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

Chapter 317 Giving Another Chance

Victory is the best reward for those who strive.

The soldiers and civilians of Haozhou City are now in high spirits, their unease of the past few days gone by. Damn it, what kind of Great Han Emperor Ding Yang Khan is this? Huang Ziying is ultimately just a defeated soldier under our Commander Li, defeated twice already.

"General, Huang Ziying has now retreated to Wenshui City with less than ten thousand soldiers. He is only about sixty li away from Haozhou. I believe we should take advantage of the victory and send troops to recapture Wenshui in one fell swoop and annihilate Huang Ziying's forces." The speaker was Qiu Yingqi, the eldest grandson of the Qiu family of Luoyang.

Victory can sometimes make people arrogant.

Previously, Li Yi had taken advantage of Pei Ji's siege of Jiezhou to launch an attack and recapture Wenshui City. Wenshui was Wu Shiyue's hometown and not a fortified stronghold. Under Wu Junya's leadership, when Li Yi's army arrived at Wenshui, Wu Junya's relatives and friends in Wenshui provided inside help, and the city was easily captured.

However, after Pei Ji's major defeat, Li Yi voluntarily abandoned Wenshui and withdrew his troops. The powerful clans and relatives of the Wu family in Wenshui also retreated to Haozhou. Now, if they were to attack Wenshui again, there would be no inside help.

Moreover, Huang Ziying's 10,000 troops stationed in Wenshui represent a considerable force. We cannot underestimate their strength just because Huang Ziying suffered two defeats at the hands of Li Yi.

Li Daoxuan also felt that a counterattack was possible.

"Can we keep launching counterattacks and take Taiyuan?" Li Yi asked.

The generals were stunned, and then remained silent. No one dared to boast of a counterattack and the capture of Taiyuan.

"Gentlemen, let us not be arrogant in victory or discouraged in defeat. We have just won a battle, but it was all thanks to Generals Liu and Jiang leading their men to burn down the camp in the middle of the night and destroy their siege equipment. We only managed to behead a few hundred enemies."
If we think this is a great victory and rush to counterattack, we will only suffer a crushing defeat.

Qiu Yingqi was still somewhat unwilling. "General, the situation is so good, and the soldiers' morale is high. Are we just going to do nothing?"

Li Yi looked at their longing eyes,

Looking down at the sand table.

"Huang Ziying has retreated to Wenshui with 10,000 men; let's not touch them for now. However, since everyone is eager to fight back, let's try Xiaoyi."

Xiaoyi City was also one that Li Yi had voluntarily given up. It was a new city that had only been around for a little over ten years. The city was not large and was only about thirty miles away from Haozhou. To the east was the old county town of Yong'anbao, and to the south was Lingshi City.

To the west lies Wenquan County in the Lüliang Mountains. Wenquan County was originally a military county during the Han Dynasty, named after the hot springs in the county. It was also once home to Beiwenzhou.

The Shengshui and Xiyangquanshui rivers, two tributaries of the Fen River in Xiaoyi, both originate from Wenquan County.

Shilou Mountain, located between Wenquan and Shilou counties, is the watershed between the Yellow River and Fen River systems. The eastern foot of Shilou Mountain was later Jiaokou County, a vital transportation route for the three prefectures of Xi, Shi, and Hao.

Li Yi picked up a small red flag and planted it on Shilou Mountain.

"This place is crucial to the defense of Haozhou. I would like to request General Liu Dewei to lead more than 10,000 troops from outside the city to Xizhou. One army will be stationed at the foot of Shilou Mountain, one army will be stationed in Shilou City of Xidezhou to the west, and one army will be stationed in Wenquan County to the east."

This ensured the smooth passage of the Haoxi Road, deterred the Lishi Hu tribes to the north, and protected the flanks and rear of Haozhou.

Liu Dewei looked at the sand table. Haozhou City was 260 li away from Shilou City and 170 li away from Wenquan County.

"Duke Rongguo, Haozhou is now an isolated city and needs more troops. General Jiang has already taken away 5,000 men. If I take another 10,000 men from outside the city, won't the garrison in Haozhou be a bit too small?"

Qiu Yingqi couldn't help but interject, saying that instead of sending his precious 10,000 troops to the remote rear of Xizhou, it would be better to conquer Wenshui, Xiaoyi, and Lingshi.

