Chapter 37 Siege of Luoyang
Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

Several people in the Song Dynasty who wanted to suppress the status of military generals and eliminate arrogant and powerful generals had already known about this matter, but what made them sensitive was not Li Shimin's bold appointment of surrendered generals and his absolute confidence in himself, but the fact that the Tang army generals "killed first and reported later".

The army, the generals, kidnapping people without permission, beheading first and reporting later, these words added together would be an absolute huge bombshell for the Song Dynasty.

"Even if they suspect Yuchi Jingde of rebelling against the Tang Dynasty, how could these generals kidnap people privately? If there is any suspicion or evidence, they should report it to the commander-in-chief, who will then make the decision. These people are overstepping their authority!" Zhao Dezhao was a little unhappy. This was too easy to remind people of the problem of arrogant soldiers and generals that still exists today.

Obviously, he was not the only one who activated his associative ability. Zhao Guangmei's face turned green as well: "This is not just a matter of faction differences, nor is it just a suspicion that Yuchi Jingde wanted to rebel against the Tang Dynasty. It is clear that they want to get rid of this person who may compete with them in advance!"

Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Years.

Qin Wang Zhu Chong said: "After that, Yuchi Jingde gradually moved closer to Emperor Taizong of Tang, and finally became an important official in Qin Wangfu." When he said this, he suddenly thought, "So, this is said to be a dispute within the Tang army, but in fact it is also a dispute between the forces within Qin Wangfu, right?"

After all, the Shaanxi East Road was almost considered the Qin King's private land.

Sui Dynasty, the 18th year of Kaihuang.

Watching Li Shimin win victory after victory and constantly accumulate his fame and power, Yang Jian and his wife admired him but also felt a little depressed: Why couldn't their son have one like him?

Looking back, the more I looked at my sons, the more I disliked them and the more upset I became.

"Although Emperor Taizong of Tang was young, he was already good at controlling people's hearts." Yang Jian sighed. Even though Li Yuan was in power at this time, he showed his tolerance and political skills, and connected all forces like a piece of glue. However, the Tang army was able to obey Li Shimin's orders and act according to his wishes. This reflected the increase of Li Shimin's influence in the Tang army.

This was due to Li Shimin's military achievements, his control over people's hearts, and his personal charisma.

[Then, the Tang army's offensive did not stop. Or rather, the impact of the Tang army's offensive was still continuing.

Originally, the various state and county forces under Wang Shichong's name were like a loose alliance. However, when they discovered that the Tang Dynasty seemed to be more powerful and Wang Shichong was about to fail, these loose forces naturally began to take their own actions.

On October 21, Wang Shichong's governor of Guanzhou, Yang Qing, surrendered, and Li Shimin ordered Li Shiji to lead troops to the east from Huanyuan Pass to support him.

After all, Guanzhou is a very important place. It is located to the east of Luoyang and is next to the key waterway Tongji Canal. If you control Guanzhou, you can almost cut off the connection between Luoyang and Tongji Canal.

At that time, Wang Shichong's prince Wang Xuanying was traveling between Xingyang and Bianzhou with his troops, or guarding Hulao Pass. After discovering Li Shiji's intention, he naturally could not help but take action, but he was defeated by Li Shiji.

At the same time, Li Shiji's deputy general Guo Xiaoke persuaded Wei Lu, the governor of Xingzhou, to capture Zhang Zhiju, the general sent by Wang Xuanying, and surrender to the Tang Dynasty. Wang Yaohan, the governor of Bianzhou, followed closely and killed Wang Xuanying's general Zhang Cibao while surrendering.

The entire Central Plains in the east were suddenly filled with Tang Dynasty flags. What should we do?
Wang Xuanying didn’t know it anyway. After he discovered this terrible thing, he ran straight back to Luoyang.

At this point, Luoyang had almost become an isolated city, and the source of food had been basically cut off.

And this year, the current Turkic Khan, Choro Khan, suddenly died. 】

Qin Dynasty.

"The Turkic Khan died suddenly?" Ying Zheng thought about it for a moment, and then immediately realized that this should be saying that the current Turkic Khan died suddenly, so the Turks will have a short period of contraction and internal stability for the time being.

It is no wonder that the First Emperor had to wait for a reaction. After all, through the previous content, Tianmu had already told all viewers how powerful the Turks were and how they had a huge impact on the power of the Central Plains. Yang Guang, as the emperor of a unified dynasty, was still surrounded in Yanmen Pass, and Li Yuan and other northern forces were more or less connected with the Turks.

But this is a matter of later generations after all. At this time, the Huns were still a barbarian group that had been defeated by the Central Plains and had no unity. They were influenced and even controlled by the barbarians outside the Great Wall. This was a situation that was difficult for people in the Qin Dynasty and even the six kingdoms to imagine.

