Tibet

Li Na urgently ordered Wu Yuanji to lead 5,000 cavalry to fight. In just a moment, more than half of the 5,000 cavalry were killed and wounded. One of his subordinates came to report, "My lord, the casualties among our brothers exceeded 40%. Unfortunately, General Wu was killed in battle. We can't stand it anymore." !”

Looking at the overwhelming cavalry, Li Na was suddenly frightened. Only then did he understand that Guo Ziyi's intention of leading an army of 50,000 to Qizhou was to lure him out of the city.

At this time, tens of thousands of Tang Army cavalry were fighting one mile away, and there was no time for him to think carefully. At this time, he had to make an immediate decision, either to increase his troops and fight to the death, or to withdraw his troops immediately to preserve his strength.

Li Na decisively ordered, "The entire army retreats northward!"

"Woo——"

The retreat horn sounded, and sixteen thousand cavalry left the battlefield like wind and clouds, quickly running northward.

These cavalrymen were all experienced. When they saw the arrival of tens of thousands of reinforcements from the Tang Army, they knew that the situation was over. The retreat horn sounded, and each of them escaped faster than the other.

The retreat of the cavalry also led to the flight of the infantry. The morale of the Ziqing army collapsed and they were defeated like a mountain.

Guo Ziyi ordered: "The whole army is chasing us. Those who surrender will be spared, but those who resist will be killed without mercy!"

A spectacular scene appeared in the wilderness. Countless soldiers abandoned their helmets and fled for their lives. The cavalry chased them. When they caught up, they cut off the carotid artery with a knife and fell to the ground to death.

The soldiers who reacted raised their hands and knelt down to surrender. The cavalry galloped past the surrenderers, and the infantry behind them came to accept the surrender.

The army chased them for more than 40 miles, killing corpses everywhere and rivers of blood.

Of the 80,000 enemy troops, except for 15,000 cavalry who fled north with Li Na, the other 65,000 were either killed in battle or surrendered, and none of them escaped.

Guo Ziyi immediately led a large army to Licheng County. There were only 5,000 troops in the city, led by military counselor Jia Shen. Jia Shen knew that he could not defend the city and ordered Kaicheng to surrender.

Guo Ziyi appeased Jia Shen and ordered the army to enter the city. The largest city in Shandong Peninsula fell into the hands of the Tang army, including a large amount of grain and grass supplies,

Yidu County was surrounded by 80,000 Tang troops. The chief general was Nan Jiyun and the deputy general was Li Fei Yuanli.

According to Li Ye's thinking, it would be best for Yidu to surrender voluntarily, which would play an exemplary role in solving the Hebei feudal society.

Of course, Li Ye's surrender and the surrender of the imperial court are not the same thing. Historically, these feudal towns have repeatedly surrendered to the imperial court, but this surrender is just a strategy of the feudal towns. In name, they surrendered to the imperial court, but in fact they continued to support their own troops, and the territory It’s also getting bigger.

The surrender demanded by Li Ye was a real surrender, handing over the army and all territory, and sparing their lives.

At this time, the Ziqing army inside the city and the Tang army outside the city received news that Li Na's army was defeated and fled at the same time, and the entire 80,000-strong army was destroyed.

What Li Zheng had received was a pigeon letter. The news immediately made him feel heartbroken. He said three times in a row, "Okay! Okay! Okay!"

Immediately he spurted blood and fell to the ground and fainted.

The eldest son Li Jing urgently ordered a famous doctor to rescue his father, but his father had not woken up at night, making Li Jing extremely anxious.

Li Jingnian is about thirty years old. He is completely different from his brother Li Na who is strong and fierce. He is fat, has good women and good food, and is relatively generous. Li Zheng has left the government affairs to him.

He lowered agricultural taxes and tried not to disturb the people. At the same time, he vigorously developed commerce and improved the treatment of merchants. Business prospered, and the Jiedu government also received generous tax revenue. At the same time, they vigorously dried salt. Their salt was supplied to Hebei and all parts of the Central Plains, and the salt profits were extremely high.

