Chapter 38 8. The drums are rumbling, and the battle of Xuhe

After Li Shimin captured Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong, he returned to the court with infinite glory.It has been nearly a year since he left Chang'an, but his outstanding contributions made the people of Chang'an not forget him, and gave Li Shimin the most solemn welcome. Although he left Luoyang, Li Shimin did not relax his control over Luoyang.According to Li Yuan's wishes, he brought all Wang Shichong's old troops back to Chang'an, beheaded or pardoned them, punished corrupt officials, and won over people's hearts; he disbanded the old troops and let the soldiers return to the fields.At the same time, Qu Tutong was appointed as the right servant of Daxingtai, Eastern Shaanxi Province, to preside over the situation in Luoyang, his cousin Li Daoxuan was the governor of Luozhou, and Chen Junbin was the governor of Mingzhou.The implementation of these measures is sufficient to ensure the stability of Hebei, Luoyang and other places.

Judging from the situation at the time, after the Zheng and Xia regimes were eliminated, the only hostile force that Tang had to consider now seemed to be Xiao Mian.Li Yuan and Li Shimin also put all their attention on Xiao Xian and began to think about countermeasures.But the plan can never keep up with the rapid changes, and another fire is burning in Shandong, which they thought was safe. When Li Yuan was preparing to summon Dou Jiande's old tribe, these people did not dare to go to Chang'an to worship because of the massacre of Wang Shichong's old tribe.Among them were Gao Yaxian, Cao Zhan and others. They were afraid that if they went to Chang'an, they would be like Wang Shichong's old officials, with their heads in different places.After deliberation, they decided to elect Liu Heita as the leader and rebel against Tang.

After Liu Heita raised his troops, he quickly summoned the disbanded troops of Wang Shichong, and within a short period of one month, the number grew from a few hundred to tens of thousands.Before Li Yuan and others realized what was going on, Liu Heitai occupied Zhangnan County, defeated Li Shentong, who was sent by the Tang Dynasty to pacify Shandong Daoxingtai, and killed Weizhou Governor Authority and Beizhou Governor Dai Yuanxiang .Such arrogance not only allowed Liu Heitai to obtain a large amount of army equipment, but also greatly encouraged Dou Jiande's old department. More and more people came to join him, and the team continued to grow.However, Liu Heitai suddenly raised troops, which made Xu Yuanlang, Gao Kaidao and other former anti-kings who had surrendered to Li Tang no longer want to be controlled by Tang, and raised troops to respond to Liu Heitai.

Soon seven or eight prefectures including Guanzhou, Maozhou, and Dingzhou became the enemy's territory, which made Li Yuan in Chang'an restless.He looked around, and it seemed that all the generals who were brave and good at fighting and whom he could trust had already gone to battle. Li Jing and Li Xiaogong were suppressing Xiao Mian, and they were winning successively; At that moment, Pei Ji came in in a hurry and said sadly: "Li Xuantong, the governor of Dingzhou, committed suicide in Liu Heita Prison!" Li Yuan was shocked when he heard the news.Li Xuantong was originally an old general of the Sui Dynasty. He followed Li Yuan and made great military exploits. He was a brave and resourceful general.He grabbed Pei Ji's hand and asked eagerly, "What's going on?"

Pei Ji said: "After General Li was captured by Liu Heita, I heard that he intended to surrender, but the general refused. Later, some old troops from Dingzhou visited the general in prison and brought him food and wine. After the general finished drinking , said: I am deeply favored by the country, and I am responsible for guarding one side in Dingzhou. Who knows, but I can’t resist the attack of the thieves. I am ashamed of my ancestors and the emperor’s grace! What face is alive in the world. After finishing speaking, I swung my sword and killed myself !" After hearing Pei Ji's speech, Li Yuan fell down on the dragon chair, unable to recover for a long time.The loss of such a brave and loyal general made Li Yuan, who loves talent, very heartbroken.He issued an edict to give special care to Li Xuantong's children as a reward for loyalty.

After Li Shimin heard the news, he, who was still resting in the Qin Palace, immediately came to Li Yuan and asked to send troops to suppress Liu Heita.Li Yuan said: "You have not been back from Luoyang for long, and you still need to rest well, so let others go!" Li Shimin insisted: "Liu Heitai was originally Dou Jiande's old department. Since I captured Dou Jiande, I should capture him together! Now he has established such a stubborn force in Hebei not long after he started his army. Create a big problem!" Because of Li Shimin's contribution to pacifying Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong, Li Yuan named him General Tiance, above all ministers.His outstanding military achievements made the prince very disturbed, and he was about to threaten the prince's position.And Li Yuan, who prefers Jiancheng, does not want to form a situation where the two kings compete, so he doesn't want Li Shimin's meritorious service to be too high, so he wants to choose others to go out as much as possible.

