After the Sui army withdrew from the north, Wang Shichong once again reorganized his troops and recruited troops aggressively. However, Yang Yuanqing only gave him two counties, Henan and Hongnong. The population was insufficient. In addition, he was in a hurry to recruit troops, which aroused panic among the people. A large number of people fled to Yingchuan County.
and Xingyang County.
After nearly two months of busy work, Wang Shichong only recruited 20,000 troops. Adding his remaining 10,000 troops, the defenders of Luoyang only had 30,000 troops.
Years of wars and severe food shortages have long made the people of Henan County miserable, and the continuous flight of people has led to a sharp decline in the population under Wang Shichong.
In desperation, Wang Shichong had no choice but to order all the people from Xingyang and Henan counties to live in Luoyang, totaling more than 200,000 people. The areas outside Luoyang became thousands of miles of bare wilderness and rarely inhabited.
In fact, Wang Shichong was left with only one lonely city. He did not want to see this result, but he had to accept this cruel fact.
Wang Shichong had completely sunk. He left the government affairs to his eldest son Wang Yingxuan, and handed over the army to his nephew Wang Renze. He himself was locked up in the palace, living a life of drunkenness and dreams with a group of palace ladies. In his words, being an emperor for a day requires
Enjoy a day of royal luxury.
But the opportunity appeared when he was at his most desperate. The Turks' southern invasion forced Yang Yuanqing to shrink his defense line and abandon Xiangcheng County, Juiyang County and Yingchuan County.
Although Yang Yuanqing did not say it explicitly, Wang Shichong understood what Yang Yuanqing did not express. He immediately ordered Wang Renze to lead an army of 10,000 to capture Yingchuan County, and ordered his second son Wang Yingshu to lead an army of 10,000 to capture Xiangcheng County.
Wang Shichong cheered up again, selected 30,000 young men from the people of Luoyang City, and forced them to join the army. He personally trained them every day.
At this time, Wang Shichong's ambitions began to expand rapidly. Yang Yuanqing now only controlled Xingyang County and Dong County, so Liang County, Dongping County, Jiyin County, Qiao County in the east, and Huai'an County, Runan County, Nanyang County and Xiyang County in the south.
He can occupy all counties.
Wang Shichong never thought that he had no talent or virtue. He was both civilized and military. He knew how to rest his troops and support the people, and how to win people's hearts. He had the ambition to unify the world and establish an eternal foundation.
It's just that he was unlucky. He controlled Luoyang, a place of four wars, and was surrounded by three powerful enemies in the Sui, Tang and Wei Dynasties. Several years of continuous conquests depleted his troops and destroyed his foundation. But as long as he could be given three to five years to strengthen his troops,
He will definitely become a powerful force in the Central Plains.
Just when Wang Shichong was high-spirited and ready to show off his skills, a piece of news came that made him almost desperate. The Tang Dynasty sent troops. Two hundred thousand Tang troops came from Guanzhong and Jingxiang to kill Luoyang. Wang Shichong raised his head to the sky and screamed three times, and then hurriedly
Order Wang Renze and Wang Yingshu to withdraw their troops and return to Luoyang.
Luoyang City was in chaos. A large number of people began to take advantage of the opportunity to flee. Wang Shichong saw that everyone was distraught, so he imposed severe punishments. If one person in the family escaped, all the elders and elders would be killed. Fathers, sons, brothers, and husbands and wives were allowed to tell each other and were spared.
He also ordered the five families to protect each other. If a whole family rebelled and the neighbors did not notice it, they would kill all the neighbors and kill one after another. However, it would be more beneficial to escape, so that only a limited number of people who went out to collect wood could come in and out.
Wang Shichong also used the palace city as a prison. Anyone who expressed dissatisfaction was immediately arrested and imprisoned in the palace together with their family members. They were not given food and left to live or die. While the army went out on patrol, the families of the soldiers were also held hostage in the palace.
Wang Shichong also felt that the situation was over, and he sank into despair again, embracing beauty in the palace and living in intoxication all day long.
Early that morning, a rush of footsteps came from outside the palace, and several guards shouted in panic: "General, you can't go in!"
"Get out of my way, everyone!"
