Chapter 344 Declined the offer
Chapter 344 Declined the offer
At dawn, Xiao Xia led an army of 100,000 into Tongguan. Luo Shixin stepped forward and saluted Xiao Xia, saying, "General Manager, we have captured a soldier in the warehouse."
"Where's the person? Bring him up here and let me see."
Not long after, a frightened soldier was brought up. He was the soldier guarding the warehouse. He found that there were a lot of food and supplies that he didn't have time to take away, so he sneaked back and tried to steal the supplies. Unexpectedly, he was discovered by Luo Shixin's men.
The soldier knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "I am Zhang Gui, and I pay my respects to the Lord General!"
"Where are you from?" Xiao Xia asked.
"I am from Zheng County."
Xiao Xia nodded and asked again: "Where did your army go? Why did you abandon Tongguan?"
"The troops have all gone to Huayin County. I heard that General He Ruo surrendered to the King of Han. General Han led part of the troops to withdraw to Huayin County, and the Tongguan troops also followed suit."
He Ruobi actually surrendered to the King of Han, which was something Xiao Xia had not expected. The key point was that Xiao Xia did not know that He Ruodong had killed Yang Jun. If he knew this, then He Ruobi's surrender would be understandable.
"Who is General Han?"
The soldier said tremblingly: "It's Han Sengshou!"
"How many troops are there in Huayin County?" Xiao Xia asked again.
"I don't know exactly how many soldiers there are."
Xiao Xia asked some more questions about the situation of the Tongguan garrison, and then asked the soldiers to take him away and temporarily imprison him for a few days before releasing him.
Xiao Xia pondered for a moment. His advantage now was that he knew the opponent, but the opponent didn't know him. By using this advantage, he could catch the enemy off guard.
Xiao Xia immediately ordered the 100,000 troops to retreat back to the outside of Tongguan. He personally led 3,000 troops to guard Tongguan, and Wang Han temporarily served as the commander of Tongguan.
This would give Yuwen Shu the illusion that the army guarding Tongguan was the 3,000 people withdrawn from Hanguguan.
At noon, a 5,000-man Han army arrived at Tongguan. The commander was Li Hongtai, a general under He Ruobi.
He originally thought that the Tongguan army had withdrawn, so he came to take over Tongguan. Unexpectedly, Tongguan was still full of flags and soldiers defending the city.
Li Hongtai was really shocked, and hurriedly urged his horse to the foot of the city and asked, "Who is the commander guarding the city?"
After a moment, Wang Han leaned out and said with a smile, "It turned out to be General Li. General Li is not at Pujin Pass, so why is he here at Tong Pass?"
Li Hongtai was stunned. He asked in confusion, "Isn't General Wang at Hangu Pass?"
"I received a transfer order yesterday, asking me to lead the army back to defend Tongguan!"
"What about Hangu Pass?"
"I left a thousand troops garrisoned, so it shouldn't be a big problem."
Li Hongtai blinked and smiled, "Why don't I guard Tongguan for General Wang? General Wang should go back to Hangu Pass. I'm afraid a thousand troops can't defend the pass!"
Wang Han shook his head. "Although I have a good relationship with General Li, we all serve different masters. I will not be loyal to King Han. Please go back!"
Wang Han waved his hand, and hundreds of bows and crossbows on the city were aimed at Li Hongtai.
Li Hongtai was so scared that he turned his horse around and rode away. He did not have any siege weapons and could not attack Tongguan, so he had to lead his troops back. On the way, he met an army of 150,000 led by Yang Liang, the King of Han.
After Han King Yang Liang annihilated Yang Jun's army of more than 100,000 in Queshu Valley, his reputation soared. The government soldiers in Hebei and Hedong, who had been waiting and watching, expressed their loyalty one after another, and his army quickly increased to 300,000.
In this attack on Guanzhong, King Yang Liang of Han mobilized an army of 250,000 and was determined to capture Chang'an.
Of course, their first step was to capture Guangtong Warehouse. The millions of dan of grain in Guangtong Warehouse were enough to enable them to maintain a long-term confrontation in Chang'an.
After listening to Li Hongtai's report, Yang Liang snorted disdainfully, "Since he wants to guard Tongguan, let him do it for me. Don't worry about it." Yang Liang shouted loudly, "Order the army to continue marching. We must reach Huayin County before dark."
Yang Liang didn't care about the two thousand soldiers guarding Tongguan at all. Tongguan was not important to him at the moment. The overriding task now was to seize Guangtong Warehouse and take Chang'an before Qin Wang Yang Jun.
The 100,000-strong army led by Yuwen Shu had cut off Han Sengshou's retreat route from the west. With the arrival of Yang Liang's army, the 250,000-strong army surrounded Guangtong Cang and Huayin County from both sides.
