On the afternoon of the seventh day of May, the main force of the 70,000 Sui army, temporarily commanded by Li Jing and Yuan Tiangang, arrived in Linfen City as scheduled. They met up with Chen Sangliang, the irresponsible army commander, and finally struck the bell. It was the death knell for the Dou and Li coalition forces who were already fighting independently on the battlefield in Linfen County. After meeting, Li Jing and Yuan Tiangang immediately led the civil and military personnel of the Sui army to congratulate Chen Sangliang. They congratulated Chen Sangliang on his new general Wang Fubao and his successful capture of Lingshi City. They had already controlled most of Queshu Valley before the main force arrived, laying the foundation for victory. potential. There are also many new lackeys who don't understand Chen Sangliang's character very well. They keep praising Chen Sangliang for his skillful use of troops and his mastery of tactics. They miraculously captured Lingshi City and seized a large amount of food and military supplies. This is entirely attributed to Chen Sangliang alone. Credit, without Chen Sangliang's wise leadership and Hongfu's blessing, Cheng Yaojin, Wang Fubao and others would never have been able to win such a beautiful victory in Lingshi. "Thank you for your praise." Chen Sangliang smiled modestly and said, "We captured the city on the same day we arrived at Lingshi. It was all our soldiers who threw their heads and blood and fought bravely without fear of sacrifice. Zhijie and Fubao were also included. Unity, mutual trust and concerted efforts have created the miracle of the Lingshi War, which has nothing to do with me. " "The king is open-minded, appoints people based on their talents, and is wise and powerful. If our army has the king as its leader, there is no need to worry about the thieves not being able to defeat it. , The world is unfair?" Many Sui soldiers and military officers saluted and praised loudly, "His Royal Highness, the King of Tang, is more powerful than the Emperor of Qin and Han Dynasty, and his virtue is worthy of Yao, Shun, and Yu!" "I am not a person who likes to listen to flattery, why are my subordinates becoming more and more flattering? "You can't stop scolding me?" Chen Sangliang was extremely depressed and simply ignored it. He changed the topic to discuss the issue of entering the army and said: "Everyone, there was good news from Yueyang yesterday. General Qin Qiong was defeated on the Yueyang battlefield. Dou Jiande's thief army, Cao Dan's tribe, beheaded more than a thousand people and captured more than 300 enemy troops. The thieves were defeated and retreated to the camp to close up and defend. Yueyang was the choke point connecting Shangdang to Linfen. Dou Jiande's thief army was attacking Shangdang cities again. Shangdang is in a hurry. I intend to detach a partial force to help General Qin Qiong recapture Yueyang, and then march eastward to Shangdang to rescue Shangdang Governor Yuan Ziqian who is fighting alone there. I wonder which general is willing to take on this important task? " As soon as he finished speaking, Chen More and more accomplices and lackeys under Shang Liang immediately responded, scrambling to take on this task. However, Chen Sangliang's cousin Li Jing stood up immediately. He called out "Wait a minute", then turned to Chen Sangliang and said with his hands in his hands: "Your Highness, Yueyang threatens our army's flanks and should be recaptured as soon as possible. Governor Yuan is not afraid of violence and has an orthodox heart. He resolutely refused to be recruited by Yang Tong, the puppet emperor of the Eastern Capital, and led the entire county's troops and civilians to join His Highness. It was true that he could not sit back and watch him fight alone, which chilled the hearts of the officials and people in the world who were loyal to His Highness the King of Tang. However, the official believed that our army could not follow the Yueyang Road. Marching eastward to rescue Shangdang would be very detrimental to our army. ""What my uncle said is absolutely true." Chen Sangliang nodded and said with a frown: "The Yueyang Road is rugged and narrow, making it difficult to transport food and grass. It is difficult for the enemy to defend and attack, so it is difficult for us to advance. But Shangdang has to be rescued" "Why don't Your Highness consider letting the reinforcements go to Changping first, and then go north to rescue Shangdang?" Li Jing interrupted Chen Sangliang and explained: "First go to Changping and save Shangdang. Although our army