Chapter 520: Using the Past to Compare the Present
"The King of Qi and I are brothers from the same mother. How can I allow you to criticize me? If you dare to say anything more, I will punish you severely. Get out of here immediately!"

Zu Junyan was directly reprimanded by Li Sanlang and lost face.

But he also knew that it was because of his inappropriate words that he was caught, especially by a royal minister like Prince Zhao.

At this time, the emperor would only reprimand him.

He finally understood that the emperor might allow his trusted courtiers to attack the Prince of Qi in the court to some extent, but the scope of his words today was too wide, affecting even the royal family of the Prince of Zhao and even the emperor's family.

Only then did he realize one thing: the Emperor and the King of Qi were brothers after all. Even though they now had many conflicts of interest, they still could not be slandered at will by others.

If you help the emperor to charge into battle and fight for interests, the emperor will value you, thank you and promote you.

But if you scold the emperor's brothers harshly, you will also implicate the emperor, and the emperor will definitely be unhappy.

Li Sanlang is now very dissatisfied, partly because of Zu Junyan's outspokenness and partly because of the deep trench dug by the Han army in front of him.

If they wanted to attack by force, they would have to carry soil to fill the trenches, and it would become a tough battle.

If the stalemate continued, the Tang army could afford the consumption. The supplies in Guanzhong could enter the Yellow River through the Wei River, and then enter the Fen River from the Yellow River, and go all the way north.

But this is different from the originally planned strategy, and a long-term confrontation can easily lead to some unexpected events.

On the way back to Pingyang, Li Sanlang's mind was racing, thinking about how to break the impasse.
After entering the city, Cui Xiaotong, the Imperial Court Minister, presented a memorial from Luoyang. Li Sanlang immediately took it and began to open the folded page and read it.

Li Si stated his ideas in the memorial. He said that the timing and conditions for attacking Yecheng were not ripe at the moment. He could have a decisive battle with the Han army in Pingyang. Luoyang could draw 50,000 elite troops to fight in the Pingyang battlefield.

After reading it, Li Sanlang smiled bitterly and thought to himself, Silang, you really know how to give me a difficult problem.

In his opinion, although Li Si's strategy was somewhat feasible, it was a bit too much. He was used to being arbitrary and began to hesitate this time.

In the past, he always thought that he was decisive and resolute, but after becoming emperor, he felt more and more that the old man had a very difficult time back then.

The old man was faced with three capable and meritorious sons. The political situation at that time was much more chaotic than it is now.

Even though there is no one in the court who can compete with him, he will support his brothers far away in Luoyang as long as it does not involve fundamental power. But every time he makes a decision, he still feels that he is beginning to lack the decisiveness of the past.

He became cautious and worried about gains and losses.

Because there are some things that he really doesn't understand if he doesn't sit in this position. Sometimes it is really difficult to make a decision.

For a moment he even began to doubt whether the strategy of capturing Jinyang itself was problematic.

But he soon came out of his doubts. Jinyang still had to be fought. There was absolutely no problem with the strategy of going to Jinyang first. This was determined by the geographical features.

"Beat the drums and call all the generals to discuss matters."

After a short while, generals including Chai Rong, Li Su, Li Huaizhen, Dou Cong, Liu Zongxun, Xue Renmei, Yuwen Xiao, Yin Qiao and other generals, as well as military officials including Yang Sui, Pei Ji and Yuwen Chengye arrived one after another.

"I just received Silang's memorial. He wants to lead tens of thousands of elite troops to rush to the Pingyang battlefield. What do you think?"

Chai Rong asked, "May I ask Your Majesty, is the situation along the Qi River not going well?"

Li Sanlang shook his head, and then asked an attendant to hand the memorial to Chai Rong, while he explained, "General Zhu Deyu of the Left Guard led tens of thousands of elite troops across the Qi River, and within ten days captured seven Han garrisons, beheaded more than 3,000 people, and captured the rest. Now they are besieging Fangtou, while Prince Li Heng of Linhuai and General Huang Junhan of the Right Guard are besieging Liyang."

When everyone heard this, they were quite surprised. The King of Qi had already gained the upper hand even before he led his main force. So why didn't he just send troops directly and push to Yecheng in one go?

Yin Qiao, the general of the Right Army Guard, said, "The King of Qi has not sent troops to Yecheng. He must be worried that Yecheng is strong and has tens of thousands of soldiers, which is difficult to conquer. If our army on the eastern battlefield besieges Yecheng, the Han army will definitely come back to support it. At that time, the King of Qi's army will be stationed under the strong city and will be easily defeated by the Han army." Yin Qiao's words made all the generals understand the situation that Luoyang will face. First of all, it is a feint attack from the terrain. If the battle on the eastern battlefield goes too well, the Han army will definitely give up Pingyang and confront the Tang army directly, and directly mobilize the main force to support Yecheng.

