Eight hundred and seventieth chapters helpless to abandon the city
But at dawn, an armed force of a thousand people came from the east of Han River along the Han River to the foot of Hanzhong City, and shouted towards the city that they were special envoys sent by the emperor.
The soldiers at the top of the city quickly went to notify Guo Linggong. Guo Ziyi was shocked when he heard about it, but he did not suspect that this was Li Siye's plan to make money from the city. Because the Han River passed through the city, if the army from the north did not capture Hanzhong, it would never be possible.
It is impossible to go around to the east of the city.
"Order the three armies to form a formation to welcome the imperial envoy into the city."
Guo Ziyi slowly opened the east city gate and ordered two groups of armored soldiers to go out of the city and line up on the left and right sides to prevent any accidents. Then his father and son rode out of the city and looked at the special envoy, only to find that he was a rootless eunuch.
Guo Xi's face suddenly darkened.
Guo Ziyi glanced at his son with a cold expression, then greeted the special envoy with a smile and said, "Envoy, please follow me into the city for a brief talk."
Unexpectedly, the envoy shook his head and said: "I heard that Li Siye led the rebels to attack the city in the west. We will not go in, so as not to interfere with Guo Linggong's military affairs. I will read out your Majesty's imperial edict here, and Guo Ziyi will listen!"
Guo Ziyi quickly led his generals to kneel down and receive the order: "Your Majesty, Guo Ziyi, accepts the order."
"My lord, I am very concerned about you whether Guo Aiqing is still in good health after I said goodbye to Guanzhong. Now that I heard that the rebels are attacking Hanzhong with a large army, it may be difficult to hold on. Aiqing must not leave his body in an isolated city, and should plan early
Retreat route. I want you to lead the army to retreat along the Han River to Jingxiang. At this time of national crisis, only the best generals are left. I hope you can return to the court as soon as possible and share the righteousness of the emperor and his ministers with me. The letter is as shown on the right, please obey it.
.”
"I thank you for your kindness!" The envoy stepped forward and handed the imperial edict to him, and Guo Ziyi got up from the ground with difficulty.
The eunuch smiled, stepped forward and crossed his hands and said: "Every word in this sentence is full of kindness. Your Majesty misses you very much. I hope you can leave for the southeast as soon as possible."
To this, Guo Ziyi just replied: "I should abide by it myself."
Suddenly, the roar of cannons rang out from the west of the city, and the earth trembled slightly. The imperial envoy looked calm, turned around and mounted his horse in a hurry, and said: "We will go back and report to the emperor right now. Guo Linggong will lead his army to follow."
Not one of the more than a thousand people sent by the imperial court stayed with Guo Ziyi, and they all seemed to flee downstream along the Han River.
Guo Ziyi turned back to the city and immediately climbed up the tower to direct the battle. The Hexi Army's artillery bombardment caused the soldiers to stagger. He climbed to the crenel with the flagpole and shouted: "When the enemy fires artillery, hide in the corner. Don't be hit by shrapnel."
hurt!"
Suddenly, a black ball shell exploded next to him, causing shrapnel to fly and blow him to the ground. Guo Ziyi stood up unsteadily, feeling some pain in the creaking hole, and when he stretched out his hand to touch it, he felt blood flowing out.
The soldiers helped him to the bottom of the city tower. Guo Ziyi sat and sighed: "The Hexi Army's Xuanwu artillery is really powerful. I wear fine scale chain mail under my coat and bright light armor over my coat, but it can't withstand the fragments of the cannonballs. The soldiers on the city wall
There are many casualties, so when the Hexi Army attacks the city later, how can they resist it?"
Li Siye rode his horse outside the city and loudly ordered: "Keep firing the artillery, the three armies will begin to attack the city!"
Artillery shells continued to explode on the top of the city. The soldiers of the Hexi Army had already rushed to the moat with the bridge planks and built the wooden bridge over the river. Li Siye ordered people to load the Fuyuan crossbow with crescent shovel arrows and aim it at the suspension bridge.
I tried to shoot at the iron rope on the top, but failed to achieve any results after several lasings.
They put the siege ladder on the city wall and began to climb up the wall. The artillery fire on the city head began to stop. The Tang army seemed to be resurrected. They came out from all corners and began to throw wood down on the city head.
