On the third day of the April 19th, Huaiyuan Town, Liaodong, the commander of the Eastern Expedition.

Yuwen Shu and Guo Rong received an urgent report from the Anton Expeditionary Force.

After Li Pingyuan, deputy governor of Andong arrived in Fuyu City on March 25, he reported to the Eastern Expedition Command in the name of joint letter with Deputy governor Li Hun, and informed him of the current scale of the Anton Expedition Army, the scheduled marching route and the serious shortage of money, grain and weapons faced.

Based on the current situation, Li Pingyuan and Li Hun predict that if everything goes well, Huaiyuan Town will provide a large amount of food and grass supply, and the Anton Expeditionary Force will not arrive in Huaiyuan until late April at the earliest, and may not be until early May at the latest. If an unexpected accident occurs, or Huaiyuan Town fails to ensure the supply of the Anton Expeditionary Force, it may even be delayed until mid-May, which will seriously delay the opportunity for the Eastern Expeditionary Force. Therefore, Li Pingyuan and Li Hun put forward two suggestions to the commander-in-chief.

One is to firmly follow the decree of the Holy Lord and go south to Huaiyuan to meet with him according to the predetermined plan, but Anton has explained his own difficulties clearly. In addition, whether the Anton Expeditionary Force can arrive in Huaiyuan within the predetermined time is also subject to whether Huaiyuan Town can provide food, grass and supplies in a timely and quickly. Therefore, once the Anton Expeditionary Force fails to arrive in Huaiyuan within the predetermined time, the responsibility is everyone's and everyone has a share.

For this reason, Li Pingyuan and Li Hun put forward the second suggestion. The Anton Expeditionary Force formed a whole line and attacked Pyongyang from the direction of Fuyu City, forming a two-way attack with the main force of the expedition in Huaiyuan Town. In this way, the two armies support each other and advance together. Only after meeting at the city of Pyongyang, the victory is sure to be held and the overall situation can be determined.

This suggestion is in line with the meaning of the commander-in-chief.

For Li Jing, Xue Shixiong and other generals of the Guards, the Andong army was an uncertain variable. This variable seriously affected the results of the third Eastern Expedition and seriously affected the personal interests of the Twelve Guards and their personal interests. Therefore, they tried every means to obstruct the Andong army from going south to Huaiyuan to meet. For Yuwen Shu and Guo Rong, they not only needed the victory of the Third Eastern Expedition, but also needed to kill people with a knife. They needed to use the power of Goguryeo to attack and weaken Andong's strength. Therefore, they urgently needed the Andong army to charge on the battlefield of the Third Eastern Expedition.

Li Pingyuan and Li Hun's second suggestion just met all the needs of the decision-making level of the command headquarters, and everyone was very happy.>

However, this policy violates the Holy Lord's edict. Once implemented, Li Pingyuan and Li Hun will not only resist the order, but also abusing power. The crimes are too great and the merits and demerits cannot be offset. Therefore, Li Pingyuan and Li Hun's attitude is very clear. I can satisfy the wishes of your commander, but your commander must authorize me to attack Pyongyang with justification. Otherwise, I will continue to implement the planned strategy. However, when I will arrive in Huaiyuan, it depends on how many military supplies you provide to me. After all, my Anton Expeditionary Force has a scale of more than 200,000 people. Even if you do your best to transport food, grass and supplies to me, it will be difficult for me to satisfy. Of course, you can also do whatever you want to do and even disobey it. However, the consequences will be far more serious than you imagined.

After reading this urgent report, Yuwen Shu and Guo Rong were both happy and sad.

What was happy was that Li Pingyuan fulfilled his promise and led the main army of Andong to Fuyu City, entered the Goguryeo battlefield, and reached a tacit understanding with the commander-in-chief, no longer traveled south to Huaiyuan to meet, so as to avoid fierce conflicts with the Uyghur Palace, and was willing to attack Pyongyang all the way.

What is worried about is whether the Holy Lord and the Central Committee agree with the "advance of water and land, and attacking together by the commander?

If there was no sudden change in the King of Qi going north to meet Li Pingyuan, if he did not actively save the series of bad consequences caused by this change, the Commander-in-Chief would not pay attention to Li Pingyuan's threats. It would be your fault if you did not come to Huaiyuan to join. If you betray your faith and not participate in the third Eastern Expedition, you would seek death. The Commander-in-Chief represents the Holy Lord and the Central Committee. It would be impossible to compromise with Anton and give in to Li Pingyuan.

