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

Chapter 447 Endless Battlefield
Liu Heita rode his horse to the eastern camp of the city.

Under the Golden Banner, Dou Jiande had already heard of Liu Heita's defeat. The heavy cannons that had been painstakingly transported and assembled had been smashed to pieces by the Tang army in Mingshui City, and thousands of cannon wielders had suffered heavy casualties.

"Your Majesty, I am incompetent and have once again failed to live up to your trust. I beg you to punish me!"

Liu Heita knelt outside the tent, filled with shame and begging for forgiveness.

Dou Jiande walked out of the main tent and personally helped him up. "Victory and defeat are common occurrences in war. It can only be said that Li Yi in Mingshui City is indeed a man of great reputation. His skill in defense is well-deserved. Even I did not expect that he would suddenly appear in Mingshui from Weizhou and bring so many heavy cannons with him."

They helped Liu Heita up and even patted the dust off his clothes.

This moment felt like many years ago, when Dou Jiande was still farming in the village, while the young Liu Heita was idle and fond of gambling and drinking. Every time he lost everything gambling, or even incurred gambling debts, he would come to Dou Jiande for help.
Dou Jiande always helped him, time and time again. Others disliked Liu Heita for his gambling and drinking, thinking he was untrustworthy, but Dou Jiande always believed in him and helped him.

"Even without cannons and ballistae, we can still attack the city," Dou Jiande patted his arm. "Heita, we're truly at a life-or-death situation this time. Li Shimin is launching a fierce attack from the south. I've ordered Gao Yaxian, Fan Yuan, and Cao Dan to hold them off."
Li Shimin personally led the Xuanjia cavalry in a charge; this was the third major battle of the day.

Thousands of our Hebei soldiers have already been killed or wounded.

But they're still holding on.

"We don't have much time left. We must take Mingshui City as soon as possible. Otherwise, even if we hold off Li Shimin, Luo Yigao is on his way."

These words filled Liu Heita with shame. He gritted his teeth and said, "Please rest assured, King Xia, I will definitely take Mingshui City."

"I believe in you, go." Dou Jiande took off his golden helmet and put it on Liu Heita.

Liu Heita returned to the northeast corner of the city.
The heavy cannons and crossbows were mostly destroyed, and now only some small catapults remained. Liu Heita gritted his teeth, looking at Mingshui City, which showed no signs of damage.

Li Yi,
This young man truly deserves his respect.

“King Xia didn’t blame us,” Liu Heita summoned Wang Xiaohu and his generals, “but our time is running out. Li Shimin is launching a fierce attack from the south, and Luo Yigao is leading his troops to the north at a rapid pace.”
We'll risk our lives to take down Huanshui City.
Organize a rotational assault, with archers providing cover and battering rams leading the charge, rushing along the two passageways to deliver ladders to the city walls, then swarming up to scale the walls.
Whoever reaches the top of the city wall first will be rewarded with a thousand taels of gold!

Without heavy artillery,
With only a few crossbow carts, they had to navigate the two narrow passageways, each a little over three zhang wide, and cross the moat, which stretched for more than fifty paces.

This requires risking one's life.

But Liu Heita's eyes turned red.
After two crushing defeats, he must recapture Mingshui City for the Xia King.
at all costs.

"Hebei belongs to us Hebei people. We cannot surrender to those Guanzhong people. Think of the benevolence of the Xia king, and think of the increasing stability in Hebei over the past few years. We must win!"

Liu Heita is indeed quite good at inspiring people.

Despite having just suffered a crushing defeat, the Hebei Xia army quickly resumed its cheers and the sound of war drums. Without artillery, the artillery duel was no longer necessary.
Initiate the attack immediately.

Battering rams, covered with raw cowhide and with sloping roofs, each housed a group of armored soldiers who propelled their wheels forward.

If there weren't enough battering rams, they used large shields to hold them up, with a row of shields followed by a group of armored soldiers.

The passageways in the two moats, each fifty paces long and three zhang wide,

Like a road to death.
However, the Xia army still launched an attack with reckless courage and fearlessness.

On the city wall, Li Yi shook his head.

He had already foreseen victory.

Dou Jiande may have been popular in Hebei, and he may have been frugal, but in the end, the struggle for power still depended on military confrontation.

He missed many good opportunities.
For example, in the previous Battle of Hedong, when the Tang Dynasty was almost forced to retreat to Guanzhong by Liu Wuzhou, Dou Jiande actively swept through many prefectures of the Li Tang in Hebei. However, they stopped in Hebei and did not launch a more aggressive attack on Shangdang or Daibei.

