Yangzhou is reversed.
Ten days ago, the British Duke Li Jingye came to Yangzhou in person, beheaded Chen Jingzhi, the governor of Yangzhou, and Sun Chuxing, who joined the army as a recorder, robbed the granary, distributed weapons, and spread throughout Jiangdu and Sifang County with an eternally famous "A Call for Martial Arts for Li Jingye" All the counties poured their pockets to vote.
Immediately there was bad news in Chang'an. King Li Zhen of Yue and Princess Changle, the great-grandfather, were killed. The eldest son of the emperor Zhou Wang Zhengfei was killed. King Li Xian of Zhou was ordered to be detained because of crying sadly. The remaining beheadings of Li Tang's relatives and civil officials and censors are hard to count.
The emperor who was confined in the deep palace issued an edict of abdication.
On that day, Li Jingye performed three major moves in Yangzhou: Shangfang Sword, Danshu Iron Coupon, and the Blood Jade Tiger Talisman carved by the late Emperor Gaozu himself.
When these three things came out, the north and south of the river were shaken, and King Qin's army suddenly increased to 300,000, and they attacked Luoyang all the way.
"Follow me to charge—"
"kill!"
The boulders dropped by the siege crossbow rang loudly, the ground shook, people screamed and horses neighed, and the city gate suddenly cracked under the impact of giant trees.
Seeing this, the defenders shouted one after another, and a new round of arrows was thrown on the plain like a torrential rain, blocking the infantry forward on the battlefield. Seeing this, Li Jingye reined his horse angrily, and shouted loudly: "The vanguard army obeys the order! One person retreats and the whole family will be killed, follow me!"
The soldiers got up against the rain of arrows, staggered and continued to rush, but again, arrows shot overwhelmingly from the top of the city wall, shooting groups of people to death in front of the position on the spot!
Li Jingye wiped the blood on his forehead and urged his horse forward regardless of his life, but Hengli stretched out a hand like iron pincers to block him, and then a steady and powerful voice sounded: "The left-wing cavalry obey orders!"
Li Jingye raised his eyes suddenly, but saw Shan Chao, a black horse in silver armor, swung a steel halberd weighing more than a hundred catties horizontally, and pointed it directly at the tower: "The death squad will follow me to climb the wall and pull out the arrow points, and reward one who kills the enemy!" Ten taels of silver, come on!"
Li Jingye was shocked, but it was too late when he was about to speak to stop him. I saw the cavalry graciously agreed, and unexpectedly erupted with a stronger morale than that of the whole clan. At that moment, hundreds of people followed Shan Chaojuechen, rushed to the foot of the city tower through the corpses and gunpowder smoke everywhere, and threw iron claws to hook the city wall. .
After a while, there were screams one after another, and the corpses were thrown down one after another on the city wall, throwing dust all over the ground.
"..." Li Jingye panted heavily, tightly held the halberd that was hot from slashing too much, and swung his arms violently: "Don't miss the opportunity to fight, follow me to kill!"
"kill-"
The 50,000 rebels on the plain erupted in shocking shouts, and amidst the sound of fighting that went straight to the sky, the giant tree slammed into the city gate for the last time.
Immediately afterwards, at the center of the tens of thousands of fierce battles, the giant tree and the gate exploded into huge pieces!
The city gate collapsed suddenly, and the broken stones and dust soaring into the sky made it difficult to open your eyes.
The next moment, the cavalry charged out from the left and right wings like a long snake, and gathered under the banner of the dark red "Shan" commander, like a roaring dragon, blatantly bumping into the defenders pouring out of the city gate!
·
Blood spattered, Shan Chao slit the general's throat at the top of the tower, and pushed the corpse down.
The general was probably a member of the army in the city, and he was still very young. The wide-eyed corpse fell from the tower under the eyes of Shan Chao, fell on the battlefield, and was swallowed up by the dust of thousands of galloping horses in the blink of an eye.
Shan Chao closed his eyes, opened them after a while, and chopped down the soldiers who were attacking behind him: "The gate of the city has been broken! The cavalry obey the order, follow me into the city!"
The streets of the county town were full of torn apart dead people and horse corpses. Numerous houses along the way were burning with flames of war.
The black horse passed through the main street of the city like lightning, and the single super horse galloped, leading hundreds of elite light cavalry to the arsenal that had been found out in advance, and groups of people on both sides of the road staggered and fled backwards carrying their belongings.
At this moment, screams came from the road ahead, and a woman lost her child by mistake, and the baby fell to the ground, and she was about to be trampled into bloody mud by the cavalry who couldn't stop the car!
The incident happened so suddenly, there was no time to pull the rein, and the black horse had already raised its front hooves high.
The cavalry behind exclaimed: "General!"
Shan Chao took off his stirrups with both feet, pulled the reins with one hand, leaned his body from the side of the horse, and maintained his balance with only one hand. During the high-speed gallop, he was almost parallel to the ground, and instantly reached out to grab the swaddle!
