Huoyi County is guarded on the official road in the middle of Hedong, with mountains stretching for hundreds of miles on both sides. This makes Huoyi County the only way to go north to Taiyuan and the throat of Taiyuan, with an extremely important strategic position.
In every battle for the east of Hedong, Huoyi County is an obstacle that cannot be avoided. For ordinary people, they may be able to find mountain paths to bypass Huoyi County, but for troops carrying heavy baggage, Huoyi County is the place they must not go around.
A fortress that cannot be faced.
At this time, Huoyi County was occupied by the Fengzhou Sui Army. There were 5,000 garrison troops, commanded by General Ying Yanglang Cui Pojun. Cui Pojun was about 20 years old and was born in the Boling Cui family. His grandfather was Qian Zhuo
Cui Hongsheng, the prefect of the county, and Cui Pojun, who had been studying and practicing martial arts since childhood, won the respect of Yang Yuanqing and gave him the important task of guarding Huoyi County. He did not disappoint Yang Yuanqing and defended Huoyi like an iron barrel.
Huoyi County itself is not big, with a circumference of only more than ten miles and a permanent population of more than 20,000. However, its commerce is very developed. There are many shops on the three streets and there are thousands of merchants, a mixture of good and bad.
That morning, in front of an inn in the back street of the county town, Cui Pojun personally led hundreds of soldiers to surround the inn. The soldiers held shields and slowly approached the inn, firing cold arrows from the inn from time to time.
"People inside, come out and surrender, spare your lives!" several soldiers shouted repeatedly.
Early in the morning, Cui Pojun received a report from the county lieutenant. It was discovered that more than twenty people of unknown origin were hiding in this inn. They were carrying knives and did not go out. Cui Pojun immediately guessed that these were probably enemy troops.
spies, and personally brought people to arrest him.
"General Cui, we are unwilling to surrender!" an officer came forward to report.
Cui Pojun's eyes showed anger and he immediately ordered: "Set the house on fire. If you don't come out, you will be burned to death inside!"
The county magistrate was startled and hurriedly stepped forward and said: "But the general, the innkeeper and several businessmen are also inside, and they have taken them hostage."
"Set fire!" Cui Poping ordered coldly.
Torches were thrown into the inn one after another. Thick smoke billowed in the inn, and the flames spread quickly. After a while, more than 20 people finally rushed out with knives, shouting and killing the surrounding sergeants. Hundreds of sergeants all around fired arrows at random.
, the screams lasted for a moment, and more than twenty people were shot to the ground.
The soldiers put out the fire again, searched the inn for a while, and found a dozen people who had written intelligence that had not yet been sent, and presented it to Cui Pojun, "Report to the general, this is the intelligence found."
Cui Pojun opened the information and read it, and suddenly became furious, "Who guarded the south gate yesterday?"
A school lieutenant stepped forward tremblingly, "Last night I was on duty at the south gate in a humble position."
Cui Pojun angrily scolded him: "Someone actually climbed over the wall into the city from the southwest corner last night. This is your dereliction of duty. Push him down and beat him with a hundred army sticks!"
More than a dozen soldiers dragged the captain down. Cui Pojun felt that there were still loopholes in the defense of the city, especially at night. If Li Shimin's army made a sneak attack at night, it would be dangerous, and he had to plug all the loopholes.
He immediately ordered: "Order all officers above the rank of captain to go to the military office to discuss matters!"
Three days later, Li Shimin led an army of 70,000 to Huoyi County. Except for the 50,000 troops brought from Guanzhong, the rest were all from Hedong counties. Li Shimin learned the lesson from Li Shuliang's army being defeated one by one and no longer divided his troops.
Instead of heading north, they concentrated their forces and headed north to Taiyuan.
The main camp of Li Shimin's army was set up three miles south of Huoyi County. The tents were neatly arranged and stretched for several miles. In the Chinese army's tent, Li Shimin was communicating with deputy general Qu Tu, military counselor Fang Xuanling, and marching commander Sun Wu.
Ji, together with Samurai Chan, the general manager of grain, grass and baggage, and other four people discussed the plan to go north to Taiyuan.
Li Shimin was a little worried, pacing back and forth in the big tent with his hands behind his back. He had just received a report from the spies that Huoyi County had closed the city gate, and there were more than twenty heads hanging at the city gate. It was he who sent him to ambush Huoyi County.
The scout, unfortunately, got another news.
Li Shimin sighed and said angrily: "I just got another news from the spies. The path in Gaobiling has been blocked by Fengzhou military boulders. Now we have no other way to capture Huoyi County except a hard attack."
He glanced at Lieutenant General Qu Tutong again, and seeing that he had been deep in thought, he smiled and said, "Old General Qu Tutong, I want to hear your opinion."
Qu Tutong has been relatively silent since he entered Hedong. The old scenery in Hedong made him sad. In just a few months, he felt that he had already arrived in the next life, and the past was so far away from him. He also understood that Li Yuan trusted him on the surface, but
In fact, I am still wary of him, so he tries to keep a low profile and does not participate in decision-making.
But now it was Li Shimin who took the initiative to ask him, forcing him to answer. Qu Tutong hesitated and said: "I will consider the matter of Taiyuan again. Based on my understanding of Yang Yuanqing, he should have captured Taiyuan by now. Let's go north.
Can we recapture Taiyuan?"
Several people were stunned for a moment, and Li Shimin quickly asked him, "Why do you see that Taiyuan has been lost?"
"When I was in Hedong County, Qin Gong told me that Yang Yuanqing was trying to lure Taiyuan away but not attack him. I felt a little uneasy because Yang Yuanqing was a man who made plans before taking action and would never let himself be passive. It was impossible for him not to know
We were heading north, and since he was still unhurried and did not attack Taiyuan City, I felt that he was actually sure of capturing the city and was just waiting for the opportunity."
