Chapter 699 The situation is compelling
Chapter 699 The situation is compelling
Li Xiaogong's vanguard general was Chen Ling, who stayed in Hanzhong as the prefect. When Li Xiaogong's army marched south, Chen Ling immediately surrendered and offered Hanzhong.
Chen Leng led 10,000 vanguard troops to Fuling County. He originally thought that there were no troops stationed in Fuling County. Unexpectedly, when he arrived at the city, he found that there was actually an army on the top of the city. The number of people was not small, at least 20,000. Chen Leng was shocked and quickly retreated ten miles, waiting for the arrival of the main army.
Others ambushed their troops, but Qiu Xinggong falsely increased his military strength. He gathered more than 10,000 civilians, had them stand in the back row holding flagpoles and spears, while the soldiers stood in the front. Their bodies could not be seen from below the city. Only people holding spears and large flags could be vaguely seen in the back, while the front row were all soldiers in armor and carrying swords. This gave the enemy the illusion that the defenders were strong.
The next day, Li Xiaogong led 40,000 troops to Fuling County. Chen Leng came forward to report, "General, there are about 20,000 defenders on the city wall, carrying the Sui flag of the King of Jin."
The imperial court's battle flag was a black dragon flag with a yellow background, while the Jin Wang army's battle flag was a black dragon flag with a red background, which was easy to distinguish.
Li Xiaogong secretly felt that something was wrong. The Jin Prince’s army had actually arrived?
"Who is the commander guarding the city wall?" Li Xiaogong asked.
"I don't know!"
Li Xiaogong felt unhappy. As a vanguard, he couldn't take the city, but he didn't even know the enemy's garrison commander in the city. It was possible that the enemy's 20,000 troops were fake.
He immediately sent people to inquire about the situation outside the city, and soon heard some news from the villagers outside the city. In the morning, an army of five to six thousand people came from the south and entered Fuling County. The word "Qiu" was on the flag.
There were only five or six thousand people. Could it be Qiu He? No, Qiu He was too old. It should be his son Qiu Shi or Qiu Xinggong. They were under the banner of the King of Jin and resisted his army.
Li Xiaogong was really annoyed and ordered the felling of trees to make siege weapons.
At this time, more than a thousand small boats came up on the Xihan River outside the city, divided into two teams, loaded with grain and fodder. At this time, Li Xiaogong's grain ship arrived.
Without waiting for the grain and fodder ships to reach the shore, the Sui army's warships immediately rushed out and intercepted the enemy fleet. More than a dozen soldiers on the lead ship were killed by arrows. The Sui army soldiers jumped onto the lead ship and controlled it to sail south.
These fleets were linked together by iron chains. The lead ship was the most important. Once the lead ship was controlled, the ships behind could only be led along. Some soldiers on board wanted to cut the chains, but they were immediately shot by arrows from the Sui army's warships. The soldiers on board were hit by several arrows and fell into the water screaming.
At this time, Li Xiaogong was leading a dozen generals and hundreds of cavalry to inspect the Fuling County and discuss the siege. Before that, he sent people to shoot several arrows to the city, persuading the defenders to surrender, but all of them fell on deaf ears and there was no response.
Li Xiaogong thought that Jiang Jiliang, the envoy sent by the King of Tang, had not received any news after going to Ba County, and he was probably in danger. He gave up the idea of persuading him to surrender and decided to use force to wipe out the father and son of the Qiu family.
As Li Xiaogong and his party arrived at the West City, a soldier suddenly came running to report, "General, our grain ship was intercepted by the enemy's warships on the river."
Li Xiaogong was shocked. He turned his horse around and led everyone to rush towards the Xihan River two miles away. Soon they reached the river bank. The situation on the river shocked him.
There were dozens of large warships on the river, each of which was 5,000 dan in capacity. They were not cargo ships, but real warships. They were huge in size and were escorting their grain ships southward.
The warship was flying the flag of Prince of Jin and the navy's Tianjing flag. At this time, a warship slowly sailed towards them and stopped about a hundred steps away from the shore. Standing on the bow was a general, and Chen Leng recognized him at a glance.
"General, he is a naval general under the command of King Jin, his name is Shen Guang."
As soon as he finished speaking, a fire bomb was fired from the ship. Everyone retreated hastily, but the fire bomb did not hit the shore. It was still about thirty steps away from the shore and fell into the water and exploded.
