Chapter 116: Fall of Luoyang
After a day of calm, Luoyang City was in the early morning of the next day... The surrender of General Wang Shichong broke the deadlock for three days.
In Li Shimin's tent, a general in armor knelt on one knee in front of Li Shimin. The general was about thirty years old and tall. He had a thin horse face, his eyes full of sadness and tears.
"Our brothers work hard for him, but he imprisoned our father in the palace, saying that he was held hostage, but he only gave him one meal every day. Poor our father was old and weak. We just got the news that his father was in the palace last night.
He died of starvation in the middle of illness."
The general was named Li Junmu. He was a scout general under Wang Shichong. He was just an ordinary general. However, Li Shimin was very interested in his brother Li Junxian. Li Junxian was extremely skilled in martial arts and was known as the number one general of the Zheng army.
, the current General of the Cavalry of Wang Shichong.
Li Junxian's brothers were originally Wagang Army. Because Li Mi moved south to Jiangnan, they were unwilling to follow him to the south, so they separated from Li Mi and surrendered to Wang Shichong. Unexpectedly, this time the Tang army attacked Luoyang, and Wang Shichong was afraid that the soldiers would escape, so he took them.
All the family members were taken hostage in the palace.
The father of Li Junxian brothers was also locked up in the palace and could not be contacted. Until noon today, Li Junxian bribed the guards and found out that their father had died of illness and starvation last night. This made the two brothers extremely sad and angry.
Decided to surrender to the Tang army.
This news made Li Shimin extremely excited, which means that the city is about to be destroyed, but there is another possibility. Wang Shichong sent the Li brothers to surrender, and Li Shimin had to be careful. He asked without hesitation: "Wang Shichong defends so closely, Li
How did the general leave the city?”
Li Junmu realized that Li Shimin did not trust him very much, so he quickly explained: "This is because Yang Yuanqing and Wang Shichong have a five-day agreement. Yang Yuanqing asked Wang Shichong to stay for five days and he would come to rescue him. Today is the sixth day.
But the Sui army was never there. Wang Shichong was anxious and ordered Bei Yi to go down the city at night to find out the news about the Sui army…”
Although Li Shimin had not left his doubts, Li Junmu's explanation was reasonable. Li Shimin temporarily suppressed his suspicion and stepped forward to help Li Junmu up, and smiled and said, "I have heard of the reputation of your brothers. You
If I am willing to surrender to Tang Jun, I will never treat you badly.
Li Junmu was overjoyed and hurriedly said, "Report to Your Highness, the people of Luoyang are disbanded, and Wang Shichong is betrayal of his relatives. Now it is time to break the city. My brother is in charge of Luoshui's defense. He is willing to offer the city to Tang tonight!"
Li Shimin nodded, "I'll arrange it and then talk to you in detail."
Li Shimin ordered someone to send Li Junmu down to rest, and then turned around and asked Fang Xuanling, who had been smiling but silent, "Sir, do you think their surrender is true or false?"
Fang Xuanling stroked his beard and smiled slightly, "Your Highness thinks the situation has reached this point. Are the two brothers willing to surrender for Wang Shichong? They have to pay their lives."
Fang Xuanling's words made Li Shimin realize that Wang Shichong's brothers and nephews may have the possibility of surrendering, but it has been less than a year since the Li brothers surrendered to Wang Shitu, and it should be true that Wang Shichong could not have let their brothers surrender.
Li Shimin could not help but be excited, then tonight will be the time when Luoyang City was broken. At this moment, he had been waiting for a long time. At this moment, a personal soldier outside the door reported urgently: "Your Highness, Chang'an is coming again
Emergency Eagle Letter.”
Li Shimin was stunned and looked at Fang Xuanling. From the night before, this was the ninth urgent letter. Li Shimin should engrave the order and said, "Put the letter in!"