Everyone in the tent was silent. Everyone had to admit that Qu Tutong was right. Changsun Wuji said again: "General Qu Tu just said that Yang Yuanqing was sure of taking Taiyuan, but it doesn't mean that he has already won it."
Go to Taiyuan City."
Qu Tutong smiled bitterly, "If we take Huoyi County in one day, the cavalry can reach Taiyuan City in as little as two days. Then we may reach Taiyuan within three days. Yang Yuanqing also understands this.
He still needs to control Taiyuan and prepare for the war. Three days is too tight for him, and he will not let himself be so passive, so I think he has captured Taiyuan at this time and is actively preparing for the war."
Li Shimin walked to the map and stared at it. He felt that what Qu Tutong said was right. In fact, Qu Tutong knew everything in his heart. He should communicate with Qu Tutong more. The indifference to him along the way was his biggest fault.
Mistakes.
Thinking of this, Li Shimin turned around and asked Qu Tutong softly: "I would like to ask the old general, if we continue to go north to Taiyuan, what percent does the old general think we have of winning?"
This question is indeed difficult to answer. After pondering for a long time, Qu Tutong said slowly: "I want to tell you two things! The first thing is that in the ninth year of Daye, Yang Yuanqing's power expanded southward to the six counties in northern Guan. I was ordered by the Holy Master to lead 50,000 people.
The army responded to Yang Yuanqing's southern invasion. At that time, the Holy Spirit entrusted me with full authority. I could even wait for an opportunity to recapture Fengzhou. However, I always stationed troops in Yan'an County and never fought with Yang Yuanqing because I knew that my logistics could not keep up. If a war started, I would have to
There was no doubt that I would be defeated. Instead of a big defeat, it would be better to reserve the strength of the 50,000-strong army for the Holy One, so I endured it for two years. In the end, it was proved that I was right, and my 50,000-strong army became the main force in Luoyang."
Qu Tutong said it very implicitly. He actually told Li Shimin that if it were him, he would not fight this battle with Yang Yuanqing, but would retain the army.
Li Shimin understood what Qu Tutong meant. After pondering for a moment, he asked again: "What about the second thing?"
"The second thing I want to show Duke Qin is something."
Qu Tutong walked to the door of the tent and gave some instructions to the soldiers. The soldiers immediately ran towards his tent. In a moment, a stream of soldiers came holding something, like a plate, three feet wide and narrow, covered with a piece of cloth.
.
The soldiers carefully placed the items on the table, and everyone gathered around them. Qu Tutong lifted the cloth covering it, and everyone suddenly exclaimed. It turned out to be a terrain disk, with mountains, rivers, terrain, and cities all made of clay.
It was so lifelike that Fang Xuanling looked at it for a long time and suddenly recognized it, "This is Hedong County!"
Qu Tutong nodded, "I made it myself, and it's very rough, but I think this kind of map has more military significance than ordinary paper maps. It can tell us very clearly how to march and fight. If we use this kind of map,
If you fight on a clay map, you will be much more certain of winning."
Li Shimin stared at the map closely, and for a long time he sighed softly and said: "I know that the Eastern Han Dynasty used horses to build mountains with rice from Lu, but I have never seen the real thing. Today is an eye-opener."
He glanced at Qu Tutong again and asked, "Is this a wonderful idea that General Qu thought of?"
Qu Tutong shook his head, "This is the second thing I want to say. This is Yang Yuanqing's military property. I once captured a Fengzhou Army scout. He told me that in Yang Yuanqing's Chinese army tent
In the middle, there is a complete clay sculpture map of Hedong, Guanzhong and Hebei, which is three feet long and two feet wide. Yang Yuanqing has always used this map to plan the battle situation."
There was silence in the big tent again. Qu Tutong still did not say anything clearly, but still told everyone implicitly that Yang Yuanqing not only had a brilliant battle map, but more importantly, he had already started to plan for Hedong. What they were facing was a premeditated plan.
A prepared and powerful enemy.
To fight or not to fight?
Everyone retreated, and only Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling were left in the Chinese army's tent. Fang Xuanling was stopped by Li Shimin.
Li Shimin let out a long sigh and said angrily: "The person I admired most since I was a child is Yang Yuanqing. I still vaguely remember the first time I met him in the fourth year of Renshou, in a wine shop in Xianyang. I was only six years old at that time. I was so impressed by his weapons.
I was very interested. He was only fifteen years old at that time, and he had more than a hundred weapons. He said that his most powerful weapon was not the weapon. I thought he meant bows and arrows at the time. Only when I grew up did I understand that his most powerful weapon was not the weapon.
The most powerful thing is not weapons, but soldiers, who can command thousands of troops and thousands of horses."
A ray of sunlight shined into the big tent through the oil tiles on the roof and shone on Li Shimin's face. He seemed to be immersed in reminiscing about the past. Fang Xuanling did not interrupt his train of thought and sat aside to listen to him quietly.
"A few years ago in Zhuo County, he once told me what it means to be a handsome arrow. A handsome man will make a decision before taking action. Everything is under control. I felt a sense of enlightenment at that time, but in fact it was very difficult to do it.
For example, this time, my father forced me to go on an expedition and did not give me time to deploy my troops calmly, so I sent out troops in a hurry. The scouts sent to Huoyi County a few days ago were killed. If I could have deployed a month earlier, it would not have happened.
Being as passive as today."
Li Shimin turned his eyes to Fang Xuanling, with a deep worry in his eyes, "I responded in a hurry, while Yang Yuanqing deployed his plans calmly. To be honest, sir, I have no confidence in defeating him."
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