It was too late to transfer the family and immediately transferred the army. Although Li Jiancheng did this decisively and calmly, it was a little late. The only Yang Wen cadre who maintained a complete organizational system in the West City of the Taiyuan Army had just withdrawn to the east gate. The soldiers of the Sui army had already reached the tower of the east gate. While fighting for the control of the gate with the defenders of the east gate, they used the defenders' supplies to attack the Taiyuan army under the city with sheep's head stones and Leimu, desperately cutting off the Taiyuan army's escape route to the east. .
The battle was so fierce that it is impossible to describe it in words. The sound of killing was loud from top to bottom of the city wall, and the clashing sound of swords, guns, gold and iron was deafening. All kinds of smashed sundries and heavy objects rushed into the corridors of the city gate, trampled on each other in the chaos, accidentally fell down and were trampled to death one after another, iron knives kept cutting people's bodies, spears pierced through the flesh one after another, and were killed and seriously injured The soldiers of the two armies fell and rolled off the city wall one after another like hailstones, and many of them hugged the enemy and fell off the city wall and fell into the dense crowd below the city.
It is also thanks to the Taiyuan Army that they did not install the jack gate on the top of the east gate, and it is also thanks to the defense of the east gate that at this critical moment showed unimaginable perseverance and fighting spirit to fight to the death, withstood the Sui army's continuous attack with flesh and blood and weak strength. After several attacks, Luo Shixin, the famous general of the Sui Army, was covered in blood and failed to grab the tower. Otherwise, Yang Wen, the cadre of the Taiyuan Army who took the lead in transferring, might not even be able to leave half of the city. But even so, the frenzied attack of the Sui Army soldiers caused huge casualties to the hastily transferred Taiyuan Army—in order to attack the enemy below the city, the Sui Army soldiers smashed the corpses of the Taiyuan Army soldiers down the city wall. The piles were stacked one upon another, as high as half a person, so that the legs of every soldier of the Taiyuan Army who escaped into the city gate by chance were covered with blood.
No matter how desperately the defenders of the East Gate defended, they could not get rid of the tragic fate of annihilating the entire army. As the soldiers of the Sui Army continued to set fire to the buildings, the soldiers of the Taiyuan Army in the towers gradually lost their chance to resist. , can only roar and launch a suicide charge at the endless stream of Sui army soldiers, using the last glory of life to fight for the final transfer time for the main force. Seeing this tragic scene in the chaotic army, Li Jiancheng had tears in his eyes, but he had no choice but to choke up and order the army to move as soon as possible, and with tears in his eyes, under the protection of Yang Wenqian and others, he rushed to the city gate corridor, stepping on the capital The carpet of flesh and blood paved by the corpses of self-armed soldiers strode forward.
With a cry, a dead body suddenly fell from the sky, and it hit Li Jiancheng's head impartially. Although the human body was soft, the body weighing more than 100 kilograms fell from a height of more than ten meters, and it still smashed Li Jiancheng. Bleeding from the mouth and nose, he fainted on the spot. Yang Wenqian and others were shocked when they saw this, and quickly carried Li Jiancheng into the corridor of the city gate, and temporarily fled to a safe zone at risk.
The wooden bridge at the gate of the city was already filled with thick smoke, and the flames were soaring into the sky. The soldiers of the Taiyuan Army fought desperately while putting out the fire. Burning boats on the river continued to come from the upper reaches. Pushed and pulled by the sailors of the Sui Army, Yang Wenqian and others did not dare to hesitate when they saw it. They quickly protected Li Jiancheng and rushed forward, stepping on the corpses of soldiers from the own army to cross the river. Qiao, the defenders in Dongcheng fled into Dongcheng, and then took the time to rush to rescue Li Jiancheng.
After rubbing his chest and choking others, after a long time of resuscitation, Li Jiancheng finally woke up after being hit hard on the head. After waking up, the first thing Li Jiancheng did was endure the headache and observe the battle situation on the West Bank from a high position. However, what was cruel to Li Jiancheng was that what he saw on the city wall was the wooden bridge crossing the river that had already risen to the sky, as well as the towers of the east gate of the west city that were also blazing, and a chaotic mess. The east gate road of the regiment. In his anxiety, Li Jiancheng quickly yelled and asked, "Did Feng Li cross the river? Did Wang Gui and the others cross the river? How many of our soldiers have been withdrawn?"
