Original Li Xiaogong led hundreds of people on horseback to rush towards the Yellow River. His camp was very close to the Yellow River, less than three miles away. In just a moment, they rushed to the Yellow River. There were 1,200 soldiers on the dock.
Holding bows, arrows and spears, they all stared nervously at the river
The arrival of Li Xiaogong caused the soldiers to move out of the way. Li Xiaogong got off his horse and walked quickly to the river. He also asked nervously: "Where is it?"
A school captain pointed to the river, "Your Highness, look carefully, can you see it?"
A bright moon shone on the river, and the water was sparkling. The moonlight illuminated the river very clearly. Li Xiaogong looked at it for a moment. On the river more than a thousand steps away, there were many huge black shadows with black pupils. They were big ships.
There were more than a hundred figures, moored quietly on the river. They were bright and dim under the moonlight, just like ghosts, which looked particularly strange.
Li Xiaogong took a breath. This was the Sui army's big ship. They were about to launch an offensive on the south bank. He asked urgently: "What time is it now?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, it's just past the first watch."
Just as one of the soldiers finished speaking, a shout of killing suddenly erupted from the military camp. Li Xiaogong turned around suddenly and saw fire in the military camp, and the piercing ringing of bells was faintly heard. Li Xiaogong was shocked and shouted, "No."
!' Turned the horse's head and ran towards the camp.
He felt extremely regretful. He should have thought that Yang Yuanqing and Wang Shichong would launch an attack at the same time. There was something abnormal on the river. How could Wang Shichong's army not respond?
He should have asked the soldiers to rise up in time to fight, but it was all because of the arrival of the supervisory censor, which disturbed his mind. He did not think of this. Li Xiaogong was filled with hatred and complaint. He only hoped that Wang Shichong's nighttime sneak attack would be successfully blocked by the soldiers on duty.
Li Xiaogong ran all the way back to the camp. The situation in the camp made him feel a little relieved. Although the camp was in chaos, Wang Shichong's army failed to attack the camp. General Zhao Song led two thousand crossbowmen to succeed.
Intercept.
Li Xiaogong entered the camp from the west gate. There was no enemy attack at the west gate yet. When he entered the camp, General Zhao Song came to greet him, "Your Highness, Wang Shichong sent five thousand cavalry to attack the camp at night. They were discovered by patrol patrols and we successfully intercepted them.
Live them."
Li Xiaogong nodded, pointed to the fire in the southeast and asked, "What's going on?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, dozens of large tents in the southeast corner were set alight by enemy rockets. The soldiers have all withdrawn."
"What are the casualties?"
"When the enemy stormed the camp, they killed and injured hundreds of brothers, but they also killed two to three hundred people with bows and arrows."
"Send my order and the generals will immediately reorganize their armies and stop the chaos."
Li Xiaogong gave the order, and he urged his horse to run towards the Dongying Gate. Four thousand crossbowmen had already gathered in front of the Dongying Gate. He nervously stared into the darkness outside the camp. In the darkness, a large number of troops could be faintly seen.
The five thousand cavalry should be Wang Shichong's thirty thousand army. They are not in a hurry to attack, but are patiently waiting for something?
Li Xiaogong was anxious. He turned back and looked in the direction of the Yellow River. He knew what Wang Shichong was waiting for. Wang Shichong did not want to attack the camp at night, he just wanted to contain his army so that the Northern Sui army could land calmly.
"Pass my order, all soldiers are ready to evacuate!"
Li Xiaogong's sense of crisis was extremely strong. He could not wait until the Northern Sui army, which was good at night fighting, landed before evacuating. By then his army would be finished.
Also at the first watch, the last group of Northern Sui troops from Fenglingdu boarded the ferry. As a heavy bell rang, more than 600 ferries set sail, taking advantage of the cover of night to head towards the south bank.
, Thousands of sails stand in great numbers, and the momentum is huge.
The Yellow River is not safe at night. It is full of murderous intent, and the river is covered with whirlpools of all sizes. If you are not careful, if a ship encounters a large whirlpool, it will be sucked in, and even the ship will be destroyed and people will die.
