It's a sunny day. The sun shines on the bank of the Yellow River, and the thick snow looks warm, making people vaguely longing for the warmth of spring.
Just after the New Year, Shi Siming could not wait to send troops to attack Heyang again.
Everyone said that Li Guangbi was so beaten by him that he cowered and dared not show his head, but he knew very well that he could not drag on any longer. He then asked the vanguard general Liu Longxian to lead five thousand troops to attack the city, and issued an order that he could not retreat until the city was broken.
Liu Longxian is not tall, especially his legs are very short. But appearance is not what he looks like. He is brave and tough despite his short stature. He has strong martial arts skills, big arms and round waist, and his two arms are as thick as his head. He can dance with a hundred-jin sword without any trouble.
Effortless.
If such a man were allowed to climb the city, more than a dozen Tang troops would not be able to repel him.
After Liu Longxian received Shi Siming's strict military order, he thought about it and concluded that it would not be easy to storm Heyang City. Only by attracting the Tang army from the city could he break the city in one day.
He rolled his eyes and thought carefully.
So, he temporarily arranged five thousand elite soldiers in a two-arrow field, and drove his horse forward to the city gates alone to curse Li Guangbi, and kept talking obscene words.
The scolding was so intense that even the snow on the top of the city was shaken off, but Li Guangbi remained unmoved.
Seeing this, Liu Longxian simply put away the knife, raised one of his short legs on the horse's neck, half-leaned on the saddle and continued to curse. His behavior, coupled with those offensive words, would make Li Guangbi cower and ignore him again.
, morale will drop.
Finally, Liu Longxian saw the city gate slowly opened, and a Tang general rode out.
He resisted the urge to immediately send his troops and rush forward to seize the city gate. After the opponent had passed the drawbridge, he mentally estimated whether he could seize the drawbridge and open the city gate by fighting at this time. He would probably be hit by a rain of arrows from the city.
Shoot into a hedgehog.
It would be better if you could hold the opponent's general hostage and wait for your own troops to charge forward.
Liu Longxian was thinking in his mind and continued to maintain his lazy posture, waiting for the other party to fall into his trap.
But he saw the Tang Army general riding alone, with his spear hanging there, waving to him repeatedly. He didn't look like he was coming to fight, but rather to make peace. When the two sides were about ten steps away, the Tang General spoke.
.
"Will the thief know me?"
"Who are you?"
"Bai Xiaode."
Liu Longxian was about to put his feet down and look around when he saw Bai Xiaode, who was thin and thin, with a modest smile on his face. He asked with contempt in his heart: "You are a pig or a dog, what's the matter with you?"
Suddenly, Bai Xiaode shouted, raised his spear, and leaped on his horse to kill Liu Longxian.
At the same time, Heyang City beat drums and shouted, the sound was overwhelming. More than fifty cavalry rushed out of the city and rushed straight past the lowered stilts.
Liu Longxian was so shocked that he had no time to put his short legs back into the stirrups. He had no time to raise his sword to fight, so he turned his horse and walked away, charging towards his five thousand fine cavalry.
The horse quickly picked up speed, going crazy, and the five thousand Yan troops in front also rushed to meet him. The sparkling armor was like a rushing river, which should have scared Bai Xiaode away.
However, Bai Xiaode was not afraid and kicked the horse's belly fiercely. Although he was looked down upon because of his thinness, he was also light. He chased after him and stabbed Liu Longxian's thick neck with his spear.
"Hey!"
"Get the general back!"
"Fire the arrow!"
The soldiers of Yan Army shouted, but it was too late, Bai Xiaode had already beheaded Liu Longxian.
More than fifty Tang troops saw the momentum and charged forward. The Yan army lost their leader and did not dare to fight fiercely. They fled in panic.
Seeing that he could not capture Heyang City that day, Shi Siming had no choice but to withdraw his troops, regroup his morale, and continue to attack fiercely for days.
~~
"Woo——"
The war continued, and soon it was early February, and the horns of the Yan army's attack continued one after another.
Li Guangbi listened and seemed to be able to hear Shi Siming's eagerness.
This time the Yan army was divided into two groups to attack, with Shi Siming personally leading the army from the northeast to attack the city; and another Yan army going around to the west to attack, with Zhou Zhi as the main general.
