First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 319

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Liu Heitai sat up abruptly, most of the drunkenness had already woken up. Hearing the sound of drums, Liu Heitai didn't panic, stroked his beard and sneered, "Since I dare to drink, I'm not afraid of you coming to rob the camp."

When Qin Qiong rushed close, he heard a whoosh piercing through the air, and immediately shouted: "Scatter, let the arrows go".

These three hundred or so cavalry were Bingzhou iron cavalry, also known as the Xuanjia army, who were dressed in iron armor and were good at riding and shooting. After listening to orders, they could disperse and fight back with bows.

Li Shimin did not pay attention to the camp of the Eastern Han Army, Liu Heita is also known as a famous general, he would not be negligent to let his guard down, he paid attention to Mingshui City.

Sure enough, the thundering drums made Mingshui City also light up torches, and not far from the city there were thousands of Eastern Han Army partial divisions blocked here, it was also brightly lit, and the sound of shouting and running could be heard faintly.

"Shixin, let's go." Li Shimin adjusted Luo Shixin's arm armor, patted his shoulder and said in a deep voice, "Remember, if you are not strong enough, you can break through immediately, and I will respond outside."

Luo Shixin clasped his fists in a salute, turned and left, seeing his tall and strong back disappearing into the darkness, Li Shimin frowned suddenly, looking up at the starry sky, he always felt a little palpitation.

Luo Shixin led [-] elites to charge straight all the way, but the partial division of the Eastern Han Army who didn't know why didn't dare to stop them. Luo Shixin went to the bottom of the city.

On the top of the city wall, Wang Junkuo put on his armor in a hurry, he was startled when he heard the words, and then said happily, "But Luo Shixin?"

Luo Shixin paused, he had already declared himself to be a family just now, so why did he ask more questions, and muttered: "Is this guy just playing stupid?"

The two were old acquaintances when they were in Wagang, and immediately said loudly: "It's your Luo Hussar, you horse thief, quickly open the city and let me in."

Wang Junkuo used to sell horses for a living. Later, he gathered people in Jingxing to raid villages and forts, and robbed houses. He was a mountain bandit and horse thief.

After defecting to Li Mi in Wagang, Li Mi looked down on Wang Junkuo's background, jokingly called him a horse thief, and did not reuse Wang Junkuo. This is one of the reasons why Wang Junkuo defected to Datang later.

Luo Shixin was brave and unparalleled in the world, he was young and ambitious, and his temperament was naturally arrogant. Even if Wang Junkuo was now named Peng Guogong, Luo Shixin was not very polite to him, and what Li Mi blurted out was the joke that Li Mi used to call Wang Junkuo back then.

This also proves his identity from another aspect. After all, others don't know that the majestic Peng Guogong was once called a horse thief in public. Of course, with Wang Junkuo's identity, ordinary people dare not call him that.

Sure enough, Wang Junkuo gritted his teeth when he heard the words, Li Quhuo, the guard of Mingshui beside him, was a shrewd man, and asked hurriedly when he saw this, "Peng Guogong, how is it? Is it the reinforcements from the Tang Dynasty?"

Hearing the word "reinforcement army", Wang Junkuo paused, waved his hand and said, "Kaicheng", he just stared at Tang Jun, who was in the dark under the city, with a flash of cruelty in his eyes.

"Why are there only so many soldiers and horses?" Wang Junkuo asked with a frown when Luo Shixin entered the city and saw hundreds of soldiers and horses.

Luo Shixin patted Wang Junkuo on the shoulder and said with a loud smile: "It's just guarding the city, why do you need so many soldiers and horses, I know that you are timid, go out of the city quickly, the King of Qin is camping five miles south of the city."

Wang Junkuo's expression darkened when he heard the words, and he turned and left without saying a word. The guard Li Quhuo was at a loss when he saw this.

Seeing this, Luo Shixin waved his hands and smiled and said, "Another coward, you go too."

