Chapter 332: The Fall of Luoyang
Chapter 332: The Fall of Luoyang
That morning, Xiao Xia received a document from Chang'an, in which the emperor issued an edict to reduce the power of the princes, dismissed Yang Jun and Yang Liang from their posts as grand commanders, and stripped them of their royal titles.
Xiao Xia smiled and said to Liu Wenjing and Pei Wen'an, "The emperor is too impatient to reduce the number of vassal states. He announced it without any preparation. Doesn't he know the principle of making plans before taking action?"
Liu Wenjing smiled and said, "Perhaps the emperor also wants to make a quick decision and eliminate the King of Han and his men as soon as possible before they are fully grown."
Xiao Xia snorted coldly, "You think too highly of the emperor. He actually has no experience at all. He dismissed Gao Jiong and Yang Su, who had experience. They only wanted to reduce the power of the vassal states, but they didn't even think about how to do it. The army was not deployed, the intelligence was not investigated, and they didn't know how the other side would attack. The soldiers in Hebei and Hedong were not transferred in advance, and strategic places such as Luoyang and Liyang Warehouse were not heavily guarded. They started to reduce the power of the vassal states without doing anything. Do they think the King of Han will hide in Taiyuan like a rabbit, trembling, waiting for them to catch him?"
Pei Wen'an beside him laughed and asked, "How does the chief steward think Yang Liang will deploy his troops?"
Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and said, "First, the use of personnel. Yang Liang will definitely use two veteran generals, Yuwen Shu and Xiao Moke. Secondly, the offensive strategy. I estimate that Yuwen Shu will lead his troops into Guanzhong to intimidate Chang'an, but this is a feint. In fact, the attack on Guanzhong is used as a cover. The real purpose is to go south to Heyang to seize Luoyang. The third step is to encourage Baoguo to attack the Central Plains."
Liu Wenjing nodded and said, "Your Highness is right, the National Protection Association will definitely attack Liyang Warehouse!"
"The Baoguo Association is not stupid. How could they let go of the big piece of fat meat in Liyang Warehouse? So they will not cross the Yellow River for the time being. We must seize this opportunity to go to Hulao Pass to support the retreat of the Luoyang army. In that way, we will have 56,000 troops in our hands."
At this point, Xiao Xia stood up and said, "I'll go to Hulao Pass in person. Otherwise, no one can suppress Li Yuan, and you can forget about the 10,000 troops."
After thinking for a while, Xiao Xia continued to instruct the two, "When I'm not here, you should urge the army to intensify training. You might as well take some money as a reward. In addition, Zhou Mo is only in charge of administration. Although Zhao Guangcai is a recorder, he can't manage recruitment. Don't let the General Administration Office interfere in recruitment. Sun Lei and You Junda will report directly to you two!"
"Don't worry, Boss, we got it!"
Xiao Xia returned to the mansion and gave instructions to Xiao Qing and Ah Chu. That night, he led 20,000 soldiers to Hulao Pass in Xingyang County! "
Xiao Moke led an army of 30,000 troops day and night, passed through the Chenguan Pass and reached Jiyuan County.
Chenguan Pass is the first of the Eight Passes of Taihang Mountain. It has always been the only pass leading to Luoyang from all over the Three Jins. The terrain is very dangerous and has always been a battleground for military campaigns. The most dangerous pass on Chenguan Pass is Tieling Pass, but Tieling Pass is located on the north side of Taihang Mountain and was controlled by Yang Liang's Han army.
Xiao Moke led an army of 30,000 into Hanoi and arrived at Heyang north of the Yellow River three days later, seizing the three key cities of Heyang and the Heyang Bridge.
At this time, the beacon fire was lit on Beimang Mountain.
Although Xiao Moke was exhausted, he was well aware of the importance of advancing quickly. He ordered 25,000 troops to rest for an hour. At the same time, he sent his deputy general Yu Gongli to lead 5,000 troops to attack Mengjin and cut off the route for the Luoyang army to retreat westward to Guanzhong.
Li Yuan was woken up from his sleep and heard that the beacon fire on Beimang Mountain had been lit. He sat up with a startle. How could it come so soon?
He quickly put on his clothes and shouted, "Notify the army to assemble immediately!"
Originally, Yang Da was supposed to stay behind to guard Luoyang, but when Yang Da went to Chang'an to guard the emperor's mausoleum, he handed over the army to Li Yuan, who temporarily stayed behind to guard Luoyang.
Li Yuan rushed out of the mansion. Alarm bells were ringing throughout the city. "Dang! Ding! Ding!"
