Outside Jiuquan City, Suzhou, in Xia Xia's military camp.
Du Qi's army was still guarding this place. It was already July, and the weather was still hot at the beginning of July. In particular, there was little rain in this area. It was extremely hot during the day, and it was only a little cooler at night.
In fact, the situation in Jiuquan City had deteriorated further after July.
Because the people could not hold on any longer.
Even the soldiers stationed there were not enough food, so they were not in the mood to fight.
They were all sallow and emaciated.
Their combat effectiveness was also damaged.
Du Qi was naturally aware of this, but he had yet to send out troops to attack. Because he was still waiting for Li Shimin's army. Only when Li Shimin's army arrived could Du Qi completely end this war. Li Shimin's army had been defeated again and again. If Li Shimin was defeated again this time, the Tang Dynasty would lose more soldiers, and even the internal turmoil of the Tang Dynasty would be difficult for Li Shimin to suppress. Therefore, this was a crucial battle for the Tang Dynasty.
It was also important for Xia Xia.
As long as they won this battle, Xia Xia would lay a solid foundation for swallowing the Tang Dynasty in the future.
The soldiers in Du Qi's army were well fed.
Even on weekdays, Du Qi would arrange for people to cook bone soup outside the city. The fragrance would spread to the city tower, which would make the Tang Dynasty's army stationed in Jiuquan City restless.
At this moment, Du Qi was inspecting the soldiers in the army.
Because the soldiers' training was never neglected, and they had been practicing all the time.
When Du Qi was inspecting the soldiers, a soldier came to Du Qi and reported, "Your Majesty, General Yuma's letter has been delivered. The sentinel has arrived at the gate of the camp."
Du Qi said, "Tell him to go to the main tent."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The soldier immediately went to pass the order.
Du Qi immediately turned around and went straight to the main tent. A moment later, a scout came in, bowed to Du Qi, and handed over the letter sent by Lai Ji.
Du Qi took the letter and quickly skimmed through it. When he finished reading the letter, his face was already filled with joy. This was because the letter was about the victory of Ma Yuan and the Persian Empire. Other than that, there was also news of Ma Yuan requesting to deal with the Persian Empire.
Du Qi immediately wrote a letter and replied to Ma Yuan's request. He agreed to Ma Yuan's request and allowed Ma Yuan to deploy troops. In the letter, Du Qi authorized Ma Yuan and Lai Ji to make the decision without reporting it.
This was equivalent to delegating power to the two of them.
He put the two of them in charge of dealing with the war in the city of Bolan.
Du Qi handed the letter to the sentinel and asked him to reply to Ma Yuan. Just as Du Qi was about to arrange for someone to inform Shangguan Yi, Shangguan Yi had already rushed in.
Shangguan Yi saluted and said, "Your Majesty, we have received news that Li Shimin has deployed troops. This time, Li Shimin mobilized a full two hundred thousand men. It will take about three days to reach Suzhou. "
Du Qi smiled and said, "Li Shimin should have received news of Persia's deployment, so he deployed troops. Unfortunately, Li Shimin hoped that Persia would restrict us, but he didn't know that Persia's offensive was already over. Persia deployed 100,000 troops, but they were defeated in Dole. Persia lost 70,000 men, and almost all of them fled back. "
Shangguan Yi was shocked, "So fast?"
Du Qi said, "The Persian army launched an attack as soon as they reached Dole. Then, Ma Yuan and Lai Ji set up an ambush in Dole and won in one battle. If not, Li Shimin would not have received news of Ma Yuan not long after he deployed troops from Chang 'an. There was a time difference in this. Fortunately, Li Shimin's army was mobilized from Chang 'an. If Li Shimin's army had arrived in the Western Regions, then this battle would be different. "
Shangguan Yi said, "Your Majesty is right."
Du Qi immediately arranged for people to inform Li Jing and the others. Not long after, Li Jing, Ma Zhou, Xue Rengui, Xiao Yuanqi, and Guan Zhilan also arrived.
Du Qi said in a deep voice, "The Persian army's offensive has been destroyed by Ma Yuan, and the Persian army retreated in defeat. Now, we don't need to consider the Persian threat. We only need to go all out to deal with Li Shimin. According to the previous plan, Xiao Yuanqi will stay outside Jiuquan County, and we will go forward to stop Li Shimin's army at the chosen location. "
The plan had been agreed upon before.
It only needed to be executed.
Therefore, after Du Qi's arrangement, everyone went to their own positions.
Xiao Yuanqi, Ma Zhou, and Guan Zhilan stayed in Jiuquan County, in charge of taking down Li Ji's army. As for Du Qi's side, he followed Xue Rengui to lead the army to the front line.
