The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 311

Xiangyang, across the north of Shiliang Mountain, the vast land is now a chaotic, cruel and raging scene, and then unfolded on the screen are iron horses and golden arms, countless banners swaying with the wind under the sky, and the autumn wind blows in the wilderness Among them, the sound of Feng Dy rushing through the sky, like a piercing wail sweeping across the dilapidated city wall of Hannan County.

Not long ago, after Li Xiaogong and Li Daozong took Xiyang and Nanyang, Li Xiaogong joined [-] Tang troops in Fangling Yongqing and attacked Xiangyang County in Xiaoliang.

The sudden southward movement of tens of thousands of Tang troops set off a huge uproar in the entire area of ​​Jingxiang and even Xiaoliang. King Jati of Dongping was defeated in Xiangyang and retreated to Hannan.Immediately afterwards, Li Xiaogong swept across 23 cities including Xiangyang City with thunderous momentum. Except for the Hannan City in front of him and Shanghong City in the southeast, the Tang Army's southward journey to Jingling has been cleared. Xiaoliang's north gate has been opened, and the situation is precarious.If Jingling is lost, the five counties of Chunling, Handong, Yiyang, Anlu, and Yong'an will also be isolated by the Tang army to the north of the Han River, and Yiling County will also be in danger of outflanking.

At this time, the sky was dark, and only the burnt siege equipment under Hannan City was still emitting faint flames. Under the dim light of the flames, there were wreckage on the ground.The city tower was dilapidated, and broken bricks and tiles were scattered all over the city...

No one expected that Hannan City, which was countless times shorter than Xiangyang City, could still survive under the successive attacks of several armies of Li Xiaogong.However, it is not far from being breached.

The general of the Tang army in charge of the siege was named Lu Zushang, styled Jiliang, and his father, Lu Xi, was a general of Huben Lang in the Sui Dynasty.The family is rich and wealthy, good at giving, and famous for being chivalrous.In the middle and later period of Daye, when Lu Zushang was 19 years old, he recruited brave men from the village to protect the village and resist bandits.After Yu Wenhuaji launched the Jiangdu Rebellion, Lu Zushang occupied the prefecture and claimed to be the governor. He stabbed blood and swore to everyone. The soldiers were moved and shed tears.After Yang Tan succeeded to the throne in Luoyang, he followed the trend, and after Wang Shichong usurped the throne, Lu Zushang led his warriors into the pass and surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, and became a wise and brave young general under Li Xiaogong.

Today's sky is already very light, and above the city tower, there are some strong people standing there numbly. Not a bit energetic, just like Xiao Liang's soldiers and civilians guarding the city.In the past half a month, the morale of the soldiers and civilians in Hannan City has been crushed to powder under Lu Zushang's connection with the fierce city...

Tang Jun tried to persuade Xiaoliang Dongping Wang Jati, who was guarding the city, to surrender, but he was a tough guy who would rather die than surrender. He turned a blind eye to Tang Jun's surrender and dragged Tang Jun through Hannan City for more than half a month.

Originally Li Xiaogong wanted to make a quick decision, and assembled a large army to go south to Xiangyang, and then to Jingling, but unexpectedly, the partial division conquered the entire territory of Yiling and Chunling, but the main force was blocked here for more than ten days. .This made Li Xiaogong very depressed.

"Our army swept Xiangyang, Chunling, and Yiling, but Hannan City was crucified here. What is this? It's a slap in the face. The important thing is that after we take Xiangyang here, we need to mobilize civilian officials to govern, and then the army continues to attack. The city seized the land. Therefore, the existence of Hannan City will bring about many variables. Moreover, Xiao Xian has already responded. He sent Chu Wang Zheng Wenxiu to lead the army to the north, and the reinforcements from all walks of life have also assembled in Nanjun. We must hurry up. , this city must be captured tonight."

In the evening, Li Xiaogong launched another attack.

Xiao Jun and the common people have experienced more than half a month of war, with countless casualties, but the people have a certain degree of combat power, but they have been besieged for so long, and the stored food and grass are not enough. The equipment for defending the city has been exhausted.However, the Tang army was unprepared for the siege equipment from the beginning, and it has developed to the point where all the ladders and siege cones are complete, and the time is only a few days.

