At the southern city gate, the shouts gradually subsided.
Everyone entered the city.
Li Shimin instinctively ordered, "Come, pass down the order, leave a thousand elite soldiers to guard Mingshui County. The rest of you, pursue Liu Heita at top speed, make sure he stays in Mingshui County. "
"Wait!"
At this moment, Du Qi opened his mouth to stop him.
Li Shimin looked at Du Qi and said, "Erlang, why are you stopping me?"
Taking advantage of the victory to pursue and attack was normal.
This was an opportunity.
Once this opportunity was missed, it would be impossible to kill Liu Heita. Therefore, Li Shimin believed that this was the best opportunity to pursue and attack, he must do it in one go.
Du Qi said, "Your Highness, there are two reasons why I did not let you give the order to pursue."
Li Shimin said, "Speak!"
Du Qi said, "First, Li Jiancheng will not let you pursue. As long as you are human, you can see that Mingshui County has won this battle. Liu Heita has retreated, he has become a stray dog. Leading the troops to pursue and attack now is to earn merit. Such an excellent opportunity, does Your Highness think that Li Jiancheng will miss it? "
Li Shimin said, "The Crown Prince will not miss the opportunity to take down Liu Heita."
Du Qi nodded, "Therefore, I am sure that Li Jiancheng will immediately send someone to pass the order to let Your Highness defend the county and sweep away the enemies in the county. He will not let Your Highness leave the county."
Li Shimin's face darkened.
Now he was constrained everywhere.
Li Shimin took a deep breath, adjusted his mood, and said, "What is the second reason?"
Du Qi said, "Secondly, do not pursue a cornered enemy. You must know that Liu Heita stirred up trouble in Hebei, moving unhindered in Hebei, there have always been Turkic people involved. I have carefully checked the previous information, in all the previous sieges, no Turkic people appeared. "
"Not only that, the Turkic people seemed to have disappeared into thin air. Therefore, I concluded that the Turkic people must be hiding near Mingshui County. This is to hide Liu Heita's fighting strength. "
"It could even be Liu Heita's trump card."
"Now that Liu Heita has been defeated in Mingshui County, if he wants to reverse the situation, if he wants to change the current situation, he has to hope that the Tujue people will appear. Therefore, when Li Jiancheng sent people to pursue, I thought that Liu Heita must have joined hands with the Tujue to launch a pincer attack. "
Du Qi said, "Therefore, the pursuers must have been ambushed."
When Li Shimin heard this, he immediately understood.
If Du Qi had not pointed it out, Li Shimin would not have thought of this. But Du Qi pointed it out, and Li Shimin immediately understood.
That was indeed the case.
Li Shimin pondered for a moment, then continued, "Erlang, since you've seen through this scheme, why don't you take the risk?" In that case, can we dispatch an army to follow behind them, preparing to launch a pincer attack on the Tujue and Liu Heita? "
"No!"
Du Qi shook his head and said, "Your Highness, do you still want to take the blame?"
"What do you mean?" Li Shimin asked.
Du Qi said, "As long as Your Highness leads the army to follow behind, Li Jiancheng's pursuers will be defeated. In that case, Li Jiancheng could say that he knew about it but didn't point it out or remind him. In the end, Your Highness will be at a disadvantage again. The only thing we can do now is to ignore it. In any case, it's Li Jiancheng's troops that will suffer losses. "
Li Shimin frowned and said, "But this is also the army of the Tang dynasty!"
Du Qi said, "Your Highness thinks so because Your Highness has a big vision and a big heart. You won't harm your own people. But will the other party think so and consider so? "
"If Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji, and Li Shentong all consider the big picture, then will Li Daoxuan, Luo Shixin, and Yin Kaishan die on the battlefield? Your Highness, now it's already the situation of fire and water. It's impossible to have the best of both worlds. "
"It's impossible for Your Highness to consider the big picture. Your Highness, the most important thing now is to wait and see. "
Du Qi suggested.
"Alas …"
Li Shimin sighed.
"Report!"
At this moment, a soldier ran to report, "Your Highness, His Highness the Crown Prince sent a message."
Li Shimin said, "Please!"
The soldier went to deliver the order. Before long, a messenger arrived.
The messenger arrived in front of Li Shimin and saluted with cupped fists, "Your Highness Duke of Qin, His Highness the Crown Prince has sent an order for Your Highness to oversee Mingshui County, stabilize the situation there, and sweep away the rebels in the city."
"Understood."
Li Shimin agreed immediately.
The messenger turned and left.
Li Shimin looked at Du Qi and sighed again, "Erlang, everything is as you said. The Crown Prince really does see me as a thorn in his flesh. He's not willing to let go of even the tiniest bit! "
Du Qi said, "The struggle for the throne has always been like this. Your Highness, do you think you can coexist with Li Jiancheng? "
Li Shimin said in a low voice, "Erlang, I know that once I set foot on this path, I can only press forward and not back down. I'm not so naive as to think that I can seize the crown prince's position and maintain brotherhood. "
"That's impossible."
Li Shimin said, "What I'm thinking is that I don't want to cause casualties among the Tang dynasty's soldiers because of internal strife. Moreover, I'm letting down the thousands of soldiers who are fighting. "
Du Qi said, "Your Highness has such thoughts. That's excellent. However, we can only do our best and leave everything to fate. "
Li Shimin said, "That's right. We can only do our best."
After a pause, Li Shimin issued an order, saying, "Pass down the order. The army is to set up camp and sweep away the rebels in Mingshui County, stabilizing the situation."
The messenger quickly went to pass down the order.
The King of Qin's army set up camp in the city and did not pursue.
This situation was quickly discovered by Li Jiancheng. When he learned that Li Shimin had stopped and did not continue to advance, his heart finally settled.
In fact, Li Jiancheng was worried that Li Shimin would disobey orders and insist on pursuing Liu Heita. If Li Shimin really did so, even if Li Jiancheng reprimanded Li Shimin, it would not be easy to reprimand Li Shimin because he had made great contributions.
After all, a general was not subject to military orders.
However, Li Shimin agreed.
Currently, Xue Wanche had already sent out thirty thousand troops. With thirty thousand troops, it would be easy for Li Jiancheng to obtain victory this time.
Li Jiancheng looked at Li Shentong and smiled, "Duke Huai An, if Liu Heita is killed in this battle, then Hebei Province will be at its peak. Then the situation in Hebei will be settled. Even if Li Shimin obtains the greatest merit, we are the ones who killed Liu Heita. This will be easy to write in the battle report. In short, the battle in Hebei is all thanks to Duke Huai An. "
Li Shentong smiled and said, "Your Highness, you're being too courteous. You can win the battle in Hebei Province, but in truth, it is all thanks to your army and your wise leadership. "
The two were polite to each other.
They were both praising each other.
Wei Zheng raised his head and looked at the proud Li Jiancheng, shaking his head in his heart. As the commander, it was not good to show his emotions. Moreover, Wei Zheng also felt that he did not know what would happen in the end when Xue Wanche led the troops to pursue.
However, Wei Zheng did not say anything.
Li Jiancheng was in high spirits. If he spoke now, it would be easy to ruin his mood and even anger him.
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