First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 113 Letter from Chang'an

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Seeing Tang Envoy retreating, Hao Yuan was expressionless, but his fingers kept tapping on the city wall, showing that this Western Qin military commander was also uncertain.

Chu Liang on the side was even more panicked, "If the Tang army comes to attack, what should we do?"

"But if you directly agree to the peace talks, the envoy Tang will definitely ask for a price," Hao Yuan also sighed helplessly.

The words were full of sadness, Hao Yuan had been exhausted since the beginning of the army, at this moment, he couldn't help himself, he just felt physically and mentally exhausted.

"If the Tang army comes to attack, please come and let me know," Hao Yuan turned and left after saying that.

Hao Yuan was already thinking in his heart, what price should be given to make the Tang army retreat, one city or one county?I can't help but feel a little sad. If I want to overthrow the Sui Dynasty and fulfill his great ambition of rewarding the poor and suppressing the powerful, there is a long way to go.

Having just returned to the residence, he was exhausted, Hao Yuan took out an unfinished manuscript, picked up the pen, and continued to write the grand ambitions in his heart, only to see four words written on the cover of the book, "The Imperial Examination Strategy".

As soon as he started to write, a city defense soldier came to report, "Tang army attacked the city".

Hao Yuan's hand trembled, a drop of ink dripped down, staining the area, he could only sigh secretly, put away the manuscript, took the long sword hanging from the beam, pulled himself together, and went straight to the top of the city.

On the way, I met Xue Rengao, who was wearing armor and was aggressive, and was about to reinforce the city defense. As soon as he met Xue Rengao, he asked: "The military division advocated peace talks before, why did you drive the Tang envoy away?"

"If you don't show momentum, the peace talks will fail," Hao Yuan said succinctly.

Xue Rengao heard half-knowledge, a little dazed, but he shook his head, "It's all up to the military master, bows and arrows have no eyes, the military master should rest in the city for a while, and wait for me to repel the Tang army." After saying that, he flattered his horse and left.

Looking at the back of Xue Rengao going away, Hao Yuan looked relieved, according to his resourcefulness, he didn't know that Xue's father and son had serious flaws in their character and they were not good masters, but these two people really entrusted Hao Yuan wholeheartedly to him, Xue's Although the father and son were tyrannical and cruel, killing countless people, and the generals and subordinates beat and scolded wantonly, they still trusted Hao Yuan as before.

When he came to the city gate, he saw Chu Liang negotiating with a large group of people in a state of desperation.

Seeing Hao Yuan's arrival, Chu Liang wiped the sweat from his brow, quickly pointed to a large house beside him and said, "This house is the ancestral house of Captain Zhang of Siyuan County, and now Captain Zhang is guarding the city. Enemy, his family is unwilling to demolish the house, what should we do?"

After finishing speaking, Chu Liang said in a low voice again: "The Zhang family is a local wealthy family in Liyuan, and they are quite powerful. To defend the city, we still need to rely on the Zhang family."

Hao Yuan frowned, and stepped forward with his sword in hand, "Who is in charge of the Zhang family?"

Seeing this, an old man with white beard and hair didn't know Hao Yuan's position, so he turned his back and said, "I am the Patriarch of the Zhang family, and Lieutenant of Siyuan County is my son."

Hao Yuan's eyes flashed sharply when he saw this, and he drew his sword immediately, stabbing the patriarch of this family to death with one sword, and then sternly reprimanded: "Your Majesty has a decree for a long time, when there is a war, all the houses facing the street inside the city gate must be demolished, Bricks, wood, tiles and stones are used as city defense materials, and enough time has been left for you to relocate, why delay so far? Anyone who violates the order will be killed without mercy."

After finishing speaking, he waved his hand, and the elite soldiers from Jincheng swarmed up behind him, and after a short while, they killed the dozens of members of the Zhang family, "Go and tell the king of Qi, beware of Zhang Xianwei's betrayal," Hao Yuan said again. Command a soldier to say.

