Chapter 4360 Chapter 4362 [Situation Reversal]
Li Shimin led his army to attack Lingnan and failed, and his own backyard caught fire.
The eldest brother Li Jiancheng wanted to seize his military power, but the fourth brother Li Yuanji was unable to hold up the wall. He could lose his troops and generals even if he hit Liu Heita, which was really embarrassing.
Therefore, Li Shimin was so distressed that he had no choice but to withdraw his troops and return to Ganzhou to rest.
He had originally arranged for Li Jing to lead an elite ambush. Once the Song clan came out of the city to pursue them, Li Jing would lead his troops to cover them up and catch them off guard.
But unexpectedly, Xiang Nan did not lead his troops to pursue him at all. Instead, he only sent troops to reinforce Shaoguan. He did not even send troops to occupy Renhua, Dayu, Chongyi and other county towns.
This can't help but surprise Li Shimin. He wonders if Xiang Nan doesn't want to divide his troops, or if he has already seen his plan clearly?
Only Song Que and Xiang Nan knew that Xiang Nan was only responsible for protecting Lingnan and was not responsible for helping the Song clan conquer the world. Therefore, it was obviously a good opportunity to beat the drowned dog, but Xiang Nan gave up.
…
A month later, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuan's imperial edict took away Li Shimin's military power.
Although Li Shimin is highly regarded in the military, he cannot disobey his father's orders, especially now that he cannot refuse.
In history, during the Xuanwumen Revolution, Li Shimin's power was already quite strong. The reason why Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji launched the Xuanwumen Revolution was because Mingli could no longer control him, so they wanted to assassinate him at Xuanwumen.
But Li Shimin's power is not that strong now. Although he still has an army of more than 100,000, he relies on the rear for food and grass supply. Once Li Yuan cuts off his food and grass, no matter how many troops he has, it will be useless.
Just like in "Yongzheng Dynasty", the reason why Yongzheng is not afraid of Nian Gengyao leading troops to rebel is because his army needs the supply of grain and grass from the mainland.
Once Yongzheng cuts off his food and grass, he will have an army of hundreds of thousands, which is like a rootless tree and a sourceless water. If he didn't have food and grass to feed the army, the soldiers would kill him first.
Therefore, Li Shimin had no choice but to hand over power first and hand over the command seal to his brother Li Jiancheng, while he led a personal army to Jizhou to replace Li Yuanji and face Liu Heitai.
…
After Li Jiancheng got the commander's seal, he was eager to make meritorious deeds, so he led his army to attack Shaoguan again.
But his ability is far inferior to that of Li Shimin. Xiang Nan only sent a general who pretended to have worked under Xiang Nan's account. As a result, he was punished for a trivial matter. He was so angry that he prepared to surrender to Li Jiancheng and surrendered in the middle of the night.
Li Jiancheng believed it and indeed led his army to march into Shaoguan at night, waiting for the time to come before attacking the city.
Sure enough, at midnight, the city gate opened, and Li Jiancheng immediately led his army to attack the city. As a result, when I entered the city, I was dumbfounded. It turned out that Xiang Nan had already built an urn city and was waiting.
As soon as Li Jiancheng's army entered, he immediately ignited the explosives planted in Wengcheng. In an instant, there was a loud bang and the explosions knocked people off their backs, killing and injuring them all.
The rest of the Li army that had not yet entered the city retreated in a hurry as soon as they saw that they had been tricked. As a result, they were bombed indiscriminately by Xiang Nanyitong again, causing heavy casualties again.
Of the 100,000 troops that finally went on the expedition, only 30,000 returned to Ganzhou. Others were killed or injured, captured alive, or dispersed. In short, the losses were extremely heavy. Even General Li Jiancheng was injured and captured.
When the news came back to Taiyuan, Li Yuan was naturally anxious and heartbroken. Li Clan's army only numbered more than 300,000, and this time he sent troops to Lingnan, half of his army was used. Compared with the Song clan's 20,000 troops, the 150,000 troops had an advantage. They originally thought they could conquer Lingnan without any effort.
