It's time to take a look at the situation on the Taiyuan Army's side. If the news that Dou Jiande's reinforcements were unfortunately blocked by Luo Yi is a disaster for Li Jiancheng and the Taiyuan Army, then the main force of the Yang Army will be caught by Chen Sangliang. For Li Jiancheng and the Taiyuan Army, the news that was completed within one day was definitely a bolt from the blue.
What's even more tragic is that Li Er was the first to bring back the news of Ding Yang's main force's disastrous defeat and Liu Wuzhou's capture to Taiyuan City, so after hearing these reports, Li Jiancheng even forgot to take the opportunity to clean up the news of Er Er who was crawling inside and outside. Brother, Chi Chi stood on the city wall with a dull expression, unable to make a sound for a long time, finally sighed, Li Jiancheng staggered and fell on the city wall, Yin Kaishan, Feng Li, Xie Shufang and Li Jiancheng's confidantes panicked While stepping forward to help, Li Er also took the opportunity to leave the scene under the cover of Pei Ji, Li Yuanji, Li Baiju and others, and returned to Taiyuan City cheekily.
Li Jiancheng didn't have time to pay attention to Li Er any more. On the same night, his cousin Li Shentong, who was guarding Xicheng, sent Li Jiancheng a request for help, saying that he couldn't resist Liu Heitai's berserk attack, and the city was about to fall. Please Li Jiancheng to send him reinforcements as soon as possible, otherwise, Li Shentong will definitely not be able to defend Xicheng.
Xicheng is the prefecture of Xihe County. It has little money and food, and it is the only way to connect with Lishi County. Once it falls, Lishi County, which is being attacked by Liang Shidu, will definitely not be able to keep it, whether it is from a strategic or tactical point of view. , Li Jiancheng should send reinforcements to Xicheng. But this time was an exception. Not only did Li Jiancheng not send reinforcements to Li Shentong, but he also sent an order to Li Shentong, "Stay with all your strength! If the city is unfortunately destroyed, you can lead the army to move to Lishi!"
Of course, there is a reason for Li Jiancheng to do this, and the reason is nothing else. It is that Li Jiancheng really can't use the army to reinforce Li Shentong. In the case of a decisive battle with the main force, only about half of them are left now, and 5,000 of them were brought to the right-wing battlefield where Xicheng and Lishi were located by Li Shentong. There are about 27,000 troops left, which are not enough to protect themselves against the main force of the Sui army. Where does Li Jiancheng have the guts to divide the army
On June 26, the afternoon of the second day after Li Er fled back to Taiyuan City, the main camp of the Sui Army re-dug the earth dam that had been temporarily built on the Dongwo River to restore the river to its normal state, and then built it overnight Li Jiancheng and all the civil and military personnel of the Taiyuan Army also knew that this was a signal that the main force of the Sui army was about to cross the river, but Li Jiancheng did not send troops to obstruct the destruction—it was just to die in vain if he did. One question, that is, where will the new camp of the main force of the Sui army be built
Here we must introduce the situation of the ancient city of Taiyuan. Before the Song Dynasty, Taiyuan City was located in Jinyuan District, south of Taiyuan City. In the horizontal space, only the north and the south are open and can be used for garrison operations. so. Whether the main force of the Sui army will adopt water attack tactics can be seen at a glance from the position of the new camp of the main force of the Sui army!
If the main force of the Sui army chooses the new camp in the southern suburbs of Taiyuan City, downstream of the Fenshui River, then Li Jiancheng can rest easy, because the main force of the Sui army, which is further downstream, will certainly not artificially create floods to endanger the safety of the self-army camp. However, if the new camp of the main force of the Sui Army chose to be north of Taiyuan City and upstream of the Fenshui River, then Li Jiancheng and the Taiyuan Army could only pray to the gods and worship the Buddha, begging the gods to let Chen Sangliang find out with conscience, and not to build any dams and dig The Fen River embankment was opened to irrigate Taiyuan.
Unfortunately, what should come will always come. In the early morning of the next day, the main force of the Sui army, led by Li Jing, marched northward. They moved to the Chongsheng Temple area in the northeast corner of Taiyuan and stopped, and immediately started to build fence antlers and build imperial fortifications. Seeing this situation on the city wall, Li Jiancheng's face was so gloomy that he could almost drip water, and he kept saying in his heart: "Brother Yingliang, are you really cruel? There are hundreds of thousands of innocent people in Taiyuan city." !"
Most of the civil and military soldiers of the Taiyuan Army who accompanied Li Jiancheng to watch the enemy's situation also had gloomy faces and kept talking in low voices. Some people said that this must be a sign that the main force of the Sui army was planning to flood the city with water, and some said that Chen Sangliang had always advocated morality; he probably would not have adopted such a brutal tactic as flooding Taiyuan, and that the troops stationed at the Chongsheng Temple were just for the sake of condescending. It was convenient to command the siege; there were some disputes among them, but no one spoke loudly, disturbing Li Jiancheng, who was obviously in a bad mood, until Li Jiancheng's precious brother Li Yuanji appeared.
