Traveling through the early Tang Dynasty starts with hanging

At this moment, Li Daoxuan was miserable, very miserable, but he could still escape after all. After all, there was Rencheng King Li Daozong behind him who had [-] elite men. In fact, the most miserable people now were Liu Shirang and Li Shiji who were far away in Shuozhou.

On the night of September 22, the fire at Yanmen Pass made Tuli Khan know that he could finally break through this important pass, but it also allowed the two forts not too far away from Yanmen Pass to notice the rising flames.

With such a big fire, even farther away, the strange dark red color in the night could be vaguely seen. Li Daozong also knew that setting a fire was stupid. It would destroy the confidence of the Tang army in Shuozhou and give his colleagues an extremely heavy blow, but he could only give up. Small things lead to big consequences. With so much food and grass left for the Turks, the situation will only get worse.

On September 23, Tuli Khan's banner entered Daizhou and sent cavalry to quickly pursue the Daizhou army. Li Daoxuan fled south in embarrassment, but Tuli Khan did not put all his troops in Daizhou. Instead, nearly [-] cavalry were left in Shuozhou.

On this day, the news of the fall of Yanmen Pass spread quickly throughout Shuozhou. To be precise, it reached Mayi and the Thirteen Fortresses. Yes, the scouts of the Tang Army could only convey the news, but more importantly, those responsible for this task Most of them were Turks... They even openly opened the road to Yanmen Pass.

Sancho Town is only more than half a day's journey from Yanmen Pass. Li Shiji noticed something strange in the middle of the night. At first, the scouts reported that the Turks seemed to be moving. Later, they found that the Turks' brigade rushed towards Yanmen Pass. At the same time, the scouts also noticed the flash of fire at Yanmen Pass.

Li Shiji was confused on the spot. It was impossible for the Turks to break through Yanmen Pass at night. Considering a fire of this scale, there could only be something wrong with Daizhou.

Li Daoxuan, the king of Huaiyang, was not a timid person. He must have been forced to abandon Yanmen Pass because he was attacked from both sides. With Li Shiji's eyes, he quickly judged that it could not be Loufan Pass, but there could only be something wrong with Yuzhou.

After dawn, after confirming through scouts, even though Li Shiji had the appearance of a famous general, even though Li Shiji had been in battle for a long time, he was speechless for a while. It cannot be said that Li Daoxuan's choice was wrong, but in this way, he and Liu Shi had to give up. Lost in Shuozhou, Shuozhou became an enclave.

Li Shiji's first reaction was to escape through Loufan Pass, but Tuli Khan left behind [-] cavalry in order to block Yanmen Pass and Loufan Pass and prevent Shuozhou's Daizhou Army from entering... and Yanmen Pass and beyond. Unlike the Daizhou Army in the east, the cavalry strength of the Daizhou Army in Shuozhou is not low and can greatly supplement the combat power of the Tang Army in Hedong.

At dusk that day, Li Shiji had to venture out of the city and rushed to Mayi.

Seeing Li Shiji, Liu Shirang, who already understood the current situation, was speechless for a while. Who could have imagined that the iron-walled Yanmen Pass would suddenly change hands?

Liu Shirang said in a low voice: "If King Si of Wei is appointed as the commander-in-chief of the march to Hedong Road this time, it won't be..."

"Ahem." Li Shiji's gentle cough interrupted Liu Shirang's complaints. Such words could be said casually. Li Huairen probably had no chance to lead the army into battle.

But after Li Shiji thought about it, it might not be possible. His Highness the King of Qin wrote a letter a few days ago. I am afraid that the Turkic invasion will not be limited to Hedong. If the situation is critical, as one of the few famous generals in the DPRK who has repeatedly defeated the Turks, he said Maybe Wei Si Wang will lead the army to go on an expedition.

Liu Shirang did not shut up, and complained one after another. Although he no longer mentioned King Wei Si, he complained about Daizhou in and out of his words... He did not mention Li Daoxuan, but he criticized Qin Wutong and Pang Yu a lot.

At this time, you can see the difference between Liu Shirang and Li Shiji. After half a day of panic, Li Shiji regained his composure and asked in a low voice: "Is there anything strange about Xi Duo?"

Liu Shirang raised his white eyebrows and said, "It's being watched. There is no movement for the time being."

