When the rising sun shed the first ray of sunlight, the Dou army finally rang the golden gong. Hearing the retreat signal, the Dou soldiers under the wall of Hulaoguan were like death row prisoners who heard the amnesty edict. In the same way, he threw down the dilapidated flying ladder that was already stained with blood and sweat, and fled back and forth. Many Dou soldiers were still retreating with joy on their faces, and they rejoiced aloud, "It's finally over, it's finally over, I'm still here!" I thought, I can’t wait until this battle is over.”
Contrary to the soldiers of the Dou Army who were forced to give up the siege and secretly rejoiced, the soldiers of the Sui Army who were victors on the top of the city did not cheer at all. Holding on to their arms and using long-range weapons to chase the enemy out of range, they all sat down on the top of the city with corpses all over the ground, sat on the blood-stained ground, panted heavily, and Many soldiers fell directly to the ground and fell asleep snoring loudly.
"Dou Jiande is just a mediocre! The sun has risen, and the sun is in his favor, yet he is willing to retreat! Idiot! Mediocre! Idiot! If it were me, I would be willing to retreat at this time!"
Only Chen Sangliang's cousin, Li Keshi, was still yelling loudly on the top of the wall, but his words were obviously exhausted. While waving the horizontal knife to provoke the enemy, Li Keshi slipped on his foot and was about to fall. When Xu Shiji hurriedly supported him, but because his hands and feet were already weak, he was led by Li Keshi to fall together, and they all fell into a mess. However, after glancing at each other's blood-stained and dusty face, Li Keshi and Xu Shiji laughed loudly again. There was relief, joy, and bitterness in the laughter.
Mingjin retreated at this time, not because Dou Jiande didn't know that the sun had gradually started to benefit him, but because Dou Jiande's army could no longer fight. During the day and night of the siege, Dou's army successively invested more than 50,000 people of various types, and the ants attached Thirteen sieges, more than 10,000 soldiers were killed and injured. As a result, not only were they still unable to do anything about the strong city defenses at Hulao Pass, but they also wiped out large-scale siege vehicles such as ladder vehicles and city-ramming vehicles. Tired from top to bottom, the generals kept crying and begging Dou Jiande to retreat as soon as possible. It was impossible for Dou Jiande to force the army that had worked hard all day and night to attack the city wall with the simple flying ladder, so Dou Jiande had no choice but to order the retreat Order, led the army back with endless anger and hatred for Chen Sangliang.
After the war, there was a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood on the battlefield of Hulaoguan, and the battlefield of Luokoucang was the same. Although the soldiers of the Sui army had already entered the city in the middle of the night, the troops of Zheng Jun Wang Xuanying, who had nowhere to escape, still did not move. Willing to give up, he used amazing fighting spirit and perseverance to make the final dying struggle. Wang Xuanying also categorically rejected Chen Sangliang's personal surrender, and led the remnants of the defeated army to retreat to the high ground in the city to fight stubbornly. The main force of the Sui army had to concentrate its forces to besiege the remnants of the enemy, and it took a considerable price to wipe out nearly a thousand remnants led by Wang Xuanying at dawn, and captured the wounded Wang Xuanying alive.
When the bruised brother-in-law was brought before Chen Sangliang, Chen Sangliang did not try to surrender or comfort the brother-in-law, nor did he pay attention to the eyes of the brother-in-law who pretended to be calm and fearless but were actually full of fear, and just ordered his subordinates to detain Wang Xuanying. He was detained for treatment and put into a prison van for later use. After his subordinates followed the order, seeing his brother-in-law's dejected look when he was taken away, Chen Sangliang's bloodshot eyes showed some fatigue, and he murmured: "I didn't kill you right away, it was for Xue Ji's sake, You are also useful when recruiting the Luoyang defenders. If your father and son were not so ambitious and resisted so tenaciously, how many fewer people would die?"