Heyang was a small city, so when the Tang army saw how powerful the rebels were, they couldn't help but feel fear and their morale gradually declined.
Li Guangbi first climbed to the east city tower to take a look. Seeing Shi Siming's powerful troops and experienced formation formation, a trace of worry appeared in his eyes.
Afterwards, he went to the Xicheng Tower and found that although Zhou Zhi was the prime minister of Dayan and had the trust of Shi Siming, his ability to organize troops was average.
Li Guangbi put down his telescope and made up his mind. He immediately summoned the generals for discussion.
"I want to take advantage of Zhou Zhi's formation and send generals out of the city to defeat him. Who dares to go?!"
All the generals felt it was inappropriate and tried to dissuade them one after another.
"Commander, the rebels are attacking the city from two sides. Our army has insufficient troops and fewer horses. How can we get out of the city to meet them?"
"Shi Siming is eager to fight with us in the field. Doesn't the commander-in-chief follow his wishes?"
Li Guangbi said: "Because the rebels are eager to fight in the field, we must not expect our army to dare to fight in the field."
In order to boost morale, he pointed outside the city and said: "Although Zhou Zhi's troops are numerous, they are noisy and unorganized, and there is nothing to fear. They will be defeated before noon!"
He put down his bold words, and all the generals were convinced, so they all became awe-inspiring.
Li Guangbi then asked Bai Xiaode to lead the troops to guard the east of the city and resist Shi Siming, while he personally supervised the battle in the north of the city.
He handed the telescope to the generals to observe Zhou Zhi's formation and asked: "Who can see it? Where is the strongest formation of the thieves?"
General Hao Tingyu responded, pointed to a general flag in the thief array in the distance, and replied: "The thief general Xu Huangyu's formation is the strongest!"
"Can you break it?" Li Guangbi asked.
"With the last five hundred cavalry, the commander will defeat him!" Hao Tingyu responded loudly.
"Three hundred." Li Guangbi didn't have enough troops, so he directly gave the military order, "Lead the army with the order."
Hao Tingyu hesitated slightly.
Because Li Guangbi had always been extremely strict in running the army, once he received a military order but could not defeat the enemy, ruthless military law could kill him.
But he asked for 500 cavalry, but was only given 300. This battle was really difficult to fight.
Gritting his teeth, Hao Tingyu stepped forward to receive the military order. He suddenly felt a huge pressure, his scalp was numb, his blood was rising, and his whole body became energetic.
Li Guangbi looked at the other generals again and asked: "Where is the strong point of the bandits' formation?"
"Li Qin's formation is strong." A general named Lun Weizhen came out and replied.
Lun Wei Zhenming knew that if he answered, he would be ordered to fight. He was willing to perform this feat and directly requested the order: "The commander-in-chief also has three hundred horses with the last general. I am willing to defeat the enemy for the commander-in-chief!"
"Since it is a secondary force, two hundred riders are enough. Please accept your order."
"Here!"
Lun Wei Zhen had already put life and death aside and immediately accepted the order.
After issuing military orders one after another, Li Guangbi looked around the generals and said: "You wait for my flag to fight. If I wave the flag slowly, you can choose your advantage and fight; if I wave the flag to the ground three times quickly, then everyone must join in."
, risk your life to kill the enemy, and those who dare to retreat will be killed without mercy!"
"Here!"
With this allocation, there is one last thing left, and it is also the most important thing.
Li Guangbi knew very well that by forcing the generals so harshly, once the war went unfavorably and the generals were unable to complete their tasks and were desperate, they might surrender to the rebels.
Strict military orders and forcing others to die also have disadvantages.
Therefore, he took out a short sword, showed it to the generals, and solemnly said: "This battle is dangerous. I am one of the three princes of the Tang Dynasty. I must not die at the hands of thieves. If the war goes unfavorably, all of you will die first at the hands of the enemy."
, I will kill myself here, and I will never let you die alone!"
Hao Tingyu, Lun Weizhen and others looked around and saw Li Guangbi's deep and sincere eyes, and they couldn't help but be deeply moved.
"Don't worry, Commander, we will die to serve the country!"
War drums shook the sky, the gates of the west city of Heyang were opened wide, and thousands of Tang troops went out to fight, heading straight for Zhou Zhi's camp.
