At the fifth watch, in the temporary Chinese army tent in Beiying, Li Ye was making final arrangements.
"Our Qianjin Fire Thunder has been arranged to break through Yuanbi City before dawn tomorrow. General Lei Wanchun will be the vanguard and lead an army of 30,000 to occupy Yuanbi City and Hanjiacang first. The other generals will rush into the palace from the broken city and kill
Enter Luoyang City."
Li Ye then said to Bai Xiaode: "When the palace falls, the enemy troops will definitely escape from the east city. General Bai is waiting with 30,000 Anxi cavalry. Don't rush to attack yet, but most of the enemy troops have escaped and are chasing after them.
Those who abandon their weapons and helmets and surrender may not be killed, but those who resist will not be killed!"
"I humbly obey orders!"
Li Ye glanced at everyone and said: "The enemy is sneaking up on us, and our counterattack will be after dawn. I hope everyone can cheer up and completely defeat the enemy in one battle!"
At dawn, the Tang army's camp had been burned to the ground. At the same time, more than 26,000 Yan army cavalry were burned to coke. The Tang army used thousands of tents, 10,000 barrels of kerosene and 300,000 dans of wheat straw.
, burning the Yan army that attacked at night.
Another 20,000 ambushes were also severely hit and almost all were annihilated by the Tang army.
Not only that, two Yan army generals, Cai Xide and Li Riyue, both died in battle, especially Cai Xide, who was a veteran of the Yan army, but he also died under the bows and arrows of the Tang army, which greatly affected the morale of the Yan army.
However, the Yan army had no time to feel sad. A major event happened. Although the war drums of the Tang army did not sound, one hundred thousand Tang army soldiers began to gather silently.
Outside Yuanbi City, 30,000 Tang troops led by Lei Wanchun had already assembled in place.
The Yan army guarding the city suddenly discovered that there seemed to be three pontoon bridges in the moat, built with rafts and wooden boards. They hadn't seen them yesterday, and they didn't even know when they were built.
The guard felt something was wrong and immediately sent someone to report. At this time, Luoyang City was very quiet and most of the soldiers were asleep.
The soldiers of the Yan Army guarding Yuanbi City accidentally discovered that two soldiers of the Tang Army ran onto the pontoon bridge on the moat and were running desperately to the other side.
"There must be something going on, sound the alarm!"
As soon as the guard finished speaking, he heard an earth-shattering explosion, "Boom!"
The explosion was like a landslide. Hundreds of soldiers, including the guards, were blown up into the sky. The ground was shaking. The soldiers and people in Luoyang City were awakened by the loud noise. Countless people rushed out of their rooms to look around, only to see the northwest
In the direction of the round-walled city at the corner, thick smoke filled the air, dust flew, and a huge mushroom-like black smoke rose into the sky.
When the smoke gradually dissipated, a huge gap in the city wall appeared in front of everyone. The gap was more than ten feet wide.
Lei Wanchun jumped up and shouted: "Brothers, kill -"
Thirty thousand Tang troops followed and shouted, "Kill!"
Thirty thousand Tang troops rushed toward the Round Wall City like a tide. They rushed across the moat and rushed directly into the Round Wall City through the gap without encountering any resistance. The ten thousand troops guarding the palace had not yet woken up from the huge explosion.
.
The purpose of the Tang army was very clear. They entered Yuanbi City and immediately divided into two groups. Yu Changyang led 5,000 troops to attack Hanjiacang City next door, while Lei Wanchun led the main force to continue the assault into the palace.
At the same time, Nan Jiyun led an army of 20,000 people waiting outside the Jiayu Gate, and Duan Xiushi also led an army of 20,000 people waiting outside the Hui'an Gate. When the Tang Army's vanguard opened the two city gates, 40,000 troops came from the two city gates respectively.
Rushing in.
At this time, before it was completely dark, the Tang army had gradually taken control of the palace. All property and food were concentrated in various warehouses of the palace, such as the temporary large granary in Yuanbi City and the granary in Hanjiacang City, as well as money and food.
The treasury of wealth and the Zuozangku are both in the palace.
"Boom! Boom!" Two wooden boxes of 320 kilograms of fire thunder exploded in the palace, blowing open the crucial Xuanwu Gate and Yingtian Gate.
The soldiers of the Yan army retreated from the palace like a tide and ran towards the city in panic.
At this time, Li Ye changed his plan and ordered Bai Xiaode's 30,000 troops to also attack Luoyang City from Hui'an Gate.
