Northern Dynasties

Chapter 1363: Heavenly Punishment
After dealing with Chen Qian and others in Fujian, the Tang army did not choose to directly launch an expedition to Lingnan. Instead, it stopped to rest for a while and reorganized and adjusted the subsequent campaign plans.

After all, the Lingnan region is the last geographical block in the process of conquering Jiangdong and is also the farthest from the Central Plains. Only when it is completely and thoroughly conquered can the war to conquer Jiangdong be brought to a successful conclusion.

The conquest of Lingnan was more complicated than other places, especially in the Middle Ages when various technologies were still relatively backward. The pressure of logistics and supply alone could add a lot of variables to the war, making the war situation more complicated and requiring more considerations.

Of course, these possible variables and comprehensive considerations still require the generals on the front line to make decisions based on actual conditions. What the Tang Dynasty court in the rear can do is to give the front-line divisions all possible support, especially in terms of money, food and supplies.

The pacification of the Three Wus provided a more accessible large base for subsequent military operations. The attacks on the powerful people in the Three Wus, especially the Wuxing area, also allowed the Tang army to obtain a considerable amount of supplies.

In recent years, the development of people's livelihood in Jiangdong has been greatly hindered. Even in the Three Wu areas, bandits are rampant, and ordinary people have no way to make a living. However, this does not include those wealthy and powerful families in the countryside.

In the Wuxing Shen Zhong family alone, more than 100,000 dan of grain were seized. Compared with the extremely poor people, the wealth gap was staggering. What was even more ridiculous was that Shen Zhong hoarded so much grain, but he was stingy and cut back on the food supply for his family, so that his family members were often hungry.

So when so much wealth was confiscated from their home, many members of the Shen family were shocked. They had no idea that their family had accumulated such a huge amount of money and grain!

Other Wuzhong tyrants may not be as wealthy as Shen Zhong's family, but they all have considerable wealth. The materials seized from these aristocratic families alone are enough to compensate for the various expenses incurred by the troops after crossing the river, and can also provide strong material support for subsequent wars, saving the court the labor of continuing to transport them from the Central Plains and Shannan areas.

However, this series of actions will inevitably cause great shock to the social structure of the Three Wu regions. After all, those aristocratic and powerful people are not completely without value. They still play a significant role in maintaining local stability. Although this role is ultimately used to exploit ordinary people, as a long-running social order that has been suddenly broken, turmoil is always inevitable in the process of destruction and reconstruction.

The more optimistic situation at the moment is that although there will be some turmoil in the Three Wu regions, since the various local armed forces have been wiped out thoroughly, the turmoil is mainly due to the chaos in personnel supervision and material distribution, which requires re-establishing order, but it will not lead to any war.

Previously, Chen Chang, the Lord of Chen, and other people in the Southern Chen court had been relocated to Qin County in Jiangbei. Quan Jingxuan and other troops entered Jiankang and were ready to fully take over Jiangdong and directly manage it.

Therefore, after the Minzhong was pacified, the Yangzhou General Administration Office moved to Jingkou and officially began to handle the military and political affairs of the Three Wu regions. The most important part of this was the establishment of a military organization in the Three Wu regions. The various military offices initially planned to have 10,000 soldiers, who would follow the main force of the Tang army to conquer Lingnan.

In terms of the top personnel of the expeditionary army, Li Xun moved to Jiangzhou and temporarily sat in Nanchuan, Quan Jingxuan sat in Jiankang, Tian Hong was stationed in Kuaiji, and Shi Ning, as the main general, took the lead in taking Chen Qian's head and some prisoners of war to Luoyang to report his military exploits after completing the expedition to the Three Wus, and no longer participated in subsequent expeditions.

It was not because Shi Ning had any problems during the expedition, but because he had some health problems. Shi Ning had been stationed in Longyou Liangzhou for a long time before, and his body had become ill due to overwork. He had only gritted his teeth and persevered for several years when he was stationed in Jiangxia. This expedition to the Three Wus was in late winter and early spring, so he could not stand the drastic change in climate and became ill.

Because of his poor health, he was afraid that his condition would worsen when he went south to conquer Lingnan, so the Supreme Emperor specially summoned him back to the court to recuperate. It was a pity that he could not participate in the subsequent wars, but his achievement in pacifying the Three Wus alone was enough to make him famous in history.

