Chapter 503 The Situation Becomes Clear
After the celebration banquet, Li Er ordered the army to return, but left Li Cang, the Prince of Hedong, to take care of the post-war affairs, and left 20,000 troops with him. Then he returned to Chang'an with more than 10,000 troops, escorting the Turkic Khan and a group of noble generals.

Jingzhou: After the Tang army captured Jiangling, it meant the demise of the Western Wei Dynasty.

After this victory, Jin Wang Li Xuanqing finally breathed a sigh of relief and then made many deployments in succession.

First, the capital of Jingzhou was moved to Jiangling, and Li Daliang remained as the governor of Jingzhou.

Lu Qin's navy and more than 10,000 surrendered soldiers from the Western Wei quickly went down the river to support the Jianghuai battlefield.

Li Yaoshi led the troops from various states and counties and Xu Qiande's new army back north to support the Luoyang battlefield.

Liu Zhenghui, Liu Zongxun and Zhang Pinggao each controlled 20 Zhechongfu, stationed in Wancheng, Jiangling and Baqiu to control northern and southern Jing as well as the Yangtze River waterway. As the remaining troops, they monitored the Western Wei and digested the results of this battle.

Afterwards, he also returned north to Guanzhong with Cao Xuan, the ruler of Western Wei, as well as members of the royal family and officials of Western Wei.

At this time, the four counties in southern Jing were not completely stable, but Li Xuanqing was eager to return to Guanzhong and quickly sent reinforcements from Luoyang. This was mainly because the situation that the Qi Wang Bafu in Luoyang needed to face was indeed a bit tense.

In addition, he also learned that his second brother personally led troops to the Longshan front line to block the Turkic army, so he wanted to return to Guanzhong as soon as possible to strengthen the defense.

The Weifu Army in Guanzhong and the soldiers in Yongzhou County were all withdrawn. If anything went wrong on the Longshan battlefield, the army marching south would become a lifeline.

Whether it was defending against the Turks on the Longshan line or destroying Wei in Jingzhou, the wars went very smoothly, as if with divine help.

However, facing the pincer attack from both the north and the south, the military strength of Luoyang Bafu was somewhat dwarfed. On the Jianghuai battlefield, the two sides were still fighting on the line of Dongguan Ruxu Mountain. Many powerful people in Lujiang had begun to rebel against the Tang and join Wei, but the Tang army still maintained the front line.

Li Yuanhui of Hanoi faced off against more than 100,000 main forces of the Han army on the Qishui line, while leaving the war on the western front behind to Zhu Deyu and Xiao Shizhi.

The two led the main force of the Left Guard and the Right Guard of more than 10,000 people, and besieged more than 10,000 Han troops in Yewang and Wenxian with 30,000 elite troops.

It is not so difficult to deal with Su Dingbian in Wen County. The city is not big but there is enough food. Five thousand people stationed in Wen County have enough food to last for more than half a year.

But Yewang's food was originally transported from Wen County, and this siege left only one month's worth of food.

This was mainly because Yewang was close to Chenguan, and Hedong County would come to harass or plunder from time to time. The people in Henei were basically relocated by both sides, and only a few thousand households were left. It was impossible to produce food to supply the army.

Therefore, the food shortage in Hanoi was all transferred from Hebei, and the Baigou water transport was concentrated in Wen County and Huai County.

Now that Huai County has fallen, Wen County and Yewang County have been divided and surrounded, and the Yewang defenders are running out of food.

Originally, the Tang army did not know this news, but the Yewang garrison commander robbed all the food from the people in the city, and then let them leave the city to fend for themselves. This made the Tang army aware of the true situation in the city.

After Zhu Deyu had settled the people, he quickly informed Li Yuanhui in the Qishui camp of the news.

After seeing the military report, Li Yuanhui immediately gave instructions to besiege Yewang and ignore Wen County.

At the same time, he also told Zhu Deyu not to be anxious, as he could hold on on the eastern front.

At this time, the more anxious you are, the more likely problems will arise.

Although the Tang army built a camp, it did not mean they would just stay there. Chang Yanheng, Xue Wanche, Pei Xingyan, Duan Wuxuan and others would lead elite cavalry out of the camp every day to keep track of the movements of the Han army.

Several small-scale cavalry battles broke out between the two armies, resulting in casualties on both sides.

In order to confront the Tang army and break the enemy camp, Liu Xuanji also accepted Li Yuanzhong's suggestion and set up camp on the west bank of the Qi River, not far from the Tang army camp. Li Yuanhui naturally ordered the cavalry to attack the camp, while the Han army lined up to guard. The cavalry could only go around and shoot, but faced with the enemy's cavalry encirclement, the Tang cavalry could only retreat to the camp. At this time, the Han cavalry wanted to follow and pursue but was blocked by the arrows of the Tang army archers.

After learning that the enemy had set up camp on the west bank of the Qi River, Li Yuanhui was not panicked. Instead, he comforted his generals and told them not to worry.

After all, the Tang army is not afraid of delay now.

