Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 180 The lightning rush
There were explosions and fires over there, and screams from this side. The power forward was half dead before he even saw the person. In addition, those who were killed in the explosions and burned were screaming on the ground, and those who were running around in panic were not knowing where to go.

Anyway, the scene was just like chasing sparrows in the threshing yard when we were kids. If one of them suddenly jumped out and screamed, the timid ones would be scared to death.

This restlessness is equivalent to a million strong soldiers. Once this vanguard runs away, the task will be complete.

The vanguard retreated, and the main force following behind them retreated together. When they heard the explosions and saw the flames, their first reaction was that their retreat was cut off. At this time, as long as one person runs away, then no matter if there are 100,000 or 200,000 people, even if there are 1 million people behind them, they will all follow, because the fear that the first person who runs away sees is death, and the fear that everyone else sees is the unknown.

After this run, Wang Shichong's army was almost scattered. In the four directions of east, south, west and north, there was a river in the south, Guo Ying's troops in the north, and an ambush in the east.

Anyone with a brain would know where it was running to.

There is a saying that goes, "A defeat is as severe as a mountain collapsing." It is unknown which of these people had the emperor's good fortune bestowed upon Xia Lin, but the defeat of Wang Shichong's troops was smoother than expected.

At dusk, Xia Lin and the group of cavalry came out of the ambush point and began to rest. They knew nothing about the situation outside, but everyone's physical strength had reached the limit. They had no choice but to rest here temporarily.

The man couldn't even bear the weight of the horse. If the horses were not given a few days' rest, they would all die. There was no need to explain how precious cavalry were, but for a cavalryman to lose his horse would be a joke.

They rested here for a total of four days. When their food and grass were exhausted, they slowly headed back towards Luoyang. When they were hungry, they picked up the food and grass they had with them from the corpses on the ground. When they were thirsty, they boiled snow in a pot. They managed to hold on, but their progress was very slow and they kept encountering soldiers who had fallen behind from various camps.

Most of those soldiers were sitting on the side of the road with fierce looks in their eyes, but they really didn't dare to attack an entire formation of cavalry, even though this cavalry looked very tired.

At this very moment, Li Shimin outside Luoyang was planning in the camp to open the city gate, because the special envoy from the capital had arrived, carrying the emperor's handwritten order, and had come in an urgent manner of 800 miles. The special envoy didn't know the situation, but only knew that Li Shimin's troops were here to quell the rebellion. He felt that it was a bit too much to let the friendly troops stationed outside the city in such a cold weather. So when he heard the second son of the Li family complain, the special envoy felt that the garrison in the city was ignorant.

"General Li, please don't be angry. This is not entirely the fault of the garrison. It is indeed difficult to open the city gate without the emperor's order. So, I will make the decision on this matter. Let the army enter Luoyang City to rest first. This cold weather is indeed difficult for all the soldiers."

Li Shimin smiled and bowed, saying, "Thank you very much, Lord Sun."

“We are all serving the country.”

Lord Sun stood up and shouted to open the city gate to let the friendly troops in, but at this moment, the scouts in front reported: "General! Tens of thousands of people are rushing towards us from the east!"

"What?" Li Shimin was stunned for a moment: "Which department?"

"Wang...Wang Shichong's tribe."

"What?" Li Shimin was also confused at the time: "Guo Ying's troops were defeated?"

Because of the incoherent information, Li Shimin's first reaction was that Wang Shichong's troops had fought back. He was still thinking at the moment - damn Wang Shichong, damn him, he didn't even check who was leading the troops here, and dared to rush over like this.

As expected, everyone said that Wang Shichong was a waste, and now it seems to be true.

"Lord Sun, let's put the matter of opening the city on hold for now."

After saying this, Li Shimin sneered, threw off his cloak and walked out. Standing outside the big tent, he shouted: "Guanlong men, listen to my orders, follow me to fight the invading enemy!"

There is no need to explain the process. When Li Shimin's soldiers fought against Wang Shichong's soldiers, even if the two sides were in a head-on confrontation under the same conditions, the Guanlong soldiers could beat Wang Shichong with a casualty ratio of 1:5. They were a group of howling wolves, not to mention that Wang Shichong's troops were now just a group of headless flies being chased around by Guo Ying's troops.

Li Shimin felt something was wrong after this contact, because although he looked down on Wang Shichong, this army was too weak. It was obviously an extremely exhausted army and could be said to be vulnerable.

It was not until Li Shiming led his troops to kill the remnants of Wang Shichong and encountered Guo Ying's troops who were pursuing them and holding the Guo flag that he understood why Wang Shichong's troops were so weak.

