Chapter 546 Dingding
Liu Xuanji was a very decisive person. He knew that in this situation, forcing the Tang army formation would definitely not be worth the loss. The road to Huguan was already a dead end.

Therefore, he decisively gave up going to Huguan County, without even fighting, and led his troops to head straight for Lu County.

His departure basically meant that he had given up. It was not easy to make such a decision.
All the military supplies, food and supplies accumulated in Huguan County were abandoned, including tens of thousands of Huguan defenders.

However, if they continued to fight with the Tang army on the main road, they could only reverse the situation by quickly defeating the enemy in front of them.

The enemy has already arranged their formation, how can you break it quickly? What a joke. If we delay any longer, we will be doomed.

Because the Tang army behind him was also rushing up, chasing the scattered Han army, and by then even his elite central army would be swept away.

Liu Xuanji's decisiveness indeed allowed the Han army to preserve its last vitality.

The defenders of Huguan were on the verge of collapse, and Li Yuanhui ordered his troops to "use the remaining courage to pursue the enemy."

Li Chengdao hung the collection of Dongfang Di and his son under the neck of his horse, and pursued the Han army relentlessly, forcing the surrender of seven Han troops from Zhechoufu in succession.

Zhang Zhen'e, Zhang Jian and Chang Yanheng galloped all the way before they caught up with Li Chengdao. At this time, Li Chengdao's heavy cavalry were exhausted, so he ordered the heavy cavalry to stay and rest, and guard the prisoners along the way. After changing a spare horse, he and Zhang Yixian, Xi Junmai, the light cavalry and several elders went into pursuit again.

Hou Jun, Yuwen Xiao and other Tang army generals also abandoned their infantry and joined the battle with a small number of elite cavalry. The Han army generals basically all abandoned their main forces and began to flee with their personal guards.

After fighting for half a day, Li Yaoshi finally defeated the Huguan defenders and captured Huguan County.

Wei Xiaoju originally wanted to set fire to the military supplies and food to prevent them from being taken by the Tang army, but he was completely unable to do so because it would take a lot of time to burn the piles of supplies. All he could do was abandon the city and flee. He quickly approached Lu County with his elite troops.

In this battle, the Tang army beheaded more than 20,000 people and captured as many as 50,000 Han soldiers. They also captured the three garrison cities of Xijian, Fengtian and Liting, as well as Huguan County, an important place where the Han army stored food and military supplies.

They also completely gained control of the tributaries of the Zhuozhang River. This battle also meant that the Northern Han was severely damaged and could no longer fight a field battle with the Tang army involving more than 100,000 people.

The lights were bright in the Tang army tent. Li Chengdao carried Dongfang Di's head into the tent, then knelt on one knee and said, "Greetings, Marshal. This is the head of Dongfang Di, the great general of the Northern Han Dynasty."

Li Yuanhui laughed and said, "Well, in today's battle, Li Chengdao, the General of the Left Guard, cut through the Han army formation and killed the enemy commander. He should be credited with the first merit. Do you have any objections?"

"No."

"Your Majesty is fair in your judgment, and we have no objection."

Zhu Deyu, the general of the Left Guard, said loudly: "The Prince of Beihai bravely penetrated the six armies and killed the Han army's chief general Dongfang Di. Naturally, he deserves the first merit. Anyone who dares to object can bring up Liu Xuanji's head before speaking!"

The generals from the Jianghuai faction were naturally convinced, and the main general from Guanzhong had no objection either. After all, it was a case of beheading the enemy's main general in battle and seizing the enemy's flag. It would be unacceptable if it was not the first achievement.

Secondly, Chang Yanheng, Duan Xiong, Zhu Deyu, Dou Cong, Li Yaoshi and others all made minor contributions. Shui Duan was very calm and fair in his dealings, leaving all the generals speechless.

Liu Xuanji stayed in Lu County, gathered the defeated soldiers, and looked at the casualties list of all the generals reported. He sighed for a long time and cried several times.

The number of Han troops who were able to return to Lu County was less than 40,000. Wei Xiaoju's rear army was almost completely wiped out. The general Song Jing was killed in the battle, and more than ten generals and lieutenants were either killed in the battle or captured.

