Yuan Tiangang strongly suggested that Longshan, which Chen Sangliang captured, was located in the southwestern suburbs of Taiyuan City. If he wanted to take Longshan, he had to take down the Fenshui Bridge located five miles south of Taiyuan City. This wooden fixed bridge connected the east and west banks of Fenshui. The only channel, the tactical position is very important, so no matter how tense the troops are, Li Jiancheng still divides thousands of troops to garrison and protect the bridge, and prepares a large amount of firewood, sulfur and kerosene on the bridge, ready to be burned when necessary. The Fenshui Bridge increased the difficulty for the main force of the Sui army to cross the river.
Of course, the main force of the Sui army was not afraid of fighting the Taiyuan army, but the main force of the Sui army would never want to see the Taiyuan army burn this important bridge, so how to capture the bridge while preserving the bridge became the top priority. Therefore, after discussing with everyone and careful consideration, Chen Sangliang decided to give up the frontal attack, and adopted surprise attack tactics to seize the bridge, killing the defenders of Fenshui Bridge by surprise, and not giving them a chance to set fire to the bridge.
It was also an opportunity. The main force of the Sui army had just moved to the camp, and the various fortifications had not yet been completed. Normally speaking, it was unlikely to launch an attack in a short period of time. This somewhat provided some cover for the Sui army's surprise attack, so Chen Sangliang The one who is the best at cheating and cheating naturally has a place to use.
As a result, Guo Ziwu, the general of the Taiyuan Army who was in charge of guarding the Fenshui Bridge, naturally encountered a strange thing. A fool who claimed to be Chen Sangliang's emissary suddenly ran to the Fenshui Bridge to ask him to meet him, and asked Guo Ziwu to lead him on behalf of Chen Sangliang. The defenders of the Fenshui Bridge presented the bridge and surrendered, and promised that as long as Guo Ziwu donated the Fenshui Bridge, Chen Sangliang would give Guo Ziwu a six-rank official position, reward gold and jewelry, and also reward every soldier under Guo Ziwu with ten pieces of cloth. Each person who is handsome or above will be rewarded with ten strings of money, and the bid is not low.
Being able to be sent out of the city by Li Jiancheng to guard the bridge, of course Guo Ziwu has a high degree of loyalty and good professional ethics, and immediately flatly rejected the Sui army envoy's bribe and surrender, but because of Li Jiancheng's order not to hurt the envoy first, Guo Ziwu did not. Why did you embarrass the Sui army envoy and ordered him to drive away. But the somewhat foolish envoy of the Sui Army refused to give up. While struggling to refuse the soldiers of the Taiyuan Army to take him away from the Fenshui Bridge, he yelled: "General Guo, you don't believe our Highness's sincerity, do you? We said Giving every brother under your command ten pieces of cloth is ten pieces of cloth, and one piece will not miss you! If you don’t believe me, I will bring 10,000 pieces of cloth when I go back, so that you can see our sincerity with your own eyes!”
After being strung across the Fenshui Bridge and thrown away, the idiot envoy of the Sui army still refused to give up, and shouted at Guo Ziwu and the defenders of the Fenshui Bridge: "General Guo, brothers in Taiyuan, you wait, we Just bring 10,000 pieces of cloth when you go back! I want you to see clearly whether our army of King Tang keeps what we say and keeps what we say!"
Not to mention, the envoy of the Sui army was a fool, and he really kept his words. In the afternoon, he brought some civilians and pulled fifty trucks full of cloth to come back to the Fenshui bridge. Although the soldiers of the Taiyuan Army guarding the bridgehead refused to let him go on the bridge, and even drew bows and arrows to prevent trucks from approaching the position, the foolish messenger still yelled for Guo Ziwu to receive the reward from the king of Tang, and even asked the civilian husband to overturn a truck. The truck spilled the cloth all over the place. Guo Ziwu, who could not be entangled, had no choice but to cross the bridge and refuse face to face, asking him to leave immediately or shoot him with an arrow, but the foolish messenger took another step forward and said: "Don't stretch out your hand to hit the smiling face, General Guo, the little envoy is here!" Those who give you gifts don’t believe that you really know how to shoot arrows.”
