Emperor Zheng Yao saw this scene in his eyes from the top of the Pingchang Gate Tower. Although he could not hear clearly what Zheng Rong said because of the distance, he saw Youyan's army slowly retreating and hurriedly sent orders to the Imperial Guards gathered below the city to follow. pursuit.
The Imperial Guards who were lucky enough to avoid death saw You Yan's army gradually retreating. However, the flags were neat and clear, and the troops behind the palace were arrayed with murderous intent. Who dared to follow orders and pursue, they all just stood there looking at each other and watching what happened.
Zheng Yao became even more angry when he saw that his soldiers and horses were not willing to make progress. He issued several imperial edicts and urged the army to attack.
Although Zheng Yao lost power, he was still the emperor and could not blatantly disobey the imperial edict.
Therefore, several generals of the Forbidden Army under Luoyang City discussed with each other, and no one was willing to be the leader. So they each dispatched five thousand soldiers and horses to form a dense formation of 25,000 people, just to drive Youyan far away so that they could communicate more easily.
Unexpectedly, although Youyan's army retreated, they did not relax their vigilance at all. Seeing that the Imperial Guards were coming to pursue them, the rear troops immediately moved forward to resist the enemy's forwards. The cavalry on both wings also turned around in a large circle and took advantage of the momentum to attack the two wings of the Imperial Guards.
The imperial imperial army was originally a newly defeated division, and they only wanted to make contact with Youyan's army and then retreated without making any defense preparations. Therefore, they were completely unable to withstand such a fierce offensive. Under the simultaneous attacks of Youyan's army from three sides, They immediately lost their fighting spirit and collapsed toward the capital, Luoyang.
After two consecutive blows from the capital, the morale of the Imperial Army finally collapsed completely. The originally orderly formation suddenly fell into chaos, and countless soldiers trampled on each other and rushed to Pingchang Gate.
When many imperial sergeants saw that Pingchang Gate was packed, they turned around and rushed to Xuanyang Gate and Kaiyang Gate on both sides, thinking of trying their luck at these two gates to see if they could enter Luoyang.
Fu Kui, the Minister of the Ministry of War who accompanied Emperor Zheng Yao to watch the battle on the city tower, saw that the imperial troops were completely defeated and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty! Our army has suffered a new defeat. Can you take advantage of Zheng Rong's lack of ambition to open the Pingchang Gate and let go of the defeated soldiers?" Enter the city, recuperate, and then fight again?”
Zheng Yao glanced at Fu Kui sideways and said: "The good warriors in ancient times have allusions about sinking boats and fighting against the odds. If I order the city gate to be opened now, who will dare to go out of the city to challenge the Yan bandits in the future? Even if they reluctantly leave the city, who will? Fight to the death?"
What Zheng Yao said was reasonable, leaving Fu Kui speechless.
Then I heard Zheng Yao say to the eunuch beside him: "If you pass on the decree, all twelve gates in the capital will be closed. They cannot be opened without my decree!"
When this imperial edict was passed on, there was an uproar among the officers and soldiers outside the city - at least half of them abandoned their helmets and armor and fled in all directions; there were also tens of thousands of people who turned east to seek refuge with King Zheng Rong of Youyan. Among the remaining soldiers in front of the Pingchang Gate, I don't know who got up and took out his official sword and slashed at the wooden door, hoping to use the thin blade in his hand to chop the thick city gate into pieces. …
However, as Zheng Rong promised, Youyan's army did not take advantage of the chaos to attack, and indeed slowly retreated.
The imperial officers and soldiers who stayed in front of Pingchang Gate hacked for more than an hour, until all the weapons in their hands were reduced to sharp pieces of iron, and they themselves also had backache and exhaustion. Then they lay down on the ground and stopped without any movement. Meaningful action.
Emperor Zheng Yao, who was on the city tower, saw that Youyan's army was far away from the capital, and really had no intention of taking advantage of the chaos to attack the city, so he left a decree: "Pingchang Gate will continue to be closed tightly, and Xuanyang Gate will be opened to let the imperial troops enter the city." Afterwards, he returned to the imperial city under the protection of countless imperial guards.
However, Zheng Yao was always afraid that among the forbidden troops entering the city, Youyan spies would be mixed in, and they would take advantage of the dark moon and high winds to enter the imperial city and take his own life.
