Chapter 1998: Open attack on Tongguan and secretly attacked Wuguan


    Chapter 1996: Attacking Tongguan openly and attacking Wuguan secretly


    According to Li Jing''s idea, after resolving the danger in Sizhou, he would personally lead more than 170,000 troops to Jingbei and quickly defeat Shu and Chu with his superior forces.


    But I didn''t expect that Li Shimin was so alert and ran away immediately when he saw that the situation was not good. Now he is still adding troops to Tongguan, harming others and not benefiting himself, just to hold back the Qin army''s forces.


    The war in Sizhou has not yet ended completely, and war may still break out in the future. Therefore, enough troops must be left to guard it, and even Li Jing himself must be left to take charge.


    The decision that Li Jing made after discussing with Guo Jia and Jia Xu in advance and then thought about it after he made a decision.


    After the emergency expansion of the army, Jingbei had 90,000 elite troops and 70,000 new troops, totaling 160,000 troops.


    But after this period of war, under the attack of the Chu and Shu armies, the Qin army in Jingbei suffered a considerable loss, with a total casualties approaching 50,000, and now the total force should be around 110,000.


    I have to say that Qin Hao’s decision to expand the army in the near future was correct.


    The newly recruited 70,000 new recruits greatly alleviated the pressure on the Qin army in Jingzhou, and among the 50,000 of the Qin army in Jingbei who died in battle, more than 30,000 were new recruits.


    If there were no new recruits as a supplement, the former defenders of Jingbei would definitely not be able to persist now based on the current situation.


    Shu and Chu were the first to send troops of 150,000 and 50,000 respectively, but as Chu captured Jiangxia County, Shu also captured most of the Jiangling army. In addition, the situation in Hebei changed drastically due to Wang Mang''s defeat, the two countries, which tasted the sweetness, successively increased their troops in order to occupy Jingbei before the Qin army captured Hebei.


    The Chu State increased by 50,000 troops and Shu State increased by 30,000 troops. The total force used by the two countries reached 280,000.


    In the battle with the Qin army, although the coalition forces of the two countries also lost nearly 20,000 troops and reduced their total strength to 260,000, they still formed an absolute military advantage over the Qin army.


    Yue Fei, Qin Qiong, Qin Zheng, Meng Gong and other generals, used 160,000 new and old mixed troops to fight against 280,000 regular Chu and Shu troops, and only 110,000 troops were left, which shows that the Qin army in Jingbei was very difficult to fight.


    Even if only 100,000 troops were sent to support at this time, although the Qin army''s troops in Jingbei reached 210,000, the total force was still less than the total force of Chu and Shu. It can only be said that they have enough self-restraint, but it is difficult to repel the invasion of Shu and Chu in a short period of time.


    Li Jing knew that sending 100,000 troops to support Jingbei was not enough to repel Chu and Shu and stabilize Jingbei, but he still did this, so naturally there were his reasons.


    First of all, Li Tang can attack and retreat or defend, and innately occupy the geographical advantage, which poses too great a threat to Sizhou.


    Secondly, Li Shimin is increasing troops to Hangu Pass, and no matter whether the war will eventually begin, the Qin army cannot ignore it with this posture.


    Based on these two points, Li Jing could not transfer too many troops from Sizhou, otherwise if Sizhou is lost, it would be meaningless even if Jingbei was taken back.


    Of course, there is another thing that Li Jing would do, that is, the Tang army is currently weak.


    Before the war began, although the total strength of the Tang army was 300,000, the regular army was only 230,000.


    Now 70,000 elite troops have been killed in battle, and there are 160,000 regular troops left. 80,000 are currently on the front line of Tongguan, while the remaining 80,000 regular troops and 70,000 miscellaneous troops are responsible for guarding the entire Tang Dynasty.


    The Tang Dynasty''s troops were actually very tight, but Li Shimin still went to Luoyang to increase troops, which would inevitably lead to weak defense in other regions.


    Li Jing naturally did not expect to rely on the 160,000 army to break through Tongguan, which had 80,000 defenders. However, if the main forces of the Tang army were dragged to Tongguan, he might have the chance to seize Wuguan, so as to break the Qin army''s innate shortcomings in the face of Li Tang in terms of geographical advantages.


    Jingbei, guarded by 210,000 troops, is enough to block the offensive between Shu and Chu, and at least the situation will not continue to deteriorate.


