Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 3571 Retreat
Li Junxian and Qu Tuquan looked at each other, but they were all silent.

Obviously, Li Jing, who has been criticized for being "no integrity" and has a bumpy official career and depressed ambitions, this time he is determined to be a loyal minister and a good general.

It's just that although this will be praised by the world and have a long history, it is very likely to be at the cost of life.

Whether it's worth it is a matter of opinion...

However, Li Junxian and Qu Tuquan were respectful, and the former nodded solemnly: "Don't worry, Duke Wei, I will swear to the death to protect His Highness Zhouquan and maintain the integrity of the empire!"

Li Jing waved his hands with a smile, and said: "In the eyes of ordinary people, there is great horror between life and death, but for us soldiers, sacrificing one's life for the country and shrouding one's body in horse leather are nothing more than trivial matters. The old man is too old, and he spends his whole life applauding honor and disgrace Floating ups and downs, the world has long been broken, and life and death are ignored. Don't be so condescending, go down and make arrangements. No matter what, you have to stick to this Tai Chi Palace for a few days, and severely attack the rebels. Arrogant and arrogant, let him know that betraying the prince and going against the sky will pay a huge price!"

"Here!"

They were all soldiers who licked blood with swords, and they were used to seeing life and death. Seeing Li Jing so open-minded, the two felt a little ashamed, and after obeying orders, they went to arrange their own affairs.

Li Jing stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the snowy Tai Chi Palace, his heart was calm.

……

Most of the rebels entered the city from the Qingming Canal, and then assembled in the Yanshoufang area. After receiving orders, they attacked the imperial city. Therefore, the Hanguang Gate in the southwest was the focus of the rebels' attack.Since the day Guanlong raised troops, countless rebels have taken turns to attack Hanguangmen violently, putting great pressure and damage on the defenders here.

Under the falling snow, the Hanguang Gate was in full swing. From time to time, there was a thunderbolt thrown from the top of the city to the densely populated rebel army below the city. There are countless corpses lying on the pillow under the city, and the battle is extremely tragic.

Cheng Chubi's armor was stained with blood, and then it was frozen by the cold wind, which made the Shanwen armor, which had been shattered after many days of fierce fighting, appear a dark brown color, full of evil spirits.

At the top of the city, Cheng Chubi smashed the rebels who had climbed up to the top of the city with a knife, and then kicked him down the top of the city, wiped the blood on his face, took a breath, looked around, the soldiers around him were almost All were wounded, but the Six Commanders of the East Palace could not be replenished under the siege of the rebels, so that even if the soldiers were injured, as long as their lives were not endangered, they could only continue to fight after simple bandaging and treatment by the army doctor.

Already exhausted, if it wasn't for the support of a belief in maintaining the integrity of the empire in his heart, he might have collapsed already.

However, no matter how tough your nerves are, you need a strong body to support them. Right now, these soldiers are almost exhausted. Maybe they will not be able to hold on when the rebels attack next time. Either they will be defeated or their entire army will be exhausted ...

It is already the end of the battle.

At this time, a soldier rushed up from the bottom of the city and came to Cheng Chubi. After saluting, he said in a low voice: "The commander-in-chief has an order. If you can't hold on, you don't need to fight to the death. You can take advantage of the situation to withdraw from the top of the city and go to Chengtianmen." Gather next, and then retreat to the Tai Chi Palace."

Cheng Chubi was stunned for a moment, then nodded slowly, and said in a shy voice: "The last general takes orders!"

When the soldiers who ordered the soldiers to leave, Cheng Chubi turned around, looked at the rebels who had set up ladders below the city and kept climbing towards the top of the city, and tightened his grip on the horizontal knife in his hand.Many soldiers around him heard the words of the messenger, but their expressions were dull, and even a little confused...

Although there is no need to die here, they can lead their troops to retreat from the city, but they don't feel the slightest joy in their hearts.

After two consecutive months of fierce fighting, almost half of his subordinates, Pao Ze, died in the battle. Behind the city gate, the courtyard of the Yamen of Honglu Temple was filled with the remains of Pao Ze who died in battle.Everyone risked their lives to guard the Hanguang Gate, how many people sprayed blood on the top of the city, and their bones fell to the ground. However, at this moment, they could not stick to it after all. Is the death of these robes meaningful?

"General, the rebels are attacking again!"

Yiming Xiaowei trotted to the front, complaining nervously.

Only then did Cheng Chubi regain his composure, he took a few steps to the top of the city with a horizontal knife in his hand, looked down the city with his hand on the arrow butt, and saw the tide of rebels gathering from all the distances and swarming.

In the past two days, the battle at the top of the city has hardly stopped. Waves of rebels attacked the city in turn, and it is hard to count how many times this is the first charge.

It's like going crazy...

The sixth rate of the East Palace and the officials of the East Palace were all frightened by the crazy formation of the rebels, and they all knew that the onslaught of the rebels, regardless of casualties, must indicate something happened, but the only channel for the East Palace to report or cancel the news is Xuanwu The Xuanwu Gate is heavily guarded inside and outside, and even if a fly flies by, it has to go through strict interrogation, lest it will be infiltrated by rebel spies, so it is very inconvenient to transmit information. I don't know what happened to make the Guanlong rebels so hysterical ...

