Chapter 2425: Take Chencang lightly and look forward to disbanding
Seeing Ban Chao stand up, Li Jing looked surprised. After thinking for a while, he persuaded: "Ban Chao, this mission is dangerous. If Li Shimin loses his mind, I'm afraid you won't be able to come back.
As the new No. 1 scholar in science and technology, you don't need to take this risk. You'd better find someone else. "
Li Jing sent an envoy to declare war. It was just a show of force to make up for his moral deficiencies, so he prepared to send any corps commander there, but he didn't expect Ban Chao to take the initiative to ask for his orders.
As Li Jing said, this mission had certain risks. As Ban Chao was a new champion with a bright future, it was not cost-effective to take this risk, so he did not want to send Ban Chao.
Ban Chao said righteously: "If everyone cherished their lives, how could our country be like today? As early as the moment he entered Qin, Ban Chao had already ignored life and death."
As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at Ban Chao with admiration in their eyes. Only Yang Hu couldn't help but rolled his eyes, obviously disdainful of Ban Chao's words.
Yang Hu took the scientific examination in the same class as Ban Chao, but failed to enter the top three because of partial subjects. Therefore, he was very unconvinced by Ban Chao, who came from a poor family but won the top spot.
It is a very common phenomenon in Great Qin for children from aristocratic families to look down on children from poor families. There are many people who are dissatisfied with Ban Chao, and Yang Hu is just one of them.
After Yang Hu became an official, he and Ban Chao happened to be assigned to Yongzhou, so he began to think of competing with Ban Chao. As a result, his political performance was always inferior to Ban Chao.
It's not that Yang Hu is inferior to Ban Chao, their political attributes are both 96 points, and their political management levels are not much different.
However, the county where Ban Chao is located is a complete large county, and the county where Yang Ku is located still has many counties in the hands of the Tang State. This is the main reason why Yang Ku is always inferior to Ban Chao in terms of political performance.
Although Yang Hu failed to surpass Ban Chao in terms of political achievements, after more than a year of contact, he also changed his view of Ban Chao a lot. As the top scholar from a poor family, Ban Chao was under greater pressure than he was.
Although Yang Hu and Ban Chao are not friends yet, they are the competitors who know each other best.
In Yang Hu's eyes, Ban Chao is indeed very decent. Although he can sacrifice his life for justice, he is also a person who cherishes his life and will never take risks easily.
The fact that he would say such righteous words and risk his own life to send Li Tang as envoy was definitely not because he was not afraid of death, but because he was absolutely sure that he would be able to come back alive.
The person who cares most about himself is often his opponent. There is some truth in this saying.
Yang Hu's guess was absolutely correct. The reason why Ban Chao still dared to take risks despite knowing the dangers of this trip was that he was very sure that he would come back alive.
As long as Gongsun Xuanyuan can capture Sanguan, the entire Tang army in Guanzhong will be surrounded by the Qin army.
Under such circumstances, if Li Shimin dared to kill him, the Qin envoy, he would have blocked Li Tang's last retreat. After all, it was an iron rule not to kill the envoy when the two armies were fighting.
With the imperial concubine Li Xiuning here, even if Li Tang eventually dies, he will still be treated with courtesy and even be given important positions after surrendering to Qin.
But once Ban Chao was killed, the civil and military ministers of the Tang Dynasty could still surrender, but the Li family's way of surrender was blocked. Da Qin would never accept the Li family's surrender again.
Even if Li Shimin doesn't think about himself, he will definitely think about the Li family. After all, the Li family is not his Li family alone.
Therefore, even if Li Shimin really loses his mind, Li Tang's senior management will stop Li Shimin.
None of the generals present, including Li Jing, realized this, so they looked at Ban Chao with admiration in their eyes.
On the other hand, Wu Qi and Baili Xi obviously guessed what Ban Chao was thinking, and couldn't help but admire Ban Chao's boldness and carefulness.
"This Wen Zhuangyuan is not an easy person. He will definitely have a place in the Qin Dynasty in the future." Wu Qi thought to himself.
Li Jing was in a dilemma. He didn't want Ban Chao to go, but after some reflection, he guessed Ban Chao's intention, so he stopped objecting and agreed to let Ban Chao serve as the envoy to Chang'an.
"Be careful along the way. When you come back, I will report to His Majesty that you will be promoted to prefect." Li Jing cupped his fists and said.
Ban Chao was startled, then said with great joy: "Thank you, Commander."
The political performance of Ban Chao and Yang Hu this year was better than that of some prefects in Hebei, but they still failed to be promoted to prefect. That is because Bismarck, who has 102 in politics, and Liu Luoguo, who has 99 in politics, have better political performance.
