Since the breakout of Luoshui, everything has not developed as smoothly as Li Yuan expected.
First, bad news came from Li Shentong's department. The Tianji Army was wiped out in Tongguan and Huayuan, while Li Shentong's Xuange Army suffered heavy casualties and retreated to Jingyang.
But Li Yuan quickly saw the problem.
The Tianji Army was completely wiped out, while the Xuan Ge Army had more than 12,000 people left. The results of the two armies under the same commander were very different. Even if the Tianji Army was on the front line and the Xuange Army was behind the Tianji Army, this result was enough for Li Yuan to understand the role of Li Shentong in this war. What kind of role.
But not only could Li Yuan not be able to deal with Li Shentong, he also had to comfort him with good words and make him defend Jingyang City well.
Because Li Shentong is not only the actual second person in the Li family, if this kind of thing comes out, it will make the generals with different surnames angry and make the Li family lose their support. Also because Li Shentong actually controls these more than 10,000 people, once Li Shentong becomes disloyal, everything will be over.
So Li Yuan had to knock out his teeth and swallow it in his stomach.
At this point, even Li Yuan¡¯s brothers can¡¯t believe it.
Facing the envoy sent by Li Shentong, Li Yuan seemed normal on the surface, but he kept pinching his fingers under the desk to hold back his anger.
Immediately afterwards, the news of Yang Tun's defeat came again, and Li Yuan suffered a heavy blow.
Yang Tun¡¯s Zhewei Army was the last mobile force of the Tang Army in Weinan and the last force to support Chang¡¯an City. Without this army, he was unable to contain the Sui army on the south bank and crossed the river south.
Of course, all this was a bigger blow to him than not being able to escape Dou Kannan.
When the news reached the army, Dou Wei and others who were accompanying the army heard the news and knelt on the ground, constantly begging Li Yuan for his sins. However, Li Yuan returned to the tent alone with an expressionless face and said nothing.
The moment he entered the tent, Li Yuan spurted out a mouthful of blood. If he hadn't been supported by his guards, he would have fallen directly to the ground.
Although his head was dizzy and his whole body was shaking, Li Yuan still remembered to tell his guards not to spread the news.
Leaning on the couch alone, Li Yuan kept chanting "Dou Kang".
Li Yuan has known Dou Kang since he was a child. There is a ten-year age difference between the two, but one is Yang Ji's nephew and the other is Empress Dugu's nephew, so they often serve the emperor and empress.
But their personalities are exactly opposite. Li Yuan is reserved and restrained, while Dou Kang is public and outgoing. Li Yuan had always been Dou Kang's younger brother until Jinyang raised his army.
¡°Perhaps Dou Kang has never been truly loyal to Li Yuan, or even acknowledged Li Yuan.
How could a person as proud as Dou Kang be willing to humble his younger brother for many years? There was no way before, but once he had the chance, Dou Kang abandoned Li Yuan without hesitation.
"I betrayed the Sui Dynasty and was betrayed by others. I deserve it!"
Li Yuan let out a long sigh, feeling that his whole heart was riddled with holes.
You said you, Dou Kang, can just leave. Why do you want to take away my tens of thousands of troops?
Originally, according to Li Yuan's plan, the three armies of Li Yuan, Li Shentong, and Dou Kang met in Jingyang, then returned south to Chang'an, relying on the Weishui River to defend against the enemy.
The alternative plan that cannot cross the Wei River is to use Dou Kang's army as the main force to attack Zhang Wenyuan's rear, support Li Yuan's main force to advance westward, detour to the west of the Jingshui River, and return south to Chang'an.
But now everything is empty.
The strength of the troops in his hands plus Li Shentong's is only equivalent to Zhang Wenyuan's. In addition, Huang Mingliao's troops on the south bank were blocking him, so how could he cross the river.
Without the restraint of Dou Kang's troops, Zhang Wenyuan's cavalry were like maggots on their tarsal bones, and every step forward was a dead end.