After successfully capturing the Luokou warehouses that still had some grain left, the Sui army not only solved the problem of grain supply and ordnance transportation, but also got rid of the passive situation of two-front combat in one fell swoop, and finally freed up their hands to deal with the Dou Jiande's threat, the civil and military generals of the Sui army who went to the east should be encouraged by this, and they all believe that their own army has been invincible, and it is only a matter of time before Dou Jiande is driven away and Luoyang City is restored. However, Chen Sangliang himself did not dare to relax in the slightest, because there is still a huge problem in front of Chen Sangliang - how to surpass Li Er, severely injure Dou Jiande's army on the battlefield of Hulaoguan, and capture or kill Dou Jiande himself
After resting for a day and leaving an army stationed in Luokou Cang, the exhausted Chen Sangliang led the equally exhausted main force of the Eastern Expedition back to Hulao Pass. Li Keshi, Yin Kaishan and other civil and military officers all came to Tiger Chen Sangliang was greeted at the west gate of the prison. When meeting, Chen Sangliang didn't have time to praise his cousin's outstanding performance in the battle of defending the city, and immediately asked: "How is the Dou Jiande bandit army? Is there any new movement?" ?Like cutting down wood to build new siege weapons?"
"No." Li Keshi shook his head and introduced: "The Dou bandit army has not moved since it retreated back to the camp yesterday, and it has not cut down wood as frantically as it did a few days ago. It looks like the Dou bandit army is planning to rest for a while. "
"It's broken." Chen Sangliang heard the complaint, and said: "Perhaps Dou is going to run away, and now we are in big trouble."
Li Keshi did not participate in the military meeting held by Chen Sangliang outside Luoyang City, and did not know Chen Sangliang's arrogant ambition to beat Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande into rabbits. Hearing this, he was naturally taken aback, and asked in surprise: "Your Highness, If the bandits Dou retreated, wouldn't we be free to attack Luoyang with all our strength right away? Is this a good thing? Why are you calling it bad?"
This time it was the turn of the civil and military members of the Sui army who participated in the Luoyang meeting to smile wryly, but Chen Sangliang shook his head and said, "Let's talk about it after entering the city. After the army is settled, we will slowly discuss the next thing. "
Li Keshi and other generals promised to follow Chen Sangliang into the city quickly. Chen Sangliang explained casually, and gave the matter of relocating the army to his accomplices, while he thought hard about how to prevent Dou Jiande from fleeing in front of the battle. Up and down are exhausted, injured and sick. If Dou Jiande ran away with the army ahead of time, Chen Sangliang would really have nothing to do with him.
Naturally, Chen Sangliang first thought of his best shameless trick, and immediately thought of Wang Fubao, the only one under his command who surrendered from Dou Jiande, and subconsciously called Wang Fubao to him. After looking at Wang Fubao's serious Chinese character face, Chen Sangliang shook his head again and said, "Forget it, this task is not suitable for you."
Wang Fubao was confused, he didn't know what Chen Sangliang was doing, but Chen Sangliang's thieves' eyes began to scan the accomplices under his command, circling around in his mind, and for a while, his eyes stayed on Mulan's more delicate face On the ground, without moving away for a long time, Mulan was a little guilty of being stared at by Chen Sangliang, she quickly rolled her eyes at Chen Sangliang and turned her face away. But fortunately, Chen Sangliang finally gave up on Mulan, and turned his attention to Shi Wanbao, who had not performed particularly well since returning to surrender, and quickly made up his mind, smiling and telling Shi Wanbao: "General Shi , See me after the army is settled, and I have an errand for you."
Shi Wanbao promised, and then Chen Sangliang led the crowd back to the headquarters in Hulaoguan City, and went to the lobby. The first thing Chen Sangliang did was to call Sun Fujia to him, and said to him: " Fu Jia, write a letter to Dou Jiande for me. The content is to laugh at his failure in the siege, and to show off my success in taking down the Luokou warehouse. The more vicious the words, the better. Said that if he has the courage, the king will definitely accompany him."
"Your Highness, can this be done?" Sun Fujia said worriedly: "Our soldiers are too tired and urgently need time to rest. If Dou Jiande invites us to fight tomorrow, how will we fight?"
"It doesn't matter, anyway, the initiative is in our hands, we can decide whether to fight or not, and then we will find a way to refuse." Chen Sangliang waved his hand shamelessly, and said: "Trap Dou Jiande first, then talk about it. Write quickly, Uncle, you go and get me a Dou thief prisoner, let the Dou thief prisoner deliver the letter, sending this letter means beheading, don't let our people go to die for nothing."
…
Just like what Chen Sangliang was worried about, there were indeed voices within the Dou Army that they would no longer attack Hulao Pass, but what Chen Sangliang never expected was that not only were there many civil servants of the Dou Army who opposed continuing to attack Hulao Pass head-on, even Dou Jiande's wife, Cao Shi, also blew the pillow wind, persuading Dou Jiande not to waste time and energy outside Hulao Pass, and suggested that Dou Jiande find another way to save his ally Wang Shichong as soon as possible.