With a sneer, Guo Ziwu drew the bow and set the arrow himself, and shot the hat of the foolish messenger flying away with one arrow, which made the foolish messenger scream and run away, and the civilians he brought ran faster and faster one by one. Quickly, even before they could take away the fifty carts of cloth, they ran cleanly together, and all the soldiers of the Taiyuan Army burst out laughing at their embarrassment.
Cloth is a necessary material for life, and it can be used directly as currency in this era. The Sui army foolishly envoys forgot the cloth cart, and the Taiyuan army officers and soldiers will not forget it. Guo Ziwu did not forget, and ordered: "Pull all the cloth In Fenshui, two horses per brother, and the rest will be handed over to Commander Zuo."
Amidst the cheers, the soldiers of the Taiyuan Army swarmed up and pushed all fifty cloth carts onto the Fenshui Bridge. Naturally, when a cloth cart passed by Guo Ziwu, the cloth on the cart suddenly flew by itself. In the middle of the air, two Sui soldiers with swords and shields jumped out. Without a word, they slashed at Guo Ziwu. At the same time, the other cloth carts also jumped off the soldiers of the Sui Army one after another like dumplings. They quickly scattered the soldiers of the Taiyuan Army guarding the bridgehead position with their swords and shields, and then rushed to the other side of Fen River without hesitation. Before running to the distance to look around The idiot envoy of the Sui Army immediately sent out a signal, and the Sui Army scouts who were patrolling around immediately rushed towards the Fenshui Bridge with roars.
The incident happened suddenly, and the defenders of the Taiyuan Army on the west bank of Fenshui were also caught off guard. Eighty Sui warriors shouted and had already crossed the Fenshui Bridge. , and then when the eighty Sui army warriors came to the front, the Taiyuan army defenders would never have the opportunity to set fire to the bridge, and were forced to fall into close combat, and because there was no one commanding them, they could not exert their strength at all. The advantage quickly killed these shameless and despicable Sui soldiers. After a little delay, the Sui army's scout sentries, which were served by elite cavalry, had already rushed to the Fenshui Bridge.
Seeing that the Fenshui Bridge was in an emergency on the city wall, the defenders in Taiyuan quickly sent troops out of the city to respond. However, the Taiyuan army moved quickly, and the well-prepared Sui army moved faster. After receiving the signal, the Sui army immediately rushed to the new camp. Two thousand light cavalry were sent out, and they galloped southward with fast horses and whips, and then a large group of infantry came out of the camp, also rushing towards the Fenshui Bridge. In addition, Chen Sangliang carefully dispatched an army to go straight to the east gate of the east city of Taiyuan to resist the troops that the Taiyuan defenders might send from the city to prevent their own army from reinforcing the Fenshui Bridge battlefield.
Still the same sentence, the Sui army is only afraid that the Taiyuan army will burn the bridge, and it is absolutely not afraid to fight the Taiyuan army in a field battle. Relying on the advantage of mental arithmetic and unintentional preparations, the Sui army cavalry reinforcements who are farther away are one step ahead of the Taiyuan army reinforcements Arriving at the battlefield of Fenshui Bridge and entering the west bank position first, the Taiyuan Army will never have the opportunity to regain control of Fenshui Bridge. Finally, when the furious Li Jiancheng personally led his troops out of the city to respond, the infantry brigade of the Sui army had already crossed the Fenshui Bridge, and cooperated with the cavalry to seize the position and fight in formation. Reinforcements buy time.
