Chapter 369 Intercepting Hedong

Guo Ziyi smiled slightly and said, "When King Rong's army was still in Luojiao County, I sent someone to move all the people in Fulu County, without any rice, and King Rong's food and grass were no longer sustainable. Last night, the scouts I sent heard the wailing sound of war horses in Hedong's promise, which means that the Hedong army had killed horses for food. Since King Rong made up his mind to kill horses, it means that he no longer wanted to go north. He only had one way to go, that is, cross the river and return to Hedong. This is the fighter I was waiting for."

Guo Ziyi pointed at Menshan County with a wooden pole, and then said, "This is the closest and largest ferry to Fulu County. There was a scout that a Hedong army had already gone to Menshan County. They must have been to collect ferries. When the Hedong army crossed the river, it was our opportunity to launch a general attack. At that time, their morale was disintegrating and no one wanted to fight. They could even surrender all the Hedong army to His Highness without even hurting one soldier. They were all brothers of the Tang army, so they didn't have to see soldiers. Isn't this the best ending?"

Only then did Li Heng understand Guo Ziyi's military deployment and sighed: "It is indeed extremely clever to predict that the enemy will be ahead every step of the way, and it is my blessing to be a veteran general!"

"Where! Where! I am just a trick. Your Highness is a clever means. It is a blessing for Guo Ziyi to serve you."

As Guo Ziyi expected, Li Wan's army was indeed exhausted. He originally wanted to replenish food in Fulu County, but Fulu County had become an empty city and no grain was left for him. In desperation, Li Wan had no choice but to kill horses to make military food.

In the Hedong Army camp, Li Wan was extremely depressed. He finally realized that he had made a strategic mistake. During the ten days of confrontation, why didn't he send an army into Chang'an and control the court first, and spent more than ten days with Li Heng like a fool, wasting more than ten days. It was not until Li Guoliang's army blocked his way south that he suddenly realized, but it was too late.

At this time, Li Wan sat alone in the camp drinking and drinking, and his regret was broken. God had given him a chance, but he could not catch it. If he took a wrong step, he might eventually be doomed. He can only cross the river to Hedong. But it was said that Hedong had been occupied by An Lushan and had no place for him. Li Wan thought of using Hedong to Henan Road, especially in Yanzhou, Xuzhou and other Qilu land. The land was fertile and the population was large. Since ancient times, he had been prosperous. It would be fine if he was the King of Qi. The only thing he was worried about now was to be intercepted by An Lushan.

At this time, there was a sound of running outside the door, and a scout came to report it out of breath, "Your Highness, there is news from Hedong."

Li Wan was excited and said anxiously: "Tell me quickly, what news is in Hedong?"

"The first news is that the brothers of King Bian and King Xiliang led three thousand defeated soldiers across the Yellow River from Yanshui County this morning and have already gone to Hedong first."

"These two turtles are running faster." Li Wan cursed, and he suddenly realized that it was wrong! An Lushan, why was there no news about An Lushan? He asked anxiously: "What about An Lushan? Is there any news about him?"

"An Lushan had led his army to Tongguan a few days ago, and now Hedong is empty."

"What?" Li Wan was shocked. Is An Lushan going to enter Guanzhong? In that case, wouldn't the Tang Dynasty be over?

His thoughts flashed, but what he thought more was Hedong. Hedong was empty. Isn’t this his chance?

At this time, he had no intention of considering the danger of crossing the river. He ordered almost without thinking: "Transfer my order, and the army immediately went to Menshan to cross the river, telling the soldiers that we will return to Hedong."

The 40,000 Hedong Army began to get up overnight. When they crossed the river, there were not many horses. Now most of the horses were filled with military rations, with less than 500 left. They were controlled by Li Wan's 500 personal soldiers. They guarded Li Wan and took the lead and ran towards Menshan County, sixty miles away.

At this time, Guo Ziyi also received the news. He was not in a hurry and ordered the Tang army to set off and follow the Hedong army eastward from afar.

Menshan County is a central county, affiliated to Yanzhou, with 2,000 residents. Most of them make a living by farming and trading in the Yellow River. Menshan County is the last ferry in the north of the Yellow River Canyon. To the south, hundreds of miles of the Yellow River cannot cross the river. Therefore, this ferry is extremely important, with constant merchants and people, and hundreds of ferries are active on both sides of the Yellow River.

