In August, 200,000 Wu troops officially launched an offensive.

This time, Yang Wu did not choose to lead the troops in person, but divided the army into three routes, and the Middle East Route Army was led by Liu Xin, with a total of 60,000 people, and Yang Liu crossed the river to attack Bozhou; The Middle Route Army, led by Zhou Ben, totaled 80,000 people, crossed the river from Desheng to attack Lanzhou; On the west road, Li Chengding led the army to attack Xiangzhou.

In this way, troops were dispatched from three directions, attacking in three directions, and finally encircling the capital of Yedu, the capital of the Later Tang Dynasty.

When the news came out, the Quartet shook.

In Xiangzhou City, the commanders of the rebel army gathered in Zhao Zaili's mansion at this time, discussing with anxiety on their faces.

Although they were all prepared to face the intervention of the Wu army when they first rebelled, they were still a little worried about this time.

Just as Yan Keqiu and others thought, although Zhao Zaili and others rebelled, they were actually more resistant to Wu Guo in their hearts, if Li Cunqiao was willing to recruit them and meet some of their requirements, I was afraid that they would have surrendered long ago.

It's a pity that Wu Jun didn't do it at that time, and Li Cunqiao chose to send troops to crusade against the rebels, so the option of surrender no longer exists.

Now there are only two choices in front of everyone, one is to stick to the isolated city and continue to resist the Wu army, and the other is to surrender the Wu army directly.

If they hold on, with their strength and without reinforcements, I am afraid that it will be difficult to hold on for a long time; But if they surrender directly, they worry about their future fate.

After all, the national policy of Wu has long been known to the world, especially for generals like them who have repeatedly betrayed, I am afraid that it will be difficult to mix when they arrive in Wu State.

Just when the generals were hesitating, the guards outside suddenly came in and said, "Enlighten the generals, there is a messenger from the Wu army. ”

"An envoy sent by the Wu army?" The generals were shocked when they heard this, and then guessed: "What does the people of Wu mean by sending an envoy at this time?" Do you want to persuade you to surrender? ”

Zhao Zaili said in a deep voice: "Bring the envoy of Wu in and ask as soon as you know." ”

After a while, the envoy of Wu Guo arrived, but it was a young man dressed as a military general, who was Guo Wei.

"In Xia Guowei, I have seen General Zhao, generals." Guo Wei first bowed without being humble or arrogant.

Then, without waiting for everyone to answer, he asked himself: "The purpose of coming here is very simple, that is, to ask you, now that our army is in the city, but you don't hurry up and surrender, do you want to resist our army?" ”

Zhao Zaili and the others saw him coming up so aggressively, and they immediately became displeased: "What can you do if you resist Wu Jun?" ”

Guo Wei sneered: "If the general trend is today, I don't need to say more, you must all understand that it is just a competition between Jin and Wu." You have rebelled, which has broken with the king of Jin; If you fight with our army again, it will offend both Jin and Wu. Even if the world is big, I'm afraid you don't have a place to stay! ”

When the generals heard this, their faces suddenly changed.

Indeed, what they are most worried about is this, after Li Cunqiao sent troops to suppress it, there is no turning back for their rebel army, and if they are enemies of Wu again, they really have no way to retreat.

What was the purpose of the rebellion? It's not just for the sake of glory and wealth, if they know that there is a dead end ahead, they will not be stupid enough to go.

Zhao Zaili said in a deep voice: "General Guo's words are wrong, although we have rebelled, but if we are willing, we can still negotiate peace with Your Majesty." As long as Your Majesty is willing to crown me as the envoy of the festival, I am willing to block the Wu army for him. I don't think His Majesty will refuse this condition. ”

Guo Wei sneered: "Really? So why don't you do that? If you really surrender to the King of Jin, then the King of Jin will use you as a substitute for the dead, and let you fight with our army here, but he will be able to make a profit. Is that what you want? ”

"In addition, the land of Xiangzhou is located between the state of Wu and the state of Jin, the land is small and the people are outnumbered, and it is impossible to stand on its own, and you will have to rely on the state of Jin no matter what the time comes. Even if General Zhao can be the envoy of the upper festival, what is the use? ”

When the crowd heard this, they fell silent.

In fact, the current situation has long been very clear, the battle for the world is a matter between the Later Tang Dynasty and the Wu State, and it is impossible for these rebels to stand on their own side between the Later Tang Dynasty and the Wu State.

Their only choice was to take refuge in the state of Wu or to the Later Tang Dynasty.

If they defected to the Later Tang Dynasty, then their rebel army would have to fight a bloody battle with the Wu army and become the substitute ghost of the Later Tang Dynasty; And if it is to take refuge in the state of Wu......

Guo Wei said in a deep voice: "I know that you are worried about surrendering to the Wu Kingdom, but what I want to say is that Your Majesty knows that the reason why you rebelled was completely due to the persecution of the King of Jin. The soldiers were stationed on the frontier, but they couldn't even eat enough, so they should rebel. ”

Zhao Zaili and the others breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this, and he said in a deep voice: "If we are willing to surrender, I don't know how your country is going to settle us?" ”

Guo Wei took out an edict from his bosom: "This is an edict from Your Majesty, if you are willing to surrender, General Zhao can be awarded the post of commander of the capital." ”

Zhao Zaili's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he commanded the position of envoy, although it was not as good as the envoy of the festival and the governor, but it was also a very high level in the Wu army.

