Wang Fubao's plan is also very simple, that is, to send troops to fight under Lingshi City. It is of course best to lure the Taiyuan army out. Li Erduo, who was very afraid of Liang, could just stay on the main battlefield, and Wang Fubao could also take the opportunity to go to other city gates to act, and he still hoped to deceive the enemy and help the Sui army enter Lingshi City.
Although sometimes the simpler the strategy, the easier it is to succeed, but Wang Fubao's method is too direct and simple, so Cheng Yaojin, Liu Heitai and others hesitated, but they still didn't dare to nod and agree to adopt this strategy at the time. Said that he should think about it carefully, Wang Fubao, who had only joined the Sui Army for four days, also knew that everyone must not have fully trusted him, so he did not insist, and stayed overnight with everyone in the camp abandoned by Li Erjun, waiting patiently for Cheng Yaojin and others to make a decision thing.
While Cheng Yaojin, Liu Heitai and other Sui army generals were still hesitating, Li Jiancheng's most trusted brother-in-law Duan Lun had already made up his mind in Lingshi City, and decided to follow Li Er's suggestion to go out of the city to fight and take advantage of the Sui army's distant arrival Fatigue and unsteady opportunities to fight a battle first, and strive to win the battle to boost morale and win more preparation time. What prompted Duan Lun to make up his mind was the huge disparity in strength between the Taiyuan Army and the Sui Army. If Duan Lun didn't seize this opportunity quickly, when the Sui Army's forwards recovered, the Lingshi defenders would be in Liu Heita's position. , Cheng Yaojin, Xue Renguo and other famous generals in the world basically had no chance, and when the main force of the Sui army arrived at the Lingshi battlefield, Duan Lun and Li Er didn't even have the strength to fight back.
The next day, on the first day of May, when the sky was just dawn, Duan Lun took the initiative to find Li Er, and told Li Er face to face that he agreed to fight, and he would personally lead the army to fight with Li Er. He was overjoyed, and then hurriedly persuaded: "Brother-in-law, you are the commander of Lingshi, you must not leave the city lightly, and no mistakes are allowed in Lingshi city, brother-in-law, you'd better sit in the city to take precautions, and let your deputy General Murong Rahu can go out with my younger brother."
Duan Lun hesitated for a moment, considering that the spirit stones are important, he accepted Li Er's persuasion, and changed his words: "Well, you choose 3,000 troops from your direct army to fight, and I will let Murong Luohu lead 5,000 new troops. Fight with you, let him obey your command, be careful."
The Lingshi garrison, together with Li Er's headquarters, only had 15,000 people. Duan Lun handed over 8,000 troops to Li Er's command in one breath. Murong Luohu was also asked to select 5,000 fresh troops with sufficient physical strength to wait for orders to join hands with Li Er.
At the same time, good news came from outside the city. After only resting for one night, Cheng Yaojin and Liu Heitai led the Sui army's exhausted troops and continued to march northward. When the original camp was established, Li Er was even more delighted when he heard the report. He knew that as long as his own army won this battle, they would surely gain a lot, and they might have a chance to seize the Sui army's food and military supplies. So Li Er hurriedly consulted with Duan Lun again, and suggested that the time for dispatching troops should be postponed a little bit until most of the Sui army entered the open area outside Lingshi City. Duan Lun also agreed again.
On the side of the Sui Army, although Cheng Yaojin and Liu Heitai were leading the Sui Army soldiers to the Lingshi Basin fifteen miles away, they hadn't made up their minds whether to carry out Wang Fubao's battle plan, although Wang Fubao was not anxious about it. , but still dutifully found Cheng Yaojin and Liu Heitai, and warned: "General Cheng, Manager Liu, the opportunity to fight is fleeting. If our army does not make up our minds to take the risk today, even if it is tomorrow, the enemy will die." The guard will definitely be strengthened, and Jiexiu may also send out reinforcements to take precautions near the Lingshi battlefield, and we will not be given any better chance than today."
