Late Tang

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It was late at night, but Li Maoxun didn't feel sleepy at all.Under the candlelight, he frowned and sighed.He sent Liu Rengong to deliver a letter to Li Jing, in which he had already made great concessions, as long as Li Jing was willing to take a step back, then he was even willing to marry his own daughter to Li Jing as a concubine.Moreover, he did not object to Li Jing's proposal to temporarily borrow the four cities.If he had to, he really didn't want to start a war with Li Jing as an enemy.

It's just that his retreat was obviously regarded as cowardice by Li Jing.The damn guy rejected his offer without hesitation, without even considering the threat implied in his letter.

Is it necessary to do it?But he really didn't have much confidence. Although Lu Long's army had 9 troops, they were in the hands of various army leaders, big and small. What he could really command was only his initial 1 troops and the 2 troops he recruited later.It was precisely because of these [-] horses that he managed to secure his current position.But to fight against Li Jing, this manpower is obviously not enough.Although Fan Xinglong, Liu Yue and other veteran soldiers also dispatched troops this time, how reliable are these people?

While sighing, Liu Rengong asked to see him outside.

"Come in!"

"Report to Commander-in-Chief, something is wrong. Gao Shunli's former army was defeated and surrendered. Changzhou has also been lost. Li Jing is leading [-] troops to attack Wozhou City. The forward has arrived at Binhai City, only [-] miles away from us. .” Liu Rengong reported in panic.

This news was so shocking that Li Maoxun couldn't believe it at all.

"How is this possible? The Gao family and his son are not stupid. How did 1 people lose in a blink of an eye?" Li Maoxun's eyes widened.asked in a trembling voice.

Liu Rengong reported the news he heard. "It is reported that Li Jing pretended to attack Gu'an City, but ambushed with elite soldiers and horses on the south bank of the North River in Gu'an City, and built embankments upstream to store water. After the cavalry in the front passed and half of the infantry behind waded across the river, they suddenly attacked halfway. Digging the embankment to release water, flooding the front army, Gao Shunli was defeated and captured. Then the cavalry was also surrounded, approached and surrendered. After Gao Shunli surrendered, he took the initiative to swindle and open Changzhou City as the vanguard."

Li Maoxun was angry and anxious, startled and frightened at the moment, and under the attack of anger, his blood rushed directly, and he fainted to the ground.

Binhai City is between Changzhou and Wozhou City, although the city is not big.At this time, there were three thousand soldiers and horses stationed.If you want to attack Wozhou, you have to go to this city first.

Li Jing asked Gao Shunli for advice.There is a good way to break the city.

Gao Shunli said: "Gao Pang, the guard of Binhai City, is a child of my Gao family. In terms of seniority, he is my younger brother. I feel that the Duke of the county is so kind that I can't repay him. I am willing to persuade him to surrender and let him open the city. come back."

Li Jing was naturally very happy when he heard this, and immediately asked Zhang Hong to prepare a generous gift and a letter for Gao Shunli.Gao Shunli took a few entourages to knock on the pass to see Gao Chong.After entering the city, he took out the gift Li Jing gave him, which was a thousand taels of gold.He also took out a letter written by Li Jing. In the letter, Li Jing specially named Gao Chong as the deputy commander of the right front army.And it was agreed that as long as Gao Chong led the army to surrender, the three thousand subordinates in the city would each be rewarded ten guan.

Gao Shunli said to Gao Chong: "In the current situation, Li Jing is a fierce dragon crossing the sea, how can Li Maoxun be his opponent. Even if Li Maoxun can survive the current hurdle, after this battle, how can he restrain and command Lu Long's army? When it arrives, will it be safe again? Why don’t you take this opportunity and think more about it.”

Gao Chong murmured, "Is Li Jing really as good as his brother said? You and my brother voted for him, just afraid that he would be uncomfortable and reused?"

"No!" Gao Shunli shook his head, "Then Li Jing's family history is still short, and although his subordinates are strong soldiers, they are also mixed. There are pirates recruited in the early years, and old minions after annexing their bosses. Those forces in southern Liaoning are also under his control. From my point of view, Li Jing treats the generals and the soldiers fairly well. Besides, our Gao family is from Guizhou. If Li Maoxun hadn’t used the banner of Chen Gongyan last time, How could we follow him if he lied to us to send troops. Right now, switching to Li Jing is not considered a betrayal, but Li Maoxun deceived us first."

The Gao family was not originally under Li Maoxun's subordinates in Guizhou. Li Maoxun was the envoy of the Qingyi army, and Gao Shunli was the envoy of the Ningwu army.Chen Gongyan, the envoy of the surrender army, was very popular in Youzhou and had been kind to the Gao family, so when Li Maoxun recruited them to send troops under the banner of Chen Gongyan, they sent troops without the slightest hesitation.It was only after they invaded Youzhou that they realized that they had been tricked by Li Maoxun.But at that time, the deal was done, and it was only admitted that the fait accompli was true.

