From midnight to early morning, after several hours of fierce fighting, the hundreds of meters long city wall in the south of the city has turned into a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. The pile of corpses more than two meters high has turned the city wall into a corpse wall, and the blood has turned the city wall into a corpse wall.
Stained like a wall of blood, this is no longer a war, but a bloody fight between the two.
Looking at the soldiers who kept falling, Wan Lei's eyes were bloodshot, and the hand wielding the knife was numb, and he was just slashing mechanically. There were also many cuts on his body, and it was difficult to tell from the blood all over his body.
Your own or your enemy's.
Zhu Gaoxu's eyes were also bloodshot. He looked at his men falling in pieces on the ground, from more than 60,000 to more than 50,000, and from more than 50,000 to 40,000.
This loss of nearly half was the limit he could accept.
Correspondingly, the defenders did not take much advantage, and fell in large numbers. The 80,000 troops fought hard to just over 60,000, and the losses were nearly 20,000. This was almost the limit that Wan Lei could accept. However, with
The difference with the Yan army is that there are hundreds of thousands of old, weak, women and children behind the defenders, who can fight to the last man.
But the Yan army could not, and nearly half of them were killed or wounded, which was equivalent to declaring the failure of the siege, because even if they captured the city wall, they would still have to face endless street fighting when they entered the city. Even if there were no street fighting, they would still have to fight in the future.
Facing the crazy counterattack of the imperial army, even if you have the emperor in your hands, you may not be able to hold Peiping.
"It's time and destiny. Your Highness, give the order to retreat." Dao Yan closed his eyes in pain. He knew that the attack on Beiping City ended in complete defeat. Even if they continued to fight, the Yan army would not be able to reenter Beiping City.
"Retreat? Where to retreat? Military advisor, tell me, where else can I retreat? Where is my foothold?" Zhu Gaoxu was almost exhausted.
"As long as the green hills remain, you won't have to worry about running out of firewood. Your Highness can withdraw from Liaodong. Although it is bitterly cold there, you can recuperate and recuperate. In the future, Xu will occupy Liaodong and return to the Central Plains." Ma Sanbao also advised.
"What Eunuch Ma said is that the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, Yang Yuan, has little courage and no strategy, so there is nothing to fear. As long as he establishes a firm foothold in Liaodong, and then expands his army by occupying North Korea in the east, he will definitely be able to stand apart from the imperial court and look for opportunities to compete in the future.
The Central Plains is not impossible." Dao Yan also said.
"Quit Liaodong? Even if we want to raise troops to go south in the future, we must pass through Peking. This, this..." When Zhu Gaoxu said this, he was so angry that he gasped in anger. He failed to conquer Peiping twice in a row, so he would bring more people next time.
Come, I'm afraid I won't be able to defeat him.
"Your Highness, don't worry. Who said you have to go through Peiping to compete in the Central Plains?" Ma Sanbao shook his head gently and said: "It's difficult to travel by land, can't we go by sea? As long as His Highness spends great efforts to build big ships and build a navy, we can
It is advisable to take the sea route southward and approach Jinling."
"What Eunuch Ma said is true. Your Highness, take a step back and the world will be brighter." Dao Yan advised again.
"But, how can I, the king, be so calm after losing at the hands of Wan Lei?"
"Your Highness, don't worry. That guy has offended a lot of people. As soon as our army retreats, the Peking Army will disperse and he will be close to death. Even if the court doesn't kill him, we can secretly send someone to assassinate him. In short,
You can't run away from that kid." Dao Yan said.
"It's just that I can't bring that guy's head to pay tribute to the late king. I am really unwilling to do so!" Although Zhu Gaoxu was very unwilling, he was not overwhelmed by anger. Since Peking could not be captured, he accepted Dao Yan and
Ma Sanbao's proposal: retreat to Liaodong and Xu Tu rise again.
When the order to retreat was given, a sharp sound of gold was heard outside the city. The two armies fighting bloody battles on top of the city were stunned almost at the same time. Then, the Yan army slowly retreated like a tide. Seeing that the enemy army retreated without chaos, Wan Lei also
He did not order a pursuit, but just stood firm to prevent the enemy from coming back.
When the Yan army all retreated from the tower, gathered their horses and armaments, and then left in formation, Wan Lei let out a long breath. He knew that the Yan army had really retreated. Even if it didn't retreat, these forty thousand soldiers would still be left behind.
Their military strength can no longer shake Peiping in the slightest!
"Ah! The enemy has retreated! The enemy has retreated!" A sergeant covered in blood raised his arms and shouted, and then all the soldiers in the city cheered together, and the cheers resounded through the sky.
"The enemy has been defeated!
Peking was saved!
Home saved!
My family is also saved!”
There is nothing more exciting than saving your home and being able to go home and reunite with your family. At this time, what everyone wants to do most is to rush down to the tower and celebrate with relatives and friends in the city. As for whether there will be any rewards after the war
, but it is a secondary issue.
Soon, the news of the great victory spread throughout the entire city of Peiping like the wind. Everyone rushed from their rooms to the streets, shouting and laughing to their heart's content. The entire Peiping became a sea of joy, a city that never sleeps.
Wan Lei did not celebrate with his generals. In fact, he was covered in blood at this time, and almost no one recognized him. And he did not take it lightly because the enemy retreated. No, he immediately found a few soldiers,
Let them carry messages to the garrison at each city gate, asking them to continue to pay attention to the movements of the enemy troops outside the city, and to respond immediately to the enemy's situation whenever there is any sign of it, so as not to fall into the enemy's tricks.
