"After all, it's not that Shi Siming is stupid. The pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info he was so happy that he was afraid that others would rob him of his credit. When I first attacked Chang'an, my father praised my merits, but he was very dissatisfied. When he attacked Shu, he insisted on not wanting me to be with him, which shows his narrow-mindedness. My Great Yan Kingdom is bad in his hands. An Qingxu said viciously.

Yan Zhuang waved his hand and said: "Don't mention the previous things, Shi Siming is also dead, the deceased is the greatest, but there is no need to tell his fault." His Majesty should understand that attacking the southeast and cutting off his money and food was the best choice at that time, and that opportunity had been missed. But no matter when, occupying the southeast is the key to the survival of my Great Yan Kingdom. Not to mention that the southeast can be used for manpower, in the current situation, it is even more imperative to take the southeast state capital. If we could not break through the defense line of the state capital on the south bank of the Yellow River, and soon after the Tang army counterattacked, we would have to be forced to withdraw north. The Tang army will oppress us in the icy north, and there is only a dead end waiting for us. But if we can break through the south bank of the Yellow River and seize the capital of the southeast state, it will be an opportunity for my Dayan to come back to life. Not only do we have a large area of deep maneuver, but we can also recruit troops on the spot in the south to increase our strength and replenish military supplies. At that time, the heavens and the earth will be wide, and I will be able to drag the situation into the endgame. As long as we firmly control the southern state capitals, we may be able to divide the north and the south into the Jianghuai region in the future, and this is not unacceptable. ”

An Qingxu's eyes lit up when he listened, he was already desperate for the situation, and after being dialed by Yan Zhuang's few words, he suddenly cleared the dark clouds and saw the blue sky, and the future became bright in an instant.

"Well, if that's the case, that's a good outcome. Brother, why didn't you tell me about this blueprint earlier? Let's prepare early. An Qingxu shouted.

Yan Zhuang smiled and said, "Your Majesty, the minister has already told you." Three months ago, did the minister ask His Majesty to allow the minister to mobilize manpower to build a new wharf in Luoyang and start shipbuilding? At that time, His Majesty was drinking and enjoying autumn in the back garden, and frolicking with the harem concubines and palace maids. His Majesty agreed to the minister, saying, 'Do whatever you want.' ’。 Since then, the minister has been preparing for this matter. ”

An Qingxu's face turned red, three months ago, he had just usurped the throne and successfully became the emperor of the Great Yan Kingdom, and he was busy every day, and the state affairs were handed over to Yan Zhuang. Yan Zhuang came to do something, and he thought he was disturbed, and he usually didn't listen to what he said, and only waved his hand to let him decide for himself. It seems that this incident was also mentioned solemnly at the beginning, but I didn't listen to it at all. At that time, he may have been drunk, but he couldn't remember anything Yan Zhuang said.

However, although he can't remember it, if Yan Zhuang mentioned it at the time and he agreed, then it seems that Yan Zhuang had already prepared for this matter.

Three months ago, the minister requisitioned more than 100,000 people to build a new wharf on the bank of the Yellow River north of Luoyang. And began to build large ships, train sailors. Although the time was short, we had abundant manpower, so in three months, the minister built 38 large ships, plus hundreds of small boats and boats, which could carry 76,000 soldiers and horses at one time. Yesterday, the minister went to inspect it, and it was almost over. Yan Zhuang stroked his beard and smiled.

An Qingxu frowned and said, "Brother, I don't understand a little, you just said the importance of going south, and I think so." But my Luoyang is already south of the Yellow River, and I don't need to cross the river to go south, so let's attack directly to the south, from Bianzhou to the southeast to attack Suiyang The Belt and Road is going south. Why go to the trouble of building so many ships? ”

Yan Zhuang laughed and said, "Your Majesty, the minister wants to talk to you about the use of soldiers." As Your Majesty said, we can directly increase our troops from Luoyang to Bianzhou, and then capture Suiyang and attack Jianghuai. But has Your Majesty thought about it, what if the attack on Suiyang is blocked? As far as the minister knows, after Wang Yuan escaped from Baimadu a few months ago, he walked around the state capital on the south bank of the Yellow River, and made arrangements for the defense of the state capital on the south bank. Although Suiyang is a small city, it is said that there are already 30,000 or 40,000 soldiers and horses stationed, and Zhang Xun, the general who defends the city, is the one who once beat the fox tide. This man is very scheming. Although my Dayan soldiers and horses can concentrate superior forces to storm Suiyang, as long as they are dragged by him for a few days, they will be greatly disadvantaged. If the Tang army conquers Tongguan and pursues it from behind, will we be forced to fight to the death? Entangled by the Tang Army, how can you seize the south? ”

An Qingxu swallowed and foamed, "What does that brother mean?" ”

