The sky was scorching hot and a choking, sickening smell filled my mouth and nose.
The flames spread to the parapets, and the flying arrows hit the top of the city walls with bangs. Blood splattered on the bodies of some people, and they fell heavily with their bodies covered in bloodstained armor. Their colleagues in the back filled the gaps with spears and stabbed the enemies who climbed up the ladders.
"Shoot the arrows! Throw the logs—"
Qu Yuanfeng ran over the top of the city wall with a knife in hand. Amidst the hoarse shouts, he pulled a soldier over and rushed forward, chopping the neck of the enemy soldier who had climbed up the parapet with his knife. As the blood spilt, a faint light could be seen flickering in the blood.
Afterwards, the fallen enemies fell from the top of the city wall and landed among the countless surging figures below. The fighting on the top of Taiyuan city wall fell into a stalemate. The enemies rushed to the top of the city wall in waves without fear of death. The generals defending the city here led their men to fight to the death. When they were disabled, they were immediately replaced. In just two days, the number of people became fewer and fewer, and was less than 10,000.
Ever since his master left Taiyuan and said those words to him outside the city, he has been alert to any disturbance in the surrounding counties and prefectures. He also reminded Li Yuan, the governor of Taiyuan, who naturally did not dare to be careless because of his master-disciple relationship with the national master. Sure enough, within half a month, news came from Mayi that the prefect Wang Rengong had been killed, and a man named Liu Wuzhou rebelled and marched south to Jin. At the same time, Liang Shidu in the northwest and Dou Jiande in Hebei also raised the banner of rebellion.
"We must evacuate. We cannot allow anyone to damage this place. These gods should not embarrass the people in the city."
As he was thinking about it, there was a loud noise of armor and shields shattering at a section of the city wall in front of him that was blocking several ladders. Qu Yuanfeng tilted his head and saw several guards being lifted into the air and smashing heavily into the crowd. A burly man holding an iron whip, wearing heavy armor, stepped onto the parapet and jumped down. The iron whip in his hand whistled, smashing the man and his helmet to pieces. He raised his strong arm and knocked the rushing soldier away.
"kill!"
Behind the burly figure, a shadow invisible to ordinary people emerged in the air, turning into a black nebula that rolled up and brought up circles of black fog.
Qu Yuanfeng had a foundation of cultivation, and although he couldn't practice now, he could still vaguely see the surging murderous intent. He took two steps back in horror, "Black Evil Star..."
At this moment, Li Shimin's voice rang out from behind the chaotic crowd, "Drive them off the city wall! Follow me, my men!!"
"Shimin, don't go over there!"
Qu Yuanfeng shouted loudly, but the noise, screams, and clashing of weapons on the top of the city were mixed together, and he could not hear anything on the other side. He gritted his teeth, tightened the hilt of the sword in his hand, and squeezed over with his guards. However, the dark and strong man on the other side had already seen Li Shimin who was rushing with his men, and he waved his iron whip to sweep away the guards who were blocking his way, and forced his way through.
"Second Young Master, let's go!"
Someone shouted, and then the voice stopped. He was hit by the iron whip and flew away, knocking down two of his comrades. He rolled on the ground. With the remaining consciousness, he sat up suddenly, hugged the leg that had stepped forward, opened his bloody lips, and shouted hoarsely at Li Shimin.
"Second Young Master... Go away, don't come over..."
Over there, an enemy broke through the front line and approached the city wall, but was blocked by several shields. Amid the banging of weapons, Li Shimin, who was dressed in armor, suddenly heard the sound. He turned his sight and saw countless intersecting figures. He saw the soldier who was screaming at him being knocked down by the black whip, and the strong man with a big beard holding an iron whip looking at him with a fierce grin.
Tap tap tap…
A pair of feet quickly stepped over the corpses and blood. A figure came from behind and jumped over several corpses on the ground. The blade in his hand chopped the black man fiercely, and Qu Yuanfeng's voice was heard.
"Shimin, get down from the city quickly!"
Boom!
The blade chopped on the black man's wrist armor, pulling out a series of sparks. The man turned his face slightly, raised his hand and swung it lightly, pressing the blade against Qu Yuanfeng's chest, hitting the wall, hitting it heavily and bouncing back down. The moment he landed, Qu Yuanfeng turned over, passed the black man, rushed into the shield wall in front, grabbed the still dazed Li Shimin, and rushed to the stone stairs of the inner city wall.
