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

Chapter 342 Tang Army's Crushing Defeat at Taiyuan

Li Yi looked around at the city of Jiexiu, which had a circumference of eight li.

The Lantern Festival has already passed, but there is still no movement in Jiexiu City.

The weather is still cold, and the ice on the Fen River is almost a foot thick.

"Could Liu Wuzhou have run away?"

Li Yi suddenly said.

"Liu Wuzhou, the self-proclaimed emperor of Han, still has his banners and the wolf-head banner bestowed upon him by the Turks. He couldn't have run away, could he?"

"Yes, if Liu Wuzhou had run away, would his ten thousand men have remained so quietly guarding Jiexiu City for so long?"

Li Yi smiled when he heard what Li Daozong and the others said, "It just feels a bit too abnormal. There's no movement in Jiexiu, and no movement in other places either. By the way, where are Deputy Chief Steward Li and the others?"

They had already captured Jiaocheng and Qingyuan on the west bank of the Fen River without encountering any significant resistance, and surrendered after a few days of persuasion.

"They're probably already at the gates of Taiyuan by now!" Li Daozong said, quite relaxed.

Li Yi felt that he might be being too cautious. He felt that something was not right; things were going too smoothly, and Jiexiu was too quiet.

Outside Jiexiu city in winter,
A desolate scene unfolded; the ice and snow had melted, and everything was shrouded in a gray haze.

The distant mountains are all bare.

In this era, the mountains in the suburbs were mostly barren; it was rare to see green hills, as they had all been cut down for firewood.

Only the wheat seedlings in the wheat field were green.
Amidst this gloom and desolation, vibrant life emerges.

From afar, you can see the white pagoda in the north of the city, very conspicuous; it's the nine-story pagoda of Longquan Temple. You can also see the Zoroastrian temple in the west of the city, which belongs to the Zoroastrian religion practiced by the Sogdians.

A stone tower and a wooden building, with their distinct styles, attract attention from afar and have become landmark buildings in Jiexiu.

"Should we try attacking the city?" Ji Siwen asked.

"We only have about ten thousand men. How can we attack Jiexiu City, which is defended by more than ten thousand people? Forget it, let's continue the siege."

Li Yi believed that warfare was actually a mathematical problem.
It's not just about calculating troop strength, supplies, and equipment; it's also about calculating why we're fighting, whether there are any benefits, whether we can profit or lose, whether either side will receive reinforcements, the distance of those reinforcements, the speed of their arrival, and the potential strength of the reinforcements—all of which introduce variables into the overall strength of the attacking and defending sides.

It's quite complicated.
Li Yi calculated that if he attacked Jiexiu now, he would have little chance of winning. Even if he could take it, it would be a Pyrrhic victory, which would definitely not be worthwhile.

"Can we use a strategy like we did when we destroyed Spirit Stone City last time?" Dao Zong asked.

Do you have any good plans?

Li Daozong shook his head. "Grand Steward, can you think of another brilliant plan?"

"No." Li Yi shook his head directly.

Although Jiexiu City looks very rustic, with its walls made of rammed earth and not covered with bricks, it was really not easy to attack a city in this era.

"Let's wait and see. Perhaps the King of Qin will soon have a result in the south."

Before the New Year, Li Shimin seized the opportunity to ambush Yuchi Gong and Xun Xiang twice. In the first ambush, he beheaded more than two thousand men, and in the second ambush, he annihilated all three thousand of them.

Second Brother Qin Shubao struck Yuchi Gong several times with his mace, almost making him vomit blood.

This almost made Song Jingang vomit blood.

As a result, Jinzhou was besieged by the southward-bound armies of Zhang Lun and Li Jizhen.

With his rear cut off and supplies cut off, and unable to capture Wenxi and Jiangzhou in the south, Song Jingang was essentially surrounded on the east bank of the Fen River and the north bank of the Sushui River in the Huijiang area.

Li Shimin's main force was still stationed at Baibi.

Qu Tutong and Sang Xianhe launched another attack on Xia County, aiming to close the gap in the encirclement once more.

The war has reached this point.
It was obvious to everyone that Song Jingang's army had suffered a complete strategic defeat, and its demise was only a matter of time, and it wouldn't last long.

If supplies are cut off, how long can we hold out?

After observing Jiexiu City for a while,
Li Yi went fishing on the Fen River. He set up a tent, carved an ice hole in the frozen river, and fished. He could also cook tea around a stove and have a barbecue at the same time.

There are many people ice fishing.

