Tibet

The Hedong army was overwhelmingly powerful. After taking Heyang Pass that night, they took Xiaopingjing Pass early the next morning and surrendered more than 8,000 soldiers.

At this time, Tian Shengong received news from several surrendered soldiers that Sishui Pass had been breached by Wang Sili. Tian Shengong suddenly felt anxious and ordered the 20,000 troops to advance at full speed before the 10,000 rear troops on the north bank of the Yellow River came to join them. Ordered to capture Mengjinguan within two days.

Dust was flying on the official road, and a large army was rushing along the official road at the northern foot of Mang Mountain. Mengjinguan was more than ten miles ahead.

This was also the time when the army was most paralyzed. They were dazzled by the continuous victories and only wanted to capture Mengjinguan, but ignored the situation on both sides of the official road.

At this moment, thousands of arrows suddenly fired from above their heads. The Hedong Army was caught off guard.

At the same time, a group of cavalry emerged from the dense forest in the south and cut the Hedong Army in two. The leader was Li Sheng.

He used the arrogant strategy to weaken the vigilance of the Hedong Army, making the Hedong Army unaware of the existence of the ambush.

In fact, this was not Li Sheng's original plan. Li Sheng originally planned to give up Mengjing Pass again, wait for the Hedong Army to pass Mengjing Pass, ambush the Mengjing Pass, cut off the Hedong Army's retreat, and annihilate the Hedong Army east of Luoyang. .

However, Yu Chaoen disagreed with this plan and believed that the risk of releasing Tian Shengong into Mengjinguan was too high, so he rejected Li Sheng's plan.

As a last resort, Li Sheng had no choice but to retreat and do the next best thing. He set up an ambush in front of Mengjin Pass and used the arrogant strategy to let the Hedong Army win two battles and make them lose their vigilance. However, this plan also had obvious flaws. First, it was difficult to defeat the enemy. The second is that the risk is relatively high if the army is completely wiped out. If Tian Shengong is experienced, he probably will not fall into the trap.

In order to ensure the success of the strategy, Li Sheng found a dozen more people to pretend to be surrendered soldiers and sent false news to Tian Shengong that Sishui Pass had been breached by Wang Sili.

Tian Shengong was indeed fooled. He hurriedly ordered the departure without sending spies to carefully check whether there were ambushes along the way. He was eager to enter Luoyang, but he was in trouble.

The Shence Army split the Hedong Army into two, and took advantage of the enemy's chaos to attack with all their strength. At the same time, the 20,000 Shence Army ambushing west of Xiaoping Jinguan also came out, and the 40,000 Shence Army attacked from both sides. The Hedong Army was defeated. Countless people surrendered and were killed.

In a panic, Tian Shengong fled back to the north bank of the Yellow River with thousands of soldiers. The Xiaopingjing Pass and Heyang Pass that had just been captured were all lost. The 20,000 troops on the south bank of the Yellow River were annihilated. Nearly 15,000 people were wiped out, and the 8,000 surrendered soldiers were wiped out. Return to the Shence Army.

Tian Shengong led more than 5,000 people and fled back to the north bank of the Yellow River. He happened to meet Li Bai, the king of Wei, who had led 10,000 rear troops. Li Bai received news in the morning that Tian Shengong had won two battles and captured Heyang Pass and Xiaoping Jinguan. , heading towards Mengjinguan.

Li Bai was overjoyed and led 10,000 troops to Heyang Bridge. Unexpectedly, he met Tian Shengong who had returned from a disastrous defeat.

Tian Shengong looked ashamed and sighed: "I fell into Li Sheng's trick and was ambushed by the main force of the enemy army. The army suffered a huge loss. Only 5,000 of the 20,000-strong army fled back, and the rest were lost on the south bank of the Yellow River." ”

Li Bao's joy turned into extreme disappointment. He was silent for a moment and said, "What should we do next?"

Tian Shengong smiled bitterly and said: "There is no other way now. We can only withdraw to Taiyuan first, recruit troops again, and accumulate strength."

"Then the news that Wang Sili broke through Sishui Pass is true or false?" Li Bao asked worriedly.