Liu Heitai and Cheng Yaojin were hesitant to make a decision, and after discussing for a while, they told Wang Fubao: "You make your headquarters ready first, and we will play by ear later. If there is a chance, we will do it according to your plan." "Wang Fubao left as promised, but Cheng Yaojin and Liu Heitai, who didn't say anything to death, were still unsure about this decision. They could only lead the army forward while discussing in low voices whether to take the risk. risk.
The lack of physical strength of the Sui army did not move very fast, but after an hour, Xue Renguo's army, who was at the forefront, entered the 7,000-acre open basin outside Lingshi City first, and Xue Renguo's army immediately formed an array at the southeast corner of Lingshi City. To prevent the Taiyuan army from leaving the city for a surprise attack, then the Sui army's central army led by Cheng Yaojin also entered the basin, and finally Liu Heitai's rear army was the most physically exhausted.
The front army is not on a firm foothold, and the rear army has not yet fully walked out of the narrow valley. This moment is undoubtedly the most vulnerable and the most prone to chaos. , The east gate of Lingshi, which had been closed before, was immediately opened, and the suspension bridge also crashed to the ground, and then the Taiyuan army, which had already assembled in the city, immediately lined up and quickly formed a formation outside the east gate of Lingshi.
When the incident happened suddenly, the Sui army inevitably panicked. They were shocked at the fact that the Taiyuan army dared to take the initiative to fight. At the same time, the vanguard general Cheng Yaojin subconsciously ordered the army to line up to fight, but Wang Fubao rushed to Cheng Yaojin and pointed at him. Xue Renguo, who had already set up his formation, quickly suggested: "General Cheng, General Xue should launch a surprise attack immediately, entangle some of the bandits, and disrupt the battlefield, so that we will have more opportunities!"
After hesitating for a while, Cheng Yaojin made a decisive decision and immediately ordered Xue Renguo to launch a surprise attack on the Taiyuan Army's flank, and then commanded the main force to line up, while whispering to Wang Fubao: "General Wang, the opportunity has come, it's up to you!"
"General, please rest assured!" Wang Fubao clasped his fists and answered solemnly, and then said to Cheng Yaojin: "General, you have to be careful. You'd better meet the enemy with a square formation to reduce casualties."
Cheng Yaojin nodded, Wang Fubao cupped his hands again, and then flew back to the self-army to arrange preparations, Cheng Yaojin immediately explained to his subordinates in a low voice, and asked some soldiers to act according to plan, when Liu Heita saw that the situation was not right, Immediately, he also made a decisive decision, ordering the rear army that had not yet walked out of the valley road to stop advancing, to protect food, grass and military supplies on the spot, and at the same time immediately gather the front army that had entered the basin, and rushed over to help Cheng Yaojin.
The rapid changes on the battlefield completely exceeded Duan Lun and Li Er's previous expectations, especially when Xue Renguo of the Sui Army would immediately launch a surprise attack and directly attack the flank of the own army. Li Er ordered Murong Luohu to separate Half of the fresh troops fought back, collided head-on with Xue Renguo, and started a fierce melee in the east and south of Lingshi City. At the same time, Li Er took the time to set up his formation to cover the rear army and leave the city to complete the team.
Next, something happened that surprised Duan Lun and Li Er so much that they couldn't believe their eyes. Wang Fubaojun, who was arranged by Cheng Yaojin on the right wing of the Chinese army, suddenly turned his spear in the battle, drew his bow and released The arrows were shot at Cheng Yaojin's central army, and the Sui army officers and soldiers panicked in a hurry, and were shot one after another, screaming and falling to the ground, and the right side of Cheng Yaojin's central army also suddenly appeared in chaos.
One detail must be explained here. An unknown Sui soldier fell to the ground screaming after seeing his companion being hit by arrows one after another. The soldier of the Sui Army was frightened out of his wits, and even let out a desperate scream of dying, but to the soldier's amazement, after the arrowhead hit his chest leather armor, it fell to the ground again. Looking at the feathered arrow falling to the ground, he was shocked to find that the arrow turned out to be a pole arrow with very little lethality! Immediately afterwards, another companion pushed the soldier to the ground and ordered: "You can play dead or injured, this is General Cheng's order!"