Although the series of wars seemed to be calm and smooth, that was because the previous years of management had given the Tang Dynasty an absolute advantage in the confrontation between the two sides. Being able to fully utilize these advantages and naturally accomplish this historic achievement, Shi Ning and other heroes are qualified to be proud of it.

After Shi Ning returned to the court, the court sent Li Xiannan to lead the expedition against Lingnan. In addition to necessary military actions, the expedition against Lingnan also requires sufficient wisdom and means to deal with the more complex ethnic and rural issues in Lingnan. Li Xian is a man who possesses these abilities and is both wise and brave. I believe he can resolve the war in Lingnan smoothly and properly.

This time, the Tang army will still adopt a three-pronged approach to attack Lingnan. In addition to the main brigade in the middle route led by Li Xian, the navy of the eastern route will continue to move south from Fujian and attack Guangzhou. The Guizhou brigade led by Li Qianzhe in the west will move south along the Li River to attack Anzhou, Jiaozhou and other southwestern states that threaten Lingnan.

After receiving the order, Li Xian immediately rushed to Kuaiji to repair armor and staffs. By the time all the troops had finished preparing for battle, it was already midsummer in May. Not only had the weather warmed up, but the water in the canals and ponds in Jiangdong was also overflowing again. Water transportation was restored, making it easier for the army to advance and retreat. So the troops continued to prepare to set out to attack Lingnan.

Just before Li Xian led his troops to set off, Kuaiji welcomed a group of unexpected guests, who were envoys sent by Guangzhou Governor Ouyang Wei to ask for surrender.

"Before, His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Tang Dynasty had sent envoys to the state to pay respects, and Lord Ouyang was deeply honored and grateful. At that time, he had already wanted to return to the righteousness, but he was in a remote place, and although he had a strong desire, it was difficult to fly across the mountains and rivers to pay respects. Now, hearing that the royal army has conquered the Three Wus and will soon enter Lingnan to pay respects, the Lord of the state can't help but cry with joy, and specially sent the officials to express his loyalty to the righteousness, and welcome the royal army to enter the country, and will never be a stubborn bandit who uses the land for self-importance and gathers people to claim hegemony!"

The envoy sent by Ouyang Wei was named Jiang Zong, a famous talent in Jiangdong. He had been stranded in Lingnan due to Hou Jing's Rebellion. Now, as an envoy of Ouyang father and son, he came to the Tang army to surrender. His words were sincere and heartfelt, which made people feel good about him after listening to him.

"It is really gratifying that Lord Ouyang can judge the situation and understand the righteousness. If all the issues in Lingnan can be resolved smoothly without the need for war, it will be a great blessing. It will be a great pleasure to serve Lord Ouyang in the same palace as a minister in the future!"

After reading Ouyang Wei's surrender letter presented to him by General Jiang, Li Xian couldn't help but smile and said with a smile while looking at General Jiang.

The Tang Dynasty had been trying to contact the forces in Lingnan since a long time ago, but the results were not very ideal. After all, the Tang Dynasty had little influence on Lingnan, so although Ouyang Wei and his family kept in touch with the envoys sent from the north, they never discussed any substantive issues.

There was some trade between them, but due to a series of mountains such as Dayuling Mountain, the development of trade was greatly restricted and did not form a large scale.

It was obvious that Ouyang Wei's words that he had long wanted to return to the country were just polite words. If the Tang army had not made great breakthroughs in the Jiangdong area this year, and the situation in Lingnan had not changed dramatically due to Hou Andu's defeat and return, posing a great threat to the existence and even survival of the Ouyang family, he would probably not have chosen to surrender to the Tang Dynasty.

But none of this matters. What matters is what attitude the person currently holds and what actions he will take. Guangzhou is the most critical and core area in Lingnan. If the Tang army can take Guangzhou over without bloodshed, it will undoubtedly play a decisive role in the subsequent Lingnan war!

At present, the Tang army has learned about the changes in the situation in the Lingnan region through various channels, and is also aware that the conflict between the Ouyang family and Hou Andu has reached the point of being irreconcilable. Now that Hou Andu is powerful in Lingnan, he has also posed a huge threat to the Ouyang family. Under such circumstances, choosing to surrender to the Tang Dynasty is a wise move to save themselves.