"Before General Liu heads south, we can take Xiaoyi together, but we won't attack Lingshi."

The reason for not attacking Lingshi is simple: the Lingshi-Jiexiu line is currently controlled by Li Yi, and Liu Wuzhou's army can only advance south through Hanhou Ridge. North of Hanhou Ridge, they would have to pass through Lingshi City.
How could Liu Wuzhou possibly let Li Yi seize the spirit stones? Even if they did capture them, they would surely fight desperately to snatch them. Li Yi cannot afford to divide his troops around now.

Xiaoyi is relatively less important, and it is right next to Haozhou City. Once captured, it can be used as a satellite city.

Moreover, capturing Xiaoyi City is also crucial to the safety of the Haoxi Passage.

Haozhou's grain reserves can last until next spring, but ensuring a passage is also essential.

As long as Haoxi Daotong still exists, Haozhou is not a dead piece, but a living piece.

It can play a greater role.

After some discussion,
It was decided that Liu Dewei would lead 15,000 men from outside the city to attack Xiaoyi City. Prince Huaiyang, Li Daoxuan, and Qiu Yingqi would also go. Li Yi then transferred 2,200 men each from the left and right wings of Haozhou to Li Daoxuan and his men.

Twenty thousand troops attacked the small city of Xiaoyi, while Li Yi held the line in Haozhou.
After capturing Xiaoyi, Li Daoxuan left with the five elements and two hundred men to garrison Xiaoyi, while Liu Dewei led his troops along the Xiyangquan River to Xizhou. His 15,000 men were stationed in Wenquan County, Shiloushan, and Shilou County.

After the military meeting concluded, everyone went to make their preparations.

Li Yi came to the city gate tower again. He now really likes to stay on the city gate tower. Standing high up, he can see far and wide, which gives people a sense of security and control over the situation.

The distant forests were ablaze with color.

The scenery in Fenyang in late autumn is quite beautiful.

Although the war continued, as soon as the enemy left, the people began to struggle for a living again, weeding and irrigating the fields, gathering firewood and burning charcoal in the mountains, and herding sheep and cattle.

"Does Ah Lang not trust Liu Dewei and his soldiers?" Liu Heizi couldn't help but ask.

"Trust is always conditional; there is no such thing as unconditional trust. Of course, I trust General Liu quite a bit, and I also have a very good relationship with his younger brother, Liu Demin."

just,

You've seen the current situation in Haozhou; for the foreseeable future, we'll likely be fighting alone.

Liu Heizi was puzzled. "Wouldn't it be better for Liu Dewei and his 15,000 men to stay behind?"

"More soldiers are not necessarily better. If there are 15,000 more soldiers, and each soldier eats two liters of millet a day, that's 300 shi (a unit of dry measure). That's 9,000 shi a month. If three people eat one he (another unit of dry measure) of salt a day, each soldier would eat one liter of salt a month. So 15,000 soldiers would need 150 shi of salt a month."

“We currently have 20,000 soldiers in Haozhou City, and our food supplies can last until next spring. But if we add another 15,000 men, then we can only last until the end of the year.” Liu Heizi seemed to understand, “So we sent them to Xizhou to solve their own food supply problems.”

Li Yi, of course, did not entirely trust these newly arrived soldiers, so when Jiang Baoyi wanted to take 5,000 men with him, he readily gave them to him, and now he sent Liu Dewei to Xizhou.

Whether these soldiers have problems or how many have problems, they will eventually become apparent. By assigning unstable factors to Xizhou, which is farther away, even if a problem arises, the damage will not be significant.

Even if Li Yi were to quell the rebellion, it would still be in time.

However, if placed in Haozhou, it would be too risky to deal with if the enemy caused trouble at a crucial moment during the city's siege.

Li Yi was more convinced that only a very small portion of these 15,000 men were problematic. He hoped that Liu Dewei could lead this force to stabilize Xizhou for him, and perhaps even train a new elite fighting force.

They might even be able to launch a counterattack against Lishi and wipe out Liu Jizhen, that unstable opportunist.

"Will Liu Wuzhou send another large army to attack Haozhou?" Liu Heizi asked a question that everyone was concerned about.

"They will definitely come to attack again, but they won't be able to come anytime soon. I estimate it will take a month or two."

Having failed twice in besieging the fortified city, Liu Wuzhou certainly wouldn't be in such a hurry to come again. He needed to prepare, mobilize troops, transport supplies, and so on, all of which would take time.

