As Ren Yu introduced, because the Daxing Sui army strictly sealed off the roads and checkpoints, the Taiyuan army could only detour to Yan'an County and send letters back via Longquan. Not to mention the waste of travel and delay, the news was first sent to the Li family in the Huoyi battlefield. brother hands. The result is that although the Li family brothers had been mentally prepared for this, after confirming the bad news, Li Jiancheng was still so shocked that the tea bowl in his hand fell to the ground, his face turned pale, and Li Er also stood up suddenly, his face turned ashen and terribly pale .
The civil and military officers of the Taiyuan Army who were present also had better complexions than the Li brothers, because they knew very well in their hearts that the critical moment of their life and death had arrived, and they could not escape and could not avoid it. They could only face it bravely. Some people began to think about how to fight, some people imagined how to defeat Chen Sangliang, and some people were already secretly thinking about how to sell themselves in front of Chen Sangliang for a good price. There was almost half a stick of incense, and there was no sound in Li Jiancheng's big tent of the Chinese army.
In the end, it was Li Jiancheng who made the first sound and slowly picked up the dropped teacup. Li Jiancheng said in a very calm tone: "It's finally here. It's later than we expected, but it doesn't matter. It's the same if you come early or late. The same is a fight, just fight with all your strength."
"Brother, there is a great mystery in the timing of Chen Yingliang's dispatch of troops." Li Er also opened his mouth, and said with a sneer: "Chen Yingliang had already threatened to attack our army more than two months ago, and he had already asked the Hedong side division to take the initiative to provoke the war. But it was not until April 17th that the army was formally dispatched, and it seemed that there was a great purpose in it, as if it came for a certain time."
"Brother, are you referring to the flood season in Fenshui in July and August?" Li Jiancheng asked.
"Isn't it?" Li Er asked back, and said with a sneer: "On April 17th, the main force went northward slowly, attacked Queshu Valley to break through our army's blockade, wiped out our army's outer defenders, and then encircled Taiyuan City. The time rhythm is well controlled. Well, isn't it at that time?"
Li Jiancheng lowered his head, thought again, and said, "With his character, I'm afraid he won't be able to use that tactic."
"My elder brother Bishamen (Li Jiancheng's nickname), do you think that Chen Yingliang has the heart of a Bodhisattva like you?" Li Er sneered even more, and said, "Yes, Chen Yingliang has always shown others with generosity and hypocrisy, but when he should be ruthless He is more ruthless than anyone else! If he is really a good gentleman, he will deliberately fall out with Yang Tong regardless of Yang Guang's last edict? Will he take away our father's title and proclaim himself the king of Tang? No matter how many people in Taiyuan city , how many people can die in his hands?"
Li Jiancheng was speechless, and it took a while before he said: "Whether Chen Yingliang has such a vicious heart or not, we should try our best to stick to Queshu Valley, try to stop Chen Yingliang's main force in the south of Queshu Valley, and preserve our Taiyuan foundation. .”
"It is of course impossible to block Chen Yingliang's main force forever by relying on Queshu Valley, but as long as we can persist in Queshu Valley until the rainy season comes in July, there is hope." Li Er rarely agrees with Li Jiancheng on major issues, saying: "The rainy season First, the road will be muddy and difficult to navigate, and the Fenshui River will rise sharply, which is not conducive to the large-scale march of Chen Yingliang's main force. As long as we persist until then, we can hope to survive this crisis. But if we can't stop Chen Yingliang before the rainy season, If he is forced to retreat to Taiyuan City, then we will be in big trouble."
"Immediately prepare to retreat and return to Jiexiu Lingshi, and try our best to build a line of defense in Queshu Valley." Li Jiancheng made a decisive decision and said immediately: "Contact Cao Dan and Yin Kaishan and ask them to give up attacking Linfen and withdraw their troops. Didn't the one named Wang Fubao say that he was going to retreat?" Is Yueyang restraining Chen Yingliang's main force? This is a clever move, ask Cao Dan to lead his army to retreat to Yueyang, make Chen Yingliang's main force afraid to go north without worry, force Chen Yingliang to divide his troops to fight Yueyang, and relieve us from the frontal pressure."
