The main force of the rebels entered the inner city and found that the Daming Palace, which was originally brightly lit, was completely dark tonight for some unknown reason.
The only lighting in the city is the countless wind lanterns hanging on the palace walls.
The strong wind blew on the city wall, and countless lights swayed. This scene looked particularly strange.
When Luo Anyuan saw this, his heart couldn't help but tremble slightly.
Wang Jin, the prince's young master, whispered from the side: "General, be careful of fraud."
Luo Anyuan nodded, first ordered to postpone the advance, and then ordered the soldiers in the front line to light the burning platform with torches.
When the fire on the burning platform lit up, the inner courtyard of the Daming Palace was gradually illuminated.
Luo Anyuan looked around and discovered that in the inner city courtyard behind Danfeng Gate, all access to the city walls and towers were blocked, and the stairs had been demolished.
In other words, the inner city area between Danfeng Gate and Guangfan Gate was like a huge cage, trapping thousands of rebels.
(The picture shows Danfeng Gate of Daming Palace)
Faced with this turn of events, Luo Anyuan began to hesitate.
At this point, should we retreat or pursue the victory?
He was unwilling to retreat.
Chai, everything here is weird.
Just when Luo Anyuan was hesitating, the deafening sound of horse hooves suddenly came from behind the rebels and outside Danfeng Gate.
Not long after, the generals from the rebel rear came to the central army and nervously shouted to Luo Anyuan: "General, a cavalry army has come outside the Daming Palace, scouts to investigate..."
Luo Anyuan frowned and shouted: "Say!"
The other party replied: "The night is too dark to see clearly, but the cavalry, everyone is wearing ringed cotton armor and carrying muskets, there are many of them..."
Rings, cotton armor, muskets, heavy cavalry...
There was a bang in Luo Anyuan's head, and he cursed: "Nonsense! Where did the dragoons come from in Chang'an City?!"
The generals in the rear formation did not dare to say anything.
Wang Jin said quickly from the side: "This cavalry is coming with bad intentions, so we have to guard against it."
Luo Anyuan nodded, and then ordered the soldiers in the rear formation to set up positions inside Danfeng Gate. Taking advantage of the narrow palace gate, they set up artillery to snipe the enemy cavalry so that they could not enter the city.
Although the order was given, Luo Anyuan still didn't believe his subordinate's report.
Dragoons were the top arm of the Tang Dynasty's military system, and only a small number of frontier troops and central elites could form this type of army.
According to the decree issued by the emperor himself, firearms are not allowed to enter the capital. Therefore, the dragoons are always stationed far away from Chang'an, with many checkpoints in between, just to prevent accidents.
However, a dragon cavalry suddenly appeared outside Danfeng Gate. There were a large number of them, and it had only been less than two hours since the rebels had started their troops.
Therefore, in Luo Anyuan's opinion, even if the Dragon Cavalry Army had wings, it would be impossible for them to reach Chang'an so quickly.
Thinking of this, Luo Anyuan said to Wang Jin: "Most of the troops outside the palace gate are not dragon cavalry. I suspect that someone gathered the horses, used branches as muskets, and then stirred up smoke and dust behind them, pretending to be dragon cavalry in the night.
military."
Wang Jin thought for a moment and nodded.
He agreed with Luo Anyuan's point of view and believed that it was impossible for the Dragon Cavalry Army to reach the Daming Palace in Chang'an at this time.
After a while, someone from the rebel rear came to report that it was the cavalry outside the palace gate, but it was just wandering outside the Daming Palace and had no intention of attacking.
When Luo Anyuan heard the news, he immediately felt reassured and said to Wang Jin: "Look, the group of people outside the palace gate know that if they get close, their secrets will be revealed, so they only dare to wander outside the city."
Wang Jin laughed: "The general is so clever and clever, I really admire him."
Now that he was sure that there was no threat from the rear formation, Luo Anyuan focused his attention on the Guangfan Gate in the inner city of Daming Palace. As long as he broke through the latter, he could successfully reach the Zichen Palace where the emperor was.
By then, big things will happen.
The rebels rested for a moment and soon launched their final attack on the Guangfan Gate of the Daming Palace.
