Although Dai Chao vowed, he did not defend Tongguan in the end.

The serious political problems brought about by Zhu Youyu's killing of Zhu Wen were fully reflected in the defense battle of Tongguan. Dai Chao, relying solely on the thousands of naval forces he brought, could not play an effective role in suppressing and intimidation in Tongguan where the army gathered. He would have no intention of fighting and the army would have no desire to fight. On the third day after Zhu Youlu and Xu Fu arrived under Tongguan, the entire city defense of Tongguan collapsed.

The entire Tongguan and its surrounding defensive system totaled 50,000 troops, only one-third retreated towards Chang'an with Dai Chao, and the other two-thirds directly surrendered Zhu Youzhen, causing Zhu Youzhen to exceed more than 50,000 after entering Tongguan at the time of departure.

In fact, the time spent by Zhu Youzhen and Xu Fu Group on marching far exceeded the time they took Tongguan.

However, the surge in military and horses also brought great logistical pressure to Zhu Youzhen. The most correct thing Dai Chao did before leaving was to burn out the mountains of food and grass in Tongguan with fire.

He could not take it away, but he could not give the food and grass to Zhu Youzhen, making it a helper for Zhu Youzhen to attack Chang'an on a large scale.

This vicious approach did work. Zhu Youzhen had to temporarily stop moving forward and urgently transport grain from the rear when he took down Tongguan.

However, from a general perspective, once Tongguan is lost, the entire Chang'an will be completely exposed to the military front. With the current morale of the Chang'an army, the fact that Zhu Youzhen's troops, which are so full of morale are almost the same as Tianfang Yetan.

In the eyes of many people, the fall of Chang'an is just a matter of time.

Compared to Zhu Youzhen's unstoppable momentum, Cao Xuan's life in Tianping was extremely sad. After being attacked by Tian Ping and Liu Chenglin, Cao Xuan first abandoned Tai'an, then gave up Dongping, and retreated to Yunzhou with great strides. Where did he fight with Tian Ping's left Jinwu Guard. After several days of hard work, he finally waited for the news that Zhu Youzhen had conquered Tongguan. Cao Xuan immediately gave up Yunzhou and retreated again.

With this retreat, he completely withdrew from the jurisdiction of Tianping and fled directly into the area controlled by Xuanwujie Town, and then he stood firm in Bianzhou.

Cao Xuan ran very fast. If he ran a little slower, he would be blocked by Liu Chenglin in Yunzhou, thus completing his encirclement. This veteran, who has experienced many battles, perfectly reflected his command art in this battle. Although he lost consecutive battles and lost his troops, overall, he still retained the main strength of the Tianping Army when he retreated to Bianzhou.

At this point, Tianpingjie Town completely fell into the hands of the Tang army, and the Liang army also rebuilt a complete line of defense in Bianzhou, Xuzhou, Heyang and other places.

After taking the balance, Tian Ping's troops from the left Jinwu Guard entered Heyang, Liu Chenglin's troops approached Bianzhou, and Liang Han, the deputy general of the Right Wei Guard under Shi Zhuang who was stationed in Weizhou, had already brought his troops to approach Xushan Pass in Xiazhou.

The Tang army was aggressive, while the Liang army adopted a full defensive move. However, as the weather became colder, large-scale military stagnated.

The Tang army was unwilling to attack because they wanted to wait for the Battle of Chang'an to break out. No matter who wins these two brothers, the Liang army will inevitably lose its strength. However, the Liang army was really unable to launch a counterattack against the Tang army at this time.

This end has temporarily quieted down, but elsewhere, the war has become more and more intense.

Under the command of Liu Ruyan, the Tang army in Yangzhou quickly ignited fire and rushed like thunder. Three days later, they surrounded Suzhou, an important town in western Zhejiang, ten days later. This made Qian Hongzong, who had no war preparations, shocked and angry. While mobilizing troops, he sent a letter of help to Du Xian from eastern Zhejiang and Rong Hong, an observer in Fujian.

All prosper and all loss. Under Qian Hongzong's urgent mobilization, the wealthy families in Hangzhou rarely worked together this time. In order to ensure that their interests were fully guaranteed, they collectively turned to Xiang Xun. If the Tang army fought, how could there be good results?

Therefore, in a short period of time, Qian Hongzong gathered 20,000 reinforcements, including 3,000 standing troops in western Zhejiang, 5,000 private soldiers offered by major clans, and more than 10,000 government soldiers recruited on the ground.

Under the leadership of Hangzhou Magistrate Chen Qingzhi, 20,000 reinforcements rushed to Suzhou.

Qian Hongzong did not feel that he had no chance of winning this battle. The reason why Changzhou fell so quickly and Suzhou was surrounded was just because of the sudden attack by the Tang army and his side was unprepared. If he fought against the gong in front of him, he would be afraid of more than 10,000 Tang troops!

The Tang army may be very strong, but this time they came to attack western Zhejiang, and only gathered more than 10,000 people. As long as they survived the opponent's three tricks in the early stage and entered the stalemate stage, the people in the Zhejiang who were fighting locally would inevitably burst out with greater strength. Moreover, Du Xian from eastern Zhejiang and Rong Hong from Fujian would not sit idly by and watch the failure of western Zhejiang, which is also unacceptable to them.

