The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 759 A word to wake up the dreamer
The entire river has become a sea of ​​fire, and the soldiers of the Sui army on the raging north bank burst into cheers from time to time. With each cheer, one or several large ships sank to the bottom of the river.

Even though Shen Guang wanted to fight to the other side, but his troops were too few and the fire was too big, he could only look at "Yang" and sigh.

"It seems that the Liao people will not be able to catch up. We must retreat, withdraw to Taihe Village in Meishan, and rely on the danger of Mount Emei to eliminate the Tang army's vitality." Shen Guang said to Zhang Sheng beside him: "Get ready to evacuate."

At this time, Zhang Sheng, who was also unwilling, suddenly shouted excitedly: "General, look, the Tang army barracks are on fire, it's really on fire."

Shen Guang was stunned for a moment, and looked to the opposite bank again, only to see that the Tang army camp was indeed ablaze, and the fire was several miles wide, and it was used as sparks, and began to spread.

At this time, Tang Jun's barracks were indeed burned by someone.

The night wind was strong, and the tents were engulfed by the flames. Many soldiers were engulfed by the billowing smoke and flames before the fire range. There were fire men screaming and running everywhere, but they didn't run far, and they rolled on the ground in pain. The corpses were curled up by the fire.

Although the soldiers of the Tang army watched the fire for nearly an hour, the fire in the middle of the river could not ignite the river or go ashore. However, the fire in the barracks directly threatened the lives of the soldiers of the Tang army.

The camp on the South Bank was led by General Zuo Xiaowei Ma Sanbao. He rode back and forth on horses and commanded the soldiers to dismantle the tents in an attempt to set up a fire line to isolate the raging fire. At the same time, he also separated soldiers and officials fight.

Ma Sanbao shouted loudly: "Don't mess up, line up and defend!"

"Look, general!" A soldier pointed to the sky and shouted:

As soon as Ma Sanbao looked up, he saw several burning tents were blown into the sky by the strong wind, and they were floating towards this side. He hurriedly said to the left and right: "Keep an eye on these fire seeds, don't allow them to fall into the camp."

But there are too many tents floating in the sky, how can the people below stop them?
Several burning tents floated around, and finally fell powerlessly in the densely packed tent area. The big tent behind Ma Sanbao burned rapidly, and he was furious with hatred, "Separate another fire line."

At this moment, a cavalry rushed to Ma Sanbao and shouted to Ma Sanbao: "General, Your Majesty orders you to abandon the barracks and retreat to Hejiang County!"

"Pass down the order, and the whole army will withdraw to Hejiang County." Ma Sanbao glanced at the rapidly burning camp, and couldn't help sighing. Before the enemy army invaded in large numbers and the fire had not yet ravaged the entire camp, it was indeed possible to preserve the vitality of the camp. It is the best policy, as for how many people arrived safely, only God knows.

"Boom, boom, boom..." The rumbling drums of the retreat suddenly sounded. The soldiers of the Tang army were panicked and had no intention of fighting. The flames that swept over made them push each other. Some people who were unfortunately squeezed into the river screamed at the top of their lungs. What was even more tragic was that the soldiers who were tripped became stepping stones for many robes and were trampled into mud.

Stumbled and stumbled a mile away, the Liao warriors who had already withdrawn from the fire scene stabbed obliquely, and swung their knives to kill the enemy group. Wherever the knives passed, the soldiers of the Tang army lay dead. Tang Jun escaped.

Ma Sanbao saw that the road was cut off, and there were screaming chasing people from behind, and the defeated army was about to hit his rear, so he calmly ordered: "Soldiers, kill the enemy ahead! There is a way to live, otherwise you will die."

In order to survive, the soldiers of the Tang army fought bravely one by one, desperately breaking through, and the two sides fought fiercely outside the camp.The heads were rolling, the dead bodies piled up, and the pungent smell of blood filled the air
At this time, all the Wuya Fleet in the middle and upper reaches had sunk to the bottom of the river, which also made Shen Guang's road to the south smooth. He and his soldiers used more than 30 warships to cross the Yangtze River. After landing on the river bank, they attacked the Tang army from the north. outflank.

The soldiers of the two armies fought to the death, and the scuffle continued until dawn. The battle was extremely brutal, and the entire riverside plain was piled up with dead bodies, just like Senluo Hell.

Although the soldiers of the Tang army were numerous and powerful, and the soldiers worked hard, after Shen Guang arrived, he unified the command of the Sui army and the Liao people to fight, and gave way to the soldiers of the Tang army. Human casualties were greatly reduced, and less than half of the 1 Tang troops on land escaped; more than [-] soldiers were killed, burned to death, trampled on each other, and the rest became deserters.

The fleet of the Tang army was burned to ashes, with broken masts and sails on the river, and smoke curling up from some ships. More than 1 soldiers, more than 2 sailors, and some officials and their family members who had no time to escape were burned. died, or fell into the river and drowned, and thousands of officials and family members became captives.Among them, there are Li Yuan's favorite concubine Zhang Jieyu, and Li Yuan's young children.

