Chapter 339 Battle of Hengyang
While Li Guangbi was engaged in a tug-of-war with Shi Siming, Guo Ziyi led his troops south from Jingxingkou, attacked Zhaojun in the south, and killed the rebel Zhaojun prefect Guo Xianqiu.

The news soon spread to Luoyang.

An Lushan was worried that his hometown would be destroyed, so he once again ordered Cai Xide to lead more than 20,000 troops from Luoyang to the north to assist Shi Siming. At the same time, he ordered Niu Tingjie, a rebel general from Fan Yang, to lead more than 10,000 troops from Fan Yang to the south to support Shi Siming.

The three rebel generals joined forces and had more than 50,000 soldiers.

When Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi learned of the rebels' support, they joined forces, with a total force of more than 30,000, and retreated to Hengyang City.

Hengyang City was strategically located and easy to defend but difficult to attack. Shi Siming's 50,000 soldiers were not enough to attack Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi's 30,000 soldiers, so he set up camp in the southeast of Hengyang and prepared to attack slowly.

The so-called "slow and steady approach" means guarding all the important roads leading out of Hengyang, cutting off Hengyang's communication with the outside world, and preparing to trap the government troops to death.

Once the food and grass were cut off, Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi also had a headache.

First of all, they could not win a forced field battle because the government army had only more than 30,000 people, while the rebels had more than 50,000 people, including more than 10,000 elite Yeluohe cavalry and Tongluo cavalry.

Secondly, defending alone is not a long-term solution because the food and grass cannot sustain it for long.

Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi summoned all the generals to discuss the matter and pondered deeply.

Pugu Huai'en was unhappy with Li Guangbi's strict military discipline, and took the opportunity to mock him: "Hasn't Deputy Marshal Li followed His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for a long time? His Royal Highness is a master in military tactics. I wonder if Deputy Marshal Li has learned the Crown Prince's military tactics to help Hengyang City out of trouble?"

Li Guangbi glanced at Pugu Huai'en, disdaining to argue with him, and said: "On the battlefield, it is nothing more than the superior defeating the inferior. We are inferior to the rebels in terms of military strength, which is our disadvantage, but we occupy Hengyang City and have the city fortress to rely on, while the rebels are camping in the wild, without the city fortress to rely on, which is our advantage."

Guo Ziyi suddenly realized, and said, "Vice-General Li wants to use the tactic of tiring the enemy?"

"That's right." Li Guangbi nodded, "We will hold our ground and send out cavalry to harass the rebels continuously. When they are exhausted, we will leave the city and lure the rebels into a decisive battle."

"This plan is feasible." Guo Ziyi agreed.

After the tactics were established, each general took up his duties and began to act.

Pugu Huai'en led 1,800 cavalrymen, divided them into three teams, and took turns attacking the rebel camp.

The rebels had no city fortresses to protect them, and were harassed by Pugu Huai'en to the point of being annoyed. The government troops had city fortresses, and the rebels could not use the same tactics.

Shi Siming was so angry after being beaten.

Half a month passed like this, and Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi felt that the time was ripe, so they asked Cui Yi to lead 5,000 soldiers to sneak out of the north of the city and occupy Jiashan in the north of Hengyang City.

At this time, there were many people hiding from the rebels on Jiashan, so Cui Yi organized the people to garrison Jiashan together.

Two days later, Guo Ziyi sent out 3,000 baggage troops to transport food and fodder to Jiashan's army.

Shi Siming closely watched the movements of the government troops and realized that it was impossible to transport food and fodder to Jiashan, so he sent out 3,000 cavalry to attack the government troops' baggage train.

When the government army's baggage train saw the rebel cavalry, they abandoned their baggage and turned around to run. The rebel cavalry took advantage of the situation and pursued them all the way to the foot of Jiashan.

As soon as they arrived at Jiashan, the government army's baggage troops immediately formed a battle formation and fought while retreating.

The rebel cavalry were almost fooled when they saw the formation of the baggage train.

Because only elite infantry can have this kind of formation.

At this time, Cui Yi, who was ambushed in Jiashan, led his troops to rush down and cooperated with the "baggage troops" to defeat the pursuing rebels.

