Chapter 329 Good words are hard to persuade
Beat the drum to gather the generals.

In the Liyang camp, with the sound of drums, all the generals gathered in the central military tent.

On the left were the six guards of the Prince of Qi's palace and the generals of the left and right Wuwei, and on the right were the generals of the left and right Xiaowei.

Li Yuanhui sat in the commander's seat and looked at everyone.

Although there were some discussions in private, no general of the Left and Right Guards dared to say anything unpleasant to Li Yuanhui in person.

They just didn't have a close relationship with Li Yuanhui, and they said a few sarcastic words and did some small things in private, but in such occasions, the commander-in-chief still had the final say.

If they say drag the man out and chop him up, then they can drag the man out and chop him up.

Even the Right Guard General Liu Wenhui had to stand solemnly at this moment.

"These past few days, I've heard people in the army often talking about me being unfair. Is that true?"

Li Yuanhui looked around and saw that all the generals from Guanzhong lowered their heads, not daring to look him in the face. Only one person stood up and clasped his fists to answer him.

"General, there are some discussions in the army, but it is because the Yan army has been challenging us all day long these days. The soldiers are eager to fight, but they dare not slander your reputation. If there is any offense, please forgive me."

Liu Wenhui stepped forward and replied.

Li Yuanhui smiled when he heard this, "Are you eager to fight? So, General Liu thinks that we should go to war now?"

Liu Wenhui said: "I think that General Li and his men have captured Hedong and are now continuing to advance to Shangdang. This will surely attract the Yan army in Yecheng to send troops to rescue them. If we send troops at this time, we may be able to catch them by surprise and lift the siege of Yecheng. I am willing to lead the army as the vanguard, be the first to attack and drive out the Yan army south of the Zhang River."

After hearing what Liu Wenhui said, Li Yuanhui was completely relieved. This matter should have nothing to do with his second brother. Because if it was related to his second brother, then what Liu Wenhui had to do now was to encourage Li Yuanhui to lead his troops to fight Liu Xuanji.

Instead of bringing people with him, Liu Wenhui simply wanted to improve himself and go up to confront Liu Xuanji head-on.

This made Li Yuanhui a little difficult to decide.

If it was the second brother who was causing trouble behind the scenes, then it would be easy to deal with. Just let Liu Wenhui go up and fight.

If you can't win, you'll be severely punished.

The problem is, this guy is not bad, he is just stupid. This makes Li Yuanhui feel a little embarrassed to let him kick the iron wall.

Don’t you really think that since your surname is Liu and Liu Xuanji’s surname is also Liu, you can be on par with him?
Afterwards, it was not only Liu Wenhui who asked for battle. Several other generals from the left and right guards also came out and asked Li Yuanhui to allow them to fight.

Among them were General Liu Gui of the Left Guard, General Liu Xuantong of the Left Guard, and General Pei Kai of the Right Guard.

Seeing this, Li Yuanhui knew that these people really wanted to make achievements and progress. Since they wanted to fight so much, it was difficult to stop them.

So they made a decision, "Since you are eager to make achievements, please ask General Liu to lead 20,000 left and right guards to station in Dangyin area, and General Liu can decide the battle of the front army."

Liu Wenhui immediately bowed and said, "I will obey your orders."

Li Yuanhui had to admit that his influence on the Guanzhong army, the Guanzhong nobles and Li Yuan's former ministers was far less than that of the second and third sons.

There was no other way around it. They started by raising their army in Yizhou, conquering Longyou and Liangzhou, and then entered Guanzhong and settled Chang'an.

Li Yuanhui did not participate in any of these battles.

At that time, he fought against the Eastern Wei, Wagang, Western Wei and even Eastern Yan armies in Jianghuai. It was not until the Yingchuan War that Li Yuanhui had the opportunity to fight with the Guanzhong and Lianglong armies.

Unlike Li Yuanhui who knew Liu Xuanji's strengths and weaknesses well, generals such as Liu Wenhui, including a number of Guanzhong nobles, all evaluated the combat effectiveness of the Youzhou army in the sense that the cavalry was very powerful because of its location in the border area.

But if a large-scale battle were to occur, the Tang army would undoubtedly be the side with more combat experience, and they would even look down on Liu Xuanji, a military leader of humble origins.

