Chapter two hundred and seventeen a heroic and decent death
Although Li Xuan had personally led the Imperial Army of the Tang Dynasty in many battles, the previous battles were more battles than battles.
Even after the reform of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty and the New Army of the Tang Dynasty gradually got on the right track, due to the limitations of its size and the quality of its personnel, the New Army of the Tang Dynasty still cannot be called a qualified army.
Today's new army of the Tang Dynasty is fighting. Although it has got rid of the early model of a few people fighting and everyone else shouting 666, it still has an innate bandit model that cannot be completely erased.
The specific manifestation is that he is greedy for life and afraid of death. He is very brave when fighting against favorable conditions, but shrinks back once he encounters a tough challenge.
With such an army fighting, Li Xuan would naturally not be able to experience any formal and cruel battles. The past several battles were all about bullying the weak and fearing the strong, relying on the absolute advantage of military strength to bully the small-scale troops of the Ming army.
But now, thousands of Ming troops outside the city launched a charge, and the number of these Ming troops was more than twice that of the new army of the Tang Dynasty.
More than a thousand people were scattered outside the city, covering almost all the mountains and plains with human heads as far as the eye could see.
Li Xuan is scared!
Even though he maintains a calm appearance on the surface, he is really scared inside.
He was afraid that the new army of the Tang Dynasty would not be able to withstand the attack of the Ming army and would end up in a situation where the city would be destroyed and people would die.
When the time comes, where should you go?
The possibility of defeat is quite high, but what should I do after defeat? Should I lead the guards to escape? What if I can't escape?
Captured without mercy?
No, no one in the Tang Dynasty could surrender except him, Li Xuan, because he was the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and no dynasty could tolerate rebellion, especially if it was a matter of proclaiming the emperor and establishing a country, which completely broke the skin.
Raising the banner of rebellion.
If he surrenders, it is probably unlikely that he will get the title of 'King of Anle' like Liu Adou. Although Liu Adou also surrendered, he is the emperor of Shu Han after all. Even if it is to win people's hearts, he is still qualified to get one.
Titled the idle prince, he spends his life under surveillance.
He estimated that he would not even be able to get a decent death like being poisoned like Li Yu.
Once he surrenders and is captured, Li Xuan can more or less imagine what will happen to him. Even if he submits a self-incrimination letter of hundreds of thousands of words like those who are greedy for life and fear of death, he will not be able to escape death.
It is estimated that he will be beheaded to death, and if he is unlucky, he will be killed by Lingchi.
In short, there is no way to escape death, and it is a very aggrieved and shameless way to die!
As a time-traveler with a modern soul, Li Xuan can accept his defeat and even death, but he cannot accept such a humiliating death.
So he grasped the hilt of the long sword at his waist with his hand. He grasped the hilt of the sword so hard not because he wanted to lift the sword and go into battle to kill the enemy, but because he was preparing to commit suicide with this sword!
He had already planned that if the city was really captured by the Ming army, he would definitely escape with the guards as soon as possible and return to Huangzhu Mountain or run to other places to play a comeback game.
If you can escape, I won’t say what happens next, but that is definitely the best ending.
But if he is really unlucky and fails to escape smoothly, then at the last moment he will bravely pick up the sword and cut his own neck like the Overlord!
He would never allow himself to fall into the hands of the Ming army alive, and then be cut with three thousand cuts and die in pain. This would be detrimental to the dignity of a time traveler.
As a time-traveler favored by God, and as an emperor ordained by destiny, even if he dies, he must die heroically and honorably.
And to commit suicide like the King of Chu on the battlefield is undoubtedly the best choice for an emperor after a defeat, and he might even be able to leave his name in history.
No one knew that the emperor, who was full of confidence in their eyes and looked calm and calm, was already thinking about how to commit suicide in a dignified way at this moment.
The soldiers of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty were all staring at the approaching Ming army ahead!
When the Ming army launched a full-scale charge, Wang Shanxu on the city wall decisively ordered to shoot!
Suddenly, a burst of white smoke rose from the city wall. As the white smoke rose, many people of the Ming army who were charging outside the city also fell.
However, this small number of people is nothing to the huge Ming army. The Ming army continues to charge!
At this time, the archers on the city wall also fired arrows one after another!
Arrows and bullets together formed the first and most important link in the city defense system of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty.
However, even if the musketeers and archers were added together, their number was only more than 120. The long-range firepower they caused was not enough to intercept the charge of thousands of Ming troops outside the city, especially their bullets and
Most of the bows and arrows fell on the young and strong Ming army in front.
Although the young men of the Ming army suffered heavy casualties, the guards and recruits at the back suffered limited casualties, and these people were the main force in the siege.
Seeing that the Ming army was approaching within fifty meters, Fang Dongquan, Chen Tufu and Huang Xueren on the top of the city all shouted: "Get ready!"
