Chapter 718: Operation to close the net
Chapter 718: Operation to close the net
Soon, Liu Yuan was brought into the big tent. He bowed and saluted, "Greetings, Your Highness!"
Xiao Xia glanced at him and asked, "Is your father Liu Changgong?"
"Exactly!"
Liu Yuan took out his father's letter and presented it to him, and his personal soldier passed the letter to Xiao Xia.
Xiao Xia read the letter. In it, Liu Changgong expressed his sympathy for the suffering of the people and hoped that he could capture the city as soon as possible to end their misfortune. The letter also mentioned the price of rice, which already cost a thousand coins per bushel of rice in the city.
Xiao Xia nodded and asked, "How many troops does your father command now?"
Liu Yuan shook his head. "My father didn't command a single soldier. Now Wang Shichong doesn't trust any outsiders. All the troops are led by his sons, nephews and brothers."
"I see. Who is the commander of Hanjia City?"
"Wang Shiwei, Wang Shichong's third brother, is a complete idiot. My father said that he transferred the garrison troops from Hanjia City to guard the imperial palace, which resulted in Hanjia City being handed over to the Sui army. Suddenly, there was no food or supplies in the city."
Xiao Xia laughed. No wonder Qin Qiong said that the defenders of Hanjia City were sparse, with only a few thousand people. So this was the case.
"now what?"
"Now it is still Wang Shiwei. He is leading the army to retake Hanjia City. However, Wang Renze from the palace is leading 20,000 troops to support him. This man is ruthless and kills people without mercy, even babies of a few months old are not spared. I beg Your Highness to annihilate him and his inner guards. These demons should not be left in the world."
Xiao Xia nodded: "I understand, I will make all the evildoers pay the price."
Xiao Xia smiled and asked, "Does your father want to return to the Sui army?"
Liu Yuan smiled bitterly and said, "He wanted to, but he was too embarrassed to see His Highness. Father felt very guilty."
Xiao Xia waved his hand, "Your father was originally loyal to the King of Yan and was also a member of the Sui army, but was usurped by Wang Shichong for a reason. So, if your father does a few things for me, I will count it as meritorious service for him, and then he can return to the Sui army."
Liu Yuan was deeply moved. He knelt on one knee, clasped his fists and said with tears in his eyes: "We are willing to serve Your Highness at our utmost!"
Xiao Xia smiled slightly and said, "It's actually easy. Can your father get a small boat?"
Plaintiff Liu resigned, but with the help of his friends, he returned the same way.
Xiao Xia pondered for a long time, and then sent someone to find Li Jing.
Not long after, Li Jing hurried over and saluted, saying, "Greetings, Your Highness!"
"I have a task for you!"
Xiao Xia brought Li Jing to the sand table, pointed at the ancient Xiaohan Road in front of the sand table and said, "Now the crown prince Li Jiancheng is stationed in Shan County with 30,000 troops. I will order Zhang Xutuo to attack from Hongnong County and cut off Li Jiancheng's retreat. I will give you another 20,000 troops to block Li Jiancheng's eastward advance from the east and block him on the Xiaohan Road. You don't have to attack him. Block him for a month. In the end, he will run out of food and will surrender automatically. Bring Li Jiancheng to see me and treat him well."
Li Jing was overjoyed, "I understand. I will lead the army there right away!"
Li Jing immediately led an army of 20,000 to the Qiaohan Road.
Xiao Xia also decided to close the net in Luoyang.
It was very simple to capture Luoyang City. He just needed to use his powerful navy to attack from Luo River and have 50,000 troops enter the city by water.
The second is to enter the city from Hanjia City. Hanjia City is not just a warehouse city. To the south of the warehouse city is Hanjia Gate, and opposite Hanjia Gate is the East Palace. What's more terrible is that outside the east wall of Hanjia City is Luoyang's Hui'anmen Street, and on the other side of the street are Daozhengfang and Daoguangfang. In fact, as long as a big hole is opened in the wall of Hanjia City, it is equivalent to entering Luoyang City.
Currently, Wang Shichong and tens of thousands of troops are in the imperial city and the palace. Xiao Xia is considering using the simplest, fastest and least harmful method to take over Luoyang City. The best way is to isolate Wang Shichong from the outside world.
Xiao Xia immediately ordered Luo Shixin and other generals to come, and soon, more than a dozen generals hurried over.
Xiao Xia ordered his men to display a large wooden model of the Luoyang Imperial Palace. He pointed to the Tianjin Bridge in the south and said, "It is crucial to cut off the Tianjin Bridge. I am considering using warships to blockade the Tianjin Bridge and temporarily blow up the Tianjin Bridge if necessary. Once the Tianjin Bridge is blown up, the tens of thousands of troops in the palace will not be able to reach the South City.
The second thing is to cut off the road from the palace to the north city. The key is this Hui'anmen Street. If we control it firmly, the enemy will be trapped in the palace."
