After six months of bloody battles, the elite division of the 100,000 Tang Army in the eastward expedition to Luoyang, under the leadership of Li Shimin, the king of Qin, gradually occupied the initiative on the battlefield until the end of the third year of Wude (620). As early as the beginning of the Tang army's entry into Henan and the arrival of troops in Luoyang, Li Shimin had already set the overall strategy of attacking Luoyang, which can be included in eight words: surrounded by heavy troops, encroaching step by step. These eight characters are the general tone established by Li Shimin in the initial stage of the Battle of Luoyang.

First of all, Li Shimin gathered heavy troops, arranged a four-way army, and encircled Luoyang on all sides, creating the momentum of Mount Tai's overwhelming; Secondly, Li Shimin assigned various departments to attack everywhere, swept away the military strongholds on the periphery of Luoyang, compressed Wang Shichong's battle line little by little, and forced him to retreat to the lonely city of Luoyang.

To be precise, this tactic did have an ideal effect in the initial stage of attacking Luoyang. As the military strongholds on the periphery of Luoyang were swept away one by one, Henan Prefecture and counties all looked down on the wind. Moreover, the great victories in the two battles of Beibi and Qianjinbao enabled the Tang army to achieve amazing results, annihilated Wang Shichong's tens of thousands of elite soldiers, severely dampened Wang Shichong's military strength, and created an extremely favorable situation for Luoyang's attack.

Therefore, by the end of the third year of Wude (620), Wang Shichong's sphere of influence could only control one acre and three points of land in Luoyang, and most of his territory in Henan was almost lost. At the same time, after six months of strategic advancement, the main force of nearly 100,000 Tang troops completely completed the military encirclement of Luoyang. Next, as long as Li Shimin, the king of Qin, gave an order, the Tang army officers and soldiers could officially launch the battle of Luoyang.

Faced with such a situation, Wang Shichong panicked. The current battle situation is extremely unfavorable to Wang Shichong. Luoyang is a lonely city, if the Tang army attacks the city on a large scale, Wang Shichong will not be able to last long. In such a situation, Wang Shichong decided that the strong man broke his wrist, and the lost states, counties, and cities in Henan were all gone, so he shrank his troops and stuck to Luoyang; As long as Luoyang is kept, his foundation will still be there, and it is unknown whether he will make a comeback in the future.

Therefore, whether it is Li Shimin or Wang Shichong, they all know that the battle of Luoyang is a protracted war, and if they want to fight quickly, there is very little hope. In this way, the two sides fought a tug-of-war under Luoyang City. Just when the Tang army and Wang Shichong were at a standstill, a military group from a third party suddenly intervened in the battle between Tang and Zheng Luoyang, which immediately caused a great change in the situation in Luoyang. This military group from a third party is the Xia regime of Dou Jiande in Hebei.

Wang Shichong occupies Henan, and Dou Jiande is far away in Hebei, separated by a Yellow River, which is far away. Why didn't Dou Jiande cut his claim in Hebei and have to wade into the troubled waters of Luoyang? In fact, it was not Dou Jiande who took the initiative to come, but Wang Shichong asked him to lead the army.

The Tang army besieged the city, Wang Shichong was trapped in Luoyang, and it was difficult to support it alone, and the battle of Luoyang was imminent. In this case, Wang Shichong made two preparations, on the one hand, to gather troops to resist the attack of the Tang army; On the other hand, Wang Shichong is also looking for foreign aid. With Wang Shichong's army alone, it is difficult to hold Luoyang. Therefore, Wang Shichong urgently needed foreign aid and the support of a third-party force, and he pinned his hopes on Dou Jiande in Hebei.

If Dou Jiande can send troops to rescue Luoyang, he can echo Wang Shichong from afar and flank the Tang army. In that case, the Tang army will face the pressure of fighting on two fronts, and will be forced by the Zheng and Xia coalition forces, and the battle of Luoyang may have a turning point.

So, in November of the third year of Wude (620), Wang Shichong took the initiative to send an envoy and asked Dou Jiande to send troops. At this time, Dou Jiande also agreed to send troops and form an alliance with Wang Shichong out of consideration of his own interests. Moreover, at this time, Dou Jiande was also actively reorganizing the army, training soldiers and horses, and preparing to reinforce Luoyang at any time. Regarding Wang Shichong's alliance with Dou Jiande to jointly flank the Tang army, I will talk about it in detail in the next chapter, and I will not repeat it here.

Of course, although Dou Jiande decided to personally lead the army to support Wang Shichong. However, it is impossible for Dou Jiande to send troops to Luoyang quickly, and he also needs time to prepare. Therefore, the news that Dou Jiande was about to rescue Luoyang was naturally known to Li Shimin, and Li Shimin couldn't help frowning.

Li Shimin knows that the situation he is facing now is very similar to the situation that Li Mi faced at the beginning. Previously, Li Mi led 300,000 Wagang troops to besiege Luoyang City, and he was originally victorious. As a result, the 100,000 Xiaoguo rebels of Yu Wenhua suddenly intervened in the Luoyang battle. Li Mi had to turn his gun and deal with Yu Wenhua, and the final result was that Li Mi, Yu Wenhua and both were defeated, allowing Wang Shichong to reap the benefits of the fisherman.

For Li Shimin, who has been on the battlefield for a long time, if Dou Jiande really leads the army to come, he will form an alliance with Wang Shichong. Then, the Tang army will undoubtedly lose this battle and will withdraw from Henan. However, Li Shimin was an outstanding military commander in the end. He calmly analyzed the battlefield situation, but fortunately, Dou Jiande had not yet arrived in Luoyang. Therefore, time is life, and what Li Shimin has to do now is to race against time.

