Chapter 399: Gains and losses are hard to measure
King of Jin Li Xuanqing, along with a group of his subordinates and generals, climbed up the newly built Yubi City and overlooked the Fen River below.

General Xu Maogong of the Right Army said: "Once this city is taken, the Fen River will be under the control of the Tang Dynasty. Your Highness has a great vision in building a city here."

Cui Xiaotong, a Zhonglang of Tianzhu Prefecture, also praised: "Yubi City lies here, and even the 100,000-strong army of Northern Yan would be helpless. Your Highness is far-sighted and has made every possible plan."

Li Xuanqing laughed and said, "Don't say that. Do you think it's my idea to build a city here?"

Xu Maogong was surprised and said, "If it wasn't His Highness who initiated it, could it be His Highness the Crown Prince?"

Li Xuanqing shook his head and said, "It's my fourth brother, Prince of Qi Li Yuanhui."

Xu Maogong, Cui Xiaotong and others were surprised when they heard this. It was not because they doubted the King of Qi's ability and vision, but it was indeed something they had not expected. After all, the King of Qi was far away in Luoyang, so how could he know the situation here so well?

"In the second year of Wude, the Crown Prince, I, and the King of Qi, three brothers, led an army of 200,000 to compete with Liu Xuanji for the ownership of Jinyang. It can be said that God blesses the Tang Dynasty. After months of fierce fighting, Jinyang was finally captured by us. When we returned to Guanzhong, we traveled south along the Fenshui River Valley. At that time, Silang pointed to this place and said, 'If Jinyang is lost, you can build a city on this terrace. Even if the Yan people have thousands of cavalry and millions of soldiers, they cannot pass.' I didn't care at the time, but at the beginning of this year, Jinyang was lost. Two months ago, the King of Qi wrote to me and reminded me of the old matter, so I built this Yubi City here."

After finishing speaking, Li Xuanqing sighed again: "I am not as far-sighted as Silang."

Everyone was a little shocked when they heard this. This strategic prediction was a bit scary. When they just conquered Jinyang, they started to calculate what to do if Jinyang was lost? They even thought about where to build the city?
This is too horrifying because the location of this city is so perfect.

Because of the existence of the Yellow River, Fen River and Taihang Mountains, Hedong, a region with salt and mineral production and fertile land, is actually connected to Guanzhong.

There are two water transport routes into Guanzhong from the north. One is to go along the Yellow River, land at Shanjin, pass through Sanmenxia, ​​and then change boats to go along the Weishui River.

Another way is to go along the Fen River into the Yellow River and then into the Wei River.

Since both Hanoi and Luoyang were in the hands of the Tang Dynasty, there was no need for Northern Yan to even think about the second option.

For Northern Yan, it is only natural to capture Jinyang and then attack Hedong. Although Northern Yan has not yet launched a war against Hedong due to its national strength, judging from their posture of attacking Pingyang, they also want to seize the strategic initiative.

However, the emergence of Yubi City has basically determined the strategic route of the Yan army to attack Hedong via the Fen River.

After passing through the Taiyuan Basin and flowing southward, the Fen River should have continued to move forward. However, because Li Xuanqing and others were standing on a high mountain called Emei Terrace, the edge of the terrace was eroded by water flow and washed by rivers, forming steep loess cliffs and gullies, the height of which along the river was even more than 50 meters.

The Fen River was blocked by the Emei Terrace, so it turned along the terrace and flowed westward into the Yellow River.

Therefore, if you travel along the Fen River, you must cross this terrace.

If you don't take the Fen River, you have to go through Wenxi Pass to go to Hedong from Jinyang. The road is rugged and the terrain along the way is very complex, making it easy to be ambushed.

Moreover, the cost of land transportation is much higher than that of water transportation, so the best option is still to take the water route.

But now the Tang Dynasty has built Yubi City on the Emei Terrace, which is the same situation as the Eastern and Western Wei in history.

