Tang Dynasty Bandits

Chapter 112 Empty City Strategy

The city walls are tall and the gates are wide open.

Huang Chao stood solemnly on the top of the city wall, dressed as a musician. In front of him was a three-story wooden frame, more than ten feet high, with large and small bronze bells hanging on it, which were the ancient musical instrument chimes.

There were two servants beside him holding a silver tray. Huang Chao opened the tray, took off the silk cloth, and took a bell in each hand.

His once black hair had turned completely frosty white. Facing the waving flags below the city, his expression was extremely calm, as if he could remain calm even if Mount Tai collapsed before him.

"General Yan has come from afar, and I have no other way to show my respect. Chao can only strike the bell once to entertain the three armies."

Huang Chao laughed heartily and struck the bell hammer on the chimes. His movements rose and fell like raindrops, his pupils flickered like meteors, and his steps were like hurricanes. The stirring bell sounds were as powerful as waves and raging tides, and also like "the setting sun shining on the flags, horses neighing in the wind."

The soldiers under General Yan were all stunned, not knowing what tricks this bandit leader was playing.

But Huang Chao had no soldiers with him and the city gates were wide open. His courage was truly heroic.

"The method of chime bells was lost during the Han Dynasty, and it is said that even during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, six people had to work together to play."

"Huang Jutian can single-handedly strike the bell and create music. His talent is truly unfathomable!"

In the army formation, several scholars and staff were talking to each other in whispers.

Of course they knew that the real General Huang Chao was by no means as ugly as the folk rumors said, but a heroic and handsome man.

But no one expected that Huang Chao, a military man, had such talent.

Scholars are not good at martial arts, and martial artists are not good at literature. Those who are both civil and martial are rare. Huang Jutian's skills are comparable to Shi Xiong, the God of War of the Tang Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Wuzong, who was known as "knowledgeable in medicine, divination, astrology, and all kinds of knowledge."

Zhen Ranyu just calmly lifted the carriage curtain and said, "Shoot him with arrows."

The soldiers in front of the battle line obeyed the order, bent their bows like full moons, and shot arrows like rain towards the top of the city.

The two servants laughed out loud at the same time, and flew into the city like falling geese, disappearing in an instant.

Huang Chao swung a pair of bell hammers, and the afterimages were rustling. The arrows that were shot at him were all knocked to the ground, and not a single one could hit him.

"The song is over. I am just waiting for General Yan to come into the city to meet me." After Huang Chao said this, he jumped up and disappeared on the high wall.

Zhen Ranyu turned to the puzzled Bo Chulong and said, "There's a story in the legend about Zhuge Kongming using the empty city plan to scare off Sima Zhongda, but there's no such thing in history."

"What Huang Jutian did today was simply a reversed empty city plan. But what's the point? Whether he plays this trick or not, we have to enter the city."

"The vanguard enters the city, be careful of ambushes." Zhen Ranyu spoke word by word, with the majesty of a phoenix that could conquer the world.

When the army entered the city, it was silent and Huang Chao and the two servants had disappeared long ago.

The Muling Pass city is divided into four parts by a cross street. Residential houses are lined up around it. Firewood and other items are piled up at the doorsteps of many houses, indicating that people lived there not long ago.

But the people had undoubtedly all evacuated to avoid the war.

The government troops advanced in an orderly formation through the city, deploying their troops on the wide cross streets.

The shield-holding warriors stood on both sides, taking a strict defensive stance.

The cavalry guarded the infantry formation.

As expected, arrows suddenly shot out from the houses along the street, some of which were quite thick crossbow arrows.

Some government soldiers were unable to dodge and were instantly pierced through their armor by crossbow arrows and nailed to the ground.

But the iron-disciplined soldiers of the Flame Army immediately fired at the enemy with bows and crossbows. Lines of blood spurted out of the windows, and soon many bodies fell down.

"You're just giving up on defending the city and want to engage in street fighting with our army?" Zhen Ranyu muttered to himself, "Huang Chao, you're too confident in the ability of your unruly soldiers to fight in civilian houses!"

