Chapter 2226: Aid Ma to fight Sui, Yan Xing joins Qin
While preparations for enthroning the throne were in full swing in Luoyang, the situation in Guanzhong also changed.
Ying Hao ordered Li Jing to lead 140,000 troops out of Wuguan to attack Guanzhong, but Li Jing did not move all the troops to the Lantian line.
Taking into account the terrain problem along the Wuguan route, too many troops could not be deployed, so Zhang Liao was left with an army of 60,000 in Tongguan. The Tang army, which was holding down the front line of Tongguan, only led an army of 80,000 out of Wuguan to attack the pass, but was defeated.
Li Shimin personally led the army to block Lantian.
After the fall of Wuguan, Lantian was Chang'an's last line of defense. If it was breached by the Qin army, Li Jing could march straight to the city of Chang'an.
In order to protect the land in Guanzhong, Li Shimin mobilized heavy troops to defend Lantian County. At the same time, he also recruited a large number of strong men to repair the abandoned Gurao Pass.
Li Shimin planned to rely on the dangerous city of Lantian and the favorable geographical location of Raoguan to build a solid defense line on the border of Lantian to keep the Qin army out of the pass.
It's just that Lantian is not Wuguan after all, and Yoguan has been abandoned for many years. Rebuilding it is not something that can be done in a short time. It is obviously not easy to block Li Jing's 80,000 army based on this.
After the army led by Li Jing arrived at Lantian City, and after the siege equipment such as ladders, wells, catapults, and battering rams were ready, they immediately launched the siege, and the two fierce generals Gao Chong and Yuwen Chengdu personally participated in the attack.
During the siege.
The Qin army's morale was already high and their offensive was extremely fierce. On the first day of the siege, the Tang army was beaten hard. If Yang Jian's reinforcements had not arrived in time, they might have been able to break through Lantian on the first day.
With the support of Yang Jian's reinforcements, Gao Chong and Yuwen Chengdu were repelled one after another. Li Shimin's pressure was greatly reduced, and he finally managed to hold on to Lantian, but this was only temporary, because reinforcements from the Qin Army arrived not long after.
In the Battle of Xiangyang, shortly after the Qin army defeated the Shu-Chu coalition, Ying Hao transferred Han Xin's 60,000 troops to serve under Li Jing.
In other words, in addition to Lantian's 80,000 troops and Tongguan's 60,000 troops, Han Xin's 60,000 troops were also commanded by Li Jing.
The total strength of the Qin army on the western front has reached 200,000, and there are 140,000 troops on the Lantian front line.
Li Jing did not transfer all of Han Xin's 60,000 troops to Lantian to participate in the siege. After all, there was no need to use 140,000 troops for a mere Lantian city.
Li Jing received accurate information, and Li Shimin ordered an urgent military expansion in Hanzhong and Longxi areas. Once the training is completed, the troops in these areas will be transferred to Guanzhong.
Although the field combat ability of these new soldiers is not strong, they still have some combat effectiveness in defending the city.
Based on this consideration, Li Jing decided to let Han Xin lead an army of 40,000 to recover the Nanxiang counties captured by the Tang army, and at the same time send troops to attack Shangyong and Xincheng counties, threatening and containing the Tang army's strength in Hanzhong, making it unable to divide its troops to support Guanzhong.
After receiving Li Jing's order, Han Xin decisively divided his troops and sent 20,000 troops to support Li Jing. He himself went to the 40,000 troops to conquer the Nanxiang counties that had been captured by the Tang army to the west.
The Tang army's garrison in Nanxiang was not large, only five thousand in total. How could they stop Han Xin's army?
Within three days, half of the occupied Nanxiang counties were recovered by Han Xin.
When Li Xiaogong, the prefect of Hanzhong in the Tang Dynasty, learned that a Qin army was coming to Hanzhong, he was shocked. He quickly recalled the reinforcements sent to Guanzhong, reported the news to Tang Wang Li Shimin, and went to the front line to resist Han Xin's attack.
The army.
At this point, the Guanzhong War between the Qin and Tang Dynasties opened up the second fastest battlefield, the Hanzhong Battlefield.
Li Jing received the support of 20,000 reinforcements from Han Xin, and his total troops reached 100,000. Just when he was about to take advantage of the situation to capture Lantian, he received news that Qin Hao agreed to proclaim himself emperor.
Jia Xu's previous campaign to build momentum could be described as vigorous. Even if Li Jing was fighting on the front line, he still could not avoid it and honestly submitted a letter to support Ying Hao's proclaimed emperor.
After going through many major events such as three resignations and three rejections, Ying Hao finally agreed to found the country and proclaim himself emperor, which made Li Jing feel that the burden on him was even heavier.
The founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China is scheduled for two months later, which means that Li Jing only has two months left.
Within two months, Li Jing must capture Lantian, enter Guanzhong, and then conquer Chang'an to completely end the Battle of Guanzhong.
Otherwise, the Qin State would not have that much food and grass to support him in continuing his campaign, and would have to temporarily stop attacking Guanzhong for the founding ceremony.
Feeling the pressure, Li Jing continued to attack Lantian openly, but secretly prepared to open a third battlefield to outwit Guanzhong.
Li Jing ordered Zhang Liao's troops in Tongguan to retreat, and asked Tan Daoji to command an army of 20,000 to camp at the Hangu ruins to confuse the Tang army, while Zhang Liao secretly led a main force of 40,000 to the north, waiting for a fighting opportunity.
This fighter plane is Huo Qubing Qubing's 70,000 cavalry.
When Huo Qubing's cavalry arrived on the battlefield and launched an attack from the west to Fufeng on the right, Zhang Liao's partial division sneaked across the Yellow River from Hanoi and attacked Fenglingdu, thereby attacking Zuo Fengling and igniting the war in Guanzhong.
Fenglingdu has been the largest ferry on the Yellow River since ancient times. It is the choke point of Hedong, Henan and Guanzhong. It is a battleground for military strategists.
The ancient battlefield between Wei and Qin was here. Famous battles such as Cao Cao's campaign against Han Sui and Ma Chao, and Yu Wentai's defeat of Gao Huan in the Western Wei Dynasty all took place at Fenglingdu.
For such an important geographical road, the Tang army must be tightly defended, but the Tang army's attention has been attracted by Li Jing, Han Xin and Tan Daoji. Huo Qubing's magic soldiers descended from the sky and launched an attack from the west to Guanzhong, causing the Tang army's defense line to be scattered everywhere.
If there is an emergency, some of the defenders at Fenglingdu will definitely be transferred, and then Zhang Liao's opportunity will come.
Guanzhong actually only has three counties and thirty-eight counties, and these three counties are: Jingzhao Yin, Zuo Fengling and You Fufeng.
If Li Jing's battle plan succeeds, the three counties of Guanzhong will face the siege of five Qin armies, and these five Qin armies are from: Lantian (Li Jing), Hanzhong (Han Xin), Tongguan (Tan Daoji), Fenglingdu