Late Tang Dynasty: I

Chapter 231
The imperial army approached the city of Bianliang.

Bianliang City is eight feet high (about 20 meters), two thousand feet in length and width (about six to seven thousand meters), and a five-foot-wide moat surrounds the city wall.

Because Xuanwu is in the place of the Four Wars, and has been threatened by Huang Chao and Qin Zongquan in recent years, after Zhu Wen took office, he has been strengthening the city wall and making people dig deep and wide the moat.

They also sent skilled craftsmen to build hundreds of eight-ox crossbows, which were spread all over the city walls.

Li Ye and the general surrounded the city wall and looked around from a distance, but they couldn't understand it.

"If it is a strong attack, I am afraid that the loss will be huge."

"When Qin Zongquan was in its heyday, he did not attack Bianliang by force, but only fought a decisive battle with the Bian army in the wild."

Li Ye asked Zhu Zhen, "What good strategy does Commander Zhu have?"

Zhu Zhen shook her head and said, "There is no other way but to attack by force!"

"How long will it take to attack at full strength?"

"There are only [-] defenders in Bianliang City. If the whole army attacks the city from all directions, the Bian army will not be able to defend itself, and it will be destroyed soon."

Li Ye frowned slightly, and said: "Zhu Wen is returning to Bianliang, if Bianliang fails to capture Bianliang before the Bian army returns to the division, by that time, the army will be exhausted and the Bian army will attack back and forth, what should we do?"

"..."

In fact, His Majesty the Emperor has the idea of ​​preserving his strength and does not want to attack the city now.

"Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin's army was blocked by Wang Zhongshi, Shi Pu's Wuning army is joining forces with Taining and Tianping's army, and they are going westward with all their strength. These days are almost here."

"The Hedong army has arrived in Zezhou, and will cross the Yellow River in a few days to reach Zhengzhou. Wei Bo's army is crossing the river and will arrive in Bianliang tomorrow. Wang Shifan's Pinglu army has already arrived in Caozhou, and it is also a few days' work."

Zhu Zhen figured it out, if Zhu Wen returned to his teacher, he would not have seven or eight days to work, so he didn't say much because he was afraid it would fail.

"Your Majesty, the last general is willing to fight!"

Li Ye looked up, Li Cunxiao's eagerness to fight was beyond words.

His Majesty the Emperor was also puzzled. Li Cunxiao lost troops and lost generals in both battles. Of the two thousand cavalry, there are now only a thousand or so left. Could it be that the God of War is not in harmony with his aura?
After thinking about it, Li Ye still felt that the morale should be boosted rather than let down, and said: "Cunxiao is willing to go to Caozhou to support the Taining Army, Tianping Army and other Shandong towns."

Li Cunxiao was overjoyed and said: "The last general takes orders."

After receiving the order, Li Cunxiao made some preparations, ordering the whole army to carry only three days of dry food, and set off immediately.

The Tang army set up a big camp outside Bianliang City, and His Majesty the Emperor ordered Zhu Zhen to go to the south of Xuanwu to recruit a consolation envoy to control the troops.

Li Ye took advantage of these few days to form another army with those skilled in riding and shooting selected from the Sixth Cavalry Army. The number was not large, only more than 400 people.

With outstanding performance in the battle against Li Si'an, Zha Erming, the commander of the Qingqi battalion school of the Youwu Cavalry Army, was the commander of the army.

More than six hundred people are all light riders, without heavy armor on their bodies, only a heart shield to protect the vital points, holding a stone horn bow, and thirty armor-piercing arrows in the quiver, and the horses they ride are all good horses selected by the army. Both stamina and speed are top notch.

This army has not been given a military title yet, and it is under the direct command of His Majesty the Emperor, serving as a bodyguard.

The next day, Luo Hongxin, the envoy of the Weibo Festival, led an army of [-] horsemen to Bianliang.

Goubi Wei Bo still wanted to feed the big family. The 2 people in the army brought three thousand shi of grain and grass, which was only enough to feed for five days.

As soon as he arrived in Bianliang, Li Hanmin, the food officer of Wei Bo, came to the door to discuss rewards, food and grass.

Li Ye was very displeased, but he didn't show it. He also told Du Rangneng to comply with Wei Bo's request one by one, write down the account first, and then slowly calculate it later.