The political involution in Yongzhou is so serious that even Ban Chao and Yang Hu can hardly stand out in Yongzhou, let alone those who are not as good as them.
This time we must win Guanzhong.
Wu Qi, Baili Xi and others all thought this in their minds.
After Gongsun Xuanyuan and other generals were ordered to leave, they immediately went to Lantian Camp to mobilize troops. However, after handing over the order, they did not go to Chencang with 20,000 cavalry. Instead, they headed south to Chang'an with great fanfare.
Gongsun Xuanyuan's purpose this time was to make a surprise attack on Sanguan. Logically speaking, he should hide his whereabouts. However, the Guanzhong plain was so small that it was impossible to hide the movement of the 20,000 iron cavalry troops from the spies of the Tang army, even if they were marching at night.
Therefore, Gongsun Xuanyuan simply stopped pretending and went directly to Chang'an with great fanfare. However, he did not start a war directly, but only showed off his power at the border to mislead the Tang army. This action was another demonstration.
"The Qin army is coming, the Qin army is coming again."
As soon as the Great Qin cavalry moved its front legs, it was discovered by the spies of the Tang army before it entered the Jingzhao Yin boundary, and they immediately reported it to the military camps along the way and Chang'an.
After receiving the news, the Tang army in the military camps along the way did not dare to train in the camp. They retreated into the camp extremely skillfully and watched the Qin army show off their power outside the camp. Anyway, the Qin army would retreat on its own after showing off. , they are all used to it.
According to statistics, since Li Jing took office as the Governor of Yongzhou, he launched nearly 200 demonstrations and provocations against the Tang Army, an average of more than a dozen times a month. This troubled the Tang Army everywhere and made them unable to focus on training.
There were so many demonstrations this time that the Tang army was used to it, and they subconsciously thought that the Qin army was here to demonstrate this time and not to start a war.
But this time the wolf really came.
After a demonstration, the Qin army's cavalry retreated skillfully. It was obvious that not only the Tang army, but also the Qin army was used to such actions.
Li Zuoche looked at the Qin army's cavalry leaving, his eyes filled with anger and worry. When would these frustrating days end?
"Report immediately to Chang'an that the Qin army has retreated."
"promise."
The Qin army regarded Guanzhong as its back garden, and its cavalry could come and leave whenever they wanted. Every demonstration by the Qin army was a blow to the morale of the Tang army.
Therefore, Li Zuoche hoped that Chang'an would pay attention to Qin's demonstrations and have a slightly tougher diplomatic attitude towards Qin, but every time he reported it, he only received a reply of 'business as usual'.
This time is no exception.
"well."
Looking at Chang'an's reply in his hand, Li Zuoche's face was full of disappointment, and his heart was full of confusion about the future.
Where should the Tang Dynasty go from here?
After the Qin army left, the Tang army in the military camp continued everything as usual, training as it should and patrolling as it should, as if the Qin army had never been here.
All this was seen by the spies of the Qin Army and reported to Gongsun Xuanyuan.
"General, Li Tang really didn't take it seriously. They just thought we were still demonstrating this time." Pei Yuanqing said with excitement.
It's better not to take it seriously. The more insensitive the Tang army is, the smoother their actions will be.
Gongsun Xuanyuan glanced at the sun that was about to set and ordered: "Let's set off and arrive at Chencang within two days."
"promise."
Under the cover of the moonlight, 20,000 cavalry galloped towards Chen Cang at full speed.
At the same time, in Chencang County, the county government office.
A group of people got together and seemed to be planning something.
County magistrate Ma Ping paced back and forth, muttering anxiously: "Why hasn't General Li Cunjin come back yet? Could it be that Li Siben found out?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Cunjin strode in, and his men also brought a tightly tied and gagged general. It was Chencang guard Li Siben.
When the county magistrate saw Li Cun come in, he was overjoyed. He hurriedly greeted him and said with a smile: "General Li Cunjin, I know you will succeed."
Li Cunjin said: "Fortunately, we fulfilled our mission and captured Siben while he was drunk. Now no one in Chencang City can stop us."
"Woooooooo..."
When Li Siben heard this, he struggled fiercely.
He never expected that his good brother Li Cunjin would drug him, but he was caught without taking precautions.
After Li Cunjin saw Li Siben's appearance, he stepped forward to remove the cloth from his mouth, but Li Siben cursed loudly: "Li Cunjin, what do you and the others want to do?"
"What to do? Of course, open the city gate and welcome the Qin army into the city." Li Cunjin sneered.
"What?"
Li Siben was immediately shocked and said angrily: "Li Cunjin, are you crazy? You dare to betray the Tang Dynasty and the Li family?
Have you forgotten who gave you everything you have in the first place?
