At the end of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 849

Linfen County, Huoyi County.

Li Shimin personally led the 15 Tang army to form a formation against the city, and confronted the [-] Qi army led by Li Jing.The Hedong area is currently the main battlefield between Gao Qi and Li Tang. Both sides have invested a lot of troops and materials. In a sense, Hedong is the key to the decisive battle between the two sides, and it is especially important to Li Tang. The life and death of the country is the life and death of the country, so Li Shimin has only been on the throne for more than a month, and he did not hesitate to personally conquer.

It is said that ever since Gao Bufan ordered the crusade against Li Tang, Li Jing moved like a thunder, and quickly took Lishi County, Xihe County and Shangdang County around Taiyuan County, plus Taiyuan County, Loufan County, Yanmen County and Mayi County have already acquired most of the east of the river.

When Li Shimin led the army to arrive, Li Jing was marching westward along the Fenhe Valley Road to attack Linfen County, and the armies of both sides met in Huoyi County on a narrow road.

Huoyi is a place of special significance to Li Shimin. When Li Yuan raised his troops in Taiyuan and quickly advanced along the Fen River Valley Road, the first tough battle he fought was in Huoyi, which was also a turning point in Li Tang's fate.

Huyalang General Song Laosheng of the Sui Dynasty led [-] Sui troops to guard Huoyi. It happened to be raining for several days and the roads were muddy and difficult to walk. The logistics of the Tang army could not keep up. There were rumors that Liu Wuzhou was going to attack Taiyuan with the Turks, so Li Yuan retreated. It was Li Shimin who knelt down in the heavy rain and begged for a day and a night before he persuaded Li Yuan to continue marching.

Afterwards, the Tang army beheaded Huyalang general Song Laoya, successfully occupied Huoyi, advanced all the way to Hedong County, successfully crossed the Yellow River in Hedong County, marched into Guanzhong Plain, and took Chang'an in one fell swoop.

Therefore, if Li Yuan hadn't listened to Li Shimin's opinion back then, but had returned to Taiyuan, he would have missed the good opportunity to enter Guanzhong, and there would be no Li Tang later.

Therefore, Huoyi is a turning point in Li Tang's fate, and it has special significance to Li Shimin. Coincidentally, Li Shimin is now facing the [-] Qi army led by Li Jing in Huoyi, but the attacking and defending sides have already Reversal, the only thing that remains unchanged is that this battle is also related to Li Tang's fate, and it is also a turning point in Li Tang's fate. If he wins, he can continue to compete with Gao Qi. If he loses, then Li Tang may die. game over.

Back then, fate undoubtedly favored Li Shimin, but this time, will luck still be on his side?

In the past few days, the Tang army and the Qi army have fought hand-to-hand for several times. They have won and lost each other, but the casualties are not too large. They are still in the stage of mutual testing, and they have not exerted their full strength.

Li Shimin has experienced many battles, and he has become more and more skilled over the years. However, he also knows how powerful Li Jing is, so he dare not underestimate him at all. All games are lost.

At this moment, the atmosphere in the imperial tent of the Tang army camp was unprecedentedly heavy, and all the counselors and generals looked solemn, because not long ago, Li Shimin received an urgent order of [-] miles, and Hangu Pass was actually breached by the leader of Qi, Gao Changqing.

Undoubtedly, it was a thunderbolt from the blue sky that struck the heads of everyone in the tent. It was so shocking that they couldn't recover for a long time, and then their hearts were covered with a layer of haze.

Li Shimin's face was as cold as ten thousand years of black ice. To the east of the Guanzhong Plain, there are two dangerous passes, Hangu Pass and Tongguan Pass. One man guards the pass and ten thousand pass. Therefore, even though he learned that Gao Bufan personally led the army to attack, Li Shimin was not very happy. Worried, he just arranged for Fa's little friend Chai Shao to be in charge of guarding, while he himself drove to Hedong in person.

Unexpectedly, it was Hangu Pass that he was most assured of, and it was breached by Gao Bufan in less than a month. Although Chai Shao was not outstanding, but with the help of his sister, Princess Pingyang, how could he throw Hangu Pass so easily? What?

In fact, not only Li Shimin can't figure it out, even Changsun Shunde, Zhang Gongjin and others can't figure it out. Princess Pingyang is a woman who doesn't give up to her husband, and she is definitely not weak in leading the army. There are [-] Tang troops under her command, and she can't hold Hangu Pass for a month?

"Your Majesty, it's not too late. Let's divide our troops and go back to Tongguan immediately. If we are late, we may change." Adviser Tang Jian suggested.

Tongguan is the second and last gateway in Guanzhong. Once it is breached by the Qi army, Chang'an will be completely exposed to the Qi army's soldiers, and Li Tang Jiangshan is in danger of falling.

