Chapter 14 To Chang'an

It kept raining. Since Li Yuan brought the army to Fort Jiahu, he has never stopped. The food and grass in the barracks are almost exhausted, but the supplies from Taiyuan have not arrived for a long time. And Liu Wenjing, who was sent to the Turks as an envoy, has not yet returned, and the soldiers and horses promised by the Turks have not been seen yet. So a disturbing news began to spread quietly in the barracks.The news said that the Turks and Liu Wuzhou were preparing to attack Taiyuan. is this real? Li Yuan didn't want to believe it was true. But I'm not sure it's fake.

This army, which had not fought a single battle before leaving Taiyuan, was hesitant and its hearts fluttered in the multiple troubles of heavy rain, food shortage and rumors.In the past few days, Li Yuan's mood was as damp and gloomy as the rainy weather. In the end, Li Yuan had no choice but to hold an emergency meeting to discuss whether to fight Huo Yi or return to Taiyuan. Some generals and officials present at the meeting put forward four reasons for the necessity of class teachers.1. We are almost running out of food and grass, and Song Laosheng and Qu Tutong echoed each other and defended against the danger. They will definitely not be able to attack for a while.2. Although Li Mi verbally said that he would unite with us, it is hard to say whether this is a conspiracy or not.3. The Turkic people are greedy, untrustworthy, and mercenary. Liu Wuzhou has always been in collusion with him, so the news that they are planning to invade Taiyuan must be believed.4. Taiyuan is our only base, and the family members of volunteer soldiers are there. It is better to go back and keep the base camp first, and then make a long-term plan.

As soon as this remark came out, most people voted for it. Li Yuan was noncommittal, turned his gaze to Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin who had been silent all the time, and said, "What do you think?" At this moment, he can only pin his hopes on his two sons. Because the opinions of the generals made him a little disappointed. It is true that Li Yuan also believed that what they said had some truth. If the old nest was occupied before the battle, the logistical supplies would be interrupted, the soldiers would lose their fighting spirit, and the team would fall into the predicament of being at a loss and facing enemies.This kind of danger does exist, why doesn't Li Yuan have the same worries and worries in his heart?But looking at it from another perspective, since the rebels went south with great fanfare, they haven't fought a single battle or conquered a city yet. If they would shrink back when encountering a slight setback, then what is the talk of calming the country and aspiring to win the world?At that time, not only will you be ridiculed by the heroes of the world, but the hearts and morale that have been gathered with great difficulty will also collapse and fall short!Taiyuan is important, but can you just sit back and relax in your lair all the time?On the contrary, it is more dangerous!Because doing so is tantamount to showing weakness to the army of the Sui Dynasty, to the Turks and Liu Wuzhou, and to the heroes of the Quartet!When these people come to attack from all sides, will Taiyuan be able to keep it?Even if he manages to keep it, do he still want to fight for hegemony in the future, or go out again?If we set off again, wouldn't the threat from the Turks and Liu Wuzhou from the rear still exist?Unless he huddled in a corner of Taiyuan forever, the question of "forward or backward" would haunt Li Yuan and everyone else forever like a terrible nightmare.

Therefore, choosing to back off is actually avoiding the problem, not solving it. Since this problem cannot disappear automatically, and since there are dangers in both forward and backward, why not choose to move forward and give it a go? Thinking of this, Li Yuan actually made up his mind. But Li Yuan couldn't say these words. He had to let his two sons speak. Fortunately, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin did not disappoint Li Yuan.They put forward four reasons against the class teacher tit for tat.1. There are crops all over the place right now, so why worry about running out of food?Song Laosheng is rash and impatient, and he can be captured alive in a single battle.2. Li Mi devoted himself to guarding the big granary in Dongdu, and was engaged in tug-of-war with Dongdu's army, so he had no time to make long-term plans.3. On the surface, Liu Wuzhou took refuge in the Turks, but in secret, he and the Turks were suspicious of each other; although he was greedy for Taiyuan, he was more worried that his old home, Mayi, would be copied.4. The reason why we act righteously is to save the common people regardless of our own safety, enter Chang'an first, and command the world!Now when encountering a small setback, they will be dismissed suddenly. I am afraid that the rebel army will disintegrate all at once.Even if we are trapped in the whole city of Taiyuan, we are still just a handful of bandits in the end. How can we save our lives?

In the end, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin glanced at everyone, and said bluntly: "Determining one's career and taking power, let's make a decision here! Everyone protects their families and loves their lives, so-called words; sons, who sacrifice their lives to fight, can be called deeds... ... march after the rain, if you don't kill the old man and take Huo Yi, you will dare to die!" ("Da Tang Entrepreneurship Daily Note") This was the first disagreement on military strategy within the Li Yuan Group. Li Yuan looked at the two brothers, and then at his large group of civil and military officials.Two votes on one side and N votes on the other side.He finally gritted his teeth and made a decision-the majority obeys the minority.

hit! God helps those who help themselves. Perhaps it was the persistence of Li Yuan and his son that finally moved God. On July 28, the grain and grass arrived in Taiyuan. On the first day of August, the sky cleared. On the second day of August, Li Yuan ordered the whole army to expose their armor, weapons and other clothing and equipment to the sun. On the third day of the eighth lunar month, at dawn, Li Yuan led the whole army to set out, and went straight to Huoyi along the trail at the foot of the southeast mountain. "If Song Laosheng refuses to fight, what do you say?" On the way, Li Yuan asked Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin.