The news received by the scouts of the Hedong Army was that the brothers Li and Li Xian crossed the river in Yanshui County in the north half a day in advance, disturbing the ferries along the Yellow River. Most of the ferries were hidden. Therefore, Li Wan's vanguard did not collect too many ferries and only grabbed more than a dozen ferries. In this way, the Hedong army could not cross the river at one time, but could only cross the river in batches.

Li Wan was anxious and angry, but he had no choice but to order to cross the river immediately, hoping to find some more boats on the other side, otherwise the 40,000 people would not be able to cross the river at all.

The first batch of more than 1,000 people boarded the ship. Most of the Hedong Army on the shore had arrived. The shouts and curses were heard. Li Wan stood on a high ground at the dock and urged the soldiers to board the ship anxiously. At this time, a personal soldier rushed over and shouted: "Your Highness, please get on the ship too!"

"I'll cross the river later!"

"Your Highness!" The personal soldiers approached him and whispered: "The scout has discovered that there are cavalry coming from the southeast direction, and they are about to kill here."

"Ah!" Li Wan was so shocked that her face was pale. Did Guo Ziyi's army arrive so quickly?

"How many people have come?" he asked anxiously.

"I don't know, but I heard it is overwhelming and terrifying."

As soon as the personal soldiers finished speaking, a shout suddenly came from the shore, and the shouts were extremely frightened. A flag covering the sky and the sun appeared in the distance, and they rushed towards the shore at a very fast speed.

The Hedong army on the shore began to rush on board, and the boarding place was in chaos. A ship was overturned and a hundred soldiers fell into the water and shouted loudly. The turmoil on the shore was in chaos. Seeing that the situation was critical, Li Wan's personal soldiers raised Li Wan and ran towards a large ship. They instantly ran on the ship, urging loudly: "Hurry! Get off the ship quickly."

More than a dozen ferry boats left the dock one after another, and the dock was filled with tens of thousands of Hedong Army soldiers. They cried and fled in all directions. The Hedong Army had cut off food and was afraid of Guo Ziyi. The morale was extremely depressed. They had long forgotten that they were also soldiers and forgot that they still had 40,000 people, enough to compete with any army. At this time, including the generals, they saw that King Rong had fled, and they knew that the situation was hopeless, and they had only one thought in their hearts: escape!

But no one expected that what came was not Guo Ziyi's army, but a strange army lurking nearby, with only 2,500 Anxi cavalry. Li Qing'an had been waiting for a day and a night. He knew that he was short of troops and could only wait for the best time to appear. That is, when Hedong began to cross the river, it was his own way to hide most of the ships. He ordered people to pretend to be fleeing scattered soldiers and plunder the ferries in large numbers, causing most of the ferries to escape to the other side. This caused great difficulties for the Hedong army to cross the river.

The Anxi Army came overwhelmed the sky and the sky. Each of them held three large flags in their hands, forming a terrifying scene of thousands of flags covering the sky and the sun, which scared the Hedong Army into chaos.

In an instant, the Anxi cavalry roared and formed a huge semicircle, surrounding the 40,000 Hedong legions, with spears and horses out of the sheath, and sharp swords were unsheathed, and murderous intent was filled with murderous aura.

At this time, the Hedong Army discovered that there were not many cavalry coming, and it seemed that it was not Guo Ziyi's troops. Some generals recognized that the cavalry seemed to be the Anxi Army.

The situation of the Hedong Army gradually stabilized. At this time, Li Qing'an rushed out and shouted loudly: "I am Li Qing'an, Anxi, the soldiers of the Hedong Army do not need to panic!"

The dock quickly quieted down. Li Qing'an had a very high prestige in the Tang army. His rise was a legend and a model worshipped by countless soldiers of the Tang Dynasty. He fought south and north and made great achievements in defending the frontiers of the Tang Dynasty. In particular, he had clear rewards and punishments, treated his soldiers well, gave their families a land to survive, eliminated corruption in the army, and obtained pensions for the fallen soldiers. These deeds had long penetrated into the hearts of every soldier in the Tang Dynasty, making Li Qing'an's reputation reach the height of Wang Zhongsi. Therefore, when he suddenly appeared in front of 40,000 Hedong soldiers, it did not cause riots. On the contrary, his appearance brought hope to 40,000 Hedong soldiers. The 40,000 soldiers looked at the famous Anxi Jiedushi, and everyone's eyes were full of expectations.

