Li Yuanji wore a sour expression as he said, “His Highness the Crown Prince has given orders—how would this insignificant Duke of Qi dare to be unhappy?”
“You!” Li Jiancheng shook his head. “What’s wrong? Did having you come here to see him off make you feel greatly wronged?”
“It’s not that I feel wronged, but rather…” Li Yuanji gritted his teeth. “I’m unwilling to accept it. Western Qin could have been destroyed by our hands, yet we’ve let him benefit from it.” With that, he stared at Li Jiancheng. “Don’t tell me Elder Brother is content with this?”
Li Jiancheng said indifferently, “Whether we’re content or not, we lost.”
Upon hearing this, Li Yuanji immediately said hatefully, “Lost? What loss? Just give me one more chance, and I’m confident I can destroy Western Qin and present Xue Rengao’s head with both hands. It’s just…”
“Father Emperor won’t place his bets on you again. After all, if we lose again this time, the Great Tang would truly lose all national prestige. With such important matters at stake, he naturally had to choose the most reliable person to lead this army.”
His words left Li Yuanji feeling dejected, and he said helplessly, “I know, so I’m saying nothing. But Elder Brother insisted on dragging me here, forcing me to say a bunch of words that made my teeth ache just hearing them. Elder Brother, what… what exactly are you thinking?”
Li Jiancheng smiled slightly. “Fourth Brother, do you think that after pacifying Western Qin, our Great Tang will be stable?”
Li Yuanji was taken aback by his question, then replied, “Of course not. Li Mi, Wang Shichong, Dou Jiande—which one of them isn’t eyeing us like a tiger?”
Li Jiancheng looked at the passersby around them and said slowly, “Exactly. The future is long—why rush for a moment’s gain? Now that he’s setting out on campaign, if we two brothers don’t see him off, it would inevitably invite others’ gossip. If word reaches Father Emperor’s ears, he might think we lack brotherly affection.”
“There was never any affection between us and him to begin with,” Li Yuanji muttered, then continued, “Let’s not talk about today’s events. But now, watching him accumulate military achievements while we can only watch helplessly—this really isn’t right. Don’t tell me Elder Brother truly intends to…” He glanced around, then lowered his voice. “Hand over the Eastern Palace position to him?”
“Of course not.” Saying this, Li Jiancheng’s eyes showed a cold smile. “Don’t worry. I’ve already thought of a way to deal with him. No matter how many military achievements he accumulates, he won’t win Father Emperor’s favor.”
Li Yuanji was full of questions after hearing this. “What method?”
“For this, I must thank Imperial Consort Wan.” After saying this cryptic remark, Li Jiancheng continued, “Don’t bother sending that jar of daughter’s red wine to my place. Since we have nothing to do right now, let’s go to your place to drink while we talk.”
Li Yuanji was eager to hear what he had in mind, so he readily agreed and accompanied Li Jiancheng to his Duke of Qi’s residence.
Li Shimin knew nothing of what transpired behind him. He led the 300,000 troops in a forced march, arriving at Gaocheng in mid-September. This place had once been a city of the Great Tang, but due to last month’s mistake, the person now defending this city had become Xue Rengao. Every time they thought of this humiliation, not only Du Ruhui and the others, but even ordinary soldiers were filled with righteous indignation. So they not only had to recapture this city but also completely pacify Western Qin.
Compared to Xue Rengao’s army, Li Shimin’s force had one disadvantage—they lacked horses. This meant Li Shimin lacked cavalry capable of charging into battle formations. In fact, he had only 3,000 cavalry under his command, while Xue Rengao had over 20,000 cavalry.
Li Yuanji’s battle certainly involved underestimating the enemy, but there was indeed a real difference in cavalry strength.
After Li Shimin arrived at Gaocheng with his 300,000 troops, he ordered them to remain in position and not engage in battle. No matter how much Xue Rengao cursed and challenged them from within the city, no matter how crude and vulgar his language, Li Shimin strictly forbade his subordinates from fighting.