Several hundred meters away, Li Er, Duan Lun and others certainly couldn't see such small details, let alone that those feathered arrows were actually pole arrows. What I saw was that Wang Fubao, who had already shown a shameful expression yesterday, turned his back on the battlefield, and suddenly shot arrows at Cheng Yaojin's Chinese army, and Cheng Yaojin's Chinese army was in confusion due to the sudden change. Then, Li Er, Duan Lun and others were ecstatic to see that Cheng Yaojin, who was furious, launched an attack on Wang Fubao's army, and Wang Fubao led more than a thousand Sui troops and ran away.
Such a big pie suddenly fell from the sky, Li Er would be foolish if he didn't catch it, without hesitation, Li Er immediately ordered a general attack, and Murong Luohu led the army to attack Cheng Yaojin like crazy, Cheng Yao Jin had no choice but to temporarily let the traitor Wang Fubao go, turned around to fight the Taiyuan army, and was completely at a disadvantage because of the chaotic formation.
Also angered by Wang Fubao was Liu Heitai. Cheng Yaojin, who was at a disadvantage, did not go to the rescue. He led the rear army and only chased down Wang Fubao's rebels. Wang Fubao did not dare to turn around and fight. Fleeing towards the north gate of Lingshi, Liu Heita pursued him closely, leading the army behind him very closely.
Seeing this situation, Duan Lun, who was ecstatic, immediately ordered the army in the city to prepare to go out to fight, and at the same time, he quickly sent his confidant Yu Dashi to the North City to check Wang Fubao's situation, and also ordered Yu Dashi: "Be prepared to respond, If Wang Fubao escapes to the north gate, let him enter the city!"
"General, let them enter the city?" Yu Dashi was taken aback, a little surprised.
"Of course!" Duan Lun replied: "This Wang Fubao has both courage and strategy. Talent is rare. Taking him back can not only be of great use, but can also be sold to Dou Jiande as a favor, so that Dou Jiande can dispatch more troops to help us."
Even Wang Fubao didn't expect that his move would be so smooth. When he pretended to be chased by Liu Heita and was cornered and forced to flee to the north gate of Lingshi, before Wang Fubao came forward to call for the city in person, the north gate of Lingshi had already opened. Open it, and at the same time, a general of the Taiyuan Army shouted from the city: "General Wang Fubao, come into the city quickly, please enter the city!"
Things went so smoothly, but it made Wang Fubao a little scared. Facing the dark and long corridor of the city gate, as well as the thousand-jin iron gate that might be hidden inside the gate and the ambush of the Taiyuan army, the danger of being cut in two by the thousand-jin gate at any time, Wang Fubao once They all waver and hesitate. But thinking of Cheng Yaojin who paid a heavy price to protect himself, and the soldiers of the Sui Army who were dying every minute, Wang Fubao immediately waved his hand and shouted: "Go into the city!"
After saying that, Wang Fubao patted his horse and rushed to the front, took the lead across the suspension bridge, and rushed into the dark city gate corridor. More than a thousand soldiers of the Sui army who followed Wang Fubao in the southern and northern wars followed without hesitation. Seeing this situation, Liu Heitai, who was pretending to be chasing after him, felt his heart beating violently uncontrollably, and thought to himself: "If Wang Fubao's false surrender is false, or if his false surrender is seen through by the Taiyuan bandits, we will be in disaster this time! The loss of the army must be more than half at least!"
Above the end of the long city gate corridor, there is no heavy iron gate that could pose a fatal threat to the soldiers of the Sui army, but only civil and military officials of the Taiyuan army who can't wait to stand by the roadside and smile. Seeing that all his troops had approached the corridor, Wang Fubao drew his sword without hesitation, and suddenly hacked to death the Taiyuan Army officer who was bowing to him, shouting, "Do it! Kill!"