This period of time was too precious for Li Shimin and the 100,000 Tang Army, and it was simply a fleeting fighter. Li Shimin believed that it was necessary to step up a large-scale attack on Luoyang before Dou Jiande arrived, and strive to capture Luoyang as soon as possible. In order to capture Luoyang, Li Shimin personally braved the arrows, took the lead, and charged on the front line. In this way, a bloody battle under Luoyang City is inevitable. Similarly, Li Shimin will also experience unprecedented battlefield gunsmoke.

At the same time, Wang Shichong was not idle. might as well analyze Wang Shichong's psychology at this time, he hopes for foreign aid, but does not completely rely on foreign aid. Before Dou Jiande arrived, Wang Shichong had to rely on himself to do something to resist the Tang army's attack and prevent the Tang army from breaking through the city.

Under the critical situation, Wang Shichong repeated his old tricks, came up with the methods used to deal with the Wagang army, concentrated all the elites in Luoyang, took the initiative to go out of the city, and fought against the Tang army. Wang Shichong is also a person who does not admit defeat, several major battles, lost tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, he is naturally unwilling to lose. Therefore, Wang Shichong wanted to win back a game, take the main force out of Luoyang City, look for fighters, and attack the Tang army, maybe he could still achieve certain results.

From a military point of view alone, Wang Shichong's move is simply a bad move. Zheng Guo's current military strength is indeed not suitable for fighting out of the city. At present, the wisest decision should be to concentrate forces, stick to Luoyang, rely on the fortification of Luoyang, resist the Tang army, and wait for the arrival of Dou Jiande's army.

On the contrary, Wang Shichong led the army out of the city, which was exactly what Li Shimin wanted to see. If Li Shimin waved his troops to attack Luoyang, he might eventually be able to capture Luoyang, but he would also pay a great price of casualties and costs. If Wang Shichong led his troops out of the city, Li Shimin could deploy troops to wipe out Wang Shichong's elite outside the city, so that his vitality would be greatly damaged, and it would be easier to take Luoyang. It can be seen that the bloody struggle between the two armies outside Luoyang City is about to begin.

In the blink of an eye, it was the fourth year of Wude (621). At this time, the Luoyang offensive and defensive battle between the Tang and Zheng armies was already in full swing!

In the first month of the fourth year of Wude (621), Wang Shichong took the lead in attacking the Tang army. As mentioned above, in October of the third year of Wude (620), Luo Shixin skillfully used a clever plan to defeat the Zheng army and outwit Qianjin Castle. The capture of Qianjin Fort made this place a military fortress to contain Luoyang. Therefore, Wang Shichong regarded Qianjinbao as a thorn in his side and a thorn in his flesh, and he wanted to recapture Qianjinbao from the Tang army no matter what.

Sure enough, at the beginning of the year, Wang Shichong personally led tens of thousands of Zheng troops, and they came to Qianjin Fort with great momentum and launched a crazy counterattack against Qianjin Fort. Looking at this posture, Wang Shichong will capture Qianjin Fort at any cost. Li Shimin did not know the prophet, he had long expected that Wang Shichong would definitely counterattack Qianjin Fort. Because of this, Li Shimin laid out the first move in advance and appointed two famous generals to guard Qianjin Fort, they were Qu Tutong and Dou Rail, who were the servants of Xingtai.

Needless to say, Qu Tutong was a famous general of the Sui and Tang dynasties, who had been on the battlefield for a long time and was famous for being good at defending the city. Similarly, Dou Liang is also a famous general in the Tang Army, from the beginning of Jinyang to the unification war in the early Tang Dynasty, he has been fighting in all directions, and his military achievements are impressive. More importantly, Dou Liang is also Li Shimin's uncle. Therefore, Li Shimin left Qu Tutong and Dou Liang to guard Qianjin Castle in order to prevent Wang Shichong from counterattacking.

Although Qu Tutong and Dou Rail are generals who can fight well, they are alone after all. In the face of Wang Shichong's tens of thousands of troops, the Tang army gradually became weak, and Qianjinbao began to be in a hurry. There was no way, Qu Tutong had no choice but to light the beacon fire and ask Li Shimin for help, hoping that the army would come to support.

Seeing Qu Tutong's distress signal, Li Shimin did not immediately send troops. This is by no means a death without help, Li Shimin is worthy of being a military wizard, he judged that with Qu Tutong's ability to defend the city, he will definitely be able to hold on. At this time, holding the troops without moving, on the contrary, can play the role of paralyzing the enemy army, and when the enemy army is lax, and then attack in a big way, outflanking Wang Shichong from behind, and cutting off the enemy's way back, perhaps it can achieve the effect of surprise.

Finally, until Qu Tutong lit the beacon fire for the third time for help, Li Shimin felt that the time was almost up, and immediately led the main force of thousands of Xuanjia Army to pour out of the nest and advance towards Qianjin Castle. Because Li Shimin rode his horse and whipped and galloped all the way, he quickly broke away from the main force, and only a few personal soldiers were followed by him.

When they arrived at Qianjin Castle, Li Shimin and Wang Shichong's army collided head-on. However, Li Shimin was not afraid, and quickly bent his bow and arrow, and shot an arrow. I saw that one of the enemy generals on the opposite side was hit by an arrow and fell from his horse. Then, Li Shimin's Xuanjia personal soldiers swarmed up and captured this enemy general, he was Wang Shichong's cavalry general Ge Yanzhang. Ge Yanzhang was captured by an arrow, and Zheng Jun was stunned for a while, looking at each other.