The reason why the Cao family and the civilian officials of the Dou army objected to continuing to attack Hulao Pass was simple. Dou Jiande's army had no choice but to face the Sui army's partial division when attacking the fortress head-on. Facing Dou Jiande's army, what hope can Dou Jun have to win Hulao Pass? Dou Jiande also considered this terrible problem, so after withdrawing from the camp, when the large siege weapons had been exhausted, Dou Jiande did not let the army rush to build siege weapons again, and gradually began to waver in his heart.
Fortunately, Chen Sangliang also had two free helpers in the Dou army camp called Wang Wan and Changsun Anshi. In order to keep Dou Jiande and the hope of saving Luoyang, Wang Wan and Changsun Anshi spent a lot of money to bribe the important generals of the Dou army , while running to Dou Jiande, weeping and begging, begging Dou Jiande to continue attacking Hulao Pass, the general Dou Jun who took their benefits was also soft-spoken, and did not follow the civil servants to persuade Dou Jiande to give up attacking Hulao Pass. In addition, he had to consider the issue of face, so Dou Jiande didn't immediately make up his mind to withdraw his troops. He led all the soldiers to rescue Wang Shichong, but he ran away after only one battle.
Under such a background, when Dou Jun's captive sent Chen Sangliang's letter to Dou Jiande, Dou Jiande, who was already annoyed in his heart, immediately became furious, yelling and tearing up Chen Sangliang's letter. Smash, then slapped the table and roared: "Immediately write a letter to Chen thief for me, and ask him to fight tomorrow! If you don't fight to the death, you won't be able to tell the winner, I will never withdraw!"
Dou Junwen and Wu who were present were dumbfounded when he heard this, and hurriedly asked: "Your Majesty, Thief Chen is sitting in Hulao Guanjian City. Whether it is fighting or defending, he will take the initiative. How could he agree to a decisive battle with us?"
"How is it possible? Chen's thief's letter is asking me to agree a date with him to fight again!" Dou Jiande took the case again, and asked in doubt: "Eh? Where did Chen's thief's letter go?"
Still noticing the scraps of paper on the ground, Dou Jiande remembered that he had torn up Chen Sangliang’s letter in a fit of rage. In desperation, Dou Jiande had no choice but to introduce the general content of the letter, vaguely explaining Chen Sangliang’s viciousness towards him. Laughing, emphatically introducing Chen Sangliang's promise to make an appointment for a decisive battle. As a result, some of the generals of Dou Jun were overjoyed after hearing this, and they said that Chen Sangliang was so complacent after the victory that he would lose if he underestimated the enemy. Unparalleled, his army is exhausted from fighting one after another, and it is difficult for him to fight again. It is absolutely impossible for him to launch a decisive battle in the near future. This matter is too weird, and please be cautious, Your Majesty."
"There is no need to be cautious!" Dou Jiande slapped the case again, and said viciously: "What is the loss of writing the letter? That's it, I will ask him to fight tomorrow with Chen Bandit. If he dares to agree, I will send him to heaven in the field battle." !"
His slender arms couldn't twist his thighs. Although many Dou Jun civil and military generals suspected that this was Chen Sangliang's trick, since Dou Jiande had already made a final decision, Dou Jun Wen and Wu, who had already learned from Song Zhengben, still didn't dare to say anything. Dou Jiande wrote a book by himself, and wrote a letter that insulted Chen Sangliang to the point of blood. He asked Chen Sangliang to fight a decisive battle outside Hulao Pass the next day, and immediately sent someone to send the letter to Hulao Pass. Hand it over to Chen Sangliang.
Dou Jiande's autographed letter scolded Chen Sangliang even worse. It's a pity that although such insults are very effective for the nouveau riche Dou Jiande who loves face, it is useless for Chen Sangliang, who is thicker than the corner of the Great Wall. After reading Dou Jiande's letter with a smile, Chen Sangliang took up the pen himself, and wrote a very shameless sentence at the end of the letter - there is no time tomorrow, and the decisive battle will be held in ten days!
When ordering the envoy of Dou Jun to take the letter back to Dou Jiande, the envoy of Dou Jun was dumbfounded when he saw Chen Sangliang's reply in the letter, and asked in surprise: "His Royal Highness Tang, didn't you say that as long as we make an appointment to fight, Are you sure you will accompany me? Why do you want to change it to ten days after we agreed on the decisive battle tomorrow?"
