Chapter 391 Entering the Urn
Taiyuan County, Bingzhou, inside Jinyang City, the Governor's Office.

King Li Xiao of Wei was leaning on the couch, twirling the jade finger on his thumb with his right hand, but his eyes seemed to be looking at the beams of the house, and it was unknown where his mind was wandering.

After a while, he sat up from the couch and looked at the Chief Clerk Han Bi and the Commander-in-Chief Zhang Gu standing in front of him, and raised his eyebrows: "Wei Xiaoju is the cousin of Emperor Murong Yang of Yan. Now Murong Yang has died suddenly, and Wei Xiaoju has sent people to surrender. Isn't this a good opportunity? If we can take Huguan, Shangdang will be in the pocket of our Tang Dynasty. If we can take Shangdang. "

Li Xiaozheng still had some concerns about saying the following words.

What he actually meant was that if he could capture Shangdang, he would definitely gain a lot of face in front of the emperor, and would have more capital to be compared with his brothers.

Zhang Gu was Li Yuan's bodyguard, that is, a military man. Now he is the Sima of King Wei, but it is difficult to expect him to give advice.

So actually, Li Xiaozheng was asking the Chief Secretary Han Bi.

After thinking about it, Han Bi said tactfully: "Your Highness, if Wei Xiaoju is pretending to surrender, not only will Shangdang be lost, but Jinyang will also be in danger. We should be more cautious."

"Be more stable? Of course I know how to be more stable, but if I miss the opportunity."

Li Xiaozheng was very interested in this matter. Although he was now the military commander of Bingzhou, he did not have many opportunities to go to war. So for Li Xiaozheng, the surrender of Huguan was a very good opportunity, and he did not want to miss it.

It turned out that in addition to sending a letter of surrender to Li Sixing in Hanoi, Wei Xiaoju also sent a letter of surrender to Li Xiaozheng in Jinyang.

Wei Xiaoju said in the letter that because his cousin Murong Yang was poisoned to death, he and Liu Xuanji were sworn enemies, so he requested to surrender to the Tang Dynasty.

But Li Xiaozheng still thought it was true because it made sense.

First of all, Wei Xiaoju was from Jingzhao and was born into the Wei family, a wealthy family in Jingzhao. His family and his parents and brothers were all under the rule of the Tang Dynasty.

When he followed his cousin Murong Yang north, he couldn't even take his wife and children with him.

His determination to go north was enough to prove his loyalty to Murong Yang. Therefore, after Murong Yang died suddenly, which was rumored to be poisoned, Wei Xiaoju's so-called submission to the Tang Dynasty was a very reasonable choice.

That's why Li Xiaozheng trusts Wei Xiaoju so much.

However, Han Bi's words also made sense to him. He should be more stable so that he can be invincible.
Then Li Xiaozheng thought that Jinyang Ling Liu Wenhui was the deputy and general left to him by Li Yuan.

But he never thought that Liu Wenhui could help him in any way. After all, the Battle of Yecheng was the first major battle lost by the Tang Dynasty after its founding. Therefore, the very conceited Li Xiaozheng always thought that this man was incompetent. However, this time he felt that this man was of some use.

He immediately ordered someone to summon Liu Wenhui and informed him of the decision to send troops to support Huguan.

Liu Wenhui was shocked when he heard this. Although he was demoted from the prefect of Taiyuan to the magistrate of Jinyang, he still served as the general of the right guard. Among the 20,000 troops in Jinyang, 5,000 were under his command.

When he heard this, he immediately said that the surrender must be a fraud, so he advised Li Xiaozheng not to send troops and made it clear. But Li Xiaozheng was unwilling to listen to him, and even directly asked Liu Wenhui to lead 3,000 people to Huguan to meet Wei Xiaoju.

Liu Wenhui didn't believe that Wei Xiaoju would really surrender, but Li Xiaozheng directly took out the military order to pressure him, and there was nothing he could do.

And he was only given two days to prepare.

Li Xiaozheng was thinking, let you, Liu Wenhui, lead the army in front, and I will lead the army in the back. If it is really a false surrender, I will have someone to help me explore the way.