As expected, after Li Yuan bypassed Xiagui and stationed in Gaoling, Zhang Wenyuan led his troops to Wannian City, and then sent cavalry to harass the Tang army.
Li Yuan tried to cross the river several times. There were blocking troops in front and pursuing troops behind, but he failed. Instead, he lost a lot of troops in vain, and even the boats he collected were lost.
The most serious incident was when the Tang army was trying to cross the river, the Sui army's cavalry bypassed the Nanbai Canal and directly attacked the right wing of Li Yuan's troops, almost occupying Gaoling County.
From August 1, when Li Yuan broke out from Tongzhou City to August 6, Li Yuan's troops were blocked by the Sui army in the north of the Wei River and almost ran out of food.
Whether it was Li Shentong going south from Huayuan or Li Yuan breaking out from Tongzhou, neither of them carried much food. All the savings around me were gone, not to mention rice and noodles, not even grass.
Fortunately, Li Yuanjun still had two cities, Jingyang and Gaoling.
In order to feed tens of thousands of troops, Li Yuan dug almost three feet into the ground in the second city and tried every means to collect food. It doesn¡¯t matter whose grain store, rice store, granary, or even the people¡¯s rations are.He was forcibly conquered by Li Yuan.
And there are no living animals among the cattle, sheep, pigs, and dogs in the city.
As for the life and death of the people, as well as the people's hearts, Li Yuan couldn't care about it at this time. If he wins, someone will naturally clear his name; but if he loses, he won't be able to live without thinking about what to do.
Relying on a little food pulled from the mouths of the people in the two cities, the tens of thousands of troops did not run out of food.
On August 4, Chai Shao and Li Shuliang led more than 8,000 people and marched nearly 200 miles from Yongshou to Jingyang to join forces with Li Shentong.
It¡¯s not that the two of them never thought about returning to Chang¡¯an, but later they changed their minds and realized that although they only had more than 8,000 people, they could eventually support Li Yuan.
After Li Yuan learned that Chai Shao and Li Shuliang had arrived in Jingyang, he immediately ordered Li Shentong to lead his troops to Gaoling to join Li Yuan's main force.
After so many battles, Li Yuan had suffered enough losses from dividing his troops. He really did not dare to divide his troops any more.
Of course, this time Li Yuan got it right.
Zhang Wenyuan, who was located in Wannian, felt that his troops were insufficient, so he ordered Liu Yunfang to continue the siege of Tongzhou, and asked Gao Yuanzhen to mobilize half of the Huwei Guards for support.
If Li Shentong leaves two days later, Huweiwei's army will camp in Nanbai Canal, cutting off the connection between Gaoling and Jingyang. By then, Li Shentong will be unable to leave even if he wants to.
On the evening of August 5, Li Yuan¡¯s last available troops met at Gaoling City.
At this time, Li Yuan had more than 10,000 people from Li Shentong, more than 8,000 people from Chai Shao and Li Shuliang, nearly 6,000 people from Jiang Baoyi, and more than 20,000 people from Li Yuan's headquarters, totaling 45,000 troops.
And around him, there were at least 50,000 brave and capable Sui troops.
With forty-five thousand against fifty thousand, no matter how you look at this battle, there is no possibility of victory.
On the evening of August 6, a huge meteor fell from the northwest to the southwest.
Li Yuan looked at the falling meteor, his heart skipped a beat, and he couldn't help but worry. Meteors falling, this is an ominous sign, but I don¡¯t know where something went wrong again.
There was a meteor incident, and Li Yuan couldn't sleep anymore, so he went out for a walk and happened to meet Wen Daya who was watching the stars.
Li Yuan then asked about the meteor.
Wen Daya hesitated for a while before saying: "If a meteor falls to the ground, it may cause the star to fall."
Li Yuan¡¯s face was filled with chills and he was speechless.
After a while, Wen Daya said: "Lord, this battle cannot continue like this."
After hanging for a while, Li Yuan let out a long sigh.
"I regret not listening to Yan Hong's words." (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com