The battle of Xiangcheng County had a far-reaching impact. Although it was just a small battle in the chess game, it was crucial. It made the Tang army passive in the entire battle situation. Qu Tutong's capture greatly shocked the Tang court and the people, and also made the Tang court's top leaders realize the unfavorable situation of the Battle of the Central Plains.

Just two days after Qu Tutong was captured, Emperor Li Yuan of the Tang Dynasty formally issued an imperial edict ordering the Tang army to withdraw from the Central Plains in an all-round way.

But this was at the end of the Sui Dynasty 1,400 years ago. Although some emergency information could be transmitted through the flying eagle, the transmission of major decisions still required manpower.

Without seeing the imperial edict with a seal from the inner historian, neither Li Shimin nor Li Xiaogong dared to bear the important responsibility of giving up the Central Plains.

The imperial edict starts from Chang'an and takes three days to arrive in Changyuan County as fast as possible, and five days to arrive in Xuchang County. But during the five-day waiting period, everything will change.

A Sui army of 20,000 people marched rapidly on the Central Plains and advanced southeast along the Yingshui River.

This Sui army defeated Xu Shiji's army in Xiangcheng County, which defeated Qu Tutong's 20,000 Tang troops. Yang Yuanqing had ordered him to be incorporated into Li Jing's Eastern Army. At this point, Qin Qiong's army and Xu Shiji's army were unified and commanded by Li Jing.

Xu Shiji's 20,000 troops were inserted into the central part of Yingchuan County under the order of Li Jing, and went around to the rear of Li Xiaogong's army to cut off the Tang army's retreat. This was also an extremely important step.

Yang Yuanqing issued a principled order to Li Jing before sending troops, to annihilate as much as possible Li Xiaogong's troops, weaken the Tang Dynasty's troops in the south, and prevent the Tang Dynasty from expanding to the southeast again.

Yingshui is an extremely important river in the middle of Henan Road. Yingchuan County is also named after it.

After years of banditry, this once rich river has become desolate, and the sparse villages seem to be empty, and there are few people to see. The desolate wheat fields extend eastward and melt in the heat wave, as if they have disappeared.

This place belongs to Fanchang County in the central part of Yingchuan County. It is about 80 miles away from Yingchuan County, where the main force of the Tang army is located. After two days of marching, the team was a little tired. The speed has slowed down.

At this time, the gloomy sky began to drizzle, as if a sieve had passed, falling on the soldiers' faces. It was particularly cold.

Xu Shiji rode on his horse, put on the curtain and looked into the distance. From a distance, he saw the outline of a city standing in the drizzle, which was Fanchang County.

This county town was particularly important to Xu Shiji. They were traveling lightly and did not carry supplies, food and grass, but only carried dry food for three days.

The scout found that there were nearly 30,000 stones of grain stored in Fanchang County, but only a thousand defenders. Xu Shiji immediately ordered: "Start up the marching and capture Fanchang County!"

The 20,000 Sui army accelerated its march. Soon, the army arrived at the county town, and the gate of the county town was opened. The county magistrate led more than a dozen officials to wait outside the city gate, but no defender was seen.

When Xu Shiji's war horse came forward, the county magistrate hurriedly came up and knelt down on his knees. "Chen Yu, the county magistrate of Fanchang County, kowtowed to welcome the Sui Dynasty's heavenly army, begging the heavenly army to be kind and righteous. Treat the people in the county well."

Li Xiaogong focused on managing the Central Plains, and the main county officials of Yingchuan County had been replaced by officials of the Tang Dynasty, so the Chen County Magistrate was actually a Tang official.

However, Xu Shiji didn't care. He was concerned about food now. With a finger of the horse whip, Xu Shiji asked: "Where is the defenders in the city? How much food is there?"

"Report to the general, the defenders in the city heard that the Tian army had arrived, and they all fled a quarter of an hour ago, and the grain was sealed in the warehouse, about 30,000 stones."