"My king said that I will accompany you, but I didn't say that you must specify the date of the final battle?" Chen Sangliang said with a smile: "Go back and tell Dou Jiande that this king has just returned from the recovery of Luokoucang and is already very tired." I need some time to rest. If he has the guts to fight decisively, we will talk about it in ten days. I’m afraid he won’t have the guts. Well, I’m tired, I’m going to rest, see off the guests.”
The envoy of Dou Jun still insisted that the guards on the left and right had already come up to chase away the people. The envoy of Dou Jun had no choice but to go out of the city and return to the camp obediently with the letter to report Chen Sangliang's reply to Dou Jiande. Furious, he ordered the army to prepare siege weapons immediately, intending to attack Hulao Pass head-on again. All the civil and military forces in Dou's army hurriedly persuaded Dou Jiande to calm down, and finally calmed down Dou Jiande. It was a waste of energy to rush to build siege weapons.
But the calm efforts of Dou Jun's civil and military forces only lasted until night. When it was completely dark, an envoy who claimed to be the confidant of the Sui army general Shi Wanbao came to Dou Jiande's camp, claiming that Shi Wanbao was wronged by Chen Sangliang. Being reused, and intending to avenge the old master Li Yuan, he must volunteer to act as an internal response for the Dou army, open the city gate when the Dou army launches an attack, and cooperate with the inside and outside to help Dou Jiande take down Hulao Pass.
In addition, Shi Wanbao also reported an important situation to Dou Jiande in the letter, that is, the soldiers of the Sui army in the Eastern Expedition were exhausted and injured, and their combat effectiveness was seriously reduced. At the same time, Wang Shichong in Luoyang City also launched a counterattack, so Chen Sangliang At the military meeting, it was decided to temporarily stabilize Dou Jiande by delaying troops. While letting the soldiers rest, they looked for an opportunity to return to Luoyang alone to preside over the battle there.
Dou Jiande, who is actually very suspicious, did not immediately believe Shi Wanbao's envoy. He pretended to see through Shi Wanbao's trick of false surrender, and ordered that Shi Wanbao's envoy be pushed out of the tent and beheaded. However, it is a pity that the envoys sent by Chen Sangliang are either absolutely reliable, or they are unknowingly dead - this envoy served by Shi Wanbao's personal soldiers is no exception, so although they are already scared to pee their pants, The messenger still cried desperately and persisted, saying that he delivered the letter under Shi Wanbao's order, and that Shi Wanbao's dedication to the city was definitely not a fake, but a sincere one.
After carefully observing and finding no flaws, Dou Jiande then ordered the unlucky messenger to be brought back in front of him, and asked him carefully about Shi Wanbao's situation under Chen Sangliang's tent, and the messenger truthfully explained Shi Wanbao's situation under Chen Sangliang's tent It is generally mediocre, and has not been reused by Chen Sangliang like Yin Kaishan and Feng Li. He also said that Shi Wanbao was reprimanded and scolded by Chen Sangliang at the meeting today-of course Shi Wanbao introduced this to the soldiers himself. Although Dou Jiande was still a little skeptical after hearing this, he was unavoidably moved, thinking that no matter what, he would meet his luck.
Ever since, in this way, in the early morning of the next day, Dou Jiande issued another decree, ordering the soldiers under his command to prepare a large number of siege weapons again, and determined to launch an attack again. Said: "My relatives brought the whole country's soldiers to rescue Luoyang. Luoyang is in danger, but I sit here and watch, fearing the enemy and not going forward. Aren't I afraid of him, Chen Yingliang's traitor? Abandoning faith and provoking ridicule? I have made up my mind, and I will prepare again Siege the city, if there are any blockers, cut them immediately!"
The civil and military soldiers of Dou Jun resignedly shut up, and Zheng Jun envoys such as Wang Wan and Changsun Anshi couldn't wait to sing their praises. The soldiers of Dou Jun were also forced to carry axes and saws up the mountain to cut wood, and brought a large amount of wood down the mountain to make siege weapons. And such a big move, of course, cannot be hidden from the eyes of the Sui Army scouts anyway. After the Sui Army scouts reported the news to Chen Sangliang, Chen Sangliang immediately laughed loudly and said: "Sure enough, I got caught!" ! Mr. Dou Jiande, since you have been trapped by this king, your death is not far away!"