has to detour hundreds of miles to lengthen its advance route, it also has to take rugged mountain roads, but the road is smooth and unstoppable. After our army garrisoned in Shangdang, it can allocate Changping grain and grass for military use on the spot, and then leave Changping. This way, our army's food and grass transportation can be much easier, and it can also put Dou Jiande's rebel army in a dilemma, either retreating or being forced to continue to increase troops to Shangdang. We have no strength to go west to Jingxingguan and go straight to Taiyuan City to rescue Li's rebel army. "I'm in over my head! Why did I just want to take a shortcut and didn't think of sending the reinforcements back to Changping first and then going north to rescue Shangdang?" Annoyed, he quickly thanked Li Jing for his advice, and then immediately decided to send 8,000 troops to Changping via Jishi, and then march north via Changping to rescue Shangdang. Then when Chen Sangliang asked who was willing to lead the army, the generals again After careful consideration, they decided to give Pang Yu the important task. He was assisted by the old lackey Niu Jinda and the wily civil servant Li Gang. Pang Yu, Li Gang and others were given the power to make immediate decisions and allowed them to mobilize the troops of the two counties. and local military expansion. After Chen Sangliang announced this decision, Pang Yu, who had been given the opportunity to command the army independently under Chen Sangliang for the first time, was of course overjoyed. He also said that Chen Sangliang had finally discovered his conscience and finally believed in his plan to bring Chen Sangliang and Changsun Xiaoluo together. Li's great matchmaker, but completely unaware that Chen Sangliang's move was just to test him to see if he was reliable and usable. Both Changping and Shangdang were located in the hinterland of the Taihang Mountains. With little money and food, even if Pang Yu, an important minister of the former dynasty, really had any ulterior motives, he would not be able to cause any big trouble. It was finalized to go back to rescue the party's partial division, and then someone immediately stood up and asked to lead the army to help Qin Qiong attack the city. Unfortunately, Li Jing's suggestion was not needed this time. Chen Sangliang had already waved his hand and said: "There is no need to divide the troops anymore."There is no need to waste time and travel. This time, I will personally send my main force to the north to attack Yueyang. I will defeat Yueyang first and then enter Queshu Valley. I will also let Dou Jiande's thieves see the power of my main force! I haven¡¯t fought or killed anyone in a few months, and my hands have been itchy for a long time! " "Your Majesty is wise! The king personally proposed the main force to attack the city. The traitors must be frightened and bow their heads to die! The king's flag pointed out that Cao Dan's traitorous army will be defeated! "More and more sycophants under Chen Sangliang once again praised in unison, and then many civil and military officials in the Sui army, including Li Jing, snorted coldly in their hearts, "Your hands are itchy after not killing anyone for several months? You still have the nerve to say this, don¡¯t think we don¡¯t know, since Daye debuted in the ninth year, you smiling tiger has never been on the battlefield! " The sycophants under Chen Sangliang were not completely lying, at least they were right - they found out that Chen Sangliang personally led the main force of the Sui army to kill Yueyang, and Qin Qiong killed Cao Cao, who had already lost his courage The brother-in-law really felt like he was out of his mind, and he immediately screamed: "The traitor Chen Yingliang came in person with the main force? How can we fight this battle? It would be better to withdraw our troops as soon as possible, otherwise, we may not even be able to withdraw to the upper party! ¡± Generals such as Ruan Junming and Dong Kangmai, who had previously firmly opposed Brother-in-law Cao¡¯s abandonment of the city and retreat, remained silent because they never expected that Chen Sangliang would personally lead the main force of the Sui army to cause trouble for them first. However, it happened that at this very painful time for Brother-in-law Cao, Dou Jiande sent someone to deliver an order quickly, asking Brother-in-law Cao to hold on to Yueyang City and wait for reinforcements, and Dou Jiande also wanted to send Linfen. More troops were sent to the battlefield to cause trouble for Chen Sangliang and to settle