Chapter 339 The troops are divided into two groups
Chapter 339 The troops are divided into two groups
Five days later, King Yang Guang of Jin personally led an army of 80,000 and arrived at Songcheng County.
These 80,000 troops were all palace soldiers, including 60,000 troops from Jiangnan and Jianghuai, and 20,000 troops from Yuwen Chengdu.
Yuwen Chengdu also took sides. Although he had always been loyal to Emperor Yang Jian, it did not mean that he would be loyal to the new emperor Yang Yong. Especially after the new emperor demoted him to Ezhou, Yuwen Chengdu also realized that he would not be valued by the new emperor. After careful consideration, he finally decided to be loyal to King Jin and led 20,000 troops to join King Jin who was stationed in Hefei.
Xiao Xia led officials to welcome his father into the city, including his brother Yang Zhao and important officials such as Yang Su, Xiao Yu, Li Yuan, and Yuwen Chengdu.
Yang Guang was really excited. He didn't expect that his third son actually had an army of over 100,000. This way, he would have an army of over 200,000.
Everyone sat down in the lobby of the General Manager's Mansion. Xiao Xia asked, "Father, do you know that more than 100,000 imperial troops are trapped in Queshu Valley?"
Yang Guang and the others looked at each other, and Yang Guang asked anxiously: "When did this happen?"
"It should have happened ten days ago, but I only found out about it three days ago. Yang Yong made the wrong choice of people and appointed his son Yang Jun as the marshal, which led to discord between the generals and commanders. Wei Xuan died in Huayin County for unknown reasons."
"Ah! Wei Xuan is dead?" Everyone was shocked.
Xiao Xia sneered, "It is said that he committed suicide by taking poison in Huayin County, but Wei Xuan was escorted by a prisoner van, so where would there be poison? It is obvious that Yang Jun poisoned Wei Xuan to death."
Yang Su sighed, "It's a pity that Wei Wensheng fought on the battlefield for decades and made great achievements, but in the end he died in an unclear way!"
Yang Guang was still more concerned about the Battle of Queshu Valley, which was a battle of great importance and directly related to whether he could finally regain the throne.
Yang Guang quickly asked again: "Are there any reinforcements to support the trapped troops?"
Xiao Xia nodded. "He Ruobi volunteered to lead 50,000 troops to rescue, but Xiao Moke led 20,000 troops to withdraw from Luoyang and blocked the imperial army at Pujin Pass. It is currently in a stalemate. Now it depends on how much food the hundreds of thousands of troops in Queshu Valley have. It is said that their logistics troops were intercepted, and the soldiers only brought a few days of dry food, or they can only kill horses for food. I estimate that they will not be able to hold on soon."
At this time, Li Yuan suddenly said, "Just now, Chief Xiao said that Xiao Moke led 20,000 troops to rescue Hedong. Doesn't that mean there are only 10,000 troops in Luoyang?"
Xiao Xia nodded, "That's right, I plan to lead the army to retake Luoyang personally!"
Yang Guang pondered for a moment and said, "Luoyang is easy to recapture, but Hangu Pass and Tongguan are probably difficult to attack!"
Xiao Xia smiled slightly and said, "Father, I do have a plan. Why don't I lead my army to feint and attack Hangu Pass and Tong Pass, while you lead your army to seize Wu Pass, enter Guanzhong from Shangluo County, and attack Tong Pass from behind. Then my army will be able to enter Guanzhong smoothly."
Yang Su praised: "This plan is good. Lantian Pass is easy to attack. The only pass that can be defended is Wu Pass. However, the distance for the imperial army to support Wu Pass is very far. If we suddenly attack Wu Pass, it will be too late for the imperial army to support us."
Yuwen Chengdu hesitated for a moment and said, "But the emperor deployed 30,000 troops in Nanyang County a few years ago, led by the Wu brothers. If we want to go to Wuguan, we will definitely pass through Nanyang County. The Wu brothers will obstruct our plan."
Yang Guang was also a little hesitant. If Wuguan could not be captured in time and his retreat was cut off by the Wu brothers, wouldn’t it be another Queshu Valley?
At this time, Xiao Xia smiled and said, "I can send an army to contain the Nanyang army, so that the Wu brothers dare not act rashly, and father will not have to worry about his retreat being cut off."
Yang Guang said happily: "This plan is good, let's decide it."
Xiao Xia laughed again and said, "I can also use a little trick to let the army capture Wuguan without any effort!"