Arrows covered the top of the city wall, and Xiao Jun who was defending the city responded. Tang Jun held his bow and arrow, set up a ladder and climbed bravely. fall down.As soon as a Xiao soldier hit a Tang army, an arrow shot up from the iron stream below, went straight into his throat, and came from the back of his neck, bloody and frightening.

The flying arrows and the shouts of the surging crowd were all boiling.

A Tang Jun jumped onto the city wall. Before he could stand on the top of the city wall, several Xiao Jun who had been waiting for a long time rushed forward and stabbed him to death with a spear. Not far away, another Tang Jun came from outside the city wall. Climbing up, seeing the situation here, he immediately swung the horizontal knife and beheaded two Xiao Jun, and several Xiao Jun stepped forward to fight him, and he killed several people before killing them.After this person's desperate delay, more Tang troops rushed up from the city wall...

"I only heard that there are Dong Jingzhen, king of Jin, Lei Shimeng, king of Qin, Zheng Wenxiu, king of Chu, Xu Xuanche, king of Yan, Wanzan, king of Lu, Zhang Xiu, king of Qi, and Yang Daosheng, king of Song in Xiao Xian. They will be wiped out one by one. As for this Dongping King Jati, I have never heard of his reputation before. I thought that I would go south in the Tang Dynasty, and I would be the most powerful person. Who would have thought that I would be entangled by this person for so long... If it weren’t for our army. Going south, I am afraid that this person will be unknown for the rest of his life, heh, Xiangyang is his battle to become famous...he died a worthy death..."

Li Xiaogong's plain words were piercingly cold, amidst the surging iron stream of Tang Jun, he let go of the bowstring, took out an iron arrow from his quiver, and searched the top of the city with his eyes.

When attacking and defending the city at night, both sides lit torches, so the line of sight was fairly clear.Li Xiaogong clearly saw a tall figure running around the city, crazily killing Tang Jun who had climbed to the top of the city. This person was wearing bright armor and led a pair of fierce recruits to fight back and forth on the city wall.

Li Xiaogong stared at the figure closely, the cold arrow clusters were already on the bowstring, at this moment Li Xiaogong was two hundred steps away from the general, the strong bow creaked as it was pulled, as if it would break at any moment Come average.

The Li family is a family of generals for many generations. They have studied archery very well, and generations of people are famous for being good at archery: Li Xiaogong’s great-grandfather Li Hu is famous for his riding and archery. The two eyes of the peacock screen were shot from outside.Li Shimin, Li Yuanji, Li Xiaogong, and Li Daozong are also sharpshooters, especially Li Zhiyun, who was executed by Yin Shishi in Chang'an. This 14-year-old child has superb archery skills and can be called the crown of the whole family.

It is not unreasonable for the Li family to claim to be the descendants of Li Guang. Their archery training methods passed down from their ancestors are extremely reasonable and effective.

When the figure was clearest, Li Xiaogong let go of his hand, and the feathered arrow pierced through the air, sinking into the darkness. The figure paused suddenly, and then slowly stopped while clutching his throat. Xiao Jun heard fear. voice of...

At this moment, the city and the city suddenly became quiet, Li Xiaogong put down his longbow, and said calmly: "Continue to attack the city, and bury it generously!"

…………

When autumn swept across, the battle between Li Tang and Xiao Liang spread in all directions, causing different reactions in different places.

For Li Tang, who was repeatedly defeated by the Sui Dynasty, it was naturally joyful.

Li Xiaogong, king of Zhao County, led his army from Fangling County, and in less than a month, he achieved the brilliant results of destroying Zhucan in the north, taking Xiyang and Nanyang, going south to Xiaoliang, and taking Xiangyang and Chunling in Yiling. happy?Li Tang really needed such a victory.

