Lu Yuzhu followed the Han army southward, and when he was less than fifty miles away, more than a dozen people came from Taiyuan City, riding fast and without sleep, and entered the gate of Yingzhou with only a stick of incense and dust all over their bodies.
After a while, these dozen people urged their horses to sit down and galloped out again.
Among these dozen people, there was one who was wearing the attire of an imperial envoy, but he did not look like an official minister. This man was young, and even when he was riding a horse, he was holding a dagger in his hand.
Although this man was wearing the attire of an imperial envoy, judging from the hat on his head, he turned out to be a eunuch! Logically speaking, eunuchs rarely left Taiyuan City to issue decrees, and the imperial envoys who traveled far were all selected by the emperor from among the civil and military officials.
During the Tang Dynasty, there were many incidents of eunuchs disrupting government affairs. Therefore, at the beginning of the founding of the Northern Han Dynasty, it was stipulated that eunuchs were not allowed to interfere in government affairs, otherwise the nine ethnic groups would be implicated.
Basically, eunuchs conveyed orders in Taiyuan City. Either the emperor awarded a reward to a certain minister, or summoned a certain minister to the palace. Very few eunuchs went out as imperial envoys.
Therefore, this group of people was particularly eye-catching. However, after this group of people left Yingzhou, they did not take the main road to chase the army led by Cheng Yihou of Sanjiang Marquis. Instead, they took the road and went straight to Liu Ling's station in Yuzhou.
Judging from the way they were walking in a hurry, it seemed that they were rushing to find Liu Ling for something urgent.
This eunuch is not very old, and his face is very haggard, but his appearance is very distinctive. If Liu Ling sees it, he will definitely recognize who this person is. This person was the one who was killed by Emperor Xiao for knocking over the candlestick a few days ago.
In anger, he almost killed the young eunuch Xiao Liuzi, who was later sent to the Royal Horse Prison to feed the horses.
Unexpectedly, Emperor Xiao summoned him back from the Royal Horse Prison so quickly and entrusted him with important tasks.
At this time, on the Yuzhou city wall.
Wang Banjin, Du Yi, Zhaoxian, and Sun Sheng inspected the city defenses respectively, ordered treatment for injuries and illnesses, and redeployed defenses.
Nowadays, there is a shortage of doctors and medicines in the city. The injured soldiers can only be simply bandaged, and the rest can only be carried by themselves. Countless people have died of excessive blood loss after being injured. No matter how anxious Du Yi and the others are, they will not
Method.
After counting the number of casualties, several people felt extremely heavy. After the brutal fighting last night and half a day in the morning, there were only 3,670 soldiers left on the city wall who could still fight, and almost all of them were injured. A night of fighting.
, the number of troops was reduced by more than half at once, and the heavy casualties were heartbreaking.
Looking around, the city wall at this time is full of corpses with broken arms and expressionless and numb soldiers. The dead have no feelings, and the living have become emotionless walking zombies.
.At this time, these soldiers had even forgotten their fear. Being alive was no longer a joyful thing for them.
The 7,000 cavalry selected by the Forbidden Army and the Gyeonggi Camp had to abandon their horses and climb the city wall to defend the city with the infantry. The advantages of the cavalry were completely unable to be used, so the casualties were particularly heavy. The two thousand cavalry of the Forbidden Army are still alive today.
Six hundred. The faces of those who are still alive are ashen, and their eyes are empty as if they have lost their souls.
At the beginning, they were so frightened by the tragic scene in front of them that they trembled. Seeing the corpses with broken arms and the wounded with pierced intestines and stomachs, they couldn't help but vomit violently. But after a night, they were all
Numb. Sitting on the city wall, most of them had lost their minds and just sat there with blank faces.
Relatively speaking, the men and horses in the Gyeonggi camp are better. Although they also suffered heavy losses, what can be seen from their faces is the same perseverance expression as the remaining men and horses under Du Yi's command. No one will remain indifferent when facing a death crisis.
, fear is the most natural reaction. But after experiencing wars again and again, they have learned to adapt.
Leaning against the city wall, he mechanically stuffed cold dry food into his mouth, waiting for the next battle.
Wang Banjin and the four of them took a look around, all feeling heavy.
"If we continue to fight like this, as long as the Zhou army launches another equally fierce attack in the afternoon, I can't imagine whether we can withstand it."
Wang Banjin took a sip of water and said with a worried look.
