Chapter 498 Who Else Can I Do?

It is already December, and the people of Chang'an City are already waiting for the abdication at the end of the year.

For now, the war situation in Jingzhou is pleasing enough. And the military situation in Luoyang is not worrying enough, after all, it is east of Hangu Pass, and with the King of Qi in charge, the Northern Han Dynasty must not be a concern.

At least that's what the people of Chang'an think.

However, many not-so-optimistic news coming from the north and northwest did not spread in the streets of Chang'an.

The news didn't even get out of the East Palace.

"Cough cough cough" Li Er's face turned red because of continuous violent coughing.

His health had not been good since the beginning of winter, but at least he was able to handle government affairs. However, under such circumstances, the staff of the Eastern Palace were very worried.

Because the current situation is not good for the Tang Dynasty.

Among all the wars, only the King of Jin led his army to conquer Jingzhou with great momentum and made rapid progress, and had already besieged Jiangling, a key pass on the Yangtze River.

As long as Jiangling is captured, the remaining counties in southern Jing can be conquered by issuing an order.

In other words, the strategy advocated by the King of Jin to attack Western Wei first was not far from success.

But the crisis also followed. First, the King of Qi in Luoyang was struggling to hold on with inferior forces. Although he was able to maintain his position on the north bank of the Yellow River, the situation was not as optimistic as imagined.

This can be seen from the battle report sent by the Eastern Palace from the Prince of Qi's Mansion and the handwritten letter from Li Yuanhui to Li Er requesting Chang'an to issue an order and for Hedong to cooperate in sending troops to threaten Jinyang.

But Li Er understood that even if he went to Luoyang in person, he could not do better than Silang due to his inferior military strength.

The most likely scenario is that he would personally lead his army to confront Liu Xuanji at Hulao Pass, looking for an opportunity to defeat the enemy. As for Yanzhou and Qingzhou, for the sake of the overall situation, he would not care about the gains and losses of a single city or place.

But Li Silang now turned the battle line directly to Hebei, undoubtedly to prevent Yanzhou and Qingzhou from suffering from war.

There are pros and cons to this, and everyone has a clear idea of ​​the gains and losses.

Sometimes, in order to win a war, we cannot be too concerned about the gains and losses of a city or a place. This is certainly true. But is it wrong to take the initiative to attack in order to protect the country and the people? This is also true.

Without thinking too much, Li Er gave an order to Li Huaizhen, the Prince of Zhao in Hedong, to lead his army north to feint an attack on Jinyang. The attack should be loud enough, but not really a fight to the death.

For Li San's campaign against the Western Wei, the Guandong Qi Wang faction gave its full support without any reservation.

He provided people and food, and Li Yuanhui had to face the elite Northern Han army.

So at this time, Li Si asked Hedong to cooperate in the war. If they didn't agree to such a request, he would be suspected of being a drag.

Li Er even suspected that if Li Yuanhui wrote directly to Li Huaizhen asking for help, his cousin Li Huaizhen would not object.

After all, Li Yuanhui and Li Huaizhen had a very close friendship. When Yang Xun led his troops to attack Luoyang, Li Si fought side by side with Li Huaizhen.

Later, the two of them maintained close contact.

Whether from a personal or public perspective, Li Huaizhen actually had no reason to refuse Li Si's request.

And Li Er had no reason to refuse.

However, what really worried Li Er and his subordinates was not the battle situation in Luoyang, but Xiazhou and Qinzhou, which were not far from Guanzhong, namely Longyou and Longdong.

According to intelligence from Liangzhou, the coalition forces of the Turks and Northern Han are already on the way, and may be attacking Xiazhou City at this moment.

It is now known that the Turks have mobilized an army of nearly 200,000, led by Jili Khan himself, while the Han army has nearly 10,000 elite cavalry.

The specific number of people was still given by Luoyang. It is said that this Han cavalry started from Yecheng, following the route that King Wuling of Zhao wanted to attack Qin, and rushed thousands of miles along the Yellow River.

Now the Tang army had to make a decision: either stop the enemy in the Longshang area, or they might have to defend against the enemy in Guanzhong.

