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

Chapter 397 The Imperial Edict to Conquer Luoyang Arrives Late
In the Purple Palace,

Wang Shichong found it absurd. What earth dragon turning over could shake the Luoyang city wall into three sections, yet he didn't feel it here.

"Report! The Tang army has captured Yongtong Gate!"

"Your Majesty, the Tang army has captured Jianchun Gate!"

One urgent report after another

"Father, the Tang army has appeared in front of Tianjin Bridge and is approaching the palace gate. We must escape quickly!" The second prince, Prince Xuan Shu of Han, rushed into the palace in a panic, completely losing his composure.

Wang Shichong felt a wave of dizziness. Yongtong Gate was the southeasternmost gate of Luoyang, while Jianchun Gate was the easternmost gate. Just now, a soldier reported that the place where the earth dragon overturned and collapsed three sections of the city wall was near Yongtong Gate, the southeasternmost gate.

Tianjin Bridge, however, is located in front of the palace.

Although both Luoyang and Chang'an were designed by Yuwen Kai, Luoyang was not as well-organized as Chang'an, with the imperial palace located in the northwest corner.

The Luo River flows through the city.

The Gu River and the Chan River flow from the north, passing the palace on the left and right, and then flow south to join the Gu River.

There are three bridges across the river between the imperial city and the outer city south of the Luo River: Huangdao Bridge, Tianjin Bridge, and Xingjin Bridge.

Tang troops appeared in front of Tianjin Bridge.

The tide has turned against them.

Wang Shichong stood up, his face grim, and walked to the Prince of Han. He first slapped his second son hard across the face, saying, "What's the panic?"

He strode out of the palace and headed straight for the Duanmen Gate of the Imperial City.

The Luoyang Palace City was very large. In front of the palace city was the Imperial City, to the east were the Eastern Palace and the Eastern Enclosure City, and to the west of the palace city were the Western Enclosure City and the Treasure City.
North of the palace city, there are also Xuanwu City, Yaoyi City, and Yuanbi City.

The palace was surrounded by eight cities of varying sizes, which tightly encircled the inner palace. Before the war began, Wang Shichong assigned his brothers, sons, and nephews to guard these eight cities.

But if Luoyang's outer city wall is lost,
It is difficult to hold out with just this corner of the land.

Wang Shichong hurriedly arrived at Duanmen, the main south gate of the imperial city, and saw that, sure enough, Tang cavalry were already galloping through the streets on the south bank of Luoyang.
Chaos was everywhere.
Thick smoke billowed, fires broke out everywhere, and the streets and alleys of Guochengfang to the south and east were filled with chaotic crowds.

Wang Shichong stared in disbelief at everything before him.
He held Luoyang for so many years and never allowed the enemy to breach the city.

"Is it really an earthquake?"

"The news spread everywhere that suddenly, three sections of the city wall in the southeast corner collapsed with a loud rumble, each with a breach several feet wide,"

Wang Shichong gritted his teeth, "Then why didn't you immediately plug the breach?"

"Before we could react, the Tang army had already rushed in, consisting of thousands of leaping soldiers wielding swords and shields."

Upon hearing this, Wang Shichong realized something was amiss. If it were truly an unexpected earthquake, the Tang army wouldn't have so many leaping soldiers rushing in immediately.
This was clearly a premeditated attack. Considering that the Tang army had been digging tunnels during this period, it must have been that the Tang army first hollowed out the area under the city, supported it with wooden beams, and then set fire to the pillars, causing the city wall to collapse.

However, collapsing three sections at once would not be something that could be kept secret from Zheng's army.

More and more bad news is coming in.

The Tang army had already captured several outer city gates, and countless Tang soldiers had poured into the city, making it impossible to seal the breaches in the city wall.

Several city gates had been lost, and the Tang army was too lazy to climb in through the breaches anymore.

Luoyang is a very large city.
It's also a disadvantage when defending.

The problem is that mobilizing troops is difficult to do quickly and in a timely manner.
At this time, the most elite and main force of Zheng's defending troops was still in the northwest corner, while the Tang army deliberately chose to launch a breach at the southeast corner.
This gave Wang Shichong a time lag, leaving him no time to retaliate.

Once the city gates are lost, there is no way to reverse the situation.

Wang Shichong couldn't understand how Tang Tong had done it, but there was no point in thinking about it now.

Snowflakes fell one by one.

The icy crystals landed on his face, instantly melting into snow water. Wang Shichong almost wept; this journey had been like walking on thin ice.

But eventually the ice broke.
He fell into an ice cave, below which lay a bottomless abyss, and no one could save him.