Zhou Zhi was still setting up his formation, but he was caught off guard and quickly sent his horse to report to Shi Siming.
"Quickly, tell your majesty that the Tang Army's west city is wide open and there is a chance to seize the city gate!"
In this way, when Shi Siming orders the generals to order troops and sends people to kill them, they may be able to arrive before noon.
Zhou Zhi then encouraged his morale and said: "Your Majesty's army will arrive soon, and the city will be captured before noon!"
"Kill!"
"..."
The two sides fought against each other.
The sun moved westward little by little, gradually reaching the center of the sky.
The battlefield was covered with blood, and the shadows of the soldiers were almost at their shortest.
On top of Heyang City, Li Guangbi frowned deeply.
He had told the soldiers to defeat the enemy before noon and was unwilling to break the promise. He also knew that Shi Siming was about to arrive. He was about to wave the flag and issue the order for a general attack, but he saw an unfavorable picture in his telescope.
Hao Tingyu had been fighting fiercely for a long time, but he was discouraged and retreated on horseback.
Li Guangbi was furious and shouted: "Get Hao Tingyu's head!"
Hao Tingyu is his favorite general. He has followed him for many years. He has been on the front and rear of the horse, but now he kills at any time. The military judges around him have always known that he is strict in running the army, and they don't ask many questions. They just carry out military laws with their swords in hand.
.
The military judge rushed to the battlefield. When Hao Tingyu saw him from a distance, he immediately looked horrified. Before the opponent could get closer, he quickly shouted: "My horse has been hit by an arrow. I am definitely not going to retreat!"
After that, Hao Tingyu changed his war horse and attacked the rebels again.
Even a tough man couldn't resist Li Guangbi's persecution. He also had grievances and felt that he couldn't bear it. To be honest, there was a fleeting thought in his mind, maybe surrender the rebels.
But the commander-in-chief is willing to die to show his ambition and live and die together, so what if he fights for the Tang Dynasty?!
On the other side, Lun Weizhen's horse was exhausted, so he retreated a little, and unexpectedly saw the military judge running towards him with a sword in hand. He was also frightened, and drove his horse forward again for a decisive battle.
All of a sudden, Li Guangbi and his military judges came out everywhere, but none of the Tang generals dared to violate military law.
Suddenly, the drum beat became louder, and the generals looked back and saw the big flag on top of the city waving to the ground three times.
"Kill the enemy and serve the country!"
"Kill the enemy and serve the country!"
The generals immediately shouted to lead their troops to advance together, and the shouts shook the heaven and the earth.
"kill!"
Hao Tingyu was really pushed to the limit, his eyes were bloodshot, and he forgot everything except killing the enemy, killing the enemy.
He raised his Mo Dao and struck it down hard, splitting a thief general into two pieces, causing blood to pour out, which was extremely horrifying.
If Li Guangbi hadn't forced him, he wouldn't have known that he could be so ferocious.
Soon, the flag of Yan Army general Xu Huangyu fell.
Not long after, the flag of Yan general Li Qinshu also fell down.
Zhou Zhi's side was not in a good formation, but was just struggling to hold on. Seeing that Shi Siming had not yet led his troops to help, the soldiers' mentality collapsed and they were finally defeated.
Shi Siming was still storming the east of the city, and sent Shi Chaoyi to lead an army to support Zhou Zhi and seize the west gate of Heyang.
Previously, Shi Chaoyi and Zhou Zhi had to reconcile because of a "Poetry on Dates". They did not dare to neglect this time and immediately sent troops to rescue Zhou Zhi as soon as they received the military order.
However, he finally adjusted his marching formation and circled from the northeast of the city to the west of the city. What he encountered was Zhou Zhi's defeated troops.
"waste!"
Shi Chaoyi blurted out, but had to retreat.
But the defeated troops had already surged over and scattered his queue.
In this battle, the Tang army beheaded more than 7,000 people, captured more than 1,000 people alive, and captured 2,000 horses, military supplies, and countless weapons.
~~
After this battle, Li Guangbi could finally breathe a little easier. But Shi Siming was not one to be easily discouraged. He reorganized the defeated army and still watched with eager eyes.
When Li Guangbi passed the news of victory to Luoyang, he reminded the court very carefully that although there was a small victory, it was still necessary to hold on and continue to drag Shi Siming.