At the same time, Xu Du and other former generals of the Southern Chen Dynasty also expressed their willingness to go to Guangzhou to accept the surrender, so Li Xian immediately sent the navy to Guangzhou to land and cooperate with the Guangzhou brigade to attack Hengzhou, while he personally led the brigade to attack Hengzhou by land. When the Fujian navy arrived in Guangzhou, Ouyang Xi had passed away. The whole city was hung with hemp banners, a scene of sorrow. Ouyang Xi's son Ouyang He came out in mourning to welcome him, allowing the Tang army to enter Guangzhou.

On the second day after the Tang army arrived, Hou Andu, who learned of Ouyang Wei's death, led the Hengzhou army to attack Guangzhou. Although the ancient saying goes that it is unlucky to attack a place of mourning, it is a matter of life and death. If there is only one or two opportunities, they must be used to the extreme. There is no need for so much etiquette and morality.

Moreover, the Ouyang family had dominated Lingnan for many years by oppressing the various powerful chieftains within the country. Now that these powerful chieftains have a new leader, they are naturally happy to see the Ouyang family in trouble. Not only do they want to vent their previously suppressed grievances, but they also hope to be able to share their legacy after defeating the old overlord, the Ouyang family.

However, they did not expect the Ouyang family to act so quickly. Seeing the bad situation, they surrendered to the Tang Dynasty early and had already attracted Tang troops to enter the city. Thousands of Tang army divisions and brigades in the city, plus nearly 10,000 Ouyang family soldiers, gave the enemy a head-on blow when they attacked, forcing the divisions and brigades to retreat more than ten miles before they could barely stabilize their formation.

Hou Andu was only making a tentative attack this time and did not push all his main forces forward. After learning that the Tang army had already entered Guangzhou, he was naturally shocked.

He knew that he could not give the Tang army too much room to maneuver, otherwise the momentum and atmosphere he had created with great difficulty would be hit and destroyed. So he immediately ordered the main force to rush to Guangzhou City, and surrounded the city with the advantage of large numbers. He also called on more local chieftains to join in by using the powerful means of besieging Guangzhou City.

The heroes of Lingnan had little understanding of what was happening outside the Lingnan area. In addition, after the Tang army arrived, they were blocked in Guangzhou City and had no chance to show off their power in front of others. They only saw Hou Andu becoming more and more heroic, and even directly besieged the Ouyang family's lair. For a moment, they felt that Lingnan was really going to change. Even some chieftains who had originally planned to continue to wait and see how the situation changed realized that the situation was already very clear, and they chose to join Hou Andu's army, which immediately made Hou Andu's momentum even greater.

The Ouyang family had controlled Lingnan for many years, so it was impossible for them to be completely without supporters. However, various incidents before had already caused great damage to the prestige of the Ouyang family. In addition, the death of Ouyang Wei at this time had caused considerable obstacles to the communication between the upper and lower levels.

Now that Hou Andu and other local chieftains have surrounded Guangzhou City, even if they want to rescue it, their own strength is no different from moths flying into a flame. They can only hope that other members of the Ouyang family, such as the Jiaozhou Governor Ouyang Sheng, will lead the army back to support them, and then they will choose to join them. Otherwise, they can only let the Ouyang family fend for themselves.

However, Jiaozhou is still far away from Guangzhou, and the power of Li Ben's troops who had been causing chaos in Jiaozhou in recent years has gradually recovered, making the situation in Jiaozhou somewhat unstable.

Moreover, if they wanted to reinforce Guangzhou from Jiaozhou, they would have to pass through Anzhou, Yuezhou and other places. However, Ning Kui, the governor of Anzhou, had already chosen to raise troops to respond to Hou Andu. If Ouyang Sheng wanted to lead his troops through this place, he would inevitably have to go through a fierce battle. If they only relied on the Lingnan Division, the Ouyang family would probably have little chance of survival.

However, as time went on, the situation quickly reversed after the Tang army's land divisions arrived in Lingnan one after another.

The first to arrive at the combat area were Li Qianzhe's troops who were sent from Guizhou. After pacifying Chunyu Liang in Lingbiao last year, this group of troops had been stationed in Guizhou for rest and recuperation. Now they were ordered to go south again, and their morale was still high. After entering the country, they successively broke through Jingzhou, Dingzhou and other prefectures controlled by the Lingnan Li Liao chieftains, and headed straight for Anzhou and Yuezhou.