The two brothers said with confidence: "Song Laosheng is brave but not resourceful. We only need to send a small group of cavalry to challenge the city. He has no reason not to fight; if he still sticks to the city, we will spread the news that he is passive and timid. Ready to surrender to us. Song Laosheng is worried about being denounced by his colleagues, so he has to fight if he doesn't fight!" Li Yuan nodded: "Your judgment is correct. Song Laosheng didn't launch an attack when we were trapped in Fort Jiahu, so I guess this person is not very capable." The troops quickly arrived at Huoyi.Li Yuan led hundreds of cavalry to wait for the main force of the infantry several miles east of Huoyi. Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin led dozens of cavalry to the Huoyi city.

Sure enough, the brave and foolhardy Song Laosheng was enraged at once, and led 30,000 people to attack from the east gate and the south gate respectively.Li Yuan hurriedly ordered Yin Kaishan to summon the main force of the follow-up infantry to enter the battlefield, and then ordered Li Jiancheng to line up in the east of the city and Li Shimin to line up in the south of the city. In order to eliminate Song Laosheng in the First World War and prevent him from fleeing back to the city to defend, Li Yuan decided to pretend to be defeated and lure Song Laosheng to leave the city further. Song Laosheng first attacked the rebels in the east.Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng pretended to be frustrated and began to retreat.Li Shimin and his general Duan Zhixuan immediately led the cavalry to charge Song Laosheng's army from the south and attack his rear.

The two sides fought hand to hand, and the battle was extremely fierce.Li Shimin charged forward, hacking and killing dozens of people in a row. The two knives in his hand were cut with gaps, and blood splashed all over his sleeves.Li Shimin shook his sleeves and continued to fight. Under the impact of Li Shimin, Song Laosheng's formation began to be scattered.Li Yuan took the opportunity to order people to shout in front of the battle: "Song Laosheng has been captured alive!" Hearing the words, the soldiers of the Sui Dynasty lost all fighting spirit and collapsed in an instant. Song Laosheng had to turn around and flee.Li Yuan led his army to chase to the bottom of the city. The defenders in the city hurriedly closed the city gate and put down a rope to rescue Song Laosheng.

Song Laosheng climbed the rope, and just climbed a few meters high, Li Yuan's subordinate Lu Jun'e jumped up from behind, dragged him down forcefully, and then chopped off Song Laosheng's head. In this battle, the Sui Army's 30,000-strong army was wiped out, and Li Yuan also suffered great casualties.The corpses of the two armies piled up in layers on the field outside Huoyi City, stretching for several miles. At dusk on this day, after a short rest, Li Yuan ordered the army to attack the city.At that time, the rebel army still lacked large-scale siege equipment, so the soldiers climbed up the city wall by force. After a fierce (ao) battle, Huoyi was finally conquered.

