Traveling through the early Tang Dynasty starts with hanging

Chapter 142 The Turning Point

On October 25th, Cheng Mingzhen, the general manager of Weizhou who hadn't moved for more than half a year, suddenly led his troops to attack, personally leading more than a thousand cavalry from Neihuang to Xiangzhou.

At the same time, Qi Shanxing, the general manager of Xingzhou who had been withdrawing southward for more than a month, personally led more than a thousand elite cavalry, and [-] infantry marched eastward from Anyang.

The two armies joined forces at the junction of Xiangzhou and Weizhou, moved their troops eastward, and entered the territory of Weizhou.

"I have captured a few captives, and Guantao is indeed as strong as gold." Cheng Mingzhen looked at the river from a distance, "Liu Heitao said that the city of Guantao was broken, and the swords were not sealed for three days, and the enemy's fierce attack could not be overcome for five days. The remaining warriors attacked the camp, causing an uproar in the enemy camp, and thousands of people were trampled to death."

Ma Zhou smiled and did not speak. Qi Shanxing, who was standing side by side with Cheng Mingzhen, laughed and said, "Brother Tian is definitely not a mediocre person to be entrusted by His Highness to stay in Weizhou."

Qi Shanxing entered the Qin Palace after the first battle at Hulaoguan last year, and he also had some contacts with Tian Liuan. He has been withdrawing south for more than a month, and he has long been suffocating.

After confirming that the Turkic army was returning to the north, Liu Heitao's army might be short of food, and the attack on Guantao would be difficult for many days, Qi Shanxing decisively led the army to the east.

Ma Zhou thought about it, and couldn't help being suspicious. Tian Liu'an is indeed a veteran in the battlefield with rich experience, but this method... is more like Ling Jing and Li Shan's style.

"Director Tian is an important general under the command of King Qin, so he is not a mediocre person." Cui Xianshou said with a smile, "I have heard for a long time that there are all heroes in the palace of King Qin. In the future..."

Ma Zhou, who had been silent all this time, sneered and said, "Isn't the second brother Jun Yiling a close minister of the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace?"

"Could it be that Your Excellency wants to enter the Qin Palace?"

Qi Shanxing coughed twice, and gave Ma Zhou an appropriate look... Isn't it like this for aristocratic families?

Indeed, the Zheng family in Xingyang belonged to the family of the crown prince's wives, while Zheng Rentai was Li Shimin's confidant. There are countless similar things. Li Jing, Li Keshi, and Li Qianyou in the Danyang house of the Li family in Longxi are the most typical examples.

But Ma Zhou refused to give up, and said in a manly voice: "Director Qi doesn't know something, this person is definitely not a simple head and a mouse."

"In the last years of the former dynasty, this official had already served as Junyiling. He first voted for Zhai Rang in Wagangzhai to succeed Junyiling, and then transferred to Li Mi and then served as Junyiling. After the war, he returned to the Tang Dynasty and served as Junyi Commander again. Last year, Liu Heita captured Luozhou, the Eastern King of Han Dynasty, and went south to attack Xiangzhou and Weizhou. This bureaucrat opened the city gates to welcome him. This is the sixth time he has been appointed Junyi Commander!"

Cheng Ming sighed, he originally wanted to keep Cui Xianshou in Weizhou...Ma Zhou used the last reason to let him take Cui Xianshou with the army.

In Ma Zhou's words, if you leave Cui Xianshou in Weizhou, maybe tomorrow Liyang warehouse will fly the banner of Liu character!

Cui Xianshou was so angry that his face was livid. Weizhou was the place of the Fourth World War. Could it be that he still stiffened his neck and refused to surrender?

Ma Zhou's mouth is already a bit poisonous, and he and Ling Jing have obviously improved a lot in the past month or so, "Lu Fengxian of the Three Kingdoms can be called a family slave of three surnames, and today the children of the Cui family in Qinghe voted for six families..."

"King Ma Bin!" Cui Xianshou with red eyes drew out the long sword at his waist.

Ma Zhou drew out his long knife methodically, "You don't have any servants to help you today!"

