After hearing what the emperor said, all the generals bowed their heads and remained silent, wondering how the Xiliang army's camps outside the city could easily break out of the encirclement and deliver messages.
As a marshal, Xue Rengui had to answer the emperor's question. He raised his armor, lifted his robe, knelt on one knee and said.
"Your Majesty, there is no need to worry. I will send troops out of the city tomorrow to challenge Su Baotong, vowing to kill this thief. If I can't do it, it won't be too late to send people outside to ask for help."
When Xue Rengui heard that the emperor's messenger sent a letter to summon Qin Xiaole, he felt a little unhappy. He also committed the problem of self-righteousness, thinking how the boys of the Xu family could compare with him, but he did not consider the danger of Xiliang's army besieging the city.
The reality of losing troops and generals in several battles outside the city.
After hearing what Xue Rengui said, Li Zhi was indecisive and could not say anything else, so he had to agree to Xue Rengui's request and said.
"Marshal leads the army into battle, so you must be careful. I am relying on you in the battle against Xiliang. Don't lose the momentum of the Tang Dynasty."
When Xue Rengui heard this, he only agreed to the emperor's instructions. While the emperor and his ministers were talking, another soldier reported that Su Dingtong was calling for battle below the city.
The generals were furious when they heard the report. Xue Rengui sent an order for Zhou Qing and other eight generals to go with Cheng Chumo and open the city gate to meet Su Baotong. When they came to the city gate, they saw Qin Meng, Luo Zhang, Zhe Deku and other young generals approaching.
, Qin Meng cupped his hands and said, "The marshal is out of the city to defeat thieves. We are willing to go with him. Please allow the marshal's permission."
Xue Rengui said on horseback: "You generals, please be patient. Today, our commander is going to battle, and there are dozens of generals going with him. You will be escorting him in the city. Don't make any decisions on your own."
The young generals heard that the marshal was cautious and did not dare to continue his request. They all said in unison: "The general will wait for your order!"
Seeing the young generals disperse to the government offices, Xue Rengui ordered the city guards to beat drums and open the door.
But when I heard the drums beating loudly on the city tower, the city gate opened, Xue Rengui took the lead, with twenty-four red army flags behind him separated to the left and right. The troops surged across the suspension bridge like a tide, and lined up under the city tower. Zhou Qing, Cheng Chumo and others gathered around the marshal more than ten times.
Stand in front of the army.
In front of the Tang army formation, Xue Rengui wore a bright silver helmet with two dragons and two wings in the sky, silver armor, a mandarin duck breastplate shining brightly on his chest, a green robe embroidered with clouds on the lining, and a robe on his back.
There are four white silk flags, a precious eagle bow and a cloud-piercing arrow hanging from the waist. A red racing horse sits on the horseback, holding a square-shaped painted halberd, which looks very majestic.
Seeing Marshal Su Baotong of Xiliang riding on the battlefield, Xue Rengui urged his horse out of the battle, pointed his finger at Su Baotong and shouted loudly.
"Su Baotong, you are a nobody. Not only did you dare to hurt three of our generals, but you also dared to show off your power below the city. When you met me today, you dismounted and surrendered, and committed suicide. I can still save your body, otherwise, there is no blame."
I am ruthless with my halberd."
When Su Baotong heard this, he laughed "haha" and said.
"Xue Manzi, you dare to speak so loudly even though you are a defeated general in Sichuan. The emperor of Tang Dynasty is really blind to think of you as his commander. It seems that Li Tang's power has been exhausted and there is no one available in the court. Stop being so damn verbose and let it go if you have the guts."
Come here and watch grandpa chop you into several pieces with his sword and feed them to the dogs."
Xue Rengui heard such disdainful words from Marshal Xiliang and was so angry that he shouted "Wow!" He immediately rushed out on horseback and hit Su Baotong directly with the halberd in his hand.
Seeing that Xue Rengui was coming fiercely, Su Baotong raised his sword with both hands and used the cloud-moving sword move to deflect Xue Rengui's long halberd. Then he used the Huashan Chopping style and struck Xue Rengui's head with the sword with the sound of wind.