Of course, you, Li Pingyuan, explaining your own difficulties to the commander, expressing your attitude, and trying to shirk your crime of resistance and abuse of power. This is OK, but if you want the commander to change your decisions and authorize you to attack Pyongyang, this is definitely not possible. After all, the goal of the Holy Lord and the Central Committee is to eliminate your hidden danger. Now that you have finally put a noose on you, how can you show mercy?

However, the King of Qi went north to join Li Pingyuan and suddenly changed the situation. The alliance between the King of Qi and Li Pingyuan not only endangers the third Eastern Expedition, but also endangers the security of Middle-earth. Therefore, the commander had no choice but to take the minority of the two evils and could only compromise with Anton and give in to Li Pingyuan.

However, will the Holy Lord and the Central Committee work together with the Commander's decision?

Yuwen Shu and Guo Rong were both uneasy. Although they were quite sure, the Holy Lord and the Central Master would be angry with them, and they would rather take their anger to the King of Qi to join Li Pingyuan without authorization, and attribute all the adverse changes in the situation in Liaodong to them. However, the fact is that they were mute and had no choice but to suffer. What can they do between the father and son who were fighting openly and secretly? They could only kill their teeth and blood, and would rather be injured themselves than cause trouble.

However, one must have a limit to his injury and cannot give up his life, so Yuwen Shu urgently summoned Li Jing, Xue Shixiong and Cui Hongsheng to discuss the situation. They should share difficulties and share blessings. At the critical moment, it would be better to attract a few more people to share the blame than to bear it alone.

Li Jing, Xue Shixiong and Cui Hongsheng came hurriedly. After reading the urgent reports from Li Pingyuan and Li Hun, the three generals of the Guard Mansion looked at each other with serious expressions.

The Anton Expeditionary Force had more than 200,000 people, which was far beyond the expectations of the generals. Everyone's first reaction was to falsely report. Anton for various purposes, such as defrauding food and supplies, deliberately putting pressure on the commander's headquarters, etc. In short, this matter is not credible.

However, if something is true, if the Anton Expeditionary Force did have more than 200,000 people, how much impact would it have on the third Eastern Expedition?

Guo Rong, Li Jing, and Xue Shixiong are all generals of the Guards who have been through war and have been guarding the border for many years. Their judgments on this matter are authoritative. Especially Xue Shixiong, who went to the underwater of Ruoluo last winter and had a considerable understanding of the current situation of the Donghu and Northeast China. Therefore, after carefully studying the joint letters of Li Pingyuan and Li Hun, after careful analysis and deduction, they finally concluded that although the possibility of bluffing is very high, it is not ruled out that it is authentic.

Li Fengyun, Li Zixiong, Han Shiyan and others swept through Anzhou and Northeast with lightning speed, and they were not strong enough; Pei Shiju and Li Hun both actively cooperated with Anton, which can also prove that Anton has quite strong strength; last year, the Xi tribe and the Khitan fought against each other, and suffered great losses. If the two tribes wanted to quickly restore their strength and develop and grow, it would be a convenient and effective best way to take advantage of the Central Turkish expedition to plunder Goguryeo, so the Xi tribe and the Khitan had the possibility of a full outing; Anton

During the main expedition, Li Fengyun was definitely unwilling to leave the hidden danger of the Turkic Ashinaduer in the northeast, and Ashinaduer was also very afraid of Pei Shiju, so Ashinaduer would appear in the Eastern Expedition team whether it was active or passive. At the beginning of the year, the Feihu rebels went north to enter Anzhou, and the family had more than 100,000 people. This army had not made any contributions in the process of capturing Anton, so there was no reason not to participate in the Third Expedition to consolidate and strengthen its interests in Anton.

Another more important thing is that the commander may have seriously underestimated Li Fengyun and Li Zixiong's determination to attack Goguryeo.

"With Anton's existing strength, if the desert tries its best to launch a counterattack, Li Fengyun and Li Zixiong will definitely not be able to defend themselves. After all, in order to survive, they must preserve their strength and will never be able to fight against the Turks. In this way, it is not difficult to see that instead of being trapped in Anton and waiting for death, it is better to take the initiative to attack Goguryeo and take a risk." Xue Shixiong stroked his long beard and said slowly, "As long as he conquers Pyongyang and plunder, Li Fengyun and Li Zixiong can first strengthen himself by destroying Goguryeo and firmly take the initiative. If Anton falls, they can station in Liaodong. Xu Tu's subsequent plan. If Anton is safe, they can quickly expand their sphere of influence to Liaodong, so that their strength can usher in a leap in development in the shortest time."