Fortunately, King Yong knew this very well and had a strategic consensus with him beforehand.
Two days later, Diao Geng, as a messenger, crossed the Yellow River and rushed into Heyang City, delivering Xue Bai's letter.
??????55.??????
As soon as Li Guangbi saw him, he immediately looked anxious and asked: "After the New Year's Day, there has been no food shipment from Luoyang for more than ten days. The soldiers in Heyang will not be able to support it!"
"Please, Marshal, save my husband!"
Diao Geng also acted very anxious, but he acted it out at first glance. He handed over the letter and did not answer the question about food and grass at all.
Li Guangbi read the letter and frowned. Xue Bai mentioned in the letter the rumors, slanders, and assassinations he had suffered. He suspected that the saint did not trust him and wanted to resign as the general marshal of the world's soldiers and horses.
Now all the grain and grass in Heyang are raised by Xue Bai, and the entire strategy is formulated by Xue Bai together with him, Guo Ziyi, Feng Changqing and others, and Xue Bai ensures its implementation. At this time, if something happens to Xue Bai, the great cause of suppressing the rebellion will be
There is a possibility of success and failure.
In addition, Shi Siming failed to attack the city and sent people to spread rumors and implement alienation tactics. If Xue Bai resigned, it would play into Shi Siming's plan.
But this is also Xue Bai's strategy of retreating in order to advance.
The matter was not that serious at all. Xue Bai deliberately forced Li Guangbi to write a letter to defend him, giving everyone in the court the feeling that "Li Guangbi was part of King Yong's party."
This is the same as Li Heng calling Wang Zhongsi his adopted brother. In fact, which prince is not Wang Zhongsi's adopted brother? Only by being thick-skinned can you win over people.
Although there is still grain and grass in Heyang City, the grain and grass transportation has been stopped since the New Year. Apparently Xue Bai deliberately reminded Li Guangbi of the consequences if he was not in office.
Li Guangbi had no choice but to write a memorial in defense of Xue Bai and hand it to Diao Geng.
"I believe King Yong is innocent, and I ask him not to resign."
Diao Geng was greatly moved, praised Li Guangbi, and said: "My husband has no interest in military power, but he is afraid that Marshal Li will not be able to resist Shi Siming. Although he was framed, he still prepared a batch of grain and grass and sent it to Yeshui Crossing in three days."
"
~~
On the fifth day of February, we crossed the wild water.
Following the neighing of the horses, a group of Tang Army cavalry arrived.
This time it was Li Guangbi who came in person. He knew that Shi Siming's army of more than 100,000 people consumed a lot of food and had been trying every means to rob him of food, so he came here specifically to ensure the safety of the food channel.
In order to receive the food and grass sent by Xue Bai this time, he had ordered people to set up a camp here and dig trenches to receive the food and grass in the past three days.
Now that the weather is getting warmer, green grass has grown on the banks of the Yellow River. The war horses lowered their heads to eat grass from time to time. Li Guangbi stood on his horse and looked at the south bank for a while, but Diao Geng arrived again.
"Marshal Li, King Yong has faith."
Li Guangbi couldn't help laughing after reading the letter. In the letter, Xue Bai said that the food and grass would be delivered to Heyang City tonight. For fear of leaking the news, he did not inform him in advance and asked Li Guangbi to meet him in the city tonight.
"Yong Xihao." Li Guangbi immediately recruited a general and he was a rather mediocre general in his army.
"The end will be here."
"I have to rush back to Heyang. You can stay here with a thousand people."
"Here."
Li Guangbi thought for a while and then ordered: "Among the thieves, Gao Tinghui, Li Riyue, and Yu Wenjing are all enemies of ten thousand people. Shi Siming must send someone to fight. If anyone among them comes, don't go out to fight, just stick to it. If it's the enemy
If you are going to surrender, please bring him back to Heyang to see me."
Yong Xihao is not smart and cannot understand what this means. The enemy general is so good, how can he surrender?
In short, he stayed and guarded the camp. Waiting until midnight, no thieves came to kill him. Then he thought in his mind that the commander-in-chief sometimes guessed wrong.
It wasn't until daybreak that there was suddenly an earth-shattering cry. It was the bandit army who suddenly attacked the camp and seemed to come from close range.