accounts with the traitor Wang Fubao! "Your Majesty, aren't you trying to kill me? What can I do to resist Chen Yingliang's main army of traitors? "Brother-in-law Cao wailed, but it was useless no matter how much he cried. He led his army to retreat without fighting. Even if uncle-in-law Cao went back, he would not be able to explain to Dou Jiande. At the same time, the Qin Qiong Division of the Sui Army had already grabbed the tail of uncle-in-law Cao. If Brother-in-law Cao abandons the city and retreats now, he will inevitably be attacked by Qin Qiong. The losses are destined to be considerable, and he will definitely not be able to keep the food that Wang Fubao has worked so hard to grab. Therefore, Brother-in-law Cao has no choice but to bite the bullet and order to hold on and prepare. Let¡¯s wait and see what happens. In addition, for the sake of caution, Brother-in-law Cao, who was actually very cautious in using troops, moved the headquarters into Yueyang City in advance and put General Ruan Junming in charge of guarding the camp outside the city. The emperor also ordered Dong Kangmai to lead a thousand troops to retreat to the mountain road first to protect the retreat route from being detoured by the Sui army to seize the mountain road and make dumplings. When Cao's brother-in-law was wailing outside Yueyang City, Chen Sangliang also issued a decree under Yangxian City. A decree to win people's hearts, that is, in view of the fact that the whole county of Linfen was too damaged by the melee between the three armies and the ordinary people suffered too much, Chen Sangliang decided to reduce the money and grain taxes for two years and reduce the commercial tax for one year to please Linfen. The common people and the people of Jinzhong who valued business were overjoyed when they heard the truth. They all offered longevity tablets to Chen Sangliang, but they had no idea that Chen Sangliang, who held Changping and Yongfeng Ercang, was afraid. Even if the world's taxes are reduced for one year, they can still go out and wage war everywhere. What they should really be grateful to is Yang Jian and Yang Guang and his son, not Chen Sangliang, who is enjoying the success of the people who don't know the truth. The main force of the Sui army marched towards Yueyang, and successfully arrived at Yueyang City on the afternoon of the ninth day of the fifth lunar month, where they joined forces with the vanguard Qin Qiong. Nearly 70,000 troops filled the mountains and fields, completely submerging the wilderness southwest of Yueyang, and the banners were lined up in the daytime. Fire drums were set up in the mountains and rivers at night, shaking the sky and the earth, and the majestic momentum rushed into the sky, making everyone in Dou Jiande's army who had seen it fear in their hearts, and no one dared to propose a fight - Cao Dan, Gao Yaxian, Ruan Junming, etc.! General Dou Jun has seen more troops than this before, but he has never seen so many well-equipped and elite troops that can maintain such a large scale! In the evening, Chen Sangliang held a military meeting in the central military camp! , discussed the battle plan, and what surprised Chen Sangliang was that the civil and military officers of the Sui army had exactly the same idea as him this time, saying in unison: "In the great personal expedition, the main force of our army has arrived at the foot of Yueyang City, and the rebels have set up camp to defend the city. Cheng Huajiao, if we attack one by one, we will be overestimating the thieves and hurt the spirit of our army! In tomorrow's battle, our army should attack the enemy camps in the city at the same time and destroy them together to show the power of the king! The vanguard of our army! ¡± In the past, the timid Chen Sangliang would naturally have to reprimand his subordinates, saying that they underestimated the enemy and were arrogant, but this time it was different. The absolute strength was put here, and Chen Sangliang just wanted not to let the opponent down After applauding loudly, Chen Sangliang immediately mobilized his troops and decided that Qu Tutong would lead 10,000 troops to attack Yueyang Town the next day, and Yuan Tiangang would personally lead the artillery team to provide Qu Tutong. To provide cover, Luo Shixin was ordered to lead an army of five thousand to attack Dou Jiande's camp outside the city. Qin Qiong led his troops to assist Luo Shixin in attacking the camp. This was the Sui army.The first battle of the main Northern Expedition was also the first battle of the Northern Expedition commanded by Chen