In the battle of Tongguan, the Sui army in the eastern capital completely won the victory with a strong and crushing attitude. It took only an hour to break through the rebel camp from the front, and only dispatched three hundred reinforcements to break through the rebel army again. Strictly defending the camp of the Chinese army, the rebels were terrified and terrified when they were killed. They had to abandon the camp and flee for their lives. Shao and his wife fought to the death with Chai Shao in the face of danger, and they were almost able to take Yongfeng Cangcheng by taking advantage of the situation.
It's not that the rebels are too rookie and too fleshy. In fact, the rebel soldiers under Chai Shao and Li Xiuning's husband and wife are not weak. They have defeated the government army many times and have a lot of battlefield experience; it's not that the rebels' battalion defense is not enough In order to contain the Sui army and buy time for the main force of the self-army, the strong and defensive rebel division spent a huge price and painstaking efforts to build the camp, and dug three trenches just to protect the camp. Even if the main force of the rebel army came to attack this camp, there would never be any possibility of breaking the camp in such a short period of time.
It is because the Sui Army in the Eastern Capital is too powerful. The Sui Army in the Eastern Capital has received rigorous training and is equipped with the most sophisticated weapons and armor in the world. There are also countless veterans who have experienced many battles in the team, serving as the backbone of the grassroots. There are too many rebels, plus there are some of the best generals in the world who take the lead and lead the charge. It is not surprising that the Sui army with obvious advantages in strength has achieved such a victory.
The chain reaction triggered by this war was very fatal to the rebels. First of all, after the camp outside the warehouse was lost, the rebel forces had no chance to transport food out of Cangcheng and send it to Daxing. The following chain reaction will kill the rebels even more. Chen Sangliang smashed the rebel army in less than three days as promised, encircled Yongfeng warehouse, and opened up direct contact with He Panren. He Panren, who was greatly shocked, no longer hesitated , Immediately dismiss the grain transporters, let these peasants take away all the grain that can be taken away, and burn all the rest, so that the only batch of grain and grass sent to the front line will be turned into a pile of coke, making the main force of the rebel army Immediately facing the crisis of food and grass, the main force of the rebel army will also face the danger of food shortage in the future!
Of course, although the Sui army in the eastern capital has obvious advantages at present, it has not only grasped the strategic initiative of the Guanzhong battlefield, but also pinched the main force of the rebel army. The food and grass can barely last for a period of time - if it is not possible, you can borrow it from the people in Guanzhong who have just harvested in autumn. As long as Li Jiancheng's army can firmly hold on to Yongfeng Cangcheng, persist until the main force returns to aid, and re-open the grain road to obtain supplies, then the main force of the rebel army will still have a chance to turn defeat into victory, but...
"Can Dalang defend Yongfeng Cangcheng to buy time for the old man? I'm afraid it will be difficult. Although Yongfeng Cangcheng is located on a higher ground, it is relatively easier to defend, but Cangcheng has just been built recently, and the walls are not high enough nor thick enough. The newly rammed earth wall is not strong enough, and the city defense is still not as strong as the regular city. Chen Yingliang, the little thief, is also famous for his tricks and tricks, and is good at winning by surprise. If Dalang makes any mistakes, the old man will be finished."
In fact, not long after receiving the news of the battle in Tongguan and the defection of He Panren, when the main force of the rebel army continued to attack Daxing Palace, the scheming Li Yuan had already begun to think about the next battle arrangement. Li Yuan infers that Chen Sangliang has two options for his next tactical arrangement. The first option is to attack Yongfeng warehouse as soon as possible, completely pull out the nail of Li Jiancheng, and then send his troops west to fight the main force of his own army; The choice is to besiege the city and fight for aid, surround Yongfeng warehouse and wait for your main force to come back for help, and wait for labor to launch a decisive battle west of Yongfeng warehouse.
Both options have advantages and disadvantages for the rebels. The first option is to attack Yongfeng warehouse as soon as possible. If Li Jiancheng can hold on, it will be more beneficial to the rebels. It will be over completely. At that time, Chen Sangliang will not even need to enter the army to make great progress, and he can starve the main force of the rebel army to death even if he is hungry. The second option is the safest and safest option for the rebels. The Sui army besieged the city to fight for aid. The main force of the rebels won Daxing and returned to rescue Yongfeng warehouse. At the same time, Li Jiancheng's partial division can also be preserved, and can play a vital role at critical moments. It is not impossible to defeat the Sui army in the eastern capital by attacking from inside and outside. The chance of turning defeat into victory is far greater than being passively beaten in Daxing. So Li Yuan quickly made a decision, and decided to lure Chen Sangliang to make the second choice by delaying his troops, not rushing to attack Yongfeng warehouse and waiting for the main force of his own army to come back for help.
