Chapter 471 Relocation
Before the Battle of Baigou, the number of Tang Dynasty's guards was about 300,000, including the King of Qi's four guards in Guandong, with about 100,000 people.

There were about 80,000 Weifu troops in Jingzhou, Bingzhou, Yizhou, Liangzhou, Xiazhou and other places, and the remaining more than 100,000 people were all stationed in Guanzhong.

In the Battle of Baigou, the king lost about 100,000 troops, which meant that the elite troops of Guanzhongwei Mansion were wiped out in one battle.

At the beginning of the year, there were tens of thousands of soldiers who were exchanged for food in Luoyang. Li Er reorganized eighty Zhechoufu based on this group of people and the troops left behind in Chang'an.

They are divided into the Left and Right Guards, the Left and Right Guards, the Left Guards and the Right Guards. In addition, there are several thousand Yuan Cong Imperial Guards of Li Yuan, who are currently serving as the palace guards.

But the combat effectiveness is incomparable to before.

Coupled with the rampage of the Turks last year and the drought this year, all military and political affairs fell on Li Er's shoulders. After exhausting all his energy and worries, he was finally overwhelmed.

All these burdens now fall on the shoulders of Prince Jin.

When Li Sanlang went to visit his second brother, he said that it would be better to stay in Hedong to save trouble.

However, Li Sanlang was decisive in handling affairs, managing the army and government, and he was very good at everything, which made the court in Chang'an return to its previous high-speed operation.

Even the two prime ministers saw the change in Li Sanlang's handling of government affairs, and found that he had a broad mind and was fair in his decisions.

The prime ministers praised him again and again, and Sima Xiuye ​​said that he was "superior in wisdom and strategy, and quick in thinking."

Pei Hongde praised him: "When faced with a situation, he made decisions without showing any emotion, and he treated the world as safe as Mount Tai. He was unfathomable, like Huang Xian."

Pei Ji sighed that His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin had "a distinguished talent, and was destined to assist the emperor in his mission, to continue the administration of state through literary means, and to demonstrate his authority through military force". He was also worried about Li Yuan. The crown prince was no longer able to handle government affairs, but the Prince of Jin was so capable, so wise and brave, and had such great ambitions, that even if Li Yuan returned to Chang'an, it would probably be of no avail.

Li Yuan received Pei Ji's letter on his way back to Chang'an after the Mid-Autumn Festival. The letter explained that Li Er and Li San had completed the transfer of power in Chang'an, and that Li San had already taken control of the court and the various guards.

After reading the letter, Li Yuan felt half worried and half happy.

What he was worried about was the situation after he returned and Erlang's physical condition. What made him happy was that even if Erlang was unable to govern the country, after Sanlang exercised his power as regent, Guanzhong was stable, and the court affairs were handled in an orderly manner, which could even deter the troops.

After Guanzhong and Guandong were out of his control, they did not fall into chaos. Instead, they overcame the defeat and began to recover.

This was a good thing, but it was like a thorn in his throat.

But since we are already on the way back to Guanzhong, we can only take it one step at a time.

In Luoyang, after seeing Li Yuan off, Li Yuanhui continued to busy himself with military and political affairs, raising food and fodder, and reorganizing the army.

The Han Kingdom in the north had just been established and was not in a position to send troops immediately. After all, the war had just ended not long ago, and even the victorious side needed to rest and recuperate.

According to Li Yuanhui's estimate, it will take at least two years.

Firstly, the Northern Han regime needed time to consolidate its ruling foundation. Secondly, after the last war, the Han army had undergone a large-scale expansion and needed to be tempered and trained again before it could return to its previous level of combat effectiveness.

The third is the accumulation of food and fodder. Even though Jizhou has thousands of miles of fertile fields and is the largest grain-producing area in the north, it still takes several years of accumulation to support an expedition by an army of hundreds of thousands.

This is even more true for the Tang Dynasty. Last year, they exchanged grain for prisoners, and this year they provided support to Guanzhong, which means they have one million dan of grain. If it were not for the support of the Luokou granary, the grain reserves in the Guandong region and the newly collected autumn grain would have been insufficient.

The Tang army in Guandong is currently the most well-organized Tang Weifu army.

So after the autumn harvest, Li Yuanhui immediately summoned all the generals and launched a full-scale attack along the Yellow River. Large-scale military deployment may not be appropriate according to the current situation, but small-scale military deployment has never stopped. And the scale of the war is getting bigger and bigger.