No one can answer Li Jiancheng's question, and no one dares to answer Li Jiancheng's question, but this is enough. Just seeing the desperate expressions on the faces of Yin Kaishan, Yang Wengan and others, Li Jiancheng already knows that the situation is not good, and he can't help it. He knelt down on his knees facing Taiyuan West City, which was still fighting fiercely, and cried bitterly, "Soldiers, I am sorry for you!"
The night of the House Opening Festival on the seventh day of July was undoubtedly the most tragic and cruel night for the Taiyuan army headed by Li Jian. Because of the shameless rebellion of the Li clan, less than a quarter of the 20,000 West City defenders One's army managed to escape Fenshui and return to Dongcheng. Nearly half of the remaining soldiers were killed in battle. More than 6,000 people were captured and surrendered. Zhong Xie Shufang died in battle, Feng Li was seriously injured and captured alive by the Sui army, Liu Dewei shamelessly surrendered to the Sui army under the coercion of the Li family. The power to fight back in front of the main force.
Li Jiancheng's wife Zheng Guanyin, his eldest son Li Chengzong, and his second son Li Chengdao also failed to escape Fenshui, and were lost in the west city. But these are not the worst. What's worse is that the Taiyuan Army can easily spend more than five years of food and grass reserves all in the west city. Due to the large size of the enemy, Xiaohe was used by the Taiyuan Army as a buffer that could be abandoned at any time, and did not hoard too much grain and grass. Soldiers support more than three months.
In addition, Dongcheng did not have much stockpiles of bows and arrows, kerosene, etc., which were very important in the battle of the city, and they might be exhausted within a few battles. So when the wooden bridge connecting the east and west cities collapsed in the flames, Li Jiancheng cried out and vomited blood and passed out. But he could no longer defeat the main force of the Sui army, and he could not even beat the main force of the Sui army. Unless he broke through and escaped for his life, the entire army would be wiped out.
Contrary to the mourning Taiyuan army, the Sui army was full of joy and cheers. The reason is of course that they successfully captured the west city and severely damaged the Taiyuan army. The granary has completely solved the thorny problem of difficult transportation of sparrow grains and grass. Even if this war lasts for another year or two, there is no need to worry about the problem of grain and grass. They all think that such a price is definitely worth it, and the gains are far greater than the sacrifices, which is a big advantage.
However, it was not the generals and soldiers of the Sui army who were most joyful, but the members of the Li clan headed by Li Er and Li Yuanji. They were seriously injured during the period, and even though Chen Sangliang did not meet them immediately, Li Jing ordered them to be treated kindly on behalf of Chen Sangliang. Liang had established a good reputation for treating surrenderers with kindness and reuse of talents before, so all the Li clans who made great contributions this time believed that they would definitely do better under Chen Sangliang than under Li Jiancheng!
Let Li Yuanji and others rejoice that the Sui army basically wiped out the remaining enemies in the city at dusk. Li Yuanji, who kidnapped Li Jiancheng and fled in a hurry, remembered that his beautiful wife Yang and a lot of beautiful concubines were still in the city. Quickly begged Li Jing to allow him to enter the city to find his family members. As a result, Li Jing not only agreed, but also sent someone to escort Li Yuanji into the city to find the family members of the Li clan, and also ordered to strictly protect the property of the Li clan in the city. Many concubines, polygamous and crying, the scene is very touching.
The matter was not over yet, and Li Yuanji, who was anxious to make more contributions in front of Chen Sangliang, suddenly remembered that Li Jiancheng's family members might not have time to leave the city, so he volunteered to take the Sui army soldiers to Jinyang Palace to search for Li Jiancheng's family members. I really found my sister-in-law and two nephews who hadn’t fled in time in Jinyang Palace. Not only was she not at all sad when meeting her uncle and sister-in-law, but Li Yuanji also knocked down the dagger in his sister-in-law Zheng Guanyin’s hand to stop her from committing suicide, and personally handed over the The one-year-old nephew Li Chengdao snatched it from the maid and gave it to the soldiers of the Sui army. He got his wish and made a great contribution to capturing Li Jiancheng's family for Chen Sangliang.
