The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 940 Emergency Response (Ticket Request)

At the same time that Yang Tong, Fang Xuanling, and Ling Jing decided to let Luo Shixin attack Luo County in the south, Li Shimin in Chengdu was also urgently discussing countermeasures with the civil and military officials.

The fall of the southern part of Yizhou only made Li Shimin feel nervous and anxious. After all, the southern part of Yizhou has accumulated a large number of troops, and it will not be able to threaten the safety of Chengdu for a while. The fall of the county is like a sharp sword with the county on top of the head, which doubles the pressure on Li Shimin.

However, the fall of Mianzhu County was like a poisonous dagger piercing the throat of Chengdu City and the lower abdomen of the Tang Army under Liu Hongji. People in Chengdu were panicked. In just one morning, the price of food in Chengdu skyrocketed by more than 30 times, triggering the first wave of rushing for rice.

Li Shimin hadn't recovered from the news that the south of Yizhou and the north of Shu County were occupied, and was hit by the fall of Mianzhu County. He was anxious and angry, and hurriedly summoned a group of ministers to discuss countermeasures in Wude Hall.

Everyone also knew not to mention the matter of the five counties in southern and central Yizhou for the time being, otherwise the multiple pressures would cause His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to explode into a thunderous rage, so many courtiers were cautious and tried their best to discuss the matter as it was, never involving what happened before.

Chen Shuda, who had just returned from his inspection tour in Luo County, had a better understanding of the latest situation in the northern part of Shu County. He took the lead in saying to Li Shimin: "Mianzhu County and Luo County are connected at two ends. Except for Mianzhu Pass, there are only garrisons in the two counties. Now Mianzhu The county has already fallen, and there are still [-] county soldiers in Luo County. Based on this, the army must not be able to resist the attack of the Sui Dynasty cavalry. However, there are [-] troops in Xuanwu County, which were originally prepared to counterattack Fu County, Jinshan County. Elite soldiers, the veterans think that some troops can be drawn from here to assist in the defense of Luo County; and although Xuanwu County has lost its aggressiveness due to the reduction of troops, there are dangerous Sandui Mountains in the county, and the defense force is more than enough. And Fucheng and There is not much space for cavalry to gallop between Xuanwu, His Highness only needs to send good generals to lead [-] soldiers to guard it. As long as they come to defend day and night, I guess it will be difficult for the Sui army to take down the three piles of mountain army fortresses, so His Highness does not have to Too worried, the situation is not that urgent."

"Chen Xiangguo is right." Dou Gui stood up next to him, bowed to Li Shimin and said, "Your Highness, the battle report said that the Sui army used our spies in the Tang Dynasty to sneak attack on the three major dangers. The miraculous effect is that the Sui army in the north of Shu County does not have many troops, otherwise, it will not be able to hide the secret from our army. Now, although the Sui army has captured the five counties of Qinghua, Yicheng, Pu'an, Jinshan, and Pingwu , but it also means that the small Sui army has been divided into five, and each army has not many troops. From the fact that the other party only sent [-] soldiers to attack Mianzhu County, it can be seen that this Sui army is somewhat weak in follow-up , showing the potential of the end of the crossbow. This should be a lone wolf attack by the Sui army in Hanchuan, with the purpose of disrupting the deployment of our army and causing unrest in the government and the public. We need to stabilize ourselves now, and we must not let the Sui army disturb our minds. "

The words of Chen Shuda and Dou Gui made Li Shimin feel a little more at ease, but he understood that Luoxian County and Chengdu are only separated by Luoshui, Jianshui, and Fuhe River, and the terrain is far less dangerous than the northern part of the Chengdu Plain. The Sui army can conquer the terrain The dangerous Qinghua, Yicheng, Pu'an, Jinshan, and Pingwu will definitely be able to capture these three big rivers. Even if they can't take these three rivers, they can also attack Jiulong County in the west of Shu County, and then follow Minshui and Jiangshui. Occupy Pi County and threaten Chengdu City from the northwest.So this matter has to be resolved immediately anyway.

