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

Chapter 316 One Night's Slaughter Breaks Through 70,000 Troops
A towering flame tore through the night sky.

The thunderous hooves awakened the wasteland, and Li Zhongwen led four thousand light cavalry toward the fire.

At the foot of the Western Hills
Huang Ziying climbed an arrow tower and looked out from the top. He soon understood what had happened.

"Damn Liu Dewei and Jiang Baoyi, they've rebelled."

The fire burned down the camps.

The camp of the 20,000 surrendered soldiers was burning in the fire, and the large amount of siege equipment that had been painstakingly transported from Suodu Plain was now engulfed in flames.

The firelight illuminated Huang Ziying's ashen face.

His heart was bleeding.

In fact, he had already advised the emperor that surrendered generals and soldiers like Liu Dewei were untrustworthy and that even if they were to be used, they should be dispersed among the various armies. However, the emperor listened to the suggestion of Yang Funian, the Right Minister, and believed that these soldiers were just right for attacking fortified positions.

As countless torches lit up the walls of Haozhou City,

Troops are coming out of the city to attack.
Huang Ziying suddenly turned from anger to joy.
"Haha, the opportunity has arrived!"

He loudly summoned his generals, "Order the central army to forget everything else and take this opportunity to follow the rebels towards Haozhou City!"

As long as we rush into the city gate amidst the chaos, we can immediately seize it.
Let them burn their camp; I'll just take Haozhou City then!

"Since they like to play tricks, I'll turn the tables on them and stir things up even more, so I can fish in troubled waters!"

Liu Jizhen's camp in the southwest.

The fire over there illuminated half the sky, and Liu Jizhen naturally saw it as well.

Gazing at the fire, and listening to the distant shouts of battle,
Liu Jizhen narrowed her eyes.

"Your Majesty, the camps are on fire over there."

"I'm not blind."

"Your Majesty, are we not going to do anything about it?"

Liu Jizhen stroked his beard, pondered for a moment, and spat at the burning camp, "Damn it, I made the wrong bet again."

"withdraw,"

"Retreat now?" His subordinates were surprised. It was the middle of the night, dark and chaotic, and retreating now would be very dangerous.

"Your Majesty, the enemy situation is unclear. Should we wait until dawn?"

"Wait until dawn? Wait until dawn and he'll wipe us all out and take us prisoner?" Liu Jizhen spat again. "Damn it, Huang Ziying talks big, but he got his camp burned as soon as he arrived. Let's fight him! Hurry up and leave, or we might not be able to leave."

Liu Jizhen's camp was several miles away from Huang Ziying's camp, and the chaos there did not spread to this camp.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Liu Jizhen immediately fled. The 20,000 troops, along with many cattle and sheep, were hastily retreated, causing great distress to the mountain tribes.

On Huang Ziying's side,
As soon as the fire started, Liu Liu'er, the governor of Lanzhou and the Prince of Loufan, just like his brother, immediately ordered his men to run away, completely disregarding the life or death of their commander, Huang Ziying.

In Liu Liu'er's view, preserving his troops was the most important thing. As long as he had soldiers, he would have an official position and territory; everything else was secondary.

"How did it catch fire?"

"Was it Li Yi who raided the camp?"

Liu Liu'er mounted his horse and led his troops away without looking back. "Can't you tell? It must be those two surrendered generals, Liu Dewei and Jiang Baoyi, who have rebelled."

West of Haozhou City

It was a complete mess.

Liu Jizhen broke camp and fled, while Liu Liu'er led his troops directly northward.

Inside the camp, some were putting out fires, while others were intercepting the surrendered rebels.
Some people took advantage of the chaos to join the ranks of the surrendered Tang soldiers and fled towards Haozhou City.

Li Zhongwen led four thousand cavalry to meet them.

Everything was in complete chaos.

Soon, men and horses arrived one after another outside the west gate of Haozhou.

"Everyone stop! No one is allowed to move forward!"