As for the front army, it was even worse. The main general Dongfang Di and his two brothers and his sons were killed in battle, the general Kuai En died in battle, Fu Hongzhi was captured, Xue Andu and Hulu Mingyue fought desperately to escape, and more than thirty generals and lieutenants were killed or captured.

Nearly one hundred thousand troops were wiped out, and the entire Shangdang Basin was filled with defeated Han soldiers.

After this one photo, it can be said that the Han Dynasty’s national destiny was almost destroyed.

On the second day, Li Yuanhui personally led 100,000 Tang troops to continue attacking Lu County. Liu Xuanji personally led his troops to resist and barely stopped the Tang army's offensive.

Li Yuanhui was surprised that the Han army's central army still had such combat power, and it seemed that it still maintained a complete structure, so he called a halt to the attack.

Liu Xuanji sent envoys to the Tang camp, wanting to retrieve the remains of several generals who died in the battle, including the bodies of Dongfang Di and his son and Kuai En, and expressed his willingness to give up Lu County and retreat to Hukou Pass.

Li Yuanhui laughed when he heard this: "Liu Xuanji has made a good calculation. He only has tens of thousands of central troops left, and he lost the battle of Shangdang. This Lu County will be mine sooner or later. But now he wants to use my things to exchange? Hahahaha."

The envoy Cui Shufang heard this and said, "Your Majesty, you defeated our army in the battle of Shangdang, and naturally you have become famous throughout the country, but our Han still has tens of thousands of elite soldiers who can fight like trapped beasts. If the Tang army wants to completely capture Shangdang, how many more lives will it have to pay?"

Li Yuanhui said: "What a sharp-tongued man, worthy of being a descendant of the Cui family of Qinghe, he has an extraordinary bearing."

Cui Shufang was actually in the central military tent of the Tang army. Facing Li Yuanhui who was sitting in the upper position, and a group of generals in the tent who had just experienced a bloody battle, he was actually very panicked.

But as he was born into a noble family, the etiquette and bearing he was taught since childhood allowed him to remain calm and rational.

"Thank you for your praise, Your Majesty. I am unworthy of it. Please allow me to bring back the bodies of several generals." Cui Shufang spoke in an earnest tone, but in fact he had already given up hope in his heart.

But unexpectedly, Li Yuanhui agreed: "I have ordered people to collect the bodies of Dongfang Di, his father and his sons, his four brothers, and Kuai En and others. You can take them back directly. Although the two countries are at war, they all died in the king's business, so they should be returned to their hometown for burial."

Cui Shufang was pleasantly surprised and said, "Thank you very much, Your Majesty, for your kindness."

Li Yuanhui said: "Go back and tell Liu Xuanji to withdraw his troops and return to Hebei as soon as possible."

After Cui Shufang returned to Lu County, he told Liu Xuanji about the incident in Tangying. Liu Xuanji smiled bitterly and said, "Li Silang is still Li Silang. Even if the two countries are at war, he will not change his generous heart."

Afterwards, he personally looked at the bodies of Dongfang Di and his son and others. He was deeply saddened and ordered people to transport the coffins back to Yecheng for burial.

At the same time, the Han army began to withdraw from Lu County to Fukou one after another. Liu Xuanji personally led the team to cover the retreat and experienced several bloody battles before tens of thousands of Han troops withdrew to Hebei.

Li Yuanhui led his troops northward, captured Xiangyuan and Tongdi, connected the entire Shangdang with Hedong, and divided his troops to garrison there. He led the army to continue northward to join Li Huaizhen and others who were besieging Jinyang.

After the Battle of Shangdang, people in Jinyang City were in unrest, while the entire Tang Dynasty was excited.

Chang'an and Luoyang were all celebrating. Even though they did not know the deeper strategic significance of the Battle of Shangdang, the gains from this battle itself were enough to make the King of Qi's reputation spread far and wide once again.

The whole of Hebei was also in a state of shock and unrest.

As for Bingzhou, there is no need to say more. All the cities in Xinxing County surrendered. The Tang army completed the occupation of all the citadels in Taiyuan County except Jinyang. Jinyang had actually become an isolated city.

In November, it snowed in Jinyang, and life became even more difficult for the people in the city.

