First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 194: The Remaining Brave Should Pursue the Poor Bandits

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That night, Liang Shi, who felt that he couldn't support himself, sent someone to ask for help. Li Shimin knew that Liang Shi's honest character would never ask for help unless he was in a desperate situation. Soldiers have killed horses and drank their blood.

Li Shimin immediately made a deployment and ordered Pang Yu, the general of Youwuhou, to lead the troops out of the city and camp on the loess plateau to the north of Qianshuiyuan.

Pang Yu was originally a general of the Sui Dynasty, and he followed Wang Shichong to stay in Luoyang. He was the leading general. More than ten thousand cavalry followed Huangfu Wuyi to join the Tang Dynasty.

Huangfu Wuyi was born in the Huangfu family of Anding County (Jingzhou). His father was Sima of Bingzhou in the Sui Dynasty and Huangfudan, the Duke of Hongyi County. Pang Yu was born in the Pang family of Jingzhao County (Yongzhou). The Duke of Didao County, all of them are from the great clans in the Guan, and he is also an old minister of the Sui Dynasty. After he was attached to the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan gave him courtesy, and made Huangfu Wuyi the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, and Pang Yu the Great General of Youwuhou.

Zong Luohu was about to attack Liang Shi's tribe fiercely, but seeing Tang troops stationed on the northern plateau, he was furious immediately, and the whole army mobilized to attack Pang Yu's tribe.

It has to be said that the soldiers of the Western Qin Dynasty came from the land of heroes in the northwest, and they were very brave. Under the leadership of Zong Luohu, a fierce general, they were brave and sturdy, and they beat Pang Yu unspeakably, and almost broke the camp several times.

Just when the Western Qin army was about to break through the Tang camp, in the north of Qianshuiyuan, Li Shimin put on his armor and held a horizontal knife, and immediately stood under the big banner, shouting: "Soldiers, the bandit army has run out of food, it is time When I wait for my revenge, I will kill all the bandits with this king and avenge my revenge."

"Kill all the thieves, take revenge", the five thousand elite cavalry roared angrily, and the shouts resounded through the sky.

As the cavalry charged, they were about a hundred paces closer to the soldiers of the Western Qin Dynasty. The terrified expressions of the soldiers of the Western Qin Dynasty were clearly visible. Li Shimin was in the formation.

Gao Chong tightly clamped the horse lance under his armpit, and with a heavy impact, he pierced through two Western Qin soldiers. , there is no single enemy.

On the other side, Li Shimin held a horizontal knife, slashing from left to right, relentlessly moving forward. Under the leadership of Li Shimin, Gao Chong, and Qiu Xinggong, five thousand cavalry were like a sharp sword, and ruthlessly penetrated from the flank of the Western Qin Army. The formation of troops was chaotic.

Pang Yu, who was fighting hard on the plateau, was shocked when he saw this, and made a decisive decision, "The King of Qin is here to help, soldiers, counterattack."

Pang Yu led his troops to change from defense to offense, and led his troops to rush down from the plateau, condescending, and Tang Jun, who was pressed and beaten on the plateau, let out his anger and charged down screaming.

Li Shimin laughed loudly when he saw this, blood was dripping from the horizontal knife in his hand, and his face was covered with blood, "Brothers, go through it."

Gao Chong and Qiu Xinggong raised their spears and yelled, "Pierce through", they immediately took the lead and accelerated their horses.

The three of them went straight from the left wing of the West Qin Army to the far right, and Pang Yu's troops on the plateau took the opportunity to rush down and split the West Qin Army formation into several pieces.

Zong Luohu was very frightened and furious when he saw this, and seeing that he could no longer fight, he immediately ordered to withdraw to the south.

The Western Qin Dynasty was defeated, and more than ten thousand troops were lost.

Li Shimin was full of energy, he got off his horse and rested for a while, Gao Chong handed over the water bag, Li Shimin gulped and yelled happily.

"Your Majesty, your morale is high. You should use your remaining courage to chase after the poor bandits," Gao Chong said bluntly. Now that the Western Qin Dynasty has been defeated, chasing and killing them will surely increase the results of the battle. Of course, you must beware of ambushes during the pursuit.

