On the afternoon of the seventh day of May, the main force of the 70,000 Sui army temporarily led by Li Jing and Yuan Tiangang arrived in Linfen City as scheduled. They joined forces with Chen Sangliang, the irresponsible commander of the entire army, and finally rang the bell. It was the death knell of the Dou Li coalition forces who had been fighting separately on the Linfen County battlefield.
After the meeting, Li Jing and Yuan Tiangang immediately led the civil and military forces of the Sui army to congratulate Chen Sangliang. Congratulations to Chen Sangliang's new general Wang Fubaohe for successfully taking down Lingshi City. Potential. There are also many new lackeys, because they don't know Chen Sangliang's character very well, they keep praising Chen Sangliang for his skillful use of troops, his tactics like a god, miraculously won Lingshi City and seized a lot of food, grass and military supplies. It was Chen Sangliang alone. Credit, without Chen Sangliang's wise leadership and Hong Fu's blessing, Cheng Yaojin, Wang Fubao and others would never have won such a beautiful victory in Lingshi.
"You guys are overwhelmed." Chen Sangliang smiled modestly, and said: "The city was captured on the day it arrived at Lingshi. It was all our soldiers who threw their heads and blood and fought bravely without fear of sacrifice, as well as Zhijie and Fu Bao. Unite as one, trust each other and work together to create the miracle of the Lingshi War, which has nothing to do with me."
"Your Majesty is as open-minded as a valley, he appoints people on his merits, he is wise and powerful, and our army can be headed by your majesty, so why worry that the thieves will not be broken, and the world will not be peaceful?" Many Sui soldiers saluted neatly and praised loudly, "His Royal Highness Tang is more powerful than Qin Emperor Hanwu, and his morals Serve with Yao Shun Yu Soup!"
"I'm not a person who likes to listen to flattery? Why are there more and more sycophants under my command, and I can't stop scolding?"
Chen Sangliang was so depressed that he didn't even bother to pay attention to it. He changed the topic to discuss with everyone about the issue of marching troops, and said, "Everyone, good news came from Yueyang yesterday. , more than 300 enemy troops were captured, and the bandits were defeated and retreated back to the camp to close the camp. Yueyang is where Linfen connects to Shangdang's throat, and Dou Jiande's bandit army is attacking Shangdang's cities again. Shangdang is in a hurry. I intend to split a branch Pianshi first helped General Qin Qiong to take back Yueyang, and then went east to Shangdang to rescue the Shangdang prefect Yuan Zigan who was fighting alone there, I wonder which general is willing to take on this important task?"
As soon as the words fell, more and more accomplices under Chen Sangliang's command immediately responded in groups, scrambling to take on this task. Chen Sangliang's cousin, Li Jing, stood up immediately, yelled to wait a minute, then turned to Chen Sangliang and cupped his hands and said, "Your Highness, Yueyang threatened our army's flank, so we should take it back as soon as possible. Prefect Yuan is not afraid of violence, and his heart is orthodox." , resolutely refused to be appeased by the puppet emperor Yang Yu of the eastern capital, and led the army and civilians of the whole county to join His Highness. It is true that he cannot sit back and watch him fight alone, chilling the hearts of the officials and people who have the hearts of the Tang Dynasty. But the officials think that our army cannot go to Yueyang Daodong advances to rescue Shangdang, which is very detrimental to our army."
"Uncle's words are very true." Chen Sangliang nodded, frowned and said: "Yueyang Road is rugged and narrow, food and grass transfer is difficult, the enemy is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and it is difficult for us to advance, but Shangdang has to save..."
"Your Highness, why don't you consider letting the reinforcements advance to Changping, and then go north to rescue Shangdang?" Li Jing interrupted Chen Sangliang, and then explained: "Going to Changping and then saving Shangdang, our army will of course have to detour hundreds of miles to lengthen the marching route." , also have to walk the rugged mountain road, but the road is unimpeded and invincible. After our army's partial division is stationed in Shangdang, we can allocate Changping grain and grass for military use on the spot, and then go out of Changping Pass unimpeded all the way to Shangdang city for rescue. In this way, the transfer of our army's food and grass can be much easier, and it can also put Dou Jiande's bandit army in a difficult situation. Either they will retreat, or they will be forced to continue to increase their troops to the party, and they will no longer have the strength to go west to Jingxing Pass and reach Taiyuan City for rescue. Li's bandit army."
"I'm on the edge of a dead end! Why did you just want to take a shortcut, and didn't think of letting the reinforcements go back to Changping first and then go north to rescue Shangdang?"
