The battle of Tongguan, the Sui army in the eastern capital was completely victorious with a strong crushing attitude, only one hour, it broke through the rebel camp from the front, and only dispatched three hundred reinforcements, and then broke through the rebels' strict defense of the Chinese army camp with the momentum of devastating and decaying, killing the rebels was frightened, the ghost cried wolf, and had to abandon the camp to flee for their lives, the Sui army took advantage of the situation to chase and kill, beheaded more than 3,000, captured nearly 5,000, and took the rebel camp in one fell swoop.

It's not that the rebels are too rookies and too meaty, in fact, these rebel soldiers under the command of Chai Shao and Li Xiuning are not weak, they have defeated the official army many times, and they have a lot of battlefield experience; It is not that the rebels' camp defense is not strong enough, and the rebel division based on the defense spent a huge price and effort to build a camp in order to contain the Sui army and buy time for the main force of the own army. Even if it was the main rebel army to attack this camp, there was absolutely no possibility that the camp would be broken in such a short time.

It is that the Sui army of the Eastern Capital is too strong, the Sui Army of the Eastern Capital has received strict training, equipped with the most sophisticated weapons and armor in the world, and there are countless veterans in the team to guide and guide, acting as the backbone of the grassroots, and the overall combat effectiveness is too much more than the rebels.

The chain reaction caused by this battle was very fatal to the rebels, first of all, after the camp outside the warehouse was lost, the rebels had no chance to transport grain out of Cangcheng to Daxing, which was as empty as mountain grain and grass, and it was in vain not to let the main force use it; And then the next chain reaction is even more to the rebels old life, Chen Fuliang as promised in less than three days to break the rebel division, encircle Yongfengcang, open up direct contact with He Panren, He Panren, who was greatly shocked, no longer hesitated, immediately dismissed the grain people, let these people take away all the grain that can be taken away, and the rest is all paid to a torch, so that the only batch of grain and grass sent to the front line turned into a pile of coke, so that the main force of the rebels immediately faced a grain and grass crisis, and also made the main force of the rebels will face the danger of running out of food in the future!

Of course, although the Sui army in the eastern capital has obvious advantages at present, not only grasping the strategic initiative in the Guanzhong battlefield, but also choking the grain route of the main force of the rebels, but the rebels are not completely without a chance to turn the tables, because the main force of the rebels is still there, and the grain and grass can barely be maintained for a period of time - if it is really not possible, it can also borrow from the people of Guanzhong who have just harvested in autumn. As long as Li Jiancheng's army can firmly hold Yongfeng Cangcheng, hold on until the main force returns to help, and reopen the grain route to get supplies, then the main force of the rebels will still have a chance to turn defeat into victory, but ......

"Can Da Lang hold Yongfeng Cangcheng and buy time for the old man? I'm afraid it's a little difficult, although the terrain of Yongfeng Cang is higher, relatively speaking, it is easier to defend, but after all, Cangcheng has just been built, the city wall is not high enough and not thick enough, the newly rammed earth wall is not strong enough, and the strength of the city defense is still not as good as the regular city. Chen Yingliang's thief is also known for his tricks, and he is good at winning by surprise, if Da Lang makes any mistakes, the old man will be finished. ”

In fact, not long after receiving the news of the battle of Tongguan and He Panren's defection by burning grain, when the main force of the rebels continued to storm Daxing Palace, the scheming Li Yuan had already begun to think about the next battle arrangement. Li Yuan deduced that Chen Fuliang's next tactical arrangement had two options, the first option was to take Yongfeng Cang by storming as much as possible, completely pulling out the nail of Li Jiancheng, and then waving his army to the west to fight a decisive battle with the main force of the army; The second option is to besiege the city and send reinforcements, besiege Yongfengcang and wait for his main force to come back, and launch a decisive battle west of Yongfengcang.