Watching the rebels set up ladders and start attacking again, Cheng Chubi took a deep breath, turned around and looked around the crowd, and said: "The commander-in-chief just ordered, everyone must have heard it?"

Everyone nodded, but no one spoke.

Cheng Chubi clenched the horizontal knife tightly in his hand, gritted his teeth and said, "I know that you have already made up your mind to die. Even if you die here, you don't want to retreat in embarrassment and cause the city gate to fall, causing so many people to die in vain! This is a general order, and it is a strategy formulated by His Royal Highness, so we have to follow it!"

He stared at his bloodshot eyes, and said word by word: "Leave it to your useful body, cooperate with the strategy formulated by His Royal Highness and the Marshal, and fight the enemy to the end!"

There was silence for a while, and then the soldiers in front of them shouted in unison: "Here!"

The Tang army was the most respectful of military discipline. They advanced when they heard the drums and retreated when they heard the gold. However, disobedience to orders was never allowed when an order was issued. Therefore, these soldiers were unwilling to disobey orders, but they did not dare to disobey their orders.

Cheng Chubi's eyes swept over the faces of those who were born and died in front of him one by one, and said in a deep voice: "But even if we evacuate, we can't take advantage of the rebels! Listen to my order, and all the gunpowder and thunder left in the general will be exhausted." They were all buried under the city gate, and I gave the rebels a cannonball!"

"Here!"

The dead morale finally recovered a bit, and the soldiers immediately dispersed and continued to hold the top of the city against the rebel attack, buying time for the planting of gunpowder.

Half an hour later, when the gunpowder was buried, Cheng Chubi ordered the whole army to withdraw from the city.

The six soldiers with ragged clothes and scars all over the place withdrew from the gate tower of Hanguangmen, many of them could only help each other and staggered, and retreated towards Chengtianmen.

Cheng Chubi was the last one to withdraw his soldiers from the city, and asked, "Who is responsible for lighting the gunpowder?"

The soldiers around were silent for a while.

Although the city gate has been guarded for many days, the amount of gunpowder equipped earlier is huge, and it is not very useful when defending the city, and it will even be troublesome if the city wall is accidentally blown up, so there are a lot of remaining gunpowder.Once so much gunpowder is ignited, its power is enough to cover a radius of hundreds of feet, and the person responsible for igniting it has no time to escape.

Whoever is responsible for igniting the gunpowder is no different from going to death...

A soldier carried on a stretcher by Pao Ze raised his hand and said loudly, "Report to General, it is the humble officer who is in charge of this mission!"

Everyone followed the reputation, with admiration on their faces.

Cheng Chubi stepped forward and looked down at the soldier lying on the stretcher, seeing his military uniform and armor, he was a member of the army.

The soldier was covered in scars all over his body, his left leg had been cut off by a sharp knife, and the gauze that was bandaged was oozing blood, his face was flushed in the cold weather, obviously he was having a fever.

There are various indications that this army member has already suffered from iron poisoning. Even if there is a genius doctor here, he might not be able to survive. That's why he took on this task of life and death.

But even so, there is great terror between life and death, even for those who know they must die, how many people can calmly die?
This is the real warrior!
After a short moment of silence, Cheng Chubi said slowly: "Report your life, official position, and hometown. After the war, I will personally recount your merits for you!"

The army soldier grinned, but his wounds affected his body, he gasped in pain, sweated weakly, and said weakly: "The sixth rate recorder of the East Palace of the humble rank joins the army, Cao Wang, a native of Yu Township, Hedong County, Puzhou. Both parents in the humble rank family, There are two elder brothers, both of whom are farmers in the village, and they are both married, so there is nothing to worry about in the humble position, and death is not a problem. Moreover, the humble position is seriously injured, and there is absolutely no reason for them to survive. I would like to serve His Highness the Crown Prince with this crippled body."

Cheng Chubi was not good at words, so he stretched out his hand and patted his shoulder twice, and said in a deep voice: "If I am lucky enough to survive this battle, after this battle, I will personally go to the Ministry of War to ask for credit for you, and I will send a lot of compensation to you. Your Majesty, as for the rank of honor, it can be inherited by your elder brother or your descendants, and you will never break your promise!"

The army officer nodded repeatedly, and said gratefully: "The general has always strictly prohibited justice, and I am grateful for my humble position. Please retreat quickly, if you are caught by the rebels one step later, it will be very bad."

After a series of reorganizations, many generals and schools in the Eastern Palace were almost changed. However, Cheng Chubi was dull and not good at speaking. Although he was a child of Lu Guogong's family, he was still not respected by others.But later, the soldiers under his command found that although Cheng Chubi was dull and admitted his death, he handled things fairly, and he was extremely protective of his weaknesses, and never treated any of his subordinates badly.

(End of this chapter)