It was not until the afternoon of the eighth day of July that Li Jing, who had completely controlled the entire city of Xicheng, sent someone to find Li Yuanji and the members of the Li clan, saying that it was Chen Sangliang who decided to meet them at the camp of Chongsheng Temple. Li Yuanji and others were overjoyed when they heard the news , quickly changed into clean clothes, and under the protection of the Sui Army officers and soldiers rushed to the main camp of the Sui Army to meet Chen Sangliang. In addition, Li Jiancheng's family members, Feng Li and others were also detained by the Sui Army officers and soldiers to accompany the Li clan . What made Li Yuanji and the Li family members overjoyed was that when they arrived at Chongsheng Temple, Chen Sangliang personally led the Sui army's civil and military troops out of the camp to meet them. They said in unison: "Meet His Royal Highness Tang Wang."
"Old General Li, you are injured, please get up quickly." Chen Sangliang politely helped Li Shentong who was injured on his body, and then smiled at the Li family and said: "Everyone, please get up, I must You should also have heard that this king doesn't like ostentatious etiquette, in front of me, there is no need to be so polite."
Li Yuanji thanked Li Er and the others together, and then stood up cautiously, while Chen Sangliang smiled at Li Yuanji again: "Duke Qi, you have worked hard, this time this king was able to win the west city of Taiyuan in one fell swoop, you are the first one! Don't worry, what this king promises to you, not only won't deduct the slightest bit, but will only increase it."
Li Yuanji was even more delighted when he heard that, and hurriedly saluted Chen Sangliang Jishou again, modestly expressing that he had no minor achievements. Chen Sangliang smiled and asked him to stand up again, and then Chen Sangliang turned his eyes to Li Er, who had a deep hatred with him, and his eyes were still very complicated. Li Er also knew that he had too much trouble with Chen Sangliang, Hastily knelt down on one knee to Chen Sangliang, Ji Shou said: "The guilty general Li Shimin has met His Highness the King of Tang. The guilty general has offended His Highness a lot in the past. He deserves death. Please punish the guilty general and the crime he deserves."
"It's all over, why are you still talking about those?" Chen Sangliang said in a very sincere tone: "Brother Sichang forced me to hang myself and almost died, but I still let him go, let alone you?"
Speaking of this, Chen Sangliang raised his voice again, and said solemnly: "Li Shimin listens, this king now confers you as the Duke of Wei, the General Youxiao Cavalry Guard, and Doctor Jin Ziguanglu. You will be rewarded with gold and silver each with a thousand taels, and you will be spared from death." The gold certificate, except for treason, will prevent death for life! Bring it up!"
While singing promises, a soldier of Chen Sangliang brought a gold medal for avoiding death that had been rushed overnight to Li Er. Chen Sangliang smiled again and said, "Take it, you deserve it."
He was so excited that his hands trembled a little, and under the envious eyes of the Li clan and Li Yuanji who were about to go crazy with jealousy, he took the gold medal for avoiding death with both hands. Li Er bowed to Chen Sangliang and said respectfully: "Thank you, Your Highness, Your Highness is so kind, I will go through fire and water in the end, and I will be smashed to pieces, so it is hard to repay it."
He helped Li Er with his own hands. Chen Sangliang patted the back of his hand and said with a smile: "I believe in you, and you can rest assured that as long as you serve the country faithfully, I will never treat you badly. Your fiancée Liu Xiaomou, I'm in the camp right now, and I'll let you meet her in a while, if you want, you can officially get married tonight!"
Li Eryi was overjoyed when he heard that, and hurriedly thanked Chen Sangliang again. Chen Sangliang smiled, and then he went to help Li Shentong, who was injured on his body, and greeted everyone: "The wind is strong outside the camp. Let's talk in the big tent, the king has already set up a banquet in the big tent of the Chinese army, and today I want to get drunk with you and celebrate the great victory in the West City!"