Xue Rengui saw that the opponent's sword was so fast and fierce that he had to praise: "What a fast sword!" He then said: "Well done!"
As he spoke, he hurriedly raised Fang Tian's painted halberd to block the broadsword, and the weapons connected with each other. With the sound of the sound, he turned the halberd, bounced off Su Bao, and struck his own head with the broadsword.
Su Baotong quickly used the sword to release the force, whirled the blade and struck Xue Rengui again, but he shouted: "Xue Manzi has some Dao marks, let's see how this commander's sword does?"
While he was talking, this guy had a lot of time on his hands. He used a big knife to make it impermeable to splashing water, and the blade swayed with patches of green light, which was really powerful.
Xue Rengui has extraordinary martial arts skills. He naturally calmly responded to Su Baotong's fierce offensive. He used his halberd to open and close, and used his unique moves repeatedly to deflect the blade and launch a counterattack. A square-shaped halberd danced in his hand like a dragon coming out of the abyss, showing off the world's swordsmen.
, the halberd picked up and down the thorns, swinging left and right like a dragon, killing Su Baotong until Su Baotong was panting.
The two fought for hundreds of rounds without deciding the winner. It was a general meeting a good man, a general stone meeting an iron general, and no one could do anything about the other. After fighting for more than forty years, Su Baotong was finally exhausted, and his sword skills gradually became loose.
His arm was sore and numb from the shock of Xue Rengui's halberd.
The guy shouted: "Ouch! What a powerful Xue Manzi."
In the midst of the cry, Su Baotong used his sword to fend off the halberd, turned his horse's head and left, never to fight with Xue Rengui again.
Seeing that this guy was about to run away with his horse in hand, Xue Rengui was willing to give up, so he patted the horse and chased after him.
At this time, Li Zhi was watching the battle from the city tower and saw Xue Rengui's victory. He was overjoyed and ordered the soldiers to beat drums to cheer.
Xue Rengui jumped on his horse and chased Su Baotong. He was wary of Su Baotong's plot to secretly use flying knives. He was about to let him go when he suddenly heard the loud beating of drums on the tower. He felt proud and thought that even if he chased Su Baotong to the ends of the earth today, he would kill him.
life.
Su Baotong left the battlefield on horseback. When he saw Xue Rengui chasing after him, he couldn't help but feel furious. He secretly thought that the Nanmanzi didn't know whether to live or die, so he quietly sacrificed his flying knife. Thousands of green lights came out of the gourd on his back. A flying knife appeared and disappeared quickly towards
Xue Rengui flew away facing the door.
Xue Rengui was smart. When he saw the green light rising from Su Baotong's back, he had already drawn the sky-shattering bow as full as the moon. He took the cloud-penetrating arrow and shot towards the green light. With a "swish" arrow, he shot the flying knife straight on.
Hearing the sound of gold and iron colliding, the flying knife was broken into pieces and fell into the dust, while green light was scattered in the void.
When Su Baotong saw that his flying knife skill was broken, he was really shocked. He was so frightened that he lost his mind. He tried his best and used all the five remaining flying knives in succession. Xue Rengui was in a hurry and grabbed the arrow pot.
Three cloud-piercing arrows were shot out in succession, and several crisp sounds of "dang, dang, dang" were heard in the air, and then fragments of flying knives fell down, and the blue light disappeared.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Seeing that he was completely destroyed by the flying knife, Su Baotong was heartbroken and said angrily.
"Come on, come on, come on! I made a flying knife with Master Li Daofu, but you destroyed it today. I am incompatible with you, and I will definitely take your life to relieve the hatred in my heart."
After finishing speaking, Su Baotong took out the dart hidden in his waist. All he saw was thunder and lightning in the sky, and the sun was dull.
Xue Rengui looked up at the sky and saw a shadowy python-like monster flying towards him. The force of its teeth and claws was very scary. At this time, he could not reach the bow and arrow. In a panic, he had to use the halberd in his hand to resist the monster. Unexpectedly, the monster
The force was so fierce that Xue Rengui couldn't resist it. He turned his horse's head and tried to retreat to the tower, intending to lure the soldiers on the tower to shoot the monster with bows and arrows in the air.