If the Li family hadn't adopted you and taught you martial arts, you would have starved to death on the streets of Longxi. "
"snort."
Li Cunjin snorted coldly and said: "The reason why the Li family took me in and taught me martial arts was because they wanted me to work for the Li family because of my good qualifications. Otherwise, how could they be so kind?
I have been working as a horse for the Li family for twenty years. Isn't that enough to repay my kindness? Do you have to be a dog for the Li family until you die? "
"Asshole, you ungrateful thing, even so, you can't betray Tang and surrender to Qin at this juncture." Li Siben said angrily.
"Who said I rebelled against Tang and defected to Qin? I rebelled against Tang and defected to Princess Xiuning.
If it weren't for the princess, I, Li Cunjin, would have died long ago.
The princess showed kindness to me and made great contributions to the Tang Dynasty, but how did Li Shimin treat his own sister? "
Hearing Li Cunjin's words, Li Siben was stunned. He never expected that Li Cunjin's rebellion was actually because of Li Xiuning.
Li Xiuning's influence in Li Tang was second only to Tang Gong Li Shimin, but he was treated harshly by Li Shimin, which made many people in Tang State feel unfair to him.
It's just that Li Si didn't expect that Li Cunjin would betray Tang State because of this.
"Cunjin, regarding Princess Xiuning, what my lord did was indeed unethical, but Princess Xiuning also made mistakes first. If you betray Li because of this..."
Li Si wanted to persuade Li Cunjin to turn back, but before he could finish his words, Li Cunjin blocked his mouth.
"Teacher, just stay here. When the Qin army takes Guanzhong, we may still be colleagues."
After saying that, Li Cunjin stopped talking and turned around to leave. Li Siben was tied up by him, and there was no one in charge at the military camp, so he needed to stabilize him.
At noon the next day, the cavalry led by Gongsun Xuanyuan arrived outside Chencang City in advance.
After a night of purges, Li Cunjin had imprisoned all Li Siben's confidants and replaced them with his own people. Chencang City was completely under his control.
Seeing that the Qin army had arrived outside the city early, Li Siben opened the city directly to welcome Gongsun Xuanyuan in without any resistance.
"General Li Cunjin, you led your troops to abandon the dark side and join the bright side, which has saved our army a lot of trouble." Gongsun Xuanyuan said with a smile.
"General Gongsun, there will be no more Li Cunjin from now on. The last general is ready to change his name back to Sun Chongjin."
"Oh? Why is this?"
"My real name is Sun Chongjin. It was only because the Li family hated Li Cunxiao that they changed our names to Li Cunjin. We wanted to disgust General Li Cunxiao, but General Li Cunxiao was not disgusted. Instead, we brothers became a joke."
After hearing the words of Li Cunjin, no, Sun Chongjin, Gongsun Xuanyuan suddenly realized.
He said how come there were so many generals named "Li Cunx" in Li Tang. It turned out that they were not his real names, but they were forcibly changed in order to disgust Li Cunxiao.
I have to say that for Li Cunxiao, this kind of behavior is indeed disgusting, but it is Li Cunjin and others who are more uncomfortable.
Even if his name was forcibly changed, it was only one word different from the name of the best general in the world. It was inevitable that he would be compared with him, but in the end he would be humiliating himself.
"Now that I have surrendered to Qin, I naturally have to change my name back to my real name." Sun Chongjin said with a sad face.
After Gongsun Xuanyuan comforted him, he began to ask about the situation in Chencang City. Sun Chongjin replied: "There are five thousand defenders in Chencang City, one hundred thousand stones of food and grass, two hundred catapults, four thousand crossbows, and fifty arrows." Ten thousand pieces..."
"There are so many grains, grass and ordnance in the small Chencang City, but now they all belong to our Great Qin." Yuwen Chengdu said with a smile.
"Send the order. After the army takes a short rest, it will continue to rush to disperse the customs."
After saying this, Gongsun Xuanyuan looked at Sun Chongjin and said: "General Sun, we still need your efforts to win Sanguan."
"Please give me the general's orders. The last general is obliged to do so."
"good."
Because Sun Chongjin directly surrendered the city, after Xuanyuan captured the fortified city of Chencang, not only did he not lose a single soldier, but he gained 5,000 more surrendered troops, and his strength increased instead of decreasing.
Regarding Chencang's five thousand surrendered troops, most of them will definitely not be used for the time being.
However, Sun Chongjin's thousand soldiers and horses at his headquarters can still be trusted.
Gongsun Xuanyuan planned to let Sun Chongjin pretend to be a defeated army, while he would lead the army in pursuit, thereby pretending to open the gate of Sanguan, so that he could enter the city and break Sanguan in one fell swoop.
(End of chapter)
