The impact of Xiangcheng County Point was far-reaching. Although it was only a small territory contest in the chess game, it was crucial. It made the Tang army passive in the entire battle. The capture of Qu Tutong greatly shocked the Tang court and the public.
, also made the Tang court officials aware of the unfavorable situation of the battle in the Central Plains.
Just two days after Qu Tutong was captured, Emperor Li Yuan of the Tang Dynasty officially issued an imperial edict ordering the Tang army to completely withdraw from the Central Plains.
But this was at the end of the Sui Dynasty 1,400 years ago. Although some urgent information could be transmitted through flying eagles, the transmission of major decisions still required human power.
Neither Li Shimin nor Li Xiaogong dared to bear the heavy responsibility of abandoning the Central Plains without seeing the imperial edict stamped with the seal of the Neishi clan.
It takes three days for the imperial edict to arrive at Changyuan County as quickly as possible from Chang'an, and five days to reach Xuchang County. However, during this five-day waiting period for information, everything will change.
The Sui army, numbering 10,000 to 20,000, marched rapidly on the Central Plains plains, heading southeast along the Yingshui River.
This Sui army was Xu Shiji's tribe who defeated Qu Tutong's 20,000 Tang army in Xiangcheng County. Yang Yuanqing had ordered him to be incorporated into Li Jing's East Route Army. At this point, both Qin Qiong's tribe and Xu Shiji's tribe were under the unified command of Li Jing.
It was on Li Jing's order that Xu Shiji's 20,000 troops inserted themselves into the middle of Yingchuan County, went around to the rear of Li Xiaogong's troops, and cut off the Tang army's retreat. This was also an extremely important move.
Yang Yuanqing had given Li Jing a principled instruction before sending troops to annihilate as many of Li Xiaogong's troops as possible, weaken the Tang Dynasty's military strength in the south, and prevent the Tang Dynasty from expanding to the southeast.
Yingshui is an extremely important river in the middle of Henan Province, and Yingchuan County is named after it.
After years of banditry, this once prosperous river has become desolate. The sparse villages seem to be empty, with few people visible. The desolate wheat fields extend eastward, melting in the heat wave, as if they have disappeared.
This place belongs to Fanchang County in the central part of Yingchuan County. It is about 80 miles away from Yingchuan County where the main force of the Tang Army is located. After two days of rapid march, the team was a little tired and the speed had slowed down.
At this time, drizzle began to fall from the gloomy sky, and it fell on the soldiers' faces like a sieve, making it especially cold.
Xu Shiji rode on his horse, held up the curtain and looked into the distance. In the distance, he saw the outline of a city standing in the drizzle, which was the county seat of Zunchang.
This county was particularly important to Xu Shiji. They traveled lightly and quickly, carrying no baggage and only three days of dry food.
However, the scouts discovered that there were nearly 30,000 shi of grain stored in Fanchang County but only a thousand garrison troops. Xu Shiji immediately ordered: "Speed up the march and seize Fanchang County!"
The 20,000 Sui troops accelerated their march. Soon, the army arrived at the county town. The gate of the county town had been opened. The county magistrate and more than a dozen security guards were waiting outside the city gate. No defenders were seen.
When Xu Shiji's war horse came forward, the county magistrate rushed to greet him, knelt down and said, "Fanchang County Magistrate Chen Yu knocked to welcome the Sui Dynasty's heavenly army and begged the heavenly army to be benevolent and righteous and treat the people of the county well."
Li Xiaogong focused on managing the Central Plains, and the main county officials in Dunchuan County had been replaced by officials from the Tang Dynasty, so County Magistrate Chen was actually a Tang official.
But Xu Shiji didn't care. What he cared about now was food. He pointed his riding whip and Xu Shiji asked: "Where is the guard in the city? How much food is there?"
"Reporting to General Ping, the defenders in the city heard about the arrival of the Tiantian Army and all fled a quarter of an hour ago. The grain is sealed in the warehouse, which is about 30,000 shi."