Yong Xihao was startled, thinking of Li Guangbi's instructions, and calmly arranged for people to stick to it.
After the battle at first light, the rebels had ceased their activities, and the enemy general actually shouted to him to come out of the camp to meet him. Yong Xihao also went, staring at the opponent across the fence and ditch.
"Who are you?!"
"Li Riyue. Who is you?"
"Yong Xihao!"
"Where is Li Guangbi?"
Yong Xihao laughed loudly and said: "The commander has returned to Heyang long ago."
Li Riyue asked angrily: "Why didn't your grain and grass arrive?!"
"none of your business!"
Across the trench, Li Riyue was speechless. After a long discussion with his generals, they all dropped their weapons and stepped forward and said, "If I surrender? Can you protect me from death?"
Yong Xihao couldn't help being surprised, but he didn't expect it to be as Li Guangbi expected. He quickly followed Li Guangbi's instructions and took Li Riyue and other surrendered generals to Heyang City.
Entering Heyang and going all the way to the Marshal's Mansion, I saw Li Guangbi talking to a young man with a graceful bearing and extraordinary appearance.
Yong Xihao was shocked. He guessed the young man's identity, but did not dare to confirm it. He only saluted and said, "I have met the handsome man."
"Yes." Li Guangbi did not introduce him, but said, "There may be enemies coming down in the future."
"Yes, the enemy general Li Riyue is willing to surrender, but he is still outside the city. I want to ask the commander if he can protect him from death?"
Li Guangbi laughed loudly and said: "Tell him that I can now appoint him as General Guoyi and still lead his original troops. From now on, he will be my brother like other generals."
"yes."
Yong Xihao hurriedly took the order and quickly brought back Li Riyue.
"Hahaha." Li Guangbi was unusually enthusiastic. He personally stepped forward to pull Li Riyue, brought him to the young man, and said, "Riyue has come just in time to introduce you to King Yong of the Tang Dynasty."
Li Riyue was shocked and quickly prostrated himself, saying: "Prince Yong has arrived in Heyang in person. The last general..."
"It's just the right time for you to surrender." Xue Bai helped Li Riyue up and said: "It won't be long before Shi Siming will be defeated. This is a great contribution from God."
This kind of words that just follow the destiny is the most touching.
Li Riyue was agitated, feeling that he had met the Ming Lord this time.
Yong Xihao was greatly puzzled.
He really couldn't understand why King Yong and the commander-in-chief took it for granted? Weren't they afraid that Li Riyue would pretend to surrender? And how did he expect that Li Riyue would surrender?
However, something even more surprising happened to him.
A few days later, a general of the Yan Army suddenly came to surrender, and it was Gao Tinghui, the "enemy of ten thousand people" whom Li Guangbi once mentioned.
Yong Xihao finally couldn't bear it anymore and found an opportunity to ask Li Guangbi what was going on.
"Simple, human nature is like that."
Yong Xihao scratched his head and muttered: "The general will not find it simple."
Li Guangbi sighed when he thought that he had always been very strict in managing the army, but he was afraid of forcing the generals to rebel in a big battle a few days ago.
"Shi Siming was eager to win and was looking forward to a head-on battle with me. Hearing that I was collecting food and grass at Yeshuidu, he must have given Li Riyue a strict order to attack me with fine cavalry. If he didn't succeed, he would kill me without mercy."
With that said, he waved to Li Riyue and asked, "Really?"
"Go back to the commander, yes." Li Riyue said: "I can't capture the commander, and I can't steal food and grass. Even if I try my best to capture an unknown person like Yong Xihao, I will definitely die if I go back, so it's better to surrender."
"Nobody? I..."
Yong Xihao could not refute, and looked at Gao Tinghui again, asking: "Why did you surrender?"
Gao Tinghui was very arrogant and said calmly: "My martial arts skills are far better than Li Riyue's, and he can be reused by the commander, let alone me?"
Seeing this scene, Xue Bai could quite feel Li Guangbi's demeanor as a famous general.
He is more confident about putting down the rebellion within this year.
But he hopes to avoid further losses in national strength and military strength, and this is also the purpose of his personal visit this time.
~~
Yan army camp.
The war suffered one setback after another, but Yan Zhuang admired Shi Siming even more.