Yan Zhuang said in a deep voice: "Divide the troops into two routes, and advance by land and water." The minister planned to give up Tongguan and transfer the soldiers and horses back to Luoyang. Ordered Fox Chao to lead 60,000 troops from Bianzhou to attack Suiyang by land and move south. The minister led 70,000 troops to board a ship along the river to the east, through the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal all the way south, straight to the hinterland of the southern state capital, with lightning speed, to occupy the land of Huaiyang. ”

An Qingxu was pleasantly surprised: "It turns out that my brother planned it this way. I really didn't expect that. ”

Yan Zhuang said coldly: "Although the Southeast Prefecture does not have many soldiers and horses, it has sufficient money and food. Once they are organized and recruited to resist, it will be difficult to occupy the southeast in a short time. What we need now is to speed up, because time is too precious. I simply told Your Majesty my strategy. The land route of Ling Fox Tide is actually just a bait, even if there is nothing to achieve, it is nothing, as long as it can attract the main force of the Tang Army to run behind Ling Fox Tide's soldiers and horses, it can buy time for my elite army to go south. We will go south along the canal, and we will arrive at the land of Huaiyang in about 15 days. And the main force of the Tang Army will go south to reinforce by land, which will take at least a month. Let the soldiers and horses of the fox tide attract their attention again, and can block and delay them, and buy the minister another month, then within two months, the minister can include all the land south of the Yangtze River into my big swallow bag. At that time, if you want money, money, soldiers, and soldiers, and then there is the Huaishui River as a beggar, what can the Tang Army do to me? ”

An Qingxu looked at Yan Zhuang blankly, suddenly got up and said deeply: "My brother is eloquent, I have my brother's assistance, and Dayan can survive." ”

Yan Zhuang hurriedly got up and saluted back: "Your Majesty, no, the minister is terrified." If Your Majesty agrees to this plan, the minister will be ready to do so. Luoyang will leave a small number of soldiers and horses to defend, and the land of Hebei has basically been abandoned, which is actually equivalent to starting again, and Your Majesty must be mentally prepared. However, what can reassure His Majesty is that the southern Yangzhou, Suzhou, Jiangning Mansion and other state capitals are prosperous and rich compared to Luoyang, and His Majesty can love to set the capital anywhere. ”

An Qingxu said in a deep voice: "I have decided, if it is not broken, it will not stand, and it will be broken." Anyway, guarding the dead land of Luoyang is also waiting for death, so I listened to Mr. 's words, let's start again in the southeast and start again. ”

……

The amazing news that came from Chinese New Year's Eve was the news from Suiyang. Four days ago, the rebel general Ling Hu Chao led 60,000 troops to attack Yongqiu, Yongqiu is just a small county town, although Zhang Xun built stone cannons and other facilities to defend the city, but finally had to give up Yongqiu because the city defense was weak and unbearable, more than 30,000 soldiers and horses retreated to Suiyang to refuse.

Seeing that the rebels were menacing, Zhang Xun knew that it would be difficult to hold Suiyang with these 30,000 soldiers and horses. Suiyang was lost, the Jianghuai portal was opened, and the consequences were terrible. So he ordered people to go to Tongguan in the starry night to ask Wang Yuan for help, and asked Wang Yuan to immediately send troops to rescue.

With this news, the Chinese New Year's Eve banquet immediately turned into a military meeting to discuss countermeasures. After the wine and food were removed, the generals sat around the table and listened to Wang Yuan recount the news they had just received. All the generals were amazed.

"It's weird. After our army conquered Tongguan, the rebels should shrink Luoyang and defend it, how dare they divide 60,000 troops to attack Yongsui at this time? That's a bit unreasonable. Gao Xianzhi was the first to raise this question, which is also what many people find surprised.

Wang Yuan pondered for a moment, frowned, and said: "It has been more than ten days since our army conquered Tongguan, but it has not been able to quickly advance to Luoyang to put pressure on them, which is giving the rebels a chance to breathe. The rebels dared to attack Yongsui at this time, probably because they wanted to open the passage to the southeast. In the event that Luoyang City is broken, they will not shrink to the northeast as we hope, but will flow directly to the southeast. It's a little tricky. Knowing this, we shouldn't have stayed here and directly entered Luoyang City, so that they would not dare to divide their troops. ”

Liu Dehai snorted wine and said: "This is not the will of the imperial court, I am afraid that we will take the credit of some people by taking Luoyang, so we will be forced to stay here." Tell me to say, let's not care about so much, the marshal simply ordered to send troops immediately, let's go rescue Suiyang. Otherwise, Suiyang is afraid that it will not be able to support many days. ”

"That's right, let's send troops to rescue immediately, and we can't let the rebels' plan to flow to the southeast succeed." Song Jiangong also shouted.