However, Li Shimin shook his head, and said decisively: "It seems safe to divide the troops to return to the defense, but it is the way of death. Li Jing hopes that I will divide the troops at this time."

Tang Jian frowned and said, "But if Tongguan is breached..."

Li Shimin interrupted: "If you suffer a loss, you will suffer a long time. No matter how unbearable Chai Shao is, Tongguan can at least last for a month."

Changsun Shunde nodded and said: "What the emperor said is very true. It is extremely inappropriate for us to divide our troops now. With Li Jing's acumen, he will definitely take the opportunity to attack. If Hedong loses, Guanzhong is also at risk. It is better to defeat Li Jing with all his strength and go back. Save Tongguan."

A flash of madness flashed in Li Shimin's eyes, and he said decisively: "The order will be passed on, tomorrow - the decisive battle!!"

Everyone in the tent felt the bitterness rushing towards their faces, the emperor didn't want to procrastinate any longer, the battle tomorrow would be unprecedentedly tragic, even among the people present, it is estimated that some of them would die in the battle.

At the end of the meeting, Li Shimin ordered the generals not to spread the news of the fall of Hangu Pass in the army, so as not to shake the morale of the army. Then he went back to the tent, raised the curtain and walked in. Suddenly, the coldness and hardness on Xiao Sha's face softened a little.

"The concubine bows to the emperor." Yang was dressed as a girl, and her hair style was also changed into a girl's bun. She looked dignified and elegant, with bright eyes and slightly raised upper lip. very similar.

"Who asked you to dress up like this?" Li Shimin asked coldly.

Yang Shi trembled slightly, and said in a sly way: "The concubine... I thought the emperor liked it, so I will return the concubine now."

"No need!" Li Shimin stepped forward and put his hand on Yang's head. The latter understood immediately, lifted the hem of his gown and buried his head in it.

Li Shimin stood leaning on his saber and closed his eyes.

……

Changsun Shunde took a sip of wine and stared at the stars in the night sky in a trance.Hou Junji frowned and said: "Mr. Yang is an ominous woman. Ever since the emperor became obsessed with this woman, everything in the country has gone wrong. Tomorrow will be a decisive battle. The emperor is still addicted to lust, which is extremely disadvantageous in the war. It is better to kill her as soon as possible. "

Changsun Shunde shook his head and said: "It's just a miserable person, why kill her, just send her back to Chang'an tomorrow without telling the emperor."

Hou Junji said coldly: "Send it away tomorrow, and the emperor will take it back the next day. It's not a solution. Since General Changsun doesn't want to be such a villain, then I will do it in the future." After finishing speaking, he turned and went to Li Shimin's bedroom. go.

"Junji must not be reckless!" Changsun Shunde hurriedly said.

Hou Junji turned a deaf ear to it, but quickened his pace instead, Changsun Shunde frowned, and hurriedly chased after him.

"Is the emperor here?" Hou Junji rushed to Li Shimin's sleeping tent and asked the guard in a deep voice.

Before the guard could answer, the curtain had already been raised. Li Shimin wiped the blood on the knife and said calmly, "What is Junji looking for?"

Hou Junji's eyes met Li Shimin's, and he shuddered uncontrollably. The elder Sun Shunde who came behind also shuddered, his eyes subconsciously fell on the knife in Li Shimin's hand, and there was clearly a faint blood in the bed tent. The smell wafted out.

"No...it's okay." Hou Junji bowed his head and stood respectfully.

Li Shimin glanced at the elder Sun Shunde, and said calmly: "Go back to rest if you have nothing to do, there will be a hard fight tomorrow." After finishing speaking, he put the knife back into its sheath, turned around and walked to the commander's tent.

At this time, two guards came out of the sleeping tent carrying the rolled carpet, and walked out of the camp without making a sound. It was obvious that a thick brown liquid oozed from the carpet.

Hou Junji watched the two guards disappear into the distance with complicated eyes, and suddenly felt a chill in his back, so Changsun Shunde took a sip of wine, turned around and walked away.

Hou Junji opened his mouth, but finally said nothing, and turned around to go to his tent.The night in midsummer was still hot, but Hou Junji felt a bit of coolness. At this moment, he suddenly realized that the emperor seemed to be very different from before, which made his loyal confidant feel strange.

Inside the handsome tent, Li Shimin pulled out his saber, looked at the flickering candlelight with a gloomy expression, but his eyes were a little confused, and then fell into deep thought.

…………

A waning moon hangs slanting in the sky, Qinshui County in Changping County, the flames are billowing, the raging fire has burned half of the sky red, the air is filled with a strong smell of gunpowder and blood, there are ruins and broken tiles everywhere on the top of the city, and collapsed buildings The gates are still burning.