Sangliang himself. The two vanguards had fought very well before, so Chen Sangliang naturally could not tolerate any surprises in this battle. Therefore, after the sun rose the next morning, when the two groups of Sui armies set off towards the enemy camp at the same time, Chen Sangliang also personally led Yuchi Jingde, Guo Feng, Chen Ci and their cavalry out of the camp and went to the battlefield to personally supervise the battle. In order to boost the morale of the soldiers, some gold and silver jewelry were also placed on the battle array to be used to reward the Sui army officers and soldiers who had made meritorious service on the battle array. Of course Uncle Cao and other generals of Dou Jiande's army were furious at Chen Sangliang's arrogant actions, but they had no choice. The situation was not as good as others. No matter how arrogant Chen Sangliang was, Uncle Cao, Ruan Junming and others who were weak in strength did not have the courage to send troops to fight. , all of them shouted loudly and ordered their soldiers to defend the camp and city with all their strength, and to withstand Chen Sangliang's attack no matter what. At three o'clock in the morning, the Sui army's formation was completed. Yuan Tiangang gave an order. The Sui army's artillery, which already numbered thirty, was the first to unleash its power. They focused their artillery fire on Yueyang's west gate tower. The result, to the eye-opener of the country bumpkin Dou Jiande's army, was that The Sui army's artillery fired only one salvo, blowing away half of the west gate tower of Yueyang, and also took away the precious lives of more than ten or twenty Dou army soldiers - there was no way, if you want to defend the city, you have to defend the city. There were many rows of archers on the city, and the soldiers on the wall were too dense. Even if a shell from the Sui army's artillery hit the top of the city wall, it could take away several lives in the ricochet. Seeing this scene, Dou Jiande's country bumpkins burst into an uproar, and their morale naturally plummeted. However, the Sui army cheered loudly, and then Luo Shixin gave an order, and a thousand Sui army infantry immediately strode forward. , built temporary fortifications with long shields outside the camp of Dou Jiande's army guarded by Ruan Junming, and covered the archers with arrows to suppress the defenders in the camp. Then the toad trucks came forward to transport soil and filled the trenches of Dou Jiande's army's camp. Dou's movements were skillful and quick. The soldiers were frightened again, knowing that this time they were encountering veterans who had been killing people for food on the battlefield all year round, not the rabble they had bullied in Hebei before. The artillery kept roaring, first destroying the city wall of Yueyang's west gate, and then turned the muzzle and concentrated on bombarding the suspension bridge and the city gate. Unfortunately, Dou Jiande's army, who had received instructions from the Taiyuan Army before, had already blocked the city with straw bags filled with earth. Gate, so the Sui army's artillery only blasted the city gate and the suspension bridge to pieces, but failed to directly blast the road into the city like the last Huoyi battle. But it didn't matter. In fact, on the day Chen Sangliang entered Linfen City, in order to save time, Chen Sangliang, who was very careful with his budget, had already ordered the preparation of a batch of siege equipment. After dismantling and loading the vehicles, they took them to Yueyang City, which was not far away. They were assembled and restored overnight last night. At this moment, the Sui army has sufficient siege weapons and can directly launch an ant attack. As soon as Qu Tutong, who was in charge of the siege, gave an order, thirty trench bridge vehicles immediately came forward and built more than twenty temporary bridges on the Yueyang moat under the cover of bows and arrows. During this period, the Sui army's artillery kept roaring and kept a close eye on the city. Attacking the densely populated areas of the city, the soldiers of Dou's army who encountered artillery for the first time were so scared that they did not dare to raise their heads and lay on the city wall shivering. At the same time that the temporary bridge was built, Luo Shixin had also used toad trucks to fill in more than a dozen sections of trench crossing roads. Then almost at the same time, Luo Shixin and Qu Tutong ordered an attack at the same time, and two thousand Sui soldiers were divided into two groups. On the way up, he carried