Before Wang Shichong could react, the main force of the Xuanjia Army followed. Thousands of cavalry of the Xuanjia Army, swept through the clouds, outflanked and covered up from the rear of the enemy, and they were slashed and killed, and the Zheng army was defeated, and the captives were beheaded, as many as more than 6,000 people. Wang Shichong himself was also very embarrassed, fled in a hurry, and was almost captured by the Tang army:

Xingtai servants shot Qu Tutong, and Dou Liang of the Emperor praised the generals according to the camp tun, and suddenly met Wang Shichong, and the battle was unfavorable. Qin King Shimin Shuai Xuanjia rescued him, Shichong was defeated, and his cavalry general Ge Yanzhang was captured, and more than 6,000 people were captured, and Shichong escaped. (Information Governance Guide)

Originally, Wang Shichong led the main force out of the city to find fighters and defeat the Tang army. Unexpectedly, the first battle was lost, not only failed to recapture Qianjin Fort, but lost 6,000 soldiers and horses, and fled in defeat. However, the house leak happened to rain overnight, and the worse thing is still to come!

Wang Shichong defeated Qianjin Fort, gathered the remnants of the army, and fled back to Luoyang in disgrace. Soon, the crown prince Wang Xuanying led thousands of soldiers to transport a batch of grain and grass from the tiger prison to Luoyang. At this time, in Luoyang City, food was in short supply and increasingly stretched. Therefore, Wang Shichong needs this batch of grain and grass too much.

However, Wang Shichong's opponent is Li Shimin. Li Shimin pinched Wang Shichong's seven inches, since Luoyang was short of grain, why not take the sheep and defeat Zheng Jun's grain army. So, Li Shimin ordered his general Li Junxian to lead a team of men and horses to set up an ambush halfway. As a result, as soon as Wang Xuanying arrived, the Tang army ambushed the soldiers from all directions, invited the Zheng army, and broke thousands of enemy soldiers. Wang Xuanying was only spared, and all the grain and grass were robbed by the Tang army.

After severely injuring Wang Shichong and Wang Xuanying's father and son, Li Shimin immediately drew up a battle plan for the siege of Luoyang, wrote a playtable, and appointed his adviser Yu Wenshi to go to Chang'an to submit it to Tang Gaozu Li Yuan and ask his father to decide. Gaozu received Li Shimin's above table and immediately approved his battle plan. At the same time, in order to motivate Li Shimin and the front-line soldiers, Li Yuan asked Yu Wenshi to return to the front line and convey his will:

King Guiyuer: Take Luoyang today, stop the desire to stop the army. On the day of Kecheng, the public opinion of the law, the book equipment, not private needs, entrusted to you. and the rest of the children were given jade silk and distributed to the soldiers. (Information Governance Guide)

With his father's approval, Li Shimin wanted to officially implement the plan to attack Luoyang. Soon, the Tang army ushered in the next fierce bloody battle - the "Battle of Qingcheng Palace".

On February 13 of the fourth year of Wude (621), Li Shimin led the Tang army to move to Qingcheng Palace, build fortifications here, and prepare to attack Luoyang City. Without waiting for the Tang army to repair the barrier and arrange the formation, Wang Shichong led 20,000 soldiers and horses from the Luoyang Fangzhumen to pour out of the city, build walls and trenches in the area of the old horse fang, and lined up in the valley to resist the Tang army. It can be said that these 20,000 soldiers and horses are almost the last elite force in Wang Shichong's hands.

Perhaps it was the continuous battle, the Tang army soldiers were tired, and Wang Shichong's 20,000 soldiers and horses suddenly appeared, which surprised the Tang army. If there is a real fight, the Tang army may have to cross the river to fight. In case Wang Shichong took advantage of the Tang army's unpreparedness and attacked it halfway, the Tang army's situation would be dangerous. Therefore, the generals of the Tang Army, everyone has a difficult face, and they don't know what to do, whether to cross the river or not to cross the river.

However, as the commander-in-chief, Li Shimin, the king of Qin, still remained calm as always, without the slightest panic. Li Shimin led a Xuanjia army to cavalry, Chen soldiers to the north, and he himself climbed the mausoleum of Emperor Xuanwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty to observe the enemy's situation. Soon, Li Shimin came to a conclusion: Wang Shichong was not to be afraid. He said this to the left and right:

The thief was embarrassed, and everyone came out, and he was lucky to fight, and he broke it today, and he didn't dare to come back! (Information Governance Guide)

Li Shimin could see that Wang Shichong was at the end of his crossbow at this time. Now, it's just a desperate gamble, a dying throe. As long as he defeated his last 20,000 elites, Wang Shichong would completely lose the ability to fight against the Tang army, and from then on he would retreat into Luoyang City and never dare to fight again.

By observing the enemy's situation, Li Shimin quickly made a decision to immediately cross the river and take the initiative to attack Zheng's army. Therefore, Li Shimin ordered the servants of Xingtai to shoot Qu Tutong, and led 5,000 infantry as the vanguard to cross the river to attack Wang Shichong. Moreover, Li Shimin and Qu Tutong agreed: "If you fight with soldiers, you will smoke." "The reason why Qu Tutong led 5,000 infantry to cross the river first was to bite Wang Shichong's army to the death and buy time for the main force of the Tang army to cross the river.