This was Li Yuan's first victory since he went south. Although he paid a certain price, it still greatly boosted morale.After entering Huoyi, Li Yuan began to reward meritorious service.The official in charge of awarding honors in the army reminded him: "It seems that people who are born as slaves should not be treated the same as ordinary soldiers." How can there be a distinction between superior and inferior? They should be completely equal, and they will be rewarded for their merits!" After conquering Huoyi, Li Yuan quickly went southward, taking Linfen County (now Linfen City, Shanxi) on August 8, Jiangjun (now Xinjiang County, Shanxi) on August 13, and reaching the Yellow River East on August 15. Longmen (now Hejin City, Shanxi).On this day, Liu Wenjing and Kang Jiaoli also arrived with 500 Turkic soldiers and 2,000 horses.Li Yuan was overjoyed, and said to Liu Wenjing: "There are many horses and few, which is exactly what I want!" Finally stood on the bank of the Yellow River.Looking at the rushing and roaring Yellow River, Li Yuan felt filled with emotion, as long as he crossed the Yellow River in one step, he would be able to enter Guanzhong and go straight to Chang'an. The Huanghuang Empire in his dream seems to have appeared in front of Li Yuan more and more clearly. At this time, two different voices reappeared in the army about the next step of the march. Cao Rengui, who had just defected to the rebel army, and others believed that instead of attacking Hedong, where Qu Tutong was stationed heavily, he should cross the Yellow River directly from Longmen, recruit the local rebels, and at the same time seize Yongfeng warehouse in the north of Tongguan.In this way, before conquering Chang'an, the entire Guanzhong can be held in the palm of your hand.Li Yuan himself is also inclined to this opinion. But most of his generals objected.They believed that the nail in Hedong County should be pulled out first, and then cross the river to enter the pass, so as to avoid future troubles. The prudent Li Yuan decided not to cross the river for the time being, but to get in touch with the Guanzhong Rebels before making any plans. On August 18, Li Yuan wrote a letter to Sun Hua, the leader of the most powerful rebel army in Guanzhong at that time, to appease him.Six days later, Sun Hua came across the river to meet him.Li Yuan was overjoyed, and immediately appointed him as doctor Zuo Guanglu, the county magistrate of Wuxiang, and the prefect of Fengyi County (now Dali County, Shaanxi).Then he ordered Wang Changxie of the Left Commander, Liu Hongji of the Right Commander and others to ride six thousand horses, cross the river with Sun Hua, and camp on the west bank of the Yellow River, waiting for the main force of the army. Before leaving, Li Yuan said to Wang Changxie: "Qu Tutong has a lot of elite men who are only fifty miles away from us, but now he dare not go out to fight, which shows that his military spirit has been shaken. But Qu Tutong was worried about the court's punishment. And dare not not fight. If he crosses the river to attack you, I will attack his lair, and the east of the river will never be able to hold. If he sticks to the city, you will burn the cable bridge (Pujin bridge) connecting the east of the river and the west bank of the Yellow River. Block his retreat, when the time comes, I will strangle him from the front, and you will attack his back from behind, and you will surely capture him alive!" On September 7th, Qu Tutong was worried about being attacked by the enemy, so he had to send Huyalang General Sang Xianhe to lead thousands of elite cavalry to cross the river in the middle of the night and attack Wang Changxie's barracks.Wang Changxie was caught off guard and lost the battle.At the critical moment, Sun Hua personally led the cavalry to rescue and defeated the Sui army.Sang Xian and retreated in a hurry. In order to prevent the rebels from pursuing, they burned the Pujin Bridge by themselves after crossing the river. On September 10, seeing that the time was right, Li Yuan led his army to besiege Hedong City. But Qu Tutong was a seasoned general after all, and he repelled the rebels' repeated attacks on the city. Li Yuan realized that this fortified city could not be easily conquered, so he prepared to abandon the east river and cross the river to enter the pass.However, Pei Ji and others firmly opposed it.He said: "Qu Tutong holds a heavy army and stands firmly in the fortified city. Even if we bypass him today, if we fail to capture Chang'an, we will be blocked by the east of the river when we retreat. At that time, we will be attacked by enemies from the front and back. The situation will be extremely dangerous. It is better to go first Take the Hedong with all your strength, and then go west. Hedong is the gateway to Chang'an, once Qu Tutong is defeated, the city of Chang'an will be destroyed soon!" As soon as Pei Ji and the others finished speaking, Li Shimin immediately raised a tit-for-tat rebuttal.He said: "No way. Bing is expensive and fast. We have the prestige of successive victories and the troops from all over the world. If we move westward quickly, Chang'an will be shocked. It is very likely that before they have time to react, we will already be like the autumn wind." Sweep the fallen leaves and attack the city. If we stay under the fortified city, we will fall into a state of exhaustion, so that Chang'an has enough time to strengthen the defense, but we ourselves miss the opportunity of the battle. Once the army's morale is scattered, it will be a big deal. !" This is the second disagreement on military strategy within the Li Yuan Group. This time, Li Yuan neither fully followed Li Shimin's suggestion, nor purely adopted the opinions of Pei Ji and the others. He ordered the generals to stay and continue to besiege Hedong, while he, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin personally led the main force to cross the river and enter the pass. On September 12, as soon as Li Yuan entered Guanzhong, officials of the Sui Dynasty all over the country immediately surrendered and donated the counties and counties under their jurisdiction.Among them, Li Xiaochang, the magistrate of Huayin County, donated the Yongfeng warehouse under his jurisdiction, which greatly met the food and material needs of the rebel army.In addition, the counties under Jingzhao Mansion also sent envoys to surrender to Li Yuan. On September 16, Li Yuan arrived in Chaoyi (now east of Dali County, Shaanxi).On September 18th, Li Yuan ordered Li Jiancheng, Liu Wenjing, Wang Changxie and other troops to station in Yongfengcang and guard Tongguan to guard against possible reinforcements from the Sui Dynasty in the east; at the same time, he ordered Li Shimin, Changsun Shunde, Liu Hongji and other troops to attack The counties of Jingyang, Yunyang, Wugong, and Yuyu (zhouzhi, present-day Zhouzhi, Shaanxi) in the north of the Weishui River surrounded Chang'an from the north. So far, Chang'an, the imperial capital of the Sui Dynasty, has been completely exposed in front of Li Yuan, and has almost become a possession.There is only the last short section of Li Yuan's road to the throne. Although Li Yuan did not proclaim himself emperor immediately after entering Chang'an, there is no doubt that from this moment on, everything has entered a countdown state. In just eight months, the rising sun of the Tang Dynasty will completely break free from the confinement of the night, and will burst out from the cracked sky of the Sui Dynasty, illuminating the universe.