Of course, Yanshi City could not be taken back by Wang Shiyun - Li Keshi's army was able to take Yanshi smoothly because the defenders in the city were sparse and unprepared, which allowed the Sui army to succeed by luck.
After entering Yanshi City, the soldiers of the Sui Army, who were all counting on the dilapidated city walls to resist Zheng Jun’s counterattack, of course did their best to strengthen the city defenses—in order to prepare supplies for the defense of the city, the soldiers of the Sui Army evacuated countless abandoned houses in the city overnight. All the wood and stones were moved to the city wall to defend the city. Plus the 7,000 defenders are not too many, or too few, and it is more than enough to guard a small city of Yanshi.
In the end, Li Niao's army was purely isolated. As long as there is any mistake in the city, none of the soldiers of the Sui army will survive! With no way to retreat, the soldiers of the Sui Army naturally broke out with 120% combat effectiveness. The tired soldiers of the Zheng Army who were forced to attack naturally gnawed on bones that were harder than iron. Five times in three days A large-scale siege was launched, but all the soldiers of the Sui army who shared the same hatred were killed and retreated. They suffered heavy casualties and failed to rush into the city. As a result, Wang Shiyun was transferred back to Luoyang City and was slapped and fisted by Wang Shichong. It also forced Wang Shichong to mobilize troops from Luokou Cang and Hulao Pass, while continuing to attack the city, while protecting the grain and grass through Yanshi City. The big reduction also completely disrupted Wang Shichong's overall decisive battle plan.
It was Wang Xuanying who continued to attack the city, but there was still no way out. In the face of the desperate resistance of the Sui army soldiers who had nowhere to retreat, Wang Xuan applied all means and methods but was unable to break through Yanshi City. After several days of attacking and killing corpses and seas of blood, he still could not enter Yanshi. In the division city, on the contrary, it also severely depressed the spirit, which seriously exacerbated the exhaustion of the army. However, as the main force of the Sui army crossed Tongguan and entered Weihan Road, Wang Shichong gradually panicked and could only order Wang Xuanying to give up the siege temporarily and change the siege into a siege to cover the passage of grain and grass through Yanshi. Under the city, they raced against time to transport food to the Eastern Capital.
It was also when the puppet government tried its best to scramble to transport food, and the lone army of Li Keshi was disgusting. Passing, it is still moving slowly against the current. Li Ke's army can cover the entire Luoshui River with bows and arrows and trebuchets without going out of the city. Ships were scarce, and Li Keshi had tossed more than half of Zheng Jun's ships in just a few times, and the amount of food transported by water dropped sharply—not to mention building ships now, there was no time at all. Not to mention the use of rafts to transport food, it was a living target for the Sui army's trebuchets and bows and arrows.
Water transportation is not enough to meet the demand, so we can only go by land. If we go by land, a new problem arises. The grain transportation team also has to pass under the Yanshi City. Years of wars have led to scarce livestock in Henan County. You can't find a few cows, let alone find enough cattle, donkeys and mules to transport food, and the precious horses must be ridden by cavalry to fight, so you have no choice but to use human power to transport food. Human transportation of grain not only increases the road consumption by several times, but also requires tens of thousands of people to carry grain and push the wheelbarrow to transport grain. When so many people are recruited to serve in the spring plowing season, the public resentment will naturally become more boiling and dangerous. The coefficient also suddenly increased a lot, forcing Wang Shichong to send more troops to monitor and protect the people to transport food.
Therefore, even if Li Ke's army was unable to go out of the city to rob grain, but only entrenched in Yanshi City, the difficulty of transporting grain for Wang Shichong's army increased several times. It has also become an impossible task. Wang Shichong's family gritted their teeth with hatred for this, but there was nothing they could do.
At this time, a news that surprised Wang Shichong suddenly came. Li Mi, who was entrenched on the white horse, accepted the Wei Wangjue title conferred by Dou Jiande. At the same time, there is accurate news that Li Mi has arrived in Linming to meet Dou Jiande, and he is very sincere. In this regard, Wang Shichong was surprised and inevitably happy and worried. Of course, he was happy that another old enemy would perish without fighting, but he was worried that he and Li Mi had a deep hatred. After Li Mi came to Dou Jiande's tent, he would definitely try his best to stop Dou Jiande Make an alliance with yourself and take the opportunity to retaliate.