Sure enough, after Qu Tutong led the army across the river, as soon as he engaged the Zheng army, he lit wolf smoke and informed Li Shimin. Seeing the wolf smoke billowing up, Li Shimin immediately gave an order, and the main army all crossed the river, including the most elite "Xuanjia Army" under his command. After crossing the river, Li Shimin found that the rear of Wang Shichong's army was relatively weakly defended. If he attacked the rear of the Zheng army, he would definitely be able to completely defeat Wang Shichong's main force.

As soon as he said it, Li Shimin personally led dozens of elite cavalry of the Xuanjia Army to kill the enemy formation, and hit the back of the Zheng army to launch a fierce attack. In the battle, Li Shimin took the lead and led dozens of cavalry of the Xuanjia Army, galloping left and right, invincible, killing and injuring many enemy soldiers.

But soon, the unexpected happened. What's going on? It turned out that Li Shimin led the Xuanjia Army, rushed behind the enemy, and passed through a river embankment. Because of the complex terrain here, during the melee, Li Shimin was separated from the Xuanjia Army, and the Xuanjia Army was also fighting separately at this time, and could not take care of the King of Qin. At this moment, Li Shimin was only followed by one general, his name was Qiu Xinggong. It should be said that danger is slowly approaching Li Shimin.

Separated from the large army, Li Shimin single-handedly fell into the enemy formation. After a while, many Zheng soldiers surrounded Li Shimin's direction. In the fierce battle, Li Shimin got off his horse and was hit by several arrows. This injured war horse is none other than "Sa Lu Zi", one of the "Six Horses of Zhaoling".

The situation was extremely critical, and Qiu Xinggong, the general who followed Li Shimin's side, saw that King Qin was in trouble, so he naturally had to fight to protect the lord. I saw that Qiu Xinggong picked up the bow and arrows, returned to the horse and fired several arrows in a row, but the arrows were not missed, and the enemy soldiers fell one after another. Qiu Xinggong's superb archery skills instantly calmed the scene, and Zheng Jun didn't dare to step forward for a while.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Qiu Xinggong hurriedly exchanged his war horse for Li Shimin to ride. He jumped off his horse and drew arrows for the wounded "Sa Lu Zi". However, Sa Luzi was too seriously injured and was unable to return to the sky. Qiu Xinggong is not allowed to hesitate, and the top priority is to ensure that King Qin fights out of the encirclement.

At the last moment, Qiu Xinggong held a long knife in his hand and walked in front of the horse, covering Li Shimin's recoil outward. Qiu Xinggong was extremely brave, wielding a long knife in his hand, and where the blade reached, he slashed several people in a row. Li Shimin himself is also strong in martial arts, and at this time he is riding on a horse and is also struggling to kill the enemy. In the end, under the protection of Qiu Xinggong, Li Shimin successfully broke out of the encirclement and returned to the Tang army camp.

Although Li Shimin escaped smoothly, in the battle just now, Li Shimin's mount "Sa Lu Zi" was unfortunately killed by an arrow. In today's Tang Taizong's "Zhaoling Six Horses" stone carving, only the purple stone carving is different from the other five horses. There was a person standing next to it, drawing arrows for the injured Salu Zi, and this person was Qiu Xinggong. Later, Tang Taizong commented on the sacrificial Sa Luzi in "Six Horses Tuzan":

Ziyan super jumped, Gu Teng Shenjun, angry Sanchuan, Weiling eight formations.

At this time, the war was still in a white-hot stage. The Tang and Zheng armies, both sides did their best to fight to the death. Wang Shichong, in particular, was particularly heroic. He understands that if he loses this battle, he will have no chance to turn the tables around. Therefore, Wang Shichong led the army and fought to the death with the Tang army.

You must know that Wang Shichong's troops are basically the soldiers he brought out from Jianghuai, who suppressed the peasant uprising in Jiangnan and defeated the 100,000 Wagang army in Luoyang, which can be regarded as a brave and good fighting force. Wang Shichong commanded 20,000 soldiers and horses, fought hard, and the formation was crushed by the Tang army several times, but quickly regrouped.

The battle in Qingcheng Palace was fought from morning to noon. In the end, Wang Shichong's army, although heroic, could not withstand the wolf-like onslaught of the Tang army, and the entire front collapsed. The Zheng army was defeated, and this was an excellent fighter. Therefore, Li Shimin led the Tang army, pursued the victory, fought hard, and reached the city of Luoyang, capturing and beheading a total of 7,000 Zheng troops. At this point, the Tang army completely defeated Wang Shichong's main force and won a complete victory, according to the record of "Zizhi Tongjian":

Smoke made, the people of the world led the horse south, took the lead, and fought with the Tonghe forces. The people of the world want to know that the world is full of thick and thin, and dozens of fine horsemen rush to it, straight out of its back, everyone is invincible, and many people are killed. Even if it was limited to the long causeway, and the horses were lost, the general Qiu Xinggong was alone from the people, and the people were chased by several horses, and the horses of the people were killed. Xing Gong rode back to shoot the chaser, and the chaser did not dare to go forward. He dismounted to teach the people of the world, walked in front of the horse and held a long sword, shouted from the distance, cut off several people, and suddenly came out to join the army. Shichong is also handsome and the people fight to the death, the number of scattered and reunited is four, from Chen to noon, Shichong soldiers began to retreat. The people of the world took advantage of it, reached the city, captured 7,000 people, and besieged it.

In this bloody battle, the Tang army, under the leadership of Li Shimin, won a complete victory despite the heavy damage to Wang Shichong's only remaining main force. However, it also paid a huge price, and it can be said that it won in a dangerous way. For example, to give an example, the story of Duan Zhixuan, a hussar general under Li Shimin.