Both options have advantages and disadvantages for the rebels, the first choice is to take Yongfengcang as much as possible, if Li Jiancheng can hold on, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages for the rebels, but if Li Jiancheng can't hold it, then the main force of the rebels will be completely finished, and Chen Fuliang can even starve the main force of the rebels to death without entering the army. And the second option is the safest and most secure for the rebels, the Sui army besieged the city to send reinforcements, and the main force of the rebels returned to the division to rescue Yongfengcang after taking Daxing, although it was necessary to work hard and move the people, and the arduous trek, but Yongfengcang could be kept safe, and at the same time, the partial division under the command of Li Jiancheng could also be preserved, and it could play a vital role at the critical moment. Therefore, Li Yuan quickly made a decision, and decided to use the tactic of delaying the army to induce Chen Fuliang to make a second choice, not to rush to attack Yongfengcang and sit back and wait for the main force of his own army to come back.

There are not many people in the world who have the confidence to work hard to use tricks against Chen Fuliang, Li Yuan is one of them, in fact, when Li Yuan used tricks to avenge his son-in-law before, if it wasn't for the fact that a new crop of white stacks appeared by mistake, Li Yuan would have made Chen Fuliang so bad that he couldn't turn over four years ago. This time was no exception, after careful consideration for a while, Li Yuan beckoned to call the general Yun Dingxing in front of him, and instructed Yun Dingxing: "You write a book yourself, write a letter to Chen Yingliang, and tell him that you were completely forced to surrender to me before, and now that Chen Yingliang has led the army into Guanzhong, you are willing to act as an internal response for him and assist him in breaking the main force of our army to atone for his previous sins." ”

Yun Dingxing, who had always been obedient, rarely agreed immediately, and his wrinkled old face showed some embarrassment, Li Yuan observed his words and asked with a sneer: "What?" Don't want to? Don't dare to offend Chen Yingliang's thief, and want to leave a way for himself to escape? ”

"General, you have unjustly died." Yun Dingxing, whose fate was hanging in the balance, was taken aback, and hurriedly said: "The last general is not unwilling, it is the old man who has a mediocre relationship with the thief Chen Yingliang, and suddenly went to the book to deceive him, I am afraid that he will not believe it and miss the general's big event." ”

"Always shameless, and don't blush when you open your eyes and talk nonsense." Li Yuan scolded secretly in his heart, but his face remained silent, and he ordered: "It's okay, you just need to act according to the order, even if you can't get Chen Yingliang thief, I don't blame you, after writing it, the old man will arrange for someone to deliver the letter, so you don't have to take the risk yourself." ”

"The last general will obey the orders of the general." Yun Dingxing respectfully agreed, but scolded Li Yuan in his heart that he was not a thing - he had a deep friendship with Chen Fuliang, and as long as he surrendered at the critical moment, he would definitely be able to survive, and now he came forward to deceive Chen Fuliang, no matter whether he succeeded or not, even if he surrendered in the future, his head would be hanging.

"Remember, one more." Li Yuan added: "Sue sù Chen Yingliang, just say that Chai Shao has brought back the news of the Tongguan fiasco and He Panren's burning of grain, the old man was so angry that he ordered to step up the attack on Daxing Palace, and sent an army to return to Yongfengcang first, and when Daxing Gongcheng was taken, he would immediately lead the main army to rescue Yongfengcang and reopen the grain route." ”

Under the eaves, Yun Dingxing, who has always been known for his greed for life and fear of death, can only clasp his fists and sing a promise again, while personally writing a book, while secretly praying that his eldest nephew can understand his hardships and continue to leave a way for himself to live in the future. Li Yuan also personally wrote a letter to his eldest son Li Jiancheng, instructing Li Jiancheng to act according to the plan, inducing Chen Fuliang to suspend the siege, and then sent a reliable letter to Yongfeng Cang using a fast horse, and tried his best to send the letter to Yongfeng Cang to Li Jiancheng.

…………

Now it's time to take a look at the situation on the Sui army's side, after breaking through the camp of Chai Shao and his wife, Chen Fuliang did not rush to launch a battle to attack Yongfeng Cangcheng, but just ordered the Sui army to transfer the camp, and the main camp moved to the west of Tongguan, and at the same time ordered the army to rush to build siege weapons, and prepare to launch a frontal assault when forced to do so - Chen Fuliang, who has a despicable personality, never likes to consume huge frontal fortifications, especially hates frontal assaults on fortified cities, so it is not a last resort, Chen Fuliang was never willing to take his life to fill in Yongfeng Cangcheng.

