Outside Luoyang City, Wang Shichong retreated back to the city after two battles and refused to fight. That morning, Li Shimin patrolled the outer city of Luoyang under the escort of dozens of cavalrymen. The tall and strong city walls made Li Shimin look worried in his eyes. He turned around.
Sighing to Qiu Xinggong, "Even if I conquer Luoyang, my son will be killed or injured."
Qiu Xinggong is the son of Qiu He, a former Sui Dynasty general, who is about thirty years old. He is six feet four in height, big and round waist, excellent martial arts skills, extremely brave, and has made every move in archery. He holds an elephant-tender sword in his hand, ranking among the top ten fierce generals in the world.
Tenth, when he heard Li Shimin sigh, he said proudly: "If Your Highness attacks the city, I am willing to fight for a bloody path as the vanguard. If a hundred people do not die, they can seize Luoyang!"
Qiu Xinggong's bold words made Li Shimin smile bitterly, "No one can survive in a hundred battles, but he still encouraged: "General Qiu has a commendable courage. If it comes to siege the city, I am looking forward to General Qiu's great achievements!"
After saying that, he turned his horse and headed towards the Tang army camp. The main camp of the Tang army was located in the north of the city. It was a panel-style camp covering an area of hundreds of acres. It had a hard wall and was tightly defended. Li Shimin returned to the Central Army tent.
, I happened to meet Fang Xuanling at the entrance of the big tent. Seeing that he was depressed, Fang Xuanling smiled and said, "Do you feel that Luoyang is difficult to attack and is in a bad mood?"
Li Shimin sighed, "Yang Yuanqing's army is about to cross the river. If I don't take Luoyang as soon as possible, I will be afraid that it will fulfill him in the end. But Luoyang's city is solid and the elite defenders are strong, I feel bored!"
Li Shimin walked into the tent, walked to the sand table and stopped, and said for a while: "Actually, I should have a small loss in the first two battles, so that Wang Shichong could go out of the city to fight me. Now, he can't hide.
.....I have to spend ten times more effort to attack the city."
He sighed again, looking quite regretful. He knew that Wang Shichong still had at least 50,000 elite troops. The city had sufficient food and supplies, and it was indeed not easy to capture Luoyang.
If Yang Yuanqing hadn't been eyeing him on the periphery, it would have been fine if he had just spent some time, but Yang Yuanqing squatted on the periphery like a tiger, waiting for him to look tired.
At this time, Fang Xuanling came over and said with a smile: "If Your Highness wants Wang Shichong to fight, I have a plan to let him lead his troops to attack."
Li Shimin was overjoyed, "Military advisor, please tell me!"
Fang Xuanling stroked his beard and smiled: "Wang Shichong should also know that Yang Yuanqing is about to cross the river to fight. We might as well use our plans and pretend to be the main force to fight northeast. Only a few troops are left outside the city, and then the army moves north. Wang Shichong will definitely use our camp.
An unstable opportunity. Go out of the city to attack. At that time, as long as the remaining troops in the garrison are restrained, the main force will fight back. They will definitely defeat Wang Shichong."
Li Shimin's eyes gradually lit up. (He immediately turned around and ordered: "Please come to General Qu Tu and General Changsun!"
After a while, the veteran general Qu Tutong and Changsun Wuji rushed to the central army tent. Li Shimin told them about Fang Xuanling's plan, and Changsun Wuji happily said: "This plan is very wonderful. The last general is willing to lead the army.
Stay behind and attract Wang Shichong out of the city!”
Li Shimin shook his head, "Your attraction is not great enough, so I'll stay here. You can lead the army to pretend to evacuate and wait for the beacon fire in Beimang Mountain to lift it up, and you can lead the army back."
At this time, when Li Shimin saw Qu Tutong pondering and silent, he asked, "Do you have any ideas?"
Since his successful evacuation from Hedong last year, Li Shimin attaches great importance to Qu Tutong and almost obeys his advice. Qu Tutong also reciprocates. As the Minister of War, he fully supports Li Shimin, which has strengthened Li Shimin's military power.
During the Eastern Expedition, Li Shimin invited him to the deputy general, and he happily agreed and went to the expedition again.
Qu Tutong kept thinking and silent. When he heard Li Shimin ask him, he picked up the wooden pole and pointed it at Hulao Pass on the sand table. "Actually, what I am worried about is Hulao Pass. Hulao Pass was occupied by the Sui army, so we were cut off.
Since General Li Xiaogong has led his army to Yingchuan, how could Yang Yuanqing not know that if he sends troops to Xingyang and cooperates with Li Mi's army, Li Xiaogong will be in danger."
As soon as he finished speaking, Fang Xuanling next to him said, "What the old general said is very important. If Hulao Pass is extremely important, our army can echo the Tang army in Yingchuan County from north to south, and we should take advantage of the current Hulao Pass.
There are only one thousand Sui troops in the Pass, so we will use heavy troops to retake Hulao Pass.”
Li Shimin nodded, "What you said is a golden and jade strategy, how can I not follow it!"
He also said to Qu Tu: "I heard that Hulao Pass was occupied by Sui general Luo Shixin. This man is bravest in the three armies, both wise and brave. He cannot deal with it unless the old general. I give the old general ten thousand elite soldiers. I hope the old general can get it as soon as possible.
Retake Hulao Pass.”
Qu Tutong said proudly: "For ten thousand to one thousand, if I can't take Hulao Pass, I would like to come and see you!"...
Half an hour later, Qu Tutong led 10,000 light cavalry to leave the camp and rushed towards Hulao Pass. Soon, Changsun Wuji led another 60,000 troops to leave the camp and headed northeast to the main.
There were only 20,000 troops left in the camp, and Li Shimin immediately ordered the army to retreat northward and retreat to Beimangshan.