A personal soldier quickly walked into the tent, knelt down on one knee and bowed, and presented a tube of eagle letter. Li Shimin took the message tube, pulled out the thin silk from it, shook it open and looked at it, and another wry smile appeared on his face.
This is a very helpless expression.
"Are you urging Your Highness to return to the army again?" Fang Xuanling asked as he looked at Li Shimin's expression.
Li Shimin nodded and handed him the silk silk, "The father's handwritten instructions said that Yang Yuanqing might attack Chang'an at night, and ordered me to return to support Guanzhong immediately."
Fang Xuanling looked at the handwriting and advised him: "Your Highness, this is already the ninth handwriting. If Your Highness ignores it and arouses the suspicion of the Lord, it will be more than worth the effort."
"But I have sent 10,000 troops to go. Do you think this force is too small?"
Fang Xuanling sighed, "Your Highness, this is actually a matter of attitude. If the prince personally leads a 50,000 army back to Guanzhong, and your highness only sends 10,000 troops to rescue, such an obvious comparison will make the Lord look at Your Highness?
At least it means that Your Highness does not care about the safety of the Lord. Your Highness, I am bluntly speaking, it is better not to send 10,000 troops back to support."
Li Shimin paced back and forth in the tent with his hands behind his back, which made it difficult for him to deal with it. His father ordered him to send 50,000 troops back to Guanzhong, but if the 50,000 troops returned, his troops would be caught, so
Speaking of seizing the Central Plains, I am afraid that even the difficulties of capturing Luoyang were difficult, Li Shimin had to admit that Wang Shichong was very powerful in war, and withstood the three-day siege of the 200,000 Tang army with only tens of thousands of troops.
"If we really send 50,000 troops back to support according to the father's wishes, then after we finish our plan to seize the Central Plains, we will have to have a broken Luoyang city in the end. What is the difference between this battle and the previous Central Plains War."
Li Shimin sighed deeply, and an unconcealable worry appeared in his eyes. He was indeed very worried. He strongly advocated the First Central Plains War, but he returned home in a crushing defeat. This time, he tried his best to instigate his father and even did not hesitate.
Use Tang Feng to monitor Yin Defei's tip to attack the prince.
If he returns without success this time, it will seriously affect his position in the hearts of his father and even his military power. Li Shimin is in a dilemma.
Fang Xuanling could also understand Li Shimin's helplessness, but weighing the pros and cons, he believed that he should return to Guanzhong in time. This involved an attitude issue and was crucial to Li Shimin's future.
"Your Highness, the inability to seize the Central Plains is just a disappointment to the Lord, but the refusal to rescue Guanzhong will make the Lord suspicious. Which of the two is more important? Your Highness should understand that we should prevent this from being used by the prince, so after taking Luoyang tonight,
We will immediately add another 40,000 reinforcements. After the danger in Guanzhong is lifted, we will look at the situation in Zhongyuan. If conditions permit, it will not be too late for us to attack Zhongyuan again."
Li Shimin thought for a long time and finally nodded, "As long as he said!"
...
The night fell, and Wang Shichong finally became desperate. Yang Yuanqing's promise was not fulfilled. It had been six days since the Sui Dynasty reinforcements still did not come. From hope, disappointment to despair, Wang Shichong's last dream of emperor was finally shattered, and his Zheng Dynasty was about to destroy him.
There will be no chance to make a comeback.
"Without trust, Yang Yuanqing, what qualifications do you have to compete for the world!"
In the inner palace, Wang Shichong sat on the ivory dragon couch, pressing the sword in one hand and drinking a big gulp with an amber agate wine bottle in the other. He was already drunk. While drinking, he cursed Yang Yuanqing, "Hyitant, use the Tang Dynasty to kill me, you
Are you here to take Luoyang again? Yang Yuanqing, you are a despicable villain."
Five or six palace maids in the inner hall hid behind the screen, and Zhan Zhan was so scared that he said that no one dared to pour wine for Wang Shichong. Only one of Wang Shichong's confidant eunuch stood aside, and occasionally picked up the wine pot and filled it with the bottle.