Unexpectedly, the 150,000-strong army was reduced to only 30,000. The Li family's army lost one-third. This is an unbearable weight.
Just like the Battle of Sarhu between the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty, although the Ming Dynasty had a million troops, it only lost 50,000 in the Battle of Sarhu, which led to a reversal in the military strength of the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty.
From then on, the Ming Dynasty could only defend against Hou Jin, but could not attack, and was finally captured by Hou Jin.
Now the Li family has lost hundreds of thousands of troops, and the impact is greater than the Battle of Saarhu. Many areas that had been pacified now have signs of rebellion.
For example, some gentry in places such as Jingchu, Jiangnan, Xuben, Fujian and Zhejiang, and even Sichuan, Chongqing, and Chang'an, had signs of rebellion.
In fact, ancient war was not a city-by-city attack. Many times, once the opponent's main force is defeated, the area he rules can basically be "determined by word of mouth."
After all, the officials and nobles in the city were not idiots, and they were not so loyal. When facing the army that was about to attack, it was common for them to choose to slip and kneel, and there were very few who resisted stubbornly.
And since they chose to kneel down and surrender, the other party would naturally not kill them all, but would try their best to protect the interests of these people. In this way, you can get a city, and those people can keep their jobs, which is the best of both worlds.
But this also leaves a hidden danger, that is, if the war goes well, those people will naturally feel at ease and be obedient citizens. However, once the war goes wrong and the victor becomes the loser, the officials and nobles who surrendered before are likely to rebel again.
Just like during the Three Kingdoms period, Tao Gongzu gave Xuzhou three concessions, and Xuzhou was ruled by Liu Bei, Lu Bu, and Cao Cao. Only a small number of local officials and powerful men in Xuzhou rose up to resist, and most of the rest fell with the wind. Liu Bei came with Liu Bei, Lu Bu came with Lu Bu, Cao Cao came with Cao Cao...
Although Li Clan had previously captured Chang'an, Sichuan and Chongqing, Jingchu, Xuben, Jiangnan, Fujian and Zhejiang, etc., the time they occupied was too short, and they did not take root and completely control these areas.
Therefore, these areas are nominally owned by the Li clan, but in fact, the real control rights are still in the hands of local powerful people. Now we see that Li Clan lost the battle and lost hundreds of thousands of troops.
Several cities in Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangnan immediately rebelled directly and announced their return to the Song clan.
…
Song Que was very happy to hear the news of the victory in Shaoguan, and immediately led an army of five thousand to Shaoguan.
"Zhong'er, you did a good job." He praised with a smile.
Li Clan's 120,000-strong army was wiped out, which can be regarded as a serious injury.
"Dad, why don't you take this opportunity to talk to Li Clan and how about becoming a nominal vassal state?" Xiang Nan suggested to Song Que.
"A vassal state?!" Song Que was stunned, "Now that the situation is good, we can definitely counterattack. This time I personally take action, I will definitely defeat the Li clan and unify the Central Plains. What kind of vassal state do you think it is?"
"Fighting back and forth will only cause more pain to the people. It's better to just give up when things are good." Xiang Nan suggested, "Let's keep Lingnan and then occupy the southeast. There is a vast world and a lot to do, so why not limit it to the Central Plains?"
"Zhong'er, Shi Dao has a calm and gentle personality and is not suitable to be my successor. Everything I have now will be inherited by you in the future. Do you really not want to be the emperor of the Central Plains?" Song Que asked immediately.
"Dad, if I really wanted to be the emperor, I wouldn't have to wait until the future." Xiang Nan waved his hand and said, "I really have no interest in being the emperor. If it weren't for you and my eldest brother, I would have taken Yuzhi and retired from the world. ”
Hearing what he said, Song Que was stunned for a moment, then let out a long sigh.