Chapter 93 The War between Sui and Tang Dynasties (Twenty-three)
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Nearly ten days have passed since the siege of Chang'an, and the Sui army has never launched an offensive. From the beginning, Yang Yuanqing had no intention of attacking the city. The Tang Dynasty was over and the Tang army had no hope. Maybe they were a little confused at first, but as time went by As time goes by, they will only become more and more desperate.
On the morning of the tenth day, ten huge trebuchets appeared outside the east, west and south city walls of Chang'an. The giant trebuchets were two to five feet high. They were pulled by dozens of cattle and rumbled towards the city wall.
The soldiers at the top of the city suddenly became nervous, and the alarm bell sounded. The soldiers of the Tang Army, who had been tortured and exhausted, ran to the top of the city again, bows and arrows drawn, and they looked uneasily at the trebuchet slowly approaching under the city.
"Prepare the bed crossbow!"
Duan Decao shouted loudly, and a crossbow was set up on the battlements, aiming at the trebuchet hundreds of steps away.
"Shoot!"
The sound of drums sounded, and thousands of crossbows on the top of the city were fired at the same time. The dense long arrows were shot at the trebuchet with strong force. , fell in a pool of blood.
The giant trebuchet stopped three hundred steps away. One trebuchet was pulled by more than a hundred soldiers. The several-long throwing arm was bent down. Several Sui soldiers put the spherical skin bag into the trebuchet. Inside the machine.
"put!"
Dozens of large rubber balls were thrown towards the city of Chang'an one after another. In the air, the ball bags burst open, and groups of leaflets fell overwhelmingly. They were blown into the city by the wind. The soldiers of the Tang Army on the city also stopped shooting and stared blankly. Watching the pieces of paper falling from the sky, many soldiers took advantage of the officer's unpreparedness to grab one and put it in their arms.
¡°No private possession allowed, all leaflets must be handed in!¡±
Duan Decao rode on horseback and shouted on the top of the city, but he soon gave up. The Sui army continued to throw, and there were hundreds of thousands of pieces of paper floating in the sky over the city. . . . . .
The Dugu family set up twenty-four porridge relief tents in Chang'an City to provide relief to the hungry people in Chang'an around the clock, giving hope to many poor and already desperate families. Every day, an endless stream of people gathered at the porridge tents. There was a long queue in front of them to receive relief from the Dugu family.
There are three porridge shacks set up in front of the gate of Liren City alone. Thousands of people come to line up to receive porridge every day. At noon, a carriage, escorted by more than a dozen knights, slowly passes through Liren City. Stopping in front of the gate, the door opened, and Li Jiancheng, dressed in ordinary clothes, stepped out of the carriage.
In just ten days, Li Jiancheng lost a lot of weight. The calls for surrender from the court came one after another, which put great pressure on him. He gradually became desperate. Today he paid a private visit incognito to understand the situation among the people.
From a distance, he saw three huge porridge sheds. Next to the porridge sheds was a big flag with the words "Dugu Porridge Relief" written in four big characters. The Dugu family actually used all the food to help the common people. This was Li Jiancheng sighed secretly in his heart.
He clearly knew the intentions of the Dugu family, but he could not blame them. Although the Dugu family did not participate in the courtiers' forced conquest, what he did affected Li Jiancheng's heart more than the forced conquest.
It was noon at this time, and there was a huge crowd in front of the three porridge sheds. Thousands of poor people came from all directions, and a long queue formed in front of the porridge sheds.
Li Jiancheng also joined the queue. Several guards wanted to stop him, but he waved his hand and rushed to the other side. The people in the queue were noisy, and they seemed to be talking about something. Only then did Li Jiancheng realize that each of them had hands on his hands. They all held a colorful piece of paper.
"Old man, what is this piece of paper?" Li Jiancheng asked an old man next to him curiously.
"Haha! This is the order that the Sui army put into the city this morning. It contains thirteen promises, which is very exciting!"
Li Jiancheng was surprised. He borrowed the list and looked at it. There was a line of big characters written on the front: "The Great Sui Dynasty's Report to the Army and the People of Chang'an", followed by thirteen promises. The first one was the promise to implement equalization of land in Guanzhong, and Hedong and Hebei. In the same way, male Ding is granted a hundred acres of land, and female Ding is granted eighty acres of land.
The second article promised to implement low taxes and low labor service, and to recuperate and live with the people; while the third article promised to forget all the Tang Dynasty officials and pardon them all; the fourth article promised not to kill Li Tang's clan and Li Jiancheng; the fifth article promised It is the Sui Dynasty who will make Chang'an the capital, restore Chang'an's prosperity, defeat the Western Turks as soon as possible, and restore the Silk Road; the sixth item is to open warehouses and release grain, promisingThe price of grain dropped to less than 100 yuan per bucket of rice.
Nearly every article was targeted and very touching, which made Li Jiancheng feel chilly in his heart.
The old man smiled and said: "To be honest, everyone in Chang'an is looking forward to the Sui army entering the city and restoring the prosperity of the founding emperor. This Tang Dynasty should end as soon as possible! It's really boring."
"That's right!" a woman next to him said angrily: "It's definitely going to end. What's the point of staying up there, dragging it down day by day? Doesn't that Li Jiancheng claim to love the people like his own son? If he really loves the people, he should Follow the will of the people, end the war, and stop killing each other.¡±
"The summer harvest is coming soon, but the city gate is closed. What to do with the wheat outside the city?"
"My second uncle's family is in Jiangjun. The family has 150 acres of land. They also divided cattle and sheep and built new houses. The Tang Dynasty stayed in Guanzhong for several years and gave us nothing but nothing!"