But the moment he saw Guo Yingbu appear, his heart skipped a beat and he thought to himself that something was wrong.

The joining of the two armies was originally a good thing, but under such circumstances the plan to occupy Luoyang City was completely shattered.

However, now is not the time to discuss this matter. The Guo and Li forces tacitly began to reap the Wang Shichong forces that had been divided by Li Shimin. The elite troops of both sides were unstoppable and quickly began to wipe out the remaining forces of Wang Shichong.

But even if it was tens of thousands of pigs, it would take several days to catch them. It took the two armies six full days to suppress most of the rebels.

Although Wang Shichong eventually escaped, he probably couldn't make a comeback in a short time, except that he could run to Xuzhou and start a new business. But now Wang Shichong... was afraid that Qin Qiong would not recognize him as the boss. When he arrived in Xuzhou, he would probably be picked up and sent to the court to seek credit.

Now this is not a headache for Li Shimin. His biggest headache is obviously that it is difficult to take Luoyang City by himself.

What? Attack the city in front of the die-hard royalist Guo family? Or march alone deep into Luoyang City and occupy the mountain as king?
So they could only follow the Guo family's team into the city to rest after the city gate was opened by Special Envoy Sun.

But at this moment he really couldn't do anything. Apart from resting, he just stared at Luoyang City, the place of his dreams, and drooled.

At this moment, Xia Lin, who was strolling around, also came back with his exhausted cavalry. When he entered the city, he just brushed past Li Shimin. Li Shimin recognized that it was the young general who had stopped him from entering the city. There was an unspeakable meaning in his eyes. Anyway, hatred alone would not satisfy him, and he definitely wanted to kill Xia Lin.

Xia Lin also glanced at him. At the moment, Xia Lin looked dusty and did not have the spirit of Li Shimin. One was a limp and listless cavalryman, while the other was a spirited young horseman. But the moment the two passed each other, the garrison commander Hong next to them clearly saw two flashes of golden light and sparks exploded in the air.

"Brother Hong, who opened the city gate?"

"The special envoy of His Majesty, the one with the surname Sun, from the Imperial Academy."

Xia Lin glanced at Special Envoy Sun who was recording on the side of the road and sneered, "I saved the lives of his entire clan."

"Ah? Brother, what do you mean?"

"We'll talk about it later. I need to take a shower, eat something, and take a nap first. I'll return these cavalry brothers to you. Nineteen of them were killed and twenty-seven are missing. You must provide them with pensions. If not, put them on my account."

"Brother, you look down on me, don't you? This is my job."

Xia Lin smiled and waved his hand, then quickly returned to the villa. At this moment, he didn't want to say a word, just wanted to take a bath, eat and sleep. The little princess finally waited for Xia Lin to come back, and she quickly asked someone to get hot water and food for her husband, but after taking a bath, Xia Lin fell on the bed and fell asleep without having time to eat.

He slept for three days and three nights. When he woke up, he felt that his blood vessels were deflated. When he got up, his eyes went dark and he almost died.

He got up tremblingly and saw the food on the table that was warmed in a bamboo steamer. He didn't even bother to wash his face or brush his teeth. He just poured tea from the kettle and ate two bowls of rice with pickles.

After eating something, he gradually recovered after about twenty minutes of daze. This battle really exhausted him, but fortunately he won the gamble.

According to the Book of Changes, he most likely exhausted Wang Shichong's luck. When he entered the city, he heard from Guard Hong that when Wang Shichong was defeated and fled, only thirty personal guards were left to protect him as he fled the Central Plains to the east. Although there were pursuers, Wang Shichong seemed to run quite fast.

A fire from heaven burned away all of Wang Shichong's luck, and he used this luck to equalize Li Shimin's luck. He was just one step away, really just one step away. If Wang Shichong's troops had arrived one hour earlier or later, Luoyang City would have been destroyed.

As for the special envoy Sun who used the emperor's handwritten order to open the city gates... haha, if he had led Li Shimin into the city first and Luoyang changed hands, the old guy would have definitely lost his life, and he could have played a game of Nine Clans Elimination Chamber at the same time. No matter how kind and merciful Emperor Hongbao was, he would never tolerate such a fool who handed over the most important strategic location in the Central Plains to others.

The arrival of Guo Ying's troops directly shattered the Li family's plan to take over Luoyang. This is why Li Shimin's eyes were as sharp as knives when he saw Xia Lin at the city gate.

Perhaps because he heard some noise in the house, Lao Zhang was the first to break in. His kick almost scared Xia Lin, who was still weak, into having a myocardial infarction. He thought that the Northwest Killing King was here to get him, but when he looked closely, he found out that it was the stupid Lao Zhang.