Duan Zhixuan is an important general of the Qinwang Group. From the beginning of the Taiyuan uprising, Duan Zhixuan served under Li Shimin, followed Li Shimin to fight in the south and the north, all the way from Taiyuan to Chang'an, and made great achievements. Therefore, Duan Zhixuan can also be regarded as the founding father of the Tang Dynasty and a famous member of the Tang Army. However, it was such a general who crawled out of the pile of dead people who almost lost his life in this big battle.

What's going on? After the start of the war, the situation on the battlefield was very complicated. Even Li Shimin himself led the Xuanjia Army to detour back behind Wang Shichong and launch a fierce attack, not to mention others. At that time, the Tang Army was almost fighting on its own, interspersed with the enemy's front. In this way, the heroic Duan Zhixuan, alone, fought the Zheng army, rode his horse deep into the enemy formation, and fought with the enemy soldiers. That scene has the style of Zhao Zilong's seven in and seven out.

However, in the fierce battle, Duan Zhixuan's war horse was injured by Zheng Jun. As a result, Duan Zhixuan fell from his horse and was unfortunately captured. captured Duan Zhixuan, two Zheng cavalry, and slowly retreated with him, wanting to return to the base camp and ask Wang Shichong for merit and reward. Unexpectedly, Duan Zhixuan had already thought of a way to get out.

When he was about to cross Luoshui, Duan Zhixuan suddenly shouted, and with a fierce force, he dragged the two cavalrymen directly off their horses. Then, Duan Zhixuan jumped on a war horse and ran back to the Tang army camp. Behind him, hundreds of Zheng Guo cavalry could only watch Duan Zhixuan escape, but did not dare to come forward to pursue:

Hussar general Duan Zhixuan and Shichong troops battled, deep, the horse fell, captured by the Shichong soldiers, the two horsemen held their buns, will cross the Luoshui, Zhixuan enthusiastically struggled, both fell from the horse. Zhi Xuan galloped back, and hundreds of chasers rode and did not dare to force. (Information Governance Guide)

It is worth mentioning that before this big battle, there was a small episode. This trivial incident just reflects Wang Shichong's perverse behavior from the side, so that everyone can be killed. At the same time, it seems that from the other side, Wang Shichong will definitely lose this battle.

It turned out that before the start of the war, Wang Huaiwen, the hussar general of the Tang Army, as a scout, went out of the camp to explore the path and survey the enemy's situation. Unexpectedly, as soon as Wang Huaiwen left the camp, he was captured by Zheng Jun. arrested Wang Huaiwen, Wang Shichong did not kill him at first, but treated him with courtesy and introduced him left and right to show his closeness.

However, Wang Huaiwen was loyal to the Tang Dynasty and would never surrender to the treacherous. Although Wang Huaiwen was in the enemy camp, he had been lying dormant, waiting for the opportunity, and once the time was ripe, he would assassinate Wang Shichong and then return to the Tang army. Waiting and waiting, Wang Huaiwen finally waited for the opportunity he hoped for.

Soon, Wang Shichong led the army out of Youyemen and lined up in Luoshui, preparing to fight the Tang army. At this time, Wang Huaiwen was behind Wang Shichong, staring at Wang Shichong viciously. Taking advantage of Wang Shichong's defenselessness, Wang Huaiwen suddenly held a long lance in his hand and stabbed over. However, the armor worn by Wang Shichong was relatively hard. Wang Huaiwen may have stabbed out of position, and the lance rod was broken, but he didn't stab Wang Shichong.

The assassination of Wang Shichong had failed, and Wang Huaiwen made a quick decision, turned his horse's head, and rode away in the direction of the Tang army's camp. At the beginning, the personal soldiers around Wang Shichong were taken aback by this sudden situation, and they didn't have time to react for a while. But soon, Wang Shichong's guards reacted and immediately chased all the way and killed Wang Huaiwen.

Afterwards, Wang Shichong returned to Luoyang, took off his armor in front of the ministers, and proudly showed off: "Huaiwen stabbed me with a lance, and the pawn could not be injured, is it not the order of heaven!" In fact, this is completely Wang Shichong deceiving himself. After Tang Gaozu Li Yuan learned of Wang Huaiwen's deeds, he admired his integrity of martyrdom for the country. Therefore, Tang Gaozu issued an edict and posthumously presented Wang Huaiwen as the history of Shangzhu State and Shuozhou.

All in all, in the battle of Qingcheng Palace outside Luoyang City, Li Shimin led the soldiers of the Tang Army, and after a morning of bloody fighting, he finally defeated Wang Shichong's main force and achieved the brilliant result of capturing and beheading 7,000 people. After the first battle, the last remaining elite in Wang Shichong's hands was killed.

Long before this battle, Li Shimin had already expected that once he won this battle, Wang Shichong would completely lose the strength of a battle, and from then on he would shrink into Luoyang and dare not fight. Sure enough, Wang Shichong was defeated, panicked like a lost dog, and withdrew to Luoyang. Immediately, Li Shimin led the main force of the Tang Army, and the soldiers pointed out, and surrounded Luoyang City. Next, Li Shimin was going to deploy the Tang army and launch a strong attack on Luoyang.

After besieging Luoyang, Li Shimin decided to strike while the iron was hot, and when Wang Shichong was seriously injured, he dispatched a large army to completely clear the few military strongholds around Luoyang.