"I'm afraid it's too late in time." Li Er pointed out: "Chen Yingliang ordered Cheng Yaojin and Xue Renguo to lead 10,000 troops as the principal and deputy vanguards. This vanguard must advance very fast. If it is fast, it may take another three days to reach Taiping Pass. Join the Linfen battlefield directly. Even if they are exhausted from the distance and cannot join the Queshu Valley battlefield for the time being, they can also take turns to take the Chen thief army Qin Qiong, Huo Shiju and other troops to go north to Queshu Valley first, delaying and destroying our plan to build fortifications in Queshu Valley , and never gave us any chance to rest and breathe, to create opportunities for their main force."
"There is also Mr. Liu Heitai in Huoyi City." Li Er pointed to the direction of Huoyi outside the tent again, and said: "With that man's cunning and viciousness, once he finds out that our army is retreating, he will definitely take the opportunity to launch a counterattack and do everything possible. Harassing and restraining our army will not give our army a chance to retreat smoothly, let alone build a strong fortification in Queshu Valley. If we use troops properly, we may even wipe out our army's partial division Yin Kaishan on the way of Queshu Valley. Unexpected opportunities to weaken our already insufficient strength."
Considering that Liu Heitai's tactical purpose of consuming his own army's strength with the east side division is very clear, Li Jiancheng did not dare to take it lightly. After nodding, Li Jiancheng murmured and said: "The general of Dou Jiande's department called Wang Fubao before proposed to attack Taipingguan first. Guard the dangerous pass so that we can gain contingency time when Chen Yingliang's main force attacks. At that time, we did not agree to take Linfen City with all our strength. I wonder if we can still let Dou Jiande divide his troops to capture Taiping Pass and buy us a critical time to retreat and deploy defenses. . . . "
"Should be no problem." Li Er hurriedly said: "Yin Kaishan has already found out through inquiries that Wang Fubao and Dou Jiande's wife and brother Cao Dan have a personal enmity, and Cao Dan obviously wanted to put Wang Fubao to death in Linfen. If we ask Cao Dan to send Wang Fubao went to attack Taiping Pass, temporarily blocked Chen Yingliang's main force going north, and also lured the enemies in Linfen City to go south to attack Wang Fubao, Cao Dan must agree. After all, by using Chen Yingliang to kill Wang Fubao, Cao Dan can also avoid the infamy of public revenge."
"Then let's do this, and send Ren Yu to try it with all our strength." Li Jiancheng didn't hesitate, and immediately agreed to try his luck, and said: "Wang Fubao is a general, it's a pity to die like this, but for the sake of For the sake of the overall situation, we don’t care too much. Besides, Cao Dan is what we need to please now, and there is no need to make Cao Dan unhappy for him.”
Ever since, under the unanimous decision of the Li family brothers, Ren Yu flew to Linfen on a horse to prevent Dou and Li's coalition from attacking Linfen City, and Ren Yu hypocritically asked Wang Fubao if he still had a chance to attack Taiping Pass. Although Wang Fubao replied that the defenders of Taiping Pass must have received the news that the main force of the Sui army sent troops, in order to ensure the smooth passage of the main force of the Sui army, they would definitely stick to Taiping Pass with all their strength. The difficulty of attacking Taiping Pass was far greater than before, but Ren Yu But he refused to give up, and asked to have a secret talk with Cao Dan, and had a sneaky conversation with Cao Dan's brother-in-law in the back tent for a long time.
Here I must also say a fair word for Uncle Cao. Uncle Cao, who hates Wang Fubao so much, wants Wang Fubao to die without a place to bury him. However, Uncle Cao has to think about letting an army accompany Wang Fubao to die. I hesitated for a while whether I would be held accountable and scolded by my brother-in-law for doing so. Ren Yu saw Uncle Cao's thoughts, so he pretended to be generous and said: "General Cao, don't worry, our army will not let your army fight alone, attack Taiping Pass and temporarily block the main force of the bandit army, our army will also send two thousand troops. Participate in the battle, and obey the orders of your army, with the commander of your army as the main general!"