The soldiers were stunned, and then they cheered as if they had just woken up from a dream!
Shan Chao didn't have time to throw back the swaddling baby to his mother, the horse had already volleyed over the crowd, and ran towards the armory without stopping.
In a hurry, Shan Chao only glanced into his arms, and saw that the baby's head and face were covered with dust, and he didn't know if he was injured, and he was crying hoarsely. He had no choice but to snort the ashes on the child's face casually, and stuff the swaddling baby into the gap in the chest of the armor.
"The warehouse is important, trespassers will kill—"
The gatekeepers were already trembling with fright in the face of this group of tigers and wolves with high morale. As soon as the leader of the small team had the courage to roar, he was pierced by a sharp arrow in the throat!
"Ah-"
The defenders scattered one after another, some even threw away their bows and arrows, and more people were shot by random arrows and fell to the ground before taking two steps. They twitched a few times and then fell silent.
The last of the troops defending the city were disintegrated, the ground was in a mess, and the city was full of war smoke. Soon, billowing black smoke billowed from the Governor's Mansion in the east of the city. The cavalry hurriedly distributed guards and carried weapons, while Shan Chao, one man and one horse, walked a few steps forward alone, panting slightly, and stood in front of the street.
The soldiers' roars and the people's cries were faintly heard in the beacon smoke.
Shan Chao trembled and closed his eyes.
The scene in front of him was not unfamiliar, and even somewhat familiar. He has experienced the same battlefield countless times during the long years of military defense on the border, but the only difference is that this is the first time that the people's blood has been shed on the territory of the Tang Dynasty.
Those who fall into the flames of war belong to our land; those who are separated from life and death belong to our people.
The completely overwhelming victory made Shan Chao's heart extremely heavy, as if he was dragged into the abyss by countless pairs of bloody hands. He raised his hand and rubbed his frowning brow vigorously. At this moment, there was a shocking voice in the armor: "Wow—"
Shan Chao frantically took out the swaddling baby, the baby was already flushed from being suppressed, and he urinated on his hand unceremoniously.
"Go to his mother quickly, and go in that direction..." Shan Chao ran for his life and handed over the crying baby who was kicking his legs desperately to the cavalry, and hurried to find water to wash his hands, heaving a long sigh of relief.
Only then did part of the gloomy mood dissipate unknowingly, Shan Chao ordered his men to guard the arsenal, and rode his horse towards the governor's mansion. The most important political center in the city has been occupied by troops led by Li Jingye, and his personal soldiers were guarding in front of the main hall, seeing Shan Chao coming on horseback, they were about to salute immediately, but Shan Chao raised his hand to stop him: "Where is the Duke of England? "
The soldiers said solemnly: "Li Shuai is discussing matters with the military adviser and others."
Shan Chao nodded, got off his horse, and walked straight to the closed door in the front hall.
Although the Duke of England came from a noble family and was a high-ranking official, he has been in the army for many years, and his style of conduct is not only careless but also a bit rough, so he rolled a few pieces of mutton with mustard pancakes and ate them while sitting in the room talking to military advisers Wei Siwen, Xue Zhongzhang and others . Shan Chao walked up the steps and was about to reach out to knock on the door when he heard Xue Zhongzhang's voice from inside: "... After occupying this city, we should take it as the foundation and turn to capture Changzhou and Runzhou. With the current morale of our army, These two states will surely be won within ten days..."
The censor Wei Siwen, who has always been cautious and careful, interrupted him in a rare way, with a hint of anger in his tone: "Our army should take advantage of the victory and go straight to Luoyang, why should we divert to Changzhou?"
"For Jinling!" Xue Zhongzhang shouted loudly.
The room was silent for a few breaths, and Xue Zhongzhang said in a deep voice: "Since ancient times, Luoyang has been difficult to attack. Li Mi, Yang Xuangan and others are examples. According to my subordinates, as long as we win Changzhou and Runzhou, we can expand to the south logically, and Jinling has the natural danger of the Yangtze River, which is enough for our army to stick to it... "
Wei Siwen seemed to have heard some absurd joke: "Stick to it? Your Majesty is in danger in the deep palace, where is the time for you and me to stick to it?"
This time, the suffocating silence in the room lasted longer, Shan Chao outside the door was sinking like water, and it took a long time before Xue Zhongzhang opened his mouth. The voice was full of persuasion, but he said to Li Jingye: "Jinling has had a royal air since ancient times. , doesn’t the British Duke not want to divide the river with the Empress Dowager and wait for the opportunity to achieve some hegemony?”
With a crisp crash, it was Wei Siwen who slammed the tea cup: "Bold!"
Xue Zhongzhang did not speak.
"You and I raised our troops for the sake of King Qin! Not to drag the north and south of the Yangtze River into unnecessary wars! Jinling is absolutely unacceptable. Our army should immediately go to the east of Xiaoshan Mountain, integrate local heroes, and quickly capture the Eastern Capital, so as to cause damage to the Queen of Heaven. Sufficient threats are the only way to save His Majesty's life at present!"
