With the first aerial ladder, the second, third, and fourth soon appeared... In just a moment, thousands of aerial ladders covered the city walls of Nanzheng, and the four city gates of Nanzheng also appeared. He was pushed into a car by Sui army soldiers and hit wildly.
"Anyone who stands in my way will die!"
With a roar, the Sui army's brave general Luo Shixin jumped onto the city wall brandishing a big iron spear, and swept the Tang soldiers who came forward with his spear down the city wall.
"Ding dong, it has been detected that Luo Shixin has entered the tiger state, the force is +5, the base force is 103, and the current force has increased to 108."
Luo Shixin charged forward with his gun, and the soldiers behind him climbed up bravely, and soon occupied a corner on the city wall.
"Brothers from Bashu, we can't let the brothers outside look down upon us!"
Hearing that Luo Shixin had climbed onto the city wall, the fierce general Long Ge was not to be outdone. He waved his long sword and struck the eagle feathers, and walked up quickly.
"Ding dong, the dragon has been detected and entered the heroic state, the force is +5, the base force is 102, and the current force has been increased to 107."
The generals of the Sui army took the lead, and their soldiers advanced bravely. The city of Nanzheng was crumbling under the raging offensive of the Sui army.
"General, we can't hold on any longer! Leave quickly!"
Li Guangyan's deputy said to Li Guangyan with a sad face.
Li Guangyan's face was covered with blood. He gritted his teeth and glared ahead, his face full of unwillingness. He was about to scold the deputy general when earth-shattering cheers rang out behind him.
"General, the defenders at the south gate cannot stop the Sui army's offensive. The city gate has been lost. The main force of the Sui army has entered the city!"
The south gate guard was hit by four arrows and fled back with a dozen defeated soldiers in a panic to report the bad news to Li Guangyan.
"withdraw!"
Li Guangyan was full of reluctance, but was unable to turn around. He took one last look at Nanzheng City and walked down the city wall without looking back.
Nanzheng City was besieged on all sides by the Sui army. It was extremely difficult for Li Guangyan to lead his army to break through. However, he was lucky. He did not encounter Jia Fu, Long Qie, Luo Shixin and other powerful generals along the way. After several twists and turns, Li Guangyan led more than a hundred A remnant of the defeated soldiers escaped.
Li Guangyan fled, and the Tang army in Nanzheng City lost the will to fight. By noon, the sporadic resistance in the city was completely suppressed by the Sui army.
In this battle, the Sui army killed more than 6,000 people and captured tens of thousands of Tang soldiers, which brought a perfect end to the Bashu Campaign.
In fact, the outcome of the Battle of Hanzhong has long been determined. Not to mention that it is impossible for Li Guangyan and Li Cunshen to persist until Li Guangbi's reinforcements arrive. Even if Li Guangbi's reinforcements arrive in time, Hanzhong cannot be saved. The general trend is that the people of Hanzhong have long been dispersed.
Li Yuan's wisest choice should be to withdraw from Hanzhong immediately before the Sui army arrived, so that he could still save 20,000 to 30,000 troops. However, this cannot be entirely blamed on the civil and military mistakes of the Tang Dynasty such as Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng, because the geographical location of Hanzhong is too important.
Hanzhong stretches across the Qinling Mountains to the north, and to the south is the thick and long Micang Mountain. It is narrow from north to south and long from east to west. It is like a corridor that runs from east to west. It is called "the throat of Qin and Ba, and the long skirt leads to Shu".
With the fall of Hanzhong, the offensive and defensive situation of the Sui and Tang Dynasties in the southwest suddenly changed drastically. From now on, Li and Tang's Guanzhong and Longxi areas will be exposed to the blade of the Sui army at any time.
Fortunately, Li Yuan had been prepared for this. After learning that Hanzhong had been lost, he just sighed and did not vomit blood and faint like before when he heard about the defeat of Bashu.
At the same time, the main force of the Tang army led by Li Shimin finally walked out of the Ziwu Valley Road after suffering heavy casualties after dozens of days of arduous marching and constant harassment by the Sui army.
