The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 981 Playing a Play
At dusk, the earth illuminated by the sunset glowed like blood, but the siege and defense of the city on both sides of the Anju River continued. Xue Wanjun stood on the watchtower on the east bank, looking at the serial boats in the middle of the river with a relaxed face.

He first used two days to connect more than 100 small boats of different sizes into one piece, making it look like a huge square across the Anju water, and then cut many straight and long fir trees from nearby, and split them in half. , and then tie them into trestles with crossbars and ropes, and stand on the serial boats, which can resist the bows and crossbows of the Tang army. The river beach of barbed wire and caltrops goes directly to the front of the Tang army's camp.

After finishing these two things, he launched an attack on the other side. On the first day, Zhang Shigui fired kerosene to burn his serial boat, but before that, Xue Wanjun had already prevented this move and had people lay a foot on the serial boat. The thick loess made Zhang Shigui's method of burning the serial ship useless. Although the stone cannon was replaced later, but with flexible bamboo and rattan weaving as the base, the stone cannon did not cause much damage to the serial ship's hull, even if it pierced a few There are ten big holes, but the huge chain ship is still as stable as Mount Tai.

These days, Xue Wanjun did not launch a large-scale attack. He just played with Zhang Shigui in a leisurely and unhurried manner. Lay the foundation for crossing the river.

The day before yesterday, he received an eagle letter from Luo County from Yang Tong, saying that Li Daliang, who had infiltrated into the Tang army, had already led five thousand soldiers into the Tang army camp. As long as he launched an all-out attack, he would stab Zhang Shigui in the back. This news made Xue Wanjun know that the opportunity for a decisive battle had arrived.

At this time, Dugu Yanyun walked quickly to report: "General, brothers are ready."

Xue Wanjun turned around and handed him the command arrow, "Go all out! We must defeat Zhang Shigui tonight."

"Obey." Dugu Yanyun obeyed the order solemnly,
"General!" However, just as Dugu Yanyun took the arrow and was about to issue an attack order, Dugu Qingyun flew over, and saw him get off the horse, come up and hand a letter to Xue Wanjun: "Here is It is an emergency battle report from Niutang County."

"Let me see." Xue Wanjun opened it, and his face became quite strange.

"General?" Seeing Xue Wanjun's strange expression and being speechless for a long time, Dugu Yanyun couldn't help shouting.

Xue Wanjun let out a long breath, "Bring back the command arrow."

"Ah?" Dugu Yanyun exclaimed in surprise.

"Ah what? Bring the arrow." Xue Wanjun said with a dark face.

Dugu Yanyun returned the command arrow, and asked puzzledly: "General, what happened?"

"Look for yourself." Xue Wanjun handed over the letter.

"This..." Dugu Yanyun was also speechless for a while after reading it, and he smiled wryly after a long time: "What should we do now?"

"Ming Jin withdraws troops, and then... go to accept the surrender of the Tang army." Xue Wanjun said with a grimace.

"Here." Dugu Yanyun responded.

Dugu Qingyun asked dumbfounded: "Stop fighting?"

"What else are you typing?" Dugu Yanyun gave the letter to his brother again.

Dugu Qingyun read the letter, then looked at the serial ship and the soldiers on the shore, and was speechless for a long time.

"When, when, when!"

Soon, the Sui army's camp rang out the crisp and clear sound of golden bells, and the soldiers of the Sui army who were ready to go on the bank of the river retreated like a tide.

……

Seeing the retreat of the Sui army on the other side, Zhang Shigui breathed a sigh of relief, and sat down tiredly leaning against a big rock. In fact, apart from launching a fierce offensive on the day when the chain ship was formed, the Sui army mainly focused on harassment. , but this kind of surprise has lasted for several days, and it also surprised him.There was no way, he was afraid that Xue Wanjun would catch them off guard by playing tricks.

It's just that although he can hold on, the morale of the defenders is low and panicked. Although he tried his best to suppress it, the news that the camp in Chefang Town was lost and the rear route was cut off has spread throughout the army. The increasing shortage caused rumors to spread in the army, and the morale of Tang soldiers was on the verge of collapse.

