After Li Shimin destroyed the Western Qin Dynasty.
The Li family could be said to have occupied half of the world at that time.
Shaanxi, Guanzhong, and Hetao were all within the Li family's sphere of influence.
Li Yuan officially proclaimed himself emperor, the name of the country Tang, Jianyuan Wude.
He then turned his attention to the Central Plains region in the east.
He wanted to become the true owner of the world.
But at this moment, the situation was not very optimistic for Li Yuan and his Great Tang.
In the Central Plains of the East, there was Wang Shichong who occupied Henan and Dou Jiande who dominated the North River.
In the northern part of the Great Tang, there was still the not-so-powerful Liang Shidu faction.
Further north, there were the steppe Turkic forces that were eyeing him like a tiger watching its prey.
If the total strength of the entire world at that time was set as the number "100".
At this time, Li Tang probably did not even have 20 points.
If Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande joined forces, they would be able to fight against Li Tang.
Not to mention the Northern Turks, who could become a huge variable at any moment and had not participated in the chaotic battle of the Central Plains.
The Turks alone would probably have more than 50 points.
......
Neither of them wanted to see Li Tang unify the world.
Therefore, it was self-evident what kind of predicament Li Yuan and his son faced at that time.
If he wanted to break out of this situation, he had to do something that ordinary people could not do.
As for Li Yuan, he wasn't that confident either.
After all, this was not a game. If he made a mistake in his decision, he would be crushed to pieces.
Moreover, since ancient times, this chaotic situation had lasted for hundreds of years or even hundreds of years. It was actually the norm.
Thus, there were very few voices in the court that supported the Great Tang's eastern expedition and continued to unify the world.
However, Li Yuan's huge ambition still prompted him to take this step.
Once again, he let his second son, Li Shiming, take command and launch a decisive battle to unify the world!
At this time, Li Shiming's identity was already the "King of Qin".
......
Of course, on the surface, Li Yuan did not dare to reveal his ambition to unify the world.
This time, the declared target was only Wang Shichong's faction.
To the north, Li Yuan was trying his best to maintain a peaceful relationship with the Turks of the steppe.
He hoped that the Turks would not side with Wang Shichong.
To the east, Li Yuan was also actively contacting Dou Jiande to promote their friendship, hoping to isolate Wang Shichong's forces.
Then, Li Yuan sent Li Shimin to attack Wang Shichong's capital, Luoyang!
This year, the King of Qin, Li Shimin, was only 22 years old.
......
This battle.
Li Shimin had to face the ancient city of Luoyang, which was located in the Yiluo Basin. The Luo River and Yi River flowed into the Yellow River through this, and the waterway was developed.
To the north was the mountain range of Mang Mountain. To the southeast was the steep Mount Song mountain range. To the west are Xiao Mountain, Bear Ear Mountain, etc.
After the painstaking efforts of Emperor Yang Guang, Luoyang was now known as the strongest city in the world.
The outer perimeter of Luoyang is full of majestic passes and rich granaries.
Mengjin Pass, Yique Pass, Dagu Pass, Yuanyuan Pass, and other dangerous passes, as well as the super granaries Huiluo Granary and Luokou Granary, were all in Wang Shichong's hands.
As long as they defended the pass, they would have endless supplies.
The situation was extremely unfavorable for Li Shiming.
Li Shimin first used the fierce general Luo Shixin as the vanguard to surround the first stop of the Tang army's Eastern Expedition, Cijian. Wang Shichong led 30,000 troops to rescue him, and the Battle of Luoyang officially began.
......
However, Li Shimin almost got his lunch box.
When he heard that Wang Shichong had arrived, Li Shimin personally led hundreds of light cavalry to go up to observe the battle.
He was looking at Wang Shichong, and Wang Shichong was also looking at him. After exchanging glances, Wang Shichong's thousands of vanguard troops surrounded them.
Fortunately, not only was Li Shimin an outstanding commander, but his martial arts skills were also excellent.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have the confidence to say that sentence."I hold a bow and arrow, and the Duke (Yuchi Jingde) holds a spear. Even if there are millions of people, they can't do anything to me!”
Thus, the King of Qin, Li Shimin, fought his way out of the encirclement and captured General Yan Qi of Zuo Jianwei.
However, his subordinate, General Duan Zhixuan, was also captured because of a misstep.
But this Duan Zhixuan was a fierce person after all. He managed to defeat the soldier escorting him in time and snatched his horse back to the battle.
Li Shi Min was beaten up badly, and the next day, he led 50,000 troops back.
