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

Chapter 95 The First Battle is a Bloody Battle

"Alang, the onions have sprouted,"

In the morning, Chen Liang ran to tell Li Yi happily. Li Yi went over to take a look and saw, sure enough, tender green sprouts had emerged from the soil.

That touch of vibrant green makes people feel happy.

"Well, you've taken good care of it these days. Next, put it on the windowsill in the porch. It has good light here."

"Do you want to water it?"

"When you see the surface of the soil in the pot is dry, just sprinkle some water on it."

"Just keep it in the jar?"

"After a while, the small buds will grow into several seedlings, and then they can be divided and planted. They will be mature and ready for harvest in about a hundred days."

Li Yi rewarded Aliang with 100 copper coins and said, "Save them well. When you have enough in the future, you can redeem yourself."

Liu Heizi's onion hadn't sprouted yet, so Li Yi simply let Chen Liang take over that pot as well. Chen Liang was still more careful than Liu Heizi. After all, he used to work as a clerk in his own shop, while Lao Hei was a refugee and a farmhand.

Li Yi's daily life now consists of frying rice.

He joined the army at the headquarters and acted like a logistics manager.

As soon as you enter the workshop, the aroma of fried rice hits you, and a group of laborers are busy working.

People are steaming rice, frying rice, and milling rice. Cartloads of millet are pulled in, and then cartloads of processed fried rice are shipped away.

Li Yi even took some time out from his busy schedule to start a side business in his fried rice workshop and set up a small tofu workshop, making tofu, bean sprouts, and natto.

It can also be regarded as a contribution to improving the living conditions of the soldiers.

"General Li, His Highness has summoned you to attend a military meeting."

Li Yi patted his clothes and went to attend the military meeting. At the gate of the headquarters, he met Li Jing, who was now in charge of horses and mules.

"You called us both here today. Is it because the thief Xue is attacking?" Li Yi asked with a smile.

Li Jing said: "You have a very sharp intuition."

The two of them entered,

Many mid-level and senior generals have already arrived.
As expected, Xue Rengao could no longer hold on.

He chose to take a chance.
"Xue Rengao sent General Zong Luohou to lead a large army to attack, intending to fight a desperate battle."

Faced with the inability to capture Jingzhou and the lack of food and supplies, Xue Rengao, like Xue Ju last time, still wanted to have a decisive battle with Li Shimin.

This time Zong Luohou was the chief general and led all the elite troops.

Li Shimin was not panicked at all, because at this time the enemy general Liang Hulang and others led their troops to surrender to the Tang army, revealing all the details of Xue's army.

Xue’s army had run out of food, and many soldiers were starving.

Many generals hoped to withdraw their troops and return to Longyou.
But Xue Rengao refused, and many soldiers complained. Even Hao Yuan, Xue Ju's former think tank, fell ill due to worry about the situation.

A general led his troops to return to Longyou, but was discovered by Xue Rengao and executed immediately.

This is increasingly disturbing.

Some generals, such as Liang Hulang, simply made up their minds and ran to surrender to Li Shimin.

Now Li Shimin had a complete grasp of Xue Rengao's background, and even knew that Li Gui had sent troops from Hexi to attack Xue Qin's rear in Longyou.

Now we have to discuss how to fight.

Dou Gui suggested that they continue to defend the city and wait for the enemy to tire themselves out. If they could hold out for a few more days, Xue Rengao would be completely out of food and would have no choice but to retreat. Then they would pursue the enemy and they would surely be defeated.

However, Li Shimin did not adopt this very conventional tactic.

"Your Highness,"

Li Jing stood up and said, "I have a plan that will solve this problem once and for all. We will capture all the Xue thieves in one fell swoop and prevent Xue Rengao from retreating to Longyou."

"Oh?" Li Shimin looked at Li Jing, "Please speak."

During this period, Li Jing was also studying the battle situation and thinking about countermeasures every day.

"Your Highness, you must not allow Xue Rengao to retreat to Longyou. Otherwise, we will have to fight for every city and pond to recapture Longyou. We must annihilate the main force of the Long army in Jingzhou."

Dou Gui looked at Li Jing, "That's easy to say, but how do we do it?"

"Lure the enemy, give them hope of a successful comeback, lure all their main forces over, and then capture them all in one fell swoop."

Li Jing's plan was actually quite simple, which was to stop defending the city. If Zong Luohou came to challenge him and he couldn't conquer the city, he would have to retreat.

If he retreats and I chase him, I may not be able to wipe them out completely, and it may be like letting the tiger go back to the mountain.

"We will send a troop of soldiers and horses to camp on the shallow plain southwest of Gaocheng City to lure Zong Luohou to attack."

