First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 317 Battle for Mingshui

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Dou Jiande's influence is obvious to all. When the Tang army conquered Weizhou, they saw the Xiawang Temple built by the local people spontaneously to worship Dou Jiande. It has only been half a year since Dou Jiande was killed. You can see its prestige.

But Dou Jiande is defined by Li Yuan as a traitor after all, and Fang Xuanling's words are also quite taboo.

Sure enough, upon hearing this, Li Yuanji stared angrily and said, "Fang Qiao, what do you mean by that? Could it be that you want to avenge the sinus thief?"

Fang Xuanling was timid by nature, his face changed when he heard the words, and he hurriedly said: "Your official has absolutely no such intentions, the king of Qi speaks carefully."

"Okay, Yuan Jimo wants to talk nonsense," Li Shimin waved his hands and scolded.

Seeing this, Li Yuanji stepped over his head and snorted coldly, a trace of displeasure flashed in his eyes.

"Tomorrow, when Liu Thief is exhausted from attacking the city, our army will be able to attack later and reinforce Mingshui City." Li Shimin thought for a while before ordering, and all the generals were ordered to retreat.

After waiting until there was no one in the tent, Li Shimin lay on the couch crookedly, with his hands on the pillow, his eyes closed, and his mind was erratic.

Liu Heitai is good at using troops and rarely makes any mistakes. The former scheduler Mingzhen came to vote and stated the matter of Yongnian City. All the generals were amazed. The plan to withdraw troops from Shahe wasn't Liu Heitai's plan, but it was Fan Yuan, the defender of Yongnian City.

It is difficult to win in terms of military strategy against Liu Heitai, because Li Shimin admits that Liu Heitai's military strategy is top-notch in the world.

Thinking of this, Li Shimin suddenly turned over, his eyes sparkled with excitement, he thought of it.

Liu Heitai raised his troops quickly, and he was indeed brave and diligent in attacking cities and villages, but his background was too poor, and he completely relied on the surrendered states and counties to supply military supplies. As long as his food and grass were cut off, Liu Heitai would be defeated without a fight.

Li Shimin came to the map, looked at the prefectures and counties around Mingzhou, slammed his fist heavily on the desk, and said with great joy: "Mingzhou is the place to defeat the enemy and win the victory."

Afterwards, Li Shimin soon realized that cutting off his food and grass was feasible, but it took too long. At least for now, the food and grass in Mingzhou alone could supply the bandit army for several months.

For the current plan, the only way to drag it down is in Mingshui, and Mingshui City cannot afford to lose.

For Mingshui City, both sides are determined to win.

In the early morning of the next day, the drums of war rumbled, shaking the heavens and the earth, and Li Shimin's face changed slightly. It was Liu Heita's Eastern Han Army.

"Second brother, the bandit army has begun to attack the city," Li Yuanji said excitedly as he lifted the curtain in military uniform.

Why are you excited when bandits attack our city?Li Shimin gave Li Yuanji a strange look, nodded and walked out of the tent.

On the high slope in the south of Mingshui City, Li Shimin led thousands of people to look into the distance. Everyone's faces were solemn, and there was no other reason. Liu Heita's attack was too fierce.

Tens of thousands of Eastern Han troops rushed to attack Mingshui City, but Li Quhuo, the defender of Mingshui City, knew that he had no way out after abandoning Liu Heita, so he defended desperately with Wang Junkuo.

After three rounds, Li Shimin's face was gloomy, and he scolded angrily: "The northeast corner is weak and close to the shore. Liu Heita is obviously distracting the attention of the city. How can Wang Junkuo not know about breaking the city from the northeast corner?"

Li Yuanji who was beside him also saw it clearly on the high slope, and said bluntly: "Wang Junkuo was not born as a bandit, and he lived by looting everywhere, how could he defend the city."

Li Shimin glared at Li Yuanji and reprimanded: "Peng Guogong, I am a general, don't be rude."

"Your Majesty, look, Liu Thief actually wants to build a tunnel." Li Shiji pointed to the northeast side of Mingshui City and said in a deep voice, "If you teach the bandits to build a tunnel, Mingshui will be in danger."