In September, Yanzhou and Qingzhou had just finished harvesting the autumn crops when they launched an attack on Hebei.

At the same time, on the Luoyang front, although the river bridge could not be used, the Tang army still used its naval advantage to attack Henei.

On the Bai Ma and Li Yang front, Li Xuandao, the governor of Yanzhou, commanded not only his own troops of several thousand men, but also four Zhechoufu of Liu Yuanqing's Zuowei Guard, with about 8,000 men. They failed to succeed in the surprise attack on Li Yang, but they took advantage of the situation to harvest many wheat fields on the north bank, captured six garrisons, and beheaded hundreds of people.

Before the main force of the Han army set out from Yecheng to provide support, they relocated thousands of households along the river and obtained tens of thousands of stones of grain, and even set a lot of it on fire before leaving.

In Hanoi, Zhu Deyu personally led his troops across the river and successfully launched a surprise attack on Wen County. He then used a joint force of land and sea to besiege the northern city of Heqiao.

The person stationed in the north city of Heqiao was Su Wenzhe, the cousin of Su Dingbian, the Northern Han general who conquered the south and Duke of Xing. Facing the tens of thousands of Tang troops coming at him like a mountain, he was not afraid at all and responded calmly, commanding the 2,000 defenders of the north city to fight to the death. After the Tang army failed in its attempt to climb the city, it began to besiege it.

Those responsible for the siege included the newly formed Yellow River Navy fleet, the 15,000-man Zuo Wuwei, and a coalition force of more than 10,000 people composed of the powerful troops from Jianghuai.

In addition, the Shenwu and Shen Ce armies directly under the Tian Ce Mansion were dispatched, totaling 6,000 people. The Youwu Guard led by Chang Yanheng dispatched five Zhechoufu, and Xiao Shizhi supervised ten Zhechoufu, totaling more than 20,000 people, to block the Han army reinforcements.

Su Dingbian, who was guarding Huai County, led his troops to the direction of Heqiao to provide support while asking for help from Yecheng.

Su Dingbian led a Han army of more than 10,000 people and encountered the Tang army in Wen County. The battle was intense, but Su Dingbian found that the enemy's morale, training level and equipment were not comparable to the Tang army he had encountered before, and were not much inferior to the elite troops of the left and right guards of Guanzhong that he encountered during the Battle of Baigou.

"It should be the Jianghuai elite force that Li Yuanhui relies on." Although this was a correct judgment, the Han army was inevitably at a disadvantage on the battlefield.

Being outnumbered, Su Dingbian had no choice but to retreat, set up camp, and hold out until reinforcements arrived.

After Liu Xuanji received the news, he immediately summoned a group of generals, prime ministers, and ministers. After discussion, everyone agreed that the Tang army would not carry out a large-scale northern expedition, and the purpose should be to recapture the river bridge.

Now that the river bridge has been burned down, Zhongyu City and Nancheng are in the hands of the Tang army. The North City alone is of little use, so it is better to give up.

Liu Xuanji heard this and said, "I have only established the Han Dynasty for two months. Don't you think I have no courage to fight?"

After saying that, he immediately ordered the imperial guards to assemble, and personally led the four armies of Huben, Yulin, Beifu, and Tieqi, totaling more than 25,000 people, as well as the two cavalry units of Hulu Mingyue and Tuoba Tianmu, totaling more than 10,000 people, and rushed straight to the battlefield in Hanoi.

In fact, Liu Xuanji had no choice but to react so violently.

First of all, except for the imperial guards, most of the government troops need time to assemble. Only his imperial guards are all stationed in Yecheng and can assemble and attack in a short time.

Moreover, the combat effectiveness of the Twelve Prefectures’ Army is mixed due to the problem of a large number of new recruits. Will they be useful in the battle?

The last reason was the food problem. He could still supply the food needed to lead tens of thousands of elite troops to attack. If there were more, it would be a bit difficult and would require large-scale conscription.

Seeing that the northern city of Heqiao could not be captured for a long time, the reinforcements of the Northern Army were about to arrive in the near future.

After some consideration, Li Yuanhui decided to withdraw his troops, relocate 10,000 households in Hanoi to the vicinity of Luoyang, and plunder all the food around Hanoi. Anything that could not be taken away was burned on the spot.

By the time the Han army reinforcements arrived, the Tang army had already retreated southward.

Looking at the scorched earth, Liu Xuanji sighed, "There will be no peace here any longer."

(End of this chapter)