A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 315 Camp Demolition
"General, should we send troops to ambush them on the way?" Guo Yi, the military advisor, asked during the military council.

"No need." Li Yi held his teacup calmly. "Send orders to all fortresses: without my command, no one may leave the city to fight."

"Steward, should we order a scorched-earth policy, moving all the people, livestock, and food from outside the city into the city?" Ren Xu suggested.

Regarding the scorched-earth policy, many officials in Haozhou had been proposing it, but Li Yi had not agreed. The reason was simple: during the autumn harvest, he had already requisitioned or bought most of the grain from the people and transported it to the city, leaving the people with only a little food for sustenance.

Another point is that during a siege, retreating into the city is not a good thing for the people.

Staying in the countryside, although there was a risk of being robbed, there was not much to rob for many poor people.

"You can inform the people outside the city that those who wish to enter the castle for temporary refuge may do so, and those who do not wish to will not be forced. Do not burn down the people's houses, nor should you rob them of their grain and livestock."

"General, the enemy is coming. They may plunder the people to supply some of our military needs. If we leave the grain and livestock outside the city, it will inevitably aid the enemy."

"Let's leave the people a way to survive, so as not to incur the wrath of heaven and the resentment of the people. While we are defending the city and fighting, we also need to win the hearts of the people."

Taiyuan is a good example. Li Yuanji guarded Taiyuan for two years, but he messed things up every day. As a result, the people were resentful. As soon as he fled, the local powerful families immediately opened the city gates and let the Wu Zhou army seize the city.

If, in the name of a scorched-earth policy, all the people's houses were burned down and their livestock and food were confiscated, the people would not be happy and might even turn around and join the Wu Zhou army.

They even infiltrated the city to act as informants for the enemy.

North of Jinzhou, there's only one city left. Whether it's fortified or not, whether it's cleared or not, it doesn't really matter.

"Pass down the message: those who want to come can come, those who don't want to come shouldn't be forced, and no burning of houses is allowed."

Even if the common people become obedient subjects of Liu Wuzhou, there is no need to care. As long as the Tang army returns and drives away Liu Wuzhou, the common people will naturally become subjects of the Tang Dynasty again. These people were subjects of the Sui Dynasty just a few years ago.

Although public opinion is invisible and intangible, it can influence the course of a battle at crucial moments.

"General, the enemy is transporting siege equipment here. This is the best opportunity to attack. If they successfully transport a large number of siege weapons to the city, it will cause great trouble for the defenders." Even Liu Zhan couldn't help but speak up.

“If even Deputy Chief Steward Li isn’t panicking, why are you all panicking?”

Li Yi hasn't told anyone about Liu Zhenghui, Liu Dewei, and Jiang Baoyi tipping him off.

“What we can think of, Huang Ziying can definitely think of too. Aren’t you afraid that Huang Ziying will deliberately use siege equipment as bait to lure us into attacking?” As soon as Li Yi said this, everyone shut up.

Indeed, no one can say for sure that Huang Ziying wouldn't resort to this tactic.

After all, this guy had previously feigned defeat and lured Li Zhongwen's nine thousand men into the ambush zone in Sparrow Rat Valley.

"We don't have any advantage in open field battles. It would be better to wait until the enemy comes to the walls of Haozhou City before looking for an opportunity."

It wasn't that Li Yi was cowardly,
Instead, they are now isolated and without support, and must proceed with extreme caution.

Although Li Yi had four thousand elite cavalry and more than a thousand personal guards in Haozhou City, he dared not launch a reckless attack.

Besides, he still has a backup plan.

Huang Ziying's army was very slow; they could only travel twenty li a day transporting siege equipment.

From Jiexiu to Haozhou, a distance of eighty li, they marched for four days straight.

September 28th,
Huang Ziying's vanguard cavalry appeared outside Haozhou City.
Li Yi ascended the city wall.
More than a hundred light cavalrymen patrolled the area, leaving behind billowing dust that blotted out the sky.

