Chapter 506 Impermanence
In the central military tent, all the staff and generals stood on both sides. Li Yuanhui sat in the main seat, looking solemn and a little confused.

The messenger fell to the ground and wept, and narrated the whole story of how the prince died in the Li family villa in Wugong County.

"After the celebration banquet, the Crown Prince was unable to ride a horse and had been in the carriage the whole time. Governor Dou and Prince Consort Chai both advised the Crown Prince to stay and rest, but the Crown Prince insisted on returning to Chang'an. Finally, when he arrived in Wugong County, he said he wanted to return to the Li Family Villa."

The only sound in the entire tent was the messenger's low sobbing, which was particularly clear.

After a while, Li Yuanhui said, "You can go down and have a rest. You have worked hard delivering the letter along the way. Li Jishi, please take good care of him and get him ten pieces of silk."

"Although the Han army's offensive has slowed down in the past few days, you must not let your guard down and must be prepared. Reinforcements will arrive soon. You must hold on and not let your guard down. Disperse. If there is any military business, the Central Guard, the Central Commander, and the Central Protector General will handle it first."

"Let's go. I feel lonely and need to rest for a while."

Everyone fell silent upon hearing this, then bowed and left.

Li Yuanhui sat in the central army tent for a while, then stood up and left. A little snow had fallen yesterday, and it had begun to melt under the sun. When the snow melted, it looked like the sun was shining brightly, but it was actually a bit chilly.

Li Yuanhui shuddered and had no interest in enjoying the snow, so he returned to his tent to rest and lay on his side on the bed.

He was actually prepared for this, as his second brother had been in poor health for the past few years. But when this day finally came, he was still a little caught off guard, and even couldn't believe it.

It shouldn't be that Emperor Taizong Wen, who founded the prosperous Tang Dynasty and the Zhenguan Reign, passed away without even serving as emperor for a single day?
Is it because he affected the balance of this world?

He had worried about Li Er, feared him, been on guard, admired him, worshipped him, and even plotted against him.

But when this person is not in this world, what he feels is a deep loneliness.

Everything in the past kept replaying in his mind, there were quarrels over trivial matters in his childhood, there were murders and arson on Lantern Festival, there were the meeting of two brothers at Dongguan after several years of separation, there were the brothers in Yingchuan and Jinyang fighting side by side on the battlefield.

There is also the joy of a night party, the second brother who likes to dance when he drinks too much
But all this is in the past.

He was very calm at this moment. Although he was very sad, he was calm and not heartbroken.

I just feel that things in this world are unpredictable. Even for a man like this, who wins every battle and is invincible, and is the blazing sun of this era, he still cannot escape the arrangement of fate.

Finally it was sunset.

Li Yuanhui lay on the couch, just wanting to take a nap. It would be nice if he could see him in his dream.

He gradually fell asleep, breathing evenly.

Yuchi Jingde, Han Quan, Xie Shufang, Duan Wuda and other guards were all in the tent next door. When they talked about the late prince, they also sighed.

In the hearts of these warriors, Li Er is a rare hero.

Even though they served under the King of Qi and had always been loyal and diligent, they certainly had great respect for the Crown Prince.

Only Wang Fobao did not participate in what everyone said, but just listened quietly. It is even possible that he did not listen at all.

Chang Yanheng gathered in the tent with his old brother Wang Bi, as well as Huaixi generals such as Zhang Zhen'e, and drank wine. He recalled how anxious he seemed to be with the prince and felt sorry for the untimely death of such a warrior.

Dou Fengjie and Wang Jie were both cousins ​​of Li Yuanhui, and naturally cousins ​​of Li Erfeng as well, so they were extremely sad.

Reactions from the people in Luoyang Bafu varied, but most were expressed with regret.

The Xiaoguo Army, one of the six Tian Ce armies, was mainly composed of people from Guanzhong. Most of them had served under Li Er and fought with him before. Therefore, the entire army was weeping and wailing everywhere.

The reactions of the other tribes were much calmer, because they were all former subordinates of the King of Qi.