There are not many people in the world who are confident and work hard to use tricks against Chen Sangliang, and Li Yuan is one of them. In fact, when Li Yuan used tricks to avenge his son-in-law before, if it hadn’t been for a new crop, Baidiezi, which appeared by accident, Li Yuan would have done it four years ago. Chen Sangliang has been dealt with so badly that he cannot stand up. This time was no exception. After careful consideration for a moment, Li Yuan beckoned his subordinate Yun Dingxing to his face, and told Yun Dingxing, "You write the book yourself, write a letter to Chen Yingliang, and tell him that you have done everything before. He was forced to surrender to me, now that Chen Yingliang has led his army into Guanzhong, you are willing to act as an internal support for him and help him smash the main force of our army to atone for his past crimes."
Yun Dingxing, who had always been obedient, didn't agree immediately, and his wrinkled old face showed some embarrassment. Li Yuan observed his words and asked with a sneer, "Why? Don't you want to? Don't dare to feign surrender to offend the little thief Chen Yingliang. The next escape route?"
"General, you are the last general." Yun Dingxing, whose life was hanging by his hands, was taken aback, and hurriedly said, "It's not that the last general is unwilling. The book feigned surrender, fearing that he would not believe it, and missed the important matter of the general."
"You're shameless, you don't blush when you tell nonsense with your eyes open." Li Yuan cursed secretly in his heart, but his face remained calm, and he ordered: "It's okay, you just need to follow the order, even if you can't deceive the little thief Chen Yingliang. You, after finishing writing, the old man will arrange for people to deliver the letter, so you don’t need to take the risk yourself.”
"The last general will follow the general's order." Yun Dingxing respectfully agreed, but he cursed Li Yuan in his heart for being nothing - he and Chen Sangliang have a deep friendship, and at critical moments, as long as they turn around and surrender, they will surely survive. Now it is up to him to deceive Chen Sangliang , no matter whether he succeeds or not, even if he surrenders in the future, his head is hanging in the balance.
"Remember, add one more." Li Yuan added: "Tell Chen Yingliang that Chai Shao has brought back the news of Tongguan's fiasco and He Panren's burning of food. The old man was so distraught that he ordered to step up the attack on Daxing Palace City, and sent another An army goes back to assist Yongfeng Cang first, and when the Daxing Miyagi is captured, it will immediately lead the main force to rescue Yongfeng Cang and reopen the grain road.”
Under the eaves, Yun Dingxing, who has always been known for being greedy for life and fearing death, can only hold his fists and sing promises again. While writing a book himself, he secretly prays that his eldest nephew can understand his difficulties and continue to leave him a way of life in the future . Li Yuan also personally wrote a letter to his eldest son Li Jiancheng, pointing out strategies, asking Li Jiancheng to act according to the plan, inducing Chen Sangliang to postpone the siege, and then sending reliable letters to use fast horses to rush to Yongfeng warehouse. Send the letter to Yongfeng warehouse and hand it over to Li Jiancheng.
…
Next, it's time to take a look at the situation on the Sui army's side. After breaking through the camp of Chai Shao and his wife, Chen Sangliang did not rush to launch a battle against Yongfeng Cangcheng. He just ordered the Sui army to move the camp and the main camp Moved to the west of Tongguan, and at the same time ordered the army to rush to build siege weapons, and be prepared to launch a frontal assault if necessary-Chen Sangliang, who has a despicable personality, never likes costly frontal assaults, especially hates frontal assaults on strong cities, so he does not As a last resort, Chen Sangliang was absolutely unwilling to take his life to fill in Yongfeng warehouse city.
In addition, Chen Sangliang also promulgated a new captive policy as the ambassador of the Guanzhong arrests, and asked his subordinates to directly tell the captives captured today that they would like to join the Sui army immediately and would not join the Sui army. Those who can leave immediately, and give dry food for the road. Although some generals of the Sui Army felt that Chen Sangliang's actions were too lenient and worried that the prisoners would return to the enemy army after being released, Chen Sangliang replied: "If I don't do this, no one will dare to surrender to me in the future." It would be better for the released captives to return to the enemy's army, which can just help our army to promote the captive policy and break the enemy's morale."
