Taiyuan City is divided into two counties, one is Taiyuan County and the other is Jinyang County. The Wang family's ancestral residence is in Taiyuan County, and the Pei family's residence is in Jinyang County.
On the second day when Wang Junlin led the Far Eastern troops to Taiyuan City, rumors began to spread in Taiyuan City that there was not enough food and that all food was only for the army. The people would fend for themselves and the government and the army would not care about their lives.
I don’t know where this rumor came from, but it became more and more intense, spread more and more widely, and was spread by everyone in the city overnight.
In the end, I don’t know who started it, who fanned the flames, or who lit the fire. In short, a large-scale grain grabbing incident broke out in Taiyuan’s rice shops, and hundreds of rice shops were not spared.
Moreover, not only grain stores such as Mipu, but also livestock shops, horse shops, and meat shops near Mipu, in short, all streets or shops that can provide food have also been hit one after another. Not only money and goods were robbed, but also many others.
Many people in Taiyuan City were trampled or squeezed, and some even got into conflicts and lost their lives.
Even after a day of riots, thousands of people, refugees and businessmen were injured, and dozens died.
After Li Shentong's death, he naturally took charge of the army. After hearing the news, Li Jiancheng, who was responsible for defending the city, was shocked and angry. He reacted very quickly. He immediately sent a total of 5,000 troops to patrol and suppress the city, and restored
Order was established and order was maintained.
However, although order was forcibly restored, due to this effect, the price of rice and other grains in Taiyuan City once again skyrocketed several times, or even ten times, and a bucket of rice has exceeded 500 yuan.
Immediately, public dissatisfaction boiled over.
You know, after years of troubled times, ordinary people don't have much sense of family and country.
Of course, even if some people have the concept of family and country, if they are faced with the possibility of themselves and their families starving to death, they will not care so much.
Therefore, under the guidance of a certain secret hand, and with the secret encouragement of the Wang family and the Pei family, all the people in Taiyuan City directed their anger and resentment against the soldiers guarding the city and Li Jiancheng, the prince of the Tang Dynasty.
For this reason, there were even several incidents of common people attacking soldiers. As a last resort, Li Jiancheng, who was extremely angry, sent an additional 5,000 troops to patrol the city.
It is unclear whether the civilians who attacked the soldiers were real civilians.
As a result, 10,000 troops were allocated just for patrolling and maintaining order, leaving only 70,000 troops for Li's army to defend the city and the troops responsible for garrisoning the four city gates.
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Wang Junlin's troops were limited, so the more than 40,000 men and horses were only divided into two parts, stationed in the west and south respectively. There were not even any soldiers and horses of the Far Eastern Army to intercept the north and east sides of Taiyuan City. Anyone in the city could actually escape at any time.
It was just that Li Jiancheng kept the city gate tightly closed, preventing people inside the city from coming out.
At this time, Wang Junlin was having a meeting with the generals in the Chinese army's tent. As usual, people from the Military Intelligence Office introduced the current situation in Taiyuan City to everyone. Wang Shiqing and Pei Yuanqing also talked about what their two families were doing and preparations in the city.
a huge contribution to be made.
After Wang Junlin waited for everyone to understand the situation in Taiyuan City, he said: "Taiyuan City is the foundation for Li Yuan's army. It has been in business for many years, has a large population, sufficient supplies, and is of great strategic and symbolic significance. Taking Taiyuan City, in a sense
, we have occupied the entire east of Hedong."
If the battle for Hedong is compared to a game of chess, then capturing Taiyuan City is undoubtedly the most critical step in the game. Of course, a game of chess will not be completed in two or three moves, but capturing Taiyuan City is like capturing a big dragon. The general trend
Once it is done, the whole chess game will be smooth, and the subsequent capture and victory will be a matter of course.
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The Wang Family Mansion is the largest palace in Taiyuan City, covering an area of 135 acres, of which 43 acres are dedicated to the Wang Academy.
During the Emperor Yang Jian's period, he served as the governor of Chang'an. Wang Tong, who had dealt with Wang Junlin who had just come to this world for more than a year, presided over it. There were more than 2,000 scholars studying in Wang Xue alone.
Because the Wang family's residence in Taiyuan is the ancestral home of the Wang family, there are more than a thousand children of the Wang family in the Wang family's residence alone, and there are more than 3,000 Wang family children in Taiyuan City.
Quite a few of these people live in Taiyuan Prefecture or
In the two counties under the jurisdiction of Taiyuan Prefecture, there are officials and officials. As for the county soldiers and county soldiers, many people are military attachés. There are four or five senior generals above the rank of captain.
