The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 454 Launching an Attack
Although Li Xiaogong was nailed to death by Qin Qiong in Yangzhai County, unable to move, but he had [-] troops, plus the young and strong in the city, if Qin Qiong came to attack, he thought that only [-] elites could hold out for a few months.

He originally planned to send [-] soldiers to Li Daozong of Yiqueguan, and asked him to cooperate with Li Shimin to restrain Yang Tong in Yanshi and make Li Shimin free to attack Luoyang. If the battle goes well, the two can wipe out Yang Tong's troops. At that time, Li Shimin can attack Qin Qiong from Yangcheng County to save himself. If everything is victorious, he can capture the whole county of Xingyang. Li Tang's situation will also suddenly become clear.

But before he could act, news came that Li Daozong and Wang Junkuo had been defeated and captured. The [-] army was gone, and what was even worse was the fall of Yique Pass, which put Li Xiaogong in a very unfavorable situation. This is not only a dangerous pass to defend the Tang army in Xiangcheng, but also a forward position for the Sui army to enter Xiangcheng. As long as Luo Shixin takes Luyang Pass again, he will immediately become a turtle in the urn.

While annoyed by Wang Junkuo's incompetence, he also marveled at the strength of the imperial army.

In terms of bravery, Wang Junkuo is naturally not as good as Li Yuanji, who is known as Li Tang's first general, but in terms of commanding troops, under Li Shimin's command, he can be ranked no matter what.

But just such a general plus [-] elite cavalry, without even seeing the corners of Yiqueguan, was wiped out by the Sui army without even scum left. Not only that, but also dragged Li Daozong into the water severely, Then he let himself be in a dilemma, which had to shock and annoy Li Xiaogong.

Before the battle of the Sui and Tang Dynasties officially started, [-] troops were wiped out. If the fight continues like this, no matter how many soldiers and horses Li and Tang have, they will not be enough to kill.

On Yangdi City, Li Xiaogong watched the Yingshui River with complicated eyes. Affected by the war, the river was empty, not even a fishing boat. There were only a few Sui Dynasty sentry ships monitoring the Tang army. under military surveillance.

Behind Li Xiaogong stood more than a dozen generals, and they could all feel the heavy heart of the coach.

The situation is indeed not optimistic. There is Qin Qiong in the front, and Luo Shixin in the back will send troops out of Yique Pass at any time to cut off their retreat. If the two send troops at the same time, they will definitely fall into the encirclement of the Sui army and be wiped out. The wolf made them in a dilemma.

At this time, the marching Sima warrior Xun stepped forward to persuade: "Your Highness, Yiqueguan has fallen, and Yangdi is already in the salient. If Luo Shixin cooperates with Qin Qiong and attacks from behind, our army will have no way to advance or retreat. For now, we can only do it." Before the Sui army moved, we abandoned Yangdi and retreated to Runan to escape from the encirclement of the enemy."

Li Xiaogong sighed, nodded, and told the dozen or so generals around him: "It's not too late, prepare to evacuate!"

In less than half an hour, the assembled Tang army quickly marched westward.

The army marched at high speed, the warrior Xun slowed down his horse and drove alongside Li Xiaogong, he asked, "Does Your Highness know the intention of the King of Huai'an?"

Li Xiaogong smiled wryly and said: "This should be because the Holy Majesty wants to strengthen our strength and intends to attack the eastern Central Plains. If all the [-] troops were handed over to me earlier, or to the people of the world, they would not be so passive in the end. We only set out now , collect the body for us?"

The warrior Xun was taken aback, and said in a low voice: "Actually, the Holy Majesty is also very helpless. The Sui army is too powerful now, and it borders our Tang Dynasty everywhere. The Zhengshitang seriously underestimated the Sui Dynasty's intention to go south."

"Zhengshitang?" Li Xiaogong snorted, shook his head, and said nothing more.

The political affairs hall is composed of the six prime ministers of Li and Tang. Li Yuanhe and the political affairs hall make major decisions before issuing them to the world.

As a result, the frontline generals, including Li Shimin, only have the right to deploy military forces, but not to make strategic decisions.All major strategic decisions had to be reported to Li Yuan. After Li Yuan discussed the results with the several prime ministers staying in Xiangyang, they would then feed back to the frontline and be executed by the frontline generals.Li Xiaogong and other generals hated this kind of old and rigid attitude, but even Li Shimin couldn't do anything about it, because all of this stemmed from Li Yuan's desire to control military power, whoever opposed it would touch Li Yuan's sensitive nerves, so everyone only looked at it. The eyes are anxious in the heart.