"Now it seems that this news is false. It was a trick of Ambassador Li Sheng. It made me feel anxious and was fooled. I was confused. Wang Sili's army came from afar. How could he conquer Sishui without large-scale siege weapons?" But if there are large siege weapons, he can't come so fast. "

Tian Shengong also knew that his son-in-law was worried about Li Rong and Li Tan seizing the throne, so he comforted him and said: "Now I know that the Shence Army is not as weak as we thought. With the strength of Wang Sili and Lai Ai, they are not the Shence Army." Their opponents will probably be forced to retreat. I don’t know whether Wang Sili and Lai Yi will continue to support King Yun and King Shu, but I will definitely continue to support you. You are my son-in-law, and we have a close relationship. I will never Give up on you."

Tian Shengong comforted Li Bai with a few words. Li Bai felt relieved and said: "In this case, let's return to Taiyuan as soon as possible to prevent Li Ye's army from sneaking into Taiyuan."

This was what Tian Shengong was worried about. He immediately ordered: "Have a rest for one night and return to Taiyuan early tomorrow morning!"

Early the next morning, Tian Shengong led 15,000 troops and food supplies and set off, heading north in a mighty manner.

Tian Shengong was defeated in the battle of Mengjinguan. Tian Shengong led the remaining army to retreat north. The news reached the Luoyang Palace, and a group of eunuchs were delighted.

Yu Chaoen suggested excitedly: "It is better to gather a hundred thousand troops, go out of Sishui Pass, and defeat Wang Sili's troops in one battle. Their strength should be only a little over 20,000, and their morale is low. This is a good opportunity for us to defeat them."

Yu Chaoen's suggestion won unanimous approval from everyone. Li Fuguo said sinisterly: "We must not only cut the weeds, but also eradicate the roots. Send someone to contact Xu Si Jiedushi Wang Zhongsheng and ask him to lead an army to attack Wang Sili's lair. Once he succeeds, he can be sealed For King Peng.”

Wang Zhongsheng was originally the deputy general of Huainan Jiedushi Li Xiyan. Li Xiyan was transferred back to the imperial court last year. Deputy General Wang Zhongsheng was recommended by Cheng Yuanzhen, the imperial backstage, and led the Huainan army north to Sizhou to serve as Xu Si Jiedushi.

Huainan interview envoy and navy commander Huangfu Qian was renamed as Huainan defense envoy. This was to enhance the status of the navy and ensure the safety of water transportation.

Not everyone supports the three kings' rebellion. Wang Zhongsheng, the military commander of Xu Si, did not express his position. Huangfu Qian, the defense commander of Huainan, and Li Lingyao, the military commander of Huapu Jiedu, both remained silent. The subtext of not expressing their stance was that they opposed the rebellion of the three kings.

In fact, Wang Zhongsheng, Huangfu Qian and Li Lingyao are all closely related to the Eunuch Party. They were all promoted by the Eunuch Party and are all members of the Eunuch Party.

Wang Sili's army was Li Guangbi's army. After Li Guangbi died of illness, deputy general Zhang Boyi temporarily took command. Later Wang Sili became the commander-in-chief of the Southern Expedition and took over the 70,000-strong army. Unexpectedly, a plague broke out. The army lost nearly 10,000 people, and the 60,000-strong army was forced to retreat. Songzhou.

The plan to attack Li Xilie was cancelled, and the Southern Expedition Marshal's Mansion was disbanded. Wang Sili was appointed as the military governor of Bianzhou and Song Dynasty, with jurisdiction over the three states of Bianzhou, Songzhou and Chenzhou, with an army of 40,000. Zhang Boyi was appointed as the military governor of Yingzhou and Bozhou. Suffering from the epidemic, it was not suitable to station heavy troops, so only 20,000 troops were stationed, mainly to monitor Li Xiyeol.

Wang Sili led an army of 30,000 to fight against the rebellion, but his army only had 10,000 troops stationed in Songzhou. Next door was Wang Zhongsheng's army of 30,000 stationed in Xuzhou. Li Fuguo planned to let Wang Zhongsheng seize Wang Sili's lair, leaving him with nowhere to retreat. .

Li Fuguo's plan to eradicate the enemy immediately received unanimous support from the eunuchs. Cheng Yuanzhen immediately wrote to Wang Zhongsheng, asking him to send troops to Bian Song.

At the same time, a hundred thousand troops under the command of Li Sheng gathered at Sishui Pass and were about to leave the pass to fight Wang Sili's army.

Li Sheng stood at the top of Sishuiguan City with his hands behind his back, looking at the enemy camp thirty miles away. At this time, he already had a strategy to defeat the enemy in his mind.