At this moment, dramatic changes began to unfold at Tongshan over ten li away. The evil consequences of Yuwen Huaji’s troops forcibly seizing grain from the common people started to manifest. Many of those generals were men of proud disposition, and forcing them to plunder grain from innocent civilians while listening to the desperate curses of the people was more painful than being whipped. This made them begin seriously considering whether they should continue following such a leader.

They didn’t deliberate for long. After just one day, Yuwen Huaji’s Minister of War Wang Gui led his troops to surrender to Li Mi. The following day, General Chen Zhilue brought ten thousand elite Lingnan Xiaoguo troops to surrender to Li Mi. The so-called Xiaoguo were the former Imperial Guards directly under Yang Guang’s command. Following closely after, General Zhang Tongren and Fan Wenchao led several tens of thousands of Jiangdong Imperial Guards to surrender.

In an instant, Li Mi’s forces continued to expand. In just a few short days, his army grew from over one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand, while Yuwen Huaji’s side experienced the exact opposite – his hundred thousand strong army was reduced to merely twenty thousand.

Yuwen Huaji knew that if he continued to remain, only death awaited him. Therefore, he immediately led his twenty thousand men to flee under cover of night, no longer daring to engage Li Mi in battle.

Although Li Shimin and Duan Da’s armies remained in a state of warfare, he had never relaxed his vigilance regarding Li Mi’s situation. News of Yuwen Huaji’s flight and Li Mi’s army expansion reached his ears at the first opportunity.

After another ceasefire, he informed Zhangsun Wuji, Du Ruhui, and others about this development: “If nothing unexpected happens, within a day Li Mi will be able to integrate those surrendered officers and soldiers to come here and aid Duan Da. By then, we will face an army of three hundred thousand.”

Zhangsun Wuji said in a heavy voice: “These past days of continuous fighting have caused extreme damage to our forces. The dead already exceed ten thousand, and the survivors are all exhausted. To withstand a three hundred thousand strong army… is virtually impossible, let alone capturing Luoyang.”

Du Ruhui concurred: “Indeed, from the current situation, retreat is the only option.”

Li Shimin remained silent in dejection. Before departing for battle, he had promised Li Yuan that he would certainly capture Luoyang, but the result… not only had he failed to even touch the shadow of Luoyang, he was also forced into an untenable position by Duan Da and his forces. This was the first defeat he had tasted since accompanying the army to war.

However, he was not a stubborn and self-opinionated person. He knew Du Ruhui was correct – retreating to Chang’an while their losses were still manageable was the best choice. But… Duan Da clearly intended to trap them here to death and would hardly allow them to retreat.

Zhangsun Wuji had also thought of this point and frowned, saying: “Retreat is indeed correct, but Duan Da watches us like a tiger eyeing its prey. How could he allow us to withdraw?”

Pei Qiantong said urgently: “But if we don’t retreat now, when Li Mi’s two hundred thousand troops arrive, we won’t be able to retreat even if we want to.”

This statement caused all the generals in the camp to furrow their brows tightly. Ever since Li Yuan raised his army, they had always followed Li Shimin’s side, conquering everything in their path and winning every battle. When had they ever encountered such a situation where they could neither advance nor retreat? It was truly frustrating.

Du Ruhui pondered for a moment and said: “Could we do the same as before at Jiangdu, making Duan Da think our numbers are not limited to what he sees?”

Li Shimin shook his head: “Master Liu had already deceived them once at the city gates. How could they believe again? Moreover, Duan Da is a person who is meticulous beneath his rough exterior. He has probably already sent people to thoroughly investigate our true strength.”

Zhangsun Wuji suddenly said: “If we cannot deceive them, then let’s lure them into a trap!”

After hearing his detailed plan, Li Shimin gritted his teeth and said: “Good, we’ll proceed according to this method. I hope we can retreat to Chang’an before Li Mi arrives.”

That night, a soldier came to Duan Da’s tent and saluted: “Reporting to the General, scouts report that Li Shimin’s side is acting unusually – they’ve even taken down their camp tents. They’re probably planning to flee under cover of night.”

Duan Da stroked his thick beard and sneered: “This Luoyang is not a place where they can come and go as they please!” He then ordered: “Relay my command – assemble the army! I will catch Li Shimin off guard!” Even if he couldn’t kill Li Shimin, he would destroy this hundred thousand strong army and deal Li Yuan a heavy blow.

At the third watch, under cover of darkness, Duan Da personally led his large army stealthily to Li Shimin’s camp. The situation there was indeed as the soldier had reported – most of the tents had been taken down, and the soldiers were acting unusually.

Just as Duan Da was preparing to order the attack, several “meteors” suddenly streaked toward their army from the sky, striking hard against the soldiers. Instantly, wails arose everywhere, their formation fell into chaos, and the attacks continued relentlessly. Each “meteor” that fell brought down a swath of soldiers.

Duan Da was greatly alarmed and quickly asked those around him: “What’s happening?”

By this time, the soldiers had clearly seen what the so-called meteors were, and reported: “Reporting to the General, it seems someone is attacking us with catapults!”

“How could there be catapults out of nowhere?” Before Duan Da could finish speaking, battle cries erupted from both sides as a group of soldiers charged at them with drawn swords. Seeing this scene, how could Duan Da not understand? They had fallen into a trap. Li Shimin had anticipated that he wouldn’t let them leave just like that, so he used retreat as bait to lure him over, then launched a surprise attack!

Unfortunately, by the time he understood this, it was already too late. He could only hastily engage in battle. The stones previously launched by the catapults had caused heavy casualties and shaken morale. They could no longer fight Li Shimin’s army to a standstill as in previous battles, and were quickly routed. Even Duan Da’s arm was wounded.

Seeing his own side suffering heavy casualties, Duan Da felt both hatred and anger. How detestable! If Li Mi’s large army had arrived to provide aid at this moment, no matter how cunning Li Shimin was, he couldn’t have won. This time he had missed the opportunity to kill Li Shimin. It would be much harder to kill him in the future. What a pity! Such a pity!

Although Duan Da was unwilling to accept this, to preserve his strength he had no choice but to order retreat. With their retreat, Li Shimin also didn’t linger in battle and immediately ordered withdrawal toward Chang’an.

In the end, this battle involving four parties concluded with Yuwen Huaji’s defeat and flight to Wei County, and Li Shimin’s inconclusive return. But for Li Mi, the battle was not yet over.

Although he had defeated Yuwen Huaji and absorbed tens of thousands of troops, bringing his forces to two hundred thousand, Yang Tong, who had originally promised to let him enter the city, had developed problems.

Wang Shichong had always opposed letting Li Mi enter the city, let alone enter the court to assist in government. But when attacked from two sides at the time, he had no choice but to agree.

Now that Yuwen Huaji had fled and Li Shimin had also withdrawn, he no longer intended to honor the previous agreement. He wanted to take advantage of Li Mi’s exhausted troops and horses to eliminate Li Mi completely. Although Li Mi currently had two hundred thousand troops, some of them had just joined him and couldn’t be commanded as smoothly as one’s own limbs. Moreover, Li Mi himself was severely wounded and lacked the strength to command such a large army effectively.