One army after another marched in.
The sheer number was overwhelming.
Banners fluttered, and armor gleamed in the sky.

Huang Ziying was quite capable; he commanded this large army with great care and discipline during the march, ensuring that the various units were organized without any disorder.

Even if they wanted to launch an attack, they would have little chance, especially with several thousand Turkic cavalrymen roaming around.

Li Yi sat atop the city wall.

Watching this large army in the autumn wind was like watching a play.

He even had Liu Heizi set up a tea table, light a stove, and brew tea, remaining completely calm.

Turkic light cavalry roamed and provoked people outside Haozhou City, but Li Yi ignored them and continued drinking tea.

Huang Ziying did not directly attack the city.
Instead, they chose to camp in the west of the city, with Laoye Mountain behind them and a stream in front of them, surrounded by mountains and water.

"General, should we take advantage of the enemy's arrival and the fact that their camp has not yet been set up, and launch a surprise attack on them from outside the city?" Ren Zhi couldn't help but ask as he watched the enemy raise six large banners about ten miles to the west.

"Military Advisor Ren, have some tea. This tea was just brought from Chang'an by Lu Sheren. It's a tea cake bestowed by His Majesty, made from Mengding Stone Flower from Shu. It's only produced on the top of Mengshan Mountain. This is a fine tea specially supplied to the imperial court and royal family. It's not something you can usually get your hands on. Come and try it."

Ren Zhi looked at the countless soldiers below the city, his forehead sweating with tension and excitement. This former emperor, Yuan Cong, had also fought his way to Chang'an, but he still couldn't control his nervousness. He admired Li Yi's composure.

Li Yi was quite respectful to this Military Advisor Ren, after all, he had once been a high-ranking official of the emperor, and the Ren family was the most powerful clan in Haozhou City.

Since entering Haozhou, he has been quite polite to the major families of Ren, Guo, Cao, Yang, Zhang, Li, Meng, and Han in Xicheng, Haozhou. He often hosts banquets to invite them and arranges for their sons to work in government or the army.

Although he also secretly monitored these powerful families, fearing that they might collude with the enemy like the monk Daocheng of Jiexiu or the powerful figures like Xue Shen and Guo Jing of Taiyuan, he still needed to win them over and appease them.

Liu Heizi placed a teacup on Ren Zhi's plate, and Li Yi personally poured him a cup.

Ren Zhi had six brothers, five of whom followed the emperor to Chang'an.

Sitting atop Haozhou city walls in this late autumn season is actually quite pleasant, if only the tens of thousands of troops outside the city weren't the enemy.
This tea must be very delicious.

But now, Ren Zhi couldn't taste any special flavor of Mengding Stone Flower.

His eyes remained fixed on the enemy.

Turkic cavalry blocked the city's perimeter, while infantry escorted battalions of troops westward down the mountain, where six large banners were erected, and palisades were set up on all four sides.

And so they watched as the palisades were erected, and then they began digging trenches and building arrow towers...
"Huang Ziying chose a good spot to camp. If Prime Minister Pei had chosen a campsite like Huang Ziying did, there wouldn't have been a shortage of water,"

Li Zhongwen also admired Huang Ziying. "This guy is very steady. With so many men, it looks chaotic, but it's actually very organized. If we really go out of the city to fight, I'm afraid we won't gain any advantage."

at dusk,

Ten miles west of the city, at the foot of the mountain, a large camp has already been built.

"Steward, Liu Jizhen has arrived."

Liu Jizhen led his army out from the southwest corner of Haozhou, displaying banners bearing the titles of King Peng of the Great Han, Left Minister of the Southwest Circuit of the Great Han, General of Shizhou, and Right General of the Right Guard.

This guy kept jumping around.
He had just surrendered to the Tang Dynasty and was granted the imperial surname Li, the title of Prince of Pengcheng, and the position of Governor-General of Shizhou. However, less than a month later, upon seeing Pei Ji's crushing defeat, he immediately paid tribute and surrendered to Liu Wuzhou.