The camp in the wild is not as easy to defend as Gaocheng City.
This also gave the enemy hope, making them think they had a chance to win.

"Three days. As long as we can hold this camp outside the city for about three days, it will be fine."

After three days, Zong Luohou's army should have been very tired. At this time, send another army out of the city to reinforce, but don't send too many soldiers.
We still have to leave some hope for the enemy.

They set up camp not far from the previous camp, echoing each other from afar, trying to lure Zong Luohou into sending troops to attack, or to lure Xue Rengao to attack in person.

Of course, these two groups of people are just bait.

The purpose is to lure the enemy into attacking, to tire them out, to consume them,
It would be best if we could lure Xue Rengao here as well.

When they were almost exhausted, they had no chance to retreat. At the critical moment, the main force of the Tang army outflanked them from behind and blocked their retreat.

Right on the shallow plateau, right where they were defeated last time,

Treat others the way they treat you.
Completely surround and annihilate them.

After Li Jing finished explaining his plan,
Li Shimin was thinking,

After listening to this, Li Yi felt that it made sense. Gaocheng City had been reinforced several times, with deep trenches and high ramparts, and was heavily defended. If the Tang army did not leave the city to fight when Zong Luohou attacked, they would not be so foolish as to keep ramming against the city wall.

Therefore, if they defend normally, Zong Luohou will not be able to capture the city, but there will not be many casualties. It is very likely that he will lead his troops to retreat in the end. At this time, the strength of the Long army is still there.

If the Tang army pursued them, the risk would actually be quite high.

If you're not careful, you might get ambushed or something.

The clever thing about Li Jing's plan is that it throws out an attractive bait. Don't you want to win and fight? Then I will send troops out of the city to set up camp to fight, and you come and fight.

It is impossible for Zong Luohou not to attack. Since he has come, he would not dare to fight if the enemy goes out.

Boil the frog in warm water.

One group of troops camped outside the city and fought with you for three days. Another group came and fought with you for two or three days.

What kind of army can fight like this for five or six days? They are not made of iron. Moreover, Xue’s army is short of food.
By the time Li Shimin led his army to attack, they wanted to run, but they were exhausted and hungry.

Lure the enemy, tire the enemy, and finally annihilate the enemy.

One step after another, every step is calculated.

Li Shimin clapped his hands and said, "Master, this plan is exactly what I want."

So they adopted this plan, "Who is willing to lead the army to station troops on the shallow plateau southwest of Gaocheng?"

All the general managers requested to fight.

Li Shimin finally chose Liang Shi, the general commander of the army, to lead the charge. "I will give you 5,000 infantrymen. Set up camp on the shallow water plateau and lure Zong Luohou to attack. You must hold the position for at least three days."

This team of people cannot be too many or too few. It must be attractive enough, but also able to hold on.

Li Jing then reminded them, "There's a water shortage on the shallow plateau southwest of Gaocheng. General Liang is leading his troops to camp on the plateau. The biggest problem is the lack of water. We must be fully prepared for this."

Li Shimin nodded,
"Everyone bring plenty of clean water, and also bring the fried rice that Li Yi prepared. This fried rice can be eaten dry without being boiled, which can save a lot of water."

If you bring corn or wheat rice, you have to cook them with water, and people need to drink water. A lot of water will be consumed in three days, and you have to leave some surplus. What if the fight lasts five or six days, or even longer?
If you bring fried rice, you don’t need to cook it, which can save a lot of water.

"No Yi,"

"My subordinates are here."

"How much fried rice have you processed?"

"Over the past ten days, we have produced more than a thousand stones."

"Okay, General Liang, each of your five thousand men must bring two dou of fried rice to last ten days, and five dou of water."

Li Jing hopes to be able to fight with Liang Shi,

"Since the pharmacist is so eager to join the war, then you should go." Li Shimin also specially appointed Li Jing as the Sima of Liang Shi's camp, which was a recognition of him and gave him a certain say in Liang Shi's camp.

Li Yi did not ask for a fight. He was not willing to go out and fight. It was safer to stay in Gaocheng City and make a living.

After the meeting,

Li Jing and Li Yi went to receive the fried rice.

"Congratulations, Mr. Li, you got what you wanted."

Li Jing smiled.

"Mr. Li, do you think Zong Luohou will really attack your camp with all his might?"

"Definitely." Li Jing said confidently.

"Will Xue Rengao come too?"

"Zong Luohou has brought his main force. If we destroy this main force, Xue Rengao will be doomed. If we can capture Zong Luohou and quickly attack the city of Zhecheng, Xue Rengao will be unable to escape."