Because when the weather gets cold, people need to light fires to keep warm. Now that Jinyang is under siege, there is naturally not that much firewood in the city. Even wealthy families cannot store firewood for several months, right? Some families even split their doors to use as firewood. There were even civilians who were caught stealing firewood from the army and were executed on the spot.

If it were a normal incident, the soldier would probably just be beaten with a few sticks, but during wartime, the generals of the Han army unanimously agreed that such things should not be tolerated, otherwise the army's firewood and grass would be stolen by the people.
In addition to those who died of freezing, many people also died of starvation due to lack of food. After all, the siege lasted for nearly half a year. The Tang army had reached the city of Jinyang since May. At first, the north of the city could still establish contact with the outside world, but by June and July it was completely cut off.

The Tang army dug trenches around Jinyang to prevent troops in the city from launching surprise attacks. They also set up 200 catapults and 100 crossbows around the city, launching long-range attacks on the city from time to time, which greatly affected the morale of the soldiers and the people in the city.

Wang Sizheng and Liu Changmin had originally tried to comfort the soldiers and civilians in the city, telling them that there was no shortage of food in the city and that the Emperor was personally leading his troops to fight against the Tang army, and that they would definitely be able to defeat the Tang army and lift the siege of Jinyang.

It was not until October that news finally came that the emperor's personal expedition had been defeated. Then the main force of the Tang army arrived in Jinyang, causing the morale of the city to plummet to the bottom.

If it weren't for the fact that Wang Sizheng, Liu Changmin and others were popular and had some prestige, Jinyang City would have collapsed long ago.

Wang Sizheng, Liu Changmin and Yang Kan stood on the top of Jinyang City and looked at the Tang army camps stationed along the Fen River. They were intertwined and arranged very properly, with flags flying everywhere, which was daunting.

There was a hint of dejection in the eyes of the three men. They understood the current situation very well. Li Yuanhui had gathered nearly 200,000 soldiers and horses. Xinkou in the north had been captured by the Tang army. The cavalry of the Daibei tribes led by Tuoba, the most powerful mobile force of the Northern Han in Bingzhou, could no longer rush to support. The main force of the Han army in Hebei was almost wiped out in the battle of Shangdang.

Without reinforcements, Jinyang has effectively become an isolated city.

Wang Sizheng said, "I have been blessed by your majesty, and I have always wanted to be loyal to the Han Dynasty. However, the country is in danger, and we are sitting in an isolated city. Jinyang is now a dead end. I want to hold on to the end, but what are the people in the city guilty of? I am from the Wang family of Jinyang, and I cannot let my reputation hurt the elders of my hometown. I intend to go out of the city to fight, which can be regarded as being loyal to the country and repaying your majesty's kindness. What do you think?"

The meaning is very clear. Let's go out of the city and fight. If this goes on, more and more people in the city will die. Wang Sizheng's family is the Jinyang branch of the Taiyuan Wang family. If so many people die because of him, how can the Jinyang Wang family have the face to stay in Bingzhou in the future?
On the other hand, the Tang Dynasty was about to take over the world. At this time, he could die in battle to preserve his reputation, but he could not drag down his family.

Yang Kan said: "I agree with what you said, my lord. My cavalry can still fight, but the beans and hay used by the horses are almost gone. If we don't fight now, all the cavalry in the city will be useless."

Liu Changmin's head was buzzing after hearing what the two said. After a long sigh, he said, "You two can decide for yourselves."

He was not a man of great talent to begin with, and he was able to become the General of the Northern Expedition, the Governor of Bingzhou, and be granted the title of Prince, all thanks to the support of his cousin Liu Xuanji.

Because his last name was Liu, it was impossible for him to surrender.

As for Yang Kan and Wang Sizheng's preparation to leave the city for a fight, he naturally had no objection, and he would not even object if the two of them wanted to surrender now.

Even if he was a mediocre person at this time, he could see that the Han Dynasty was on the decline. Now that the empire was about to collapse, what was so strange about wanting to make a living?

So the three of them agreed to go out of the city to fight three days later.

But these three people did not expect that someone opened the south gate of Jinyang that night and the Tang army entered the city.

(End of this chapter)