Li Yuan was overjoyed and changed Li Tang's capital from Fangling County to Xiangyang City. His current imperial palace is a detached palace built by Xiao Xian. A bit of the shadow of swords and swords, and the accumulation of years.But compared to Daxing Palace, it has a little more romantic and gentle temperament. Generally speaking, Li Yuan is quite satisfied.

While everyone was rejoicing at Li Xiaogong's victory, some people were deeply worried about it.

In an independent courtyard palace in the Li Palace, the burning butter wax emits a warm light, and the guards are guarding in the dark corners around. If you don't pay attention to observe, their presence here, even the air Not as good.

In the thick night, the sound of flipping books could be heard from time to time. Jin Wang Li Shimin was wearing a regular uniform, with his hair loose on his shoulders, and he was flipping through a copy of Sun Tzu's Art of War printed in the Sui Dynasty with no expression on his face. From his actions, it can be seen that his heart is not above books.

After returning from Dangchang County, Li Shimin has been in a bad mood. The disastrous defeat on the western front of the Guanzhong Campaign caused him to lose 15 elite Li Tang and 15 field troops. The main forces of Guanzhong and Beiyu Sui Dynasty were also the capital for Li Tangse to dominate and unify the world.However, this vital capital could not even return to Guanzhong in the end. The 30-strong army failed to exert even a little value, and was defeated by Li Shimin.

The consequence of defeating this army is that Li Tang's monarchs and ministers got out of Chang'an, Guanzhong, and Yongzhou in a desperate way in an extremely humiliating way... It can be said that Li Tang's fiasco, Li Shimin, who is in charge of all the elite forces of Li Tang, should take full responsibility.

Although the father took the blame for all the failures, did not investigate anyone's fault, and did not reduce his power, but the father put Liu Hongji, Qiu Xinggong, Duan Zhixuan, Yin Kaishan, Gao Shilian and others in the civil and military circles. He was transferred from his subordinates and served as officials in Dangchang, Yicheng, Xicheng, Qinghua, Tongchuan and other counties. Most of them were included in the civil service system. It is impossible for Bing to stay by Li Shimin's side and help him.

More importantly, his fourth brother, Li Yuanji, has formally embarked on the military path, and will be in charge of [-] Li Tang's [-] main force, and it is the kind of strong army that requires people to give and things to give. If Li Yuanji does the first step well, then he will share more than half of the military power in the future.

Li Yuanji regarded his eldest brother Li Jiancheng as his father, and obeyed Li Jiancheng's words. He was in charge of this army, just like Li Jiancheng was in charge.In other words, after the Guanzhong War, Li Tang's power has changed a lot, and his eldest brother Li Jiancheng and his family have become the big winners of this war, while he, Li Shimin, has become the biggest loser.

Li Shimin has nothing to say about this, and can only keep his dissatisfaction in his heart. After all, his disastrous defeat in the Hehuang area of ​​Liangzhou has attracted collective criticism from the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty and Li Tang, and even His wife's natal Dugu family was also very dissatisfied with him.

What Li Shimin was thinking about was how to restore his reputation. He urgently needed a victory to restore his image, and he would definitely not get anything cheap from Yang Tong. Xiao Xian, for Li Tang to open up territories in the south, can restore his reputation.

But who would have thought that the great meritorious service he regarded as washing away the shame was handed over by his father to Li Xiaogong, who was close to Li Jiancheng, and the other party did it brilliantly, with only tens of thousands of underdogs recruited temporarily, they would not waste their efforts He captured the five prefectures of Xiyang, Nanyang, Xiangyang, Yiling and Chunling.

The better Li Xiaogong played on the front line, the more he could show Li Shimin's incompetence, making him a waste by contrast.After all, when Li Shimin was at his peak, he had more than 30 elites.You have so many elite divisions, you can't even win a single battle, and you have completely defeated the army. If you are not a waste, who is a waste?
All kinds of rumors made Li Shimin almost vomit blood in anger.He felt that Xiao Xian should be a soft persimmon by himself, instead of achieving the name of Li Xiaogong. It would be a waste to give the name of God of War and Army to Li Xiaogong.

……

(Readers Penguin Exchange Group: 1623145!)
(End of this chapter)