an ax and a hammer to smash the antlers on the fence of Dou Jun's camp, and carried a flying ladder to attack the city of Yifu. Dou Jiande's army desperately fired arrows and stones, but could not stop the Sui army's charging pace. During this period, Yuan Tiangang, who confirmed that it was impossible to bombard the road in and out, ordered the artillery team to move south in order to save gunpowder and shells, and came to the front of the Dou Army camp to help Luo Shixin. Although the young and energetic Luo Shixin felt that it was not necessary, Chen Sangliang was there. Yuanyang praised Yuan Tiangang a few words - he had indeed been completely led astray by himself. He could not only think about how to be stingy, but also knew how to bully the weak. It was indeed bullying the weak. The infantry under Qu Tutong only used one charge to successfully attack Yueyang's west gate city wall, which had been riddled with holes by Sui artillery. Although Dou Jiande's army also mustered up the courage to counterattack frantically, However, they still could not drive the Sui soldiers who rushed up the city wall back down the city. The Sui soldiers behind them continued to climb the city under the cover of their climbing companions, and gradually seized a position at the head of the city. Seeing this scene, Qu Tutong said proudly that I was finally free from the entanglement of bad luck, and then without hesitation ordered the follow-up troops to follow up and attack the small town of Yueyang with all its strength, whose wall was only two feet high. At this time, Luo Shixin's attacking troops had also destroyed a large number of peripheral fortifications of the enemy camp. When Luo Shixin was eager to lead his troops to charge in person, he was stopped by Yuan Tiangang himself, and then moved to several positions in front of the enemy camp. The Sui army's artillery opened fire immediately, and a single volley blasted the door of Dou's camp into the sky. Luo Shixin was overjoyed and immediately led a death squad to attack the enemy's camp gate. Yuan Tiangang directed the Sui army's artillery to extend shooting into the enemy's camp. The cry of killing has long been heard in both the city and the camp.When the sound of ?? sounded, Qu Tutong's troops of the Sui army were like a torrent, constantly beating against the west gate of the small town of Yueyang, and constantly rolling up the west gate wall of Yueyang. On the wall, the soldiers of the two armies clashed with swords and guns, and the sky was dark and the ground was dark, and blood and flesh were flying everywhere. On the Sui Army Luo Shixin's side, General Luo Shixin was used as the blade, and like a sharp knife it was inserted directly into the enemy camp gate that was blasted open by artillery. Dou Jiande's army once tried to temporarily block the camp gate with a gate-blocking knife cart, but it was also The Sui soldiers quickly used gunpowder bottles to blow up the soldiers on the cart, and then used spears and shields to easily push the knife cart away, opening up space for the little monster Luo Shixin holding two swords. When the soldiers of the Dou Army came forward to fight again, they immediately Luo Shixin, who no longer had to cut off his nose in exchange for reward money, hacked him with knives until he cried like a ghost and howled like a wolf. He was retreating steadily. Sui soldiers continued to pour into the camp, and at the same time, they also opened three or four gaps in the fence position. Originally, Chen Sangliang was a little worried that it would be difficult for the Qu Tutong Department to make a breakthrough because it was unable to open the road into the city. However, Chen Sangliang soon discovered that his worries were completely in vain. The small city of Yueyang had a narrow wall that was less than one foot thick. , the officers and soldiers of the Sui army rushed forward and successfully captured a city wall position with hundreds of people, opening up space for the rear troops to climb the city. The officers and soldiers of the Sui army could continuously climb the city using only flying ladders, and the battle of antfu only lasted for more than half of the time. Shi Chen quickly controlled the more than twenty feet long city wall position, and it was only a matter of time to seize the west gate wall. The war was going so smoothly. If it had been any other commander, he would have been beaming with joy. But Chen Sangliang, the heartless Prince of Tang Dynasty, was different. Looking at the overwhelming offensive performance of the Sui army, Chen Sangliang was the