Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 525 Battle of Heyang

January 16th.

It was a sunny day. The sun shone on the banks of the Yellow River. The thick snow looked warm, giving people a vague longing for spring flowers.

Just after the New Year, Shi Siming could not wait to send troops to attack Heyang again.

People said that Li Guangbi was beaten to a pulp by him and was afraid to show his head, but he knew very well that he could not drag it on any longer. He then asked the vanguard general Liu Longxian to lead 5,000 troops to attack the city and issued an order that they could not retreat until the city was conquered.

Liu Longxian was not very tall, especially his legs were very short. But one should not judge a person by appearance, he was short but brave and strong, skilled in martial arts, with broad arms and a waist as thick as his head, and he could wield a 100-jin sword effortlessly.

If such a person were allowed to climb to the top of the city wall, even a dozen Tang soldiers would not be able to repel him.

After receiving Shi Siming's strict military order, Liu Longxian thought about it and believed that it would not be easy to attack Heyang City by force. Only by luring the Tang army out of the city could the city be captured within one day.

He rolled his eyes and a plan came to mind.

So he ordered 5,000 elite soldiers to temporarily line up within two arrowhead range, and rode his horse forward to the foot of the city alone and cursed Li Guangbi with foul language.

He cursed so much that even the snow on the top of the city wall was about to fall off, but Li Guangbi remained unmoved.

Seeing this, Liu Longxian simply put away his knife, lifted one of his short legs and put it on the horse's neck, half leaning on the saddle and continued to curse. His attitude, coupled with those unbearable words, would have caused Li Guangbi's morale to fall if he continued to shrink back and ignore him.

Finally, Liu Longxian saw the city gate slowly open and a Tang general rode out on horseback.

He suppressed the urge to lead his troops to rush forward and seize the city gate immediately. After the enemy crossed the drawbridge, he estimated in his mind whether he could seize the drawbridge and open the city gate if he rushed forward at this time. He would most likely be shot into a hedgehog by the rain of arrows from the city.

It would be even better if we could hold the enemy general hostage and wait for our own troops to charge forward.

Liu Longxian was thinking in his mind and continued to maintain his lazy attitude, waiting for the other party to fall into his trap.

But he saw the Tang army general riding alone with his spear hanging there, waving at him repeatedly. It didn't seem like he came to fight, but rather to negotiate peace. When the two sides were about ten steps away from each other, the Tang general started talking.

"Does the thief know me?"

"Who are you?"

"Bai Xiaode."

Liu Longxian was about to put his foot down, and when he looked around, he saw Bai Xiaode was thin and frail, with a modest smile on his face. He looked down on him and asked, "Who the hell are you? What's the matter?"

Suddenly, Bai Xiaode shouted, raised his spear, and rode his horse towards Liu Longxian.

At the same time, the city of Heyang was beating drums and shouting, and the momentum was deafening. More than fifty riders rushed out of the city and rushed straight over the lowered stilts.

Liu Longxian was so shocked that he had no time to put his short legs back into the stirrups. He had no time to raise his sword to fight, so he turned his horse and rushed towards his five thousand elite cavalry.

The horse quickly accelerated, and the five thousand Yan soldiers in front also rushed up to support. Their armor was shining like a rushing river, which should have scared Bai Xiaode away.

However, Bai Xiaode was not afraid at all and kicked the horse's belly hard. Although he was looked down upon because of his thinness, he was also light in weight. He chased after him closely and stabbed his spear into Liu Longxian's thick neck.

"Hey!"

"Bring back the general!"

"Fire arrows!"

The soldiers of the Yan army shouted loudly, but it was too late. Bai Xiaode had already cut off Liu Longxian's head.

More than 50 Tang soldiers saw the great momentum and charged forward. The Yan army, having lost its leading general, dared not fight and fled in panic.

Seeing that he could not capture Heyang City that day, Shi Siming had to withdraw his troops, regroup morale, and continue the fierce attack for several days.

~~
"Woo——"

The war continued, and soon it was early February, and the Yan army was still sounding the attack horns one after another.

Li Guangbi listened and seemed to be able to hear Shi Siming's anxious mood.

This time, the Yan army was divided into two routes. Shi Siming personally led the army to attack the city from the northeast; another Yan army went around to the west to attack, with Zhou Zhi as the main general.