After some unsuccessful attempts to appease the enemy, Li Qianzhe joined forces with his brother Li Xian from Ningzhou to attack Anzhou. Together with Ouyang Sheng's troops who had joined forces with them from Jiaozhou, they cooperated from the side. After a series of battles, they directly destroyed the Ning family's stronghold. Ning Kui had no choice but to lead a part of his troops to flee to the east and prepare to seek refuge with Hou Andu.

However, Hou Andu's situation was not much better. He knew that only by capturing Guangzhou could he greatly expand his strategic depth. If he simply retreated to Hengzhou, he would soon be besieged by the Tang army from both above and below, and would be in a difficult situation as he was attacked from both sides.

Moreover, the tribes of Li Liao gathered around him were all barbarians who feared power but not virtue. Once they saw that he was no longer strong, they would probably scatter like birds and beasts. Therefore, if he wanted to gain a more stable situation, he needed to capture Guangzhou before the Tang army came south.

During the days of siege, he organized the army to launch a fierce attack on Guangzhou City every day. In order to motivate the soldiers, he piled up gold, silk and other valuables on the high platform outside the city to inspire the soldiers. As long as anyone was the first to capture the city, he could take any money and goods.

With these tangible encouragements and temptations, the people of Lingnan also fought bravely, launching dozens of siege battles of varying sizes every day. However, the defenders in the city were extremely stubborn and repeatedly repelled the offensive, making it difficult for Guangzhou to be conquered.

Just when Hou Andu was filled with anxiety, the news he least wanted to hear inevitably came: the Tang army's scouts had appeared outside Hengzhou City, and its main force was rapidly moving southward towards Shixing along the Dongjiang River.

At present, Guangzhou City has not been conquered, but the Tang army from all directions has already attacked fiercely. This is undoubtedly the worst situation. Even if Hou Andu has any strategies and wisdom, he is completely helpless at this moment. He can only order his confidants to stay here and continue to attack Guangzhou City, while he will lead the elite troops to support Hengzhou, in order to delay the Tang army in the north of Hengzhou as much as possible, so as to buy more time.

But this was obviously just a wishful thinking. After learning about the terrain of Lingnan, Li Xian, the main general of the Tang army, was worried that the war would be delayed until the hot summer and the spread of miasma, which would increase various non-combat casualties and thus undermine morale. So Li Xian did not choose to advance step by step.

He ordered the main infantry to advance southward along traditional waterways such as the Yuzhang River and the Dongjiang River, while he himself led 5,000 elite cavalry to cross the Nanling Mountains and bypass the south of Hengzhou. His original intention was to connect with the divisions and brigades in Guangzhou to launch an offensive against Hengzhou in advance and cut off Hou Andu's retreat, but he did not intend to intercept Hou Andu who was preparing to return to Hengzhou on the way.

Hou Andu was shocked when he suddenly saw the Tang army's division in the territory. He thought Hengzhou had been captured by the Tang army, and was about to lead his men to withdraw to the outside of Guangzhou to reunite with the main army. However, since they were targeted by the elite cavalry of the Tang army, how could they let them escape easily? They chased and killed Hou Andu and his men all the way, forcing them to flee in a panic. In the end, they evacuated to the southwest based on their understanding of the terrain.

Through the interrogation of the captives, Li Xian also learned that Guangzhou was in a relatively difficult situation. After weighing the pros and cons, he did not return to Hengzhou to join the main force, but chose to rescue Guangzhou directly.

When Li Xian led his troops to appear outside Guangzhou, tens of thousands of Li Li troops outside the city were somewhat surprised, wondering where such a strong force came from. Some of them were optimistic and thought that Hou Andu had won over help from somewhere else, and even applauded.

However, when the drums and horns sounded and these mighty horses charged towards their formation, these Li Liao troops could no longer laugh. They had never experienced the power of the Tang army's cavalry and archery before, and had no idea how to line up to deal with it. Now they had opened their eyes for the first time, but they had to pay the price with their lives!
"How can a soldier be so fierce? Could it be that the heavens sent down soldiers to punish us?"

Under the trampling of the Tang army's iron hooves and the shooting of stray arrows, the Li Liao tribesmen who did not even have basic armor had no ability to resist and could only flee for their lives. At this time, the Tang army soldiers who were galloping and hunting on the battlefield were naturally like heavenly soldiers to them.

Soon there were heavy casualties on the battlefield, with countless corpses of the Li Liao tribesmen lying on the road, spreading for dozens of miles around, and the entire area outside Guangzhou city was littered with corpses!