"Go, go, go" the horse's hoofbeats sounded urgently, and "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" whistled through the air.
Xue Rengui sat down and his horse ran wildly, with darts flying in the air and flying clouds in pursuit. When they reached the drawbridge, Xue Rengui was about to give orders to the soldiers guarding the formation. The generals were waiting for help with bows and arrows, but they could not open their mouths in time. The dart shot into Xue Rengui's left shoulder,
He just heard him yell and fell off the horse.
Xue Rengui fell from his horse, but fortunately he was very close to the Tang army. Zhou Qing, Cheng Chumo and other generals shouted, each raised their weapons and rode out. They all stepped forward to snatch Xue Rengui's body back, and quickly led their troops back to the city through the suspension bridge.
Seeing Xue Rengui's fall, Su Baotong knew that he had made a great contribution with his darts, so he led his troops to kill the marshal of the Tang army. When he came to the city, he was shot wildly with bows and arrows by the defenders of the Tang army. Facing the rain of arrows, Su Baotong could only curse and lead his troops back to the camp.
Emperor Li Zhi and a group of civil and military personnel saw Xue Rengui's defeat in the city tower. They did not know whether he was dead or alive. They waited until Zhou Qing, Cheng Chumo and other soldiers crossed the suspension bridge into the city. They urgently ordered the city gates to be closed, and ordered the generals not to go out to fight and to prepare more stones.
, strong bows, bed crossbows, gray bottles and other items to strengthen defense.
At this time, Li Zhi watched the victorious Xiliang army retreat from the city tower, and then remembered what Xu Tian had said about Xue Rengui's arrogance and self-righteousness. Originally, when they fought against Xiliang, the army should have brought city-defending artillery, but those were presented to the court by the Xu family.
The imperial court spent a lot of money to build the defensive weapon, but it was because Xue Rengui suggested that the army campaign against Xiliang, and naturally it was invincible and invincible. The artillery was cumbersome and difficult to carry, so it was abandoned for fear of affecting the movement of the army and dragging down the army.
I think if there were such sharp weapons on the city tower now, even if the Xiliang army had thousands of troops, I would still be able to sit on Mount Tai without fear.
"What the King of Qi said is true. Although Xue Rengui has literary and military talents, his character is not suitable for being the commander of the three armies."
Li Zhi thought like this, but now he had no choice but to solve the problem at hand. He ordered the sergeant to carry Xue Rengui to the government office and summoned the imperial doctor to diagnose and treat the injury.
Xue Rengui was injured by the dart. At this time, his eyes were closed tightly and he was unconscious. He could only see that the air was coming in but not coming out. The imperial doctor arrived and gave a diagnosis and treatment.
"Marshal Xue still has breath in his chest, but his symptoms are that he was invaded by poison."
The emperor heard what the imperial doctor said and asked Zhou Qing and other generals who were in the battle formation what kind of object Xue Rengui had been injured. Zhou Qing and others all told the details of the battle. The emperor knew that Xue Rengui had been injured by Su Baotong's dart.
Upon hearing this, the imperial doctor hurriedly asked people to take off Xue Rengui's armor and found that black blood was flowing out from his left shoulder, which was the symptom of poisoning mentioned earlier. He reported it to the emperor and could only use a golden knife to cut out the injured flesh and blood on his left shoulder.
Scrape it out and apply detoxifying drugs to save his life.
Upon hearing this, the emperor ordered the imperial physician to treat him quickly.
After receiving the order, the imperial doctor asked Zhou Qing and other generals to hold Xue Rengui, and took out a golden knife to scrape off the blood and a ring of black flesh from his left shoulder. He did not stop until he saw blood flowing out. During this period, Xue Rengui woke up from pain many times.
, the sound of screams filled the government hall, and Li Zhi couldn't bear to hear it.
After the imperial doctor applied the medicine and saw that Xue Rengui was breathing stably in a coma, Li Zhi ordered the imperial doctor to wait for him, and then summoned the generals to discuss how to deal with the current predicament.
