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Chapter 488 491 Intercept
Since the enemy cannot predict where the city defenders will attack from, and all parties outside the city must have enough strength to defend the trenches, although the total strength of the Tang army is several times that of the city defenders, they can only defend one side. , it is difficult to help the friendly army.

At the decisive moment of the war, if Xu Ziling and his cavalry were wiped out, Luoyang would collapse without a fight.

……

Luo Qifei said in one breath: "Dou Jiande worshiped Meng Haigong and Xu Yuanlang as his commanders. He advanced by land and water, transported food by boat, and went up the Yellow River against the current of the Yellow River at the front of Qitian. He claimed to have an army of 30. He first fell into Guanzhou, and then took Xingyang and its surrounding areas. More than a dozen county towns set up camp in Hulao Dongyuan, and set up camp in Banzhu as a temporary headquarters."

Xu Xingzhi and Chen Laomou were dumbfounded. Dou Jiande was able to capture the two important towns of Guanzhou and Xingyang within a few days, which is hard to believe.

Shen Mu's heart sank, and he sighed: "As expected, Li Shimin deliberately abandoned the cities east of Hulao, and out of arrogance to the enemy, he made Xia's army go deep into the enemy's territory, and the grain transportation line was stretched. At the same time, there is a shortage of food, not only to supply a huge army, but also to take care of the people in Zhucheng County, Li Shimin will take away every grain of rice in the abandoned towns."

Chen Laomou changed his face and said: "Li Shimin is really ruthless, he can let go and take back, and Dou Jiande is definitely not his opponent. But where does Xia Jun have 30 people?"

Luo Qifei said: "Dou Jiande's army to aid Luo should be no more than 15 people. After dividing the troops to guard Guanzhou and Xingyang, there should be 10 people who can go to the front line."

The way of false action: "Aside from abandoning Guanzhou and Xingyang, what other actions does Li Shimin have?"

Luo Qifei replied: "Li Shimin divided the army surrounding Luo into two, leaving 10 troops under the command of Li Yuanji, with Qu Tutong and Lu Jun'e as his deputy to continue the encirclement of the Eastern Capital, while he himself led an army of [-] troops and moved to the capital. In the tiger prison, it is said that Li Shimin and Dou Jiande once fought, and Dou Jiande suffered a great loss, with over a thousand casualties, and his subordinates, Yin Qiu and Shi Zan, were even captured alive, this battle made Dou Jiande dare not rush forward again."

Shen Mu wished he could go to Banzhu immediately to help Dou Jiande fight Li Shimin, but he knew that he could only think in vain, and he had no choice but to sigh again.

Chen Laomou said: "Looking at it this way, Dou Jiande's situation is quite bad."

The way of false action: "If he is willing to stick to Banzhu, Li Shimin still has nothing to do with him."

Luo Qifei said: "Rescuing soldiers is like putting out a fire, Luoyang City is about to fall, how can he stay at Banzhu?"

Shen Mu smiled wryly and said: "He is more afraid that Song Que's army will come north, and he will be stationed in Luoyang first, so he will never stand still. Even if there is no such problem, Li Shimin can send troops to surround Dou Jiande's rear and cut off his food supply. , and then block the river with the navy, forcing Dou Jiande to attack."

Xu Xingzhi took a breath and said, "Young commander is very accurate."

……

Shen Mu received the news of the fierce battle outside Luoyang city at dusk, he was overjoyed and immediately summoned his subordinates to hold a military meeting.

All the leaders of the Young Marshal Army gathered around the table to discuss, the participants included Xu Xingzhi, Xuan Yong, Bu Tianzhi, Chen Changlin, Luo Qifei and Chen Laomou.

Shen Mu first announced the news of Lu Jun'er's death and the destruction of Gaozhai, and then asked everyone for their opinions.

