It took a lot of effort for the Tang army to get out of the customs, and the number of troops was not large, but they were the best of the Tang army at Tongguan. The troops were led by generals from the Kansai region. Naturally, the majority of them were Donggong's confidants and those who had experienced battles.
Sang Xianhe, Lu Chengda and others led the team, which was very reassuring.
Overall, it's still a bit messy.
It was similar to what Li Po had expected. Once Wang Shichong was defeated, his ministers and subordinates would definitely flock to Li Tang, which would make Li Tang's troops and talents expand again like a puff of air.
This was the case with Xue Rengao's defeat. If this prodigal son hadn't thrown all the wealth that his father had worked so hard to save to the Li family, Li Tang would not be facing several front-line battles now and could still hold on securely.
Wang Shichong was even worse. The talents in Luoyang, the eastern capital, were gradually inferior to those in Chang'an. However, a skinny camel was bigger than a horse and could not be compared with other places.
In fact, leaving Henan to Li Tang is uncertain. Will such a burden give Li Tang indigestion? A large number of people also means that people's hearts are changeable. The nobles of Guanxi and the Luoyang clan are famous for their arrogance.
When you go somewhere, will there be internal strife?
Of course, with the power of victory, Li Tang took control of Chang'an and Luoyang, and his momentum will inevitably increase. Will there be those who don't know what they want to join them?
Therefore, it is actually difficult to clearly distinguish between the pros and cons.
The current situation is that Li Po led his army to cross the south, determined to block Li Tang in the pass, and take the opportunity to take a bite of Wang Shichong's flesh.
It's just that Wang Shichong's defeat was too simple. All kinds of changes combined to create today's situation.
Li Po was racing against time to send his troops across the river, trying to strengthen the troops at Fengling Ferry as much as possible.
Li Jiancheng was also very upset. The Henan army collapsed and he was unable to send troops out of the border to pursue the remaining enemies at the first time. This undoubtedly gave the Henan army a relatively ample time to flee.
Therefore, the outcome is difficult to predict.
The descendants arrived one after another, and they were crowded in a chaotic manner before Tongguan closed. It was more like buying time for the escaping comrades.
The names of famous Henan civil and military officials appeared in Li Jiancheng's ears, but it was already difficult for the Crown Prince to be interested. The joy of harvest was replaced by anxiety before it even rose.
And such a situation also made Li Jiancheng afraid to go out of the gate with all his strength. Too many people were surrendered, and soon the number exceeded 20,000, rushing towards the 30,000 mark. So many people who had just gone through the fight were frightened, irritable, and extremely unusual.
Sensitive pawns and generals are coming one after another, so you need to leave enough troops to scare them.
In addition, there are also issues such as food and shelter to consider. If Li Gang, who once served as Minister of Civil Affairs, was not here, Li Jiancheng would probably not be able to care about anything else. Just a group of surrendered people would consume most of his energy.
Therefore, there were only more than 25,000 troops sent out, and they were divided into two groups. They wanted to pursue Wang Shichong and block Fengling Ferry.
Well, it is indeed difficult to be happy about such a victory, and in the chaos, Li Jiancheng made a fatal mistake.
He was obviously misled by Li Shenfu. This time Li Po came with all his strength and was well prepared and had clear goals. In contrast, Li Jiancheng's decision in the chaos was very inappropriate.
Of course, the Tang army at Tongguan was not without any preparations. The pre-war military discussions were held one after another, and they did not just discuss how to defend Tongguan. Naturally, various situations were considered.
But war is like this. Preparation is still preparation, and pre-war predictions are always predictions. Various unexpected situations are the most common scenes in war.
A war that is carried out completely in accordance with the established strategy, well, that does not belong to the category of mortals...
And every decision made by the commander after he approaches the battle actually contains an element of gambling, it just depends on the number, but these are all based on more complete preparations.
The two complement each other to form the overall picture of the war.
The Tang army was well prepared, but when faced with the increasingly complex war process, it clearly showed signs of inadequacy, and Li Jiancheng was not a person who was good at adapting to changes.
Therefore, His Royal Highness, who not only wanted to gain full success but also wanted to block Li Po on the bank of the Yellow River, once again made some "best of both worlds" decisions.
It seems to be comprehensive, but in fact it can neither really retain the Henan army, but also greatly increase the risk of the 20,000 elite troops led by Sang Xianhe and others.
Obviously, in his haste, Li Jiancheng's judgment went awry...
The only obvious advantage of Li Jiancheng's deployment may be that Tongguan is still as stable as Mount Tai. After dispatching 25,000 elite troops, the Tongguan garrison not only did not decrease, but its strength increased.
At such a time, no one has the ability to attack the fortified city of Tongguan, unless they are crazy.
The one who is distracted is Li Gang. Although this veteran founding emperor rarely has the opportunity to lead troops outside, he is also an expert in military affairs. This is what civil servants are like these days. Civil servants who don’t understand military affairs, how dare you imitate me?
Are you embarrassed to appear in front of people like a dog?
In the midst of his busy schedule, Li Gang suggested that people lead troops out of the customs to reinforce Sang Xianhe.
