Li Xiaogong took 20,000 barbarians as the vanguard and led the central army himself. The left wing was led by Huang Junhan, the governor of Yizhou, and the right wing was led by Xu Zhiren, the chief minister of Zhao County. There were more than 40,000 people in total behind the barbarians.
On the opposite side of the Tang army, Yuwen Huo led 15,000 troops in the front, and Zhang Lun led 20,000 troops in the rear. When the military formation was laid out, it was completely an offensive wedge formation.
After only a brief confrontation, the Tang army beat drums and advanced.
In less than half an hour, the barbarian soldiers were defeated and could not be stopped. The barbarian soldiers who turned around and fled ignored them and broke up the formation of Li Xiaogong's army.
The Yizhou defenders, who had never seen the advantage of the opponent's force, were completely panicked.
What's even more frightening is that Yizhou Governor Huang Junhan's left-wing troops seemed to have had a premeditated plan. After quickly retreating towards the Chinese army, they used Li Xiaogong's Chinese army as a shield.
This is not like something that friendly forces can do at all, it is more like a flanking attack with the enemy.
However, Xu Zhiren on the right wanted to lead his troops forward to contain the enemy's offensive and give the Chinese army a chance to reorganize its army. As a result, the entire Yizhou garrison fell into chaos, and Li Xiaogong's Chinese army was unable to advance or retreat, trampling on itself.
And the dead are countless.
The Battle of Tuoshui came to an end soon. Like many times before, the barbarians who came to help the battle were severely damaged. More than ten thousand people were captured, countless people escaped, and only more than two thousand people died in the battle.
Huang Junhan, the governor of Yizhou, led his army to surrender to the enemy. Xu Zhiren, the governor of the county prince's palace, died on the spot. Li Xiaogong escaped in embarrassment. When he returned to Jinguan City, there were less than a thousand people around him.
Zhang Lun and Yuwen Huo quickly collected and surrendered the prisoners, and then led their troops to pursue the remaining enemies.
This battle determined the attitude of the local garrison officials in Yizhou. Wherever the Tang army passed, there was no need to attack any more cities. Local officials and garrison generals surrendered one after another.
Li Xiaogong fled all the way back to Jinguan City, and his pursuers followed closely. Under the "persuasion" of Chu King Li Zhiyun and others, Li Xiaogong had no choice but to surrender the city.
While Liu Hongji was still on the march, Yizhou had already changed hands.
By this time, the battle situation in Sichuan was progressing so fast that it was beyond everyone's expectation. It was as if some switch had been pressed, and it was out of control.
Liu Hongji led his army to Suizhou, which was only more than 200 miles away from Jinguan City. Only then did he learn that Jinguan City had been lost. The defenders from all over Yizhou surrendered to the enemy one after another. The situation was already extremely dangerous.
Liu Hongji was not very willing. In addition to scolding Li Xiaogong for being incompetent and actually losing a great foundation in such a short period of time, he also wanted to lead his troops to continue moving forward and fight the enemy while they were tired, hoping to defeat Jin Guan.
Take back the city.
His idea did not come true, so he did not know whether it was right or wrong. Anyway, his generals were already frightened and opposed the further march to Jinguan City. They advocated returning to Tongzhou to join forces with Chai Prince Consort to protect the territory in eastern Shu.
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Liu Hongji was persuaded by his generals to calm down, and he reluctantly agreed with their opinions and withdrew his troops back to Tongzhou.
In fact, for Liu Hongji and Chai Shao, after losing the Chengdu Plain, their two armies were in a precarious situation. Apart from surrendering to the Tang Dynasty, there was only one way to go, and that was to serve Xiao Xian.
But Liu Hongji failed to escape unscathed in the end. He ignored the danger from Mianzhou.
It goes without saying that Li Jing, who stayed behind in Mianzhou, was eager to make meritorious deeds. But Zhang Lun, Yu Wenhuo and others were fine with listening to his ideas, but how could they dare to let him lead his troops to take risks?
Before marching into Yizhou, he left him behind to guard Mianzhou and guard Jiange. It was called guarding the retreat for the army. In fact, it was a great achievement, almost like coaxing a child.
And now he finally found a perfect opportunity.
Li Jing left the main force to defend Mianzhou, while he led more than 600 cavalry, crossed the Fu River and quietly reached the Jialing River, and went south along the river.
When Liu Hongji led his army to the west of Hezhou, which was more than 20 miles away, it was getting late and the army had completely relaxed. The formation was also very long. At this time, Li Jing led his army to cover up.
Almost as soon as the army led by Liu Hongji heard the sound of horse hooves, hundreds of cavalry were already approaching.
The more than 25,000 men he led can be considered the elite of the garrison in central Shu. However, their attack on Yizhou failed and they returned halfway, which inevitably led to low morale.
As they neared Hezhou, the army could rest for a night. As a result, the army was disorganized and unprepared, and was attacked by cavalry. The result can be imagined.
In this battle, Li Jing led more than 600 cavalry to defeat Liu Hongji on the banks of the Jialing River.
At that time, Liu Hongji saw that the opponent's troops were few. He tried to gather his troops several times to fight back, but was scattered by the cavalry. Until Liu Hongji's flag was cut down, and his own thigh was broken by a galloping horse. His soldiers
They fought tooth and nail to protect him and fled to Hezhou, and the entire army finally collapsed completely.
Li Jing followed Liu Hongji to Hezhou City. After collecting the surrendered prisoners, he sent a message to Zhang Lun, asking him to send troops to Hezhou quickly. He surrounded Liu Hongji, a big fish.