Gao Chong was finally persuaded by Gao Shunli, living in the separatist town of Youzhou, he was used to changing the king's banner at the top of the city, and it was not a big deal.Vote for whoever is stronger, this is the law of survival under the law of the jungle.

Li Jing led his troops into Binhai City, did not break his promise, and immediately rewarded Gao Chong's three thousand subordinates.Taking advantage of this opportunity, Li Jing took out all the money and food in stock from Gu'an, Changzhou and Binhai City as rewards to reward the three armies.

Afterwards, Li Jing mobilized 2000 troops from the left wing of the Zhendong Army, mixed them with Gao Chong's [-] soldiers and horses, and formed a new wing. .He also transferred the officer of the Zhendong Army as his deputy.

Li Maoxun lost Binhai City, he was angry and anxious, but he didn't dare to go out of the city to fight.They just sent flying cavalry to urge the other left and right troops, so that Li Quanzhong and Liu Yue's left and right troops rushed to Wozhou to join them.On the one hand, he secretly informed his son Li Keju to stick to Youzhou and not to leave the city.

On the other hand, Li Maoxun once again sent Liu Rengong as an envoy to ask Li Jing to see him, hoping that the two families would cease their troops.He also proposed to raise 200 million guan and [-] shi of grain to the Zhendong Army, and was willing to temporarily borrow the four cities from the Zhendong Army to Datong for Li Jing's use.Moreover, he sent his daughter directly to Li Jing's army.

However, Li Jing was not moved. Although he had eaten up the former army, he hadn't really hurt Li Maoxun yet.Let him go at this time, there is no guarantee that after Li Jing enters Datong, he will not have other thoughts.Immediately Li Jing accepted the 20 guan advance payment raised by Li Maoxun, but did not give Liu Rengong an answer.

That night, Li Jing directly divided the soldiers and horses into three parts, and besieged Wozhou City with 5000 troops from the newly reorganized left front army, right front army, and left wing, and the other eight thousand town east troops were divided into two parts.Set up an ambush on both sides of Vaud City.Be ready to deal with the two groups of soldiers on the left and right in Youzhou at any time.

5000 people surrounded Li Maoxun's 1 horses in the city of Wozhou.Attack from all sides.In the city, Li Maoxun did not come out. On the third day of the attack, the left army Li Quanzhong led the left soldiers and horses had already arrived.As soon as Li Quanzhong arrived, he immediately besieged Binhai City first.At this time, Qin Ju led [-] Liaonan united troops from Huichang to defend Binhai City. Li Quanzhong stormed the city as soon as he arrived.

Jiang Ju held on for less than half a day, and Li Quanzhong attacked the top of the city several times. Although he desperately drove Li Quanzhong's soldiers and horses off the top of the city, the United soldiers suffered heavy casualties.Jiang Ju asked Li Jing for help.Li Jing stood still.Li Quanzhong fought at night with fire and continued to attack fiercely. In the middle of the night, the south gate of Binhai City was finally breached, and Li Quanzhong led his army into the city.

At this time, Li Jing got the report, pondered for a moment and said to Li Zhen: "Li Quanzhong came here twice, traveling day and night. He was already exhausted. Today he attacked the city and fought fiercely for a whole day. Up to now, the left army has not eaten. Now the left army has broken through. The south gate of Binhai City. It is the time of excitement, so vigilance must be lacking. I am waiting for this time to attack. It is just right to defeat the exhausted left army in one fell swoop."

Li Zhen also nodded: "At this time, the left army is the most exhausted, and this is the time to act."

Immediately, Li Jing led [-] soldiers and horses of the Chinese army, and five cavalry battalions of Controlling Crane, Flying Cavalry, Ranger, Flying Eagle, and Yinan made an attack.The army suddenly rushed to the foot of Binhai City. At this time, most of the [-] Youzhou soldiers from the left had entered the city through the broken south gate, and some were still outside the city.

The [-] cavalry of the Zhendong Army arrived, and suddenly the momentum was like a hurricane, like an autumn wind sweeping fallen leaves, and a strong wind sweeping across the plain.

In a blink of an eye, the left army outside the city had been broken through and defeated.Leaving a battalion leader to continue sweeping these routs, Li Jing led the crowd directly into Binhai City, Jiang Juzheng led his troops in the city to resist desperately, and it seemed that it was going to die, suddenly there were bursts of fire behind him, and the sound of killing was loud.Li Jing had already led the cavalry into the city, slashing left and right, Li Quanzhong was caught off guard, his soldiers and horses were scattered in the streets and alleys of the city, and they could not stop the cavalry squadron of the Zhendong Army from charging.

The Zhendong army was defeated, Li Quanzhong saw that the situation was not good, and immediately fell out of the city, Li Jing led his troops to chase for a while, beheaded more than [-] people, Fang Nai retreated.

After this defeat, Li Quanzhong's left army retreated for more than a hundred li, and retreated to the city of Xuanzhou, before slowly gathering the defeated troops.At the end of the count, there were 1 troops from the Left Route Army, and only 5000 troops returned to Xuanzhou City, which was actually less than half.Among them, [-] were beheaded by the Zhendong Army, more than a thousand were captured, and thousands of defeated soldiers directly became deserters.