Xu Shiji felt relieved. As long as the food was still there, everything would be fine. He got off his horse, helped the county magistrate up and said with a smile: "Please rise, magistrate. The Sui army is a benevolent and righteous army and will never disturb the people."
He immediately ordered, "Three thousand people enter the city, and the rest of the army is stationed outside the city!"
Three thousand Sui troops marched into the city in a mighty manner, while more than 17,000 Sui troops were stationed outside the city, with tents erected one after another.
An hour later, several messenger cavalry rushed north.
…
The Sui army's camp has advanced twenty miles away from Yingchuan County. The Tang army's disastrous defeat in Xiangcheng County further reduced the number of troops to 50,000. The Sui army's army increased to 50,000 due to the arrival of reinforcements from Qin Qiong's troops in Dongcheng County.
Sixty thousand people.
As a result, the balance of power between the armies of the Sui and Tang Dynasties began to reverse. The Sui army had the advantage, and the soldiers of the Sui army were stronger than Li Xiaogong's soldiers in terms of morale, physical fitness, combat experience, etc.
Coupled with Li Jing's good command, the balance of victory in the Eastern Front of the Central Plains has tilted towards the Sui army.
In the central military headquarters of the Sui Army, there is a city model made of yellow clay. It is one foot long and one foot wide. It is placed on a wooden platform. Anyone with a little discernment will recognize it. This is the miniature of Yingchuan County.
.
This is a city model specially made by Li Jing inspired by the sand table. It is based on the complete Pinchuan County data obtained by two hundred scouts who spent ten days exploring it. It is very intuitive and will bring a very powerful advantage to the attack on the county.
help.
A dozen generals were surrounded by the model of the county seat. Li Jing, holding a wooden pole in his hand, was analyzing the city for everyone.
"Currently Li Xiaogong is defending the county seat, but he may withdraw his troops and go south. Let's assume that he is defending the city and analyze the possibility of seizing the county seat."
Li Jing pointed the wooden pole at the city wall and slowly said to everyone: "Yingchuan County is a large county in the Central Plains. The city has a circumference of thirty miles. The city wall is two feet and five feet high. It is tall and strong. The city is deep and wide enough to accommodate his fifty thousand troops. From the city
In itself, this city is difficult to conquer. With our 60,000 troops, it is almost impossible to capture this large city with sufficient food and grass and guarded by 50,000 troops."
At this time, Qin Qiong next to him said in a deep voice: "But Li Xiaogong's army may not be willing to defend the city."
Li Jing nodded, "This is the crux of the problem. I just received an urgent report from the general manager. Tang Ting has probably decided to abandon the Central Plains and withdraw his troops back to Xiangyang. So within the next day or two, Li Xiaogong should withdraw his troops and go south.
But if we advance too hastily, the Tang army will not dare to withdraw, so I think we should retreat north to Xuchang County to create conditions for Li Xiaogong to retreat south."
Li Jing glanced at everyone, "What do you think?"
Luo Shixin pondered for a moment and said, "I'm worried that they will withdraw too quickly and we won't be able to catch up."
Li Jing smiled slightly, "I have already thought about this problem. I have ordered Xu Shiji to rush to Fanchang County to cut off the Tang army's retreat from behind. I guess there will be news that he has arrived soon..."
Qin Qiong was overjoyed, "If Xu Shiji is already waiting in the south, then we will definitely win this battle. I support Chang Shi's plan to withdraw to Xuchang County from the north first to give the Tang army a chance to withdraw to the south."
Li Jing looked at the other people and asked, "Does everyone agree?"
Everyone agreed. At this time, a soldier outside the tent reported, "Report to the Chief of History, General Xu sent someone to deliver an urgent message."
Li Jing perked up and said, "Order them to come in!"
Two messengers walked into the big tent, knelt down on one knee and reported: "Report to the Chief of History, General Xu Ba has led 20,000 troops to occupy Fanchang County. There is food in the county, and we have been specially sent to inform the Chief of History."
Seeing that the conditions were ripe, Li Jing ordered: "Pass my order and the army will break camp and march north to station in Xuchang County."
