First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 311

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Liu Heikai was good at using soldiers, and he was assisted by Cao Dan, Fan Yuan, Gao Yaxian and others. After only one month of the uprising, he defeated Dai Yuanxiang, the governor of Beizhou, and the authority of the governor of Weizhou, and quickly surpassed [-] troops.

Liu Heita, who occupied Erzhou, was in Dou Jiande's hometown, which was also his hometown. Zhangnan, Beizhou, built an altar to commemorate King Xia. He called himself a general and formally raised troops.

Li Yuan may not have imagined that the side effects of Dou Jiande's execution would be so great after Liu Heita's uprising.

Cui Yuanxun of Shenzhou killed Pei Xi, the governor of Shenzhou, separated Shenzhou, and belonged to Liu Heita;
Xu Yuanlang, governor of Yanzhou, defeated Sheng Yanshi, governor of Songzhou, proclaimed himself king of Lu, and rebelled against Tang;
Zhou Wenju of Qizhou killed Wang Xiaoju, the governor of Qizhou, and responded by raising troops.

Xia Wang Dou Jiande's old generals killed officials and rebelled against Tang Dynasty one after another, causing chaos in Hebei.

Liu Heitai is as powerful as a broken bamboo, winning consecutive battles.

Kill Tang general Wang Xingmin and capture Liting;
Killed Li Xuantong, the general manager of Dingzhou, and captured Dingzhou;
Kill general Qu Leng and capture Jizhou;
Lu Shirui, the governor of Yingzhou, was captured alive and captured Yingzhou...

When the battle report came, for a while, Hebei trembled, Guanzhong trembled, and Datang trembled.

Li Yuan was furious when he heard the news, and ordered Li Yi, king of Yan County, to lead his army south from Youzhou to suppress the rebellion, and Li Shentong, king of Huai'an, to lead his army north from Jizhou to suppress the rebellion.

Li Yi deserved his reputation for being brave and good at fighting. After leading his troops to the south, he defeated Liu Heita's younger brother Liu Shishan in Xuhe, beheaded and captured more than [-] people.

At this time, Li Shentong paid homage to Shandong Daoxingtai Shangshu Youpushe. This Shandong refers to the land to the east of Xiaoshan, that is, the Central Plains and Hebei. , Hengzhou, Zhaozhou and other more than ten states, with a total of [-] troops.

The two armies fought in the south of Raoyang City. Liu Heikai had few soldiers and formed a long single line along the embankment. Li Shentong was in the east and Li Yi was in the west. That night, a strong wind rose suddenly. Li Shentong was overjoyed and ordered to attack with the wind. Hit Liu Heitai together.

It's just that the sky didn't help the king of Huai'an, the wind direction changed suddenly, Li Shentong panicked in front of the battle, causing the Tang army in the east to be in chaos, while Li Yi led the army in the west to fight to the death, defeating Liu Heita's general Gao Yaxian, Li Yi chased for several miles, and heard that the eastern army In defeat, Li Yi had no choice but to order the withdrawal of troops.

After Liu Heikai defeated Li Shentong, he intercepted Li Yi's troops who were retreating to the right. Li Yi had been fighting hard for a long time, but unfortunately he was defeated. His subordinates Xue Wanche and Xue Wanjun were captured. Li Yi fled back to Youzhou overnight, and Li Shentong retreated to Ming state.

Taking Li Shentong, the king of Huai'an, as the commander of the royal family, he thought he could put down Liu Heita, but he didn't want to be defeated. Li Yuan was furious and had to appoint Li Shimin, the king of Qin, as the marshal of the army again, and led the king of Qi, Li Yuanji, to conquer Guanzhong. Guan Ping rebellion.

At the same time, Liu Heita's troops continued to advance unabated, and he used his troops to take advantage of the victory. Within three days, he defeated Xingzhou, Shenzhou, and Weizhou, and killed Pan Daoyi, the general manager of Weizhou. The hometown of the Great Xia Kingdom.

In the fifth year of Wude, in the first lunar month, when the whole world celebrated the Spring Festival, Gao Chong led his army over the Nanling Mountains and headed straight for Gaozhou.

In Mingzhou, thousands of miles to the north, Liu Heikai built an altar and set up a temple to offer sacrifices to the gods of heaven and earth. After that, Liu Heikai proclaimed himself King of the Eastern Han Dynasty, changed his year name to Tianzao, appointed Cao Dan as his servant, and Fan Yuan as his minister. Zuo Pushe, Dong Kangmai was Minister of the Ministry of War, Gao Yaxian was General Right, and all systems followed the example of Dou Xia regime.