At the same time as Wang Fubao started his actions, Wang Fubao's personal soldiers, who had concealed the fire and received emergency training, immediately ignited the gunpowder bottle and threw it at the Taiyuan army crowd on both sides. Amidst the rumbling explosion, it was finally the Taiyuan army's turn to be caught off guard. With chopping and stabbing, the soldiers of the Taiyuan army screamed and ran away with their heads in their hands. At the same time, the soldiers of the Sui army behind the team also immediately killed the gate soldiers who were closing the gate, and rushed out of the city gate to chop the city gate suspension bridge that was slowly winding up. During the crazy secretion, the sling thicker than an arm was cut off by two Sui soldiers at the same time, the suspension bridge crashed to the ground, and the two Sui warriors who had made great achievements both fell down the moat.
"God help our army! Wang Fubao didn't swindle surrender! No!" He raised his head to the sky like a maniac and roared, Liu Heita waved his horse and roared again, "Kill! Kill into the city!"
"Kill!" The soldiers of the Sui army cheered and shouted. While the morale was high, the strength returned to the tired bodies of the soldiers of the Sui army. While cheering heartily, the soldiers of the Sui army moved faster than usual, and the defenders hurriedly shot against the Lingshi on the city wall. The feathered arrows shot down, strode across the suspension bridge, rushed into the city gate corridor, and then rushed into Lingshi City. Less than half an hour after the start of the battle, a large number of Sui army soldiers had successfully entered the heart of the Taiyuan army.
The battle situation was changing so fast that the Taiyuan Army couldn't even imagine it. When he heard the explosion from the north gate, Duan Lun once thought it was Yu Dashi who asked his own soldiers to throw gunpowder bottles to blow up Liu Hei's door. Put it to heart, and when he received the news that Wang Fubao turned against him and seized the door, Duan Lun was so shocked that his jaw almost dislocated, and he muttered in disbelief, "How is it possible? How is it possible? Wang Fubao is a fraudulent surrender? How could he be a fraudulent surrender? "
The generals of the Sui army who had already killed the Lingshi city wall told Duan Lun whether Wang Fubao had feigned surrender, and after helping Liu Heitai enter the north gate of Lingshi, Wang Fubao, who was best at killing the enemy by surprise, immediately led his troops to attack the city gate corridor, regardless of the injuries. Before recovering, Wang Fubao cut down three or four soldiers of the Taiyuan Army who were trying to stop him. He was the first to rush to the north gate of Lingshi, and then led his troops to kill the archers of the Taiyuan Army who were caught off guard on the city wall, avoiding the soldiers who were already in the way. The Taiyuan Army brigade assembled in the city fought all the way back to the east gate of Lingshi along the city wall, not only directly attacked Duan Lun's flag formation, but also let the soldiers of the two armies below the city see the situation of their own army, so as to boost the morale of their own army and hit the enemy's morale , serves multiple purposes.
There is no need to introduce how effective the morale of the army in the cold weapon era is. Looking back, I saw the flag of the Sui army on the Lingshi city wall, and saw my own soldiers rolling down the city wall like dumplings. The Taiyuan army, including Li Erzai Inside, everyone was stunned and couldn't believe their eyes, but the soldiers of the Sui army were cheering, their morale was at its peak, and the battle situation was completely reversed in an instant. Killing the enemy on the opposite side was overwhelming, retreating steadily, and the panic-stricken Taiyuan army was in chaos, with no intention of resisting at all, and immediately showed signs of defeat.
The time has come to compete for bravery. With little difference in military strength and basically equal geographical advantages, the Taiyuan Army is not without a chance to turn defeat into victory. There is still a chance to win the final victory, and the chances are basically equal.
But it is a pity that although the Taiyuan Army, which has always been slightly inferior in terms of equipment and training, has a certain physical advantage, but the army is flustered and has low fighting spirit. The high morale of the Sui Army's soldiers completely offset the disadvantage of exhaustion. With soft hands, he slashed more fiercely and stabbed more fiercely. The soldiers of the Taiyuan Army who were already weak in hands and feet were frightened, became more panicked and nervous, and became more difficult to resist.