In turn, excess grain was purchased from farmers, thus ensuring military rations.

Li Zheng was very satisfied with his eldest son, but he was still undecided about his successor. The eldest son was generous and managed the country well, but the second son was brave and good at fighting and opened up new territories for himself.

Intellectually, Li Zheng already knew that he should choose the eldest son, but emotionally he preferred the second son.

It was Li Zheng who had been unable to make up his mind, which led to the two brothers fighting openly and covertly. Because Li Na had military advisor Jia Shen to help him, Li Jing was completely unable to defeat Li Na.

Therefore, Li Zheng had already decided to let Li Na inherit his career, but he did not expect that Li Na would lead his army out of the city without permission and fall into Guo Ziyi's trick of luring the snake out of its cave, and the entire 80,000-strong army would be destroyed.

What made Li Zhengji particularly distressed was that the second son did not withdraw to Yidu, but fled to Hebei. Li Zhengji suddenly saw the second son's intention. At the critical moment, the second son Li Na betrayed him.

Regret mixed with each other, Li Zheng has been induced to suffer from cerebral hemorrhage, his condition is very critical, and his life is on the verge of death.

Li Jing was standing in the courtyard when Chen Fang, known as the most famous doctor in Yidu, came out of the room.

Li Jing hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "Excuse me, sir, how is my father?"

Chen Fang sighed and said: "I was lucky enough to recover from my fainting three years ago. This time I vomited blood, probably a massive brain hemorrhage. I can only do my best."

"Ah! Is my father's life in danger?"

Chen Fang nodded, "I don't want to say it, but it's impossible not to say it. Young master, please prepare the funeral arrangements for the prince!"

Although he was mentally prepared, Li Jing felt heartbroken, "How long can my father live?"

"I don't know. If I can wake up, I might be able to live for a few months. If I can't wake up, it will only be these two days."

After saying that, Chen Fang shook his head and left worriedly.

Li Jing stood stunned for a moment and walked into the ward. In the ward, four of his father's concubines sat beside him wiping tears.

Li Jing touched his father's nose and found that his breath was very weak and his pulse was intermittent. He was indeed dying.

Li Jing sighed and said to the four concubines: "I will give you one thousand taels of silver each. You can go back to your parents' homes!"

"Sir, is it the master?"

Li Jing shook his head, "It's not this problem, the city will soon be lost, don't get implicated, hurry back to your parents' home!"

"What about the prince?"

"I'll take care of him, don't worry!"

The four concubines were grateful and hurriedly stood up to salute. Li Jing gave each of them a token to get money, and they hurried away.

Li Jing stared at his unconscious father for a long time, sighed, handed his father to his personal soldiers to take care of, turned around and left quickly.

At two o'clock, two large catapults were slowly approaching the west wall. The soldiers put a wooden shell ball the size of a basketball on the throwing bag, and a soldier lit the fuse, "bang!" There was a muffled sound.

The wooden shell ball was thrown high on the top of the city, and 'bang!' The porcelain mine inside the wooden shell exploded above the top of the city, and the wooden shell was blown to pieces. A large number of paper pieces appeared in the sky, falling like snowflakes.

The soldiers on the top of the city wall grabbed the pieces of paper with a letter printed on them. Someone who could read read loudly to the soldiers around him: "A letter to the soldiers and civilians of Yidu County!

Qizhou has been captured by the imperial army, and the 80,000 Ziqing troops have been annihilated. Yidu has become an isolated city. The 150,000 troops are about to surround Yidu. The Tang army has the most powerful firearms, and it is easy to capture Yidu County.

But considering the innocence of the people of Yidu and the innocence of the soldiers, the court cannot bear to attack the city. It also hopes that the soldiers of the three armies will consider the overall situation and start an uprising in the city. The soldiers in the city will not be held accountable.

If they are stubborn and refuse to surrender, when the city is broken, all the soldiers, generals and their families will be official slaves and sent to Lingnan to open up wasteland.

Li Ye, the Regent of the Tang Dynasty"

After the soldier finished reading, everyone was silent.