In late spring, in March, there was no grass growing in the city of Chang'an, because the grass had been eaten up by the horses, and the birds had been wrapped up in their bellies.
The willow trees along the long street also have no green branches. Looking up, they are not as vibrant as they were at this time of year.
This time, Xue Bai could no longer collect food from the city. Hunger filled the capital of the Tang Empire. Every time the rebels attacked the city, the defending generals no longer cared much about how many lives were consumed, but felt more like a waste.
their physical strength.
In the evening, the rebels finally managed to retreat again. Even Xue Bai and Wang Nanlan sat down leaning on the battlements.
Their horses didn't like to stay on the bare city anymore. One bent its neck and bit the red tassel on Wang Ruolan's helmet, as if treating it as a flower in the field, while the other licked Xue Bai's face.
With all the sweat on his face, he knew he needed to eat some salt.
Xue Bai stretched out his hand and touched the dry bristles on the horse's head. He didn't think it smelled bad, but felt very close to it and said, "Save some fat. In a few days, we will go out of the city to kill the enemy."
The name of his war horse is "Houla", which probably means mottled coat in Turkic language. It was given to him by Li Guangbi when he was in Taiyuan. He traveled from Changshan to Pingyuan to Yongqiu to Luoyang to Chang'an.
I rode it and it saved my life.
Hoela seemed to be able to understand some human speech, and neighed, looking at the green grass outside the city, yearning for it.
After a while, Du Wulang brought someone to put out today's rations. He quietly approached Xue Bai and nudged him with his elbow.
"Hello."
"What?" Xue Bai asked lazily, not wanting to move at all.
Du Wulang smacked his lips, blaming him for being so indifferent. He looked around and then whispered: "Take it, I'll give you one more."
He held an egg in his palm and stuffed it into Xue Bai's hand without leaving any trace.
Xue Bai then remembered that when he first came to Du's house, Du Wulang secretly gave him extra food. After so many years, many things have changed dramatically. It's hard for Du Wulang to still maintain his kindness, but he is not at all
No progress.
"Gugu Niang is dead, this is the last one."
"Gu girl, who is it?"
"Hen." Du Wulang said a little sadly: "We have reached the point where we have to kill the chicken to retrieve the eggs. What are we going to do next?"
He had lost a lot of weight. When he spoke, he turned to look outside the city and could already see his clear jawline and sunken cheeks.
Xue Bai casually handed the egg to Wang Ranran's hand and said: "You can eat it, it will be more useful than me."
Wang Nan was not polite, he took it and knocked it on the wall, peeling the eggs, but he still wanted to scare Du Wulang.
"It's okay. If I'm hungry, I'll eat Wulang, which has fine skin and tender meat."
"Don't make trouble." Du Wulang was really afraid that Wang would rarely joke like this, so he flattered him and said, "I'll just find a way to get you some more food."
"You know what's interesting." Wang Ruowan finally stopped telling those trivial jokes and said, "Next time I come back from hunting in the city, I'll give you a bite first..."
At night.
Xue Bai was so tired that he fell into a deep sleep, vaguely smelling the aroma of meat.
He followed the smell of the meat and walked through the bonfires. He saw several soldiers sitting there eating barbecue.
"Xue Lang, the general has driven back the cattle and sheep from outside the city. You can also have a taste."
He then sat down by the campfire, took a plate, and a soldier cut him some pieces of meat with a dagger. At this moment, he felt extremely happy.
But when he turned around to look, he found that the soldier next to him had a piece of hoof on his plate.
"This is?"
"Xue Lang, it's okay. You can eat meat, and I can eat this." The soldier lowered his head and ate happily.
Xue Bai watched him gnawing the meat on his hoof, and suddenly understood something... This was his war horse.
"Hoora?"
He turned around and saw no horses around him, but felt a chill on his back. The hunger he had never experienced in his previous life, and the deep fear brought about by hunger, seemed to be strangling his neck.
.
Hunger was far more terrible than the enemy. He realized this, so he did not get angry at the soldiers, but the hand holding the plate was trembling.
suddenly.
"Help!"
Hearing this call, Xue Bai looked back and saw Du Wulang tied up next to a large pot. There were many heads piled next to him, and one person was sharpening a knife there.
"What do you do?"
"Kill him to get enough food."