Li Shimin turned his attention to Li Shentong. Before he successfully seized power, the defense of Shu County was deployed by Li Shentong. It was too late for him to rectify the defense of Shu County, and the Sui army made a big attack. Li Shimin now depends on him. Give yourself an explanation?
Li Shentong is more terrified now than anyone else. Mianzhuguan is the most dangerous Mianzhu County. Li Yuan originally stationed [-] elite soldiers, but because he was worried that Li Shimin would take away all the military power, he let his confidants Quietly holding a military order, he withdrew [-] elite soldiers from Mianzhu County, leaving Mianzhu County with only a few thousand weak county soldiers.

It is precisely because of his selfishness that the army led by Xu Shiren, the guard of Mianzhu Pass, is not strong, and the fighting will and morale are not high. It can be said that the fall of Mianzhu County is entirely the responsibility of Li Shentong.

At this time, Li Shentong noticed the fierceness in Li Shimin's eyes, and felt a chill run down his spine, and hurriedly bowed and said, "His Royal Highness, the final general is willing to lead the [-] garrisons in Chengdu to the north to annihilate the Sui army going south." , and take back Mianzhu Pass."

Without waiting for Li Shimin to make a statement, Yuwen Shiji, who had been silent all this time, cupped his hands and said, "Your Highness, King Huai'an's army can't rush northward like this, otherwise it will cause a more serious crisis."

"Why?" Li Shimin asked.

"Your Highness, colleagues." Yuwen Shiji replied with his hands clasped: "We don't know which legion this Sui army came from, we don't know who the general is, and we don't know its combat strength or the ability of the general at all. The minister thinks that before we send troops, we must first find out the origin of the Sui army and who its general is, so that we can evaluate the opponent's combat effectiveness. If we rush to fight, not only will we not get any benefits, but it will limit us. The army folded in."

Li Shimin nodded and asked, "Who does Yuwen Xiangguo think is the leader of this Sui army?"

"Your Highness, in fact, we can analyze it from the deployment of the ten major armies of the Sui Army." Yuwen Shiji said: "On the border of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there are the First Army Corps of Jiangyuan County, the Ninth Army Corps of Lintao County, the Hanyang Yaojunsu Division, and the Hanchuan Army Corps. The Seventh Army of Fuling County, the Sixth Army of Fuling County, and the Tenth Army in Meishan and Ziyang. The Second Army fought in Jiaozhou, and the Third, Fourth, and Eighth Army defended the northern border. Therefore, the Sui Army could use the main battle Army, only Xie Yingdeng is in charge of the newly formed Fifth Army, and the Xuanjia Army known as the Army of the Son of Heaven. If Wei Chen did not make a mistake, this army in the northern part of Shu County should be the Fifth Army, and the five thousand fine cavalry occupying Mianzhu County It should be Yang Tong's Xuanjia Army. The Xuanjia Army is known as the cradle of the middle-level military attaches of the Sui Army. Even an ordinary soldier is selected from the top ten regiment brigade commanders. The weapons and equipment are all the best in the world; if this cavalry is the Xuanjia Army, I worry that the [-] troops of King Huai'an will not be able to defeat them. Once the [-] troops are defeated in the wild, the Xuanjia Army will definitely take advantage of the situation and fight outside the city of Chengdu. We cannot afford to cause serious consequences!"

Starting from the composition and deployment of the army in the Sui Dynasty, Yuwen Shiji made a reasonable, clear and thorough analysis, which not only convinced Li Shimin and others, but also Li Shentong, who clamored to regain Mianzhuguan, knew that Yuwen Shiji was right. The [-] cavalrymen in the army are most likely the Xuanjia Army, otherwise, how could they attack the city and loot the land all the way, killing the Tang army and defeating them again and again?
Thinking of this, Li Shentong no longer dared to take the initiative to invite Ying, and silently waited for Li Shimin's ruling.