"Withdraw all the troops from the outer city and defend the palace!"

Wang Shichong gritted his teeth, but still refused to admit defeat.

He still had 20,000 to 30,000 troops, and he also had the palace city, which was surrounded by eight smaller cities. The Tang army couldn't possibly break through it in a short time.

It was pointless for Wang Shichong not to engage in street fighting outside the city.

The enemy forces are too numerous.

The outer city is too large; Zheng's army doesn't have the resources to fight over every single neighborhood or alley.

They could only retreat and consolidate their defenses around the palace.

On the imperial city,
Strong winds and heavy snow.
Wang Shichong stood there, watching the Tang army rampage through the city, while the Zheng army was in a panicked rout, with many surrendering.

The vast majority of Zheng's troops in the outer city either collapsed or surrendered, with only a very small number retreating to the palace.

After years of hard work and perseverance,

As a result, after half a day,

The outer city wall of Luoyang is gone.

at night,

Wang Shichong couldn't sleep at night, so he personally donned armor and led troops to inspect the city's defenses, and even specially sent extra people to listen in.

They discovered that the Tang army was digging tunnels again.

Wang Shichong directed the use of acoustics to determine the location and to dig tunnels in the opposite direction.
Fighting all night,
They destroyed hundreds of tunnels belonging to the Tang army.

As the sun rises,

Wang Shichong's eyes were bloodshot, and he was extremely exhausted.

He took a nap on the city wall.
The loud roar woke him up.

"Your Majesty, a section of the southwest corner of the imperial city has collapsed, and the Tang army is launching a fierce attack that cannot be stopped."

This time, the opening wasn't as big as the three that appeared during the day.
However, this still allowed the Tang army to break through the defenders' defenses.

"The earth dragon has turned over again?" Wang Xuanshu asked in utter terror.

Wang Shichong was too lazy to fight this fool anymore. There was no such thing as an earth dragon turning over. He had been digging tunnels with the Tang army all night. Didn't he understand that this was simply due to the Tang army's tunnel attack method? He just couldn't understand how the Tang army could collapse a section of the palace wall in one night. Even if the palace wall wasn't as thick or high as the outer city wall, it would normally take at least ten days to half a month to achieve this.

"Move the archers and crossbowmen, the shield bearers and the spearmen, and block that gap," Wang Shichong growled.

The Tang and Zheng armies clashed fiercely near the right side gate of the imperial palace.

Around this gap, the two armies fought fiercely, their blood flowing like a river all the way to the Luo River, turning its waters red.

Li Shimin personally oversaw operations at Tianjin Bridge.

"If only we had another batch of gunpowder," Qin Qiong couldn't help but say to Li Yi, who had already taken out the last bit of his stock.

Unless we wait a few more days,
But Li Shimin wanted to strike while the iron was hot and was unwilling to stop halfway.

Both sides deployed heavy cannons, giant crossbows, and countless archers.
That corner of the land
The soldiers barely survived an hour.
Until now,
On both the Tang and Zheng sides, the vast majority of people did not know what method the Tang army had used, and they really thought it was an earth dragon turning over.

This undoubtedly greatly boosted the morale of the Tang army, who believed it was divine intervention, while the Zheng army soldiers were extremely demoralized.

When the imperial city was also struck by an earthquake, causing the city walls to collapse, even though Wang Shichong sent people everywhere to proclaim that the Tang army had dug tunnels and breached the walls, it was all in vain.
But Zheng Junxin doesn't have many people left either.

Zheng Jun preferred to believe that the earth had turned upside down, that the Mandate of Heaven was with Tang, and that this was a sign that Heaven had abandoned the state of Zheng.

The battle continued until the afternoon.

Luo Shixin, leading a group of well-rested and elite elite soldiers, finally planted the Tang Dynasty's red flag at the breach.
Braving a hail of arrows and spears, they scaled the makeshift wooden fence erected by Zheng's army, scattering the exhausted and desperate troops.

When Luo Shixin and his men stormed into the imperial city...
Many of Zheng's troops began to turn and flee.

Finally, countless Tang soldiers followed the bloody path cleared by Luo Shixin and his men and squeezed into the imperial city.

Inside the Right Gate, another fierce battle erupted. Luo Shixin was unparalleled in bravery, and no one could get close to him. As more and more Tang soldiers poured in...

The battle at the Right Gate also ended in a Tang victory, with the Zheng army routed and the Right Gate captured.
The palace gates opened.

Li Junxian, Zhang Shigui, and others led their troops in a fierce charge.

The imperial city was soon completely lost.

Zheng's army retreated to the palace.

