First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 186 The Death of Xue Ju
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Following Liu Wenjing's military order, Tang Jun called for gold to withdraw his troops. Li Anyuan immediately cursed and retreated hastily, but it was obviously too late. More and more Western Qin soldiers rushed up, and Li Anyuan was deeply surrounded and captured with all his might.

In the first confrontation, Lin Xingcan and Li Anyuan, two of the eight generals of the Tang army, were captured. Ten thousand troops fought against the Tang army, but only [-] people fled back, with more than [-] casualties.

In Gaochao City, when he learned that Liu Wenjing had stationed troops on the southwestern highlands and was surrounded by the Western Qin Army, Li Shimin staggered and almost fell to the ground. Before he could say a word, he passed out.

That night, Xue Rengao launched a violent assault from the gentle slope behind, the Tang camp was in chaos, and the Tang army suffered countless losses. Early the next morning, Liu Wenjing ordered Liu Hongji to lead the army to charge from behind the camp.

Liu Hongji was furious, he sent Lin and Li to charge the battle yesterday, they were already captured, and let him charge from the back of the camp today.

The Tang army was strong and strong. If the whole army was assembled and broke through in one direction, the soldiers of the Western Qin Dynasty would be unstoppable. However, Liu Wenjing dispersed his troops and ordered the generals to charge one by one, which really made Liu Hongji very angry.

But in the face of Liu Wenjing who had a soldier talisman in his hand, Liu Hongji had no choice but to lead his army straight to Xue Rengao's troops.

As expected, when Liu Hongji rushed down, the Western Qin cavalry on the left and right flanks encircled the rear. Liu Hongji's [-] Tang troops, even if they repeated Lin Xingcan's mistakes, were deeply encircled. Leading Jingqi went straight to Liu Hongji.

Although Liu Hongji was very brave, he was also defeated by Xue Rengao, who was an enemy of tens of thousands of people. After more than ten rounds, Liu Hongji was in a state of confusion when he saw his soldiers being surrounded and killed. Hongji horse lance, and then with a sweep of his right hand, Liu Hongji was shot off the horse, and General You Xiaowei and Hejian County Duke Liu Hongji were captured.

Of the eight general managers, three were captured, and Liu Wenjing's face was ashen.

However, after Xue Rengao captured Liu Hongji alive, he did not stop attacking. Instead, he went straight to the camp of the Tang army. Xue Ju observed the situation on the battlefield and made a decisive decision. With the general offensive, the Tang army retreated steadily.

In panic, Liu Wenjing only led Tang Jian, Chai Shao, Dou Gui and others, with a total of more than [-] remnants to break through the encirclement and fled all the way back to Gaochai City.

When Li Shimin woke up again and heard the bad news, he was distraught and indignant. After calming down, he counted more than [-] Tang soldiers. Yu people.

Li Shimin knew that Gaochai City could no longer be defended, so he immediately ordered the withdrawal of the troops, returned to Chang'an, and regrouped the army to fight again.

Xue Ju won the first battle of the Eastern Expedition, quickly captured the entire territory of Jingzhou, and frantically cut off the heads of the [-] Tang troops who had died outside Gaochao City, and built a Jingguan on the southwest highland.

Later, Xue Ju was not satisfied with occupying Jingzhou, and sent Xue Rengao to lead the army to attack Ningzhou. However, Hu Yan, the governor of Ningzhou, was a resolute man, known for his uprightness and strictness, and led the soldiers of Ningzhou to repel Xue Rengao.

Xue Rengao was furious, so he asked Xue Ju to increase his troops, intending to bloodbath Ningzhou. Xue Ju wanted to agree, but was stopped by Hao Yuan: "The Tang army is newly defeated, and there must be turmoil in Guanzhong. It is better to take advantage of the victory to pursue Chang'an."

Although Xue Ju was cruel and heartless, he obeyed Hao Yuan's words and agreed immediately, ordering Xue Rengao to withdraw troops, gather troops, and attack Chang'an directly.

When Xue Rengao returned to Gaocheng, Xue Ju was ill.

Xue Ju was born in the northwestern border, and he was mostly in the company of Hu people. He believed in witch doctors. Xue Rengao immediately found a witch doctor to diagnose and treat Xue Ju.

