Chapter 397 At this moment
April, the fourth year of Wude.

The great battle that many people expected did not occur, and the Tang army did not immediately counterattack after losing Jinyang.

This greatly disappointed Liu Xuanji in Jinyang.

"The patience of the Li brothers is exactly the same. Each one is more patient than the other. It's really scary." Looking at the map on the table, Liu Xuanji smiled and sighed.

Northern Yan's ambition would naturally not stop at Jinyang. If possible, it would of course want to take over Hedong.

But the problem is that there is still some gap in the military strength of the two sides. If Northern Yan wants to take the initiative to attack and seize Hedong and threaten Guanzhong, it is still unable to do so with its current strength.

Therefore, if the Tang army could be attracted to attack Jinyang in the north, and the Yan army could rely on the strong city to defend and consume the Tang army's resources, and then launch a counterattack when the Tang army's old soldiers were tired, there would be a chance to push all the way to Hedong in one go and completely eliminate the Tang army from Bingzhou.

However, after arriving in Hedong, Li Xuanqing, the Prince of Jin of the Tang Dynasty, did not immediately head north. Instead, he first gathered thousands of defeated soldiers, and then killed all the officials left by Li Xiaozheng, the Prince of Wei.

Because these people were notorious in Jinyang at the beginning, the reason why Liu Xuanji was able to quickly conquer Jinyang was largely related to the fact that the Tang Dynasty was unpopular in Taiyuan County.

As for why he is unpopular, we have to say that it is the good things done by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wei.

He allowed his men to plunder and amass wealth, hunt and trample on farmland, and rapine women, and they did a lot of bad things.

If this could still win people's hearts, Li Sanlang himself would feel embarrassed.

Fortunately, his cousin Wang Yi was in Hedong, otherwise something bad would have happened. So Li Sanlang rejected Li Yuan's proposal before leaving Chang'an.

With only 20,000 soldiers, his initial strategic goal was not to recapture Jinyang, but to hold on to Hedong and stabilize the situation.

Liu Xuanji was somewhat fanciful at this time, and had been expecting the Tang army to be furious after losing the city and territory and go north to attack Jinyang. But now that the Tang army has stabilized the situation, it is difficult to seize Hedong.

However, at this time, Wang Sizheng, the strategic planning master who had been regarded as a confidant, offered another very important strategy: building a city.

There is a terrace along the Fen River.
After learning about the geographical location mentioned by Wang Sizheng, Liu Xuanji and a group of staff and generals all agreed.

However, before attacking the city, the Yan army had to take Pingyang first.

So Liu Xuanji led 15,000 infantry and cavalry from Jinyang, and ordered Shangdang to send out 15,000 troops, gathering an army of 30,000 to fight for Pingyang.

Yuwenxing, who was stationed in Pingyang, had received the news before Liu Xuanji attacked and passed the news back to Hedong.

Li Xuanqing immediately added two thousand troops to Yuwenxing, transported a large amount of food and military equipment, and told him to hold on for two months.

On the other hand, Li Xuanqing also wrote a letter to inform Li Yuanhui of the situation here, asking him to feint an attack on Yecheng for support. At the same time, Li Yuanhui also sent someone to deliver a letter to Hedong.

When the letter from Hedong arrived in Luoyang, it was already the end of April, and Li Yuanhui had just completed the appointment of personnel in Tiance Mansion. After receiving the letter from his third brother, Li Yuanhui did not shirk his responsibilities. Luoyang and Yanzhou had already mobilized 50,000 troops, ready to attack at any time. Together with the nearly 20,000 troops originally stationed in Liyang and Chaoge, a total of 70,000 troops gathered in Liyang, ready to take advantage of the situation to attack Yecheng.

However, Wang Xiong, the governor of Jizhou in Yecheng, remained calm, "I'm sure Li Yuanhui will not attack Yecheng, it's just bluffing."

Wang Xiong's prediction was right. The Tang army had no intention of attacking Yecheng. Originally, it was to support Hedong, but at this time, Li Qinglian gave a suggestion.

"Your Highness, Prince Qi, we should seize Qingzhou now."

