Chapter 802: Seizing Luoyang and attacking Shan County
Xu Bin once again crossed his arms and asked Li Siye: "I remember that the emperor's white-clothed counselor Li Mi advised the emperor that if he wanted to quell the rebellion, he should not first recover Luoyang, but instead use the Shuofang Second Army from Hedong to attack the Yanmen of Daizhou.
Fan Yang and Pinglu, the home base of Fan Yang. Once Youyan is pacified, the rebels who marched into Henan, Hebei and other places will become water and trees without roots. This plan is indeed a good strategy to quell the rebellion. Unfortunately, the emperor refused to listen, which led to An
After Lushan's death, Shi Siming developed and expanded in Congfan Yangpinglu."
"This strategy is a counterexample to us. Why are the rebels so emboldened? Isn't it because they can return to their old nest after defeat? The way to hegemony is to advance to attack and retreat to defend. Isn't the place where the Lord rose up in the northwest court of Hexi An not far away?
To defeat Youyan, the strategic depth reaches thousands of miles. There are vast horse farms in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains. The dangerous terrain blocks the Yellow River. If you cross the Wushaoling Mountains, you can retreat to the west of the river. The Lord enters Guanzhong and can go east to Tongguan to map the Central Plains, and west to Dasan.
Guan occupied Hanzhong and then captured Shuzhong. This was the strategy of Qin and Han to conquer the world."
Li Siye twirled his beard and said hesitantly: "Although Longyousan Town controls thousands of miles of territory, its geography is barren and its output is very little. There is no problem in self-protection, but it is not enough to support the plan to conquer the world. Guanzhong used to be a country of abundance, but after thousands of years of Qin, Han, Sui and Tang Dynasties,
Reclamation, felling, and soil erosion have made the land infertile. It can still protect itself in good years, but if it encounters disaster and cannot even support Chang'an, it will no longer be enough to achieve hegemony."
"My lord," Xu Bin crossed his hands and advised again: "Is there the best place in the world to help you establish a career? The Central Plains is rich but has been devastated by war, the country of Tianfu in Sichuan is limited by terrain, and Jiangdong is rich but only
But you can't be aggressive, and there are few mountains and basins in the Three Jin Dynasties, so you can't hold on to it and you can't dominate it. If my lord can seize a few of these places, why worry about seizing the world?"
Li Siye asked suspiciously: "If you want to return to Hexi, you must capture Guanzhong, but it is not easy to capture Guanzhong now. I can take advantage of the imperial court's disastrous defeat to capture Luoyang. At that time, Li Guangbi, Guo Ziyi and others gathered troops to defend Tongguan.
It’s so difficult to break through.”
Xu Bin Xunxun was kind and tempting and said: "The imperial court's combat power has been damaged, Guo Ziyi has been demoted to the court, and Li Guangbi has been transferred from Hedong Jiedushi to Shuofang Jiedushi, mainly guarding Luoyang. Wang Sili has been appointed as Hedong Jiedushi, my lord.
Why not take advantage of the change of official positions of the imperial envoys, first capture Luoyang and drive Li Guangbi to the front line of Tongguan, then send an elite and capable division from Jingjing into Hedong, break through Taiyuan and go south to Luzhou Shangdang, and then attack Jiangzhou Pu
Prefecture, go straight from Pujin to Guanzhong, bypass Tongguan and then attack from both sides, then Tongguan will be defeated."
"Emperor Jie Shi will inevitably retreat again, and Guo Ziyi will also retreat to his old lair in Shuofang again. The lord only needs to take the lead in opening up the Hexi Corridor and Longyou, Guanzhong, and Jie Shi has half of the country in his hands, so why worry about the uncertainty of the world?"
Li Siye agreed with Xu Bin's instigation, but he knew that the ancients had an unjustified saying that rebellion must find a reason. Even Shuibo Liangshan has raised the banner of doing justice for heaven. But this slogan cannot be made public yet.
Regarding the emperor, because the ancients had a distorted view of the world and believed that the emperor and father were all good, unless the emperor really reached the point of anger and resentment, such as King Zhou who refused to remonstrate with wisdom, and Yang Guang who was eager for quick success. Therefore, the war of the Seven Kingdoms was against the side of the Qing emperor.
The An Lushan rebellion also used the banner of killing Yang Guozhong, the Qing monarch. Li Siye also began to move closer to this aspect, aiming his guns at the eunuchs Li Fuguo and Yu Chaoen.
He ordered people to build an earth platform in front of Ye City to offer sacrifices to the flag-sworn master. On the pretext of calling the eunuchs Li Fuguo, Yu Chaoen and others to deceive the emperor, imprison the emperor, and frame the ministers, he committed more than a dozen crimes. Then he killed three animals and made an alliance with their blood, and prepared to dispatch the army.
Go south.