Shi Siming had been harassed by government troops for the past half month and was furious. He was tricked again this time and could no longer tolerate it. He personally led a large army to attack Jiashan, ready to remove this thorn in his side.

However, Jiashan was easy to defend but difficult to attack, and with the support of Hengyang's troops behind, Shi Siming was unable to capture Jiashan for a while and had to withdraw his troops.

After the withdrawal, Shi Siming knew very well that if he continued to camp in the southeast of Hengyang, he would be harassed by the government troops from Hengyang and Jiashan at the same time. So he changed his thinking and decided to adopt the tactic of besieging the point and attacking the reinforcements.

So they moved the camp from the southeast of Hengyang to the east of Jiashan, besieged Jiashan and attacked the reinforcements of the government troops.

But Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi had expected this. As soon as Shi Siming moved his camp, Guo Ziyi sent out two troops in succession.

A force of 8,000 men, mainly cavalry, led by Pugu Huai'en, marched north out of Hengyang, passed Jiashan, and went around to the north of the rebels.

The other force also consisted of 8,000 people, mainly infantry, who went south out of Hengyang and went around to the south of the rebels.

After the two teams were deployed, Li Guangbi personally led the 10,000-man central army to join forces with the main army on Jiashan.

After the cooperation, they launched an attack on the rebels in the early morning of the next day.

These are all elite troops, and their formations are very organized.

On the government army side, Li Guangbi's formation had archers in the front, followed by the Modao team, the spear team following up, and the cavalry guarding the two wings.

The rebels had the advantage in cavalry, so Shi Siming ordered the central army to form a battle formation to hold the line, and sent cavalry to make a detour from both wings, preparing to attack the government army from the rear.

But at this time, two government troops that had been ambushed earlier rushed out from the north and south of Jiashan, forming a siege on the rebels.

The morale of the government troops was greatly boosted. Shi Siming realized that he had fallen into a trap, so he led his troops to break out. The rebels were defeated and more than 40,000 people were killed or captured by the government troops.

After this battle, the Shuofang Army was like a dagger stabbed into the heart of the rebels. When An Lushan received the news, he was so angry that he almost fainted.

The court was delighted.

Shouwang Mansion.

It was already winter, and Li Heng lay by the fire, reading the military reports sent from the front, and he felt relieved.

The current situation is that the Helong Army is in Tongguan, tying down the main force of the rebels, the Shuofang Army and Yan Zhenqing are preparing to wipe out An Lushan's hometown in Hebei, and in the Jianghuai area, Li Qi and Zhang Xun are blocking the rebels from moving south.

The Anxi Beiting Army controlled the imperial court.

As long as we hold on a little longer, An Lushan will definitely return to Hebei to provide assistance, and it will just depend on who can outlast the other.

Zhang Mujin brought some medicine to Li Heng.

Yang Yuhuan asked, "Should my husband's illness be cured?"

Li Ying said, "That's right, then please ask the imperial physician Wang Bing to come and take a look for me."

Not long after, the imperial physician Wang Bing rushed over and took Li Heng's pulse.

Wang Bing felt the pulse for a long time and said in surprise, "I didn't expect that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would be cured of a disease like knotted pulse. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is truly the son of God and must be blessed by God!"

Li Ying smiled and said, "It's also because Zhang Lingzhi and Zhang Liangdi took good care of me. They haven't worried about my illness over the years."

Wang Bing stood up and bowed to Zhang Mujin, saying, "Liang Di is truly a medical genius. I admire you."

Zhang Mujin smiled awkwardly and said, "It's all your own good fortune."

Wang Bing turned to Li Ying and said, "Since it is the will of heaven, Your Highness should announce it to the world and celebrate with the people."

Li Heng said, "Okay, then let Doctor Wang handle this matter."

"Yes." Wang Bing took the order.

After Wang Bing left, Yang Yuhuan said with a smile: "An Lushan claimed to be the incarnation of the God of Light, but he was sick. My dear, you were able to recover from an incurable disease. An Lushan, the God of Light, is far inferior to you."

Li Ying said: "I have no intention of fooling the people, but I have no choice."

Yang Yuhuan said: "This is a good thing. From now on, everyone will believe that Your Highness is the Son of Heaven, and it is also the destiny that you will rule the world."

(End of this chapter)