Chapter 728: Battle of Jiang County
Chapter 728: Battle of Jiang County
Li Xiaogong received urgent intelligence that the Wagang Army abandoned the city and retreated northward. Li Xiaogong was overjoyed. He knew that the Wagang Army could no longer hold on and that they were withdrawing at this time to preserve the army. How could he let go of this opportunity?
Li Xiaogong immediately divided his troops into two groups. He ordered Changsun Shunde to lead 30,000 troops to go north along the Yellow River to occupy Sangquan County and Fenyin County, and then enter Jiang County along the Fen River. He personally led 50,000 troops north to pursue the Wagang Army. Finally, the two armies met in Zhengping County of Jiang County.
Li Xiaogong thought a lot and gave decisive orders. He sent out troops before dawn, but he didn't know the real reason why the Wagang Army retreated. He didn't even know that the Wagang Army's logistics base was in Anyi County. Li Xiaogong could only see part of the map. He was just a chess piece, and his opponent was the chess player. The entire chessboard was in front of Xiao Xia.
When Shan Xiongxin learned that Zhengping County in Jiang County had been occupied by the Sui army, his original plan to occupy Zhengping County and confront the Tang Wang army completely failed. The army's dry food could only last for five days. Shan Xiongxin was terrified and did not dare to stop for a moment. He continued to lead the army to retreat to Linfen County. Linfen County had 100,000 shi of grain, which was his last hope.
"General Shan!"
His general Hou Junji rode up on horseback and said to Shan Xiongxin, "The Jin king's army has actually occupied Zhengping County. I'm afraid the situation will change dramatically."
"How do you know that the army occupying Zhengping County is the army of the Prince of Jin? When did they enter Hedong?"
"In fact, I am a little confused. How could the Tang army attack Anyi County? We deployed a large number of scouts. Once Li Xiaogong sent troops eastward, we would know immediately. The scouts have no news at all, which means it was not the Tang army that attacked Anyi County, but the Jin army that attacked Anyi County."
Shan Xiongxin pondered for a moment and said, "If it is the Jin Wang army that attacks us, then we will withdraw to Taiyuan first, sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, let them fight in southern Shanxi, and wait until they are both defeated, then we will attack them back, this is like the crane and the clam fighting, and the fisherman benefits."
"General, that's a good idea!" Hou Junji gave a thumbs up.
Shan Xiongxin made up his mind to return to Taiyuan first.
"Pass on my order, speed up!"
The Wagang Army accelerated its retreat to the north.
Xiao Xia is currently in Jiang County, about sixty miles away from Zhengping County, and is not on the road where the army retreats. When the Wagang Army retreated northward, Xiao Xia began to deploy rapidly, with 50,000 troops deployed between Zhengping County and Jiang County.
Together with 30,000 cavalry, the 80,000-strong army laid a tight net, waiting for the arrival of the 50,000-strong Tang King's army.
Li Xiaogong went all the way north and did not notice the situation in Anyi County. Anyi was far away from the marching route, and if soldiers were not specially sent to investigate, they would basically not find any abnormalities in Anyi County.
Of course, there were officials who went to take over the salt lake, but they and the army were two different systems. The officials who went to take over the salt lake found that Anyi County had been burned to the ground, but they didn't know what had happened.
This resulted in Li Xiaogong having no idea that the Sui army had entered Hedong.
Three days later, the Tang army entered Jiang County. At noon that day, the army was still thirty miles away from Zhengping County and was preparing to build a floating bridge to cross the Fen River when a soldier suddenly came to report, "General, tens of thousands of troops appeared in the east and are ten miles away from us."
Li Xiaogong was shocked. It turned out that the Wagang Army was ambushing here. He immediately ordered, "All troops, form a battle array!"
The 50,000 Tang Wang troops quickly formed a battle array. Soon, a large army appeared from the east, with flags flying and murderous intent, and quickly rushed over here.
The attacking army was none other than the 50,000 elite soldiers led by Xiao Xia himself. Although the army was in a running state, the ranks were well-organized and the morale was high. They did not stop and charged directly towards the Tang King's army.
