Chapter 348: Putting Down the Rebellion, Zhao Zilong Becomes Famous in One Battle

Just as Liu Ziyu predicted, Emperor Zhaowu Chen Huaian tasted the sweetness of "persuading surrender" in Youzhou City. After he was able to capture the city without fighting, he immediately decided to follow suit and led the army out of Juyongguan to Guizhou and Danzhou to persuade them to surrender, and resolve the rebellion without bloodshed.

In the final analysis, Chen Huaian still had sympathy for the soldiers from Youyun states who participated in the rebellion. He only wanted to punish the arrogant and brave generals headed by Liu Ziyu, and did not intend to kill the soldiers at the grassroots who obeyed orders.

After all, they were all meritorious officials who had followed the King of Jin Chen Huaian to raise troops to fight for the country, and the blood of the people of the Tang Dynasty flowed in their bodies.

Therefore, Chen Huaian only rested for two days in Youzhou City, and then continued to lead 20,000 light and heavy cavalry on the road to the north to quell the rebellion.

The next stop is Guizhou City.

In Guizhou City, the garrison general's mansion.

Zhao Xiaofei, the garrison general stationed here, had received an urgent message from Wuzhou City, which was eight hundred miles away, ordering Zhao Xiaofei to lead the 20,000 troops in Guizhou City to go out of the city and go to Youzhou to join forces with the Youzhou garrison to annihilate the vanguard of the imperial army that appeared outside Youzhou City.

When Zhao Xiaofei received this military order, he was still a little puzzled. Based on his many years of experience in commanding troops and fighting, facing the heavy pressure of the imperial court, even if he wanted to launch a counterattack, shouldn’t all the troops be concentrated together in one place?

How could it be like now, ordering the generals of each state to lead all the troops in the city to assemble in the place where the enemy army was besieging Youzhou City? Isn’t this a "add oil tactic"?

This is a taboo in military strategy!

In fact, as the main general of the rebels, how could Liu Ziyu not know that the "add oil tactic" is a taboo in military strategy?

He had to do this!

The sudden loss of Youzhou City and the sudden appearance of Emperor Zhaowu Chen Huaian disrupted Liu Ziyu's previously deployed battle plan, forcing him to resort to this desperate measure.

Liu Ziyu issued military orders to the generals of Guizhou, Shunzhou, and Danzhou, except Wuzhou, Xinzhou, Weizhou, and Ruzhou, asking them to lead their troops to abandon the city. In name, they were going to Youzhou to reinforce the battle, but in fact, they were chess pieces on the tactical board to lure the enemy deep into the city.

He himself gathered all the troops and horses of the remaining four states, as well as the 30,000 Turkic cavalry who came to help, and formed an army of 100,000 people. With the posture of a mantis catching a cicada and a yellow bird behind, he was ready to deal a fatal blow to the 20,000 vanguards led by Emperor Zhaowu Chen Huaian at any time.

Liu Ziyu's idea was that the troops in Guizhou, Shunzhou and Danzhou would definitely meet the imperial troops heading north to recover the city and quell the rebellion somewhere outside Juyongguan when they received the military order to gather in Youzhou City.

When the two armies met in the wild, they would most likely fight directly together, thus not giving Emperor Zhaowu Chen Huaian the opportunity and possibility to speak out and disrupt the morale of the army.

The 100,000 troops he led personally rushed to Juyongguan without stopping, trying to get the troops in Guizhou, Shunzhou and Danzhou to consume the imperial vanguard army, and then they would rush out in an ambush to annihilate the imperial vanguard army.

It must be said that Liu Ziyu's wishful thinking was very good.

In reality, the two armies encountered the situation as he expected and deduced. The 20,000 troops led by Emperor Zhaowu Chen Huaian encountered the 20,000 rebels from Guizhou City outside Juyongguan a few days later. The two sides fought fiercely at Juyongguan for a day and a night.

Then, the two rebels from Shunzhou and Danzhou, totaling 30,000 people, also rushed to the battlefield of Juyongguan, and then joined forces with the rebels from Guizhou, and fierce fighting broke out again.

It is worth mentioning that whether it is the 20,000 imperial guards led by Chen Huaian or the rebels from Guizhou, Shunzhou, and Danzhou, they are all extremely powerful armies of the entire Tang Dynasty. The fighting and fierce battles between the two sides on the battlefield are also half a catty to eight taels. The imperial guards, who are at a disadvantage in numbers, did not establish an overwhelming advantage.

What is even more strange is that in the minds of the commanders and grassroots soldiers of the two armies, they all think that the other side is the rebel, and they are the righteous army that supports the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, when both sides fought on the battlefield, they all thought they were fighting for the country and shedding blood for the nation, which was called bravery and fearlessness.

This state of "Li Gui vs. Li Kui" continued until Emperor Zhaowu Chen Huaian ignored the dissuasion and personally rode his horse to the battlefield to kill the enemy.

Among the rebels in the three states of Gui, Shun, and Tan, there were finally some sensible soldiers who keenly realized that things were not as simple as before, when General Liu Ziyu issued the "Exhortation to Suppress Rebellion" and called on the soldiers of the Sixteen States of Youyun to raise troops to quell the rebellion and clear the court.

Even, he began to doubt whether he had been involved in a huge conspiracy from the beginning.