Chapter 640 Head-on attack
Chapter 640 Head-on attack
Li Zitong returned to Pengcheng County, and the army marched into the city gate.
At this time, General Zhu Can whispered, "Du Fuwei sent Wang Xiongdan to lead his army northward. I think he wants to plunder the three counties of Liu, Feng, and Pei. Should we warn him?"
Li Zitong sneered and said, "He robbed my territory, when did he ever consider my feelings? Let him go, no need to remind him!"
"Your Majesty is wise!"
Li Zitong snorted. There was no room for two tigers in one mountain. He and Du Fuwei would fall out sooner or later. It would be better to use the hand of Prince Jin to kill Du Fuwei. At this moment, he hoped that the hole Du Fuwei made in Liu County would be as big as possible.
On the top of Liu County, You Junda looked at the bandit army coming like a black wave in the distance, and shouted: "Get ready, catapults!"
On top of the city wall, ten catapults creaked open, and ten iron fire bombs were placed in the catapults.
The principle of the trebuchet is very simple. If there is no requirement for precision, as long as it can throw the catapult, any carpenter can make it.
These ten catapults were made by dozens of carpenters in Liu County in two days. They could throw 30-jin iron fire bombs more than 120 steps away.
On the street under the city wall, five thousand cavalrymen had already lined up. Each of them was wearing armor, holding a lance, equipped with a sword and a crossbow, and was extremely well-equipped.
They were full of murderous intent and waited patiently for the moment to open the city gate.
Wang Xiongdan brought a hundred siege ladders. Their city gates were closed, and there were only a few hundred sparse defenders on the city walls. Wang Xiongdan really despised them in his heart. How could a mere few hundred people resist his 20,000-strong army?
Wang Xiongdan brandished his sword and shouted, "Whoever gets there first will be able to take any of the wealth and women in the city!"
The morale of the 20,000-strong army was high. They screamed loudly and wildly, wishing they could jump to the top of the city.
The army rushed to the city like a tidal wave. When they were still fifty steps away, Li Jinyang shouted, "Fire!"
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The catapult fired, throwing ten ignited iron fire mines into the dense crowd. Before the bandits could laugh at the small stones, the ten iron fire mines exploded violently.
Soldiers within a few feet of each iron fire bomb were blown to pieces, and many soldiers were blown away. Soldiers within a radius of twenty feet would be hit by iron nails, and no one would be spared. Although they were not poisoned, they could still make the soldiers lose their combat effectiveness.
The soldiers behind were stunned, and they all thought of witchcraft at the same time. Their morale was originally high, but at this moment it was like a bucket of ice water was poured on their heads. The passion in their hearts disappeared, and their running steps began to hesitate.
At this moment, the second round of iron fire bombs were thrown, and one by one they exploded in the dense crowd, with broken limbs and arms flying everywhere and screams everywhere.
You Junda in the city jumped on his horse and shouted, "Open the city!"
The city gate opened, and You Junda led 5,000 cavalrymen to charge out. They rushed into the enemy group like an extremely sharp spear, knocking down the enemy soldiers one by one. The morale of the enemy army instantly reached the freezing point. The 20,000 enemy soldiers had already been shaken by the explosion of the iron fire thunder, and the sudden rush of overwhelming cavalry made everyone realize that they had been ambushed and were going to be completely finished.
The 20,000-strong bandit army collapsed across the board, and countless soldiers turned around and fled in terror. Panic spread rapidly, and everyone wished they had two more legs. They threw away their weapons and armor, and threw away anything that would hinder their escape.
Five thousand cavalrymen chased and killed the enemy, leaving corpses all over the ground. Countless enemies knelt down and surrendered. The main general Wang Xiongdan was also chased and fled in a panic.
The Sui army in the south of the Yangtze River chased for more than 20 miles and stopped chasing. They killed 4,000 enemies and captured more than 12,000 enemies. According to regulations, these prisoners of war were released after serving three years as coal miners. After hearing the news of the defeat of the northern army, Du Fuwei learned that there was an army of the King of Jin hidden in Liu County, but he knew nothing about it. Li Zitong obviously knew it, but he didn't tell him. Du Fuwei immediately realized that he had been tricked by Li Zitong, and he immediately ordered the entire army to retreat south.
Li Zitong took the opportunity to send troops to seize the spoils of war from Du Fuwei's army and the prisoners of war from the Sui army.