There is a huge gap in terms of troop strength and combat effectiveness. Of course, the Taiyuan army and the Sui army fought to refuel the battle. Of course, they were not happy for themselves. After the fierce battle, the sun set and the Fenshui Bridge was not recaptured, and more Sui army reinforcements had arrived. , Li Jiancheng sighed helplessly, and gave the order to retreat helplessly, "Mingjin, it's useless to fight any more, and the Fenshui Bridge can't be taken back. Brother Yingliang, your plan is really already It’s reached the point of perfection.”
The Fenshui Bridge was robbed by Chen Sangliang's mutant Trojan horse. Although the loss of Taiyuan Army's military strength was by no means large, for the entire Taiyuan battlefield, the Taiyuan defenders suddenly became much more passive. Because with the strong and spacious Fenshui Bridge, the main force of the Sui army can move back and forth on both sides of Fenshui at will, threatening the east and west cities of Taiyuan at the same time. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent the Sui army from suddenly attacking the west city, which essentially weakens the defense force of the own army. So after retreating back to the city, the first thing Li Jiancheng did was to mobilize the reserve team to strengthen the defense of the west city. What he was afraid of was that his scheming friends would show up with surprise soldiers and come to surprise the important places in the west city—the granary, arsenal and Jinyang Palace are all in the west city, but absolutely There is no room for mistakes.
However, this is not the most important thing. The Li brothers who are familiar with the classics and history and the decision-makers of the Taiyuan Army are more worried and afraid of another point, but the more they are afraid, the more useless. By the next morning, the main force of the Sui army was strengthening the Fen While defending the water bridge, he sent about 2,000 troops to the west and up the mountain, climbed up Longshan and stationed at Jinci Temple, and took control of the water inlet of Zhibo Canal. He could cut off Jinshui at any time and force all the water into Zhibo Canal Pour into Taiyuan City.
Seeing the flag of the Sui army planted on Zhiboqu on the city wall, the Taiyuan army who knew how much threat Zhiboqu posed to Taiyuan City was of course worried, but Li Jiancheng sighed and said: "Brother Yingliang, you are so cruel." Are you determined to flood Taiyuan with water? For the sake of a city and victory in a single battle, you will not hesitate to harm hundreds of thousands of innocent people in the city, are you still the humble and polite brother Yingliang who repaid grievances with virtue?"
Yin Kaishan, Feng Li, and Li Jiancheng's confidantes remained silent. Li Yuanji and Li Er were expressionless and equally silent. Although the other Li clans did not speak, they all quietly went to see Li, who was wounded and went to the city to check on the enemy's situation. Shentong, Li Shentong knew what a group of relatives were thinking, hesitated for a while, and finally said to Li Jiancheng: "Nephew Jiancheng, Chen Yingliang took the Fenshui Bridge before he attacked the city, and occupied the Zhibo Canal to divert water to irrigate the city. Ruojie. If this is the case, I wonder how you plan to deal with it, nephew?"
"Of course it is to defend with all our strength." Li Jiancheng said without thinking: "As soon as we find that the enemy has started to build a dam on the Jinshui River, then we will immediately block the Zhibo Canal's entrance to the city, and also block the gates of Taiyuan, use the city wall to block the water, and continue. Fight against the enemy!"
"Then if Taiyuan City can't stop the flood and floods enter the city, then how should we deal with it?" Li Shentong asked.
"Closure the gap, stay at a high place, and continue to defend the city!" Li Jiancheng replied firmly, "The city is alive and the people are here! The city is dead and the people are dead!"
Hearing this, the faces of many people present couldn't help but change. Li Shentong was also slightly surprised. He never expected that Li Jiancheng's position would be so firm. He pursed his lips and said, "Nephew, you and Chen Yingliang are Make friends with each other, love brothers and sisters, even in the face-to-face, you have to explain the funeral to each other, entrust your family, since you have such a friendship with him, why don't you think about it..., think about peace talks?"
