Chapter 34 Battle of Luoyang
[At this time, the only people left in the northern region of the Tang Dynasty were Dou Jiande, who founded the Xia Kingdom, and Wang Shichong, who occupied Luoyang.

At this time, on the one hand, in order to unify the north, and on the other hand, Wang Shichong had established connections with the Turks, the Tang Dynasty had to eliminate Wang Shichong as soon as possible.

In July of the third year of Wude, Li Yuan sent Li Shimin to lead an army to attack Wang Shichong.

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

"The Turks and Wang Shichong?" Liu Bang looked at the scene of Wang Shichong marrying the Turks in the sky and raised his eyebrows. "The Turks really have a deep connection with the various forces in the north."

Before, Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang fled to the Turks. Although they were killed by the Turks later, their initial behavior also showed that they believed that the Turks would protect them, which means that these two people also had connections with the Turks. Going back further, when Li Yuan started his army in Jinyang, wasn't Liu Wenjing sent as an envoy to the Turks?
[As for Wang Shichong, probably out of distrust of others, he sent Wang's relatives to guard various places. The King of Wei, the King of Jing, and the King of Song guarded Xiangyang, Hulao Pass, and Huaizhou respectively;
The King of Qi, the King of Chu, the Crown Prince, and the King of Han, Wang Shiyun, were responsible for the Southern City of Luoyang, the Baocheng of Luoyang, the Eastern City of Luoyang, Hanjia, and Yaoyi. Finally, Wang Shichong personally led 30,000 people to fight against the Tang army. 】

Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

Zhao Guangmei didn't pay much attention to Wang Shichong's arrangements, because Wang Shichong was defeated in the end. At this time, he was immersed in his new discovery: "Let's not talk about the various places guarded by the King of Wei and the King of Song. The four people guarding Luoyang are too small, right?"

I didn’t notice this when I read history books before. The four directions guarded are actually the four sides of the Luoyang Forbidden Palace.

"Wang Shichong's situation is not good," Zhao Kuangyin shook his head. From a geographical point of view, Wang Shichong did not have much advantage. Although Wang Shichong occupied a large territory at this time, most of the area west of Luoyang was controlled by the Tang army, and the north was Dou Jiande's territory. Although Dou Jiande came to assist Wang Shichong later, the two were still in a state of severed diplomatic relations at this time.

Luoyang relied on transporting grain from other places to maintain normal operation, but Wang Shichong had already lost the transportation channel to the west. As long as the remaining waterways were cut off, Luoyang would naturally fall into a food crisis.

Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Years.

King Jin Zhu Gang curled his lips, looking down upon Wang Shichong's behavior of employing Wang's relatives: "Wang Shichong has already lost the support of the people, so it is normal for his advisers and generals to surrender to the Tang Dynasty. But his high-pressure control and the punishment of the people, won't make him lose the support of the people even more?" If this method is useful, more and more people will not run away.

At times like these when people are in panic and the situation is deteriorating, we should try to calm people's hearts rather than killing people in vain.

Of course, Wang Shichong’s situation at that time was indeed not easy to deal with.

[In July, Li Shimin stationed in Guzhou and then sent Luo Shixin to lead the army to attack Cijian. In response, Wang Shichong led 30,000 troops to rescue the place personally.

At this time, Li Shimin brought his cavalry to the battlefield as usual, and thus fell into danger.

At this time, the Tang army was "outnumbered" and soon fell into the encirclement of Wang Shichong's 30,000 troops. The morale of the Tang army began to waver. In response, Li Shimin chose to stay behind and "ordered his attendants to return first."

This approach is confident enough and enough to save the morale of the army, but at the same time, the risk is not small. Since Cijian is called "Jian", it is naturally because it is a place where water flows between mountains. Such a place is actually somewhat dangerous.

Facing Li Shimin who was at the rear, Wang Shichong's fierce general Shan Xiongxin led hundreds of cavalrymen to chase him closely, almost leaving Li Shimin where he was. In the end, Li Shimin relied on his superb archery skills to shoot left and right, and wiped out a group of enemy troops chasing him, and then escaped. But Li Shimin did not intend to give up Cijian. The next day, he led 50,000 soldiers to Cijian again, and Wang Shichong transferred the troops in Cijian back to Luoyang. 】

Tang Dynasty, the third year of Zhenguan.

Li Shimin was quite proud as he watched himself shooting arrows left and right in the sky and all the enemies fell down.

Unlike him, the important officials of the Zhenguan period who relived the time when Li Shimin conquered Wang Shichong and was besieged in Cijian all looked unhappy - how could His Majesty take such a risky action?

Miracle only described the situation in a few words, but the situation was so critical that the ministers who knew about the battle knew the situation and were almost left there. How could it be just a joke?
Seeing that Li Shimin seemed somewhat elated at this moment and was unaware of others' disapproval, everyone was shocked: Looking back at Your Majesty's conquests in the past, it's okay for Your Majesty to just reminisce, but will Your Majesty really want to lead troops to fight again?
Tang Dynasty, the third year of Zhenguan.

Faced with this situation, Wei Zheng stepped forward without hesitation.

He made a slight noise to attract Li Shimin's attention. "Your Majesty is a man of genius, proficient in both civil and military strategies. You are awe-inspiring and decisive, and you put down the chaos. You also care about the soldiers, which is incomparable to ordinary people. However," he raised his head and looked at Li Shimin, "just as a gentleman does not stand on a dangerous wall or walk on an unfamiliar road, Your Majesty was the commander-in-chief of the three armies in the past, and now you are the emperor. How can you take risks?"

When Li Shimin saw Wei Zheng speaking, he immediately felt something was wrong and began to recall what he had done wrong. At this time, he heard that Wei Zheng was talking about the problem of him leading troops deep into the enemy's territory, so he breathed a sigh of relief and took advantage of the pause between Wei Zheng's words to promise: "I know the truth. But as a general, how could I not advance and retreat with the soldiers? Now, I will never be in danger again, so you don't have to worry."

He brought up the topic of the current Tang Dynasty's development: "I want to create a peaceful Tang Dynasty as the miracles have said. You are all my backbones. How could I do something dangerous and let my achievements fail halfway?"

Wei Zheng looked at Li Shimin silently and replied: "We will do our best to live up to your Majesty's trust." We will naturally work diligently in governing the Tang Dynasty, but we will also keep a close eye on your Majesty to prevent you from really doing anything again.

Li Shimin naturally understood the hidden meaning of Wei Zheng's words, and couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed. After all, this was probably the unanimous opinion of all his important ministers, and it was for his own good, so he naturally accepted the good intention.

Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

"Hmm..." Liu Che didn't know how to comment on Li Shimin's repeated actions of going deep into the enemy's camp. Speaking of identity, he was a general in battle after all, and it was reasonable for him to lead the soldiers to fight in person; but it was also a question of identity. Not to mention his identity as a prince, he was the supreme commander after all, and it was not impossible for him to stay in the army.

He could only sigh: "Perhaps this is the style of Emperor Taizong of Tang that cannot be changed."

[After this battle, Li Shimin deployed his troops in Luoyang area again: in addition to the main army, it was divided into four armies.

The marching commander Shi Wanbao attacked Longmen from the south of Yiyang, General Liu Dewei marched eastward from Taihang to besiege Henei, Shanggu Duke Wang Junkuo went from Luokou to cut off Wang Shichong's supply route, and Huaizhou commander Huang Junhan attacked back to Luocheng from Heyin area.

Li Shimin himself led the Tang army to station at Beimang Mountain and set up camps to pressure the enemy.

(End of this chapter)