On the fourth day of November in the second year of the reign of Great Wu Xingtong, Li Qin completed the assembly of troops in the area of Xiangyang under the cover of escorting the second batch of military supplies to support Li Tang in his fight against the Turks. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Two days later, that is, on the sixth day of November in the second year of Xingtong, Kou Zhong, the governor of Donghaidao of Great Wu, led 100,000 troops from Pengcheng to launch a surprise attack on Liang County, but within three days, the Wu army captured Liang County and approached Xingyang.

Emperor Zheng Shichong was so shocked by this that he ordered his eldest son Wang Xuanying to lead 50,000 troops to rescue Xingyang, and at the same time ordered the southern counties such as Xiangcheng in Weiyang to prepare to deal with the northward march of the Wu army. In the face of the sudden attack of the Wu army, Wang Shichong, who had been extremely decadent since the departure of the Tang army, rarely took a strong position.

In the main hall of the Luoyang Palace, facing the ministers who were extremely flustered when they knew the news of Li Qin's northward journey, Wang Shichong said loudly: "Don't worry about the Wu thief's northward journey, it is a cold winter right now, which is not conducive to the army's battle." Wu thief is not tomorrow, but he is killing himself. Since we can defeat Li Tang, we can also defeat Southern Wu.

At that time, we will counterattack by the trend, and the land of Huaibei and Henan should be in our hands. In this battle, as long as everyone works hard, I will not hesitate to reward you! ”

Rarely, Wang Shichong made a promise to his subordinates.

It's just that perhaps because Wang Shichong has too many bad records in the past, the generals in Luoyang only responded, and the atmosphere was not very high.

In short, after some encouragement, Da Zheng's war machine also began to work.

It's just that because the momentum on Kou Zhong's side is extremely huge, Wang Shichong instinctively thinks that the Xingyang area is Li Qin's main offensive direction, and he said that his main energy is focused there, and he guards the Tiger Prison Pass and Mengjindu with heavy troops, and ignores the defense of the Yique area there.

Therefore, he did not know that Li Qin had already led 50,000 fully redressed musketeers to arrive in the city of Weiyang, which was guarded by Zhang Gongjin, along with 120 siege guns.

Zhang Gongjin was appointed by Wang Shichong as the garrison of Weiyang, and he was an acquaintance of Li Qinjun, and the two sides had been in contact a year earlier.

As a general with a foreign surname, he naturally did not win the trust of Wang Shichong as much as the children of the Wang family, but when the Tang army attacked in the middle of the year, he did not surrender to the Tang army, so that he survived the purge after Wang Shichong. Wang Shichong still asked him to guard his south gate, but he didn't know that he had already been subdued by Li Qin.

In fact, based on Wang Shichong's suspicion and injustice of generals with foreign surnames, when Li Shimin attacked Luoyang in the middle of the year, Zhang Gongjin had the idea of surrendering Li Tang.

However, he made a move, but was stopped by Li Jing, the general of the chariot and cavalry guarding Wuguan.

“…… I know that you are angry at Wang Shichong's injustice and want to surrender for the sake of Weiyang from war, but it is not a good thing to surrender Li Tang now. The world has been suffering from war for a long time, and it will inevitably be reunited within a few years. In such cases, the one who surrenders only once is better off than the one who surrenders twice.

Li Tang is not the biggest force in the world, and his internal strife is also obvious. It is not a very wise choice for you to join him in this way. Weiyang is located in the north of Nanyang, that is, the south gate of Emperor Zheng, and also our north gate, no matter what, we can't sit back and watch Li Tang take Weiyang. If you insist on going your own way, I am afraid that we will eventually meet each other. ”

This is the meaning expressed in a letter written by Li Jing to Zhang Gongjin, which contains both exhortation and threat.

Zhang Gongjin couldn't agree to the request from the south, and he still remembered the topic left by the battle of Yique. Naturally, he didn't dare to ignore it, so he drove away the lobbyists of Cihang Jingzhai, persevered, and sat back to watch Li Qin assist Wang Shichong's grain and grass supplies to go north, and waited until Li Shimin finally retreated.