No matter how unexpected it is, it will always come. On February 18th, the main force of the Sui army successfully crossed the Hangu Pass and continued to advance towards Mianchi. It was only three days away from the Xin'an battlefield. At the same time, Chen Sangliang was as cunning as ever, claiming to send 80,000 troops in the call to action, and it was true that he only brought 80,000 troops from Guanzhong, but with the addition of Liu Heita, Li Keshi, Qin Qiong's three partial divisions, and the Yiyang garrison, The total number of troops that the Sui Army invested in the Dongdu battlefield this time actually exceeded 200,000, and the main force was still a new force that had been rested for five months. In terms of military supplies and supplies, there are more than eight streets away from Wang Shichong.
But in terms of military strength, the Zheng army is not inferior to the Sui army. The three front lines in the east, west, and north and the garrison in Luoyang city together can have more than 130,000 people, and the total force still has a little advantage. However, Zheng Jun’s more than 130,000 troops were indeed pieced together. Among them, the truly reliable ones are still the 40,000 or so Dongdu troops before Wang Shichong defeated Li Mi. The rest are new soldiers, or Li Mi was defeated. After leaving, all bandits and soldiers who were forced to surrender voluntarily—similar to the existence of franchise stores in modern society, obeyed Wang Shichong’s order to fly the flag of Zheng Jun in honor, but in fact the original commander still has the final say inside the army, Wang Shichong The control over them is not strong, and there are not many who can really come in handy at critical moments. —And all of this is because Chen Sangliang didn't give Wang Shichong a chance to reorganize them.
His family knows his own family affairs, and Wang Shichong is also very aware of the weakness of the self-army. Even if it was too late to reorganize these troops, he desperately made a wish for the owner of these franchise stores, Sui Fengguan, and married his two nieces to Wagang fierce general Shan Xiongxin and Yang Qing, the former king of Xun with the largest background in the franchise stores, tried their best to win over the owners of these franchise stores. But the effect is still not great. Among them, there are not a few people who are in harmony with Wang Shichong, and those who are particularly bad, such as Hao Xiaode, simply defected to Zheng Jun.
Faced with this disparity in strength and weakness, Wang Shichong once planned to take a defensive position with all his strength, but Duan Da and Li Shiying and other sensible confidants pointed out to him that if he persisted with all his strength, it would not only damage the morale of the army even more, but also make the army more vulnerable. The bosses of those franchise stores were even more eccentric, and there were defectors who led the army like Hao Xiaode. It is recommended that Wang Shichong take advantage of Xin'an City and still grasp the tactical initiative in his hands, take the initiative to send troops to fight, and take advantage of the narrow terrain of Xiaohan Road to compete with the main force of the Sui army, so that even if the battle is unfavorable, the loss will not be too great. Winning one or two victories can greatly boost the morale of the army and enhance the cohesion of the army.
It is very clear how good an unfilial son-in-law is at estrangement and countermeasures. He also understands that the internal situation of his own army is most afraid of being alienated and split. Upon hearing the news that the main force had left Hangu Pass, he immediately led more than 40,000 troops to Xin'an, rushed to Xin'an to guard the dangerous point, and prepared to fight his son-in-law in the narrow Xiaohandao battlefield.
On February 20, the main force of Zheng's army arrived at the Xin'an battlefield smoothly. Together with the Xin'an garrison Gaobi Department, with a total strength of more than 56,000 troops, they set up camp to block the main force of the Sui army's eastward advance. Liu Heitai, the general of the Sui Army who had been confronting Gaobi for many days, lacked strength, and was warned by Chen Sangliang that Wang Shichong was not easy to deal with, so he retreated decisively into the depths of the Weihan Road, and set up a camp 20 miles west of Xin'an. At the same time, he sent a fast horse to report the military situation to Chen Sangliang.
In the afternoon of the same day, the main force of the Sui army arrived in Mianchi smoothly, only sixty miles away from the Xin'an battlefield. After receiving Liu Heita's report, Chen Sangliang, who had basically recovered from his illness, immediately called his staff to discuss the military situation, analyze Wang Shichong's intentions and formulate As a result, Yuan Tiangang, who has accumulated rich experience in actual combat, quickly pointed out: "Wang Shichong is waiting for defense on the offensive. He wants to take advantage of the narrow terrain of Weihan Road to confront our army head-on, boost morale, and prevent him from attacking." The morale of the army is shaken, and I also want to use the opportunity that our army cannot deploy to fight for a few victories and boost his morale."