Everyone in the Li family agreed together, and hurried into the camp with Chen Sangliang and all the civil and military soldiers of the Sui army, and entered Chen Sangliang's tent respectfully, and indeed a banquet had already been set up in the big tent, and Chen Sangliang sat down in the middle , inviting everyone to take their seats, Yuchi Jingde and other guards guarding the left and right. At the same time as the banquet began, Chen Sangliang ordered Zheng Guanyin's mother and son and Li Jiancheng's confidant Feng Li to be taken into the tent. In front of everyone, Li Jiancheng's two sons were also brought into the tent together.
Seeing Zheng Guanyin's mother and son entering the tent, Chen Sangliang got up unexpectedly and left the table. He personally took Li Chengzong, who was only one year old and still learning to speak, from the arms of the soldiers of the Sui Army, and hugged him in his arms. He kissed him on the face and said with a smile, "Quickly call Uncle, call Uncle."
Li Chengzong, who was only one year old, looked at Chen Sangliang with innocent eyes, and said ho ho, although he couldn't call out his uncle, he curiously touched Chen Sangliang's ugly face with his small hands. Chen Sangliang laughed happily, and then Kissed his nephew on the face, then turned to Zheng Guanyin who was crying like pear blossoms and rain, and said with a smile: "Sister-in-law, the first time we met, I am Tang Wang Chen Yingliang, and brother Jiancheng used to be a bosom friend, brother Jiancheng should tell you pass me?"
Nodding with tears, Zheng Guanyin choked up and said: "Your Highness, Dalang used to mention you often, and kept saying that whenever he had the opportunity, he would invite you to our house and let the concubine meet you. Da Lang regretted not being able to do so several times."
"I also feel sorry." Chen Sangliang nodded, and said with a smile: "But it's okay now, we finally met each other, if you don't mind, I'll call you sister-in-law, you can call me good brother or Uncle is fine."
"The concubine dare not." Zheng Guanyin wiped her tears and refused, and said with a sob: "Your Highness, the matter has come to this point, the concubine dare not be brazen enough to survive, I just beg Your Highness to let my two children live, they are still young, what? I don't understand."
"Sister-in-law, why are you talking like that?" Chen Sangliang was a little unhappy, and said, "My little brother and Brother Jiancheng are close friends, and he has helped me several times. How could I kill you? I'll have someone bring you here." , just to see you, to call you sister-in-law, to meet my two little nephews, there is no other meaning. Don't worry, I will send you back to Dongcheng in a while, so that you can return to brother Jiancheng?"
"Your Highness, are you going to let us go back?"
Zheng Guanyin couldn't believe his ears at all. Feng Deyi, Qu Tutong and others over there were in a hurry and stood up to object, but before they could say anything, Chen Sangliang waved his hand and said: "Don't say too much, I mean It has been decided, I will send my sister-in-law and my two little nephews back to Taiyuan Dongcheng in a short while, and let them reunite with Brother Jiancheng."
Qu Tutong and Feng Deyi, who knew the friendship between Chen Sangliang and Li Jiancheng, shut up and sat down again with great regret in their hearts. The Li clan, Li Yuanji and others quietly exchanged glances with each other. Sang Liang can be so benevolent and righteous to Li Jiancheng who refuses to surrender, so naturally he will not treat them badly who have made great contributions. Li Er sneered in his heart, and secretly said: "The benevolence of a woman is unmatched by stupidity. It really is the second Fu Jian."
At this time, Chen Sangliang turned his attention to Feng Li, who was covered in blood and tied up, and said with a smile: "Director Feng, we finally met. I used to wonder why Brother Jiancheng used your name so much. An unknown general with a foreign surname actually entrusted you with the military power of Taiyuan when he was away from the city of Taiyuan? But I heard that you fought so hard that there were only a dozen people around you and refused to surrender. In the end, you were seriously injured and fell to the ground before being captured alive by our soldiers Only after I was captured alive did I know that brother Jiancheng really knows people well, and he didn't misjudge you."
With a heavy snort, Feng Li turned his face away, too lazy to look at Chen Sangliang's ugly face, but Chen Sangliang refused to let him go, pointed to an empty seat in the tent, and said with a smile: "General Feng, look Have you arrived? That seat was specially prepared for you by the king, as long as you want, you can sit on it now and have a feast with us."