Heyang City was small, and the Tang army was inevitably afraid of the rebels' huge momentum, and their morale gradually declined.

Li Guangbi first climbed up to the east city tower to take a look. Seeing that Shi Siming had a strong army and was skilled in deploying troops, a trace of worry appeared in his eyes.

Afterwards, he went to the west city tower and found that although Zhou Zhi was the prime minister of Dayan and was deeply trusted by Shi Siming, his ability to deploy troops was average.

Li Guangbi put down the telescope, having made up his mind, and immediately called all the generals to discuss the matter.

"I want to take advantage of Zhou Zhi's unorganized formation and send my generals out of the city to attack him. Who dares to go?!"

All the generals felt that it was inappropriate and tried to dissuade him.

"General, the rebels are attacking the city from two sides. Our army is short of soldiers and even fewer horses. How can we get out of the city to meet them?"

"Shi Siming is eager to fight us in the field. Isn't this what the Marshal wants?"

Li Guangbi said: "It is precisely because the enemy soldiers are eager to fight in the field that they certainly did not expect our army to dare to fight in the field."

To boost morale, he pointed outside the city and said, "Although Zhou Zhi's troops are numerous, they are noisy and disorganized. They are not to be feared. We will surely defeat them before noon!"

He made his bold statement, and the generals had no reason not to be convinced, so they all became solemn.

Li Guangbi then asked Bai Xiaode to lead the troops to guard the east of the city and resist Shi Siming, while he personally supervised the battle in the north of the city.

He handed the telescope to the generals to observe Zhou Zhi's formation and asked, "Who can tell? Where is the strongest part of the enemy's formation?"

General Hao Tingyu responded and pointed to a flag in the enemy's formation in the distance, saying, "The enemy general Xu Huangyu's formation is the strongest!"

"Can you break it?" Li Guangbi asked.

"With my five hundred cavalrymen, we will surely defeat the enemy!" Hao Tingyu responded loudly.

"Three hundred." Li Guangbi had insufficient troops and horses, so he directly issued a military order, "Lead the army with the order."

Hao Tingyu hesitated slightly.

Because Li Guangbi was always extremely strict in disciplining his army, if he received a military order but failed to defeat the enemy, the ruthless military law could cost him his life.

He asked for five hundred cavalry, but we only gave him three hundred. This battle was really difficult to fight.

Gritting his teeth, Hao Tingyu stepped forward to receive the military order. He immediately felt tremendous pressure, his scalp tingled, his blood boiled, and he became fully alert.

Li Guangbi looked at the other generals and asked, "Where is the strongest position of the enemy?"

"Li Qinshou's formation is strong." A general named Lun Weizhen stepped out and answered.

Lun Weizhen knew that if he answered, he would be called to battle. He was willing to make a contribution, so he asked directly: "General, I will also give you 300 cavalrymen to defeat the enemy for you!"

"Since you are a secondary warrior, two hundred cavalrymen are enough. Take your orders."

"Here!"

Lun Weizhen had long since put life and death aside and immediately accepted the order.

Giving out military orders one after another, Li Guangbi looked around at the generals and said, "Fight when you see my flag. If I wave the flag slowly, you can choose the best time to fight. If I wave the flag three times quickly, you must charge in and risk your life to kill the enemy. Anyone who dares to retreat will be killed immediately!"

"Here!"

After this distribution, there is still one last thing left, and it is also the most important one.

Li Guangbi knew very well that if he pressed the generals so harshly, once the war went against his will and the generals could not complete their mission and had no other options, they might surrender to the rebels.

Strict military orders and threats of death also have disadvantages.

Therefore, he took out a short knife, showed it to the generals, and said solemnly: "This battle is dangerous. I am one of the three highest officials in the Tang Dynasty, and I must not die at the hands of the enemy. If the battle goes badly and you die at the hands of the enemy first, I will commit suicide here and never let you die alone!"

Hao Tingyu, Lun Weizhen and others looked over and saw Li Guangbi's deep and sincere eyes, which deeply moved them.

"Don't worry, Marshal. We will die for our country!"

War drums were beating, the west gate of Heyang City was opened, and thousands of Tang cavalry rushed out and charged straight into Zhou Zhi's camp.