They will completely let you attack Jinyang, but they will send troops from Shangdang to harass your rear. Jinyang is a strong city and it will take a while to take it. Then the main force will fight a decisive battle with the Tang army in Luoyang under Yecheng.

On the one hand, Luoyang Bafu had to resist the northward advance of the Eastern Wei in the Jianghuai area, and on the other hand, it had to face the main force of the Han army in Yecheng. Using the weak to defeat the strong was a taboo in military strategy, and the result was naturally disastrous.

If the Qi army was defeated in Yecheng, and Liu Xuanji returned to Jinyang from Jingxing and Fukouxing, then unless Jinyang had already been captured by the Tang army, the situation would be very unfavorable for the Tang army.

According to the current situation, either the King of Qi quickly captures Yecheng, or they quickly capture Jinyang. Otherwise, it would be difficult to gain an advantage by dispersing the forces on the east and west fronts.

Yecheng and Jinyang are both large cities in the world, and the Han army also has enough mobile forces to launch attacks on the Tang army from the periphery.

On the contrary, it would be better to concentrate the forces together and defeat the main force of the Han army in a field battle, which would be easier to break the situation.

But no matter what choice is made, fighting against the main force of the Han army is not an easy task.

Most of the generals in the big tent were not in charge of the army on weekdays, but they were temporarily used this time. Most of them were Taizong's old subordinates.

But now the power of the old Eastern Palace of Taizong has been destroyed, and these people now want to perform in front of the new emperor so that they can be reused.

So Yuwen Xiao immediately expressed his opinion: "Your Majesty, what General Yin said makes sense. The situation is tense now. No matter what the situation on the eastern front is, we should take the initiative to attack the Han army. When the King of Qi leads the elite troops to help, we will be able to defeat the Han army and take advantage of the situation to advance to Jinyang."

Li Su also agreed: "Instead of dividing the troops into two routes and achieving no gain, it is better to unite the troops in one place and concentrate our forces to seize Bingzhou!"

Chai Rong and Li Huaizhen did not express their opinions, but looked at Li Sanlang.

Li Sanlang was still a little hesitant. Silang said that he could transfer 50,000 reinforcements, so that about 200,000 Tang troops could be assembled on the Pingyang battlefield, which would indeed create a certain advantage.

But if Shiro leads his army to help and change the situation on the battlefield, his prestige will definitely rise to a higher level, which is not a good thing for him.
Everyone has selfish desires, and at this time Li Sanlang's selfishness was taking over.

However, it is normal to think more about such an important decision. The generals left one after another, and only Xue Shouluo, the Minister of Rites, sighed at the end.

Xue Shou used to be a core aide to the Qin Palace and the Prince's Secretary of the old East Palace. He had always been a confidant of Emperor Taizong. However, because he was a civil official and the uncle of the current Empress Xue, he was not abandoned after Li Sanlang ascended the throne. Instead, he was promoted. He was first appointed as the chief academic officer of the Imperial College and later transferred to the Minister of Rites, which was only one step away from the prime minister.

Li Sanlang was a little surprised when he heard Xue Shou sigh, "Minister Xue, please stay."

Xue Shou turned around and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, is there anything I can do for you?"

Li Sanlang said, "I heard Minister Xue sighing just now, but I don't know why."

Xue Shou shook his head when he heard this.

Li Sanlang asked, "Why doesn't Minister Xue say anything?"

Xue Shou said: "I just suddenly remembered some old things. There is nothing special about it."

Li Sanlang was somewhat displeased and said, "Minister Xue is a contemporary Confucian scholar, but he did not speak directly in front of the emperor and tried to evade the question. Is this the awareness of being a minister?"

Xue Shou said, "Your Majesty, what you said is very true. I am not trying to avoid the question. I was just thinking about how to defeat the enemy. I remembered that Emperor Wu of Wei also conquered Bingzhou from the south to the north. But when I think about how he conquered Bingzhou, I feel sorry for Yuan Benchu, who once dominated Hebei. When Benchu ​​was alive, he was very powerful in Hebei. But he died only a few years ago, so I feel sad for him."

Li Sanlang's face changed slightly when he heard this, and then he laughed and said, "Minister Xue, are you saying that I am Yuan Tan?"

(End of this chapter)