"Brother, I heard that Chen Bandit's army has started to build a camp in Chongsheng Temple? Is my brother right? You have been speaking well for Chen Bandit, now you can see clearly, what kind of guy is Chen Yingliang, a traitor?"
Shouting, Li Jiancheng's precious fourth brother, Li Yuanji, who was only eighteen years old, strode up to the crowd, followed by Li Jiancheng's other precious brother, Li Er, who had been hiding from Li Jiancheng for more than a day. Yijia, regaining Yingzi's upright and unrestrained appearance, bowed his hands to the members of the Li clan present early on, with a very kind and gentle smile.
Li Jiancheng didn't bother to pay attention to the two precious brothers, but continued to look at the situation of the Chongsheng Temple, refusing to give up observing the size of the Sui army's new camp, but Li Yuanji refused to give up, and took the initiative to go to Li Jiancheng's side, first pretending to observe The situation of the Sui army, and then immediately asked Li Jiancheng: "Brother, it seems that Chen Yingliang's traitor is determined to flood Taiyuan with water. How should we deal with it? Brother, you are the commander, you should have made up your mind earlier."
Li Jiancheng still wanted to ignore him, but Li Yuanji couldn't stop pestering him again and again, so Li Jiancheng said impatiently: "Why are you in a hurry? The enemy just sent thousands of troops to Chongsheng Temple to set up camp. Whether the main force will be moved here has not yet been determined." , what's the rush?"
"Brother, can you not be in a hurry?" Li Yuanji retorted: "Our army has been defeated one after another. The entire Dingyang reinforcement army was wiped out. Even the emperor Dingyang was captured alive by Chen Yingliang's traitor. Chen's main force will soon attack Taiyuan City with all its strength. Now, the isolated city of Taiyuan is in dire straits, and my younger brother, as the father of Taiyuan, stays behind, can you not worry about the whole city of Taiyuan?"
"Then I would like to ask the fourth brother left behind in Taiyuan, who was appointed by my father, how to defeat the enemy, and what are your best ideas?" Li Jiancheng asked with a sneer.
"Brother, you are asking the wrong person." Li Yuanji smiled obscenely, and said: "Little brother has already given you the five prefectures of Taiyuan. Brother, please make up your own mind."
"So, only when I return the five prefectures of Taiyuan to you, brother, will you come up with your strategy to defeat the enemy?" Li Jiancheng laughed even colder.
Li Yuanji smiled and said nothing, as if he still had the intention of acquiescing. Li Jiancheng was so angry that he almost blurted out that I would return the five prefectures of Taiyuan to you right now, but he changed his mind when he got to the point of his mouth, for fear that this would not be the same as The fourth brother, whose conflicts were getting deeper and deeper, agreed, and forced himself into a difficult situation—Li Yuanji could really do such a thing—after all, Li Yuanji wanted to kill his two older brothers in history Be the emperor's master.
After snorting coldly, Li Jiancheng immediately changed the subject and scolded Li Er: "Erlang, where did you hide yesterday? Why didn't you come to see me?"
"Little brother has lost a series of battles, and I am ashamed to see my brother." Li Er said very ashamedly: "Plus, the right governor of the younger brother is already alone. He has no soldiers to govern, and no official business to explain, so he dare not bother again. Brother. Now my younger brother is here with my fourth brother to pay respects to my elder brother, and I’m also here to take the blame, and ask my elder brother to remove my younger brother from the position of the Right Commander of the Rebel Army.”
"Remove you from the position of Governor-General of the Right?" Li Jiancheng smiled, with a rather grim smile, and said, "You think that just resigning from the position of Governor-General of the Right will be enough for you to do those things?"
"Brother, what else do you want?" Li Yuanji took up the conversation again, and said with a sneer: "Second brother has few soldiers, and even after losing a battle in front of Chen thief, he still knows how to take the blame and resign from his official position. Some people Commanding all the soldiers and horses, with plenty of soldiers and food, and the strong and dangerous passes, and with strong support, and also losing consecutive battles in front of the Chen bandits, why didn't I think of how to apologize to the soldiers and civilians of the five counties of Taiyuan?"
"Who are you talking about?" Li Jiancheng was furious when he heard this.
"Who is the little brother talking about? Brother, you know in your heart!" Li Yuanji confronted him without fear.