Li Shimin glanced at Li Shentong who retreated silently, and knew that he was already scared, so he frowned disdainfully, and asked Yuwen Shiji, "Then according to Yuwen Xiangguo's opinion, how should we deal with this Sui army?"

Yuwen Shiji bowed again and said: "Reporting to Your Highness, I believe that Mianzhuguan and Mianzhu County must be taken back, but it is best not to use the army from Chengdu lightly unless it is absolutely necessary. The main mission of the army of the imperial capital is to strictly guard the city of Chengdu." The outer line of defense. The Sui army in the north of the imperial capital should mobilize the outer army to fight. The minister suggested that Li Zhongwen's army in Langnei, Brazil be transferred back to Yanting County, Xincheng County, and attack Weicheng County, Jinshan County from the south; while the [-] troops in Xuanwu County Then garrison Luo County first. After all, according to the itinerary, the distance from Xuanwu to Luo County is tens of miles closer than that from Mianzhu to Luo County. If the march is expedited, it will definitely arrive one step ahead of the Sui army. If Luo County is stable, Weicheng will make progress , the army from Chengdu immediately went north to Mianzhu, and three armies attacked Jinshan County at the same time, cutting the Sui army that had penetrated into the territory of our Tang Dynasty into several divisions, and then annihilated them from four directions. At the same time, let Liu Hongji The general focused on holding on, and quickly dispatched a group of elite soldiers to capture Pingwu County, and Yuwenshan County held back part of the Sui army for the three-way army, and played a role in consolidating the defense of Wenshan County, preventing Pei Xingyan from advancing eastward."

"What about Brazil County?" Li Shimin asked again.

"Your Highness, I feel that the Sui army should not be in Brazil County anymore." Yuwen Shiji said very implicitly, and the implication was to remind Li Shimin that Brazil could no longer be held. It would be better to shrink the line of defense, gather the troops scattered in all directions, annihilate the Sui army in the north of Shu County first, and open up the communication channel between the imperial capital and Liu Hongji.

Li Shimin also understood what Yuwen Shiji meant. Now the south is safe for the time being, and Liu Hongji has mountains and rivers in danger. He only needs to send good generals to guard Guanshan.The most urgent task is to annihilate the Sui army that has penetrated into the heart of Yizhou, lest the other party occupy Wenshan County. Otherwise, once the Sui army is connected with the most powerful first army, the Tang Dynasty will be over. .

He nodded and asked the other important ministers: "What do you think of Yuwen Xiangguo's suggestion?"

Everyone expressed their opinions one after another, and they all believed that Yuwen Shiji not only considered the safety of the imperial capital, but also took into account the whole rest situation, which is the most stable and reasonable plan now.Li Shimin thought about it for a while, and immediately decided to adopt Yuwen Shiji's plan.

However, he did not fully adopt Yuwen Shiji's suggestion, but made amendments based on this, and sent someone to inform Li Zhongwen to ignore Brazil County and go northward from Langnei along the Langshui River to attack Pu'an Linjin County. , divided into Zitong Pass and Jianmen Pass, and cut off the connection between this Sui army and Hanchuan, Qinghua, Yicheng, and Suining.They also asked Liu Hongji to go south to Pingwu County.As for Xuanwu County, let the chief general Zhang Changxun personally lead an army of [-] to assist Luo County; and then transfer [-] Tubo cavalry from Chengdu to support Luo County. The army fought cavalry in the wild.

……

In fact, Zhang Changxun no longer needed Li Shimin to issue orders. He and Li Jing were people of the same era, and he was also a veteran who was good at fighting and both civil and military. After being promoted, he served as the governor of Wuyuan County. After the world was in chaos, he became self-reliant and attached to the Turks. Later, he moved to the south and attached Wudu, Dangqu and other counties to Li Yuan.