Xuan Yong said: "This is really a good opportunity we can't wait for. If we send troops to Luoyang immediately, because Li Shimin is afraid that we will successfully join forces with the Luoyang defenders outside the city and completely destroy Li Yuanji's siege army, he will order Li Shiji to use all his troops. To intercept them, we can pretend to rush to Luoyang, and then send other Buqi soldiers to ambush Li Shiji's troops, as long as we avoid the river, Li Shiji's navy, which is stronger than ours, will be useless."

Everyone agreed with Xuan Yong's proposal, only Xu Xingzhi frowned deeply and did not speak.

Shen Mu said in surprise: "Mr. Xu seems to have a different opinion on this matter, why don't you say it and let everyone take a closer look?"

The way of false action: "If I were Li Shiji, I would never take the risk of intercepting. As long as the navy commander goes south to force Chen Liu, we will be in a difficult situation, and we will not be able to advance or retreat."

Ren Meimei said: "Chen Liu has done enough fortifications now, and has a fortified village to lock the river, and cooperates with the flying ship to patrol back and forth. As long as there are [-] defenders, Li Shiji can't imagine that he can capture Chen Liu before October."

The way of false action: "Soldiers, the way of delusion is also. For example, Li Shiji's soldiers outside Chenliu City, and another fine cavalry bypasses Chenliu, and penetrates into our territory to attack Pengcheng, which is still under reconstruction?"

Ren Meimei was at a loss for words.

Pengcheng is located in the core area of ​​the Young Marshal's Country. If the enemy captures it, the entire Young Marshal's country will fall apart and collapse without a fight.

Chen Changlin said: "This risk is still worth taking. Assuming our army can defeat Li Yuanji's besieging army, as if cutting off Li Shimin's retreat, we will advance eastward and attack Li Shimin back and forth with Dou's army. Li Shimin will have to retreat in panic. On the way to Guanzhong, when Li Shiji's army threatened to relieve himself, we can rest easy."

Xuan Yong shook his head and said: "Li Yuanji's siege army has between 8 and [-] troops, and there are high bases and deep cushions to hold on to. If we are eager to attack, we will suffer heavy casualties. Li Shiji's capture of one city after another was not taken by a wise man, and we cannot ignore the words of a military advisor."

Shen Mu once again faced an important decision about the life and death of the Young Marshal. If he didn't take risks, he might miss the opportunity.

The [-] troops left by the Young Marshal's Army in Chen are simply not enough to deal with the tough and dramatic battles on the two battlefields.It can be seen from this that Li Shimin's cleverness in using troops, sent Li Shiji to Kaifeng, and suppressed the young commander's army.

At this time, the subordinates came to report in a hurry, saying: "I found the enemy's traces. A Tang army set up camp on a hill ten miles north of Chenliu. The number is estimated to be 5000. They should be the vanguard troops transferred from Kaifeng."

Everyone changes color.

Shen Mu's whole body was like entering an ice cellar, his spine was chilly, as if being hung in mid-air by someone, with nowhere to focus.

He finally got a taste of Li Shiji's method and seized the opportunity, instead of going south with a navy, he sneaked in with a surprise soldier, forcing Chen Liu at the most critical moment.You don't need to guess, but you know that his navy will arrive one after another. Under such circumstances, how dare he divide his troops in Luoyang and share the achievements of the city defenders in breaking through the encirclement in the south?
The two famous generals of Tiance Mansion are Li Shiji and Li Jing. If the latter had not been closely related to them, Li Shimin had no choice but to order him to stay in Chang'an.If they were allowed to come to the front line together for a pincer attack, his young commander's army would be defeated faster and worse.

But now Li Shiji played tricks on him, immediately throwing him into chaos, the plan of capturing Xiangyang to save a way out is hard to implement, and his future fate is even more bleak, what should he do?

Shen Mu mobilized that night and personally led [-] cavalry to attack Li Shiji's advance troops when the Tang army's position was not stable and the main force had not yet arrived.He adopted the Turkic field tactics, coming like a whirlwind, attacking the enemy in all directions, causing the Tang army to rush to the battle, and was forced to retreat with heavy casualties.