However, the only difference was that Xiao Yuanqi only had thirty thousand troops, and some elephant soldiers. Part of Xiao Yuanqi's troops were transferred to Xue Rengui. Du Qi and Xue Rengui's troops on the front line were seventy thousand, and there was also the left vanguard leading the elephant army.
The movement of the army was not concealed.
Soon, it spread into Jiuquan County.
Li Ji was also quite thin. After all, he had been guarding Jiuquan County for several months. Now, the food was almost used up, and he could not hold on any longer. And this result was because Li Ji had reduced the food supply, so the soldiers could hold on until now. If it was the same as before, the food would have been used up long ago.
In the room on the city tower.
After Li Ji received the soldier's report, he immediately called Zhangsun Wuji and Wei Zheng over. He looked at the two of them and said, "Duke of Qi, Prime Minister Wei, His Majesty's army is still two to three days away from Jiuquan. Du Qi's side has already divided their forces. One of them is heading east, obviously to stop His Majesty's army. However, there is an army outside the city. It is obvious that they are here to stop us. What should we do now? "
Zhangsun Wuji said in a deep voice, "I suggest that we go all out as soon as His Majesty's army arrives. Because we don't have much food now. So we don't need to save food anymore. We need to supply the soldiers with food and water. "
Wei Zheng said, "I agree. Under the current situation, our soldiers' fighting spirit is getting weaker and weaker. We need to boost their morale now, and His Majesty's arrival is an opportunity. We can use this opportunity to boost our morale, and then attack the army outside the city. As long as we break through this line of defense, we can attack Xia Xia's army with His Majesty. "
The two had the same opinion.
Li Ji's opinion was that they should also prepare to send out the troops. Because at this point, if they still didn't send out the troops, the soldiers under them wouldn't be able to hold on.
Once the soldiers' morale collapsed, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Li Ji nodded and said, "Since that's the case, let's prepare to go to war."
The three of them reached a consensus. Li Ji immediately left the room and went into the city to gather the army under his command. The army of sixty thousand gathered, and the black mass of heads moved. However, the faces of the soldiers were filled with dejection and helplessness. Especially during this period of time, the expressions of all the soldiers were rather dejected. After all, they had endured for such a long time, and the soldiers were almost unable to hold on. That was why the situation was like this.
Li Ji looked around at everyone and said in a powerful voice, "Boys, we have been stationed in Jiuquan City for almost four months. During this period of time, we have been living frugally, and the soldiers have been tightening their belts. They can't eat or sleep well. "
"You have all worked hard during this period of time."
The moment he said those words, all the soldiers instantly felt the same way. They had indeed suffered a lot in the past few months. It was extremely hard. As soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, they were worthy of the name of the Tang Dynasty because they had persevered.
From the beginning to the end, no one defected.
No one left.
All of them had persevered here.
Li Ji even heard the sound of sobbing. Many soldiers couldn't help choking when they thought of the past few months. He took a breath and said again, "But our bitter days are gone forever. From today on, there will be enough food in the army, and the soldiers can eat as much as they want without restraining themselves. Why? Because His Majesty has led the army here. His Majesty's army will arrive in Jiuquan City in two or three days. Once His Majesty arrives, we will attack Du Qi with all our strength. "
"Now Du Qi is besieged on all sides."
"To the west of Du Qi's Xia Xia, Persia will attack Du Qi's rear. Within Du Qi's Xia Xia, the enemies who were suppressed by Du Qi will rebel, which will also lead to internal strife in Xia Xia. "
"His Majesty is here to defeat Xia Xia's army in one go."
"This is our chance."
Li Ji raised his head and said firmly, "Our purpose in this battle is to prove ourselves. All the humiliation and grievances we've suffered in the Xia Kingdom can be unleashed at this moment. Do you want to take revenge? Do you want to wash away the humiliation? "
"Yes!"
Some soldiers in the army shouted.
Then, one after another, shouts rang out.
More and more soldiers were shouting.
More and more soldiers were shouting.
Their desire to take revenge had been revealed. All the soldiers were united as one. They were no longer in a bad state like before. Everyone's fighting spirit had been raised.
At this moment, the soldiers under Li Ji's command were like sharp swords, shining brightly.
They were no longer in a bad mood.
Li Ji saw that the soldiers' fighting spirit had been ignited and nodded in satisfaction. He waved his hand and dismissed the soldiers. Then, Li Ji led Wei Zheng and Zhangsun Wuji back to the city gate tower. Now, they didn't need to defend anymore. They only needed to attack with all their might, so they had to adjust and prepare to fight with all their might.
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