The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 661 Dilemma, Dying Struggling

The night is thick, just like Fang Xuanzao's heart.

With Li Wenxiang's decapitation, the deserters finally stopped appearing, but this tyrannical method is by no means a long-term solution. If they can't jump out of the encirclement of the Sui army, this army will still flee in all directions sooner or later.Judging from the current situation, the Wei army was completely suppressed by the Sui army. After Yang Tong occupied Dingyuan City, he stood still, like a sharp sword with a hidden edge in its sheath. His heart has been scattered, and it is purely a waste of death to fight Yang Yu, who is waiting for work. What's more, Yao Junsu came with his tail like a wolf. If the Wei army stormed Dingyuan, how could he ignore the safety of the Sui Emperor?

Fang Xuanzao knew the chance of winning this battle, but the Holy Majesty still had illusions, he didn't want the warriors to sever their arms and retreat to Huaibei, what could be done?
Unknowingly, he walked to the South Camp where Meng Rang was, and after a moment of contemplation, he stepped into the camp and asked someone to inform Meng Rang.

Meng Rang is a native of Qi County, about forty years old, with a gentle appearance and the style of a Confucian general. When the troubled times came, he once led an army against the Sui Dynasty. During the battle with the government, the army continued to expand.Later, he teamed up with Wang Bo, who had made the first righteous contribution, and occupied the area of ​​Changbai Mountain in Qingzhou, and occupied Qi County and Beihai County. Because Zhang Xutuo and Zhou Fashang were advancing by water and land, he led his troops to Jianghuai, with more than [-] troops. With the foothold of Duliang Mountain in Jiangdu, he attacked Jiangdu City in the south and was defeated by Wang Shichong, who was Jiangducheng at that time. Gong, after Li Mi ascended the throne, he was canonized as the king of Qi County and the general of Zuowei.

He is a person with extremely rich experience in war, and he is extremely worried about the Wei Jun Wei Jun who is chaotic and demoralized.

Hearing that Fang Xuanzao came to visit, he got up quickly and personally welcomed him into the tent. After he was seated, he asked with a smile: "Mr. Fang, why don't you rest even though it's so late?"

Fang Xuanzao shook his head and sighed: "With the current situation of our army, how can I sleep. I have something I want to discuss with the general. I wonder if it is convenient for the general?"

"Convenient, naturally convenient." Meng Rang said with a wry smile, "To tell you the truth, more than a thousand people under my command have escaped, and now I have no master. Please give me some advice, sir."

Fang Xuanzao smiled bitterly: "Could it be that General Li's head has expired?"

Meng Rang sighed: "It's okay now, but it's hard to say in the second half of the night."

"The general is a man who has experienced many battles. Naturally, he knows the current situation, so I won't say more." Fang Xuanzao was silent for a while, looked at Meng Rang and said: "When night falls, I advise the emperor to take advantage of the Sui army's encirclement. Before the momentum was established, they went north to Tushan overnight, took a short rest, and then returned to the Central Plains. After stabilizing the army, they captured Qingxu, then threatened Luoyang from the east, and joined forces with Li Tang to resist the Sui Dynasty and share the pressure with each other. This is currently the only feasible way. However, the Holy Majesty is indecisive and has been unable to make up his mind, and now I am very anxious."

Meng Rang pondered and said: "This area is where I used to stand. When I had the largest number of troops, it was as high as 16. After I was defeated by Wang Shichong, the only soldiers who followed me to the north were more than a thousand veterans I brought from Qingzhou." There is not a single soldier from the Jianghuai River. It can be seen that the people here are very nostalgic for their homeland. Once we go north now, I am afraid that it will be exactly the same as I was back then. The Holy One also understands this. I am afraid that we need to think about it. After all, it is related to tens of thousands of people. As a soldier, you can’t give up just by saying give up.”

"You can't have both, we can't have everything, we have to make a trade-off, I mean give up these southern soldiers, take these old soldiers to the north overnight, with these southern cover, we can definitely go north victorious, we There are more than 4 old soldiers, plus more than 20 generals Wang and Xu, and we have nearly [-] soldiers. If Huaibei cannot be defended, at worst, we can enter the Runan Mountains from Ruyin, either by water or land." Fang Xuanzao said.

Meng Rang was slightly taken aback, Runan is now in the hands of the Sui army, he has never considered it, but the southern part of Runan County is the vast Huaiyang Mountains, Tongbai Mountain is even more steep, if they can retreat into the Runan Mountains, It is a very good choice. When the Sui and Tang Dynasties reach a stalemate, they can make a comeback.

He pondered for a while, and said: "Our army has finally transformed from a bandit to a regular Wei army. I am afraid that the Holy One is not willing to be a bandit again."