On February 22, the fourth year of Wude (621), Wang Tai, the king of Song who was in charge of guarding Heyang, saw that the Tang army was approaching the city, and was so frightened that he abandoned Heyang and fled without a fight. As soon as Wang Tai fled, Heyang immediately fell into a situation where the dragons were leaderless, and he took the initiative to surrender the city to the Tang Dynasty.

Soon after Heyang surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, Wang Shichong's other two generals, Shan Xiongxin and Pei Xiaoda, confronted Wang Junkuo, the general of the Tang Army, in Luokou and held each other. When Li Shimin learned the news, he immediately led 5,000 cavalry to aid Luokou. As soon as they arrived in Yuyuan, Shan Xiongxin and others heard that Li Shimin was coming with an army, so they didn't even fight, and ran away with oil on the soles of their feet. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Wang Junkuo waved his troops to pursue and break the Zheng army. A few days later, Wang Shichong's Huaizhou assassin Lu Shanzong also surrendered the city.

Until this time, all the military strongholds on the periphery of Luoyang were cleared by the Tang army. Wang Shichong's territory in Henan is almost completely lost, and there is no place to stand. Moreover, in the battle of Qingcheng Palace, Wang Shichong's last remaining elite also suffered heavy casualties. If you want to take the initiative to fight a decisive battle with the Tang Army, it is no longer possible. In front of Wang Shichong, there is only one way, and that is to defend Luoyang. As long as Luoyang is saved, Wang Shichong may still have a chance of life.

Wang Shichong gathered the remnants of his troops and prepared to defend Luoyang. Similarly, Li Shimin was also gearing up at this time, concentrating the main force of the Tang army and storming Luoyang. An offensive and defensive battle in Luoyang is about to kick off. So, was the Tang army's attack on Luoyang smooth sailing, and could Li Shimin successfully take Luoyang?

It should be said that the Tang army stormed Luoyang and fought extremely hard. Although Wang Shichong was already struggling to breathe at this time, after all, "a hundred-legged insect is dead but not stiff". Moreover, Wang Shichong made up his mind to defend Luoyang, so he would naturally resist the siege of the Tang army with all his might, and he would resist stubbornly.

More importantly, the city of Luoyang is high and thick, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the eastern capital of the Sui and Tang dynasties has a strategic position comparable to that of Chang'an in Xijing. At the beginning, Li Mi led 300,000 Wagang troops to besiege Luoyang for a year, but failed to conquer Luoyang, but was defeated. It can be seen that the solidity of Luoyang City is not in vain. If the Tang army wants to capture Luoyang, it will not happen overnight.

Also, although at this time, Li Shimin led 100,000 Tang troops and surrounded Luoyang Palace. However, Luoyang is still impregnable. It can even be said that Wang Shichong's defense of Luoyang has been impeccable and leaky. In the "Zizhi Tongjian", the specific defense of Luoyang is recorded:

The city is very tightly guarded, the big cannon flying stone weighs 50 catties, throws 200 steps, eight bows and crossbow arrows such as car spokes, arrowheads such as giant axes, shoots 500 steps.

Wang Shichong had a defensive weapon far superior to that of the Tang army. For example, he has two powerful secret weapons. One is a stone thrower, which can carry 50 pounds of flying stones and throw 200 steps away; The other is the eight-bow crossbow, this kind of weapon, the body of the arrow is as thick as the spokes of a car, and the arrow is like a giant axe, the maximum range can reach 500 steps, and the lethality is extremely high. These two weapons are Wang Shichong's peerless weapons to defend Luoyang.

Luoyang City is well defended, Wang Shichong and the infant city is firmly defended, Li Shimin can only look at the city and sigh in addition to besieging the city on all sides. Wang Shichong defended Luoyang, and the Tang army made no progress in attacking the city. Almost everyone felt that the siege was hopeless, and even Tang Gaozu Li Yuan once thought about withdrawing his troops from Luoyang. Li Shimin was the only one who was firm in his beliefs, never wavered, and even did not hesitate to disagree with his father Li Yuan, withstood everyone's pressure, and finally won the war.

Li Shimin gathered all the main forces of the Tang Army and surrounded Luoyang City. Immediately afterwards, Li Shimin commanded nearly 100,000 Tang troops, attacking the city from all sides, day and night, and launched a fierce attack on Luoyang. After all, the city of Luoyang was strong, although the Tang army struggled to attack, but due to the desperate resistance of the Zheng army defending the city, the Tang army attacked the city for more than ten days, and failed to conquer Luoyang. In this process, the Tang army paid a large price and did not take Luoyang.

Although the Tang army stormed Luoyang, it was temporarily blocked. However, Wang Shichong's situation is not optimistic, and he has even entered a desperate situation.

In several battles with the Tang army, Wang Shichong lost tens of thousands of elite soldiers, and the "Jianghuai Force" on which he relied was basically killed and wounded. Therefore, Wang Shichong trapped Luoyang, and the troops used to defend the city were nothing more than a group of remnants of the defeated army. Coupled with Wang Shichong's perverse behavior, he completely fell into the situation of betrayal and separation, and many people have lost confidence in him and want to leave Wang Shichong's camp.

For example, during the Tang army's siege of the city, there were thirteen high-ranking officials in Luoyang City, who wanted to come out of the city and defect to Tang. It's a pity that the matter is not confidential and was discovered by Wang Shichong. You must know that Wang Shichong has never been soft on political enemies and betrayers. As a result, Wang Shichong was ruthless, and the heads of these thirteen people fell to the ground in an instant. However, from another aspect, it can also reflect that Wang Shichong is already on his own and on the verge of collapse.

