Chapter 346: I’m talking about being a teenager

Before sending troops, Yang Kan had a very in-depth communication with Yang Sui.

The reason why they wanted to attack the Central Plains under the rule of Li Tang instead of Hebei under the rule of Liu Xuanji of Northern Yan was that Li Tang was the most powerful at the moment.

Even if they lost the battle for Jinyang, Li Tang would most likely be able to continue to contend with Northern Yan.

Any force that wants to participate in the fight for world hegemony does not want to see Li Tang win the Battle of Jinyang.

Because once Hedong was taken, it would only be a matter of time before Li Tang unified the world.

Controlling Jinyang is equivalent to controlling Bingzhou, and controlling Bingzhou means having a commanding position over Hebei.

The most important point is that the territories controlled by the Western Wei, Eastern Wei and even the Yang family all border the Tang Dynasty.

What they were worried about was that the Tang Dynasty won the Battle of Jinyang, and the next step would be to deal with them.

Therefore, the decision-makers of these forces suddenly realized that they had to send troops. Even if they could not change the situation of the war, they had to at least create a strategic space for survival.

Otherwise you are just waiting to die.

Yang Kan sent out an army of more than 50,000 people, led by Yang's clansmen, descendants of old subordinates and in-laws. They marched along the Yellow River by land and water, claiming to be an army of 100,000, and advanced upstream.

The first important town we encountered was Puyang.

The person guarding Puyang was Li Yuan's son-in-law Chai Rong. His guards were basically wiped out. The only ones left were more than 10,000 soldiers from the prefectures and counties of Yanzhou. Although they were elite troops trained by Master Lou in the past, they could not withstand Yang Kan's fierce attack. With their troops at a disadvantage, they could only fight and retreat all the way to Xingyang, with their backs to Hulao Pass, asking for help from Zhao Da in Liyang and Li Yuan in Luoyang at the same time.

When Li Yuan learned that Yanzhou had fallen, he was also extremely anxious.

Liyang and Chaoge only had 20,000 soldiers and horses, and they could not be mobilized at will because they had to prevent the Yan army in Yecheng from going south to attack Henei and harass Luoyang.

Chai Rong was in Xingyang and he was in Luoyang. The father-in-law and son-in-law could only muster about 20,000 soldiers and horses, which were no match for the "100,000" army.

You can't fight back, and you can't retreat either.

Because Chai Rong had retreated to Xingyang, behind him was Hulao Pass, and behind Hulao Pass was Luoyang.

Currently, half of the supplies for the front-line army come from grain and fodder transported from Luoyang.

Therefore, it is easy to say to retreat to Guanzhong, but if Luoyang is lost, there is no need to fight this battle.

At this time, Yuwen Chengye suggested to Li Yuan that he should go to Hulao Pass in person and fight against Yang Kan together with Chai Rong.

At the same time, he ordered the Youwei Guard of Xuzhou to go north to provide support, and ordered Zhao Da to send a small group of elite troops to harass Yang Kan's rear.

In short, you can't retreat. If you retreat, you will lose everything.

Li Yuan had seen many storms after all. After figuring out the situation, he immediately led 9,000 imperial troops from Luoyang and rushed to Hulao Pass.

There were only a thousand defenders at Hulao Pass, and after Li Yuan arrived, people's hearts were stabilized.

When Chai Rong learned that Yue's father had arrived at Hulao, he immediately boosted morale and strengthened his determination to defend the city.

Yang Kan had besieged Xingyang for more than ten days and had consumed a lot of resources. At this time, Li Yuan personally led the imperial cavalry to attack from Hulao, catching the enemy off guard.

Li Yuan, who was nearly sixty years old, could still ride a horse, draw bows with both hands, and every arrow he shot hit the target.

The imperial guards under his command were all elite soldiers who had fought with him from Shu. After seeing the emperor's superb archery, they all rushed to the front. Li Gaoqian, Zhang Pinggao, Li Zhongwen, Jiang Baoyi and other trusted generals led their elite troops to attack, especially Pei Xingyan, the son of Xuzhou governor Pei Minzhi, who was treated well by Li Yuan because of his bravery. When he went into battle, he wore a helmet and armor, rode the imperial horse, and charged into the enemy camp with a large spear in his hand. He was unstoppable.

When Chai Rong saw the emperor's banner, he also shouted, "Today the emperor has come in person, braving the arrows and stones. If we don't risk our lives to kill the bandits, when will we?" He then led his troops to attack the Yang clan's tribes.

Ma Sanbao, a fierce general under his command who was born as a servant, took the lead and captured several generals of the Yang family, including Yang An and Yang Bojun.

