Chapter 1824: The Third Luoyang War (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 only allowed to keep the basic rations, and promised to return it in full in the future.
Tang Jun, who was born in the Liang clan, had a bad image in the hearts of the people in Sizhou. Of course, it was impossible for him to hand over precious food just because of Li Shimin's words.
Li Shimin saw that not many people were willing to take the initiative to hand over food, so he had no choice but to send troops to grab food.
Although Li Shimin cherishes his reputation very much, under current circumstances, this is not the time to cherish his reputation.
Although Li Shimin repeatedly ordered the soldiers 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.
When Li Shimin learned about it, he was naturally furious 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.
"My lord, the heads of the three major families in the area are asking for an audience."
"oh?"
Li Shimin looked surprised, then nodded and said: "Let them come in."
Li Shimin originally thought that the three clan leaders came to see him in order to save 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 thirteen thousand dan."
"My Li family has 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 rob 50,000 shi of grain and grass. But now just these three families in Ping County have 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 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 said with a smile, and he gave the three family heads a piece of cake without saying anything.
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 muttered, the image of an elegant middle-aged man emerged in his mind, and this person was Yang Jun, who was from the Hongnong Yang family and was one of the officials of the imperial party.
As an imperialist, Li Shimin was not surprised that Yang Jun would support the Tang army to resist Qin, but he did not expect that the other party could predict that he would be short of materials, which made Li Shimin feel a little incredible.
"Did Yang Jun come 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, You can divide your 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 a large farming county, there are 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 hide so well, no wonder Jia Xu has never attacked the imperialists.
Forget it, since someone has taken the initiative to send food to my army, I will accept it.
Hou Junji, you lead five thousand soldiers and horses to Wen County. "
"promise."
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With the fall of Ping County, Qin Xi 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 was 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 Ping 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 in Ping County that Li Tang could like was terrifying. There is only food and grass in the granary.
Realizing that Li Tang might be short of food and grass, Cheng Yu 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 cavalrymen.
Cheng Yu didn't have any psychological burden about abandoning the city and escaping. After all, the three hundred county soldiers in Ping County would never be able to stop 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, "I'm telling you, if I hadn't been lucky this time, I probably wouldn't have been able to come back..."
Cheng Yu told an exaggerated account of his experiences along the way. The truth was certainly not as thrilling as what he said. At least Li Shimin did not send five thousand fine cavalry to chase down a dozen of them. He would say this to reduce his guilt for abandoning the city.
The disciples of the Qin family are not all fools. Qin Ji noticed at a glance that Cheng Xi had boasted, and said with a speechless expression: "Brother Xi, your boast is too outrageous. There are only a dozen of you, and Li Shimin will send five Thousands of cavalry? Do you think you are my 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? What do I mean by fleeing without fighting? That means not making unnecessary sacrifices. There are only three hundred county soldiers in Ping County, but the invading Li Tang army has tens of thousands, that is, Bai Bai Even if the governor is here, we will definitely not be able to win."
"You're right, but you can't do it anyway."
"That's what it is."
"Okay, stop talking, fourth uncle is here."
As soon as this statement 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 a fight, I can't blame you this time. However, you did a good job in burning food."
Hearing this, Cheng Yu 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.
