Chapter 358: Unwilling to Accept
Liyang is an important stronghold in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and is also one of the few strategic towns in the Yellow River Basin of the Tang Dynasty. Together with Chaoge, it formed a horn to resist the Yan army from Yecheng.

The one sitting in Liyang is Zhao Yi, the current governor of Jizhou, the General Zhenbei, and the Duke of Tianshui County of the Tang Dynasty. This general, who is only in his thirties, was a governor of a state and a general of high rank during the Great Yan period. He was also a local lord and a strong contender for the top position in Hebei. He has a rich experience.

Now in the Tang Dynasty, he is the governor of a state, which is not a small position. The title and official position given to him are worthy of his qualifications. However, the only place he can govern is Liyang. The people stationed in Chaoge are the trusted men of the King of Qi. It is still unclear whether they will listen to him, the governor of Jizhou.

Currently, there are only more than 7,000 troops under Zhao Da's command. However, these 7,000 men are all elite soldiers and are his last resort.

However, a group of old brothers who had followed him for many years still followed him to Liyang.

Among them are Han Duo, Wang Quanbin, Shi Yanchao, and military officer Zhou Pu.

As for his brother Zhao Er, he was currently recruited by Li Yuan as the Secretary of the Central Secretariat. On the one hand, it was considered as a generous treatment of the surrendered people, and on the other hand, it was also considered as keeping him as a hostage.

In Liyang, in addition to the 7,000 troops commanded by Zhao Da, there were another 4,000 or so Tang troops, who were also nominally under his command, but whether he could command them specifically depended on what Zhao Da wanted to do.

In winter, Han Duo took a few people to the Yellow River, dug a few holes in the ice, caught a few big carps, and then brought them back to the city to taste the fish with a few old brothers and drink a pot of wine.

Before entering the city, I heard a messenger galloping along, shouting "Great victory in Jinyang" and "Great victory in Jinyang".

Han Duo was a little surprised when he heard this, and then he took the fish to the county government office, which is Zhao Yi's current residence.

After handing it over to the kitchen, he came to the front hall, at this time several old brothers gathered there one after another.

Military officer Zhou Pu read out the military report to everyone, "The Yan bandits retreated. This is probably the case."

Shi Yanchao, who was nine feet tall, laughed out loud and said, "The Tang Dynasty is truly prosperous. The Turks helped at this critical moment. Otherwise, I don't think it would have been possible to predict the outcome."

Wang Quanbin said: "In my opinion, even if the Turks did not attack Youzhou, the Tang army would still be able to capture Jinyang. If they continue to fight, the Yan army will not be a match."

"It's hard to say, but with the addition of Jinyang to the Tang army, Hebei should not be a concern. Fortunately, we have all submitted to the Tang Dynasty. Now we are just waiting to join the King of Qin, the King of Jin, and the King of Qi in the northern expedition against the Yan bandits, and to avenge Liu Xuanji's seizure of my brother's Jizhou that year."

Han Duo said this while looking at Zhao Yi.

Zhao Yi looked calm, and after reading the battle report, he smiled and said, "Although Liu Xuanji was a hero at the time, he is not as wise and brave as our Tang Emperor. As soon as His Majesty arrived in Jinyang, he fled in panic."

When everyone heard this, they were stunned at first, and then they all laughed. This was what was presented in the battle report, and these military leaders who had fought for many years knew what was going on at a glance.

But people in the world don’t care about this. There are really many people who believe that this is true.

After all, when His Majesty went north, Liu Xuanji withdrew his troops. Whether there is a necessary connection between them, ordinary soldiers and civilians cannot know the specific details, but at least these two things are true. So this gives a lot of room for use.

The publicity work is much easier here. It is enough to let people associate these two things together.

No one was so blind as to say that Liu Xuanji's retreat had nothing to do with Your Majesty, that it was the three kings who fought the hard battle, and that it was the Turks who invaded Youzhou.
Therefore, on this matter, all discerning people know that one should not speak carelessly, as words can cause trouble.