Xu Shiji let go of his heart. As long as the food is still there, everything is fine. He turned over and dismounted, helped the county magistrate up and smiled and said, "The county magistrate asked to raise it. The Sui army is a benevolent and righteous army and will never disturb the people."

He immediately ordered, "Three thousand people entered the city, and the remaining troops were stationed outside the city!"

Three thousand Sui troops drove into the city in a mighty manner, while more than 17,000 Sui troops were stationed outside the city, with a tent standing up.

An hour later, several cavalrymen rushed to the north.

......

The Sui army camp had been advanced twenty miles away from Yingchuan County. The Tang army's defeat in Xiangcheng County further reduced the number of troops to 50,000, while the Sui army's army increased to 60,000 due to the reinforcements of Qin Qiong's troops in Dongcheng County.

As a result, the power balance between the Sui and Tang armies began to reverse, and the Sui army gained an advantage, and the Sui army soldiers were stronger than Li Xiaogong's soldiers in terms of morale, physique, combat experience, etc.

In addition, Li Jing was well-instructed, and the victory balance of the Battle of the Eastern Front of the Central Plains was already inclined toward the Sui army.

The Sui Army's central army visited a city model made of yellow clay in the large tent of the central army. It was one meter long and one meter wide, and placed on a wooden platform. Anyone with a little vision would recognize it. This is the reduction of Yingchuan County.

This is a city model specially made by Li Jing from the sand table. It was made based on the complete data of Yingchuan County in 200 scouts who took ten days to explore. It is very intuitive and vivid, which will bring great help to the attack on the county.

Around the county model, there were more than a dozen generals fighting. Li Jing was holding a wooden pole in his hand and was analyzing the city for everyone.

"At present, Li Xiaogong is guarding the county town to death, but he may withdraw his troops to the south. Let's act as he guarding the city to analyze the possibility of seizing the county town."

Li Jing pointed to the city wall and slowly said to everyone: "Yingchuan County is a large county in the Central Plains. The city is 30 miles in length, the city wall is two feet high, and it is tall and strong. The depth of the city is wide enough to accommodate his 50,000 troops. From the city itself, this city is difficult to fight. With our 60,000 troops, it is almost impossible to capture this big city with sufficient food and grass and guarded by 50,000 troops."

At this time, Qin Qiong beside him said in a deep voice: "But Li Xiaogong's army may not be willing to defend the city to the death."

Li Jing nodded, "This is the key to the problem. I just received an urgent report from the general manager. Tang Ting may have decided to give up the Central Plains and withdraw his troops back to Xiangyang. Then within one or two days, Li Xiaogong should withdraw his troops south, but if we are forced to advance in a hurry, the Tang army will not dare to withdraw. So I think we should still retreat north to Xuchang County and create conditions for Li Xiaogong to retreat south."

Li Jing glanced at everyone, "What about everyone's opinions?"

Luo Shixin pondered for a moment and said, "I am worried that they will withdraw their troops too quickly. We will not be able to catch up with you."

Li Jing smiled slightly, "I have thought of this problem. I have ordered Xu Shiji to rush to Fanchang County and cut off the Tang army's retreat from behind. It is estimated that he has arrived and news will come soon."

Qin Qiong was overjoyed, "If Xu Shiji had already been waiting in the south, then we would definitely win this battle. I support the Changshi's plan and first retreat to Xuchang County. Give the Tang army a chance to retreat south."

Li Jing looked at the other people again, "Do you all agree?"

Everyone agreed, and at this time, soldiers outside the tent reported, "Report to the Chief Secretary, General Xu sent someone to deliver the letter urgently."

Li Jing was excited and said, "Send them in!"

Two informants walked into the tent and knelt down on one knee to report: "Report to the Chief Secretary, General Xu has led 20,000 troops to occupy Fanchang County. There is food in the county town. We specially sent us to report to the Chief Secretary."

Seeing that the conditions were ripe, Li Jing ordered: "Tell me my order, and the army will lead the camp to the north and head to Xuchang County to station."