This preparation does not mean preparing for hand-to-hand combat, but preparing to throw rolling logs, stones and boiling oil at the bottom of the city to prevent the Ming army from climbing the city wall.
The Ming army was getting closer. In just a few dozen seconds, the Ming army's forwards had completely reached the foot of the city wall. At this time, the Ming army's forwards were no longer the young and strong ones.
During the charge of more than 100 meters just now, those young men without armor protection suffered heavy casualties, especially when they were only about 20 meters away from the city wall, they were beaten in a row by two musketeers of the Tang Dynasty.
Shoot, that row of volleys almost knocked down all the dozens of young men rushing forward.
These young men who suffered huge casualties were completely defeated, but their collapse was replaced by a short-term firepower gap for the musketeers of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty.
Next, they have at least twenty seconds to approach and climb the city wall!
So the regular soldiers of the Ming Army pushed aside the young men who had completed their cannon fodder duties, and ran towards the city wall carrying long ladders.
Soon, the first long ladder was erected on the city wall. Immediately, soldiers from the New Army of the Tang Dynasty pushed or slashed with knives, trying to destroy or overthrow the ladder.
At the same time, the soldiers of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty on the top of the city also threw huge trees, stones, boiling oil and even some random debris downwards.
The killing effect of these traditional defense methods at close range is no less than that of muskets and bows!
When a large boulder is thrown down a long ladder, it can often knock down all the Ming soldiers who are climbing up the long ladder.
If you are lucky, you may even be able to burn seven or eight Ming soldiers. They scream loudly and roll all over the ground.
But even so, the Ming army, which had a superior strength, still broke through the layers of defense of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty, and finally climbed to the top of the city!
After seeing the Ming army climbing to the top of the city, Li Xuan on the city gate seemed to have been punched hard in the head. A sense of dizziness hit him instantly, so much so that he was shaken!
After his body swayed involuntarily, Li Xuan took a deep breath. His calm demeanor finally disappeared, replaced by a look of intense worry.
Is it really going to end?
Our own soldiers had been fighting hard just now. Whether it was the musketeers led by Wang Shanxu or the archers, spearmen and other soldiers led by Fang Dongquan, they made no obvious mistakes in the defensive operations.
Even the firing frequency of the musketeers was much faster than usual, but these were of no effect in the face of the Ming army's absolute strength advantage.
The Ming army almost launched a charge regardless of casualties. Among them, Qing Zhuang, who was at the forefront and used as cannon fodder, suffered at least nearly a hundred casualties and injuries. It was completely collapsed, but this still did not stop the Ming army's determination to attack the city.
When Li Xuan lost his composure, others were in no mood to pay attention to his every move. At this time, the battle had entered its most intense moment.
Whether it is victory or defeat depends on the next short moment.
The moment the soldiers of the Ming army rushed to the top of the city, Butcher Chen held his butcher knife high and led his heavy armor, sword and shield soldiers to rush forward.
As the only heavily armored unit in the New Army of the Tang Dynasty, the Heavy Armored Sword and Shield Troops possess the most powerful hand-to-hand combat capability in the New Army of the Tang Dynasty.
With the cooperation of spearmen, musketeers and archers, they can tear apart the enemy's entire array.
If this is a pure cold weapon force, then armored heavy infantry is definitely the core of an army.
Wearing double armor, Butcher Chen took the lead and rushed towards a Ming soldier who had just climbed to the top of the city. He opened and closed the butcher knife in his hand and slashed at the Ming soldier in front of him with an unstoppable momentum.
The Ming soldier was obviously not a weakling. He was also tall. When he saw Butcher Chen charging towards him, he raised the shield in his hand and blocked Butcher Chen's knife.
Although Butcher Chen's butcher's knife was thick and had great cutting power, it still couldn't split the shield in half with one strike. The butcher's knife had a huge power on the shields of the Ming soldiers in front of him. This Ming army soldier couldn't keep his balance and took a step back.
But although his Ming soldiers blocked Butcher Chen's butcher's knife, they failed to block a spear.
When he blocked Butcher Chen's butcher's knife, the spearman of the Tang Army beside Butcher Chen took the opportunity to deliver a fatal blow.
The spearman looked very young, at most fifteen or sixteen years old. This age was very common in the New Army of the Tang Dynasty. In order to ensure the training effect of the soldiers, the New Army of the Tang Dynasty gave priority to the younger ones when selecting soldiers. , an honest person.
But the spear thrust out by such a seemingly honest young man actually stabbed this strong soldier of the Ming Army through him!
The strong soldier of the Ming Army fell down with unwilling eyes!
However, when he fell, more Ming soldiers climbed up the city wall via long ladders!
Friends who use the qq reading app to read Shangou Emperor should like it (if you find a free book on the qq reading app, pull it down and give the Shangou Emperor a like in the 'Collect Likes and Ask for Free' column (it's free and free of charge), if the likes can reach the top
Two people, there will be limited free tickets later!