This was the voice of Wang Renze. In a flash, Wang Renze, who was fully armored, rushed into Wang Shichong's bedroom. Wang Shichong had already woken up. He slowly opened his eyes and glanced at Wang Renze coldly, "What are you doing with me?"
Do you want to kill me when your sword breaks into the palace?"
Wang Renze knelt down on one knee and said nervously: "Your Majesty, the Tang army has arrived and has stationed troops outside the city. Now the morale of the army is unstable. Please go and appease your Majesty!"
Although Wang Shichong has been forced to remove his imperial title, in fact, his title is still very confusing. Some people call him Prince, and some people call him His Majesty. He doesn't know what he is?
When Wang Shichong heard that the Tang army had arrived, he stood up, but felt the world was spinning and almost fell down. Wang Renze hurriedly supported him and said, "Your Majesty, it doesn't matter!"
Wang Shichong calmed down and waved his hand, "It doesn't matter to me. I'll go to the top of the city to take a look."
The moment he least wanted to face finally came. Wang Shichong had no choice but to go to the city to check. He walked up to the west city head, leaned over and looked down, and suddenly felt dizzy in front of his eyes.
I saw an overwhelming army outside the city, with flags like clouds, as if even the heaven and earth were covered. The momentum of the two hundred thousand Tang troops arrayed was enough to make everyone on the city wall feel endless despair.
The Tang army was not in a hurry to attack the city. They kept changing their formations, seeming to use their momentum to overwhelm the defenders on the city. Farther away, the dense tents were like mushrooms growing after the rain, one next to the other, and at a glance
No boundaries can be seen.
Although Wang Shichong has experienced hundreds of battles, in the past two months, his body has been hollowed out by alcohol and his willpower has been greatly reduced. The momentum of the Tang army outside the city actually made him tremble, his face was pale, and his lips were trembling.
He couldn't speak, he had completely lost his former heroic demeanor.
At this moment, the crown prince Wang Yingxuan hurried up to the city with a young businessman, "Father!"
Wang Shichong stared blankly at the 200,000 Tang troops under the city, as if he hadn't heard anything. "Father!" Wang Yingxuan ran up and panted: "There is good news!"
"Good news?"
Wang Shichong turned around and glanced at his son doubtfully, "What's the good news?"
At this time, the young businessman stepped forward and bowed, "I have a humble position, Kong Yingsheng, and I am the captain of the Hulao Pass. His Royal Highness the King of Chu has an urgent letter for the prince, which was sent to Hulao Pass. I came here specially to deliver the letter to the prince."
A letter came from Yang Yuanqing. He was refreshed and asked quickly: "Where is the letter?"
The messenger handed over a tube of eagle letter with both hands. Wang Shichong took the letter and hurriedly opened it. He saw Yang Yuanqing's autograph at a glance. It was Yang Yuanqing's autograph letter. Wang Shichong read it in a hurry, and suddenly a light flashed in his eyes, and his heart burned.
A glimmer of hope arose.
Next to them, Wang Renze and Wang Yingxuan were paying attention to Wang Shichong's expression. Seeing that Wang Shichong suddenly became energetic, they all asked in unison: "What's the good news?"
Confidence gradually recovered in Wang Shichong's heart. He glanced at the two of them and finally showed a smile on his face, "Yang Yuanqing said that as long as we persist for five days, he will be able to end the northern campaign and come to rescue us."
Wang Renze and Wang Yingxuan were overjoyed. Wang Renze couldn't hold back the joy in his heart and said, "Can Yang Yuanqing really catch up?"
Wang Shichong nodded. "He won't lie, because he doesn't want the Tang army to occupy Luoyang."
Having said this, the fear in Wang Shichong's heart was gone. He straightened his back and shouted sternly to the defenders on the city: "Commanders of the three armies, listen, I will use all my gold and silver to kill a Tang soldier.
The reward is fifty cents and ten acres of farmland."...
In Huining County, the shadow of war shrouded the mountains beside the Yellow River. Stone Mountain had always been a barren land. Once it was discovered that it contained huge wealth, this land that had been ignored became a place of great wealth during the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
The focus of military attention.
