A Millennium Aristocratic Family Starting from the Shang Dynasty

Chapter 644 Hebei Repeatedly
After Wang decided to support Qin King Li Shimin, he began to make various preparations.

Nowadays, King Qin's main power is concentrated in the army, and the power in the court is very weak. Even if he wants to support Li Shimin's ascension to the throne, he must find those people who can be won over.

In the Chang'an court, the Guanlong nobles had the upper hand, followed by the old officials of the Sui Dynasty. As for the Guandong nobles, there were almost no nobles.

There were also very few officials who supported the King of Qin, but there were not many true loyalists to Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng, and the vast majority of officials were neutral.

At the same time, Wang also began to nudge Li Shimin's generals and officials.

Launching a coup is not a trivial matter, especially in a newly established dynasty. If you are not careful, the entire dynasty will collapse. Therefore, this coup must control the damage to a minimum.

It cannot affect the upward trend of the Tang Dynasty. The purpose of Wang's in-depth participation in the court this time is to gain a lot of luck and gain the fortune of the Wang family. Therefore, he does not want the Tang Dynasty to die early.

When Wang's actions were intensive, Li Shimin finally began to lead his army on the expedition. It has to be said that Liu Heitai is very powerful, and he only lasted for one year. He defeated all the famous officials and generals in the Tang Dynasty, except Wang, Li Shimin, and Li Jing.

Li Yuan was forced to use Li Shimin again. Originally, Li Yuan wanted to suppress Li Shimin, but instead of succeeding, he gave Li Shimin another chance to improve his reputation.

If Li Shimin had some luck in defeating Dou Jiande last time, then if he could defeat Liu Heita this time, he would truly become the military god of the Tang Dynasty.

After seeing this situation, Liu Heitai had only two choices. One was to take a gamble and send out a large army to force the Tang army to fight decisively. The other was to retreat and wait for the next year's food harvest before fighting again.

Liu Heitao has been fighting endlessly for this year. Although he has achieved great victory, the people's livelihood problems in Hebei, Shandong, and Henan have not been solved.

Through these battles and the situation in Hebei, he had keenly discovered Liu Heitai's food shortage.

However, Liu Heitai was unable to maintain a long-term confrontation due to lack of food and grass, so he was eager to seek a battle. He sent troops several times to invite battle, but was defeated by the Tang army with the help of deep ditch camps.

Li Shimin quickly restored the morale of his army through several successful defensive counterattacks. As for Liu Heitai, due to several defeats, his originally high morale began to quietly decline. In addition, the Tang army sent cavalry to harass Liu Heitai's logistics, and Liu Heitai's army was increasingly nervous about food and grass.

Li Shimin was a natural general and had a natural acumen for war. Even though Li Yuan had not used Li Shimin to fight before, Li Shimin also collected information about Liu Heitai from various channels.

Li Shimin led his army to Luoshui and confronted Liu Heitai. Faced with Liu Heitai's invitation to fight, Li Shimin ignored it. He just took advantage of the terrain and refused to fight due to the deep ditch and high base.

Li Shimin personally led his army out of Tongguan and stationed in Weizhou, relying on the Luoshui River to confront them.

Due to frequent wars, very little grain and grass are cultivated in the three areas. Even if they are cultivated, the harvest is not high because there is no labor. Therefore, Liu Heitai also had to face the problem of shortage of food and grass.

After Liu Heitai defeated the Tang Dynasty army, he proclaimed himself the Eastern King of Han Dynasty in Hebei, and then generously awarded rewards with great momentum. Li Tang's army was newly defeated. Due to its power, he could only hold on.

Even when Li Shimin came, the Tang army's morale was greatly shaken and they did not take the initiative to attack again.

Liu Heitai knew that even if he retreated, Li Tang would not stop and would definitely take the opportunity to attack. By then, his army would most likely turn from withdrawal to collapse.

And even if the troops successfully withdraw, if Li Tang continues to attack, Hebei will be difficult to defend. After all, there are many plains in Hebei and there is almost no danger to defend.

Li Shimin is a veteran general, how could he be given a chance to recuperate? He must take the opportunity to attack. In this way, in fact, Liu Heitai had only one way to go, and that was to send out his army and fight to the death. If you win, the sky will be high and the sea will be vast, and you can divide and rule the world with Li Tang. If you lose, everything will come to an end.

After Liu Heitai saw the problem clearly, he did not hesitate at all. Taking advantage of the fact that the army still had some food and grass, he directly commanded the army to go to war.

Li Shimin still held on, and at the same time ordered people to go upstream to build a dam to cut off the river. After Liu Heita's army went out, they dug the dam and flooded the army.

The result was just as Li Shimin expected. Liu Heitao's army was about to cross the river to launch a decisive battle. As a result, as soon as the army crossed the river halfway, the roar of thunder came. Before Liu Heitao's army could react, torrential floods poured down.

Liu Heitai's tens of thousands of troops were directly overwhelmed, and countless soldiers were washed away by the water or drowned directly. Tens of thousands of troops were wiped out in one fell swoop.

Seeing that Liu Heitai's army was wiped out, Li Shimin directly ordered an attack. The Tang army killed countless enemies and captured countless prisoners in the first battle, while Liu Heitai fled in embarrassment with only hundreds of his own soldiers.

When the news of the Luoshui battle reached Chang'an, the entire court immediately became excited.

Liu Heitai, who was majestic and arrogant three months ago, was defeated by the army of King Qin in the blink of an eye. With such a great victory, King Qin's prestige rose again.

Li Yuan saw the battle report. Although he was happy, he also became more and more worried.

After thinking for a while, Li Yuan issued an edict again, ordering Li Shimin to return to the court, and then ordered Li Daoxuan, king of Pengcheng, and Li Yuanji, king of Qi, to lead their troops to attack Liu Heita.

Li Shimin saw the imperial edict and had no choice but to return to Beijing to resume his duties. After returning to Chang'an, Li Shimin immediately went to the palace to ask for an audience, and then advised:
"My father is wise and powerful, but the gentry of Hebei and Shandong are still lucky. Although they won this time, they are still unwilling to surrender. I sincerely ask my father to issue an edict to the gentry of Hebei and Shandong. Only the first culprits will be punished, and the rest will be ignored. Reduce and reduce taxes in both places, so that the two places can be equalized!”

Li Yuan did not adopt Li Shimin's opinion, but asked him to go home to recuperate. Even his generals were asked to return to Chang'an to report on their duties.

Li Shimin was directly relieved of most of his military power.

Wang took this situation seriously and immediately summoned King Qin's generals for discussion.

At the same time, Liu Heitai was defeated and fled. However, the people and wealthy clans in Hebei did not give in, and Liu Heita quickly gathered some soldiers again.

Although Li Tang's army was victorious, the generals were suddenly changed before the battle, making the army uneasy. The generals are at odds.

The army sergeants and generals all believed that Li Daoxuan, the king of Pengcheng, and Li Yuanji, the king of Qi, were here to seize the credit. These generals followed Li Shimin and fought a great victory. However, before the rewards came, the commander-in-chief was replaced. Each of them felt very sad. Unfair.

Discord between generals is a taboo in the army. As a result, Li Daoxuan directly led his army to attack Liu Heitai without trying to appease the generals.

Li Dao

Seeing this result, the noble families in Hebei responded one after another. In the blink of an eye, Liu Heitai, who was almost on the verge of destruction, once again regained all his lost ground.

(End of this chapter)