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

Chapter 430 Tiger Tally Shattered, Xu Flag Shattered
Li Yi finally figured out who the visitor was.

The Liu brothers, Liu Dewei and Liu Demin, are old friends of Li Yi. They are nephews of the Liu family of Pengcheng and are currently living in Rencheng City across the street.

Even more surprisingly, Liu Shiche actually wanted to surrender. He also brought news of Sheng Yanshi. Sheng Yanshi and Jiang Shanhe had not surrendered, but were being held under house arrest in Yanzhou City by Xu Yuanlang.

Li Yi held the note personally written by Sheng Yanshi, which was delivered by Liu Shiche's subordinates.

This note was written by Sheng Yanshi to Liu Shiche. Sheng Yanshi introduced himself and then told him about Xu Yuanlang's suspicion of him and the matter of seizing his troops.

Liu Shiche is sending this note to demonstrate his legitimacy. He intends to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, offering to open the gates of Rencheng for Li Yi, help Li Yi capture Rencheng, take Xu Yuanlang's eldest son prisoner, and annihilate the city's 15,000 troops.

Liu Shiche suffered a loss he couldn't speak of in Yanzhou City.
Xu Yuanlang spoke so eloquently, inviting him to Yanzhou to discuss important matters, promising to appoint Liu Shiche as the Left Vice Minister of the Henan Circuit and the Governor-General of Xuzhou. In the end, he brought five thousand men with him.

Xu Yuanlang, however, swallowed up their troops and only gave him the position of Sima of Yanzhou. How could Liu Shiche swallow this insult?

I really thought Sheng Yanshi and Jiang Shanhe had surrendered, but it turns out they didn't surrender at all.

"Do you think Liu Shiche's surrender is genuine or feigned?" Li Yi convened a military council and asked the generals.

Zhang Gongjin hesitated slightly, but spoke first, "This Liu Shiche, like his father Liu Quan, is quite famous in the Xu and Yan areas. He once called himself the Prefect of Langya Commandery, and later also submitted to Li Mi, and was appointed as the Governor of Northern Xu Province."
He had previously returned to his hometown to observe three years of mourning for his parents. Northern Xuzhou was annexed by Xu Yuanlang, and later seized by Wang Shibian…

In chaotic times, Liu Shiche still upheld traditional filial piety, returning home to observe three years of mourning for his mother, while his territory was contested by Xu Yuanlang, Wang Shibian, and Zang Junxiang.

However, when he completed his mourning period and left the mountain, he was able to immediately recruit five thousand men to follow him.

However, upon arriving in Yanzhou, Xu Yuanlang annexed these 5,000 soldiers, which certainly displeased Liu Shiche. Zhang Gongjin believed that Liu Shiche's offer to surrender to an inside agent must be genuine.

"If it were me, and Xu Yuanlang did that to me, I would stab him in the back too."

The other generals also felt that if they were in Liu Shiche's shoes, they would probably have gone even further.

"Lord Commander, this humble general is willing to be the first to enter the city. If we confirm there is no deception, after we seize the city gate, Lord Commander will then send other troops into the city," Zhang Gongjin said, patting his chest.

"it is good,"

Li Yi smiled and agreed.

Whether it's a scam or not, it's worth a try.

Although Rencheng was built on a plain, the city was quite large, with high walls and well-equipped moats. During this period, the Rencheng garrison even dug many horse traps and planted many plum blossom stakes outside the city, which greatly increased the difficulty of attacking the city.

Li Yi has never liked to launch a direct assault on cities. In this day and age, the casualties from sieges are too great, and they also take too much time.

Li Yi was unwilling to use the method of attacking cities with gunpowder unless absolutely necessary.

Li Yi rewarded Liu Shiche's troops with mutton and tea, sat down and chatted with him for a while, and finally, as dusk fell, let him quietly return to the city.

Whether this detachment returns to the city or not is irrelevant. Liu Shiche has already arranged the signal; tonight, he will raise three red lanterns at the west gate.
If the Tang army outside the city responds with three green lanterns, he will open the gates to welcome them into the city.

It's that simple.

As for how Liu Shiche intends to seize Ximen, that's his business. Liu Shiche, a renowned hero in Dongxia, would have nothing to say if he didn't have the ability.