In addition, there was still a lot of work to be done on the battlefield, and tens of thousands of corpses on the city tower also had to be dealt with. He asked the reserve troops who had not experienced bloody battles to go to the city, replace the exhausted defenders, and pay attention to the enemy's situation.
At the same time, clean up the corpses at the top of the city and under the city. Those of your own army will be put aside and buried in peace at a later date. Those of the enemy's army will be decapitated to record their merits.
Although the imperial court will probably not reward people on a per-capita basis, it is the imperial court's business whether to reward them or not. Anyway, Wan Lei has already figured out how to reward the army, which is to divide the land. Anyway, many big and small landowners in Beiping City have either died or fled.
Naturally, these terra nullius lands must be divided.
As for how to subdivide it, that's Tie Xuan's business. Just divide it according to military rank and military merit, and try to be fair and just. Wan Lei doesn't care about the details. Besides, he has promised Xu Huizu that as soon as the war is over,
Retiring and continuing to be Changping Yicheng can be regarded as a step down for the emperor and the court.
As for whether the imperial court will follow the steps, it depends on whether the emperor's child's mind is wider than the gutter. Anyway, Wan Lei has done his best, and now he is worthy of heaven and earth. If God really wants
If he was killed, he would have no choice but to resign himself to his fate.
Dragging his body covered in blood, Wan Lei slowly walked through the streets filled with celebrating crowds. Of course, in addition to the celebrating crowds, he also saw many families who had lost their loved ones hugging each other and crying.
He couldn't bear to look at this tragic situation, so he had to comfort everyone one by one, and solemnly promised that he would lead everyone to live a good life in the future.
The enemy army was repulsed, but Emperor Jianwen did not go back to sleep with peace of mind. Instead, he discussed with Qi Huang and others overnight how to deal with this extremely troublesome Peiping army.
Huang Zicheng had been insulted by Wan Lei and Tie Xuan many times, and had no good impression of the Peking Army. Naturally, he wanted to avenge his personal revenge publicly at this time, so he strongly suggested that when the Northern Army returned south to Peiping, he would launch a surprise attack and annihilate the Peking Army in one fell swoop.
Even the reasons were compiled, and the Peking Army was directly labeled as a rebel army that was more attached to the Yan thieves. The powerful troops of the imperial court destroyed them. It is really gratifying and congratulatory.
Of course, as the emperor's wise assistant, he also took the greatest credit.
However, Qi Tai did not think so. He felt that the Peiping Army could be used. As long as he found a way to move it away from Peiping, whether it was the northwest border or the southwest border, the farther the better, so that it could be used to defend the border without having to
Worry about it rebelling, killing multiple birds with one stone.
Not to mention, Qitai's idea was the most popular with Emperor Jianwen. Firstly, he didn't have to break the contract, and secondly, he could make this annoying army disappear from sight. He even started to look for some of the most chaotic places and send this annoying army.
The army passed by, and then the wind rustled and the water became cold.
The idea was a good one, but the execution was not the same. After Emperor Jianwen summoned the generals of the Peking Army to commend him, he was about to give them promotions, but they all said that the city of Peking had been defended and that he would no longer be in charge of Peking.
I don't want to hold any position in the army, I just want to be discharged and return to the field.
In fact, these generals have been hanging out with Wan Lei for several months, and they are almost like foxes. They can see through the court's little trick of asking people to sacrifice their lives for giving small favors, and they also know that the court's rewards are not so easy to get.
, if you take it, you will have to pay it back with the lives of your brothers and yourself. They will not do this kind of business that is destined to lose money.
This was the first time Jianwen had seen a group of generals who did not want rewards, but just wanted to disarm and return to their fields. No matter how stupid he was, he could see that these generals made it clear that they did not want to serve as swordsmen for the imperial court, and that disarming and returning to their fields was just an excuse. Even the generals were trying to win over them.
If he didn't come, those soldiers wouldn't be able to take advantage of him. Finally, he said a few useless words and asked them to retreat.
Unable to make use of the Peking Army, Emperor Jianwen still refused to give up and asked Qi Tai to give him another idea. Qi Tai also knew that this army was unwilling to leave Shuntian Mansion, so he closed his eyes and suggested not to transfer the Peking Army, but to
Transferring the garrison north of Shuntianfu exposed the Peking Army directly to the iron hoof of the Tatars, causing them to constantly fight with the Tatars.
Qi Tai's idea seemed good, but Huang Zicheng was opposed to it, saying that if the Peking Army colluded with the Tatars and the switch led the rebels into the Central Plains, wouldn't it be even worse? Qi Tai didn't think so, saying that the imperial court
As long as kindness and power are combined, the Peiping Army will not have any different intentions.
When it came to the issue of alienation, Huang Zicheng's opposition became even louder, saying that the Peking Army dared to threaten even the emperor, so what else would it not dare to do? And Qi Tai was not to be outdone, explaining why the Peking Army had
The disloyalty is the result of the unfair treatment by the court.
The two counselors each insisted on their own opinions and couldn't argue. Emperor Jianwen, one big and the other big, really couldn't make up his mind. In the end, he had to find Xu Huizu and let him come up with an idea.
To be honest, although Emperor Jianwen was close to the civil servants, the Xu family was close to the emperor's family, not only because the Xu family had made great contributions to the country, but also because they were nobles of the country and held "long-term meal tickets" issued by the Ming Dynasty.
We always hope that the country will have long-term peace and stability. And civil servants are selected from the bottom. Although they appear to be very loyal on the surface, they don't know people well.
"Your Majesty, meritorious deeds should be rewarded, and deeds should be punished. Only clear rewards and punishments can make the soldiers return to their hearts. Now that the Peking Army has won a great victory, it is appropriate to issue rewards by order to strengthen the morale of the army."