After Li Yuan ascended the throne, he dispatched Gao Shijing, the Hussar General Gao Shijing of Youwu Hou, to the Turks to repair Shibi Khan.Later, Li Yuan sent Guangluqing Yu Wenxin to bring gold and silk to bribe the Turkic Chuluo Khan, and persuaded the Turkic to send troops to join Li Shimin with Zhang Changxun, and jointly fought against Xue Ju, the overlord of the Western Qin Dynasty.Relying on his military merits, Zhang Changxun was appointed General Youwuhou and Duke Xiguo.Transferred to Yizhou Xingtai Zuo Pushe, where he has achieved political achievements.

When he heard the news that the Sui army had occupied Mianzhu Pass, he immediately realized that the situation was not good. , but was told by the scouts that the Sui army had occupied Mianzhu County and was marching towards Luo County, so they diverted to Luo County in the south of Mianzhu.

Luo County has two defenses. One is the Mian River from north to south. The river has a large drop and the current is turbulent. At the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, the current becomes more dangerous and it is quite difficult to cross the river.

There used to be a cable bridge from Xuanwu to Luo County, on which business travelers and troops used to come and go, and it was not affected by the river. However, after the Sui army occupied Mianzhu County, Yang Tong asked Li Daliang to lead the Black Ice Terrace soldiers to occupy various places strategically. Importantly, Li Daliang knew that Yang Tong didn't have many troops, and his mission at this time was more to occupy a key point for the follow-up army to go south, rather than to fight a large-scale battle with the Tang army.So when he discovered the bridge on Mianshui, he ordered someone to remove the iron chains of the iron chain bridge on the west bank of Mianshui, so that Zhang Changxun's army who came to support Luoxian County was the first to face this dangerous obstacle.

The Mianshui in this section is more than 20 feet wide, and the bank is as deep as three feet. The river is full of stones of different sizes. The Tang army went down to test the water, but all the ten Tang army scouts who went to test were washed away by the flood. One person was seriously injured, and the whereabouts of the other nine people were unknown, which made Zhang Changxun desperate to wade directly across the river.

This is not only because of the rapid flow of the Mian River, but also because there are hundreds of soldiers of the Sui army on the other side of the river, holding bows and crossbows, ready to fight, and they can shoot and kill the soldiers of the Tang army who ventured across the river with ease.

In the afternoon, Zhang Changxun, who was standing by the river, looked at the rushing water and was extremely worried. It was impossible for his army to fly across the water, but no matter whether it was a boat or just swimming, they must have a point to rely on. And this support is a thick rope, or an iron chain, which connects the two sides of Mianshui, but how to send a few soldiers there has become a very headache. After all, the Sui army on the other side will never allow them to swim over. .

The deputy general Jing Junhong beside Zhang Changxun said in a low voice, "General Zhang, there will be a plan for crossing the river at the end."

"What plan? Tell me quickly." Zhang Changxun was joyful and excited as if grasping at a straw.

"Although the water in Mianshui is fast-moving, the water is not too deep. We can completely cut off the river upstream and temporarily dry up the riverbed. As long as the water is blocked for a while, our army can send one or two thousand soldiers there in time. As long as this Sui army is wiped out, and the iron chain is pulled up, things can fly on this chain bridge."

Zhang Changxun said: "General Jing's method is not bad, but the risk is relatively high, a little carelessness will bring disaster to our army."

Jing Junhong said: "The short-term problem is not a big problem, and it is not necessary to completely dry up the water, as long as [-]% of the water is blocked, the water flow can be reduced, not as turbulent as it is now, when we directly waded across the river. "

This is the only way for the army to cross the river as quickly as possible. Zhang Changxun said decisively: "You immediately lead [-] soldiers to the upper reaches to find the place where the river is cut off. It will be safer if you can divert the river to another place. I hope tomorrow Before dawn, you can complete this task."

Jing Junhong bowed his hands and said solemnly: "Don't worry, general, the general will be able to complete this task!"

"Then you immediately lead your troops to choose a place to block the river."

