A lowly soldier becomes king, I slaughter my way through the late Tang Dynasty!

Outside Taizhou City, tens of thousands of Jin troops were retreating south in disarray.

As Fu Yanqing rode his horse, he looked back at the devastated city of Taizhou, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

Huangfu Yu rode up and urged him on.

"General Fu, let's go quickly! If the Khitan cavalry catch up, we'll be lambs to the slaughter!"

Fu Yanqing turned his head to look northwest and sighed.

"If we retreat, Li Rui will be the lamb to the slaughter."

Huangfu Yu was taken aback, and suddenly felt a little ashamed!

The main force, numbering over 100,000, was backed by a fortified city.

They didn't even see the enemy and fled on the spot.

With their escape, the small city of Mancheng was completely exposed to the encirclement of the Khitan cavalry.

Li Rui and his men probably have no more than a thousand defenders.

The Khitan cavalry numbered a full 80,000!

How do we fight this?

This is a certain death trap!

People like Fu Yanqing and Huangfu Yu felt somewhat ashamed.

As for Du Chongwei, Li Shouzhen, Zhang Yanzhe, and others, they only cared about whether their own troops could be preserved, and they didn't care about Li Rui's life or death.

Where is Li Yin?

"They've already evacuated."

Fu Yanqing sighed again.

"Bring me paper and pen, I want to write a letter to Li Rui."

……

Whoosh!

An arrow shot up the entire city wall, and the scout who shot it immediately turned and ran away.

Because the Khitan cavalry was nearby, he dared not linger.

Niu Ben picked up the letter that had been shot at him, glanced at it by the torchlight, then his tiger-like eyes widened, and he roared in fury.

"Du Chongwei! I'll fuck your mother!"

The soldiers around him were startled, wondering what was wrong with the commander-in-chief. Suddenly, they missed the general's elderly mother.

Niu Ben naturally dared not reveal the fact that the army had fled in public, so he hurriedly ordered someone to find Li Rui and deliver the letter to him.

"You were right! Du Chongwei abandoned his army and fled alone, throwing Taizhou into chaos. His hundreds of thousands of troops collapsed without even a fight!"

Li Rui was not surprised at all. He opened the letter, glanced at it, and suddenly asked in astonishment.

"This isn't a letter from the military commander; it's signed... Fu Yanqing?"

The familiar name startled Li Rui. He hadn't expected that this renowned general would personally write to him.

In the letter, Fu Yanqing explained the situation of the army and praised Li Rui's foresight.

Finally, he actually advised Li Rui to surrender to the Khitan!

Of course, it wasn't a real surrender.

Suicheng was abandoned without firing a single arrow!

Taizhou was abandoned without even firing a single shot!

The army fled all the way to Yangcheng without even seeing the enemy's face.

At this moment, Mancheng, the only city that had not been abandoned, was almost isolated!

The Khitan cavalry occupied Taizhou without bloodshed. If they continue south, Mancheng will become a thorn in their side!

It goes without saying that the Khitans will definitely remove this thorn in their side.

The small city of Mancheng, along with Suicheng and Taizhou, formed a strategic defensive position, and all could only manage to defend themselves.

Now that we are isolated on enemy territory, how can we defend ourselves?

Therefore, Fu Yanqing advised Li Rui to "surrender".

First, preserve your life and keep your useful body so you can display your talents in the future!

In his view, continuing to defend the Manchu city would mean certain death!

After reading the letter, Li Rui tore it up immediately.

This served two purposes: ensuring that Fu Yanqing's advice to him to surrender to the Khitan remained unknown to others, and also demonstrating his stance.

Surrender to the Khitan?

How is that possible!

Even a fake surrender won't do!

"The enemy is about to attack the city!"

A loud shout rang out, and Niu Ben and Li Rui exchanged a glance before quickly running up the city wall.

Sure enough, a Khitan army, numbering around five thousand, came towards Mancheng.

The leading Khitan general was named Xiao Pudu, and he was a strong, muscular man.

"Go, send someone to persuade them to surrender."