Luo Shixin thought for a moment and said, "Your Highness's deployment only prevents Wang Shichong's army from entering Luoyang City, but what if Wang Shichong's army leaves Luoyang City?"
Xiao Xia smiled slightly and said, "This is what I expect. If we drive Wang Shichong out of Luoyang City, we can protect Luoyang City to the greatest extent. Moreover, all of Wang Shichong's family members are in the imperial city, which means that Wang Shichong may abandon Luoyang City and flee. No matter where he flees to, as long as he leaves Luoyang City, the rest will be solved by the cavalry."
Xiao Xia smiled at the Xue brothers and Su Dingfang and said, "This is an opportunity for your 30,000 cavalry to make merit."
The three of them were overjoyed and said quickly: "We have been looking forward to this moment!"
Although Wang Shiwei tried his best and ordered the army to retake Hanjia City at all costs, they still could not retake Hanjia City guarded by Qin Qiong. At the first watch, both sides were exhausted, and the fierce battle to counterattack Hanjia City had to be temporarily stopped and resumed after dawn.
But Xiao Xia no longer gave Wang Shichong's army any chance. The first to take action were the scouts. Under the east wall of Hanjia City was a row of hundreds of large warehouses filled with all kinds of supplies, including copper, iron, cloth, silk, porcelain, lacquerware, jade, medicinal materials, wood, etc.
A scout team entered a warehouse where copper ingots were stored. A small door was opened inside, and outside was Hui'anmen Street. The scout team carried two large iron fire mines and ran south along Hui'anmen Street. After running nearly ten miles, they arrived at the Luo River, where a small boat was moored.
This ship was arranged by Liu Changgong, and it was also the key to whether Liu Changgong could be re-employed by Xiao Xia. If Liu Changgong was willing to cooperate with Xiao Xia to capture the city, then he needed to arrange a ship here. At present, dense wooden stakes were driven into the water at both ends of the Luo River, and three blocking iron chains were pulled to prevent the Sui army from entering the city by water.
Of course, it was not difficult to destroy these hidden stakes, but the noise was too loud, which would easily make Wang Shichong guess the purpose of the Sui army and cut off the Luo River, so the Tianjin Bridge had to be blown up before the navy launched an offensive.
Why didn't they go directly to Tianjin Bridge by land? That's because there were 10,000 Zheng troops stationed at the north end of Tianjin Bridge, and it was impossible to get there by land, so they had to go by water.
A dozen people got on the boat, rowed to the middle of the river, and headed directly towards Tianjin Bridge two miles away.
There are two artificial islands in the middle of Luoshui River, so Tianjin Bridge is composed of three sections, from the north bank to the north island, from the north island to the south island, and from the south island to the south bank. The middle section is actually a suspension bridge that can be pulled up. On the one hand, it is convenient for ships to navigate. On the other hand, the bridge will break after the suspension bridge is pulled up, and it is impossible to enter the imperial city from the south.
The scout team's target was the southern section of Tianjin Bridge. There were no garrisons here. Five hundred garrisons were on the north island, responsible for controlling and protecting the suspension bridge.
The boat went directly to the bottom of the southern section of Tianjin Bridge. The wooden bridge was very low. After the boat entered, people could touch the bridge body by standing up. Everyone acted quickly and fixed two iron fire mines to the bottom of the wooden bridge, one on each side. After fixing them, two people lit the matchlock at the same time. Everyone jumped into the Luo River and swam to the south bank. As soon as more than a dozen people arrived at the south bank, they heard two earth-shaking explosions behind them.
When everyone looked back, they saw thick smoke billowing into the sky, wood chips flying, and white waves rising. After a moment, the smoke dissipated a little, and the southern section of Tianjin Bridge was almost gone. Except for a dozen feet that was blown to pieces, the rest collapsed into the water.
The explosion at Tianjin Bridge was the signal. Wang Bodang and Xie Yingdeng each led 10,000 troops to break out of Hanjia City, control Hui'anmen Street, and cut off Wang Shichong's army's land route into North Luoyang.
Immediately afterwards, Jia Wuben led three thousand troops to break out of Hanjia Gate, rushed along the northern passage of the Eastern Palace, and rushed to the east gate of the Eastern Palace, which is Xuanren Gate. There were three hundred defenders here, but the number was too small, and they were annihilated by Jia Wuben's army in a moment.
Jia Wuben's 3,000 troops controlled the Xuanren Gate and the city walls on both sides, and cooperated with the actions of Wang Bodang and Xie Yingdeng's troops to completely cut off Wang Shichong's army's access to the north city.
At this time, a series of explosions were heard from the east of Luoshui. The navy began to clear obstacles. Soon they blew off three iron chains and destroyed hundreds of wooden stakes. Hundreds of warships loaded with 50,000 troops sailed into Luoyang City in a mighty manner.
(End of this chapter)