Wang Shichong's army was no match for them, so he withdrew from Cijian and returned to Luoyang.
......
After that, Wang Shichong decided on the strategy of 'strengthening the city and exhausting the enemy.'
He wanted to rely on the impregnable pass to exhaust Li Shi Min to death.
Just like how Li Shi Min treated Xue Ju.
However, Li Shimin showed his top military talent and was not in a hurry to attack Luoyang.
Instead, they split up into five groups to surround Wang Shichong and make him starve to death in Luoyang.
Firstly, Li Shimin personally led the main force to Mount Mang, constantly pressing to contain Luoyang.
Secondly, Shi Wanbao would attack Yique Pass (also known as Dragon Gate) from Yiyang to cut off Wang Shichong's support from the south.
Thirdly, while attacking Yique Pass, he ordered Wang Junkuo to lead his army deep into the enemy's rear and attack Luokou Cang to cut off the food supply of Luoyang.
Fourth, Liu Dewei advanced eastward along the Taihang Mountains north of the Yellow River and attacked Hanoi in an attempt to further control the Yellow River.
Fifth, Huang Junhan secretly marched south across the Yellow River and attacked another important supply point in the northeast of Luoyang, Huiluocang, and then cut off the waterway from Luoyang to the Yellow River.
During this period, Wang Shichong's men continued to defect to Li Shimin.
This was because Wang Shichong did not trust these officials of the previous Sui Dynasty.
Therefore, he was extremely harsh on them. However, he had not been in power for long.
He had not had the time to build his own team.
Therefore, at this time, they could go with the flow. It could be said that they did not have any psychological burden.
He chose to sell out Wang Shichong, who had already shown signs of defeat.
....
However, just as everything was going well, everything seemed to be developing in a good direction for Li Tang.
The Turks in the north had led their troops south.
Their target was heading straight for Li Yuan's capital city, Chang 'an!
Obviously, they did not want to see the Central Plains dominated by a single force.
This was undoubtedly a violation of the Turkic rule of the Central Plains.
It was the most basic national policy to balance all parties in order to benefit from it.
The Turks 'actions made the people of Britain who were watching the historical projection call them experts.
......
Another faction in the east of the Great Tang, Dou Jiande.
He had already agreed to Wang Shichong's request for reinforcements, and his 100,000 strong army was rushing towards the exhausted Li Shiming!
The worst-case scenario still happened.
Li Tang, who had 20 points, had to face a head-on conflict with all the other forces that had more than 80 points combined!
It was rare that Li Yuan did not order Li Shimin to return to the court.
Because once Li Shimin returned to Chang 'an.
Not only did they not obtain any results in this battle, but they also did not have any other choice.
It would also alert all the other factions.
In the future, if there was any sign of trouble in Li Tang, the Turks would immediately head south.
Outside Hangu Pass, Wang Dou's forces would definitely unite, just like the situation of the three countries in the past. At that time, they would be as one.
Li Tang would no longer have the possibility of unifying the world.
Therefore, from this incident, it could be seen that Li Yuan was not as weak and incompetent as people thought. He was not an emperor who only listened to his son.
He could still be considered the founding king of a generation.
......
At this difficult moment.
Li Yuan withstood the pressure.
He once again sent messengers to the Turks to request peace.
However, at this moment, something magical happened again.
The current Turkic Khagan had actually come out of nowhere.
He was dead.
The result was that the Turks had no choice but to retreat.
The biggest crisis that Li Tang was currently facing was also solved.
"Necromancer! Li Shi Min must be a Necromancer!”
"If it's a coincidence once, then it's a fact twice!"”
"He can kill his enemies from afar! It must be a curse or a disease!”
......
However, even so, Li Shiming was still in a difficult situation.
It was still a hopeless situation.
Dou Jiande had led a hundred thousand troops!
Li Shi Min's army had experienced a long period of battle.
It could almost be said that they were tired.
However, if they were to retreat just like that, everything they had done would be for naught.
Wang Shichong's siege was resolved, and the whole world was saved.
It was almost impossible for Li Tang to go east again.
When the newly ascended Khagan of the northern Turks had calmed down.
The situation mentioned before would still happen.
It could be said that this was the only window.
Retreat? Or fight?
This young man was only in his twenties at the time, but he carried the future of the entire empire on his back.
It was hard for future generations to imagine the pressure he had to face at that time.
However, this young man still made his decision in the end.
He was going to gamble the fate of the newborn Great Tang on this most difficult of tightrope!
Fight Dou Jiande!
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。