Zhaoxian supported the city wall while observing the movements of Zhou's army and said: "The Zhou army's injuries are much more serious than ours. From last night to now, there have been almost over 10,000 casualties. Even if the Zhou army is powerful, they cannot bear such losses.
It started. Now that the Emperor Guo Rong of the Later Zhou Dynasty has arrived, adjustments will inevitably be made."
Du Yidao said: "I'm worried that if the Emperor of Zhou comes in person and the reinforcements of hundreds of thousands of Zhou troops attack the city again with the power of the Emperor, I'm afraid it will be even more violent than the offensive in the morning."
Sun Sheng said: "Now the Zhou army is riding a tiger and cannot take Yuzhou. Their nearly 200,000 troops are blocked here, and the daily consumption is also very huge. Guo Rong must not be able to wait any longer, so he personally leads the troops
Come here. Haha, I'm afraid Sun Xuandao must be kneeling in front of Guo Rong and trembling."
Du Yidao said: "What a pity. If there were another 10,000 troops in the city, and we could launch an attack at the moment when the Zhou army retreated and the emperor arrived, we would definitely be able to kill countless enemies."
Wang Banjin sighed: "Yes, if ten thousand fine cavalry take advantage of the chaos to attack the Zhou army's camp, I'm afraid even Guo Rong will be scared and run back. Now I just hope that the prince will lead his army to come quickly."
, otherwise Yuzhou will really be in crisis after the Zhou army adjusts."
Zhaoxian patted the city wall and said: "What are you afraid of? Killing one of them is enough, but killing two of them will make a profit. Now dozens of Zhou troops have died under Zhao. If he kills dozens more, he will be dead in battle."
It’s not a loss either.”
Sun Sheng said with a smile: "I can't believe that Sun will sacrifice his life for the country on his first expedition. But even if he dies, he must let Zhou Jun taste the power of the Zhangba spear in Sun's hand!"
Wang Banjin said: "Don't be so frustrated. The prince asked us to hold on until tonight, and he will definitely come before tonight. As long as the prince leads the army and confronts the Zhou army, the pressure on us will be much less
.”
Du Yidao: "Exactly, we have to believe in the prince!"
Zhaoxian said: "I just don't know if the prince has taken care of An Heng. As long as the prince recaptures the Fuyuan army, even if there are 200,000 troops in the next week, there is no chance of victory."
At this time, the few of them have placed all their hopes on Liu Ling. This is a kind of hope in despair, just like the only light of fire in the cold night, it is the hope that people hold on to until the sun rises.
Wang Banjin said: "General Du Yi, I hope you will go down and talk to the people. I hope more people will come to the city wall to participate in the defense. Now, it is far from enough to rely on soldiers alone."
Du Yi sighed: "I only hate Du's incompetence, which has affected tens of thousands of people in the city. Now the young and strong part of the people have organized themselves to participate in defending the city, but Du can't bear to let them go to the city wall to die. Now... I
As a general of the Han Dynasty, I have the responsibility to defend the territory, but it is really uncomfortable to let the people die."
Wang Banjin said: "General Du, please don't think so. The Zhou army has been besieging Yuzhou for more than ten days and has lost many troops and generals. If the city is broken, the people in the city will be massacred. Letting the people participate in the defense of the city is a last resort. As long as
If we can hold on until the prince arrives with reinforcements, this is the only way for the people and us to survive."
Du Yidao: "I'm going down to the city right now, but...how can I speak?"
He sighed deeply, stood up holding on to the city wall, and went to the city with a few soldiers. Wang Banjin and Zhaoxian Sun Sheng looked at each other, and both admired Du Yi's loyalty very much.
But having said that, if Du Yi hadn't been very protective of the people in the city, the people in the city would have fled for their lives when Zhou Jun arrived. Now that they have chosen to stand with Du Yi, they are already prepared to deal with it.
Preparation for death.
At this time, in the Zhou army camp, Sun Xuandao's Chinese army tent.
Sun Xuandao, a veteran general in heavy armor who was sixty years old and had white hair and beard, knelt on the ground and kept kowtowing to apologize. Behind him, all the generals knelt there in silence, not daring to express their anger.
Zhou Shizong and Guo Rong were sitting on the commander's seat, scanning the generals kneeling below with cold eyes.
Guo Rong is thirty years old, with a fair complexion, three strands of beard on his chin, sword-shaped eyebrows and bright eyes, and is quite handsome. At this time, his face is as sinking as water, and he has a long face, which shows that he must be suppressing the inner feelings.
anger.
