Once the two mountain ridges are lost, it means that the advantage of Dashanguan is no longer there, and it will also be a fatal blow to the morale of the defenders.
On the second day, the Far East Army launched a massive attack on the city. On the two ridges on both sides, Wang Junlin deployed five thousand men on each side. They used steel bows, trebuchets, and giant powerful crossbows to fire continuously, suppressing the overwhelming rain of arrows.
The garrison at the head of the main pass city had no way of defending the city.
In this way, the Dashanguan garrison defended for most of the day, and more than two-thirds of the defenders died in the battle. The defense line of the garrison soldiers who could only be beaten and waited to death finally collapsed, even though the Dashanguan garrison general Li Hu personally led his soldiers to kill dozens of them.
Even the people supervising the battle could not prevent the soldiers from escaping from the city wall. Even the defender's own soldiers were killed by the retreating soldiers. If it were not for the prestige of the defender Li Hu, he would have been killed by the retreating soldiers.
In this way, after paying more than 2,000 casualties, the Far Eastern Army spent most of a day using ladders to finally reach the top of Dashanguan City.
At this point, we have reached the mountain pass, the choke point from Hebei to Hedong.
There are dead bodies everywhere on and below the city. On the troop transportation road at the head of the city, the fallen corpses are all stabbed with dense arrows, as if they were stabbed one by one. And below the pass, the death conditions of the Far Eastern Army soldiers who died in battle are also horrific.
, some were smashed by rolling logs and stones, and some were burnt black by kerosene, and the one whose body and head were missing, and whose eyes were as angry as life, were shocking.
Li Hu, the guard of Dashan Pass, was surrounded by a group of Far Eastern Army soldiers with disheveled hair. This Li Yuan's clan brother refused to surrender until his death. Wang Junlin did not kill this man, but had him sent to Fanyang County and handed over to the commander of Baoxiong Camp.
Li Xuanba's disposal.
…
…
Dashanguan was lost, and Daguan County became an isolated city.
However, Dugu Changsu had made preparations in advance and prepared a secret mountain road for retreat, and quietly evacuated at night.
At this point, the entire Boling County fell into the hands of the Far Eastern Army. In the military struggle with Li Yuan in Hedong, the Far Eastern Army led by Wang Junlin had already taken the initiative.
The Far Eastern Army's nearly three-month campaign to capture three counties in Hebei was also completely over.
In this southern expedition, Wang Junlin dispatched four main battalions, one naval battalion, plus the special operations brigade, as well as the 20,000-strong Xiongkuohai army lurking within the clan alliance. The number of soldiers involved
The force is no less than 160,000 troops. Although it is not a full force of the Far Eastern Army, it has occupied most of the Far Eastern Army's troops on land and consumed a lot of food, grass and ordnance.
However, this battle yielded great gains. Not only did they win the three counties of Hebei and Gaoxuan, they also captured Dashanguan.
Countless amounts of grain, grass, ordnance, farmland, and gold and silver treasures were seized.
After acquiring four counties, not counting Ananguo on the Goguryeo Peninsula and the thousands of overseas islands, Wang Junlin's territory now includes eight counties, which is similar to the territory of Li Yuan in Hedong and Li Mi in Wagang in the Central Plains. Not counting the crumbling Sui Dynasty.
These three parties are already the three largest forces among the various princes in the world.
…
…
Luoyang, Imperial Palace.
Outside the imperial study, Pei Shiju walked quickly, his face full of worry. In the past two months, the situation in the world has begun to deteriorate rapidly. Almost every day, counties and cities were lost. Not only were rebellions intensifying in various places, but more importantly, he found that the government sent orders from various places.
The number of memorials dropped sharply, and the world seemed to suddenly become peaceful. This is the most frightening thing. It shows that the counties and counties in various places have begun to separate from the imperial court, or that the imperial court can control fewer and fewer counties.
Let’s not mention Li Yuan in the north and Wang Junlin in the east. These two people at least openly admitted that they were officials of the Sui Dynasty. They attacked cities and plundered territory in the name of suppressing bandits. But the Wagang Army closest to the capital of Luoyang was
It was different. It was a clear-cut rebellion. Especially after Li Mi captured Liyangcang, the rapid development of Wagang's power shocked the court and made the emperor panic.
The most important thing is that Pei Shiju discovered that since Li Mi gradually took over the power of the Wagang Army, the changes that had taken place in the Wagang bandits made him extremely worried, because the Wagang bandits no longer simply rebelled and plundered, but joined forces with Li Yuan
, just like Wang Junlin, he focuses on managing the local area and winning over the people's hearts. This is the real posture of competing for the world!
Li Mi's ambition was exposed.
Pei Shiju sighed, he only felt that internal and external troubles broke out at the same time, and the Sui Empire was swaying in the wind and rain. Although he had made various arrangements, he thought that the Wenxi Pei family could definitely survive in these troubled times, but if it was not necessary, he would not let the Great Sui Empire be shaken by the wind and rain.
Sui held on a little longer.
However, he could not yet care about the crises and changes outside Luoyang City, because Luoyang
There is a very fatal and important matter that needs to be resolved in Yangcheng.
Last night, more than a dozen Forbidden Army generals came to him and asked him in a very bad manner when the emperor would honor the reward he received when he defended Yanmen County more than half a year ago.
More than half a year ago, the Turkic army besieged the emperor in Yanmen County. In order to allow the imperial army to defend the city with all their strength, the emperor made a wish in front of all the army officers, saying that he would give heavy rewards to the defenders. But now he has returned to Luoyang
For more than half a year, except for a few high-level generals such as Yu Wen and Chengdu who received promotions and titles, His Majesty the Emperor has no intention of rewarding other Forbidden Army soldiers who returned alive. Even the pensions of the Forbidden Army soldiers who died in battle have not been paid to their families.
If this matter is not handled well, it will be enough to alienate the one hundred thousand imperial troops guarding Luoyang City from the imperial court and the emperor. Therefore, Pei Shiju must remind the Emperor that this matter must be handled well no matter what.
When Pei Shiju came to the imperial study room, he saw dozens of eunuchs standing outside the door, all looking panicked and worried.
"What happened? Why are you so nervous?" Pei Shiju frowned and shouted.
A eunuch hurriedly waved his hand and bowed: "Master Pei, your Majesty is furious and has already killed three of his servants. No one dares to enter."
"Why is this?" Pei Shiju frowned tightly. Since coming back from Yanmen County, His Majesty the Emperor's temper has become more and more violent in the past six months. Almost every few days, there will be servants and maids killed with sticks. If this continues,
The emperor is about to completely renounce his morality, and even the people around him will find it difficult to guarantee their loyalty.
"It's not that the big ships going to the south of the Yangtze River haven't been built well," the eunuch said in a low voice.
Pei Shiju smiled bitterly, with a speechless and helpless look on his face. His Majesty the Emperor originally agreed to lead 50,000 forbidden troops and some courtiers to the south of the Yangtze River, but after hearing that chaos began in Jiangnan, he had to lead 100,000 forbidden troops.
Not to mention the 100,000 ordinary soldiers of the Forbidden Army, there were so many generals and family members of the court members, so many ships were needed, and the court simply could not afford so many warships.
His Majesty the Emperor asked Yun Dingxing to lead all the craftsmen inside and outside Luoyang to work day and night to repair the ship. Unfortunately, the imperial government's finances were limited and time was too tight. It could not be built in a short time, and His Majesty the Emperor was very tight.