Since the Sui army retreated north, Wang Shichong reorganized his troops and recruited troops in large quantities. However, Yang Yuanqing only gave him the two counties of Henan and Hongnong. The population was insufficient, and his recruitment was very urgent, which aroused panic among the people, and a large number of people fled to Yingchuan County and Xingyang County.

After nearly two months of busyness, Wang Shichong has only conscripted 20,000 people. With the remaining 10,000 troops, Luoyang's defenders only have 30,000.

Years of war and food shortage have long caused the people of Henan County to live in poverty, and the continuous escape of the people has caused the population under Wang Shichong to drop sharply.

In desperation, Wang Shichong had to order all the people in Xingyang and Henan County to be concentrated in Luoyang for a total of more than 200,000, while the areas outside Luoyang became thousands of miles apart and rare inhabitants.

In fact, Wang Shichong's country was only an isolated city. He didn't want to see this result, but he had to accept this cruel fact.

Wang Shichong had completely fallen into decline. He threw government affairs to his prince Wang Yingxuan and handed over the army to his nephew Wang Renze. He himself was locked in the palace and lived in a life of drunkenness and despair with a group of palace maids. In his words, to be an emperor for one day, one would have to enjoy the luxury of an emperor for one day.

But the opportunity appeared when he was most desperate. The Turkic invasion of the south forced Yang Yuanqing to shrink his defense line and abandon Xiangcheng County, Jingyang County and Yingchuan County.

Although Yang Yuanqing did not say it clearly, Wang Shichong understood what Yang Yuanqing had not expressed. He immediately ordered Wang Renze to lead an army of 10,000 to take Yingchuan County, and ordered his second son Wang Yingshu to lead an army of 10,000 to take Xiangcheng County.

Wang Shichong cheered up again and selected 30,000 young and strong people from the people in Luoyang City, forcing them to join the army. He trained himself every day.

At this time, Wang Shichong's ambition began to expand rapidly. Yang Yuanqing now only controlled Xingyang County and Dongjun, so he could all occupy Liang County, Dongping County, Jiyin County, Qiao County, and Huaian County, Runan County, Nanyang County and Xiyang County in the south.

Wang Shichong never thought he had no talent and virtue. He was both civil and military. He knew how to stop the army and support the people, and knew how to win people's hearts. He had the ambition to unify the world and establish a foundation for all generations.

However, he was not lucky enough to control Luoyang, a place of four battles, and was surrounded by three powerful enemies of the Sui, Tang and Wei. Years of conquests made his troops empty and his foundation collapsed. However, as long as he could prepare for three or five years, he would definitely become a powerful force in the Central Plains.

Just as Wang Shichong was full of energy and was about to show his strength, a news that made him almost desperate came. The Tang Dynasty sent troops, and 200,000 Tang troops rushed to Luoyang from Guanzhong and Jingxiang. Wang Shichong cried out three times to the sky and then rushed to order Wang Renze and Wang Yingshu to withdraw his troops back to Luoyang.

The city of Luoyang was in chaos. A large number of people began to take the opportunity to escape. Seeing that the hearts of the people were getting distant, Wang Shichong decided to impose a severe punishment. One person in the family fled. No young master was killed. The father and son, brothers, and husband and wife agreed to tell him and avoided him.

The five families were also ordered to protect each other. If the whole family rebels but the neighbors were unaware of it, they would be punished and killed one after another, but the escape became even worse, so that the number of people who went out to pick the woodcutters was limited.

Wang Shichong also regarded the palace city as a prison. Anyone who was dissatisfied with his words was arrested immediately. He was imprisoned in the palace with his family, and did not give food, and allowed him to live or die. When the army went out to patrol, the families of the soldiers must be kept in the palace.

Wang Shichong also felt that the situation was hopeless, and he fell into the palace again, embraced the beauty, and lived a life of drunkenness and dreams and died all day long.

Early that morning, a burst of rapid footsteps came from outside the palace, and several guards shouted in panic: "General, you can't go in!"

"Get out of here!"