The government troops were arranged in a formation like fish scales, and their armor seemed to glow in the sunlight. Their weapons and armor were so fine that it was impossible to look at them directly.

In a moment, the ambush troops who rushed out from the market were killed by spears and bows, leaving many corpses and blood in the streets, and retreated in defeat.

"Search," Zhen Ranyu ordered. "We must be cautious and careful in our actions. Don't lose touch with those behind us, or we'll disrupt our formation."

After the order was passed down, the government troops spread out like a swarm of ants and moved towards the houses. From time to time, the screams of the rebel soldiers being killed were heard.

Bo Chulong was overjoyed and said, "The so-called ambush of the thief Huang turned out to be just such a childish trick..."

But when the hot summer wind mixed with smoke and dust blew the smell of blood onto Zhen Ranyu's face, she finally thought of a question she had never thought of before.

If they were going to fight a street battle, why were there no obstacles on the wide streets, and no fires set in the city?

She had made all the necessary preparations. The army had water trucks for firefighting, and soldiers were also prepared to clear roadblocks such as deer antlers and thorns at any time.

There must be a demon in the abnormal situation.

"There's gold!"

"Grab it quickly, whoever picks it up owns it!"

I don’t know who shouted it out first.

Countless gold, silver, copper coins, silk and other valuables were thrown out from the houses like raindrops and landed on the ground in the city.

The iron-clad military formation fell into chaos in an instant.

Once this kind of thing starts, it is difficult to stop.

Zhen Ranyu's expression finally changed slightly.

This was a tactic Wang Xianzhi had used many times against Song Wei and his men in the past, leaving behind valuables as they fled, attracting the government troops to pick them up. Given the discipline of Zhen Ranyu's troops, they shouldn't have fallen for such a commonplace trap.

However, the fatigue from the long mountain trek, the anxiety from the harassment, and the invasion of the summer heat have stretched the soldiers to the limit.

In order to give full play to the soldiers' proactive combat capabilities, Zhen Ranyu had previously rewarded them for disobeying military orders and attacking, resulting in great victories.

She finally understood Huang Chao's overall plan.

"Send the order to the supervisory team, anyone who steals gold and silk will be killed on the spot. The spoils will be distributed after the war, and no one will get less!" Zhen Ran Yufeng's eyes were stern and she gave the order resolutely.

But she still had a question - even if she stationed ambushes in the houses in the city, their combat power would never be able to match that of her own troops entering the city.

The scouts have already overlooked the city, and even if there are ambushes, their number should be quite small.

How could Huang Jutian be sure that he could take advantage of this brief period of chaos to defeat his elite troops with a small force?

The answer soon emerged.

Huang Chao, wearing a golden helmet and golden armor, rode on a tall warhorse, and led the troops into the country through the west gate.

Behind him was a team of iron men and horses shining in the sunlight.

In the direction of the east gate, a team of cavalry also rushed in along the wide city gate.

"When did these bandits get so many armored cavalrymen?" someone exclaimed.

There were at least two hundred armored cavalry charging in from the east and west gates.

The style of the armor they wore was extremely strange, and it was obviously not any kind of armor popular in the Tang Dynasty.

The more than 30 Mingjiao knights who had previously surrendered to the Cao Army were definitely not among them.

The dense array of government troops was crowded on the cross street, and the wide cross street was extremely convenient for armored cavalry to gallop.

The speed of Thunder and Wind's charge allows them to easily seize the chaos of this moment.

As for where the two hundred armored cavalry are hiding - with this amount of troops, they only need to find a larger cave to avoid being discovered by scouts.

But if used properly, these two hundred armored cavalrymen can unleash a power that thousands of troops and horses cannot possess!

At the east gate, veteran Chai Cun, the team leader, laughed heartily: "Coach Yan is on the same list as Mr. Pi Rixiu. He's found a good foreign aid!"

"Same list" was obviously a polite remark by Chai Cun, which actually meant that they failed the exam in the same year.