In order to cross the river tonight, the Sui army made full preparations. They used merchant ships as cover and tried crossing the river at various times at night. Finally, they determined that the first watch was the safest time. Moreover, according to the experience of decades of old boatmen, crossing the river at night
Although the eyesight is poor, the water surface is safer than during the day.
Hundreds of large ships were sailing on the Yellow River following the strong northwest wind. On a large ship in the middle, Yang Yuanqing stood on the bow and stared at the situation on the other side. It was the dry season in October, and the water surface of the Yellow River was actually only seven or eight miles wide.
The journey takes more than half an hour to reach the other shore.
At this time, Yang Yuanqing was a little worried about the enemy using kerosene to block the river. When he discovered that kerosene also appeared in the Tang army, this became an indelible shadow in Yang Yuanqing's heart.
Amidst the roaring water waves, the ship was getting closer and closer to the other shore, only more than five hundred steps away. Qin Qiong, the commander of the river crossing, waved his hand, and a lantern on the main ship was lit and hung high on the mast. This was
At a signal, the fleet of ships quickly lowered their sails and slowed down, while thirty hundred-stone warships served as the vanguard and sailed toward the shore at high speed.
Everyone watched the thirty hundred-stone boats speeding towards the shore, but the other shore was still quiet, without any movement.
Yang Shidao felt a little uneasy, and whispered beside Yang Yuanqing: "It's a bit weird! At a distance of five hundred steps, the other party should be able to detect our fleet, why is there no movement?"
Yang Yuanqing raised his head and looked at the moonlight. The moonlight was particularly bright, filling the river with silvery night light. He also had experience. If there was no moonlight, he could see the movement four to five hundred steps away on the river just by starlight, let alone today.
There was no fog, the moonlight was clear, and the defenders on the shore could indeed see them clearly, but they made no movement, which surprised Yang Yuanqing.
Yang Yuanqing did not rush to respond to Yang Shidao's question. He concentrated on watching the thirty pioneer ships sailing towards the shore. They were less than a hundred steps away, but there was still no movement.
"Is it possible that there are no defenders on the dock?" Yang Yuanqing thought secretly in his heart.
The vanguard ships finally docked one after another. More than a thousand soldiers on thirty ships, holding shields and spears, carefully jumped out of the ship and ran to the shore, but there was still no movement on the shore.
At this time, the Sui soldiers on the shore lit three large lanterns, which indicated that there was no ambush. Qin Qiong immediately ordered, "Land the ships!"
Hundreds of large ships raised their main sails again and began to approach the shore. Yang Yuanqing was confused as to why there was no military defense on the shore. The information he received was that there were at least two thousand defenders on the dock. Did they all flee?
It is unrealistic to think about it. Fenglingdu has already been crowded with ferries. With Li Xiaogong's intelligence, he will definitely send heavy troops to defend here. How come there is no army to show up to allow him to land smoothly? None of the several plans for ascending the throne that he has painstakingly prepared are in vain.
Yang Yuanqing was puzzled, but this was good, as it could greatly reduce the casualties of his troops' landing.
Large ships approached the dock one after another. Groups of soldiers from the Northern Sui Army landed one after another from the large ships. They had a clear division of labor and moved quickly. They soon occupied the area within two miles of the dock. The first thousand soldiers to land were three miles away.
External patrol posts to protect the landing of the main army.
It was not until the fourth watch that the 30,000 Northern Sui troops completed all the landings. Yang Yuanqing finally boarded the pier. At this time, Qin Qiong, the commander of the crossing river, came forward to give the order, "General, all the landings have been completed. Everything went well. Do you want to report to Nuxiang?"
Let’s go to the county, please give instructions from the general manager!”
Yang Yuanqing looked at the sky, shook his head and said: "Order the brothers to rest on the spot, and then proceed to Enxiang County after dawn."
