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

Chapter 330: Snakes and Rat Save the King of Qin

Hedong, Jiangzhou.

Luo Shixin, the governor of Jiangzhou, held firm in the city and repelled Song Jingang's invasions several times. The red flag on the city wall stood tall and unyielding.

After Qin King Li Shimin led his troops across the Yellow River at Longmen, he stationed his troops at Baibibao, located on the northern edge of Emei Plain, across the Fen River.

This fort was built during the reign of Emperor Ming of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and during the reign of Emperor Taiwu, Dongyong Prefecture was established here.

Baibibao is surrounded by cliffs on three sides, overlooking the Fen River from its high vantage point.

After crossing the Fen River, Li Shimin did not rush to attack Song Jingang in the Jiang County and Wenxi area on the east bank of the Fen River.

He only ordered some generals to lead a detachment to raid the rear of the Wu Zhou army, while the main force remained stationed at Baibi.

Heavy snow fell.

Li Shimin looked at the intelligence gathered in his hand, his brow furrowed in worry.

Li Yi defended the north very well, which greatly exceeded his expectations. Li Zhongwen was defeated, Pei Ji was defeated, Yuan Ji abandoned the city and fled, and Zhao Wenge led his troops to escape.

Li Yi, however, took one step at a time, steadily and surely, firmly rooted in Hao Dong like a nail.

They could even find opportunities to counterattack several times. Now they possess three cities, three passes, and four fortresses. Even if Xi Ci were to establish a separate general's office,
However, the Bingzhou General Administration under Li Yi's supervision still has tens of thousands of troops.

Li Yi frequently reported victories in Bingzhou, and also quelled the rebellion of Liu Shishan in Xizhou, stabilizing the Haoxi Pass.

The Tang soldiers in Baibi were quite anxious about this.

There's no reason why Li Yi, this tiny seventeen-year-old, could keep winning while they remained stagnant.

However, at every military council meeting, the proposal to go to war was rejected by the King of Qin.

After rejecting the generals' requests to go to war once again, Li Shimin felt somewhat irritated.

"Let's go out for a walk."

Li Shimin summoned his personal guards and cavalry, then descended from Emei Plain and traveled up the Hui River to scout out the enemy's situation.

The King of Qin was highly skilled and daring, and he enjoyed leading his personal cavalry on reconnaissance missions.

They traveled a long way through the wind and snow. Li Shimin climbed Lijia Mountain, and his light cavalry scattered to scout around. He left only one personal guard by his side.

"Take a nap first and recharge your energy."

Li Shimin entered the dilapidated mountain god temple, wrapped himself in a felt blanket, and fell asleep.

This place is already behind enemy lines.

A scout squad of the Wu Zhou army discovered their trail and quickly notified nearby military camps.

Hundreds of people quickly went up the mountain and surrounded the mountain god temple from all sides, intending to capture the Tang scouts.

Li Shimin was still fast asleep, wrapped in a felt blanket.

The guards were also asleep, leaning against the wall.

A mouse crept closer, smelling the dry rations the two were carrying.

The mouse cautiously approached the food bag.

suddenly,

A snake lunged out and bit the mouse. The mouse struggled, but the snake coiled around it tightly.

In the struggle between the snake and the rat, the snake swept across the hand of the personal guard.

The icy touch of the snake's tail instantly jolted the guards awake.

The snake swallowed the mouse and slithered away.

Li Shimin was also awakened by the noise.

He rubbed his face.

“There was a snake catching mice here just now,” the guard explained, adding that he was also puzzled as to why there would be a snake at this time of year.

Li Shimin smiled and said, "You've disturbed my sweet dream. Let's go down the mountain and take a look."

The two got up and left the dilapidated temple. They had only led their horses about a hundred paces away when...

Then came the sound of rapid hoofbeats.

A lieutenant general from the Wu Zhou army led his troops in pursuit.

"You audacious thief, how dare you spy on my Han army camp! Don't you dare run away!"

Li Shimin saw a large group of enemy cavalry pursuing him, but he was not afraid at all.

He took down his powerful bow made of five-stone mulberry wood, which startled the wild geese, and then drew out a large arrow five feet long with four feathers.

Longbow with large arrows
While ordinary arrows have two fletchings, Li Shimin's arrows had four fletchings, were longer and heavier, and had greater killing power, but required immense strength and superior archery skills.

The two were several dozen steps apart.

Li Shimin drew his bow and shot an arrow at the enemy.

The bowstring rang out with a thunderous sound.

The four large arrows struck the enemy general precisely, piercing his armor and knocking him off his horse.

One arrow killed him.

The Wu Zhou army was in a state of panic.

Li Shimin drew his bow again.
The Wu Zhou army scattered and retreated, giving way to the enemy.

