Tibet

Chapter 763 Xiangzhou’s defeat
  Li Guangbi couldn't figure it out, so he said: "I am stupid because of my humble position. Please tell me, old general!"

Guo Ziyi whispered: "I am just guessing, there is no real evidence. I feel that Yu Chaoen is deliberately seeking defeat!"

"Defeat?"

Li Guangbi was confused, "Why?"

"Responsibility for the defeat!"

Li Guangbi understood a little bit, "Does Yu Chaoen want the prince to take responsibility?"

Guo Ziyi shook his head, "I'm not sure, but if the army fails, the prince must bear all the responsibility. After all, Yu Chaoen is only the supervisor of the army, and it is not his turn to bear the responsibility."

Li Guangbi gritted his teeth with hatred and said: "Yu Chaoen, this eunuch, has committed such a heinous crime, I can't wait to punish him!"

Guo Ziyi sighed, "It's not just him, it's the entire eunuch group. I feel like they are targeting the prince."

"But in order to target the prince and let hundreds of thousands of people suffer a disastrous defeat, isn't this price too heavy?"

"Eunuchs are not normal people in the first place. Their hearts are extremely dark. Don't use normal people to deal with them."

"Mr. Guo, let's report to the Emperor immediately!" Li Guangbi said anxiously.

Guo Ziyi shook his head, "This is just our speculation. Without any evidence, it will give the eunuchs a reason to accuse us of framing the minister."

"Then it's going to suck like this?"

Guo Ziyi was silent for a moment and said: "Take care of your own army!"

At this moment, a soldier came to report, "General Qi, there is news from the Chinese Army that the Yu Army is preparing to abandon Anyang City and go to Weizhou to fight Shi Siming!"

Li Guangbi and Guo Ziyi were shocked and rushed to the Chinese army's tent to persuade them.

Yu Chaoen stood in front of the sand table, squinting as he listened to the two of them. Although Li Fuguo asked him to delay without fighting, after four months of delaying, Yu Chaoen became a little irritable.

Guo Ziyi advised: "We have been besieging the city for four months, and the food in the city has been cut off. If the military envoy abandons Anyang County at this time, wouldn't all the previous efforts be wasted?

Besides, our army attacks Shi Siming. If Shi Siming refuses to fight and the army withdraws north, and the Anyang rebels also withdraw, won't we lose both men and money? "

Yu Chaoen said distractedly: "Well, General Yiguo, what should we do now?"

Next to him, Li Guangbi said: "It is better for the humble Hedong Army and the veteran general Shuofang Army to monitor Shi Siming and prevent him from taking any rash actions. The military envoy led the army to storm Anyang City, capture Anyang City as soon as possible, annihilate An Qingxu, An Qingxu was destroyed, and Shi Siming could only If we can withdraw to the north, our army will continue to move north to encircle Youzhou and finally annihilate the bandit army in one fell swoop."

Yu Chaoen hated Li Guangbi very much. Without thinking about it, he immediately shook his head and said, "This plan is inappropriate and I cannot accept it!"

Guo Ziyi was stunned. This was actually the plan he and Li Guangbi discussed. If even this plan didn't work, he really couldn't think of any other plan that would work.

"Envoy, this is indeed a good idea. Please adopt it!"

Yu Chaoen waved his hand, "I want to ask the emperor for instructions and obey the emperor's opinion!"

This request for instructions lasted for at least a month. Guo Ziyi said cautiously: "Why don't you ask the prince for instructions? After all, he is the coach!"

Yu Chaoen's eyelids drooped, "Old General, if you want to ask for instructions, just ask for instructions! Our family is just supervising the army. We don't care how the war is fought, but our family has to remind the old general that if the emperor and the prince have different opinions, what should the old general choose? , you'd better think about it carefully first." Liyangcang by the Yellow River in the south of Xiangzhou was one of the four major granaries in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. As a famous transit granary for grain transportation from Hebei to Guanzhong, Liyangcang is still in use today.

Liyangcang currently stores [-] shi of food, which is the most important logistical food for the Tang army to attack Xiangzhou. The food supply for the [-]-strong army depends on it.

The defenders of Liyangcang, about [-] people, were deployed around Liyangcang to strictly defend the safety of Liyangcang.

That afternoon, eight thousand Youzhou cavalry came from the east under the command of General Cai Xide. Twenty thousand defenders rushed to fight. Almost all of these soldiers were new troops. How could they compete with the battle-hardened Youzhou tiger and wolf army? .

The Youzhou Iron Cavalry rushed in like a raging tide, and the Tang army was like a dam built of sand, which was defeated by the Youzhou Iron Cavalry.