When everyone looked around, they could only see the Handong sergeants in the northeast holding large shields for protection, and then the auxiliary soldiers transported earth, stone, bricks and wood, and went straight to the front.

The northeast corner of Mingshui City is only two zhang away from the shore, and the water is not too deep. If this speed is maintained, within two days, a corridor can be built to reach the top of the city.

"Shubao, quickly lead the attack and destroy the tunnel," Li Shimin ordered immediately, and Qin Shubao took the order and left.

Li Shimin originally wanted to wait for Hou Liu Heita to attack the city when his soldiers were exhausted, and attack from the rear, but now seeing that Liu Heita was building a corridor, he couldn't wait any longer, the longer the corridor, the more dangerous Mingshui City will be.

In the south of Mingshui City, Liu Heita is tall and mighty in armor. Seeing the flag waved, Liu Heita smiled and said, "Li Shimin is in a hurry. General Wang, go and intercept the Tang army."

General Wang Hu'er took the order and left.

Qin Qiong led his troops to detour and went straight to the northeast side, intending to assault the Handong soldiers who were building the corridor, but he never thought that he would be intercepted by a Handong general before he approached.

The two knew each other when they met, Wang Hu'er's face changed slightly, and then he ordered loudly: "Formation, don't let a Tang army pass by."

Qin Qiong's name in Qizhou was already resounding. One of the four hussars of Wagang back then, the horse in his hand was hard to meet. More than ten years ago, it was Qin Qiong who led the army to meet the Eastern Han army in Lieren. No man's land, shocking.

On that day, with only [-] troops, Qin Qiong successfully repelled Liu Heitai in Lieren, buying time for Li Shimin to conquer Xingzhou.

Wang Hu'er knew very well that the generals in front of the battle were not Qin Qiong's opponents, so he directly formed an array to meet the enemy, in order to achieve the purpose of blocking.

Qin Qiong was about to gallop his horse to charge, seeing this situation, he couldn't help but smiled and said: "Hu'er is so afraid of XX, why don't you turn around and vote?"

Wang Hu'er's name is true to his name, he is really from the Saibei Hu people, and his appearance is high nose and deep eyes, which is different from the Han people.

Qin Shubao's words made Tang Jun laugh.

"Hugh is good at speaking, you can count on your ability in the past," Wang Hu'er said forcefully after being blushed and thick-necked by Qin Qiong.

Qin Qiong restrained his smile, clamped Ma Li under his arm with his right hand, and sternly shouted: "Brothers, go through it."

"Wan Sheng", the Tang cavalry shouted.

"Arrangement, spears forward", Wang Hu'er's expression changed suddenly, and he shouted loudly.

Li Shimin immediately led the generals to move to the high slope on the right. Seeing Wang Hu'er lined up to meet the enemy, Li Shimin pointed to Wang Hu'er and smiled to the left and right: "The enemy generals actually lined up to meet Shu Bao's cavalry. How much do you think he can last?"

"If you don't get out of Sanhe, the second brother will definitely be able to kill that fellow," said a young general behind him in a buzzing voice. He saw that this man had a strong figure and a young face, so he should be young. This man was Datang Jiang Luo Shixin, the governor of the state and Duke of the State of Shan, was only 22 years old.

Li Yuanji sneered when he heard the words, and was about to sarcastically, Li Shimin glanced at him, Li Yuanji had no choice but to turn his head and look to the other side, muttering nothing.

"Shixin knows Shubao's skills best," Li Shimin said with a smile, "Let's wait and see."

Wang Hu'er also had hundreds of cavalry under his command. Facing the attack of Qin Qiong's cavalry, if Wang Hu'er led the cavalry to attack in person, he would stop his horse's speed and then make the infantry approach the siege.

This arrangement is the worst and can block Qin Shubao's troops here, but Wang Hu'er is afraid of Qin Qiong's mighty power, so he just lined up to defend and did not dare to attack, so he has already fallen behind.

(End of this chapter)