So Liu Wenhui was forced by Li Xiaozheng to lead the army ahead to support Wei Xiaoju.

After five days of continuous marching, Liu Wenhui led 3,000 infantry and cavalry into the Shangdang Basin. Soon after crossing the Taiyue Mountains, Liu Wenhui noticed something unusual. He immediately sent someone to inform Li Xiaozheng that the trip to meet Wei Xiaoju must be a fraud. However, Li Xiaozheng did not care at all and forced Liu Wenhui to continue to Huguan.

Liu Wenhui had no choice but to march along the Zhuozhang River towards Huguan. Then he was ambushed by the Yan army dozens of miles away from Huguan.

Although Liu Wenhui was mentally prepared, the soldiers under his command were forced to march continuously and were already exhausted. Facing the Yan army charging at them from all sides, they could only barely hold on.

Liu Wenhui was actually quite capable, otherwise he would not have been considered as Li Yuan's confidant. He was cautious all the way, but the terrain of the Shangdang Basin was too suitable for ambushes, with many gullies and ravines. There were many places to hide thousands or even tens of thousands of troops.

No matter how careful Liu Wenhui was, he could not withstand the death of someone behind him.

Immediately, he organized his Tang army soldiers to form a battle formation on the spot to fight against the ambush of the Yan army. Although they were ambushed and fell into a disadvantage, the Tang army had formed a battle formation from the beginning. Although the Yan army attacked like a tide, they could barely hold on. However, as time went on, the Tang army, which was already exhausted, began to show signs of defeat.

If Li Xiaozheng, who was leading the army in the rear, could immediately send troops to rescue at this time, there would be a chance to rescue the besieged soldiers in the front.

However, Li Xiaozheng turned a deaf ear to the requests for help from his subordinates because he was resentful of Liu Wenhui for reporting him.

Therefore, the time for rescue was deliberately delayed. Even if the generals wanted to rescue, they did not dare to act rashly without military orders and could only watch and sigh.

It was during Li Xiaozheng's delay that the Yan army completed the encirclement.

On the Northern Yan side, Wei Xiaoju, who was appointed as the commander-in-chief of all military affairs in Bingzhou, led more than 10,000 people including Zhang Shiwu, Han Gui, and Lou Daiwen to attack the Tang army with all their might.

On the other side, the blocking troops led by Liu Changmin and Zhao Xiang completed the blocking and defense of the passage during this period of time.

When Li Xiaozheng felt that it was time to teach him a lesson and led his troops to rescue him, he ran into the Yan army that was ready for battle.

Seeing this, his generals began to persuade Li Xiaozheng again, saying that the enemy's army was in good order and ready to engage the enemy, and that the Tang army in front had been surrounded for half a day, so it would be meaningless whether you went to rescue them or not.

Li Xiaozheng ignored the opinions of other generals and insisted on launching an attack. He felt that Liu Wenhui would not be finished so soon, and now they would surely win a great victory by cooperating with the outside forces.

However, the blocking teams led by Liu Changmin and Zhao Xiang were fully prepared for the battle and formed a large battle formation. The Tang army launched three consecutive attacks, all of which failed.

Li Xiaozheng was dumbfounded. He personally led his troops to charge for a while. If it weren't for the sophisticated armor on his body, he would have been shot into a hedgehog.

In desperation, he could only agree to the generals' request and begin to withdraw his troops.

But it was too late.

There was a Northern Yan cavalry of only a thousand people, led by the young and brave general Hulu Mingyue, who rushed hundreds of miles from Jingxing to the Shangdang battlefield, and then slashed the Tang army in the back.

Under the surprise attack, the Tang army's rear formation became chaotic. After Liu Changmin and Zhao Xiang learned that their special forces had completed the surprise attack from the rear, they immediately led their troops to attack from the front.

Even though they had failed in four consecutive battles and were then faced with attacks from both sides, the elite Tang army gradually stabilized their position after the initial panic.

But then, the commander fled from the battlefield, leaving the Tang army leaderless, and a crushing defeat ensued.

(End of this chapter)