On top of Baozhou City, a drumstick thicker than an arm hit the cowhide war drum hard. The sound of the drum was so loud that your chest vibrated, and no other sound could be heard.
"Open the city gate!"
Because the drums were too loud, the soldiers could only shout with all their strength.
Then the west city gate creaked open, and columns of cavalry poured out of the city gate and stepped across the moat.
An embroidered gold dragon flag flutters in the air.
Under the dragon flag, Jingjie was riding behind Li Xia.
Although he had learned about Li Xia's abilities a long time ago, Jingjie only joined recently and has not fully understood Li Xia's style of doing things. He is also unaware of many things, so he is still very worried.
He felt that it was a bit risky for His Majesty to leave the city suddenly like this. If he was provoked, Brother Yi Xiang would try his best to kill him, or he would be hit by a returning cannon.
Moreover, the city of Baozhou is obviously not stable. There are a group of people loyal to the Meng Yuan and some people with second thoughts who are ready to cause chaos. Li Xia will obviously give them an opportunity as soon as he leaves the city. Once the city gate is closed, the danger will be even greater. too much.
However, when I glanced at the other civil and military officials accompanying me, I saw that all of them had the usual calm expressions. Only Jingxuan, Zhao Fu and others showed some worry in their eyes.
"Kill it!"
When the Tang army adjusted their array, Li Xia only gave this simple order.
The cavalry moved forward, their hooves raising dust and smoke all over the sky, followed by the sound of killing cries.
Li Xia was also moving forward, and had gradually entered the range of the Yuan army's returning artillery.
Jingjie became increasingly uneasy and tried to look ahead, only to find that the battle was not as intense as expected.
The entire formation of the Yuan army seemed to be in chaos. Not only were they not ready to return artillery, but there were also sparse arrow rains.
Lifting the lookout tube, one could vaguely see that many Yuan soldiers were not facing this way.
"There are our reinforcements on the opposite side, attacking from both sides?" Jingjie finally understood and turned to Jingxuan and said.
Suddenly, a sharp and piercing sound of ringing gold sounded. Brother Shifting's flag began to move north.
"The Yuan army has withdrawn?!" "They really have withdrawn."
Jingxuan, on the other hand, was much calmer. He twirled his long beard and murmured: "It's true that as soon as His Majesty showed his flag, he scared away brother Shi Xiang."
"Brother Yixiang has been besieging Baozhou City for many days. As soon as he saw His Majesty's dragon flag, he fled." Zhao Fu said: "Who will believe that the Mongolian cavalry will be invincible in the future?"
"Your Majesty is so powerful that people in Hebei should be at peace." "It will also shock Yanjing."
Jingjie was stunned there.
He understood that there must be many strategic arrangements that were deliberately hidden from them, but Li Xia still established prestige in his heart.
Even if he is like this, let alone ordinary soldiers and civilians?
With Brother Yixiang's withdrawal, the impact of previous rumors on the morale of the Tang army will be completely eliminated.
Next, the morale of the Yuan army will be dissipated, and the army will be in panic. The Yuan army's intention to counterattack will be completely defeated.
~~
On the tower of Baozhou City, Zhang Hongqing watched the Yuan army moving towards the north like flowing water, with some surprise in his eyes.
He knew that some people in the city still wanted Dayuan.
Because those people had also contacted him, he did not agree to cooperate with them, but he did not expose them, and even "accidentally" revealed some information.
He plans to wait and see what happens, and when the situation is settled, he can always regain a higher position of power as the eleventh son of the Zhang family.
"The Yuan army actually retreated." Zhang Hongqing murmured in a low voice, turned to look at the city, and said to himself: "Then do you still dare to take action?"
After waiting for a while, he saw a Tang army leaving the city and marching quickly into the city.
"Are you taking action yet?"
Zhang Hongqing tapped lightly on the window with his fingers, and Zhang Hongqing began to look forward to it. However, when the Yuan army withdrew from the battlefield, they could see another group of soldiers and horses farther west of the battlefield.
Zhang Hongqing looked at it for a long time, until he saw a big flag with the word "Zhang" in it, and couldn't help but be stunned.
"Father is back? Then
Only then did he realize that everything was planned by Li Xia. He deliberately let Zhang Rou leave to give those who were ready to take action, so when Zhang Rou came back at the right time, a group of those Yuanmeng survivors were picked out, and Baozhou was
It will be more stable.
The Tang army just went to capture people, and now the city is probably full of bloodshed.
Zhang Hongqing couldn't help but be secretly frightened and frightened. Fortunately, he didn't agree to cooperate with those people.
"Ta, ta
Footsteps sounded on the steps of the tower.
Someone walked up to the tower and said, "Eleventh Lang likes to relax and watch the battle here."
Zhang Hongqing was startled and turned his head suddenly, only to see Dong Wenyong walking up unhurriedly.
He suddenly felt uneasy and asked, "What do you want to do?"
Dong Wenyong said: "For a long time, your second brother and I have been helping the Military Intelligence Department in Shuntian and Zhending's activities. Therefore, in Baozhou, I am half a member of the Military Intelligence Department."
"What's the meaning?"
"Today, a group of Mongolian remnants were captured in the city, and one of them said that he had seen the Eleventh Lang."
"No!"
Zhang Hongqing was so frightened that he took a step back, with cold sweat even breaking out on his forehead, and said, "It was Zhang Hongfan who harmed the Dong family, and it had nothing to do with me. You can't even think of unjustly accusing me!"
"This is the Tang Dynasty. Whether you are wronged or not is not up to me." Dong Wenyong took out a small cloth bag from his pocket and put it on the case, saying: "The evidence has the final say."
