Great Warriors of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 793 Li Shimin Comes Back

"Your Majesty, Changwu City was raided by Li Shimin and fell."

late at night.

An urgent news woke up Xue Rengao, who was enjoying the victory in Gyeongju.

Changwu City is located in the northwest corner of Binzhou. Although the city is small, its location is extremely important.It is the main points of the Sichuan Road from Jingzhou to Chang'an that are controlled.

More than 20 miles south, you will arrive at the famous Huangpuyuan, which is also the main passage to Yilu and directly to Chang'an.

Changwu City controls two main roads leading to Chang'an. In addition, Changwu City can also form a corner with Binzhou, Ningzhou, and Qingzhou. Although the city is small, it is very strong. To store grain and grass, you can also garrison troops, you can defend when you retreat, and you can attack when you advance.

Now the capital of the Great Qin Dynasty, Zheqi City, is in Jingzhou, not far to the west of Changwu City, only a few tens of miles away.

After the last battle in Qianshuiyuan, Xue Rengao took advantage of the situation to seize Changwu and other cities, and stored grain and grass here, preparing to use it as a grain and grass base for this Eastern Expedition. , and then collect some food, grass, money and silk, who knows that Li Shimin will be attacked by surprise.

"Is the pig staying behind?"

Chengwu City, the city is based on the original head, facing Jingshui, overlooking the passage.

The city was built on a platform on the south bank of the Jinghe River, with its back facing the mountains and the water, facing south and facing north. There is also a naturally formed deep ditch on the east and west sides of the city, which serves as a natural barrier.

It is adjacent to the Jinghe River in the north, and hills and hills in the south, connecting with Feiyun Plateau.

When building the city, the natural terrain was used to cut mountains and build the city, guarding the throat of Xiaoguan ancient road, reaching Yilu in the east and directly to Chang'an.Entering Jingzhou in the west, connecting Qinzhou and Jincheng, the strategic position is very important, and it is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The east, west and north faces ditch, the mountain is cut into a moat, the city wall is rammed on the edge of the plateau, the connection of the mountain is cut off, and the city is opened with four gates, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Li Shimin should not have captured such a city even if he made a surprise attack.

Let Li Shimin occupy this place where he can advance, attack, retreat and defend, and now Xue Rengao will be in some trouble.

"Assemble troops and horses immediately, and follow me south to retake Changwu City!"

Xue Rengao led his army to the south.

In Changwu City, Li Shimin personally sat in the town, with [-] troops stationed.

Another general led 2 people to garrison Yilu in the south, and at the same time 2 people were stationed in Binzhou City further south.He didn't concentrate all the soldiers and horses in Changwu City, but made three echelon arrangements.

When Xue Rengao led the army to arrive, Li Shimin held up his exemption card and guarded the city.

No matter how Xue Rengao challenged him, he made it clear that he would stick to the city to exhaust the Qin army.

After all, Xue Rengao has strong soldiers and strong horses, especially a lot of cavalry, and many of his subordinates are Longyou Qiangluo, and all of them can ride and shoot well.In contrast, Tang Jun had just experienced a major defeat in Qianshuiyuan, losing more than [-] soldiers and horses, two generals died, and the eight generals were captured. Now the eight generals have not returned.

In terms of cavalry, although Li Shimin organized 6 horses to counterattack, there were less than [-] cavalry. In contrast, Xue Rengao had [-] to [-] cavalry.

Make use of strengths and avoid weaknesses, this is something useful that Li Shimin has learned from Luo Cheng for several years.

Xue Rengao had an army of 20, against Li Shimin's [-].

Although Li Shimin is superior in military strength, if Li Shimin doesn't fight with him now, his advantage in military strength will turn into a disadvantage in logistics.

Especially with more cavalry, the horses eat more.

Xue Rengao also wanted to attack Changwu City by force, but Changwu City is so dangerous that it is very difficult to attack by force.