Although Guangtong Granary is located in Huayin County, it is more than ten miles away from Huayin County. This put Han Sengshou in a dilemma. Although the city of Huayin County is tall and strong, he can defend it, but he cannot take care of Guangtong Granary. He can only watch the enemy army transport the grain from Guangtong Granary away, which goes against the meaning of the emperor's order for him to defend Guangtong Granary.
But if he was to guard Guangtong Warehouse, he only had 40,000 troops. How could he resist an army of more than 200,000?
However, although he was in a dilemma, Yang Liang did not surround and kill him all, but opened up the south and allowed Han Sengshou's 40,000 troops to retreat from the south.
This was Yuwen Shu's suggestion. A complete encirclement would leave the 40,000 imperial troops with no way to retreat, and a fight with their backs to the river would result in heavy casualties for the Han army. It would be better to leave a gap to allow the imperial soldiers a way to survive, and then intercept them halfway and completely defeat the enemy.
It has to be said that Yuwen Shu was indeed experienced and he knew the Sui army very well. When the Sui army was forced into a desperate situation, their combat effectiveness would double, but if there was a chance to escape, the Sui army soldiers would choose to escape first.
Just when Han Sengshou was in a dilemma, an envoy named Wei Zheng came to visit him.
"General Xiao's 100,000 troops are in Tongguan?" Han Sengshou was shocked.
Wei Zheng nodded, "My chief steward is here to serve the king, and is willing to cooperate with General Han to jointly defend Chang'an and prevent it from falling into the hands of Han Wang Yang Liang."
Han Sengshou certainly understood what the other party meant. Xiao Xia only said that Chang'an should not fall into the hands of the King of Han. What about the King of Jin? Did Xiao Xia dare to say that he would stop the King of Jin from taking Chang'an?
Ultimately, it was a battle among the five dragons for the throne. Except for King Yang Xiu of Shu, none of the other four brothers were easy to deal with.
Han Sengshou was silent for a moment and said, "My mission now is to guard Guangtong Warehouse. Chang'an is not my responsibility!"
Wei Zheng smiled slightly and said, "Guangtong Warehouse has 3 million dan of grain. How much can His Royal Highness the King of Han take away? At most, it is only 300,000 dan. What impact will this have on Guangtong Warehouse? Besides, the King of Han also carries a lot of logistical baggage. It doesn't matter to him whether he wants the grain from Guangtong Warehouse or not. Why should General Han be obsessed with the gains and losses of Guangtong Warehouse?"
Han Sengshou nodded, "Sir, what you said makes sense, but my mission is to protect Guangtong Warehouse. In addition, I am also willing to cooperate with General Manager Xiao to defeat the King of Han together, but that's all!"
Han Sengshou's meaning was also very clear. He would not surrender to Xiao Xia and would only cooperate.
Wei Zheng took out a letter and handed it to Han Sengshou, saying, "This is a handwritten letter from my housekeeper to the general. Please consider it again."
Han Sengshou took the letter with a smile and sent his personal soldiers to send Wei Zheng away. In fact, Han Sengshou still looked down on Xiao Xia. He could surrender to Prince of Jin Yang Guang, but he was unwilling to surrender to Xiao Xia.
Xiao Xia can only accept the surrender of Shandong soldiers at present, but on the Guanlong side, his reputation and qualifications are far from enough, so it is understandable that Han Sengshou is unwilling to surrender.
Generals Qu Tutong and Zhang Xutuo asked in confusion: "General, isn't it a good idea to cooperate with Xiao Xia?"
Han Sengshou sighed and said, "Xiao Xia's goal is to annex us. You will know it after reading his letter. He hopes that we will merge with him. It sounds good, but in fact he just wants to annex us."
Han Sengshou handed Xiao Xia's letter to the two of them. After reading the letter, they stopped talking. Their attitudes were the same: cooperation was acceptable, but surrender was not.
After a while, Zhang Xutuo asked, "What are you going to do next, General?"
Han Sengshou said slowly: "This staff member surnamed Wei reminded me that we really don't need to defend Guangtong Warehouse to the death. We can completely withdraw to Chang'an. Defending Chang'an is the kingly way."
"But the emperor's order."
Zhang Xutuo said worriedly, "If we abandon Guangtong Warehouse and disobey the Emperor's order, I'm afraid the Emperor will not forgive us!"
"The emperor doesn't know that the enemy has more than 200,000 troops. If he knew, he would definitely not let us defend Guangtong Warehouse. Generals, we can't put the cart before the horse. Chang'an is the priority, and Guangtong Warehouse is the end."
Qu Tutong nodded, "The general is right. Defending Chang'an is the best way to go. We should not delay any further. I suggest that we retreat south immediately!"
Han Sengshou immediately ordered: "Order the entire army to retreat south!"
Han Sengshou immediately led an army of 40,000 to leave Huayin County and retreat southward.
(End of this chapter)