"We are our own people who were captured in Jiexiu. Please let us into the city."

"Open the city gates quickly, the pursuers are coming!"

Li Daoxuan, clad in gleaming armor and wielding a ten-foot-long spear, stood before three thousand infantrymen.

"The Grand Steward has given an order..."

Everyone lined up with their backs to the city wall; the brothers on the wall would provide cover.

"To prevent thieves from infiltrating the city, the city gates will remain closed tonight."

"I, along with three thousand brothers and four thousand cavalry under Deputy Commander Li, will fight alongside you tonight!"

The young prince's words had little effect.

More and more surrendered soldiers came running.
Many people shouted for the city gates to be opened, and many of them spoke with a Guanzhong accent.

Someone was hiding in the crowd, secretly drawing a bow and arrow, aiming at the valiant young prince.

"Raise your spear,"
prick!"

Li Daoxuan roared.

The soldiers, arrayed like geese in a wing formation, raised their spears and roared loudly.

One spear after another thrust out,

"Anyone who dares to approach within thirty paces will be killed without mercy!"

A cold arrow shot out from the darkness, heading straight for Li Daoxuan. Li Daoxuan swung his spear, deflecting the arrow.

Someone shouted in the darkness,
"Charge! The Dingyang army is coming!"

"Go into the city,"

A group of routed soldiers charged from behind, shouting.
Li Daoxuan, spear in hand, leaped onto his horse, but the young prince did not retreat at all. Instead, he spurred his horse and charged towards the group of men wielding shields and swords.

Galloping on horseback,

With a thrust of his spear, he pierced through the man charging at the front, then lifted him high into the air.

"Take thirty steps closer, or die!"

His personal cavalry charged out from behind, and in a moment they killed the entire group.

The air was thick with the stench of blood.

This thunderous strike,

This caused the routed soldiers who had originally intended to charge forward to involuntarily retreat.

Li Daoxuan stood on his horse, spear in hand.
No one dared to go any further.

Nothing is more effective than blood.
The routed soldiers began to bypass the three thousand infantrymen in front of the west gate, obediently moving to both sides and starting to assemble and form ranks.

People kept arriving.
There are still many people trying to force their way through the door.
But Li Daoxuan no longer needed to take action personally; his soldiers would shoot down those who ignored the ban.

at last,

Liu Dewei and Jiang Baoyi also led their troops to retreat.

Upon hearing the order to halt, Yicheng formed ranks.

The two cooperated very well.
After leading his men to form a defensive formation against the walls on both sides, they then came to find Li Daoxuan.
The Prince of Huaiyang also recognized them, and said, "I will escort the two generals into the city."

"No, we'll stay here and help gather the troops."

Xishan Camp
While Huang Ziying dispatched troops to engage Li Zhongwen's cavalry, he awaited good news from the city gates.

But no good news came.

On the contrary, bad news kept coming.

"Liu Liu'er led his troops and fled north."

"The Turkic Ashina Lu has also fled with his men," "Oh no, Liu Jizhen is truly breaking camp and retreating westward!"

"General, the men we sent to seize the city gate failed to enter. Li Yi has deployed troops to guard the city gate, raised the drawbridge, and forbids anyone from entering the city, not even from approaching the city gate."

The east was beginning to show signs of graying.
Huang Ziying looked at Haozhou City with utter disappointment.

The young steward was more cautious than he had imagined.

Li Zhongwen also led his cavalry slowly back towards Haozhou City.

Huang Ziying, whose camp had been half burned down, looked at his men and found that he only had about 10,000 men left: 5,000 old subordinates and 5,000 new recruits.

The chaos of the night didn't result in many casualties, but Liu Liu'er fled with several thousand Shanhu (barbarian tribesmen), Ashina Lu fled with his Turkic soldiers, and Liu Jizhen fled with his Lishi Hu (barbarian tribesmen).
Liu Dewei and Jiang Baoyi led the surrendered soldiers in another rebellion.