Although Yang Kan was brave, he was helpless and the defeat was irreversible. He did not expect Li Yuan to actually take the initiative to attack and personally lead the army. He tried to organize the army but failed, and could only fight and retreat to Chenliu.

However, Li Yuan, who was well versed in the art of war, ordered Chai Rong to lead the main force to continue the pursuit, giving the Yang family members no chance to regroup.

Finally, Yang Kan personally led the elite troops to fight to the death, which finally allowed the rest of the troops to successfully cross the river and escape the pursuit of the Tang army.

In the Battle of Xingyang, the Tang army captured more than 8,000 enemies and beheaded 3,000 of them. The Qingzhou army under Yang's command fled in all directions and was completely defeated. Less than 20,000 of them successfully crossed the Bian River and returned east.

The results of the Battle of Xingyang were quite unexpected. Before the reinforcements from Xuzhou arrived, Li Yuan and his son-in-law Chai Rong defeated the "100,000" Qingzhou army with less than 20,000 troops.

It had a great impact on the disloyal people in the Tang Dynasty.

The Tang army was also talking about the emperor's archery skills, which could be summed up in eight words: "miraculous skills" and "never miss a target."

No wonder both the King of Qi and the King of Qin were famous for their archery skills; it turned out that this skill was passed down from their ancestors.

The greatest strategic significance of the Battle of Xingyang was that it eliminated the risk east of Luoyang, allowing the Tang army on the front line to focus on the battle without distraction.

As for the two people with the surname Cao in the south, as expected, they did not cause any trouble.

Cao Xuan besieged Xinye and mobilized an army of 100,000. All the generals led by the Western Wei Grand Marshal Martin Jingzhen participated in the battle. After more than half a month of siege, they failed to capture the city.

Li Daliang, the prefect of Nanyang stationed in Wancheng, led 3,000 cavalrymen directly south and attacked the grain transported from Fancheng to Xinye by the Western Wei.

Li Daliang was also from the Longxi Li family. His ancestral home was in Didao, Longxi. His father and grandfather were both high-ranking officials. In his early years, he served as a military officer of General Pang Xun, Zhenxi General. After Pang Xun died in battle, he followed the group to move west to Sichuan. After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, he was appointed as the magistrate of Tumen County because of his Longxi Li family background.

At that time, there was a famine in the area and many bandits appeared in the county. As the county magistrate, Li Daliang helped the people who fled from the famine and relieved the poor. He even sold his own horse to help the people and persuade them to cultivate the land. The county had a good harvest that year. He also took action to quell the bandits. When Li Xuanqing, the King of Jin, visited the area, he wrote a letter to reward him and gave him five horses and fifty pieces of silk.

Later, the Turks invaded again. Li Daliang considered that his small county had no power to resist, so he boldly rode out of the city alone to the enemy camp and persuaded the commander. The Turkic soldiers were convinced, and Li Daliang killed his own horse to feast with them. He returned to Tumen on foot. More than a thousand people surrendered, and the county was cleared.

Li Yuan was very happy and promoted Li Daliang to be the governor of Nanyang and concurrently the general of the Left Jinwu Guard, ordering him to guard Jingxiang.

When the Western Wei army just started to besiege Xinye, his generals began to ask for orders to rescue Xinye, because the one stationed in Xinye was a royal relative, Prince of Langya Li Xiaoche, a member of the royal family who was very trusted by Li Yuan.

But Li Daliang remained unmoved. He held out for half a month before suddenly launching an attack, personally leading his troops to attack the Western Wei army's food supply route.

Although the distance between Xinye and Fancheng is not far, the Western Wei army's vigilance and guard forces were relatively sufficient in the initial period. But as time went by, there was no movement from the troops in Wancheng, and the Western Wei army relaxed its vigilance.

Moreover, the Western Wei army lacked cavalry and was helpless against the Tang army's cavalry who could attack freely. After being harassed for many days, the Western Wei finally gave up attacking Xinye.

The city was not big, but Li Xiaoche, who was guarding the city, was a tough nut to crack. In addition, Li Daliang kept harassing him, so Cao Xuan finally gave up his plan to capture Xinye and had no choice but to retreat.

Only on the eastern front of Jianghuai, Cao Yuanjing mobilized an army of 100,000 to attack Ruxukou. In the early stage, he achieved certain results and captured Ruxuwu. Then he divided his troops into two groups and used the naval capacity of Ruxu River to attack East Gate and West Gate.

Cao Yuanjing stood on the ship, looking at the city wall not far away and said self-deprecatingly: "If King Li was in Jianghuai, I would not be able to come here."

(End of this chapter)