Huang Chao smiled and said, "Everyone knows that Brother Pi's poetry is famous all over the world, but few people know that he is a descendant of the royal family of Persia."

Pi Rixiu's poem "I don't see the hermit Ming, the empty mountain is lonely" refers to Ming Shiyin, who died together with Ge Jian. Because Ming Shiyin, like Pi Rixiu, has Persian blood in his veins, the two were old friends.

However, before Persia was conquered by the Arabs, the state religion was Zoroastrianism, and the Mingjiao was also suppressed. The ancestors of Pi Rixiu and Ming Shiyin had very different beliefs.

Zoroastrianism, also known as fire worship, believes in sacred fire. While the Ming Cult also reveres light, it doesn't specifically worship fire. Less-informed Easterners often confuse the two, but the Ming Cult would never consider a statement like "The blazing sacred fire consumes my remaining body; what joy is there in life, what pain in death" as a doctrine.

Pi Rixiu's case was not unique. When Persia fell, the Tang Dynasty accepted a large number of remnants who refused to submit to the Arabs. The great poet Bai Juyi was also of Persian descent, with some members of his family practicing Zoroastrianism.

But only Pi Rixiu, who has Persian royal blood, could mobilize the descendants of the Persian armored warrior family who had settled in Tang territory for nearly two hundred years and directly gather as many as two hundred armored cavalry for the Cao army.

Or use the name of their ancestors - Savaran Cavalry.

The iron cavalry roared into the battle and swept along the flat street like a huge wave, splitting the chaotic formation of the government army like a hot knife cutting through cheese. Wherever they passed, it was like the wind blowing and the grass bending, and all the government soldiers were defeated.

No matter how skilled Zhen Ranyu's formations were, they were completely useless within the city walls. The soldiers vying for gold and silk were trampled by the cavalry, leaving them in a mess of casualties. The rammed earth streets were covered in pools of blood.

These cavalrymen were not as elite as the elite cavalry trained by Ming Shiyin, nor were they as skilled in martial arts as their ancestors. However, they were superior to their ancestors in that, until the end of the Persian Empire, they had not yet fully implemented double-sided stirrups among their armored cavalry.

There is no need to elaborate on the significance of stirrups in cavalry charges.

"We've fallen into a trap, retreat quickly!"

Zhen Ranyu understood that he was finally going to suffer a tragic defeat.

This wasn't a lack of intelligence on her part; she had never imagined that Huang Chao possessed two hundred armored cavalry. If it were ordinary troops, they wouldn't be enough to fill the gaps in their own army. Even if their army fell into disarray for a short time, it would be difficult for them to exploit their weaknesses.

As long as we are human, we have weaknesses, and the Four Handsome Guys are no exception.

But only the wisest people can capture their weaknesses in a split second and gain a life-or-death opportunity.

Zhen Ranyu felt the taste of failure for the first time in his life. Although he tried to remain calm, he was filled with mixed feelings.

She remembered what the old man Song Wei had said to her.

"Do you know why you guys have never been defeated? Because your teacher is the last war god of the Tang Dynasty. He has always protected you well before you grew up."

A fool may make many mistakes, but he will eventually get it right. Zhen Ranyu had to admit that Song Wei's words at least made a lot of sense.

"We have limited forces entering the city. If we quickly withdraw from the city gate, we can still regroup."

"Huang Jutian's ambush strategy from ten sides still has a fatal flaw. Cao Cao's Tiger and Leopard Cavalry are world-renowned, but Huang Chao doesn't have many cavalry capable of charging head-on, aside from these two hundred armored cavalrymen who appeared out of nowhere. Even if he inflicts a temporary defeat on us, his ambushes on the flanks can only serve as harassment and will not be able to truly destroy our formation!"

At such a critical moment, she was able to instantly judge the current situation and stabilize the morale of the troops with careful analysis.

After saying that, Zhen Ranyu tore off her fiery red silk skirt, revealing armor that gleamed with cold light, mounted a strong horse, and rode towards the front of the battle.

It is the duty of a famous general to personally cover the army's retreat.

(End of this chapter)