The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 217 Li Mi's Choice
The Great Sui Dynasty was full of wars in the north, and hundreds of thousands of Turkic troops marched south again, which naturally attracted the attention of many people, but for Yang Tong, the princes and aristocrats of all walks of life were also unfavorable. But it didn't cause too much shock. In the eyes of various princes and aristocratic families, this is a dog-eat-dog battle. It is best for both sides to die together, but Wang Shichong repelled Li Mi's invasion beautifully and won a lot of applause for himself.

Wang Shichong and Li Mi have been fighting fiercely for more than a month. The battles between the two sides are mainly concentrated on the front line of Jindi Pass. From the very beginning, there has been a tragic tug-of-war. Li Mi's army has captured Jindi Pass several times. Then they took it back, and at this important juncture alone, nearly 10 people were killed or injured on both sides.

Li Mi's eyes are red, not only because of the food problem, but also because the family members of his generals and generals are all in Luokou City. If he doesn't take it back, he can't explain to the soldiers.At the same time, he couldn't explain to the people in the world that Luokou City was Li Mi's capital, but now that he lost his capital, how could he be qualified to compete for the world?That was a joke.

At this time, under the Jindi Pass, only the sound of high-pitched horns and the deafening and endless sound of war drums could be heard, and the pungent bloody smell permeated every inch of the battlefield.

Li Mi's army has been attacking for a long time and invested tens of thousands of troops. However, although Wang Renze's Zhenning Jindi Pass is full of traces of war, it is still as stable as Mount Tai. Ignoring the occasional arrows that flew past my ears, I saw that at the foot of the city wall, many smashed and burned ladders and the wreckage of the car were piled up everywhere. This testifies to the brutality of the battle.

Li Mi had issued an order not to return until the embankment was broken, but Wang Ren had nothing to say, so he naturally stood firm to the end.This battle is either you die or I live, there is no room for mercy.

"kill!!"

Li Mi roared loudly with a long sword in his hand. Although his voice became hoarse, he still screamed with red eyes and heart-piercing.

However, the anxiety in his eyes was also very strong. It was getting dark, and if he could not win the Jindi Pass, it would mean another day's hard work failed again. So far in the morning, he has invested in a team of [-] people. The pass was conquered in turn, but no matter what, it was still not broken. The guard of the Jindi Pass, Wang Renze, was not a famous general, but in the fierce battle for months, he grew up at an astonishing speed from being flustered at the beginning to being as calm as a mountain now. , is moving towards the famous series.

Now his defense is extremely tight, and he is calm and decisive during the operation, and he is not given the slightest chance at all.

It can be said that the existence of Wang Renze has become the biggest obstacle for Li Mi to regain Luokou City and march into Luoyang.

"嗾~~嗾~~!"

Up and down the city, feathered arrows were flying like locusts, with a sharp whistling sound, flying up and down the city again.

More than [-] high ladders were placed on the city wall again, and the general Wang Bodang went into battle with his shirtless, and shouted fiercely: "Follow me to kill!"

The soldiers of the Sui Dynasty immediately climbed bravely along the ladder to the top of the city, completely unafraid of the rolling stones and feathered arrows falling from above, and crawled extremely fast.

However, after the panic and fear at the beginning, Wang Shichong's Zheng Junsha's eyes were red. Whenever Li Mijun climbed up, several soldiers immediately rushed over and beheaded the opponent directly. The battlefield is the best training camp , Deeper and bloodier than any training.

"die me"

I saw Wang Bodang finally rushing up, holding a shield in one hand and swinging a knife in the other. With one swing, three or four soldiers were directly beheaded. Between the left and right cuts, he was like a tiger. The blood was stained red, and the viciousness reached the extreme.

"Stop going crazy"

With a gust of wind, Wang Ren, whose battle armor was broken, emerged, exuding a strong chill all over his body, swung his knife and slashed down fiercely, slashing heavily on the shield. After the loud noise, the terrifying power immediately made the opponent After being shaken back for a few steps, Wang Ren didn't stop. With an impact, he slashed his head with a knife. Uncle Wang raised his knife to block it. military.

