Chapter 2253: Sun Lingming fights Yang Jian

Although Li Jing is not ready to capture all four passes for the time being, Tongguan is still not ready to let it go. After all, there are still 40,000 Tang troops at Tongguan, including 20,000 elites.

If this army is liberated, it will also be a big threat to the Qin army, so it is best to solve it as soon as possible.

In addition, once the Qin army captures Tongguan, it will be equivalent to completely opening the east gate of Guanzhong. Not only will the 20,000 elites of Hangu Pass Tan Daoji be able to enter Guanzhong to participate in the war, but it will also be more convenient to transport grain from Sizhou.

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"Zhang Liao, I have ordered you to lead 30,000 infantry and cooperate with Tan Daoji's 20,000 troops to attack Tongguan from both sides. Within half a month, Tongguan must be captured."

"promise."

Zhang Liao led the army away confidently.

Levels are different from cities. Although Tongguan is dangerous, it only targets one side. Under attack from two sides, the defense of any level will be greatly weakened.

When Zhenbeiguan was captured by Yuanmeng, the Qin army relied on two-sided attacks to recapture Zhenbeiguan from Yuanmeng.

Therefore, Zhang Liao was full of confidence in attacking Tongguan this time.

"Huo Qubing, I have ordered you to lead 30,000 cavalrymen, with Chang'an as the center, to patrol the entire Guanzhong. If any Tang army comes out of the city to support Chang'an, send troops immediately to defeat them."

"promise."

Huo Qubing also led the army away with confidence. After all, the strongest Tang army, the Xuanjia Army and the Feixiong Army, had been forced by Huo Qubing to flee into Chang'an City, and the rest of the Tang army was even more invincible.

The entire Guanzhong Plain is only 800 miles long, and Chang'an is located in the center of Guanzhong. If calculated as 400 miles from east to west, Huo Qubing could travel 150 miles a day at full speed.

In other words, once the Tang troops from the cities in Guanzhong left the city, Huo Qubing would be able to arrive with his troops in at most two days, and by then they would not be able to escape even if they wanted to.

Li Jing asked Huo Qubing to lead the cavalry to patrol Guanzhong, which was equivalent to blocking the way for all cities to go out to support Chang'an. After all, leaving the city meant actually risking death.

Zhang Liao led an army of 30,000 to attack Tongguan, while Huo Qubing led his cavalry to patrol and sweep through Guanzhong. Although the two generals left with their troops, Sun Lingming, Gongsun Xuanyuan and other powerful generals stayed behind. After all, they would still be needed in the subsequent siege.

With the departure of the second general, the number of troops under Li Jing's direct control dropped to 90,000, which was already less than the defenders in Chang'an City, but he had no intention of giving up.

"How many defenders are there in the city among the fourteen counties that surrendered to our army?" Li Jing asked.

"Informing the Governor, after Xiaoguan was captured by our army, Li Shimin implemented a strategy of all-people troops and forcibly expanded the army regardless of the life and death of the people.

Nowadays, among the counties in Guanzhong, cities with large populations such as Huaili and Gaoling have at least 20,000 to 30,000 defenders, while cities with small populations such as Yunyang, Wuxu and other cities also have 5,000 to 6,000 defenders.

The 14 counties that surrendered to our army surrendered their troops. According to statistics, there are about 100,000 defenders."

The Qin army that invaded Guanzhong was only 150,000, but the Tang army that surrendered reached 100,000. If prisoners of war are included, the number of surrendered troops may have exceeded the Qin army.

Although the elites of the Qin army were consumed a lot, the number of troops increased as the battle continued. Instead of reducing the pressure on food and grass, it became even heavier.

"However, more than half of these defenders are new troops, and less than a quarter are old county soldiers. Many of the defenders in the county are not even equipped with weapons. They are simply vulnerable and can only be used to defend the city and cannot carry out operations.

Field battle.”

After hearing the report, Li Jing frowned, which was the biggest reason why he didn't want to push Li Shimin into a hurry.

There are 100,000 defenders in the fourteen counties that surrendered. How many defenders are there in the twenty-four counties that have not yet surrendered?

