Chapter 395 Mo Xiao Gao Qi
Because of the fall of Jinyang, Li Yuanhui naturally rejected the decision made in the court to attack Qingzhou.

After all, from a strategic point of view, sending troops to Qingzhou at this time is almost meaningless, and the gains and losses of Qingzhou cannot be compared with those of Bingzhou.

In fact, if at this time, the brothers Li Xuanqing and Li Yuanhui had gathered heavy troops to attack Bingzhou at the same time, then there was a great possibility that they would be able to recapture Jinyang with their military advantage.

But doing so is undoubtedly very risky. The enemy only needs to stay in the fortress and fight with you with the fortress, and then wait for your old soldiers to get tired, and then launch a surprise attack with elite troops, which is enough to make the Tang Dynasty suffer a lot.

After Jinyang changed hands, the location of Henei became very important. The general Li Sixing stationed in Henei also had to face the Yan army in the direction of Shangdang directly, and also stepped up the defense of Zixia Pass and Taihang Xing.

After Northern Yan captured Jinyang, they also wanted to raid Hedong along the Fen River. However, after seeing the defeated soldiers, Yuwen Xing, the commander-in-chief of the Tang army stationed in Pingyang, did not choose to open the gate to welcome them, but directly closed the city gate and refused to go out.

Facts have proved that this choice is also correct.

The Yan cavalry drove the defeated soldiers directly here. If Yuwen Xing had not closed the city gates long ago, the city gates might have been broken through directly.

Seeing that the surprise attack had no effect, the Yan army sent people to persuade them to surrender, but Yuwen Xing ordered them to be shot away with a volley of arrows.

However, a large number of defeated soldiers outside the city were unable to enter the city and were driven directly to the river by the Yan army. Many of them jumped into the river to escape, and a large number of people chose to surrender.

Wang Yi in Hedong was completely focused on military affairs. The Tang army originally had 10,000 guards in Hedong, and there were about 3,000 county soldiers in Hedong. As a garrison, the original force was enough.

In the Northern Yan side, apart from the Jinyang side that wanted to go south along Pingyang, the Yan army in Shangdang took the relatively dangerous Wenxi Road to attack Hedong.

However, due to Wang Yi's proper deployment, the Yan army failed to achieve any results and quickly withdrew.

The Prince of Jin, Li Xuanqing, finally arrived in Hedong in early April and took over all the military and political affairs of Bingzhou. He was accompanied by 20,000 elite troops.

The governor Wang Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

At the same time, while Liu Xuanji sent Fu Hongzhi to lead the cavalry to drive out the defeated troops and try to capture Pingyang, he personally led 5,000 troops from Jinyang, took the Luliang Mountain Road, and raided Xihe County under the rule of the Tang Dynasty.

Xihe prefect He Xun was killed in the battle, and the rest of the troops surrendered.

Except for Hedong, almost the entire Bingzhou has fallen into the hands of the Yan army.

Li Yuan in Chang'an felt that he heard bad news every day, but he could not come up with any good measures at the moment. He only hoped that the third and fourth brothers could withstand the offensive of Beiyan and prevent the situation from becoming out of control.

However, the situation may not be what he expected. After completing the reorganization of the army last year, Liu Xuanji is currently taking the elite route, which also shows that the military strength of Northern Yan is relatively lacking.

It was not enough for Beiyan to take Jinyang by sheer luck and then take Hedong by force. This was determined by the national strength of both sides and other factors.

Even though the Tang Dynasty lost Jinyang and suffered more than 10,000 casualties, it still had the upper hand in terms of national strength.

At the same time, Liu Xuanji did not think that he had the ability to break into Guanzhong, so there was no point in fighting to the death in Hedong at this time.

So Northern Yan launched another move. In mid-April, Yang Kan, the governor of Qingzhou of Northern Yan, led troops along the Yellow River to attack Jibei.

Yang Kan had more than 30,000 soldiers under his command, of which the elite were only the old soldiers brought from Wagang, numbering only a few thousand. The rest were newly recruited soldiers, so the combat effectiveness and threat level of such an army were actually very limited.

The Tang army was responsible for guarding against the Qingzhou army, and they were also the old members of Wagang, Murong Sanzang and Huang Junhan. Among them, Murong Sanzang was outstanding in strategy and proficient in military tactics, while Huang Junhan was mature and prudent. The two made sufficient preparations to deal with the invasion led by Yang Kan.

