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

Chapter 442 The Final Battle at Mingshui

Mingzhou, Feixiang County.

Dou Jiande stood on the city wall. The weather was clear, and he could see the Tang army's camps twenty miles away.

Seeing the Tang army closing in step by step, Dou Jiande frowned in worry.

With the loss of Xiangzhou, Cizhou, and Xingzhou, the capital of the Great Xia Dynasty, Mingzhou, is about to be besieged.

Xia Jun has now retreated to Feixiang County in Mingzhou, defending the southern branch of the Zhang River.

Since the Sui Dynasty, the Zhang River has changed its course frequently. Today, the Zhang River splits into two branches in Cheng'an County. The northern branch flows north through Feixiang, Jize, and Julu before joining the Yongji Canal south of Cangzhou. The southern branch flows through Qingzhang, Zongcheng, and Qinghe, and finally joins the Yongji Canal at Gonggao after passing through Jing County.

The section south of Cheng'an marks the boundary of the five prefectures of Ciming, Xiangwei, and Bei.

Now that Dou Jiande has retreated to Feixiang, he uses the southern branch of the Zhang River as a defense, attempting to block the Tang army south of Mingzhou.

"Send someone to the Turkic Khanate again, and try to persuade Khagan Jieli to send troops south, no matter what."

A single tributary of the Zhang River could not stop the Tang army. As the outer defenses fell one after another, Dou Jiande finally felt the same way Wang Shichong had felt in Luoyang the previous year.

It's regrettable that I didn't listen to Ling Jing and others' advice at the time, and didn't decisively send troops south to rescue them. Instead, I believed Cao Bao and others, thinking that we could take advantage of the Tang-Zheng war to seize Youzhou and then take Henan.

As a result, the Tang army quickly destroyed the Zheng state and is now crossing the Yellow River northward.

I regret it now.

Chuluo Khan also died at the worst possible time.

For more than two months, Li Shimin had not made any mistakes, which made Dou Jiande hesitate to fight a decisive battle. As a result, he is now mired in a quagmire and is getting deeper and deeper into it.

Cao Bao, standing nearby, said, "To be honest, it's all Liu Shishan's fault for disobeying the imperial edict. If he had obeyed the edict and honestly guarded Weizhou City, things wouldn't have come to this."

His Majesty issued him several imperial edicts, but he insisted on pursuing the enemy for three days and four nights, ultimately resulting in the annihilation of his entire army at Chanyuan, and the loss of Weixin and Bozhou to Li Yi in one fell swoop.

Otherwise, with the two prefectures of Weibo and Bo in place, how could we be in such a passive position?

Liu Heita stood silently at the back. Liu Shishan was his younger brother, and it was he who suggested that Liu Shishan stay behind.

"Now is not the time to talk about these things. Let's talk about the present. Luo Yi, Liu Shirang, Gao Kaidao, Sudi Ji, Deng Song, and others have gathered 50,000 troops and marched south. They are now stationed in Xingzhou, Pingxiang, and Julu, which are downstream from us."

Li Yi had another 20,000 men in Zongbei. Although the two prefectures of Zongbei were defended, the presence of Li Yi's 20,000 men also blocked the flow of money, grain, and troops from the east.

We must break this deadlock!

"King Xia, this humble general requests permission to lead 8,000 elite troops to Zongbei to capture and kill Li Yi, annihilate this Tang army, relieve the danger on our eastern front, and reopen the supply lines." Liu Heita stepped forward to request the order.

Dou Jiande hesitated.

At this critical juncture, with Luo Yi leading 50,000 troops south to join forces with Li Shimin, Dou Jiande is no longer at a numerical advantage.

At this point, splitting forces to attack Tang's detachment under Li Yi might not significantly improve the overall situation if they won, but losing could make things even more complicated.

"Report!"

A fast horseman arrived.

"Reporting to King Xia, Mingshui County has fallen, and Li Yi has entered the city."

Dou Jiande felt a sudden darkness before his eyes and almost fainted.

Cao Bao angrily rebuked, "What nonsense are you talking about? Li Yi is still in Zongbei. His troops haven't made any progress in a month. They only managed to capture Zhangqiaodian. How could he suddenly arrive in Mingzhou and even take Mingshui City?"

To the east of Mingshui City lies Ping'en County, and to its north and south lie Qingzhang and Quzhou. Can Li Yi fly?

"They were Li Quhuo, Li Panmai, and several others from Mingshui County. They had originally served as cavalry and charioteer under Liu Shishan, and were captured during the Battle of Chanyuan."

But then they suddenly returned to Mingshui, saying that Zongzhou had fallen and they had broken out of Zongzhou. There were members of the Li family among the Mingshui garrison, and they were allowed into the city in the middle of the night. Then Li Quhuo gathered several hundred members of his clan, seized the city gates, and led the Tang army into the city…”

Dou Jiande steadied himself by holding onto the battlements.