Because he never surrendered to Li Shimin, Wang Shichong still asked him to guard this Weiyang County, which was not very rich.

Because of such an affair with Li Jing, and seeing the wealth and strength of Southern Wu from Li Qin's assistance to Wang Shichong, Zhang Gongjin was the first to express his willingness to join Li Qin's command after Li Qin's envoy Shen Luoyan arrived to express Li Qin's desire to take Luoyang.

For Zhang Gongjin's refuge, Li Qin is naturally very happy.

After some arrangement, Weiyang secretly changed flags, and the grain and grass of Li Qin's army were able to pass through and quickly transfer to Yique through Weiyang.

And Yique's guard is Wang Shichong's nephew Wang Xingben. He was very surprised to see Li Qin's army suddenly approaching. He did not think of the possibility of Weiyang surrendering, thinking that Li Qin came directly from Nanyang.

As Wang Shichong's nephew, he certainly couldn't surrender to Li Qin. He wanted to lead his troops to resist, but he didn't want his subordinate general Duguji to be unwilling to do so. Dugu Ji is a person who is a lonely valve. In terms of the degree of collusion between Dugu Valve and Li Qin, Dugu Ji's natural way is still to take refuge in Li Qin in the end.

So, Duguji launched a mutiny on the night when Li Qin's soldiers came to Yique, took down Wang Xingben, and gave Yique to Li Qin.

Yique is the gateway to the south of Luoyang, and its fall means that Li Qin's army can directly attack the city of Luoyang.

This is not the most critical, the most critical thing is that Duguji's behavior caused a lot of turmoil under Wang Shichong.

If Zhang Gongjin's surrender is only his personal submission and represents the dissatisfaction of those generals with foreign surnames with Wang Shichong, then Duguji's surrender represents Dugu's comprehensive surrender to Li Qin.

The chain reaction was generated, after Zhang Gongjin and Duguji, Guo Qing surrendered Li Qin with the control of Zhou, cutting off the connection between Xingyang and Luoyang; At the same time, when Xiangcheng was left behind, Derui took refuge in Li Qin with Xiangcheng County, and made Li Qin's soldiers and horses and Kou Zhonglian one. Under such circumstances, Xingyang first became an isolated city.

At this time, Kou Zhong received twenty siege artillery pieces from Li Qin. He bombarded Xingyang with heavy artillery. Xingyang stayed behind Wei Lu and completely lost the confidence to fight, he secretly contacted Kou Zhong, dedicated the west gate he was responsible for to Kou Zhong, and ordered the Wu army to enter Xingyang City.

Wang Xuan was captured, and Xingyang finally fell into the hands of Kou Zhong.

After Xingyang fell, Li Qin's encirclement of Wang Shichong was naturally completed, and now in addition to Luoshui and the Yellow River, the only person who can contact the outside world is Hongnong in the west.

It's just that Hongnong is Li Tang's territory, and a war broke out between the two sides only a few months ago, and now Wang Shichong is not cheeky enough to ask Li Tang for help.

So who is like asking for help?

Dou Jiande?

Although the two sides had a misunderstanding in Liyang last year and had a fight with each other, that was already in the past. Wang Shichong said that he didn't care, so he asked his henchman Song Mengqiu to go to Yecheng for help.

Right now, Dou Jiande has just fought a big war with the Turks, and he needs the materials purchased by Li Qin to restore his power, where can he dare to provoke the Wu army, which looks very difficult to deal with.

At that moment, Dou Jiande comforted Song Mengqiu, and was polite to him on the surface, but secretly informed Li Qin of the news that Song Mengqiu asked for help on behalf of Wang Shichong.

Li Qin directly ordered someone to reply to Dou Jiande, with only one sentence: "Whether it is an enemy or a friend, you weigh it yourself." ”

"Weigh? Do you still need to weigh it? Dou Jiande smiled bitterly.