During the lean season, the war in Hedong caused even greater suffering to the people, with their meager grain being fought over and stolen by various factions.

Even in prosperous lands, famine strikes.

After catching a few fish, Liu Heizi brought news from the south.

Song Jingang is still struggling in his death throes.
After the rescue of Jinzhou was ambushed, he sent Yuchi Laohei to Puban again in secret, probably hoping to take another risk and see if he could find a loophole in Pujin to mobilize the Tang army.

As it turns out, whether it was a spy within Song Jingang's ranks or a traitor within Yuchi Gong's, he secretly launched his attack this time.

Li Shimin then learned of this.

So, just after they passed Xia County and entered Anyi County, they were ambushed again by Li Shimin leading three thousand infantry and cavalry through a side path.

Yuchi Gong was unlucky enough to run into Qin Shubao again.

It is said that as soon as Yuchi Gong saw Qin Shubao riding the Hulei Bo towards him, he immediately ran away, abandoning his soldiers.

But in the end, he still took a blow and fled into Xia County, coughing up blood.

His soldiers were unlucky; they were pursued by Li Shimin for dozens of miles and captured.

Yuchi Gong fled into Lü Chongmao's Xia County, but before he could even catch his breath, he discovered that Lü Chongmao was acting strangely.
Lü Chongmao actually wanted to accept the imperial court's offer of amnesty, offering Yuchi Gong's head as a pledge of loyalty in exchange for the position of governor of Xia Prefecture. However, although Lü Chongmao had previously defeated Pei Ji, he was no match for Yuchi Gong.

With a single iron whip, Lao Hei shattered the brains of Lu Chongmao, the local tyrant of Xia County and the King of Wei, and the dignified King of Wei died just like that.

After Yuchi Gong killed Lü Chongmao, he appointed a rebel from Xia County as his chief steward, and then rode lightly back to Song Jingang in Huizhou.

This time, Song Jingang wanted to find an opportunity with Wang Xingben in Puban, but he ended up losing more than he gained. He even killed Lü Chongmao and Wang Xingben.

Before Song Jingang sent Yuchi Gong with his troops to Puzhou, he first dispatched light cavalry to deliver a message, instructing them to prepare for the meeting.

Wang Xing was also at his wit's end, but seeing that Song Jingang was willing to send troops to help, he naturally dared not delay.

So, counting the days, and seeing that Yuchi Gong was about to arrive, he led his troops out of the city.

Outside the city, Tang general Qin Wutong was digging a moat around the city. He saw Wang Xingben leave the city, but ordered him not to fight, but to run away.

Qin Wutong fled, and Wang Xingben pursued him even more fiercely, still fantasizing that Yuchi Gong would arrive soon as agreed, so that they could launch a pincer attack and defeat the Tang army.

As a result, after chasing after them, Yuchi Gong did not come as agreed. Instead, Qin Shubao and Cheng Yaojin arrived, leading the Xuanjia cavalry to attack from the flank, cutting off Wang Xing's main force in half. They hacked and slashed, killing seven hundred of Wang Xing's men.

Although the number is small, Wang Xingben only had seven hundred of his old troops when he entered Puban to quell the rebellion and avenge Yao Junsu.

Wang Xingben fled back to Puban City, but there was no food or supplies inside, no reinforcements outside, and all his elite troops were gone. The other officers and powerful figures in the city could no longer be suppressed.

Therefore, on the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, Wang Xingben was forced to surrender. The city had held out for almost three years, but it was finally captured.

When Li Yuan heard that Puban had surrendered in Huayin, he personally went to Puban City and publicly executed Wang Xingben, who had surrendered.

Although this guy was very powerful, Li Yuan still killed him to avenge his son-in-law, and no one could persuade him otherwise. He resisted for three years without surrendering, so he had to be killed to warn others.

It is said that Li Shimin also made a special trip to Puban to pay homage to the emperor, and the father and son chatted for a long time.

Although Xia County has not yet been captured,
After capturing Puban, the Tang Dynasty could be said to be in an invincible position.

The countdown to Song Jingang's downfall has begun.

Logically speaking, given the current situation, even if Song Jingang remained loyal to Liu Wuzhou and refused to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, he should have tried to retreat and break through the encirclement.

But he was still guarding Huizhou.

"If you were Song Jingang, what would you do now?"

"Retreat north."

"But Jinzhou to the north is besieged, and Huoyi, Jiahubao, and Lingshi are all in our hands. There is no way to retreat."