What Li Gang meant was to bring one or two people from Henan to surrender, and they were eager to perform meritorious services. This was actually very useful, but loyalty and the morale of the soldiers he led were a bit of an issue.
As for Qin Qiong, Cheng Zhijie is a good candidate. At the same time, they can also set up one or two examples among the Jiang people, which will help to appease the Jiang people in Henan in the future.
After all, like Li Jiancheng, Li Gang did not take the battle at Fengling Ferry seriously. Li Ding'an would never have stationed heavy troops there. Otherwise, how could Wang Shichong dare to attack Tongguan with all his strength?
Fengling Ferry was also a narrow place. Li Dingan crossed the river at this time because he saw Wang Shichong's defeat and wanted to enter Henan to get a share of the pie. He even wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to take more of Luoyang.
To Li Gang, this all seemed like wishful thinking. How long would it take to cross the Yellow River? No matter how fast the Tang army arrived, 20,000 elite soldiers were enough to drive Li Ding'an's soldiers across the river down the Yellow River.
The reason why he persuaded Li Jiancheng to send troops to reinforce Sang Xianhe was because Li Ding'an had a reputation of being able to fight, and the soldiers under his command must be strong and good at fighting. If there were elites lined up on the shore to fight, he was afraid that Sang Xianhe and others would not be able to stop him.
.
Secondly, besides Fengling Ferry, the most important thing is Hongnong and other counties. They have to guard against Li Ding'an and Xiao Xian, and also wait and see in the direction of Luoyang. This is definitely not something that 10,000 or 20,000 troops can do.
Thirdly, Henan has surrendered too many troops. Sending more troops can reduce the pressure on the Tongguan defenders and give them more room for maneuver in terms of troop strength.
For various reasons, Li Gang did not go into too much detail, because His Highness the Crown Prince, who was good at accepting people's opinions, was not very willing to listen to the nagging of him, the de facto mentor of the Crown Prince, especially after Li Gang submitted his resignation to Li Yuan.
That’s it.
Li Gang himself didn't quite understand the reason why Li Jiancheng had been lukewarm towards him. Perhaps he had offended the eldest son of Duke Tang when he was an official.
Maybe it was because of his family background, reputation, or his behavior that the prince didn't like him. Anyway, ever since he took up the post in the East Palace, he had vaguely felt Li Jiancheng's alienation. After speaking to Liu Wenjing, this attitude was almost obvious.
So he was similar to Wei Zheng, and he gradually became unwilling to talk more in front of Li Jiancheng. Moreover, he was very unsuccessful when he was around Yang Yong. He felt that he did not have the ability to teach the prince anything. In addition, the scene of the prince and the prince fighting was different from that of the past.
Brothers Yang Yong and Yang Guang looked so much alike at that time that Li Gang kept trying to stay away from the East Palace, a place of right and wrong.
So when he talked to the prince, he always adhered to the principle of being as brief as possible. During the war, Li Jiancheng saw all Li Jiancheng's shortcomings in his eyes, and he didn't do anything to persuade him.
In fact, what he didn't know was that Li Jiancheng was like this because of the influence of his mother Dou. Not only Li Gang, Gao Jiong, Yang Su and others had a bad impression on Li Jiancheng.
Because the Dou family classified such people who had served in the Northern Zhou Dynasty and were later highly used by Yang Jian as the Yang family's eagle dogs, they were disloyal and unjust people.
If Mr. Dou could speak loudly, these people would all be labeled as traitors.
Moreover, Li Gang was not likeable, too upright, and even if he helped someone, he would not make people feel any gratitude. This seemed very inappropriate during the fight between Li Jiancheng and Prince Li Shimin.
In addition, Li Gang wants Li Jiancheng to be a graceful and elegant prince. Li Jiancheng feels that he is more than graceful and elegant, and he has done a good job. So why do you, Li Gang, nag you all day long?
Having said so much, the bottom line is that Li Jiancheng felt that Li Gang did not wholeheartedly assist him as the prince. Many things required Li Gang to speak or take the initiative to do it, but Li Gang remained unmoved and could not do anything like an arm. You know, as a
Li Gang, a close relative of the East Palace, and the prince were already connected, and they had the potential to share glory and disgrace.
At this point, I can't even give you orders... It's no wonder that when King Yang Guang of Jin Dynasty won and Prince Yang Yong resigned, you were still safe and sound...
Once the seeds of distrust were planted, they took root and sprouted, and then were "verified" in many things, making Li Gang even less welcome to Li Jiancheng.
In fact, it can be seen from this point that Li Jiancheng has inherited some characteristics of Li Yuan very well in terms of character. Under the appearance of tolerance, there is suspicion and ruthlessness hidden.
They prefer smooth sinking rather than upright ministers like Li Gang.
They are not even as good at listening to people's words as Yang Guang, who has already died and his country has been destroyed. In fact, both father and son like to hear good words, or euphemistic and interesting advice. People who speak in person or speak rude words are all here.
No good fruit to eat.
Therefore, in the East Palace, there has always been a harmonious atmosphere. If one or two outliers come, they will be severely ostracized by everyone, and the atmosphere gradually forms. It is normal for Li Gang, the prince, to be dissatisfied with Zhan Shi.