Shi Siming had the spirit of a general and was unyielding in the face of setbacks. After two of his generals betrayed him one after another, he calmed down, wiped away his previous impatience, changed his attitude, and began to appease the generals.
Soon, the morale of the Yan army was boosted again.
"It doesn't matter if we are defeated for a moment." Shi Siming also recruited others, including Yan Zhuang, to encourage them personally, "We can lose many times, and the worst we can do is retreat to Fan Yang and loot again next autumn.
The army is strong and the horses are strong. But the Tang court cannot afford to lose even once. If Li Guangbi loses one battle, I can take Luoyang and even Chang'an directly."
Yan Zhuang thinks it makes sense.
"Therefore, our army does not need to seek a quick victory." Shi Siming raised his voice, "The first to be unable to support must be Tang Ting."
Unable to defeat his old rival Li Guangbi, he quickly changed his mentality and was not seeking to destroy the Tang Dynasty in one battle, but was preparing for a protracted war.
Shi Chaoyi was worried and said: "But the army's food supply..."
Shi Siming glanced at his son lightly, looked at the map, and started pointing.
"Where does the supply of grain and grass in Heyang come from? Jianghuai. Xue Bai personally went to Luoyang, firstly to prevent our army from crossing the Yellow River, and secondly to raise grain and grass for Li Guangbi. Since we could not seize the Tang army's grain from Yeshui Crossing, we would go directly from Jianghuai
Take it!"
He pointed his finger and clicked on Caozhou on the map.
"Xue Cai!"
"The end will be here."
"You lead three thousand soldiers to plunder the grain and grass in Caozhou. There is no need to attack the city."
"Here."
"Wang Tongzhi!"
"The end will be here."
"Lead two thousand soldiers and plunder Chenzhou!"
"Here."
"Xu Jingzhao, two thousand soldiers, plunder Yunzhou!"
"..."
Military orders were passed on one after another. Just looking at the map, it can be seen that the Yan army has completely dispersed. They no longer concentrate their forces, but are overwhelmingly heading towards Henan and the Jianghuai area.
"South of the Yellow River, the Tang army only has Xue Bai, and Zhang Xun is a capable man. Now I am scattered. Let's see how many Zhang Xun can defend the city?!"
"Dayan will win."
Yan Zhuang admired Shi Siming, but he also had other ideas in his mind.
That night, he specially invited Shi Chaoyi to have a drink. He sighed and said, "King Huai, does he know why His Majesty arranged this?"
"This is to cut off the Tang army's food and grass. If one thing goes down and the other goes up, the Tang army will be defeated."
"No." Yan Zhuang shook his head and said, "I think your Majesty has the intention to return to Fan Yang."
"Why do you make such assertions, sir?" Shi Chaoyi was puzzled.
Yan Zhuang said: "Our army's plundering of the Jianghuai River will inevitably cause complaints among the people, helping the Tang army to fight against the Yan Dynasty. The people's resentment will not be eliminated for a while. Is this a good opportunity to conquer the world? On the contrary, today's army has plundered the children of gold and silk and returned to Fanyang.
How about rewarding the heroes and recuperating?"
"how?"
"Then the Tang court will be left in a mess, with insufficient financial resources and limited resources. Coupled with the struggle for power within the court, the Tang court will be in chaos in a few years. When the time comes, Your Majesty will borrow troops from the Uighurs and Khitans and march straight in. Wouldn't it be more
good?"
Shi Chaoyi suddenly realized it and said: "So that's the case, no wonder. But why didn't my father make it clear to the generals?"
Yan Zhuang said with a smile: "It's not that I don't want to speak openly to the generals, I just don't want to speak clearly to one person in Huaizhou."
"What does this mean?" Shi Chaoyi was shocked and his eyes widened.
"Point it out, point it out." Yan Zhuang waved his hand, pointed to the north, and refused to talk about the matter anymore. He only said: "If King Huai can do what he said today and think of my good, I will be satisfied."
That night, Shi Chaoyi tossed and turned, unable to sleep peacefully.
He thought that Shi Siming had left Shi Chaoqing in Fan Yang and only named him King Huai. Coupled with today's words, he couldn't help but become more worried. Then he got up, summoned his confidants to discuss, and said: "My father is going back to Fan Yang..."