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When the Zhou army launched an attack on both the north and south sides at the same time, the central government would inevitably be empty, and both Yu Ming and Li Yuan knew this very well.

However, Luoyang, as the eastern capital of the Great Sui Dynasty and the capital of the Zhou Dynasty, is also the largest city in the world, and its defense strength is not far behind. Although Yuming's main force has been transferred, he still left 100,000 soldiers and horses to garrison. And Li Jian was left behind in Luoyang, and Zhang Zhongjian was the commander of the Praetorian Guard, responsible for the defense of the Luoyang area.

In his opinion, even if the Tang army really wanted to attack Luoyang, it would be difficult to capture it, and if Li Yuan really made a desperate gamble and transferred Li Shimin from Hetao to attack Luoyang, then he would almost end the battle in Jingxiang Land and return to Luoyang.

However, even Yuming didn't expect that Li Yuan would boldly use the demote general Qu Tutong as the commander, and lead the Tang army of 200,000 east out of Tongguan and rushed straight towards Luoyang.

Li Jian led 50,000 men and horses to camp in Mianchi and built the first line of defense west of Luoyang. He followed Yu Ming's instructions before leaving, only solid defense, and did not attack easily.

And Qu Tutong was not willing to pay heavy casualties under the city of Michi, so he only attacked tentatively every day, and did not launch a fierce attack, in order to wait for the opportunity.

After the two sides confronted each other at Michi for more than ten days, Li Jian took Zhang Zhongjian's suggestion and sent cavalry troops to attack the Tang army's grain route.

As a result, Qu Tutong felt the pressure doubled, and the supply of grain and grass for the 200,000 Tang troops all relied on the arrival of Guanzhong through Tongguan. If the grain road is not peaceful, the morale of the Tang army will be greatly frustrated, not to mention that Luoyang cannot be captured, even Michi may not be able to be occupied.

However, Qu Tutong was treacherous after all, so he quickly came up with a plan and sent several elite troops, pretending to be a convoy transporting grain, from Tongguan to Mianchi, and hiding elite soldiers in the car.

Zhang Zhongjian didn't know what to do, so he led the cavalry to ambush these "grain convoys", so he suffered heavy losses, and the cavalry lost almost more than half.

Qu Tutong took advantage of the high morale of his own side to launch a fierce attack on Michi, and all kinds of catapults, well fences, siege rams, and ladders that had been prepared before came in handy.

Because the Tang army had never launched such a fierce attack before, the offensive was suddenly so fierce that the defenders of the Zhou army in Mianchi were a little uncomfortable, and they suffered heavy losses for a while.

Qu Tutong, on the other hand, divided the 200,000-strong army into squads, with 60,000 men each, and launched attacks day and night. After the loss of cavalry, the defenders had only more than 10,000 troops left, and they did not dare to be careless in the face of an attack by an enemy twice their size. Li Jian could only send all his soldiers to the city wall and defend desperately.

But such a non-stop battle is a great test of the physical strength of soldiers and officers. Even if Zhou Jun can fight again, it is not an iron body after all.

Finally, after Li Jian and Zhang Zhongjian held on to the day and night, they finally gave up and lost their hands.

However, Li Jian had already anticipated that the city might not be able to hold it, so he had prepared fast horses in advance, and when the city of Ximen was broken, he ordered the whole army to break through and retreat in the direction of Luoyang.

Zhang Zhongjian, on the other hand, insisted on refusing to retreat, and in his opinion, it was precisely because he fell for Qu Tutong's trick that the cavalry troops were completely lost, and he suffered a great defeat. Therefore, he said that he wanted to stay and live and die with Michi City.

Li Jian also persuaded him not to stop, so he had to say goodbye with tears and withdraw first.

After Zhang Zhongjian broke the city, he launched a fierce street battle with the Tang army, and finally all the soldiers around him were killed, and when he was the only one left, he faced the direction of Luoyang, shouting Long live the Great Zhou, and was killed by random arrows.

After the loss of Michi, the Tang army was like a bamboo, and Lianke Xin'an, Yima, and Yiyang counties hit the periphery of Luoyang.

Li Jian, who was defeated and returned to Luoyang City, had less than 70,000 soldiers and horses in his hands, although Luoyang was known as the first fortified city in the world, and it was notoriously easy to defend and difficult to attack, but he was a little flustered.

So, he hurriedly sent a messenger to ask Yuming for help in the form of an emergency report of eight miles. At the same time, he also reported to the queen of the prison country, asking for the people to be levied in the city and go up to the city wall to assist in the defense. All of a sudden, the city of Luoyang was in chaos, and merchants from all over the city fled the city.

The eyes of the whole world were focused on Luoyang at this time, and they knew very well that the gains and losses of Luoyang would be related to the fate of the Tang Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty. If the Tang army takes Luoyang, even if they lose the land of Jingxiang, they will be in an advantageous position in the battle for the world. Because Luoyang is surrounded by plains, whether it is north to Hebei, south to Jingxiang or east to Shandong and Jianghuai, there is no danger to defend. The Tang army could easily capture the territory of the Zhou Dynasty, which was already internally empty.

And if the Zhou army held Luoyang, the luck of the world would have shifted to Yuming's side. The Zhou Dynasty sat on Liaodong, Hedong, Henan, Hebei, Shandong, Jianghuai, Jiangnan, Jingxiang and other places. Whether it is territory, population, military strength or property, it has surpassed the Tang Dynasty by a large margin.