As soon as Wei Siwen's roaring voice fell, Xue Zhongzhang retorted: "What if Luoyang can't be attacked for a long time? Duke Wei wants you and my life to be buried there?"
"Life? From the first day your Majesty was imprisoned by the Wu family, I have put my life at risk! If you persuade the British to go to Jinling and cause the south of the Yangtze River to fall into war, you will be the sinner of my Great Tang division. !" With a muffled thud, Wei Siwen knelt heavily on the ground, and said with emotion: "Is the Duke of England willing to die to change his name to go down in history, or to seek the so-called hegemony and leave a legacy forever?"
There was silence inside and outside the door, Shan Chao narrowed his sharp eyes slightly.
"..." Li Jingye's voice finally rang out, but he was panting slightly, and he said, "Wei Gong, listen to me first..."
Before the words were written, Shan Chao had pushed the door open and entered.
The three people in the room looked back at the same time, Li Jingye opened his mouth, and before he could make a sound, he saw Shang Fang's sword unsheathed at Shan Chao's waist, striding forward -
Clang!
The golden sword edge draws a dazzling arc, blood gushes out, and a living human head flies forward!
The human skull rolled to his feet, revealing Xue Zhongzhang's unrepentant face.
Li Jingye was dumbfounded, his hands were trembling, and he couldn't look away from the dead man's head for a while.
"Xue Zhongzhang tricked the British prince to rebel against Li Tang. He harbored evil intentions and was so bold that he was killed by Shang Fang's sword." Shan Chao's handsome face was expressionless, and his eyes were like cold stars under his sword eyebrows: "British prince, you don't have to thank me."
Li Jingye trembled in fear, but saw Shan Chao smiled, the smile did not reach the cold eyes at all: "Order the whole army to send troops to Luoyang tomorrow."
He didn't look at anyone at all, and walked out with a flick of his sleeves.
·
Cold water was poured on the blade, and the half-frozen blood gradually melted, and the light red blood seeped into the flower beds in the courtyard.
Shan Chao's figure was tall and straight, standing at the end of the corridor with Shang Fang's sword in his hand, he only heard the sound of slightly hesitant footsteps behind him, as if he was hesitating whether to go forward. After a while, the man still made up his mind and called out respectfully, "General Shan."
A sneer appeared in Shan Chao's eyes: "British Duke."
Shan Chao turned around, and Li Jingye stood in the corridor, with a slight trace of heaviness and anxiety hidden in his brows, but he restrained it well: "General, you have fought hard today, why don't you go to rest?"
"I'll go later," Shan Chao said calmly.
Li Jingye pondered for a moment, and said without words: "Watching the general lead the army to fight this way, Fang Jue has benefited a lot from his brave and resolute use of troops like a god. If the general hadn't pulled out the arrow point in time today, the infantry would not have been able to break through the city gate in time. …”
"It is certainly useful to kill the whole family of deserters, but it cannot be used every time, lest the hearts of the soldiers in front of the battle be chilled. Although King Qin's army has expanded to 300,000 people, it is full of many bandits and bandits with bad intentions. The best way to deal with these people is to make a lot of money, and train them in the future."
Shan Chao held a sword flower, and water droplets fell from the golden sword, and he inserted it back into the scabbard.
Li Jingye took a deep breath, cupped his fists and said, "I've been taught."
Shan Chao shook his head and remained silent.
At this point in the conversation, Li Jingye carefully brought up the fatal point: "Today, Xue Zhongzhang almost made me make a big mistake by bewitching and persuading me with words. Fortunately, the general acted decisively and killed the person who harbored evil intentions for me. I am so grateful in my heart—"
"No need," Shan Chao lazily interrupted him: "Just call Chang'an earlier."
Li Jingye: "...?"
During the day, cicadas chirped one after another, and the midsummer sunshine in the south shone in the courtyard of the governor's mansion, and the stone railings of the promenade shone with dazzling light. Li Jingye was baffled, and after thinking for a moment, he suddenly realized that he was about to say something like "The Holy Majesty urgently needs you and me to rescue him", when Shan Chao raised his slender index finger and shook it slowly: "Innocent people's wives and children are scattered, This scourge of war harms the harmony of nature and human relations, of course, the sooner the better, this is one of them."
"Secondly, I don't know how small the British family is, but I have a wife and family trapped in the city of Chang'an. Qixi Festival is coming soon, so I will compare my heart with my heart... I just want to calm Chang'an as soon as possible and go to the city to reunite with my wife."
Shan Chao nodded slightly, with a calm and powerful expression, and immediately turned away under Li Jingye's gaping eyes.
The author has something to say:
In history, when Wei Siwen and Xue Zhongzhang had disagreements, Li Jingye obeyed Xue Zhongzhang and did not attack Luoyang.
This chapter is thus an inflection point in history.