Will Ming

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Chapter 670 Six Can Do It and Can't Do It

Just when Li Xian used a series of carrots and sticks to gradually stabilize his position in Chang'an City, Qin Wang Li Shimin in Fangling County ushered in another big victory.Taking advantage of days of heavy rain to build water and increase the flow, he cut off the river and released the water to wash Yongqing City, and the defenders of the Liang Kingdom in the city were washed away.King Qin's army was able to charge up the city wall with a small boat, conquered Yongqing in just one day, beheaded more than [-] enemies, and captured tens of thousands of people.

After the victory of Yongqing City, Qin Wangjun is not far from Xiangyang, the capital of Liang State. As long as Nanzhang, Hannan, and Xiangyang City are captured, the city of Xiangyang is within easy reach.

When the flood receded, Qin Wang Li Shimin stood on the wall of Yongqing City and looked at the mess in the city. The smile on the corner of his mouth became clearer and clearer. Liang Guo Xiaomian claimed to have 40 soldiers, but the number of elite soldiers that could be used for fierce battles was not even ten. Ten thousand.As for Xiao Xian, there were not many famous generals under his command, so even though Li Shimin had few soldiers, he didn't have any fear in his heart.Since he dared to provoke this war, he didn't regard the so-called 40 Liang army as too strong and difficult to fight.

Li Xiaogong was in Wudang Mountain, strangling the throat of the northwest of Liang State.Even if he didn't do anything, Xiao Mian didn't dare to guard against it.Gucheng is too close to Xiangyang. Once Gucheng falls, Xiangyang will be in danger.So Xiao Xian had to send heavy troops to garrison Gucheng. Only by defending Gucheng could Li Xiaogong's Tang army be kept out.

In order to ensure that there will be no losses in the south of Xiangyang, he had to divide his troops to garrison Nanzhang and Hannan.It is also necessary to send troops to garrison Handong County, Jingling County, Anlu County, and Yiyang County. After the so-called 40 troops are dispersed, compared with Li Shimin and Li Xiaogong in terms of military strength, Xiao Xian actually does not have much advantage.Now Xiangyang has less than [-] troops, [-] are stationed in Nanzhang, [-] in Hannan, and [-] in Gucheng.

The 10,000+ troops had to be completely dispersed, and such a situation was actually extremely unfavorable to Xiao Xian.When Li Shimin occupied Xicheng County, his army strength increased from more than [-] to nearly [-]. After Kejingling County Zhiguang moved to the city, he absorbed soldiers and recruited people, and tens of thousands of troops were recruited in Jingling. The strength has exceeded [-].If Yongqing had to surrender more than ten thousand troops, Li Shimin's strength was enough to threaten the safety of Liang Guo.

In just a few months, he has changed from a poor and white desperado to the king of Qin with 10,000+ soldiers under his command. How can Li Shimin not be proud?Moreover, it took almost no soldiers to conquer the important town of Yongqing this time. Now the area he controls already includes Xicheng and Fangling counties, and these two counties occupy a huge area, and there are few wars. Although they are not rich, Li Shimin forced them to conquer There is not much shortage of soldiers and supplies.

Now that he is in a position, he has no scruples in acting, and he is not afraid of anything.Anyway, it is to get up from the fall, if you don't want to fall again, then don't worry about so many so-called benevolence, righteousness and propriety.

He thought about fleeing into that mountain in embarrassment. He thought that even if he wanted to recover his strength after leaving the mountain, he would have to stagger forward. Who would have thought that he would get Han Shi'e, with tens of thousands of troops in his hands, and an entire county with hundreds of thousands of people? Surname, nearly a thousand miles of territory is enough to make him feel at ease...

The encounters in life are so wonderful, why not make people feel emotional?

Just when he was feeling emotional, Marshal Han Shi'e walked up the city wall quickly, wiped the sweat from his forehead, bowed to Li Shimin and said: "My lord, something is not very good."

"what?"

Li Shimin withdrew his thoughts and asked with a slight frown.

"Although the siege of the flood saved a lot of trouble, and did not lose soldiers and horses...but the granary was flooded, and the food in Yongqing City could not be used. The army did not have time to wait until the sky cleared and dried the food before setting off. The grain and grass are not enough to last for another ten days, and it will take at least half a month for the grain and grass from Xicheng County to be delivered... If there is no way to solve the grain, the army will have to retreat to Guangqian City and wait for the grain and grass to be delivered before dispatching troops. "

"That won't work!"

Li Shimin shook his head and said: "Soldiers are expensive and fast. Gu originally planned to lead his army to attack Nanzhang immediately after taking down Yongqing. As long as Nanzhang City is destroyed, all the troops Xiao Xian deployed outside Xiangyang will be cleaned up. Gu can do it." Lead the army to go straight to Xiangyang. Although there are many Liang troops in Gucheng, we must guard against Li Xiaogong but dare not move lightly. If the delay is too long, Xiao Xian will send troops from Handong County and Jingling County to rescue us, and we will lose our advantage .”

"Keep food..."

Han Shie opened his mouth, but there was no idea in his mind.

"Ask for food from the people!"

Li Shimin pondered for a while and said four words firmly.