, fired arrows, and as soon as the Hexi Army climbed to the top of the city, they were shot in the face and fell down.
Seeing that the city wall could not be attacked for a long time, Li Siye quickly ordered people to bring out the hot air balloon, a magic weapon in the air, so that he could more accurately suppress the fire on the city wall with fierce fire thunder.
Not only did the soldiers of the Tang Army have to withstand the attacks from the Hexi Army below, they also had fierce fire and thunder falling from time to time above their heads, and the grease rolled with the flames. There was nowhere to hide on the narrow city wall, and raging fire burned on their bodies.
The soldiers of the Hexi Army who rushed up fell down and rolled under the city wall.
Guo Xi hurriedly went to find Guo Ziyi and confessed that the city could no longer resist it and hoped that his father would make a decision soon.
After Guo Ziyi thought deeply, he walked down from the city tower and asked the soldiers to tell the people and gentry that the Tang army was about to abandon Hanzhong City and leave. He asked the people about their intentions. If they were willing to follow the Tang army, they would quickly retreat and guard the west.
The soldiers on the city wall can hold on for one afternoon at most.
When Guo Ziyi first arrived in Hanzhong, he cared about the people and showed sympathy to the gentry. The people appreciated his kindness and were willing to help the old and young to go to Jingxiang with him.
Guo Linggong was so moved that he said to the people: "If you are willing to follow us, go home and pack your belongings now. We will set off at dusk today. We will leave the city and go south to Jingxiang."
That night, the soldiers lit torches, and Guo Ziyi rode a war horse out of the east city gate, ordering part of the army to escort the people to leave first, while the rest stayed behind to be on guard against the Hexi Army's pursuit. However, the people's slow speed slowed down the journey, so it was not possible until that night.
It's more than forty miles away. At this speed, it only takes half an hour for the Flying Tiger Cavalry to catch up.
Li Siye finally got his wish and entered Hanzhong, but more than half of his registered residence in the city escaped. This was a loss for him. In such war-torn times, population is the scarcest resource, and the number of people lost requires several people.
It will take ten years of rest and recuperation to replenish it.
The Hexi Army pursued and captured several families who had fallen behind on the road, brought them back to the city, and escorted them to Li Siye.
When he saw that the people's bodies were tied with ropes, he angrily rebuked the soldiers: "How can you tie people up like this? Whether they go or stay is entirely up to them."
He asked these people with a pleasant look: "Tell me, why did you follow Guo Ziyi to Jingxiang?"
The people looked at each other and did not dare to speak, for fear that if they said the wrong thing, their heads would be chopped off.
Li Siye smiled and comforted them: "Don't be afraid, even if I say the wrong thing, I won't blame you."
A bold child suddenly said: "You are traitors. Rebels burn, kill, loot, and do all kinds of evil."
"So that's it." Li Siye thought that everything was the result of propaganda. These Hanzhong people had never seen their Hexi Army. How could they know that they burned, killed and looted? It must be Guo Ziyi who was setting the pace with malicious propaganda, which made the people treat them like this.
fear.
After Li Siye thought about this, he had an idea in his mind and said to these households: "Whether what Guo Ziyi said is true or false, you will know soon. I have always been kind to the people. Not only will I not kill you, but I will also give you silk."
I will reward you with money and money.
"Oh, thank you, Your Majesty! Thank you, Your Majesty!" Several people hurriedly kowtowed in gratitude, but Li Siye waved his hands and said, "Don't be too busy thanking me. I have something to ask you. As long as you agree to do it, I will not only give you money, but also
I will give you a large amount of land and help you become a big family in Hanzhong. How about that?"
Several common people couldn't help but become alert and asked with lowered eyebrows: "I wonder what the king wants us to do?"
"You just wait here, someone will come and give you orders later." Li Siye turned around and left the hall.
After a long time, a bookish official came to the hall. He gave them each a piece of paper and said with his hands folded: "Write down the content on the paper. You are escaping from Guo Ziyi's escape team."
Yes, why are you running back? Because you found that Guo Ziyi was short of food and grass, and he encouraged you people to go to Jingxiang because he planned to use you as food."