"The Son of Heaven is the supreme one and is invincible in the world." [Xunzi·Zhenglun]
Our own army attacking the city was heavily outnumbered. Under such circumstances, the city defenders dared to send out cavalry to attack, and succeeded several times. This made Li Jue very angry.
Soon, when Huangfu Song once again sent out cavalry to attack the camp to attack the enemy's morale and relieve the pressure on the city, Li Jue learned his lesson and immediately sent his most elite Qiang and Hu Yi to intercept. Zhang Meng did not expect the enemy's attack. The reaction will be so fast that you will be caught off guard and trapped.
Most of the cavalrymen of the Northern Army's three battalions came from good families who were good at riding and shooting in the Three Rivers and Six Counties, or Hu cavalry recruited from the Qianghu tribe who were friendly to the imperial court. With a little training and coordinated formation, they could form an army. This was also the case with Huangfu Songhui. The reason why he was safely sent out into the city several times to perform charge missions.
Seeing that the third battalion of knights was surrounded, Huangfu Song did not want to bear the consequences of Zhang Meng's entire army being annihilated. He made a prompt decision and sent Xu Rong, an experienced Yulin lieutenant general, to lead the Yulin knights to rescue the siege. Zhang Liao, the brigade commander at the head of the city, saw the opportunity and asked for help. , Huangfusong agreed without thinking.
Xu Rong and Zhang Liao rushed out from Xuanping Gate with 3,000 cavalry. Li Jue surrounded the point for reinforcements and immediately sent Hu Zhen to meet the enemy. The two sides faced off at the city gate.
I saw Zhang Liao leading the way, holding a long pole and riding a horse to confront the enemy. Once Hu Zhen's soldiers approached, he used the momentum of the horse to violently knock the enemy off his horse with a long pole. Xu Rong was mature and did not sacrifice his life in front. , Instead, he calmly led his men to attack left and right. After more than ten rounds of this, Hu Zhen's men were seriously injured and unwilling to fight anymore, so he led his troops to retreat.
At this moment, I heard a burst of cheers from the top of the city, and tens of thousands of people shouted "Long live" in unison!
Li Jue was horrified as he looked at the brightly decorated imperial palace at the top of the city, and the young man standing under the banner with Chinese characters, like stars over the moon.
The emperor personally came to the city to watch the battle, which instantly raised the morale of the army to a peak. More than 10,000 defenders on the city shouted in unison: "The emperor is here, who dares to approach the Supreme!"
Seeing the emperor standing on the tower without any armor, the rebels immediately stopped moving forward. Although they were bewitched by the generals and rebelled for survival, they never thought of harming the emperor.
Everyone present began to hesitate and did not dare to step forward. Even some soldiers who were originally from the Luoyang Forbidden Army involuntarily put down their raised swords and loosened their fully drawn bow strings.
The rebels below the city, including Li Jue and other generals, were immersed in shock and had no time to respond. The attackers did not move for a while, and the defenders did not dare to take the opportunity to counterattack under the emperor's strict order.
Only Zhang Meng and others, who were trapped in a tight siege under the city, took advantage of everyone's panic to rise up and lead the cavalry to break out of the siege and join Xu Rong.
Li Jue frowned, came to his senses, and was about to wake up everyone to pursue him. At this time, Jia Xu came forward and said in his ear: "Your Majesty is supreme, no more use of weapons. Now that the morale of the army has fluctuated, in fact, It is not appropriate to continue the attack. It is better to temporarily withdraw our troops to avoid further mishaps."
The change here was because he was worried that his former Luoyang Forbidden Army soldiers would be inspired by the emperor and the old general at the city head to rebel. Li Jue had already experienced betrayal on the battlefield once with Hu Zhen and others, so Li Jue naturally understood it. What subversive results will it bring?
After Jia Xu's reminder, Li Jue quickly sent people to withdraw his troops and return to the camp to make plans.
The emperor held the city wall with his hands and leaned over the city to see Li Jue and others shouting to retreat. He felt a little regretful. Originally, he had planned to order the entire army to shout to persuade the rebels, especially the former Luoyang Imperial Guards who constituted the majority of the rebels, to abandon the dark side and join the bright side.
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After seeing Li Jue and other generals restraining their troops and retreating in an orderly manner, the emperor knew that he had no chance. However, he still gained something, because he climbed to the top of the city this time. Although it was a bit risky, he still passed
This move proved that most of the soldiers in the rebel army still respected the emperor in their hearts.
As long as there is respect for the court and the emperor, the emperor will encounter little resistance from the soldiers when he sends people to eliminate die-hard elements in the rebels such as Li Jue.
The emperor was in a happy mood. When he saw Xu Rong and others ascending to the top of the city, he called them over. He looked at Xu Rong, who was calm and calm in advancing and retreating in the formation; Zhang Liao, who had nothing to lose when the enemy made a decisive move; and Zhang Liao, who was rushing to kill.
Several times, Zhang Meng was still in high spirits, and the emperor helped them up one by one, patted their shoulders, and said: "With generals like this, why should the world worry about injustice!"
Li Jue and others finally recovered from the incident where the emperor came to the city to prepare for the battle, and set up camp several miles away from Chang'an, not daring to get close.
In the eyes of the emperor, Ma Rixi, Huangfu Song and others, this move was undoubtedly a sign of inner cowardice. The soldiers had no will to fight, and the generals had no will to fight. The so-called army of one hundred thousand was nothing more than a lamb in the pen. Li Jue summoned Guo Si,
Fan Chou, Zhang Ji and others came to the tent to discuss today's war. The generals all said that their soldiers had been intimidated by the emperor, and it would be very problematic to go into battle tomorrow.
After all, in this era, how could ordinary soldiers have the courage to kill kings like Liang Ji and Dong Zhuo?
"I have been in the army for several years, and I have never fought such a useless battle!" Li Jue said, "We might as well divide our troops tomorrow and besiege them on all sides. Even the emperor cannot appear on four walls at the same time! When we capture Chang'an, we will
When the emperor returns him to the palace, who will disturb the morale of the army?"
When everyone heard that it was a good idea, they all agreed.
But Jia Xu still had doubts about what happened today: "Your Majesty is just a young man, so how can you have the courage to go to the city to kiss him? There may be something hidden about what happened today."
"Hmph." Li Jue said disdainfully: "It must be that Wang Yun was afraid of the strength of our army, so he forced the emperor to the top of the city in order to scare us away. Such behavior is really the work of a traitor. We will wait for tomorrow
We must inform the whole army and let the soldiers ascend the city with all their strength. We must kill the treacherous ministers and save Your Majesty from danger."
Li Jue cunningly said that the emperor's initiative to ascend the city was forced by traitors like Wang Yun, and that he had ascended the city to fight as a just act. This rhetoric would undoubtedly confuse all the soldiers who were shaken in their hearts. If the emperor ascended the city again tomorrow, I am afraid he would not
Achieved results like today.
Seeing everyone gearing up, they all agreed with the reasons given by Li Jue. Jia Xu sighed slightly. For some reason, he always felt panicked, as if something was not expected, making him particularly uneasy. He recalled carefully
In the scene I saw today, the young emperor stood firmly on the tower without any sign of being coerced.
If it was really Wang Yun who forced the emperor to go to the city, then where was Wang Yun at that time?
Thinking of this, Jia Xu was horrified. He realized that he had neglected to calculate a possibility. It was an extremely unlikely and extremely likely thing to happen.
At this time, Song Guo, a military official under Li Jue, came to report: "A group of people came out of Chang'an City, saying they were envoys sent by the imperial court, threatening to see all the generals!"