Gao Xianzhi muttered: "To save Suiyang, you must first take Luoyang, unless you go around to rescue, but in that case, it will take too much time." Bypassing Luoyang may have to be delayed for five or six days, and with the normal march, it will take at least ten days to arrive. Can Zhang Xun resist ten days? It's hard, I'm afraid. In fact, ten days has passed, and the news has been delayed for three days, and that is the thirteenth. But if you attack Luoyang directly, I'm afraid it won't be so easy. If the rebels dare to divide their troops to attack Yongsui, then there will be enough troops in Luoyang City to support them. I'm afraid that when we attack Luoyang, Suiyang will be unable to withstand it. But there is one point, the onslaught on Luoyang may force the troops attacking Yongsui to come back, and it depends on whether our attack is fierce enough and whether we can force them to come back to help. ”

Wang Yuan nodded and said: "It is impossible to detour, there is only one official road, and detouring Luoyang is bound to abandon the official road to march, our army has many heavy vehicles, not to mention ten days, and it may not be possible to arrive on the fifteenth, it is absolutely impossible." Attacking Luoyang and forcing it to return is the only option, and this is the way to encircle Wei and save Zhao. The army will arrive in Luoyang in five days, and the onslaught on Luoyang may work. Even if they don't come back and exchange Suiyang for Luoyang, it will be a lucrative deal. Besides, I don't think they won't fail to save it, once Luoyang is lost, An Qingxu will have no place south of the Yellow River. How dare he press Baoquan in the southeast direction, because they will face the embarrassing situation of being pursued by our army. Therefore, I decided to immediately send troops to attack Luoyang. ”

The generals even claimed that they were good, and they were all talking about it. Gao Xianzhi whispered to Wang Yuan: "Attacking Luoyang is against the will of the imperial court, and the imperial court has not allowed us to enter the army. ”

Wang Yuan said: "Brother, I can't take care of it." The counterinsurgency has reached a critical time, and if you hesitate at this time, you will really be broken through to the southeast, and the rebels will occupy the Jianghuai land, so the room for maneuver will be much larger, and it will be difficult to quickly destroy them. We have made a mistake and cannot afford to continue to let the situation deteriorate. ”

Gao Xianzhi nodded and said, "It's okay, but this matter needs to be explained by the imperial court, and I don't want us to be given the order of resistance again." ”

Wang Yuan smiled: "That's natural, my brother will write a recital later, and I will play it jointly with you." ”

Gao Xianzhi smiled and said, "I know that you are very disdainful of this, and it is entirely because of me that you have accommodated, and I am very grateful to you." But I don't want things to get out of hand, and I always want to have room for maneuver in the future. ”

Wang Yuan laughed and got up and said, "Brother doesn't have to care, I understand." ”

At that moment, Wang Yuan issued an order, asking all generals to return to their camps to prepare for tomorrow's expulsion.

In the early morning of the next day, Wang Yuan left 3,000 soldiers and horses to garrison Tongguan, and the remaining 100,000 troops immediately marched along the official road on the south bank of the Yellow River to Luoyang. The next afternoon, the weather changed abruptly. The weather had become gloomy and the wind was extremely strong. Wang Yuan knew that another heavy snow was coming, and he had to arrive in Luoyang or even capture Luoyang before this heavy snow fell. Once heavy snow falls again, the situation will become extremely serious. Because the army's mobility and supplies will be limited, if it is delayed under Luoyang City for a few days and cannot be conquered, it will have devastating consequences. The Shence army is not afraid of the battle, but it is absolutely unable to fight the weather, which is also the reason why Wang Yuan gave up attacking Chang'an in the first place.

With this urgent and severe mood, Wang Yuan constantly urged the soldiers and horses to speed up, and even preferred to let the grain carts and siege vehicles such as Shenwei artillery and other baggage vehicles fall behind, but also to give in to the cavalry and horses to reach Luoyang City first. It was necessary to set up camp before the snow fell, so that the soldiers and horses could be sheltered. Once the snow falls, it will be impossible to even set up camp.

In this way, under the severe cold north wind, the Shence army raced against the heavy snow, and the originally expected four-day journey took only three and a half days, and the infantry cavalry arrived in the wilderness west of Luoyang City.

That night, a huge camp was set up in the west of the city, and it was not until midnight that the exhausted soldiers were able to eat and rest. Soon after they fell asleep, the wind stopped, and the snow began to fall one after another, and in a short time the sky and the earth were white.

Wang Yuan was worried, he was the last willing to let the Shence Army fall into such a harsh environment to fight, but he still inevitably fell into such a situation. He couldn't sleep, got up and stood outside the tent and looked in the direction of Luoyang City. But seeing that the head of Luoyang City was dark, only some sporadic lights flickered at the head of the city, and there was no nervous appearance like a great enemy at all, which made Wang Yuan feel very puzzled. Wang Yuan thought about it for a long time and couldn't figure it out, so he had to go back to the camp and sleep in a daze, and then make plans when it was dawn.

