Chapter 213: Destroyed
From mid-April, when Li Yuan went out of Sanguan and besieged Chencang, to now June, it has lasted for two months and consumed a huge amount of manpower and material resources.

Finally, they captured this fortified city.

For the army in Shuzhong, after passing Sanguan and capturing Chencang, the road to Guanzhong became smooth.

This fortified city, which made Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of Shu Han, sigh with regret hundreds of years ago, was captured by Li Yuan.

The commander defending the city was the former guard of King Liang. He fought to the last moment and committed suicide when the city was broken.

Upon learning that Chencang had fallen, Yuwen Chengye quickly retreated, even abandoning all his baggage.

At this moment, Murong Zan, who had been emperor for just over two years, was already sweating profusely in the Daming Palace in Chang'an.

The weather in June was hot, but the reports of the continuous loss of cities and territories made him feel like he was falling into an icy cave, and he was so frightened that he broke out in cold sweats.

In the magnificent hall, Murong Zan didn't even have his hair tied up. He wore a white robe and walked barefoot on the floor of the hall.

In his hand was a sword, with blood dripping from it.

A group of palace servants were kneeling around, trembling and not daring to look up.

The person who was killed was a woman, who was also the most favored beauty during that period.

As for the reason for being killed.
"It's all your fault. You have confused my mind these days and made me neglect my military duties. You deserve to die. You deserve to die."

After finishing speaking, Murong Zhan threw down his sword again and said, "Come here, clean up. Summon Lord Pei Ling."

The woman who was loved very much during this period had her eyes wide open. Until her death, she didn't understand why she died.

His Majesty had said a few days ago that he wanted to make her a noble concubine.
When Minister of the Interior and Minister of the Chancellery Pei Hongde arrived outside the palace, they happened to see the palace servants carrying out the murdered beauty.

Pei Hongde, who was extremely smart, immediately understood what had just happened here.

The prime minister, who was once favored and trusted by the late emperor, frowned as he watched the long human-shaped object wrapped in a brocade quilt passing by, then shook his head.

I thought to myself, what a irresponsible person!

Did they panic when the enemy was at the gate? Did they just start killing people indiscriminately to vent their anger?
This kind of people can't accomplish anything.
"Mr. Pei, do you know everything? What should I do now? Should I go back to Bingzhou? Bingzhou is dangerous because of the mountains and rivers. If I go back to Bingzhou, I can let the two generals Yuwen guard Guanzhong. What do you think, Mr. Pei?"

Murong Zan asked with a little panic.

Pei Hongde shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, Guanzhong is the foundation of the king. Only virtue can rule it. If you abandon Guanzhong, you will lose the hope of the world. Once your majesty returns to Bingzhou, the military morale of Guanzhong will be unstable, and the people's hearts will be unstable. General Yuwen will have little power to turn the tide, unless your majesty wants to abandon Guanzhong."

Murong Zan opened his lips when he heard this, but didn't say anything.

Pei Hongde said: "Qi County has been lost. Li Yuan and his two sons are leading an army of more than 100,000. They will be at the gates of the city within half a month. Duan Yihong is also leading an army to attack Tongguan. It is unknown how long they can hold out. Your Majesty needs to make a decision soon."

".Okay, I understand, Lord Pei."

In fact, Murong Zan was already a little panicked at this time and wanted to give up Guanzhong and return to Bingzhou.

But this decision is not so easy to make.

Giving up Guanzhong is equivalent to giving up the opportunity to establish a kingdom and dominate the world.

But even if we don't give up, we may not be able to win this battle.

At present, there are more than 100,000 troops in Guanzhong, which is enough to fight a battle with the joint army of Yizhou, Liangzhou and Longyou of Eastern Yan led by Li Yuan.

Moreover, in terms of weapons and equipment, and the elite level of soldiers, the Guanzhong Army may even have certain advantages.

At present, the army with the highest armor rate in the whole world is the Western Yan army in Guanzhong. After all, the arsenal in Chang'an is the largest arsenal in the world, and the stock of armor, crossbows, arrows and other weapons is enough to arm a hundred thousand troops.

So judging from the comparison of power between the two sides, this battle is still worth fighting.

Moreover, Yuwen Chengye and Yuwen She on the front line also reached a consensus after communication.

The battle strategy was to lure the more than 100,000 troops led by Li Yuan and his two sons to the city of Chang'an.

Then, relying on Chang'an's strong defenses and enough food for a year, they could fight Li Yuan and wait for an opportunity to attack their food supply.

After all, transporting grain from either Shuzhong or Liangzhou requires a long journey.

Longyou was barren and there was not enough food to support an army of 100,000 and the same number of civilians.

