The Sui Dynasty's chess game

Chapter 784 Gradual Encroachment
To the west of Guanzhong lies a massive mountain range that separates Guanzhong from Longyou. To the north of this range are the Liupan Mountains, and to the south are the Long Mountains. These two mountains are connected, forming the boundary between the Western Regions and the Central Plains.

However, this mountain range, which stretches for thousands of miles, has many canyons and passes, forming seven or eight passes of varying sizes, such as Anyi Pass, Dazhen Pass, and Anrong Pass in the southern Longshan Mountains, and Muxia Valley, Liupan Pass, Longshan Pass, and Zhisheng Pass in the northern Liupan Mountains.

Li Xiaogong led an army of 70,000 and deployed them in Longxi and Tianshui counties. Fearing that his retreat route would be cut off, he also deployed 3,000 troops at Dazhen Pass and 1,000 troops each at Anyi Pass and Anrong Pass to ensure his retreat and the safety of his food supply.

Just as the court issued an ultimatum to Li Yuan through Chai Shao, Yuchi Gong and Hou Junji led 15,000 cavalrymen, under the cover of night, galloping south of Chang'an towards Fufeng County.

Immediately afterwards, Pei Xingyan dispatched his deputy general Xu Shiji with 20,000 troops to Fufeng County. The 20,000 troops also passed through Chang'an at night and headed to Fufeng County, only about a day later than the cavalry.

Two days later, the army arrived at Yong County. In Yong County, there was a palace covering a thousand acres called Qiyang Palace, which was built during the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui. Next to the palace, a warehouse covering a thousand acres was also built, also called Qiyang Granary. Compared with Guangtong Granary, this granary was much smaller and could eventually store 500,000 shi of grain.

Currently, Qiyang Granary has 250,000 shi of grain, which is specifically supplied to Li Xiaogong's 70,000-strong army.

Li Xiaogong had also considered transporting 200,000 jin of grain to Longxi, but Li Yuan opposed it, mainly because Longxi itself was unstable. If an agreement was reached with the Sui army, Longxi and Tianshui counties would have to be abandoned and the army would have to retreat to Guanzhong. What would happen to the grain then?
There were 5,000 troops stationed at Qiyang Granary, and the commander-in-chief, Li Xiaoci, was Li Shentong's son.

Ten miles from Qiyang Granary, the cavalry stopped. Commander Yuchi Gonggong ordered the entire army to rest in an open area and patiently wait for news from the scouts.

Half an hour later, several scouts returned. The lead scout, Li Zhan, reported: "Reporting to General Yuchi, the enemy camp is located north of the granary, about three hundred paces away. It is surrounded by palisades, and the initial estimate is that the garrison is around three to four thousand men."

Yuchi Gong glanced at the sky; it was just past noon. He immediately ordered, "Move out and surround the enemy camp!"

Hou Junji was shocked and quickly said, "General, it would be easier to launch a surprise attack at night!"

Yu Chi sneered, gave a thumbs-up, and asked, "Will it ambush ants?"

Hou Junji blushed. "General, you're right. I was too cautious!"

Yuchi Gong pointed to the sketch and said, "To prevent the enemy from retreating into the granary, General Hou can lead five thousand cavalry to cut off the passage between the enemy camp and the granary, and act with me!"

"Your subordinate obeys!"

Currently, Hou Junji is a first-class Tiger General, while Yuchi Gong is a second-class Tiger General, two ranks higher than Hou Junji.

Fifteen thousand cavalrymen set off in a grand procession and soon arrived at the enemy camp. At Yuchi Gong's command, the fifteen thousand cavalrymen surrounded the enemy camp. Among them, Hou Junji led five thousand cavalrymen to cut off the connection between the camp and the granary from the south, and also cut off the camp's retreat route to the granary.

There were 500 soldiers on duty in the granary, led by a general. Although the Sui army had their backs to them, the general did not allow the soldiers to fire arrows. The general knew very well that if they did not fire arrows, they would still have a chance to survive. If they did fire arrows, they would not only fail to destroy the enemy, but would also bring disaster upon themselves.