When hearing about the death of the crown prince, the reaction was, "What a pity, the crown prince died young." The King of Qi and the crown prince had a deep brotherly relationship, so he must be very sad, right?

That was all. As for Liu Xuanji, his opponent, he learned the news a little later.

Unlike a number of Han army generals who were overjoyed and wanted to take the opportunity to attack, Liu Xuanji himself was quite indifferent to the matter.

For him, whether Li Er was there or not, he was not afraid. He even felt a little regretful about it.

He was never defeated on the battlefield.

He recalled the first time he followed Li Yuanhui to the Li family and competed in archery with that handsome and mighty young man in the martial arts field.

It's really a match made in heaven.

In the Battle of Jinyang, he was defeated by the combined forces of the three Li brothers.

He always thought, if he had the chance to fight against an opponent like Li Er and lead 100,000 soldiers on the battlefield, how satisfying it would be regardless of the outcome.
But he no longer had this opportunity, so he felt regretful.

As for joy? Where does joy come from?

The national strength of the Tang Dynasty did not decline with the death of Li Er. On the contrary, after it conquered the Western Wei and captured the Turkic Khan alive, its national strength increased greatly.

Without Li Er, there are still Li San and Li Si. Are these two easy to get along with?

He even preferred that it was Li Er who was commanding the army in the camp across the Qishui River, rather than the troublesome Li Si.

Obviously, they had a superior force, but they fought so poorly on the battlefield. You said they had an advantage, which seemed to be the case. But can the Han army win? It's hard to say.

So now when he saw these reckless men who were as excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood when they heard that Li Er had passed away, he felt helpless.

Why doesn't he have two brothers like Li San and Li Si? As for taking advantage of the situation, now is really a good time?
The army that mourns will surely win.

The command system and combat capability of Luoyang Bafu have not been reduced at all, and reinforcements are still on the way. It is obviously unwise to continue to increase the stakes at this time.

Therefore, people like Ling Jing, Tian Hongsi, Wang Xiong and others all advised Liu Xuanji not to act rashly. The battle report from Wen County completely stopped Liu Xuanji from continuing the battle.

The Battle of Qishui was basically declared over.

After a day and night of silence, Li Yuanhui resumed his normal duties the next day. He was a little more serious, but when discussing matters, handling military affairs, and making decisions, he seemed to be no different.

Finally, Li Yaoshi and Zhu Deyu arrived with reinforcements.

On the other hand, Wei Xiaoju led tens of thousands of troops to besiege Bai Ma for a month, but failed to break the city. When February came, the Yellow River began to melt, and the Han army had to retreat to Hebei before it melted.

As for the Qishui line, Liu Xuanji abandoned all the camps on the west bank of the Qishui River. At the same time, he built three cities in succession between Fangtou and Chaoge to guard against the Tang army. He ordered Wei Xiaoju to control the troops along the Qishui River, and he returned to Yecheng, while the army withdrew one after another.

After the Han army retreated, the Tang army also began to retreat. Only Chen Zhen, Xiao Shizhi, and Zhu Deyu's troops, totaling 30,000 men, were left on the Qishui line. The rest of the troops gradually retreated to Huaixian, Jixian, Wenxian, and Xiuwu.

Li Qinglian was appointed as the general of the guard army, the commander of the army in Henei, and the envoy with the imperial seal. Zhang Jian and Chang Yanheng were appointed as the left and right general managers, and Guo Fenghe was appointed as the director of Tiance Mansion. The personnel arrangements were considered complete.

In mid-February, the King of Qi led 800 guards west to Guanzhong.

He went to Guanzhong not just to pay tribute to his second brother, but also because his third brother wrote to him asking him to go to Guanzhong to discuss state affairs.

Of course, he could not catch up with the abdication ceremony. The ceremony was scheduled for February 20th. When he arrived in Chang'an, his third brother had already sat on the throne of the emperor.

My second brother waited for a long time but nothing happened. Things in this world are unpredictable.

(End of this chapter)