Great Warriors of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 847 The Last Line of Defense

Tang Wude two years, May.

A cavalry team galloped across the Wei Bridge and headed for Chang'an City.

The cavalry did not stop in front of the gate of Chang'an City. They galloped all the way into the city, and the gatekeepers did not dare to stop them.The leading warrior, young and burly, wearing a dusty bright armor, rode his horse until he stopped in front of the imperial city.

Jumping off the horse, he cast a scorching glance at the city of Chang'an at dusk, and handed him his fish talisman.

Guarding the city gate is the Emperor Yuan Cong's Forbidden Army, and Xu Luoren, the general of Zuo Jianmen, is the younger brother of Xu Shixu, the general of Zuo Wuhou. Both brothers are the emperor's Yuan Cong heroes.After Li Yuan proclaimed himself emperor, just like Luo Cheng conferred the title of meritorious officials in Liaodong Yuanmou, he also appointed a group of meritorious officials and conferred titles of meritorious officials.

Among them, Jiangdu has 18 yuan to seek meritorious officials, and Chang'an has 36 yuan to confer meritorious officials, so as to confer titles on those who assisted and supported him in Jiangdu and Chang'an.

The brothers of the Xu family commanded [-] soldiers and horses in Chang'an City, named Yuan Cong Forbidden Army. This is a lineage controlled by Li Yuan himself, and it is also the last defense force in Chang'an City.

"Your Majesty is waiting for you at the Yanying Hall, General Chai."

Since King Zhao Li Shimin and King Lujiang were defeated and captured in Hedong, and King Yongan Li Xiaoji died in battle in Lingzhou, during this period, the emperor summoned civil and military officials every day to discuss matters in the palace.Sometimes a dozen or 20 people are summoned a day.

Most of the generals of the Tang army were not in a state of trepidation. Now that the Tang army has suffered continuous defeats in various battlefields, the emperor heard that his hair turned gray overnight.

Dugu Huai'en, who was stationed in Hanzhong, was summoned to Chang'an by Li Yuan not long ago. The emperor worshiped him as the minister of the Ministry of Industry and the general manager of Shannan Road, and asked him to attack the local barbarian rebel generals in Xicheng County and Badong County. Instead, he patted Li Yuan's chest and expressed his determination to succeed.

But after returning to Hanzhong to dispatch troops, he suffered several defeats in a row. Li Yuan was angry and reprimanded him several times, but who knew that Dugu Huai'en was also angry.

When he was in Chang'an, the emperor promised to give him money and rations for soldiers and horses, but when he returned to Hanzhong, he was not given the money and rations for soldiers and horses that had been agreed upon. Instead, 3000 people were transferred from Hanzhong.

Dugu Huai'en, who only had [-] soldiers and horses in his hand, was short of soldiers and food. He couldn't handle the barbarian rebels who had already approached the Qin army. In a fit of anger, he simply conspired to rebel against the enemy and sent his cronies to the opposite side. Contact General Qin.

Li Yuan in Chang'an City also hoped that Dugu Huai'en, his uncle and cousin, would be able to take the blame and make meritorious service. Unexpectedly, when he turned around, there was news that Dugu Huai'en led five thousand Hanzhong Tang troops to offer Shan Xiongxin, the general of Hanchuan County who surrendered to Qin, which almost drove Li Yuan to death.The angry Li Yuan didn't care that Dugu Huai'en was his uncle's son, so he ordered that all Dugu Huai'en's wives and children in Chang'an be arrested and killed.

Afterwards, Li Yuan patted the table and said to the generals, "Luo Cheng made great strides all the way, Shan Xiongxin, Du Fuwei and others were just an army, but why did they manage to gain a foothold in Shannan and raise food? Dugu Huai'en, as a relative of the emperor, led five thousand troops to guard Hanzhong, fought at home, but was unable to defeat the guest army, after a few reprimands after losing the battle, he rebelled and defected to the enemy, how shameless and incompetent is this?"

Chai Shao took off his dusty armor and his sword in front of the gate of the imperial city, then entered the imperial city with the imperial guards, and then passed through the imperial city to the imperial palace.