Cheng Mingzhen didn't bother to answer, Qi Shanxing winked over, and a dozen bodyguards rushed up to stop him.

There were scouts in front of them reporting back, and one of them came galloping on horseback, his expression was not alarmed, but it was not stable either.

Soon, Ma Zhou got the news.

Liu Heitao led his troops to attack Guantao but failed. Today, he bypassed Guantao and headed south. He broke through Yuancheng in an hour, and plundered and killed Yingye.

"Tucheng..." Qi Shanxing opened his mouth wide in shock.

Everyone is local, but you, Liu Heitai, actually slaughtered the city with your troops, causing harm to your hometown...Weizhou borders Beizhou and Luozhou.

Qi Shanxing's first reaction was that Liu Heitai had messed up his own position and made a foolish move... Even if he swept the entire Hebei within the next two months of this year, Liu Heitai would undoubtedly lose next year.

It's not uncommon to massacre a city. In my hometown... what kind of person would do such a thing?

Ma Zhou hesitated and said, "The enemy lost two consecutive battles outside Guantao City... Maybe Liu Heita wanted to boost morale?"

Qi Shanxing frowned and said, "What do you think, brother Mingzhen?"

After thinking for a moment, Cheng Mingzhen shook his head and said: "Send more scouts across the river to investigate, guard the two bridges, and don't cross the river for now."

Hearing this, Ma Zhou blurted out, "The enemy will definitely attack Wei County!"

Both Qi Shanxing and Cheng Mingzhen nodded in agreement. On the one hand, Wei County is the capital of Weizhou, and on the other hand, Wei County must have stored a large amount of grain and grass.

The location of grain and grass storage in Hebei is mainly affected by two factors. One is political factors, such as Luozhou and Xingzhou, and the other is geographical and transportation factors, such as Liyang, Wucheng, Yongji, Guantao, Weixian and other places.

These cities were all built on the edge of Yongji Canal, and they were all used to store a large amount of grain and grass when Emperor Sui Yang sent troops to attack Goguryeo.

This is why Liu Shishan was able to raise a large amount of food and grass in Beizhou. There was Yongji Canal, but it was a pity that they were all burned by Li Shan and Su Dingfang.

For these cities beside the Yongji Canal, Wucheng has no food, Yongji City is small, and Guantao is difficult to conquer. If Liu Heitao really lacks food and grass in the army, then he will definitely attack Wei County.

And Wei County is within the line of sight of Qi Shanxing and Cheng Mingzhen, the Yongji Canal in front of them is flowing mightily towards the east, and the small Wei County is on the other side of the river.

Already I could faintly see yellow dust all over the sky in the winter, and there was obviously a large group of cavalry coming. Although Cheng Mingzhen wished to cut Liu Heita into pieces immediately, he held his breath and waved his hands and shouted: "Defend the two bridges and set up formations along the river. Raise the banner, and the rest retreat five miles and set up camp."

Ma Zhou nodded approvingly in his heart, crossing the river rashly is a wave of battle, if one is not good, he will lose the battle, after all, the enemy has just broken through the Yuan City, and the slaughter of the city has boosted morale, it is the time when they are like a wolf like a tiger.

Defend the bridge, set up formations on the other side of the river, and raise the banner. Liu Heita's troops must be vigilant and will not rashly attack Wei County with all their strength.

Cheng Mingzhen's move seems to be an understatement, but it kills two birds with one stone.

As expected, the ensuing battle was like this. Thousands of enemy troops appeared from all directions in strands, encircling Wei County by the river tightly.

There was not even a single test. The enemy army stormed Wei County, and the city and the city were filled with corpses, and there was a sea of ​​corpses. But what is surprising is that after an hour, the enemy had no choice but to withdraw their troops and set up camp. Wei County was safe and sound. all right.

On the river side, there are a large number of soldiers wielding spears, shouting loudly, and communicating with the Tang army at the head of Wei County.

Why the enemy failed to break through Wei County, on the one hand, is that the enemy cannot use all their strength. They need to be alert to the two Tang armies on the other side of the river, Qi Shanxing and Cheng Mingzhen.