In the afternoon of that day, he decisively ordered Tian Zhen and Yan Xiaosi, who were attacking Xindu in Jizhou, to withdraw to Weizhou, and personally led the flying tiger cavalry south to Huaizhou, Weizhou, to attack Heyang City. Pu Guhuaien, the deputy envoy of Shuofang Jiedu, personally went to the city to supervise the battle, but
Because the Tang army was mixed and outnumbered, Li Siye successfully captured Heyang, repaired the Heyang Bridge on the Yellow River, and marched straight into Luoyang.
At this time, Li Guangbi, the military governor of Shuofang, was still receiving holy training in Chang'an. The only ones stationed in Luoyang were Shuofang's army and Zhang Hao, the military governor of Henan. Since Zhang Hao also served as the Minister of Pingping under Zhongshu Men, he was now the most important person in the entire Central Plains.
The Guanda immediately issued an official document to summon all the military governors to rescue Luoyang, but the ones closest to Luoyang were Ji Guangchen, the military governor of Zheng and Cai, and Xu Shuji, the military governor of Huapu.
It is not known whether these two men mismanaged their troops or deliberately delayed the rescue, leaving the Luoyang area empty of troops. Zhang Hao and Pu Guhuai had to gather the remaining 34,000 men and take the initiative to rescue them.
Troops were concentrated at Hulao Pass and Jiuguan Pass to hold on.
Duan Xiushi marched in front of Wulao Pass, bombarded the temporary fortification walls built by Shuofang's army with hundreds of Xuanwu cannons, and charged forward with shield troops. Li Siye personally rode his horse to supervise the battle in the rear, his large banner fluttering in the west wind.
The soldiers under his command charged forward to attack the key points, and blood was soaked on the wall. However, his expression remained unchanged as he held the riding whip tightly in his hand.
He knew why these people followed him to counterattack Luoyang. Most of the soldiers wanted to return to their homeland of Hexi to expel the Tubo people who were encroaching on their homeland, so the morale was very strong at the moment. Sometimes the soldiers had a superstition about the general's ability.
When he is victorious, everyone believes that he can win, and only then can the top and bottom work together to win.
The Tang army gradually retreated under the attack of the Hexi Army, retreated to Luoyang Xiyuan, and then retreated towards Shaanxi County. When the people of Luoyang City heard that the rebels were coming again, they quickly packed up their clothes and fled out of the city, fearing that they would be massacred by the rebels.
City. When Li Siye led his army into the city, Luoyang almost turned into an empty city. There was no one on the road, and only the barking of dogs could be heard everywhere. The former imperial capital of Luoyang became depressed and dilapidated, and the ancient capital of thousands of years has fallen into this state.
Li Siye entered the palace first, ordered people to occupy the Hanjia Cang, and then occupied the left and right storage warehouses. He plundered all the grain in the Hanjia Cang, leaving about 460,000 shi. This is now the largest national granary in the world.
The stored grain was completely destroyed.
The more than 400,000 shi of food was only enough for the Hexi army for less than half a year. He must use this half-year to seize the Guanzhong Plain and connect the Longyou and Hexi Corridors.
Li Siye piled all his belongings in the square in front of Yingtian Gate. He called together his officers and generals, pointed to the gold objects and silk cloth on the ground and said: "These are the last wealth of Luoyang City. I
Put them all at your feet and share them all with the brothers who are fighting desperately with us. I will take you into Guanzhong, and I will take you back to Hexi!"
"Today we occupy the area around Luoyang, but this is not a long-term solution. In the north, Shi Siming is entrenched in Youyan, in the west, the imperial court is firmly in Guanzhong, and in the south, various military governors are accumulating strength. Instead of passively operating and waiting for them to regain their strength in the future,
It is better to seize the Hexi Corridor connecting Guanzhong to ensure that the Hexi Corridor will not be occupied by the Tibetans, and at the same time, we will have the opportunity to break Hanzhong and attack Bashu in the future."
The generals standing below silently stared at him with wide eyes, but no one took action. Yan Xiaosi walked forward first, squatted down and put a pile of belongings into his arms, then stood up and faced him again.
Everyone said: "These are the rewards given to us by the Lord. Take them and march into Guanzhong together, so that we can have a way out!"
Since someone took the lead, the rest of the people stepped forward and picked gold and silver one by one and put them into their bags until the entire ground was cleared.
Li Siye nodded with satisfaction, took out the horizontal sword from his waist, raised it in his hand and said, "Let's set off and attack Shaanxi County."
History seemed to be repeating itself, and he almost followed the same march route as Anlu Mountain. The difference was that Anlu Mountain was fettered by the prosperity of Luoyang, while Li Siye simply abandoned the city.
The Hexi Army, with Feihuqi as the forerunner, attacked the Shuofang Army that had retreated to Shaanxi County, not intending to give the opponent a chance to breathe.