Li Yuanhui was stunned by these words. Attack Qingzhou? I just found an excuse not to attack Qingzhou, and now you are still urging me to attack Qingzhou.
However, Li Qinglian's next words made Li Yuanhui realize that he had also reached a dead end and his mind was not thinking straight.

"Your Highness, what we were worried about before was that if our army took the initiative to attack Qingzhou, the Yan army in Hebei would definitely take the opportunity to attack the Central Plains or Henei. But now Liu Xuanji has taken the main force to Bingzhou. Even if we leave a large army behind, we must focus on the defense of Yecheng. If we attack Qingzhou again at this time, the Yan army will not be able to provide reinforcements. If he dares to send troops, we can take this opportunity to capture Hebei. If there are no reinforcements, Yang Kan will be unable to capture Qingzhou alone. In this way, all the land south of the Yellow River will belong to our Tang Dynasty."

Li Yuanhui shouted in his heart, yes, it’s not that I didn’t want to take Qingzhou before, but I was worried that while attacking Qingzhou, we would be intercepted by the Yan army in Hebei, which would trigger a war.

But now, the Yan army in Hebei is destined to be unable to participate in the war, because they have to ensure the safety of Hebei first. Liu Xuanji has to bring at least half of his troops to Bingzhou. From this point of view, this opportunity is really a rare godsend.

Dugu Ying also echoed, "Your Highness, what Mr. Qinglian said makes sense. Yang Kan has been confronting General Murong and General Huang for more than a month. If our army sails down the river, we can catch them off guard."

"Good, great good."

Li Yuanhui clapped his hands and then looked at Pharmacist Li standing beside him.

In May, Li Yuanhui appointed Li Yaoshi as the chief military commander and ordered him to lead the generals, Chang Yanheng as the military commander and Yu Zhongheng as the guard, and led a large army of 30,000 soldiers and sailors to march to Qingzhou along the Yellow River.

At the same time, he ordered Liu Yuanqing and Chen Zhen, generals of the Zuowei Guard in Xuzhou, to lead their troops out from Langya, pass the northern foot of Wulian Mountain, and attack the hinterland of Qingzhou from the south.

After Li Yaoshi received the order, the army took the canal boats along the Yellow River and marched very quickly. In less than ten days, they arrived in Qingzhou and directly raided the flank of the Northern Yan Qingzhou Army on the Licheng battlefield. Murong Sanzang and Huang Junhan took advantage of the situation and attacked. The Yan army was defeated. After seeing the main force of the Tang army, Yang Kan was shocked and hurriedly withdrew to the direction of Qi County with his elite troops. Li Yaoshi commanded the infantry, while Chang Yanheng commanded the cavalry to intersperse and outflanke, cooperating with Murong Sanzang and Huang Junhan in the front, forming a pressure of Mount Tai on the Yan army. Without the command of the main general, the Yan army was defeated.

The Tang army beheaded 6,000 people and captured more than 10,000 people. While achieving a great victory, they took advantage of the situation to seize Jinan County.

After winning a great victory, Li Yaoshi and Chang Yanheng agreed with the generals' suggestion to rest, but said to everyone: "Now Yang Kan only has a few thousand people fleeing. Qi County is a strong city and has been run for many years. If he is allowed to enter Qi County, the war will be dragged on for a long time. So we can't rest now. All cavalrymen, follow me to attack. We must not let Yang Kan have a chance to catch his breath. We must take Qingzhou for His Royal Highness the King of Qi in one go!"

When everyone heard this, they were immediately eager to fight. Chang Yanheng and his old friend Wang Bi set out first with hundreds of cavalrymen, and Li Yaoshi followed closely with thousands of cavalrymen, leaving the army to Yu Zhongheng to command.

Although Yang Kan's elite troops also had 3,000 cavalry, Qingzhou was not a horse-producing area after all, and even the elite troops could not all be cavalry. A considerable number of them were pack horses, which could not be used as war horses, but were considered mounted infantry, and their leg strength was naturally not as good as that of the Tang army. Therefore, the march was still a bit slow.

Chang Yanheng's attack speed was extremely fast. He traveled 200 miles in one day and one night and finally caught up with the Yan army in Gaoyuan.

"Qingzhou is settled."

(End of this chapter)