On this point, the Sui Dynasty was quite flexible. Yang Tong gave the former generals extremely wide authority. He only wanted one result. As for how the frontline generals fought and did not interfere at any time, the generals of all parties could make quick decisions according to the changing situation. Some decisions that are beneficial to the overall situation of the war.Yang Tong would be keen to make adjustments from himself according to the changes on the front line, instead of asking the frontline generals to follow his way of thinking. Under this way of thinking, the generals of all parties will automatically adjust and cooperate.

The samurai Xun understood what Li Xiaogong meant, and felt extremely helpless.Given their current situation, it was actually the wisest decision for Li Xiaogong to give up half of the county in order to preserve his strength, but if he really wanted to pursue it, Li Tang would act without authorization, and after the war he would accept interrogation by Li Yuan and several ministers regardless of victory or defeat .

At this time, Li Xiaogong suddenly said: "I feel that we have fallen into Yang Tong's big trap."

"What big trap?" Samurai Xun asked in surprise.

Li Xiaogong thought about it for a while, and from Li Shentong's reinforcements, his thoughts became clearer, and he smiled wryly: "Yang Tong's trip to the south this time can be said to be closely linked. He not only wants to destroy Wang Shichong, but we are also his goal. It's a pity. We didn't understand it before, so we became his striker to eliminate Wang Shichong. If we lose Wang Shichong's buffer, it means we become Yang Tong's next target..."

"The reason why Yang Tong had a truce for more than a year was not only to lay a solid foundation, but at the same time he did not want to be too strong, so that the major forces in the south would form an alliance against him. In addition, he did not want to fight us in Bashu, where the mountains and rivers are difficult, so he tempted us When Tang Dynasty came to attack Luoyang, he used Wang Shichong's power to devour Li Tang's elite forces, and then used powerful cavalry to exhaust our army in the open Central Plains. At that time, not only Li Tang would not get half an inch of land, but even the dangerous Bashu There is also no army to defend. In the end, the country will die."

The warrior Xun said in amazement, "Then what should we do now?"

Li Xiaogong resolutely said: "We will not stop doing anything, just withdraw from Xiangcheng and set up defenses outside Luyang Pass. At the same time, I will go to the emperor and ask him to let the people of the world retreat quickly. As long as there are hundreds of thousands of troops, we still have hope. .”

After speaking, Li Xiaogong got off the horse and wrote down his own analysis, which was sent to Xiangyang and Luoyang in duplicate.

In the afternoon, the whole army had rushed to the area of ​​Daliu Mountain, less than a hundred miles away from Runan County, and they should arrive before sunset.

On horseback, Li Xiaogong was thinking about how Li Tang should go in the future. He believed that today's Great Sui Dynasty is not the Great Sui Dynasty, and definitely not a Li Tang that can confront each other. Otherwise, everyone will be killed one by one by Tai Sui.

"Your Highness, look!" Just as Li Xiaogong was wandering in the sky, a lieutenant suddenly pointed to the front and said.

"Ok?"

Li Xiaogong looked up and saw the dust in the wilderness in front of him, countless black spots converged into a black line, which gradually became clear in his vision.

Enemy?
Li Xiaogong raised the horse in his hand, signaling the army to stop advancing, and the scouts in front returned quickly, with panic on their faces.

"Your Highness, it's the rout, it's our rout, Chengxiu County, the prefecture, has already fallen!" the scout also didn't care to get off his horse, and roared wildly on his horse from a long distance away.

"What?" Li Xiaogong shook his body, almost lost his grip on the horse in his hand, and repeated sharply: "Chengxiu has fallen?"

"Yes." The scout said bitterly, "The pursuers are right behind, and they seem to be the cavalry led by Luo Shixin!"

"Trash!" Li Xiaogong roared angrily: "The three armies prepare for war!"

"Here!" Several generals responded one after another, and quickly ordered the troops to form formations. Li Xiaogong's troops were elite divisions that had been fighting all the year round, and with Li Xiaogong, the number one general of the clan, commanding them, both morale and military appearance were quite high. Outstanding, but only a moment of effort, the army lined up in formation, ready for the invading enemy.