As before, Li Shimin’s orders caused much discussion among his officers and soldiers. Some officers and soldiers who couldn’t contain themselves came before Li Shimin to request battle. Li Shimin refused all such requests and issued a military order: “Anyone who dares to discuss battle will be executed without mercy!”
With this, no matter how frustrated the officers and soldiers felt, none dared speak before Li Shimin again.
Li Shimin wasn’t acting out of cowardice due to the previous defeat. In fact, no one had yet appeared who could make him feel timid on the battlefield. The reason for not fighting was that the time wasn’t right yet. Only by dragging Xue Rengao to exhaustion could he strike decisively and ensure the Great Tang achieved the victory it desperately needed.
Although such waiting would consume military provisions, the Great Tang had intentionally stockpiled grain and fodder after capturing Chang’an. Combined with Li Yuan’s order for Li Jiancheng to take full responsibility for supply logistics, there would be no problems in the short term.
Li Shimin could remain patient, but Xue Rengao could not. He was impatient by nature—either he wouldn’t fight, or if he fought, he’d fight to his heart’s content. In this regard, he was somewhat similar to Li Yuanji.
So, after Li Shimin persisted in not engaging in battle, he decided to divide his forces to besiege Jingzhou!
Jingzhou was located in the western part of Guanzhong and could be said to be Chang’an’s western gate. Once Jingzhou was breached, Chang’an would be in danger. As long as Jingzhou was captured, Li Shimin would definitely have to send troops to rescue it and couldn’t continue being a coward.
Xue Rengao believed that within a few days, he could capture Jingzhou, because he had 300,000 troops while Jingzhou had only 30,000—one-tenth of his numbers.
Could there be any suspense in such a battle?
Xue Rengao thought not, but the result proved otherwise!
Jingzhou had 30,000 defending troops, and the person responsible for defending Jingzhou was General Liu Gan, a native of Fengquan in Qizhou. Though this man was unremarkable in appearance, he had loyal and righteous character. Facing Xue Rengao’s heavy siege, he firmly refused to surrender.
But Jingzhou didn’t have the same rear support as Li Shimin, so before long, they faced a situation of depleted provisions. Liu Gan, seeing his soldiers unable to fill their stomachs, ordered horses to be killed and distributed among the officers and soldiers for sustenance. He himself had nothing to eat, only boiling horse bones and drinking the broth mixed with wood shavings.
Seeing their general in such a state, the soldiers were all moved by his kindness and righteousness. Each one fought desperately to defend Jingzhou, withstanding wave after wave of Xue Rengao’s fierce attacks without surrendering.
Xue Rengao’s siege of Jingzhou made Li Shimin restless. If he led troops to rescue it, he would be playing right into Xue Rengao’s hands. If he didn’t rescue it, once Jingzhou fell, the people in the city would be in danger, and Chang’an would be in danger!
With no choice, Li Shimin could only dispatch someone to race to report this matter to Li Yuan, requesting that Li Yuan send reinforcements to Jingzhou. The person to lead these troops was Li Yuan’s cousin, Prince Changping Li Shuliang.
If this person hadn’t come, Liu Gan wouldn’t have died. Unfortunately, he came, and this was the most foolish move Li Yuan had made since raising his army.
At the end of September, Li Shuliang arrived at Jingzhou with his troops. In early October, Xue Rengao suddenly stopped his attacks. The next day, he even ordered the siege of Jingzhou to be lifted due to lack of provisions in his army, and led his troops south. A day later, news came from Gaocheng that all the Western Qin forces defending the city had surrendered.
These events one after another made Li Shuliang extremely happy. In his view, as soon as he arrived, Xue Rengao surrendered, clearly because he was afraid of him. Who would have thought that though he had never fought before, he had such a fearsome reputation among enemy forces? How wonderful!