Thinking of this, Ying Zheng couldn't help but feel a little disgusted with some dynasties in later generations: How could those barbarians actually control the Central Plains?
The early years of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang had not yet sent troops to attack the Xiongnu, and naturally had not experienced the Siege of Baideng. But at this time, Han Wangxin had already established a kingdom in Taiyuan County and had repeatedly fought with the Xiongnu. It seemed that he had fulfilled his responsibility to defend against the Xiongnu, but it always made people feel that something was wrong.

Liu Bang felt that there was something fishy going on and suspected that Han Wangxin was secretly communicating with the Huns.

At this time, seeing the threat posed by the Turks to the Sui and even Tang dynasties, Liu Bang suddenly sighed: "This Turk also knows how to divide and rule."

Why did we mention the sudden death of the current Khan? It must be because his sudden death was not a good thing for Wang Shichong, or in other words, it was a good thing for the Tang Dynasty.

It seems that the Turks, who originally had a good relationship with Li Tang, had changed their stance after discovering that the Tang Dynasty was growing in power, and were about to support local forces such as Wang Shichong. Now that the Khan has died suddenly, the Tang Dynasty has time to turn around.

Thinking of this, Liu Bang, while sighing in his heart, actually increased his attention to the Huns in the north of the Han Dynasty.

[The Tongji Canal fell into the hands of the Tang army, which not only cut off Wang Shichong's possibility of transporting grain from the eastern Henan plain to Luoyang, but also cut off Wang Shichong's attempt to increase military forces from the east.

Wang Shichong had no way to deal with this, and with the change of the Turkic Khan, in order to save himself, he could only ask for help from Dou Jiande, with whom he had previously severed diplomatic relations.

Although Dou Jiande never intervened, he still kept an eye on the Tang army and Wang Shichong. Although he and Wang Shichong did not have a good relationship, he was even more reluctant to see the Tang army completely swallow up Wang Shichong, because in that case, he would inevitably become the next target to be eliminated.

Thus, Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande were connected.

But Dou Jiande's support was still far away, and he had to deal with his own affairs, while Wang Shichong's scattered forces had begun to collapse.

In December, 11 states including Xuzhou and Bozhou surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, and later Suizhou also surrendered; in the first month of the fourth year of Wude, Cheng Jiahui, the governor of Liangzhou, led his troops to surrender, and Du Fuwei, who had surrendered to the Tang Dynasty before, assisted the Tang army in conquering Liangzhou. 】Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Liu Che was very excited: "Wang Shichong's defeat is almost irreversible. This man probably doesn't want to surrender and will still fight to the end."

Wei Qing nodded and added: "Luoyang can probably hold out for a while. Previously, Luoyang was the eastern capital of the Sui Dynasty, and later it was occupied by various forces. The defensive fortifications should be relatively complete."

Liu Che thought for a moment and said, "If Dou Jiande acts quickly enough and Wang Shichong can hold on a little longer, wouldn't the two of them be able to fight against the Tang army together?" This was not good news.

From the fact that Dou Jiande had not stopped paying attention to the battlefield in Luoyang before, it can be seen that he was not someone who did not understand the overall situation. In this case, the assistance to Wang Shichong in Luoyang would naturally be large-scale.

However, although he said so, Liu Che's strong desire for victory and self-confidence in his bones made him quickly change his thinking: "Anyway, it is impossible to give up Luoyang. If Dou Jiande leads troops to support us, as long as we can destroy the troops coming to support him, then Dou Jiande's sphere of influence will fall into the hands of the Tang Dynasty, right?" From this perspective, it might be a good thing.

Eastern Han Dynasty, Jian'an period.

Cao Cao was more in favor of Dou Jiande's desire to maintain a balance, but he did not think that Dou Jiande's rescue of Luoyang would be completely successful this time. On the one hand, the Tang army's own combat effectiveness was there, and on the other hand, Li Shimin, as the supreme commander, was obviously not someone who would let go of Luoyang at this time.

Moreover, judging from these few battles, Li Shimin's military talent, or imagination, was indeed very high.

As Dou Jiande was also a northern power, his power was in Jizhou. Cao Cao couldn't help but be curious about what external affairs he had to deal with: "Could it be Youzhou?"

[In the fourth year of Wude, Wang Shichong, who was almost cut off from food supplies, sent Wang Xuanying to the last place that could supply food to Luoyang: Hulao Pass.

Wang Shichong and Wang Xuanying were both very cautious when it came to food and fodder, a matter of life and death. However, Luoyang had been surrounded by the Tang army at this time, and Li Shimin's intelligence work had always been highly praised.