Li Quanzhong was thinking of Li Maoxun, and took his two sons Li Kuangwei and Li Kuangchou to go to Wozhou for rescue.But although Li Quanzhong of the Left Route Army is the main general, in fact this army is composed of soldiers and horses from various ministries in Yiding Zhuzhou.The soldiers and horses that were pulled up with great difficulty, now suffered such a big loss.At the moment, no one is willing to accompany Li Quanzhong to go north, and Li Quanzhong has no choice but to stay in Xuanzhou City.

The Right Route Army led by Liu Yue and Fan Xinglong had already left Lu County, halfway there, only tens of miles away from Wozhou.Hearing that Li Quanzhong's troops were defeated by an ambush and retreated hundreds of miles, they immediately returned to Lu County without hesitation.

Li Jing withdrew his troops and returned to Binhai City. Jiang Ju led [-] united troops. At this time, there are only more than [-] soldiers left, and most of them are lost.Li Jing took off the golden lacquer Shanwen battle armor on his body and gave it to Jiang Ju, and also gave him a hundred taels of gold, and a good horse spear, saying that he was just waiting for a chance to kill.Jiang Ju had a lot of resentment in his heart, but now seeing Li Jing rewarding him so much, he explained it softly.Although it was determined that Li Jing had the intention of deliberately consuming the Liaonan soldiers, there was no other way, so he had to accept it in the end.

Immediately, Li Jing ordered a heavy reward for the remaining soldiers of the Liaonan United Army, each with [-] guan, and for the soldiers who died in battle, each person was rewarded with [-] guan. Bing was overjoyed immediately, and the resentment towards Li Jing in his heart disappeared without a trace.

Li Jing was about to arrange a banquet to reward the soldiers, and suddenly came to report that after the army besieged Vaud for three days last night, they stopped to rest for one night.As a result, in the middle of the night, the soldiers from Wozhou, who had been standing still, suddenly opened the four doors and rushed out from the four doors.Directly attack the army camp, and each side hastened to fight.As a result, after fighting for a while, it was discovered that there were not many soldiers and horses rushing out, and many of them were even ordinary people.

At this time, the generals discovered that the soldiers and horses of Wozhou State were nothing more than an act of attacking east and west.They made a lot of noise, but they actually took the opportunity to break out from the north gate and flee to Youzhou.Wang Zhong and General Lin Wu chased for a while, they encountered a soldier and horse fighting to the rear, after annihilating this soldier and horse, they were too late to catch up.

"Li Xunmao actually fled without fighting?" Li Jing couldn't help being very surprised when he heard this.

The Tanma replied: "After the two generals Wang and Lin entered Wozhou City, they interrogated some captured Youzhou soldiers. According to the confession of one of Li Maoxun's soldiers, Li Maoxun seemed to be the one who was captured when we captured Changzhou. When the former army of Youzhou was annihilated, he had passed out once. Then Gao Pang of Binhai City surrendered, and he passed out again. After the Duke of the county defeated Li Quanzhong, the left army, Li Maoxun vomited blood for three liters in shock and suffered a stroke. In a coma. When I woke up, I was already dying. It is said that the retreat was Li Maoxun's confession before his death. When the Central Route Army in Wozhou City retreated, Li Maoxun was already dead."

"Dead? Is this true or false?" Li Zhen asked hastily.Thinking about the battle between Li Jing and Duli Town, he also pretended to be dead, and because of this, defeat turned into victory.It must be prevented that Li Maoxun will do this once.

Tanma replied: "General Lin and Wang mean that Li Maoxun is really dead."

"Hahaha!" Li Jing couldn't help laughing, this Li Maoxun, who was so daring at the beginning to seek the position of commander-in-chief, seems to have never been the official commander-in-chief Lu Long, so he is so angry to death?He couldn't help but feel amused, and this thing was a bit too amazing.

"Your Majesty, what should we do now?" Guo Chengan asked.Li Maoxun was already dead, the former army was defeated and surrendered, and the left army was also defeated and retreated a hundred li, and now they dare not stand up again.The right-hand army was so frightened that they were far away a hundred miles away and did not dare to take half a step south.As for the rear army, Li Keju is still shrinking in Youzhou City.

Li Jing slowly paced around in circles with his hands behind his back. For Youzhou, Li Jing could only do this now.Youzhou's strength is still there, but they haven't assembled for a while, and they haven't really contributed.

If Li Jing just taught Li Maoxun a lesson, it is estimated that the generals in Youzhou would be happy to see this result.But if Li Jing wanted to seize Youzhou, he might touch all the generals in Youzhou. At that time, there would be no such reconciliation to deal with.

But now, it's not time to stop.Li Maoxun is dead, but the debt is still there.The father's debt is paid by the son, which is justified.

"The soldiers are sent to the city of Youzhou, let's hang a funeral for Li Maoxun, and by the way, ask Li Keju to settle the debts that his father owes us." Li Jing sneered. (To be continued..)