Zhou Zhi was still arranging his troops and was caught off guard, so he quickly sent a fast horse to report to Shi Siming.

"Quick, inform His Majesty that the Tang army's west city is wide open, and there is a chance to seize the city gate!"

In this way, when Shi Siming orders his troops to attack, they might be able to arrive before noon.

Zhou Zhi then encouraged the morale and said, "Your Majesty, the army will arrive soon. We will capture the city before noon!"

"Kill!"

"..."

The two sides fought against each other.

The sun moved westward little by little and gradually reached the center of the sky.

The battlefield was covered in blood, and the soldiers' shadows were almost at their shortest.

On the top of Heyang City, Li Guangbi frowned deeply.

He had promised his soldiers that they would defeat the enemy before noon and did not want to break his promise. He also knew that Shi Siming would be arriving soon. He was about to wave the flag and issue the order for a general attack, but he saw an unfavorable picture through the telescope.

After fighting for a long time, Hao Tingyu was exhausted and rode his horse back.

Li Guangbi was furious and shouted, "Bring me Hao Tingyu's head!"

Hao Tingyu was his favorite general who had followed him for many years and served him at his side, but now he just killed him without hesitation. The military judges around him also knew that he was strict in military discipline, so they didn't ask any more questions and just carried out military law with their knives in hand.

The military judge rushed to the battlefield. Hao Tingyu saw him from a distance and immediately showed a look of horror. Without waiting for the other party to get close, he quickly shouted: "My horse has been shot by an arrow, I will never retreat!"

After saying this, Hao Tingyu changed his horse and charged towards the rebels again.

Even a man of steel could not stand the pressure from Li Guangbi. He felt wronged and couldn't stand it. To be honest, he had a fleeting thought in his mind, maybe he could just surrender to the rebels.

But the Marshal is willing to die to show his determination, live and die together, and fight for the Tang Dynasty, so what? !
On the other side, Lun Weizhen's horse was exhausted, and he just retreated a little, and unexpectedly saw the military judge running towards him with a knife. He was also startled and drove his horse forward again to fight.

For a time, Li Guangbi's military judges were everywhere, but no Tang general dared to violate military law.

Suddenly, the drum beats became louder. The generals looked back and saw the big flag on the top of the city waved quickly to the ground three times.

"Kill the enemy and serve the country!"

"Kill the enemy and serve the country!"

All the generals immediately shouted and led their troops forward, and their shouts were earth-shaking.

"kill!"

Hao Tingyu was really pushed to his limit. His eyes were bloodshot and he forgot everything except killing the enemy.

He raised his Mo Dao and chopped it down fiercely, actually splitting a bandit general into two. Blood gushed out, it was extremely horrifying.

If Li Guangbi hadn't forced him, he wouldn't have known he could be so ferocious.

Soon, the flag of Yan army general Xu Huangyu fell.

Soon, the flag of Yan general Li Qinshou also fell.

Zhou Zhi's side had not yet arranged its troops in battle formation and was just struggling to hold on. Seeing that Shi Siming had not yet led his troops to support them, the soldiers lost their minds and finally collapsed.

Shi Siming was still attacking the east of the city, and sent Shi Chaoyi to lead an army to support Zhou Zhi and seize the west gate of Heyang.

Previously, Shi Chaoyi and Zhou Zhi had to reconcile because of a poem called "Date of the Jujube". This time, Shi Chaoyi did not dare to be negligent and led his troops to rescue Zhou Zhi as soon as he received the military order.

But after he had finally adjusted his marching formation and marched around from the northeast to the west of the city, he was met head-on by Zhou Zhi's defeated troops.

"waste!"

Shi Chaoyi blurted out, but had to retreat.

But the fleeing soldiers had already rushed over and broke up his ranks.

In this battle, the Tang army beheaded more than 7,000 people, captured more than 1,000 people alive, seized 2,000 horses, and countless military supplies and weapons.

~~
After this battle, Li Guangbi could finally breathe a sigh of relief. But Shi Siming was not someone who would be easily discouraged. He reorganized the defeated army and continued to watch the enemy with a fierce look.

While Li Guangbi was reporting the victory in Luoyang, he also carefully reminded the court that although there was a small victory, they still needed to hold their ground and continue to delay Shi Siming.