"Quickly, Heita, you immediately lead 8,000, no, 30,000 infantry and cavalry to Mingshui and make sure to retake Mingshui City."

Liu Heita received the order.

"You go first, I'll be right there."

To the south lay Li Shimin's main force of tens of thousands of Tang troops. Dou Jiande dared not be careless and had to keep an eye on this Tang army, retreating slowly. Otherwise, Li Shimin, who was capable of both offense and defense, might seize the opportunity.

The south bank of the southern branch of the Zhanghe River.

Inside the Tang army's camp,
Li Shimin, the military commander of Hebei Province, also received an urgent letter from Li Yi.

"Mingshui City has been captured?"

Li Shimin couldn't believe it. He was thinking about attacking Mingshui next, so that he could surround and annihilate Dou Jiande's more than 100,000 men in Mingzhou.

Unexpectedly, Li Yi, who had been silent all month, quietly reported another victory.

"Your Majesty, please take a look at how Li Yi took over Mingshui." Tang Jian and the others were also very curious.

Li Shimin opened the letter and began reading it aloud as he went.

After reading,

Everyone couldn't help but sigh in admiration. Li Yi was indeed a lucky general; among the prisoners were three generals from Mingshui who not only surrendered voluntarily but were also willing to help the Tang army capture Mingshui City.

They acted swiftly, capturing Mingshui City for Li Yi in just half a day.

"Dou Jiande is doomed now. We've completely surrounded him from all sides, and we're locking the door to beat him!"

"Catching a turtle in a jar!"

"Hahaha."

The generals laughed heartily. They had been in Hebei for a hundred days since entering the province in March, but most of the time they had been in a stalemate. They hadn't fought many battles, but the pressure of facing off against more than 100,000 Xia troops was immense.

Everyone was unable to eat or sleep well all day, and was under constant high tension, always on guard against the Xia army's attack.

The weather has been so hot lately, it's been unbearable, and everyone is just waiting for the battle to end.

Now we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Li Shimin sent down the news of victory.
Walking up to the sand table, staring at it, Deputy Commander Li Yuanji picked up a small flag and planted it on the Mingshui City.

To the north of Mingzhou lies Luo Yi's 50,000-strong allied army.
On the south bank of the Zhang River was Li Shimin's army of 60,000 men.
To the east are Li Yi's 20,000 men, and further east are Li Daliang's 20,000 men.

Now the Tang army even had a numerical advantage.

"King Qin, let's launch a general offensive!" Li Yuanji said excitedly.

Li Shimin glanced at his ugly younger brother, ignoring him. He then stared at the sand table for a while, studying it carefully. "I predict that after Dou Jiande hears the news of the fall of Mingshui City, he will definitely send a general to divide his troops and try to retake Mingshui City."
This is an opportunity.

He pointed to the area between Feixiang County and Mingshui County. Both Mingshui and Feixiang are located on the east bank of the northern branch of the Zhang River. Between the two cities is Lieren City, which was established as Lieren County during the Han Dynasty. The county was abolished during the Sui Dynasty, but the old county town still exists.

"We can ambush them here!"

Li Yuanji was puzzled. "Dou Jiande's 120,000-strong army is blocking our north side. How can we bypass Feixiang County and run to Lieren City to ambush them?"

“Naturally, we should divide our forces,” Li Shimin said, pointing to Lieren City. “We can select 5,000 cavalrymen to sneak along the west bank of the Zhang River, cross the river at Lieren City, and ambush the enemy as they pass by.”

Li Yuanji stroked his red beard and said, "I will lead five thousand cavalry there."

Li Shimin ignored him and instead looked at the four cavalry generals under his command.

The four cavalry generals, Qin Shubao, Cheng Yaojin, Zhai Changsun, and Duan Zhixuan, commanded the two thousand most elite Xuanjia cavalry of the Qin Prince's mansion.

"I'll give you five thousand elite cavalry. Go to the city of Lieren and ambush them. Do you have the confidence?"

Qin Shubao patted his chest, "Five thousand cavalry? We've never fought such a rich battle before. I'm wondering who can withstand an ambush of five thousand elite cavalry."

Cheng Yaojin also laughed and said, "That's right, five thousand cavalrymen! My goodness, spread out on the plains, that's an overwhelming force!"

"Even 50,000 enemy infantrymen couldn't stop the charge of these 5,000 elite cavalry!"

Li Shimin laughed and said, "Don't underestimate the enemy. There are many cavalry in Hebei, and the brave cavalry of Youyan and the warriors of Wei and Zhao should not be underestimated."