This is basic common sense, but many people fail to grasp it at crucial moments. However, this general was very clear-headed. He drew his sword and said fiercely to his men, "Whoever dares to fire an arrow, I'll chop off his head and throw it out as an apology!"

Five hundred soldiers stood trembling, watching the Sui army fifty paces away, none daring to raise their bows. At this moment, the entire camp stood tense in front of the palisade, bows and crossbows in hand. Li Xiaoci shouted, "Prepare to fire arrows at my command!"

Lieutenant Zheng Xu whispered, "The disparity in strength is too great. Once the enemy cavalry charges, we're finished. We might as well surrender!"

Li Xiaoci was furious. He drew his sword and pointed it at Zheng Xu, saying, "If you dare to surrender again, I will kill you!"

Zheng Xu turned and left with a livid face.

At this moment, a cavalryman rushed forward and shot an arrow carrying a message into the camp. A soldier handed the message to Li Xiaoci, who opened it. It contained only one sentence: 'Surrender within one incense stick's time, or you will be exterminated!'

Li Xiaoci tore the letter to shreds and roared, "Archers, prepare! Let's fight the enemy!"

Zheng Xu slowly walked behind Li Xiaoci, and suddenly thrust his spear at the back of Li Xiaoci's neck. Li Xiaoci was wearing heavy armor, and the back of his neck was the only opening. Poor Li Xiaoci was caught off guard and was pierced through the back of his neck by the spear, with the spear tip protruding from his throat.

Zheng Xu beheaded Li Xiaoci with a single stroke. He wasn't afraid at all, as he had dozens of men behind him.

Zheng Xu raised the severed head and shouted, "Those who want to die can stay, those who want to live must surrender to me!"

His men opened the camp gates, and Zheng Xu led his thousand soldiers out of the camp to surrender. Seeing that the situation was not good, the other garrison soldiers followed suit. When it comes to saving their lives, there are not many fools.

The Sui cavalry captured the granary. The next day, Xu Shiji led 20,000 infantrymen to Qiyang Granary. After the army rested for half a day, Xu Shiji led his 20,000 troops westward. His mission was to capture Dazhen Pass and two other passes, Anyi Pass and Anrong Pass, to cut off the retreat route of the 50,000 Tang King's army.

In fact, this was Pei Ji's first suggestion to Li Yuan: to retreat from Tianshui and Longxi counties in order to prevent their retreat from being cut off. However, the Li family still harbored some illusions, always feeling that they still had a way out, namely the two counties of Longyou. Therefore, they resolutely opposed abandoning the two counties of Longyou. It was this unrealistic illusion that ultimately led to the loss of 50,000 troops.

Xu Shiji divided his troops into three routes. He ordered General Zhao Ji and General Wang Shi'an to each lead 3,000 troops to capture Anyi Pass and Anrong Pass. These two passes had few troops stationed there, with only 1,000 troops at each pass. More importantly, these two passes were easy to take from the east, as there was no defense on the east side.

The most difficult part was Dazhen Pass. It had two fortified passes, one on the east and one on the west, and three thousand troops were stationed in a valley that was three miles long and one mile wide. Both sides were very dangerous and difficult to attack. Xu Shiji personally led fourteen thousand troops to attack Dazhen Pass.

However, compared to the western attack, which involves a canyon three to four miles long, the eastern attack is slightly better; the army can directly see the pass as soon as it marches through.

After all, it was a pass for defending the west, not for defending Guanzhong. The garrison didn't need to make things so complicated for themselves. Escape also needed to be convenient, so they could just run away through the back door.

Fourteen thousand troops directly besieged the city, and the pass and city walls were three zhang high, located on high ground.

The Sui army had many methods of attacking cities, but Xu Shiji had his own, and his talent was on full display at this time.

(End of this chapter)