There is also a huge gap in the fierce generals. Cheng Yaojin, Xue Renguo, Wang Fubao, and Liu Heitai of the Sui Army are all famous super fierce men in the world. Killing people on the battlefield is worse than killing chickens and sheep. It should be easy and easy. Although such bravery is of little effect during the battle between the two armies, when it comes to melee and close combat, the great role of the Sui army's fierce generals will be fully exerted. Encouraged by their invincibility, all the soldiers of the Sui army Fighting to be the first, everyone is brave, even if they are injured or even fatal, they have to greet the enemy with their weapons. In the face of the indomitable momentum of the soldiers of the Sui army, the Taiyuan army soon appeared to be defeated.
The first to collapse was of course the Taiyuan Army outside the city. Xue Renguo, the general of the Sui Army who was known as the enemy of thousands of people, was not at a disadvantage in the previous battle. This time the battle situation will be completely reversed. Of course, Xue Renguo's army will be the first to gain the absolute upper hand. Xue Renguo The first soldier chopped four enemy generals off their horses and killed more than twenty enemies with their hands. The whole body was like a bloodbath. The Taiyuan army who fought with Xue Renguo could not withstand the Sui army's offensive, let alone the pressure of fear. I don't know who uttered the first cry Taking the lead in fleeing for their lives, this Taiyuan army immediately collapsed, and the generals and soldiers rushed for their lives, and escaped everywhere.
Xue Renguo, who was able to kill vigorously, was relentless, and led his subordinates all the way to kill Cheng Yaojin, and attacked the Taiyuan army with Cheng Yaojin inside and outside. Xue Renguo kept a close eye on his banner, and led the soldiers of the Sui army to attack his banner. No matter how desperately Murong Luohu resisted, he couldn't stand the Sui army's pincer attack and Xue Renguo's impact. Xue Renguo successfully killed him. near in front of you. Murong Luohu bravely raised his gun to meet the enemy, but only fought for one round with Xue Renguo, before Xue Renguo chopped off his head with a knife, and died tragically under Xue Renguo's knife just like in history.
After Murong Luohu died, the leaderless Murong Luohu's subordinates were naturally scattered, scrambling to escape, and Li Er, who was in charge of the battlefield outside the city, was even more overwhelmed. The situation in Lingshi City is also bad. The Taiyuan Army reserve team swarming up the city is limited by the terrain and cannot give full play to its superiority in strength. The more than a thousand people who surrounded Wang Fubao can only compete with Wang Fubao's army one by one for the arrows on the city. , and was defeated by Wang Fubao, who was as imposing as a rainbow, and was unable to reverse the situation in the city. Wang Fubao's army pursued and fought fiercely, and slowly and unshakably rushed towards Duan Lun's commander-in-chief.
Liu Heitai was also in a state of invincibility in the city. The Taiyuan Army organized two lines of defense successively in the street fighting, and Liu Heitai's army, who were both red-eyed, quickly broke through. It was not until the third line of defense that they barely blocked Liu Heitai's advance. , but the line of defense is still crumbling, and it won't last long at all. Liu Heita's army shouted and killed, and they have already begun to shout the slogan of surrender and not kill.
The defeat of the Taiyuan Army had already been discovered, and Li Er outside the city was already considering whether to lead his army to flee north, but Duan Lun, who was still on the city wall, was crying and murmuring, "Da Lang, I'm sorry for you, I'm sorry for you , Lingshi City can't be kept, it's just the first day of the war. How did I lose? How did I lose?"
Looking down from the bird in the sky, the Sui army with the red flag is like a torrent, boiling inside and outside Lingshi City and on the city wall. However, the army turned into puddles of muddy water, which vanished as soon as it was washed by the torrent. Miserable shouts and cries kept coming and going, and the panicked defeated soldiers fled all over the mountains and plains, which was unbearable to watch.
