After a day of calm in Luoyang City, in the early morning of the next day, the surrender of a general Wang Shichong broke the three-day deadlock.

In Li Shimin's tent, a general wearing armor knelt on one knee in front of Li Shimin. The general was about thirty years old and tall. He had a thin horse face, his eyes full of grief and tears.

"Our brothers work hard for him, but he imprisoned our father in the palace, saying that he was taken hostage, but he only gave him one meal every day. Unfortunately, our father was old and weak. We just got the news that his father had died of illness and starvation in the palace last night."

This general is named Li Junmu. He is a scout general under Wang Shichong. He is just an ordinary general. However, Li Shimin is very interested in his brother Li Junxian. Li Junxian is extremely skilled in martial arts and is known as the number one general of the Zheng army. He is currently Wang Shichong's cavalry general.

Li Junxian's brothers were originally Wagang Army. Because Li Mi moved south to Jiangnan, they were unwilling to follow him to the south, so they separated from Li Mi and surrendered to Wang Shichong. Unexpectedly, this time the Tang army attacked Luoyang, and Wang Shichong was afraid that the soldiers would escape, so he detained all their families in the palace as hostages.

The father of Li Junxian brothers was also imprisoned in the palace and could not be contacted. It was not until noon today that Li Junxian bribed the guards and found out that their father had died of illness and starvation last night. This made the two brothers extremely sad and angry and decided to surrender to Tang Jun.

This news made Li Shimin extremely excited, which meant that the city was about to be destroyed, but there was another possibility. Wang Shichong sent the Li brothers to surrender, and Li Shimin had to be careful. He asked without hesitation: "Wang Shichong defended so closely, how did General Li leave the city?"

Li Junmu realized that Li Shimin did not trust him very much. He quickly explained: "This is because Yang Yuanqing and Wang Shichong had a five-day agreement. Yang Yuanqing asked Wang Shichong to stay for five days and he would come to rescue him. Today is the sixth day, but the Sui army has never been there. Wang Shichong was anxious and ordered Beizhi to go to the Mengjindu area to find out the news of the Sui army."

Although Li Shimin had not yet doubted her, Li Junmu's explanation was reasonable, so Li Shimin temporarily suppressed her suspicion. He stepped forward to help Li Junmu up and said with a smile: "I have heard of the reputation of your brothers. If you are willing to surrender to the Tang army, I will never treat you badly."

Li Junmu was overjoyed and hurriedly said, "Report to Your Highness, the people of Luoyang are disbanded, and Wang Shichong is betrayal of his relatives. Now it is time to break the city. My brother is in charge of Luoshui's defense. He is willing to offer the city to Tang tonight!"

Li Shimin nodded, "I'll make some arrangements and then talk to you in detail."

Li Shimin ordered someone to send Li Junmu down to rest. Then he turned around and asked Fang Xuanling, who had been smiling but silent, "Sir, do you think their surrender is true or false?"

Fang Xuanling stroked his beard and smiled slightly, "Your Highness thinks the situation has reached this point. Are the two brothers willing to surrender for Wang Shichong? They have to pay their lives."

Fang Xuanling's words made Li Shimin realize that Wang Shichong's brothers and nephews might have the possibility of surrendering. However, it has been less than a year since the Li brothers surrendered to Wang Shichong, and Wang Shichong could not have let their brothers surrender. This should be true.

Li Shimin could not help but feel excited. Then tonight would be the time when Luoyang City was broken. At this moment, he had been waiting for a long time. At this moment, a personal soldier outside the door reported urgently: "Your Highness, Chang'an has sent an emergency eagle letter again."

Li Shimin was stunned and looked at Fang Xuanling. From the night before to now, this was the ninth urgent letter. Li Shimin immediately ordered: "Pick the letter in!"

A personal soldier quickly walked into the tent, knelt down on one knee and bowed, and presented a tube of eagle letter. Li Shimin took the message tube, pulled out the thin silk from it, shook it open and looked at it, and another wry smile appeared on his face, which was a very helpless expression.

"Are you urging Your Highness to return to the army again?" Fang Xuanling asked as he looked at Li Shimin's expression.

Li Shimin nodded and handed him the silk silk, "The father's handwritten instructions said that Yang Yuanqing might attack Chang'an at night, and ordered me to return to support Guanzhong immediately."

Fang Xuanling looked at the handwriting and advised him: "Your Highness, this is already the ninth handwriting. If Your Highness ignores it and arouses the suspicion of the Lord, it will be more than worth the effort."

"But I have sent 10,000 troops to go. Do you think this force is too small?"

Fang Xuanling sighed, "Your Highness, this is actually a matter of attitude. If the prince personally leads a 50,000 army back to Guanzhong, and your highness only sends 10,000 troops to rescue, such an obvious comparison will make the Lord look at Your Highness, at least it means that Your Highness does not care about the Lord's safety. Your Highness, I am forgiving that it is better not to send 10,000 troops back to support."

Li Shimin paced back and forth in the tent with his hands behind his back, which made it difficult for him to deal with it. His father ordered him to send 50,000 troops back to Guanzhong, but if the 50,000 troops returned, his troops would be caught. Not to mention capturing the Central Plains, I am afraid that even the difficulties of capturing Luoyang would be difficult. Li Shimin had to admit that Wang Shichong was very powerful in war, and with only tens of thousands of troops, he withstood the 200,000 Tang army's siege for three days.

"If we really send 50,000 troops back to support according to the father's wishes, then our plan to seize the Central Plains will be over. In the end, we have to have a broken Luoyang city. What is the difference between this battle and the previous Central Plains War."

Li Shimin sighed deeply, and an unconcealable worry appeared in his eyes. He was indeed worried that he strongly advocated the First Central Plains War and returned home in a crushing defeat. This time, he tried his best to instigate his father and even used Tang Feng to monitor Concubine Yin De's father to attack the prince.