Following these words, the man sharpening the knife suddenly turned around and struck down with his knife. No one knew who was killed. Blood spattered all over Du Wulang's face, which made him cry loudly.
When the blood burst out, Xue Bai saw clearly that the other party was actually Zhang Xun, and was shocked.
He opened his eyes, still feeling a lingering fear in his heart.
"Are you having a nightmare?" A soft female voice asked softly in the darkness.
"Um."
Xue Bai thought in a daze that he was sleeping in the tower. After waking up, he remembered that Yang Yuyao was here tonight.
In the dim moonlight, Yang Yuyao was seen sitting beside the couch, her figure becoming much thinner.
He stretched out his hand to pull her, hugged her into his arms, and pressed her hard against her. The warm fragrance of soft jade came into his arms, which made people feel very comforted.
His mind was still thinking about the scene in the dream. When he came back to his senses, Xue Bai realized that Yang Yuyao in his arms was actually resisting his embrace, and pushed his chest with his hand.
At this moment, the door of the room was pushed open, and someone entered the room. He whispered on the other side of the screen: "Huh? Where is the person?"
The man in Xue Bai's arms increased his strength, pushed on his chest a few more times, broke free, and turned his back.
At this moment, someone carrying a candlestick walked around the screen, it was Yang Yuyao.
Xue Bai turned his head and looked at the charming and sassy face in the candlelight. He was a little confused. If Yang Yuyao was there, who was he holding in his arms just now?
Two Yang Yuyao appeared inexplicably, so they were probably in a dream... I had a dream within a dream tonight.
"He seems to be having a nightmare. He shouted twice just now, so I came over to take a look." The woman with her back to Xue Bai spoke, and her voice turned out to be Yang Yuhuan.
Yang Yuyao quickly stepped forward, placed the candlestick on the bedside, and asked, "What did you dream about?"
"Nothing, why is the imperial concubine here?"
"Forgot? Her choreography of "Broken Formation Music" will be performed at Qingmen tonight, and then she will come to my place."
"I'm so hungry that I have no energy left. Can I still dance?"
"There was no dancing, just singing. The soldiers liked it very much..."
Even so, Yang Yuhuan's interest was much higher when he mentioned Qu Yue and that it could help defend the city. After talking about it, he was like a happy oriole, showing the vividness of the past again.
temperament.
This war seems to have freed her up a lot.
"All in all, morale has improved a lot." At the end, she said, "Can it be considered that I have done my best?"
Xue Bai thought to himself that it was because Chang'an City was not hungry yet.
Others didn't know he was here, so Yang Yuhuan didn't encounter any restrictions on male and female defense when he came here, and no one paid much attention to it at this time. But because of the little thing just now, Xue Bai felt a little embarrassed and left first under the night.
.
The night wind blew away a wisp of fragrance and residual warmth in my arms.
He walked to the stable and saw that his horse was still there, and felt relieved. So he walked up to its left side, opened his arms and hugged it, feeling its breathing.
The war horse's breathing was very heavy, its belly rose and fell, and gradually Xue Bai maintained the same breathing rate, as if they had returned to the days when they were galloping on the flat land of Hebei. They had been besieged for too long.
"Want to run?" Xue Bai asked.
The war horse didn't answer, but dug its hooves into the dirt, making a clattering sound.
~~
The next day.
"Reinforcements are coming, King Beiping, from the west, reinforcements are coming from the west of the city!"
When Xue Bai heard such an incoherent report, he was watching the enemy formation on the southern city wall. After hearing the words, he immediately took the reins, climbed on the horse's back, ran on the city wall, and headed straight to the west city.
The wind on the city wall is strong and the sight line is excellent. You can see the enemy troops surrounded by black crows outside the city, and you can also see the straight streets inside the city dividing each square into squares.
Today's Chang'an City is huge. The perimeter of the city wall is more than seventy miles. Xue Bai galloped from the south city to the west city for less than half an hour. He looked around and saw cavalry outside the city under the banner of Shuofang Army.
They are trying to break out of the city.
The soldiers kept cheering and attracted many officials, their voices full of hope and joy.
They thought that Shuofang's army was really coming.