So, Li Shimin, who knew the news, sent Li Junxian to lead troops to intercept and kill him. Li Junxian was also a general from Wagangzhai, who later briefly joined Wang Shichong and then surrendered to the Tang Dynasty.

Li Junxian ambushed Wang Xuanying on the way back when he was transporting grain, successfully intercepted the grain team and beheaded thousands of people. Wang Xuanying barely escaped and fled back to Luoyang, while the grain became the property of the Tang army.

At this point, Luoyang was completely cut off from the outside world, and Hulao Pass could no longer communicate with Wang Shichong.

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

"Hulao Pass, Chenggao." The journey of Li Shimin to attack Wang Shichong shared several key points with Liu Bang's memory. The former Huanyuan Pass, the current Hulao Pass, or Chenggao Pass, were all parts of Liu Bang's memory that were more profound.

Especially at Hulao Pass, he and Xiang Yu confronted each other for several days and fought constantly. Although the troops under his command were inferior to Xiang Yu's, he was the one who finally defended Chenggao City and the Han Dynasty.

Recalling the past, he made another assessment of Xiang Yu: "Xiang Yu, he just doesn't understand the big picture, the strategy and choices for the overall situation. He commands each battle well, but the overall situation is a mess."

The Chu army's food and grass always had hidden dangers, and Liu Bang took advantage of this hidden danger to make Xiang Yu powerless. At that time, almost all the main forces of the Chu army were concentrated in Chenggao, so weren't the rest of the places a good opportunity for the Han army to seize and stabilize them?

As long as the Han army in Chenggao can hold on and contain the Chu army, the balance of victory will slowly tilt towards the Han.

However, Wang Shichong could not replicate the story of winning the victory by defending the city.

Sui Dynasty, the 18th year of Kaihuang.

Regardless of what other dynasties thought, Yang Jian was very curious about Wagangzhai and had some desire for it: "There are so many talents coming out of Wagangzhai, right?" Since Wagangzhai surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, how many people have come from Wagangzhai! Among them are not only military generals, but also local officials.

"How great it would be if my Great Sui Dynasty could also have such a talent-producing place!" Although he was envious of the talents in Wagangzhai, what Yang Jian wanted more was a place that could produce talents one after another like Wagangzhai.

As long as there is such a place where talented people emerge, why would he still envy the talents of other dynasties?
However, when talking about the people who surrendered to the Tang Dynasty from Wagangzhai, his expression suddenly became a little subtle, and Dugu Jialuo beside him also had a subtle expression.

Previously, they thought that the key was the loyalty of these surrendered Tang people. Now, didn't it come out? Among these Wagangzhai generals in the army, who were more loyal to Li Yuan, or were more willing to turn to Li Shimin at the critical moment?
[On February 13, Li Shimin moved his camp to Qingcheng Palace, preparing to further besiege Luoyang.

Facing Li Shimin's move, Wang Shichong did not give up, but planned to give it a try. So, he took advantage of the time when Li Shimin had not yet completed the construction of the camp, led the 20,000 main forces in Luoyang City out of the city through Fangzhu Gate, relied on the walls and trenches of Gumafang, and lined up near the valley water to resist the Tang army.

Faced with Wang Shichong's sudden and aggressive attack, the generals in the Tang army were somewhat shaken, but Li Shimin was not. He believed that this was Wang Shichong's last desperate struggle, and as long as they could win this time, the enemy's momentum would be completely weakened, and then the Tang army would be able to capture Luoyang more smoothly.

Therefore, Li Shimin ordered Qu Tutong to lead 5,000 infantrymen to cross the river to attack Wang Shichong, while he led the elite cavalry to set up battle array at Beimang Mountain. He made an agreement with Qu Tutong that when Qu Tutong and Wang Shichong engaged in a head-on battle and used the smoke as a signal, he would lead the cavalry to charge down from Beimang Mountain.

Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Years.

"From this perspective, Wang Shichong's personal ability is not bad." Zhu Bai said casually after eating a piece of dessert.

On the one hand, he launched his own battle array when the Tang army had moved its camp but had not yet completed its deployment; on the other hand, after being out of food and besieging the city for such a long time without any assistance, he was still able to organize an army of 20,000 to form a complete battle array.

From this perspective, Wang Shichong seems to be really capable.

"But his political level is really not good." King Zhou Zhu Su complained. Luoyang and the surrounding areas were originally your sphere of influence, but you ended up losing the support of the people and causing them to defect frequently. You really turned a good situation into a mess.

Zhu Chong shook his head and did not participate in the evaluation of Wang Shichong. He just admired the solidity of Luoyang City: "However, although Wang Shichong was defeated this time, Luoyang City did hold out for a long time." Luoyang's city walls and defense equipment are really good.

(End of this chapter)