On the morning of the next day, which was also the morning of the 26th, Chen Sangliang once again led his army to the city of Yongfengcang, carefully surveyed the terrain and studied the tactics of breaking the city. What made Chen Sangliang very helpless was that the newly built Yongfengcang Although the city wasn't high enough or thick enough, and we didn't have time to prepare difficult weapons such as yaksha rings and thousand-jin gates, it was still located on a high hillside and guarded from a high position. If the Sui army wanted to attack by force, it would cost a lot small price. (The specific topography of Yongfeng warehouse is unknown, but history books record that later Weishui diversion did not submerge Yongfeng warehouse, but only separated Yongfeng warehouse to the north bank of Weishui River. From this, it can be inferred that Yongfeng warehouse must be located on a high ground.)
At the same time, according to the confession of the prisoners of war, there were about 15,000 troops stationed in Yongfeng Cang City, and Li Xiuning fled in with a part of the defeated army. It is estimated that the number of defenders has reached about 20,000. The cost is bound to be even greater.
"It's not difficult to attack. The city wall is only one and a half feet thick, and it's a new wall. It must not be completely dry yet, so it's not difficult to attack."
Not everyone is as despicable as Chen Sangliang, who likes to be opportunistic and avoid the strong and the weak. At least several Sui army generals shouted that Yongfeng Cangcheng is not difficult to capture. Liu Heita, who failed to participate in the battle yesterday, Kan Leng, Ma Sanbao and other generals couldn't wait to volunteer and lead the army to attack the city. However, Chen Sangliang smiled and said nothing, refusing to accept the heroic challenge of his fierce generals. The counselors knew that Chen Sangliang's bad character must be surprising and wanted to win by surprise, so they didn't say anything, but Li Jing, who had little contact with his unscrupulous nephew Misunderstanding what Chen Sangliang meant, he asked, "Nephew, do you want to besiege the city and fight for aid?"
"Besieging the city and fighting for aid is of course a way." Chen Sangliang replied thoughtfully: "But Daxing's side must be fighting urgently. If we delay here for too long, Daxing may make some mistakes. Besides, if we can take Yong Yong as soon as possible." Fengcang, after all, is more beneficial to us."
"Then it can only be a strong attack." Li Jing said: "Fortunately, Yongfeng Cangcheng is newly built, and the city is not strong enough, so we have a good chance of taking it by force."
"What about the casualties?" Chen Sangliang said with a mournful face, "I hate attacking cities the most. I just take my life to fill them up. There are quite a lot of thieves in Yongfeng warehouse. Even if we win by force, our loss is certain. Not too small."
Li Jing rolled his eyes, and only then did he realize that his cousin was a top-notch guy who wanted the horse to run, but also to keep the horse from eating grass. At this time, Chen Sangliang's distant cousin Pei Xingfang suddenly said: "Brother, do you still remember the method you used to attack Menghai City? Yongfeng warehouse is located on a high ground, and the water source must come from the Wei River in the north. Maybe that method can be used again."
Chen Sangliang's treacherous triangular eyes suddenly lit up, and he slapped his head to regret how he forgot how to cut off the water and break the city, and then led a group of accomplices and lackeys to the north of Yongfeng Cangcheng to explore the terrain. The embarrassment is that Yongfeng Cangcheng is indeed a gentle slope away from the bank of the Weishui River, but the distance is less than two hundred steps, so it is difficult to station a large number of troops to completely cut off the enemy's water source. But fortunately, as long as there is such a distance, Li Jing immediately suggested: "Nephew, you can build a fence fortification one hundred and fifty steps away from Cangcheng, and arrange troops to guard it day and night, and you can still cut off the enemy's water source. Another village The first army is located in the northwest of Yongfeng warehouse, so it is convenient to send troops to rescue."
Chen Sangliang was overjoyed when he heard the words, but he did not immediately agree to adopt them. Instead, he turned his attention to Yuan Tiangang. The officials have observed the sky in the past few days, and have not found any signs of rain in the near future."
Chen Sangliang laughed loudly, and ordered: "Do it immediately, act according to the plan, cousin, I will leave this matter to you, build a fence, dig a trench, arrange elite soldiers to guard in turn, let me let her Li Xiuning I can't even find face wash!"
While singing promises, Li Jing immediately arranged for the army to act according to the plan, dig trenches on the rebels' water intake road, and build fences and earth barriers. Chen Sangliang also dispatched elite soldiers to cover the construction of the fortifications by the engineers. In this situation, everyone was scared out of their wits, and rushed to Li Jiancheng to issue warnings, saying in one go: "Zuo Dudu, what should we do? The officers and soldiers seem to want to cut off our water source. There is no water well, if the officers and soldiers succeed, we will be thirsty to death without beating them!"
Li Jiancheng's face turned blue. He first looked up at the scorching sun in the sky, gritted his teeth and said that you are really cruel, brother, and then said: "From now on, the drinking water in the city will be centrally stored and distributed. Send troops to grab water!"
