Chapter 2668 : Li Dingguo VS Xia Houyuan, Han Xin's surprise attack on Kunyang City
Chapter 2668: Li Dingguo VS Xia Houyuan, Han Xin surprise attack on Kunyang City
It only took Li Cunxiao two days to break through Longcheng, which had 3,000 defenders, and captured Cao Wei's Longcheng defender Liu Yan alive.
In this battle, the Qin army killed 500 Wei soldiers, half of whom died at the hands of Li Cunxiao, and captured 2,500 Wei soldiers, while the Qin army's own casualties were less than 50.
Longcheng fell, and there was a gap in Cao Wei's first line of defense.
Li Cunxiao could completely ignore Guancheng and the other three cities and directly lead the army to march straight into the second line of defense, but there are hidden dangers in doing so.
If it were Li Cunxiao in the past, he might still do this, but after fighting for so many years and suffering so many losses, he is now much calmer than before, and he will not be so immature anymore.
Li Cunxiao left his deputy general Li Dingguo to guard Longcheng with 2,000 soldiers and guard the prisoners of war, while he himself led the remaining troops northward to capture Hucheng, which was more than 40 miles away.
As soon as Li Cunxiao left, nearly 15,000 defenders from Guancheng south of Longcheng, as well as Juanxian, Yuanyong, and Putian on the second line of defense came out at the same time and headed straight for Longcheng.
It is to retake Longcheng.
After Li Dingguo learned about it, he made preparations to defend the city and stood ready, and at the same time sent a message to Li Cunxiao, asking him to continue attacking Hu City and not worry about the safety of Longcheng.
After learning the news that Cao Wei's troops were marching into Longcheng, Li Cunxiao originally wanted to return to Longcheng first. It wasn't that he didn't believe in Li Dingguo's ability, but that Longcheng was still under construction and there might be some hidden dangers inside.
In addition, the Wei army that invaded Longcheng had 15,000 troops. The mere defense of the city was obviously not as important as the 15,000 Wei troops.
Li Cunxiao simplified the problem. The reason why Cao Wei sent troops to Longcheng at this time was just to lure Li Cunxiao back and make the Qin army exhausted.
If Li Cunxiao had really waited for Li Cunxiao to return to Longcheng, these four Wei troops would have fled long ago, and they would never dare to stay and fight with Li Cunxiao in the field.
Since returning to the army is destined to be in vain, it is better not to return to the army and continue to attack the city. After all, ten birds in the forest are not as good as one in the hand.
Therefore, after reading Li Dingguo's letter, Li Cunxiao decided not to return to the army and continued to attack Hu City.
The Wei army originally only wanted to lure Li Cunxiao and had no intention of attacking Longcheng, but Li Dingguo was not fooled, so they had to attack if they didn't.
Cao Wei did have a backup force in Longcheng. If the Qin army was unprepared, they could still recapture Longcheng by cooperating inside and outside.
But now the person guarding Longcheng is Li Dingguo, so how could he not be on guard against these means?
Li Dingguo only used a small plan to lure out more than a hundred Cao Wei Xizuo who were ambushing Longcheng, and surrounded and killed them all. Then he set up an ambush in the city, pretending that Cao Wei Xizuo opened the city gate and deliberately lured the Wei army into the city.
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At this time, the four generals who led the army to attack Longcheng were: Xia Houyuan, Liu Tichun, Lu Qian, and Cao Yin.
Liu Tichun was a general under Li Zicheng. After Li Zicheng's death, he insisted on resisting the Qing Dynasty. He accepted the title granted by the Southern Ming Dynasty and was named the Duke of Anhui. He led his troops into Kuidong and became one of the thirteen families in Kuidong.
Liu Tichun in this life was still implanted under Li Zicheng, but he was captured alive by evil spirits in the duel with Cao Wei. After Li Zicheng's defeat, he surrendered to Cao Cao.
Xia Houyuan and Liu Tichun were extremely cautious to begin with, but after Lu Qian broke a hand in Yingzhou, his character became more silent and cautious. He did not enter the city rashly, but prepared to send someone to check first.
Cao Yin was not as cautious as the three of them. Seeing that Longcheng was in civil strife and the city gates were wide open, he was led into the city without thinking. However, he was ambushed by Li Dingguo. The Qin army was ambushed in advance.
It was shot into a sieve.
Seeing that Xia Houyuan, Liu Tichun and Lu Qian were not fooled, Li Dingguo was not disappointed. At worst, he would continue to wait for help.
