Chapter 1826: The Third Battle of Luoyang (Part 2)
Chapter 1826 The Third Battle of Luoyang (Part 2)
Chapter 1824: The Third Battle of Luoyang (Part 2)
After learning that the grain and grass in Ping County had been burned, Li Shimin was so angry that he gritted his teeth, but it was of no avail. He could only order the people in the city to hand over the grain, and was only allowed to keep the basic rations, and promised to return it in full in the future.
The Tang Army, who was born in the Liang Dynasty, had a bad image in the hearts of the people in Sizhou. Of course, it was impossible for Li Shimin to hand over precious food just because of a word.
Li Shimin saw that not many people were willing to take the initiative to hand over grain, so he had no choice but to send troops to grab grain.
Although Li Shimin cherishes his reputation very much, under current circumstances, this is not the time to cherish his reputation.
Although Li Shimin gave repeated orders not to harm the people, but once the robbery started, how could the soldiers care so much? Naturally, it caused a lot of killings to the people of Ping County.
Li Shimin was naturally furious when he learned about it, and executed dozens of soldiers who committed crimes, including even a captain, in order to deter other soldiers.
Sure enough, after the other soldiers learned about it, they were all frightened in their hearts, and when they grabbed food again, their hands and feet were much cleaner.
“I would like to inform my lord, the heads of the three major local families would like to see you.”
"oh?"
Li Shimin looked surprised, then nodded and said: "Let them come in."
Li Shimin originally thought that the three patriarchs came to see him in order to protect the family, but he did not expect that the three of them came to deliver food and grass, and they did not want anything in return.
“The Zhang family is willing to support the Tang Dynasty king with fifteen thousand stones of food and grass.”
“My Wang family is willing to contribute 13,000 stones.”
“My Li family contributed 12,000 dan.”
Ping County is just a small county with a population of tens of thousands. The Tang army looted the entire city and only managed to steal 50,000 shi of grain and grass. But now just these three families in Ping County contributed 40,000 shi of grain and grass to the Tang army, occupying the entire city. Four-fifths of the total amount of food and grass shows how wealthy the family is.
Li Shimin resisted the urge to rob other aristocratic families, and secretly estimated in his heart that this should be the limit of the three major families in Ping County. After all, they were not big families, just a small family living in a small county. They could take it all at once. Forty thousand dan is already pretty good.
For the more than 60,000 Tang troops, 90,000 shi of food was just a drop in the bucket. It could not completely solve the Tang army's food crisis, but it was still no problem to respond to the emergency in a short time.
"I will remember your kindness. After Luoyang is conquered, your benefits will be indispensable."
Li Shimin smiled and said without hesitation, he drew a big cake for the three heads of the family.
After hearing this, the three of them looked at each other. The head of the Li family stood up tremblingly and said, "We are also following Master Yang Jun's order. As long as Li Tang's army arrives in Ping County, we will provide food and grass for Li Tang's army." ”
“Yang Jun?”
As Li Shimin murmured, the image of an elegant middle-aged man emerged in his mind, and this person was Yang Jun, who was born in the Yang family of Hongnong and was one of the officials of the imperial party.
As an imperial party, Li Shimin was not surprised that Yang Jun would support the Tang army to fight against the Qin Dynasty, but he did not expect that the other party could predict that he would be short of food, which made Li Shimin feel a little incredible.
“Yang Jun came to tell you personally?” Li Shimin asked.
"No, no, Mr. Yang Jun's big tree attracts the wind. How can he come in person for such a major matter of confiscating the family and exterminating the clan? It was two young men who came with Mr. Yang Jun's token. One of the young men also said: If the Tang army is short of food and grass, We can divide our troops to capture Wen County."
"Wen County is not a big county for grain and grass. Even if we take it, how much grain and grass will we get?" Li Shimin frowned.
“My lord, although Wen County is not a large farming county, there are still many big families there, such as the Sima family, the Wei family and other families. These big families should have a lot of grain reserves.”
“Sima family?”
Li Shimin's eyes suddenly lit up, he slapped his head suddenly, and said with a smile: "By the way, Wen County, the Sima family is also in Wen County."
A hint of amusement flashed in Li Shimin's eyes, and he smiled: "Interesting, these royalists are really well hidden. No wonder Jia Xu has never attacked the imperialists.
That’s all, since someone takes the initiative to send food to my army, I will accept it. Hou Jun assembles, you lead five thousand soldiers and horses to Wen County. "
)
————
With the fall of Pingxian County, Qin Yu abandoned the city and fled back to Luoyang. After bringing back the news that Li Tang's army was approaching Luoyang, the whole of Luoyang suddenly became chaotic.
Qin Xi is actually Ying Zheng's younger brother, Ying Cheng Xi of Chang'an. After becoming an official, he served as the magistrate of Ping County in Yin, Henan.
When he learned that Li Tang's army was approaching Xiaoping County, Ying Chengyu was also very confused. He didn't understand what Li Tang's army was doing in his Xiaoping County. But then he thought about it. The only thing that Li Tang could like in Ping County was probably... There is only food and grass in the granary.
Realizing that Li Tang might be short of food and grass, Cheng Xi decisively burned the Ping County grain depot, and before the Tang army besieged the city, he fled back to Luoyang with more than a dozen guard cavalry.
Cheng Yu didn't have any psychological burden about abandoning the city and escaping. After all, the three hundred county soldiers in Ping County could never stop the tens of thousands of Li and Tang's troops. Staying here was simply asking for death.
After Cheng Yu took a big gulp of water, he said to the Qin family disciples around him: "Let me tell you, if I hadn't been lucky this time, I probably wouldn't have been able to come back..."
Cheng Yu recounted his experiences along the way with added detail.
Of course, the truth was not as thrilling as Cheng Xi said. At least Li Shimin did not send five thousand elite cavalry to chase the dozen or so of them. He would say this just to escape the crime of abandoning the city for himself.
Qin family disciples were not all fools. Qin Ji could tell at a glance that Cheng Xi was bragging and said with a speechless expression: "Brother Xi, your bragging is too outrageous. There are only a dozen of you. Li Shimin will send Five thousand cavalry? Do you think you are the lord?"
"Hahaha…"
Everyone burst into laughter.
Cheng Yu became anxious when he saw this: "Really, if you don't believe me, you can ask my personal guards."
"Come on, those personal guards are all yours, can I not speak for you? But you did a pretty good job in burning down the Ping County grain depot, which can probably offset your guilt of fleeing without a fight." Qin Si smiled. road.
“Brother Si, what are you talking about? Do I mean fleeing without fighting? That means not making unnecessary sacrifices.
Ping County has only 300 county soldiers in total, but the invading army of Li and Tang has tens of thousands. Even Governor Bai Qi will definitely not be able to defeat them. "
"I think you are justified, but I can't say you can do it."
“That’s what it is.”
“Okay, don’t say anything, my fourth uncle is here.”
As soon as these words came out, everyone stopped talking and returned to their seats, waiting for Qin Jian to arrive.
After Qin Jian arrived, he patted Cheng Xi on the shoulder: "Xiao'er, just come back. Although it doesn't sound good to run away without fighting, I can't blame you this time, but you did a good job in burning food."
Hearing this, Cheng Xi let out a long breath. He was scared to death before, fearing that escaping without a fight would affect his future career, but now it seems that there should be no impact.
Yesterday’s guaranteed update…
Regarding Li Yuanba’s arm, most people feel that it will never recover anyway, so it’s okay to reconnect it.
However, there are also many opponents. If this is the case, then it is better not to accept it.
The content of the previous article has also been revised.
(End of this chapter)