Li Daozong also shook his head, "Then there's only one path left: death." As it turned out, Li Yi had underestimated Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang. One of them was a former military officer of Mayi, a veteran of the Liaodong campaign, and a ruthless man who had killed his own superior in a rebellion. The other was Song Jingang, who was originally a bandit from Yizhou and had crawled out of piles of corpses.

Just as Li Yi was eating grilled fish and thinking that the war was almost over,

He received an unexpected message of defeat.

Li Zhongwen was attacked by Liu Wuzhou outside Taiyuan City. Ji Hu Li Boyuan was the first to flee, and Huaiyang Prince Li Daoxuan led his troops to fight back.

He was riddled with dozens of arrows, turning him into a pincushion. In the battle, three of his horses were killed by arrows, but fortunately, his three layers of armor saved his life.
His elite cavalry risked their lives to rescue him from the battlefield, and they fled all the way back to Wenshui City.

Li Zhongwen also retreated to Wenshui.

Of his 20,000 men, almost 10,000 were mountain barbarians who had fled, and 6,000 auxiliary soldiers and laborers had also scattered. Of his 4,000 infantry and cavalry, half had been lost.

"Liu Wuzhou? Under the walls of Taiyuan?"

Li Yi felt like he had seen a ghost for most of the day, but they had been surrounding Jiexiu City the whole time, Liu Wuzhou's ten thousand men had been in Jiexiu the whole time, and the emperor's banners and wolf-head banners had also been there the whole time.

"Liu Wuzhou has already entered Taiyuan City, and he is also leading the Turkic cavalry."

Li Yi thought quickly
Ultimately, they could only come up with one possibility: at the beginning of the siege of Jiexiu, on two separate nights, small groups of light cavalry took advantage of the darkness to escape north from the city, and the Tang army only managed to intercept a portion of them.

In retrospect, it seems that Liu Wuzhou may have been the one who ran away at that time.

This guy ran back to get reinforcements, and even brought back Turkic cavalry.

How many Turkic cavalry?

"It is estimated that there were several thousand riders."

"We've fallen for Liu Wuzhou's trick!" Li Daozong said through gritted teeth.

"How is the Prince of Huaiyang's injury?"

"He was seriously injured, but thankfully his life is not in danger."

"Quickly order Deputy Chief Steward Li to lead the Prince of Huaiyang back to Xicheng, consolidate their forces, and temporarily abandon Wenshui."

Li Yi realized he had underestimated his enemy; he never expected Liu Wuzhou to lead a light cavalry force away from Jiexiu to seek reinforcements.

Unexpectedly, the Turks sent reinforcements.

Li Yi quickly readjusted his deployment, moving his main force back to Lingshi and Xicheng. Instead of besieging Jiexiu, he aimed to block the southward passage, disregarding the forces in Jiexiu for the time being and focusing on blocking Song Jingang first.

Then he made another mistake.

After defeating Li Zhongwen in Taiyuan, Liu Wuzhou did not take the opportunity to march south to Jiexiu, nor did he attack Haozhou or Lingshi.
Silently,

He even ignored Gushui, which the Tang army had abandoned.

It's like a gust of wind has blown by, and it's vanished without a trace.

Li Yi was completely baffled.

Until a few days later,
Several wounded cavalrymen arrived.

"Yuzhou has fallen. Liu Wuzhou marched south from Taiyuan, launched a surprise attack and captured Yushe, and has already marched south into Luzhou."

Yuzhou and Luzhou.

Li Yi was stunned for a moment, then realized what was happening.

"He intends to go straight to Zezhou and open up a road from the east to Song Jingang in Huizhou."

No wonder Song Jingang stayed in Huizhou and didn't break through to the north. It turns out he was going to retreat east into Zezhou. If Liu Wuzhou really captured Luze, then Song Jingang wouldn't need to retreat anymore.

"Quickly, fetch the map of Zelu,"

Li Yi unfolded the map and stared at Ze Lu.

Between the two prefectures of Ze and Lu and the two prefectures of Jin and Hui lies the Wuling Mountain, which is also the watershed between the Qinshui and Fenshui rivers. Although the mountain is high, there are still some passages between them.

West of Changzi County in Luzhou, past Wuling Mountain, lies Yueyang County in Jinzhou, where a prefectural pass guards this passage.

In Qinshui County of Zezhou, there is also a road that crosses Wuling Mountain and leads to Yicheng County of Huizhou. This road was used for coal mining and iron ore extraction and is known as the "Ancient Firework Road".

Song Jingang is currently in the Huizhou area, and this firework route is undoubtedly Liu Wuzhou's target.