Although the time was urgent, the servant still took him to a side hall first, where he was asked to bathe and change clothes.

After washing up and changing into another set of clothes, Chai Shao was brought before the emperor.

When the emperor saw him, he walked straight over. Chai Shao saw that the emperor had gray hair and red eyes.

"Sichang, you are finally here, now only you can save Datang."

"His Majesty."

"Call me Royal Father."

Li Yuan held Chai Shao's hand. Earlier he wanted to marry Li Xiuning to Chai Shao, but in the end it was he who made the decision to marry Xiuning to Luo Cheng. He chose a daughter to marry Chai Shao. At that time, the girl was only 13 years old, and she was already the oldest among Li Yuan's unmarried daughters.

Chai Shao's performance in the past two years made Li Yuan feel that his original decision was right.

Li Yuan now has seven daughters who are married, and the seven he chose to be attached to Ma Feng Shaoshi, Dou Dan, Duan Lun, Changsun Xiaozheng, Zhao Jingci, Doulu Huairang, and Chai Shao all performed well, and Chai Shao performed the best among them. .

During the Jiangdu Rebellion, Chai Shao stood firmly by his side, protected him from Jiangdu City, helped him persuade Shen Guang and Chen Leng, and after recapturing Jiangdu, Chai Shao also helped to win over many noble guards. On the way back to Guanzhong, Chai Shao also attacked the city and broke the pool, and made a lot of contributions.

Although Chai Shao was defeated and captured in the first battle of Qianshuiyuan in Longyou, but after the second victory of Qianshuiyuan, Chai Shao replaced Li Shimin and stayed in Longyou. Li Tang took over the entire Longyou area, and made great contributions to Li Tang's stabilization of the backyard.

It can be said that since the Jiangdu uprising, Chai Shao has only lost one battle, especially since he was in Longyou for half a year, and now the Tang Army and the Western Qin Army that have integrated Longyou have a total of 20 horses.

Now Li Yuan is most short of soldiers, extremely short of soldiers, Jian Jiancheng and Shimin suffered two major defeats, which almost wiped out Li Yuan's foundation.

Now there are [-] soldiers in Lantian, [-] in Tongguan, [-] in Tongzhou, and [-] in Chang'an. This is the last force on his side, and the total is only [-].

With the 20 soldiers and horses in Longyou, Li Yuan was eager to help the Li family defend Guanzhong.

After several defeats, Li Yuan dared not talk about offense now.

With the loss of soldiers and generals in various battlefields, the Tang army has shifted from attacking to defensive, and even started to focus on defense.

For this reason, Li Yuan had no choice but to call in the large army from Longyou, even though many of them were the newly recruited former Western Qin army, and there were a large number of Longyou Qiang tribal soldiers and a large number of bandits in the original Western Qin army. The refugees rebelled against the army.

Li Yuan couldn't control it, he had to pull this "heavy army" to the east to improve Chang'an's Guanhe defense line.

Of the 20 troops, he only left about 4 in various parts of Longyou, and he asked Chai Shaoquan to bring the remaining 14 to form twelve armies, each with about 2000 men.

"The Guanhe line of defense is our last line of defense in Chang'an, and we can't lose it no matter what. Dugu Huai'en took Hanzhong to surrender to Qin. Fortunately, Dou Kang stood firm at Hechi and Sanguan, guarding our southwest gateway, and keeping our relationship with Bashu. China Unicom."

"Wuguan was lost, and the southeast gate we can only retreat to Lantian Pass in the pass. Fortunately, the road there is dangerous and Luo Cheng's main force is not there, so now our key is to defend Tongguan in Huazhou and Pujin in Tongzhou. This is the east gate and the east side gate of the pass, and there is no room for loss, once there is a loss, the Qin army will drive the commander into the pass, and it will be difficult to stop it."

Li Yuan is well versed in military affairs, so he is very aware of the importance of Tongguan and Pujin. This is Chang'an's Guanhe defense line.

"Is Your Majesty sending your ministers to reinforce Tongguan?" Chai Shao asked.

"No, not going to Tongguan." Li Yuan shook his head.

(End of this chapter)