Only Xue Bai knew that it was all false. It was impossible for Li Heng to let Shuofang's army come to rescue Chang'an now, and he even tried every means to stop it. If someone comes now, it must be that the troops of King Qin from Shu County have arrived and have obtained
His message, disguised as Shuofang's army, put pressure on the rebels.
"Get ready to leave the city! Let's go pick up the reinforcements!"
Xue Bai immediately issued the order. At this time, the generals in the city were still commanding the defense elsewhere, and the opportunity could not wait for them. He then drove his horse down the horse path of the city wall and went to the city gate in person to lead the troops.
"Drumming!"
As the drums sounded, the war horses became excited and trotted in circles.
Finally, the cavalry in the city were assembled, the city gate slowly opened, and the cavalry rushed out.
After crossing the suspension bridge of the moat, Xue Bai could finally understand why Wang Rao was so excited every time he went out to raid the city. Compared to being besieged in an isolated city, the feeling of riding a horse and charging was much more comfortable.
He had already spotted the loopholes in the formation formed by the rebels in order to intercept the reinforcements on the top of the city, and attacked directly there.
While running wildly, Xue Bai's crotch naturally followed the ups and downs of the horse's back, maintaining the same rhythm, as if it was glued to the saddle. He ran faster and faster, no matter how the horse's back bumped, his upper body
Always as steady as a rock.
These days, the war horse has lost a lot of weight due to hunger, but he has also lost a lot of weight. His speed has not been greatly affected, except that the long spear in his hand is a bit heavier.
He held Chang Shuo tightly with one hand and felt that the muscles in his upper arm were sore and painful. He gritted his teeth and persisted, staring intently at the enemy commander at the front.
The colonel did not avoid him, but started to charge towards him on horseback.
Nowadays, human life is not valuable, but on the battlefield, every elite cavalry requires a lot of time and effort to train. From ancient times to the present, there has always been a lack of generals who like to ride alone to defeat generals because they cherish their soldiers and want to preserve their strength. Of course, the premise is
He has extremely strong confidence, otherwise who would be willing to risk his own life.
When two pairs confront each other, the outcome can often be decided in one round.
It only takes a moment for the war horses to pass each other, and it takes only this moment to take action. The competition is about strength, skills, equipment, calmness, and even luck.
The extremely fast sprint caused the blood in Xue Bai's body to flow faster and faster. His mind had been excited in advance, and his strength had also increased a lot. He was not focused on anything else, and he only felt joy. However, the other party had just increased his speed, and his body was not yet warm.
stand up.
With a "ding" sound, the opponent's spear pierced Xue Bai's breastplate, but Xue Bai was wearing the finest armor and was not pierced. Instead, he felt a shock. He quickly tightened the reins with his left hand to avoid
Get off the horse.
The war horse was pulled by him, turned around and ran to the left, running rampant in front of the enemy's formation before the enemy's arrows could be fired.
The spear on Xue Bai's right hand had already been stabbed out, and it was also stabbed into the enemy general's leather armor. The weapon he used was obviously much heavier and harder than the opponent's, and it had penetrated hard.
At this moment, the first thing he felt was the severe pain in his arm. The long arm was so heavy that it seemed to be locked with the earth. The calluses on Xue Bai's hands were completely worn away by it, and there were two more bloody calluses in his palms.
Nest, I almost lost my grip on the pole.
Immediately afterwards, there was dust rushing towards the face, the horse slowed down and turned, its body fell over, and arrows whizzed past the ears.
When Xue Bai sat up on the horse again, he felt that all the pores in his body were open and he was dripping with blood, and his soldiers were already cheering loudly and rushing towards the enemy's formation.
For a long time, Xue Bai couldn't think about it. He completely trusted the war horse under his crotch and let him lead him across the battlefield.
Behind him, the knight holding the flag had caught up with him, the flag was unfurled, and the characters "Prince of Peking County of the Tang Dynasty" were swung on the battlefield for the first time.
Defeating the rebels is certainly not easy, but Xue Bai knew very well the purpose of his leaving the city. He was to receive the messenger, so he did not fight with the rebels. A round of charge disrupted the rebel array, waiting for reinforcements to break out. , he quickly ordered to withdraw his troops.
When the sound of gold was heard, the rebels still wanted to pursue them, so they immediately used artillery carts from the top of the city to throw stones at the rebel formation.