Or they might quickly head south to Henan.

Dou Jiande was somewhat complacent with his small fortune and lacked a sense of urgency. Since Li Yuan entered Guanzhong, the wars had never stopped, one after another, and even when Chang'an was out of troops, he did not stop.

For example, in the battle against Wang Shichong in Henan last year, Dou Jiande outmaneuvered Li Yuan, wanting to join forces with Chuluo Khan to launch a five-pronged attack on the Tang Dynasty, but was unwilling to send troops early. Even towards Meng Haigong and others in Henan, he only pressed his army in, forcing them to surrender before withdrawing.

They went back to fight Youzhou to the death.

If Dou Jiande had not been content with the superficial submission of Meng Haigong, Xu Yuanlang, and others last year, but instead seized the opportunity to send troops to conquer the prefectures east of the Grand Canal in Henan, thoroughly defeating and annexing local warlords such as Meng Haigong and Wang Bu, and truly establishing effective direct rule over those dozen or so prefectures...
When the Tang dynasty launched a fierce attack on Wang Shichong, the government decisively intervened, managing to protect Wang Shichong and at least hold Luoyang, Hanoi, and Hulao Pass.
Then the Li Tang dynasty would be stuck in Henan and unable to move north to Hebei in the short term.

In fact,
This year,

After Chuluo Khan's death, Jieli retreated to the grasslands, and the Tang army attacked Hebei. If Dou Jiande had been more decisive and engaged Li Shimin in a decisive battle at Xiangzhou sooner...
Otherwise, we wouldn't be in this predicament of being surrounded by enemies.

In Li Yi's view, Dou Jiande might be able to serve as a pacification commissioner or a governor of several prefectures, but in this chaotic world of vying for supremacy, he lacked many of the qualities of a ruthless and ambitious leader.

This is just like Xiao Xian, who, in order to fight for power with the group of military leaders who supported him, issued a decree to send his 400,000 troops back to farm. Isn't this just crippling himself?

The war has reached this point,
Dou Jiande is now facing a complete strategic failure, making one mistake after another. His minor tactical victories can no longer change the outcome.

Moreover, the Tang armies in Hebei are now composed of many outstanding generals and have an incredibly luxurious lineup. How could the Hebei army possibly defeat them?

Perhaps he changed from the moment Dou Jiande killed Wang Fubao and Song Zhengben. He was no longer the daring and aggressive Dou Jiande of the past, but became a timid and hesitant King of Xia.

"Chief Steward Du, Governor Liu, I'm leaving this place to you."

Li Yi assigned the task of defending the city to Du Caigan and Liu Lancheng, who were assigned to the first shift. The second shift was assigned to Niu Jinda and Sheng Yanshi, and the third shift was assigned to Wu Heita and Jiang Shanhe.

Liu Shiche and Liu Rengui were assigned to the reserve force.

After making the arrangements, Li Yi returned to the county government office.

The ensuing battle will be extremely fierce.
He didn't want to see the scene of blood and flesh flying everywhere and corpses piled up like mountains. He estimated that the fish in the moat would be inedible for the next few years.

First, arrange for the wounded soldiers' camp and the accompanying hospital, and make preparations.

Almost all the medicinal herbs in the city have been requisitioned.

Back in the backyard of the county government office,

Huo Yu was practicing her swordplay and wasn't surprised to see Li Yi return. "What, you don't want to see the fierce battle?"

"What's so interesting about it?"

"You are a high-ranking general who is also a Grand Commandant and Attendant-in-Ordinary. You are too kind to command troops. I have never seen such a great general as you who is afraid of people who die."

Li Yi sighed, "It's not that I'm afraid of the dead, but it's painful to watch. We're all born of the same parents, yet here we are, killing each other. I wonder how many people will die, and how many will become crippled."

Huo Yu remained quite calm, having long since become indifferent to life and death.

"If killing so many people could bring two or three hundred years of peace, it would be worth it."

Li Yi felt uneasy and even developed a sense of disgust towards this kind of murder game.

"Play chess with me for a while."

"it is good."

Li Yi and Huo Yu were playing chess in the courtyard, but they were both somewhat distracted.

Are you worried about Prime Minister Wen?

"Hmm, I heard that the King of Qin is leading his troops in battle against Dou Jiande's army south of the city. Minister Wen may be fighting on the battlefield right now. I wonder if he is alright," Huo Yu sighed. "I only have this one child."

