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Chapter 850 Tang Zhao Confrontation (Second Change)

Jingyang is the name of the belly of Guanzhong.Li Chongjiu marched northward from the east of Chang'an.The purpose is obvious, that is to go around Chang'an, pull out several cities near Chang'an, annihilate the Tang army's vital forces, and then return to attack Chang'an.

According to Li Chongjiu, attacking Chang'an is like cutting trees, first remove its branches and leaves, and then cut down its trunks, step by step.

Otherwise, the situation is not very clear now, and Zhao Jun will attack Chang'an rashly. It will not take a few days until Li Shimin's main force, Tang Jun, rushes back to Chang'an from Fufeng.Li Chongjiu was facing the danger of soldiers approaching the city and being attacked by the enemy. Chang'an would not be able to capture it, and it would not be easy to retreat from the besieged city. That would be called passive.

After Li Chongjiu led his army northward, the defenders in Chang'an faced the retreat of Zhao Jun from under their noses, so they dared not send troops to pursue them without authorization.Wu Gunai and Xue Wanjun won the first battle, using less to win more, and smashed the few Tang Army field troops in Chang'an City.

The generals of the Tang army in the city had already lost the courage to fight outside the city, so Fang Xuanling, who was in Chang'an, saw the Zhao army marching northward and only dared to send more than a hundred cavalry to follow it more than ten miles away from the Zhao army's rear guard.At the same time, Fang Xuanling asked the main force of the [-] Tang army led by Li Shimin who was rushing from Fufeng.

Fang Xuanling wrote in the letter that Zhao thief wanted to pass through Jingyang and seize the granary in the north of Chang'an. Even if this place cannot be defended, it cannot be used by the enemy. Your Majesty must not surrender Jingyang to it.
Now near Jingyang, Li Chongjiu's main force is arriving continuously.

Jingyang City is famous for the Jing River flowing through it. At that time, the Korean craftsman Zheng Guo diverted the two tributaries of the Wei River, the Jing River and the Beiluo River, into the Zhengguo Canal built to irrigate [-] hectares of land, becoming the first water conservancy project in Guanzhong.

After Li Chongjiu led the army to leave Chang'an, he went north from Weishui River to Jingshui River.Along the way, we can see that the Wei River is clear, but the Jing River is turbid, and the confluence of the two rivers is muddy and clear.But in fact, because of the existence of the Zhengguo Canal, the area around Jingshui is the main grain irrigation area in Chang’an. There is a folk saying in Chang’an that every stone in Jingshui contains several buckets of mud, and if it is irrigated with dung, it grows millet.Clothing and food in the capital, hundreds of millions of mouths.

Li Chongjiu led his army to Jingyang, also for the purpose of plundering, and seized the granary north of Chang'an, so as to supply food and fodder for the Tang army on the front line.

The general who was ordered to attack Jingyang, Xue Wanche also knew the truth that eating an enemy for one minute is like my twenty minutes.So he knew the importance of this battle of Jingyang to the next battle of Chang'an.

Under the city of Jingyang, Xue Wanche's 3 horses had completely surrounded the city.Xue Wanche also knew that Li Shimin was leading an army, coming day and night to reinforce Jingyang City.Therefore, facing Jingyang City, he had to take it before Li Shimin's reinforcements arrived.
The defender of Jingyang City is Wang Renshi, a general of the Tang Army. The circumference of Jingyang City is three miles and twenty steps in front of him. The city wall is seven feet wide and three feet high.

After arriving at the base of the city, Xue Wanche ordered the soldiers and horses in the tent, and then ordered the soldiers in the army to put out baskets of gold and put them on the ground.When all the soldiers saw so much gold, they all looked straight.
Xue Wanche first clasped his fists to the soldiers and said: "Brothers, Li Shimin said that he defeated our 20 army on the West Road. He is bragging. He is the first one who doesn't believe it. If it is true, I will cut off his head."

When Xue Wanche said that, all the soldiers laughed.The whole army did not believe it either, Wang Junkuo was famous in Mobei, Li Shimin defeated him in the first battle, and the soldiers in the army also thought that Li Shimin was bragging.

