In the Battle of the Outer City, the main force of the Sui army paid a high price. More than 1,400 elite soldiers under the command of the four generals Yuchi Jingde, Luo Shixin, Kan Leng and Qiu Xinggong were killed. The Sui army soldiers who died at that time lost a total of more than 2,800 people, and the total casualties were close to 4,300. The number of casualties was far greater than that of the decisive battle at the intersection of Weihan Road. The total casualties of the two cities also set a record for the loss of troops by the main force of the Sui army in a single battle.
The reason for the heavy casualties was Chen Sangliang himself. Originally, the main force of the Sui army could have blasted the city with gunpowder on only one battlefield, and then calmly entered the city to seize the outer city. There are so big. It was Chen Sangliang who was stubborn and took the lives of his soldiers as a trifling matter. He wanted to storm the two city gates at the same time to increase the casualties. The defeated army asked Kan Leng to forcibly intercept the defeated Zheng army in the outer city of Luoyang with a single army. The Sui army soldiers who could easily take the outer city suffered so many casualties in the fierce battle. It was completely asking for trouble. Take it upon yourself.
Of course, the more than 4,000 Sui warriors who died in battle were definitely not sacrificed in vain. In one night, more than 30,000 Zheng Army reserve troops and more than 16,000 city gate defenders were finally able to escape into the imperial city and continue fighting. Of the 8,000 people, the rest were either wiped out by the Sui army, captured, or lost in Luoshui. Only a handful escaped through the gate of the southern city. The Sui army picked up more than 3,000 Zheng soldiers from the lower reaches of the Luoshui River. corpses, but there are still many uncaught corpses floating further downstream. The corpses of Zheng Jun soldiers are all over the streets and alleys of the outer city of Luoyang. The people cleaned up for two days but failed to transport some of the corpses.
This battle also basically wiped out Wang Shichong's cost of counterattack. After this battle, there were only about 18,000 defenders left in the Luoyang Imperial City, and there were many wounded. It was not enough to protect themselves against the main force of the Sui army. , let alone a proper counterattack according to the original plan, to contain the main force of the Sui army and reduce the pressure on Luokoucang and Hulaoguan, and buy time for Dou Jiande's reinforcements. So after counting the remaining troops, the first thing Wang Shichong, with a livid face, ordered Wang Deren to take the opportunity to lead the defenders of Jinyong City to withdraw to the imperial city to reinforce the already seriously insufficient defenders. The second thing was to send people to Linming again. I implore Dou Jiande to send troops to help as soon as possible, the sooner the better!
Counting on the Jin Yongcheng defenders to withdraw to the imperial city to help in the war, Wang Shichong would not even think about it. Hei Kai was preparing to attack Jinyong City, and sent a large number of troops to intercept Wang Deren's army's way back to the city. After receiving the order, Wang Deren sent people out of the city to check several times but could not find a chance to withdraw to the imperial city. Zhao Jiqing, Wang Deren's deputy, He also quietly sent someone to get in touch with the Sui army, intending to sacrifice the city in exchange for glory and wealth.
On the other hand, Dou Jiande had some hope. In fact, on the second day after the main force of the Sui army captured the outer city of Luoyang, after the unremitting efforts and repeated pleadings of the envoys of the Zheng army, Wang Wan and Changsun Anshi, Dou Jiande finally nodded and agreed to send troops as soon as possible. Wang Shichong helped to keep Wang Shichong, the barrier of the Central Plains, and Chen Sangliang, who was disgusting no matter how he looked at it, also openly asked several counselors around him whether he should come to rescue Wang Shichong himself
When Wang Wan and grandson Anshi were ecstatic to finally move Dou Jiande, Ling Jing, the Imperial Academy Jijiu of the Great Xia court, jumped out to disgust them, and said to Dou Jiande: "If your majesty wants to personally conquer Dou Jiande, then Of course it is best to do it, with His Majesty's brilliance and martial arts, his soldiers are sharp, and it is easy to attack the city. However, I believe that His Majesty does not need to send troops to Luoyang, but directly go to Henan to rescue Zheng Guo."