If he returns without success this time, it will seriously affect his position in the hearts of his father and even affect his military power. Li Shimin is in a dilemma.

Fang Xuanling could also understand Li Shimin's helplessness, but weighing the pros and cons, he believed that he should return to Guanzhong in time. This involved an attitude issue and was crucial to Li Shimin's future.

"Your Highness, the inability to seize the Central Plains is just a disappointment to the Supreme Lord, but the refusal to rescue Guanzhong will make the Supreme Lord suspicious. Which of the two is more important? Your Highness should understand that we should prevent this from being used by the prince. Therefore, after taking Luoyang tonight, we will immediately add 40,000 reinforcements. After the danger in Guanzhong is lifted, we will look at the situation in Zhongyuan. If conditions permit, it will not be too late for us to attack Zhongyuan again."

Li Shimin thought for a long time and finally nodded. "As long as he said!"

.........

As night fell, Wang Shichong finally became desperate. Yang Yuanqing's promise was not fulfilled. Six days have passed, and the Sui Dynasty reinforcements still did not come. From hope, disappointment to despair, Wang Shichong's last dream of emperor was finally shattered. His Zheng Dynasty was about to be destroyed, and he would not have the chance to make a comeback.

"Without trust, Yang Yuanqing. What qualifications do you have to compete for the world!"

In the inner palace, Wang Shichong sat on the ivory dragon couch, pressing the sword in one hand and drinking with a big mouthful of amber agate wine bottle in the other hand. He was already drunk. While drinking, he cursed Yang Yuanqing, "Hyitant, use the Tang Dynasty to kill me. You come to take Luoyang again, right? Yang Yuanqing, you are just a despicable villain."

In the inner hall, five or six palace maids hid behind the screen. They were so scared that they did not dare to pour wine for Wang Shichong. Only one of Wang Shichong's confidant eunuch stood aside, and occasionally picked up the wine pot and filled it with it.

"you say!"

Wang Shichong stared at his confidant eunuch with red eyes, "Why did Yang Yuanqing speak without trust? He deceived me?"

The confidant eunuch was also so scared that his legs became weak, "Maybe... his army has arrived, and he has not contacted His Majesty yet."

"How do you know?"

Wang Shichong grabbed the eunuch's clothes and stared at him viciously, "Are you a spy from the Sui army?"

"I'm not... a spy from the Sui army. I'm... a guess." The eunuch was so scared that he trembled all over.

Wang Shichong was furious, "Dare you playing tricks on me?"

He pulled out his sword, raised his sword and cut off the eunuch's head. The palace maids hiding everywhere were frightened and exclaimed, and ran around. Wang Shichong laughed and picked up the wine bottle and drank it happily.

.........

Luoyang's city is tall and strong, no less than Chang'an City, but Luoyang City also has a defensive weakness, that is, Luoshui. Luoshui passes through the city and divides Luoyang into two. In spring and autumn, Luoshui is surging and requires warships to enter the city. However, Luoyang City has extremely strict defenses on warships, and special water camps are built up and downstream, so it is difficult for warships to get close to Luoyang City.

But in winter, the Luoshui freezes and pedestrians can be used on the river surface, which makes the Luoshui a shortcut to attack Luoyang. Wang Shichong also realized this weakness. He specially built fortifications with wood, poured ice water, and built a long ice wall on the river surface. Five thousand crossbowmen were deployed on the east and west sides, lying behind the ice wall to block the Tang army from entering the river surface.

The two sides also experienced three days of fierce battle on the river surface, with thousands of casualties and wounded. The Tang army was unable to attack Luoyang City from the river surface.

On the western front, the general responsible for defense was Li Junxian, the brother of Li Junmu, who surrendered to the Tang army in the early morning. Li Junxian was about his early thirties and had a long and thin face. He was also tall and strong in martial arts. He used a 120-pound iron halberd, which was a brave man who was not worthy of his power.

When he was in Wagang Village, he was known as the second hero of Wagang, second only to Shan Xiongxin. In Luoyang, he was even known as the number one general of the Zheng Dynasty and was very famous in the Central Plains. Due to his father's death, he and Wang Shichong were no longer in harmony. He was determined to offer the city to the Tang Dynasty.

Li Junxian looked at the distant river with complicated eyes. The corpses of Tang army were everywhere on the river, which had frozen into ice corpses, which made him feel a little uneasy. After he surrendered to Tang Dynasty, could Li Shimin tolerate him?

Suddenly, a soldier pointed to the distance and shouted: "General, Tang army is coming!"

A crowd of black people appeared on the ice, which was particularly clear under the starlight, with as many as 10,000 or 20,000 people. The soldiers suddenly became nervous and all took bows and arrows. However, Li Junxian ordered: "No one should move rashly!"

More than a dozen of his confidants all stopped the soldiers. At this time, a Tang cavalry rushed over and asked loudly: "Where is General Li Junxian?"

Li Junxian urged him to step forward and bowed, "I am Li Junxian!"

The Tang cavalry whispered: "His Highness of Qin has an order to put down his weapons immediately and pardon General Li for no guilt!"

This moment finally came. Li Junxian took a deep breath, turned his horse's head and shouted to the soldiers: "Put down your weapons immediately and retreat to the shore!"

At this time, people's hearts were disintegrating and no one was willing to work hard for Wang Shichong anymore. The general issued an order. The soldiers put down their bows and arrows and ran towards the shore. For a moment, there was no more defender on the river.

In the distance, Li Shimin was overjoyed and immediately ordered: "Go into Luoyang!"

Twenty thousand Tang troops shouted and rushed from the ice to the city. After a moment, they rushed across the defense line on the river and rushed into Luoyang City...

.........

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