This was Wang Renze's voice. A figure flashed. Wang Renze, who was full of armor, rushed into Wang Shichong's dormitory. Wang Shichong was awake. He slowly opened his eyes and glanced at Wang Renze coldly, "You are leading the sword to the palace, do you want to kill me?"

Wang Renze knelt down on one knee and said nervously: "Your Majesty, the Tang army has arrived, so he is stationed outside the military city. Now the morale of the army is floating. I beg Your Majesty to go and comfort me!"

Although Wang Shichong has been forced to remove the imperial title, in fact, his title is still very chaotic. Some people call him Prince and some call him His Majesty. He doesn't know what he is?

When Wang Shichong heard that the Tang army had arrived, he stood up, but felt a dizzy turn and almost fell down. Wang Renze hurriedly supported him, "Your Majesty, it doesn't matter!"

Wang Shichong calmed down and waved his hand, "It doesn't matter if I go to the top of the city to see."

The moment that he was most reluctant to face finally came. Wang Shichong was helpless and had to go up to the city to check. He walked up to the west city and leaned down to look down. He suddenly felt dizzy in front of him.

The army outside the city was covered with flags and clouds, as if even the sky and the earth were covered. The momentum of the 200,000 Tang troops was enough to make everyone on the city wall feel endless despair.

The Tang army was not in a hurry to attack the city. They were constantly changing their formations, as if they were using their momentum to suppress the defenders on the city. Further away, the dense tents were like mushrooms growing after the rain, one by one, and one by one, with no limit at a glance.

Although Wang Shichong has experienced many battles, his body, which has been hollowed out by wine and his willpower has been greatly reduced in the past two months. The momentum of the Tang army outside the city made him tremble, his face pale, his lips trembled, and he could not say a word. He had no longer had his former heroic posture.

At this moment, the prince Wang Yingxuan hurriedly ran to the top of the city with a young businessman, "Father!"

Wang Shichong stared blankly at the 200,000 Tang troops under the city, as if he had heard nothing. "Father!" Wang Yingxuan ran up and panted, "There is good news!"

“Good news?”

Wang Shichong turned around and looked at his son in confusion, "What good news is there!"

At this time, the young businessman stepped forward and bowed, "The humble position Kong Yingsheng is the captain of Hulao Pass. His Highness the King of Chu had an urgent letter to the prince. He sent it to Hulao Pass. I came to deliver the letter to the prince."

Yang Yuanqing actually had a letter. He was excited and asked quickly: "Where is the letter?"

The messenger presented a tube of eagle letter with both hands. Wang Shichong took the letter and opened it in a hurry. He saw Yang Yuanqing's handwritten letter at first sight. It was Yang Yuanqing's handwritten letter. Wang Shichong hurriedly finished reading it, and a bright color suddenly flashed in his eyes, and a glimmer of hope ignited in his heart.

Wang Renze and Wang Yingxuan were both paying attention to Wang Shichong's expression. When they saw Wang Shichong suddenly feel excited, they all asked in unison: "What is good news?"

Confidence gradually recovered in Wang Shichong's heart. He glanced at the two of them and finally showed a smile on his face, "Yang Yuanqing said. As long as we persist for five days, he can end the battle in the north and come and rescue us."

Wang Renze and Wang Yingxuan were overjoyed, and Wang Renze couldn't help but feel the joy in his heart and said, "Can Yang Yuanqing really catch up?"

Wang Shichong nodded. "He won't speak vainly, because he doesn't want the Tang army to occupy Luoyang."

Speaking of this, Wang Shichong's sense of fear was wiped out. He straightened his waist and shouted sternly to the defenders on the city: "Listen to the soldiers of the three armies, take out all my gold, silver and money, kill a Tang army, give it 50 yuan, and give it ten acres of land."

.........

In Huining County, the shadow of war enveloped the mountains by the Yellow River, and the stone mountain, which has always been a barren land. Once it was discovered that it contained huge wealth, this land that had always been unnoticed became the focus of the attention of the Sui and Tang armies.