When Wang Wan and grandson Anshi were taken aback, Dou Jiande also asked in great doubt: "Why? If I don't send troops to Luoyang, how can I rescue Zheng Guo?"
"Your Majesty, just encircle Wei and save Zhao." Ling Jing suggested: "If your Majesty wants to save Zheng, you can take advantage of the opportunity of Chen Thief in Hedong and Guanzhong to personally lead a large army into Shangdang. In the Jinnan Plain after the Central Plains, a group of troops was divided to take Huoyi in the north and cut off Li Jing's road to the south. The crisis in Luoyang can be resolved without fighting."
"Your Majesty, Ling Jijiu is a great plan." Song Zhengben, Dou Jiande's mastermind, also ran out to disgust Wang Wan and grandson Anshi, and echoed him: "Attack Hedong to encircle Wei to save Zhao. If you win, you can take the opportunity to enter the main pass and achieve Henkel Qinhuang's hegemony. Even if you lose, you can take the opportunity to take the land of abundant money and food in the east of the river. Army, even if they win, they will have to pay a high price, and they haven't gained any land, money or food."
Hearing this and seeing Dou Jiande's hesitation, Wang Wan panicked and hurried out to plead, "Your Majesty, the Chen bandits invaded Luoyang in a big way, and Luoyang is in dire straits. If Your Majesty doesn't directly send troops to Luoyang, Luoyang will definitely not be saved. Please also, Your Majesty." Send troops to Luoyang as soon as possible to save our soldiers from the fire and water. If this is the case, the whole country of Zheng will be grateful to His Majesty, money, silk, cloth, county land, as long as His Majesty speaks, our country will definitely give it all and give it back to His Majesty as much as possible. "
Fortunately, Wang Wan also had a friend in Dou Jiande's staff. At least Liu Bin, the Minister of Zhongshu, stood up to support Wang Wan, and said to Dou Jiande: "Your Majesty, I don't think you can save Zheng Guo by encircling Wei and saving Zhao. It is narrow, the army is moving slowly, and the transportation of food and grass is difficult. I am afraid that Luoyang will not be safe before the main force of our army can cross the Taihang Mountains. At that time, Chen Thief will have no worries. When he returns to the division to fight with our army, our army will not only face a lone army. Even if Luoyang can support our army to cross the Taihang Mountain, Chen Thief only needs to divide his troops to strangle the Taihang Mountain Road in advance, and our army will be unable to advance an inch. It is far less convenient and quicker than directly sending troops to reinforce Luoyang .”
Everyone has their own reasons, everything is good, but Dou Jiande, who has a soft ear, will inevitably hesitate, but Ling Jing and Song Zhengben are stubborn, pointing their fingers to Dou Jiande to calculate the time to enter the army, pointing out that as long as the own army moves fast enough, It is absolutely possible to cross the Taihang Mountains before Chen Sangliang divides his troops to return to aid, so that Chen Sangliang's partial division cannot guard the dangerous points. He also pointed out that the two important grain-producing areas of Jinnan Fengzu, Jiangjun and Hedong have not experienced war for two years, and there is enough grain. To meet the combat needs of the self-army, and as long as the self-army entered the Jinnan Plain, Chen Sangliang, who was empty in the rear, had to retreat and protect himself.
Under Ling Jing and Song Zhengben's repeated insistence, Dou Jiande wavered again, and after much consideration, he said: "Well, first prepare to send troops. Specifically, whether to send troops directly to Luoyang, or to take advantage of the emptiness and rush to Hedong, let me think more about it. I also asked the opinions of all the officials in the morning."