Li Tang, who was only concerned with Zhong, Longxi, Bashu and Hanzhong, could no longer compete with the Zhou army in any case. After all, the battle for the world is, to put it bluntly, a contest of comprehensive national strength, and the Tang Army, which has lost its first opportunity and advantage, will have no hope of turning the tables again.

However, at this critical moment, Yuming, who was in battle under the city of Padang, was faced with a difficult choice.

In fact, as early as when he had just launched the Jingxiang Campaign, he had already received information that the Tang army had set out from Chang'an and attacked Luoyang. It's just that he didn't care much. In his opinion, although Luoyang's strength cannot be compared with the Zhou army in the Hetao and Jingxiang regions, it also has 100,000 horses, and most of them are veterans who have experienced many wars. And the city is strong, the grain and grass are sufficient, and there are many acropolis and pass arch guards around. If the Tang army wants to take Luoyang with only 200,000 troops, I'm afraid it won't be so easy.

Therefore, Yu Ming regarded this attack of the Tang army as more of a feint, and thought that Li Yuan wanted to use the attack on Luoyang as a cover to induce him to withdraw his troops from the Jingxiang area.

Therefore, Yu Ming did not pay attention to this matter at all, but continued to strengthen the attack. In this way, with the cooperation of Li Jing and Wei Chi Jingde, the 400,000 Zhou troops worked together and finally took two months to capture Jiangling, Xiangyang, Yizhou and other important cities, and completely annihilated more than 100,000 Tang troops under Li Xiaogong, and directly attacked the outside of Badong City, the gateway to Bashu, and the Jingxiang area has been fully included in its bag.

According to the battle plan drawn up before, if the Zhou army took Jingxiang within a month, and Luo Cheng and Luo Shixin in the north, the main force of the Tang army was nailed to death in the Hetao area. Then the Zhou army could take advantage of the situation to advance westward and attack Bashu.

Once Bashu is won, the general trend of the world will be determined. Li Tang, who was only trapped in a corner of the pass, became a turtle in the urn.

It's just that Yuming didn't expect that Li Yuan didn't recall Li Shimin, but boldly used the veteran Qu Tutong as the coach, and he didn't go south to Jingxiang to rescue Li Xiaogong, but directly killed Luoyang.

Now, the distress letter from Li Jian, who was left behind in the eastern capital, has been placed in front of him, according to Li Jian, there are less than 70,000 troops in Luoyang City, and morale is low. The Tang army has reached 200,000, and it is possible to send troops to support it in the future.

When Yu Ming saw this letter for help, he was depressed in his heart. If Li Yuan did not send troops to attack Luoyang, but attacked Hedong and even Beiping, he could have completely ignored it.

At least in his opinion, these places can be discarded. exchanged Hedong for Bashu, and he thought he still earned it. After all, Hedong was a land of four wars, and after many wars, the population was sparse and the land was barren. It is far from being comparable to the Sichuan Basin in the land of abundance.

However, although Luoyang is not big, its influence in people's minds and its special status make it impossible for Yuming to give it up.

Let's not mention that it is the capital of the former Sui Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty, the largest city in the world. In Luoyang City alone, as well as his seven wives, a large number of children, and the families of military attachés, it has become the most important city in the Zhou Dynasty in one fell swoop.

It's just that now he has just won the battle of Jingxiang, the Tang army has been defeated in successive battles, and has retreated to Badong, if he can conquer it in one go, he can take advantage of the situation to enter Bashu and gain an overwhelming advantage over Li Tang. At this time when he was about to win a decisive victory, he suddenly had a critical situation at home, which really made Yuming a little depressed.

"Tell me! Summoning all the generals to attend the meeting of the Great Tent and discuss the current battle situation! After thinking for a while, Yu Ming decided to hold a meeting to listen to everyone's opinions.

Half an hour later, Li Jing, Wei Chi Jingde, Zhou Tao, Qin Qiong, Cheng Yanjin and other generals all arrived at the big tent one after another. Yu Ming handed over the distress letter sent by Li Jian to the generals, and he also wanted to see everyone's reactions.

When the generals learned that Zhang Zhongjian, a bearded guest, had died in the battle, that more than ten counties west of Luoxi had all fallen, and that 200,000 Tang soldiers were coming to Luoyang City, they were all shocked. Because their families are still in the city, if Luoyang falls, wouldn't it be dangerous?

"Your Majesty! Now the land of Jingxiang has fallen into the hands of our army, the Bashu Mountain is high and far, the terrain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack. I'm afraid it's hard to get down in a hurry. According to the opinion of the last general, it is better to withdraw for the time being, return to Luoyang, and after defeating Qu Tutong, it is better to Tubashu! Qin Qiong said at this time. He is a great filial piety, his mother settled in Luoyang, heard that Luoyang was attacked, he naturally wanted to go back to the rescue.

"The last general also agrees with General Qin! Anyway, Jing Xiang also won it, so he didn't return empty-handed. And Luoyang is the most important place for our army, and it must not be lost! Although Qu Tutong's old guy may not be able to capture the fortified city of Luoyang, we can't take this risk! Cheng Yanjin also echoed.

After these two senior generals spoke in favor of withdrawing troops, Lin Mo and Guo Yi also echoed their voices. They also felt that Luoyang could not afford to lose, and if the land of Bashu was not attacked now, it would be too late to attack it again in the future.

"Do you want me to withdraw now?" Yu Ming asked with a frown. Although he also knew that the majority of those who were in favor of withdrawing the troops, not a single opponent showed up, which also made him a little disappointed.

However, at this moment, a deep voice sounded: "Your Majesty, I am not in favor of withdrawing troops!" ”

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