Yang Yuanqing's order was issued, and the 30,000 Northern Sui soldiers rested in place. They had all eaten and drank enough before boarding the ship. Now they each took out their blankets to wrap their bodies and fell asleep. Everyone was trying to gain time to rest so that they could maintain enough strength for tomorrow's battle.
physical strength, these are the experiences of soldiers for many years.
A marching tent was set up on the dock. The tent was brightly lit and there was a smaller sand table. Yang Yuanqing and the generals were discussing the next battle in front of the sand table.
"It's very unexpected that we landed directly on the south bank without encountering any resistance. Something must have happened, but don't think about it for now. What I want to tell you now is that the troops of Li Jing and Wang Shichong also launched a counterattack during the first update.
The Tang army in Shaanxi County attacked, and their coalition forces now numbered 50,000. And Li Xiao
Gong's army in Shaanxian County only has 20,000 men, and with the addition of 30,000 of us, their retreat has been cut off. The outcome is clear. After daybreak, we will divide our troops into two groups. I will lead 20,000 men to seize the town of Nexiang County and defend Tongguan.
With reinforcements, General Qin led 10,000 troops to seize Hongnong County to destroy Li Xiaogong’s hope of withdrawing Hongnong County’s defense.”
As soon as Yang Yuanqing said this, Qin Qiong bowed and said: "General Manager, we will set off at dawn. I am afraid that it will be too late. Please allow me to lead the army to set off now."
Yang Yuanqing thought for a moment and then agreed. He gave him the command arrows of the Third Army and told him: "There are only a thousand defenders in Hongnong County, so it's not a big worry. But you must be careful of being ambushed on the road. The enemy is not there."
The dock intercepts us, I suspect they will set up an ambush halfway, so you must be careful."
"The general will be careful!"
Qin Qiong saluted and hurriedly left the camp to order troops. Not long after Qin Qiong left, a soldier came in and said to Yang Yuanqing with a strange expression: "Report to the manager, Huang Junhan, the guard of Enxiang County, sent someone to see him, saying that Huang Junhan has
Decided to surrender to the Chief."
The generals in the tent were stunned. No wonder there was no one guarding the dock. It turned out that the enemy defenders wanted to surrender. Yang Yuanqing and Yang Shidao exchanged glances, and both of them laughed knowingly.
It was getting daylight, and Yang Yuanqing led an army of 20,000 people to arrive at Nuxiang County. This is a small county town, and the city is not steep. It is surrounded by mountains. Tongguan is more than 20 miles away to the west, and Nexiang County is just around the corner.
On the only way to Tongguan, the geographical location is extremely important.
At this time, in the wilderness in front of the county town, more than 3,000 Tang troops had laid down their weapons and lined up to wait for the Sui army to surrender. The leader of the army was Huang Junhan. He had more than 8,000 soldiers under his command. Some of the generals whose families were in Guanzhong did not want to surrender.
Huang Junhan did not hesitate to surrender and returned them and nearly 5,000 Guanzhong soldiers who were unwilling to surrender to Tongguan. He led more than 3,000 Hedong soldiers who had been following him to surrender to the Northern Sui army.
Huang Junhan also knew that after he returned to Chang'an, Li Yuan would treat him favorably out of guilt, but he would rather surrender to Yang Yuanqing than accept such a huge shame. A person who only knows how to protect his son but does not know how to pity the general is not worthy of his loyalty.
His eyes were full of absolute strength.
Although his wife and children were in Chang'an, he believed that Yang Yuanqing would solve the problem for him. Yang Yuanqing was willing to exchange the families of ordinary soldiers for captured ministers, let alone his own wife and children. Yang Yuanqing's concern for the soldiers and Li Yuan's selfishness formed a
Huang Junhan realized the sharp contrast.
At this time, Yang Yuanqing led the army in a mighty manner. Yang Yuanqing urged his horse forward and said with a smile: "General Huang abandoned the dark and turned to the light, which is admirable!"
Huang Junhan took a few steps forward, knelt down on one knee, raised his fists in both hands, and said loudly: "General Huang Junhan has finally come to his senses and is willing to serve His Majesty the King of Chu!"