Annoyed, Chen Sangliang thanked Li Jing for his advice, and immediately decided to send 8,000 troops to Changping via the Ji family, and then went north to rescue Shangdang via Changping. Then Chen Sangliang asked who would be willing to command the troops. , the generals competed to fight again, and finally after careful consideration, it was decided that Pang Yu would take on the important task, supplemented by the old running dog Niu Jinda and the scheming civil servant Li Gang, and gave Pang Yu, Li Gang and others the right to make immediate decisions and allow them Mobilize the troops of the two counties and expand the army on the spot.
After Chen Sangliang announced this decision, Pang Yu, who was given the opportunity to lead the army alone under Chen Sangliang's command for the first time, was of course overjoyed. Li's big matchmaker, but he didn't know that Chen Sangliang's move was just to test him, to see if he was reliable and usable. Both Changping and Shangdang are located in the hinterland of Taihang Mountains. Unfortunately, even if Pang Yu, the former important minister, really had a different intention, he couldn't make any big waves.
It was decided to go back to rescue the partial division of the Shangdang, and then someone stood up and asked to lead the army to help Qin Qiong attack the city. Unfortunately, this time without Li Jing's suggestion, Chen Sangliang waved his hand and said: "There is no need to divide the troops, anyway There is no need to waste time and travel. This time, the king personally proposed that the main force go north to attack Yueyang, first break through Yueyang and then enter the Queshu Valley, and let the Dou Jiande thief army see the power of the main force of the king! Wang's hands are already itching!"
"Your Majesty is wise! Your Majesty personally mentions the main force to attack the city. Dou's bandits must be terrified and bow their heads to beg for death! As the Majesty ordered the flag to point out, Cao Dan's bandit army will become ashes!" More and more sycophants under Chen Sangliang's command once again They praised in unison, and then many Sui soldiers including Li Jing snorted coldly in their hearts, "Have you had itchy hands since you haven't cut someone for a few months? You have the face to say this, don't think we don't know, since Daye Nine Since your debut in 2010, you smiling tiger has never opened up on the battlefield!"
…
The sycophants under Chen Sangliang's command weren't completely nonsense, at least they were right - it was discovered that Chen Sangliang personally led the main force of the Sui army to kill Yueyang, and brother-in-law Cao, who had been killed by Qin Qiong, really had a kind of frightened feeling. Feeling it, he immediately screamed: "Chen Yingliang, the traitor, came with the main force himself? How can we fight this battle? It's better to withdraw the troops quickly, otherwise, we may even have difficulty withdrawing to the Shangdang!"
Ruan Junming, Dong Kangmai and other generals who were firmly opposed to Brother-in-law Cao's abandonment and retreat before were silent, because they never expected that Chen Sangliang would personally lead the main force of the Sui army to trouble them first, and would be sneaky. No chance is left to them. However, at a very painful time for Brother-in-law Cao, it happened that at this time, Dou Jiande sent someone to send an order quickly, asking Brother-in-law Cao to stick to Yueyang City and wait for reinforcements. When Liang finds trouble, he also finds the traitor Wang Fubao to settle accounts!
"My lord, don't you want my life? What can I do to resist the main force of Chen Yingliang's traitor?" Brother-in-law Cao wailed, but no matter how much he wailed, he led the army to retreat without a fight. Brother-in-law Cao would go back again. There is no way to explain to Dou Jiande, and at the same time, the Qin Qiong Department of the Sui Army has grabbed Brother-in-law Cao by the tail. Brother-in-law Cao will inevitably be attacked by Qin Qiong when he abandons the city and retreats. The food came, so Uncle Cao had no choice but to bite the bullet and order to stick to it, and was going to wait for a while to see the situation.
In addition, for the sake of caution, Brother-in-law Cao, who is actually very careful in combat, moved the general headquarters into Yueyang City in advance, put general Ruan Junming in charge of the defense of the camp outside the city, and ordered Dong Kangmai to lead the army Yiqian retreated into the mountain road first, protecting the retreat from the Sui army's detour to seize the mountain road and make dumplings.
