First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 51
49. Soldiers approaching the city
Hearing the good news that Gao Junya has captured the entire Lishi County and has gone south to Wencheng County, everyone's confidence can't help but increase.

At this moment, Changsun Wuji suddenly came to his senses, and said directly: "Duke Tang, gentlemen, Lishi is only two hundred miles away from Jinyang, which is closer to the border.

But now after Gao Changshi captured Lishi County and reported victory to Jinyang, he chose to lead the army and continue to go south to attack Wencheng County. Gao Changshi has been in Taiyuan for a long time and is very familiar with Turkic and Liu Wuzhou. If there is any change in Turkic, Gao Changshi is impossible Take it easy and go south."

Hearing Changsun Wuji's words, everyone thought it was reasonable. Gao Junya's headquarters was near Taiyuan. If there were Turkic soldiers and horses entering the country, Gao Junya would be the first to react. Now Gao Junya continues to go south , that means everything is normal in Turkic.

Gao Chong looked at Cui Shanwei, "Cui Junjun, do you have any news about Liu Sima?"

Liu Wenjing, the Sima of the General's Mansion, was ordered to carry treasures to Turkic envoys, but has not yet returned.

"There was no news when I came from Jinyang," Cui Shanwei shook his head.

Li Yuan waved his hand when he saw this, and said decisively: "Don't worry, gentlemen. I believe Liu Wenjing can handle the Turkic incident properly. In addition, Jinyang City has [-] elite soldiers who can be safe. The most urgent task now is to strengthen the morale of the army and prepare for war at any time." ".

Everyone responded sonorously when they heard the words, but Pei Ji just bowed down silently with everyone after hearing this, without saying a word, with a flat face, as if he was not very interested.

And in the evening, riding a fast horse completely calmed everyone's hearts.

Liu Wenjing came back, and was rushing towards Fort Jiahu with the war horse presented by Turkic Khan Sibi.

At the same time, the messenger brought a letter from Liu Wenjing. In the letter, Liu Wenjing described the details of the peace talks in Turkic, and emphasized the Taiyuan rumors. He never had the intention to go south. The Taiyuan rumors are malicious people with ulterior motives. Spread the word, Yu Wenxin is investigating.

Pei Ji also suddenly realized, "No wonder Yu Wenxin tried his best to oppose this news to the front line. Yu Wenxin has been sent to the front many times and is good at analysis. He must think that the southward invasion is not in the interests of the Turks, so he made this judgment."

Changsun Shunde and the others had only a half-knowledge, but Li Shimin Gao Chong and the others understood that if the Turks were to go south now, it would be for Liu Wuzhou and the Sui Dynasty, and it would not be in the interests of the Turks. After all, Shibi Khan wanted to sit on the mountain Watching the tigers fight, it is best for the Sui Dynasty to become a mess, so that the Turks can get bigger.

"Go and investigate", Li Yuan snorted coldly, and slapped the table hard, "I want to see who is making trouble."

For another three days, the continuous rain finally showed signs of stopping. Li Yuan secretly prayed for the rain to stop soon every day. Finally, the torturous July summer solstice rainy season passed.

On the first day of August, the rain stopped and the sun cleared.

Li Yuan was overjoyed, and the whole army was excited. Li Yuan immediately sent an order to expose the whole army to the sun and prepare to go to war.

In the big tent of the Chinese army, all the generals lined up on the left and right, and Li Yuan was in high spirits.

"Everyone, this heavy rain has blocked me for more than half a month. If it clears up today, there is no delay in breaking through Huoyi." Li Yuan pointed heavily at the location of Huoyi on the map. Come on, how to break the city?"

Li Jiancheng went on to say: "The news from Chang'an, Song Laosheng brought [-] soldiers and horses, plus the original defenders in the city, now there are at least [-] Sui troops in Huoyi City."