Hearing Dou Jiande's words, Ling Jing and Song Zhengben, both of whom were somewhat stubborn, still refused to give up, and they were still trying their best to persuade Dou Jiande to take advantage of the emptiness to enter the river east and disgust Chen Sangliang—this really made Chen Sangliang feel as if he had eaten a fly. However, Dou Jiande had other considerations and did not immediately accept their strategic proposals. He still had to wait to discuss with the civil and military officials. Ling Jing and Song Zhengben had no choice but to give up, and Wang Wan and Changsun Anshi also quietly breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that there was still a last ray of hope for Dou Jiande to directly send troops to Luoyang.
In order to seize the last hope, Wang Wan and Changsun Anshi, who are very good at being human, of course immediately moved around, sending a lot of gold, silver and jewelry to Dou Jiande's trusted generals, and begging them to help persuade Dou Jiande to send troops directly to Luoyang , and promised to lift the siege of Luoyang, there must be double thanks.
By doing this, Wang Wan and Changsun Anshi took aim at the weakness of Dou Jun’s generals. Dou Jiande, who was born as a bumpkin, was in a mess politically. He was very kind to the people and soldiers, but he was a bit uninteresting to his generals. Giving his lackeys turned them into the landlord class, causing the bumpkin generals under his command to be precarious, poor people who have eaten their last meal and never had their next meal. In history, Liu Heita was named the Duke of Handong County by Dou Jiande, and he became poor when he was free Everyone has to grow vegetables to make a living. So after seeing the large amount of jewels presented by Wang Wan and Changsun Anshi with both hands, Dou Jun generals' eyes lit up, and they also patted their chests to promise that they would persuade Dou Jiande to rescue Luoyang directly, and don't listen to Ling Jing and Song Zhengben. The pedantry of a nerd.
To be on the safe side, Wang Wan approached Li Mi—because after surrendering to Dou Jiande, Li Mi was not only respected and respected as the throne of Wei, but also very good at flattering Dou Jiande and speaking well, so even if Wang Wan couldn't pull Li Mi over, It is also necessary to first ensure that Li Mi does not make trouble.
It is a pity that although the jewelry Wang Wan gave Li Mi was precious, it did not receive any effect in front of Li Mi who had eaten and seen it before. Wan's gift, and did not agree to speak for Wang Wan, but he just excused himself as a new general because it was inconvenient to interfere too much with Dou Jiande's military affairs, and he did not want to express his opinion on this matter. After Wang Wan left in disappointment, Li Mi sneered at the student Wang Bodang who was accompanying him to meet him: "Li Lingzhi fainted! Do you think Dou Jiande can save them as long as he directly sends troops to Luoyang? Dreaming!"
"Master, do you think you can't directly send troops to Luoyang?" Wang Bodang asked curiously.
"Of course not!" Li Mi replied decisively: "Dou Jiande directly sent troops to Luoyang to seek death! The traitor Chen Yingliang personally led the main force to conquer Luoyang. Luoyang was useless, and he personally led the main force to rescue Luoyang, and it happened to give Chen Yingliang the traitor a chance to hit him head-on, so that Chen could hit him hard without having to go on an expedition! Only by sending troops to the east of the river to encircle Wei and save Zhao was the only way to force Chen to retreat. The best strategy!"
"Students also thought it was the best strategy to take advantage of the situation and attack Hedong." Wang Bodang nodded, echoing, "Linming is close to Shangdang, and they suddenly sent out large-scale troops. There was no way to re-defend Hedong, and Dou Jiande took the opportunity to attack Hedong in a big way, and the main force of Chen's bandits had no choice but to retreat immediately."
"There is a better way." Li Mi said with a sneer: "Blatantly declared that he would directly rescue Luoyang, and sent a partial division to the south to station in Ji County, pretending to clear the way, and attracting the main force of Chen's bandits to go east to prevent it. At the same time, pretending to increase troops to guard against Pang Yu Pifu took the opportunity to attack Linming, took the opportunity to clear the road, and then the main force suddenly sent troops to the west, Chen Bandit was even more caught off guard."
"Teacher's wonderful strategy!" Uncle Wang applauded, and then suggested: "Men, if Dou Jiande asks in public how to rescue Wang Shichong at the court meeting, why don't you offer this strategy immediately?"