He had soldiers and people, but he lacked money and food, and there were not many masters in the army, and in the face of the Turkic threat, he mainly relied on the firearms supplied by Li Qin to achieve victory. If he is an enemy of Li Qin, it means that his source of firearms will be cut off.

How could Dou Jiande accept this situation, it was not that he didn't want to build his own firearms, but he took the arquebus he got from Li Qin and asked the craftsmen in the army. Skilled craftsmen say they can build it, but at this speed, it's really surprisingly busy.

The cost-effectiveness ratio is not high, which makes Dou Jiande desperate for this.

In the current situation of the Turks going south, he will never fall out with Li Qin.

So, Dou Jiande invited Song Mengqiu to drink, directly turned Song Mengqiu's medicine, tied it up, and sent someone to send it to Li Qin.

Li Qin got Song Mengqiu and used some means to get further news about Wang Shichong from his mouth. The reality of Wang Shichong is clearer.

After Xingyang was taken, Li Qin and Kou Zhong set up cannons and aimed them at Luoyang City.

During this period, the concubine of Cihang Jingzhai specially came to visit, with the words "Everyone is working hard to fight against the Turks, so don't make trouble!" persuaded Li Qin to withdraw from the army on the ground, but Li Qin refused.

"The Turks are Hu people, and Wang Shichong is also Hu people. I heard that Wang Shichong is the atom of the Western Regions Hu Sect, the sect known as the Great Ming Zun Sect, and he is a high-level figure in it. Such an important person, coming to the Central Plains to be the emperor, I really don't feel at ease. I think the power of the Hu people in the world is still as small as possible. Li Qin faintly revealed Wang Shichong's hidden identity.

Concubine Xuan didn't know that Wang Shichong was the matter of the Great Ming Zun Sect Atom, but she knew that Li Qin would not lie to herself, and she believed most of it at the moment.

Since it involves the struggle of the sect, it is not easy for Shi Fei Xuan to say anything more. In addition, Li Qin threatened Li Tang with the means of cutting off the supply of materials, and Shi Feixuan finally decided to give up the rescue of Wang Shichong.

Dou Jiande refused to rescue, and Li Tang couldn't intervene. Although Hongnong was not occupied by Li Qin, in fact Luoyang had become an isolated city again.

This is what happened on the third day of December in the second year of Xingtong.

In the face of Li Qin's increasingly tightening offensive in the Eastern Capital, Wang Shichong can be described as anxiously tight as an ant on a hot pot.

The constant surrender of the out-of-shape generals made him lose confidence in his courtiers and generals. But he still wanted to try. In order to consolidate his forces to resist Li Qin, Wang Shichong ordered the relatives and children of the ministers and generals in the city to be pressed into the palace.

He shouted hysterically: "If you still dare to surrender, I will kill all your children and relatives." ”

This is very crazy behavior. After such an act, the general of the city completely separated from him.

"I've never seen someone so crazy and still get the world. Da Zheng, this is going to be completely declined. The generals under Wang Shichong's command sighed helplessly: "We have to prepare corresponding methods." ”

"What are you going to do?" Soon, several generals with foreign surnames who were usually good friends gathered in the mansion of the general Zhang Zhenzhou to discuss their future path with him.

Zhang Zhenzhou has a long figure, a thin face that looks shrewd and confident, a calm and calm demeanor, rarely showing a smile, and a high forehead that is slightly raised, as if there is infinite wisdom in it. At the age of thirty-five or six, he seems to be a meticulous person.

At this time, he sat high on the throne and calmly watched the discussion of everyone in the room.

"How about taking refuge in Li Qin?" Such a suggestion was made.

"Take refuge? We want to too, but don't forget the relatives and heirs in Miyagi! "Someone is worried.

"It's a nuisance! What to do? Zhang Zhenzhou also had a headache about this.

"If that's all you're concerned about, then I might have a way to help you." Just when everyone was at a loss, a brisk female voice suddenly sounded in everyone's ears. Everyone was surprised, but when they turned their heads, they saw a red figure appear in front of everyone like a fire.