At dusk,

The battle, which lasted two days and one night, had left everyone exhausted.

The Tang army was exhausted but still excited.

The remaining Zheng army was in utter despair.

Li Shimin arrived at the Five Phoenix Tower at Yingtian Gate.

He personally persuaded Wang Shichong to surrender.

By this time, many Zheng soldiers had already surrendered to the Tang army. Yang Gongqing, Chen Zhilue, Wei Jin, Guo Shizhu, Cui Hongdan, and others were either captured or surrounded and surrendered.

A group of surrendered generals were brought to the front of Yingtian Gate and persuaded Wang Shichong to surrender.

Li Shimin even specially sent his captured wife, Lady Changsun's, cousin, Zheng Neishi Ling (Zheng Anshi), to the palace to meet Wang Shichong and persuade him to surrender.

Wang Shichong summoned the remaining generals, brothers, sons, and nephews in the palace.

"I intend to break through the encirclement with you all."

Yun Dingxing said, "Previously, Xiangyang, Dengzhou, and Henan were all seized by Li Yi. We held Luoyang firmly, hoping that the King of Xia would come to our aid."
But now Tang Xia has formed a familial bond with her cousins.

Even if they managed to break through, where could they go? Everything outside Luoyang was occupied by the Tang army. Even if they were lucky enough to escape to Hebei, the Xia and Zheng states had already fallen out over the Liyang incident; how could the Tang army possibly treat His Majesty kindly?

Although Yun Dingxing did not explicitly state that he had surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, his meaning was quite clear.

Duan Da went even further, saying that the tide had turned and it was better to accept one's fate.

November 23rd, early morning.

Amidst the swirling snow,
Wang Shichong removed his dragon robe and wore plain clothes.

He led the crown prince, officials, and more than two thousand others out of the palace gates to surrender to Li Shimin.

Li Shimin specially changed into golden armor and had Li Yi and Li Yuanji accompany him to accept the surrender.

Wang Shichong knelt down and begged to surrender.
Li Shimin laughed and said, "You often call me Tang Tong, but why are you so respectful to me now that you see me?"

Wang Shichong kowtowed and apologized, not daring to answer.

After the Tang army stormed the imperial city yesterday, Li Shimin sent Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui to the Secretariat and Chancellery to collect Sui maps, books, and edicts, but most of them were destroyed by Wang Shichong, and he did not obtain much.

Now that Wang Shichong has surrendered, two men were sent into the palace to seize royal artifacts. Xiao Yu and Dou Gui were also ordered to seal the treasury and seize its gold and silk.

After Li Shimin imprisoned Wang Shichong and his ministers in the military camp,
They had complete control of Luoyang.
Feng Deyi had just arrived from Chang'an on horseback.

Upon seeing that Luoyang had been captured, they were extremely surprised. Looking at the imperial edict they had painstakingly brought, they felt that their journey had been in vain.

"I never expected that the King of Qin would be able to conquer Luoyang so quickly."

Li Shimin laughed heartily and pointed at Li Yi, "This is all thanks to Wu Yi. Can Prime Minister Feng persuade His Majesty on this trip?"

“I have failed to fulfill the King of Qin’s request,” Feng Deyi said, producing the imperial edict.

The imperial edict ordered Li Shimin to immediately lead the main force of Luoyang north to Taiyuan for defense, while some of the Henan troops would return to Guanzhong with Prince Qi Yuanji and Dou Gui to reinforce Yuanhui and other places.

Luoyang was besieged by Li Yi's troops, and all military affairs in Henan and Hebei were under Li Yi's control.

"Chuluo is launching a major southward offensive?"

"When I was in Chang'an, the court received news that Chu Luo had led 100,000 cavalry to Mayi. His Majesty urgently ordered Liu Shirang to go north to Yanmen to set up defenses. Now we don't know what the situation is. Now that Luoyang has been pacified, I ask that the Prince of Qin should immediately obey the imperial edict and lead his army north."

Li Shimin's smile vanished. "These damned Turkic wolves," he said, turning to Li Yi and taking his hand. "Wu Yi, there's no time for celebration. I'll lead the army north immediately tomorrow. Henan is in your hands to pacify and handle the aftermath. Be careful of Dou Jiande's southward advance and guard Wulao Pass well!"

As for how to deal with Wang Shichong and others, they were temporarily entrusted to Li Yi for safekeeping, awaiting the court's decision.

"There are only a few days left until the New Year," Li Yi sighed.

"Yes, that damned Chuluo Khan won't let us have a proper year," Li Shimin cursed.

(End of this chapter)