The soldiers of the Tang Army were so frightened that they shouted, discarded their helmets and armor, and scrambled for their lives. They were killed by Youzhou cavalry from behind, chopping melons and vegetables. Tens of thousands of Tang Army soldiers were killed, with their heads rolling, limbs everywhere, and blood flowing like rivers.

The remaining Tang army abandoned Li Yangcang and fled for dozens of miles in one breath.

Cai Xide did not pursue any more and ordered the burning of Liyangcang. Liyangcang was engulfed in flames and fire. The thick smoke covered the sky and the sun could be seen in Luoyang. The fire burned for three days and three nights. The century-old Liyangcang and the Five One hundred thousand stones of grain were all burned, and the granary was completely burned to the ground.

The burning of Liyangcang shocked the world, and the Tang army was even more panicked. It was rumored that the Tang army only had enough food and grass to last for ten days, and the morale of the entire army was extremely low.

Yu Chaoen finally felt scared. On the one hand, he wrote to the emperor, accusing the prince of being careless and failing to guard the granary, which made him very passive now.

On the other hand, Yu Chaoen mobilized [-] troops and ordered a fierce attack on Anyang County. However, the morale of the Tang army was low and they were unwilling to sacrifice their lives. They immediately retreated when they were hit by arrows from the city. The attack lasted for three days, with more than [-] casualties, including even the city. Not close.

On the contrary, An Qingxu in the city had received the news that the Tang army's granary had been burned down. His morale was immediately boosted, and the soldiers' fighting spirit was extremely high. They used arrows, rolling wood and rocks to kill the attacking Tang army, leaving numerous corpses lying on the wall. The bodies in the moat were piled up like mountains.

At this time, Shi Siming personally led [-] elite troops to Anyang City and set up a camp forty miles north of Anyang City.

When Yu Chaoen heard that the opponent had only [-] troops, he felt extremely contemptuous. He immediately led an army of [-] to fight.

A very classic battle in history took place at this time. An army of [-] faced an army of [-]. The [-] troops of Huapu Jiedushi Xu Shuji, who was deployed on the left wing, suddenly broke into internal strife. The three thousand troops mutinied on the battlefield, shouting that Xu Shuji had rebelled.

They cut off the military flag and killed General Liu Zunyi. The army was immediately in chaos. The [-] cavalry Youzhou cavalry who were ambushing several miles away stormed the left flank of the Tang army under the leadership of Cai Xide.

Internal strife coupled with the sharp attack of the cavalry, the left wing of the Tang army was defeated, which also caused chaos in the entire army. Shi Siming's [-]-strong army took the opportunity to attack Yu Chaoen's central army. Yu Chaoen was panicked when he heard that the left wing had been defeated.

In desperation, Yu Chaoen ordered the entire army to retreat twenty miles. This order completely destroyed the Tang army. The [-]-strong army had long been demoralized. Once it retreated, it would be impossible to stop it.

The soldiers of the Tang army turned from retreat to rout. Under the pursuit of Shi Siming's army, they scrambled for their lives. The [-]-strong army was defeated like a mountain. They were killed by the Yan army with blood flowing into rivers. Their corpses lay hundreds of miles away, and more than [-] people were killed.

Not only Li Guangbi's Hedong Army was defeated, Guo Ziyi's Shuofang Army was defeated, but even the Anxi Army led by Li Siye was also defeated. General Li Fei Shouyu was responsible for breaking up the rear, and unfortunately died in the chaos.

When summing up the lessons afterwards, officials from the Ministry of War simply said in an understatement that the three thousand recruits were afraid of the battle and were in chaos, causing the entire army to collapse.

The Tang Army also admitted that the mutiny of [-] people before the battle was the key, but they never dreamed that this new Huazhou Army of [-] people was actually an undercover army sent by Shi Siming in order to mutiny on the battlefield at the critical moment, thus triggering An avalanche of [-] troops.

Shi Siming then deceived An Qingxu into the military camp to form an alliance, and immediately killed An Qingxu and his confidant Sun Xiaozhe for the crime of patricide. Yan Zhuang happened to be not in Anyang City. When Luoyang was defeated, Yan Zhuang, Cui Qianyou and other [-] people and [-] The army fled and hid in Wangwu Mountain in Hanoi County, Huaizhou.

Hearing that An Qingxu had been killed by Shi Siming, more than [-] people including Yan Zhuang, Cui Qianyou and [-] troops came out of Wangwu Mountain and crossed Mengjin to surrender to the prince in Luoyang, which was a ray of warmth in the harsh winter.

(End of this chapter)