If the position of commander can be granted, Zhao Zaili is still very satisfied in his heart.

He then asked, "Then what will I do with the soldiers under my command?" ”

"The other generals under General Zhao's command can be conferred official positions in turn. Of course, if you don't want to stay in the army, you can also have other options, as long as it's not too excessive, you can consider it. ”

The others nodded their heads in satisfaction.

At this time, someone asked in a low voice: "General Guo, we are very satisfied with your country's arrangement, but what we are worried about is what will happen to your country in the future?" ”

Guo Wei smiled: "Are you worried about whether you will settle accounts in the future?" In fact, if you don't have the idea of rebelling again after surrendering to Wu, then why worry about your glory and wealth? If you still want to rebel, then no matter whether you surrender to Wu or Jin, no one can tolerate you. ”

"In addition, Wang Zhenzhi, Ma Yin, Liu Yan, etc., they used to be the marshals of one side and fought with His Majesty for many years, but they were treated well after they surrendered, so why should you worry?"

When everyone heard this, they all looked at Zhao Zaili, obviously they were already inclined to surrender to Wu in their hearts.

Zhao Zaili got up immediately when he saw it, and said solemnly to Guo Wei: "I, the ministers of Weimo, are willing to surrender to your country and serve Your Majesty!" ”

……

At the beginning of August, Zhao Zaili, the leader of the rebel army entrenched in Xiangzhou, and others surrendered to the Wu army, and Tangyin, Neihuang, Liyang and other places all fell into the hands of Wu.

At the same time, after crossing the river at Desheng, the Wu army in the middle first besieged the city of Lanzhou, and then left 20,000 troops to be responsible for the siege, while the main force bypassed the city and marched directly to the north, and joined the Wu army on the west route in mid-August.

The Wu army on the eastern road also progressed smoothly, and the 10,000 Houtang troops stationed in Bozhou chose to retreat before the Wu army attacked, allowing the Wu soldiers to occupy Bozhou without blood.

Then, the Wu army on the eastern route divided its troops to capture Wushui and Tangyi, and continued to attack westward.

At the beginning of September, the three Wu armies converged under the city of Weizhou and besieged the capital of the Later Tang Dynasty, Xingtang Mansion, on three sides.

Inside the city, Li Cunmiao walked around anxiously and irritably, without any idea of appreciating the drama that was being staged not far away.

He didn't expect it to come to this point.

When Xiangzhou had just rebelled, he realized that the situation was a little bad, but he still didn't expect it to be so bad, not only was the hard-built defense line easily broken through by the Wu army, and the capital was besieged by the enemy, but more importantly, none of the feudal towns in various places had sent troops to help so far.

"Don't those fellows know that if I'm done, they're going to be doomed too? Or did they think they could stop the attack of the Wu army by relying on their own strength? ”

In today's Xingtang Mansion City, the defenders have a total of nearly 60,000 troops, including 10,000 troops who retreated from Bozhou, and the remnants led by Li Shaorong.

With so many troops defending the city, coupled with the fact that Xingtang Mansion was the capital of the Later Tang Dynasty, a large amount of grain and grass had been accumulated in the city, and it was no problem to hold it for a year and a half.

But the problem is that no matter how strong the city is, if there are no reinforcements, it is impossible to hold on for too long, for example, Zhang Chujin of Zhenzhou relied on the strong city to resist the Jin army for nearly a year, but because there were no reinforcements, it was finally broken by the Jin army.

If the feudal towns in various places do not send troops to help, with the current situation of Yecheng, I am afraid that it will be difficult to hold on.

Recalling the attitudes of the feudal towns in various places, Li Cunqiao secretly regretted in his heart: "If I knew this, I shouldn't have stayed." ”

Before the siege of the Wu army, he would have had the opportunity to leave Yecheng, whether it was to go to Zhendingfu in the northern capital, or to Taiyuan, it was better than sitting in a lonely city now.

However, Li Cunmiao was worried that if he left, the morale of the Later Tang Army would inevitably be greatly reduced, and Yecheng was likely to fall into the hands of Wu immediately, and even the entire Hebei would fall into the hands of Wu.

At that time, even if you can retreat to Taiyuan, but after losing Hebei, how long can the Later Tang Dynasty hold on?

Thinking of this, he had to strengthen his determination to hold on to the city.

At this time, Jing Jin hurriedly came in and said with a happy face: "Your Majesty, our reinforcements are coming!" ”

Li Cunmiao was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly asked, "Reinforcements?" Where did the reinforcements come from, and how many are there? ”

"Back to Your Majesty, it is His Royal Highness the King of Wei who led troops from Taiyuan to help, with a strength of 10,000 troops!"

"King Wei's army?" The joy on Li Cunmiao's face suddenly disappeared.

Li Jiqi, the king of Wei, was the eldest son of Li Cunqiao, and was left in Taiyuan to guard the nest together with Taiyuan Yin Meng Zhixiang.

Now that the Xingtang Mansion is besieged, Li Jiqi led the troops to help, which certainly made Li Cunqiao feel gratified, but what he was more willing to hear was the news of troops from various feudal towns.

Otherwise, relying only on Li Jiqi's troops, how could he relieve the siege of Xingtang Mansion?