. . . . .

When Li Yuan fled to Hejiang County, he realized that the Liao people who ambushed him were not many in number. He wanted to return to the army to fight, but he was dissuaded by Liu Wenjing, Pei Ji, Xiao Yu, Dou Lukuan and others.

Although there are still more than 4 soldiers in total, several prime ministers agreed that the soldiers of the Tang Army are not good at fighting in the mountains. Even if they send troops, the opponent only needs to hide in the mountains. If you win, you will lose a lot.The key point is that the barracks and fleet were completely destroyed by the fire, and the hearts of the whole army were fluctuating, and the morale of the army was in turmoil. If they were forced to go out of the city to fight, many soldiers would become deserters before they even arrived at the battlefield.The top priority is to preserve strength and stabilize the morale of the army.

Li Yuan did not insist on going his own way, he listened to everyone's opinions, and asked Ma Sanbao to build a defense line outside the city, which would serve as horns with the city to prevent bureaucrats from invading.

After the arrangements were made, Li Yuan walked up to the east tower of the Hejiang River, silently watching the water of the Yangtze River flowing eastward, with a heavy heart.

In this sneak attack, he lost not only soldiers, but also more than a million stones of grain, and countless treasures and treasures.

The key point is that the more than 200 five-tooth warships that were burned were the only large warships owned by the Li Tang Dynasty. Their destruction also meant that the Li Tang Dynasty lost control of the Yangtze River. The Sui navy could swagger into Yizhou, which made him deeply feel that the crisis of the Tang Dynasty had penetrated into all aspects.

"Your Majesty, there was no sign of what happened last night, and no one could have predicted it. Since it happened, please, Your Majesty, take the dragon body as the most important thing and don't worry too much."

Liu Wenjing, who was haggard and dejected, walked up slowly. He fell ill on the way and has not yet recovered. He almost lost his life on the river last night. He sighed and continued to comfort him: "We Coming here under the scorching sun for a long time, we are already short of people and horses, and Luchuan County is the heartland of our Tang Dynasty, so the soldiers will inevitably slack off. Not to mention being attacked by them, the failure is also reasonable."

"In my life, I have been brilliant and experienced countless fiascos. I can still bear this blow. As long as I am still alive, I will definitely not let the Tang Dynasty perish." Li Yuan, with a hoarse voice, showed an ugly smile, and persuaded instead : "Zhaoren's body hasn't recovered yet, so don't think about anything now, just take care of your illness. I want you to come up with a plan to bring peace to the world."

Liu Wenjing showed a gratified smile. As a minister, he is not afraid of being mediocre and incompetent, but afraid of his lack of indomitable warriors and a calm heart. What Li Yuan lacked in the past is this calmness now. Fear and restlessness, everyone knows that in this chaotic world of cannibalism, a monarch with this mentality is simply the way to die. Once the monarch loses his assertion and messes up his position, can it be civil and military?Therefore, when one's own forces are facing difficulties, no matter how frightened the monarch is, he still has to pretend that the Mount Tai collapsed before him and his color does not change.

After being silent for a while, Li Yuan asked: "Zhao Ren, what do you think we should do now?"

"The first is to send envoys to negotiate with the bureaucrats to redeem the princes, princesses, officials, and family members of officials who have fallen into the enemy, so as to reassure people's hearts... If it is too late, I am worried that these people will be killed. You will be separated from your morality." Liu Wenjing said.

"It looks like I'm about to be brutally slaughtered by the Liao people," Li Yuan sighed, and asked again: "What else?"

"The other thing is to find out why the Liao people attacked the Holy One..." Liu Wenjing said: "Yizhou has been in the hands of our Tang Dynasty for several years. Troubles are nothing more than petty disturbances, as long as the imperial court appeases them in time, the Liao people who have been treated fairly will disperse convincedly... But this time is completely different from the past, they are planning to kill the Holy Majesty."

A word awakened the dreamer, Li Yuan finally understood the crux of the problem, fixed his eyes on Liu Wenjing, and asked, "Zhaoren, what do you think? Could it be Yang Tong who is playing tricks?"

"The Liao people are different from the northern alien races such as the Turks. They have no ambitions for the Central Plains, and even worship the Han culture; what they want is to get rid of the dangerous mountains and forests, have fertile land and a peaceful life, and then have the same status as the Han people. Equality. And what they need, Yang Tong can just give. The guess that I think is very likely." Liu Wenjing nodded in agreement: "But this is just our guess, it is not reliable. It is best to first Send envoys over to discuss the redemption of the captives, and secondly, to ask the truth, only with evidence to follow, can we make a correct judgment."

Thinking of the terrifying Yang Yu and his own situation, Li Yuan couldn't calm down anymore, nodded and said, "In that case, let Xiao Xiangguo go for a trip."

(End of this chapter)