"I know this, so I didn't tell the Holy One about this choice." Fang Xuanzao nodded, and continued: "I'm talking about the final choice, and it may not be true to enter the mountain. If you can gain a foothold in the Central Plains again, why bother to enter the mountain?"

"Sir, we have already made an agreement with the Holy Majesty. Now we can only wait for the Holy Majesty's decision."

Fang Xuanzao said: "I am worried that the cavalry of the Sui army will come to kill at dawn, has the general forgotten about Li Xiaogong's defeat?"

Meng Rang stood up in shock, cold sweat began to break out on his forehead.

During Li Tang's Eastern Expedition last year, Li Xiaogong was the commander of the West Route Army, and there were hundreds of thousands of soldiers under his command. Only [-] to [-] cavalry were used to wipe out Li Xiaogong's entire army; the Tang army with high morale was so miserable, if it were replaced by the current Wei army, the result would be self-evident. My heart was beating wildly, and I only felt a chill down my spine.

"The other thing is that we have to take the food for this western expedition, either by water and put it in Zhongli Tushan County, or by land and transport it to Dingyuan City. There is not much food behind us. Our current food can only support two people at most. If we don’t abandon the southern army and set off overnight, even if we don’t get massacred by the Sui army’s cavalry, the limited food will not be able to support us to Huaibei.”

"Is there really only two days' food left?" Meng Rang could no longer calm down.

"A [-]-strong army consumes a lot. Without the support of Jiangyangcang and Dingyuan City, how long does the general think we can support? Also, Tushan County is empty of troops. If the Sui army takes it away, we will not only lose food. , even the road to the north was cut off." Fang Xuanzao gave a long cry and said with a bitter smile: "Our army camp is only a few miles away from the place where 'Farewell My Concubine' took place. Doesn't the general feel that our situation Is it very similar to Xichu Bawu?"

Meng Rang said: "Besieged on all sides, ambush on all sides?"

"Yes!" Fang Xuanzao nodded slowly and said, "The overlord of Western Chu refused to cross the east, and committed suicide in the west of Wujiang River. I am very worried that the Holy Majesty will not cross the Huai River for a long time."

Meng Rang couldn't sit still anymore, he got up abruptly: "My husband and I will go to see the Holy Majesty together. Either we will ignore the two armies of the Sui army and simply attack Jiangdu; or we will go north overnight. In short, we must make a decision tonight."

"It's not too late, we'll go now."

The two stood up at the same time and hurried to the commander's tent. Just as they arrived at the door, a guard just came out. Seeing that it was Fang Xuanzao and Meng Rang, he bowed happily: "Shang Shuling, General Meng , Your Majesty is looking for you."

"Mr. Fang, please come in, General Zhen." It seemed that he heard the guard's voice, and Li Mi's voice came from inside the big tent, his voice was full of relaxation.Fang Xuanzao and Meng Xin knew that Li Mi had already made a decision.

Is it just fighting or going north?

This made the two of them feel a little uneasy, they glanced at each other and quickly stepped inside, only to see Li Mi sitting on the main seat, his expression was much better than when Fang Xuanzao left.

"The humble minister Fang Xuanzao sees the Holy One."

"The last general, Meng Rang, sees His Majesty."

The two stepped forward to salute.

Li Mi motioned the two of them to sit down, and asked suspiciously: "You two came hand in hand, did something happen?"

Fang Xuanzao clasped his hands and said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, this minister was a little disturbed and really couldn't fall asleep, so he wandered around in the camp. When passing by General Meng's barracks, he went in to ask for tea. By the way, we talked about the current situation."

"That's right, Your Majesty, I think Mr. Fang's suggestion to transfer to the Central Plains is the best solution at present. The time is not waiting for me. Your Majesty, it is best to make a decision tonight." Say what you want, and you are not afraid of offending Li Mi.

Fang Xuanzao's head buzzed, and he yelled in his heart: "Oops, this guy is going to die!" Just as he was about to say a few words to help.Li Mi had already picked up the conversation, and asked with a smile, "What does General Meng think?"

Li Mi still has this kind of heart, otherwise he would not have gathered a large number of advisers and generals. In history, his reputation in the early stage was very good. Wang Shichong also said, "Li Mi is talented and decisive. He is a dragon or a snake. It is unpredictable."

The reason why he got the reputation of being narrow-minded and narrow-minded is that after killing Zhai Rang, he eliminated Zhai Rang's confidantes in large numbers. Li Mi conspired to get rid of Li Mi and was about to seize power, but Li Mi detected it in advance and killed him. Since he even killed Zhai Rang, he naturally wanted to kill the grass.In the final analysis, there is no right or wrong in a power struggle, there is only a result of winning or losing, but as the winning party, it must bear its due notoriety.If it was Zhai Rang who won the decisive victory, I am afraid that he would also be called ungrateful, jealous of talents, and punish heroes.