Li Yi gave Zhang Gongjin three thousand men, and he was responsible for entering the west gate first.

The mission was to wait for Liu Shiche to open the west gate, and then he would lead his troops into the city. However, once inside the city, the primary task was to seize the west gate and control the city walls. He was not in a hurry to rush in, but to have complete control of the west gate to prevent the enemy from using any tricks.

Only after the west gate was completely under their control did they continue to send troops deeper into the city.

Millet rice, mutton soup,

Three thousand vanguard troops received a supplementary meal.

Night falls.

Rencheng, ten miles away, was silent, and the Tang army camps were also very quiet.

Officers patrolling the camp,

Military orders were strict. After dark, no noise or movement was allowed in the camp. Each camp had its own password, and anyone who could not match the password when entering or leaving would be shot immediately.

If there is any disturbance in the camp, execute them immediately.

Anyone who dares to fight or brawl will be executed without mercy.

Without strict military regulations, it is difficult to win battles.

Only with strict military regulations can orders be obeyed and prohibitions enforced.

This set of knowledge was taught to him by Li Jing before. After fighting for several years, Li Yi is now quite experienced.

Inside the central command tent,
Li Yi was also still checking his own deployment.

In the latter half of the night, all the troops set out together.

Zhang Gongjin headed straight for the west gate of Rencheng, while Li Yi would also deploy an army outside the other three gates of Rencheng.

Once Zhang Gongjin succeeds at the west gate, the east and south gates will be immediately blocked, while the north gate will be left open – a classic strategy of surrounding three sides while leaving one open.

An army will also be stationed at the North Gate, and in greater numbers, but their mission is not to block the gate, but to ambush outside the North Gate.

Intercepting and killing along the way would be more effective than directly blocking the gate, and would be more likely to break the enemy's morale.

There will also be people left in the camp, auxiliary soldiers to guard the supplies, and some combat soldiers to guard the camp.

“This Sheng Yanshi is acting recklessly. The Minister of Works has ordered him to release Li Yiman.”

"I guess the order hasn't been delivered yet."

"In short, Sheng Yanshi cannot escape responsibility this time. What a disaster has he caused because of his mistake? Now Yunzhou has fallen, Wang Bo has been killed, and Jizhou and Qizhou are in danger of falling again."

Li Yi listened to the generals' discussions but didn't pay much attention.

The incident has already happened, so there's no point in pursuing too much blame. Now is not the time to focus on blame; the focus now is on how to make amends.

Of course, it's not a big problem.

If we capture Rencheng tonight, Xu Yuanlang will lose this important city and his main force, and then he can only wait to die.

War,
It's impossible for everything to go according to plan.

Time passes little by little.

Finally, the time for the planned attack arrived.

After a long nap following his meal, Zhang Gongjin rubbed his face, looking refreshed.

"Auxiliary soldier, come and put on your armor!"

The auxiliary soldiers in the camp quickly came over and helped the soldiers put on their armor.

The warhorses also had their hooves wrapped up, and each soldier was given a piece of wood to bite on. Both men and horses had their hooves wrapped up, all to avoid making noise that would alert the enemy.

They even had to walk ten miles in the dark to the west gate of Rencheng. Just in case,

Zhang Gongjin immediately ordered the entire camp to don armor and march in the dark for ten miles to prevent the enemy from ambushing them along the way.

It's better to work harder than to be careless.

Fortunately, although they were wearing armor, the Attendant-in-Ordinary provided them with horses and mules, so they could ride directly to the city walls without having to walk there themselves.

"set off!"

Zhang Gongjin led three thousand infantrymen on horseback, advancing stealthily towards Rencheng, ten miles to the north.
The moonlight is beautiful tonight.
As clear and bright as a jade plate,
It made marching easier; otherwise, marching in the dark without torches would have been extremely difficult.

"Even the heavens are on our side," Zhang Gongjin said, looking at the bright earth with great satisfaction.

Troops and soldiers quietly left the camp.

Li Yi remained in the camp.

Yawning, Li Yi looked at the sand table and map in front of him, then suddenly threw down the official documents in his hand. "I'm going to sleep. Don't wake me unless there's urgent bad news."

"What if it's good news?"

"Good news won't disturb my sweet dreams."

Li Yi spread out the blanket, lay down, and fell asleep.

Liu Heizi stared blankly, "Ah Lang, you can really sleep?"