The first earth-shattering explosion woke up Shi Chaoyi and all the top officials of the Yan Army from their sleep. When Shi Chaoyi rushed from the room to the yard barefoot and asked in horror what the loud noise was, he got the news that the Tang Army had entered Yuanbi City.
.
Shi Chaoyi was stunned. The Tang army arrived in Luoyang yesterday and was attacked by his own army last night. Did they invade Luoyang before dawn today?
Shi Chaoyi finally came to his senses and ordered: "Send the whole army to assemble to resist the Tang army from entering the city!"
As soon as Shi Chaoyi put on his armor, military advisor and prime minister Gao Shang ran over.
"Your Highness, the imperial city has fallen. Luoyang cannot be defended any longer. Lead your troops to retreat immediately!"
"The military advisor should fight fiercely with the Tang army and drive them out of Luoyang."
Gao Shang was so anxious that he stamped his feet, "The most elite cavalry have all been lost. What can we do to fight against the Tang army? The soldiers have all begun to flee for their lives!"
Gao Shang was very sober. They only had 80,000 elites in total. Zhang Zhongzhi was dissatisfied with Shi Chaoyi's re-confession of Luo Yue. Cai Wenjing and other confidants left with 30,000 troops and went to Bianzhou and Songzhou. The remaining 50,000 troops attacked the Tang army last night.
It failed and the entire army was destroyed. Although there were still 120,000 troops in the city, they were all newly recruited and had not been trained much. How could they compete with the elite Tang army.
"Your Highness, while the Tang army has just arrived in Luoyang and has not yet established a stable foothold and its power has not yet expanded to the east, it is still too late to retreat quickly. If we delay it any longer, our lives will be lost in Luoyang."
Shi Chaoyi finally came to his senses and shouted: "Send my order and the entire army retreats out of the east gate!"
Shi Chaoyi did not bother to retrieve the property in the treasure house, so he rushed out of the east city with dozens of confidant generals and civil servants and advisers, escorted by 60,000 troops, and fled in a hurry towards Gong County. The reason why he fled to Gong County was because
There are hundreds of ships in Gong County. These ships are not in the Yellow River, but in Luoshui, and are closely guarded by the army.
As soon as Shi Chaoyi's army left, the remaining tens of thousands of people were leaderless. Many Luoyang locals took off their military uniforms and fled home. Those who could not escape chose to surrender to the Tang army in batches.
Li Ye had already entered the imperial city. He received news that Shi Chaoyi had fled east of the city under the escort of an army of 50,000 to 60,000 people.
The intelligence chief of the Helong Army in Luoyang hurriedly came to see Li Ye. The intelligence chief was called Wang Jing, and he was the shopkeeper of Nanrentang Medicine Shop. He saluted Li Ye and said, "Wang Jing, the humble intelligence officer in Luoyang, comes to see your highness!"
Li Ye heard Aunt Gongsun talk about this Wang Jing. Aunt Gongsun admired him very much and praised him for his high efficiency and being very smart and capable.
Li Ye nodded and said: "General Manager Wang has worked hard hiding in Luoyang in the past few years. Shi Chaoyi led his army to retreat eastward. Where is he going?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, there are only three possibilities for Shi Chaoyi to go eastward. The first possibility is to bypass Mang Mountain and go from Heyang Bridge to Hedong. However, this possibility is unlikely. Hedong is Li Guangbi's territory. Not long ago, the Yan army attacked Hedong.
Yang was defeated miserably; the second possibility is to leave Sishui Pass and go to the Central Plains, there is a half possibility, and the other half possibility is to go to Gong County and cross the Yellow River by boat to go north, there are only these three possibilities!"
Li Ye knew that it was impossible to leave Sishui Pass. Li Guangbi's army was in Zhengzhou. Shi Chaoyi's army would be severely beaten by Li Guangbi's army when they left Sishui Pass. After much deliberation, Shi Chaoyi had the best chance of going north by boat from Gong County.
Li Ye immediately sent someone to find Bai Xiaode, "Shi Chaoyi and his army may board the ship in Gong County. The general will lead 30,000 cavalry to Gong County and carry out a half-crossing attack on the enemy. You can accept the surrender!"
"I humbly obey orders!"
Li Ye paused and smiled: "Let Shi Chaoyi go north!"
Bai Xiaode nodded and immediately led 30,000 troops to leave Luoyang, chasing after the Yan army, always keeping a distance of thirty miles from the fleeing Yan army.
This chapter has been completed!