In particular, Li Shimin was very smart, and only brought 2 people to garrison Changwu City, which greatly reduced the pressure on logistics and food, and could defend for a longer period of time.

However, he stationed 4 troops in Yilu and Binzhou, making it impossible for the Qin army to get around.

"Everyone, what's the plan?"

"Chu Xiang?"

Chu Liang, who was named, suggested that he could deploy suspicious soldiers and then retreat quietly.Since Changwu City cannot be captured, and the other passages are occupied by Li Shimin's troops and cannot be bypassed, then withdraw the troops and wait for news from Liang Shidu and the Turks.

However, this strategy obviously cannot satisfy Xue Rengao.

This was his first battle after assuming the throne, and he withdrew if he didn't fight?

Besides, Li Shimin was his defeated general. He was able to defeat Tang Jun last time, so he didn't pay much attention to Tang Jun in his heart.

'You can leave a part of the troops to watch over Li Shimin, and then the main force of the army will go straight to Chang'an. "

Someone suggested.

"Changwu, Yilu, and Binzhou are all guarded by heavy troops. It is quite dangerous to attack Chang'an with the main force without breaking the city."

Chu Liang immediately refuted.

Anyone who knows a little bit about military affairs knows why it is always necessary to attack cities and break ponds when fighting. Why can't they just bypass those cities? Why don't you go around the city?
It's nothing more than two points. If you don't pull out this city, if you get stuck behind you, it will threaten the food, grass and equipment supply team in the rear, and the most feared thing for the ancient army is to run out of food.It is a laborious and ineffective method to rely on the collection in the war zone. The more soldiers and horses, the more you can only rely on your own food and grass supply.

And there is a strong city in the rear, and there is an army. Once the army passes by, the food and grass behind will be cut off.After all, it is impossible to send too many soldiers and horses to escort food and grass.

Another one is that the city soldiers and horses circling behind them may cut off their return at any time, and may attack their backs, flank them with the enemies in front, or even kill them directly behind them.

For example, now, Changwu City is only a few dozen miles away from Zheqi City, the capital of the Great Qin Dynasty. If they dare to bypass the cities of Binzhou and kill Chang'an, they will not be able to get food and grass supplies in the future, and the 20 people will collapse without fighting.

Or Li Shimin killed him to Longyou and took away the foundation of his Western Qin Dynasty.

The best result is to change homes.

The worst result is that their Western Qin army either ran out of food and was under the city of Chang'an, or their home was stolen from the rear, and they were all losers.

Sixty thousand soldiers and horses, this is not to be underestimated.

But you said you want to fight hard, such a dangerous and fortified city like Changwu, plus Li Shimin's 20 fresh troops from the Tang army, even if [-] people stormed it, it is estimated that it will be difficult to capture it for a year or so.

Back then, Wei Xiaokuan guarded Yubi City, a small Taicheng city, which was similar to Changwu. Gao Huan led 20 people to besiege it. As a result, 7 people were lost in the battle, and he could only withdraw his troops out of hatred.

"Your Majesty, I think we can't bypass it, but we can lure the enemy out of the cave. We can bluff, pretend to bypass Changwu, aggressively attack Chang'an, and then lure Li Shimin out of the city to fight." Hao Yuan said at this moment.

"But what if Li Shimin just won't be fooled and refuses to leave the city?" Xue Rengao asked, if you want to lure the snake out of the hole, the snake must be willing to come out.

"If it doesn't work, then withdraw the main force to Longzhou, attack Qizhou from there, and attack Chang'an along the Wei River." He Yuan said again.

Xi Liang objected loudly, thinking that withdrawing from Jingzhou to Longzhou and then attacking Qizhou would take too much time. Furthermore, if the main force went to Qizhou, who would guard Jingzhou or Qingzhou?If Li Shimin comes out, who can stop him?
Therefore, Chu Liang believes that we still have to find a way to break through Changwu and go straight to Chang'an, instead of turning around as soon as we encounter difficulties.

(End of this chapter)