Chapter 340 Quick Knife
Jinyang is the center of the Taiyuan Basin and the entire Hedong region, and its strategic position is very important.

To the west of Jinyang are the Luliang Mountains, which are surrounded by the Yellow River. The possibility of invasion from this direction is almost zero. To the east are the Taihang Mountains, which are connected to central Hebei by Jingxing Pass, but the road is extremely steep, and it is not easy to attack from Youzhou and Jizhou.

In other aspects, important cities are used as shields.

To the north are Xin, Dai and Yanmen, to the southwest are Pingyang and Puzhou, outside are Longmen and Puzhindu, to the southeast is Shangdang, and on the outskirts are Fukou and Tianjingguan.

There are protections on all four sides, and the location of Jinyang City is advantageous, with mountains and water nearby, making it difficult to attack.

When Zhi Bo attacked Zhao, Zhao Xiangzi took refuge in Jinyang. The Zhi clan diverted the Fen River to flood the city but failed to take it.

In another time and space, Zhao Da attacked Northern Han and stormed Jinyang three times. He took many measures, including diverting water to flood the city, but he failed to break the city.

Therefore, as Jinyang is the core of Taiyuan County, if it is managed well, it will be able to control the Hedong region and then control the situation in the north.

According to the original trajectory, this should have been the birthplace of the Li family. Even before the Li family, Erzhu Rong and Gao Huan both used Jinyang as their base camp, and its strategic value was extraordinary.

After learning that the Li family was preparing to send troops to Shangdang, Liu Xuanji decided to capture Jinyang.

This was also due to the internal strife within the Tuoba clan. Tuoba Tianbao took Dai County to join the Northern Yan regime.

This also allowed Liu Xuanji to directly attack Jinyang by bypassing dangerous places such as Dai and Yanmen.

The mission of the Northern Yan in Shangdang and Yecheng was to hold out and delay the pace of the Tang army, buying time for the main force.

Yecheng was an important town, so Liu Xuanji personally led another 10,000 troops to the city, which was originally garrisoned by 20,000 men. He himself rode back north on horseback, and led the army through Feihukou, bypassing Dai, and marching into Jinyang from the north.

The brothers Li Xuanji and Li Yuanhui were blocked by the strong pass and the city, but Liu Xuanji drove straight in and swept directly to the north of Jinyang.

Seeing that the Northern Yan army was powerful, Tuoba Jun had no choice but to ask for help from the Tang Dynasty. After all, he had accepted the title from the Tang Dynasty and was nominally a Tang minister.

On the Jinyang City Wall, Tuoba Jun looked to the south, eagerly waiting for reinforcements. The Yan army outside the city put a lot of pressure on him. He had spent a lot of effort to get his father's position and the actual control of Jinyang. He once thought that he had a chance to challenge the emperor, but now... just being alive is good enough.

Outside the city of Jinyang, in the northern camp of the Yan army, tens of thousands of soldiers gathered in one place, and it was extremely lively.

Liu Xuanji stood on a small mound for a long time, holding his sword, looking at the layout of the Yan army's camps near Jinyang, as well as the construction work in various places near Jinyang city.

There were constantly passing troops, marching columns with strict military discipline, and the footsteps were very orderly, especially when the King of Han was watching from the side.

The entire periphery of Jinyang became a large construction site. Before attacking Jinyang, Liu Xuanji ordered people to survey the terrain and water veins around Jinyang City and made two maps. One was a design map of the route fortifications to divert the Fen River to flood the city after the summer flood season; the other was to rebuild the river channel of Jinyang City's moat and then drain the river water to facilitate the siege...

The prerequisite for all this is to encircle the city and prevent Tuoba Jun from counterattacking in the city, so that the Yan army can carry out civil engineering projects openly.

Tuoba Jun also organized his troops to go out of the city and fight back several times, hoping to prevent the Yan army from building fortifications, digging tunnels, and creating siege equipment.

However, none of them achieved their goal. The Yan army always maintained a large number of elite soldiers on guard outside the construction team. Now the morale of the defenders in the city has been greatly reduced and they are unable to go out of the city to fight.

"Greetings to the King of Han."