Zhang Shigui doesn't know how long he can hold on, but if the problem in the back road is not resolved, his efforts here will be meaningless. He really wants to regain the camp of Chefang Town, but Xue Wanjun has pulled him back The chain boat turned Anjushui into a flat road, and it was impossible to give him a chance to leave. Now that the opponent is deadlocked, it is obvious that Tang Jun will collapse on his own.

Zhang Shigui sighed, suddenly felt his lips were very dry, and wanted to drink water.

"General, drink some water." Li Daliang came up and handed a water bottle to Zhang Shigui.

"There is still enough food for the army for a few days." Zhang Shigui took the water bottle and asked.

"This!" Li Daliang hesitated for a moment, but did not speak.

"Oh, let's just say it." Zhang Shigui took a sip of water, and said sadly, "It's come to this point, I can stand no matter how bad the news is."

"It can last until tomorrow." Li Daliang said.

"Have you run out of food?" Zhang Shigui suddenly felt dizzy, looked at the kettle in his hand, suddenly raised his head, and looked at Li Daliang: "What do you want to do?"

"Forgive me, General. I just received the news that the King of Lujiang 'escaped'. It is meaningless for me to continue the battle except for additional casualties. The general cannot bear to let these innocent soldiers die here!" Li Daliang smiled slightly. : "The general trend is irreversible, why don't we push the boat with the current?"

"Take it!" Zhang Shigui slammed his head against the wall, trying to use the pain to wake himself up.

The surrounding soldiers rushed towards Li Daliang quickly.

"Who dares to do it?" Li Daliang waved his hand, and a group of soldiers from the Black Ice Terrace surrounded him, pointing at Zhang Shigui's soldiers with their crossbows in their hands.

"You dare to rebel?" Zhang Shigui shook his head bravely, and looked at Li Daliang with his steel teeth clenched.

"Rebellion? We are all citizens of the Sui Dynasty. If we say that the rebellion is for Li Yuan's own selfishness." Li Daliang said to the soldiers around him righteously: "Soldiers, Li Yuan's life and whereabouts are unknown. The army has already approached the city of Chengdu, and the fall of the Tang Dynasty is imminent. Do we still need to work hard? The key is that we have no food and grass, our retreat is cut off, and we are surrounded by enemies. Are you willing to kill brothers and fathers for Li Shimin? Is it a fight to the death? If you die, what will happen to your parents, wives and children?"

"Don't come with me to take down this rebellious minister and traitor!" Zhang Shigui was furious, looked around and ordered.

Li Daliang just sneered and said nothing, the soldiers around him were indifferent, no one did anything at all.

"You guys turned against each other too?" Zhang Shigui looked at the surrounding soldiers in disbelief. These are his confidants, and now no one has stepped forward?
What Zhang Shigui didn't know was that these soldiers had instigated his son Zhang Zhen's rebellion. They could go through life and death for Zhang Shigui. What should I do?The point is that Major General Zhang Zhen has turned against him, so what else can they say?

After all, everyone knows what happened, and now only Zhang Shigui is kept in the dark.

Regardless of whether it was Li Yuan who had already left beforehand or Zhang Zhen who was in Puci City, the reason why he didn't show up was because Zhang Shigui's relatives were still in Chengdu City. If Zhang Zhen took action against his father, he would be cast aside Behavior of disloyalty and unfilial piety also puts one's relatives in danger. If Li Daliang, an outsider, becomes the villain, all problems will not be a problem. As for Li Yuan, his task is not yet finished.

It can be said that this play was not only to conceal Zhang Shigui, but also to show Li Shimin in Chengdu.

"Take it down for me!" Li Daliang waved his hand, and those around him rushed towards Zhang Shigui. Zhang Shigui swung his sword to resist, but as soon as he made a move, he staggered and fell to the ground, fainting.

Li Daliang ordered: "Take care of General Zhang."

"Here." Zhang Shigui's personal soldier Xiaowei replied with a wry smile.

Li Daliang said to the soldiers: "Open the camp gate and surrender!"

"Here."

Li Daliang's soldiers immediately went to open the gate of the camp, and at the same time cut down the military flag representing the Li Tang Dynasty, and sent people to meet the Sui army across the river.

(End of this chapter)