Fortunately, King Yong was very clear about this and had reached a strategic consensus with him beforehand. Two days later, Diao Geng, as a messenger, crossed the Yellow River and rushed into Heyang City, delivering Xue Bai's letter.

When Li Guangbi saw him, he immediately showed an anxious look on his face and asked, "Since the New Year's Day, no grain has been delivered from Luoyang for more than ten days. The soldiers in Heyang can no longer hold on!"

"Please, Marshal, save my husband!"

Diao Geng also acted very anxious, but it was obvious that he was just acting. He handed over the letter but did not answer the question about food and fodder.

Li Guangbi opened the letter and frowned. In the letter, Xue Bai talked about the rumors, slander, and assassinations he had suffered. He suspected that the saint no longer trusted him and wanted to resign from the position of the Grand Marshal of the Army.

Now all the food and grass in Heyang were collected by Xue Bai, and the entire strategy was formulated by Xue Bai, Guo Ziyi, Feng Changqing and others, and Xue Bai was responsible for ensuring its implementation. At this time, if Xue Bai got into trouble, the cause of suppressing the rebellion might fail.

In addition, Shi Siming failed to capture the city, so he sent people to spread rumors and sow discord. If Xue Bai resigned, it would be exactly what Shi Siming wanted.

But this is also Xue Bai's strategy of retreating to advance.

The matter was not that serious at all. Xue Bai deliberately forced Li Guangbi to write a letter to defend him, giving people in the court the impression that "Li Guangbi was a member of Prince Yong's party."

This is the same reason as Li Heng calling Wang Zhongsi his sworn brother. In fact, which prince is not Wang Zhongsi's sworn brother? You have to be thick-skinned to win people over.

Although there was still food and grass in Heyang City, the transportation of food and grass had stopped since the New Year. It was obvious that Xue Bai deliberately reminded Li Guangbi of the consequences if he was not in office.

Li Guangbi had no choice but to write a letter in person to defend Xue Bai and hand it to Diao Geng.

"I believe Prince Yong is innocent. Please do not resign."

Diao Geng was deeply moved and praised Li Guangbi, saying, "My husband has no intention of taking military power, but I am afraid that you, Marshal Li, cannot resist Shi Siming. Although you are trapped, you have prepared a batch of food and grass, which will be sent to Yeshuidu in three days."

~~
On the fifth day of February, we crossed the Yeshui River.

With the sound of horses neighing, a team of Tang cavalry arrived.

This time it was Li Guangbi who came in person. He knew that Shi Siming's army of more than 100,000 consumed a huge amount of food and had been trying every means to rob him of his food, so he came specifically to ensure the safety of the food route.

In order to receive the food and grass sent by Xue Bai this time, he had ordered people to set up camps here and dig trenches to receive the food and grass in the past three days.

Now that the weather is getting warmer, green grass has grown on the banks of the Yellow River. The war horses lower their heads from time to time to eat the grass. Li Guangbi stopped his horse and looked at the south bank for a while, but Diao Geng arrived again.

"Marshal Li, there is a letter from Prince Yong."

Li Guangbi couldn't help laughing after reading the letter. In the letter, Xue Bai said that the food and grass could be delivered to Heyang City tonight, but for fear of leaking the news, he did not inform Li Guangbi in advance and asked Li Guangbi to meet him in the city tonight.

"Yong Xihao." Li Guangbi immediately recruited a general who was quite mediocre in his army.

"The end will be here."

"I have to rush back to Heyang. You take a thousand men and stay here."

"Here."

Li Guangbi thought for a moment, and then ordered: "Among the enemy generals, Gao Tinghui, Li Riyue, and Yu Wenjing are all capable of fighting against ten thousand men. Shi Siming must send one of them to fight. If any of them come, you must not go out to fight, but just defend. If the enemy general surrenders, bring him back to Heyang to see me."

Yong Xihao was not a smart man. He couldn't understand what this meant. Why would the enemy general surrender when he was fine?

Anyway, he stayed to guard the camp, and waited until midnight, but no enemy soldiers came to attack. He thought to himself that even the commander could make mistakes.

Just as the sky was about to dawn, there was a sudden earth-shaking shout. It turned out that the enemy army suddenly attacked the camp, and it seemed that they were coming from close range.

Yong Xihao was surprised, but thinking of Li Guangbi's instructions, he calmly arranged for people to defend the place.