Speaking of this, Xue Shixiong glanced at Yuwen Shu with a serious expression and said solemnly, "If our analysis is correct, then Li Pingyuan made a promise to not win Pyongyang and never give up Yalushui, which can be reasonably explained. The goals of those people have shifted from Anton to Goguryeo and began to plot against the entire Great Liaodong."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was speechless.

Whether Li Pingyuan plans to the Great Liaodong is not important, it is the future. The most urgent task is to win the third Eastern Expedition. It is to destroy Goguryeo. If Xue Shixiong's analysis is correct, the situation will be very beneficial to the commander-in-chief.

How many expeditionary troops are there in Huaiyuan at present? In addition to more than 100,000 expedition soldiers, there are more than 200,000 civilians, craftsmen, etc., with a total of nearly 400,000. The scale is very large. Even if the daily garrison is stationed, the cost will be very amazing. If the Eastern Expedition begins, fierce battles will continue for several months, and the military consumption will be several times more.

However, the current domestic situation is very bad, and the capital and local areas are in rebellions. The security of the Grand Canal in the North and South is not absolutely guaranteed, and even the stability of the Jiangnan region is difficult to guarantee. Therefore, in this unfavorable situation, the Eastern Expedition Command will not only have the determination and confidence to conquer Pyongyang, but also the food and grass support for the Andong Expedition Force is difficult to ensure.

So the problem arose, and the horses were forced to run away, and the horses were not ate grass. Now that the commander cannot ensure the military supplies of the Anton Expeditionary Force, if Li Pingyuan's requirements are not met, the Anton Expeditionary Force will be allowed to attack Pyongyang all the way and grant Li Pingyuan all the battlefield command, then under the sinister situation where the King of Qi has already gone north to join him, any unpredictable crisis may break out.

Yuwen Shu pondered for a long time, looked up at Xue Shixiong, and asked, "Wuyin Gong just said, can you understand that even without the Holy Lord's edict and our decision, Andong's army will do its best to attack Pyongyang?"

Xue Shixiong nodded without thinking, "This possibility is very high, just like last winter they suddenly went out to attack Anzhou. Although it was unexpected and life-and-death, it is inevitable to look at it later. The price of a desperate attempt was that they won the best interests. The same was true for the Eastern Expedition. Once the Anton army seized Pyongyang in front of us and obtained the greatest contribution to the destruction of Goguryeo, it is conceivable that they not only successfully crushed all the conspiracies and tricks against them, but also became the biggest winners of the three-year Eastern Expedition. However, our three years of blood and sweat have made wedding dresses for others, and it is useless to do it."

This is very obvious. The contribution of the Wei Mansion cannot be taken away by Andong. If you take a step back, even if Xue Shixiong's speculation unfortunately becomes reality, the primary contribution is the correct decision of the commander-in-chief. The Wei Mansion can still use this contribution to protect its own interests.

Yuwen Shu looked at Guo Rong, Li Jing and Cui Hongsheng.

Guo, Li and Cui knew very well that Yuwen Shu was thinking, and that they were just to hold everyone to share the responsibility. Although they were unwilling to accept it, they had no choice but to come to this point.

Now that the King of Qi has gone north to meet with Li Pingyuan, the commander has also made the strategy of "advance by land and water, attacking together with three routes". At this moment, it would not be of much significance to continue waiting for the Holy Lord to issue an edict to agree to the decision of the Commander. If the Holy Lord is stubborn and is determined to attack and weaken Anton and refuses to reply for a long time, what should he do? Will he let the King of Qi and Li Pingyuan advance wildly on the road of out of control?

Li Jing took the lead in making a statement and immediately responded to Li Pingyuan and Li Hun, agreeing that the Anton Expeditionary Force will attack Pyongyang all the way, and granted Li Pingyuan all the battlefield command, allowing him to act cheaply and deal with it on the spot before meeting with the main force in Pyongyang, and make decisive decisions based on the development of the battle situation. He must not look forward to the forefront and miss the opportunity.

Then Guo Rong and Cui Hongsheng also expressed their support.

Yuwen Shu hesitated for a moment and said to Xue Shixiong, "What we are discussing today is written in detail in the memorial." Then he turned to Guo Rong, Li Jing and Cui Hongsheng, and said, "You and I jointly report to express the attitude of the Wei Mansion."

Guo, Li, Xue, and Cui agreed at once.
Chapter completed!