If we attack one city after another, all the 150,000 elite Qin troops will be dead, and it will be impossible to capture the entire Guanzhong.

This guy Li Shimin is really ruthless. He would rather fight to the ground than leave an intact Guanzhong to my Great Qin.

Li Jing thought to himself, and then ordered: "Send an order to the magistrates of the fourteen counties and order them to select 50,000 capable warriors from among the 100,000 defenders and send them to Chang'an to participate in the battle."

"promise."

A casual order gave Li Jing 50,000 more cannon fodder. However, these 50,000 people were too weak to fight. Even if they were all brought in, they probably wouldn't consume many people in Chang'an.

Li Jing thought for a moment and then asked: "How many Tang army prisoners of war are there in our army now?"

"To report to the Commander-in-Chief, so far, our three armies have captured a total of 60,000 Tang troops. However, I am afraid that only General Xuanyuan's 20,000 surrendered troops can obey orders, and the remaining 40,000 have not yet been fully trained."

"We don't have much time to slowly train these guys. Let's all transfer them to Chang'an. If they don't obey, we will kill them until they obey." Li Jing said with an indifferent expression.

All the generals shuddered unconsciously.

With 50,000 surrendered troops, 60,000 prisoners of war and 90,000 elite Qin troops, Li Jing's total force to attack Chang'an will reach 200,000.

Although half of them were surrendered troops, the number reached 200,000 after all, and the formation alone was frightening.

In the next few days, troops from all over Guanzhong continued to flock to Chang'an, but they were not the Tang army supporting Chang'an, but the surrender troops of the Qin army and the prisoners of war.

The county magistrates who surrendered to the city naturally did not dare to slack off at all after receiving Li Jing's order. They immediately selected elite soldiers from the defenders and sent them to Chang'an to assist in the battle.

Most of the cities that had not surrendered yet saw the surrendering troops passing through their jurisdictions and allowed them to leave, but there were also many defenders who chose to lead their troops out of the city to stop the attack.

At the end of the day, the troops from Su and Yi surrendered. On the way to Chang'an, they were ambushed by Tang troops from counties along the way, led by Li Siyuan and Yu Wentai. They lost more than half of their troops and returned in a disastrous defeat.

However, the Tang army that ambushed the surrendering army was even worse. After the victory, most of them were attacked by the Qin army's cavalry on their way back to the city. They were either wiped out or suffered heavy casualties.

Huo Qubing divided his 30,000 cavalry into six groups, each with 5,000 cavalry, and patrolled all parts of Guanzhong to ensure that most areas were within the attack range of the cavalry.

Although there were not many 5,000 cavalry, facing the newly recruited county soldiers, even 50,000 was not enough to kill the 5,000 cavalry. Only the troops of Li Siyuan and Yu Wentai had the strength to resist, but they were still no match.

In just a few days, Huo Qubing's cavalry defeated nearly 50,000 Tang troops who came out of the city to intercept them, killing 20,000 and capturing 30,000 prisoners. They also broke through three undefended county towns, while their total casualties were no more than a thousand.

This also shows how weak the Tang army in each county was.

After this battle, the county guards, including Li Siyuan and Yu Wentai, no longer dared to go out of the city to provoke the Qin army, and the Qin army in Chang'an also had more and more troops.

Li Jing soon made preparations. Just when he was about to attack Chang'an, the Tang army in the city took the initiative to go out to challenge, and the general who came to challenge was the missing Yang Jian.

Seeing that the person who came was really Yang Jian, Sun Lingming was very excited. After all, this was the only opponent at the same level as him in the Tang Dynasty, so he quickly asked Li Jing to fight and said: "Grand Governor, please be sure to let me, Sun, fight."

Li Jing and Yang Jian had fought against each other more than once, and he knew very well how powerful Yang Jian was.

Gao Chong and Yuwen Chengdu failed to win together. At present, the only person in the army who can defeat Yang Jian one-on-one is probably Sun Lingming, so Li Jing naturally has no reason to reject Sun Lingming.

"Go ahead, you won't be allowed to lose." Li Jing nodded.

"promise."

Sun Lingming was so happy that he slapped his horse and rushed towards Yang Jian.
Chapter completed!