On that day, His Majesty the Emperor held a banquet in the Dragon Tent of the Chinese Army to entertain Luo Hongxin and other Wei Bo soldiers.

On the first left is Du Rangneng, on the second left is Zhu Zhen, and then down to the civil and military officials of the imperial court.

The first from the right is Luo Hongxin, the Jiedu envoy of Wei Bojun, and the second from the right is Luo Shaowei, the deputy envoy of the Jiedu, who is Luo Hongxin's son.

The third and fourth from the right are Zhang Yunqing, the envoy of the Yamen in the left chamber of Weibo, and Xu Chuanzhen, the envoy of the army and horses in the right chamber. These are the core figures in the army. It has been more than once.

The fifth from the right is Jia Xiancai, the deputy envoy of Youyi, who is in charge of rectifying the prefecture and county soldiers. Naturally, he is not as good as the Yamen army, but he is also an important person.

The sixth from the right is Cui Gang, Marquis of Yu, the Marquis of Yu, who cleans up the military discipline, Marquis of Du Yu, who commands all the Marquis of Yu in the army, and sometimes leads the army himself.

From the seventh to the ninth on the right are the three generals of the army, Dai Bo, Wang Shuguang, and Liu Yuanze.

Further down are Jiedu judges, grain officials, generals, Kongmu officials, Jiedu's accompanying officials, deputy generals, etc. There are more than [-] people in the group.

Li Ye listened carefully to Luo Hongxin's introduction, and said with a smile: "Since I came to the throne, it's the first time I've had a drink with Wei Bo's generals. I'm very happy today, everyone, please drink this cup slowly!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Everyone drank it all in one gulp, and then someone on Wei Bo's side coughed violently, smacking their lips one after another.

Li Ye laughed and said: "This wine is very strong, everyone should drink slowly."

Luo Hongxin clasped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, this kind of good wine should be brewed by immortals!"

Li Ye laughed and said: "I have a lot of this wine, if you like it, you can take it yourself!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

The officers and men of Wei Bo's army were naturally very happy when they were rewarded. Taking advantage of the wine, Li Ye said to Luo Hong, "Tomorrow, Luo Jiedu will set up camp at the North Gate and mainly attack the North Gate. The Taining Army and Tianping Army will join forces to attack the East Gate. Du led the Pinglu army to attack the south gate, and Shi Jiedu led the Wuning army and the Shence army to attack the west gate, what do you think of this strategy?"

Luo Hongxin's face froze, he looked to the left and right, and saw Zhang Yunqing, the commander of the guard in the left chamber, shaking his head slightly, Luo Hongxin sighed inwardly.

Naturally, he was willing to fight, and by attacking the city, he would consume all these government soldiers to death, but Zhang Yunqing didn't nod his head, and he couldn't forcefully drive them away, for fear of trouble!
"Your Majesty, Wei Bo's army has come thousands of miles to help, and the soldiers are exhausted. I beg Your Majesty to allow you to rest for a few days and fight again after morale recovers."

Li Ye hurriedly said: "Of course, it will take one or two days for the Taining and Tianping armies to join forces in Bianliang. After all the armies gather, they will immediately attack the city. What do you think?"

Luo Hongxin looked to the left and right after listening, Zhang Yunqing, Xu Chuanzhen and others did not speak, their eyes were watching their noses, their noses were watching their hearts, Luo Hongxin was very annoyed, and finally he had no choice but to compromise: "Your Majesty, let's talk about it after a few days of rest!"

Every move is in the eyes of His Majesty the Emperor. His Majesty hates Luo Hongxin's weakness and is also annoyed at his rudeness.

Wei Bo's food officer proposed a reward of 20 guan, but His Majesty the Emperor didn't pay back the price at all, and it was no problem to provide [-] shi of military rations every month.

But you, Wei Bo, think that you just take money and food and don’t do anything, so you shouldn’t be. When the emperor is a mud-bodied Bodhisattva, don’t you have anger?
Li Ye immediately turned cold, put down his wine glass, and looked at Luo Hongxin.

Luo Hongxin looked at the emperor with a sharp gaze that seemed to penetrate people's hearts. He was in a trance for a moment and knocked over the wine glass.

Li Ye didn't speak, and walked directly outside the tent, leaving all the ministers and workers looking at each other in blank dismay.

(End of this chapter)