In fact, both sides knew that the troops on the Qingzhou battlefield were just a small force and could only support the main battlefield, so stability was paramount.

Yang Kan also knew his situation, so he did not launch a forceful attack. Instead, Murong Sanzang, while defending himself, led several cavalry raids, causing considerable trouble to the Northern Yan army in Qingzhou.

After receiving the battle report in Luoyang, Li Yuanhui only sent a message to Murong Sanzang and Huang Junhan, asking them to respond carefully.

At the same time, he sent a letter to the King of Jin in Hedong, asking about the situation on the battlefield in Bingzhou, and stated that if Hedong decided to send troops to recapture Jinyang, he would send troops to Shangdang or Hebei at any time to divert the main attack direction.

In addition, Li Yuanhui also went to Liyang and Chaoge in person to learn about Northern Yan's defense in Jizhou.

"Wang Xiong, who guards Yecheng, is an experienced guy. He used to be the governor of Jingzhou and the minister of the Honglu Temple in the Former Yan. When he was the governor of Xiangyang, he suppressed the rebellious barbarians several times. He is proficient in both military and political affairs and is a rare talent. Later, because he advised the Former Yan Emperor Zhaowu to march east, he was demoted to Pingyuan. Now he is used by Liu Xuanji as the governor of Jizhou, which is a big problem."

"I led my army several times before to take back Yecheng, but he always countered me."

On the city wall, Zhao Yi followed Li Yuanhui and first talked about the background of Wang Xiong, the current governor of Jizhou of Northern Yan, and then talked about his own failed attempt to attack Yecheng.

Li Yuanhui comforted him, "General Zhao, don't worry about it. Liu Xuanji is a great man of the time. When he sent troops to attack Jinyang, how could he not take precautions against Jizhou? As for Wang Xiong, I have also heard from your majesty that he is quite difficult to deal with. Victory and defeat are common in the military. General, don't worry too much."

Li Yuanhui had indeed heard about this man from Li Yuan, and even met him several times. Wang Xiong was born in the Wang family of Lelang, a native of Ba Ling, Jingzhao. He was upright and strong by nature, and was fair in his dealings, and was deeply respected by the villagers.

During the Zhenghe reign of Emperor Wen of Yan, he served as an imperial censor and later became the deputy governor of Yongzhou. He was honest in government, hated evil and was diligent in his work, which earned him the appreciation of the governor Murong Liang.

Later, the Di and Qiang tribes in Hanzhong and other places rebelled, and Wang Pi was ordered to lead the army to suppress the rebellion.

After returning, Wang Xiong was promoted to General Liyi and governor of Xihe for his meritorious service. However, he refused to accept the appointment. Li Yuan, his colleague at the time, asked him curiously: "Xihe is a big county with generous salary, why don't you want to go?"

Wang Xiong said: "Nowadays, all the good wood in Chang'an comes from Xihe County. If I go to Xihe, the dignitaries will definitely ask me to handle the wood they need when they build their houses. I don't have the ability to purchase it privately, and if I collect it from the people, it will violate the law, so I am unwilling to go."

Later, Li Yuan often used this incident to educate his sons, telling them to do things within their capabilities. Even if some official positions were prestigious, if they were destined to offend people or easily lead to breaking laws and disciplines, then it would be better not to take the position.

In short, don't put yourself in the midst of troubles until you are able to handle them.

Li Yuanhui now thinks that the old man was really wise at the beginning, especially before he became emperor, he was really clear-headed.

But after becoming the emperor, he seems to like making some stupid moves. I'm speechless.
However, Li Yuanhui suddenly remembered the origin of Wang Xiong. Isn't this the old bear who is said to be "the old bear in power makes the raccoon sad"? This is a powerful man. However, why did Wei Xiaoju, Wang Sizheng, Wang Xiong, who should have been shining in the Guanzhong regime, all run to the north?

This is a bit bizarre.

Don't let us, the Li Tang, really run all the way in the direction of the Gao family of Northern Qi? This is a bit overwhelming.

The issue of education is really important. The Li family must not learn from the Gao family.

(End of this chapter)