Just when Li Yuan was hesitating, someone sent new news: Liu Heita had defeated Jizhou, and Li Shi, who had high hopes, was also defeated!Now Li Shi can only retreat to Mingzhou and wait for support.Li Yuan waved his hand dejectedly, dismissed the messenger, and said to Li Shimin: "It seems that now you are the only one to go to war!" Li Shimin took the order and left excitedly. He first came to Mingzhou to meet Li Shimin, and the two discussed matters overnight by holding candles.Li Shi reported Liu Heita's situation in detail: "Since the rise of the army, Liu Heita has almost regained all the territories that Dou Jiande had before. It can be said that his momentum is like a rainbow, and he has defeated me in dozens of states."

Li Shimin asked: "Why do you think he is so brave? At the beginning, Liu Heita was defeated by you and me, but now he is so powerful that even you are not his opponent. Isn't there a reason?" Li Shi bowed his head in shame and thought for a while: "In the Hebei area, because Dou Jiande's old troops are all here, it can be regarded as his strongest defense. Since Dou Jiande was captured and killed, many of his old troops are very sad, so Liu Hei The arrival of 闼 provided them with an opportunity to rebel against Tang." After hearing Li Shi's words, Li Shimin said firmly: "If the Great Tang wants to rule the world, these anti-kings must be taken down. Since they support Dou Jiande so much, it seems that they can only be enemies of my Great Tang. He won't show mercy." As he spoke, he spread out the map and carefully studied Liu Heita's marching formation.

The next day, Li Shimin summoned his generals: "Liu Heita has defeated me for several states. He looks brave and diligent. Everyone should not relax their vigilance, but don't be intimidated by him. In my opinion, he has been exhausted for a long time. Now It should be the end of the battle, as long as our army counterattacks vigorously, he will definitely not be our opponent." Liu Hongji and other generals asked: "But Liu Heita is invincible, does the commander have a good strategy to defeat the enemy?" Li Shimin patted a war drum beside him and said: "We not only rely on the swords and guns in our hands to fight, but also rely on wisdom and strategy. There are some things that seem useless, but they can also be turned into weapons. For example, this side drum."

Everyone was puzzled after hearing Li Shimin's words. Li Shimin continued: "This time, I will use this drum to defeat Liu Heita. From now on, Liu Hongji and others will lead a group of people to ambush around Liu Heita's barracks. No attack is allowed, just beat the rumbling drums in the middle of the night to make him think that our army is coming to attack!" Liu Hongji took the order, and Li Shimin said to Li Shimin, "Do you want to get rid of the shame now?" Li Shi nodded: "Liu Heita was originally my defeated general, and he has repeatedly fought against my Tang Dynasty. Of course I want to wipe him out!"

Li Shimin said: "From now on, you will lead some troops to attack Liu Heita's camp at intervals according to my password." Then, Li Shimin ordered other people to use Xuhe as the boundary, and kept waving the flag and shouting, but they didn't send troops, which frightened Liu Heitai.He said to Liu Hongji and Li Shi: "You two have to go your own way. When the drums sound, you don't have to march. You can also send troops suddenly when the drums don't sound. Only in this way can Liu Heitai not dare to relax and let him not know. When will our army attack and when will we hide?" After listening to Li Shimin's strategy, everyone had already understood his intention, and quickly returned to their posts one by one. That night, Liu Heita thought that Li Shimin was recharging his energy, so he arranged for the soldiers to rest well and wait for the next battle tomorrow.After a while, suddenly there was the sound of drums shaking the sky, and everyone hurriedly got up to meet the enemy, but they did not see the enemy coming; just lying down, there was another burst of drums, and while hesitating, a group of cavalry rushed out from the Tang camp, beheading the enemy. After killing hundreds of soldiers, they quickly turned back.Repeatedly, non-stop all night. Seeing Li Shimin's deceit, Liu Heikai said to Gao Yaxian furiously: "Everyone says that Li Shimin is like a god in soldiers, but now it seems that he is just a cunning kid, and I will definitely not spare him!" But no matter what he did Called for battle, but Li Shimin closed the gate of the camp, completely ignoring it. After repeating this for several days, Liu Heita's troops were highly nervous, unable to sleep at night, and their combat effectiveness declined rapidly.But Li Shimin recharged his energy and stored up his energy, and finally launched a general attack.As soon as the gate of the camp was opened, Tang Jun rushed out like a tide.In a few hours, Liu Heita's army, which had been improving all the time, was defeated.Under the protection of Gao Yaxian, Wang Xiaohu and other soldiers, Liu Heita fled to Xiangzhou in a hurry. The Battle of Xuhe was Liu Heitai's first major defeat after sending troops to fight against the Tang Dynasty. It was also a powerful blow by Li Shimin to Liu Heitai's momentum. The engulfment of Tang's territory made Liu Heita, who was so powerful, finally stop here.This not only made Li Yuan breathe a sigh of relief, but also gave the Tang Dynasty army a great encouragement. After Liu Heitai's defeat, he couldn't recover in a short time, so Li Shimin was given plenty of time to pacify Xu Yuanlang and other small rebel forces.At the same time, Xiao Xian was also pacified by Li Jing and Li Xiaogong. For the Tang Dynasty, the enemy that most threatened its rule at present was the Hebei army led by Liu Heita. At this time, Li Tang For this last enemy, he gradually became full of confidence from the initial fear.