When brother-in-law Cao was wailing outside Yueyang City, Chen Sangliang also promulgated a decree to buy people's hearts under Yang County City. It was decided to reduce or exempt money, grain and taxes for the whole county of Linfen for two years, and to reduce or exempt commercial taxes for one year, so as to bribe the people of Linfen and those in Jinzhong who valued business. The soldiers and civilians in Linfen, who didn't know the truth, were overjoyed when they heard the news. They all gave Chen Sangliang a longevity tablet, but they didn't know that Chen Sangliang, who held the second warehouse in Changping and Yongfeng, would not be able to reduce the tax of the whole world for one year. It is still possible to go to war everywhere with militarism. What they should really thank is Yang Jian and Yang Guang and his son, not Chen Sangliang, who is sitting on his hands.
Enjoying the cheers of the people who didn't know the truth, Chen Sangliang triumphantly led the main force of the Sui army to march towards Yueyang, and arrived at the foot of Yueyang City on the afternoon of the ninth day of May, where he joined the vanguard Qin Qiong. Nearly 70,000 troops covered the mountains and fields, completely submerging the wilderness southwest of Yueyang. During the day, banners and flags were set up to cover the mountains and rivers, and at night, fire drums were set up to shake the sky and the earth. Out of fear, no one dared to propose a fight! — Cao Dan, Gao Yaxian, Ruan Junming and other Dou army generals have seen more troops than this before, but they have never seen so many well-equipped, elite troops, and can maintain such a large scale!
In the evening, Chen Sangliang held a military meeting in the Chinese military camp to discuss the battle plan. To Chen Sangliang's surprise, the civil and military members of the Sui army had exactly the same thoughts as him this time, and they said in unison: "Your Majesty's personal conquest, our army The main force is at the foot of Yueyang City, and the bandit army guarding the city and standing camps form horns. If we attack one by one, we will overestimate the bandit army and hurt our army's morale! Tomorrow's battle, our army should attack the enemy's camp in the city at the same time, and break them together. To show the majesty of the king! The vanguard of our army!"
In the past, Chen Sangliang, who was as timid as a mouse, naturally had to reprimand his subordinates, saying that they underestimated the enemy and were too arrogant, but this time it was different. The absolute strength was placed here. I can't do it even in my eyes. After applauding loudly, Chen Sangliang immediately dispatched troops and decided that Qu Tutong would lead an army of 10,000 to attack the small city of Yueyang the next day. Dou Jiande's camp outside the city, Qin Qiong led the headquarters to assist Luo Shixin in attacking the camp.
This was the first battle of the Northern Expedition, the main force of the Sui army, and it was also the first battle of the Northern Expedition commanded by Chen Sangliang himself. The two vanguards had fought very well before, so Chen Sangliang naturally could not allow any surprises in this battle. Therefore, after the sun rose the next morning, when the two Sui armies marched towards the enemy camp at the same time, Chen Sangliang also personally led Yuchi Jingde, Guo Feng, Chen Ci and their cavalry out of the camp to supervise the battle near the battlefield. In order to boost the morale of the army, they also put some gold, silver and jewelry on the battlefield to show the public, and prepared to reward the soldiers of the Sui army who made meritorious deeds on the battlefield on the spot.
Brother-in-law Cao and other generals of Dou Jiande's army were of course outraged by Chen Sangliang's arrogant behavior, but there was no way, the situation was not as good as others, no matter how arrogant Chen Sangliang was, brother-in-law Cao and Ruan Junming, who were weak, did not have the courage to send troops to fight , all shouted and ordered the soldiers under their command to guard the camp city with all their strength, and they must withstand Chen Sangliang's attack no matter what.
At three o'clock in the morning, the Sui army's formation was completed, Yuan Tiangang gave an order, and the Sui army's artillery, which already numbered as many as 30, fired first, and concentrated artillery fire on the West Gate Tower in Yueyang. What opened the eyes of the bumpkin Dou Jiande was that The artillery of the Sui army just fired a volley, and the first half of the tower at the west gate of Yueyang was blown away, and the precious lives of a dozen or twenty soldiers of the Dou army were taken away by the way. There are many rows of archers on the wall, and the soldiers on the wall are too dense. Even if a Sui artillery shell hits the top of the city wall, it can take away several lives in the bounce.
Seeing this scene, the bumpkins of Dou Jiande's army were in an uproar, and their morale naturally plummeted, but the Sui army cheered loudly, and then Luo Shixin gave an order, and a thousand Sui army infantry strode forward immediately. , Outside the camp of Dou Junming guarded by Ruan Junming, a long shield was used to build a temporary fortification, covering the archers and shooting arrows to suppress the defenders in the camp. The soldiers of the army were shocked again, knowing that what they encountered this time were veterans who had been killing people for food on the battlefield all the year round, and not the mob who had bullied them in Hebei before.