Including Li Er, couldn't help the heartbeat speeding up. Together with everyone, they all focused on Li Jiancheng's face, but Li Jiancheng's answer made everyone dumbfounded—Li Jiancheng asked Li Shentong in a strange manner. "Uncle, what do you mean by that? Ask me to seek peace from Brother Yingliang? Have you forgotten that Brother Yingliang is my father-killing enemy? You tell me to forget my father-killing enemy and kneel to my father-killing enemy Sue for peace?"
"Then you still call him Brother Yingliang?" Li Shentong asked also dumbfounded.
"I call him Yingliang Xiandi because I am a good friend with him, and I admire his talent and learning." Li Jiancheng replied solemnly: "But the hatred of killing my father is irreconcilable. As a son of man, my nephew must To avenge my father."
Li Shentong was completely speechless, and finally confirmed one point again - Li Jiancheng, who is gentle on the outside, is actually far more upright and stubborn than Li Er, who has a deep hatred with Chen Sangliang! And seeing Li Shentong's appearance, Li Jiancheng also understood his intentions long ago, so he said: "Uncle, if you want to persuade my nephew to seek peace with Brother Yingliang, please don't open your mouth. Although my nephew is not talented, he is not a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death, and if anyone dares to persuade my nephew to seek peace, my nephew will never forgive him lightly."
Li Shentong was even more speechless, but Li Jiancheng still refused to give up, and turned to Yin Kaishan, Feng Li, Xie Shufang and other confidant generals in command: "From now on, I will strictly guard the east and west cities, and those who go out of the city to contact the enemy , no matter who it is, behead it immediately! Behead first and play later, don't report me!"
"Promise!" Feng Li, Xie Shufang and other Li Jiancheng's cronies clasped their fists together and sang promises in unison, all with firm attitudes and resolute expressions. Li Jiancheng nodded, and arranged for people to closely monitor Zhiboqu's movements, and then led a group of confidantes of different surnames to the city, leaving a group of Li clans in the city, frowning and sighing.
Seeing Li Shentong deflated and a group of relatives frowning, Li Yuanji, who had already been moved by Chen Sangliang's surrender, was secretly happy, and hurried up to whisper to a group of cousins. After returning to the city, Li Er, who hugged Li Yuanji's thigh tightly, did not follow him, and he was too lazy to eavesdrop on the conversation of his relatives. He just walked to the arrow stack on the inner side of the city wall, and watched Li Jiancheng and others who left the city thinking, "Really? I have underestimated this poor man, but he still has such courage and determination. It seems that he would rather be surrounded by floods than surrender. What should I do? Should I change my position and join hands with him in defending Taiyuan, or simply help Fourth brother, a bag of straw?"
"Let's wait a little longer." Li Er quickly made up his mind, and secretly said: "If the fourth brother and uncle want to make a move, I will neither stop nor join in, and I guess they can't beat Li Jiancheng, who is simple on the outside but smart on the inside. If there is hope to defend Taiyuan City, I will help him defend it; if there is no hope, help the fourth brother and the others, go to Chen Yingliang's traitor and wait for the opportunity to make a comeback, it may not be hopeless."
…
At the same time, the news that the soldiers of the Sui Army had successfully captured Zhiboqu was also reported to Chen Sangliang. Although the battle was progressing smoothly and gratifyingly, Chen Sangliang, who had been hesitant to divert water to submerge Taiyuan, did not have much joy. He just nodded and ordered to send food, grass and military supplies to the army stationed in Longshan so that they can stay for a long time. However, Yuan Tiangang was overjoyed, and couldn't wait to say: "Your Highness, are you starting to build the dam? Time is running out. The rainy season in the upper reaches of the Fenshui River has gradually begun. The sooner the dam is built, the better for us."