So Zheng Yao issued an order overnight, asking the Ministry of War to designate fixed military camps for the troops who entered the city to garrison, and sent additional officers and soldiers to guard them. As a result, instead of strengthening the defense power of the capital, the imperial troops entering the city weakened the already stretched city defense forces.
Zheng Rong was not idle either.
After the next great victory in Luoyang City, Zheng Rong ordered Zhongli Kuang to organize and register the surrendered Forbidden Army soldiers, and then sent corresponding troops to Tongguan, under the supervision of his eldest son Zheng Xin, who was stationed in Tongguan.
Zheng Rong also ordered his third son Zheng Sen and the rebellious general Cui Nan to lead the Qingqi troops to launch continuous attacks and wipe out all participating officers and soldiers surrounding Luoyang, the capital.
Then a Chinese army camp was set up in front of the east city wall of Luoyang, and they planned to use Qiu Yizhi's strategy to knock down the city wall in one fell swoop and capture Luoyang, the capital of the world.
Qiu Yizhi had already made preparations and divided the eighteen bandits who had become more and more proficient in tunneling skills into six groups, each leading five hundred soldiers with backgrounds such as miners, river workers, and well diggers. , digging in six different directions on the east wall of Luoyang.
At the same time, Zheng Rong listened to Zhongli Kuang's suggestion and drafted a notice to calm the people, writing:
The false emperor Zheng Miao had a long history of misbehavior. He killed his father, framed loyal people, listened to traitors, and poisoned the people. King Zheng Rong of Guyouyan, the legitimate son of the late emperor and the brother of Emperor Daxing, raised his troops in Youyan, fought fiercely in Henan, crossed Heluo, and hoarded troops in Luoyang in order to ensure the stability of the Han Dynasty and the well-being of all the people in the world. Unbeatable. Another Yanshi county magistrate resisted stubbornly and was unwilling to kill more good people. Unexpectedly, God's destiny came and thunder came down. At that time, the Yanshi city wall collapsed. It can be seen that Zheng Yaotian was so angry that people resented him! Therefore, the soldiers and civilians in Luoyang City who cherish their lives must not act like a mantis with their arms like a chariot and leave the Luoyang City Wall immediately. Otherwise, it is inevitable that the power of God will be unpredictable and everyone will be destroyed!
The generals who were proficient in writing in the army copied hundreds of copies overnight, and together with the "Request for Rebellion" drafted when the army was launched, they shot it into the Luoyang city wall with strong bows and crossbows.
The people in the city who found the documents circulated them one after another for viewing, and people in the capital were panicked for a while.
When Zheng Yao, who was huddled in the palace, saw the leaflet, he immediately became angry and ordered the Department of Encouragement and Goodwill to go out in large numbers to collect and destroy the leaflets that had been shot into the city. Anyone who is a common soldier in the capital and passes on private opinions will be immediately thrown into the prison of the Ministry of Punishment as soon as they are discovered.
But Youyan's army outside the city shot in hundreds of leaflets every day. The tighter the court tightened its grip, the more people risked beheading and going to jail to pass them around. How could they collect them all
However, the Secretary of Guanshan obeyed the emperor's personal decree and did not dare to neglect it. He had to search every house, which suddenly caused people in the capital to panic and make life difficult for the people. Emperor Zheng Yao had too much time to take care of himself, so he had no time to control what others did, so he allowed Si Yingguo, who encouraged good people to do good things, to do evil outside.
The ministers in the DPRK, such as Zhang Chaohe and Shi Liangzhi, also gave some advice, but Zheng Yao did not accept it. The ministers were so angry that they complained of illness and stopped going to the DPRK to discuss matters.
I don't know which eunuch in the palace said that he found a Taoist priest with strong magic power from the Taoist temple who could curse Zheng Rong to death for Zheng Yao. At a time when everyone was betrayed and separated from their relatives, Zheng Yao actually believed this absurd statement.
So he built an altar in the royal garden of the palace, found the Taoist robes his father wore when he first practiced Taoism, the magical instruments he used, and the scriptures he read. He started practicing Taoism seriously and never paid attention to military and political affairs.
