Chapter 2517: The Three Kingdoms of Shu, Sui and Qin divided into Tang Dynasty (End)
How high was the price Liu Yu offered Li Siyuan?
First of all, after gaining the throne and independence, Li Siyuan would jump from a general to a warlord, leapfrogging in terms of status and class, and legitimately developing his power.
Secondly, if Li Siyuan goes it alone, even if he declares independence and becomes king, with his prestige and power, not many people will pay attention to him.
But becoming a vassal state of the Southern Han Dynasty, the situation is completely different.
Carrying the name of the Southern Han Dynasty and being protected by the Southern Han Dynasty, he does not have to worry about being targeted by other forces. This is a great protective umbrella for Li Siyuan.
Finally, and the most important thing, Li Siyuan will get an excellent opportunity, an opportunity to absorb the remnants of Li Tang to develop and grow.
Now that the three kingdoms of Shu, Sui and Qin have jointly sent troops, Li Tang's broken ship is destined to sink, but there are still many legacies on the broken ship.
Most of the Tang generals were resentful of Shu's ungratefulness and betrayal of the alliance. Therefore, most Tang generals were more willing to join other forces than Shu.
This is why even though Shu invaded Hanzhong first, there were so many cities with Qin flags hoisted.
Most Tang generals still care for Li Tang in their hearts, but the demise of the Tang state is basically doomed. If a continuation force of Li Tang emerges at this time, it will be similar to how Li Tang continued the Xiliang army and was able to get between the major forces. Survival is also a new choice for those Tang generals who are unwilling to surrender to Shu.
No matter which one of the above three points is of great benefit to Li Siyuan, Liu Yu gave it to Li Siyuan at once. Such a price is obviously much heavier than Yangping Pass.
The reason why Liu Yu paid such a high price and gave such preferential treatment to Li Siyuan was not only to obtain Yangping Pass, but also had another purpose, which was to win allies to fight against Qin.
Since Li Tang is destined to fall, the remaining forces of Li Tang should be reorganized into a new anti-Qin force. Even if it does not completely belong to Shu, it will still belong to the anti-Qin alliance. This will be beneficial to Liu Yu. It outweighs the disadvantages.
What's more, as long as Li Siyuan accepts the enfeoffment of Shu and hands over Yangping Pass to Shu, his path to surrender to Qin will be completely cut off, and he will have to fight against Qin in the future.
Although Li Siyuan was fooled by Zhang Song, he still guessed Liu Yu's intention. After all, it was impossible for a pie to fall from the sky, and it was still such a big pie.
If Li Siyuan had no ambition, Liu Yu's condition would be ten times that of Bungo, which would still be nothing to him.
But Li Siyuan had hidden great ambitions, and now he was exposed. He was completely out of control, so naturally he couldn't bear the temptation of such conditions.
"There are only 10,000 defenders at Yangping Pass and no strong generals. If there are no reinforcements, they will definitely not be able to stop Li Cunxiao's army.
It would be better to take advantage of this opportunity and hand over Yangping Pass, which will not only preserve our strength, but also gain a lot of benefits, and make both Qin and Shu lose in a fight. It can be said that it kills three birds with one stone. "
At this thought, Li Siyuan had made a decision in his heart. He opened his eyes and said seriously: "Mr. Zhang Song, when you go back, please tell the King of Chengdu that as long as he keeps his promise, Li Siyuan will follow his lead from now on."
Hearing this, Zhang Song immediately smiled. He knew that Li Siyuan accepted their conditions, Yangping Pass was saved, and his life was also saved.
While Zhang Song was lobbying Li Siyuan, Li Cunxiao's 50,000-strong army had also been assembled and officially marched towards Yangping Pass.
At the same time, the war in the three counties of Longxi also officially started. After all, the Qin army had assembled its troops early, so the movements of these three armies were much faster.
Li Tang now has only 100,000 troops in the country, of which 50,000 are in Hanzhong, 30,000 in Longxi, and the last 20,000 in the Qiang region.
The total military strength of Longxi was only 30,000. Facing the Qin army's offensive of 60,000 from three directions, even though Ji (Ji) Chang, the governor of Longxi, was well prepared, he was still caught off guard by the Qin army and lost consecutive battles.
The Qin army came in three groups, and Ji Chang could not look after each other. In addition to recruiting new soldiers, he could only transfer most of his troops to Longxi County to protect one county first, hoping to defeat Xuanyuan first and then support the two armies.
