A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

Liu Wu and his men rushed over in a great hurry.

Li Shimin used the mobility of his cavalry to fight and retreat, suffering few losses, but he killed many of Liu Wuzhou's troops while flying kites, which infuriated Liu Wuzhou.

Liu Wuzhou chased after Li Shimin and came to a wide open space, where dense forests stretched out on both sides.

However, Liu Wuzhou was now blinded by rage and chased after them without a second thought.

After catching up, Liu Wuzhou discovered that Li Shimin had not continued running, but was sitting leisurely on his horse, seemingly waiting for him.

Liu Wuzhou raised an eyebrow. What did Li Shimin mean by that?

"Hey kid, why aren't you running anymore?"

"Liu Wuzhou, your death is near."

Li Shimin led his cavalry in a counter-charge against Liu Wuzhou.

"court death!"

Liu Wuzhou laughed heartily and led his troops to charge forward.

Suddenly, a large number of soldiers emerged from the dense forests on both sides. These soldiers were all Tang soldiers.

After running out of the dense forest, they began shooting arrows at Liu Wuzhou's Zhou army, which suffered heavy losses in an instant.

"There might be an ambush!"

Liu Wuzhou was greatly alarmed.

Taking advantage of this great opportunity, Li Shimin led his army directly into Liu Wuzhou's army. Relying on the powerful impact of his iron cavalry and their superior armor, he charged through the army, breaking it into disjointed sections.

The sudden attack and subsequent division by cavalry caused a sharp drop in the morale of Liu Wuzhou's army.

In addition, it was already past midnight, and the body was already very tired. After chasing Li Shimin for such a long distance, the body had already started to protest.

The Tang army, having rested and prepared, caught Liu Wuzhou's army off guard, causing them to collapse in disarray.

Even though Liu Wuzhou wanted to rally his army, he still couldn't control the speed at which the army collapsed.

He was so angry he almost vomited blood.

"My lord, let's go! As long as we're alive, we can always make a comeback." The generals around Liu Wuzhou rushed away.

Li Shimin did not pursue Liu Wuzhou, but instead led his troops in shouting, "Liu Wuzhou has fled! Liu Wuzhou has fled! Those who surrender will not be killed! Those who surrender will not be killed!"

Upon seeing that Liu Wuzhou had actually fled, the enemy soldiers all knelt down and surrendered.

Li Shimin left some soldiers to guard the prisoners and led the rest of the army to pursue Liu Wuzhou.

Along the way, troops kept falling behind the fleeing army and were captured by Li Shimin.

The army chose to part ways with Liu Wuzhou to avoid Li Shimin's pursuing forces.

When Liu Wuzhou returned to his camp, his army numbered less than 10.

This battle severely damaged him, almost causing him to collapse.

After returning to camp, Liu Wuzhou rested briefly for a day before leading his army back to Hebei to defend against Li Shimin in the south.

In just a few days, Li Shimin decisively defeated Liu Wuzhou's 50-strong army, and his fame soared.

Li Yuan specially conferred upon him the title of General of Heavenly Strategy, a position of great prestige no less than that of a king or marquis.

On the other hand, Li Jiancheng's achievements, though not as spectacular as Li Shimin's, were still commendable, demonstrating a steady and solid approach.

Faced with the combined attack of Du Fuwei and Lin Shihong, they held them firmly at Runan in Yuzhou.

No matter how many ingenious plans these two came up with, it was all in vain.

Li Jiancheng was like a nail, firmly fixed in place, unmoving.

When news of Liu Wuzhou's defeat in the north arrived, the two realized they had missed their best opportunity and had no choice but to retreat.

Li Yuanji, who had been staying in his hometown of Taiyuan, was also getting restless.

His two elder brothers were both granted the title of prince. One led troops to stop Lin Shihong and Du Fuwei from heading north, while the other even managed to defeat Liu Wuzhou with inferior forces, making him famous throughout the land.

Li Yuanji was also unwilling to be outdone. He felt that he was more outstanding than his two older brothers and wanted to make a name for himself.

The best solution is to conquer Hebei and kill Liu Wuzhou.

Liu Wuzhou had just been defeated by Li Shimin, suffering heavy losses and crippling injuries.

The 10-strong army was also defending against Li Shimin in the south by relying on the city walls, and the number of troops that could be mobilized under his command was less than 10.

Even if you include the 10 troops defending Taiyuan, the total is still less than 20.

When Li Shimin had 5 troops, he was able to resist Liu Wuzhou's 50 troops. When he had 20 troops, he treated Liu Wuzhou's 50 troops as barbarians.

At present, Liu Wuzhou only has 20 troops scattered under his command. In order to let him guard his hometown of Taiyuan and prevent Taiyuan from being taken away by Dou Jiande, Li Yuan left him with 5 troops and gave his sister 10 troops to guard Niangziguan.

With 15 versus 20, the advantage lies with me.

Li Yuanji confidently led his troops to Niangziguan, only to find the gates tightly shut and hardly anyone inside.

After some investigation, they discovered that his sister, Princess Pingyang, had already led her army out to fight.

When Liu Wuzhou led his army south, he also conscripted troops from Jingxing Pass. Princess Pingyang saw this as a good opportunity and decisively sent troops to attack Jingxing Pass.

When she first marched north, Li Yuan only gave her 10 troops, but after Dou Jiande was defeated by Li Shimin, she took the opportunity to recover a lot of Dou Jiande's remaining troops.

A significant portion of them were sent by him to Jingxing Pass as spies. Taking advantage of the fact that Liu Wuzhou had only recently taken control of Jingxing Pass and that he had personally gone south, Princess Pingyang secretly passed messages to these spies. With attacks from both inside and outside, they directly captured this vital pass in Hebei.

With Jingxing Pass captured, Niangzi Pass naturally no longer needed to be defended. That's why Li Yuanji found that there weren't many troops there when he arrived at Niangzi Pass.

Some troops are currently stationed at Jingxing Pass, while the rest are following Princess Pingyang straight to Dingzhou.

Because a large number of troops were dispatched to garrison Jingxing Pass, most of the troops in Dingzhou were transferred away, and what remained were basically county soldiers, whose combat strength was not worth mentioning compared to regular troops.

Princess Pingyang conquered this place with almost no effort.

After capturing Dingzhou, Princess Pingyang did not give up. Instead, she raised an army again and headed to Jizhou. In just five days, she captured ten cities in succession, proving that women are just as capable as men and earning countless praises.

She has already been hailed as a heroine, and even the King of Yan in Yanzhou couldn't help but write a poem in praise of her:

The perilous pass of Weize controls the Taihang Mountains; a woman in red dress wields an axe to guard the frontier.

She single-handedly guarded the road between Yan and Jin, and her fragrance will linger for a thousand years.

After Liu Wuzhou retreated from Hulao Pass, he returned to Jizhou.

Li Shimin also made the choice to send part of his troops to contain Liu Wuzhou's remaining forces in the south, while he himself led his elite cavalry to continue pursuing Liu Wuzhou.

Li Shimin and Princess Pingyang met in Jizhou, and the two joined forces to attack the south and north gates of the city at the same time.

When Li Yuanji, who was still at Niangziguan, received the battle report, he was dumbfounded.

He hasn't even been on the battlefield yet, and Liu Wuzhou is already going to be killed. Is he really that useless?

Li Yuanji followed Li Shimin's example, leading his cavalry on a day-and-night journey to the battlefield, hoping to gain military merit and show off his abilities.