"General, it's Li Xiaogong's troops!" On the other side, Luo Shixin led his soldiers and horses to drive behind Tang Jun unhurriedly, driving them like sheep. After receiving the order, he entered Xiangcheng County from Yique Pass.

"Li Xiaogong? It's not slow to come!" Luo Shixin couldn't help snorting when he heard the words. He looked at the Tang Junjun who was running desperately ahead, a flash of light suddenly flashed in his eyes, and he turned his head and said: "Gather the troops and drive these defeated troops to the other side!" Army array!"

He wanted to use these defeated troops to attack Li Xiaogong's army formation, if it worked, it would be the best, if not, he could only attack by force.

"Here!" The general went forward to deliver the order.

Soon, Luo Shixin's army gradually opened up. It was originally a conical formation, but now the central army gradually slowed down, and the two wings began to charge forward. How could Tang Jun, who was running wildly, feel these changes? The driving of the Sui army began to move closer to the center.

On the opposite side, Li Xiaogong looked at Pao Ze, who was driven by the enemy and gradually merged into a group, and rushed towards this side, secretly scolded Luo Shixin for being shameless and treacherous, turned his head and said to the lieutenant general: "Sign the flag, let the defeated army retreat from both sides."

"Here!"

Several flag officers kept waving the semaphore, but the commander of the defeated army had been hacked to death long ago, so no one would pay attention to the semaphore, and just ran madly.

A flash of anger flashed in Li Xiaogong's eyes, and he sternly shouted: "Prepare the bow and arrow!"

"crunch~"

Amidst a series of muffled sounds, under the protection of spearmen and sword-shieldmen, rows of archers drew their bows and arrows to a full circle, and under the command of Li Xiaogong, they locked the target about fifty steps ahead of the formation.

"General, that's our man!" A lieutenant couldn't bear to say.

Li Xiaogong just gave him a cold look: "Play the semaphore again!"

Several flag officers quickly waved the command flags in their hands, but had little effect. Some people began to run to both sides subconsciously, but more people did not believe that Li Xiaogong, who loves soldiers like a son, would do anything to them, and still turned a deaf ear to them and ran silently. .

A cold light flashed in Li Xiaogong's eyes, and he said harshly: "Let the arrows go!"

"Om~"

With the muffled sound of the bowstring, a rain of arrows soared into the sky and fell towards the front of the army formation overwhelmingly.

"Puff puff puff~"

Blossoms of blood splashed across the battlefield, and the shrill screams turned the front of the battle into a hell on earth. These defeated soldiers did not expect that they would not die under the hooves of the enemy's horses, but under the arrows of their own people. Peng Jianyu also woke up these rout troops who were running madly. Under the threat of death, the surviving people rolled and crawled towards the sides of the army formation.

"Stop!" Seeing that Li Xiaogong's army was approaching the arrow, Luo Shixin raised the Hundred Refining Cold Spear, and the cavalry began to slow down, and stopped charging before reaching the arrow.

"Some courage!" Luo Shixin circled back and forth in front of the formation, looking at Tang Jun who was waiting in full force, a look of regret flashed in his eyes, Li Xiaogong's decisiveness saved their fate, otherwise they would be regarded as elites, once the formation was crushed by the rout army, there would be nothing but to follow and flee Any way, when the time comes, they can continue to pursue them in one go, until they completely defeat this elite group.

The only way for infantry to face cavalry in the wilderness is to form a dense army formation and use the army formation to resist the impact of cavalry. Once the army is in chaos, no matter how elite infantry is, it is only the prey of cavalry.

Luo Shixin also knew that if his army attacked by force, there would be great casualties, but it was absolutely impossible for him to give up like this.

After thinking about it, he galloped forward and laughed loudly: "Li Xiaogong, do you dare to fight me?"

"General Luo forgive me!" Li Xiaogong said loudly: "When two armies are fighting, how can one judge victory or defeat based on personal bravery? Forgive me, I will not accept it. If General Luo wants to fight, he can lead the army to attack, and I will definitely accompany him to the end."

Luo Shixin was not angry either, and said with a smile: "We must attack, but not now."

Li Xiaogong was puzzled, but Luo Shixin's bad behavior made him blow his lungs.

Seeing that Luo Shixin's rear army retreated a mile away, he dismounted to rest, while he himself led 2000 knights to confront him, and sent two cavalry teams of [-] people to circle around his army, shooting arrows.

(End of this chapter)