Luoyang has not been conquered for a long time, and the progress is not smooth, which makes many Tang generals inevitably feel a little lost and frustrated. Moreover, from July of the third year of Wude (620) to February of the fourth year of Wude (621), the Tang army was in a state of continuous combat, and the entire army was exhausted. Luoyang will not be able to fight for a while and a half, and will fall into a quagmire. As a result, the officers and men of the Tang Army couldn't help but think about returning to Guanzhong.

At this time, within the Tang Army, the voice of retreating was very loud, and many generals were also shaken in their hearts and wanted to return to Guanzhong. Sure enough, the generals of the Tang Army, represented by Liu Hongji, the Duke of Ren Guo, collectively made a statement to Li Shimin, asking the class to return to the court, recuperate, and attack Luoyang again when there is a chance in the future.

The generals asked the squad to withdraw from the army, which obviously ran counter to Li Shimin's idea. Li Shimin knew very well that the battle of Luoyang was a matter of great importance. Now, he has tried his best to force Wang Shichong into a desperate situation and sweep all over Henan. The reason why Luoyang is temporarily difficult to conquer is because Wang Shichong is fighting the trapped beasts. If the troops are withdrawn at this time, the previous achievements will inevitably be wasted, and the great cause of the Tang Dynasty to unify the world will also be far away.

Therefore, Li Shimin patiently analyzed the situation to the generals, and in his opinion, the land of Henan has been controlled by the Tang Dynasty; Of the places that Wang Shichong can govern, there is only one lonely city left in Luoyang. If you take Luoyang in one go, it is only a matter of time. If the troops are withdrawn at this time, they will fall short:

Come here in a big way, once and for all. The eastern states have been looking forward to the wind and service, but Luoyang is a lonely city, which cannot be long, and the work is in the future, so why abandon it! (Information Governance Guide)

At the same time, in order to curb the rumors of withdrawal in the army, Li Shimin's determination and means were also very tough, and he immediately announced a stern military order, warning the officers and men of the whole army: "Luoyang is not broken, the division does not have to be returned, and those who dare to speak out about the division will be killed!" In the face of King Qin's order to behead the army, the Tang army calmed down in an instant, and no one mentioned the matter of retreating.

Just after stabilizing the mood of the army, some people moved the mind of withdrawing troops from Luoyang. This person is none other than Tang Gaozu Li Yuan. The military report of the battle situation in Luoyang was transmitted to Chang'an and sent to Tang Gaozu. After Li Yuan learned about the fighting on the front line, he couldn't help but be shaken in his heart.

Tang Gaozu Li Yuan believed that the defense of Luoyang was strong, and Wang Shichong was determined to defend it, so it was difficult for the Tang army to capture Luoyang in a short time. In this case, it is better to temporarily withdraw the troops from Luoyang and return to Guanzhong to rest. What's more, this attack on Luoyang, the Tang army basically occupied the entire territory of Henan. After returning to Guanzhong, the Tang Dynasty should take good care of the Henan Prefecture and counties it had laid, so as to lay a good foundation for the next war against Luoyang.

Soon, Tang Gaozu issued a secret edict ordering Li Shimin to be a teacher. After receiving his father's secret, Li Shimin was suddenly in a dilemma. On the one hand, he could not openly disobey his father's will; On the other hand, seeing that victory was in sight, he didn't want to let go of Luoyang City, which was close at hand.

After thinking about it, Li Shimin still decided that he could not withdraw his troops, and this battle would continue. However, after all, Tang Gaozu's secret has been issued, and Li Shimin can't resist the decree! After some consideration, Li Shimin immediately went to Gaozu and analyzed the military situation in Luoyang to his father in detail, and at the same time, made a military order to guarantee the capture of Luoyang. Not only that, Li Shimin specially appointed the military staff officer Feng Deyi to enter the Hajj to meet and present to Tang Gaozu face to face:

Although there is a lot of land in the world, the rate is all detained, and the orders are done, but there is only a city in Luoyang, and the wisdom is poor, and the day and night are over. If you spin now, the thief will regain momentum, and it will be more connected, and it will be difficult to figure it out later! (Information Governance Guide)

Li Yuan received Li Shimin's above table, and after listening to Feng Deyi's face-to-face statement, he thought that Li Shimin's analysis was very reasonable, so he no longer mentioned the withdrawal of troops and supported Li Shimin to continue the siege of Luoyang. After convincing his father, Li Shimin launched a psychological offensive against Wang Shichong, and he wrote to Wang Shichong, knowing the benefits and disadvantages of him, hoping that he would not resist to the end. However, Wang Shichong always ignored it and did not reply, which was a rejection of Li Shimin's persuasion.

Since persuasion fails, there is only one way left, fight, fight until Wang Shichong surrenders! Soon after, the Tang army marched at night and broke through the Tiger Prison Pass in one fell swoop, capturing King Jing Wang Xingben and Changshi Daixuan alive. The capture of Tiger Prison Pass was a crucial move made by Li Shimin during the entire Battle of Luoyang. Because in the near future, Li Shimin was in the place of Tiger Prison Pass, which completely decided the final victory or defeat of the Battle of Luoyang, and the first battle was successful.

In March of the fourth year of Wude (621), in response to the dilemma that Luoyang had been unable to overcome for a long time, Li Shimin adjusted his siege tactics in time. Previously, Li Shimin's army besieged the city, thinking that Wang Shichong's main force was destroyed and would definitely be able to capture Luoyang quickly. However, he obviously underestimated the ability of Luoyang Zheng Jun to defend the city. In the face of the Tang army's large-scale siege of the city, the Zheng army decided to fight to the death and desperately defended it. Therefore, Luoyang has not been able to conquer for a long time.