Li Shimin nodded, "What Youzhi said is exactly what I want", and then he got on his horse and ordered to assemble.

At this moment, Dou Gui, the marching chief, hurried forward and grabbed the reins, "Your Majesty, don't do it."

Li Shimin was startled, and got off his horse, "Uncle, why?"

"Although Zong Luohu was defeated, Xue Rengao still has a large army occupying the strong city, so we should not rush into it easily," Dou Gui said with a serious face, "It is best to rest for a day or two to observe the movement of the bandit army, and then make deployments." Late."

Li Shimin frowned, and said straightly: "Youzhi is right. It is better to chase the poor with the remaining courage. Now that our army has won a big victory, the momentum is like a broken bamboo. There is no opportunity to lose. We should pursue it resolutely and expand the results of the battle."

Dou Gui was anxious when he heard the words, and was about to persuade him again, Li Shimin took the reins and got on the horse, "I have made up my mind, uncle don't want to persuade me again."

"Brothers, follow the king to pursue the remnants." Li Shimin straddled his horse and raised his sword, leading the Tang army to chase after him. He killed countless Western Qin soldiers along the way and captured a lot. Dou Gui and others led the rear army to receive prisoners and supplies along the way. .

Li Shimin led his army in pursuit and fought fiercely, until they reached the north of Lingtai City, and camped by the Jingshui River.

For a while, Lingtai City was restless. Xue Rengao believed in force. Since he joined the army, he has been more offensive than defensive. He immediately led his army out of the city, camped by the river, and confronted Li Shimin across the river.

Across the Jing River, Xue Rengao set up an army formation, but Li Shimin had no choice but to cross the river and attack by force, which is a big taboo for military strategists.

However, God helped Li Tang, and when Li Shimin was at a loss what to do, something happened in the Western Qin camp.

Zong Luohu was defeated, and Xue Rengao's temperament would not be merciless, even if he wanted to question the crime, Zong Luohu actually pushed all the blame to Hu Jianghun, saying that Hungan was cowardly and refused to fight to the death, so he was defeated.

Xue Rengao despised the Hu people, but after Xue Ju's death, Zhong Lisu led the Min and Qiang soldiers to flee overnight, which greatly damaged Xue Rengao's prestige, and Xue Rengao even distrusted the Hu people.

Hearing Zong Luohu's one-sided remarks, Xue Rengao actually wanted to lower the blame to Hun Gan. For some reason, Hun Gan was informed of this news, and Hun Gan was immediately furious.

When Xue Ju was there, he also attached great importance to the Hu people. He once appointed Hungan as the governor of Anding, a high position and authority, but when Xue Ju died, the situation of the Hu people plummeted.

Not only was Yi Ying's food and grass treated harshly, which was different from the soldiers of the Jincheng headquarters, but now he was also responsible for the defeat of the army. Hungan immediately gathered [-] troops under his command, intending to attack and kill Xue Rengao.

As soon as the time passed, Hungan was in the camp to prevent fire, and then he blew the horn of the Hu people and led the army to attack the big tent of the Chinese army.

Surprised and angry, Xue Rengao grabbed a horse in a panic and fled to the rear. He gathered the troops along the way, and then counterattacked.

Xue Rengao was about to pursue, but was stopped by General Zhao Hongan, "Your Majesty, this thief rebelled, and he must have defected to Li Tang. He pursued him at night, lest he be caught."

Hearing this, Xue Rengao was so angry that he saw the leader of the gangan disappeared into the vast night, and had no choice but to give up the pursuit.

Seeing that Xue Rengao hadn't pursued him, Hungan's heart relaxed, he detoured across the river overnight, and went to Li Shimin.

Xue Rengao was dressed in armor, sleeping with the armor, Ma Li was beside the bed, the war horse was outside the tent, and the pro-army was constantly patrolling the camp.

At this time, Xue Rengao was really scared. God knows how terrified Xue Rengao was when he woke up from his dream just now.

The next day, Xue Rengao, who hadn't slept all night, looked at the soldiers in the battalion and felt that there were rebels among them. He immediately ordered to withdraw to Lingtai City and live in the county office. It gave Xue Rengao a sense of security.

(End of this chapter)