At the same time that Wang Junlin was convening the generals for discussion at the Far East Army camp outside the city, a living elder of Wang Xu, the leader of the Wang clan in Taiyuan City, was celebrating his birthday. In this name, all the Wang clan's children were summoned to the mansion.
The Wang family held a secret meeting.
After the birthday banquet, each of the Wang family's children returned to their posts with their own tasks.
Similar things happened in Pei's mansion long before Wang's mansion.
However, because Pei Ji and people from the Military Intelligence Bureau had planned to blow up Li Shentong before, although they deceived Li Jiancheng to suppress the matter, they all blamed the Far East Army's spies in the city. As for the bombing that killed Li Shentong at Pei's house
, naturally in order to frame the Pei family and cause dissension. This explanation seems to be very logical and makes sense.
However, Li Shentong had many confidants in the army, and these people still had suspicions about the Pei family. They secretly sent people to investigate, so the Pei family's affairs in the past few days were kept extremely secretive.
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The battle with the Far Eastern Army on the Fen River failed, with more than 50,000 people lost, and only more than 40,000 people retreated to Taiyuan City. Then the news that the Northern Route Army coach Li Shentong was killed by a Far Eastern Army spy finally reached Chang'an three days later.
It immediately brought a new shock to the Li Yuan Group. Li Yuan's civil and military officials were panicked. The powerful families behind it, like the Wang family and the Pei family in Hedong, had some ideas. Many people secretly sent the core members of the family to leave Chang'an.
City, rushed to Fanyang County, and even went directly to Luliang County and Xinkou County occupied by the Far Eastern Army.
Outside the Taiji Hall, Changsun Shunde paced back and forth with his hands behind his back. The anxiety in his heart made him sigh in a low voice from time to time. After Li Shimin, who had always had high hopes from the Li Yuan Group, was defeated in the east, he expected that Wang Junlin would fight sooner or later.
Arrive at Taiyuan City.
However, he did not expect that Li Shentong would be bombed to death by spies of the Far East Army.
Although Li Jiancheng performed well in peacetime, that was in terms of managing political affairs. On the battlefield, Li Jiancheng had never had the experience of leading an army alone.
Therefore, Changsun Shunde really didn't have much confidence in Li Jiancheng as to how long Taiyuan City could be defended.
Among the officials of the Li Yuan Group, there are many people who think the same as eldest Sun Shunde. In fact, Li Yuan himself does not have much confidence that his eldest son can defend Taiyuan City. If the second son Li Shimin is now in the position of the eldest son and leads an army of 80,000 to defend Taiyuan City, Li Yuan will
Instead, he was full of confidence.
At this time, a guard hurriedly walked out, bowed to Changsun Shunde and said: "His Royal Highness, Lord Changsun, please come in!"
Changsun Shunde did not come to Li Yuan on his own initiative, but Li Yuan sent someone to invite him. Li Yuan may have felt or guessed that some wealthy families had other ideas, so he did not call everyone to discuss the matter with great fanfare this time.
First, he called his close advisers to discuss important matters, and they called them one by one.
Changsun Shunde tidied up his clothes and walked quickly to the inner hall worriedly.
In the inner hall of Taiji Hall, Li Yuan was wrapped in a turban and lying on a soft couch. An old doctor with snow-white hair and beard was checking his pulse and color. Next to him, Li Yuan's third son, Li Yuanru, looked gloomy and his brows were furrowed.
, but looked at the doctor without worry, not knowing what he was thinking.
Changsun Shunde saw a hint of cruelty deep in Li Yuanji's eyes.
The old doctor put down Li Yuan's hand and said with a smile: "Your Majesty is in good health and there is nothing serious. It was just a moment of extreme anger that caused heart cramps. As long as Your Majesty relaxes his mind and rests for two days, his body will fully recover soon."
"
"Thank you, Doctor Liu."
Li Yuan immediately ordered the third son: "Yuanji, you send Doctor Liu out and give him ten taels of silver."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Dr. Liu quickly postponed and said, "Your Majesty, this is a matter that belongs to a villain, and I must not accept any reward."
"This is my prince's wish. You're welcome, Dr. Liu, just accept it!"
Changsun Shunde was listening to the conversation between Li Yuan and Dr. Liu outside the door, secretly admiring that Li Yuan had completely calmed down. He thought that as long as Li Yuan didn't panic and calmed down, the situation in front of him was not so bad that it was irreversible.
Doctor Liu thanked him profusely and left. At this time, a guard came forward and reported: "The king
Master, Lord Changsun is here."
"Please quickly invite Changsun Shunde to come in."
Li Yuan became energetic and struggled to sit up. The two concubines beside him quickly helped him up and wrapped his scarf. The eldest son, Shunde, walked in, bowed and saluted: "In this humble position, I see His Royal Highness the King of Tang."