Outside the city, Zheng Rong was not in a hurry to attack the city. He only ordered Zheng Xin to speed up the transfer of grain and grass from Tongguan. Zheng Miao tightly blocked the Dasanguan access road. The other generals set up camp and practiced every day, waiting for Qiu Yi to dig the tunnel. Tong and then destroyed the city wall of Luoyang, and then led the army to attack Luoyang city.
Qiu Yizhi's progress was not smooth.
The topography of Luoyang is indeed as Shi Dajian said at the beginning. There are water veins under the ground. If the tunnel is dug a little deeper, a large amount of water will seep out of the tunnel. Not to mention the gunpowder set inside, it is even more difficult to pass through normally.
However, Qiu Yizhi knew that capturing Luoyang was the key to the final success of this war against rebellion. He must not leave anything to chance, so he ordered that whenever the tunnel seeped water, it must be dug again, and he must ensure that the Luoyang city wall must be blown open. Six notches.
However, the bandits and bandits under Qiu Yizhi did not learn the skills of Shi Dajian. They did not know how to recognize the soil and identify the location, so they could only blindly dig in the direction of the Luoyang city wall.
They continued digging like this for nearly a month, and only two of the six tunnels were finally dug through.
At this moment, a cold wind blew through, and the weather immediately became cold.
This summer, the Kannai Road is very hot, and winter comes very early, and the temperature drops very quickly. Before the winter solstice, it was already freezing cold near the pass.
Seeing that all the troops under his command were still dressed in autumn clothes, Zheng Rong strictly ordered Zheng Xin to immediately transfer leather coats, cotton coats and other cold-resistant clothing from Youyan Road to prevent the soldiers from frostbite. Youyan Road is originally in a bitter cold place in the north, and there are usually a lot of cold-proof clothes prepared. Now the passage from Youyan Road into Kinki is unobstructed, so Zheng Xin put in nearly 100,000 pieces of clothing in a few days to survive the winter. Clothes were sent to the front lines.
There is no such good thing in Luoyang city.
Luoyang has a large population, and food, clothing, tools, etc. all rely on transportation from surrounding areas. Now that Luoyang City has been completely surrounded by Youyan's army, how can supplies from outside be transported into the city
When Zheng Yao planned to defend Luoyang, he transported millions of stones of grain to Beijing. Therefore, the supply of food and grass for the army and the people was not tight, but he did not expect to prepare clothing and bedding for the winter. Therefore, if the people in the city wanted to keep out the cold, they had to either spend high prices to buy the few remaining warm clothes and quilts, or look for wood and coal to burn for warmth. In short, the people in the capital were already living in extreme hardship and complaining in the severe cold of winter.
However, God did not seem to have any sympathy for the people of the capital. The north wind blew one after another, and Kinki became increasingly cold and freezing. However, it inadvertently helped Zheng Rong and Qiu Yizhi.
It turned out that the weather was cold and the mud was completely frozen. Although it caused great trouble for excavation, it also froze the underground water that seeped everywhere into ice.
As a result, Qiu Yizhi, with Zheng Rong's permission, sent two thousand more elite soldiers, worked hard day and night, and finally dug all six tunnels under the Luoyang city wall before the winter solstice.
At the same time, Qiu Yizhi specially transferred the Tianzun Sect's classics from Guangyang City, set aside a special area in Youyan Camp, and prepared four thousand kilograms of gunpowder by himself according to the detailed records in the classics. He also selected dozens of soldiers with quick hands and calm personalities from the army, and transported the gunpowder into the tunnel in two days. The opponent was at the foot of the Luoyang city wall. He only waited for Zheng Rong's order to light the gunpowder fuse to transform the Luoyang city wall. For rubble.
Youyan King Zheng Rong is also waiting, not only for Qiu Yi to prepare the gunpowder, but also for the coming of the winter solstice.
Although the words Zheng Rong wrote on several of his petitions and notices to calm the people were high-sounding and righteous, he knew very well in his heart: Zheng Yao was far inferior to him in terms of talent, experience, and popularity, but after all, he was the emperor of the Han Dynasty; he was the only one in the world. Only by winning continuously can we stabilize the morale of the military and win the hearts and minds of the people. If the war is unfavorable or protracted, there will be no guarantee that the world will change!
Therefore, after all the preparations for General Qiu Yi were completed, Zheng Rong still deliberated and discussed for several days before making up his mind to attack the Luoyang city wall on the winter solstice! (To be continued)