When the army retreated to Fuli County, Wang Xiongdan led hundreds of remnants of the army back. When he saw Du Fuwei, he immediately fell to the ground and burst into tears. Du Fuwei helped him up and said, "I don't blame you for this. I just hate that I was too young and trusted Li Zitong, the old fox. He used me to kill people, and I will definitely avenge him."
Du Fuwei simply gave up Pengcheng County and led 30,000 troops to withdraw to Donghai County, and did not station troops in Xiapi County.
In this battle in the Central Plains, Li Zitong became the ultimate winner. He seized countless amounts of food and supplies, captured 30,000 Sui troops, and gave Du Fuwei a severe beating, forcing Du Fuwei to withdraw from Pengcheng County.
After this battle, Li Zi Tong had an army of more than 100,000 people and was full of ambition. He immediately occupied the entire Pengcheng County and expanded westwards, successively occupying Huaiyang County and Runan County, becoming the largest rebellious force.
However, Li Zitong still did not dare to provoke King Jin. He was worried that King Jin would send troops, so he withdrew his palace back to his old nest, Ruyin County. Although Pengcheng County was his territory, he also had no troops stationed there.
Xiao Xia still did not move his troops. Even though there was not a single soldier left in Xia Pi County and Pengcheng County, he still watched coldly and did not move his troops one single step north.
However, the great victories of Li Zi Tong and Du Fuwei inspired the rebel forces in various places. Dou Jiande expanded rapidly, defeated the governors of various places one after another, and seized four counties, namely Pingyuan, Qinghe, Hejian and Bohai. Together with his Xindu County, he had controlled five counties in Hebei.
The Wagang Army also reached a critical moment of decision.
That morning, in the headquarters of the Wagang Army, Xu Shiji recommended a great talent from Guanlong, Li Mi, to the leader Zhai Rang.
Of course, Li Mi also took out Dugutuo's letter of recommendation. He was a representative of the Guanlong nobles. Zhai Rang did not dare to neglect him and immediately invited Li Mi to the inner hall for advice.
"Dou Jiande is rapidly expanding in Hebei, and Li Zitong has also occupied the southern part of the Central Plains. The territory of each of them has expanded. The Wagang Army is as strong as them, and even stronger than Li Zitong. I want to go south and west to seize Xingyang County and Liang County, and at the same time go east to seize Dongping County. I would like to ask you, is this plan feasible?"
Li Mi stroked his beard and smiled slightly, "Since Chen Ling was defeated this time, does Zhai Gong think that the Sui Dynasty will end?"
Zhai Rang shook his head, "That's not the case!"
Li Mi continued slowly, "The imperial court still has 400,000 troops, and there is also the powerful Jin Wang army in Jiangnan. The Sui Dynasty is still far from destruction. This time Chen Ling was defeated, and the emperor will certainly fight back with all his strength, not giving Jin Wang the opportunity to send troops to the Central Plains. At this time, if the Wagang Army occupies Liang County and Xingyang County, wouldn't it become Li Zitong's shield and the first target of the imperial army? It is really unwise!"
Zhai Rang suddenly realized and said quickly: "I didn't think it through!"
Li Mi said calmly, "The court did not take action against the rebel armies in various places before because Yang Xuangan's rebellion and the establishment of the Western Sui Dynasty attracted the court's attention. Now that Yang Xuangan's rebellion has been put down and the Western Sui Dynasty has retreated to Bashu, the court will take action to put down the rebellions in various places. At this time, the Wagang Army should keep a low profile and openly break with the Western Sui Dynasty. At the same time, they should strategically shrink and return to Wagang Village to avoid becoming the first target of the court's attack. They should patiently wait for the opportunity. Once the opportunity is ripe, they can quickly move north to seize Liyang Warehouse. With Liyang Warehouse as a guarantee, they can get one of the world's."
Zhai Rang agreed with Li Mi's suggestion and decided to accept it. He publicly announced his break with the Western Sui Dynasty and refused to accept the title bestowed by the Western Sui Dynasty. At the same time, he gave up Dongjun and withdrew his troops back to Wagangzhai.
At the same time, Zhai Rang appointed Li Mi as military advisor and appointed him as Sima of the Wagang Army, in charge of the Wagang Army's money and food.
(End of this chapter)