Traveling through Du He, Li Chengqian's rebellion begins

Two days later.

5 miles outside Luoyang city.

The 2 imperial troops led by Cheng Yaojin and Du He successfully met up with Xue Rengui's troops after a rapid march.

At this time, 3 elite troops had gathered outside Luoyang City.

Cheng Yaojin asked in a loud voice: "General Xue, isn't Xue Wanche here?"

According to the original plan, Xue Rengui and Xue Wanche jointly suppressed Zhang Liang's rebellion in Luozhou. Unexpectedly, when they arrived, they did not see Xue Wanche.

Xue Rengui quickly reported: "General Cheng, I and General Xue have been attacking Luoyang for a long time but have failed, so we have changed our battle plan."

"General Xue led his soldiers to bypass Luoyang and suppress the rebels in Zezhou and Luzhou, cutting off Luoyang's food supply."

Although Luoyang City has a superior geographical location, there are thousands of roads leading to Xiangzhou and Weizhou from Chang'an.

Seeing that Luozhou's defense was relatively strong, they decided to capture Zezhou and Luzhou first. By then, the isolated city of Luoyang would naturally fall.

Moreover, Xue Wanche also had selfish motives. He wanted to be the first to attack Xiangzhou and capture the King of Wei alive before Duke Ying Li Ji.

"Humph!"

Cheng Yaojin snorted heavily, then cursed angrily.

"Xue Wanche is such a thief!"

"He actually abandoned you outside Luoyang City and went to take the credit for the King of Wei."

"What a cunning dog!"

As long as the rebel leader, the King of Wei, is captured, the more than 100,000 rebels will naturally collapse.

Capturing the King of Wei was the greatest military achievement.

If Xue Wanche can get this first achievement, he will also be qualified to be promoted to the title of Duke!

After Cheng Yaojin finished cursing for a while, Du He said with a smile.

"General Cheng, destroying the traitor Zhang Liang is also a great achievement."

"We should find a way to capture Luoyang City as soon as possible, and then quickly enter Xiangzhou to capture the King of Wei."

Cheng Yaojin nodded solemnly, then took Du He, Xue Rengui, Guo Daquan, Zheng Rentai and others into the tent to discuss siege tactics.

...

Luoyang Palace.

Inside the Mingtang Hall.

Zhang Liang sat on the throne, his face full of joy.

Although he lost nearly half of his soldiers in the first battle because of underestimating the enemy, the King of Wei promptly sent 1 troops to Luoyang City.

In the past few days, they easily resisted the fierce attacks from Xue Wanche and Xue Rengui.

In addition, the three armies under the King of Wei had won successive victories and had captured Yanzhou, Zibo, Dizhou and Dezhou.

If they continue at this pace, it won’t take more than three months before they can occupy half of the Tang Dynasty.

Just when Zhang Liang was fantasizing about becoming a local lord, there was a sudden commotion outside the hall and soon his adopted son Gongsun Jie stumbled in.

"Godfather... something terrible has happened!"

Zhang Liang was dreaming about being an emperor. When he was interrupted by Gongsun Jie's shout, he immediately frowned and shouted unhappily.

"What's got you so flustered?"

"Could it be that Xue Wanche and Xue Rengui are starting to attack the city again?"

On the outskirts of Luoyang City, there are important passes such as Mengjin Pass, Yique Pass, and Hulao Pass. He deployed more than a thousand soldiers at each pass.

The city of Luoyang was built high and strong during the early Sui Dynasty, making it more difficult to attack than the city of Liaodong.

In addition, Luoyang is connected to Zezhou, Luzhou, and Xiangzhou, and he has a steady supply of personnel and food support.

As long as they hold on firmly at the front, no matter how many people the imperial court sends to attack the city, it will be useless.

Gongsun Jie reported with trembling lips: "The imperial court sent a reinforcement force, at least more than 2 people, and they also brought a lot of siege equipment!"