An hour later, 60,000 Sui troops packed up their tents, took up camp and marched toward Xuchang County, thirty miles away.
…
The day after the Sui army withdrew to the north, an envoy from Chang'an arrived in Binchuan County and brought an imperial edict issued by Li Yuan, formally ordering Li Xiaogong to withdraw southward from Xiangyang and abandon the Central Plains.
Li Xiaogong stood on top of the city with his hands folded, staring at the north for a long time. He knew why the Sui army withdrew to Xuchang County. The defenders who escaped from Fanchang County told him that an army had cut off his retreat.
This must be Xu Shiji's army coming from Xiangcheng County. At this time, Li Xiaogong's heart was full of bitterness.
More than half a month ago, he was the one who strongly advocated withdrawing the troops because he realized the strategic disadvantages, but at that time the Holy Father refused to withdraw the troops.
And today, half a month later, when he realized that withdrawing troops would lead to serious consequences, the Holy Spirit's order to withdraw troops happened to come again. This made Li Xiaogong not know what to say, and could only sigh.
He thought of an old saying, "Carve a boat to seek a sword." Isn't that what it is like today? Now the situation has changed. The Sui army has completed the strategic encirclement. If the troops withdraw, there will be no danger. Only by holding on to the city will it be difficult for the Sui army to attack, and maybe they can win.
Until one o'clock.
But the imperial edict came ruthlessly, leaving him no choice. At this time, Chang Shi Dugu Huaien stepped forward and said: "Your Highness, we can explain the situation to the Holy Emperor. Now we are faced with the situation of being surrounded by the Sui army. We must wait for reinforcements."
It’s the wisest thing to do.”
Li Xiaogong sighed, "This is not an imperial edict, but a formal decision made by the imperial court. The edict has the seals of Neishi Province and Menxia Province. More importantly, King Qin's army has withdrawn to the west, and our reinforcements are here
where?"
Li Xiaogong stared at the west, and a thought suddenly came to his mind. Could it be that Li Shimin did not want to take the responsibility of rescuing him, so he retreated so aggressively?
Li Xiaogong felt a chill in his heart, and then said slowly: "Once the Qin King's army retreats into Guanzhong, and Yang Yuanqing's 50,000 main force comes from the west, then 130,000 troops will surround Dunchuan County. Once the city is broken, the entire army will be destroyed."
The army was annihilated. Even if you and I managed to escape back to Guanzhong, how could we explain to the court? Because we disobeyed the decree, the whole army was annihilated!"
"But it's not right to walk, and it's not right to fight. We're in a dilemma. How could we end up in this dead end?" Dugu said bitterly.
Li Xiaogong smiled bitterly, "Actually, this was within Qu Tutong's expectation. He told me at the beginning that if I didn't evacuate in time, the Tang army would be in a dilemma. Today's situation was completely correct by what he said. At that time, he told me
Among my three strategies, the best one is to withdraw immediately. That was our only chance to withdraw decisively before the Sui army's deployment was completed to preserve our strength. But now the opportunity has been lost."
Having said this, Li Xiaogong's heart was full of melancholy. This was actually because there was a problem with the decision-making system. The people with the decision-making power did not understand the actual situation, but the generals did not have the right to make strategic decisions before the battle. Perhaps, this was the reason why Yang Yuanqing had to fight in person.
.
That night, Li Xiaogong, who had been thinking about it all day, finally made the decision to withdraw his troops after repeatedly weighing the pros and cons. At that time, the gates of Yingchuan County were opened wide, and the 50,000-strong army evacuated southward with their baggage.
If you withdraw, you can still save more than 50% of your troops, but if you defend, the entire army will be annihilated in the end. More importantly, even if the withdrawal fails, it is the strategic decision-making error of the court, not Li Xiaogong's incompetence in fighting.
At the same moment that Li Xiaogong's army withdrew from Yingchuan County, Sui army scouts immediately sent the information about the Tang army's southward retreat to Xuchang County, and Li Jing immediately led an army of 60,000 to pursue it all the way.