Your goal is to prevent Dou Jiande's men from reaching Mingshui immediately.
Mingshui is just a small town; we need to buy Li Yi some time to fortify its defenses.

Li Shimin did not intend to leave Li Yi to guard Mingshui alone.
He will also take advantage of the situation to press forward, and at the same time, he will send orders to Li Yi, Liu Shirang and other generals in the north, instructing them to march south along the Zhang River.

"Let's fight to the death at Mingshui!"

The time for the decisive battle has finally arrived.

A fierce battle will ensue for control of Mingshui City, but with Mingshui City in the hands of the Tang army, the Tang army will be invincible.

As long as they hold Mingshui, Dou Jiande's hundreds of thousands of men will be completely trapped.

To ensure everything went smoothly, Li Shimin dispatched another 10,000 infantry and cavalry to rush over.

"You should ambush them on the Zhang River near Lieren City. If the enemy is small, Shubao and his men can annihilate them with cavalry. If the enemy is large, Shubao and your men can feign defeat to lure them to the riverbank, and then 10,000 infantrymen can charge out and join forces to annihilate them."

"Liu Hongji, Li Shiji, Fan Shixing, and Huang Junhan, you will lead 10,000 infantrymen to go there."

These four were all generals of the Central Army and all dukes.

Eight chief stewards and eight dukes led 15,000 elite infantry and cavalry to launch an ambush.

Li Shimin led the remaining 45,000 Tang troops to keep an eye on Dou Jiande's main force.

"Wu Yi has broken the deadlock for us, so we must seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." Li Shimin's face was beaming.

Not only has the time for the decisive battle arrived,

And victory is in sight.

We've waited over a hundred days, isn't this the kind of opportunity we've been waiting for?

Prince Qi, Li Yuanji, was dissatisfied.
"King Qin, I am the deputy commander of the expeditionary force. I request to command all troops, whether infantry or cavalry, and I want to unify the entire region."

Li Shimin snorted coldly, "You are my deputy commander, you will accompany me in the main camp."

Why did you deliberately prevent me from commanding troops?

"We'll talk about it when you've achieved truly convincing military exploits."

daytime,

The Xia and Tang armies on both sides of the Zhang River remained relatively still, with hundreds of thousands of troops facing each other in a standoff, each side having countless scouts and light cavalry keeping a close watch on the other's every move.

Any movement of thousands of people will inevitably be noticed by the other side.

We can only act after dark.

Both sides have the same plan.

midnight,

At the North Bank Camp, Liu Heita led 30,000 infantry and cavalry to Mingshui City, a distance of only about 80 li. The men were gagged and the horses' hooves were covered.

Dou Jiande feared Li Yi's reputation for defending the city, so he specially gave Liu Heita 30,000 infantry and cavalry. With so few troops, there was no point in rushing there.

We also need to carry some siege equipment.

They were willing to spend an extra three or four days marching in order to gain the ability to capture Mingshui.

South bank Tangying,

Li Shimin personally saw Qin Qiong and his men off, with 5,000 light cavalry leading the way, followed by Li Shiji and 10,000 infantry.

"We eagerly await your good news!"

Uncle Qin nodded, and before leaving, he reminded Li Shimin, "We are taking away 15,000 elite infantry and cavalry, leaving Your Majesty with only 40,000 troops. Be careful of Dou Jiande. If he suddenly launches a counterattack, we must be cautious."

Dou Jiande's army on the north bank was nearly three times the size of Li Shimin's remaining troops.

"Don't worry, my camp is very well-established. I'm not afraid of his attack. If he dares to come, we'll strike him while he's crossing the river," Li Shimin laughed loudly.

Mingshui City.

Li Yi stroked the battlements of Mingshui City. The city was indeed not large, but it was surrounded by rivers on all sides, forming a natural moat that was sixty or seventy meters wide. Although it was not as wide as the moat of Xiangcheng, it was much more defensive than the moats that were generally about two zhang wide.

The city has only two gates, one to the north and one to the south, each connected to the opposite bank by a causeway.

One man can guard the gate, but ten thousand men cannot open it.

To attack Mingshui City, we first need to fill in the moat, which is three or four feet deep, to create several roads.

At this time, there were 3,000 Tang cavalry, 8,000 infantry, plus 1,000 local soldiers and retainers from powerful clans such as the Li family of Mingshui.

A total of 12,000 men.

Without capturing Ping'en County in the east, and without taking Feixiang and Qingzhang in the south, Li Yi's 12,000 men were actually deep in enemy territory and surrounded by the Xia army.

However, he had already written to Li Shimin, believing that the Prince of Qin would not miss this opportunity.

"Before Dou Jiande arrives, we must quickly strengthen our defenses."

(End of this chapter)