In the early morning of the next day, news came from the rear baggage team that it had snowed heavily overnight and the road was difficult to navigate. The siege engines scheduled to arrive today are likely to be delayed. Because they were all stuck in snow and muddy roads. If you want to move forward, you need to send someone to clear the road before you can barely move forward. This news made Wang Yuan even more anxious, such a delay, I am afraid that the danger of Suiyang will be really difficult to rescue.

Wang Yuan and Gao Xianzhi led the generals and guards to ride their horses to Luoyang City, and they wanted to reconnoiter the city defense of Luoyang. Luoyang's city defense is average, and it is not armed to the teeth like Chang'an. It's just a slight increase in defensive turrets and fortifications, which looks quite ordinary. But after all, it is the eastern capital of the Tang Dynasty, and the city walls are very high, so it is not so easy to get.

When the generals pointed out and discussed, Wang Yuan was silent at the head of the city. Zhao Qing asked on the side, "What is the big handsome thinking?" ”

Wang Yuan pondered for a moment, then pointed to the soldiers at the head of the city and said, "Have you noticed it, although there are many soldiers and horses at the head of the city, it looks a little strange. You see, why are they dressed so strangely? It doesn't seem to be armor. The armor that was all black was the standard armor of the rebels, but most of them were bloated and didn't seem to be armor. ”

Everyone took a closer look, and sure enough, they found something strange. Liu Jun didn't say a word, rode his horse into the city and circled within the range of his bow and arrows, and returned unharmed before the sparse arrows at the head of the city were shot.

"Father, those are not soldiers, they have a broken bow in their hands, and they shoot arrows inaccurately. I guess it's just some people. Liu Jun said loudly.

"People?" Wang Yuan and the others were puzzled.

"Shouldn't Luoyang City be garrisoned by a large number of rebels? How did they drive the people to defend the city? What's going on? Could it be that there are only a limited number of rebels in the city? Liu Dehai smacked his lips and said.

Wang Yuan said in a deep voice: "I have an ominous premonition, I hope this is not the truth. To know how many defenders there are in the city, there is only one way, let's attack the city immediately. ”

"Siege? But our siege equipment hasn't arrived yet, how to attack the city? Song Jiangong, Liu Dehai and others were surprised.

Wang Yuan said: "I can't wait any longer, maybe I don't need these siege equipment." If there are no soldiers in the city, do you still need to wait for siege equipment? Everyone, prepare now, let's attack the city immediately. How many soldiers and horses there are in the city, you will know as soon as you attack. ”

The generals are a little helpless, what is the big handsome going to do? In the face of such a large city, how could it be attacked without the assistance of siege equipment? The soldiers of the Shence Army have long been accustomed to the mode of bombardment by Shenwei artillery for one round, catapult bombardment for another, and then soldiers and horses swarming up to easily break through the opponent's city, and now they actually want to fight directly hand-to-hand, which is really incredible.

However, the commander's orders cannot be disobeyed, and even the senior deputy marshal will not stop the things decided by the commander, and the generals can only obey the orders. So they quickly returned to the camp. After a while, the horn sounded and the war drums were beating, and the 80,000 horse infantry of the Shence Army left the city in sequence, and lined up in more than ten echelons under Luoyang City to wait for orders.

Wang Yuan gave an order, and the vanguard soldiers and horses composed of 10,000 infantry immediately began to charge down the city. More than 10,000 cavalry archers followed behind them, and simply suppressed the city head with bows and arrows. This was simply the most crude offensive coordination since the establishment of the Divine Ce Army.

After entering the range of the bow and arrows at the head of the city, the arrows at the head of the city were shot down. Strangely enough, however, the arrows fired from the head of the city did very little damage to the besieging gods. It's not that their bows and arrows aren't dense, it's that the arrows are fired diagonally into the sky, some at a crooked angle in the open space below the city, and some in circles in the air. It wasn't an arrow shot by a well-trained soldier or horse.

What's more, the arrows that fell to the ground, some of them had no tail feathers, and some of the arrows were bare, and they were simply discarded arrows that could be burned as firewood. Most of these obsolete arrows are only consumed when training archers, and it is absolutely impossible to use them for official combat.

All this completely exposed the weakness and incompetence of the defenders at the head of the city, and also proved that there were probably not many real rebels in the dense crowd at the head of the city, they were the people who were forced to defend the city. Under these circumstances, the siege of the Shence army became unscrupulous. Soon, the rope of the city gate suspension bridge was broken by a crossbow, and the suspension bridge fell with a bang. A few improvised cars entered the city gate in a grand manner, and blasted open the city gate under the cover of an iron shield.

After that, the Shence army swarmed into the city, and it took less than three hours to clear the rebels in the city and conquer the eastern capital of the Tang Dynasty.