Li Yi immediately reported this discovery to the emperor via urgent courier.

The Hedong region consists of basins separated by mountains. Zelu is the Shangdang Basin, Jiangzhou and Jinzhou are the Linfen Basin, and the area south of Emei Ridge to Zhongtiao Mountain is the Yuncheng Basin.

To the north are the Taiyuan Basin, Xinding Basin, and Datong Basin.

The Zezhou area can actually be considered part of the Jincheng Basin.

Previously, I only focused on the Taiyuan Basin, Linfen Basin, and Yuncheng Basin, since the Fen River connects them, and apart from the Queshu Valley section, the rest are all flat plains.

Who would have thought that Liu Wuzhou, having reached the end of his rope, could still think of another way, opening up a new front on the east side to indirectly rescue Song Jingang.

But what puzzled him was that although Yuzhou and Luzhou had not been attacked before, they should have been on guard. How could Liu Wuzhou have broken through so easily and gone all the way to Luzhou?

It's more than 200 li from Taiyuan to Yushe, and more than 200 li to Changzi in Luzhou.

From Yuci to Xiangyuan, it was mostly mountainous terrain, and the route passed through some passes, military towns, and fortified villages. How did Liu Wuzhou manage to reach Luzhou without any obstacles along the way?
"Liu Wujun used Turks as his vanguard. The Turks disguised themselves as a horse-trading caravan and tricked the gatekeepers along the way. They used bribery and enticement or threatened them with their Turkic identity. None of the checkpoints could stop them. As a result, they tricked the gatekeepers into opening up the city gates and led Liu Wuzhou straight down..."

Li Yi stared at the map for a long time.

It was so unexpected.

Water has no constant shape, and military tactics are no constant; I've certainly learned something new.

Li Yi studied the intelligence carefully for a long time and analyzed it. He concluded that Liu Wuzhou must have returned to Daibei, and perhaps even visited the Turkic Khanate.
They brought all the soldiers from their hometown and also borrowed a Turkic army, but the number of soldiers in this army could not be too large.

After all, Liu Wuzhou had already mobilized tens of thousands of troops when he marched south last year, so the Daibei region couldn't muster many soldiers.

He estimated that Liu Wuzhou's army heading south to Luzhou now numbered no more than 20,000.

With more people, supplies couldn't keep up.

After his surprise attack on Li Zhongwen's forces in Taiyuan, he did not pursue them, and even ignored the three cities of Qingyuan, Jiaocheng, and Wenshui that the Tang army had abandoned.
It can be determined that there are not many soldiers left to guard the area.

They probably left most of their troops to garrison Taiyuan and Yuci.

“Liu Wuzhou is setting up an empty city stratagem for us in Taiyuan. I plan to lead my troops north to attack Taiyuan and take it while it’s vulnerable. At the very least, I’ll take Yuci and cut off Liu Wuzhou’s supply lines to Luzhou.” Li Yi slammed his fist on the map.

Li Daozong was surprised.

"But Deputy Chief Steward Li and Dao Xuan just suffered a major defeat in Taiyuan?"

"Liu Wuzhou has already hurriedly headed south to Zelu. There won't be many troops in Taiyuan. We can't be fooled by his bluff."

"Is the Prince of Fenyang really going to attack Taiyuan?"

"Whether it's an empty city ploy or not, we'll know once we lead the troops over to take a look."

Just two days after Li Yuan captured Wang Wei and Gao Junya, the deputy garrison commanders, tens of thousands of Turks invaded Taiyuan.

Faced with the overwhelming force of tens of thousands of Turkic troops, Li Yuan boldly employed the Empty City Stratagem. While he ordered Pei Ji and others to lead the troops in preparation within the city, he opened all the gates of Taiyuan.

This caught the Turks off guard. Seeing the city gates wide open, they didn't dare to enter and retreated on their own initiative.

Li Yuan then seized the opportunity to say that the Turks were recruited by Wang Wei and Gao Junya, which was irrefutable proof, and ordered them to be executed in public.

Li Yi didn't know if Liu Wuzhou was now using the Empty City Stratagem like Li Yuan, but based on data analysis, he felt it was highly likely, so it was worth investigating.

"What about Jiexiu City?"

"Let's also play the empty city trick, and have the three forts of Yong'an, Zhangnan, and Zhangbi put up empty flags to pretend that our army continues to besiege Jiexiu City,"

"In reality, we only need to leave 1,800 men to defend each fort, and then transfer 12,000 men to accompany me to attack Taiyuan!"

(End of this chapter)