"Changsun Aiqing, please sit down!" Li Yuan then ordered his concubine, "Go and pour two cups of tea."
Changsun Shunde and Li Yuan were old friends, so he was not polite and sat down directly. Seeing that Li Yuan looked sick, he cautiously asked: "I just met the Third Young Master and Dr. Liu. I heard that the prince is ill. Is it okay?"
Li Yuan showed a look of shame on his face and sighed: "This is a heart attack. The situation in Hedong is getting worse and worse. My brother Shen Tong was killed by a spy of the Far East Army. There are less than 50,000 elite soldiers on the North Road. Luliang County and Xinkou County have already
They were snatched away by the Far Eastern Army. Even though Shimin's eastern front did not lose a single county, it was defeated. The Longguan Houjunji had not yet wiped out the Far Eastern Army's special forces that had cut off the grain route. Longguan's grain and grass were
We can hold on for ten days at most. If the grain road cannot be opened after ten days, Hou Junji will have to abandon Longguan, otherwise there will be big trouble."
At this point, Li Yuan let out a long sigh and continued: "Alas! Can Shunde have a good plan to save the current crisis?"
Li Yuan seemed calm, but that was just because he had a good temperament and was able to remain calm without losing panic. But now they were clearly at the point of life and death. How could he be really calm? Deep down in his heart, he was also anxious, and he couldn't care about anything else at this time.
He laid aside all the difficulties and said that he only hoped that Changsun Shunde, who was usually resourceful, could give him a good strategy to get out of the current predicament.
How could Changsun Shunde not know what Li Yuan said? When he came, he thought about it all the way. He already had some ideas in his mind. After sorting it out briefly, he said: "Your Majesty, I thought that the defeat in Hedong would be difficult to reverse. Now as long as the prince can
Bian can defend Taiyuan City, hold off Wang Junlin, and stabilize the current situation in Hedong. Then we can free up our hands to open up the grain road to Longguan, first protect the pass, and then find a way to rescue Taiyuan."
Li Yuan was silent. He knew that what Changsun Shunde said was right, but the problem was that the eldest son was in charge of the local government and handled political affairs fairly well, but he really had no experience in leading troops to fight and defend the city, and he had no experience in this area.
Talent, he really has no confidence.
But when reinforcements were sent there, they were no match for the Far Eastern Army. The soldiers and horses they sent were just food.
But they can't come up with too many. Of course, there are a lot of new 100,000 recruits at the moment. But with the strength of the new recruits, even if 100,000 troops are sent to rescue Taiyuan City, they are probably just delivering food to Wang Junlin.
You must know that the 100,000 soldiers Li Shentong led before were elite soldiers, and they did not face a direct battle with 50,000 troops from the Far East Army and ended in a disastrous defeat.
"Shunde, I am really worried about where it will be built. Wang Junlin has many tricks, and..." Li Yuan said this, hesitated for a moment, waved with both hands to let the concubine, servants and guards go out, and then said:
"Moreover, I suspect that the Pei family and the Wang family may have different intentions. If these two families surrender to Wang Junlin and cooperate with Wang Junlin inside and outside, it will be too difficult to defend Taiyuan City."
When the eldest grandson Shunde heard this, his face changed slightly, he frowned and thought for a long time, and said gloomily: "I'm afraid what the prince suspected is true. In order to save the family, it is very possible for the Wang family and the Pei family to surrender to Wang Junlin."
When the time comes, I can even be sure that they will surrender to Wang Junlin, and I also ask the prince to immediately send a messenger with a speed of eight hundred miles to remind the prince."
Li Yuan said solemnly: "When I received the news yesterday that Taiyuan was besieged, I had already sent a messenger to rush eight hundred miles to Taiyuan City, but I am afraid that it is already too late."
At this time, Li Yuanji had returned after seeing off Doctor Liu. As soon as he entered the door, he said loudly: "Father, give me fifty thousand horses. If I kill him immediately to the east of the river, I will be able to relieve Taiyuan and defeat Wang Junlin."
Li Yuan frowned tightly, with deep disappointment in his eyes. He couldn't help scolding: "Yuanji, what are you talking about? If we could defeat the Far Eastern Army with 50,000 troops, your uncle with magical power would have defeated Wang Junlin long ago."
Already."
Sun Shunde, the eldest son next to him, had an unchanged expression on his face, but he was shaking his head secretly in his heart. Of the three legitimate sons of the Tang Dynasty, the eldest son is good at governance and is considered a qualified heir apparent. The second son is good at strategy, military training, and fighting. It seems that he is also very good at governance. He is considered a qualified heir apparent.