Why did Gao Huan insist on destroying the jade disc? Because he couldn't get around it. Even if you get through, what about your grain transportation channel?
The most amazing thing is that the Emei Terrace is very flat and large enough, which means that the defenders can even grow crops and harvest food on it.
So Li Yuanhui, who was far away in Luoyang, immediately reminded his third brother to build a city on the Emei Terrace.

After this city was built, the Tang Dynasty would at least have no pressure in defending against Northern Yan.

The strategic planning master Wang Sizheng should have been the planner who led the construction of Yubi City in history, but now the Tang army has taken the lead, which has made the situation somewhat passive for Northern Yan.

After the construction of Yubi City was completed, Li Xuanqing left Xu Maogong to guard Yubi, while he led 20,000 troops north to rescue Pingyang. At this time, Northern Yan had been besieging the city for two months, but fortunately Li Xuanqing had provided Pingyang with enough manpower, weapons and food before, so that Northern Yan did not take Pingyang City for two days.

The defending general Yuwen Xing had tried his best, but the soldiers in the city were already exhausted, with less than a thousand people left.

If reinforcements don't arrive, Yuwenxing is ready to surrender.

Because according to the law, if a garrison surrenders after defending the city for two months without any reinforcements, their families will not be held accountable.

But finally, reinforcements arrived.

Li Xuanqing led his army upstream along the Fenshui waterway, advancing both by water and by road. Although he had only 20,000 soldiers and horses, he demonstrated the momentum of 100,000 men.

Flags in the sky blocked out the sun, and the sound of gongs and drums shook the earth.

Seeing this situation, Liu Xuanji could only sigh helplessly with everyone, and then chose to retreat.

In fact, Pingyang's strategic location itself is very important. It is an important node between Jinyang and Hedong. It is backed by Luliang Mountain in the west and connected to Fenshui in the east. If it is blocked here, it will actually block the Fenshui waterway.

But Pingyang also has a problem, that is, it is too close to Jinyang. And relatively speaking, although the city defense is perfect, it cannot be called a natural barrier.

But now with the emergence of Yubi City, the Tang Dynasty has a double insurance.

Even if you capture Pingyang, you will still get bruised on the head by Yubi if you go down along the Fen River.

On the way back, Liu Xuanji also received intelligence about the Tang army. He then learned that Li Xuanqing had been building a city on the Emei Terrace for the past two months, and the location was exactly the one chosen by Wang Sizheng. He couldn't help but sigh: "The Li family has produced many talented people." Then he glanced at the somewhat annoyed Wang Sizheng and comforted him: "Sizheng, don't worry. The Tang army built a city here, which just proves that your prediction is correct. As the saying goes, great minds think alike."

Wang Sizheng said: "Thank you for your comfort, Your Majesty, but the Tang army has built a city here, and it will be even more difficult for us to capture Hedong."

Liu Xuanji laughed and said, "Hahaha, if destiny is with me, I will sweep across the world and establish unprecedented achievements. How can a small Yubi City stop me? If this road is blocked, then I will take another one. When I first arrived in Chang'an, I once heard a saying, 'All roads lead to Chang'an.' Hahahaha"

"Regardless of whether it is Wei Wu or Han Zhaolie, they have been trapped repeatedly. Compared with these two, am I not having a smooth life?"

Liu Xuanji's open-minded, cheerful and optimistic attitude was very contagious, allowing the generals to quickly come out of the defeat in the war and no longer be entangled.

During the four years of Wude, the Tang Dynasty and Northern Yan had their share of victories and defeats.

The Tang Dynasty lost the northern hub city of Jinyang, but gained the fertile land of Qingzhou.

Qingzhou is close to the sea, has fertile land and a dense population. Although it is not enough to be a base, it can provide the Tang Dynasty with salt and iron resources, as well as qualified soldiers.

Although Northern Yan captured Jinyang, the appearance of the jade bi made the precious waterway of Fen River useless.

The gains and losses of both sides are actually difficult to calculate at the moment. The gifts given by God and the price taken will never be made public. Perhaps it will be clear only when you leave the game.

(End of this chapter)