Chapter 2258: I, who am responsible for the survival of a country, must not lose.

Chapter 2258 I, who am responsible for the survival of a country, must not lose.

Chapter 2254: I, who am responsible for the survival of a country, must not lose.

The Tang army obviously only needs to defend Chang'an, but why did they take the initiative to go out of the city to challenge? The reason actually lies with Li Jing.

Although Li Jing has not directly sent troops to attack Chang'an, his series of strategies after encircling Chang'an undoubtedly put greater pressure on Li Tang's senior officials who were already under great pressure.

You should know that if the pressure is too high, it will make people unable to see hope and eventually lead to complete despair.

And Li Jing was counting on Li Tang from all aspects. This undoubtedly created an illusion for Li Tang's senior officials in the city that Chang'an would be broken sooner or later, and gradually undermined the will of the defenders in the city to resist.

 After all, fighting a war is not terrible. What is terrible is fighting a hopeless battle knowing that you will lose.

Li Shimin was naturally aware of this. He racked his brains and tried various methods, but he still could not inspire the fighting spirit of the defenders. After all, it was an ironclad fact that the Tang army was increasingly disadvantaged.

At this time, although the Tang army's willpower was weak, it was obviously not ready to go to war. What really made Li Shimin decide to go to war was actually the battle between Zhang Liao and Li Keyong not long ago.

After receiving the news that Zhang Liao was leading his army to the east, Li Shimin guessed that Zhang Liao's goal was Tongguan, so he immediately summoned his counselors to discuss countermeasures.

However, with Li Ruhui and Du Ruhui killed in battle, Changsun Wuji captured, and Sima Yi in Baling, the only remaining strategist in Chang'an, Li Kui, was not as good as Li Shimin in military strategy, and obviously could not give Li Shimin many good strategies.

After some thought, Li Shimin finally decided to send a letter to Li Keyong, ordering him to abandon Tongguan and withdraw into Huayin to continue resisting.

After all, under the Qin army's two-sided attack, Tongguan's geographical advantage was greatly reduced. It was only a matter of time before it fell. It was better to give up voluntarily to preserve its strength and continue to resist.

Li Keyong had long wanted to abandon Tongguan. After receiving the order, he immediately began to prepare for a retreat without saying a word, but he did not expect that the Qin army from Hangu Pass rushed over.

 Tan Daoji led 20,000 elite troops, controlled 300 catapults, 50 well traps, and 1,000 siege crossbows, and launched a fierce attack on Tongguan again, apparently hoping to delay Li Keyong from evacuating safely.

Tan Daoji's behavior actually aroused Li Keyong's sense of crisis. After leaving 10,000 defenders at Tongguan, he withdrew from Tongguan overnight with 30,000 defenders.

 Zhang Liao's army had just passed Xinfeng County when they received news that Li Keyong had withdrawn from Tongguan and was preparing to retreat to Huayin County, so he led 5,000 cavalry one step ahead and hurried on horseback to stop them at night.

 When Zhang Liao's cavalry arrived in Huayin County, Li Keyong's army was entering the city, and half of the soldiers had already entered the city.

Seeing the Qin army coming, the Tang army was frightened and rushed into the city, causing chaos in the formation.

Zhang Liao naturally would not miss this good opportunity. He took the opportunity to launch an attack on the Tang army and killed Li Keyong unprepared, forcing Li Keyong to close the city gate and abandon nearly 10,000 soldiers.

Zhang Liao led his troops to charge back and forth, killing 3,000 Tang troops. After killing them so much that the Tang troops no longer dared to resist, he surrendered more than 7,000 Tang troops. He then challenged Li Keyong with insults and provocations, hoping to provoke Li Keyong into fighting.

Li Keyong is such a calm person. Although he is heartbroken and bleeding due to the casualties of the army, he will not go into battle impulsively, so he naturally ignores it.

Zhang Liao's provocation failed. After the rear army arrived, he left 5,000 cavalry in Huayin to guard Li Keyong to prevent Li Keyong from leaving the city for a sneak attack. He personally sent all the infantry to Tongguan and cooperated with Tan Daoji to attack from both sides.

After Zhang Liao's army arrived, Tongguan, which had only 5,000 defenders, was attacked from both sides by Qin troops from the east and west. It only lasted three days before being breached.

The Qin army killed three thousand enemies and captured two thousand prisoners.

 After conquering Tongguan, Zhang, Liaotan, Daoji and the two armies turned around, and their strength increased to 50,000.

Zhang Liao ordered Gongsun Yan to lead an army of 5,000 to guard Tongguan, while he himself, together with Tan Daoji, led an army of 40,000 to return to Huayin, and then surrounded the city with a large army, intending to take advantage of Li Keyong's unsteady foothold to attack Huayin City in one fell swoop.

After receiving the news from Li Keyong, Li Shimin felt desperate. The 40,000 troops at Tongguan had only 20,000 left when they withdrew into Huayin, and they were trapped to death by the 40,000 to 50,000 Qin troops.

 The remaining counties in Guanzhong were frightened by Huo Qubing and did not dare to go to war at all, let alone support Chang'an.

Now Chang'an is completely isolated and helpless. It can only overcome this difficulty by relying on itself. However, the people inside Chang'an are panicked and there is not much fighting spirit at all.