One hour later, the 60,000 Sui army packed up the camp, set up troops, and drove to Xuchang County, thirty miles away.

...........

The day after the Sui army retreated north, the envoys from Chang'an arrived in Yingchuan County and brought the imperial edict issued by Li Yuan, formally ordered Li Xiaogong to withdraw from Xiangyang in the south and abandon the Central Plains.

Li Xiaogong stood above the city with his hands behind his back and stared at the north for a long time. He knew why the Sui army retreated to Xuchang County, fled back to the garrison from Fanchang County and told him that an army cut off his retreat.

This must be Xu Shiji's army from Xiangcheng County. At this time, Li Xiaogong's heart was filled with bitterness.

More than half a month ago, he was the one who strongly advocated withdrawal because he realized the strategic disadvantage, but the emperor refused to withdraw his troops at that time.

And half a month later, when he realized that withdrawing troops would lead to serious consequences, the emperor's order to withdraw troops came again, which made Li Xiaogong not know what to say, so he could only sigh.

He thought of an old saying, "Carry a boat and ask for a sword." Isn't that the case today? Now the situation has changed. The Sui army has completed the strategic encirclement. There is no danger to withdraw its troops. Only by defending the city will the Sui army be difficult to attack, and perhaps it will be possible to gain some time.

But the imperial edict came ruthlessly, leaving him without any choice. At this time, the chief minister Dugu Huaien stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, we can explain the situation to the emperor. Now we are facing the situation surrounded by the Sui army, and waiting for assistance based on the city is the wisest way."

Li Xiaogong sighed, "This is not the edict of the emperor, but a formal decision made by the court. The imperial edict contains the seals of the Neishi Provincial and the Menxia Provincial. More importantly, the Qin King's army has retreated to the west. Where are our reinforcements?"

Li Xiaogong stared at the West, and suddenly a thought arose in his mind. Could it be that Li Shimin did not want to take on the responsibility of saving himself, so he retreated so actively?

Li Xiaogong felt a chill in his heart, and he slowly said: "Once the Qin King's army retreated into Guanzhong, Yang Yuanqing's 50,000 main force came from the west, then 130,000 troops would be surrounded by Yingchuan County. Once the city was broken, the entire army would be wiped out. Even if you and I were lucky enough to escape back to Guanzhong, how could we explain to the court? Because the order was not followed, the entire army would be wiped out!"

"But it's not right to go, and it's not right to fight. You're in a dilemma. How could we get into this dead end?" Dugu Huaien said hatefully.

Li Xiaogong smiled bitterly, "Actually, this was long as Qu Tutong expected. He told me that if I did not evacuate in time, the Tang army would be in a dilemma. Today's situation was completely stolen. He gave me three strategies at that time. The best strategy was to withdraw troops immediately. That was our only opportunity. We should decisively withdraw troops and preserve our strength while the Sui army had not been deployed. But now the opportunity is missing."

Speaking of this, Li Xiaogong's heart was filled with melancholy. This was actually because there was a problem with the decision-making system. The people who held the decision-making power did not understand the truth, but the generals at the time of war had no right to make strategic choices. Perhaps, this was why Yang Yuanqing must go to the battle himself.

That night, after considering the whole day, Li Xiaogong, who had been considering the pros and cons for a whole day, finally made the decision to withdraw his troops. At the time of Hai, the gate of Yingchuan County was wide open, and 50,000 troops evacuated south with their baggage.

If you withdraw, you can still save more than 50% of your troops and defend them, and eventually you will be wiped out. More importantly, even if you fail to withdraw, it will be a mistake in the court's strategic decision-making, rather than the failure of Li Xiaogong to fight.

At the same time as Li Xiaogong's army withdrew from Yingchuan County, the Sui army scout immediately transmitted the information of the Tang army's retreat to Xuchang County. Li Jing immediately led a 60,000 army to pursue the army at the end.

......

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