Therefore, Tie Hongzong is full of confidence.

After sending Chen Qingzhi, he continued to recruit troops from the government to prevent it at the right time, and secondly, he was preparing to launch a counterattack at the right time.

It is certain that the Tang army has basically no support.

Their enemies are not just their own. They are also eyeing each other in Huainan, Wuning and Liang's army. Once they suffer failure in western Zhejiang, the Liang army will definitely take advantage of the disaster. It is not a strange thing to uproot the Tang people in Yangzhou by then.

Hangzhou has entered a general military mobilization, but Suzhou is now in a different situation.

Under the bright light, Liu Ruyan was admiring a pair of Suzhou embroidery carefully. This was a large pair of Suzhou embroidery about a length of about half a meter and a width of about half a meter. It was exquisite, and the one who was by his side was Xu Yingting, the former governor of Suzhou.

Suzhou had long been taken down by the Tang army. Under the lightning attack of the Tang army, Suzhou did not last for three days. Xu Yingting surrendered. After completely blocking the news that Suzhou had fallen into the hands of the Tang army, Xu Yingting asked Hangzhou for help three fiefs a day.

"This pair of Su embroidery is worth at least a thousand gold in our Wuyi!" Liu Ruyan said to Xu Yingting with a smile.

"Since the general likes it, I will present this pair of Su embroidery to the general." Xu Yingting said flatteringly: "This pair of embroidery was completed by the embroidery workers at Xiaguan's family for a whole year!"

After hearing this, Liu Ruyan reached out to cover the pair of Su embroidery and shook her head and said, "Like it doesn't mean you want to get it away. It's yours, it's yours. Don't worry, Xu Zhizhou, you are a meritorious minister, I won't steal your things."

"It's really not respectful to merely a pair of Suzhou embroidery." Xu Yingting said repeatedly.

"You have made contributions to the city, which has reduced unnecessary casualties by my Tang soldiers. This contribution is tangible." Liu Ruyan said: "Are you a local?"

"Yes, the general, the lower official is a native of Suzhou."

"I heard that you have more than 100,000 acres of land, several silk reeling workshops and embroidery workshops in Suzhou?" Liu Ruyan continued to ask.

In the winter, sweat beads on Xu Yingting's face suddenly popped up, and he lowered his head and said, "Yes, the officials are willing to offer all of these. As long as they can protect the officials' clan, they will do it."

"Although the Tang Dynasty strongly prohibits land annexation, it is not a forced robbery, especially for meritorious officials like you, and will not let your family be destroyed." Liu Ruyan smiled and said, "Of course, your 100,000 acres of land must be taken back, but there are also some considerations for how to take it back. For example, the governor of Changzhou, who was unaware of the situation and wanted to block the Tianjun, and finally ended up with a head of his head. His property would naturally be confiscated, and his tribe members would be sent to Hetao, the Western Regions and other places, where people were sent to people!"

The sweat beads on Xu Yingting's forehead became denser.

"But you don't have these worries. Xu Xiang, you know more about the specific things. Tell Xu Zhizhou!" Liu Ruyan smiled and looked at Xu Xiang beside him and said.

"We have always been superior to those who are meritorious and knowledgeable," Xu Xiang grinned and said, "Xu Zhizhou, your 100,000 acres of land can leave thousands of acres of food fields. For the rest, we will discuss a price carefully and we will buy it back. As for your silk reeling workshop and embroidery workshop, it will still be yours, and we will not move at all. For specific matters, we will discuss them carefully and will never let you suffer any losses."

Xu Yingting looked at Xu Xiang with some surprise.

"If you can actively cooperate with me in the future, it is easy to discuss the price." Xu Xiang put it over and lowered his voice and said, "Anyway, I won't pay the money at that time, right? I will always find it from those who don't know what's going on."

Xu Yingting's mouth twitched a few times when he said such taboo words in front of Liu Ruyan.

"Xu Xiang, aren't you afraid that I will tell the prince what you just said?" Liu Ruyan said with a smile.

Xu Xiang laughed: "Li Xiang won't blame me. I just need not pay money from Li Xiang's pocket. Li Xiang doesn't care about how I do it. Li Xiang just comes to see the results."

Liu Ruyan smiled and Xu Xiang, who was ruthless in his work, took it out from him, but I was afraid that Xu Yingting would have to make up for him ten times before he could let him give up. However, after the war, Liangzhe would inevitably be in chaos for a while, and it would be impossible not to use some means.

Li Mi hurriedly ran in from outside and looked at Liu Ruyan and said, "Madam, the scout came to report that reinforcements from Hangzhou have arrived. Under Chen Qingzhi, 20,000 troops are coming to Suzhou."

Liu Ruyan laughed, "Master Xu, when I destroy this reinforcements, you have added another piece of money to your credit."

Xu Yingting laughed even worse than crying.

Liu Ruyan ignored these things and left with a loud voice.
Chapter completed!