At the same time, Chen Laomou and [-] engineering soldiers rushed secretly to Luoyang under the escort of Chen Changlin's army.

The next morning, Li Shiji's main force arrived from both land and water routes. Shen Mu mobilized his entire army to meet Li Shiji's army. When he entered the battlefield, Li Shiji finally retreated and regrouped on a hill twenty miles away from Chenliu. Shen Mu also had no spare energy to pursue the situation, and retreated back to the city to relieve Chenliu's danger for the time being.

……

When Shen Mu and his men were reviewing the battle, Ba Fenghan and Xu Ziling led cavalry to attack from Changxiamen, attacking the besieging army trying to rebuild the camp on the high ground.

Although Li Yuanji came prepared this time, it was still a test, to watch the reaction of the city army.In addition to this new defeat, the morale of the Tang army was low. Even though the besieging army was more than twice as strong as the defending army, Li Yuanji was afraid that other camps would fall again. withdraw.

Ba and Xu didn't dare to pursue them, for fear of being attacked by troops from the left and right villages, so they could not expand the results of the battle; in fact, they had no ambition here, their purpose was to receive Chen Laomou and two hundred engineering soldiers from Chen Changlin, and escort them into the city. When he became a man, he retired and rushed back to Chenliu.

After entering the city, Yang Gongqing, Ma Chang, Chen Laomou, Ba Fenghan and Xu Ziling gathered at their home in the south of the city for a secret meeting, and the [-] engineering soldiers arranged their own residences.

Everyone sat around the table, and after hearing Chen Laomou's plan to dig a tunnel, Yang Gongqing frowned and said, "Should Wang Shichong be informed about this matter?"

Chen Laomou said: "It's absolutely impossible, authenticity is purely to allow us to retreat in times of crisis. Wang Shichong is suspicious all the time, let him know that we have future plans, and the consequences are unpredictable."

Ba Fenghan nodded and said: "Not only must Wang Shichong's people not know about this matter, but we must also keep it from our troops, so as not to affect the morale of the troops, knowing that we don't like Dou Jiande."

Ma Chang said in a deep voice: "Wang Shichong has set up listening wells all over the city. The sound of our tunnel digging must not be hidden from him."

Tunnel warfare is one of the siege methods, which can not only destroy the enemy's city walls, but also allow soldiers to penetrate the ground and enter the city to make surprise attacks.The way for the city defenders to deal with it is to dig wells in key locations in the city, and to install earthenware geophones to monitor the underground movement.Back then in Chang'an, Shen Mu and Xu Ziling entered Yang Gong's treasury and gave Li Yuanji the method of ground listening to discover Xingzang, which almost fell short.

Xu Ziling said: "Now that the south of the city is under our control, whether we can take over the work or not, Wang Shichong will not be aware of it."

Ma Chang nodded and said: "Our situation is stronger than Wang Shichong's. If Yang Gong insists on this, Wang Shichong can only give in, but it will inevitably arouse his suspicion."

Ba Fenghan said: "Although the south of the city is the only place where tunnels can be dug, we still have to be careful, because we can monitor the situation underground, and the enemy can monitor us instead."

Yang Gongqing nodded and said: "At the Battle of Guandu during the Three Kingdoms period, Yuan Shao dug a tunnel to attack Cao Cao, but Cao Cao discovered it and instead dug a horizontal trench in the city to fight back."

Chen Laomou said happily: "Everyone, please rest assured that my tunnel method came from Lu Miaozi himself. The digging tool he designed uses the method of drilling to extract mud, which can make the listeners who are three feet away unaware. Yanggong's treasure house is That's how it was dug out."

Everyone was overjoyed, and they discussed the details of what to do properly. Since the south of the city was under the overall control of the Young Marshal Army, there were no problems in handling the excavated soil.

Finally, Yang Gongqing asked: "When does Mr. Chen expect the tunnel to be completed?"