Of the 20,000 surrendered soldiers and able-bodied men, only a few remain.

"withdraw!"

Despite his deep resentment, he knew that the plan to besiege Haozhou had completely failed.

He lost almost all of his siege equipment, which Pei Ji had spent a lot of time building and transporting, and now it was all burned.

Of the more than 60,000 men that were cobbled together, only about 10,000 remained.

If Li Yi had been bolder last night, they might have already been surrounded and annihilated.

As dawn broke in the east,

Huang Ziying moved his six banners northward to withdraw from the battlefield. He withdrew very carefully, always on guard against the Tang army's pursuit.

But the Tang army did not pursue him until sunrise.

The red sun rises,

Li Yi looked at the rising sun, filled with joy.
He looked out of the west city wall.

Outside the moat, countless soldiers and horses were crammed together.

Besides Li Zhongwen's four thousand cavalry and Li Daoxuan's three thousand infantry,
There were also more than 10,000 people brought back by Liu Dewei and Jiang Baoyi.

The west gate opened.

Li Yi led a group of officers and generals out.
Behind them were baskets of hot millet porridge, fragrant flatbread, and mutton soup.

General Liu,

"General Jiang, welcome home."

The two generals hadn't slept all night, yet they remained energetic and even somewhat excited. From being prisoners to regaining their freedom, they had experienced so much that night.

"Thank you for saving us, Steward, but it's a pity that Huang Ziying got away."

Li Zhongwen also felt somewhat regretful, but Li Yi had repeatedly ordered him not to pursue Lang Zhan, and he was also worried about being ambushed by Huang Ziying again.

Li Yi was very satisfied and did not feel any regret about letting Huang Ziying go.

It's always better to play it safe.

Breakfast is being served here.

Meanwhile, they began registering the identity information of these soldiers who had escaped back, and they had to verify it one by one.

Let them try to find their former superiors and comrades first.
This task couldn't be completed in a short time, so Li Yi explained to Liu Dewei and the others that they needed to be settled in camp outside the city first.

Liu Dewei and Jiang Baoyi can both understand.

"Duke Rong, I have a favor to ask,"

"General Jiang, please speak frankly."

"I want to go to Jinzhou."

Jiang Baoyi said he was the deputy commander-in-chief of the Jinzhou Road Army and Pei Ji's deputy. Pei Ji was organizing the defense in Jinzhou, and he had to rush there.

"General Liu, what about you?"

"I am deeply ashamed of losing Taiyuan. Now that I am the Chief Inspector of Bingzhou, I am willing to stay and defend Haozhou together, and in the future we will fight back Taiyuan together."

Li Yi did not object to Jiang Baoyi's plans.

Not only did they agree to let him go to Jinzhou, but they also allowed him to select a group of soldiers from among the returning soldiers to take with him south.

That very day, Jiang Baoyi selected 5,000 men and took a detour from Xizhou to Jinzhou.

Li Zhongwen felt that Jiang Baoyi was being very unfair.
"He left, but why did he take so many people with him?"

“Jinzhou is also short of soldiers. These people were originally his subordinates, so it's not wrong for them to go to Jinzhou now.”

Li Yi doesn't lack soldiers, but he lacks food, supplies, and equipment. The soldiers Liu Dewei and his men brought back...
They generally lack armor and weapons.

Before Li Shimin launched his counterattack, Li Yi had no plans for a large-scale counterattack. He couldn't afford to take the risk of attacking the city head-on. He only wanted to defend the city. His current troop strength was about the same. Adding a few thousand unequipped soldiers, many of whom were auxiliary troops, would be of little use and would only add a few thousand mouths to feed and consume food.

Li Yi was already calculating the remaining 10,000 or so defeated soldiers who had returned outside the city. After verifying their identities in a few days, he would reorganize and train them. Perhaps he could send them to Lishi to sweep through Liu Jizhen, that little scoundrel who was a fence-sitter. It would be impolite for him not to return after coming. It didn't necessarily have to be an attack on the city. A sweeping raid, some hay, some grain, cattle and sheep would be good. At least he would cause some damage.