Li Shimin calmly left with his personal guards.

On the way back, the guard felt a pang of fear and self-reproach; how could he have fallen asleep? "Luckily, the snake alerted us," he thought.
Your Majesty, perhaps that snake was sent by the mountain god to warn us.

Otherwise, we would be surrounded by the enemy.

Li Shimin returned safely to Baibi City.

When the guards told everyone about their encounter with danger on the mountain, everyone said it was the protection of the mountain god.

"Back then, the sage was blocked by Song Laosheng in Huoyi. The God of Huoshan sent a divine messenger to see the sage and guide him on the way. Now, the King of Qin has encountered danger while conducting reconnaissance with light cavalry. The mountain god has sent a snake to warn the King of Qin to avoid disaster."

"May Heaven bless our Tang!" The generals seized the opportunity to persuade the troops to attack Song Jingang once again.

Li Shimin scanned the faces of Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Qutu Tong, Yin Kaishan, Yuwen Shi, Feng Deyi, Changsun Wuji, Qin Qiong, Cheng Yaojin, Hou Junji, and others.

"Song Jingang has led a small, isolated force, amassing a considerable number of elite troops. Liu Wuzhou has occupied Taiyuan. The current situation is that the distance from Taiyuan to Wenxi is 800 li. Liu Wuzhou has seized the city's reserves of grain, provisions, and weapons."
However, Liu Wuzhou rushed too fast and was too far from Taiyuan.

In particular, Li Yi had been guarding Haozhou and controlling Queshu Valley. Although the Wu Zhou army could transport grain from Taiyuan southward through the Hanhou Ridge trail,
However, the road is treacherous and difficult to traverse, and now it is the dead of winter with ice and snow, making resupply very difficult.

Song Jingang's army cannot rely entirely on Liu Wuzhou's supplies; they must plunder to replenish their provisions. Previously, they were unstoppable, capturing several prefectures in succession, and were able to sustain themselves through warfare, replenishing their supplies locally. But now, our offensive has been halted, and he can neither capture Jiangzhou nor Yuzhou.

Not to mention breaking through the Yellow River defense line and entering Guanzhong or reaching Shaanxi and Guo.
Now Liu Wuzhou is more eager for a quick victory than we are.

They're even more anxious than we are. We now have Li Yi in the north to hold back Liu Wuzhou and cut off their supplies.
Without the replenishment of grain supplies from the north, and unable to replenish them through conquering cities and seizing territory, Liu Wuzhou's defeat was inevitable.

As long as we hold our ground and don't venture out, conserve our strength, we can thwart their advance and deplete their supplies.

Then we will send a detachment to harass his rear. When Song Jingang runs out of supplies, he will naturally retreat. When he retreats, that will be the day we can counterattack.

There's no need to rush.

Li Yi's presence in Haozhou is Li Shimin's greatest source of confidence in holding Baibi.

He plans to replicate the strategy he used to destroy Xue Ju and his son in Jingzhou.

"Gentlemen, Li Yi was able to hold Haozhou, so why are we in such a hurry?"
Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang are more anxious than we are. Let them attack Haozhou, Jiangzhou, and Wenxi; let them attack the cities. We will wait in comfort and counterattack with defense!

"The advantage is mine!"

The King of Qin was very confident. When he said this, it was as if the Tang Dynasty had attacked the enemy's stronghold of Mayi, rather than the enemy conquering cities and seizing land for thousands of miles and threatening Guanzhong.

This strategic resolve truly earned the admiration of all the civil and military officials.

Feng Deyi raised a concern: "Can Li Yi really withstand Liu Wuzhou's attack in Haozhou? Li Yi previously repelled two sieges of Haozhou, but those were not Wuzhou's elite main force. If Liu Wuzhou personally attacks Haozhou this time..."
Is there any danger?

His concerns were shared by many others, even though Li Yi had indeed performed exceptionally well over the past six months, especially given the defeats suffered by Pei Ji, Li Zhongwen, Jiang Baoyi, Liu Hongji, and others, making him stand out even more.

But he was only seventeen years old, and just over a year ago he was a Taoist priest.

It was due to special circumstances that he was pushed into that position; otherwise, how could he have become the Inspector General of Bingzhou, in charge of the entire northern war effort?

If the emperor had no one else to rely on, he wouldn't have dared to change generals so rashly on the eve of battle.
The entire court would not agree to him being in that position.

Many people still believe that Li Yi's success was merely a fluke.

It's because they haven't encountered a truly formidable opponent.

The opponents he fought, such as Huang Ziying and Liu Liu'er, were not formidable enemies or key players.