Zhang Hongqing looked at the object and became increasingly uneasy.
"Here is the confession of the man, as well as the sachet he stole from you when he met you, the evidence he left behind after paying off your servants, and the information you revealed."
"Dong Wenyong! Do you want to harm my Zhang family?!"
"This is the Tang Dynasty." Dong Wenyong repeated this sentence and said: "Your Majesty does not like internal fighting, and I dare not harm your Zhang family."
Zhang Hongqing shook his head and said: "Don't you dare or don't want to?"
Dong Wenyong said: "I don't intend to expose you, lest people think that I am seeking personal revenge. I will leave this evidence with you. I advise you to use it to plead guilty to His Majesty. But if you think you can hide it,
It doesn’t matter if I destroy it, I just pretend I don’t know about it.”
Zhang Hongqing was a little confused and said: "Are you so kind? Do you think I will believe you?"
"If you don't believe me, just go and apologize to His Majesty." "Where is that person?"
"Dead." Dong Wenyong turned his back and said.
He closed his eyes and took a breath, then said: "After today, the grudge between me and your Zhang family will be settled."
After that, he walked straight out. The sound of footsteps sounded on the stairs again.
Zhang Hongqing picked up the small cloth bag on the case and murmured: "How could you be so kind?"
He had vaguely guessed Dong Wenyong's thoughts.
But there was inevitably a trace of luck in my heart.
Dong Wenyong walked down the tower, looked back, and let out a sigh of relief.
Zhang Hongfan's death was not enough to completely eliminate his resentment towards the Zhang family. But on the other hand, his respect for Li Xia made him dare not fight with the Zhang family. Then it became his decision whether to seek revenge from the Zhang family again.
Knot.
Today, the problem has been left to Zhang Hongqing. From now on, it will be Zhang Hongqing's choice whether it is good or bad. He, Dong Wenyong, does not intend to be involved in this anymore.
How could such a good founding hero ruin his future because of these grievances? Dong Wen thought clearly and looked up, feeling that the sky was high and the clouds were vast.
He smiled and murmured to himself: "Kublai Khan, I will go to Yanjing to seek revenge from you soon."
~-
At noon, Brother Yixiang finally withdrew from West Camp to Beida Camp.
Joining forces with the troops to the north allowed him to recover from his hasty retreat and organize his forces to resist the Tang army's attack.
The Tang army did not want to get too close to the Yuan army's camp to avoid too many casualties, so they also slowed down their offensive.
Brother Yixiang breathed a sigh of relief, and Xue Xue hurried over. "Your Majesty, the Great Khan has sent someone.
Waiting to hear
After receiving Kublai Khan's order to withdraw his troops, Brother Yixiang's mood became increasingly complicated.
On the one hand, I am glad that I have found an excuse for today's defeat and do not need to bear too much responsibility; on the other hand, I am deeply worried that the Great Mongolia has now fallen into a passive war situation.
However, since Kublai Khan had asked him to withdraw his troops, he no longer acted bravely. After the Tang army withdrew its troops in the evening, he immediately arranged to withdraw his troops overnight.
He knew that if word of this battle spread, the world would only say that Li Xia scared him away from Baozhou as soon as he showed up, but there was nothing he could do.
In the dark of night, Brother Yixiang took one last look at Baozhou City and saw brightly lit fires on top of the city.
Now the city is impregnable.
"I will come again." Brother Yixiang comforted himself: "The Mongolian cavalry will march south again.
Baozhou City.
Jingxuan, Zhao Fu, Jingjie and others stood there, watching Zhang Rou turn over and dismount with some difficulty. They wanted to step forward to help, but they were no longer suitable to step forward.
They were all wearing official uniforms, standing together with other courtiers, and looked at Zhang Rou with a bit of shame.
On the contrary, Zhang Rou seemed more open-minded and did not shy away from suspicion. She stepped forward and pointed at them, laughing and saying: "In the past, the princes were unwilling to serve in Mongolia, but now they finally meet the emperor of the Holy Dynasty and are finally willing to serve. It's gratifying, good.
well."
Jingxuan quickly handed over his hands and said, "Thank you, Marshal, for your protection over the past decades."
"What we should do, what we should do, is to leave some literati for the Central Plains." Jingxuan whispered: "It would be better if the commander-in-chief is not angry with us."
Zhang Rou looked very grand and laughed loudly and said: "From now on, we will serve as ministers in the same palace and govern the great rivers and mountains of the Central Plains together. How can we be angry?"
The surrounding ministers looked at it and couldn't help but admire Zhang Rou's mind and vision. Some people thought that although the Zhang family surrendered a little late, they have the strength of the proud Hebei for many years and such a family leader who is willing to work hard for His Majesty.
To conquer the world, it is obvious that the tide will rise even higher in the future.
In fact, Zhang Rou herself thought so too.
He is seventy-eight years old this year. Some old people have difficulty walking at this age. But after he surrendered, he traveled from Baiyangdian to Taihang Mountains by boat, horseback riding, and mountain climbing. He worked tirelessly and worked harder than anyone else. The reason is that except for Li
Xia's loyalty is naturally due to the great expectations in her heart.
That night, Zhang Rou returned to the mansion, sat in the lobby, looked at the disciples, and said: "I want to ask for orders to go to Yanjing with the army."
"Father." Zhang Honglue quickly advised: "Father is already old, why do you need to work so hard anymore?"
"Shut up." Zhang Judao: "How can I not go to the new city that I built myself? If any of you dares to stop you from doing meritorious service for your father, I will kill him!"