The next morning, Yang Guang led an army of 80,000 southwards and headed for Wuguan. Xiao Xia immediately ordered Sun Lei to lead 10,000 cavalry to follow, and Sun Lei was responsible for restraining the Wu brothers.
At the same time, Xiao Xia sent Li Luming, who had just returned from Qingcheng Mountain, with several female subordinates to Rang County, Nanyang County to implement Xiao Xia's plan.
Xiao Xia himself went to Xingyang County, where he was to lead an army of 100,000 to capture Luoyang City. In Queshu Valley, 120,000 Sui troops had been trapped in the valley for half a month, and their food supplies had long been eaten up. Fortunately, the army had collected thousands of mules and donkeys in Linfen County to carry armor, and there were also 5,000 war horses in the army.
Thousands of mules and donkeys inevitably became food for the army of more than 100,000 people. All the mules and donkeys had been eaten yesterday, and the next step was to kill the horses.
But killing horses and killing donkeys are not the same thing. No one cares about the life or death of mules and donkeys, they only care about their fatness or thinness. Killing horses is different. The cavalrymen regard war horses as their own brothers. Killing their own brothers for food is something the cavalrymen cannot tolerate.
At night, the cavalry commander Pei Renji said to a dozen generals in great dissatisfaction: "I was stupid and drove General Wei away, which put everyone in a desperate situation. He did not admit his mistakes and did not take responsibility, but wanted to kill our horses. Did he ask for our opinions?"
Another general also said: "One incompetent general killed the whole army. How could our horses be blamed? They were slaughtered and eaten by them. We cannot agree to this!"
All the generals said: "We won't do it!"
Pei Renji was originally a subordinate of Yang Liang. Later, he was recommended by Yang Liang and participated in the war against Tuyuhun, becoming a subordinate of Wei Xuan.
After the war, Pei Renji led his troops to station in Jingyuan. This time, Yang Jun's expedition to Taiyuan was mainly based on infantry. Wei Xuan also led his 30,000 troops to participate in the war. Pei Renji led 5,000 cavalry to follow Wei Xuan.
Perhaps it was because Pei Renji's official position was not high enough, or perhaps it was because Yang Jun did not care about his subordinates, Yang Jun did not pay any attention to Pei Renji at all, and he never thought that Pei Renji was once a subordinate of Yang Liang.
Of course, Yang Liang didn’t know that Pei Renji was in the army, and Yuwen Shu didn’t know even more.
Pei Renji originally didn't want to have anything to do with Yang Liang anymore, but he didn't expect that his boss Wei Xuan was framed and dismissed from his post. He tried his best to endure it, but now Yang Jun wanted to kill his war horses for food, and Pei Renji could no longer tolerate it.
Pei Renji slowly glanced at his men, and said to his son Pei Xingyan, who had been silent, "Yuanqing, what do you think?"
Pei Xingyan was the military assistant of Bingzhou. He just didn't want to follow Yang Liang in the rebellion, so he abandoned his post and fled back to Guanzhong. He didn't expect that his father was going to surrender to Yang Liang again, which left him speechless.
Pei Xingyan said coldly: "Father, take care of it yourself! Don't ask me anymore."
Pei Renji understood his son's thoughts. He sighed secretly and said to everyone, "We will go south overnight, but not to surrender to Yang Liang. Instead, we will find a place to hide. Yang Jun cannot survive without food. He will definitely surrender to Yuwen Shu today. Once the valley entrance is relaxed, we will break out and go to King Jin!"
"Why don't you return to the court?" several generals asked in confusion.
Pei Renji smiled bitterly and said, "Hundreds of thousands of troops were wiped out, and Yang Jun became a prisoner of war. Will the emperor let us go?"
Everyone thought it made sense. Pei Xingyan also became more energetic. He said quickly, "I remember there is a gully twenty miles away that is more than ten miles long. We can hunt and gather wild fruits for food. It will be no problem for us to survive for a day or two."
Everyone agreed, and that night, Pei Renji led 5,000 cavalrymen out of the camp and galloped south.
At four o'clock in the morning, Deputy General He Ruodong received a report that Pei Renji had fled southward with five thousand cavalrymen.
This made He Ruodong horrified. The mules and donkeys had all been eaten, and now they had to rely on the war horses. If five thousand war horses ran away, what would the soldiers eat?
Yang Jun must kill himself and let He Ruodong take the responsibility.
He Ruodong also knew that the situation was irreversible, so he made up his mind to kill Yang Jun and take his army to surrender to Yuwen Shu.
(End of this chapter)