Xue Li, Miao Yu, and Han Xiaoyun, the three young generals rode into the city. A soldier escorted an official to the three of them and reported: "General Xue Lang, this person is the magistrate of Qinshui County. He was captured by his subordinates. General please let me go."

Xue Li is Xue Rengui, who is now serving as General Ying Yang Lang, while Miao Yu and Han Xiaoyun are serving as General Ying Jian Lang, as Xue Li's deputy, currently all three are serving orders under Li Jing's account.

A few days ago, Li Jing sent three young generals to lead an army of [-] to take Changping County, and the performance of the three young generals was very eye-catching, especially Xue Li, who was the chief general, was quick-witted, skillful in military tactics, calm and experienced, and had already shown his ability to play his own role at a young age. The talent of a general is even better than that of Lu Sheng back then.

Of course, Han Xiaoyun and Miao Yu are also quite good, but compared with Xue Rengui, they are still relatively inferior, and they are not so eye-catching.

Let's say that three young generals led [-] Qi troops from Shangdang County to the south and entered Changping County. After a series of battles, they won the county seat of Changping County--Danchuan County in half a month, and today they took Qinshui County. Basically controlled the entire Changping County.

At this time, Xue Rengui looked at the magistrate of Qinshui County who was kneeling in front of him and asked, "Are you the magistrate of Qinshui County?"

"It's He Man." Although the man's face was ashen, his waist was still straight and he acted very calmly.

Xue Rengui frowned and said, "Since my Great Qi Wangshi is here, why do you still resist?"

"The salary of eating the emperor, the matter of loyalty to the emperor, I am an official of the Tang Dynasty, and I have the responsibility to guard the land!"

Miao Yu sneered and said: "The prisoner dares to speak hard, Xue Lang will stop talking to him, and kill him with one knife."

Xue Rengui looked at the county magistrate He who didn't change his face, and there was a hint of admiration in his eyes. He didn't kill him, but ordered someone to take him down to take care of him.

"He Man has a lot of backbone and is loyal. If he can be persuaded to be used by Da Qi, he is a talent. What does General Miao think?" Xue Rengui asked Miao Yu.

Miao Yu smiled and said: "Actually, the general didn't really intend to kill him, but just tested his guts."

Xue Rengui nodded and said: "That's good. This place is not far from Linfen. I planned to attack Linfen by surprise and cut off Li Shimin's food road. I think it will be of some help to the general manager."

Miao Yu and Han Xiaoyun looked at each other happily. In fact, they had already thought about Linfen, but Xue Li was the main general, and Li Jing only ordered them to capture Changping County, so the two did not dare to make their own opinions.

"That's a good thing, I would have thought of doing this a long time ago." Han Xiaoyun waved his fist and said.

Seeing that Miao Yu also nodded in agreement, Xue Li said joyfully, "Since everyone agrees, let's make a careful calculation."

The three of them were all young generals in their teens, newborn calves, full of drive, they did what they said, and immediately discussed how to attack Linfen City.

Linfen City is the county seat of Linfen County, and it is also an important node for the logistics supply of Li Shimin's army. If Linfen City is taken down and Li Shimin's supply line is cut off, half of Li Shimin's life will definitely be lost. However, Linfen City's defense is not weak. It is not so easy to win, and the strength of the three men alone may not be enough.

However, as the saying goes, wars are never based solely on the number of people. For example, Li Jing is very good at winning more with less, and Xue Li, Han Xiaoyun, and Miao Yu happen to be apprentices taught by Li Jing, so the three of them discussed together. , and soon formulated a strategy to attack Linfen.

On the second day, Han Xiaoyun and Miao Yu each led a hundred light cavalry to set off first, and went straight to the Tang Army Liang Road in the lower reaches of Linfen.

It was Tang general Qu Tutong who was in charge of guarding Linfen City. There were 1 Tang troops in the city, which shows that Li Shimin attached great importance to Linfen City.

On this day, Qu Tutong was patrolling the city of Linfen. He galloped into the city on a fast horse and reported: "General, the team escorting food was attacked by cavalry of the Qi army [-] miles downstream of the Fen River, and lost five grains. Ten stones, three ox carts were damaged."

Qu Tutong was taken aback, and hurriedly asked, "How many cavalry are there?"

"Not many, dozens of riders around, come and go like the wind, and go away with one blow."

Qu Tutong heaved a sigh of relief when he heard the words, it seems that the other party is just a small group of rangers sent by Li Jing to destroy our army's food road, and it is only necessary to strengthen the strength of the food escort team.

However, Qu Tutong soon realized that he was careless. In the next day, he received reports that six food transport teams were attacked. The loss was small, but it was also troublesome, which greatly affected the logistics supply speed.

Finally, Qu Tu was furious, and decided to use his strength to sweep away these nasty Qi army rangers.

(End of this chapter)