Li Jiancheng's heart felt extremely heavy when everyone said something to him. He couldn't stay any longer and left the team. At this time, he had no intention of inspecting the market anymore. He let out a long sigh and said to the guards: " Go back to the palace!"
Li Jiancheng returned to the East Palace. As soon as he entered his study, a eunuch came forward to report: "Your Majesty, Xiao Xiangguo and Chen Xiangguo want to see you."
"Inform them to come in."
Not long after, Xiao Yu and Chen Shuda hurried in, with solemn expressions on their faces. They stepped forward and bowed to salute, "See your majesty!"
"What happened?" Li Jiancheng asked calmly. He had experienced too many things during this period and was already a little numb.
Chen Shuda stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, Dou Gui, Pei Ji and Feng Deyi led hundreds of officials to resign collectively. A total of one hundred and fifty-six officials submitted their resignations."
Li Jiancheng smiled bitterly. There are only less than 170 people in total, but 156 people want to resign? "
He asked Xiao Yu again, "Is this the same thing that happened to Xiao Xiangguo?"
Xiao Yu shook his head: "Your Majesty, Chai Prince Consort just sent news that there was internal strife in the West City. More than a thousand soldiers wanted to open the city to surrender, but Chai Prince Consort stopped them in time."
Li Jiancheng let out a long sigh and walked to the window with his hands behind his back. He raised his head and stared at the long white clouds in the sky. The hearts of the people, ministers, and military were gone. Is this the end of the Tang Dynasty?
"Two prime ministers!"
Li Jiancheng said slowly: "I plan to open the city and surrender."
Chen Shuda and Xiao Yu looked at each other. They had no objection. In fact, they also wanted to persuade Li Jiancheng to surrender. The Sui army launched a powerful psychological offensive. It is estimated that the army will mutiny and surrender tonight. Except for Duan Decao and Changsun Shunde, the following officers It is impossible for them to be loyal to the Tang Dynasty anymore. The people's morale and military morale are gone. There will definitely be officers who surrender and offer the city. Rather than being attacked by the Sui army, it is better to negotiate a surrender and gain some political advantage.
Xiao Yu bowed and said: "Your Majesty, I am willing to go to the Sui camp to negotiate with Yang Yuanqing as an envoy."
Li Jiancheng nodded, took out a gold medal and gave it to him, "You have full authority to negotiate with the Sui army on my behalf."
The golden gate of the west city slowly opened. Xiao Yu and two guards rode out of the city gate and headed towards the Sui army camp. Tens of thousands of soldiers on the city stared at him. They all understood that they were going to negotiate with the Sui army.
Xiao Yu came to the Sui camp and shouted loudly: "I am Xiao Yu, the Prime Minister of the Tang Dynasty. I am here to see His Royal Highness the King of Chu on the order of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Please inform me."
The soldiers rushed to report. After a while, the camp gate opened, and a group of Yang Yuanqing's soldiers drove out of the camp. The captain raised his hands and said, "His Royal Highness, the King of Chu, has invited Xiao Xiangguo to come with us."
Xiao Yu took a deep breath and followed them into the camp. He walked slowly along the horse road. Both sides were heavily guarded. Groups of Sui soldiers holding guns and bows stared at him coldly until they came to the Chinese army's tent. Several soldiers came forward, searched him, and invited him into the tent.
There was only one person in the tent, Yang Yuanqing, who was standing in front of the sand table with his hands behind his back. This sand table was the best in the world. It was five feet long and five feet wide, occupying almost half of the tent. Xiao Yu stepped forward and bowed, "See King Chu." Your Highness!"
Yang Yuanqing glanced at him and smiled slightly: "Xiao Xiangguo is exempt from courtesy. I hope my soldiers are not rude to Xiangguo."
Xiao Yu shook his head, "They are not rude."
Yang Yuanqing smiled and said: "Let me tell the Prime Minister some good news first! My general Su Dingfang led 60,000 coalition troops to break through the Western Turks' tent and killed more than 40,000 enemies. Shekui Khan was beheaded and captured by Su Dingfang himself. How about there are more than 500 Turkic nobles, is this good news?"
A bitter smile appeared on Xiao Yu¡¯s face, ¡°This is indeed good news. As a Han Chinese, I am deeply gratified.¡±
"Can Xiao Xiangguo say this?This shows that he is broad-minded, but there is also bad news. Duan Zhihong has led his army to surrender to the Sui army. I hope this news will not hit Xiao Xiangguo too much. "
Xiao Yu bit his lip. This was originally a bargaining chip that he came to negotiate to get the Bashu army to surrender, but this bargaining chip disappeared now. He took a deep breath and said, "Your Highness, let's talk about the future! How to solve the current dilemma?¡±
"Does Xiao Xiangguo think there is anything else necessary to talk about?"
Yang Yuanqing took out a stack of letters and threw them in front of him, and said calmly: "This is a letter of allegiance from your fourteen generals who defended the city. They all shot down the city with arrows. Eight of them expressed their willingness to surrender to the city tonight. To be honest, I can totally stop seeing you."
Xiao Yu felt dizzy in front of his eyes, and after a long while he struggled to say: "Okay! We have only one request, please give His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty his final dignity."
Yang Yuanqing nodded, "Seal the treasury, preserve the files, and close the palace gates. As long as Li Jiancheng can do this, I can give him his final dignity, and he doesn't have to leave the city to surrender."
"Then what will your Highness do with him?"
Yang Yuanqing took out a letter and handed it to him, "This is my handwritten letter. If you give it to him, I will make him the Duke of Tang and take his family to Tang County for retirement!"
The Mingde Gate of Chang'an slowly opened, and one hundred thousand Sui troops lined up to enter Chang'an. As the dull bells of Taiji Palace rang, it meant the end of an era