"I think so too." Chen Sangliang nodded in approval of this analysis, and said viciously: "Since the enemy wants to rely on a few small victories to boost morale, then we must not let them do so. This time, we must win the first battle!"
"Then how do we fight?" Fang Xuanling hurriedly asked: "Your Highness, you once said that Wang Shichong's military style is known for his tenacity, and he is good at fighting hard and fierce battles. The terrain of Weihan Road is narrow, and our troops cannot be deployed. Even if you invest in elite soldiers and strong generals, you won’t be able to ensure victory if you don’t have enough troops?”
"Did you forget that we have artillery?" Chen Sangliang said with a smile: "Wang Shichong is good at fighting tough battles, which is based on his formation. Once the formation is loosened, it will be useless for his army to be good at battle."
Fang Xuanling came to his senses, and hurriedly flattered and praised Tang Wang for being wise, while Chen Sangliang smiled, and then clapped the case and said: "It's decided, we will use artillery for the first battle, and bring all fifty of our artillery into battle, facing Wang Shichong. The formation is booming! I don’t believe it, the fifty cannons that we spent so much bronze and grain can’t break through Wang Shichong’s tortoise formation!”
"It must be smashed." Yuan Tiangang said with a smile: "Because of the battle report from General Liu Heita, there is little rain on the Xin'an battlefield during this period, and the land is relatively dry. After our shells hit the ground, they can bounce as they want!"
Hearing Yuan Tiangang's words, in Chen Sangliang's large tent of the Chinese army, a night owl-like sneer sounded, and this sneer sound also doomed the pity of Wang Shichong, who dreamed of winning a few battles. end.
Wang Shichong, who had only seen the pine tree cannon, did not know that disaster was imminent. After finding out that the main force of the Sui army marched eastward and joined forces with Liu Heitai, he was forced to extend the camp to more than 20 miles from east to west due to terrain restrictions. Wang Shichong was once extremely proud He felt that as long as the self-army could defend the exit of Xiaohan Road, then over time, the main force of the Sui army, whose battalions were too long apart, would inevitably reveal fatal flaws because of the difficulty in responding from the beginning to the end, giving himself a chance to surprise the weak and defeat the strong. Immediately afterwards, when he learned that Chen Sangliang had only personally brought about 16,000 troops east to fight him due to terrain constraints, Wang Shichong laughed even louder, and immediately ordered 38,000 troops to be dispatched to fight. Set up a formation only three miles away from Xiaohan Road.
According to the old rules, Wang Shichong, who knows how vicious his son-in-law is, has set up three square formations early on, even if he has an absolute advantage in partial forces. More scouts were sent to keep a close watch on the Gushui River and various mountain trails to prevent the unfilial son-in-law from stealing chickens and dogs again and highlighting surprise attacks. The narrow terrain of Weihan Road had a more serious impact on the main force of the Sui army than Wang Shichong estimated. The troops were dispatched early in the morning, and the Sui army did not walk out of the Weihan Road until near noon. Open a phalanx, with infantry on the front and cavalry on the two wings, strictly preventing Wang Shichong from launching a surprise attack.
It was also after the soldiers of the Sui Army lined up that Chen Sangliang's flag of the Tang Dynasty finally appeared in front of the soldiers of the Zheng Army. Then Chen Sangliang patted his horse out and shouted for Wang Shichong to come out to answer. In front of him, he called his father-in-law by his name and called him an idiot, without concealing his true nature of being uneducated. Wang Shichong was not too polite, and soon walked out of the tortoise formation surrounded by fierce generals such as Wang Renze, Shan Xiongxin, and Ge Junzhang. He stood at a distance of more than two hundred steps from Chen Sangliang, and shouted righteously: "Bold little beast! Dare to speak rudely to me, and even dare to call me by my name, have you forgotten who is yours?!"
"Old man, if you dig my ancestral grave and destroy the bones of my ancestors, even if this king cuts you into pieces and dismembers you, this king's murderer and traitor, it will still be hard to get rid of the hatred in my heart! How can I still tell you how old I am?" Love for son-in-law?" Chen Sangliang roared loudly, with the utmost confidence.
Secretly cursing Pei Renji for acting privately, Wang Shichong yelled again: "Pei Renji was the one who dug up your ancestral grave, and I didn't instruct him to do so! You unscrupulous little thief insists on putting the crime on my head, regardless of indiscriminate behavior. Taking the opportunity to start a war and invade my land is simply despicable!"