At this time, his eldest son Li Jiancheng and Chai Shao came on horseback. Li Jiancheng shouted, "Father, there is no beacon fire in Heyang City. It is very likely that it has fallen!"
Li Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "Lead the army to evacuate eastward immediately and abandon Luoyang City!"
Chai Shao whispered: "Father-in-law, if it is just a small army, then giving up Luoyang City would be..."
Li Yuan shook his head. "There will never be a small army attacking Luoyang City. You should notify them to evacuate immediately, otherwise it will be too late!"
"Follow the order!"
Li Jiancheng and Chai Shao rode towards the military camp again. Li Yuan also made some preparations. First, he gathered all the troops in Luoyang area. Second, he required all soldiers not to take off their armor when sleeping. Third, he gathered the war horses as well.
These measures did have an effect. Soon, the army assembled and rushed out of the barracks. The commander-in-chief was General Hu Ben Zhou Fashang.
At this time, the chief craftsman Yuwen Kai and the chief clerk Lin Guoan also rushed over after hearing the news and asked loudly, "Lord Tang, what happened?"
Li Yuan sighed and said, "The Han army is coming. We have too few troops to defend Luoyang. We must retreat. Would you two like to go with me?" Yuwen Kai nodded, "I will retreat with Lord Tang!"
Lin Guoan shook his head. "If everyone leaves, what will happen to the people? I will stay here! I will protect the people of the city."
Li Yuan nodded and said, "Master Yuwen and I will testify for you in the future that the Chief Clerk stayed to protect the people."
Li Yuan ordered his men to bring a horse to Yuwen Kai, and then led the army out of the city. Zhou Fashang asked, "Lord Tang, where are we going?"
Li Yuan hesitated for a moment and said, "Let's go east. Liangzhou General Xiao will meet us at Hulao Pass."
Li Yuan's short decision was to take sides. Yuwen Kai immediately realized that Li Yuan had taken the side of Prince Jin. However, Yuwen Kai had always been neutral. However, he had a bad relationship with Yun Dingxing. Yun Dingxing was the Junior Craftsman of the Chief Works and had been plotting against him behind his back in an attempt to replace him.
Now that Yun Dingxing has become the prime minister, he will definitely not let him have an easy time, so Yuwen Kai used the excuse of repairing the Eastern Capital to hide in Luoyang.
Yuwen Kai nodded, "I agree to go east too!"
Although Zhou Fashang was a famous general of the Sui Dynasty, he had always been frustrated. He was already 48 years old, but was still just an ordinary general, and his official rank was not high, only a Yitong.
Of course he obeyed Li Yuan's orders. Zhou Fashang immediately ordered: "The army marches eastward!"
An army of ten thousand soldiers marched eastward in a mighty force.
It was Li Yuan's decision to choose a side that saved the 10,000-strong army from annihilation.
An hour later, Xiao Moke led an army of 30,000 to Luoyang City from the west.
Lin Guoan opened the city gate and surrendered.
"The people are innocent. I hope General Xiao will enforce military discipline!"
Xiao Moke laughed, "We are all officials in the same palace, and we are all Sui soldiers. How can we allow our soldiers to disturb the people?"
This was said insincerely, because this was Luoyang, and the King of Han was going to move the capital to Luoyang, so Xiao Moke didn't dare to act recklessly. If it were another city, he would definitely allow his soldiers to loot.
Xiao Moke asked again: "Where are the troops in the city?"
"They have already evacuated eastwards, two hours ago!"
Xiao Moke nodded, turned around and ordered: "The army enters the city!"
.........
At noon the next day, Xiao Xia received news that the Luoyang army was about to arrive at Hulao Pass.
He walked to the city gate and looked at the official road in the distance. Although Hulao Pass was built to defend against enemy attacks from the east, there was also a city gate on the west, but it was not as majestic and tall as the one on the east.
In the distance, dust was flying, and an army was rushing towards this side, with cavalry in the front and infantry behind. When the army approached, Xiao Xia saw that the person in the front of the team was Li Yuan, Duke of Tang.
Although Xiao Xia knew that Li Yuan was the founder of the Tang Dynasty, he didn't care. Wouldn't life be boring without an opponent?
Seeing that the army was very elite, Xiao Xia was overjoyed and ordered his subordinates, "Open the city gates and welcome the army!"
The city gate slowly opened, and Xiao Xia personally went down to the city to welcome the arrival of Li Yuan and his 10,000 troops.
(End of this chapter)