"Don't you plan to have a few more children?" Li Yi asked casually.

Huo Yu held a white chess piece in her hand, looked up at Li Yi, and asked, "Do you want me to have your child?"

Li Yi came to his senses and thought, "Having a child with someone you like should also be something you like, right?"

Huo Yu shook her head. "Forget it. If I really give birth, the child will be pitiful without a name or status. If your wife brings people to beat me up, I won't have any face left."

"However, what you said makes sense. Perhaps I could adopt a few orphans, um, a few girls. If any fallen soldiers have orphans who have no one to care for them, maybe I could adopt two or three."

"Then let them call you 'Father'."

Li Yi thought of the little firecracker at home, who was now the eldest sister in the Duke of Jin's mansion.

“Sure, you can have as many as you want for me, I don’t mind.”

"I'm afraid Wen Xiang will mind," Huo Yu said. Their relationship had been spread before, and quite a few people knew about it, but the two of them had never publicly acknowledged it.

A three-way battle ensued around Mingshui City.

Liu Heita launched a relentless, three-day offensive against Mingshui City, sieging it through two narrow passages, each three zhang wide.
Now, the corpses and battering rams have filled in several more meters on both sides.
The passageway was ten zhang wide.

The summer heat is intense.

Many of the corpses in the moat couldn't be removed immediately, and by three days they had already rotted and started to stink.
But Liu Heita didn't stop.

Soldiers were ordered to bring wood and firewood and lay them directly on the corpses, then cover them with several layers of soil. This was considered a rudimentary solution, and wave after wave of attacks continued relentlessly.

One after another, they died.
In three days, tens of thousands of soldiers who attacked the city died.

But he dared not stop.

Li Shimin did not stop in the south of the city, launching a three-day offensive, bringing the battlefield ten miles closer to Mingshui City.

Now, standing on the city wall, one can clearly see the Tang army to the south.

Dou Jiande has already personally directed the defenses in the south.
The two sides fought an endless battle.
Three days,

More than a dozen battles, large and small.
Despite having a numerical advantage, Xia Jun found himself increasingly unable to hold on as the battle progressed.

Before the Battle of Lieren City, Dou Jiande had assembled 120,000 Xia troops at his Feixiang camp, claiming to number 300,000. However, Liu Heita ambushed them in Lieren City with 30,000 infantry and cavalry. After a day of fierce fighting, 25,000 were captured or killed.

Arriving at the foot of Mingshui City,
They fought for another three days, besieging the city for three days and suffering 11,000 casualties. Li Shimin then launched a fierce attack from the south for three days, suffering roughly the same number of casualties.

More than 40,000 men have already been lost.

Casualties reduced the number of personnel by one-third.

Such battle losses would have collapsed an ordinary army, but Dou Jiande and Liu Heita were still maintaining a two-front war and holding on. It has to be said that the Xia army was indeed quite formidable.

Liu Heita launched a fierce attack day and night.

But they just couldn't conquer the small city of Mingshui.

Dou Jiande had more troops than Li Shimin, yet Li Shimin advanced ten miles in three days.

The war has come to this point.

It has become a contest of endurance, or even a battle for faith.

Li Yi climbed onto the city wall again.
Liu Heita's siege of the city had stalled, and the air was thick with the stench of rotting corpses. Li Yi saw that Dou Jiande's defenses had completely collapsed and he had been forced to retreat to the eastern camp.

In fact,
Xia Jun was on the verge of collapse. Although he still had 70,000 to 80,000 men, the past three days had exhausted their last fighting spirit, and their morale was low and their men and horses were exhausted.

The makeshift camp was utterly incapable of stopping the Tang army's attack.

Won,

Tang army won.

It's finally over.

Dou Jiande, Liu Heita, Fan Yuan, Gao Yaxian, Qi Shanxing, and other generals of the Great Xia Dynasty, along with the seventy to eighty thousand desperate Xia soldiers, were all trapped with no way to escape.

Song Yi handed Li Yi a mask, a thick mask, which could at least block out some of the odor.

"This mask was sewn by Steward Huo himself for Alang, and there are some medicines inside."

Li Yi took it and put it on.
Looking out of the city, he thought, "This is simply hell on earth. In just three days, there are at least 30,000 corpses and 30,000 lives lost here."

A single battle that resulted in the deaths of 30,000 people is enough to be recorded in history.

(End of this chapter)