After running to the suspension bridge, Xue Bai reined in the horse and let it chew the grass on the ground. Everyone felt happy.
This may be the first change brought about by the reinforcements, giving them confidence and hope.
~~
"The ones coming are Yan Wu and Gao Shi, who brought more than 5,000 Xichuan troops and are now stationed in Fufeng County."
"Too little."
That night, Xue Bai and Wang rarely discussed the map again. They were both surprised and worried.
Wang Rao grabbed a handful of war chess pieces to represent the rebels, sprinkled them on the war chess set by Xue Bai to represent the reinforcements, and said: "With this small amount of troops, the rebels can be defeated in one charge. The rebels don't even need to mobilize too many troops. As long as With more than a thousand troops marching westward, we will soon be able to ascertain the reality of the Xichuan Army."
Xue Bai said: "I agree with your judgment. For military considerations, this small amount of troops is of little significance. But Cui Qianyou is not a reckless man who only cares about fighting. He has to think more. Now that reinforcements are coming, it can explain our The saint in Chang'an City is real. If so, why did Li Heng dare to proclaim himself emperor in Lingwu? Can he suppress the northwest army? Cui Qianyou must not dare to let this army reach Chang'an, otherwise the saint will personally inspire the army. His current advantage over the Tang border army is gone. In addition, An Qingxu cannot give him too much time, so Cui Qianyou probably wants to annihilate the main force of the Tang army in one battle."
"I hope so."
Of course Wang Nan also hoped to retreat from the enemy as soon as possible, fearing that his soldiers would starve if the delay continued.
He stayed up all night and sat on the city tower, looking outside Chang'an City. At dawn, he squinted and saw thousands of rebels riding from east to west, heading west along the Wei River.
"Sure enough, they have moved." Wang Nan turned around and saw that Xue Bai was also coming, and said, "It's a pity that we don't have many rebels involved."
"Just start taking action. I believe there are many officials and generals from all over the world who are paying attention to the situation in Chang'an. Once we take action, there will be a response soon."
~~
Fufeng County.
After Yan Wu led the Xichuan soldiers and horses into the city, he only sent dozens of elite cavalry to Chang'an to deliver the message to Xue Bai, but he did not let the main force march again. After that, he wrote many letters and sent envoys to Pingliang.
After he was busy with this, he ordered his soldiers to collect food and recruit troops from all over the country, and drove the strong people to strengthen the Fufeng city wall.
Gao Shi was a little dissatisfied with this, and rushed to Yan Wu to ask him why he robbed the people and forcibly conquered Dingkou. In response, Yan Wu was a little impatient.
"Ci is not in charge of the army. If I don't collect these rations, the rebels will plunder them all when they come. If the rebellion is not put down for a long time, is this what you want? Is it good for the people?"
Gao Shi couldn't bear it, but he couldn't argue with Yan Wu in theory, so he had to spread out the map and talk about business.
"The sentry horse reported that a small group of rebels has come over. They are not many in number and should be comparable to us."
"I know."
Gao Shi said: "We may set up an ambush and attack when they are halfway across the Wei River. If we defeat the vanguard of the rebels, they will send more troops and horses, which can contain some of the rebels and provide troops to Chang'an and Hedong."
Build fighter planes.”
"No." Yan Wu shook his head with a tough attitude.
"Why?"
"I say no, it's no."
"Ji Ying, it is related to the safety of the country." The two men had the same official position. Gao Shi was older than Yan Wu and called his name, saying: "You also know that Chang'an City will soon be unable to be defended."
"I will only explain this to you once. I will give you orders in the future. You just have to do it. Can you do it?"
"If you can convince me."
Yan Wu then said: "Our army has come from afar and is exhausted. We have few soldiers and our horses are not as powerful as the rebels. We venture out of the city to fight in the field. If something goes wrong, can we send more troops? The rebels will be able to spot me at a glance.
The side is empty and real.”
He pointed at the map and said: "Now I am occupying the cities of Fufeng, Qishan, and Chencang, and I am recruiting troops and food. The momentum is so great that the rebels can't be sure. If they attack, and I avoid the city without fighting, if they
If you don't come, the greater my reputation will be, the soldiers and horses of Qinwang from all over the country will follow suit and swarm here."
