Editing of the ten loyal ministers and the emperors standing up

Chapter 188 The city defense battle that shocked the past and the present

Above the sky! Groups of Tang troops were marching.

A voice came from the team:

"General, the spies in front of us have come to report that the traitor and puppet emperor has sent General Yin Ziqi as the governor of Henan Province, and ordered him to capture Suiyang in Keqi. It is said that he arrived with 300,000 troops and horses in a mighty manner!"

"Three hundred thousand? Huh, if there are really three hundred thousand, then I have to laugh. Just the food and supplies will bring down the rebels!"

"General, even if there are not so many, we only have a few thousand troops. How should we deal with it?"

Zhang Xun looked at the soldiers with firm eyes and said:

"We must fight this battle. If we don't fight, the city will be lost. The rebels will massacre the city. They are so full of evil that it will be difficult to write all the bamboos in the Nanshan Mountains and wash it away in the water of the Nanhai Sea.

If we lose, the people of Datang will suffer. "

Zhang Xun stared solemnly at the direction of the rebels in the north. Although the enemy was outnumbered, he had to fight this battle.

An Lushan's army was mostly composed of Hu generals, and their military style was naturally barbaric and untamable.

The Hu people also rose up in rebellion, burning, killing, looting, and doing whatever they wanted. The people of the Tang Dynasty were filled with grief.

Moreover, after An Lushan captured the city, he repeatedly ordered his generals to carry out massacres, and even slaughtered Han people wantonly.

It was not uncommon to see floating corpses floating in oars, and some warlords even used human flesh as military rations. It was really bloody.

They wantonly entered people's homes like robbers to steal money.

If they meet some good-looking girls, the rebel soldiers will release their desires and trample on all the laws of the world.

At this time, Xu Yuan only had 3,800 men and horses, and Zhang Xun only had 3,000 men.

The combined troops of Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan amounted to only 6,800 men. With less than 7,000 troops, fighting against Yin Ziqi's 130,000 troops was like throwing an egg against a stone.

Since the outbreak of the "An-Shi Rebellion", although An Lushan sent his troops southward with great momentum, it only took him thirty-three days to conquer the eastern capital Luoyang.

But for the vast Tang Empire, the harm and threats caused by the rebels at this time were still within the tolerable range.

In the land of Hebei, brothers Yan Gaoqing and Yan Zhenqing lit up a raging fire in the "backyard" of the rebels to defeat the thieves and the invaders.

On the Hedong battlefield, two famous generals, Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi, won consecutive battles and severely defeated the rebel army.

In particular, Ge Shuhan was based in Tongguan. With the natural dangers of mountains and rivers and solid fortifications,

This prevented the rebels from getting involved in Guanzhong and threatened Chang'an, the political center of the Tang Dynasty.

But just when the situation was looking good, Tang Xuanzong, who was once a wise and powerful man, made what may be the most foolish decision in his life.

——Under the instigation of Prime Minister Yang Guozhong, he issued an edict to order his brother Shu Han to take the initiative to leave Tongguan eastward to meet the enemy.

As a result, in the Battle of Lingbao, the 200,000 Tang troops who were forced to attack were almost completely lost after being ambushed.

The commander-in-chief Shu Han was defeated and captured, and once Tongguan was lost, there was no longer a barrier to the east of Chang'an, and the land of Sanqin was already in danger.

The capital was in danger and the emperor went into exile;

The rebels advanced westward, Chang'an fell, and the fall of Tongguan became the first domino that triggered the empire's disaster.

At this point, the situation on the entire battlefield began to take a turn for the worse.

With Yuyang Mo's instigation coming, Li Longji suddenly woke up from his dream of a prosperous emperor. The billowing smoke of the rebels' westward advance had enveloped Chang'an.

As the afterglow of the prosperous Kaiyuan era gradually fades away, the once extremely glorious Tang Dynasty is about to usher in the darkest moment in its 140-year history...

After escaping from Chang'an, Xuanzong drove in a panic to Maweiyi. The soldiers and soldiers in the army were resentful because they abandoned their wives and children and had a rough journey, which led to a mutiny.

In the end, the angry soldiers executed Yang Guozhong, the traitor, and forced the emperor to issue an order for Concubine Yang to commit suicide.

At this point, Li Longji, who had been in power for nearly half a century, completely lost control of his huge empire.

The accompanying prince Li Heng was comforted by the local people after the mutiny and parted ways with his father.

