Liu Shishan and Zhang Junli led their troops to Gucheng, but they met Li Yi's army at Xuhe.

As soon as the two sides met, they entered a state of death battle, and the battle was very fierce.

After a day and a night of fighting, the Tang army killed tens of thousands of enemies and captured countless military equipment, Liu Shishan and Zhang Junli fled with the remnants of the army.

Li Yi took advantage of the victory to pursue, and then recovered the cities of Ding, Luan, Lian, and Zhao.

At the same time, Li Shimin personally led a large army to attack Jianzhou, but Fan Yuan was defeated and abandoned the city and fled.

Li Shimin continued to advance towards Zhaozhou and recovered the counties along the road.

In March, Li Yi joined forces with Li Shimin, camped south of the river, and sent troops to garrison the towns north of the newly recovered river.

In the big tent of the Chinese army, everyone surrounded the map, and Li Shimin held a thin pole to point out the position on the map and analyze the battle situation with everyone.

"Our current location is in the south of Zhaozhou, and Zhaozhou and Xingzhou in the north have been recovered by our army, and are now guarded by Li Yi, and the west is Taihang Mountain, and the terrain is precipitous.

"Now Liu Heimin is surrounded by us in the remote corner of Zhaozhou, and his only way out is the grain transportation route in Beizhou, Jizhou, Cangzhou, Yingzhou and other places in the northeast.

"Beizhou and other places are in the upper reaches of the river, and they are also the source of supply for the rebels in Zhouzhou, as long as we cut off their food routes, the rebels will be starved to death."

In the end, the thin pole in Li Shimin's hand fell somewhere in Yutu: "Whether it is by water or land, transporting grain from Jizhou, Beizhou and other places into the city of Zhaozhou must pass through this place, the county seat of Xushui." ”

Speaking of this, Li Shimin pointed out the location of the county seat twice.

"Therefore, as long as we capture the county town of Luoshui, we can cut off the grain route of the rebels, and at that time, the rebels will have to surrender if they don't want to be trapped to death."

Everyone kept nodding their heads, agreeing with Li Shimin's analysis.

Next, Li Shimin ordered: "Qin Shubao, Wei Chi Jingde, you will follow me to survey the terrain later." ”

Every time Li Shimin fought, he was accustomed to personally surveying the terrain, and his generals were accustomed to it, and they did not raise their voices against it.

Just as Li Shimin was about to leave, Li Shiyun came to him with a strange man.

"Marshal, this is a person from Luoshui County, and he said that there is something important to report to you."

Li Shimin handed the helmet back, and Wei Chi Jingde took it easily.

"Who are you? What is important to tell me? ”

The man knelt on the ground and said respectfully: "The little one is the one who went to confuse General Li, yesterday, General Li killed the county magistrate of Lishui County, occupied the official office, and controlled the county seat.

"General Li sent the little one to surrender to the king, and he wants to give you the county seat of Lishui."

The generals standing next to them were overjoyed when they heard this.

They were about to attack the county seat, and someone sent the county seat to the door, which was really blessed by God.

Li Shimin was also very happy, and asked the man in detail about what happened, and then he ordered: "Wang Junkuo, I will give you two thousand Xuanjia troops, and you will immediately lead them to the county seat of Xushui, and give me a good defense of the county seat." ”

"Yes." Wang Junkuo agreed loudly and immediately went to order troops.

......

Aozhou.

Cao Zhan ran into the main hall in a panic: "Lord, it's not good, the county seat of Zhushui has fallen." ”

"What?" Liu Heimin was so shocked that he stood up from the throne: "How did you fall?" When did this happen? ”

Cao Zhan told the news he had just gotten: "Two days ago, a man named Li Quchao incited the people, launched a rebellion, killed the county commander, occupied the county seat of Lishui, and surrendered to the Tang army.

"Now, Li Shimin has sent troops to settle in the county seat."

Liu Heimin's face was very gloomy, and he walked out quickly: "Follow me to take a look." ”

When Liu Heimin saw the Tang Army flag fluttering on the city wall of Lishui County, his face was covered with dark clouds.

It was he who was careless.

"Let's go, let's go back."

Back in the city of Zhaozhou, Liu Heimin convened hundreds of civil and military officials to discuss countermeasures.

Gao Yaxian said: "We have been besieged in Zhaozhou, and now the grain road is also broken, and without food supplies, the grain storage in the city will not last long."

"For now, we have to open a new supply route to ensure that the army does not starve to death."

"How can a new route be opened so easily?" Dong Kangmai disagreed with Gao Yaxian's opinion, he said: "The south is the main force of the Tang army, the north is Li Yi's army, and the Taihang Mountain in the west is steep, and it is impossible to transport grain at all.

"In today's situation, we simply can't open up new grain routes, so we can only use the old routes to transport food.

"We must take the county seat."

Liu Heimin was thoughtful.

Fan Yuan, who had been silent, suddenly spoke: "Actually, we can also give up Zhaozhou, break through from the east, and retreat to the Jizhou area." ”

As soon as this remark came out, it was opposed by most people: "How can this work? Zhaozhou is our capital, how can we give it up?

"Once the capital is abandoned, the armies everywhere will inevitably think that we cannot hold the capital, and they will not have the confidence to fight against the Tang army.

"At that time, morale will be low, the morale of the army will be weakened, and the country we have worked so hard to build will fall in one day."

Liu Heimin nodded silently, feeling that their concerns were not unreasonable.

Fan Yuan was refuted by so many people, and said irritably: "Then you guys, what should we do to solve the current dilemma?" ”

The crowd was silent.

At this time, Gao Yaxian changed his previous thoughts and said to everyone: "In this way, we only have one way now, and that is to recapture Luoshui County with all our might. ”

Everyone nodded, deeply agreed.

In the end, Liu Heimin listened to the opinions of the majority of people and decided to go all out to fight for Lishui County.

"The county town is surrounded by water on all sides, the water area is more than 50 steps wide, about four zhang deep, if we want to capture the county seat, we must build a road to the city."

Liu Heimin pointed to a certain place on the map with his finger: "We are building a road on this side."

"Cao Zhan, Dong Kangmai, you lead 20,000 elites to be responsible for defense and prevent the Tang army from destroying Yongdao.

"Ordered the Jizhou Assassin History and the Beizhou Assassin History, get ready, and when the time comes, join forces with the Zhaozhou army to attack the county seat of Laoshui."

As a result, Liu Heimin began to build a road in the southwest of the county seat.

Wang Junkuo saw this scene on the city wall, and immediately ordered left and right: "Go and report to the marshal." ”

However, it was not long before the guards at the city gate came to report that one of the two soldiers sent to report the news had been killed by the rebels, and the other had fled with serious injuries.

Wang Junkuo suddenly realized that the situation was serious, and the rebels wanted to isolate the county town of Luoshui, and then wait for an opportunity to capture it.

He stood on the city wall, his eyes looking around, and suddenly he had an idea.

The black smoke on the beacon soon attracted the attention of all parties.

At this time, Luo Shixin was replacing Li Shixun and urging the soldiers to supervise.

He took the binoculars in the hands of the soldiers, first looked in the direction of the county seat, but saw the smoke over the county seat, his heart sank, and he hurriedly went to report to Li Shimin.

After Li Shimin found out, he immediately climbed to the highest point in the south and held a telescope to observe the situation in the county seat.

At this glance, he found that the rebels were building a road, and there were rebels all around the county seat......

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