Liu Wuzhou did not pursue the matter further, but instead bestowed upon him the title of Prince of Peng.

Liu Jizhen also led about 20,000 troops, along with many cattle and sheep.

Fighting a war while herding livestock doesn't interfere with either task; these cattle and sheep also serve as mobile military rations.

Liu Jizhen's troops camped in the southwest of Haozhou, near the Beijian River.

"The rebel army numbered at least sixty or seventy thousand." Ren Zhi's hand, holding the teacup, trembled slightly.

Li Yi sensed a large number of people, but couldn't quite pinpoint their exact numbers; he hadn't developed that level of discernment yet. He turned to Li Zhongwen, "Lord Zhen, how many men do you estimate they have?" "Sixty thousand or more, probably less than seventy thousand, but that's just a large number. Look at Liu Jizhen; he looks like he has twenty thousand, but I estimate at most five thousand armored soldiers and no more than two thousand cavalry."
It might be one regular soldier, with one guard and one household servant to gather hay and grain, and out of these 20,000 men, there would probably be four or five thousand regular soldiers, eight or nine thousand auxiliary soldiers, and several thousand more herding livestock.

Those truly capable of fighting are only the five thousand armored soldiers; the rest, in terms of weaponry, horses, and combat strength, are certainly far inferior.

He then pointed to Huang Ziying's camp, "Huang Ziying's side isn't much better. It looks like there are forty or fifty thousand men there, but I estimate that the Turkic light cavalry might make up about ten percent, around three thousand, and his armored soldiers make up twenty or thirty percent, maybe seven or eight thousand."
The rest might be new recruits, or they might be soldiers from our army who surrendered after their defeat at Suoduyuan in Jiexiu.

Of these 60,000 to 70,000 troops, only about 10,000 were armored soldiers.

That does sound like there's less pressure.

But Ren Zhi was also worried about the enemy's siege equipment, such as various trench wagons, battering rams, and siege ladders. With these, defending the city would be much more difficult.

Two zhang of moat and four zhang of city wall are not insurmountable.

Li Yi looked towards the enemy camp.

He was waiting for Liu Dewei to contact him.

Of these 50,000 men, 20,000 are under the command of Liu Dewei and Jiang Baoyi. If they truly defect, then Li Yi has already won this battle.

Night came,

Li Yi ordered two flatbreads to eat and continued to guard the city wall.

It was well past midnight, and none of Liu Dewei's people had come to contact them.

Li Yi was feeling sleepy, but he still forced himself to stay awake.

He was dozing off when Liu Heizi woke him up.

"Ah Lang, the enemy camp in the west of the city is on fire."

Li Yi suddenly woke up, stood up abruptly, and leaned against the battlement, looking ahead.

In the darkness, flickering lights appeared in the enemy camp at the foot of the western hill, quickly growing larger and larger.

Flames shot into the sky,

The fire grew larger and larger, even turning half the sky red.
Half of the enemy camp was ablaze.

The shouts of battle drifted on the wind.
The enemy camp was thrown into chaos.

Li Zhongwen ran over excitedly, "General, the enemy camp is on fire, and there's chaos!"

Li Yi smiled and said to him, "Now I can tell you that General Liu Dewei, the Left Martial Marquis, and General Jiang Baoyi, the Right Martial Guard, pretended to surrender to the enemy after being captured, but in reality they have been secretly contacting me and reporting enemy military intelligence. They had already said that they would turn against us and launch a counterattack when they reached Haozhou!"

Li Zhongwen was stunned upon hearing this.

"Should we hurry out of the city to provide support?"

Li Yi nodded.
"General Li, immediately lead four thousand cavalry out of the west gate and form ranks. Don't rush; assess the situation outside the city before launching an attack to provide support."
I will send another three thousand men from the Right Guard to support you from behind.

Li Yi remained cautious, worried that the enemy might be luring them out of the city.