Alternatively, these 10,000-plus people could be relocated to Xizhou to strengthen its defenses and preserve this flank route.

Although Que Shu Valley was in his hands, Huo Yi, and even the entire Lüzhou, had fallen into enemy hands. It wouldn't be long before Jinzhou also fell. In that case, his control of Huo Yi would only block Liu Wuzhou's supply lines, and he himself would be cut off from the Fen-Jin highway.

To maintain contact with the imperial court and even for supplies, they still had to rely on Xizhou.

Li Yi wasn't familiar with Liu Shishan, Yan Xun, Yang Min, and the others in Xizhou, so it was more reliable to send a force of over ten thousand men there himself. This would strengthen Xizhou's defenses and protect Haozhou's only supply route.

It can also intimidate Liu Jizhen from behind.
Of course, this would also allow them to support about 10,000 people in Xizhou, thus eliminating the need to consume the precious grain resources of Li Yihao Prefecture.

If Haozhou is in real danger, this army can be recalled from Xizhou.

night,
Li Yi wrote a long proclamation to the Emperor in Chang'an, detailing the entire process of the battle to relieve the siege of Haozhou.

Although there weren't many kills or prisoners in this battle,
However, breaking the siege of the city by more than 60,000 enemy troops and rescuing 20,000 captured Tang soldiers was quite an achievement.

In the short term, Liu Wuzhou probably won't be able to organize another large-scale siege of Haozhou. Even if he can put together troops, siege equipment is not so easy to build.

Haozhou has been given at least a month.

In his first battle after assuming the post of Inspector-General of Bingzhou and Military Governor of Seven Prefectures, Li Yi performed admirably, successfully defusing the siege crisis of Haozhou.

As he wrote, Li Yi's lips curled up, revealing a hint of smugness.

After writing a proclamation of several thousand words,

Chen Lingjiao brought him a late-night snack: stewed mutton soup and flatbread.

Li Yi drank soup and ate flatbread, while Chen Lingjiao sat beside him, telling him about his experiences: "The soldiers all admire the Duke immensely, saying that you strategize within the tent and win battles a thousand miles away."

"You easily defeated the enemy's 60,000-strong army and even gained another 20,000,"

"How are the soldiers outside the city doing now?"

"It's great. Four battalions, each with more than three thousand men, have been set up outside the four city gates. With the strong city behind them, they are well-fed and can sleep soundly. Many people say that this is the first time in the past month that they have been able to sleep well."

"Everyone is very grateful to the Duke,"

Do they miss home?

"Of course we miss home, who doesn't miss home? But we all know that we can't go home anytime soon."

"Old Lu, do you miss home?"

“My home in Yangzhou is long gone, and I’ve lost all contact with my family,” Chen Lingjiao said, now that she’s come to terms with things. “I really like the General’s Camp in Chang’an. After the war, I’ll go back to the General’s Camp and build a courtyard. I still don’t quite feel comfortable living in a cave dwelling.”

After finishing his flatbread, Li Yi wiped his hands and said, "Tomorrow I will have the registrar Ren Xu send the proclamation back to the capital, and also submit the current roster of soldiers and the merit register of soldiers of the Bingzhou General Administration to the Ministry of War."

Your name is also on the honor roll,”

"Have you thought about joining the army again? We can transfer you to the local military service."

Chen Lingjiao rubbed her prosthetic eye. "It's good enough to follow the Duke like this now. After the war, we'll go back to the general's camp, build a courtyard, buy some land, and rent it out to others. I'll just follow the Duke."

"Remember to get married when you go back. I'll ask you to help me find a good one," Li Yi said with a smile.

Chen Lingjiao also laughed and said, "We don't know when we'll be able to stay here. Someone asked me to tell Ah Lang that it's going to get cold soon and they want to arrange some things to make his bed and warm his feet."

(End of this chapter)