Mingzhou, Wanchun Palace, Liu Heita sat on the middle seat, with a solemn face, and the Chinese and military ministers in the hall were divided into two rows.

"Li Shimin has already led the army to Weizhou. Let's talk about it, how should we deal with it?" At this time, Liu Heitai was far from the arrogance of winning consecutive battles, only cautious.

As soon as this remark came out, some people's faces in the hall suddenly changed, and they whispered one after another.

"Ah...why so fast...".

"King Qin...but it's not easy to deal with...".

After all, the name of a person, the shadow of a tree, many of them were defeated by Li Shimin at the beginning, so they are inevitably afraid.

Seeing that the ministers were talking a lot, Fan Yuan scolded angrily: "I don't believe that Li Shimin will win every battle when soldiers come to cover them with water and soil."

"Exactly," Dajun Dong Kangmai yelled, "Didn't Xue Ju beat me to the ground and fled back then in Qianshuiyuan? How could we not compare to Xue Ju?"

Liu Heikai nodded secretly, and after pondering for a while, he ordered: "Dong Shangshu immediately led the former army to Weizhou, and fought first to consume the morale of the Tang army. The king led the army and then came."

Dong Kangmai was slightly taken aback when he heard the words, and then he promised loudly.

Dong Kangmai immediately led 1 former troops to Weizhou, but was ambushed on the way and lost more than half. Then Li Shimin's cavalry attacked at night and Dong Kangmai was defeated. Liu Heitai, who was on the way, was shocked when he heard the news. He ordered the withdrawal of troops and abandoned Xiangzhou.

In the first confrontation, Li Shimin gave Liu Heitai a head-on blow. The morale of the Tang army was greatly shaken.
Liu Heikai was called the Brave General by Dou Jiande in Daxia back then, while Li Shimin was the Tiance General of Datang.

In Lingling City, which is more than two thousand miles away from Huojia City, the people in the city ushered in a mighty army, which was Gao Chong's subordinate.

As the seat of Yongzhou, Lingling City has a long history. It was the seat of Lingling County in the former Sui Dynasty. It is entering the boundary of Lingnan.

Gao Chong led the army into Yongzhou very high-profile, and the cooperation of Yongzhou was extremely good. As early as two days ago, there was a lot of noise.

On this day, drums and music were played together, and the governor of Yongzhou led a total of more than a hundred officials from all over Lingling and tens of thousands of people to greet him in the north of Lingling.

The reason for such ostentation is to build momentum. After all, the purpose of Gao Chong's high-profile leadership all the way is to show off his military power. On the other hand, it also gives the Lingnan giants sufficient time to prepare.

When he came to the front, he just saluted, Gao Chong got off his horse, "You don't need to be too polite, Mr. Ran, you and I are old friends, and we are also brother-in-law. We must have a drink when we meet again today."

"Since Youzhi has such a passion, then I will sacrifice my life to accompany you." Ran Rencai, the governor of Yongzhou, laughed loudly, and then stepped forward to take Gao Chong's arm. One’s origin, it’s very good to call out the Biaozi.”

"Brother Zhengwen's words are so unreasonable. You and I are brothers fighting side by side in Jingchu. Why do you say you don't like it? Please," Gao Chong pretended to be angry.

"Please," Ran Rencai laughed loudly when he saw this.

Ran Rencai was from Kuizhou, a barbarian. His father, Ran Anchang, ruled the land of Badong in the last years of Daye, and later attached himself to the Tang Dynasty.

After Li Xiaogong took the post of the governor of Kuizhou, he treated Ran Rencai's father and son very kindly. Seeing that Ran Rencai was as good as his name, with a good-looking talent, and his literary and military skills, he begged Li Yuan to betroth his younger sister Li Yugui, the head of Hannan County, to Ran Rencai. .

Li Yugui, the head of Hannan County, is Li Yuan's niece, who is the cousin of Princess Wanchun Li Xiuwan, and the two are truly brother-in-law.

Later, the Ran family's father and son joined the army to conquer Xiao Xian. After the war, Ran Anchang was named the governor of Kuizhou, and Ran Rencai was named the governor of Yongzhou.

(End of this chapter)