A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 282: Li Zongguan's entire army was annihilated
Jinzhou, Zhaocheng.

After several days of trekking, Li Yi led his army to Zhaocheng.

"This place is still a hundred miles away from Huoyi, and Huoyi is still a hundred and thirty miles away from Jiexiu." Cui Dunli, the military recorder, reminded Li Yi.

"Can't we get in touch with Manager Li yet?" Li Yi looked at the county town ahead.

"There's been no news for two days." Cui Dunli was also a little uneasy. "Judging from the time, they should be almost in Jiexiu. Perhaps they're engaged in battle with the enemy?"

"We agreed to keep in touch twice a day, but there's been no news for two days, Director Cui. I'm worried something's happened to them."

More than 10,000 men camped outside Zhaocheng County.

The county magistrate came to greet them with officials, powerful people and elders from the city, and also brought a batch of grain, meat and vegetables.

"Three days ago, General Li led his army through Zhaocheng," County Magistrate Zhao Xiu told Li Yi. This man was from the powerful local Zhao family. His father, a provincial recorder, had assisted Long Yue in welcoming the righteous banner during Li Yuan's uprising and had followed him all the way to Chang'an. After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Zhao Xiu chose to return to Hedong and was appointed Magistrate of Zhaocheng County.

"Have you noticed anything unusual these past two days? Are there any soldiers coming down from the north, or are they from Liu Wuzhou?"

"No, everything is normal." Zhao Xiu shook his head.

Cui Dunli said: "Maybe everything is fine."

Li Yi always felt that it was not normal to be out of contact for two days. Following County Magistrate Zhao, he met with the officials and wealthy families of the county and thanked them for the food, wine and meat they sent.

Li Yi also issued an order in front of them, prohibiting the soldiers from entering the city, leaving the camp to harass the people, and trampling on the crops. He specially sent his brother-in-law Ji Siwen, a military officer, to lead people into the city to purchase and trade fairly.

Chatted with these locals.
Li Yi called Zhao Yongan,

"You are from Jiezhou and a hunter. You are familiar with the terrain. Take a team of light cavalry and go to Huoyi to find out the situation."

evening,

The Ji Siwen brothers went to the city to do some shopping. They bought a lot of fresh vegetables, as well as some lamb, pork, chicken, duck, etc., to improve their meals after the tiring long march.

Everyone was slaughtering pigs and sheep in the camp outside the city, setting up a big pot to stew meat and make soup, and the atmosphere was very good.

Only Li Yi felt uneasy in the camp.

One night passed,
The next morning, while cooking was going on in the camp, Zhao Yongan returned exhausted.

"Bad news,"

"We left Zhaocheng and walked north for dozens of miles when we encountered several defeated soldiers."

"They were General Li's soldiers. He was ambushed in Queshu Valley and his entire army was annihilated. General Li was also captured."

Li Yi was stunned by the news.

"The entire army was annihilated, and the general was captured? How is that possible?"

That’s nine thousand people, all of them combat soldiers.

Zhao Yongan brought several defeated soldiers to Li Yi.

"Tell me, what exactly happened?"

A defeated soldier, covered in blood, lowered his head and told the story. Li Zhongwen led his army through Huoyi and discovered the Han cavalry. At first, Li Zhongwen was quite cautious.
But after defeating a Han army of a thousand men, he discovered several other Han army units, which were not numerous and were defeated and fled every time they engaged in battle. After so many times, Li Zhongwen could not help but underestimate the enemy and thought that the Han army was caught off guard by them.

So the entire army gave chase, not wanting to let these people escape. As a result, after they chased them into Queshu Valley, they were ambushed everywhere, and the 9,000 people were all trapped in the valley like turtles in a jar. In the end, they were defeated, and Li Zhongwen was captured.

"Where are Chief Clerk Wang Xingmin, Minister of War Liu Shirang, and the other general managers?"

“None of them escaped.”

Li Yi's head was buzzing. He thought that Li Zhongwen might have encountered trouble, which led to the loss of contact, but he didn't expect that the matter would be so serious.

The main force of the front army, four armies with 9,000 people, was ambushed and wiped out, and the main generals were captured.

Li Yi held his forehead, calmed himself down, and asked Liu Heizi to go and gather officers above the rank of Chief Steward to hold an emergency discussion.

More than a dozen officers gathered in Li Yi's tent.

