Chapter 425 Send Troops
"Thank you General Shi for your help, otherwise I would have died outside the city. The Yan army is so powerful." After returning to the city, Liu Yuanqing clasped his fists towards Shi Yanchao.

Shi Yanchao said: "General Liu, you don't have to be polite. It's our job. We have been dealing with the Yan army for a longer time. But General Liu, the river bridge has been burned down now. The Yan army is coming aggressively. How should we deal with it?"

Han Duo also looked over here.

Liu Yuanqing said: "Luoyang has already known about the river bridge incident. Now you and I can only guard this place and wait for the military orders from His Majesty and His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi."

Shi Yanchao and Han Duo looked at each other and then stopped talking. They understood that Liu Yuanqing was actually waiting for the order from the King of Qi.

But the two of them are a little hesitant now, not knowing what to do, but for now they can only take it one step at a time. Zhao Da has been summoned to the court, and now they need to think more about themselves.
On the other hand, after breaking through the camp outside the city, Liu Xuanji immediately began to prepare for the siege and started to order people to build siege equipment.

Xiao Shizhi and Xu Qiande could only threaten the flanks of the Yan army in Fangtou. They did not have enough troops and capabilities to rescue the Yan army, so they could only help share the pressure from Liyang from the periphery.

As for the Huai County garrison, there were only more than 3,000 of them, and they were besieged by Wei Xiaoju's army at Zixia Pass and were unable to support the Liyang battlefield.

Li Yuan was anxious when he saw the battle report, but Li Yuanhui was very calm, as if he didn't care about the battle situation in Liyang River at all. But in fact, Li Yuanhui stayed in the palace and stared at the map all day, thinking about how to deal with the enemy next.

He would definitely fight this battle, although he still clearly stated that he would conduct a strategic retreat and would not fight with the Yan army in Hebei. But once Li Yuan was willing to make a guarantee or show enough sincerity, he would be a war advocate.

But it's not enough to just draw pie in the sky. You have to at least issue an edict to allow the Prince of Qi's Palace to continue to stay in Guandong, right?
Li Yuan was also worried about this. He didn't want Li Yuanhui to stay in Guandong, but the situation forced him to beg Li Yuanhui to come down to resolve the current situation.

Summoning several prime ministers to discuss the matter, Zuo Pushe Pei Hongde put forward a suggestion that made Li Yuan quite satisfied.

The King of Qi wanted Luoyang, or to return to Jianghuai, while Li Yuan wanted the King of Qi to return to Chang'an. So why not compromise?

The specific plan was to change Qi County to Qi State, and the King of Qi could become a vassal of Qi State in the future, directly establishing a state. This was like handing Qingzhou over to the King of Qi.

After hearing this, Li Yuan no longer thought about the future and decided to solve the current dilemma first. He asked Pei Hongde to take this proposal to the Prince of Qi's Mansion to meet Li Yuanhui.

Upon learning that Pei Hongde was coming, Li Yuanhui specially welcomed him at the door. After all, this person had been the prime minister since the previous dynasty, and he was an old fox. Although he was now on the opposite side of Li Yuanhui, his brother Pei Hongce was currently the governor of Northern Yuzhou, his nephew Pei Xingfang was working in the Grand Secretariat of Eastern Shaanxi, and his son-in-law Li Delin was recommended by the Prince of Qi's Palace to be appointed as the county magistrate. Moreover, his son Pei Xinggong was an old friend of Li Yuanhui, and Pei Yu, the wife of Anyi County who just entered the palace last year, was also his cousin.

So there is a conflict of interest between the two sides. One is the leader of a Guanlong noble family, and the other is the person in charge of Luoyang in Guandong. But in fact, there are still many connections.

Naturally, there would be no tension when they met. In the court, Pei Hongde might have spared no effort to suppress the power of the Prince of Qi's Mansion, but when they met at this time, he smiled warmly.

"His Royal Highness King Qi."

"Mr. Pei is an elder, no need to be polite, please come in."

Li Yuanhui welcomed Pei Hongde into the mansion. The two of them exchanged pleasantries. People who didn't know the truth thought that the two had a very good relationship.
The two chatted all the way, and after entering the inner hall, Pei Hongde stated his purpose and put forward his conditions.

"The land of Qi County shall be made into the Kingdom of Qi, and the King of Qi shall be hereditary and established in Qingzhou."