    Based on this consideration, Li Jing decided to stay in person to attract Li Shimin''s attention, while secretly planning a surprise attack on Wuguan. As long as Wuguan is obtained, the Qin army will not be so passive when facing the Tang army in the future.


    Zhang Liao was naturally reluctant to see Li Jing sending Zhao Yun to Jingbei, but putting himself aside who had just won the battle. After all, anyone with a discerning eye can see that it is difficult for Sizhou to change, but Jingbei still has a lot of contributions to make.


    In response, Li Jing explained: "To support Jingbei, cavalry must be sent. General Zhang Liao''s cavalry have experienced a great battle, but General Zhao Yun''s 30,000 Hetao cavalry have not yet experienced a battle. The morale and combat power of the personnel are at its peak, so it is naturally more suitable to support Jingbei."


    Such a remark naturally cannot convince Zhang Liao. His cavalry was indeed damaged, but he only won a great victory and his morale was strong.


    After Zhang Liao repeatedly asked questions, he finally forced Li Jing to tell the truth.


    After learning that Li Jing was going to "attack Tongguan openly and attack Wuguan secretly", Zhang Liao stopped competing with Zhao Yun for the quota of going south. After all, Wuguan is of great significance to the Qin army. Once he wins it, it is no less than a big victory. Keeping him is obviously going to hand over this task to him.


    On the other hand, Han Xin thought Li Jing would personally support Jingbei and let him and Zhang Liao stay to guard Sizhou, but he did not expect that he would let him, the surrendered general, lead the army alone.


    Facing Han Xin''s question, Li Jing smiled and said, "My lord has always hired people without doubting them. Since the lord has appointed General Han as my deputy general, it means that he trusts you very much. Since even the lord can trust you, what else can I not believe in?"


    Hearing Li Jing''s heartfelt words, Han Xin had no worries in his heart. While grateful to Li Jing, he also made up his mind that Jingbei must win a big victory so that those proud Qin generals dare not underestimate him.


    The next day, the Qin army that had joined in Hongnong County was splitting their troops less than two days after resting. Han Xin and Zhao Yun led 70,000 infantry and 30,000 cavalry to go south to Nanyang and Jingxiang.


    Liu Ji and Liu Xiu have many masters, so Li Jing naturally cannot let Han Xin and Zhao Yun go to Jingbei. In addition to the two of them, Jiang Song, Yuwen Chengdu, Zhang Kui, Huang Tianhua, Huang Tianxiang, Huang Tianlu, Gao Ming, Gao Jue and other generals were also transferred to the army.


    Li Jing retained: Zhang Liao, Gao Chong, Arthur, Xu Huang, Zhang He, Gongsun Yan, Tan Daoji, Qin Ji and other generals.


    As soon as Han Xin and Zhao Yun''s army left, Li Jing led the army westward and set up camp in the ruins of Hangu Pass.


    Although the Qin army''s Hangu Pass is gone, there are two strong cities, Ye Wang and Yiyang. In addition, the ancient Yaohan Road is also a dangerous place. After establishing a camp, you can also resist the Tang army.


    Li Jing''s move shocked Li Shimin. He stayed in Tongguan and refused to leave. He didn''t want to continue fighting the Qin army, but just wanted to hold up some of the Qin army''s forces.


    The situation in Jingbei is even more critical than that in Sizhou. Li Jing led the army south to rescue Si Jing, and it is impossible to ignore Jingbei.


    Now Li Jing has only sent 100,000 troops to rescue Jingzhou, but personally led 160,000 troops to Hangu. Is he overworked and supported Shu and Chu too much, which triggered Li Jing''s overreaction?


    As soon as he thought of this, Li Shimin immediately stopped dispatching troops from all over the country to Tongguan, and asked the troops who came to support Tongguan to return to their original garrison, hoping to use this to dispel Li Jing''s vigilance.


    Li Shimin’s meaning is very obvious, that is, we do our own things and no one provokes anyone. Is it okay?


    Li Jing saw that Li Shimin would not be able to transfer troops, how could this work? While continuing to increase troops to Yao Han''s camp, he ordered the dispatch of siege equipment from the rear.


    Thousands of catapults were transported from Luoyang to Hangu, as if they were about to attack Tongguan.


    ?Guaranteed


    ??


    ?


    (This chapter ends)