opposite. There was also a feeling of extreme regret, and he thought to himself: "If I had known it would be so boring, I wouldn't have come. It would be great to stay in the camp and rest. Wei Ziqi secretly gave me that Jiangnan singer. It's good. She has a good face and a good body. She should Work harder on her." Probably sensing Chen Sangliang's boredom, Dou Jiande's army also found something for Chen Sangliang to do. With the consent of Uncle Cao, Dou Jun gathered Gao Yaxian in Yueyang City. With more than two hundred horses, he suddenly opened the south gate of Yueyang and rushed out of the city. Then he rushed towards Chen Sangliang's commanding flag at a lightning speed, preparing to take a gamble and try to chop off Chen Sangliang's evil head. However, what made Gao Yaxian secretly happy was that when they saw the flag heading straight towards Chen Sangliang, Sui troops Qu Tutong and Luo Shixin did not stop them at all, as if they wished Gao Yaxian could chop off Chen Sangliang's head. They sat back and watched, allowing the elegant and wise army to pass by the edge of their defense zone. "Okay! I didn't expect that Chen Sangliang's army underestimated the enemy so much. I have hope!" At this moment, Gao Yaxian was of course secretly happy, but if he could see the situation around Chen Sangliang, he would definitely faint from anger - look When he came to kill him directly, the three generals Yuchi Jingde, Guo Feng and Chen Ci actually started guessing in front of the yawning Chen Sangliang to decide who would lead the army to fight. Then when Chen Ci cheered for the final victory, Guo Feng and Yuchi Jingde begged in a low voice: "Brother Chen, at least leave a few for us, we are really itchy." "Brothers, cheer up for me. , read it! Don't let anyone go!" This was Chen Ci's answer that made Guo Feng and Yuchi Jingde twist their noses. Then more than 400 cavalrymen of the Patriot Army under Chen Ci uniformly showed off their iconic white robes and chanted loudly. Following Chen Ci, who was carrying a bronze stick, he attacked and faced Dou Jun's Gao Yaxian tribe who was attacking from the front. The strange sound of Buddhist sutras also echoed on the battlefield, "Namo, the Great Merciful, Great Compassionate, saves the suffering and saves the suffering, the vast inspiration Guanyin Bodhisattva Maha." Sa. There is no Buddha, there is no way, there is no monk, there is Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva who saves the suffering. Om. Jialuaduo, Jialuaduo" There is no suspense, no matter the military equipment or experience and training. Far from being an opponent, even risking his own life and moving forward could not make up for the huge gap between the Dou Army cavalry and the Patriot Army cavalry. The two armies collided. Thousands of horse hooves raised high dust, and the yellow sand covered your eyes. You couldn't see your fingers. The two armies were killing each other in the smoke and dust. The sound of fierce sabers slashing, the clang of weapons clashing, The neighing of war horses and the screams of the dead and injured merged into one sound, as tragic as the screams of thousands of innocent souls in hell. However, after the screams disappeared, less than fifty cavalrymen of Dou Army fled the way they came, leaving behind corpses of men and horses on the ground, as well as Dou Army's wounded soldiers rolling in the blood and yellow sand and moaning for help, and the Chen Ci tribe of the Patriot Army laughing loudly. . While Guo Feng and Yuchi Jingde complained loudly that their comrades were not interesting enough, Chen Sangliang yawned again and murmured in a low voice: "The beauties from Jiangnan have better skin. When Jiangnan is conquered, we must let Brother Liu and I'll send a few to you." On the tenth day of the fifth month of the third year of Yining in the Sui Dynasty, King Wang's army attacked Cao Dan's tribe, and the Tang Dynasty King Chen Yingliang personally came to supervise the battle. The three armies of Wang's army were invigorated and fought to take the lead. He broke his camp and recovered Yueyang City, beheaded more than 3,500 people and captured more than 4,000 enemies. He captured the thief general Zhang Jinzhong and killed the thief general Yuan E and more than 20 generals. Once the thieves were defeated and went to the party, Wang Shi pursued more than 20 people. Here, the king of Tang Dynasty thought of God's good health, and personally issued an edict to withdraw his troops., allowing the thieves to escape. The king's officers and soldiers all praised, "Your Highness is merciful!"