Chen Laomou replied: "I plan to dig three long parallel tunnels half a mile away from the destroyed Gaozhai within a month. The exit is a sparse forest. In case of emergency, we can quickly evacuate. .”

So it's settled.

……

For the next ten days, both Luoyang and Chenliu fought frequently.

On the Luoyang side, the city defenders continued to attack from various gates in turn, making the Tang army outside the city panicked and exhausted.Li Yuanji tried several times to rebuild the Gaozhai outside the city, but they all ended in failure, so he could only rely on the deep moat to resist the city army.

Shen Mu sits in Chenliu, and has confronted Li Shiji many times, winning and losing each other, becoming a stalemate.

Information about the battle between Dou Jiande and Li Shimin from Hulao came in like snowflakes, and Shen Mu's worries grew day by day.

At dusk that day, he climbed onto the wall, accompanied by Xu Xingzhi and Xuan Yong, and looked at the enemy camp outside the city. He let out a long breath and said, "If it were another situation, I would be very grateful to Li Shiji. He is a rare opponent, so our army has valuable practical experience in encountering a strong opponent. Now he is suppressed by him, full of plans, but unable to implement them."

Both Xuan Yong and Xu Xingzhi felt the same way.

At this moment, Luo Qifei came to Shen Mu with a solemn expression, and said after saluting: "Just after receiving the news, Li Shimin dispatched Wang Junkuo to lead more than a thousand Qingqi riders to copy Dou's rear, smash Dou Jiande's grain transport team, and capture Dou Jiande's generals Zhang Qingte."

Shen Mu lost his voice: "What?"

When Luo Qifei repeated it, everyone who listened did not change color.

After several defeats in the confrontation, Dou Jiande was blocked by Li Shimin in the tiger prison, and Banzhu dared not attack. The two sides only had small-scale confrontations without a decisive battle.In addition, Dou's army was mostly defeated. Earlier, the soldiers wanted to return, and the morale of the army was unstable.Now that food and grass have been robbed, the panic in the army has spread, and the situation has become worse.

Shen Mu's scalp was numb and said: "This trip is terrible. If Dou Jun is short of food and grass, he will retreat immediately or attack at a risk. No matter what the situation is, it will only benefit Li Shimin."

The way to do it in vain: "The current plan is to immediately withdraw our troops in Luoyang, concentrate our troops in the northern border of our country, and fight against the Tang soldiers who defeated the Dou army, and wait for the Song Dynasty army to come to help."

Shen Mu shook his head and said: "This will only speed up the fall of Luoyang and the defeat of Dou Jiande. Although Dou Jiande doesn't trust me, I can't betray him. I must rush to Luoyang tonight, because after Li Shimin defeats Dou's army, he must Return to Luoyang, and I will lead him to attack again, take advantage of the momentum and go south to attack Xiangyang, and then go to Zhongli by water; as long as you can withstand Li Shiji, we will have no chance to survive until next year when the spring is warm and the flowers are blooming."

Xuan Yong resolutely said: "Young commander, don't worry! We have military divisions to plan strategies for our subordinates, and we will not be entrusted to you by the young commander."

Shen Mu reluctantly summoned up his fighting spirit, and said, "From now to next spring, our army will have the most difficult days. As the saying goes: The army is defeated like a mountain. No matter how bad the situation is, we must persevere, otherwise if Li Shiji's navy If we successfully break through the blockade and go south to the canal, our Young Commander-in-Chief Kingdom will fall apart. Therefore, neither you nor I can afford to lose.”

The three agreed abruptly.

Shen Mu cast his eyes on the prosperous army of the enemy camp outside the city. He was carrying a heavy burden on his shoulders, which made him unable to straighten his body. He had embarked on a road from which he could not turn back, and the only thing he could do was to push forward. , Do your best to obey the destiny, to see if God is still supporting him.

Before dawn the next morning, Shen Mu avoided the besieging army and arrived in Luoyang.At this time, Li Yuanji successfully rebuilt Gaozhai, and Luoyang fell into the situation of being blocked and besieged again.