"Don't make any noise."

"Should we put on the armor first, just in case something happens?"

"Liu Biaoqi, go patrol the camp outside. Don't disturb my sweet dreams. I'm going to sleep."

Li Yi turned his back and soon began to snore.

Liu Heizi was completely impressed. How could you sleep at a time like this?
The battle is about to begin. There are 15,000 rebel troops in Rencheng, ten miles away.

Liu Heizi himself couldn't sleep at all. Even though he didn't participate in the battle tonight and just stayed at the camp, he was still very excited.

He didn't even dare to remove his armor; he was fully armored.

Stepping out of the tent, he said to Song Yi and Chen Lingjiao, "You two take turns keeping watch and set up the main tent. I'll go patrol the camp."

Li Yi slept very soundly.

No one dared to disturb him, and he slept soundly until the sun was high in the sky.

He sat up. The tent was quiet, but there were voices outside.

"Someone is coming."

Song Yi lifted the curtain and walked in, his face beaming with undisguised joy. "My lord, you're awake."

"Did you win?" Li Yi asked.

"Yes, a great victory. Last night, all the generals acted according to Alang's plan, and everything went smoothly. Liu Shiche indeed opened the west gate, and General Zhang Gongjin led his troops into the city, capturing the west gate immediately..."

"How many were beheaded and how many were captured?" Li Yi interrupted him.

"According to statistics, more than 800 were captured, 12,000 were taken prisoner, and about 2,000 or 3,000 escaped. Xu Yuanlang's eldest son did not escape and was captured alive by Liu Shiche."

"Ah Lang, Liu Shiche is waiting outside."

While Li Yi slept soundly last night, the Tang soldiers fought tirelessly through the night, mainly busy pursuing and capturing prisoners.
The battle in the city did not last long. After Zhang Gongjin took control of the west gate, Rencheng was declared lost.

Tang troops continued to pour in.

No one knows what methods Liu Shiche used, but Xu Dalang was completely unprepared, and the 15,000 soldiers in the city were just for show.

The Tang army entered the city.

Liu Shiche led a small team directly into the wealthy mansion in the city where Young Master Xu lived, and by capturing the leader first, he took Young Master Xu into custody in one fell swoop.

Then he took Xu Dalang's seal, wrote a bunch of fake orders, stamped them, and sent them to his subordinates.

As a result, the city's defenders offered almost no resistance and fled in droves.

However, the Tang army had already laid a trap. Once they left Rencheng and were in chaos outside the city, how could they escape? Many Yanzhou soldiers surrendered directly.

Li Yi rubbed his face.
I feel more energetic now.

He tidied his hair and straightened his clothes.

As he walked out of the tent,

At this moment, a group of officers and soldiers, as well as a group of surrendered generals from Yanzhou led by Liu Shiche, were waiting outside the tent, all standing up straight.

"Greetings, Master Sikong."

"Meet Sikong!"

Countless greetings rang out.

Li Yi smiled and said, "Everyone has worked hard. Have you had breakfast yet?"

The generals gave conflicting answers, some saying they had just hastily ate some dry rations, others saying they hadn't had time to eat yet.

"Last night's battle was excellent! We captured Rencheng in the night and annihilated 13,000 enemy soldiers. A great victory!"

"The greatest credit for this battle belongs to General Liu Shiche, the governor of Northern Xuzhou, and General Zhang Gongjin, the senior official of the Ministry of Justice of our Grand Secretariat."

"Liu Heizi!"

"Your subordinate is here!" Liu Heizi hurriedly stepped forward.

"Brothers, you fought all night, how come you haven't even prepared breakfast? Quickly cook hot soup and rice for everyone, so that the brothers can fill their stomachs first."

After the meal, we moved our camp to Rencheng, slaughtered pigs and sheep, and will reward the entire army tonight with at least one pound of meat for each person.

“Take good care of those prisoners, and provide them with clean water and rice porridge.”

After such a great victory, there are still many things to do. We need to continue searching for prisoners, move our camp to Rencheng, and immediately purchase pork, mutton, wine, and other dishes to reward the troops that evening.

Not to mention that battle achievements and spoils of war had to be registered and recorded.

Merit must not be wasted, and rewards must not be delayed; these must be done as soon as possible.

(End of this chapter)