Brother-in-law Cao was still a little hesitant, but Ren Yu hurriedly pointed out that doing so was also very important for Dou Jiande's army, because Dou Jiande's army also needed to beware of the Sui army sending troops to chase after them. City defense and construction of fortifications are a long-term plan. Brother-in-law Cao considered these situations, nodded his head and gradually moved, and gradually wanted to agree.
It was his brother-in-law Yuan E who really made up his mind. At this time, Yuan E, who was serving as the supervisor of Wang Fubao's army, suddenly came to report, saying that it was Wang Fubao's soldiers who heard that they were going to be the ants who attacked Linfen City again. After Pioneer, everyone scolded Brother-in-law Cao's 18th generation ancestors, and some people threatened in private that they would snipe at Brother-in-law Cao on the battlefield if they had the opportunity! Brother-in-law Cao did not hesitate in his rage, and immediately agreed to Ren Yu's request, agreeing to let Wang Fubao lead his headquarters and two thousand Taiyuan troops to go south to attack Taiping Pass together, buying time for the Dou and Li allied forces to retreat and deploy their defenses.
At this time, it is not only very uncertain to attack Taiping Pass again, even if it is difficult to break out of the encirclement after winning, Wang Fubao certainly understands that Brother-in-law Cao still wants to send himself to death on purpose, but if he continues to resist the order and does not obey the order, he may end up in the end. To make matters worse, the Taiyuan Army also showed some sincerity and sent two thousand troops. At the same time, Brother-in-law Cao also promised to allow Wang Fubao to break through and retreat to Yueyang County in ten days. Ren Yu also repeatedly explained the importance of attacking Taiping Pass at this time. After hesitating again and again, he finally accepted the mission and went into battle with injuries, leading two thousand people from the headquarters and two thousand Taiyuan troops to attack Taipingguan, which was easy to pass before.
It was also on the way to lead the army south to Taiping Pass that Wang Fubao gradually realized that something was wrong. The two thousand Taiyuan troops sent by Yin Kaishan to help out were in a loose formation during the march, with uneven weapons and equipment. The generals and soldiers were obviously very nervous. It doesn't seem to have received strict military training. Inquiring more about the origin of this army, Wang Fubao almost spat blood out of his throat again. It turned out that the two thousand Taiyuan troops were all recruits recruited by Yin Kaishan when he attacked the hinterland of Linfen County. Almost all of them were locals of Linfen County. Supplemented by a small number of old soldiers who were separated when the Li brothers were defeated, such an army is not only unreliable in combat effectiveness, but may also become a burden to Wang Fubao's army at any time!
Of course, Wang Fubao, who was furious, immediately sent someone back to complain to Brother-in-law Cao. Brother-in-law Cao also asked Ren Yu to question the reason. In fact, they are very good at fighting, and many of them have followed Li Yuan into Guanzhong Daxing. They also said that all the heroes in the world started with such an army, and no one has thousands of elite soldiers available as soon as they debut. Brother-in-law Cao was soft-spoken, and he had already started to arrange for the withdrawal of troops to return to Yueyang, so he didn't pursue the matter further, and ignored Wang Fubao's complaint.
Wang Fubao, who never got an answer, could only continue to lead his troops forward, and successfully arrived outside Taiping Pass, which is not far from Linfen, in the evening of the same day. Taking advantage of the last sunset, he hurriedly observed the terrain of Taiping Pass. Wang Fubao found that although the Sui army guarding the pass The defense is tight, but the terrain that is not steep enough greatly limits the defensive ability, and overall it is not difficult to fight. —When the old Li family fought from Taiyuan, they directly surrendered this small pass without spending a single soldier or shooting an arrow. When Chen Sangliang chased and killed Li Er, he also relied on the soldiers of the Sui army to bite their weapons and empty their hands Climbing took down this small pass, which shows how fragile this pass is.