Since the crisis of money, the Sui army began to increase its troops in Huining County, but with the Turks invading the south, Yang Yuanqing transferred most of the Sui army back to Taiyuan in the east. He sent 10,000 troops to Huining County, led by Ma Shao, the general manager of Huizhou.

That morning, a team of Tang army composed of more than 2,000 cavalry rushed towards the mining mountain. The leader was Ma Shao, the general in charge of Huizhou. He had just received the order from Yang Yuanqing to give up Huining County, and the entire army retreated to Lingwu County, and assisted the general Pei Renji, the general in charge of Fengzhou, to withdraw the army and the civilians back to Fengzhou.

Ma Shao never thought about why the order issued by Yang Yuanqing? He just carried out the order without fail. There was another one in the order, requiring him to completely destroy the mining farm.

The cavalry rushed all the way through an open space where tents were built. The tent had been removed, leaving only piles of domestic waste left by the miners. The silver mine built by the Sui army a few months ago was already empty, and the miners had all been transferred to the Heite Mountain in the north.

Although Yang Shidao made a promise to the Tang Dynasty to close the silver mine, closing it was not destroying it. The wharf was still there. Dozens of warehouses that took two months to build still stood in the cold wind. The warehouse was filled with flatbed trucks for transporting ore and many mining equipment.

There are hundreds of flat-bottomed tugboats parked on the wharf, and there are more than a dozen mine caves on the mine. The miners continuously transported a large number of high-quality silver and copper mines from the mine caves.

Everything must be destroyed without leaving the Tang army. Ma Shao looked at the empty mine and pointed at the horse whip, "Destroy all!"

The order was issued, and two thousand Sui soldiers took action. They gathered the ships together, sprayed tinder oil, and lit a fire. Thick black smoke ignited on the dock. The dock was immediately destroyed and warehouses were pushed down.

All the wood products were not simply burned, and they were piled into the mine cave and burned it with a large fire. The fire burned the mine cave extremely hot. The soldiers then poured the cold river water in, the stones exploded, and the mine cave collapsed instantly.

In the era without gunpowder, this kind of simple method is usually used to mine or destroy rock bodies. After more than an hour, a mine was completely destroyed. Sui soldiers boarded their horses and rushed to another mine ten miles away.

......

The large-scale evacuation on the Yellow River of Lingwu County began two days ago. More than 200,000 Fengzhou people who retreated south from avoiding Turkic cavalry began to return to their hometown in Fengzhou.

There was also a large retreat of more than 100,000 Lingwu County residents, a total of nearly 400,000 people. This was an order issued by King Yang Yuanqing of Chu, and they would all withdraw back to Fengzhou.

On the ice surface of the Yellow River, which is more than ten miles wide, there are densely packed large sledges, with tens of thousands of them. Each sledge is filled with family and their important property, mainly money, food, sheepskin, tools, weapons and clothing, and livestock are used to pull sledges.

They were guarded by ten cavalrymen. As the shouts of men, women, young and old, they continued to drive slowly towards the north by cattle and horses.

The sled was very slow, and a team of cavalry followed. At this time, their enemy was not the Tang army, but the wolves that might appear in winter.

On the shore, Fengzhou general manager Pei Renji stared at the group of sleds and set off. They had been walking for two consecutive days, and there were not many people left.

He could understand the orders of the King of Chu. People were the most precious resource and could leave the land to the Tang Dynasty, but people could never leave it. Without people, the Tang army could not defend Lingwu County.

"Master, do you want to wait for General Ma to come back and leave together?" Yu Quanhong, the prefect of Lingwu County, asked on the side.

Pei In-ki shook her head, "Don't wait for him deliberately, I will leave a few scouts to inform him of the news."

Pei Renji suddenly understood what Yu Quanhong meant, and laughed and said, "The person has left almost, and the prefect of Yu can leave. I'll wait a little longer before leaving."

Yu Quanhong blushed and bowed his fists and said, "Then the official will take a step first, General Pei will take care of him!"

Pei Renji smiled slightly, "I wish you a good journey for the prefect of Yu!"

...........

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