However, Li Shimin is very good at summing up lessons and lessons, and it is not possible to win quickly, it is better to win slowly. As a result, Li Shimin changed his original tactics of blindly attacking and adopted a more prudent strategy: siege. According to the record of "Zizhi Tongjian", "the Tang soldiers surrounded Luoyang, dug trenches and built fortifications to defend it". Li Shimin ordered the troops to dig trenches and build barriers outside Luoyang City, and to confront Wang Shichong in the city for a long time.

Obviously, Li Shimin besieged but did not attack, this was to trap Wang Shichong alive, cut off Luoyang's contact with the outside world, and deplete the food supply in Luoyang City. Li Shimin knows very well that Wang Shichong is no longer what it used to be, the main force has been lost, there is a shortage of grain and grass in the city, and he has an army of 100,000 under his command, a large number of famous generals who are good at fighting, and a steady stream of water and land supply lines in the rear. Supply the army at the front. Therefore, Li Shimin believes that he can afford to spend it with Wang Shi. In this way, Li Shimin and Wang Shichong launched a protracted tug-of-war under Luoyang City.

As soon as Li Shimin changed his tactics, he immediately had the desired effect. Originally, Luoyang City was already extremely short of food. Now, Li Shimin is again besieging Luoyang but not attacking it, which has made the situation in Luoyang more and more severe, and a serious economic crisis and food crisis have broken out. Luoyang, the once prosperous and wealthy eastern capital, has completely become a terrifying and tragic hell on earth at this moment:

There is a lack of food in the city, three liters of silk and one straight millet of silk, one liter of salt and one liter of cloth, and the clothes are precious, as cheap as soil mustard. The people eat grass roots, wood and leaves, and they take floating mud with each other, and throw rice crumbs as cake food, all of them are sick, their bodies are swollen and their feet are weak, and the dead are leaning on the road. The relocation of the emperor and the lord of the palace into the palace city, where there are 30,000 families, there are no 3,000 families. Although you are a minister, the chaff core is not full, and Shang Shulang is below, and he personally bears it, and he often dies. (Information Governance Guide)

Due to the extreme shortage of grain, which caused deflation in Luoyang City, a horse of silk could sometimes only be exchanged for three liters of millet, and a piece of cloth could only be exchanged for a liter of salt. In the past, those costly costumes and treasures were worth a penny at this time, and they were even as cheap as dirt.

The grain in Luoyang City has basically been eaten, even the grass roots and tree bark have been eaten. What should people do if they can't eat? They can only live together with the soil and rice bran to make bread and satisfy their hunger temporarily. The consequence, however, is malnutrition. Many of the people were seriously ill and swollen. For a time, starvation was everywhere, countless people died, and the scene was very miserable, and I couldn't bear to look at it directly.

Ordinary people are like this, and those high-level officials in Luoyang are no better. At the beginning, there were a total of 30,000 families of the people who moved into the palace city, but at this time, there were less than 3,000 left. The hundred officials in Luoyang, whether they were the ministers or Shang Shulang, always did not have enough to eat, and often starved to death.

It can be seen from this that Li Shimin's adjustment of tactics and besieging but not attacking undoubtedly dealt a devastating blow to Wang Shichong. At this time, Luoyang City was only a good-looking shell, and the interior was already rotten. At this point in the war, Wang Shichong is really poor in donkey skills, and Jiang Lang is exhausted.

It should be said that in the future, Li Shimin only needs to continue to besiege Luoyang and destroy Wang Shichong's fighting spirit, at most from one to three months, and at least half a month, Wang Shichong will completely fall into a desperate situation of running out of ammunition and food, and being trapped internally and externally. At that time, the capture of Luoyang will be nothing more than a gesture. Perhaps, he could force Wang Shichong to surrender out of the city without spending a single soldier. The battle of Luoyang has only now dawned a little victory.

However, plans have not kept up with the changes. At the critical moment when Li Shimin led the main force of the Tang army to besiege the isolated city of Luoyang, seeing that victory was in sight, and the capture of Luoyang was expected, the situation changed abruptly. A military force from afar suddenly came straight to Luoyang and intervened in the battle of Tang and Zheng Luoyang. Due to the emergence of this military force, the battle in Luoyang, which had become clear, immediately became particularly complicated.

This military force from afar is none other than the Dou Jiande military group that dominates Hebei. As soon as Dou Jiande came, the battle of Luoyang, which was in full swing, happened in an unexpected instant. Li Shimin had to face a reality, first of all, Wang Shichong retreated into the city, and Luoyang could not be conquered for a long time; Secondly, Dou Jiande led a large army to support Luoyang. Under such circumstances, it is very likely that the Tang army will bear the pressure of fighting on two fronts and face the danger of being flanked by Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande.

And that's where the problem comes. Dou Jiande, as the overlord of Hebei, why didn't he call himself a lonely widow in Hebei, and had to intervene in the battle of Luoyang between Tang and Zheng? Dou Jiande supported Luoyang, in the end, out of public intentions, and sincerely united with Wang Shichong to fight against Li Tang; Or is it harboring evil intentions and having another purpose?

Regarding Dou Jiande's sudden upheaval, how will Li Shimin, who has already won the game, deal with this tricky situation? How will this invincible Tang God of War break the double-layered attack of Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande, and then realize the grand cause of the Li Tang Dynasty to unify the Central Plains?