On the other hand, there's no need to rush to take Haozhou City right now.

On the contrary, the three passes of Sparrow Valley were a priority for Liu Wuzhou to capture. Previously, Liu Wuzhou might have planned for Huang Ziying to gather a large army, first conquer Haozhou, and then sweep away the three passes and four fortresses one by one. He never expected to suffer such a heavy loss.
So next time, he might attack the three passes first, then break through the four forts, and finally attack Haozhou.

"Can those three passes be defended?"

"It should be no problem to hold out for three to five months," Li Yi said confidently.

Taiyuan.

Jinyang Palace
This palace was first built during the Eastern Wei Dynasty by Gao Huan, initially as a summer retreat. During the Kaihuang era of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Guang, the Prince of Jin who was stationed in Taiyuan, expanded the Jinyang Palace and built a palace wall with a circumference of seven li and a height of four zhang. In the third year of the Daye era, Yang Guang made a northern tour and rebuilt the Jinyang Palace. He also built a granary city with a circumference of eight li.

Jinyang Palace, together with the eastern and central cities of Taiyuan, formed a situation where three cities stood side by side.

Li Yuan said that the grain in Jinyang could last for ten years.

The granary in Jinyang Palace had enough grain to feed 30,000 troops for ten years, but now it all benefited Liu Wuzhou.

After capturing Taiyuan, Liu Wuzhou, as agreed, seized all the beautiful palace women from Jinyang Palace and many beautiful women from Taiyuan City and sent them to Chuluo Khan.

They also sent a lot of gold, silver and silk in exchange for the continued support of the Turkic army.

Liu Wuzhou sat in the main hall of Jinyang Palace, still immersed in the joy of a series of victories.

News of Haozhou's defeat arrived.

Huang Ziying personally rushed back to Taiyuan to apologize.

"Tell him to get in."

Liu Wuzhou, who was usually kind and generous to his subordinates, was unusually furious.
Huang Ziying entered the hall and knelt down with a thud.

"Your Majesty, I have failed you and deserve to die."

Liu Wuzhou was so angry that he kicked him over.
Enraged, he shouted, "I gave you 60,000 men, and you were defeated as soon as you reached the walls of Haozhou! You worthless bastard!"

After scolding him, Liu Wuzhou reached out and pulled Huang Ziying up again.

"Sit down and tell me properly, what exactly happened?"

Huang Ziying lowered her head, feeling extremely ashamed.

He first blamed the defeat on Jiang Baoyi and Liu Dewei, saying that they betrayed the army, set fire to the camp in the middle of the night, destroyed siege equipment, and then fled to the city of Haozhou.

It is also said that the brothers Liu Liu'er and Liu Jizhen fled with their troops immediately after the Tang generals rebelled.

The Turkic general Ashina Lu also fled directly.

However, he still tried to send troops disguised as Tang surrendered soldiers to rush towards Haozhou, attempting to seize the city gate amidst the chaos. Unfortunately, Li Yi was very cautious and closed all four gates, preventing anyone from approaching the city gates.

After Liu Wuzhou listened,
long silence.

"It was my carelessness. I didn't expect that none of these Tang generals were good people. I treated them well, yet they behaved like this."
"Pass down the order: if Li Zhongwen, Jiang Baoyi, or Liu Dewei are captured again, kill them on sight."

"Your Majesty, please give me another chance. I am willing to lead troops to attack Haozhou again."

"This Li Yi is quite capable. You shouldn't bother attacking Haozhou anymore. It's an isolated city anyway, so it doesn't matter whether we attack it sooner or later."

However, the three passes of Sparrow Valley must be captured as soon as possible, otherwise the front line will advance unstoppable and the supply of provisions will not be able to keep up with demand, leaving the soldiers without food.

You will lead your troops to attack Lengquan Pass. I will also transfer troops from Jiexiu and Lingshi to assist you, and Liu Jizhen and Liu Liu'er will lead troops to assist you as well.

"Your Majesty, Li Shihu is absolutely untrustworthy."

“If they dare disobey my orders, I will lead my troops to flatten Lishi,” Liu Wuzhou said to Huang Ziying. “You are also an old brother who started my uprising in Mayi. I am willing to give you another chance, but you must not disappoint me again.”

(End of this chapter)