Xue Wanche paused and said: "Here is a thousand taels of gold. It is obtained by a certain soldier who has fought for many years, and is also given by His Majesty. Some are accumulated from his daily salary, and now they are all placed here. Divide them among the brothers."

"You keep the gold, General, and we'll take the city for you tomorrow." Everyone said one after another.

"Hmph, why are you being polite to me? Take it and capture Jingyang City. Your Majesty will reward you, and I will also reward you with money. Tomorrow's battle, only success is not allowed!"

Hearing what Xue Wanche said, all the soldiers looked excited.

Before the Battle of Jingyang, Xue Wanche scattered all his family wealth and encouraged the troops.

The next day Xue Wanche led an army of [-] to storm Jingyang City from the north and the south.

General Wang Renshi of the Tang army defending the city had never seen such a ferocious attack. The charge of the Zhao army under the city was like a wave following a huge wave, making the defenders breathless at all.

The soldiers of the Zhao army who attacked the city were not afraid of death, and competed with the Tang army on every city.

The fierce battle lasted from sunrise to noon, and from noon to night.

At night, Zhao Jun's offensive was not exhausted, so Xue Wanche ordered people to light up the city and continue to attack.The Tang army in the city was also very tenacious. Before they defended the city, Li Shimin sent a messenger to break into the city before the Zhao army encircled it, telling the defenders that they must defend to the death no matter what.Therefore, the defenders did not retreat.

Seeing that the Tang army resisted tenaciously and could not take it for a while, Xue Wanche also changed his tactics and divided his troops into five groups. Every two hours, one group of soldiers and horses would be sent to attack, and the other four groups would rest. After ten hours, the five groups of soldiers and horses would go out together A total of four attacks.The Tang army on the top of the city fought fiercely for two days and one night, almost blindfolded, exhausted to death.

Xue Wanche was supervising the battle with his sword under the city, and at this time the news came that Li Shimin had led reinforcements to a place less than [-] miles away from Jingyang.

Li Chongjiu ordered Zhang Xuansu to ride a horse to Xue Wanche's army to deliver orders. He would not interfere in the siege battle. It was up to Xue Wanche himself to decide whether the army should continue to attack the city or retreat.

Xue Wanche couldn't bear it any longer, so he personally held a knife and led more than a hundred guards to attack the city!
Even the chief general Xue Wanche was dispatched, and the morale of the attacking military guards was high. When the fierce battle continued until midnight, the city suddenly burst into black smoke and fire.It turned out that Wang Renshi, the general of the Tang army, knew that the city could not be defended, so he immediately ordered the soldiers to pour oil and burn the army rations.

A moment later, the south of the city was breached.

Xue Wanche's general Qin Qiong personally led [-] cavalry into the city, and went to the granary to grab grain.

Qin Qiong fought with Tang general Wang Renshi, personally beheaded the opponent under his horse, and led his troops to put out the fire and rescue the army rations.Seventy-eight out of ten of the stored grain in the city were taken back.The sporadic fierce fighting in the city lasted until dawn, and all [-] Tang troops and [-] civilians in Jingyang City were annihilated by the Zhao army.

In the early morning, the cavalry from the west rushed forward. The leading general was Zhang Shigui, the head of the Tang Army's horse army, and [-] cavalry under his command.

Zhang Shigui reined in his horse by the Jing River, watching the black smoke in Jingyang City rising to the sky, he knew that he was one step too late, Jingyang City was still captured by Zhao Jun.Zhang Shigui watched for a long time speechless, and sighed regretfully.

Then there was smoke and dust billowing behind him, generals Qu Tutong and grand general Sun Wuji led [-] elite troops of the Tang army to arrive, seeing that Jingyang city was breached, they immediately led the army back several li to set up camp.

A day later, Li Shimin led the main force of the Tang army returning from Hexi, and arrived in Liquan County, west of Jingyang, to station.

Immediately, on both sides of Jingshui and Weishui, 10,000+ troops from Tang and Zhao armies gathered, and a big battle was imminent.

(End of this chapter)