"Stupid, how can such an ingenious plan be presented in public?" Li Mi laughed and said, "Aren't offering a plan in public a chance for Chen Yingliang's traitor to take precautions in advance? How can the traitor's subtle operation have reasons that cannot be heard at the court meeting? Such a clever plan can only be proposed to Dou Jiande alone, the less people know about it, the better."
Wang Bodang applauded again, and immediately suggested that Li Mi approach Dou Jiandemi as soon as possible. Of course, Li Mi would not be polite if he could disgust Chen Sangliang, but after nodding, Li Mi frowned and said: "But Wang Shichong is a troublesome man, his The envoy was afraid that the encirclement of Wei and rescue of Zhao would not succeed, and Luoyang would not be guaranteed. If he could send the gift to me, he would naturally send the gift to Dou Jiande's other confidantes. If it doesn't work out, it will give Chen thief a chance to hunt rabbits."
"Master, this matter is easy to handle." Wang Bodang hurriedly said: "Dou Jiande's character is stupid, and he can't rub the sand in his eyes. We only need to bribe some of his servants, and spread the news that Wang Wan and others are bribed and bought in front of Dou Jiande. ,So… ."
Li Mi smiled, and said with a smile: "That's it, I'll leave it to you, the sooner the better, just follow the path we took before."
Uncle Wang nodded with a smile, and immediately got up to prepare to make arrangements. At this point, as long as things continue smoothly, Chen Sangliang, who is devoid of conscience, must be as disgusting as eating a hundred flies. The plan is sure to become far away. But it is a pity that God helps evil but not good. At a critical moment, Li Mi's other absolute confidant, Wang Xuance, suddenly spoke, and quickly said: "Wei Gong, wait a minute! General Wang, wait a minute! The students have something to say!"
Looking at his confidential secretary with a little surprise, Li Mi asked suspiciously, "Xuance, what do you want to say?"
"Wei Gong, the student wants to ask you a question." Wang Xuance's expression was unusually firm, and he asked in a deep voice, "Wei Gong, do you still want to make a comeback? Do you still want to regain the former glory?"
Want to make a comeback? For Li Mi, who was forced to surrender to Dou Jiande because of his weak power, it is undoubtedly an extremely sensitive topic, but fortunately, both Wang Bodang and Wang Xuance present at the scene are absolute confidantes who have proved their absolute loyalty over time, so Li Mi is careful first. After looking around, he asked in a low voice, "Xuance, what do you mean by that?"
"Wei Gong, if you still want to make a comeback, you can only persuade Dou Jiande to lead an army to Luoyang! Dou Jiande must not be allowed to send troops to Hedong!"
Usually, Wang Xuance, who couldn't fart with three hammers, seemed to be a different person. Not only was his tone extremely firm, but also his words were rare and active. He lowered his voice and said, "If Wei Gong wants to ask why, then the students can only To answer you, your roots are in the Central Plains! Dou Jiande sent troops to Luoyang, sent troops to the Central Plains, whether it is victory or defeat, Wei Gong, you can win the chance to make a comeback and regain the glory of the previous day! But if Dou Jiande sends troops to Hedong, then no matter whether Dou Jiande wins or not If it is negative, Duke Wei will always be driven by others, and will always bow his head to Dou Jiande!"
Li Mi was stunned for a moment, his black face suddenly revealed a thoughtful look, Wang Xuance, who had already figured out Li Mi's intentions, observed his words, and took the opportunity to say: "Wei Gong, Dou Jiande sent troops east of the river to encircle Wei to rescue Zhao. Wang Shichong is an old man's life. But no matter whether Dou Jiande can capture Hedong, Duke Wei, you have no chance, because your roots are in the Central Plains, Duke Wei, not in Hedong. No matter how good your chance is in Hedong, you can only It’s starting from the beginning, fighting the country and the world again, and there are many difficulties and dangers.”