"I wish you good luck in martial arts!"

On that day, the marching commander Liang Shi and the military commander Li Jing led 5,000 infantrymen, carrying ten days' supply of fried rice and clean water, out of Gaoqiong City and set up camp in the southwest of Qianshuiyuan, more than ten miles away.

When Zong Luohou arrived with the main force from Longyou,
They discovered that there was a newly built camp blocking their way in front of Gaoqiong City.

Zong Luohou led the guards to conduct close reconnaissance.

Instead of worrying, be happy.

"There are at least 5,000 Tang troops in this camp. Hahaha, I was just worried about the lack of siege equipment and the difficulty of storming Gaocheng City. Now the Tang army has actually divided its troops and set up camp outside the city. Isn't this just a gift to my door?"

After returning to the army, Zong Luohou immediately ordered an attack.

The Internal Secretary, Zhai Changsun, was appointed as the Chief of Staff for this campaign. He advised Zong Luohou, "The Tang army should divide its forces and set up camp outside the city to support Gaocheng City from a distance. Although our Longyou army has elite cavalry, the enemy will be unable to capture it if they rely on the camp to defend it. Instead, our army will be easily attacked from both sides."

"Prime Minister Zhai, I know you advocate a retreat, but His Majesty has already made the decision. How can we, as ministers, pretend to obey but secretly disobey?"

"Beat the drum, blow the horn, and charge!"

Zong Luohou pointed at the large camp and said, "If we can capture this camp in one fell swoop, we won't have to set up camp tonight."

"Destroy this evening meal!"

"There must be a lot of food in the camp. If we capture it, the whole army will have a good meal!"

The Longyou army, which had been half-starved for several days, was now thinking about breaking into the camp and having a big meal. They were shouting and their fighting spirit was rising.

The rumbling sound of war drums rang out,

Li Jing stood beside the chief steward Liang Shi,

"I didn't expect the Longyou Army to still have such momentum. I'm afraid this battle will be difficult to win."

"Even if it's not easy, we have to fight. If the enemy comes, we will stop him; if the water comes, we will drown him. Let's fight."

The east wind blows, the war drums beat,
For a moment, the sound of killing shook the sky on the shallow plateau. The Longyou army attacked like a tide, wave after wave. Fortunately, the 5,000 Tang soldiers still had camps to rely on.
Fighting desperately, we fought off wave after wave of enemies.

During breaks in the battle, the soldiers took off their dry food bags from their backs, grabbed a handful of fried rice, and put it directly into their mouths to chew.

The more you chew, the more fragrant

The physical strength that had just been consumed in the intense battle was also restored a little.

After eating a few handfuls of fried rice, take out the water bag and drink a few sips of water.

Suddenly, everyone was full of energy again.
"war!"

"Fight again!"

The battle raged from day till night.
The sun sets, and it gets dark.

The Longyou Army failed to break into the camp, nor could they steal food in the camp for dinner, let alone stay in the ready-made camp set up by the Tang Army.

Zong Luohou's face turned pale. The tenacity of the five thousand men was beyond his expectation.

The camp looked on the verge of collapse countless times under the attack of the elite troops from Longyou, but it managed to hold on.

"Master, we can't attack anymore. It's dark and we can't see clearly. The brothers are tired. Let's withdraw and fight again tomorrow. We have to prevent the Tang army from attacking at night."

Zong Luohou asked in a low voice, "How many casualties are there?"

"More than a thousand people died in the battle,"

Hearing this number, Zong Luohou's face became even uglier.

"Withdraw the troops, retreat ten miles and set up camp. Come back tomorrow and we will surely defeat the camp."

If you didn't get into the camp to grab some food for dinner today, then come early tomorrow.

"Tomorrow, destroy this morning meal!"

Zong Luohou said hatefully.

Liang Shi watched the enemy retreat like a tide in the twilight, wiped the sweat from his face, and stuffed a handful of fried rice into his mouth. "Damn it, we finally beat them back. I didn't expect that on the first day, they almost broke through the camp several times."

Li Jing was also eating fried rice. "The first push was strong, the second was weak, and the third was exhausted. They can't break through the camp today, let alone the next."

"Damn it! This offensive is like a tidal wave, one after another, without stopping. Luckily, we have fried rice so we can munch on it anytime. Otherwise, how can we fight without even having food to eat?"

Li Jing smiled and said, "General Li's fried rice is indeed a good thing. It is easy to eat, tastes good, and can satisfy hunger."

Liang Shi said: "Brothers, please eat sparingly. Don't eat too much just because it tastes good. We have to hold on here for at least ten days."

(End of this chapter)