Li Yuanhui was a little surprised when he heard this. He didn't expect Li Yuan to come up with such a plan. Qingzhou?
While speaking, Pei Hongde even took out the imperial edict.

Li Yuanhui began to hesitate.

He was given Qi County as a vassal state, but everyone knew that as long as Qi County was in Li Yuanhui's hands, it would be clear who had the final say in the entire Qingzhou. Qingzhou was adjacent to Xuzhou, and now Xuzhou was also under his control, and could be connected to Jianghuai through Xuzhou.
Pei Hongde saw that Li Yuanhui remained silent, so he also said in a gentle and persuasive manner: "Your Majesty and the king are father and son after all, so you should always be somewhat respectful."

Li Yuanhui finally came to his senses after hearing this and said, "Prime Minister Pei, you are too serious. What I was worried about was that Hanoi was isolated in the north. If we want to repel the Yan army, we have to deploy a large number of troops. But if your majesty has the order, I will obey it without hesitation."

The next day, the military meeting was held again in the court.

Li Yuan first issued an edict to make Qi County the Kingdom of Qi and to grant it to King Qi Li Yuanhui.

At the same time, Li Yuanhui was appointed as the general commander of the march, and the command of the Guanzhong army around Luoyang was handed over to him. From then on, the father and son reached an agreement, and Li Yuanhui accepted the order in court.

As General Tiance, Li Yuanhui and his third brother, General Tianzhu, were nominally the supreme commanders of the Tang army.

But it was only in name. When it came time to mobilize troops, Li Yuan's edict was still needed to justify it.

Around Luoyang, there were more than 10,000 soldiers of Li Yuanhui's personal army, as well as 20 Zhechongfu of the Left and Right Guards brought by Li Yuan, 30 Zhechongfu of the Left and Right Leading Army Guards, 30 Zhechongfu of the Left and Right Jinwu Guards, 20 Zhechongfu of the Left and Right Xiaowei, and 30 Zhechongfu of the Left and Right Beishenfu and the Left and Right Jianmenfu. A total of more than 100,000 troops.

Among them, the thirty Zhechoufu, including the Zuoyou Beishenfu and the Zuoyou Jianmenfu, were brought out by Li Yuan from Shuzhong, and they were called "Yuancong Imperial Army".

The rest are the Left and Right Leading Guards, the Left and Right Jinwu Guards, and the Left and Right Guards. These are the elite troops of the Guanzhong Guard of the Tang Dynasty. Their predecessors included a large number of elite troops of the Former Yan Central Army and the Xiaoguo Army, as well as soldiers recruited by Li Yuan after he entered Guanzhong.

The twenty Zhechoufu of the Left and Right Guards had great backgrounds. They were elite troops selected by Li Er from Liangzhou and Longyou.

Before entering the Eastern Palace, the Left and Right Guards were Li Er's private territory.

Although Li Yuanhui had conflicts of interest with the wealthy families in Guanlong, he did not have such conflicts with the soldiers under him.

And because there are a large number of elite soldiers among the 100,000-strong army, in fact, many of them are his old subordinates.

General Guo Xiaoke of the Left Guard, General Liu Tong of the Left Jinwu Guard, General Zhao Cai of the Left Guard, etc., all served under him. Not counting the old men from the Former Yan period, in the Battle of Yingchuan, the Siege of Luoyang, and the Battle of Jinyang, the generals of the Weifu Army in Guanzhong were also under his control.

If you want to lead these people to rebel, that won't work. After all, it's not his team that he built up, so there is no emotional foundation or common interests between them.

But when it comes to commanding them to fight against Beiyan, there is no problem at all.

At one command, an army of one hundred thousand set out.

At the end of May, Li Yuanhui did not choose to cross the river from Hanoi, but led his army through Hulao Pass, along the Yellow River through Xingyang, to Yanzhou, crossed the river from Yanjinkou, and reached the west bank of Fangtou. At the same time, he divided his troops into thirty Zhechongfu, with the deputy general manager Qiao Guogong Chai Rong as the main commander, and crossed the river from Baima to Liyang.

Seeing that the Tang army was powerful, Liu Xuanji transferred all the Yan troops to the north of Baigou and east of Qishui, and the two armies confronted each other across the river.

The siege of Liyang was thus concluded.

(End of this chapter)