Ji Chang was already prepared for a decisive battle with Gongsun Xuanyuan at Didao, but he didn't want to fall into Xuanyuan's plan to build a plank road in secret.
Xuanyuan pretended to lead his army straight towards Didao, but halfway, his troops turned around and pointed directly at Jiancheng Heguan, Longxi County.
The defender did not expect Xuanyuan to come, and was caught off guard. He only held on for half a day before he was defeated by Gongsun Xuanyuan himself.
At the same time, Ayang City in Hanyang County was captured by Long Qie, and the two cities of Gudao and Hechi in Wudu County were also contributed by Wu Qi and Sun Lingming respectively.
After the war began, on the first day, even if the four cities fell, the morale of the Tang army in Longxi instantly fell to the bottom.
Things didn't get any better after that.
After Longqie captured Ayang City, he successively captured Chengji and Lueyang cities, leading his troops to Long County, where Hanyang was governed.
Wu Qi and Sun Lingming, who had invaded Wudu County, after capturing Shanglu City, did not move to Bian City where Wudu was located. Instead, they went north to invade Hanyang County, and even went to Xi County, Wangyuan, and Shangguo Sancheng, the army is approaching Longguan.
Longguan is the east gate of Longxi. It was established in the early Han Dynasty. Because it is located in Longshan, it is named Longguan, also known as Dazhenguan.
Longguan is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Not only is it guarded by five thousand Tang troops, but the guard is also Li Kai, the general of the Tang clan.
Long Qie sent an envoy to persuade him to surrender early, but this person directly beheaded the envoy to show his determination not to surrender.
Li Kai's move directly changed the Qin army's strategy plan, forcing Wu Qi to go north to cooperate with Long Qie. The two armies worked together to gnaw the hard nut of Longguan first.
By the time Wu Qi's army arrived at Longguan, Long Qie had already captured Longxian County, the seat of Hanyang, as well as the two important places of Qinting and Jieting. He no longer had any worries before setting off to Longguan.
Wu Qi's army was in the south, and Long Qie's army was in the north. The two armies attacked from north to south and stormed Longguan for three days.
Three days of fierce attack caused nearly half of the Longguan garrison casualties, but Li Kai still refused to surrender.
In order to survive, the defenders in the pass finally ordered Li Yue, the deputy general, to kill Li Kai in a sneak attack, and then surrendered to Long Qie.
Since then, the two major passes in the northeast of Longxi, Longguan and Heguan, all fell into the hands of the Qin Dynasty.
Great Qin had obtained Longguan and Heguan, and in Longxi it was already a stable and win-win situation in which it could advance, attack, retreat and defend. There was no need for a quick battle anymore and it could be done steadily.
Therefore, both Xuanyuan and Longqi's armies slowed down their offensive pace, and Wu Qi also led his army back to continue the attack on Wudu.
After consecutive defeats, the morale of the Tang army in Longxi continued to decline, and a large number of signs of surrender began to appear.
Longxi County: Zhangxian, Xiangwu;
Hanyang County: Ayang, Pingxiang;
Wudu County: Qiang Road;
A total of five cities and nearly 10,000 defenders all chose Kaicheng to surrender.
Ji Chang had nothing to do about this. He couldn't solve Gongsun Xuanyuan alone, let alone prevent the city guards from surrendering.
"Damn it." Ji Chang gritted his teeth.
"Commander, the three counties of Longxi only have thirty cities in total. The war has only started for ten days, and nearly half of the land has fallen. If the battle continues, it will be like a mantis trying to defeat a chariot, and the sacrifice will be in vain. It's better..."
Before the county magistrate Jixuan finished speaking, he was killed by Ji Chang with a sword.
After Ji Chang shook off the blood stains on his sword, he glanced at everyone and said coldly: "Anyone who dares to surrender again will be killed without mercy."
When everyone present saw this, they all remained silent and did not dare to mention surrender again.
Ji Xuan was from the Ji family and Ji Chang's cousin. Ji Changdu killed him without saying a word. If outsiders like them dared to mention it, they would definitely have no chance of survival.
All the ministers present understood the reason why Jichang was so opposed to surrendering to Qin. It was just that all his sons died in the battle with the Qin army.
Just two days ago, Ji Chang's second son Ji Fa escaped from Guanzhong and brought the news that his eldest son Ji Kao had been killed by the Heibingtai swordsman during his escape.