In addition, Chen Fuliang, in his capacity as the ambassador of Guanzhong, promulgated a new prisoner policy, allowing his subordinates to directly report to the prisoners captured today, saying that those who were willing to join the Sui army would be immediately recruited, and those who were unwilling to join the Sui army could leave immediately, and dry food on the road would be distributed. Although some of the Sui generals felt that Chen Fuliang was too lenient in doing so, and was more worried about being released and returned to the enemy's army, Chen Fuliang replied: "If I don't do this, no one will dare to surrender to me in the future." It is better for the released prisoners to return to the enemy's army, which can help our army publicize the prisoner policy and break the enemy's morale. ”

The next morning, which was also the morning of the 26th, Chen Fuliang once again led the army to Yongfeng Cangcheng City, carefully explored the terrain and studied the tactics of breaking the city, and the result was that Chen Fuliang was very helpless that although the newly built Yongfeng Cangcheng was not high enough and not thick enough, he did not have time to prepare any Yasha Ring, Qianjin Gate or something difficult to defend the city, but after all, it was still located on the high slope of the mountain, and it was condescending to defend it. (The specific topography of Yongfengcang is no longer available, but there are historical records that the Weishui diversion in later generations did not flood Yongfengcang, but only separated Yongfengcang to the north bank of Weishui, so it can be inferred that Yongfengcang must be located on the high ground.) ）

At the same time, according to the confession of the prisoners of war, the garrison in Yongfeng Cangcheng was about 15,000, and Li Xiuning fled with a part of the defeated army, and it is estimated that the strength of the defenders has reached about 20,000, and it is bound to be more difficult for the Sui army to attack and take it, and the price that must be paid is bound to be even greater.

"It's not difficult to attack, the city wall is only one and a half zhang, and the thickness is only one zhang, and it is a new wall, and the wall is definitely not dry yet, so it is not difficult to fight."

Not everyone is as despicable as Chen Fuliang, like to be opportunistic and avoid bullying the weak, at least several Sui generals shouted that Yongfeng Cangcheng is not difficult to capture, and Liu Heimin, Kan Liang and Ma Sanbao, who failed to go into battle in the battle yesterday, still can't wait to volunteer, please lead the army to launch a siege. Chen Fuliang smiled silently, refusing to accept the heroic invitation of the fierce generals under his command, and the strategists all knew that Chen Fuliang's bad character must have wanted to win by surprise, so they didn't say anything, but Li Jing, who had little contact with the unscrupulous nephew, misunderstood Chen Fuliang's meaning and asked: "Virtuous nephew, do you want to besiege the city and send reinforcements?" ”

"Besieging the city and sending reinforcements, of course, is a way." Chen Fuliang replied with a deep groan: "But the war is definitely urgent on the Daxing side, and if we delay here for too long, Daxing may have something to lose." Besides, if we can win Yongfeng Cang as much as possible, it will be more beneficial to us after all. ”

"Then it can only be a strong attack." Li Jing said: "Fortunately, Yongfeng Cangcheng is newly built, the city is not strong enough, and we are not sure of taking it by storm." ”

"What about the casualties?" Chen Fuliang said with a sad face: "I hate attacking the city the most, it is completely to fill it with my life, and there are quite a lot of thieves in Yongfeng Cang, even if we take it, our losses will definitely not be small." ”

Li Jing rolled his eyes, and then realized that his cousin turned out to be a superb person who wanted the horses to run and the horses not to eat grass. At this time, Pei Xingfang, Chen Fuliang's distant cousin, suddenly said, "Brother, do you still remember the method you used to break through Meng Hai City back then?" Yongfengcang is located on the high ground, and the water source must come from Weishui in the north, so that method may be used again. ”