Li Mi heaved a sigh of relief seeing that Wang Bodang was fine, he was his most loyal general and also his student.

But Wang Ren looked at Li Mijun, who was gradually climbing up from all directions, and sighed helplessly. These are recruits who go to the battlefield after a little training, and some of them are inexperienced, their willpower is very weak, and they are easy to relax. It is not easy to be able to guard for nearly a day. He has no way to make more demands on the soldiers, but he knows that after the baptism of war, these people will become the mainstay of Zheng Jun, because the [-] soldiers in the city The elite soldiers have transformed from recruits step by step in this period of more than a month. Tomorrow, [-] recruits will arrive, and then [-] veterans will be replaced. He knows that his uncle asked him to help him train soldiers. Although he was unwilling, he could understand it, because there were also dangers in Yingchuan and Fuyang, where there was no danger to defend, and elite soldiers had to be used to guard them.

But he also knew that not only his own side was training troops at Jindiguan, but also Li Mi, but in terms of the source of troops, Li Mi, who occupied a vast area, far surpassed their Wang's army. Never.

"Brother! The enemy is coming." The younger brothers Wang Qianshou and Wang Honglie reminded at the same time that Jindiguan not only trains soldiers, but also trains generals. When the day arrived at Jindiguan, they were scared to cry and pee, but today, a month later, the two of them have become numb to the lives and deaths of tens of thousands of people, and now they also have the sturdy aura of generals.

"Crossbowmen, come out"

"Promise!" Wang Honglie suddenly waved the red flag in his hand heavily, and immediately hundreds of crossbowmen rushed to the top of the city, and shot wildly at the boarded Li Mijun. Such close-range shooting made it impossible for Li Mijun to dodge. Even a small school with some kung fu was immediately shot into a hornet's nest.

Then the crossbowmen retreated, and the soldiers quickly rushed to the top of the city, continuing to defend desperately, either shooting arrows or throwing stones
The two armies began to panic again, but Zheng Jun was on the defensive side, and the loss was not much, while Li Mi had lost no less than [-] in the past half a day.

"King Wei, the enemy's equipment is excellent, and our army can't attack at all. The morale is not as good as before." Wang Bodang ran to Li Mi with blood on his face, and shouted anxiously.

Li Mi looked at the army retreating from the top of the city again, clenched his fist tightly, and said sharply: "Immediately pass on my military order, as long as Puyang is captured, everything will belong to the brothers, and they can do whatever they want!"

"promise!!"

The easiest way to strengthen morale is gold, silver, treasures, and American positions. This is what everyone wants. After Li Mi's order was issued, Li Mi's army's attacks became more violent, and they were already fighting for their lives.

The more brutal and bloodier offensive and defensive battle started again, the soldiers on both sides were fighting for their lives, but at this time, Wang Ren had already replaced the recruits with elite soldiers who had never moved.

When it was approaching dusk, the banner with the word "Zheng" on the city of Jindi Pass was always waving in the wind, as if mocking Li Mi.

"retreat!"

Li Mi gritted his teeth, and very unwillingly gave the order to retreat.

"Dangdangdang..."

The bell sounded, and Li Mijun retreated like a tide.

The one-day war finally came to an end.

Wang Renze also heaved a sigh of relief, and let Li Mijun collect the corpses under the city. This is also a common practice. The attacking party collects the corpses of their comrades-in-arms. This can prevent the corpses of those who sacrificed their lives for the country from being exposed to the wilderness, and prevent the corpses from decomposing and causing plague.

This is a matter of mutual benefit. Therefore, no one between the enemy and us at war took the initiative to attack the corpse soldiers.