"Boom!" With a loud noise, a column of water rose several feet high with an astonishing momentum. The war horses were frightened and screamed, retreating repeatedly.
Li Xiaogong was also stunned. Shen Guang on the boat laughed and ordered the ship to turn around and head south.
Li Xiaogong's heart sank into the abyss. He finally realized that it was not Qiu He who rebelled, but the Sui army had already reached Ba County, his grain ships had been hijacked, and the other side had such powerful firearms.
They also had firearms, but they were all gunpowder arrows, which were far inferior to the enemy's iron fire bombs.
Li Xiaogong returned to the military camp with a heavy heart. The chief secretary Cui Yixuan came forward to report: "General, our soldiers found a caravan coming from Ba County. They have accurate information." "Bring them up!"
Soon, several merchants were brought up, and Li Xiaogong asked coldly: "Let me see your business cards!"
The leading merchant hurriedly took out his business card. The Sui Dynasty stipulated that common people were not allowed to leave their hometowns easily. They needed a certificate to leave. Ordinary people needed a household card and a certificate of leaving their hometown issued by the village chief. Merchants needed a business card and a tax invoice. Scholars needed a certificate of study issued by the school chief. Monks also needed a certificate of ordination. If they had none of these, once they were caught, they would be treated as vagrants and usually taken directly to do forced labor.
This is also necessary for household registration management and tax collection. Otherwise, everyone will run around freely and no one will know how many people there are in a dynasty.
However, there are now refugees everywhere in Hebei, Central Plains, and household registration management is no longer meaningful. However, Bashu has not been affected by the chaos, and management is still relatively strict.
The merchants hurriedly took out the business letters and tax invoices. The business letters were issued by Ziyang County, and the tax invoices were issued by Ba County. These were merchants from Ziyang County, going to Ba County to do business.
Li Xiaogong glanced at their mule team, frowned and asked, "Why don't you go by water?"
The leading merchant smiled bitterly and said, "General, the river is full of warships and fierce fighting is going on. How dare we take the water route?"
That's true. Li Xiaogong nodded and asked, "What's the current situation in Ba County?"
"Reporting to the general, Ba County is full of troops. Tens of thousands of troops came from Jingxiang, and later many surrendered troops were escorted from the west."
"Wait a minute!"
Li Xiaogong interrupted him and said, "You said that they brought many surrendered soldiers from the west. What kind of surrendered soldiers were they?"
"I heard that they were Yu Wenzhi's surrendered troops. It seems that Yu Wenzhi died and their army surrendered."
"How many surrendered soldiers are there?" Li Xiaogong asked.
"A lot. They say there are 100,000 people. We think there are at least 70,000 or 80,000."
Li Xiaogong was speechless for a long time. If the merchant was right, then Yu Wenzhi's army had been completely destroyed.
After the merchants left, Li Xiaogong returned to the temporary camp in a daze. Their 50,000-strong army only had dozens of tents, and the tents were all on the boats, which were seized by the Sui army's warships.
At this time, the chief secretary Cui Yixuan walked into the tent and asked, "Do you think the words of these merchants are credible, Marshal?"
Li Xiaogong nodded. "Yu Wenzhi is just like us. We use ships to transport supplies. Once the supply ship is captured by the Sui army, they will be out of food. An army of 80,000 without food will easily cause a mutiny. Besides, there are many generals in Yu Wenzhi's army who are loyal to the Sui Dynasty."
Cui Yixuan was also shocked. If all 80,000 surrendered soldiers were converted, wouldn’t the Prince of Jin’s army in Ba County have more than 100,000 soldiers?
Li Xiaogong sighed, "I chased all the way south, hoping to capture Yu Wenzhi's 80,000 troops. They were all the elite troops of the Sui army! I didn't expect that they were eventually captured by the King of Jin. How can I explain this to the King of Tang when I return?"
Although he led an army of 100,000 southward, he only left 30,000 troops to guard Bashu. The rest of the army had to return north to defend against the Turks. However, the entry of Prince Jin's army into Shu completely disrupted their deployment, making Li Xiaogong upset.
Cui Yixuan pondered for a moment and said, "Now our food has also been cut off by the Sui army's warships. We can't hold on for a few more days. It's better for us to retreat to the west of Fushui in Ziyang County and wait and see the situation!"
The situation was pressing, so Li Xiaogong had no choice but to give the order: "Pass the order, the entire army will retreat north to Ziyang County!"
(End of this chapter)