I believe in Li Yi.
Throughout his northward campaign with the army, whether it was after Li Zhongwen's ambush at Que Shu Valley where nine thousand elite troops were wiped out, and his decisive northward march to Huoyi to reinforce Lingshi, or his resolute rush to Yindi Pass to surround Huang Ziying,
Later, Liu Liu'er surrendered, and with the help of his barbarian troops, the city of Jiahu was captured from Huang Ziying's stronghold. Then came the feigned reinforcements to relieve the siege of Haozhou, and now the battles of Xiaoyi and Wenshui.

Every battle was not a fluke.
Li Yi is young, but decisive and has the bearing of a great general.

"I have complete faith in Li Yi. If you still have doubts, ask me, who among you would dare to confidently say that you would do a better job than him?"

After these words were spoken, no one could doubt Li Yi's abilities anymore.

Li Shimin gently tapped the table.

"Let Li Yi and Liu Dewei handle the north. Let's focus on the present and fight our battle well."

Our enemy is Song Jingang.

······
Haozhou.

Several guests arrived in Haozhou amidst the wind and snow.
Guests that Li Yi had not anticipated.

"Zhang Daoyuan, Duke of Fanyang, Minister of Justice, and Pacification Commissioner of Hebei Province?"

"Hmm, there are two more. One is said to be Zhang Zhi'ang, the former governor of Zhao Prefecture, and the other is Chen Junbin, the former prefect of Xing Prefecture. However, I have some doubts. They don't look like court officials at all."
You didn't see them. Their sideburns were balding, they looked almost inhuman, their clothes were tattered; they looked more like beggars and vagrants.

Liu Heizi shook his head as he spoke, "Like a savage."

Luo Wu said, "But Lord Zhang carries a staff with him, and the other two also have fish-shaped tallies."

Zhang Daoyuan was Li Yi's mother's cousin. Li Yi had never met him, but he knew that Zhang was the Dali Qing, who was ordered to pacify Hebei.

"Go, have a look."

In the front courtyard hall of the governor's mansion,
When Li Yi saw Zhang He, who claimed to be his cousin Zhang Daoyuan, he indeed looked like a wild man.

"You guys eat first, and then take a shower and change your clothes."

Upon meeting, Zhang Daoyuan immediately took out his envoy token, which he never parted with, while Zhang Zhiang and Chen Junbin also took out their fish tallies.

Zhang Daoyuan talked about their situation while eating.

Dou Jiande launched a fierce offensive in Hebei, and several prefectures fell one after another.

Xingzhou fell first, and its prefect, Chen Junbin, was captured and refused to surrender. Next, Zhaozhou fell, and its pacification commissioner, Zhang Daoyuan, and its general, Zhang Zhiang, were also captured.

Dou Jiande was initially angry at their stubborn resistance and wanted to execute them, but it was his minister Ling Jing who persuaded him, and in the end Dou Jiande released them.

The three then traveled together, intending to head south to Liyang, but halfway there they heard that Liyang had also fallen, and even Prince Li Shentong of Huai'an had been captured.

After some discussion, they decided to change their route and travel through the Taihang Mountains to Haozhou.

Zhang Daoyuan had been pacifying Hebei for a long time and still enjoyed considerable prestige and popularity; people kept coming to follow him in the prefectures and counties he passed through.

However, when crossing the Taihang Mountains, there were no supplies and the food ran out. More than two thousand people were unwilling to leave him.

Zhang Daoyuan slaughtered his own horse to feed everyone and tried to persuade them to go home, but everyone was willing to follow him.

So they continued their journey, traveling for many days through the Taihang Mountains. Almost all of them had starved to death or been scattered by enemy troops and bandits.
In the end, fifty-two people remained and traveled with the three of them.
Peeling tree bark and digging for wild vegetables,

Even begging for food along the way,
Thus, he traveled through the Taihang Mountains and crossed Liu Wuzhou's controlled territory, finally arriving in Haozhou. While passing through Qi County, he even received an imperial edict from Liu Wuzhou's envoy, appointing him as Minister of Personnel, bestowing upon him the title of Duke of Yan, and preparing brocade robes, fur coats, and fine horses for him.

But in front of Liu Wuzhou's envoy, he burned the imperial edict and destroyed his clothes.

Liu Wuzhou's envoys arrested them and were to take them to Liu Wuzhou for punishment, but they were rescued on the way by light cavalry under Li Zhongwen of Wenshui. After learning their identities, they were sent to Haozhou.

The group of fifty-five people looked like wild men; their journey had been even more arduous than Tang Sanzang's pilgrimage to the West. Li Yi was filled with admiration upon hearing this.

"Nephew Li Yi greets Uncle!"

Zhang Daoyuan held Li Yi's hand, "Your cousin wrote to me from Chang'an earlier, and when he talked about you, I couldn't believe it. If your mother knew you were like this now, she would surely smile in her grave..."

(End of this chapter)