Three miles away from Tang Wang's army, Xiao Xia shouted, "Blow the horn!"
"Woo--" the deep horn sounded continuously. At this time, the horn sounded in the west and south, "Woo--"
Two powerful cavalry units appeared behind and to the south of Tang Wang's army. Behind them were the 20,000 cavalry units of the Xue brothers, and to the south were Su Dingfang's 10,000 cavalry units.
Li Xiaogong's mind buzzed, and he realized that the other side was not the Wagang Army.
"It's the Jin King's Army!"
The soldiers shouted in fear, and all the soldiers realized that they had fallen into an ambush and were surrounded.
At this time, a fleet suddenly appeared on the Fen River. There were about twenty thousand-stone warships, which were flying the yellow-bottomed red dragon flag of the Sui army in the south of the Yangtze River. Suddenly, the ships fired iron fire mines at the Tang army on the shore.
More than twenty iron fire mines exploded successively in the air near the river, making a sound like thunder, instantly killing hundreds of people. Although not many soldiers were killed, the deterrent effect was great, scaring the soldiers of the King of Tang's army so much that they fled southward like a tide.
The thunder was the signal, and three armies with 80,000 troops launched at the same time and attacked the chaotic Tang Wang army.
The fierce battle that took place in Zhengping County, Jiang County was the first real battle between Li Yuan's army and Xiao Xia's army. Xiao Xia was prepared against the unprepared, with strong combat effectiveness and absolute superiority in cavalry, plus the deterrence of fire and thunder from the navy. The final result can be imagined.
Li Xiaogong's 50,000-strong army was defeated, with countless people killed or surrendering. In the end, Li Xiaogong fled back to Hedong City with only a few thousand remaining troops.
Xiao Xia ordered Xue Wanche to lead 10,000 cavalry to gather the surrendered soldiers. He personally led 70,000 troops to overcome the crush and once again launched a surprise attack on Changsun Shunde's 30,000 troops. Facing the absolute superiority of the Sui army, Changsun Shunde's army was defeated without a fight. Only a few hundred people escaped. The 30,000 troops, including the commander Changsun Shunde, all became prisoners of war of the Sui army.
Li Xiaogong was also unable to defend Hedong City. When the Sui army attacked, he abandoned Hedong City and quickly retreated to Puzhou Pass. In a panic, he even cut off the iron chain bridge over the Yellow River at Puzhou Pass.
At this point, all of Tang King Li Yuan's 100,000 troops were lost in Hedong. Xiao Xia immediately appointed Li Jing as the governor of Hedong County, led an army of 30,000 to garrison in Hedong City, and temporarily managed tens of thousands of prisoners of war.
Xiao Xia personally led 30,000 infantry and 30,000 cavalry to attack Queshu Valley.
Shan Xiongxin received news that 5,000 Sui troops had occupied Linfen County, which meant that the Linfen County supply point was lost again.
However, a living person will not be suffocated to death by urine. After Shan Xiongxin's army looted Yang County and the surrounding farmers for dozens of miles, they seized 20,000 dan of grain. Each soldier could get two dou of rice, which was enough to last for ten days, and they just arrived in Taiyuan.
Shan Xiongxin did not realize the danger was coming. He was determined to return to Taiyuan and leave southern Shanxi to the Jin Wang Army and the Tang Wang Army to fight each other. As long as the army was still in his hands, he would sooner or later fight back when the two opposing forces were both defeated.
That morning, Shan Xiongxin led an army of 100,000 to Huoyi County. General Xiong Kuohai stepped forward to advise, "Second Master, please be cautious. In the past, Prince Yang Jun led an army of more than 100,000 to the north to attack Taiyuan, but was trapped and killed in a canyon by the army of Han Wang Yang Liang. Yang Jun was killed by mutinous soldiers, and all the more than 100,000 troops surrendered. I am very worried that the same thing will happen again."
Shan Xiongxin was stunned, "How do you know this?"
(End of this chapter)