Of course, Chen Sangliang had already found out that it was not Wang Shichong who asked Pei Renji to do the digging of Chen Yingliang's ancestral grave, but Pei Renji's habit of cheating his father with water in his head, but Chen Sangliang was naturally reluctant to give up such a convenient excuse for starting a war. Continue to put the blame on Wang Shichong's head, and roared: "Old man, don't argue! This king and Pei Renji not only have no grievances, but also have some old feelings. Without your instruction, how could he do this?" A matter of righteousness? Let’s stop talking nonsense, this king will bring his troops here in person, if you are wise, quickly get off your horse and kneel down and surrender! This king may still spare you! Otherwise, with this king’s order, you old man and your followers Your solitary ghost will surely be reduced to dust!"
Chen Sangliang's words were really too crazy. Not only was Wang Shichong, Chen Sangliang's elder, unbearable, but Wang Renze, Shan Xiongxin and other generals around Wang Shichong were also furious, and they all cursed and demanded to fight Chen Sangliang three times. Hundred rounds. Chen Sangliang recognized Shan Xiongxin, pointed at Shan Xiongxin with a horsewhip and shouted: "Shan Xiongxin is a traitor! I remember you! Your sister Shan Yingying, where is she now?!"
"Where is she?" Shan Xiongxin hesitated, and replied: "She is there, what does it matter to you? What are you asking?"
"It's nothing." Chen Sangliang revealed his obscene face again, and said with a smile: "I just heard that she has been married for many years and has no heirs until now. I want to help her and help her have a few sons."
While the generals of the Sui army laughed loudly, Shan Xiongxin's face turned black with anger, and Ti Li roared, "Shameless bastard! How dare you humiliate my sister! Let the horse come over, I will fight you for three hundred rounds!"
"Three hundred rounds of the battle? It's up to you? You don't deserve to let me do it!" Chen Sangliang boasted brazenly, then swiped his horsewhip at the four generals of the Sui army around him a few times, and said loudly: "Since you like to fight alone Pick, the king will also give you a chance. Among the four generals around the king, you choose one. As long as you beat him in the battle, the king will retreat and return to Guanzhong without saying a word! The chance is given to you, choose Bar!"
"Choose me!" Yuchi Jingde, Luo Shixin, Xue Renguo, and Wang Fubao, the four generals beside Chen Sangliang, stepped forward together and shouted in unison, "Shan Xiongxin! Do you have the guts to fight me for 300 rounds?!"
Shan Xiongxin was a little dumbfounded. He never expected that Chen Sangliang would do such a thing to him, but Wang Shichong next to him considered that Chen Sangliang always kept his word, and winning the heads-up in the battle also greatly boosted morale, and Shan Xiongxin His skill is really reassuring, so he whispered to Shan Xiongxin: "Nephew, son-in-law, choose, be sure to win!"
Shan Xiongxin hesitated again, and then carefully looked at the four generals around Chen Sangliang, and first ruled out Luo Shixin, the little monster who beat him to the ground several times in Wagangzhai, but Shan Xiongxin quickly It turns out that the other three generals around Chen Sangliang don't seem to be kind, one has sharper eyes than the other, and the other looks more ferocious than the other. At first glance, they look like ruthless characters who have crawled out of the dead for countless times—not at all. Strangely, Chen Sangliang, who was greedy for life and afraid of death, went out to scold and fight, so he naturally wanted to bring the most fierce generals with him as bodyguards.
Luo Shixin hooked his little finger at Shan Xiongxin contemptuously. Xue Renguo, the enemy of thousands, and Wang Fubao, the actual chief general of the Dou army, also shouted loudly, asking Shan Xiongxin to choose him, but Yuchi Jingde was ingenious, and put his horse into the arms of the soldiers behind him. Throwing it away, he raised his hands and shouted: "Shan Xiongxin! This general will kill you empty-handed! If this general can't take you down empty-handed, I will apologize to Your Highness right away!"
Yuchi Jingde's madness reached this point, of course Shan Xiongxin couldn't bear it anymore, he also bullied Yuchi Jingde and threatened to empty his hands, so he yelled: "Everyone, it's you! Take your life!"
Roaring, Shan Xiongxin slapped his horse and rushed straight to Yuchi Jingde, Yuchi Jingde laughed triumphantly, and really greeted Shan Xiongxin empty-handed, Chen Sangliang and others, who knew Yuchi Jingde's ability well, rode their horses back and gave way In the battlefield, the smiles on their faces were still very ferocious, Wang Shichong and others over there also retreated, and said together in their hearts: "Shan Xiongxin, if you can't even beat an empty-handed one, then don't come back alive!"
