looked at his cousin lying on the bed, feeling mixed emotions.

"Brother?"

Li Shenfu said in a hoarse voice: "Your Majesty is here, I have something to say."

Li Yuan waved his hand and everyone including Li Xuanqing retreated, leaving only two people in the huge room.

Li Shenfu's voice was very low, but his words were clear.

"Your Majesty, Liu Xuanji is a powerful enemy. I see that he walks like a dragon and a tiger, so we should not underestimate him. I'm afraid Silang is no match for him. If we really want to march into Hebei, Erlang will have to go into battle."

Hearing this, Li Yuan nodded, "I remember this."

"Don't let our Li family follow in Murong's footsteps, where brothers fight with each other and become a laughing stock for generations to come."

"Ah."

Li Yuan nodded repeatedly. He knew what Li Shenfu meant. He was referring to his sons.

Finally, Li Shenfu smiled and said, "It's a pity that I can't watch Your Majesty unify the world, but this world will eventually belong to my Li family, right?"

Li Yuan said: "Brother, rest assured. When the world is united in the future, when we offer sacrifices to the ancestral temple, there will be a stick of incense in front of your spirit."

Li Shenfu smiled and said nothing more.

Li Yuan asked, "Brother, do you have anything else to do?"

"No. We have been brothers for decades. Now that Your Majesty has become the emperor, do I still have to worry about my children not being taken care of? I just hope they can build achievements for the Tang Dynasty."

Li Shenfu did not ask for any official positions or treatment for his sons, grandsons, and daughters, nor did he talk about his family affairs. In the end, all he gave instructions and expressed his concerns about were state affairs.

On July 12, the first year of Wude, Prince Li Shenfu of Zheng passed away.

He was posthumously named "Xiangwu" and was awarded the titles of Grand Tutor, Minister of Civil Affairs, and Grand General. Court was suspended for three days, and the Prince of Jin was ordered to preside over the funeral ceremonies, with the other princes keeping vigil.

At the same time, because of his father's death, the plan of Zhaojun Prince Li Huaizhen to lead the army to war was naturally abandoned. Li Yuan instead ordered the Right General of the Guards, Chenjun Prince Li Cang, to lead the troops to conquer Hedong.

Li Cang was Li Yuan's cousin. He was just over thirty years old. In the previous dynasty, he was a general of the brave army. He was proficient in riding and shooting, and was quite brave. He was valued by Emperor Zhaowu. Later, when the country was in chaos, Li Cang abandoned his official position and went to Shuzhong to join Li Yuan. When Li Yuan conquered Longyou, he was the governor of Hanzhong, responsible for supervising the transportation of food and grass and guarding the rear.

When Li Yuan conquered Guanzhong, he was the prefect of Longxi, responsible for supervising the transportation of food and grass and guarding the rear.

Therefore, among all the meritorious officials, his name and position were relatively unknown, but he was indeed a family member that Li Yuan trusted very much. This time, he was ordered to go to war, more like to give him a chance to accumulate some merits.

In late July, the Tang and Yan armies engaged in several small-scale clashes on the land of Wei County in Jizhou.

On the Tang army side, Chai Rong, the General of the Left Guard and the Governor of Yanzhou, led more than 10,000 elite troops across the river to the north. He originally planned to harass Qinghe and Guantao according to Li Yuanhui's orders, but he did not expect that the Yan army also thought so.

Liu Xuanji sent General Han Gui to lead thousands of cavalry to harass Yanzhou. The two sides engaged in a skirmish on the north bank of the Yellow River, and both sides suffered casualties.

Han Gui then led his troops to retreat, and Chai Rong set up camp on the north bank of the Yellow River.

At the same time, in Hedong, the army led by Li Sixing passed through the upper road between Zhongtiao Mountain and Wangwu Mountain, and then raided Wenxi and Jiangxian, cutting off the connection between Anyi, the capital of Hedong County, and Shangdang, and obtained a large amount of food and grass.

On the other hand, Lou Jun also successfully captured Jie Liang and took control of Zhongtiao Mountain in the south of Anyi.

At the same time, Li Cang also led his army across the river and then headed straight to Anyi.