In his view, the great emperor personally led 80,000 cavalry south, and these cowardly Han people fled in defeat.

Suicheng ran away, and they couldn't catch up.

Taizhou escaped, and they couldn't catch up!

This fueled the anger of many Khitan generals.

"Han people are all lowly slaves (Khitan language: 'ten-mile-snail')! They run faster than rabbits on the grasslands!"

Xiao Pudu cursed through gritted teeth, not taking the whole city to heart.

With the main force of the Jin army gone, what else can this small city do but surrender?

But the Han Chinese who tried to persuade the enemy to surrender had only run to the city walls and uttered one sentence when he was shot dead on the spot!

Then came the deafening roar of the bull.

"Surrender to your mother! You bald-headed Khitan dog, if you have the guts, come and attack the city! Your Ruzhou grandpa is waiting to seduce your mother!"

Xiao Pudu was stunned by that shout!

The Han Chinese next to him translated what he said into Khitan, even translating "enter your mother".

Xiao Pudu's face immediately turned red, and he flew into a rage!

"Shili Bi! Damn Han Chinese, attack the city! I'll personally cut out his tongue!"

The deputy general next to him originally wanted to offer some advice, since he didn't know how many Jin soldiers were in the city.

But the anger that had been building up all along finally caught up with him, and the lieutenant also wanted to vent his frustration.

"Attack the city! After breaching the city walls, conduct a full-scale search and massacre the inhabitants!"

The Khitan cavalrymen immediately erupted in thunderous cheers, their morale soaring.

Two Khitan cavalry units, one on the left and one on the right, each with a thousand men, split off from the main force and headed to encircle the north gate of the city.

Under the cover of night, two cavalry units took turns running past the north city wall.

At the same time, the Khitan soldiers on horseback drew their bows and shot arrows directly from their saddles at the city walls.

Suddenly, a series of clanging sounds echoed from the north city wall.

Niu Ben roared.

"Shield! Shield!"

The large wooden shields were erected, blocking the arrows while preventing the defending soldiers from retaliating.

Taking advantage of this time, the remaining three thousand Khitan cavalrymen accelerated their charge toward the city gate!

This is the tactic of cavalry siege warfare.

First, use the cavalry's high mobility to suppress the city wall defenders with firepower, covering the main force's rapid arrival at the city gate.

Then, all we have to do is break down the city gates, and everything will be over.

Niu Ben clearly understood this tactic and immediately gave the order.

"Roll logs and stones to block the city gate!"

Large amounts of wood and stones were thrown down, forming a small hill at the city gate.

Three thousand Khitan cavalrymen rushed to the city wall only to find that the city gate had been blocked!

Xiao Pudu was furious and gave the order.

"Bypass them and break through from other city gates!"

The Khitan soldiers turned east of the city, but Li Rui had already been waiting there, surrounded by three hundred members of the Restoration Army.

Like the north gate of the city, the city gate had long been blocked.

The Khitan cavalry could only grit their teeth and shoot arrows outside the city, but it was like scratching an itch through a boot—they were helpless.

"What about the south and west sides of the city?"

Xiao Pudu asked a question, and the deputy general hurriedly reported it.

"That's true. They're well-prepared, and it's unlikely they'll breach the city tonight."

Xiao Pudu, his face grim, could only say indignantly.

"Damn Han Chinese, withdraw your troops first, find a place to rest, and have siege weapons made first thing tomorrow morning."

His Majesty is watching us in Taizhou; we must take the city tomorrow!

The Khitan cavalry slowly retreated, while Niu Ben peeked out, his face beaming with delight.

The soldiers relaxed and their faces lit up with joy.

Niu Ben arrived at the east side of the city, patted Li Rui on the shoulder, and laughed.

"Luckily, you told us to prepare in advance, so we didn't panic."

Li Rui remained calm.

"The Khitans came in a hurry, so it's not convenient to attack the city tonight. It will be different tomorrow."

Niu Ben nodded, knowing that tomorrow would be the real battle.

However, Li Rui suddenly said.

"Brother Niu, I want to take the initiative and launch a night raid on the Khitan camp!"