At that time, most of Yuan Junzhang's old troops were scattered in Daizhou and Xinzhou, and even after the Battle of Cangtou River, they were placed in Bingzhou, Lanzhou and other places. Leading generals such as Zhang Zhongjian and He Liu also entered Beijing one after another. Li Shan, Liu Shirang, Qin Wutong and later Li Jing tried their best to add sand and placed a large number of generals in Mayi, but until now, there are still more than a thousand Yuan Junzhang's old troops in Mayi city.

Among Yuan Junzhang's old tribe in Mayi City, only Xi Duo holds a high position. Now he is the governor of Shuo. If there is any change in Yuan Junzhang's old tribe, it is unlikely that Xi Duo will be bypassed.

Obviously, Liu Shirang was not a confused person. The Turks had attacked Mayi for many days before, and Yuan Junzhang's old troops would not have rebelled if Yanmen Pass was there. But now that Yanmen Pass has been lost, those people's ideas may not change... In the minds of these people , it is natural to cling to the strong.Taking a deep breath, Li Shiji whispered: "Now we can only gather our troops and wait for reinforcements. As long as we can hold on for more than a month, it is impossible for the Turks not to return to the grassland."

"What do you mean..." Liu Shirang hesitated for a while, then reached out and drew a circle in the air.

"When Gao Manzheng was guarding Mayi, how did Yuan Junzhang defeat the city?"

Facing Li Shiji's rhetorical question, Liu Shirang nodded heavily after a moment of silence. Although he had no personal experience of that war, he was in Daizhou from beginning to end, even at Yanmen Pass. How could he not know the inside story?

Li Gaoqian rashly sent troops to aid Mayi, but was attacked by Yuan Junzhang and the Turkic forces on the way. Li Gaoqian escaped alone. If Li Shan hadn't rushed to Yanmen Pass and asked Kan Ling to respond, the Tang army would have been almost wiped out.

Even so, thousands of Tang army infantry were captured. Later, these prisoners became the main force in attacking Mayi. The Turks were not good at attacking cities, but these captured Tang soldiers were good at it. In the end, Gao Manzheng could not resist. Du Shiyuan beheaded Gao Manzheng and offered it to him. The city surrendered to the Turks.

Li Shiji's meaning was obvious. Yanmen Pass was under attack from both sides. Huaiyang King Li Daoxuan abandoned Yanmen Pass and must have retreated south. The cavalry could still escape, but I was afraid that a large number of infantry would be captured.

If Tuli Khan's attack on the east of the river does not go well, and he orders the captured Tang army infantry to attack the city and evict the stronghold on the way back, the high-city strongholds such as Mayi, Guji Town, and Sanqiao Town can be said to be fine, but the other eleven strongholds are only I'm afraid I won't be able to bear it.

"Bring the food and grass if you can, and burn them if you can't." Liu Shirang quickly made a decision, "Gather them nearby, in Mayi, Guji Town, and Sanqiao Town."

That night, the scouts headed north in the dark.

The next day, September 24, Li Shiji personally led two thousand cavalry out of Sancho Town and attacked south. The Turks immediately mobilized thousands of cavalry to block and intercept, but Li Shiji only made a false shot and quickly turned back.

At the same time, more than a thousand cavalry came out of Mayi, which also attracted the attention of a large number of Turkic cavalry.

In this case, the Tang troops in the forts of different sizes gathered one after another, looking for opportunities to sneak into Dazhai or Mayi.

But in fact it was not so easy. Although Li Shiji and Liu Shirang tried their best to attract the attention of the Turks and sent troops to escort them, several Tang armies were still defeated, and even a small Tang army in the stronghold chose to surrender.

Li Shiji roughly calculated that on this day, at least two thousand Tang troops failed to withdraw and either died in battle, were captured, or surrendered to the enemy.

But even so, this is something Li Shiji can accept.

The general guarding Guji Town is Liu Shirang's younger brother Liu Bao. He himself is stationed at Sanqiao Town, and Liu Shirang is guarding Mayi. The generals in the three places will not surrender to the enemy. The main reason for concentrating the troops is to prevent the scattered troops from spreading. The Tang army surrendered in despair.

As for the future, Li Shiji at the top of the city looked toward Yanmen Pass on the east side. He felt that Li Daozong, the king of the city, would be hard-pressed to do anything. Even if the Turkic army only stopped in Xinzhou, the DPRK would send a large army. This time, the one who would turn the tide would be Who is the King of Qin in Hedong, or the King of Wei who once defeated the Turks?