"Are you sick? Fuck you..." Xia Lin cursed: "Forget it, you have always been sick."

"I thought you were dead, so I came to check on you every three days to see if you were completely cold." Lao Zhang sat down and said, "Can you, a BYD guy, give me some peace of mind?"

Lao Zhang's catchphrase had actually long been similar to Xia Lin's, but no one paid attention to this detail. Instead, Xia Lin said impatiently, "Alright, alright, just stay alive. Tell me what you've been doing in the city these days?"

"Cleaning up the battlefield, holding a celebration banquet. Also, singing praises. The special envoy is the emperor's investigator, so we gathered around him to take credit for the victory."

"Hey..." Xia Lin smiled disdainfully: "He's worthy of being the one who almost wiped out his entire clan?"

"It's not destroyed, but it seems that you have no credit for it. Guard Hong did say something about you, but the guy surnamed Sun rejected your suggestion that a small patrol officer like you could have any credit for it."

"How did you know?"

"Captain Hong came yesterday, feeling very aggrieved. He sat there and talked to me for half the night, and even scolded Special Envoy Sun."

Xia Lin rolled his eyes and laughed, "Tomorrow you go and give Envoy Sun 10,000 taels of silver."

"Do you have too much money to burn?"

"Don't worry." Xia Lin laughed. "Give him 10,000 taels of silver and then you can praise Anmusi. It would be best if you praise him to the point that he is the best in the world."

Old Zhang raised his eyebrows and said, "Oh... I see. Ten thousand taels is not a loss."

In the following days, Xia Lin did not attend any celebration parties. He hid in the villa and played with the little princess on the pretext of being unwell. It was not until the Guo and Li armies evacuated Luoyang City at the end of the year that he met Shoubei Hong again.

The noise has stopped now, Luoyang has gradually returned to its former prosperity and tranquility, there are more people on the streets, and shops have reopened one after another.

Guard Hong was finally able to entertain Xia Lin and the Princess at his mansion. During the meal, he vented all his grievances and complaints.

"I'm not saying this, these lousy Beijing officials and stinky scholars are really disgusting. If he wasn't a special envoy, I would have killed him with a single blow."

As he spoke, Guard Hong imitated the tone and demeanor of Special Envoy Sun: "The siege of Luoyang this time depends entirely on the second son of the Li family. I have always heard that the three sons of the Duke of Qin are as fierce as tigers. Now I see that their reputation is well-deserved."

"Oh, what else..." Hong Shoubei imitated it perfectly: "The people in this city always want to take credit, but they don't know what credit they have. Instead, it was the head of the Ministry of Justice who defended the city gate. How shameless."

"His mother sold it, so isn't that pointing fingers at me?"

When Xia Lin saw Guard Hong's indignant expression, he slammed the table and laughed.

Hong Shoubei continued to speak aggrievedly, "I am at least a fourth-rank official, a fourth-rank official who has achieved his status through actual military achievements. How dare a sour scholar like him say that? Isn't it because I have no one in the court? Isn't it because I didn't vote for Gao Shilian? Damn it."

After hearing so many complaints, Xia Lin could hear his grievance from a distance, so he smiled and said, "Brother, don't be impatient. He is just a small envoy, do you think His Majesty will really listen to him?"

"Hmm? Good brother, what do you mean by that?"

"Don't dare to speculate on the Holy Spirit. Drink, drink!"

Xia Lin raised his glass, and Hong Shoubei immediately followed suit: "Yes, yes, yes, brother is ignorant, drink! Brother will punish himself with three glasses of wine."

At this moment, in the imperial study, Tian En was leaning over and telling His Majesty about the siege of Luoyang, from the fire attack to stop Wang Shichong's troops, to Lao Zhang's words to retreat thousands of soldiers, to Xia Daosheng's hidden troops cutting off food supplies, and defying fate to drive away tigers and wolves. Every single event was clear to him, even clearer than many local people in Luoyang.

This is the ability of the emperor's spy. Although it is not as exaggerated as knowing how many dishes were eaten at a certain important minister's home yesterday, he is still able to not miss any details when it comes to major node events like this.

"Xia Daosheng had 1,000 cavalrymen, cut off Wang Shichong's food and forced them to turn to Luoyang. Why did he turn to Luoyang?"

"I don't know about that... I'm afraid no one except Your Majesty can figure out the thoughts of such a young talent."

"Okay, okay, Tian En, we are the only two here, don't flatter me like that." Emperor Hong Bao smiled bitterly, "I can't guess it either. You have been with me for most of my life, don't you know that I am not a naturally intelligent person? Go, call Li Jing over for questioning, isn't he just in the capital? I don't know, but he should be able to see it clearly."

(End of this chapter)