Chapter 359: Defense of the Plains

Shi Siming failed to capture Pingyuan City by force, so he changed his tactics and divided his army into four routes, each attacking the southeast, northwest, northeast and southwest gates of Pingyuan City. However, only one of the routes was composed of real troops, while the other three were imaginary troops.

This style of fighting is somewhat similar to the replica of his previous capture of Lucheng, with the focus on dispersing the strength of the government troops.

However, Yan Zhenqing suffered a loss in Lucheng and learned his lesson. He ordered his soldiers not to show their heads and only use small lookout holes to monitor the movements of the rebels, and the government troops fell into silence.

Shi Siming was somewhat confused when he saw Yan Zhenqing's arrangement. He could not infer the strength of the government army's defense and did not dare to attack rashly. He could only give up and retreat to lay siege to the city, preparing to trap Yan Zhenqing to death.

Yan Zhenqing and Li Guangbi discussed the strategies for defending Hengyang and knew that when trapped, one should take the initiative to attack and not sit and wait for death.

So Yan Zhenqing made use of the tunnel he had dug previously.

On this day, the rebel envoys were clamoring for surrender outside the city, but they were unaware that the government troops who had lurked in the tunnels had been lying in ambush for a long time. When the rebel envoys were speaking excitedly, the ambushing government troops suddenly rushed out, hacked the rebel envoys to death with their swords, and then ran away.

From then on, no one from the rebel army dared to persuade them to surrender.

At night, Yan Zhenqing sent out another team to attack the rebel patrol through the tunnel.

Shi Siming was extremely annoyed, but after all, Yan Zhenqing did not send cavalry to attack the camp like Li Guangbi did. He could still withstand a sneak attack through the tunnel. He was patient and continued the siege.

Ten days passed like this, and Shi Siming suddenly received Yan Zhenqing's letter of surrender.

Yan Zhenqing said that there was no food in the city and he was willing to surrender for the sake of the people and soldiers in the city.

Shi Siming was skeptical, but he could not miss this opportunity.

You know, Yan Zhenqing is now a leading figure in Hebei. If Yan Zhenqing surrenders, it will be a huge blow to the morale of the government troops in Hebei. Moreover, after subduing Yan Zhenqing, he can continue to move south and counter-encircle Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi.

So, Shi Siming accepted Yan Zhenqing's surrender, but to be on the safe side, he allowed Yan Zhenqing to take only one thousand people out of the city, and only after Yan Zhenqing lined up did he send someone to lead the team to accept the surrender.

Yan Zhenqing decisively agreed to Shi Siming's request.

This day, the sky is clear and the air is clear.

Yan Zhenqing led a total of 1,000 civil and military officials from Pingyuan out of the city and lined up in an open space far away from the range of bows and crossbows in Pingyuan City, waiting for Shi Siming to come and accept the surrender.

Shi Siming did not accept the surrender himself, but asked Niu Tingjie to lead 5,000 men.

Niu Tingjie's 5,000 men were all elite soldiers, and they lined up and marched towards Yan Zhenqing's surrendering troops.

Niu Tingjie watched Yan Zhenqing's movements closely. As long as Yan Zhenqing showed any abnormality, he would order his 5,000 elite soldiers to rush over and chop Yan Zhenqing into pieces.

But Yan Zhenqing did not move from beginning to end. Niu Tingjie's team was getting closer and closer to Yan Zhenqing. When they were only a dozen steps away, Niu Tingjie almost believed that Yan Zhenqing had really surrendered.

But at this time, the place where Niu Tingjie's team was located collapsed!
It turned out that Yan Zhenqing had suffered from Shi Siming's false surrender, so he also learned how to pretend to surrender.

He had the ground in front of his team hollowed out in advance, using only standing timber to support the ground and also setting up wooden spikes.

Niu Tingjie came with a large group and stepped on the hollowed-out land, trampling it directly.

More than a thousand rebels were trapped underground in an instant, with hundreds killed or injured.

Yan Zhenqing seized the opportunity and ordered the government troops to shout: "Earthquake! Earthquake...", while leading his men to rush over and start to harvest the panicked rebels. Of the 5,000 rebels, more than 4,000 were beheaded.

When the rebel reinforcements arrived, Yan Zhenqing immediately led his troops to retreat into the city.

Shi Siming suffered a great loss and was furious, but he had no way to deal with Yan Zhenqing.

Yan Zhenqing played tricks on the rebels one after another and killed more than 4,000 enemies. The morale of the government troops was greatly boosted and everyone at the night banquet was smiling.

Only Yan Zhenqing showed joy on the outside but concealed sorrow on the inside.

Because Shi Siming said he would kill his son, but he never did.

Yan Zhenqing guessed that Shi Siming wanted to torture him and exhaust his energy, but he could only hold on with all his might. At this moment, a soldier suddenly came running and reported, "General, Master Yan is back!"