If this continues, the will of the Chang'an defenders to resist will only become weaker and weaker, and the Qin army will not need to attack. I am afraid that the people inside will open the city and surrender on their own.

 Therefore, a victory must be won to stimulate the fighting spirit of the defenders, and fighting generals is the best way, and only in this way can the defenders see the hope of perseverance.

Li Shimin was well aware of the strong lineup of Qin army generals outside the city. Sun Lingming, Gao Chong, Yuwen Chengdu, Lu Bu and other generals were all in Li Jing's army, but he did not have no ace in his hand.

 In Chang'an City, in addition to generals such as Ma Shanwei, Gao Siji, Shi Jingtang, and Xin Wenli, there were also three brothers, Yang Jian and Kong Peng.

Since the defeat of Xinfeng, Yang Jian did not return to Baling to join Sima Yi. Instead, he returned to Chang'an to help Li Shimin stabilize the situation. After all, Chang'an needed him more.

After the tragic defeat at Fenglingdu, the three brothers Kong Peng originally wanted to escape Guanzhong and not participate in the war between Qin and Tang Dynasties, but Zhang Liao pursued them. They had no choice but to rely on the Tang army to avoid pursuit, and As Yin Kaishan's defeated army retreated all the way to Chang'an. Considering that among the Qin army, the two generals Lu Bu and Yuwen Chengdu were currently injured, while Yang Jian and Kong Peng were in full strength, Li Shimin dared to take the initiative to fight.

 This is Li Shimin's last chance. If he fails, Chang'an will be really difficult to defend.

Yang Jian also knew Li Tang's current situation, and felt anxious and guilty in his heart. If he hadn't retreated all the way from Shangluo to Baling, the situation in Guanzhong would never have deteriorated to this point, so he was determined not to lose this battle and must fight for it. Tang Guo made a comeback.

Yang Jian has a reason not to lose, and his attacks are extremely ruthless and deadly.

Sun Lingming met an opponent of the same level, and when he saw the hunting spirit, he was so happy that he went all out as soon as he made a move.

 The battle between the two sides was so fierce that people didn't want to miss a single second.

Looking at Yang Jian who was fighting fiercely with Sun Lingming below the city, Li Shimin silently cheered him on. Then he turned to look at Kong Peng beside him, and found that the other man was watching the battle intently, and he choked back his words.

Li Shimin had already missed Jiang Shang, who was extremely resourceful, and now he met Kong Peng, who was the most courageous and brave man in the army. He didn't want to miss it anymore, but the other party obviously didn't have much interest in Li Tang, who was sunsetting, so Li Shimin was particularly cautious when dealing with Kong Peng. careful.

Kong Peng didn't care about Li Shimin's attitude. He stared at Yang Jian and Sun Lingming outside the city with complex expressions in his eyes.

He thought he was the third most powerful person in the world after his eldest brother and the unseen Li Cunxiao, but he didn't expect to meet two people stronger than him so quickly, Sun Lingming and Yang Jian.

“Just wait, I, Kong Peng, will surpass you sooner or later.”

Not only was Kong Peng not affected, but his eyes were filled with fighting spirit, and he increasingly felt that leaving the family was the right thing to do.

The duel between Sun Lingming and Yang Jian outside the city had already progressed to two hundred rounds. Their armors were all badly damaged, but the two parties were completely unaware and continued to focus on the fierce battle until the horses could no longer bear it. exhaust.

 “Change horses and fight again.”

 The two said in unison, then returned together, changed their horses, and fought again until they reached 400 rounds, and the second horse was exhausted again.

This time the two of them did not change horses, but chose to dismount and fight on foot.

What no one expected was that the two of them fought until dark, with no intention of stopping.

Li Jing had no choice but to order the soldiers to hold up torches and let Sun Lingming and Yang Jian "fight at night".

Sun Lingming and Yang Jian both had amazing eyesight, even in the dark night it was like daylight, so Li Jing's move was unnecessary.

 At midnight after the battle, Li Jing was too sleepy, so he went back to rest first and asked his high-favorite Yuwen Chengdu to raid the formation for Sun Lingming to prevent Sun Lingming from making mistakes. He didn't want to wait for him to wake up and the duel between the two was not over yet.

 After a day and night of fierce fighting, both Sun Lingming and Yang Jian were exhausted of their physical strength, but they still persisted, neither one willing to admit defeat.

“Hey, Mr. Yang, it’s hard to tell the winner even if we continue to fight. How about we settle for a draw?”

After hearing what Sun Lingming said, Yang Jian said indifferently. "What, are you going to admit defeat?"

Sun Ling was angry: "Admit defeat? You deserve it."

 “Then keep fighting.”

"I'll beat you, I'm afraid you will become a grandson."

　　nail, nail, nail…

 The battle reached noon, and the two exchanged thousands of moves, but there was still no winner.

After Sun Lingming knocked back Yang Jian with a stick, he panted heavily with the stick. While being wary of the opponent, he asked with a hint of confusion: "Hey, Yang Jian, you know you can't beat me, why are you still fighting so hard?"

“I, who am responsible for the survival of a country, must not lose.”

Yang Jian took a long breath, his eyes full of determination, gritted his teeth and said: "There is no draw in this battle, the winner must be determined."

 For Yang Jian, a draw means defeat, so he does not accept a draw.

Even if he risked his life, he had to win. He couldn't afford to lose this battle.

 (End of this chapter)