What Yuwen Chengye and Yuwen She did not expect was that although Li Yuan was blocked in Chencang for two months, the two sons of the Li family were unstoppable. Yuwen She wanted to destroy the wheat fields in Guanzhong, and then move the people and their food into the city to complete the battle of clearing the fields.

But I didn't expect that Li Erlang was so fast.

He also predicted in advance that Yuwen She might want to clear the countryside and directly cut off the source of the problem.

He personally led 6,000 cavalrymen and quickly advanced along the Jing River, directly encircling the more than 10,000 men that Yuwen She had sent to the north bank of the Wei River to fortify the city and clear the fields.

Li Erlang's fighting style was as fast as the wind and as quick as lightning, especially his use of cavalry, which he had perfected after several battles and military training.

Rush, infiltrate, and forcefully attack until the final blow.

It only took half a day to divide and annihilate the army of 10,000 people.

The main generals were captured, most of them surrendered, and only a few died in battle or escaped.

As a result, the situation between the two sides became that Yuwen She guarded the south bank of the Wei River, while Li Er and Li San quickly occupied the cities north of the Wei River.

The two sides faced off.

Li Yuan led his army to successively capture Duyang, Wugong, Meixian, and Yongxian, and the army headed straight for Huaili.

The general of Western Yan, Yuwen Chengye, stopped after retreating to Huaili, preparing to confront Li Yuan there.

Because after Huaili, you will reach Chang'an.

The father and his two sons split into two groups and entered the heart of Guanzhong from the west and north respectively.

This was undoubtedly a huge shock to the entire Western Yan regime.

It had reached the point where Murong Zan, the emperor, was already thinking about "moving the capital" or "touring the north."

But at this time, Murong Zan's good father, the Turkic Shibi Khan, who treated him better than his own father, took action.

Asking for help from the Turks was something that happened last year, but at that time the Turks thought it would be good to let Murong Zhan suffer a little.

Besides, since they had made some money from the robbery in Hebei the year before last and were still able to make ends meet, they had no plans to sell it.

At this time, it seemed that if Murongzhan of Western Yan did not lend a hand, he would be doomed. So Shibi Khan personally led an army of 200,000 to the south.

Because Wuyuan, Shuofang and other five counties were ceded to the Turks by Western Yan, this time the Turks directly waded along the Yellow River from Shuofang County all the way through Beidi County and went straight to Anding area, threatening the retreat of the Li brothers.

The military report was quickly delivered to Gaolu, located north of the Wei River, where the camp of brothers Li Er and Li San was set up.

"Sure enough, the Turks are coming to join in the fun. An army of 200,000 strong is coming with great force."

As the elder brother, Li Er naturally served as the commander of the entire army, which was highly recognized by both the Longyou and Liangzhou armies.

Li San sat on the stool he had just taken action on, very quiet, his face as calm as water, no emotion could be seen. He just crossed his hands and moved his thumbs back and forth.

"It is better to send a large force to guard Gaoping and Anding. The Turks are not good at attacking cities and are greedy for profit. If they fail to capture the city after a long siege, they may retreat."

Seeing that his two cousins ​​were silent, cousin Dou Cong spoke first and offered his suggestions.

Zhang Jin said, "The Turks invaded Hebei two years ago and plundered many craftsmen. Now they have many Han troops under their command. Whether it is building siege equipment or attacking cities, they are no longer the same as before."

Mu Changling said: "But right now our army is facing Yuwen She south of the Wei River. If we retreat, he will surely lead his army to chase us. Our army will face the dilemma of being attacked from both sides. We cannot ignore the Turks behind us. Yuwen She on the other side also has a large army, so we must be careful."

The Lianglong Army of Eastern Yan was in an extremely awkward situation, facing the dilemma of being attacked from both sides. They had to be on guard against Yuwen She on the other side of the river, and they had to deal with the Turks coming from the north.

Of course, they did have a relatively safe strategy. As long as they retreated to the southwest and joined up with Li Yuan's troops, they could retreat to Longyou if they were no match for the Turks. However, this time their strategy of entering Guanzhong would be wasted.

Therefore, no one was willing to bring it up.

At this time, Li Er, who had been silent just now, stood up.

"The Turks' strengths are only in cavalry and archery. They advance when they see an advantage, and flee when they see difficulty. They are as fast as the wind and lightning, and do not maintain a fixed formation. They use bows and arrows as their claws and teeth, and armor as their daily uniforms. Their troops do not line up in rows, and their camps do not have a fixed place. They live wherever there is water and grass, and use sheep and horses as their military rations. When they win, they only seek money, and when they lose, they show no shame. They do not have to work hard to patrol at night or during the day, and they do not have to spend money to build fortifications and supply food."

"Now, the Turks have come from a thousand miles away, their men and horses must be lazy, and even though they have a large army, they will surely be defeated!"

(End of this chapter)