At the main seat, Li Zhi looked ugly and said with a golden mouth.
"Xue Rengui was injured today and will probably not be able to lead the army in the short term. In the current situation, I have decided to send an order to appoint Xu Xiaole as the second marshal to go to Suoyang City to relieve the 300,000-strong army. I wonder which general can break out of the Xiliang army's siege.
Go to Shancheng to convey the decree for me."
The emperor said this and waited for the generals to come forward, but there was no response for a long time. He couldn't help but feel disappointed in his heart. He thought that these generals were really far behind the generals under his father's command in the past. After sighing, he was waiting for
When the civil and military officials were discussing how to solve the current predicament, Cheng Yaojin came out and said.
"Your Majesty, it is better for the old minister to go and convey the decree!"
Seeing that Cheng Yaojin had expressed his willingness to go and deliver the order, Li Zhi felt sorry for his old age. How could he break out of the heavy siege of the Xiliang army? However, he was very pleased that Cheng Yaojin had such a loyal king and solved the problem, so he couldn't help but worry.
"I am very relieved that Lao Zhuguo helped me solve the problem. However, the Xiliang army is surrounded layer by layer. I am afraid that I will not be able to break out and lose Zhuguo's life. How can I bear it? Furthermore, I will retreat to rest and think of other methods."
!”
After the emperor finished speaking, eight generals including Zhou Qing finally came out in unison.
Zhou Qing said: "Old General Cheng Nuo is not afraid of the enemy's power even at his old age. How could he have the dignity to be a general of the Tang Dynasty when he is in his prime? So he opens the city gate and rushes around to kill. There is always a way to break through and deliver the order."
I will not hesitate to die in battle, I hope your Majesty will allow it."
After hearing what Zhou Qing said, Emperor Li Zhi looked slightly happy, and was about to open his mouth to agree to the invitation of Zhou Qing and other generals, when he heard Cheng Yaojin say again.
"No; you are here to protect us in the city, and you must not put yourself in danger. I will go here and have a clever plan to break out of the encirclement. There is no need to fight with others. Besides, Su Bao and the darts can only hurt the unlucky people. I am so blessed."
, Even if he has some background in darts, he will naturally not be able to hurt me. When the time comes, all I have to do is watch from the top of the city and see how arrogantly I leave the camp to ask for reinforcements."
Cheng Chumo listened to his father's anger, but his heart was extremely nervous and he couldn't help but said loudly.
"Daddy! Stop bragging at this time. Why don't you go out and fight your way out of the siege?"
Hearing this, Cheng Yaojin wondered how he was willing to put his son in danger. He couldn't help but said angrily: "You little bastard, how dare you say that I'm bragging and that I don't know what I'm talking about. I really deserve a beating. I'll make a note of it first and I'll come back to settle the account with you. You're so angry."
Accompany him in the city to protect the emperor, and let's see how your father goes out."
When Cheng Chumo saw that his father had made up his mind, he thought about the ferocious Xiliang army below the city and the uncertainty about his father's life and death. He couldn't help but feel sad. He knelt down and cried loudly, which made people feel sad.
Seeing his son like this, Cheng Yaojin couldn't help but feel a little sad in his heart. He helped his son up and said: "My son, you don't have to be so sad. Since ancient times, eating the emperor's salary and being loyal to the emperor have meant that your father and I will be punished by the court."
Well, now that the country is in trouble, how can we stand by and remain indifferent? Naturally, we should sacrifice our lives to serve the country. Life and death are determined by God, so there is no reason not to do so."
When Li Zhi heard these words, he couldn't help but feel his eyes burning. He thought he was moved by the loyal minister's heartfelt words.
Cheng Yaojin and his son said goodbye, took the secret edict from Emperor Li Zhi and hid it on his body. In the farewell of the emperor and other civil and military officials, they came to the city gate, turned over and mounted the iron-legged jujube horse that had been with him for many years.
Without leading any soldiers, he ordered the soldiers to open the city gate. They actually crossed the suspension bridge one man and one horse, approached the Xiliang army camp, and shouted loudly.