After being reminded by Chen Sangliang, everyone in the Li family realized that there was indeed a seat full of food and drink in the tent. Surprised by Chen Sangliang's carefulness, Li Er suddenly realized that something was wrong, but for a while I can't remember what's wrong there. But Feng Li only took one look at the seat, and immediately spit out a mouthful of thick phlegm, and said with a sneer, "Thank you, loyal ministers don't care about the two masters, kill them if you want, if you want me to surrender, it's a dream!"
"General Feng, why are you doing this?" Chen Sangliang persuaded: "You are a talented general, loyal and brave. As long as you are willing to serve this king, this king can guarantee that I will not treat you badly. Haven't you heard that, A good bird chooses a tree to live in...?"
"Shut up!" Feng Li angrily interrupted Chen Sangliang's persuasion to surrender, and roared: "Stop talking nonsense! Although Feng Li is not talented, he also knows the word loyalty! Zuo Dudu has a great kindness for me. How can I follow the example of these shameless people who are greedy for life and afraid of death, and surrender to you?"
Hearing this, Li Yuanji and the others looked very ugly, hoping that Chen Sangliang would kill Feng Li, the man who made them lose face, as soon as possible. Unfortunately, although Chen Sangliang looked regretful, he did not immediately order the killing. Shaking his head, he hugged Li Chengzong and sat back in his seat, then turned to Sun Fujia next to him, and ordered: "Vojia, call him in."
Everyone was baffled, but the reaction of Chen Sangliang's confidential secretary, Sun Fujia, was even more baffled. Not only did he not promise immediately, but hesitantly asked, "Your Highness, are you in a hurry?"
"No hurry." Chen Sangliang shook his head, and Sun Fujia was helpless, so he went outside the account to give an order, and then, a general of the Sui army immediately strode into the account, and after seeing the appearance of the general of the Sui army, Everyone in the Li family present was taken aback, and Li Er was so shocked that his eyes almost popped out of their sockets—because this general of the Sui Army was the one who had made great efforts in the Li clan’s rebellion this time. Samurai!
"Why is it you?" In shock, Li Er almost blurted out this sentence, and immediately after that, Li Er's whole body shook, and he finally remembered what he found to be wrong—it was this warrior Xun! The samurai Xun, who is also a great hero of Xiancheng, did not come to see Chen Sangliang with the Li clan before to ask for a reward!
When everyone in the Li family was surprised, all the civil and military soldiers of the Sui army also looked at each other in blank dismay - because none of them had seen the warrior Xun. Chen Sangliang saw the astonishment of the lackeys under his command, so he smiled and said: "Everyone, let me introduce to you, this warrior, General Yuwu, is my king's Tang family member Cao Shenjun. Joining our army is the most important insider that this king has placed in the Taiyuan army, and he is also a major contributor to our army's successful capture of Taiyuan West City and Taiyuan Granary this time! He has returned triumphantly this time, you should get along well with him."
Although Zheng Liupin was not a high-ranking official, the courtiers of the Tang Dynasty were Chen Sangliang's confidantes, so all the civil and military soldiers of the Sui army were shocked, and hurriedly stood up and bowed to the warrior Xun. The warrior Xun returned the salute one by one with a smile. Over there, Li Yuanji couldn't help but exclaimed, "Wu Canjun, you are from Tang Wang? Then why didn't you tell us earlier?"
"Duke Qi forgives the crime. At the end of the day, I will not dare to reveal my identity, so I have kept it a secret until now." The warrior Xun replied with a smile: "I hope Duke Qi will forgive me for the offense."
Li Yuanji quickly waved his hand and said that I dare, but halfway through the gesture, Li Yuanji suddenly froze, because Li Yuanji suddenly thought of a possibility, and immediately couldn't help but sweat all over his body. Then when Li Yuanji secretly looked at the faces of Li Er, Li Shentong and others, he saw that all of his relatives, more than a dozen of them, were pale, even the second brother Li Er, who was best at concealing plays, was already as pale as paper. Sweat dripping down my forehead...