Ever since, the cruel battle for drinking water began. After nightfall, the rebels took advantage of the cover of night to send two thousand troops to raid the Sui army's fence line, carrying wooden barrels to grab water. Under the cover of night, a secret sentry was ambushed near Cangcheng for surveillance. The rebel army had just started to leave the city, and the news of the Sui army's secret sentry had already been sent back to the fence defenders. Cheng Yaojin in the northwest of the city also led his army to help. Under the attack of the two sides, the rebel army was defeated and fled back to the city without grabbing half a bucket of water.
The death knell for the rebels in Yongfengcang seems to have sounded here. On the morning of the 27th of the next day, when the Sui army was desperately strengthening the fortifications to intercept the water source, He Panren and Li Gang also sent a fast horse to send news that they had burned down the water as agreed. The food for the rebel army was on the way back from the east with the army. Chen Sangliang was asked to send someone to Xinfeng to confirm the situation of the food. Chen Sangliang was even more overjoyed. While treating the envoy generously, he said that he believed that He Panren had burned food without confirmation, but in fact he secretly sent people to Xinfeng to confirm the matter, showing his hypocrisy by saying one thing and doing another. exhaustive.
In addition, Chen Sangliang, who is good at attacking mind tactics, wrote the news of He Panren's burning food in a letter, and sent people to shoot arrows into Yongfeng warehouse, so as to hit the enemy's morale. Li Jiancheng, Li Xiuning, Wang Changxie and other rebel generals were shocked when they saw the letter, but they knew Chen Sangliang's treacherous character, so they were only half-suspicious about it, and did not accept the suggestion of some subordinates to abandon their warehouses and flee to preserve their strength. , and once again arranged a plan to send troops to grab water.
On the night of the 27th, the rebel army sent 5,000 troops down the mountain to grab water. The Sui army fought hard. Chen Sangliang heard that the rebel army was strong. In addition to sending troops from the main battalion to reinforce the battlefield at the cut off water, he also arranged for an army to feintly attack Cangcheng, Luokou. Surround Wei to save Zhao, forcing Li Jiancheng not to increase troops and cut off the battlefield. Li Jiancheng was afraid that Cangcheng would be lost, so he didn't dare to make a mistake. Honestly, he just sat and watched the water grabbing army led by Wang Changxie fought hard against the Sui army at the foot of the mountain, feeling anxious and helpless. As a result, although the rebel soldiers who fought with their lives took back dozens of barrels of muddy water mixed with sand, they paid the price of thousands of casualties.
At noon on the 28th, He Panren's army, who was traveling lightly all the way, returned to the Tongguan battlefield and surrendered to Chen Sangliang. Chen Sangliang was overjoyed when he heard the news, and went out of the camp to greet him in person. Consolation and praise, great rewards were given on the spot, and He Panren was recruited into the army on the spot. He Panren took the initiative to come to the city of Yongfengcang and cursed, telling the rebels that he had burned food and surrendered, and persuaded himself to surrender in Kaesong, the old part of the city. Li Jiancheng, Wang Changxie and others were furious, and ordered the army to shoot away He Panren with arrows. At the same time, there were louder calls in the army to abandon their warehouses and flee, but the rebel commander Li Jiancheng remained noncommittal.
The situation was very good, and the chances of winning seemed to be stable. Under the ecstasy, all the civil and military generals of the Sui Army inevitably got carried away with complacency. They all proposed to firmly implement the tactic of besieging the city and fighting for aid, and tried their best to cut off the rebel army's water source, forcing the rebel army to abandon the city and flee. Destroy the enemy in the field, or force the main force of the rebel army to return to Yongfeng warehouse, and wait for the battle to decide Guanzhong. Facing the roaring voices, although Chen Sangliang still maintained a certain calmness, he also felt that it was really possible to do so, and it was indeed far better than going to Daxing City to fight hard, so he smiled and said: "Since everyone thinks that we should besiege the city and fight for aid, then Just hang around and see how long Li Jiancheng and the old thief Li Yuan can last."
Arrogant soldiers must be defeated. Fortunately, there is a reliable cousin Li Jing beside Chen Sangliang. Seeing the relaxed smile of his cousin and nephew, Li Jing not only did not relax, but also pondered in his heart, secretly said: "The tactics of besieging the city and fighting for aid are of course It is safe and correct, and can reduce the consumption of attacking fortified positions, but the bandit army in Yongfeng warehouse will definitely give up Yongfeng warehouse, the lifeline of Guanzhong, because of the lack of water? Li Yuan led the main force of the rebel army back to help, can we really wait for work and win? I am afraid, Not necessarily."