In Li Mi's camp of the Chinese army, Li Mi's face was extremely gloomy. Not to mention the failure of another siege today, what made him even more depressed was that Xu Shiji made a sneak attack last night. In the end, less than one thousand of the six thousand soldiers came back. Most importantly, Xu Shiji himself Although he was seriously injured, although he tried his best not to think about it, everyone knew that Xu Shiji's chance of surviving was really not high.

In the handsome tent, the atmosphere was extremely oppressive, and no one dared to speak at this time. Uncle Wang sat quietly in the first seat of the military commander under Li Mi, watching his eyes, nose, nose, and heart, and did not express any opinions on the affairs of the army. Shan Xiongxin and other meritorious ministers in Wagang Village all looked gloomy. Xu Shiji was the soul of those who followed Zhai Rang to revolt, but now he didn't know whether he was alive or dead. This made everyone suppress an unspeakable anger , and resentment.

Who do you blame?

Blame Li Mi for forcing the appointment, and blame Wang Bodang for his ineffective response...

"Report!"

A schoolboy rushed in with a long voice and said to Li Mi: "King Wei, Fang Shangshu is here..."

Fang Shangshu's name is Fang Xuanzao, Li Mi's mastermind, and also the elder brother of Fang Xuanling in the Sui Dynasty. What's more coincident is that both of them are ministers of the Ministry of Officials.

"What happened?" Li Mi asked Xiang Xiaoxiao, he had an intuition in his heart, Fang Xuanzao who was behind came so hastily, something must have happened.

"I don't know the details. Pengcheng urgently sent an urgent message, but it seems to be related to Dou Jiande. Fang Shangshu's expression is very nervous, and something big must have happened."

Li Mi was startled, could it be that Dou Jiande attacked his rear?During this period of time, he has been paying attention to Dou Jiande. There was a fight between Dou Jiande's army. During the internal strife, Xu Yuanlang was killed by Liu Heitai, Dou Jiande's righteous brother. After Dou Jiande eliminated Xu Yuanlang's direct line generals, he became the real Xia army The leader, after that, formed an offensive and defensive alliance with Jianghuai Du Fuwei. If Dou Jiande attacks his rear, Du Fuwei is likely to free up his hands to interfere in the Central Plains battle. If Wang Shichong is added, he will be attacked on three sides. will become dangerous.

Worried in his heart, he asked the generals to go back to appease the army, and received Fang Xuanzao in his tent.

Fang Xuanzao hurriedly came to the big tent of the Chinese army, and a soldier immediately reported for him, "Your Highness, Fang Shangshu is here!"

"Please come in!"

Fang Xuanzao was in charge of appointing and dismissing officials, and was also Li Mi's chief military adviser, participating in decision-making on military and state affairs.

He raised the curtain and walked into the big tent. In the big tent, apart from Li Mi, there was Bing Yuanzhen, who was also Nayan and Minister of the Household Department. He sat beside Li Mi with an extremely serious expression.

Li Mi paced back and forth in the big tent with his hands behind his back. From the quickness of his steps, it could be seen that he must be very anxious inside.

"See His Royal Highness King Wei!" Fang Xuanzao bowed.

"Sir, you don't need to be polite! Please sit down!" Li Mi motioned him to sit down, and asked anxiously, "What happened?"

Fang Xuanzao sat down on the other side of the big tent, facing Bing Yuanzhen from a distance, the two looked at each other, but avoided at the same time, there was a hint of hostility in their eyes, this is a chronic disease of literati, where there are literati There was the Cold War.

After Fang Xuanzao sat down, he clasped his hands and said, "Reporting to Your Highness, I just received an urgent message from the governor of Pengcheng. Liu Heitai led an army of [-] troops out of Langye County. If the trend is lost, Dou Jiande will join forces with Du Fuwei's army in Zhongli County, forming a double encirclement situation against us, and with Wang Shichong added, we will be enemies on the other three sides except one in the north."

Although this news was expected by Li Mi, when the news was confirmed, Li Micong felt an uncontrollable panic.