Since then, among the more than twenty sons born to Jichang, except for Ji Dan who returned to Qin early, Lei Zhenzi who was forced to surrender to Qin, and Ji Fa who escaped back, all the others were captured by the Qin army in the Battle of Guanzhong. kill.
More than twenty sons died in a row, Ji Chang sent his white-haired man to his black-haired man, and had a bloody feud with Da Qin. How could he still surrender to Da Qin?
"Report to the Commander-in-Chief, the envoy of Qin wants to see you." Some soldiers came to report.
Hearing this, Ji Chang said directly: "If you don't see me, just kill him."
San Yisheng stood up at this time and said, "Well, we can't kill this envoy. You'd better meet him, Commander."
Ji Chang was startled and a little confused, but he still nodded and agreed.
It was not until he saw the envoy that Ji Chang understood why the envoy could not be killed, because the person who came was none other than his youngest son, Lei Zhenzi, Ji Lei.
"My son, you are finally back. My father is afraid that you will not come back like your brothers."
When Ji Chang saw Lei Zhenzi, he rushed up to him, hugged his son and cried so hard that he was heartbroken.
Lei Zhenzi was sent to Kunlun before he could remember and was raised by his master Yun Zhongzi. He only spent less than a month at home with Ji Chang, so his feelings for Ji Chang were actually very weak.
But no matter how weak his feelings were, Ji Chang was also his biological father, and he couldn't let go of this blood relationship.
"Father, Lei Zhenzi is here as an envoy of Qin to persuade you to give up resistance and surrender to Qin." Lei Zhenzi said indifferently.
Ji Chang's body suddenly stiffened, and his tears stopped instantly. He pointed at Lei Zhenzi with "you" for a long time, and was so angry that he couldn't speak. In the end, he just replied, "Don't even think about it."
A strange look flashed in Lei Zhenzi's eyes. His original surrender was just an act of necessity. Even if the senior brothers and Ji Dan took turns to persuade him, he still never let go of his hatred, so naturally he did not want his father to surrender to Qin.
As the Qin envoy this time, Ji Dan should have been responsible for the task of persuading the surrender of Longxi.
Lei Zhenzi knew that this fourth brother was very eloquent, and if he really allowed him to meet his father, he might be able to persuade him to let go of his hatred, so he snatched this task from Ji Dan on the grounds that his father liked his younger son more.
"Twenty-two of your brothers were all killed by Bao Qin. This hatred is irreconcilable. My father will never surrender to Bao Qin."
Ji Chang said solemnly that he did not have responsibility for Lei Zhenzi to surrender, nor did he have responsibility for Ji Dan to defect to Da Qin.
After all, Lei Zhenzi would definitely die if he did not surrender, and the two sides had not yet become enemies when Ji Dan surrendered to Qin, and Ji's family also agreed.
With Ji Dan here, it can at least ensure that the Ji family will not be exterminated.
"Father, the Longguan River Pass has been lost, and the three counties in Longxi are destined to be unable to defend themselves. Since my father is unwilling to surrender, why not give up Longxi as soon as possible and retreat into the Qiang land while there are still troops in hand." Lei Zhenzi said.
When Ji Fa heard this, he also said: "That's right, Commander-in-Chief. Father, by giving up Longxi, he can avoid the Qin army's front and gather the military power of the Qiang people.
Now the Qiang land has not yet been completely occupied by the Sui Kingdom. Father, you have gone to the Qiang land. At least we, father and son, still have a place to live, so that we can come back in the future. "
Ji Chang was stunned by the words of his two sons. He had never thought of giving up the three counties of Longxi and retreating to Qiang land.
"But can Yang Guang tolerate our father and son?" Ji Chang said hesitantly.
"There will be a battle between Qin and Sui, and it will be soon. As long as we are willing to surrender and obey his orders, Yang Guang will definitely accept it." Ji Fa said seriously.
Ji Chang nodded, then looked at Lei Zhenzi and said, "Son, are you pretending to surrender?"
"That's right, the hatred for killing the master is irreconcilable. Even if the master's sect has fallen to the Qin Dynasty, I, Lei Zhenzi, will never give up."
Lei Zhenzi knew that if he persisted in revenge, he would be expelled from the school, but even so, he did not regret it. He must avenge the blood revenge of his mentor Yun Zhongzi.
"In this case, the three of us, father and son, will work together to avenge your master and brother and fight against the violent Qin to the end."
With that said, Ji Chang took the hands of Ji Fa and Lei Zhenzi.
The father and son looked at each other with determination in their eyes.
(End of chapter)
