Although he had seen through all of this, Wang Shichong didn’t make it known. He deliberately pretended to be deceived by Liu Wenjing and sent twenty thousand troops to follow Liu Wenjing to Tong Mountain. In reality, these so-called twenty thousand elite troops were actually all old, weak, sick, and disabled soldiers.
Shortly after Liu Wenjing left, Wang Shichong urgently assembled thirty thousand troops, personally led by Duan Da, to secretly follow behind. Once Li Yuan’s army was discovered, they would immediately eliminate them.
Liu Wenjing pressed his lips tightly together. He hadn’t expected that after all his calculations, he would ultimately be ruined by an inconspicuous soldier. How infuriating!
Over there, after Duan Da finished saying all this, he turned his gaze to Li Shimin: “Which son of Li Yuan are you?”
“I am Li Shimin.” Hearing Li Shimin’s answer, Duan Da nodded: “I’ve heard many things about you – Yanmen Pass, Mayi, Jiangdu. Heh heh, your luck has indeed been quite good, but…” He waved the heavy long blade in his hand and said coldly: “All your good luck ends here! Kill!”
With this word, the tens of thousands of soldiers behind him charged toward Li Shimin’s forces with thunderous battle cries. For a moment, the two armies fought indecisively in an extremely deadlocked battle.
The thirty thousand soldiers Duan Da brought were Luoyang City’s true elite, each battle-hardened veteran incomparable to ordinary soldiers. Although Li Shimin had slightly more men, he still found it quite difficult to cope, only able to respond while ordering men to notify the remaining soldiers to come for reinforcement. Duan Da clearly anticipated this as well – while ordering men to report back to Luoyang City, he also had soldiers establish heavy defenses. Several waves of soldiers Li Shimin sent out were killed before they could run far. He clearly wanted to cut off Li Shimin’s reinforcements and slowly wear him down here.
As Li Shimin was about to send soldiers to break through the defenses again, Liu Wenjing said: “Marshal, this matter arose entirely due to my incompetent handling. Let me break out to notify the army for reinforcement.”
Li Shimin frowned tightly: “Is Master Liu truly confident he can break out?”
After Liu Wenjing nodded forcefully, Li Shimin said: “Good, I’ll have men do everything possible to escort you out.” After these words, he mobilized a full two hundred elite troops to escort Liu Wenjing in a fierce assault on a certain position. Although casualties were heavy, they successfully forced open a gap before Duan Da could mobilize other soldiers, allowing Liu Wenjing to break through the encirclement and head to the base to report.
“Trying to run?!” A cold smile played at the corner of Duan Da’s mouth. He took a bow and arrow from a soldier’s hands, drew the bowstring fully, and shot at Liu Wenjing. The arrow that left the string was like a shooting star chasing the moon, incredibly fast. By the time Liu Wenjing noticed, it was too late – he could only barely turn his body sideways.
“Puff!” The arrowhead made of refined iron penetrated from back to front through his left chest, bringing with it a large spray of fresh blood that dripped onto the horse’s back and the ground trampled by hooves. Liu Wenjing swayed precariously on horseback, seeming ready to fall at any moment, but the next instant he had already bent down to grasp the reins, using all his remaining strength to kick the horse’s belly, saying with difficulty: “Hyah!”
The galloping hooves increased speed again due to his urging. Seeing this scene, Duan Da snorted coldly and drew his bow again, shooting several arrows in succession. But firstly, the distance was already far, and secondly, Liu Wenjing had bent down his body, greatly increasing the difficulty of aiming, so the subsequent arrows all missed their mark.
“Damn!” Duan Da threw down the bow and arrow in his hands, ordering soldiers to pursue Liu Wenjing, while he himself continued commanding this battle. For Wang Shichong, Li Yuan who occupied Chang’an was a major threat. If they could eliminate Li Shimin here, it would be equivalent to cutting off one of Li Yuan’s arms. Luoyang and Chang’an were adjacent – sooner or later, there would be a battle between them.
Those soldiers pursued Liu Wenjing all the way. The latter, wounded by the sharp arrow and unable to fight enemies, could only desperately urge his horse forward. Fortunately, several others had broken out with him and helped fend off pursuers, giving him the opportunity to race all the way to the main camp.
Zhangsun Wuji was in the camp pondering matters regarding attacking Luoyang after this battle when Du Ruhui rushed in hurriedly: “General Zhangsun, come out and look quickly!”
Seeing his anxious expression, Zhangsun Wuji knew something major had happened and quickly went out of the tent with him. He saw Liu Wenjing, covered in blood, being supported on both sides by two soldiers, with a shocking arrow shaft protruding from his left chest.
Zhangsun Wuji said in shock: “Master Liu, how… how did you end up like this?” Without waiting for Liu Wenjing to answer, he remembered something else and hurriedly said: “Where is the Marshal? How is he?”
Liu Wenjing struggled to open his eyelids slightly, saying weakly: “Quick… quickly go… save the Marshal.”
His voice was extremely faint. Zhangsun Wuji listened twice before understanding, saying: “Where is the Marshal now? What exactly happened?”
Liu Wenjing endured the waves of dizziness in his mind, saying: “Wang Shichong… saw through our strategy, attacked from… from behind. The Marshal is now very… very dangerous, on the hillside still ten… more than ten li from Tong Mountain…” Having forced out the last word, Liu Wenjing could no longer hold on and fainted.
Du Ruhui checked his breathing – it was as thin as a thread and could stop at any moment. He quickly said: “Immediately fetch a physician. He needs immediate treatment, quickly!”
On the other side, Zhangsun Wuji also reacted at the fastest speed: “Pass down the order – immediately organize the army. All soldiers will follow this general to rescue the Marshal!”
The Li family army had strict discipline. Upon hearing the order, they immediately organized their forces, taking only the time of one incense stick to complete assembly before following Zhangsun Wuji and Du Ruhui to rescue Li Shimin.
Although Zhangsun Wuji had already pushed the marching speed to its fastest, Luoyang City was ultimately closer to this location. By the time they hurriedly arrived, Duan Da’s reinforcements had already arrived first and were concentrating their forces to fiercely attack Li Shimin, causing his forty thousand troops to be overwhelmed and in constant danger.
The fifty thousand troops Zhangsun Wuji brought undoubtedly made Li Shimin breathe a sigh of relief, greatly reducing the pressure. But the situation was still not optimistic. Although he now had one hundred thousand troops, Duan Da’s army also numbered nearly one hundred thousand – they held no advantage whatsoever. On the contrary, they had to constantly guard against Li Mi’s side. If the latter truly repelled Yuwen Huaji, according to his agreement with Yang Tong, he would most likely return to reinforce Duan Da. At that time, they would face attacks from both sides.
No, they had to find a way to fight a quick decisive battle before Li Mi returned for reinforcement. The longer it dragged on, the more unfavorable it would be for them.
Li Shimin’s thinking wasn’t wrong, but war couldn’t end just because he wanted it to. Before thinking of defeating Duan Da’s nearly one hundred thousand troops, they could only remain deadlocked like this.
This battle lasted from night to day, then from day to night again. Several truces, several renewed battles – the corpses piled on the ground grew more and more numerous, with severed limbs and blood visible everywhere. Both sides had fought until their eyes turned red. Duan Da and Li Shimin clashed several times, but neither gained any advantage over the other.