"Within three days, all food within a radius of [-] miles from Yongqing City must be requisitioned. As much as there is, it must be enough for the army for ten days. After conquering Nanzhang, the urgent need for food and grass will be relieved. In Nanzhang City There are tens of thousands of Liang troops, and they must have prepared a large amount of food supplies."

"But in this way, the people's hearts will be lost."

Han Shie hesitated for a while and said: "It rained heavily for days, and most of the summer grain rotted in the field and there was no time to harvest it. I am afraid that the people within a few hundred miles will have to rely on grain storage. If all the grain and grass are collected, the people will have nothing to do. I'm afraid that there will be a public uprising immediately, and the people's hearts will be lost, just in case..."

"Gu now is not afraid of losing the hearts of the people."

Li Shimin shook his head, looked at Han Shie and said seriously: "Only those who have already sat in that seat will worry about losing popular support. What Gu wants now is to rapidly expand his strength, and to achieve this goal must be supported by war. Wherever they hit, they plundered. Gu also knows that this is an unjust act, but now Gu has no intention of doing something benevolent and moral, but it makes it difficult for him to move forward."

Looking at the scene where the people in the city were supporting each other and gathering together, he raised his eyebrows and said, "If I can bring this round back, I will naturally treat the people kindly in the future and do more benevolent government... But now I don't have this ability, I just It can make them suffer."

"in addition……"

He turned his head and glanced at Han Shie and said: "The people can't live without food, so they become refugees. I can't support them, but they are useful to me... Conscript all the strong men into the army, and drive the old and weak women and children to the army. Go in the direction of Xiangyang, if they don't go, kill a few people and force them to go. At that time, a large number of refugees will flood into the city of Xiangyang, if Xiao Mian doesn't open the city gate to accept the refugees, then it will not be Gu who loses the hearts of the people, but him."

Li Shimin twitched his lips and said, "Because this is his territory and his people."

Han Shie's complexion changed, and he let out a long sigh in his heart.

……

……

Days of heavy rain in June turned what was supposed to be a bumper year into a disaster year.Thousands of miles away, there was almost no grain harvest in the fields near Chang'an City during the months of severe drought. However, the people in Fangling County had already seen the hope of a good harvest. despaired.The heavy rain was torrential, and the fields were so muddy that there was no way to recover the ripened grains. The grains were all poured out, so how could they eat them soaked in water.

In July, although the weather cleared up after the heavy rain, the people did not feel at ease at all. The grain in the field had already sprouted, and a layer of green sprouted out in just a few days.It is impossible for the seedlings that grow out of season to produce food, and even if they grow up, they will all be shriveled.And wait until people can enter the field and then pull out the seedlings and replant them with coarse grains. The season has passed a lot, and it will not be harvested until late autumn at least, so the yield will naturally not be too high.

But now they need not only rations, but also seeds.Tighten your belly and sprinkle the seeds, even if you cook one meal a day, you may not be able to cook for several months.To make matters worse, the Qin army forcibly confiscated all their small food reserves, and not a single copper coin was left for them.

Yongqing City has a radius of hundreds of miles, and the people have nothing in an instant.

From the beginning of July, hundreds of thousands of people had to leave their homes and head towards Xiangyang under the driving of the Qin army.They had no food, and they didn't know how many of them could make it to the city of Xiangyang alive.In just a few days, there was no human habitation within a radius of hundreds of miles, and a dead area was unexpectedly formed.

The food confiscated by the Qin army within three days was enough for an army of 10,000+ for half a month, and the apology in Li Shimin's heart was replaced by joy.After resting for another two days, Li Shimin ordered the army to attack Nanzhang.Nanzhang is very close to Xiangyang, cavalry can reach Xiangyang city from Nanzhang in one day, even infantry can cover this distance in one day and one night.As long as Nanzhang is conquered, the southern barrier will be lost in the capital of Liang State.

Since the end of June, General Qi Shuming of the Nanzhang Liang Army has been sending people to Xiangyang City to ask for instructions.In mid-June, before the Qin army conquered Guangqian, he asked Liang Emperor Xiao Mian to mobilize a large army to fight instead of passively defending.But Xiao Mian didn't care about it at first, he just looked down on Li Shimin's people.However, Xiao Xian never expected that in just over a month, Li Shimin's military strength would expand to an astonishing level.

After finding out that the Qin army conquered Yongqing and forcibly confiscated the people and food, Qi Shuming knew that Nanzhang was in crisis, so he sent people to Xiangyang City to meet Emperor Liang again, and asked the emperor to quickly mobilize troops from Handong and other counties to help Xiangyang.Xiao Xian didn't delay this time, and in fact, he had already sent someone to dispatch the troops more than ten days ago.

It's just that it has been raining heavily for several days, and the imperial envoy's schedule for dispatching troops will not be too fast.

"Li Shimin is a lunatic!"

Qi Shuming cursed while pacing hurriedly: "Such inhumane things can be done, and hundreds of thousands of people are forced to die by him. Isn't he afraid of being punished by God?!"

His subordinate Chen Suru sighed and said, "This situation is so similar to the end of Daye!"

Qi Shuming was taken aback by these words, then he came to his senses and nodded, "That's right...how similar!"

Chen Suru looked at Qi Shuming with an ugly face and said: "When the Sui Dynasty was overthrown, the world was in chaos and rebels rose up everywhere, but they had no territory of their own, no