When the battle reached the first light of day, the rebels stopped fighting and the enemy general even shouted for him to come out of the camp to meet them. Yong Xihao went and stared at the enemy across the fence and trench.

"Who are you?!"

"Li Riyue. Who are you?"

"Yong Xihao!"

"Where is Li Guangbi?"

Yong Xihao laughed and said, "The Marshal has already returned to Heyang."

Li Riyue asked angrily: "Why haven't you delivered your food and fodder?!"

"none of your business!"

Across the trench, Li Riyue was speechless for a long time. He called his generals to discuss for a while, and they all dropped their weapons and stepped forward and said, "If I surrender? Can you save my life?"

Yong Xihao was greatly surprised. He did not expect that it was just as Li Guangbi expected. He immediately followed Li Guangbi's instructions and took Li Riyue and other surrendered generals to Heyang City.

After entering Heyang and walking all the way to the Marshal's Mansion, we saw Li Guangbi talking to a young man with a graceful demeanor and extraordinary appearance.

Yong Xihao was startled and guessed the identity of the young man, but he didn't dare to confirm it. He just saluted and said, "Greetings, Marshal."

"Hmm." Li Guangbi did not introduce him, and said, "Maybe there are any enemies who will surrender?"

"Yes, the enemy general Li Riyue is willing to surrender, but he is still outside the city. He asked the Marshal if he could save his life."

Li Guangbi smiled and said, "Tell him that I can now appoint him as General Guoyi and let him lead his original troops. From now on, he will be my brother like other generals."

"Yes."

Yong Xihao hurriedly took the order and left, and soon brought back Li Riyue.

"Hahaha." Li Guangbi was unusually enthusiastic. He personally stepped forward and pulled Li Riyue over, bringing him to the young man and said, "Riyue has come at the right time. I will introduce you to the Prince Yong of the Tang Dynasty."

Li Riyue was shocked and bowed down immediately, saying, "Prince Yong has come to Heyang in person. I, your humble general..."

"You surrendered at the right time." Xue Bai helped Li Riyue up and said, "It won't be long before Shi Siming is defeated. This is a great merit bestowed by God on you."

Such words, which just happened to be in accordance with the will of heaven, were the most touching.

Li Riyue shuddered and felt that he had met a wise leader this time.

Yong Xihao, however, was extremely puzzled.

He really couldn't understand why the Prince of Yong and the Marshal looked as if it was a matter of course? Weren't they afraid that Li Riyue was pretending to surrender? How did they expect Li Riyue to surrender?

However, something even more surprising happened to him.

A few days later, a general of the Yan army suddenly came to surrender, and it was Gao Tinghui, the "enemy of ten thousand men" mentioned by Li Guangbi.

Yong Xihao finally couldn't bear it anymore, and found an opportunity to ask Li Guangbi what was going on.

"It's simple. That's how human nature is."

Yong Xihao scratched his head and muttered, "I don't think it's simple."

Li Guangbi sighed as he thought about how he had always been strict in disciplining his army and how he was afraid that the great battle a few days ago might have forced his generals to rebel.

"Shi Siming is eager to win and is looking forward to a direct battle with me. When he heard that I was receiving food and grass at Yeshui Ferry, he must have issued a strict order to Li Riyue to use elite cavalry to attack me. If he fails, he will kill him without mercy."

As he spoke, he waved to Li Riyue and asked, "Really?"

"Yes, Marshal." Li Riyue said, "I can't capture the Marshal, and I can't rob food and grass. Even if I try my best to capture Yong Xihao, an unknown man, I will definitely die if I go back. It's better to surrender."

"Nobody? I..."

Yong Xihao had no rebuttal, so he looked at Gao Tinghui and asked, "Why did you surrender?"

Gao Tinghui was very aloof and said calmly, "My talent and martial arts are far superior to Li Riyue's, and he was still able to be valued by the Marshal, let alone me?"

When Xue Bai saw this scene, he could quite sense the demeanor of Li Guangbi, a famous general.

He became more confident that the rebellion could be quelled within this year.

But he hoped to avoid some losses in national strength and military force, and this was also the purpose of his personal visit this time.

~~
Yan army camp.

Despite successive setbacks in the war, Yan Zhuang admired Shi Siming even more.

