Chapter 44 forty three

After being reprimanded by his father, Shi Luodie was annoyed and cursed loudly: "It's all the bastard Fan Xin's fault, come on, bring Fan Xin here—kill him!" But Jie Li stopped him: "No! , Fan Xin can’t be killed! We still want to capture the Central Plains, if we kill every governor we catch, won’t that force the Tang Dynasty guards in every city to fight us bloody to the end?” Shi Luodie stomped his feet: “Well, then Is that cheap for him?" Jie Li sneered, and said, "If we spare him, will Li Shimin spare him? Bring a pen, I want to write a letter and ask Fan Xin to take him back to Chang'an!"

The atmosphere in Chengqing Hall was heavy, and Li Shimin sat beside the table in pain.These days, he has been deploying all his strength to rescue Suizhou, because Jieli's big banner has been in the cloud, he left Zhang Baoxiang there to monitor the other party, and Yuchi Jingde and others were all recalled by him. In addition, he also mobilized Chai Shao went north to Jingzhou, and even ordered Li Shi to lead his troops out of Wucheng to the east.The reason why he put in so much effort was because he really cared about the people of Suizhou, and secondly, because of Fan Xin who was trapped in Suizhou city.For three years, he always felt in his heart that he owed this courtier, and besides, he really liked this man's talent.

Unexpectedly, just as the army was approaching, the city was broken. After Tanma saw the flames of Suizhou City, he sent an alarm to Yuchi Jingde. Fortunately, Dugu Yanyun led his troops to fight desperately to cover the whole army, but he himself died in battle.Later it became clear that the one confronting Zhang Bao in Yunzhong was just a suspicious soldier. Jieli had already led the army to detour from a section of shallows in Suibei Hetao to ford the Yellow River secretly, and set up an ambush in the dense forest to the west of Suizhou.If the reinforcements of the Tang Dynasty went ten miles further, they would be surrounded and could not escape the fate of being wiped out.

Seeing such a defeat, Li Shimin remembered the alliance under the city in the summer of the ninth year of Wude, and he fell into deep self-blame: "It's another blood debt! It's because I didn't manage this country well, and let Hu Kou bully us For so many years, I, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, can only watch the people being slaughtered, I really feel ashamed!" Changsun Wuji felt uncomfortable looking at it. He wanted to say something to comfort the emperor, but for a while he didn't know what words to use. At this time, Cen Wenwen came in with a letter in his hand and said to Li Shimin, "Your Majesty, Xieli made people feel uncomfortable. He brought a letter asking me to pay 300,000 shi, grain, and 100,000 bolts of silk in exchange for the 30,000 soldiers and civilians who were kidnapped by him." Li Shimin took the letter and slapped it on the table, saying with grief and indignation: "Killing so many people, but also taking such a big sum of money. Three hundred thousand shi and one hundred thousand bolts of silk! This is more than what we were forced to take out of the treasury in the ninth year of Wude. I have been on the throne for three years. It's been years, do we have to endure such a shame and humiliation again? Forget it, even if our army is too weak to fight, I will fight Jieli to the death!"

Li Shimin said the words "unbearable to fight" very seriously. Cen Wenwen looked at Li Shimin's face, figured out the meaning of the emperor's words, and after a short pause, he knelt down on the ground and said sincerely: "I would like to lead the horse and drop the stirrup for the emperor. At present, there are more than 200,000 troops in Jingzhou, and if the frontier soldiers and government soldiers are recruited from all over the country, there will be 400,000 to 500,000 people. Even if the Hu soldiers are all iron, they must fight. " Li Shimin helped Cen Wenwen up, turned his face to Changsun Wuji who was standing aside and asked, "Auxiliary machine, what do you think?" Changsun Wuji looked at Li Shimin and then at Cen Wenwen. Some kind of anticipation. Obviously, although the current emperor made a tough stance, he actually didn't want to fight Xieli right away. Changsun Wuji pondered for a while, and said in a low tone: "I think it's a big deal. , it is best to call important ministers and princes to discuss and plan carefully."

With the steps made by his brother-in-law, Li Shimin continued without hesitation: "What you said makes sense, well, let's do it this way!" At this moment, Cen Wenwen asked, "Does the emperor want to meet the person who sent this letter?" Li Shimin asked, "Who is it?" Cen Wenwen replied respectfully, "Fan Xin, Jieli released him. He is kneeling outside the Tai Chi Hall." Li Shimin's face changed and he reprimanded: "Huh, he still has the face to come back, you let him go to Dali Temple and wait for his release, don't show your eyes here."