Li Quhuo heard the words as if he had received an amnesty, and hurriedly followed Wang Junkuo.

In the camp in the city, Wang Junkuo's face was gloomy, he was silent for a while, got up and gave the order: "Collide 700 people, and break out of the city with a certain one."

Li Quhuo was surprised, and said directly: "Peng Guogong, in this way, there are only 700 people left in Shan Guogong."

"Didn't he say that only a few hundred of his men are enough to defend the city? What's wrong with giving him 700 more men now?" Wang Junkuo said coldly.

Li Qu was confused by the county magistrate. Although he felt something was wrong in his heart, he didn't dare to say more.

"General, the horse thief is so vicious, he actually took away half of the troops, a total of 700 people."

Luo Shixin was patrolling the city overnight, because Li Shimin specifically instructed that the Mingshui city wall was soaked in water all year round, lest it fall into disrepair.

After seeing only one city wall, Luo Shixin found several dangers, and he scolded Wang Junkuo bloodily in his heart.

Hearing the report from the captain under his command, Luo Shixin was furious, "Good thief, what does he want to do?"

After Li Quhuo, the magistrate of Mingshui County, surrendered, Li Shimin ordered Wang Junkuo to lead [-] elite soldiers into the city. In the first two days, there were more than [-] casualties. There are also some descendants in the city, totaling more than [-] people.

More than [-] people defended this small military town, and Luo Shixin was full of confidence. After all, Mingshui City is not big, and the defensive force does not need to be too scattered.

Those soldiers were unreliable, the Tang army was the most powerful, but now Wang Junkuo took away 700 people when he left the city, and Luo Shixin's troops were no longer sufficient.

"General, do you want to ask King Qin for help?" the captain asked tentatively.

As the captain expected, Luo Shixin waved his hand and refused without hesitation, "There is no reason to ask for help on the first day in the city."

The school lieutenant spied out, he knew the arrogance of his general, so he would definitely not agree.

Of course, he joined the army at the age of 14, followed the famous general Zhang Xutuo to destroy the supreme king Lu Mingyue, and dedicated his battle scenes to Yang Guang.

Ranked one of the four hussars, he is in charge of the Wagang elite internal army.

At the age of 22, he became the governor of Jiangzhou, governing [-] prefectures including Jiang, Lu, Gai, Jian, and Lu.This kind of experience does have the capital to be proud of.

That night, Wang Junkuo returned to the Tang army camp in the south of Mingshui City, and confessed to Li Shimin alone. Li Shimin didn't reprimand him, but just gave him a little comfort and let him go to rest.

Until the dawn of the next day, Li Shiji came to the tent of the Chinese army in a hurry, his face was full of anger, and he couldn't calm down, so he said anxiously: "Your Majesty, the water is in danger, and the confidence of scholars is in danger."

Li Shimin looked blank, not daring to delay, "What's going on? You speak slowly."

"Wang Junkuo actually brought out half of the troops in the city. At this time, the soldiers in the city are removed, and our army's strength is only a thousand." Li Shiji was angry and anxious, "How can a thousand troops defend the city? This move will undoubtedly push Shixin into a pit of fire. ah".

Li Shiji has always been cautious and humble, and rarely has any grudges with others, and he has never called him by his first name like this before, but this time Li Shiji was really angry. Luo Shixin was his good friend when he was in Wagang. How can I bear being so entrapped by Wang Junkuo?
"What?" Li Shimin was furious, "Wang Junkuo is so brave, why didn't he report it last night?"

When Wang Junkuo returned to the camp last night, Li Shimin tried to comfort him, but he didn't know about it.

"After Wang Junkuo came back last night, he ordered the soldiers to go to the camp to rest, so he didn't find out," Li Shiji said truthfully: "It was because the Huotou Army increased by more than [-] people today, and I just reported it to me."

"Call Wang Junkuo here," Li Shimin said angrily, "Also, send more scouts to keep an eye on Mingshui City."

(End of this chapter)