However, looking at the fire that had burned half the camp, Li Yi felt that Huang Ziying couldn't possibly go to such lengths.

Actually,
Liu Dewei and Jiang Baoyi did indeed take the opportunity to set fire to the camp, intending to return to the Tang Dynasty.

They and some of their officers had been planning this for a long time.
Liu Wuzhou transferred a total of 20,000 troops from the Taiyuan garrison and the defeated soldiers from Jiexiu to Huang Ziying. These 20,000 men were scattered and reorganized, but were still led by Liu Dewei and others. However, Liu Wuzhou also sent some officers.

These past few days, they'd been transporting siege equipment and provisions, exhausted as dogs along the way. Many soldiers were dissatisfied, and Liu Dewei and his men secretly spread rumors in the camp that once they reached Haozhou City, Liu Wuzhou would force them to attack.

Use them to fill the trenches, use them as shields against arrows, wear down the defenders of Haozhou, and finally make them all die under the city walls.

Liu Dewei secretly said that the Emperor of Chang'an had already issued an edict that the Hedong army had been defeated and all the captured soldiers were to be pardoned.

It is also said that although Jiexiu was defeated, Li Yi still has tens of thousands of troops in Haozhou.

Encouraged by them, the soldiers were willing to fight back.

They took advantage of the late hour when people were most tired to make their move. First, they set fire to the siege equipment that had been transported with great difficulty, then they set fire to the palisades and ran towards Haozhou City.

Neither Liu Dewei nor Jiang Baoyi underestimated their opponents and did not intend to defeat Huang Ziying or annihilate them.

The Tang soldiers who accompanied them on this expedition were not as well-equipped as Huang Ziying's. Most of the soldiers were without armor, and some only had swords and spears, without even bows and arrows.

They launched a sudden attack in the middle of the night, setting fires everywhere before fleeing towards the city walls.

It's ten miles from the city, not too far, but not too close either.

Fortunately, the sudden fire stunned Huang Ziying, whose first thought was that the Tang army had raided the camp in Haozhou City.

But the camp was already set up, and there were several lines of guards around it by Turks and Dingyang cavalry. How did they manage to sneak in?

Not long after the fire started, Liu Dewei's men rushed to the city walls.

Li Yi met him in person and saw the token that Liu Dewei had agreed upon in his previous letter.

"General Liu and General Jiang have already made their move. We request Chief Steward Li to provide support."

Li Yi then glanced at the fire in the enemy camp.
Finally, he made up his mind: "Lord Zhenxiang, you lead four thousand cavalry to provide immediate support. Remember, your mission is to escort the brothers back to the city. Do not linger in battle, and do not underestimate the enemy or engage in reckless fighting!"

Li Zhongwen received the order and led four thousand cavalrymen towards the enemy camp, where flames soared into the sky, illuminating even the western hills and Laoye Ridge.

"Prince of Huaiyang, you shall immediately lead three thousand infantrymen to form a defensive formation outside the west gate."

"The brothers who will arrive later, have them assemble and form ranks under the city walls."

Li Yi remained cautious and did not intend to send anyone into the city in the middle of the night to meet them. After that, they would form ranks on the city wall.

Who knows if there are enemies mixed in inside? If we're not careful, the city gates might be captured, and then it will be too late to cry.

With their backs to the city walls and protected by the Haozhou garrison on the city walls, they could remain safe.

We'll set up camp outside the city tomorrow.

"Anyone who dares to storm the city gate will be warned with arrows; those who disobey will be killed!"

Li Yi stood on the west city tower.
The city walls were lined with countless archers.

The crossbows were already cocked.

Below the city, Li Daoxuan led three thousand infantrymen in formation to protect the city gate behind him.

The shields were like walls, and the spears were like a forest.

The wind blew by.
It smelled of burning wood and leather.
Li Yi closed his eyes, thoroughly enjoying the taste and becoming completely absorbed in it.

(End of this chapter)