They thought that Liu Xuanji was able to rise to power because of good luck and the fact that he happened to wipe out several refugee armies. As for taking Jizhou, it was because he took advantage of Zhao Yi's unpreparedness.
Speaking of fighting a tough battle, our Tang Dynasty Central Army defeated the last elite troops of the Yan Army on the frontal battlefield.

This was the general idea of ​​the soldiers of the Left and Right Guards. Although the small group of cavalry did not gain an advantage in the battle, these Tang army soldiers had become mysteriously confident after the Battle of Luoyang. They felt that if the two armies were to face off, they would definitely be able to sweep the other side.
So Li Yuanhui also felt that it was difficult to persuade the damned ghosts with kind words. These people were not of the same kind as him. If you want to die, then go ahead.

How rude of you to stop me?

However, what happened next made Li Yuanhui feel a little weird.

After Liu Wenhui led 20,000 infantry and cavalry into Dangyin, he actually won two battles and beheaded hundreds of people, which greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers on the left and right guards.

But the situation changed and the Yan army held their ground and refused to move out.

"This must be a strategy of making the soldiers arrogant." Li Yuanhui carefully read the details in the military report and quickly made a judgment.

Afterwards, Li Yuanhui sent Liu Wenhui an official document, the kind that was kept on file. The content of the document congratulated him on his successive victories, and then told him to be cautious, not to fight too aggressively, and to be careful not to fall into the enemy's trap.
Li Yuanhui thought that he had to say what he needed to say and give what he needed to give, and he could only shift the blame after something really happened.

As a result, the messenger delivered the letter to the Tang army camp outside Dangyin City. Liu Wenhui unfolded the letter, read it and laughed, "People say that the King of Qi is cautious in using troops, it's true. Right now the Yan army is old and tired, and can't stand a fight. At this time, our Tang Dynasty should send a large army and will surely be able to defeat them. But our His Highness the King of Qi actually told me to be cautious. Hahahaha, I think His Highness the King of Qi's military strategy is far worse than that of the King of Qin."

As soon as Liu Wenhui said this, all the generals in the tent burst into laughter.

"I think the King of Qi is afraid of Liu Xuanji's reputation for being a good fighter, so he doesn't dare to fight him, and only dares to send troops to raid other places. The Yan army in Yecheng still has to rely on our Guanzhong warriors. General Liu, it is better to let the King of Qi transfer all the other troops of our left and right guards as soon as possible. In my opinion, the Yan army is not worth mentioning at all. My 50,000 Tang troops, together with the Zhao governor in the city, will surely win in one battle."

General Pei Kai of the Right Guard's words immediately gained the support of everyone.

Upon hearing this, Liu Wenhui immediately wrote a letter requesting Li Yuanhui to transfer all the left and right guards.

After receiving the letter, Li Yuanhui immediately summoned a group of staff to discuss whether to accept Liu Wenhui's request.

Gao Kan, a Zhonglang official, said immediately: "Your Highness, General Liu has probably fallen into the trap set by the Yan army. If we lead our army to fight them, we will surely be defeated. It is better to order them not to go into battle."

What Gao Kan said actually made a lot of sense. He was an outstanding military strategist and could naturally see through the tactics of arrogant soldiers.

However, this answer obviously did not meet Li Yuanhui's wishes. He certainly did not want his army to be defeated and suffer losses. But the problem now was that doing so would offend people.

Liu Wenhui and a group of generals now feel that after such a long standoff, the Yan army is at the end of its strength, and if they are not allowed to continue fighting, they will be hindering their progress.

This will further deepen the conflict.

Another Zhonglang, Yu Zhining, was not as good as Gao Kan in military strategy, but he was very insightful, so he said: "If Your Highness is worried that the left and right guards are difficult to tame, then you can agree to his request, but Your Highness is not suitable to stay in Liyang at this time."

After hearing this, Li Yuanhui immediately understood what he meant.

He immediately ordered the secretary Li Chunfeng to draft a military order, and returned to Luoyang to recuperate on the grounds of poor health. All war affairs here were under the charge of Deputy General Liu Wenhui.

(End of this chapter)