First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 389

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Zhending City, more than twenty li to the northeast, thousands of troops gathered here, and it was the banner of King Dong of Han that was erected.

On the hillside, Liu Heita stared at a simple map, lost in thought.

Fan Yuan on the side scratched his ears and cheeks, hesitant to speak.

"Speak up if you have something to say," Liu Heitai said without raising his head.

Fan Yuan let out a sigh of relief and said directly: "My lord, our army has been defeated and morale is low. Now that Li Daoxuan is approaching Dingzhou again, why don't we avoid the edge for now?"

Cao Zhan on the side also nodded straightly, "Look at the dejected appearance of the brothers, the situation is not good."

Liu Heikai put away the map and sighed, "What you say is reasonable, but time is not waiting for me. Li Tang is sitting in three hundred states, and his background is far beyond ours. The only way to support wars is to keep attacking cities and lands in order to obtain soldiers, food and armor.

If morale is low, it is even more necessary to win a big game to boost morale. If you temporarily avoid the edge and run around, it is the work of rogues, and I disdain to do it."

Although Liu Heitai has a domineering personality, he never acts arbitrarily. He will answer the generals’ doubts one by one, so as to ensure the loyalty of their army. This is why Liu Heitai has been defeated several times, but there are still people One of the reasons for following is because Liu Heita is very popular.

After listening, Fan Yuan was thoughtful.

Cao Zhan's eyes were bright, "What the king said is that the generals did not think well in the end, and those who hid in Tibet were not done by heroes. After conquering counties and counties, they need people and food."

Liu Heikai nodded, "For Hengzhou, it is inevitable. Remember, after the city is broken, you are not allowed to disturb the people. Hebei is where our foundation lies."

All the generals nodded.

Fan Yuan, however, heard something beyond the words, and asked pleasantly, "Has your majesty planned to break the city?"

All the generals looked at Liu Heita after hearing the words.

I saw Liu Heita showing a smile on his face, nodding his head and saying: "It's not difficult to break Hengzhou, what I'm thinking about is where I will go after breaking Hengzhou."

The generals were greatly admired when they heard the words. He is worthy of being the brave general King Handong. Hearing this, how domineering, facing a strong enemy, calmly said that it is not difficult to break the city, and even think about things after breaking the city in advance .

This is the so-called taking one step and seeing three steps. When facing a complicated and severe situation, one should clearly sort out one's thinking and take a long-term view to make a clear plan and avoid going in the wrong direction. There is no doubt that Liu Heita is this kind of person , with a forward-looking and clear mind.

Seeing the generals looking at him with burning eyes, Liu Heizai said bluntly: "We will break Hengzhou first, and we will talk about the rest after breaking the city."

"But at the king's order", all the generals looked at each other and saluted in unison.

Liu Heikai nodded in satisfaction, and ordered: "Fan Yuan, you lead 2000 people, pretending to be a remnant army and a defeated general, and looting villages and towns. Remember, don't kill indiscriminately to attract the Tang army in the city to attack. The rest follow me. After the Tang army leaves the city, seize the city."

The generals were stunned, and Fan Yuan asked, "That's it?"

Liu Heita glanced at him, "What else?"

"Can Tang Jun fall for such a simple trick to lure the enemy?" Fan Yuan asked doubtfully.

Liu Heikai smiled, "It's human nature to fall into the trap. When I was strong, I expected that the Tang army in the city would not dare to fight. Now that Xiabo has been defeated, the guards in the city may have some courage or meritorious deeds." Heart, will come to add insult to injury."

"I see, this is beating a dog in the water," Cao Zhan yelled, clapping his hands.

After the words fell, everyone looked at him with unfriendly eyes, and Cao Zhan finally realized, "Bah, this should be called, called...".

"Take advantage of the fire to rob, and add insult to injury," Fan Yuan added.

"Yes, I just took advantage of the fire to rob, thinking that after we were defeated, we could be bullied by him," Cao Zhan gritted his teeth.

All will follow orders.

In Zhending City, it was heard that two thousand Eastern Han remnants were plundering villages and towns, Wang Gongzheng was furious, and as expected, he had fallen for it. Regardless of other people's objections, he personally led his troops out of the city to encircle and suppress the remnants of the army.

After leaving the city, Wang Gongzheng chased after Fan Yuan's subordinates. Fan Yuan fled in a panic. Wang Gongzheng was even more proud. .

All the people in the ministry echoed the words, praising Wang Shijun for being a hero.

After Wang Gongzheng left the city, Liu Heitai wanted to take the city forcibly, but seeing that Wang Gongzheng seemed to forget himself and entered so recklessly, and Zhending City was high and thick, he immediately changed his strategy and besieged and killed Wang Gongzheng.

After Fan Yuan fled in embarrassment for several miles, he occupied a hillside and formed an formation to fight back. The soldiers of Hengzhou government were caught off guard and suffered heavy losses.

When the battle was fierce, Liu Heikai led the army to arrive. There is no doubt that the battle was one-sided, and the Tang army suddenly collapsed and fled in all directions.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Wang Gongzheng pulled his horse and ran away, but such a character as Liu Heita had blocked the intersection long before going out to fight.

Looking at the trembling Wang Gongzheng, Liu Heita twitched his mouth, "It's more unbearable than I imagined", raised his right hand and waved heavily, and the Handong soldiers behind him shot a volley of arrows.

Wang Gongzheng, the governor of Hengzhou, was greedy for merit and advanced, and died under random arrows.

Then Liu Heikai beheaded Wang Gongzheng, gathered the defeated Tang army, came to the city, and declared himself the title of King of Handong.

Taking advantage of the absence of Li Daoxuan's troops, Liu Heita hurriedly ordered Cao Zhan, Liu Shishan and others to capture other counties in Hengzhou, quickly collected a large amount of money and food, and regrouped [-] troops.

After the news spread, Li Daoxuan was furious and cursed.

On the one hand, he was annoyed by Liu Heitai's attack on the city and territory, and kept leading Tang Jun by the nose.

On the one hand, he was angry with the incompetence of the governor of Hengzhou, and the tens of thousands of troops in Hengzhou changed hands in one day, which caused Liu Heita to become a big one again.

"Li Changshi, we can't fight like this. Let's not set up the state first, we must stop Liu thief." Li Daoxuan said through gritted teeth, "If he breaks through the prefectures and counties again, I will lose my face."

Li Jing also looked heavy, and nodded slowly, "It really can't be like this, it's too passive, the initiative is completely in the hands of Liu Heitai."

"Does Li Changshi have a good plan?" Li Daoxuan leaned over and asked, right now he admired Li Jing from the bottom of his heart.

Li Jing frowned and pondered for a long time before hesitatingly said: "Looking at Liu Heita's actions, he has no intention of recuperating, and has been taking the initiative to attack. I guess he will not stay in Hengzhou for a long time in the future. We must wait for his next move. Respond, otherwise, next...".

At this point, Li Jing didn't continue to say, but Li Daoxuan understood, "Otherwise, I don't know where it will fall next."

Thinking of this, Li Daoxuan felt very ashamed, "It's really embarrassing for the majestic governor of Tangzhou, the chief official of the frontier who guarded the side, to know how many times he was killed by this thief."

"I'm afraid there are dozens of them..." said a simple general in a buzzing voice.

Li Daoxuan stared at him when he heard the words, and the general shrank his head, muttering nothing.

(End of this chapter)