He asked in a deep voice: "Sun Aiqing, you led 80,000 troops to besiege Yuzhou for more than ten days. Now Yuzhou has not been captured, but has lost nearly 20,000 lives of our Zhou warriors. Do you have anything to say to me?
Tell me?"
Guo Rong, also known as Chai Rong. According to historical records, this person has an extraordinary appearance, good at riding and shooting, Lao Huang, who has a brief knowledge of calligraphy and history, and is serious and taciturn. He is the nephew of Guo Wei, Taizu of the Later Zhou Dynasty, and was later adopted as an adopted son by Guo Rong.
He is from Chaijiazhuang, Yaoshan, Xingzhou. His father's name is Chai Li. His grandfather Chai Weng is very prestigious in the local area. The Chai family is a well-known local family.
Later, when the family fell into decline, Chai Rong, who was still young, went to marry Guo Wei's aunt. He was cautious and calm, and helped Guo Wei manage his family affairs in an orderly manner. He was deeply loved by Guo Wei, who adopted him as his adopted son and changed his name to Guo Rong. At that time,
The Guo family was not very wealthy, so Chai Rong went out to do business to support his family. During this period, he also practiced martial arts and read a lot of history books and Huang Lao's works.
Later, when the Later Han Dynasty was established, Guo Wei was appointed to stay in Yedu, serving as Privy Envoy and Tianxiong Jiedu Envoy, with the highest official rank. Later, Emperor Yin of the Later Han Dynasty came to the throne. This self-righteous emperor was afraid that Guo Wei would rebel, so he killed almost all of Guo Wei's relatives who had stayed in the capital Bianzhou.
Only one person, Guo Chao, escaped. He thought that this would frighten Guo Wei and not dare to rebel, but who knew that he would force out the anger of Guo Wei, a fierce tiger.
Not long after, Guo Wei conquered Bianzhou and the Later Han Dynasty was destroyed. Guo Wei proclaimed himself emperor, named Dazhou, and made his only remaining son Guo Chao the prince. Guo Rong also paid homage to the governor of Tanzhou as a prince, inspected the Taibao, and granted the title of Prince.
Taiyuan County Marquis. He was later granted the title of King of Jin, and was responsible for ruling on internal and external military affairs.
The prince, Guo Chao, also admired his adopted brother very much. Guo Chao was careless, fiery, and had no scheming attitude. He would ask Guo Rong for his opinion on many things, and Guo Rong did his best for the things the prince told him, without any hesitation.
He was disobedient and perfunctory. Guo Chao, who was loyal but simple-minded, admired his performance very much. Because his brothers all died in the hands of Emperor Yin of the Later Han Dynasty, he regarded Guo Rong as his own brother.
Taizu Guo Wei was seriously ill and had only a few days to live. The succession of Prince Guo Chao to the throne had long been decided and no one could change it. Taizu Guo Wei even summoned Guo Rong several times and asked him to assist His Majesty.
, to set an example for the people in the world. Guo Rong also burst into tears and vowed to do his best to assist the prince, even if he died, he would not dare to slack off.
Who would have thought that the prince, with his martial arts skills and incomparable bravery, would fall off his horse and die? When he escaped from Bianzhou, he was covered in blood and killed hundreds of enemies. He ran for three days and three nights.
He fell off his horse. He was riding a horse and shooting arrows in the school field, but how could he fall off his horse because the saddle came loose? How could he be trampled to death by a random horse because the guard who came to rescue him failed to control the horse properly?
What happened in this, as the little official who raised the horse and the guards who rescued Guo Chao but accidentally trampled him to death were all executed, no one knew anything about it anymore.
Taizu Guo Wei was shocked and angry, and died in grief. The prince died, and now in the world of the Later Zhou Dynasty, there was only one person who could succeed to the throne, and that was King Guo Rong of Jin.
When Guo Rong ascended the throne as emperor, he announced on the same day that he would personally conquer the Northern Han Dynasty. After investigation, it was discovered that the dead horse clerk and bodyguard were spies sent by the Northern Han Dynasty. The hatred between father and brother was irreconcilable. There was no waiting for the funeral.
After marrying Taizu Guo Wei and Prince Guo Chao, Guo Rong restored his surname of Chai and led the Northern Expedition.
Therefore, Chai Rong, Emperor Shizong of Zhou Dynasty, came to conquer the Northern Han Dynasty in a grand and majestic manner. (To be continued)