He probably had a bottom line in his mind, and Wang Fubao didn't hesitate, and immediately arranged a tackling plan, using the waste to let the Taiyuan army first go to the pass to set up a camp, and ordered the Taiyuan army to launch a feint attack on the pass every half hour or quarter, and it must be alarmed. All the defenders are used to tire the enemy and disturb the enemy. Then Wang Fubao ordered the army of the headquarters to take the time to rest, eat and drink enough to maintain their physical strength, get up at 4:30, gather at 5:00 to listen to the order, and selected 300 elite soldiers in advance to wait for orders.
Wang Fubao's harassment tactics were very useful. That night, the Taiping Pass guards were indeed tossed a lot by the Taiyuan Army. They were woken up randomly by the Taiyuan Army's shouts and drums every half an hour or half an hour, and they were constantly forced to get up. Prepared for the battle, worked hard but never encountered half of the enemy, and gradually became numb from this repeated harassment and alarm, gradually lost vigilance, and then after the fifth watch, the sky was about to dawn, and the exhausted soldiers of the Sui army fainted When you want to sleep, the truth among the ten falsehoods finally comes.
Under the cover of the last darkness before dawn, 300 Dou Jun masters who followed Wang Fubao all the year round in the southern and northern wars carried simple climbing tools such as ropes and rakes, and quietly touched under the low wall of Taiping Pass. When he was tired and dozed off, he quietly climbed up the wall almost without making a sound. In the end, more than 20 Dou soldiers climbed to the top of the wall. The sound of gongs and drums sounded a warning.
In the twilight, the generals of the Dou army quickly built less than 20 simple flying ladders on the wall, or stepped on the flying ladders and shouted, or climbed empty-handed with their weapons in their hands, and fought to the death with their companions who had successfully climbed the barrier before. As cover, they rushed up the pass wall one after another, and then rushed into the pass, split the bolts and locked them, and miraculously opened the north gate of Taiping Pass in less than half an hour. Seeing that the situation was not good, he could only quickly open the south gate to escape to Taiping County. Wang Fubao took the opportunity to urge the army to enter the pass, and successfully seized this small pass before the sun passed over the top of Taihang Mountain.
After the success, before the cheers of Dou and Li's allied forces settled down, and before the Taiyuan army transported a small amount of food, grass and military supplies into the city, a sudden change occurred. Amidst the sound of rumbling horseshoes, there were already Sui army cavalry in the direction of Linfen in the north. When he came to kill, it was still under the banner of Qin Qiong, a fierce general of the Sui army. Wang Fubao was shocked when he saw this, and quickly ordered the Taiyuan army to go forward to fight. At the same time, he sent people to grab food and grass to enter the customs. When the Taipingguan defenders who had just fled not far found that the reinforcements had arrived, they immediately turned around and killed them, forcing Wang Fubao. Hurry up and close the south gate of Taiping Pass, and command the soldiers to stand on the wall and guard.
The performance of the Taiyuan Army on the battlefield was even worse than Wang Fubao feared. After hastily turning around to face the battle, Qin Qiong led the Sui Army cavalry to charge the Taiyuan Army to pieces with only one charge. As he rushed toward the generals and soldiers of the Dou army who were urgently transporting food, grass and military supplies, Wang Fubao had no choice but to order the soldiers to abandon the food, grass and military supplies that had not yet entered the pass, and all retreated to the pass. The cavalry took the opportunity to enter Taiping Pass.
When the sun was shining on Taiping Xiaoguan, the infantry brigade of the Sui army had already arrived outside the north gate of Taipingguan. The flags were like a sea, and the swords and guns were like a forest, completely blocking Wang Fubao's northward retreat. The Taiyuan soldiers sent by Yin Kaishan to perfunctoryly cheat their fathers knelt on the ground outside the pass, and the descendants were in groups, begging for mercy and begging for their lives, but Wang Fubao and other Dou soldiers stood on the wall with stern faces, silently watching the Taiyuan military struggle. Most of the ugliness of surrender and flattery remained silent.