Liu Xuanji looked around and saw a young man who was less than twenty years old. He was very tall, with thick hair on his mouth, handsome appearance, and eyes as sharp as an eagle - Tuoba Tianbao, Duke of Dai of Northern Yan and commander-in-chief of Bingzhou's military affairs.

"General Tuoba, there's no need to be so polite." Liu Xuanji smiled and then walked down the slope side by side with Tuoba Tianbao.

"King of Han, the strongholds and citadels around Jinyang have been removed one after another in the past few days. The defenders in the city have also lost their courage and dare not go out to fight. Should we intensify the siege now?" Liu Xuanji said, "You and I have both been in Jinyang City before, and we should know how tight the city's defense is. Forcibly attacking the city will not be worth the loss. Once our army suffers too many casualties under the city, morale will be weakened. Once the Tang army goes north, it will be dangerous."

Tuoba Tianbao was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "King of Han, do you think the Tang army will go north?"

Liu Xuanji asked back: "Why, do you think the Tang army won't come?"

Tuoba Tianbao thought for a moment and said, "If the King of Qin is the commander, the Tang army is likely to go north, but I have never heard that the King of Jin of the Tang Dynasty is good at using troops. He has always led the army with the King of Qin. I guess..."

Liu Xuanji shook his head upon hearing this, then smiled and said, "I have a close relationship with all the Li brothers. Li Erlang and Li Silang are both famous throughout the world and have made outstanding achievements. Li San is relatively unknown. He seems not as brave as his elder brother, nor as steady as his younger brother. But among the Li brothers, he may be the most difficult one to deal with."

Tuoba Tianbao's face became more serious after hearing this. Liu Xuanji looked at Jinyang City not far away and continued, "Li Sanlang is resolute and taciturn. His scheming is unfathomable. If he leads his troops north, he will be our great enemy. General Tuoba, don't you think that the Li family only has one Qin Wang Li Erfeng who is worthy of praise?"

Tuoba Tianbao smiled when he heard this. This was exactly what he thought.

In his opinion, there are only two strong men in the world, one is Li Erfeng and the other is Liu Xuanji.

Li Erfeng, needless to say, attacked Fuhan at night, fought in Taoxi, fought in Weibei, fought in Jingxiang, fought in Yingchuan
His martial arts skills are so great that almost no one can match him in this chaotic world.

Liu Xuanji was famous for driving away thousands of bandits alone in the Battle of Mount Tai. He defeated Liu Huzhi and Wang Xuba in the Battle of Juyong, defeated the Turks in the Battle of Saibei, and swallowed up almost the entire Jizhou within a month. His reputation was second to none in the north.

These two contemporary heroes have always been admired by Tuoba Tianbao, which is one of the reasons why he is willing to join Northern Yan.

Apart from these two, who else is a hero in the world?
This brave and aggressive young man has a very simple idea: whoever can fight is a hero.

Of course, this ability to fight is not just the ability to fight in a one-on-one fight, but the ability to gather people's hearts and minds, gain manpower, and command great power.

So in his opinion, these two people are the only heroes in the world, and if there is a third one, it would be him.

Liu Xuanji smiled. He had no intention of changing the other party's ideas, nor did he forcibly correct the other party's thoughts.

Sometimes young people need to continue to experience hardships and setbacks in order to grow and broaden their horizons and cognition.

"In that case, how about General Tuoba lead his troops to the south of Jinyang to guard against the Tang army?"

As soon as Liu Xuanji finished speaking, Tuoba Tianbao immediately bowed and said, "I obey your orders. As long as I am here, I will never let the Tang army rush within 30 miles of Jinyang."

"Okay, then I'll leave everything to General Tuoba."

"You will not disgrace your command."

Tuoba Tianbao clasped his fists in response, then turned and left.

Liu Xuanji looked at Tuoba Tianbao's back, shook his head and smiled. This young man had an unruly temperament and his eyes were somewhat like the eagle-eyed and wolf-like look described in history books. He liked young people like this very much.

If used properly, it would be a sharp knife.

But this sharp knife still needs to be sharpened.

As for Li Sanlang, he has an iron mace that can be used to defeat swords and knives.

(End of this chapter)