Xia Houyuan, Liu Tichun, and Lu Qian were not stupid people. When they saw that Cao Yin and the two thousand Wei troops under his command, no one came out after entering the city, they naturally realized that something was wrong, but at this time the city gate was already closed.
, only a strong attack can break through.
The three generals Xia Houyuan each led their troops to attack the city, but Li Dingguo had already made sufficient preparations, and they would definitely not be able to break the city in the short term.
Just when Xia Houyuan and the three generals didn't know what to do, Li Dingguo appeared at the top of Longcheng and hung up Cao Yin's body.
"Cao Jun outside the city, listen, Cao Wei is a small country. Facing the million lions of our Qin Dynasty, it is nothing more than a mantis' arm acting as a chariot. If you are wise, hurry up and get your profile picture, otherwise this person will be your role model."
"General Cao Yin?"
After seeing Cao Yin's body, Liu Tichun and Lu Qian couldn't help but exclaimed. After all, Cao Yin was the uncle of Cao Cao, Cao Ren, Cao Chun and others.
Qin and Wei were related by marriage. Many generals in the Wei army thought that the Qin army intended to conquer Cao Wei, so they would not be too cruel to them. However, they did not expect that even the uncle of the King of Wei had been killed.
Looking at Cao Yin's body, Liu Tichun and Lu Qian fell silent. Xia Houyuan was even more angry and gritted his teeth. Not only did he not stop attacking the city, but he attacked even more fiercely.
However, despite attacking for two days, they failed to capture Longcheng and instead lost nearly a thousand troops.
Although Xia Houyuan was angry about Cao Yin's death, he was not overwhelmed by the anger. Seeing that he could not conquer Longcheng, he had no choice but to retreat. After all, Li Cunxiao was coming if he didn't leave.
Li Cunxiao marched one day and arrived at Hucheng. There were only a thousand defenders in Hucheng, so it was naturally impossible to block Li Cunxiao's attack.
This time, even Li Cunxiao did not take action personally. He only relied on his troops to conquer Hu City in one day. However, the casualties were greater than those in Long City, with nearly a hundred soldiers killed in the battle.
After Li Cunxiao left 1,500 soldiers in Hucheng, he led the remaining troops back to Longcheng. When he arrived with his army, Liu Tichun and Lu Qian had already led the army and fled.
When he learned that Li Dingguo not only defended Longcheng, but also used a trick to kill Cao Yin and annihilate nearly three thousand Wei troops, even Li Cunxiao couldn't help but give Li Dingguo a thumbs up.
"Dingguo, you did a great job."
Li Cunxiao ran back and forth between Longcheng and Hucheng, and the number of Cao soldiers killed in the two battles combined was less than half of what Li Dingguo did in the first battle.
Li Cunxiao knew Li Dingguo's ability, and at the same time felt sorry for his younger brother. If he hadn't guarded Yanmen Pass all year round and wasted too many years, Li Dingguo's achievements might not be lower than those of Zhang Liao, Meng Tian and others.
Li Dingguo was originally a general of the Yellow Turban Army, but he surrendered to Ying Wen after being captured, so he was considered a member of the Jin Dynasty, unlike Li Cunxiao, who was from the Yuan Dynasty and Qin Dynasty.
However, after Ying Hao became emperor, he treated all departments equally. After Li Dingguo experienced the battle outside the fortress, he was also transferred from Yanmen Pass and became Li Cunxiao's deputy general.
Under the command of Li Cunxiao, the most powerful general in the world, would you still be afraid that you would not have the opportunity to make meritorious deeds? Therefore, Li Dingguo's rise is inevitable.
"Brother, the general Cao I killed this time is different, and it may cause some trouble." Li Dingguo said seriously.
Li Cunxiao smiled nonchalantly and said, "What trouble can there be?"
"Cao Yin is the younger brother of Cao Song and the biological uncle of King Cao Cao of Wei."
After hearing this, Li Cunxiao finally understood his brother's worries, but he still didn't take it seriously and said: "Don't say he is just Cao Cao's uncle, so what if he is Cao Cao's biological father? If you don't surrender and die on the battlefield, your death will be in vain. Your Majesty is
I won’t blame you for this.”
Li Cunxiao's words did not dispel Li Dingguo's worries.
"There are four more concubines from the Cao family in the harem. I'm afraid..."
"Are you afraid that the Fourth Concubine Cao Wei will give His Majesty the advantage? Or are you afraid that the prince born of the Fourth Concubine will hold a grudge in the future?"
Li Cunxiao looked at Li Dingguo speechlessly, and said patiently: "Second brother, you are really smart and confused for a while. Our Majesty is so wise, how can he be deceived by the wind on your pillow?