Since the monetary crisis, the Sui army began to massively increase the number of troops in Huining County. However, as the Turks invaded southward, Yang Yuanqing transferred most of the Sui army eastward back to Taiyuan. There were still 10,000 defenders in Huining County, who were in charge of Huizhou.
Led by Ma Shao.
That morning, a Tang army consisting of more than 2,000 cavalry rushed towards the mining mountain. The leader was Ma Shao, the general manager of Huizhou. He had just received an order from Yang Yuanqing to abandon Huining County and retreat to Lingwu County.
, assisted Pei Renji, the general manager of Fengzhou, to withdraw the generals and civilians to Fengzhou.
Ma Shao never thought about the order given by Yang Yuanqing. He just carried it out to the letter. There was another item in the order that required him to completely destroy the mining site.
The cavalry rushed all the way through an open space where tents were set up. The tents had been removed, leaving only piles of domestic garbage left by the miners. The silver mines built by the Sui army a few months ago were already empty.
One person and all the miners have been moved to the Hematite Mountains in the north.
Although Yang Shidao's promise to the Tang Dynasty was to close the silver mines, closing them did not mean destroying them. The docks are still there, and dozens of warehouses that took two months to build are still standing in the cold wind. The warehouses are full of transportation
Flatbed trucks for ore, and many other mining equipment.
There are hundreds of flat-bottomed tugboats parked at the dock, and there are more than a dozen mines in the mine, from which miners continuously transport large amounts of high-quality silver ore and copper ore.
Everything must be destroyed without being left to the Tang army. Ma Shao looked at the empty mines and pointed his riding whip, "Destroy them all!"
The order was issued, and two thousand Sui soldiers took action. They gathered the ships together, sprayed them with kerosene, and ignited the fire. Thick black smoke ignited on the dock. The dock was immediately destroyed, and the warehouses were destroyed.
Push down.
All the wooden products were not simply burned. They were all piled into the mine and burned with fire. The fire burned the mine extremely hot. The soldiers then poured cold river water into it, causing the rocks to explode and the mine to collapse instantly.
In the era without gunpowder, this simple method was usually used to mine or destroy rock masses. After more than an hour, a mine was completely destroyed. The Sui soldiers mounted their horses and rushed to another mine ten miles away...
…
Along the Yellow River in Lingwu County, a large-scale evacuation began two days ago. More than 200,000 Fengzhou people who had retreated south to avoid the Turkic cavalry began to return to their hometown in Fengzhou.
There are still hundreds of thousands of residents of Lingwu County, a total of nearly 400,000 people, who have retreated. This is an order issued by King Yang Yuanqing of Chu. They will all withdraw to Fengzhou.
The ice surface of the Yellow River, which is more than ten miles wide, is covered with densely packed large sleighs, as many as tens of thousands. Each sleigh is filled with a family and their important property, mainly money, food, sheepskins, etc.
Tools, weapons and clothing, and animals were used to pull the sled.
They were divided into groups of a hundred households and were escorted by ten cavalry. Amidst the loud shouts of men, women, old and young, groups of sleds were pulled by ox horses and drove slowly towards the north.
The sled was moving very slowly, and a group of cavalry followed. At this time, their enemy was not the Tang army, but the wolves that might appear in winter.
On the shore, Pei Renji, the general manager of Fengzhou, stared at the groups of sleighs setting off. They had been walking for two days in a row, and there were not many people left.
He could understand the order of the King of Chu. People were the most precious resource. Land could be left to the Tang Dynasty, but people could not be left behind. Without people, the Tang army would not be able to defend Lingwu County.
"General manager, do you want to wait for General Ma to come back and go together?" Yu Quanhong, the rather fat governor of Lingwu County, asked at the side.
Pei Renji shook his head and said, "There is no need to wait for him. I will leave a few scouts to inform him of the news."
Pei Renji suddenly understood what Yu Quanhong meant, and he chuckled and said, "We are almost gone now. Prefect Yu can leave as well. I will leave after a while."
Yu Quanhong blushed, cupped his fists and cupped his hands and said: "Then I will take the first step, General Pei, take care!"
Pei Renji smiled slightly and said, "I wish Governor Yu a safe journey!"