Shi Siming had the spirit of a great general and he was unyielding in the face of setbacks. After two of his generals betrayed him one after another, he calmed down, put aside his previous impatience, changed his attitude, and began to appease the generals.

Soon, the morale of the Yan army was boosted again.

"A temporary defeat is not a big deal." Shi Siming also called in Yan Zhuang and other people to encourage them personally. "We can lose many times. The worst that can happen is that we will retreat to Fanyang and plunder in the autumn of next year. We will have a strong army and strong horses again. But the Tang court cannot afford to lose even once. If Li Guangbi loses once, I can go straight to Luoyang, or even Chang'an."

Yan Zhuang thought there was some truth in it.

"Therefore, our army does not need to seek a quick victory." Shi Siming raised his voice, "The first to collapse will surely be the Tang court."

Unable to defeat his old rival Li Guangbi, he quickly changed his mindset and no longer sought to destroy the Tang Dynasty in one battle, but instead prepared to fight a protracted war.

Shi Chaoyi was filled with worry and said, "But the army's food and grass supply..."

Shi Siming glanced at his son calmly, looked at the map and started pointing.

"Where does Heyang's food supply come from? From the Yangtze and Huai Rivers. Xue Bai came to Luoyang in person, first to stop our army from crossing the Yellow River, and second to collect food for Li Guangbi. Since we can't take the Tang army's food from Yeshui Ferry, then we can take it directly from the Yangtze and Huai Rivers!"

He pointed his finger and first clicked on Caozhou on the map.

"Xue E!"

"The end will be here."

"You can lead 3,000 soldiers to plunder the food and grass in Caozhou. There is no need to attack the city."

"Here."

"Wang Tongzhi!"

"The end will be here."

"Lead two thousand soldiers and plunder Chenzhou!"

"Here."

"Xu Jingguang, two thousand soldiers, plunder Yunzhou!"

"..."

Military orders were passed down one after another. Just looking at the map, it could be seen that the Yan army had completely dispersed. They no longer concentrated their forces, but instead marched towards Henan and the Jianghuai area in an overwhelming manner.

"South of the Yellow River, the only capable Tang army members are Xue Bai and Zhang Xun. Now I'm scattering them. Let's see how many Zhang Xuns can defend the city?!"

"Dayan will win."

Yan Zhuang admired Shi Siming, but he also had some other ideas in his mind.

That night, he specially invited Shi Chaoyi to have a drink, sighed, and said, "Does King Huai know why Your Majesty arranged it this way?"

"This is to cut off the Tang army's food and grass. If one side loses and the other side gains, the Tang army will surely be defeated."

"No." Yan Zhuang shook his head and said, "I think your majesty intends to return to Fanyang."

"Why do you say that, sir?" Shi Chaoyi was puzzled.

Yan Zhuang said: "Our army's looting of Jianghuai will surely cause the people to complain. Helping the Tang army to fight against Dayan will make it difficult to eliminate the people's resentment. How can this be a good opportunity to conquer the world? On the contrary, the army has looted gold, silk, and children. We should retreat to Fanyang, reward the meritorious officials, and rest and recuperate. How do you think?"

"how?"

"It will leave a mess for the Tang court. With insufficient financial resources and a tight budget, coupled with the power struggles within the court, the Tang court will be in chaos in a few years. At that time, Your Majesty can borrow troops from the Huihe and Khitan and march straight in. Wouldn't that be better?"

Shi Chaoyi suddenly realized and said, "So that's the case. No wonder. But why didn't the emperor tell the generals clearly?"

Yan Zhuang smiled and said, "It's not that I don't want to speak clearly to the generals, but I don't want to speak clearly to one person in Huaizhou."

"What does this mean?" Shi Chaoyi was greatly surprised and his eyes widened.

"That's enough. That's enough." Yan Zhuang waved his hand and pointed to the north, refusing to talk about it anymore. He only said, "If King Huai can think of my goodness for what he said today, I will be satisfied."

That night, Shi Chaoyi tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep peacefully.

He thought of Shi Siming leaving Shi Chaoqing in Fanyang and only conferring him the title of King Huai, and added to what he had said today, he could not help but become more worried. So he stood up, called his confidants to discuss, and said, "Master is going back to Fanyang..."

(End of this chapter)