If the Han army wants to fight, they have to attack the Tang army’s camp. If they keep wasting time, Wen County will sooner or later be unable to hold on.

The main reason why the Han army did not attack the Tang army's camp was because Liu Xuanji hesitated.

Worried about too many casualties.

However, after being persuaded and requested by a number of generals, Liu Xuanji finally decided to fight a decisive battle.

On the fifth day of the first lunar month in the first year of Zhenguan, the Han army set up ladders and began to attack the Tang army camp.

The Han army's offensive was swift and the Tang army responded actively. The two sides fought repeatedly for small pieces of land.

Arrows rained down. After half a day of fierce attack, the Han army finally broke into the Tang army camp under the fierce attack led by the fierce general Kuai En.

But the Tang army immediately launched a counterattack and pushed the Han army back. The two armies killed and wounded people everywhere, and the Han army, as the attacking side, suffered more casualties.

However, as the trenches were almost filled with corpses, the defensiveness of the Tang army's camp was greatly reduced, and the casualties of both sides in close combat were extremely close.

After five days of bloody fighting, the Tang army withdrew from all camps on the first line of defense. At this time, the Han army suffered 8,000 casualties and the Tang army suffered more than 5,000 casualties.

The ten Zhechoufu of the Zuowei Guards led by Liu Yuanqing were basically all crippled and could only retreat to rest.

The ten camps of the second line of defense were garrisoned by the ten Zhechoufu of Chen Zhen's troops. As the old foundation of the Jianghuai Army, they were naturally incomparable in combat effectiveness to Liu Yuanqing's team mainly composed of Xuzhou volunteers.

The Han army also mobilized new forces to launch a strong attack, and the 25,000 Han troops led by Fu Hongzhi and Zhu Chaoshi also felt that they had hit a wall.

Even Liu Xuanji, who was supervising the battle, noticed that the enemy was unusually strong. When he learned that it was the elite left guard under Chen Zhen, he couldn't help but sigh: "Chen Zhen was born in Xuzhou aristocratic family. He was originally a lieutenant under Qiao Wang Murong Xingguo. After Murong Xingguo was arrested, the Xuzhou army was also dispersed, but Chen Zhen and He Gui led 4,000 Xuzhou soldiers to Li Yuanhui's command. At that time, Li Yuanhui was the General of Pingnan, and his subordinates were less than 10,000 people. Only these 4,000 people were regular soldiers. Chen Zhen and I are old acquaintances. This man is well versed in military strategy and has strict military discipline. The elite soldiers under his command are not familiar with the elite left and right guards. They are Li Yuanhui's Jianghuai foundation."

"Your Majesty, why do you want to boost others' morale and destroy your own prestige? I am willing to lead the army as the vanguard to fight against the Tang army!"

General Xue Andu immediately requested the order.

Liu Xuanji smiled and said, "General Xue, why are you so anxious? The next time a general will go into battle, just be patient."

"His Majesty."

The eunuch Feng Zhong quietly appeared behind him and handed him a note, which seemed to have been delivered by a carrier pigeon.

Liu Xuanji unfolded it and took a look. There were only eight words on it, which he could see at a glance.

"Jiangling City was destroyed, and the Western Wei Dynasty was destroyed."

"so fast"

After reading it, Liu Xuanji handed the note to the Zuo Pushe Ling Jing, You Pushe Li Yuanzhong and others around him.

"It's been less than three months and the Western Wei Dynasty has already fallen? The Tang army's actions are too fast. Xiangyang and Jiangling are both fortified cities." Li Yuanzhong said in surprise.

The generals were also furious when they heard the news. Although the Western Wei was weak, it also occupied a state. It should not be so vulnerable after being established for more than ten years.

It's not that they couldn't accept the fact that the Tang army destroyed the Western Wei, but they couldn't understand why the Western Wei was destroyed in just three months.

This puts the Northern Han and Eastern Wei in a dilemma.

After the fall of the Western Wei, the Tang army would be able to quickly dispatch troops to support various battlefields. At the latest, within a month, or even faster, twenty days would be enough, and the Tang army reinforcements would definitely be able to arrive.

Can we defeat the main force of the Tang army in twenty days? We may not be able to do it in forty days.

It's not even a question of when, but whether.

It would be very difficult for the Han army to defeat the Tang army. Even if they could win, it would be a miserable victory.

Li Yuanhui received information earlier that the Western Wei had been conquered by the Tang army.

And on the eleventh day of the first lunar month, he received another good news.

In the Battle of Gaoping, the Tang army won a great victory.

More than 40,000 heads were beheaded, 50,000 enemies were captured, cattle, sheep, horses, countless armors and weapons were seized, and the greatest achievement was the capture of the Turkic Khan Jili alive. Li Si could not even imagine such a great achievement.

It still has to be you, second brother.

It seems that there is no battle in this world that you cannot win. What is there to worry about? Once this news comes out, the Han army will have to retreat without waiting for reinforcements.

Li Silang slept soundly that night.

I had just fallen asleep when I was woken up.

(End of this chapter)