"This...is too ruthless," Chu Liang swallowed and sighed helplessly.

Hao Yuan turned around and stared closely at Chu Liang, "At the moment of the great war, heavy codes should be used. A small county lieutenant dared to defy His Majesty's will relying on the power of the local family. What is the prestige of the Great Qin? There are many big families in the city. If everyone follows suit, how can I ask?" Who is in charge of this Qianyuan City?"

Chu Liang was reprimanded by Hao Yuan, but he also muttered, unable to refute.

"Ximing, I know that you are benevolent and obsessed with literature and history, but I hope you can understand that what we are doing now is the feat of competing in the Central Plains, and everything should be based on the interests of Great Qin," Hao Yuan said solemnly.

Siyuan City is not tall, and Qiu Xinggong, a lunatic, yelled and stormed, almost reaching the top of the city, but there are too many soldiers from the West Qin Dynasty, and the top of the city is full. Leading by a fierce general, the combat power is simply not too strong.

The battle was extremely fierce, and after an hour passed, the Tang army left thousands of corpses under the city, and then receded like a tide.

Xue Rengao looked solemn, and found Hao Yuan, "Military Master, Liyuan City is too small, if the entire Tang army attacks by force, this city wall will definitely not be able to stop it."

Hao Yuan looked outside the city and sighed, "Both sides have more than [-] soldiers, such a small town, how can it do anything, if there is a real fire, it will be a bloody battle, I hope Li Shimin stays awake, let's call it a day."

Facing Xue Rengao, Hao Yuan also frankly said without reservation, Xue Rengao is not stupid, he understands that if he wipes out all the elites of the [-] gold city, then he will have no capital to make a comeback.

Similarly, Li Shimin also considered the same way. Both sides maintained their rationality, and neither side wanted to lose too much. In the next day or two, under the suggestion of Gao Chong and others, there was a temporary truce.

In this situation where both sides remained calm, Gao Chong was a little restless.

In the tent, Gao Chong looked at the family letter from Chang'an, he always did whatever he wanted, his hands were trembling slightly, and his face was extremely ugly.

"...It is reported that there are less than [-] defenders at Xiaoguan, or a surprise attack on Xiaoguan. At that time, Xue Ju will be blocked from all sides, and the soldiers will have no hope of returning home. They will die and disperse at some time, or the fierce battle in the Black River Valley may be avoided...".

This sentence in his father Gao Junya's letter was solidly shocked. Gao Chong hurriedly spread out the map and took a closer look. The west is Dazhenguan, the north is Xiaoguan, the south is Hechi County, and the east is Gyeonggi. Once the pass was broken, Xue Ju was besieged on all sides.

Gao Chong understood what his father meant, as long as he sealed off the four sides, he would not have to fight him head-on. When he was running around and fleeing without a way out, the army would lose all morale and the soldiers would be scattered.

And Gao Chongtou Tie, who ran up to Xue Ju and fought fiercely with him, aroused Xi Qin's fighting spirit, caused huge casualties, and made the West Qin army more cohesive.

To put it simply, if there is a siege but no fight, and when they run into walls everywhere, the morale of the soldiers of the Western Qin Dynasty will be low, and they will definitely leave and disperse.

This is the case in cold weapon wars. Once the battle is frustrated, soldiers often flee when marching or stationing.

But directly blocking the soldiers of the Western Qin Dynasty on their way home and fighting hard with them, the soldiers of the Western Qin Dynasty were only thinking about breaking the blockade and then going home, so they must be united and fighting with high spirits.

After thinking this through, Gao Chong immediately felt that it was a bit irrational to do a desperate interception. At the same time, Gao Junya also pointed out one point: Xue Ju was cruel and unpopular. Now that he was trapped in Liyuan City, the previous plan to instigate rebellion might be a try. .

Seeing this, Gao Chong gave himself a solid slap, immediately burned the letter, put on his shoes and went straight to the tent of the Chinese army.

　Tomorrow the class teacher will return to court, everyone guess, what is the focus of the next step?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)