The three parties had a total of about 50,000 troops, which formed a siege on Anyi, the capital of Hedong County.

At this time, the emergency news from Hedong finally reached the Yan army camp north of Yecheng.

After seeing the battle report, Liu Xuanji sighed and said, "The Tang army is moving so fast. Now, only Anyi is left in Su Yong's hands in Hedong. It's hard to hold on alone."

Zhang Shiwu said: "Why don't I take light troops and rush to rescue Anyi."

Liu Xuanji shook his head. "After passing Fukou, the mountain road is difficult to travel. By the time you get to Anyi, you will be exhausted. How can you be a match for the Tang army? Anyi cannot be saved, but Shangdang cannot fall into the hands of the Tang army. Send our military order and let the Shangdang garrison take strict precautions. Lou Daiwen, you lead 5,000 troops to enter Shangdang to threaten Yewang. Shiwu, you lead the troops to take down Mengmen Pass for me."

Zhang Shiwu and Lou Daiwen took the order and left. Both of them were famous generals of the Yan army. Zhang Shiwu's original name was Zhang Shiwu, and he was Liu Xuanji's old brother. He had been under his command since he was the captain, and now he was his confidant and right-hand man.

Lou Daiwen was a Xianbei. When Liu Xuanji was the prefect of Yuyang, he volunteered to join the army. He was very brave. When Liu Xuanji went out of the border to fight the Turks, defeated Wang Xuba and Liu Huzhi in the Battle of Juyong, and went south to raid Jizhou, Lou Daiwen participated in all the battles and won many victories. He was promoted to Lang Jiang due to his merits.

Liu Xuanji was granted the title of Duke of Han, General of the Cavalry, and Recorder of the Secretariat. After he officially established his government, Lou Daiwen was granted the title of General of the Left Army, Prefect of Julu, and commanded 10,000 people. He was an important general under Liu Xuanji.

After finishing the deployment, Liu Xuanji looked at the map in a daze. He also realized that if he stayed in Yecheng for too long, it would be disadvantageous to his side.

Although the Tang Dynasty was still a newly formed force, it occupied most of the world after all, and Li Yuan and his son were both heroes of the time. If they were given time to accumulate strength and integrate the troops to move north, even if the forces of You and Ji states were combined, they would not be able to resist.

So time is not in his hands.

Although Liu Xuanji came from a humble background, he has led troops in battles for so many years and has become a very knowledgeable person. His current knowledge is far beyond that of Captain Liu back then.

Therefore, he was able to realize that even if he could take Hebei, compared with the territory and population currently occupied by Li Tang, he had no advantage at all. In fact, the longer it dragged on, the greater the gap between the two sides would be.

If Li Tang was allowed to take control of the world, with the talents of the Li brothers, Jingzhou, Jiangdong, Qingzhou, Hebei and Bingzhou would be conquered by them sooner or later.

In the final analysis, the Tang army must be sent into battle as soon as possible. The strategy of sowing discord needs time to be catalyzed, or the Li brothers will not be affected by the strategy at all. This is all possible.

Now that the Tang army is defending their positions and refusing to come out, can we use provocation to get them?

He still remembers what Li Yuanhui told him: in the Battle of Chenggao, King Xiang asked the Chu State's Grand Marshal Cao Ju to stay in Chenggao while he led his army to pacify Liangdi. As a result, Emperor Gaozu ordered his men to shout and curse for several days, and Cao Ju led his army to fight, but was attacked by the Han army halfway across the Sishui River, and the Chu army was defeated.

All the gold, silver, jade, treasures and goods were seized by the Han army. In the end, Cao Ju, the Grand Marshal of Chu, and Sima Xin, the Chief Clerk, committed suicide by slashing their throats on the Sishui River.

He only learned about the Battle of Chenggao when Li Yuanhui told him about the deeds of his ancestor Liu Bang.

It is obvious that Li Yuanhui is not someone who would be provoked in this way, but what if the other side changes its head coach?
After Li Yuan started his rebellion, all the tough battles were fought by his son. So what was his own level of ability?

Or can this be used to motivate them?
(End of this chapter)