After hearing that Hanzhong had been lost, Li Shimin made a decisive decision and ordered the entire army to redirect to Longxi. There were still tens of thousands of troops stationed in Guanzhong. Li Guangbi's reinforcements were also stranded in Guanzhong at this time. Only the Longxi area was empty, so the Sui army must not take advantage of the loophole.
After hearing that Li Shimin led his army to Longxi, Li Jing also gave up his plan to take advantage of the victory to march into Longxi. After all, the Sui army had been fighting continuously. Although they had won consecutive battles, the army was already showing signs of fatigue. At that time, Li Jing wrote to Yang Gao, suggesting that the Bashu Sui army rest for a while and wait for the next day to attack Guanzhong with other Sui armies.
After Yang Gao received Li Jing's report, he immediately agreed and appointed Qin Qiong as the general manager of Hanzhong. He led an army of 50,000 to sit in Hanzhong and spy on Longxi Guanzhong. Li Jing led his army back to Bashu to rest.
After learning that the Sui army would no longer invade the north, Li Yuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief and immediately issued an imperial edict: "Pass an edict to order Qin King Li Shimin and Qi King Li Yuanji to return to Beijing quickly!"
Li Jiancheng, who was standing by, was secretly happy when he heard this. He understood that Li Yuan had been completely disappointed with Li Shimin. As soon as Li Shimin returned to Beijing, the King of Qin without an army would be just a toothless tiger, and his position as crown prince would be as stable as Mount Tai.
The ideal is full, but the reality is very bare bones.
When the edict was conveyed to Li Shimin by the eunuch, Li Shimin accepted the edict calmly and said calmly: "Excuse me, please go back and tell your father that I, the king, are busy with important matters and will not be able to return to the capital for a while."
"Your Majesty... Your Highness!"
The chamberlain who delivered the order was obviously shocked and stammered: "You... you are resisting the order!"
Li Shimin nodded and smiled slightly: "The Sui army has been eyeing Longxi since it captured Hanzhong. There has been no war in Longxi for many years and the armaments are lax. I need time to rectify military affairs. After I have arranged the affairs in Longxi, I will naturally return to Beijing to meet my father. .”
This time, before the servant could say anything, King Qi Li Yuanji could no longer hold it in any longer. He jumped out and pointed at his nose and yelled at Li Shimin: "King Qin, you are so brave. My father's decree has been issued, and you still dare to make excuses." Don’t go back! Li Jing’s army has obviously withdrawn south, how can there be a war in Longxi? You are being treasonous, disloyal and unfilial.”
Li Shimin's eyes flashed with coldness, he stared at Li Yuanji and said coldly: "It may not be true that Li Jing's army retreated south. Who knows if he was pretending to withdraw and suddenly turned around? What's more, even if Li Jing's army retreats south, there is still Qin Qiong in Hanzhong." With an army of 50,000, shouldn’t Longxi’s military affairs be reorganized?”
Li Yuanji yelled in the lobby of the Commander's Mansion: "Excuses, they are all excuses! You clearly don't dare to return to Beijing for fear of being punished by your father!"
"King Qi!"
Li Shimin's voice became even colder: "The general will not accept your orders. My father is far away in Chang'an and does not know the situation on the front line. As the commander-in-chief of the three armies, I must be responsible for the entire army!"
As he spoke, he cast his gaze at Yuchi Gong who was standing aside. Yuchi Gong understood, held down the hilt of his sword, took two steps forward, and said in a deep voice to Li Yuanji: "His Royal Highness the King of Qi, His Highness the King of Qin also considers the safety of the soldiers of the three armies and the country of the Tang Dynasty. , please don’t slander His Highness the King of Qin with your nonsense!”
In the hall, Li Shimin's confidant Xuan Jia's bodyguard took two steps forward at the same time, looking coldly at Li Yuanji and the eunuch who was delivering the order. The eunuch had obviously never seen this scene before, and his legs went weak and he almost collapsed to the ground.