.
"you say!"
Wang Shichong stared at his confidant eunuch with red eyes, "Why did Yang Yuanqing deceive me without trust?"
The confidant eunuch was also so scared that his legs became weak, "Maybe... his army has arrived on the periphery and has not yet contacted His Majesty."
"How do you know every time?"
Wang Shichong grabbed the eunuch's clothes and stared at him viciously, "Are you a spy from the Sui army?"
"I'm not... a spy from the Sui army, I'm... a guess." The eunuch was so scared that he shook his whole body.
Wang Shichong was furious, "Dare you playing tricks on me?"
He pulled out his sword, raised his sword and cut off the eunuch's head. The palace maids hiding everywhere were frightened and exclaimed, and ran around. Wang Shichong laughed and picked up the wine bottle and drank it happily.
...
Luoyang's city is tall and strong, no less than Chang'an City, but Luoyang City also has a defensive weakness, that is, Luoshui. Luoshui passes through the city and divides Luoyang into two. In spring and autumn, Luoshui surging, and it is necessary to rely on battle.
Only ships can enter the city, but Luoyang City has extremely strict defenses against warships. There are special water camps built upstream and downstream, so it is difficult for warships to get close to Luoyang City.
But in winter, the Luoshui freezes and pedestrians can be found on the river, which makes the Luoshui a shortcut to attack Luoyang. Wang Shichong also realized this weakness. He specially built fortifications with wood, poured ice water on the river surface.
A long ice wall was built on it, and five thousand crossbowmen were deployed on the east and west sides, lying behind the ice wall to block the Tang army from entering the river.
The two sides also experienced three days of fierce battle on the river surface, with thousands of casualties and wounded. The Tang army was unable to attack Luoyang City from the river surface.
On the western front, the general responsible for the imperial guards was Li Junxian, the brother of Li Junxi who surrendered to the Tang army in the early morning. Li Junxian was about his early thirties and had a long and thin face. He was also tall and burly, and his martial arts skills were
A strong man can use a tenon of tenons of 120 kilograms of iron halberds, which is a brave man to be unworthy of thousands of men.
When he was in Wagang Village, he was known as the second hero of Wagang, second only to Shan Xiongxin. In Luoyang, he was even known as the number one general of the Zheng Dynasty. He was very famous in the Central Plains because of his father's death.
, and he and Wang Shichong were no longer in harmony, and he was determined to offer the city to the Tang Dynasty.
Li Junxian looked at the distant river with complicated eyes. The corpses of Tang army were everywhere on the river, which had frozen into ice corpses, which made him feel a little uneasy. After he surrendered to Tang Dynasty, could Li Shimin tolerate him?
Suddenly, a soldier pointed to the distance and shouted: "General, Tang army is coming!"
I saw a crowd of black people appearing on the ice, which was particularly clear under the starlight, with as many as 10,000 or 20,000 people. The soldiers suddenly became nervous and all of them took arrows. Li Junxian ordered: "No one should move rashly."
!”
More than a dozen of his confidants all stopped the soldiers. At this time, a Tang cavalry rushed over and asked loudly, "Where is General Li Junxian?"
Li Junxian urged him to step forward and bowed, "I am Li Junxian!"
The Tang cavalry whispered: "His Highness of Qin has an order to put down his weapons immediately and pardon General Li for no guilt!"
This moment finally came. Li Junxian took a deep breath, turned his horse's head and shouted to the soldiers: "Put down your weapons immediately and retreat to the shore!"
At this time, people's hearts were disintegrating and no one was willing to work hard for Wang Shichong anymore. The general issued an order. The soldiers put down their bows and arrows and ran towards the shore. For a moment, there was no more defender on the river.
In the distance, Li Shimin was overjoyed and immediately ordered: "Go into Luoyang!"
Chapter completed!