Faced with the repeated provocations of his fourth brother, Li Jiancheng couldn't bear it no matter how good-tempered he was. He subconsciously pressed the hilt of his waist and drew his sword out of its sheath. The members of the Li clan, represented by Li Fengci, swarmed up and pulled sideways. While persuading Li Jiancheng to calm down, he hypocritically scolded Li Yuanji for being disrespectful to his elder brother. Li Yuanji and Li Er turned their heads to persuade Li Jiancheng to calm down.
Of course Li Jiancheng understands that his clan and Pei Ji are actually looking towards Li Yuanji, but the situation is so critical that if there is any more fratricide, it will undoubtedly be suicide, so after taking a few deep breaths, Li Jiancheng suppressed it Angry in my heart, I let the matter go down the donkey. After the members of the Li clan and Pei Ji and others dispersed and left, two of Li Jiancheng's most trusted confidants, Xie Shufang and Feng Li, immediately came up and said in a low voice, "Mr. If it is obvious to expose the heart, why not get rid of it early to prevent future troubles?"
"When is this? Are you still saying this?" Li Jiancheng said in a bitter tone: "Brother Yingliang is already at the gate of the city. As an elder brother, I want to kill my brother and kill my brother. What do the world think of me? Besides, this Taiyuan It is true that I took the Five Counties from my fourth brother, and it is understandable that he is dissatisfied. So, I'd better bear with it."
Feng Li and Xie Shufang reminded Li Jiancheng again that people are harmless and tigers hurt people's hearts, but Li Jiancheng still shook his head and refused to listen, so Feng and Xie had no choice but to back down. It was only after Feng Xie and Li Jiancheng had finished their private conversation that Yin Kaishan on the other side said to Li Jiancheng: "Commander Zuo, the Chen bandit army camped in the upper reaches of the Fenshui River, and stationed troops at high places. Irrigate the city with water, what should our army do?"
"Don't worry, I believe that Brother Yingliang won't do such an outrageous thing." Li Jiancheng replied smoothly: "Even though Brother Yingliang and I are enemies now, we were bosom friends before. He uses tricks and schemes, but he is kind-hearted and kind-hearted, and he will never disregard the lives of more than 100,000 innocent people in the city for the sake of attacking the city, so we only need to guard against his attacking the city with force, and do not have to worry about it He will flood the city with water."
Seeing Li Jiancheng's answer so confidently, Yin Kaishan hesitated for a moment, but he still said: "Commander Zuo, forgive me for speaking ill, if, or if Chen Yingliang is really determined to destroy our army at all costs, really How do we deal with the release of the Fen and Jin rivers to flood Taiyuan?"
After a moment of silence, Li Jiancheng suddenly slammed his fist heavily on the arrow stack in front of him, and said decisively: "Then I will follow the example of Zhao Xiangzi and let the flood surround the city, and continue to hold on! Zhibo flooded Taiyuan for three years, and Taiyuan city wall for three years. Don’t fall! I don’t believe it, the current Taiyuan city is not as strong as the Taiyuan city wall 1,180 years ago!”
Speaking of this loudly, Li Jiancheng, who had been aggrieved for a long time, couldn't contain the excitement in his chest, and continued loudly: "That's right! Brother Yingliang is my good friend and close friend! But he is also my father-killing enemy! His talent surpasses I am a hundredfold, I can’t avenge my father in this life, I admit it! But if I want to forget my father’s hatred, abandon the foundation created by my father, surrender to the enemy who killed my father, dream! Taiyuan is here, I am here! Taiyuan is broken , I die for the city!"
After finishing the call impassionedly, Li Jiancheng looked up at the sky again, seeing the gradually increasing clouds in the sky, with tears in his eyes, choked up and said in a low voice: "Father, your spirit in the sky must protect me and Taiyuan."
…
It's time to take a look at the situation of the good brothers Li Yuanji and Li Er. After being driven away by Pei Ji as elders, Li Yuanji and Li Er did not rush down to the city to return to their residence. Instead, they walked slowly along the city wall. Looking at the situation of the Sui army's new camp from afar, they talked in a low voice. After laughing at Li Jiancheng's cowardice and incompetence, Li Yuanji asked Li Er: "Second brother, in your opinion, will Chen Yingliang's traitor really flood Taiyuan with water?"
"It's not certain at the moment." Li Er shook his head and replied: "With the hypocrisy of Chen Yingliang's traitor, it is really difficult for him to do such a thing. Stable, the food road is too long, and the transfer is very difficult. If there is really no other way to break the city, he may not be ruthless in order to make a quick decision. After all, this traitor is only showing his hypocrisy, but he is actually ruthless. Vicious and ruthless, when he should be cruel, he is more cruel than anyone else!"
"If Chen thief is really determined, what are you going to do, second brother?" Li Yuanji asked again.