"The scouts learned from the flag signals that the general leading the reinforcements is Duke Lu!"

Cheng Yaojin is coming?

Upon hearing that the incoming imperial reinforcements were led by Cheng Yaojin, Zhang Liang showed a disdainful sneer on his face.

Cheng Yaojin, a tough guy, is good at fighting, but he is not good at siege warfare.

He now has the strong city of Luoyang as a barrier. No matter how Cheng Yaojin attacks, he will never be able to break through Luoyang City.

Zhang Liang waved his hand and said, "Send someone to closely monitor their actions. Do not rashly open the city gates and engage in battle with them."

"Send someone to tell the guards of Mengjin Pass, Yique Pass, Huanyuan Pass, and Hulao Pass to guard the passes well."

"As long as the eight great passes outside are not lost, Luoyang City will not be lost!"

Currently, all the enemy forces facing Luoyang City are outside the west gate.

He sent 5 elite troops under his command to guard the west gate, and with the assistance of more than new recruits, it would be useless even if more imperial troops came to attack the city.

Zhang Liang saw Gongsun Jie still standing there in a daze, and he raised his eyebrows and said.

"Anything else?"

Gongsun Jie gritted his teeth and said, "Foster father, Zezhou is lost..."

"What!" Zhang Liang's face changed drastically. He stood up and asked, "What on earth is going on?"

Zezhou was the only important supply line. Now that Zezhou was lost, he and the King of Wei had completely lost the channel for mutual support!

Once Luoyang becomes an isolated city, the morale of the army will surely be weakened.

Most of his men are new recruits. How can he defend Luoyang?

Gongsun Jie quickly replied: "Xue Wanche led 5000 infantry and cavalry to bypass Luoyang and attack Zezhou directly, and wipe out all 5 defenders in Zezhou!"

"Now the prefectures around Luoyang have sent troops to besiege us!"

this...

Zhang Liang did not expect that the defenders of Zezhou were so weak. With equal forces, they were captured by Xue Wanche in just two days.

Think for a moment.

Zhang Liang said in a deep voice: "Gongsun Jie, take my handwritten order to Xiangzhou and ask the King of Wei to send troops to take back Zezhou!"

"Our great enemy is outside the west city gate. We cannot divide our forces to attack Xue Wanche."

He actually had the ability to divide his troops, but he didn't dare to do so.

Once the soldiers under his command were exhausted, they would have no bargaining power with the King of Wei after they accomplished their mission.

"As ordered!"

Gongsun Jie responded, then quickly left with the imperial edict.

In the next two days, the imperial troops outside the west city gate remained motionless, which made Zhang Liang full of doubts.

"what happened?"

"Cheng Yaojin is leading his troops here, don't you plan to attack the city?"

Just when Zhang Liang was full of doubts, his adopted son Huang Tieshi walked into the hall in a panic to report.

"Godfather, Luokou Warehouse is lost!"

"We've lost all our food supplies!"

After hearing this bad news, Zhang Liang lost all his composure.

Because Luoyang City was a small place, all the grain that he and the King of Wei had collected was stored in the Luokou warehouse in the rear area.

They filled the more than 4000 cellars in Luokou Granary with grain. Each cellar could store dan of grain, enough to feed the soldiers and civilians in Luoyang City for several years.

Zhang Liang roared with red eyes: "I left 3000 soldiers to guard Luokou Warehouse, and you can't even defend it?"

"Tell me quickly, what's going on!"

If Luokou Warehouse was outside the city, it would not be a big deal, but Luokou Warehouse was behind Luoyang City and was under their heavy protection.

If they lost their granary under such strict defense, what would they eat next?

The daily food consumption of hundreds of thousands of people is an astronomical figure.

The little food they had left in the city wouldn't last more than a few days.

Huang Tieshi said quickly: "Xue Rengui led 2000 elite cavalrymen to bypass Qishan in the dark and then raid Luokou Warehouse."

“By the time the brothers reacted, they had already been captured by the cavalry.”