"What?" Yan Zhenqing stood up in shock, and said, "How did he come back? Could it be a trick of Shi Siming?"

The soldier replied, "Master Yan came with Dong Qin, the military commander of An Dong, and brought two thousand men with him. Should we let them enter the city?"

After hearing this, Yan Zhenqing immediately ran to the city wall and saw Yan Po and Dong Qin.

Yan Zhenqing did not immediately ask people to open the city gates, but first asked: "Where are you from?"

The seven-year-old Yan Po jumped off his horse, knelt down and saluted, saying, "Father, I and General Dong have come across the sea from Pinglu."

Yan Zhenqing asked: "When did you arrive?"

Yan Po said, "I have been in Pingyuan County for three days, but the rebels besieged the city and I was not allowed to enter. Today the rebels withdrew from the camp, so I had the opportunity to come."

Yan Zhenqing thought for a moment before ordering the city gate to be opened and sending Li Zejiao to take over from Dong Qin.

Yan Zhenqing returned to the lobby and waited for a while, then Dong Qin and Yan Po walked in.

As soon as Yan Po entered the room, he knelt down and kowtowed with tears in his eyes, saying, "Son greets Grandpa!"

Yan Zhenqing looked at Yan Po and was completely sure that it was not a lie. He let down his guard and wanted to go forward to help Yan Po, but he fainted on the ground as soon as he took a step.

Yan Po and the other generals were startled and rushed to the scene. Some called for the military doctor, some shouted "General Yan", and Yan Po ran to Yan Zhenqing and cried "Grandpa".

Now, everyone panicked.

After a while, Yan Zhenqing slowly opened his eyes and saw everyone surrounding him. He was stunned for a moment, then stood up and said, "It's okay, I'm just too tired."

Yan Zhenqing was indeed too tired. During this period, he was exhausted both physically and mentally.

On the one hand, he had to deal with Shi Siming's siege day and night. On the other hand, he felt sad for Yan Gaoqing's family and was always worried about his son.

When Yan Po came, he was suddenly surprised. Under such torture, his body and mind could not bear it and he fell into a brief faint.

Li Zejiao asked worriedly, "Is the general really alright?"

"No problem." Yan Zhenqing patted Li Zejiao's shoulder and turned to Dong Qin and said, "General Dong, what's going on in Pinglu?"

Dong Qin sighed and said, "I attacked Fanyang with Liu Zhengchen, Wang Zhengxuan, Hou Xiyi, Li Zhengji and others. We had secretly contacted the Xi tribe for external aid, but the Xi tribe defected and joined forces with the traitor Cai Xide to defeat us."

Yan Zhenqing did not receive the battle report from Pinglu, but he heard a little bit about it, and said: "I heard that after you were defeated, Wang Zhengxuan poisoned Liu Zhengchen and wanted to rejoin the rebels."

Liu Zhengchen was Liu Kenu, to whom Yan Zhenqing had previously sent his son as a hostage.

"I don't know the specific circumstances." Dong Qin shook his head. "Our army was defeated and besieged in Yuyang. Liu Zhengchen, Xu Huaidao and Wang Zhengxuan discussed matters at night. The next day, Liu Zhengchen died. Xu Huaidao surrendered to the rebels and was appointed as the governor of Pinglu by the rebels. According to the rebels, it was Wang Zhengxuan who poisoned Liu Zhengchen. Wang Zhengxuan kept silent at first. After five days, when Cai Xide withdrew his troops, he said that it was Xu Huaidao who poisoned Liu Zhengchen and invited the rest of us to kill Xu Huaidao who surrendered to the rebels. The rest of us didn't know their grievances and only thought that we would fight whoever was a rebel."

Yan Zhenqing knew that the forces in Pinglu were extremely complicated, and he could not figure it out, so he just asked, "Did you kill Xu Huaidao?"

Dong Qin nodded and said, "We killed Xu Huaidao and nominated Wang Zhengxuan as the governor of Pinglu. When Wang Zhengxuan learned that Shi Siming was leading a large army south, he asked me to lead 2,000 soldiers across the sea to assist General Yan and send your only son back."

Yan Zhenqing said: "Yuyang is in the rear of the rebels and is also very dangerous. If General Dong brings his men to help me, will it make Wang Zhengxuan's situation even more difficult?"

Dong Qin said: "To be honest, in the Yuyang army, the Goguryeo people, the Han people, and the Turks all have their own concerns. On the surface, everyone nominated Wang Zhengxuan as the governor of Pinglu, but secretly they are fighting each other. If I stay in Yuyang, it will only make the situation more complicated."

Upon hearing this, Yan Zhenqing sighed silently.

Wang Zhengxuan and others were loyal to the Tang Dynasty on the one hand, but on the other hand they were fighting for their own interests. It is difficult to describe them with a few simple words.

(End of this chapter)