He glanced at Li Mi again, seeing that he already agreed with his analysis in his eyes, Wang Xuance said again: "But if you, my mentor, persuade Dou Jiande to go to the Central Plains himself, then the situation will be completely different. He and Wang Bo and other heroes of the Central Plains were once subordinates of Duke Wei, and General Yang Jishan, who is currently stationed in Baima, is Duke Wei’s old confidant. Many soldiers and horses under Wang Shichong’s command are also Duke Wei’s subordinates, Duke Wei Wouldn't it be easier and more convenient to make a comeback in the Central Plains than in Hedong?"
Li Mi was even more shaken, but Wang Bodang said: "Xuance, it's easy for you to talk about it. With Dou Jiande under the pressure, it's so easy for the teacher to make a comeback?"
"It's not that easy, but at least the chances are much greater." Wang Xuance rarely smiled, and said with a smile: "Dou Jiande must send someone to appease and surrender the Central Plains counties and counties when he conquers Luoyang. Is it a good choice? If Dou Jiande succeeds in forcing Chen Thief to retreat, then he will not only form a deadly feud with Chen Thief, but also will definitely take the opportunity to annex Wang Shichong. When the time comes, won’t Duke Wei have a better chance?"
"Also, even if Dou Jiande is defeated, Wei Gong also has a great chance." Wang Shichong lowered his voice and said: "If Dou Jiande is defeated, he must plan to reorganize the army and seek revenge from the old bandits. If he wants to reorganize the army, he must recruit troops. In addition to the counties in Hebei, the counties in the Central Plains are also important sources of soldiers for recruiting. At that time, wouldn’t Dou Jiande have to rely more on Duke Wei? Also, if Dou Jiande’s vitality was seriously injured and he was forced to flee eastward, Duke Wei who was stationed in Baima Wouldn't the old army immediately become an army that will determine the future of Hebei?"
What Wang Xuance said was very general and too idealistic, but Wang Xuance, who aimed at Li Mi's thoughts, was right about one thing - in the Central Plains, Li Mi's chances of making a comeback are indeed much greater! So after hesitating for a long time, Li Mi, who was always unwilling to let others down in his heart, finally changed his mind and said through gritted teeth: "Three of us, there must be my teacher. Xuan Ce's words are right. Sending troops to Hedong is only for Dou Jiande's benefit. Sending troops to the Central Plains Good for me!"
It is precisely because of Wang Xuance's nonsense that Ling Jing and Song Zhengben, the loyal ministers of the Xia Dynasty, will never have the opportunity to drag Dou Jian into the right path. At the court meeting, not only Dou's army and generals agreed that it is urgent to send troops to Luoyang to save Wang Shichong , Li Mi also stood up and pointed out the countless benefits of directly sending troops to Luoyang, and listed the various dangers of sending troops to Hedong. In addition, Liu Bin, another important adviser of Dou Jiande, also secretly instigated Dou Jiande to send troops to Luoyang and took the opportunity to annex Wang Shichong's forces. Dou Jiande finally made a decision Determined to personally lead the main army to the south to rescue Wang Shichong, and crusade against the shameless traitor Chen Sangliang who stole the dynasty and usurped power!
Because he strongly opposed Dou Jiande's decision, Ling Jing was ordered by the furious Dou Jiande to beat down the Golden Luan Palace with sticks. The secret collusion was Chen Sangliang's traitor in the Great Xia court, and he showed Chen Sangliang's letter to Song Zhengben as evidence. As a result, Dou Jiande, who had suspected Song Zhengben's blunt words and advice for a long time, was furious, and ordered Song Zhengben to be pushed out of the Meridian Gate and beheaded, and his head was hung on the head of Linming City for public display.
I went to Linming city gate specially to watch Song Zhengben's head, looking at the bloody head, Wang Xuance was filled with emotion, and murmured in his heart: "Chen Liushou, you entrusted me to the humble job, the humble job has finally been done, You can also take the opportunity to return to your side. But... "
"However, before I come back, I still want to take revenge, for Marshal Zhang!"