"Here." Jing Junhong immediately gathered five thousand soldiers and headed north along the river bank. In fact, what Jing Junhong hoped most was to find a place where he could wade across the river. to the other side.

Not long after Jing Junhong left, a group of messengers rushed over, and the head lieutenant shouted loudly: "General Zhang, the prince's order is here."

Zhang Changxun hurriedly stepped forward to greet him, and a soldier who delivered the order dismounted from his horse, presented the order to Zhang Changxun respectfully, and said, "This is an urgent military order from His Royal Highness, first sent to Xuanwu County, but the general has already arrived in Luo County, So we sent it here again from Luo County.”

"I see." Zhang Changxun quickly opened the urgent message to watch, and Li Shimin asked him to lead an army to support Luo County, and cooperate with the Tang army in Chengdu to encircle and suppress the Sui army that entered the country.This coincided with his actions, but the Sui army had [-] elite cavalry, and he had only [-] infantry, and was being chased and monitored by the Sui army on the other side, so he couldn't escape the opponent's eyes and ears, so what? Can cross the river?
Zhang Changxun thought hard for a while, and suddenly his heart moved. Since His Royal Highness gave him the command to fight, he naturally knew that he was outstretched in troops. He was not an opponent of the five thousand fine cavalry of Sui Dynasty. : "Does Your Highness have any other deployments? To be sure, does Your Highness have any other troops to support Luo County?"

"Return to General, Your Highness has sent [-] Tubo cavalry to go north. The chief general is General Zhai Changsun. It is not far from here, and it is estimated that they will arrive tomorrow."

Hearing this, Zhang Changxun felt a little disappointed. His Highness the Crown Prince said in the order that he must block the five thousand fine cavalry to the north of Luo County, so he should send a heavy army to the north, among which the troops should first wipe out the Sui army. Yu Ye, broke the myth that the Sui army was invincible, and thus played a role in boosting the morale of the Tang army. Did His Highness think that these ten thousand Tibetans could wipe out the Sui army?

Zhang Changxun didn't know how powerful the Tubo army was, but he could see one or two things from the side. For example, Yang Tong in Jiangyuan County used one brilliant victory after another to prove that the Tubo army was inferior to the Sui army.

His Highness's decision is undoubtedly hasty.

"Is this an order from His Royal Highness?" Zhang Changxun asked again.

The school lieutenant nodded and replied: "General Haojiao learned that this is exactly the decision of His Highness the Crown Prince and the ministers. The main reason is that General Li Zhongwen will attack Pu'an County. If General Li breaks through Zitong Pass or Jianmen Guan, then the army in Chengdu will immediately follow up; of course, His Royal Highness is not without action now, he sent Deputy Luo Jun and Qiu Yingqi to lead [-] soldiers each to Jiulong County and Xinglong County, thinking military."

Zhang Changxun frowned and said, "Since they've all gone to Jiulong and Xinglong, why not let them go directly to Luo County?"

The captain smiled wryly and said: "It's not that His Highness is unwilling, but the army trained by the King of Huai'an is really indescribable. Its combat power is only a little bit better than that of the county soldiers. This kind of army guarding the place is not enough However, if they are allowed to go into battle to kill the enemy, I'm afraid it will drag the general back."

"Ah!" Hearing this, Zhang Changxun couldn't help sighing up to the sky, "This was a great opportunity to annihilate the five thousand fine cavalry of the Sui army, but because the soldiers trained by the King of Huai'an were useless, we missed it for nothing. After such an opportunity I’m afraid it’s hard to own.”

Zhang Changxun shook his head and didn't speak any more.

The current situation is more serious than he imagined. If the existing elite soldiers are exhausted, what will they do to hold on?

If you stick to it, how long can you keep it?

But since His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has made a decision, he just accepts the order.

The worried Zhang Changxun no longer considered the follow-up matters. How to cross Mianshui, retake Mianzhu County, and Mianzhu Pass is the top priority.

Everything else is secondary for now.

(End of this chapter)