The Zheng army scout had already received the information and quickly reported it to Wang Shichong. On the top of the city, Wang Shichong was puzzled and stared at the mobilization in Li Shimin's camp in the distance, thinking in his heart, "Can it be that Yang Yuanqing's army has crossed the river?"
At this time, Yang Gongqing, the general around him, said: "Your Majesty, this must be because the Sui army has crossed the river. In order to prevent being attacked by inside and outside, the main force went to fight the Sui army. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I am willing to lead a powerful force.
Attack the Tang army stationed there!"
Wang Shichong pondered for a moment, shook his head, "Don't be anxious, wait a little longer, let's talk about it if you're sure."...
Qu Tutong led 10,000 cavalry to march south quickly. Li Xuanba, who was walking with him, was extremely excited. Li Xuanba heard that Luo Shixin was in Hulao Pass, and he was extremely excited. This was something he had been looking forward to for a long time.
Because Li Xuanba is a little more stingy than ordinary people, he is not interested in strategy and attack. What he thinks in his heart is to find an opponent to compete. However, he still can't find a general with one another, which makes him quite satisfied.
Depressed.
He had long heard that the Sui Dynasty's powerful generals were so fierce that he was extremely eager. Yang Yuanqing was not qualified to play against him, so he locked his target on Luo Shixin. This time he finally waited for the opportunity, so how could he not be excited?
He kept reminding Qu Tutong, "I must do it against Luo Shixin. Whoever dares to rob me, no matter who I am, I will kill with one hammer!"
Qu Tutong smiled bitterly in his heart. It was really a troublesome thing for King Zhao to act as he pleased. No one dared to provoke him. If he annoyed him, he would not recognize him. I am afraid he would even smash him with a blow.
Come.
"Don't worry, Your Highness! I will definitely leave him to you."
At noon the next day, 10,000 cavalry arrived at Hulao Pass. To the east of Hulao Pass was a cliff of the city. It was extremely difficult to attack, but to the west was an ordinary city wall, which was only more than two meters high, and it was a little easier to attack. Wang Shichong built ten of them in the city.
Several warehouses stored tens of thousands of stones of grain, but the grain had been transported back to Luoyang by Prince Wang Xuan, and the city became empty.
At this time, Luo Shixin had already obtained information from Heyang. Li Jing personally led a 30,000 army across the river and into Xingyang County. He only had to hold on for another three or four days. Reinforcements were about to arrive, but at the same time, Luo Shixin also received another information, Qu Tu
Tong led 10,000 Tang cavalry to come, and was already twenty miles away.
This made Luo Shixin extremely worried. He heard from his master Zhang Xutuo that Qu Tutong was a famous general who could be ranked alongside Li Jing, Yang Yichen and others. He was experienced and extremely strategic. This time he led ten thousand troops to come, ten times more than
Can you, can you keep Hulao Pass?
"Don't worry, if the soldiers come to block the enemy, the water comes to cover the enemy's soil, if we can't beat us, we will run away. Will the living people still be suffocated to death by urine?"
Cheng Yaojin looked down on Luo Shixin's concerns and asked him to guard Hulao Pass to the death. He would never do it. For him, he could still take it back if he lost the pass. If he died, he would have nothing.
.
Seeing that Luo Shixin was determined to defend the city, he curled his lips and said, "Old Luo, I will say ugly things first. My sweet girl was less than two months old. I want me to be loyal to the country. I will not do it, if you
I won’t be with you if I want to fight to the end.”
Luo Shixin had no choice but to sigh and said, "It depends on the situation! If I really can't defend myself, I will save my brothers' lives and will not let them fight to the death."
At this moment, the sound of ringing the bell from the bell tower at the pass came from the sound of "Dang!Dang!Dang!" which was the alarm to discover the enemy's situation. Luo Shixin was stunned. Why did it come so quickly? He ran up to the city and looked west.
I saw a black cavalry team running towards this side.
"Order all soldiers to come to the city to defend!"
In Hulao Pass, a group of Sui soldiers rushed to the top of the city and brought bundles of soldiers and arrows. They cut trees and quarrying outside the past two days, and also prepared a lot of rolling wood stones, all piled up.
At the top of the city, the gate below the city has also been closed, and it is supported by a huge tree. There are two hundred soldiers who specialize in defending the city gate.
There is no moat in Hulao Pass, but a dry canal was dug under the front and back city walls. The canal was covered with sharp spears, and a suspension bridge was pulled up. On the top of the city, eight hundred Sui troops were holding crossbows and arrows in their hands, and were ready to fight.
The dust was flying in the distance, and the yellow dust stirred by ten thousand cavalry covered the sky and the sun. The flag was flying. Behind the flag were the cavalry. After a moment, ten thousand cavalry rushed over and stopped four hundred steps away from the city.
Go down.
This time when attacking Hulao Pass, Li Shimin ordered General Duan Zhixuan, the Cavalry, to be the deputy general to assist Qu Tutong. Duan Zhixuan is also a powerful general. Although he cannot rank among the top ten powerful generals in the world, he is qualified for the top twenty.
He also used an iron spear, weighing 80 kilograms. He also competed with Li Xuanba. He was smashed by a hammer and injured his arm. He recovered for half a month before he recovered. From then on, he had a good deal of Li Xuanba.
A fearful heart.
Duan Zhixuan clasped his fists and said, "Elder General, I will take people to cut down trees and make siege ladders!"
The King of Qin asked them to take down Hulao Pass within two days. The pressure was extremely high and they didn't even carry the camp tent. Qu Tutong had been stationed in Hulao Pass for three years when he was young. He knew the situation of Hulao Pass well and stroked his beards.
He smiled slightly: "No need to make a ladder. I will use a little trick. The Sui army will inevitably evacuate within two days."