When he said this, Yuan Tiangang's tone was not only quite excited, but also had a strange expression on his face. Unfortunately, Chen Sangliang, who was thinking about it, didn't notice this, but shook his head and said: "Don't worry, let's put the camp first. Let’s talk about stability, and hurry up to build some necessary siege weapons. By the way, how many toad carts have been built? Taiyuan’s moat is wide and deep, so build more precautions, as well as siege ladder carts. You must also be prepared.”
"No need..." Yuan Tiangang changed his words again, and said with a smile: "Your Highness, please rest assured that these things will not be missed. I promise to prepare enough for you to attack the city."
"That's good." Chen Sangliang nodded, then turned to Li Jing and Qu Tutong and said, "Uncle, old general Qu Tu, it's time to make a plan for attacking the city by force. Get it out as soon as possible. Do you need any siege weapons?" , and prepare in advance.”
Li Jing and Qu Tutong agreed together, and then Qu Tutong added carefully: "Your Highness, why must we give priority to breaking the city by force? Isn't the tactic proposed by Yuan Shangshu very convenient, and it can also save countless soldiers from having to attack the city?" A senseless sacrifice...."
Qu Tutong's voice became smaller and smaller, because Chen Sangliang's face became more and more gloomy, until Qu Tutong completely shut up, Chen Sangliang said lightly: "Then what about the people in Taiyuan City? Thousands of innocent people, can I be so cruel?"
Qu Tutong was speechless, but Yuan Tiangang over there opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but after turning his triangular eyes, Yuan Tiangang changed his mind again, and cupped his hands to Chen Sangliang and said, "Your Highness is compassionate and considerate People, I admire you the most. Since His Highness is determined not to flood the city with floods, I will not force you to do so. I still have a plan, maybe I can help His Highness break the city."
"What other tricks does Yuan Shangshu have?" Chen Sanghao asked curiously.
"Your Highness may wish to visit the city of Taiyuan in person, let Li Jiancheng come out to answer your questions, and personally recruit the enemy." Yuan Tiangang suggested: "In this way, it is best to be able to persuade Li Jiancheng to open the city to surrender. Impress Li Jiancheng's other subordinates, and observe the reaction of Li Jiancheng's subordinates, so that His Highness can break the city with other clever schemes."
"Is that so easy?" Chen Sangliang laughed dumbfounded, and said with a wry smile: "If Li Jiancheng could be recruited, I would have contacted him long ago. He flooded me in Queshu Valley, and he also sent Dou Jiande and Liu Wuzhou Pull into the battlefield, where is it possible to surrender to me?"
Yuan Tiangang, who was full of bad water, was anxious when he heard it, and when he was about to persuade him again, Chen Sangliang changed his mind again, nodded and said: "But you can try it, anyway, brother Jiancheng and I are about to have a good relationship." I haven't seen each other for three years, so it's good to meet him to catch up on the past. Jingde, please make arrangements immediately, and we will go to the city of Taiyuan together in a while."
Yuchi Jingde clasped his fists and sang promises, and strode out of the tent to arrange a team of followers for Chen Sangliang, but Li Jing shouted: "General Yuchi, bring more soldiers and horses, it's best to bring the Baoguo Army with you."
Yuchi Jingde turned his head to look at Chen Sangliang, and did not sing promises again until Chen Sangliang nodded, then Li Jing turned to Chen Sangliang again and said, "Nephew, put on soft armor and beware of Li Erlang's back arrows, he has the guts and archery."
Since Chen Sangliang proclaimed himself king, it was the first time that Li Jing used this title to Chen Sangliang. After hearing this, Chen Sangliang not only did not blame Li Jing for his disrespect, but on the contrary, there was a warm current in his heart. He nodded and said, "Don't worry, uncle." , nephew will be careful."
Between Li Jing's jaws, Yuan Tiangang couldn't wait to ask Chen Sangliang to go to the city of Taiyuan to surrender. Chen Sangliang didn't think too much about agreeing casually. The sinister smile from the previous day appeared, and he thought, "Li Jiancheng, just wait and see what kind of surprise I have for you."