Unexpectedly, when the witch doctor came to see the Beijing Temple with 3 heads piled up on the southwest highland of Gaochao City, he was so frightened that he was dizzy.

Xue Ju was furious when he heard the words, and immediately beheaded the witch doctor, and then his condition became worse.

On the [-]th, in Gaochai City, Xue Ju was on his death bed, sometimes drowsy and sometimes awake.

Half-dream and half-awake, Xue Ju seemed to see those people whose tongues, noses, and heads were cut off were demanding their lives from him, and Xue Ju could no longer lift the eight-foot-long horse spear.

Waking up suddenly, Xue Ju saw Hao Yuan and Xue Rengao serving in front of the sick bed, Xue Ju sat up straight, knowing that the end was approaching.

"Military Master, you are my great Qin advisor. After I die, Wanwang Military Master will assist the crown prince. If it is feasible, then he will enter Guanzhong. If it is not feasible, he will retreat to Longyou to protect our great Qin hegemony." Xue Ju held Hao Yuan's hand tightly. hands, and said sincerely.

Hao Yuan also burst into tears, nodding his head in agreement.

Xue Ju looked at Xue Rengao, and said: "My son should restrain his temper, and remember not to torture and kill people again."

When Xue Rengao heard the words, he just responded, and Xue Ju didn't say any more. He looked up to the sky and sighed: "I, Xue Ju, is powerful in the world, and I am so strong. It's a pity that the sky doesn't have a holiday, and the sky is so weak to me." Fall, die suddenly.

In the first year of Wude, in August, the Xiqin Emperor Xue Ju, who was a hero of a generation and had more than [-] soldiers, died of illness in Gaochai City.

Chang'an City, Taiji Palace, Ganlu Palace, Li Yuan looked at the two military newspapers on the left and the right, expressionless. Today's Emperor Li Yuan is more dignified, and he is no longer the good old man Tang Guogong who always smiled when he met everyone.

"Everyone, the Zhu bandits are gone, all the prefectures in the south of Shanshan are safe and sound, but Gaochai City was defeated, and Xue bandits occupy all the land of Jingzhou, what can we do?" Li Yuan said softly.

As the voice fell, someone in the hall came out, "Your Majesty, I heard that Zheng Siqing cut Zhu Can into pieces in Dengzhou. This move was too cruel and bad for the reputation of the Tang Dynasty. His Majesty orders punishment."

Hearing this, some people were immediately dissatisfied, "Zheng Siqing made such a great achievement in destroying the Zhu thieves. Could it be that he was punished instead of rewarded? What's the reason for this?"

"Exactly, the Zhu thief feeds on people, leaving Dengzhou ten rooms and nine empty. Such a villain, even if it is cut into pieces, it is not an exaggeration."

"I heard that after the death of Zhu thief, the people of Dengzhou scrambled to eat his meat. This shows the aspirations of the people. What Liu Yushi said, the minister dare not agree with."

It turns out that the surname Liu who impeached Zheng Yuanxuan for cruel torture should be from the Liu family of Hedong.

Li Yuan coughed, "Zhu thief's death is very pleasing to the hearts of the people, so don't mention it again. The three provinces after the dispersal of the dynasty today agreed to reward Zheng Yuanxuan and other meritorious ministers, and now the Northwest War is the most important."

Hearing this, Liu Yushi had no choice but to retreat silently, Gao Junya sat upright and dozed off, with a calm expression on his face.

"Your Majesty, Shi Liu Wenjing, the commander of the army, and Sima Yin Qiao violated the order and sent troops, resulting in a big defeat. They should be punished severely." Someone came out and said.

"As the marshal of the marching army, King Qin also has an unshirkable responsibility for the defeat of this trip."

For a while, there was a lot of discussion in the court, and after hearing everyone's opinions, Li Yuan saw that Pei Ji, Gao Junya, and Gao Junya were both silent, and immediately said loudly: "Liu Wenjing, Yin Qiao, dismissed from their posts."

Hearing that Li Yuan's punishment did not involve Li Shimin at all, some courtiers in the palace also knew in their hearts that it was impossible for Li Yuan to lower the responsibility to Li Shimin, and they should even keep silent about Li Shimin.

(End of this chapter)