"But if Chang'an City cannot be defended." Gao Shi was still worried, "We should put pressure on the rebels as soon as possible and contain more rebel forces."
"Therefore, I wrote a letter to Prince Zhong."
Gao Shi shook his head and said, "I'm afraid King Zhong will not send troops to support us."
"I'm not asking him to send troops for support." Yan Wu said sternly, "but I'm writing to ask him and the northwest generals why they didn't save the saint!"
"At this time, we are still blaming each other. I'm afraid it is not a good thing. It will cause trouble for Xiao Qiang and delay the suppression of the rebellion..."
"But only in this way will King Zhong send troops as soon as possible." Yan Wudao said, "Because I created a great momentum, even King Zhong didn't know how many troops I brought. Moreover, Chencang Road was blocked by me, so he cut off contact with me.
All states and counties in the world must send troops as soon as possible to scare me."
Gao Shi was stunned for a moment, and he understood, and couldn't help but look at Yan Wu in front of him again.
He was a late bloomer, developed a calm character, and considered everything very carefully. However, Yan Wu was completely different from him. He had an arrogant temperament, acted decisively, ignored the opinions of others, and dared to offend anyone.
He actually wanted to offend Li Heng, who had already proclaimed himself emperor, and force Li Heng to send troops to threaten him or even conquer him.
In this way, there will inevitably be a force of troops heading east from Longshan, back to Guanzhong, and seizing the cities of Chencang, Qishan, and Fufeng. By then, they will naturally be within the sight of the rebels.
"But, what if King Zhong orders an attack on us?" Gao Shi pondered, "But don't let the rebels think that the Tang Dynasty King's army has arrived, and we and King Zhong will start fighting first."
"Won't."
Yan Wu was very sure and said: "Prince Zhong dare not."
The word "dare not" he used aroused Gao Shi's interest and asked: "How can you see it?"
"You see, King Zhong has proclaimed himself emperor, but the Lingwu court is still in existence. How many officials can there be? Not to mention you and I leading five thousand elite soldiers. Just because of our loyal reputation as the first to lead King Qin, King Zhong vowed to win over us first. So.
Once this happens, the strategic goal that Xue Bai needs us to achieve will be achieved."
After saying that, Yan Wu patted Gao Shi on the shoulder and said: "In short, listen to me and never fight with the rebels in the field. If you want to quell the rebellion, you must cut off its retreat. Only then can you force tens of thousands of northern soldiers to surrender and restore the Tang Dynasty."
Used.”
His tone was confident and high-spirited, and he did not think that he was young or insignificant at all.
Gao Shi nodded, remained silent, thinking about the feasibility of this strategy, and said, "I am a close friend of Cen Shen, the judge of the Anxi Army. It would be great if I could meet him then."
~~
At night, if you look through a telescope from the high Qinling Mountains, you can see fireworks blooming again above Chang'an City.
Ever since reinforcements came into the city, fireworks could be seen for three consecutive nights. Even the rebels knew that it was a signal to notify King Qin of the surrounding reinforcements. Or it could also be said that it was a clarion call for counterattack.
Then, the old department who had already been in contact with Xue Bai would naturally know better what to do.
The next day, warriors walked through the mountains and forests to the south of Aoguan and delivered the news to Lao Liang.
"Coming!"
Lao Liang didn't even ask how many rebels were still surrounding Chang'an. After receiving the news, he immediately sent people south and contacted Lu Jiong, the prefect of Nanyang, to request more troops and horses for support.
On the other hand, he also knew that these officials had many concerns, and in order to strengthen their confidence, they had to build momentum first.
As a result, a map that had long been torn up was spread out again.
Lao Liang waved, and there were no famous generals around him, only weaklings like Fan Lao, Yu Erwa, and Zhao Yuliang.
"It's very simple. We take the pass and pretend to attack Lantian County. Then the rebels will think that we are a large number of Nanyang officers and soldiers, and they will try their best to save Lantian County. And we will take the mountain road, bypass Lishan, and surprise Huayin."
"There are many rebel cavalry, and we only have this few manpower. Even if we capture Huayin, how can we capture Tongguan?"
"Don't be in a hurry, just use your momentum to make them exhausted. Don't forget that there are soldiers and horses from King Qin from Hedong." Lao Liang said: "There are so many ants that they can kill a bird..."