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Chapter 4360 4362 [Reversal of Situation]

Li Shimin led his army to attack Lingnan but failed, and his own backyard was in trouble.

His eldest brother Li Jiancheng wanted to seize his military power, while his fourth brother Li Yuanji was a hopeless case. He lost many soldiers and generals in the battle against Liu Heita, so he was really useless.

Therefore, Li Shimin was extremely anxious and had no choice but to withdraw his troops back to Ganzhou for rest.

He had originally arranged for Li Jing to lead an elite force to ambush, ready to lead his troops to kill the Song clan once they left the city to pursue them, catching them off guard.

But unexpectedly, Xiang Nan did not lead troops to pursue and kill them. Instead, he only ordered people to reinforce Shaoguan. He did not even send troops to occupy several county towns such as Renhua, Dayu and Chongyi.

This made Li Shimin a little surprised. He didn't understand whether Xiang Nan didn't want to divide the troops or he had seen through his plan?

Only Song Que and Xiang Nan knew that Xiang Nan was only responsible for protecting Lingnan, not helping the Song clan conquer the world. Therefore, Xiang Nan gave up the opportunity to beat the fallen dog.

……

A month later, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuan issued an imperial decree to seize Li Shimin's military power.

Although Li Shimin enjoyed great popularity in the army, it was difficult for him to disobey his father's orders, especially since he was unable to refuse now.

In history, when the Xuanwu Gate Incident occurred, Li Shimin's power had already become quite strong. The reason why Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji launched the Xuanwu Gate Incident was because they could no longer control him openly, so they wanted to assassinate him at the Xuanwu Gate.

But now Li Shimin's power is not that strong. Although he still has hundreds of thousands of troops, his food supply depends on the rear. Once Li Yuan cuts off his food supply, no matter how many troops he has, it will be useless.

Just like in "The Yongzheng Dynasty", the reason why Yongzheng was not afraid of Nian Gengyao leading his troops to rebel was because his army needed food and grass supplies from the inland.

Once Yongzheng cut off his food and grass, even if he had hundreds of thousands of troops, they would still be like a tree without roots and water without a source. If he had no food and grass to feed those troops, those soldiers would kill him first.

Therefore, Li Shimin had no choice but to hand over power and the seal of command to his brother Li Jiancheng, and then he led a personal army to Jizhou to replace Li Yuanji and fight against Liu Heita.

……

After Li Jiancheng got the seal of commander-in-chief, he was eager to make merit, so he led his army to attack Shaoguan again.

But his ability was far inferior to that of Li Shimin. Xiang Nan only sent a lieutenant general, who pretended to have worked under Xiang Nan, but was punished for a small matter. He was so angry that he prepared to join Li Jiancheng and surrendered in the middle of the night.

Li Jiancheng believed it to be true, and indeed he led his army to Shaoguan at night, waiting for the right time to attack the city.

Sure enough, in the middle of the night, the city gate opened and Li Jiancheng led his troops into the city. But when they entered the city, they were stunned. It turned out that Xiang Nan had already built a city wall and was waiting for them.

As soon as Li Jiancheng's army entered, they immediately ignited the explosives buried in Weng City. In an instant, there was a loud bang, and people and horses were blown to the ground, with many casualties.

The rest of the Li family army that had not yet entered the city retreated hastily upon seeing that they had fallen into a trap. As a result, they were bombarded by Xiang Nan again, and suffered heavy casualties again.

Of the 100,000 troops that set out, only 30,000 returned to Ganzhou. The rest were either killed or wounded, or captured alive, or dispersed. In short, the losses were extremely heavy, and even the great general Li Jiancheng was injured and captured.

……

When the news reached Taiyuan, Li Yuan was naturally extremely anxious and heartbroken. The Li Clan's army only had over 300,000 soldiers, and they had used half of their forces to send troops to Lingnan. Compared with the Song Clan's 20,000 soldiers, the 150,000 soldiers had an advantage, and they originally thought that they could conquer Lingnan without any effort.