The artillery roared continuously, first blasting the city wall of the west gate of Yueyang into devastation, and then turned the muzzle and concentrated on the suspension bridge and the city gate. Unfortunately, Dou Jiande's army, who had been instructed by the Taiyuan army before, had blocked the city with straw bags filled with soil. Therefore, the artillery of the Sui army only blasted the city gate and the suspension bridge to pieces, and failed to directly blast the road into the city like the last Huoyi war.
But it doesn't matter, in fact, as early as the day Chen Sangliang entered Linfen City, in order to save time, Chen Sangliang, who was careful and careful, ordered to prepare a batch of siege equipment, disassembled them, loaded them into vehicles, and brought them to Yueyang City, which is not far away. The assembly was resumed overnight last night. At this moment, the Sui army's siege weapons are sufficient, and they can directly launch an ant-attached siege. Qu Tutong, who was in charge of the siege, gave an order, and 30 trench bridge vehicles immediately stepped forward, and under the cover of bows and arrows, they built more than 20 temporary bridges on the Yueyang moat. Fighting against the densely populated areas of the city, the soldiers of the Dou Army who encountered the artillery for the first time were too afraid to look up, lying on the city wall and trembling.
At the same time that the temporary bridge was built, Luo Shixin had already filled in more than a dozen sections of roads crossing the trench with toad carts. Then almost at the same time, Luo Shixin and Qu Tutong ordered an attack at the same time, and the two thousand Sui soldiers were divided into two groups. On the other hand, holding an ax and a hammer all the way to smash the antlers on the fence of the Dou army camp, and carrying a flying ladder all the way to attack the city. Dou Jiande's army threw arrows and stones desperately, but they couldn't stop the soldiers of the Sui army from charging.
During this period, Yuan Tiangang, who confirmed that he could not blast in and out of the road, ordered the artillery team to move south to the front of the Dou Army camp to help Luo Shixin in order to save gunpowder and shells. Yuan Tiangang praised Yuan Tiangang a few words in the distance - he has indeed been completely brought down by himself, he can not only consider how to be stingy, but also know how to bully the weak.
It is indeed bullying the weak. Qu Tutong's infantry only used one charge to successfully kill the Yueyang West Gate City Wall that had been battered by the artillery bombardment of the Sui army. However, it was still impossible to drive the soldiers of the Sui army who rushed up the city wall to go down the city again, while the soldiers of the Sui army behind continued to climb the city under the cover of their climbing companions, and gradually seized a position at the top of the city. Seeing this scene, Qu Tutong proudly said that the old man finally got rid of the entanglement of bad luck, and then ordered the follow-up troops to follow without hesitation, and charged the small city of Yueyang whose city wall was only two feet high with all its strength.
At this time, the attacking army on Luo Shixin's side had also destroyed a large number of fortifications outside the enemy camp. The artillery of the Sui army opened fire immediately, and a volley blasted the gate of the Dou army camp to the sky. Luo Shixin was overjoyed and immediately led the death squads to attack the gate of the enemy camp. Yuan Tiangang directed the artillery of the Sui army to extend fire into the enemy camp.
The shouts of killing had already sounded at the two battlefields of the city and the camp at the same time. The Sui Army's Qu Tutong was like a torrent, constantly slapping the west gate of Yueyang Town, and also surging up the city wall of Yueyang West Gate. Soldiers from the two armies collided with swords and guns on the wall. The fight was so dark that the sky was dark, and the flesh and blood flew everywhere.
On the side of the Luo Shixin Department of the Sui Army, the chief general Luo Shixin was used as the blade, and like a sharp knife, he directly inserted into the gate of the enemy camp that was blasted open by artillery. Dou Jiande's army once tried to temporarily block the camp gate with a knife cart, but also The soldiers of the Sui Army quickly blasted the soldiers pushing the cart with gunpowder bottles, and then easily pushed the knife cart away with spears and shields, opening up space for the little monster Luo Shixin holding two knives. When the soldiers of the Dou Army stepped forward to fight again, they immediately Luo Shixin, who no longer had to cut his nose in exchange for rewards, slashed wildly, and retreated steadily. The soldiers of the Sui army kept pouring into the camp, and at the same time, three or four gaps were opened in the fence position.
Originally, Chen Sangliang was worried that it would be difficult for Qu Tutong to make a breakthrough because the road to the city could not be opened, but Chen Sangliang soon found that his worries were completely in vain. , the soldiers of the Sui Army rushed up to hundreds of people and successfully captured a city wall position, which opened up space for the rear army to climb the city. The soldiers of the Sui Army could climb the city continuously only by flying ladders. Shi Chen quickly took control of the twenty-foot-long city wall position, and it was only a matter of time to capture the west gate city wall.