Luo Anyuan originally thought that the Daming Palace defenders had used up all the city defense supplies when defending Danfeng Gate, so they had to abandon the outer city and retreat inside.
However, as the siege started again, a scene that surprised him happened.
The Imperial Guards of the Daming Palace actually deployed hundreds of squatting tiger cannons on the tower of Guangfan Gate.
The cannonballs formed by iron pellets were like rain, sloping down from the top of the city with almost no space in between.
The vanguard of the rebels, a group of soldiers (twenty-four teams, each with fifty people, totaling 1,200 people), faced a sudden shell attack and suffered heavy casualties. Only more than a hundred people escaped back to the army alive.
Luo Anyuan, who witnessed all this, was shocked and murmured: "Why do the defenders have artillery?! Why did they abandon Danfeng Gate, which has a higher city wall and stronger city defense, and instead set up a defense line in the inner city?!"
A general in the front line of the rebel army, covered in blood, ran to the front of the Chinese army, knelt on the ground, and cried loudly: "General, Vice General Fan died in the battle, Gongyang Yuhou died in the battle, and Li Jun was interrupted.
One leg, we want to carry him back, but the enemy's artillery fire is too fierce and we really can't do it!"
When Luo Anyuan heard this, his body was shaking.
At this time, he finally understood that this place was a carefully laid trap.
With his heart filled with bitterness, Luo Anyuan turned to look at Prince Zhou Xiao: "Your Highness, I am incompetent. I am afraid I have fallen into the enemy's trap."
Zhou Xiao was so frightened that his face turned pale and he asked: "General, what should we do now?"
Luo Anyuan: "The immediate plan is to find a way to join the reinforcements in the city before we have a chance to give it a try. I will order the rear formation to become the front formation, and then place the artillery at the head of the formation. The whole army will turn back and start from Danfeng Gate.
Break out to the south to find Duke Yuan and other friendly troops. After the military strength is complete, we will make the final blow to the Daming Palace."
Zhou Xiao gritted his teeth and said, "Everything is subject to the general's arrangements."
Luo Anyuan nodded, ordered the main force of the rebels to give up attacking Guangfan Gate, turned their guns, and headed towards Danfeng Gate where they came from.
When the cavalry outside the city discovered that the main force of the rebels was planning to leave the city, they immediately adopted roundabout tactics and outflanked them from both sides.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! When about one hundred and fifty steps away, the dragoons raised their muskets, pointed at the rebels and pulled the trigger.
The dense and harsh sound of muskets sounded like beans being poured.
Countless projectiles swept toward the city gate.
For thousands of rebels, the official road at Danfeng Gate was not spacious to begin with. Coupled with the low morale of the soldiers, everyone wanted to escape from the Daming Palace immediately.
Therefore, facing the volleys of muskets and projectiles, the rebels in chaotic formation had almost no ability to resist.
In just one encounter, hundreds of rebel soldiers at the city gate were shot to death by musketry.
The soldiers panicked, and the people outside the gate wanted to flee back into the city, while the people inside the city were crowding out.
The two sides pushed each other, and many soldiers fell to the ground and were trampled to death.
Within a few breaths, rebel corpses were everywhere in front of Danfeng Gate. Even the rebel artillery was blocked and could not reach the front of the formation, posing a threat to the dragoons.
In the city, as soon as he heard the sound of muskets, Luo Anyuan understood what had happened, and his whole body suddenly felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.
In his mind, the worst had happened.
The cavalry troops coming from outside the city turned out to be Tang Dynasty dragon cavalry.
Luo Anyuan couldn't figure out how the Dragon Cavalry Army could appear in Chang'an City even though he was thinking about it, and why there was a flaw in his plan, and it was blocked at every turn.
Zhou Xiao was also frightened by the changes in front of him, and his body was shaking. He looked at Luo Anyuan and asked: "General, there are many enemies outside the city..."
Luo Anyuan glanced at Zhou Xiao, sighed, and ordered: "Stick to the city and wait for reinforcements."
In this way, with the dragoons in front and the firearms battalion behind, the main force of the rebels was trapped in the Daming Palace, like a man trapped in quicksand, unable to move.