While the flag was flying, Qin Qiong, who had dealt with Wang Fubao many times on the battlefield, patted his horse and came to the pass, and shouted at the wall: "General Wang Fubao! Mr. Cao Dan ran away with the army last night, Yin Kaishan The old man ran faster with the Taiyuan bandit army. You are now a lone army. It is impossible for Cao Dan and the Taiyuan bandit army to have reinforcements for you. Our main force is also heading here, and you have nowhere to escape! If you haven't surrendered yet, when will you wait?!"
Wang Fubao didn't say a word, but Qin Qiong shouted from behind the gate: "General Wang, we also understand your situation under Dou Jiande's command! Dou Jiande has no eyes, listens to slander, and owes you a lot. Cao Dan has a personal grudge against you. Dou Jiande still sent him to be the coach, let Cao Dan avenge his personal revenge, and framed you harshly, what are you still obsessed with? Don’t you hear that a good bird chooses a tree to live in, and a virtuous minister chooses a leader? His Royal Highness Tang Wang is wise and powerful If you switch and surrender, His Royal Highness Tang will definitely use you again! Although you and I are enemies, I still have great admiration for you. I would like to break an arrow and swear to protect you in front of His Highness Tang . . . "
"Let the arrow!"
Wang Fubao finally opened his mouth and gave an order calmly. The Dou soldiers beside him did not hesitate, and immediately drew their bows and shot Qin Qiong with arrows. Qin Qiong was furious. I was kind enough to save your life, but you still shot me with an arrow! Alright! Since you insist on seeking death, then I will fulfill you, and I want to see how long you can stay in this small tax gate!"
Wang Fubao ignored Qin Qiong's yelling at all, but turned to the left and right to order: "Send the order, immediately deploy defenses, and prepare to defend the pass. The Chen bandit army may launch an attack soon."
The left and right agreed, and then someone asked timidly: "General, we are already alone, what should we do next?"
"Hold on for nine days." Wang Fubao replied calmly: "General Cao ordered our army to break out of the siege after ten days yesterday, hold on for nine days, and then we will break out and retreat back to Yueyang."
"Nine days? Break through after nine days?" All the subordinates on the left and right were dumbfounded, and asked one after another: "General, the Taipingguan wall is only one and a half feet long, and there are no antlers to resist horses and ditches. The main force of the bandit army is coming soon. We Can we hold it for nine days? Even if we hold it for nine days, there will be heavy casualties after nine days, how can we break through?"
"If you can't keep it, you have to keep it." Wang Fubao replied lightly, and said: "Only if you can hold it for nine days, I will figure out how to break through."
Wang Fubao's efforts were not in vain, at least because he went south to attack Taiping Pass, the Qin Qiong Department of the Sui Army, who was afraid that the main force would be blocked, missed the opportunity to chase and kill Cao Dan and Yin Kaishan, and gave priority to sending troops to rescue Taiping Pass—only Qin Qiong I really didn't expect Wang Fubao to win Taiping Pass so quickly. Brother-in-law Cao took the opportunity to run away and fled to Yueyang County, where he could withdraw to Shangdang County at any time. You can't help but be complacent, "The governor of the left and right has a clever plan, Mr. Wang Fubao is really a fool!"
Wang Fubao's stupid character helped Brother-in-law Cao and Yin Kaishan, but completely angered the soldiers of the Sui Army. Needless to say, Qin Qiong, who had been disheartened in front of Wang Fubao several times, gritted his teeth and wanted revenge. Cheng Yaojin and Xue Renguo, who were rushing northward, received After the news of Taipingguan's fall, both of them jumped into a rage. Together they urged the troops to move quickly, and they also swore together, "When Taipingguan is captured, I must put Wang Fubao in a sack and trample him to death with three hundred horses!"