Chai Shao, who was at the bottom, also nodded when he heard the words, "When I investigated the city defense the day before yesterday, I saw no less than a few thousand guards in each gate, and there must be no less than 5000 in the city."

Everyone was under pressure when they heard the words. Changsun Shunde twitched his beard, thought for a moment, and then said in a strong tone: "The heavy rain has blocked half a month, and now we urgently need a big victory to boost morale. Our army has [-] people, so it is better to concentrate our forces." , storming a gate, breaking through the city with tyrannical force, can not only break through the city quickly, but also greatly increase the prestige of our army."

"Behind the high wall of Huoyi City, more than 3 Song Laosheng have deployed defenses for many days, and you have [-] people attacking?" Wang Changxie, the commander of the army, sneered when he heard the words, "I'm afraid how many people will die."

The elder Sun Shunde got angry when he heard the words, Li Yuan waved his hand to appease the two of them, he also hesitated and said: "Forcing the attack may not be a good strategy", with Li Yuan's character, he will not attack unless it is absolutely necessary.

"We can besiege the city first to see its flaws." Li Shimin also frowned. He couldn't find a good strategy for the time being, so he had to do so. Everyone agreed after hearing the words.

Li Yuan immediately divided the whole army into the left, middle and right armies. He personally led the middle army, Li Jiancheng led the left army, and Li Shimin led the right army.

As the main force, Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng stationed troops at the east gate of Huoyi City. Li Shimin led the right army and cruised around the south gate thinking of maneuvering. Chai Shao led more than [-] people to guard the Jiahu Fortress.

As soon as the sky cleared and the scorching summer sun rose, the muddy road dried up in the sun in just half a day. The armor, weapons and bow strings were all well maintained, and the three armies headed straight for Huoyi City.

Not long after Li Yuan's army set off, Song Laosheng, the governor of Linfen County, heard the news and immediately put on guard.

Under the city of Huoyi, the two armies confronted each other.

Li Yuan led the guards to come forward, and was about to open his mouth to make a dignified opening speech, in order to become famous as a teacher, but he didn't want a round of arrows raining on the wall without saying a word, forcing Li Yuan to retreat in a hurry.

"Old thief Li Yuan, don't need to say too much, Huoyi City is where you will be buried." On the top of the city, a burly old man with a gray beard cursed loudly, his voice was very loud.

Li Yuan was furious when he heard the words, took off the horse's side bow and arrow, galloped forward, raised his hand and shot an arrow towards the top of the city.

Seeing this, Song Laosheng hurriedly lowered his head, only to hear a hissing sound, the arrow was nailed to the gate tower above his head, and the arrow feathers were still shaking up and down.

The morale of the Tang army was greatly shaken, "Mr. Tang is mighty".

Gao Chong's eyes widened too. This archery skill is really amazing.

Shooting from the bottom of the city to the top of the city requires not only arm strength, but also great skill. After all, the arrow is shot in a parabola. Gao Chong recalled that just now Li Yuan rode forward on his horse and raised his hand to shoot. It was indeed towards the sky. Shot on the back.

According to legend, Li Yuan's archery skills are astonishing, and Changsun Sheng, the father of Changsun Wuji, was an equally famous marksman in the Sui Dynasty.

Just as everyone was admiring Li Yuan's archery skills, the gates of the city were wide open, and "Tie Li died".

Song Laosheng put on his helmet and smashed his armor, swung his big knife and rushed out screaming, heading straight for the Chinese army, followed by thousands of cavalry, roaring out.

The generals of the Tang army were stunned, but Li Shimin's spirit was shaken, he drew his sword and shouted, "Array, let's fight".

The two armies fought quickly, and Song Laosheng went straight to kill Li Yuan regardless.

However, Li Yuan was not a cowardly person, even though he was a little dazed by Song Laosheng's unreasonable playing of cards, he didn't panic at all, he sat firmly in the middle army and commanded firmly.

(End of this chapter)