Chapter 68 sixty seven

ten flying tigers The horse's hooves sounded loudly, and Li Shimin in casual clothes was galloping on the pasture. The red dragon horse under his crotch was hooving up and down, and there was the whistling wind in his ears.Li Jing, Ma Xuanliang and others stood on the sidelines and watched, applauding unceasingly.After running for a few laps, Li Shimin rode his horse and came to Li Jing, pulled the reins, and the red dragon horse hissed, its front hooves hanging in the air, and stopped abruptly. Li Shimin jumped down and said, "Brother Jing, you bred This good horse is really good."

Li Jing cupped his hands and said, "No matter how good a horse is, it must be spurred by an excellent rider. Seeing His Majesty's skill, I reminded me of the King Qin who led four horses straight to Dou Jiande's company camp under the Hulao Pass." Li Shimin caressed the horse's back with a look of fascination: "Actually, what I miss most is the years of meeting with wind and clouds. Xue Ju, Liu Wuzhou, Wang Shichong, Liang Shidu, these former tyrants of the world have all turned into dust. They can be called heroes. Only Jieli is left, and I have begun to feel lonely in my heart. After fighting for so many years, I really don’t know what it will be like to have no war in the future.” Li Jing thought about this sentence, showing thoughtfulness expression.

Then, the monarch and his subjects walked into the study room in the horse farm together, and spread out a huge map.The purpose of Li Shimin's secret meeting with Li Jing today was to ask the number one general of the dynasty about Jieli in the Northern Expedition.Since the bridge alliance in the ninth year of Wude, Jieli committed crimes in the south every year, restraining a large amount of military and national power of the Tang Dynasty, and the border troubles weighed heavily on Li Shimin's heart.Li Shimin adopted Wei Zheng's advice, rested with the people, and the national power gradually became stronger, and he had already saved some capital to compete with Jieli.More importantly, Li Shimin understands that Xieli is ready to go south to fight him after eliminating dissidents, and a big battle may not last until winter.Therefore, while Li Shimin sent his eldest grandson Wuji to Jiangnan to inspect the spring plowing, and at the same time planned grain storage and transportation, he summoned important generals one after another and asked them secretly about the strategy to destroy the captives.

Li Jing is the most famous general in the Tang army, and he has the experience of confronting Jieli. Li Shimin places great hopes on him.However, after listening to Li Shimin's explanation of his intentions, Li Jing solemnly persuaded him to give up the idea of ​​the Northern Expedition.Li Shimin looked at Li Jing in amazement and said, "Brother Jing, why would you persuade me like this?" Li Jing replied: "I have been with the emperor for more than ten years. Every time the drums have not been beaten, I can see victory from the desire in your eyes. But now, you only see compulsion and helplessness in your eyes. The reason why you want to The Northern Expedition was only because you, as the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, had to give an explanation to the people of the world. Facing Jieli, who has ruled the north for many years, you dare not even think about the word victory!" Li Shimin looked at Li Jing in a daze for a long time, He let out a long sigh: "Brother Jing, only you can see what I'm thinking!" The emperor who usually stood up in front of others stood up, walked a few steps in the room, and said in a low tone: " I have never told anyone that for several years, I would often wake up in a nightmare, in that dream, the iron hooves of two hundred thousand horsemen shook the whole world, including my heart."

Li Jing's body shook, and Li Shimin was very moved to say such words from the bottom of his heart.At the same time, this also made him more worried. If the emperor had such fear in his heart, how could he expect the soldiers to move forward bravely?Li Jing looked at Li Shimin, determined to give him some encouragement, he cleared his throat lightly, and said, "Your Majesty, actually, I think that Jieli is not as scary as the world imagines." Li Shimin looked up at Li Jing, expecting him to make further explanations.Li Jing went on to say: "Over the years, Xieli has ruled the grassland with iron and blood, and established his supreme majesty with countless fallen human heads. However, the more this is the case, the weaker the seemingly powerful alliance under his control, because the grassland It has become the grassland of Xieli alone, and the war has become the war of Xieli alone. Just imagine, how can one person win a country with the same hatred?"

This sentence obviously moved Li Shimin, he stood up excitedly, and held Li Jing's hand tightly: "Brother Jing, your words really enlightened me!" Then, Li Shimin asked Li Jing how to defeat Xieli.Li Jing walked to the side of the picture and stretched out his hand to Li Shimin to point out the direction of Xiang and said: "For so many years, we have been on the defensive against Xieli. , take offense as defense. While dispatching a strong force to attack Dingxiang from the front, form a team of powerful fine cavalry, detour to the enemy's back, and attack Longting directly. The dragons have no leader, and hundreds of thousands of cavalry generals will be in chaos without a fight!"

Li Shimin nodded and said: "It has always been Jieli who relied on his cavalry's advantage in mobility to bypass our heavy troops stationed on the border and harass the hinterland, thus tearing up the overall defense deployment of our army, but Brother Jing wants to do the opposite. In short, I dare say that this is unimaginable in the eyes of the enemy." He took out a blood book from his body and handed it to Li Jing, and then said: "Brother Jing, this is Fan Xin's leftover strategy to defeat the enemy, take a look. , you two are closely related." Li Jing took the blood book and read it. After reading it, he couldn't help sighing: "It's a pity, it's a pity, this Fan Xin is indeed a general."

A sad look appeared on Li Shimin's face, and the humble but wise general who was born as a horse slave appeared in front of his eyes.Li Jing saw the sadness in the emperor's heart at the moment, so he quickly changed the topic and said: "It's easy to talk about positive people. The national power has been booming these years, the emperor has strengthened the horse administration, and the number of cavalry in the court has increased a lot. Riding is rare! What they are facing is the elite of the Xieli Guards, so they must have super strength to win the battle. Because they have to run long distances, the number of people can not be too many, and the target will be bigger if there are too many , food and grass are also difficult to sustain, and now there is no such team in the Datang Army."

Li Shimin said: "You're right. We don't have such elite cavalry ready-made. We can only choose dead soldiers to train. Time is short, and this matter must be done immediately. Who do you think can train this barren army? " Li Jing thought for a while and said, "Does your majesty still remember Hou Junji's 'Flying Tiger Army' back then?" Li Shimin raised his eyes, revealing a somewhat reminiscing look, as if he saw the Zhibizhixiu army lined up neatly for the expedition, and said in an approving tone: "Hou Junji's military training skills can be called the best in the world." Wushuang, well, if you recommend someone, then immediately transfer him back from Xiangyang, anyway, there are no big battles to fight there."