The dark tide of Chang'an is surging, and the trapped beasts in Luoyang are still fighting.

Because Luoyang was surrounded by the Tang army, and Wang Shichong did not come out of the city, he did not dare to confront Li Shimin head-on, and everyone in the city was in danger.

Driven by panic and fear, some officials went out of the city without permission and surrendered to Li Shimin.

Wang Shichong was furious when he found out: "Damn, traitor, do you think that surrendering to Li Shimin will save your life?" Lonely will make you regret surrendering. ”

Therefore, Wang Shichong issued torture, if one of the family members escaped from the city, then the whole family would be implicated and beheaded, but relatives could be exonerated as long as they reported the person's intention to escape.

Then, Wang Shichong ordered five households to be one guarantee, and neighbors supervised each other. If one family escapes and the other four do not notice, then the other four families are to be put to death.

Even when you go out to buy something, there is a time limit, which makes people panic and unable to live a normal life.

Even under such torture, there were people who fled and surrendered to the Don army.

More and more people were executed, and the floor of the execution ground was washed with blood every day, and it could never be restored to its former color.

The more suppressed, the more the people defected, and the government prison was suddenly full, and Wang Shichong used the palace as a prison, as long as he was suspicious of anyone, he ordered Xiaoguo to arrest this person and send him to the palace together with his relatives.

On this day, Wang Shichong decided to go out of the city and test Li Shimin.

The day before departure, Wang Shichong handed over a list to Pei Qiantong: "You go and bring the relatives of these people to the palace, and take care of them before I come back." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

After Pei Qiantong walked out of the main hall, he opened the list and found that the names on the list were all generals who would fight with Wang Shichong tomorrow.

He couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

But he did as Wang Shichong told him to do, because his relatives were also imprisoned.

Those generals watched Pei Qiantong pick up their relatives, daring to be angry but not daring to speak.

......

On the second day, Wang Shichong led the army out of Hui'anmen in the north and went straight to the Tang army.

"Kill!"

"Rush!"

The sound of fighting shook the earth.

Li Shimin was very excited when he saw Wang Shichong leaving the city, and ordered to kill him with all his might.

The soldiers of the Tang Army wanted to make meritorious contributions one by one, while the soldiers of the Zheng Army had to kill the enemy desperately because their relatives were trapped in the city.

Both sides fought fiercely.

Li Shimin rode his steed into the enemy formation, and under the cover of dozens of Xuanjia Army soldiers, it was inserted straight into the array like an arrow from the string, and finally it actually crossed out, disrupting the formation of the Zheng army.

In the end, the Zheng army was defeated and retreated, Wang Shichong led the army to retreat south, and the Tang army took advantage of the victory to pursue.

"Close the gates, close the gates."

Wang Shichong fled back to the city and immediately ordered the city gates to be closed.

Hearing Wang Shichong's order, the cavalry behind struggled to drive the horses into the city: "Drive, drive ......"

The gates were closed, and the cavalry were lucky enough to escape back into the city, but the infantry behind were not so lucky.

One glance at the closed city gate in front, and then at the Tang army in hot pursuit, the infantry scattered in terror and fled eastward.

Li Shimin soon led his army to catch up with them, and he killed the enemy again.

In this battle, the Tang army killed 7,000 enemies and captured 6,000.

From then on, Wang Shichong did not dare to go out of the city, but guarded the city strictly and waited for Dou Jiande's rescue.

However, in this battle, Wang Shichong lost more than 10,000 people, and there were tens of thousands of people imprisoned in the city, and his soldiers were suddenly reduced a lot.

Wang Shichong was worried about the lack of troops, so he recruited soldiers on a large scale, forcing men who had reached the age of 13 to join the army and receive training, which caused the people to complain.

The recruitment of soldiers is endless, and the collection of grain is increasing, and the people do not have much food in their homes, and this levy of military rations will not be enough for their families to live.

When the grain was finished, they gnawed the bark and the leaves, and they took everything they could and could not eat.

Some people were so hungry that they dug up dirt and put it in a rubble urn and washed it with water. When the sand and gravel sank underneath, they took out the mud that had floated on it, mixed the bran with it, and made cakes to eat.

But how can such food be good for the body?

After eating such bread, their bodies were swollen, their legs were weak, and they lay on the ground unable to move, and it was not long before they died.

Dozens of people die of starvation every day, not only from the bottom of the population, but also from officials.

A large number of officials, such as Lu Junye, the secretary of the Criminal Department, and Guo Zigao, the waiter of the Ministry of Works, starved to death at home.

In the end, when there is really nothing to eat, there is a phenomenon of cannibalism.

Suddenly, Luoyang became a purgatory on earth.

In the face of such a scene, Wang Shichong was helpless and incompetent, he stood on the highest tower in the palace and looked in the direction of Zhaozhou.

His eyes were full of hope and a hint of despair: "Dou Jiande, Dou Jiande, didn't you promise to send troops to help?" Then why hasn't your army reached Luoyang yet?

"You haven't been here for so long, are you trying to break your promise?"

After looking at it for several days, there was no banner of Xia Jun in the distance, and Wang Shichong couldn't help but be disappointed: "Dou Jiande, Dou Jiande, are you here to save people, or are you here to collect corpses?" ”

......

In fact, Dou Jiande had already calculated the right time, and after the ice and snow melted, he ordered the army to reorganize and personally led the army to relieve the siege.

He said to Wang Wan and his eldest grandson An Shi: "The Tang army dispatched nearly 100,000 elites to attack Luoyang, and in order to repel the Tang army, I need more troops."

"Last year, Meng Haigong, a native of Jiyin County, Caozhou, gathered 30,000 elite soldiers and occupied Zhouqiao City to the south of the Yellow River for plunder.

"This trip happened to pass through Zhouqiao City, let's take Zhouqiao City down first, collect Meng Haigong's soldiers and horses, and then go to Luoyang."

Wang Wan discussed it with the eldest grandson An Shi, and felt that it would be safer to have more soldiers and horses, so he did not object.

So, Dou Jiande personally led a large army to attack Zhouqiao City.

Meng Haigong was invincible, and he couldn't get out of the city, and sent people to ask Xu Yuanlang for help.

Xu Yuanlang led troops to rescue, but was defeated by Dou Jiande and became a prisoner himself.

In February, the Xia army conquered the city of Zhouqiao and captured Meng Haigong.

Dou Jiande incorporated Meng Haigong and Xu Yuanlang's men, leaving the general Fan Yuan and some soldiers to guard Caozhou, and then led the rest of the men to rescue Wang Shichong.

All the way to Huazhou, Wang Shichong's servant Han Hong opened the city gate to greet him.

After that, Dou Jiande went all the way to Yuanzhou, Liangzhou, Guanzhou, and Xingyang, all of which were laid down and gathered in Xingyang.

Li Shimin heard that Xingyang, which had not been in hand for a long time, was broken by Dou Jiande, and immediately summoned the military generals to discuss countermeasures.

"Now that the Xia army has come to the rescue of Luoyang, what good plan do you have?"

The eldest grandson Wuji said: "Luoyang is already like a trapped beast, as long as it is delayed for some time, Luoyang will be self-defeating."

"Dou Jiande's Xia army was originally brave and fierce, and this time it has collected the army of Meng Haigong and Xu Yuanlang, and the strength has increased greatly, which cannot be underestimated.

"They are menacing, we can't take them lightly, we have to negotiate a sound strategy before we can act......"

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