The battle is going so smoothly, and if you change to another coach, you must be full of joy and laughter. Our heartless His Royal Highness Tang Wang, Chen Sangliang, is different. Looking at the offensive performance of the Sui army's generals, Chen Sangliang is the opposite. There is also a feeling of extreme regret, and secretly said: "If I had known it would be so boring, I wouldn't have come here. It would be nice to stay in the camp to rest. Wei Ziqi secretly sent me that Jiangnan singer. She should have a face and a figure. Work harder on her."
Probably aware of Chen Sangliang's boredom, Dou Jiande's army also found something for Chen Sangliang to do. After obtaining the consent of Cao's brother-in-law, Dou Jun's fierce general Gao Yaxian gathered more than two hundred riders in Yueyang City, and suddenly opened Yueyang The south gate rushed out of the city, and then rushed towards Chen Sangliang's handsome flag, ready to take a gamble and try to cut off Chen Sangliang's wicked head. However, to Gao Yaxian's heart, seeing the commander-in-chief heading straight for Chen Sangliang, the Sui Army's Qu Tutong and Luo Shixin did not stop them at all, as if they wished Gao Yaxian could chop off Chen Sangliang's head He sat idly by, allowing Gao Yaxian's army to pass through the edge of their defense zone.
"Okay! I didn't expect Chen's army to underestimate the enemy so much. I have hope!"
Gao Yaxian at this moment is of course secretly happy in his heart, but if he can see the situation around Chen Sangliang, then he will definitely pass out from anger—seeing him directly killing him, the three generals Yuchi Jingde, Guo Feng and Chen Ci are actually yawning Chen Sangliang, who was in the sky, guessed his fists in front of him, and decided who would lead the army to fight. Then when Chen Ci cheered and won the final victory, Guo Feng and Yuchi Jingde begged in a low voice again: "Brother Chen, at least leave us a few, we are really itchy."
"Brothers, cheer me up and read it! Don't let any one go!"
This was Chen Ci's answer that made Guo Feng and Yuchi Jingde's noses crooked, and then the more than 400 cavalrymen of the Nationalist Army under Chen Ci showed off their iconic white robes, chanted loudly and followed Chen Ci, who was carrying a copper rod, to attack , facing the noble and virtuous tribe of Dou Jun who was coming to kill him head-on, the strange voice of Buddhist scriptures also echoed on the battlefield, "Namo has great compassion, great compassion, and great inspiration to save the suffering and the great inspiration Guanyin Bodhisattva Mahasattva. Monk, Namo Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, who saves the suffering and saves the suffering. Tanmikiduo, Om. Gala Vado, Gala Vado..."
There is no suspense, no matter whether it is military equipment or experience training, it is far from being an opponent, and it will not make up for the huge gap between the cavalry of the Dou Army and the cavalry of the Baoguo Army. The two armies collided, thousands of horseshoes kicked up high dust, the yellow sand covered the eyes, and you couldn't see your fingers. The two armies killed in the smoke and dust, wave after wave, fierce saber slashing, clanging of weapons The neighing of war horses and the screams of the dead and wounded, all kinds of sounds converged into one, as tragic as the screams of thousands of innocent souls in hell. However, after the screams disappeared, less than 50 cavalrymen of the Dou Army fled the way they came, leaving corpses of horses and horses all over the ground, as well as wounded soldiers of the Dou Army rolling and moaning for help in the bloody yellow sand, and the Chen Ci Department of the Baoguo Army who burst out laughing .
While Guo Feng and Yuchi Jingde complained loudly that their comrades-in-arms were not interesting enough, Chen Sangliang yawned again, and murmured in a low voice, "It's better to have the skin of Jiangnan beauties. When Jiangnan is captured, we must let brother Liu and They sent me some on the side."
On the 10th day of May in the third year of Yining in the Great Sui Dynasty, Wang Shi conquered Dou's bandit general Cao Dan, and His Royal Highness Chen Yingliang, the king of Tang Dynasty, came to supervise the battle in person. More than 1,500 people, more than 4,000 enemies were captured, Zhang Jinzhong, the general who captured the thief, and Yuan E, the general who killed the thief, and more than 20 generals. He issued a Jun decree to withdraw the troops and let the bandits escape. Master Wang and his men all praised, "Your Highness is merciful!"