Chen Fuliang's treacherous triangular eyes suddenly lit up, and he was annoyed that he had forgotten how to break the water and break the city, and then led a group of accomplices and lackeys to the north of Yongfeng Cangcheng to explore the terrain, and the result was that the Sui generals were both happy and embarrassed that Yongfeng Cangcheng was indeed a gentle slope distance from the bank of the Weishui River, but this distance was less than two hundred steps, and it was difficult to station a large number of troops to completely cut off the enemy's water source. But fortunately, as long as there is such a distance, Li Jing immediately built yì and said: "Virtuous nephew, you can build a fence fortification one hundred and fifty steps away from Cangcheng, and arrange the army to guard it in turns day and night, which can still cut off the enemy's water source." Another army is located in the northwest of Yongfengcang, which is convenient for sending troops to rescue. ”

Chen Fuliang was overjoyed when he heard this, but he did not immediately agree to adopt it, but turned his eyes to Yuan Tiangang, Yuan Tiangang understood, and replied with a smile: "Stay at ease, Guanzhong has often suffered from drought since ancient times, and the autumn rain is very scarce. ”

Chen Fuliang laughed loudly and ordered: "Start immediately, act according to the plan, Uncle Cousin, this matter will be left to you, build a fence, dig another trench, arrange elite soldiers to take turns to guard, and give me Li Xiuning can't even find washing water!" ”

In the sound of singing, Li Jing immediately arranged for the army to act according to the plan, digging trenches and building fences and earthen ramparts on the rebels' water intake road, and Chen Fuliang also transferred elite soldiers to cover the sappers to build fortifications. The officials and soldiers seem to want to cut off our water source, and there is no well in Yongfeng Cangcheng, if the officials and soldiers really succeed, we can die of thirst without fighting! ”

Li Jiancheng's face turned blue, he first looked up at the blazing sun in the sky, gritted his teeth and said "Virtuous brother, you are really ruthless enough, and then said: "From now on, the drinking water in the city will be stored and distributed in a unified manner, and at night, troops will be sent to grab water!" ”

So, the brutal battle for drinking water began, after nightfall, the rebels took advantage of the cover of the night, sent two thousand troops to raid the Sui army's fence defense line, and the wooden barrel was ready to grab water, who knew that the Sui army had already prepared, and also took advantage of the night cover, and ambushed the secret sentry near Cangcheng to monitor, the rebels had just begun to go out of the city, and the Sui army's secret post had been transmitted back to the fence defenders, and the prepared Sui soldiers fought hard to meet it with the help of improvised fortifications, and Cheng Yanjin, who was stationed in the northwest of Cangcheng, also led the army to kill to help, under the two phases, the rebels were defeated, Without grabbing half a bucket of water, they fled back to the city.

On the morning of the 27th of the next day, when the Sui army was desperately reinforcing the fortifications to intercept the water source, He Panren and Li Gang also sent fast horses to deliver the news, saying that they had burned the rebels' grain and grass according to the agreement, and were on the way back from the east to lead the army, and asked Chen Fuliang to send someone to Xinfeng to confirm the grain burning. Chen Fuliang was even more overjoyed, and while treating the envoy kindly, he said that he believed that He Panren had burned grain without confirmation, but in fact, he quietly sent someone to Xinfeng to confirm the matter, showing the hypocritical character of saying one thing and doing another.

In addition, Chen Fuliang, who was good at attacking the heart, wrote the news of He Panren's burning of grain into a letter, and sent people to shoot arrows into the Yongfeng warehouse to hit the enemy's military morale. Li Jiancheng, Li Xiuning, Wang Changhui and other rebel generals were shocked when they saw the letter, but they were well aware of Chen Fuliang's treacherous character, so they were only suspicious of the letter, and did not accept the proposal of some subordinates to abandon the warehouse and flee to preserve their strength, and once again arranged a plan to send troops to grab water.