The Taiyuan army can continue to support it. Even if it cannot reverse the situation of the battle, it is destined to not persist until Li Jiancheng sends troops to help, but at least it can make the Sui army soldiers pay the price of a large number of casualties. However, it is a pity that Li Er was unwilling to use his own life to relieve the pressure on his brother's future. After carefully observing the situation on the battlefield, he found that it was hopeless to keep Lingshi City. Li Er did not hesitate and immediately ordered to break through Fleeing to the north, with the army that can be commanded by him, he broke through the Sui army's interception and fled in great strides in the direction of Jiexiu. The current target of the Sui army is only Lingshi City, and of course they didn't pursue it fiercely. After chasing to the north of Lingshi, they turned around and charged Enter the north gate that has been controlled by Liu Heita's subordinates, and join the street fighting battlefield in the city.
Li Er also ran away, and of course the Taiyuan army had no chance of turning defeat into victory. Several Taiyuan army generals could not bear the pressure of fear, and opened the east gate and south gate of Lingshi successively to flee the city. There were countless imitators, and they escaped to the east gate by chance. Seeing that the situation was not good, Yu Dashi hurried to pull Duan Lun, saying: "Director Duan, let's go, the spirit stone can't be held anymore, we still have a chance now, let's escape to Jiexiu."
Duan Lun, who still had tears on his face, turned a deaf ear to it. It was only when Yu Dashi shook Duan Lun again that Duan Lun opened his mouth and said with tears, "You go, I won't go, I want to live and die with Lingshi City."
"Boss, the spirit stone can no longer be held!" Yu Dashi stomped his feet anxiously, and said anxiously: "The main force of the bandit army has completely entered the city, and the right commander has also escaped. It is impossible for the left commander to send reinforcements immediately. Your staying here is useless except to die in vain! Go! Go!"
"I'm not leaving!" Duan Lun pushed Yu Dashi away, cried with his head on his back, "I lost the spirit stone in less than a day in my hands, what face do I have to see Dalang again, and see you again?" My wife? What face do I have to meet them?"
After crying, Duan Lun wiped away the tears on his face, and shouted to the left and right: "Whoever wants to escape, you can go now, and if you want to stay with me to fight to the death, come with me!"
After all, Duan Lun drew his sword in his hand and strode towards the Sui Army Wang Fubao's troops who were coming towards him. Only a handful of his subordinates followed, and most of the Taiyuan Army soldiers, including Yu Dashi, were all exiles. With tears in his eyes, he fled down the city wall, escaped from the east gate of Lingshi which had been opened by the defeated soldiers of his own army, and the corridor of the east gate was already crowded with panicked defeated soldiers of the Taiyuan army.
More than half an hour later, as Duan Lun, who had been stabbed three times in his body, was pushed down the city wall by the soldiers of the Sui army and captured alive, Lingshi City, which had been placed with high hopes by the Li brothers, finally fell. They fell into the clutches of the Sui army together. But when Cheng Yaojin, Liu Heitai, Xue Renguo and others found Wang Fubao, the chief hero of the war amidst the cheers of the Sui army soldiers, they were surprised to see a bloody man with four broken arrows stuck in his body. The bloody man with wounds on his body was still sitting slumped on the steps of the north gate tower, so tired that he didn't even have the strength to move his fingers, but he managed to squeeze out a smile, and said with difficulty with blood foaming in his mouth: "Several generals , What I owed you on the battlefield some time ago, I will pay you back today.”
Having said it hard, Wang Fubao's mouth moved, and another stream of blood flowed out.
"Brother Fubao!" Cheng Yaojin opened his arms, hugged Wang Fubao, and said with a sob: "Good brother, you don't owe us, we owe you, we shouldn't doubt you! We shouldn't doubt you! You are a good brother, Good man!"
Wang Fubao smiled with difficulty again, tears came out of his eyes, his head tilted, and he fainted directly in Cheng Yaojin's arms.