At this time, Yuchi Jingde and Shan Xiongxin were already engaged in the battle, Shan Xiongxin's horse broke through the wind, barbed and swung, just greeted Yuchi Jingde, fast and accurate, but Yuchi Jingde, who was facing the enemy empty-handed It was Ma Li, who was smiling and carefully avoiding Shan Xiongxin. The soldiers of the two armies cheered together, and the scene was very shocking. As a result, Shan Xiongxin's psychological pressure was naturally incomparably huge. He failed to touch Yuchi Jingde in a series of more than a dozen moves, and Shan Xiongxin, who couldn't hold back his face, was inevitably a little anxious. Yuchi Jingde took the opportunity to roar, and the black hand grabbed Shan Xiongxin's spear like lightning. Shan Xiongxin was shocked, and the Sui army burst into cheers like a landslide and tsunami.
"You man, do you know how powerful you are?" Luo Shixin laughed wildly and said, "You think you can take advantage of the empty-handed General Yuchi? Let me tell you the truth, let alone you, even in our army, I am the only one who is sure General Yuchi snatched Ma Li empty-handed!"
"Trash! Kill him!" Wang Shichong also yelled with a livid face.
Hearing Luo Shixin's wild laughter and Wang Shichong's furious roar, Shan Xiongxin's face couldn't hold back any longer. Taking advantage of the fact that he was still holding the spear tightly with both hands, he hurriedly grabbed the spear, but Yuchi Jingde had a sneer on his face, and still held the spear with his right hand. Holding the lance tightly, Shan Xiongxin used all his strength to pull back, but the lance still grew in Yuchi Jingde's hands as if it had taken root, and he couldn't get it back no matter what he said.
Seeing this scene, the soldiers of the Sui Army naturally cheered even louder, while the cheers of the soldiers of the Zheng Army were completely muted, and many soldiers of the Zheng Army couldn't help booing. Hearing that even the soldiers from the own army were booing him, Shan Xiongxin's expression was as ugly as it could be. He gritted his teeth and decided to jump up on the horse when he saw the opportunity, and kicked Yuchi Jingde's chest with his feet. Unexpectedly, Yuchi Jingde's reaction was extremely fast, he jumped up almost at the same time and returned first, and kicked his long legs on Shan Xiongxin's breastplate, which deformed Shan Xiongxin's breastplate directly, and said in his mouth White foam was sprayed out, and the person flew directly for more than two feet.
The soldiers of the Sui army burst into cheers again. As soon as Shan Xiongxin landed, he immediately fled back and chased. Everyone cheered and jumped, and their morale was boosted, but everyone in Zheng Jun's team was downcast, and the morale, which was not high at all, plummeted. But Wang Shichong himself wished to kick Shan Xiongxin to death, his face was so black that he almost dripped water.
After proudly calling back Yuchi Jingde, who won the duel, Chen Sangliang yelled at Wang Shichong again: "Old man, did you see that? You have already lost, why don't you get off your horse and kneel?"
"Why should I surrender?" Wang Shichong said with a sneer, "Just now you just said that if you lose, you will immediately return to Guanzhong. I never said what I want if my generals lose."
The soldiers of the Sui army booed everywhere, but Chen Sangliang knew that Wang Shichong would answer in this way, so he sneered and said: "Old man, you are still as shameless as before. Since you insist on being obsessed with your obsession, you are looking for death yourself! Then don't blame me for being rude. Already! Push it up!"
In the sound of singing promises, a total of fifty cannons wrapped in straw were pushed out slowly by the soldiers of the Sui army, and lined up in front of the Sui army phalanx. Wang Shichong was startled when he saw it, and then sneered Said: "I already knew that you little thief would come here, push me up!"
In the same sound of singing promises, Zheng Jun also launched 60 pine cannons in the formation, and quickly lined up in front of Zheng Jun's formation. Wang Shichong also shouted triumphantly: "Chen little thief! Do you see your cannons?" I have them too, and I have more than you! Don’t you like to use cannons? Today I will accompany you to fight to the end, and see who can’t hold it first!”
The one who answered Wang Shichong was of course Chen Sangliang laughing wildly, "That's right, it's because you have more guns! It seems that this time, this king is going to suffer a bit! Let you take advantage!"