Wang Shichong's treachery told him that Wang Shichong is very likely to form an alliance with Dou Jiande and Du Fuwei to deal with him, because among the various forces in the Central Plains, he has always been the leader, putting too much pressure on others, and the weak form an alliance to deal with the strong. It has been the same since ancient times.

Is he Li Miqiang?
Not strong, not strong at all, completely strong on the outside but on the inside.

Because his Wei army originated from Wagang, and Wagang is a complex of various forces. There are more than 40 troops standing on the hills, and each force has its own plans. He looks very powerful, but in fact he is full of holes. It is precisely because each faction has its own plan to preserve its own strength that he has fought for more than a month without an inch of success; on the other hand, Wang Shichong, although his army is four times smaller than his, but they are united and united. The stronger the fight.If there is a loss in the rear, his army will become chaotic and be defeated one by one by Wang Shichong.

Anxiety and worry made Li Mi confused and confused, he didn't know where to start.

Fang Xuanzao sighed with a stern expression, "Your Highness should have been prepared for such a long time ago, right?"

Li Mi nodded and said: "I have thought of it, but I am very confused, I don't know what to do, Cong please teach me."

Fang Xuanzao glanced at Bing Yuanzhen, and smiled slightly: "I don't know what Shangshu Bing thinks?"

Bing Yuanzhen smiled coldly, cupped his hands to Li Mi and said, "Your Highness, I think we should talk to Yang Tong."

After hearing this, Li Mi was taken aback, and asked in confusion, "Why do you want to talk to Yang Tong?"

Bing Yuanzhen said: "Judging from all the signs, Yang Tong is unwilling to intervene in the Central Plains war prematurely, so his main opponent now is Li Yuan in Guanzhong. Wang Shichong's ability to persist until now is entirely due to Yang Tong's support in horses, military equipment and food. Support! Yang Tong values ​​profit, as long as we offer a higher price than Wang Shichong and make a covenant, then Yang Tong will stop supporting Wang Shichong and turn to deal with Li Yuan."

"Bing Shangshu, there was a settlement agreement in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, will they fight according to your arrangement?" Fang Xuanzao mocked.

"I didn't say to fight in Guanzhong. The Tang army went south in a big way. I heard that Li Gongxiao had defeated Niu Can's [-] troops in Xiyang. Will Yang Tong, who has always been at odds with Li Yuan, stand by and watch Li Yuan grow stronger? Let's go negotiate with Yang Tong , we can provide him with the convenience of crossing the border, so that the Sui army can cross the border to support Zhu Can."

Fang Xuanzao laughed, and the sarcasm in his eyes became stronger, "Since Shangshu Bing doesn't know how the Xi clan died? Then tell you, it's a false way to destroy Guo."

Bing Yuanzhen said angrily: "You are pedantic!"

"All right!"

Li Mi rubbed his swollen forehead, stopped their meaningless fight, and said to Fang Xuanzao very displeasedly: "The situation is urgent now, I want to hear the master's advice."

He also knew that Bing Yuan's idea was really unreliable at all. Yang Tong wanted to deal with Li Yuan very easily. He only needed to send troops from Huining, Pingliang, Honghua, Yan'an and Hedong in Bingzhou. Trouble?How stupid would Yang Tong be if Yang Tong went to the south by himself and bypassed his and Wang Shichong's territory?

On the way, Fang Xuanzao had already thought of a countermeasure. He looked at Li Mi and said slowly: "My countermeasure is actually very simple. I recently reconciled with Wang Shichong, united with the Sui Dynasty in the north, and divided the cooperation between Sui and Zheng. …Fight against Dou Jiande in the east and Du Fuwei in the south to establish a solid rear area! Thus realizing the strategic goal of defending Yang Tong with the Yellow River, defending the southern princes with the Yangtze River, and defending the Tang army with Xiangyang. After completing this step, we will come back Go all out against Wang Shichong."

(End of this chapter)