"As soon as Thief Chen starts to build the dam, I will run away immediately." This is Li Er's answer in his heart, but in his mouth, Li Er said: "There is nothing we can do, we can only defend the city with all our strength! Follow the example of Zhao Xiangzi Live in the nest, drink from the cauldron, if you can survive until the Chen thief, if you can't survive, the city is destroyed, then the foolish brother can only die like a virtuous brother of the Taoist sect, and die for the country."
To Li Er's surprise, when he said this, Li Yuanji, who was actually the most idiot among his brothers, kept looking into his eyes, as if trying to discern whether his words were from the heart. It's a pity that Li Yuanji is indeed too incompetent, he didn't see that what the second brother said was completely insincere, and he blinked his eyelids again, and suddenly asked in a low voice: "Second brother, have you ever considered asking His Highness Tang Wang?" surrender?"
"Fourth brother already has the idea of surrender?" Li Er was startled at first, and then secretly rejoiced. He quickly put on a vivid surprise, and then said in a low voice: "Fourth brother, stop joking, How could I surrender to Chen Yingliang's traitor? Don't you know how much I hate him, how much hatred I have?"
Seeing the disappointment in Li Yuanji's eyes, Li Er hurriedly added in a low voice, "Besides, even if I want to surrender to Chen Yingliang's traitor, I don't have the courage. What should I do if I surrender and kill me with a knife?"
Hearing Li Er call out the four words 'His Royal Highness Tang', Li Yuanji couldn't help but flashed a gleam of joy, looked around first, and then said in a low voice: "Second brother, if His Royal Highness Tang agrees to pardon you For the death penalty, I will give you an official title, are you willing to surrender?"
Wen Xiange knew the elegant meaning, Li Er immediately realized something was wrong, and quickly asked in a low voice: "Fourth brother, have you and His Royal Highness Tang Wang been in contact?"
Li Yuanji, who has always been a fool and reckless, rarely hesitated, but he couldn't stand Li Er's repeated questioning, and finally told the truth, saying: "It was His Royal Highness Tang who contacted me, remember Yu Wenxin? After he was captured by His Royal Highness Tang in Guanzhong Surrender, before His Royal Highness Tang personally conquered Taiyuan this time, he wrote a letter to me, wanting to establish contact with His Royal Highness Tang for me. They sent people to see me, gave me some things, and promised me some official rewards..."
"What official title did His Royal Highness confer on your fourth brother?" Li Er hurriedly asked again, "Also, is His Highness's envoy still in the city?"
"The envoy, I..." Li Yuanji wanted to answer casually, but swallowed the words in half, and changed his words: "The envoy was driven away by me, but His Royal Highness Tang seems to be very sincere, and he also named me the Duke of Qi." , Dr. Yinzi Guanglu, sealed off thousands of households in Shiyi, gave silver coupons, and avoided death three times except for treason. In addition, he also said that it is up to me to choose whether the prefect of the first-class county or the second-class county stays behind."
Hearing this, no matter how deep Li Ercheng's mansion was, he couldn't help his heart beating faster, and he still felt a little envious, before he asked, "Fourth brother, what does His Royal Highness Tang Wang want from you?"
"Giving Taiyuan City." Li Yuanji replied in a low voice, and hurriedly added: "Of course, I will never agree, and I refused without thinking."
"If you refuse without even thinking about it, you will never tell me about it. And the messenger Chen Thief, maybe he is still in Taiyuan City, and he is still at your house." Li Er sneered in his heart, mouth But Shang said: "Fourth brother did the right thing. Although Chen Yingliang is still faithful to his word, he is unlikely to go back on his word, but the hatred of killing his father is irreconcilable. If we bow our knees and surrender to him, we will definitely be ridiculed by the people of the world."
Li Erxu's words obviously did not block all the escape routes. Although Li Yuanji heard it out, he was secretly happy in his heart. Apart from scolding Chen Sangliang, who killed his father and enemy with Li Erxu and the snake, Li Yuanji couldn't wait to start. Thinking about how to pull Li Er to surrender the city with him. But what Li Yuanji probably never imagined in his dreams was that Li Er had another idea in mind.
"Sure enough, Thief Chen couldn't help but use alienation to buy, but he didn't expect that his target would be the idiot of the fourth brother." Li Er sneered in his heart, "How should I take this opportunity? I should design to lure the enemy and take the opportunity to fight one Victory boosts the morale of the army? Or expose Li Yuanji to that idiot Li Jiancheng, and take the opportunity to get the 10,000 soldiers and horses in Li Yuanji's hands? Or, two strategies at the same time, not only get the soldiers and horses, but also severely damage Chen's army?"
Of course, there are people with firm beliefs in the world, but Li Er is definitely not one of them. That night, Li Er, who was determined to take advantage of Chen Sangliang's opportunity to recruit Li Yuanji to make a comeback, couldn't help but start to waver. Because, Li Er's last confidant, Zhu Can, fled back to Taiyuan City.