We were about to dismantle the tent and set off.
"The general was ambushed, the Queshu Valley army was defeated, and the entire army was annihilated."

Li Yi announced this shocking news to the public.

Li Boyi, who was gnawing on a chicken leg in his hand, was stunned for a moment and forgot to eat the chicken leg.

"Am I still asleep?"

Li Yi continued, "Song Jingang's army is besieging Jiezhou City. They have been attacking it for many days and it may fall at any time."

Li Boyi threw the chicken leg aside and didn't bother to eat it: "Let's retreat, this battle can't be fought anymore."

Li Fengci also agreed, "We have 5,000 combat troops, more than a thousand of our own men, and 6,000 auxiliary troops. We are carrying so much baggage, we can't fight."

However, the young Li Dao Zong disagreed. He stood up and said, "Deputy General Manager, General Manager Li was defeated and captured, and the vanguard was completely wiped out. It is indeed shocking, but we still have more than 10,000 people here.

The most important thing is that Liu Wuzhou has captured Pingyao and is about to capture Jiexiu. If we retreat now, Jiexiu will be undefendable, and Lingshi will be next. Even if the court wants to rescue Taiyuan, it will be unable to do so."

"From Jinzhou to Bingzhou, we must pass through Lingshi. We can either go through Haozhou on the west route or Jiezhou on the east route. We must go now. At the very least, we must defend Lingshi, and at the very least, we must defend Haozhou."

Li Boyi clamored to retreat back to Jinzhou.

"Deputy General Manager, we must head north immediately while the enemy is still besieging Jiexiu." Li Daozon raised his fist.

Huaiyang King Li Daoxuan, who was a year younger than him, slammed his fist on the table and said, "I would like to lead my troops as the vanguard and march quickly to Lingshi to station there."

"Mr. Cui, what do you think?"

Cui Dunli's expression was not looking good either. He stared at the map and said, "I think we can't retreat now. Otherwise, if the imperial court investigates, we won't be able to bear the blame.

Under the current circumstances, we should act immediately and head north to Huoyi first. Huoyi is at the entrance of Queshu Valley, a strategic location with relatively strong fortifications. We should defend Huoyi, then divide our forces to garrison Lingshi, and also send reinforcements to Haozhou.

At the very least, we must ensure that the western route to Taiyuan is unobstructed."

After saying this, he sighed, "As for Jiexiu and Pingyao, I'm afraid we don't have the strength to take them back. We can only ask the court for reinforcements!" With Li Zhongwen's defeat, their army was basically destroyed.

Switch from offense to defense,

It is also more pragmatic.

If you still think about lifting the siege of Jiexiu, recapture Pingyao and Yuci, or even attack Mayi, you are just dreaming.

Li Yi is now the commander of an army.
Everyone was waiting for his decision.

The generals and officers can offer suggestions, but the final decision can only be made by him.

"I will lead six thousand soldiers from the three armies at a hundred-mile rapid march to Huoyi. Cui Jishi, you and Ji Canjun will follow with the baggage train."

"After we get to Huoyi, we'll see how the situation plays out."

Time is urgent.
Li Yi acted decisively and personally assembled the cavalry. Each of the three armies had 500 cavalrymen, plus the generals' personal soldiers and the children's camp, a total of 2,000 cavalrymen.

Li Yi took the lead.

Qiu Shenyan, Li Dejiang, Li Daoxuan, Li Daozong, Zhao Yongan, Li Cunxiao and others accompanied him.

The brothers Li Boyi and Li Fengci were left behind by Li Yi and came later with 4,000 infantrymen.

Before leaving, he personally sent the news of Li Zhongwen's defeat back to Chang'an.

Huoyi,

It is known as an important town in Zhongzhou and a barrier to Hedong.

Three years ago, Li Yuan started an uprising in Taiyuan and led 30,000 troops south. Here he was intercepted by Song Laosheng and 20,000 troops. This was also the first major battle of the Tang army.

midnight.

Li Yi and his party finally arrived in Huoyi, covered in mud and extremely exhausted.

Fortunately, Huoyi was still in the hands of the Tang army.

After Huang Ziying ambushed and annihilated Li Zhongwen's troops, he brought Li Zhongwen here to persuade them to surrender, but Li Zhongwen instead advised the defenders on the city to strengthen their defenses and said that Li Yi would soon arrive with a large army.