After laughing, Zhao Da sighed again and said, "We led an army of 100,000 to attack Jinyang, but Liu Xuanji attacked Jizhou by surprise. Liu Xuanji sent an army of 200,000 to besiege Jinyang and confronted the Tang Dynasty for half a year, but still failed to capture Jinyang. Later, the Turks made trouble, but the Tang Dynasty succeeded in one fell swoop. It was really a matter of time and fate."

Zhao Yi defeated Tuoba Yuqing in Jizhou with a smaller force and pursued him all the way to Bingzhou. If he had been given more time, he might have been able to capture Jinyang. Because Tuoba Yuqing had just died, the people must have been in a panic.

But because Liu Xuanji sent troops south, the effort failed. Now Liu Xuanji is facing the same situation as him at the critical moment of capturing Jinyang. Although the situation is much better than his, he still failed to capture Jinyang, and Hebei will face the advantage of Hedong from a high position.

It can be said that as long as the Tang Dynasty advances steadily, it is almost a matter of time before the world is unified. Although Hebei is rich, it has grain-producing areas such as Jizhou, as well as Youzhou, a place with tough folk customs and many elite soldiers.

But in terms of overall national strength, it is already at a clear disadvantage compared to the half of the world that the Tang Dynasty now occupies.

The final battle of the war was about resources, population, and food. After the Tang Dynasty had completed the integration of resources, it would be able to end the Northern Yan with an overwhelming advantage.

Of course, this is just the ideal situation.

In fact, it is not that easy to annex Hebei. We are not fools. Who doesn't have some subordinates who can settle accounts?

Zhou Pu, Han Duo and others could actually see that Zhao Da was still somewhat unwilling.

After all, when the three kings of the Tang Dynasty were fighting in Yingchuan, he also had the opportunity to seize Hebei.

But his order was wrong. If he had sent troops to Youzhou while Xue Shixiong was seriously ill, would the result be different?
Hard to say.

But after such a long time, he reviewed the situation himself and figured out the key.

After Xue Shixiong's death, although Liu Xuanji was nominated as the governor of Youzhou, his foundation was actually the weakest at that time. If Zhao Da led the Jizhou army northward, the Youzhou army would probably be in chaos because of the lack of popular support, and he would eventually take it into his possession.

But the problem is that he chose to attack Jinyang.

This gave Liu Xuanji a godsend opportunity. Liu Xuanji seized it and marched south, taking Jizhou with overwhelming force. As a result, Liu Xuanji established great prestige, and the Youzhou army and powerful nobles were all convinced by him.

Whenever he thought of this, Zhao Yi felt that he had wasted a godsend opportunity and felt regretful and remorseful.

But times have changed, and there is no regret medicine. Even if Zhao Da is unwilling now, he actually knows that he probably won't have the opportunity to participate in the great cause of dominating the world.

The Tang Dynasty was already a huge force that encompassed most of the world, and Li Yuan and his son were both outstanding people. The Li Tang dynasty had the greatest hope of unifying the world.

The second is Liu Xuanji of Northern Yan. Although he lost the battle for Jinyang and fell into an unfavorable situation, the land of Yan and Zhao has been heroic since ancient times, so there is no chance for him to turn the tables.

As for others such as Cao Xuan of Western Wei in Jingzhou and Cao Yuanjing of Eastern Wei in Jiangdong, it was indeed difficult for these forces to do anything and they were completely in a state of lingering on.

As for the Yang family members in Qingzhou, they are not worth mentioning.
As long as there is no internal strife in the Li family and the three kings do not fight each other for the position of crown prince, according to the current momentum, there seems to be no suspense that the Li family will unify the world.

If the Li brothers fought over that chair, the world would be in turmoil.

It is not certain who will get the white hat by then.

Maybe he will have a chance to get involved?

(End of this chapter)