Unexpectedly, the 150,000-man army was reduced to only 30,000. The Li family lost one-third of their army for no reason. This was an unbearable burden.

Just like the Battle of Sarhu between the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty, although the Ming Dynasty had an army of one million, it only lost 50,000 in the Battle of Sarhu, which led to a reversal of military power between the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty.

From then on, the Ming Dynasty could only defend against the Later Jin Dynasty but could not attack, and was eventually invaded by the Later Jin Dynasty.

Now the Li family has lost hundreds of thousands of troops, and the impact is greater than the Battle of Sarhu. Many areas that have been pacified have shown signs of rebellion again.

For example, some aristocratic families in Jingchu, Jiangnan, Xuzhou and Bengbu, Fujian and Zhejiang, and even in Sichuan, Chongqing and Chang'an, showed signs of rebellion.

In fact, ancient wars were not about attacking cities one by one. In many cases, once the enemy's main force was defeated, the area he ruled could basically be "conquered with a single order."

After all, the officials and nobles in the city were not idiots, and were not so blindly loyal. When facing the oncoming army, it was common for them to slide down on their knees, and very few of them would resist stubbornly.

Since they chose to kneel down and surrender the city, the other side would naturally not kill them all, but would try their best to protect the interests of these people. In this way, they would get a city and those people would keep their jobs, achieving the best of both worlds.

But this also left a hidden danger, that is, if the war went smoothly, those people would naturally be content to be obedient citizens. But once the war went badly and the victorious party became the losing party, those officials and nobles who surrendered before would likely rebel again.

Just like during the Three Kingdoms period, Tao Gongzu gave up Xuzhou three times, and Xuzhou was successively ruled by Liu Bei, Lu Bu, and Cao Cao. Only a small number of local officials and powerful people in Xuzhou stood up to resist, while most of the others just followed the trend. When Liu Bei came, he followed Liu Bei; when Lu Bu came, he followed Lu Bu; when Cao Cao came, he followed Cao Cao...

Although the Li family had previously conquered Chang'an, Sichuan and Chongqing, Jingchu, Xuzhou and Bengbu, Jiangnan, Fujian and Zhejiang, they had occupied these areas for too short a time and had not taken root and completely controlled these areas.

Therefore, these areas are nominally owned by the Li clan, but in fact the real control is still in the hands of local tyrants. Now the Li clan has lost the battle and lost hundreds of thousands of troops.

In the Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangnan areas, several cities suddenly rebelled and announced their submission to the Song clan.

……

Song Que was also very happy to hear the news of the great victory in Shaoguan, and immediately led 5,000 troops to Shaoguan.

"Zhong'er, well done." He praised with a smile.

The annihilation of the Li clan's 120,000-strong army was a serious blow.

"Dad, why don't we take this opportunity to talk to the Li family and become a nominal vassal state?" Xiang Nan suggested to Song Que.

"A vassal state?!" Song Que was stunned. "The situation is very good now. We can definitely counterattack. This time, I will personally take action and will definitely be able to defeat the Li family and unify the Central Plains. What's the point of being a vassal state?"

"Fighting back and forth will only cause more suffering to the people. It is better to stop while we are ahead." Xiang Nan suggested, "We should keep Lingnan and then occupy the southeast. There is a vast world with great potential. Why should we limit ourselves to the Central Plains?"

"Zhong'er, Shidao has a calm and gentle personality and is not suitable to be my successor. Everything I have now will be inherited by you in the future. Do you really not want to be the emperor of Central Plains?" Song Que asked immediately.

"Dad, if I really wanted to be the emperor, I wouldn't have to wait until the future." Xiang Nan waved his hand and said, "I really have no interest in being the emperor. If it weren't for you and my elder brother, I would have retired from the martial arts world with Yu Zhi long ago."

Hearing him say this, Song Que was stunned, then he let out a long sigh.