On the other hand... Qi Shanxing said with a sneer: "Hebei and Shandong have been at war for more than a hundred years. Liu Heita's massacre of the city will only make the cities stick to it!"

The example of Yuancheng is right there, the chicken and the dog don't stay... If you can escape, you will escape, but if you can't escape, you can only fight hard.

Shandong has experienced wars for more than a hundred years, but it is not afraid of massacring the city.

In fact, Liu Heitai's method of massacring the city was just a helpless act. He didn't care about Wei County giving up resistance or defending the city even more desperately because of fear, what he cared about was Li Yangcang.

"It's Cheng Mingzhen and Qi Shanxing..." Wang Xiaohu said in a low voice, waving his horsewhip, "That guy Qi Shanxing has been retreating southward, do you want to try to fight him?"

"They are guarding the bridge, how do they fight?" Liu Heitai angrily stroked the mane of the horse under his crotch.

After attacking Guantao County for five days in a row, the Tang army attacked and stole the camp at night. Liu Heitai gave up completely. He bypassed Guantao decisively and quickly conquered Yuancheng.

When everyone was massacring the city, Liu Heitai had planned in his mind, and attacked Kewei County from the west, massacred the city, and released the news.

Then let the army cross the river, make a big move to attack Xiangzhou and Weizhou, and send another elite to go south along the Yongji Canal to capture Liyangcang.

When the army attacked Xiangzhou and Weizhou, Qi Shanxing and Cheng Mingzhen, whether they were leading the army or defending the city, would definitely not be in Liyangcang.

The elite cavalry went south to attack Liyang, threatening to massacre the city in Yuancheng, Weixian and other places.

But all this came to naught when Liu Heitai arrived in Wei County. He never expected that Qi Shanxing and Cheng Mingzhen would dare to lead troops to the east and confront him across the river when he had already swept through most of the Hebei Road. .

At this time, it is almost impossible to send elite cavalry southward to attack Liyang warehouse... This is almost impossible, with such a large army, the scout range is nearly a hundred miles, and the cavalry attacking Li Yang cannot escape the detection of the opponent's scouts.

What's more, Wei County in front of him has not been breached yet, and he sent elite cavalry southward to attack Li Yang, and the effect is hard to say... Could it be that someone shouted that the granary was burned, and the city must be slaughtered?
Staring at Tang Jun on the other side of the river, watching the big flag fluttering in the river wind, a sense of powerlessness emerged from the depths of Liu Heitai's heart and quickly occupied his whole body.

In the battle of Xiabo, the main force of the Tang army was destroyed, Li Daoxuan, the king of Huaiyang, was captured alive, and the army marched west and south, and took Jizhou, Beizhou, Xingzhou, and Luozhou with little effort.

Unexpectedly, Qi Shanxing, the general manager of Xingzhou, gathered his troops and retreated south twice in a row, and set fire to Xingzhou's granary.

The young man who had never met before planned to attack the Beizhou camp at night, burned all the food and grass, and captured Ashina Yugushe.

Liu Heikai recalled that from the night when the Beizhou camp was attacked at night, everything shifted, and everything was out of his control.

Fan Yuan and Dong Kang died in battle, and the Turkic army suddenly moved eastward, and was forced to attack Guantao with all its strength, and was defeated by Su Dingfang twice...

Just resign yourself to your fate?

Liu Heitai touched the handle of the knife at his waist, took a deep breath, and waved his hand to call for General Cao Zhan.

He didn't believe it, he didn't believe that the Turkic army had just left, and he still had tens of thousands of troops under his command, Qi Shanxing and Cheng Mingzhen really dared to go out to fight in the field!
He vaguely guessed something... After all, Qi Shanxing who burned down Xingzhou's granary was on the other side, and before attacking Guantao, the army did not surround the city to death.

On the hill on the other side of the river, Cheng Mingzhen was issuing orders, sending scouts up and down the river, and even crossing the river to investigate the military situation, not to miss a single thread, and sent people to contact Li Daoxuan and Tian Liuan who were still in Guantao.