As for whether the prince of the fourth concubine will hold a grudge, we have to wait for the time being. Even if he does, he must be able to succeed to the throne.
But our Great Qin has already decided on the title of crown prince, and the prince born from the fourth concubine of Cao Wei has no chance of succeeding to the throne."
When Li Dingguo heard this, he suddenly showed a look of surprise, and then looked at Li Cunxiao with a different expression, as if his elder brother was a different person.
"Brother, you have never considered this before."
Hearing what Li Dingguo said, Li Cunxiao asked: "Second brother, how did you know what I was thinking before?"
"Because all your previous thoughts were written on your face. What you thought about all day long was either practicing martial arts to become stronger or challenging other strong people."
"Well... I was still too young at that time."
As he spoke, Li Cunxiao showed a look of reminiscence and said: "If you are not in your position, you will not plan for your politics. Only when you are in your position do you know that it is not easy.
Your Majesty doesn’t want my brother to be just a reckless man, and my brother doesn’t want to be just a reckless man, so I have been studying all these years. If I don’t make any progress, I would be very sorry for your majesty’s training of my brother.”
Li Dingguo nodded. Unlike him who was put on the bench at Yanmen Pass, His Majesty's preference for his brother was not concealed at all.
Although Li Cunxiao was strong, among the generals of the Qin Dynasty, he was also the one who caused the most troubles.
Disobeying orders, disobeying orders in the face of battle, and other disobedience to military regulations, if someone else commits the same crime, even if they are not dismissed, they will definitely be demoted.
But Li Cunxiao made all the mistakes, but he still did well, fighting the battles and leading the troops.
What is partiality?
This is called partiality.
After some discussion, brothers Li Cunxiao and Li Dingguo decided to take the prisoners of war from Hucheng to Longcheng and keep them under unified custody while continuing to march towards Cao Wei's second line of defense.
The first direction of Cao Wei's western line actually included Guancheng and Mi County in the south, which had not yet been captured by the Qin army.
However, at this time, the 140,000 main force that left Hulao Pass in the east had successfully arrived at Xingyang City.
After Zhang Liao received the news that Li Cunxiao had captured Longcheng and Hucheng, he immediately sent Xu Huang and Gao Shun, each with an army of 10,000, to attack Guancheng and Mi County. Naturally, there was no need for Li Cunxiao to go there in person.
There were more than 20 cities in Cao Wei's three western defense lines. If Li Cunxiao had to capture each of them personally, the march alone would take a lot of time, and Li Cunxiao would die from exhaustion.
Cao Yin, the general who was guarding the city, and the two thousand defenders had all been annihilated by Li Dingguo, so it was naturally impossible to stop the Qin army's offensive.
When Gao Shun's army arrived, before they had time to attack the city, the county magistrate of Guancheng took the initiative to open the city and surrender.
As for Mi County's general Dang Shousu, he was one of the "Thirteen Families of Kuidong" together with Liu Tichun, and he was also a general under Li Zicheng, but he surrendered to Cao Cao after Li Zicheng's defeat.
The Kuidong Thirteen Families, also known as the Sichuan Thirteen Families, the Xishan Thirteen Families, and the Kuidong Four Families, were the anti-Qing armies active in Sichuan, Hubei, Shaanxi, and Henan provinces during the Southern Ming Dynasty until the third year of Kangxi (1664).
The fact that it was completely destroyed in August is enough to illustrate its tenacity and resilience.
Dang Shousu knew very well that after the fall of Longcheng and other three cities, he could not hold on for long with only one isolated city in Mi County. However, if he surrendered without a fight, he was worried that he would be underestimated by the Qin army.
After some thought, Dang Shousu decided to challenge Xu Huang. If he failed, he would surrender the city and would never break his promise.
Xu Huang initially thought that this was Dang Shousu's excuse to lure him into the battle, but when he thought about it, he had nothing to lose, so he fought.
It's just that the superb Dang Shousu didn't have much power to resist when facing Xu Huang, who was at the level of a god general. After persisting for twenty rounds, Xu Huang shot down his horse, and he was defeated on the spot.
Dang Shousu did not break the contract, and ordered the city to be opened as if he was relieved, and led the two thousand defenders in the city to surrender to Xu Huang.
At this point, Cao Wei's first line of defense on the western front had all fallen. Among the four defenders, one was captured, one surrendered, and two died in battle.
At the same time, Han Xin's 70,000-strong army also invaded Yingchuan from Nanyang and launched a surprise attack on Kunyang City.