There are many dangerous passes in the Longshan area, such as Xiaoguan and Gaoping, which can be relied upon. If they are allowed to enter Guanzhong, the danger will be great.

It is winter now, and the important waterways in Guanzhong, such as the Weishui River and the Jingshui River, are frozen, which means that the cavalry can gallop freely without any obstacles.

So Li Er decided to resist the enemy outside Longshan.

His staff agreed with this, but Fang Qiao, Du Keming, Xue Shou and others all opposed him personally leading the troops to Longshan.

"Your Highness is the crown prince and the foundation of the country. How can you easily leave Chang'an and go to the front line during this crisis?"

"That's right. Now the high platform by the Weishui River has been built, and the abdication is imminent. If Your Highness goes to Longshan at this time, wouldn't it be a loss for both?"

"Your Highness, please put the country first."

After hearing these words, Li Er just smiled, then slowly stood up from his seat, and walked to the door slightly staggeringly.

It happened to be snowing outside. He stretched out his hand against the wind and snow as if he wanted to grasp something, but he caught nothing. Then he looked at the flying snow and said.

"If either Sanlang or Silang were here, I could safely hand over the Chang'an cavalry to them and stay in Chang'an to wait for news. If there were only the Turks, Hedong Wangshu and my brother-in-law would be able to do the job and stop the enemy cavalry at the Longshan line. However, the Northern Han cavalry has traveled thousands of miles and can still keep pace with the Turks. The newcomers must be a threat to the Tang Dynasty. Hedong Wangshu is steady in his military operations, but my brother-in-law is too rough. Brother Huaizhen is in charge of Hedong, so we cannot move lightly. The generals in the court... I really cannot trust them to resist the enemy..."

"This battle will only be fought by me."

Hearing Li Er's firmness, all the officials in the Eastern Palace were speechless.

Li Yuan, who was in the Wude Hall, was surprised to hear that the prince wanted to see him.

At this time, he was playing dominoes with several concubines, and he was very relaxed. He also knew that the situation did not seem optimistic.

But he is powerless now. All political and military affairs are decided by the East Palace. What else can he do?

After giving the cards in his hand to a concubine to play on his behalf, Li Yuan came to the front hall to meet the prince.

His face was a little pale, and he seemed to be thinner. During this period, the Crown Princess and several of the emperor's grandchildren came to pay respects every day, so in fact, the father and son had not seen each other for nearly 20 days.

"Greetings, Aye."

"No need to be polite, Erlang. Are you feeling better?"

"Reply Aye, I'm fine. Today..."

"Ji Lang has something to say."

"The combined forces of the Turks and the Northern Han have been attacking Xiazhou with over 200,000 men. Hou Jun is outnumbered and has retreated to the Xiaoguan area. So Chang'an City has 30,000 soldiers and horses, of which over 20,000 are cavalry. By recruiting the border troops from Yongzhou and Qinzhou, we can also get over 10,000 elite soldiers. I am going to lead the troops myself and go to Longshan to resist the enemy..."

Li Yuan was a little confused after hearing what Li Er said. What was going on? In ten days or so, the emperor would abdicate, and you gave up being the emperor and wanted to go to war?

Li Yuan certainly hoped that he would continue to sit on the throne of the emperor. But he could not understand Li Er's choice. Even if you said that you would wait until you abdicated before leading the army in person, Li Yuan could understand.

But now, at this time? You are really not afraid of more trouble.

"You are the crown prince, and you will abdicate in a few days. Why are you in such a hurry? And are you in good health now, can you go on another expedition?"

Li Yuan raised many questions in succession.

Li Er smiled and said, "Thank you for your concern, but time is running out. Xiazhou was in danger more than ten days ago. From what I know about Hou Jun, if the enemy was not too strong and could not hold on, he would never ask for help. Once Xiazhou is lost, Anding will be in danger. Longdong is the gateway to Guanzhong, and a famous general must be stationed at this time. Now Sanlang is conquering Jingzhou, and Silang is fighting in Henei. Who else can take care of Guanzhong except me?"

(End of this chapter)