Both Cheng Mingzhen and Qi Shanxing have the same idea... If Guantao doesn't send troops, if Liu Heita's troops don't mess up, we will attack without crossing the river.

At this moment, they suddenly heard loud drumming noises from the army, and everyone was startled. Turning their heads to look, they saw more than ten ships coming against the current, docked at the wharf on the other side of the river, reflected by the dim setting sun. Next, soldiers the size of ants are climbing onto the boat...

"Cheng Mingzhen frowned, and he was already looking at Ma Zhou from the corner of his eye.

Cheng Mingzhen was persuaded to send troops for two reasons, one was the return of the Turks to the north, and the other was the lack of food in Liu Heita's army.

Xiangzhou and Weizhou have only [-] cavalry and [-] infantry... If there is no shortage of food in Liu Heita's army, this amount of troops is not enough for Liu Heita to swallow in one gulp.

"The ship is not too big, but it is the most commonly used grain transport ship in Yongji Canal and Luoshui River." Cui Xianshou said quickly with a sullen face: "The granary in Xingzhou was burned, but maybe the enemy army raised grain and grass in Beizhou... ..."

Qi Shanxing stared at Ma Zhou, "Is it true that the food and grass in the camp near Wucheng and Liting have been burned?"

"There is absolutely no falsehood." Ma Zhou said righteously, "I saw with my own eyes that Dong Kang was shot and killed by Su Dingfang himself, and Fan Yuan was beheaded by Su Dingfang outside the government office in Wucheng County."

"That……"

"It must have been transported from Luozhou." Ma Zhou eloquently said, "From Luoshui to Beizhou, then from Qinghe to Wucheng, and from Wucheng to Yongji Canal... It takes a lot of money to transport grain like this." Zhou Zhang, you can't do it without the help of a prominent family in Beizhou!"

Qi Shanxing is also speechless, why don't you just say that Qinghe Cui's did it?

Cui Xianshou sneered and said, "Who knows about the attack on Liting and Wucheng at night?"

"Liu Heikai's staff likes field battles the most. In the first battle of Xiabo, an army of [-] was destroyed..."

"Beizhou Ren was an old friend of Liu Heita, and Ma Zhou...is he a dead man?!"

"Shut up!" Cheng Mingzhen yelled, "If you want to do something, one person will kill you, and if you don't do it, just shut up and wait!"

Finally being honest, Qi Shanxing said in a low voice: "The fire in Xingzhou is undeniable. Beizhou...Dong Kang and Fan Yuan both died in this battle, so there shouldn't be a big mistake."

Cheng Mingzhen nodded slightly, "This bureaucrat Liu Heikai is accustomed to cunning schemes, combining falsehood and reality, so don't act rashly..."

"Don't retreat, don't cross the river, let the scouts stay away!"

"Send a few more people to Guantao. You must contact King Huaiyang and Tian Liu'an."

Cheng Mingzhen was [-]% sure that Liu Heitai on the other side was bluffing, but he was not willing to expose this trick.

Liu Heitai tried to scare away the Tang army on the other side, but Cheng Mingzhen chose not to retreat after hesitating for a long time, and at the same time contacted the Tang army in Guantao County.

Across the Yongji Canal, the choice between the two sides became a turning point in this battle.

Because, at the same time, Li Shan in Guantao City has already exposed Liu Heita's trick.

In fact, Liu Heitai has been using this trick for several days in the Yongji Canal outside Guantao City.

In the closed room, Li Shan, who had finished his work, refused to go out, and played various tricks on more than a dozen corpses with great interest... It's a pity, so many teachers of physiology will definitely be buried by them later!
At this moment, the door was pushed open, Li Shan turned his head and saw Li Kai and Yuchi Baolin in surprise.

Li Kai and Yuchi Baolin's eyes fell on the disembowelled corpses in front of Li Shan, and the next moment, they ran away.

When Li Shan went out to find someone, the two guys vomited bile all over the floor.

(End of this chapter)