"We are all soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, so there is no need to kill each other. Instead of being killed by our own people, it is better to work together to deal with the Uighurs who invaded the south. I came from Anxi to quell this heartbreaking internal struggle. The soldiers, obey my arrangements, and I will be loyal to the new Emperor of the Tang Dynasty and will never allow civil war!"

Li Qing'an's voice was high, and every word he had spread out with the wind, and it was very contagious in the ears of every soldier and officer. At this time, Li Qing'an shouted again: "General Du Yifei, General Meng Yun, General Luo Zhengyi, are you here?"

These three were the main generals of the Hedong Army. When they heard Li Qing'an's summons, two generals walked out of the army, one of them clasped his fists and said, "I'm down, Meng Yun, Datong Army envoy, see the general."

Another man also clasped his fists and said, "In Xia Luo Zhengyi, Chengtian Army envoy, see the general."

Li Qing'an replied to the two of them, "Can General Du Yifei be there?"

Meng Yun pointed to the black dots gradually fading away from the river and said, "General Du Yifei has already left first by boat, and his army is not in command yet."

"Which deputy can be there?"

Meng Yun turned around and waved his hand, shouting: "Please General Wu Yong come here."

Another general came out of the team, quite young and seemed to be less than thirty years old. He stepped forward and bowed: "The last general Wu Yong, the deputy envoy of Taiyuan's military and horses, please see the general."

"General Du Yifei is not here, you will first command the troops." Li Qing'an's order was short and powerful and could not be rejected.

"The last one will obey the order!"

At this time, Li Qing'an glanced at the three people again and took out Li Yu's handwritten letter. The letter not only asked the Tongguan defenders to obey Li Qing'an's orders, but also included other troops. He handed the letter to the three people and said: "This is the handwritten letter from the crown prince. Now that Hedong has been occupied by An Lushan, you will be completely wiped out by An Lushan. I will report to the crown prince and give you an arrangement. In order to prevent unnecessary internal strife, I hope you will obey my command temporarily, which may be possible?"

The three of them circulated Li Yu's handwritten letter. The letter was very clear, requiring the army of Tongguan, Hedong and Longyou to obey Li Qing'an's command. They also thought that Hedong was occupied by An Lushan and they had no way to go. The three of them looked at each other and heard that Li Qing'an was a die-hard supporter of the crown prince Li Yu. It should be no problem to follow him, but more importantly, they had no way to go, either they had no way to surrender to Li Heng, but if they wanted to surrender to Li Heng, they could be surrendered in the Qinggangling camp. Now that they would surrender, their capital to bargain was gone. Li Qing'an appeared as a mediator in the center and was entrusted by the crown prince, so they followed him.

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The three of them all thought about going together, so they bowed and bowed and said, "We are willing to obey the command of the general."

Li Qingan was overjoyed. The troops he brought were too few. It was very risky to subdue the Hedong Army. His only reliance was his prestige in the Tang army and the handwritten letter from the crown prince Li Yu. Betting that the top leaders of the Hedong Army were unwilling to betray the court. Now it seemed that his bet was successful. He immediately ordered: "Transfer my order, all the Hedong Army will be stationed in Menshan County."

His order was issued, and several generals went to command the army separately, and 40,000 Hedong Army began to march towards Menshan County.

Menshan is only ten miles away from the pier. When Li Qing'an just led a large army to the county town, Guo Ziyi's army also arrived. Five miles away, Li Qing'an immediately ordered the soldiers to speed up into the city and sent people to negotiate with Guo Ziyi.

Guo Ziyi had stopped the army. As early as more than ten miles away, he had already received news that an Anxi cavalry with more than 2,000 people had rushed to the dock first and seemed to have recruited 40,000 Hedong troops. This really scared Guo Ziyi because this was what he wanted to do. He recruited the Hedong troops when they were out of the way. No general would think that he had too many soldiers, and Guo Ziyi was the same. But when he heard the second news, his anxiety was

It was gone. It was Li Qing'an who personally recruited 40,000 Hedong Army, which made Guo Ziyi puzzled. In order to prevent the Anxi Army and Longyou Army from heading north, he deployed a large number of scouts along the Western Yellow River and deployed several defense networks. How did Li Qing'an come? He didn't know whether it was flying in with wings. Guo Ziyi never thought that Li Qing'an did not come from Hexi at all, but from Tongguan. Of course, the scouts he set up had no effect.

"Elder General, Li Qing'an sent someone to send two letters."
Chapter completed!