Picking up the remnants of the defeated troops along the way, he arduously marched north to Lingwu. In July 756, he was proclaimed emperor and respected Xuanzong as the Supreme Emperor.

A sudden mutiny quickly disbanded and reorganized the top power structure of the Li Tang Dynasty.

Li Longji became a loner and lived his old age in Chengdu, far away from the war, while the new king Li Heng began the difficult road of rebuilding the country.

Chang'an and Luoyang were the political and economic centers of the Tang Dynasty, and they were also the face of the empire.

If he could not regain the two capitals, how could Emperor Suzong of the Tang Dynasty, who had just succeeded to the throne, secure his position?

How could Li Heng prove that he was more suitable to manage this huge country than his father?

Therefore, the battle on the Western Front became the top priority for the Tang regular army to counterattack the Anlushan rebels, and it was also the focus of the main confrontation between the two sides.

Thousands of miles away, the Henan area was still beyond the reach of the Tang Dynasty.

Zhang Xun, who was previously unknown, is about to begin his legendary life that will shine in ancient and modern times and shine through the annals of history in troubled times.    …

In the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Xun's 6,800 men faced off against Yin Ziqi's 130,000 rebels.

Insufficient troops is one aspect, and there is also a big problem with food and grass. At the beginning of the war, Xu Yuan took precautions and made various arrangements to reserve enough food for Suiyang to last for a year.

However, Li Ju, the governor of Henan Province in the Tang Dynasty and the king of Guo, forced Xu Yuan to allocate half of the grain reserves in Suiyang to support Puyang and Jiyin.

Ironically, after Jiyin obtained the food, he surrendered the entire city to the rebels.

The Battle of Suiyang had an air of discouragement and despair almost from the beginning.

But Suiyang is different from previous places such as Yongqiu and Ningling. When it cannot be defended, it can choose to retreat elsewhere.

After the fall of Luoyang and Chang'an, the Tang court's taxes were only transported to the Jianghuai area, and grain, fodder, and weapons were completely dependent on the canal.

Suiyang is not only an important town shielding the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers, but is also located in the middle of the Bianhe River section of the Grand Canal.

Once this place is lost, the Jianghuai gateway will be opened and the canal will be blocked, the consequences will be disastrous.

……

Finally, the rebels have arrived!

According to battlefield practice, Yin Ziqi sent an envoy to persuade him to surrender!

Zhang Xun, the sixth son, killed the envoy directly and threw the envoy's body outside the city.

This shows his determination and vows to live and die with the city.

"Well, Zhang Xun, if you don't want to drink wine as a penalty, I am not Linghu Chao. After I break the city, I will kill you with a thousand knives!"

Yin Ziqi ordered the siege to begin.

That afternoon, Yin Ziqi ordered the archers to line up and shoot arrows at the top of the city.

The dense arrows hit the west tower of Yangcheng like a violent storm. The arrows were nailed to the wooden shield and made a crisp sound.

The wood at the top of the city was also covered with arrows, and the back of the city was also covered with arrows.

The rebels shot tens of thousands of such bows and arrows in total.

That day, the rebels did not continue to attack the city, but stationed outside the city.

Early the next morning, the rebels started shooting arrows again.

The terrible rain of arrows makes people breathless.

After the rain of arrows ended, the rebel drums sounded.

Ladders built overnight were rolled out.

On the turret at the head of the city, Zhang Xun and his generals watched the rebel offensive.

The lieutenant asked:

"Why would the general kill the envoy and commit suicide?"

"I have put life and death aside. Since ancient times, the only choice is death. Death, but death cannot be in vain, for the sake of the dawn of the world and for the sake of the Tang Dynasty.

Zhang Xun... will die in Suiyang. "

Zhang Xun's tone revealed a decisive look, full of determination to fight to the death.

For Zhang Xun at this time, Suiyang is a city that cannot wait for rescue but must hold on. It is a war that has no chance of winning but cannot retreat.

Of course he could have easily chosen to leave;

It's just that the sea is flowing, and the hero's true colors are revealed. The reason why Zhang Xun became a famous general who has glorified for generations,

It is precisely because he made a different choice from most people in times of difficulty and crisis!

Zhang Xun decided to hold on, using an isolated city and 7,000 isolated troops to delay the rebels from entering Jianghuai.

Even if we can only hold on for a moment longer, we must fight this war that is destined to fail for the country, the country, and the people of the world!

　I'm speechless, I stopped updating yesterday. . . I fell asleep while writing,

　　

　

(End of this chapter)