After that, people began to circle the city to persuade them to surrender. Before Zhang Lun's people arrived, Liu Hongji had already sent people to Li Jing's army to ask for surrender.
Li Jing can be said to have become famous in one battle.
This is actually similar to the battle when Li Shimin entered Shu, used his main force to attract the attention of the barbarians and Xiao Mian's army, and led his light cavalry to defeat their army at the foot of Kuizhou City. Both were classic examples of surprising victories.
Of course, the changeable terrain in Sichuan also gave them an environment to perform.
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The good news was divided into two parts and entered Chang'an City one by one.
Li Po was overjoyed. This also meant that the battle to defeat Li Yuan since crossing the river and entering Kansai in April last year had basically come to an end.
The territory under his rule expanded on a large scale, from Mayi to Hedong, from Hongnong to Liangzhou, from Diaoyin County to Yizhou, and large areas of territory were unified one after another.
In the northwest, only Li Daozong of Lingwu and Liang Shidu of the Hetao area are still hanging on. Dou Jiande holds Shandong and Hebei, Xiao Xian holds Jiangbiao, Du Fuwei is active in the eastern part of the Huaihe River, and Lin Shihong is still shrinking.
In Shannan.
Generally speaking, after nearly six years of war, Li Po finally defeated Li Yuan and became the most powerful among the princes.
The entire chaotic world at the end of the Sui Dynasty was one step closer to unification. As the saying goes, a long separation must unite. Starting from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, no matter how fierce and cruel the war in the Central Plains was, it would always end one day, because the predecessors had already transformed this world into a whole.
People also agree with this.
No matter who becomes stronger, what they pursue is a unified empire, not individual peace.
The more important the military victory achieved in the front, the more obvious the effect will be reflected in the court. This victory is different from the previous ones, because once Yizhou is obtained, it means that the Bashu War is basically over.
The Chengdu Plain and the Hanzhong Plain are the prerequisites for Bashu to become a land of abundance, and they are the most important supplement to the 800-mile Qinchuan River. As for places such as Kuizhou, they are the passage connecting Jingxiang and Xiangxiang, and have an important strategic position.
Xiao Mian can use this to enter Shu, and Shu can also use this to attack Jingxiang.
The mountainous area south of Yizhou is where the southern barbarians live. After several painful blows from participating in the wars between the flatlanders, it is estimated that they will not harass Yizhou again in the short term.
The courtiers were naturally very excited about this. Li Yuan's traces in Kansai were fading rapidly, and the new emperor's political and military performance greatly inspired people.
Later, Li Po passed an edict and appointed Li Jing as the general manager of Yizhou, Zhang Lun as the general manager of the march, and Yu Wenquan as the deputy general manager of the march. Together with Li Wu, the general manager of Liangzhou, they exterminated the bandits and rebellious ministers and appeased the hearts of the people in various places in central Sichuan.
People from various places can be screened and appointed, and they only need to report to the court afterwards. The most important thing is to ensure that this year's spring plowing is carried out.
With Yizhou as a backing, the army entering Shu no longer has to worry about running out of food. After a period of rest, it can advance to Kuizhou.
What particularly made Li Po feel relieved was that he entered Shu and subdued tens of thousands of surrendered prisoners. Especially in the Battle of Tuoshui, Li Xiaogong almost wiped out his entire army, with 30,000 to 40,000 surrendered troops at one time.
Defeated Liu Hongji and reduced another 10,000 to 20,000 people...
Therefore, there is no need to send reinforcements to Shu. It is obviously more cost-effective to reorganize and surrender the troops and appoint them on the spot than to send reinforcements, but the combat effectiveness cannot be guaranteed in a short period of time.
Moreover, his father-in-law has become famous during this battle, which is really great news.
In the future, no one will say anything if Li Jing is given more responsibilities. Moreover, Li Jing has served in the local government for many years and has rich experience in governing the local area. He is a good player in both the political and military affairs. It is true that a capable person can do anything.
In this way, he can be used as a commander in wartime, and he can manage the place in his spare time. What a good old scalper, it is in vain if he doesn't use it. Why didn't he think about it and ran back to Chang'an back then? Otherwise, he would have followed all the way down, maybe...
Well, nothing would have happened to Li Po without him.
In any case, it is a good thing that my father-in-law is capable, enough to be able to hand over some heavy responsibilities without worrying about him.
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In February, a few days after the news of the victory in Sichuan came back, the news from the northwest came back.
After the beginning of spring, the weather got warmer, and the Turks did not cause any more trouble. They set off back north. When they passed through the Lingwu area, they persuaded Li Daozong to surrender at the foot of Lingzhou City.
At this time, the news of Anle's massacre had gradually spread in the Lingwu area. Li Daozong did not dare to go out of the city to talk to the grassland barbarians. He only strictly ordered all cities in Lingzhou to close their gates and not allow Turks to enter the city.
The Turks were furious and cursed for a while, then turned around and threatened Li Daozong to send them some food and grass, otherwise they would do whatever they wanted.
But the more they talked, the more secure Li Daozong felt. There were many Turkic bastards. Now in the northwest, no one could compete with them on flat ground, but they would definitely not be able to attack Lingzhou City, and look at how they looked.
You know, he doesn't look like he's about to start a war. Rather, he looks like a scoundrel blocking the road and extorting money.
Sure enough, the Turks wandered around the city for two days, drooling like hyenas, and then headed north in groups.
Lingzhou soon returned to peace, and the news of Anle's massacre was quickly confirmed, causing an uproar in the northwest, with everyone denouncing the Turks' cruelty and unfaithfulness.