Shen Mu first went to the palace to meet Wang Shichong, and held a military meeting with Wang Shichong and his generals. Of course, they couldn't come up with any solution, but unanimously decided to stick to Luoyang and wait and see what happened.The success or failure of Luoyang is no longer determined by them, but by the battlefield of Hulao.

When Shen Mu returned to his home in the south of the city, he felt exhausted physically and mentally.

Yang Gongqing, Ma Chang, Chen Laomou, Ba Fenghan and Xu Ziling gathered in the house to exchange information about the situation after the farewell.

The falcon stood excitedly on the shoulder of its long-lost master with a nameless expression, rubbing its beak against Shen Mu's hair from time to time, and Shen Mu caressing it lovingly.

After Shen Mu explained Chen Liu's situation, Chen Laomou said: "In two days' time, the first tunnel will be completed, the entrance is in the dungeon of the city guard next to Changxia Gate, and the exit is in the forest area behind Gaozhai ,all the best."

Ma Chang also said: "The tunnel is spacious and solid. Fresh air is sent into the tunnel from the entrance by a blower. It is only in the second half of the tunnel that it feels a little stuffy."

Ba Fenghan frowned and said, "Didn't Mr. Chen say to dig three parallel tunnels? It's been half a month since the construction started, and one tunnel has not been completed yet. How can there be time to dig three tunnels within a month?"

Chen Laomou said proudly: "The first tunnel takes the longest time, because there are many unexpected factors underground, such as encountering rocky waterways and so on. Now that I have a general understanding of the underground situation, I can develop horizontally from the completed tunnel, and at the same time Excavate the other two tunnels in multiple sections, so that the three tunnels are connected in multiple places, and it is guaranteed that the entire project can be completed within [-] days."

Yang Gongqing reminded: "It is best to have a certain distance between the three exits, so that it is convenient to deploy or meet the enemy."

Shen Mu caressed Wuming gently, and pondered: "Can horses pass through the tunnel?"

Chen Laomou said calmly: "I'm afraid there will be problems. The horses will definitely not be able to stand the stuffy air inside."

Shen Mu was surprised and said, "Have you never thought about this problem? If there were no horses to travel, even if we could slip through the tunnel, we would never be able to escape the pursuit of Li Shimin's cavalry. Don't forget the falcon of Kang Jiaoli."

Xu Ziling smiled wryly and said: "Until yesterday, this was not a problem at all, because there is no stronghold outside the city to block the way, we can send some soldiers out of the city through the tunnel, and lay in ambush behind the enemy, and the rest will break out. Of course, it is another matter now."

Ma Chang said: "It was quite a fluke that we were able to break through the Gaozhai last time. This time Li Yuanji worked so hard to rebuild the Gaozhai, and he must defend it with heavy troops. If we take the risk of attacking, we will suffer heavy casualties and be in vain."

Shen Mu smiled and said: "If you are poor, you will change, and if you change, you will be successful." Turning to Chen Laomou, he asked, "Can the tunnel pass under Gaozhai?"

Chen Laomou slapped his legs and exclaimed: "Such a simple method, why did I never think of it, this can be wrapped in my body, I can dig up from the bottom of the Gaozhai, and guarantee that no one will notice."

Ba Fenghan happily said: "The size of the exit must be calculated accurately. It is best to be at the core of the enemy's camp. I will take the lead."

Chen Laomou smiled and said: "Tunnel exit is a science, I will handle it carefully, when will the young commander plan to attack Gaozhai?"

Shen Mu said: "I haven't made up my mind yet, it's best to wait until all three tunnels are completed before we decide when to act. Hey! There are visitors!"

Ba Fenghan and Xu Ziling also heard the sound of someone breaking through the wall, they were greatly surprised.

Ba Yegang's voice sounded outside: "Ba Yegang, Shan Xiongxin, and Guo Shancai have asked to see the young commander, and have important matters to discuss."

(End of this chapter)