The Han army attacked for a whole day, but due to the lack of siege equipment, they were like a dog biting a hedgehog with nowhere to bite, so they finally withdrew.

The defenders on the city wall confirmed Li Yijun's identity again and again, and finally just lowered a few hanging baskets to take Li Yijun and his men into the city.

Two thousand cavalry were still stationed outside the city.

Military tokens, official certificates, official seals,
Li Yi and his companions took out their identification documents to prove themselves.

"Han Da pays his respects to Lord Li,"

Han Da was the governor of Luzhou, a fourth-rank official, lower than Li Yi's rank.

During the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Yong'an Commandery was established in the area around Huoyi. In the early Sui Dynasty, Yong'an Commandery was abolished and Fenzhou was established. In the 18th year of Kaihuang, Fenzhou was renamed Lüzhou and Yong'an County was renamed Huoyi. In the 3rd year of Daye, Lüzhou was abolished again and Huoyi was transferred to Jinzhou and later to Linfen Commandery.

When Li Yuan entered Chang'an, he separated the four counties of Huoyi, Zhaocheng, Fenxi and Lingshi from Linfen County to establish Huoshan County.

In the first year of Wude, the county was abolished and a prefecture was established. Huoshan County was abolished and Luzhou was restored, but Lingshi County was transferred to Jiezhou.

Luzhou only has three counties.

Han Da's grandfather was the prefect of Linfen County, and his father was a state recorder. When Li Yuan started his rebellion, he followed Long Ce and supported him, and they fought into Chang'an. Later, he returned to his hometown in Hedong and became the governor of Luzhou.

He is very young, only about thirty years old.

But faced with the drastic change in the situation, he was a little at a loss. Fortunately, Li Yi came.

"Open the city gates immediately and let two thousand cavalry into the city."

"Hurry up and cook for the soldiers, prepare fodder for the horses, add concentrate and salt. The brothers have been running non-stop for a hundred miles."

After entering Huoyi City,
Finally completed the first step successfully.

Li Yi's legs were almost numb.
We took turns riding two horses on the road and didn't dare to delay for a moment. When we were hungry, we would just chew some fried rice on the horse.

Han Da responded repeatedly. Three years ago, he was just a local tyrant and a knight-errant. He became the governor of Luzhou because of his merits in following the emperor and the Han family's reputation and strength in the local area.

It’s fine normally, but now when I’m in crisis, I don’t know what to do.

He would immediately do whatever Li Yi said.

"Send someone to deliver a letter to the rear army later, saying that we have successfully entered Huoyi."

While drinking hot water, Li Yi discussed the next plan with Li Daozon and others.

"We must hurry up and send troops to Lingshi City tomorrow!" Li Daoxuan proposed and expressed his willingness to lead the troops there.

"We must be careful of ambushes. Although the distance from Huoyi to Lingshi is only a few dozen miles, the Queshu Valley in the middle is dangerous and difficult to pass. General Li was just defeated there."

"County Lord, in fact, from Huoyi to Lingshi, you don't necessarily have to go through Queshu Valley. Queshu Valley is just the shortest way. There are also Qianli Path and Tongjunchuan, but they are longer and more circuitous routes.

There is also another road east of the Fen River that passes through Gaobi Ridge. Because of the tomb of Han Xin in Gaobi Ridge, the locals also call it Han Hou Ridge. During the Northern Qi Dynasty, a fort was built there, named Gaobi Village.

The Hanhouling Mountain is of extraordinary height and is located at the junction of the north and the south, serving as the throat of the city.

"Hanhou Ridge is twenty miles up and down, with winding paths. From Huoyi to Lingshi, it's a total of ninety miles. Besides the difficult twenty-mile section of Hanhou Ridge, there are also eleven sections, including Xiaoyao Ridge, Guojiagou, Zhuganpo, and Laozhangwan. With mountains on the left and water on the right, the peaks are high and the ravines are deep, making it extremely difficult to travel. Some sections of the road often collapse."

Li Yi perked up after hearing this.

No one dared to take the risk of going to Queshu Valley. Unexpectedly, Zhao Yongan knew that there was a dangerous road in Gaobiling, east of Fen River.

"Tomorrow morning, we will let Zhao Yongan lead the way and take Gaobiling Ridge to Lingshi City." Li Yi slammed his fist on the chopping board.

(End of this chapter)