At this time, Meng Rang said: "Last year Luo Shixin took advantage of the cavalry and killed Li Xiaogong's entire army with a strong bow and crossbow. There are tens of thousands of fine cavalry in Dingyuan City, and it is not far from here. I will worry about the Sui army's big battle tomorrow." Repeat the old trick."

Hearing this, Li Mi felt a loud 'boom' in his head, his mind went blank, and he actually forgot about it.

"Damn."

Li Mi slapped his forehead fiercely, and quickly said to the two of them: "I summoned Mr. to come, I wanted to explain that I would lead the army northward tomorrow, but after listening to General Meng, we have to evacuate tonight."

"The Holy One is wise." The two were overjoyed.

"Pass down the order to take the old soldier to Tushan in the name of stealing the camp, then cross the Huai River and enter Ruyin..." Li Mi showed a trace of struggle on his face, and said decisively: "As for the south, just stay The camp buys us time."

As soon as the words fell, a guard rushed into the big tent and said loudly: "Report to the Holy Majesty, the scouts are here to report that Yao Junsu is leading an army of [-] to this side, less than [-] miles away from our camp. .Please make a decision, Your Majesty."

"It came so fast!" Li Mi stood up in surprise, the thing he was most worried about finally came. Judging from this posture, the Sui army planned to attack the camp overnight.

Fang Xuanzao said anxiously: "Your Majesty, the Sui army has been eating meat for a long time. They are physically strong and have excellent eyesight. They are all good fighters in night battles. Now the situation of attacking from left to right has not yet formed. If we don't go now, when will we wait?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, it's twenty miles away, which is about an hour's journey. In addition, they need to rest, and we still have at least two hours. The general suggested that Your Majesty take the elite soldiers away in the name of taking the initiative to fight." At the same time, let the southern soldiers guard the barracks. When Yang Guang went on an expedition to Goguryeo, everyone brought their own rations. We might as well follow them one by one, so that we don’t need logistics and can reduce the burden on the road.” Meng Rang also stood up and suggested with a solemn face. road.

Li Mi forced himself to calm down, calmed down a little, and quickly untied his son of heaven, handed it to Meng Rang, and said solemnly, "In my name, let the [-] main force bring weapons and ten days of food to gather in the front camp , there must be no slack in the slightest."

"The last general obeys the order!" Meng Rang took the sword with both hands and left in a hurry.

"My lord, although the barracks are used as a cover, they cannot be lost so easily." Fang Xuanzao said.

"Sir, please tell me." At this time, any suggestion is Li Mi's life-saving straw.

"Wufeng Mountain to the west of the military camp is the barrier of the military camp, which can stop the enemies in the distant county. Our army camped here, and this is what we value. In my opinion, if Lord Yao Su came to fight, Yang Tong would never sit idly by. No matter, therefore, I suggest that the emperor send [-] southern troops to set up an ambush in Wufeng Mountain, not to mention defeating the Sui army, but at worst, it can buy some time for my army going north."

"Okay. Let's do it like this." Li Mi followed good advice, and in fact he had no other choice.

When he was considering who to appoint as general, a bodyguard rushed to the tent and reported loudly: "My Majesty, the Dingyuan Sui army is coming towards the camp, less than ten miles away from us."

"boom!"

Li Mi's mind exploded, his expression was as if he had seen a ghost, his face was full of disbelief, cold sweat was streaming down like a waterfall.I only felt that my legs were weak, and I sat down on the stool. I only felt that my throat was dry, and I couldn't say a word.
Fang Xuanzao's eyes were dull, and his mind went blank.

There was a dead silence in the tent.

Time seems to have passed for a long time, and it seems to be just a moment.

Li Mi is finally a hero of a generation. After experiencing countless storms, he recovered first, took a deep breath, and said to Fang Xuanzao: "The attack from left to right has become a force, and we can't even think about leaving now. Stick to the camp and fight the Sui army to the death. You quickly bring Meng Rang back and order him to lead [-] archers to defend the camp, and I will personally lead the elite troops to fight."

As he spoke, he took out a gold medal and handed it to Fang Xuanzao.

"As ordered."

Fang Xuanzao had nothing to say, took the token and went after Meng Rang.

"Beat the drums and gather the generals."

When the matter came to an end, Li Mi completely calmed down.

"Dong dong dong dong..."

Suddenly, the rumble of war drums shattered the tranquility of the night.

(End of this chapter)