"If you can't defend it, go!"
Qu Yuanfeng roared and pulled the other person to run along the stone steps. His personal guards and surrounding soldiers followed one by one. Li Jiancheng, who was guarding the city gate below, was still commanding the soldiers to block the gate. When he saw them coming down, he shouted angrily.
"Why are you coming down? Second brother, General Qu, go back and guard it!"
However, no one paid any attention to him. Qu Yuanfeng, who rushed down first, led a horse and helped Li Shimin up. He turned around and ran to Li Jiancheng, pulled his warhorse and turned it in the direction, and slapped the horse hard on the butt. The warhorse neighed, raised its hooves, and started running.
"General Qu, what are you doing?!"
Qu Yuanfeng did not answer. He found a horse and climbed up. He looked back at the city wall above and saw that the burly black man had already reached the entrance of the stone steps and was rushing down.
There was a loud shout of "Gee!", urging the horse to gallop, following the two young masters of the Li family in front of them across the street, and returning to the Li Mansion without stopping. At this time, Li Yuan, who was also in armor and was in charge of the play, walked out of the yard. Before he could say anything, he was taken out of the mansion by the soldiers who rushed in. Even his wives, concubines and children in the backyard were stuffed into the carriage and headed towards the west gate of the city.
"General Qu, you are trying to frame me for being disloyal!"
The horses pulled the carriage, the shafts turning wildly as they rolled over the long brick streets. Li Yuan lifted the curtain and looked outside the carriage at Qu Yuanfeng, who was urging the soldiers to keep up. He suppressed his anger and shouted:
"Stop! Abandoning the people in the city, how can I face the Imperial Master?! Face His Majesty!"
Hehehe~~
The warhorse neighed. Qu Yuanfeng, who had just spoken to a deputy general, pulled the reins lightly, slowed down and approached the carriage curtain. "Li, we can't win this battle. We must withdraw. The enemy general attacking the city is the Black Star... Besides, this is what my master told me when he left Taiyuan that day. If things are impossible, I must retreat to Chang'an without hesitation."
"Did the Imperial Master tell us how to resolve this dilemma?" Li Shimin asked as he rode up on horseback.
“I don’t know yet.”
Qu Yuanfeng wanted to explain further when he heard a loud cracking sound coming from the direction of the east gate in the distance, as if the gate had collapsed. He immediately swung his whip and hit the horse's buttocks.
"They're coming into town, hurry up!"
On the long street, the shafts of the carts were rolling. Li Yuan was sitting in the cart and sighed. In the gaps created by the wind, countless people were standing on the streets and in the buildings, looking at him with hesitant eyes. He cupped his hands and kept bowing to the people outside, muttering something.
"Yuan can't!"
"Don't resist, or you'll risk your life and property!"
Heading west, the city gate opened and the soldiers on guard were ordered to come down from the city wall, retaining their strength and heading outside the city. Soon after, chaos spread from the east gate into the city, and a sea of people swarmed into the collapsed city gate. There were no shouts of victory or screams of confusion. Instead, rows of soldiers walked slowly into the city in a long line, stepping over the corpses on the ground in the daylight.
Under the banner with the Chinese character "Liu" in his arms, Liu Wuzhou rode in on a big horse and looked at the empty street. Then his eyes shifted to a black man in heavy armor who was walking down the stone steps of the inner city wall on one side.
"Black Evil Star, did you let Li Yuan escape?"
"Liu Tuzhang, I don't belong to the Twenty-Eight Mansions, so don't give me orders." The black man picked up the black whip and kicked a corpse away, then patted his body and said, "This guy named Yuchi has a good figure, he's useful!"
He came down the stone steps and waved his hand. Soldiers came over with horses. Black Star climbed on them, and immediately hundreds of knights came and followed him.
"Halfway through the fight, I'm out of momentum. Let's go! Keep chasing!"
Suddenly there was a loud shout, and they whipped their horses and galloped wildly along the street along the river. The long street under their feet exploded with a rumble. The hundreds of cavalrymen did not make a sound, but whipped their horses and urged them to gallop closely.