On the night of the 27th, the rebels sent 5,000 troops down the mountain to grab the water, the Sui army struggled to meet the attack, Chen Fuliang heard that the rebels had strong troops, in addition to sending troops from the main battalion to reinforce the battlefield of Broken Water, and arranged for an army to feint to attack Luokou Cangcheng to besiege Wei to save Zhao, forcing Li Jiancheng not to dare to increase troops to cut off the battlefield. Li Jiancheng was afraid that Cangcheng would lose, so he didn't dare to make a mistake, and honestly just sat back and watched the water-grabbing army led by Wang Changhuan fight hard with the Sui army at the foot of the mountain, anxious, and helpless at the same time. As a result, although the rebel soldiers who sacrificed their lives to fight recovered dozens of barrels of muddy water covered with muddy water, they paid the price of thousands of casualties.

At noon on the 28th, He Panren's army, which had traveled lightly and hurriedly, returned to the Tongguan battlefield and surrendered to Chen Fuliang. He Panren took the initiative to come to Yongfeng Cangcheng and scolded, personally telling the rebels that he had burned grain and surrendered, and persuaded his old department in the city to surrender. Li Jiancheng, Wang Changhuan and others were furious, and ordered the army to release arrows to drive He Panren away, and at the same time had to have the idea of abandoning the warehouse and fleeing.

Under the fluttering situation, all the civil and military generals of the Sui army inevitably got carried away, and they advocated firmly implementing the tactics of besieging the city and sending reinforcements, making every effort to cut off the rebels' water sources, forcing the rebels to abandon the city and flee, breaking the enemy in the field battle, or forcing the main force of the rebels to return to Yongfengcang, and waiting for the battle to settle the pass. In the face of this tidal call, although Chen Fuliang still maintained a certain calmness, he also felt that it was really like this, and it was indeed far better than running to Daxing City to work hard, so he smiled and said: "Since you all think that you should besiege the city and send reinforcements, then besiege it, and see how long he Li Jiancheng and Li Yuan's old thieves can carry it." ”

The arrogant soldiers will be defeated, fortunately, Chen Fuliang also has a reliable cousin Li Jing by his side, seeing the relaxed smile of his cousin, Li Jing not only did not relax his mentality, but also secretly pondered in his heart, and said secretly: "The tactics of besieging the city and sending reinforcements are certainly safe and correct, which can reduce the consumption of attacking fortifications, but the thief army of Yongfengcang will really give up Yongfengcang, the lifeblood of Guanzhong, because of the water cut?" Li Yuan led the main force of the rebels to come to the rescue, can we really wait for the rest of the labor to win the chances? Not necessarily, I'm afraid. "Army. He Panren took the initiative to come to Yongfeng Cangcheng and scolded, personally telling the rebels that he had burned grain and surrendered, and persuaded his old department in the city to surrender. Li Jiancheng, Wang Changhuan and others were furious, and ordered the army to release arrows to drive He Panren away, and at the same time had to have the idea of abandoning the warehouse and fleeing.

Under the fluttering situation, all the civil and military generals of the Sui army inevitably got carried away, and they advocated firmly implementing the tactics of besieging the city and sending reinforcements, making every effort to cut off the rebels' water sources, forcing the rebels to abandon the city and flee, breaking the enemy in the field battle, or forcing the main force of the rebels to return to Yongfengcang, and waiting for the battle to settle the pass. In the face of this tidal call, although Chen Fuliang still maintained a certain calmness, he also felt that it was really like this, and it was indeed far better than running to Daxing City to work hard, so he smiled and said: "Since you all think that you should besiege the city and send reinforcements, then besiege it, and see how long he Li Jiancheng and Li Yuan's old thieves can carry it." ”

The arrogant soldiers will be defeated, fortunately, Chen Fuliang also has a reliable cousin Li Jing by his side, seeing the relaxed smile of his cousin, Li Jing not only did not relax his mentality, but also secretly pondered in his heart, and said secretly: "The tactics of besieging the city and sending reinforcements are certainly safe and correct, which can reduce the consumption of attacking fortifications, but the thief army of Yongfengcang will really give up Yongfengcang, the lifeblood of Guanzhong, because of the water cut?" Li Yuan led the main force of the rebels to come to the rescue, can we really wait for the rest of the labor to win the chances? Not necessarily, I'm afraid. ”