Even though Concubine Su Gui was standing at the head of the city, facing the threat of death, Ye Guogong's expression did not change, but the news of the messenger made his expression extremely ugly, and his brows were tightly frowned. , the muscles on his face twitched, as if he was thinking about something.
There will be an army outside the city
This operation of the rebel army was carefully planned. It seemed that a group of soldiers had just invaded the city of Kyoto, but the intelligence work, resource work, manpower work, material work, and secrecy work before that were extremely exhaustive. proceeded harshly.
Liu Guogong and Ye Guogong are both people who have been immersed in political chaos for decades, and their families have been prominent in the political arena of Great Chu for a hundred years. Rebelling against such a major event, without careful and strict layout, they will never easily In other words, since they made a move, they are at least 90%... no... at least 99% sure.
According to the series of scenarios they planned, the army outside the city is impossible to exist.
His Majesty the Emperor passed away, and the allied forces of the royal family attacked the capital under the banner of the four princes. Just in case, the spies of the royal family were strictly controlled within tens of miles of the capital, in order to prevent the news from spreading rapidly. As long as the news can be blocked for a day or two, the overall situation in Kyoto will be settled, and the world will be helpless when they hear about it. Everyone just thinks that this is just a battle for imperial power in the royal family, and there will not be much reaction.
Without the existence of His Majesty the Great Chu court, there would be no local army that really wanted to participate in the struggle for imperial power.
But... the army has appeared ten miles outside the city.
…
Ye Guogong galloped back to the army formation, looked at Liu Guogong, and said after a while: "There are troops outside the city!"
Liu Guogong's body shook, and his face sank.
"Whose team?"
"I don't know yet!"
"At this time...!" Liu Guogong's eyes were extremely cold: "Whose army dares to march into the capital? There are no military amulets, no Privy Council documents...!"
At this moment, the expressions of the two scheming and scheming princes were unexpectedly the same, and they were both extremely ugly.
Ye Dao obviously also saw some ominous clues. Seeing that the fourth prince was about to wave the command flag to attack the palace at any time, he said in a low voice: "Your Highness, the situation has changed, just wait a moment!"
"Has there been a change?" The fourth prince's pupils shrank, looking at Concubine Su Gui at the head of the city, he gritted his teeth and said, "What happened?"
As soon as this sentence was finished, he suddenly felt that the ground seemed to tremble slightly, like an earthquake, and the rebels also felt this tremor. Although the formation of the army was still strict and orderly, their eyes could not help looking around. Everyone wanted to know what happened.
At this time, the soldiers of the Huzhou camp at the back spread out quietly and surrounded the rear of the rebel army in a fan shape.
A fast horse galloped over, knelt down in front of the two national horses, and said respectfully: "Report, five miles outside the capital city, thousands of cavalry are heading straight for the capital city."
"Cavalry? Thousands?" Ye Guogong's expression was even more gloomy. He had already heard the sound of the hooves of the thousands of horses, and the tremor of the ground was probably the sound of the hooves of the cavalry outside Beijing.
Naturally, the defenders on the top of the city also heard the sound of rumbling cavalry horseshoes.
"They... have their reinforcements come?" Pan Zhenhai, the deputy general guard of Xiulin Battalion, was the first to think that the follow-up troops of the rebel army had come to support them.
Xue Poye frowned and said: "Based on the current strength, they are already enough to capture the palace, and even if reinforcements are to be arranged, they should be archers or sword and shield soldiers who attack the city. Although these thousands of cavalry are extremely powerful in combat, If it is used in siege warfare, I'm afraid it's a bull's head and a horse's mouth? The royal family is very knowledgeable about military affairs, and they must understand this truth. If this is the case... I'm afraid those cavalry may not be theirs."
He even wondered in his heart, did Ximen Leizang send troops from other states and counties
But this idea was just a flash. Imagine that the nearest state army to Kyoto, except for the Wuzhou camp that participated in the rebels, is the Huizhou camp, and the Huizhou camp is two days away from Kyoto. Wings, it is impossible to arrive so fast.
The most important thing is that the number of cavalry that I heard by ear is probably more than 3,000, and the rules of the Great Chu state that the number of cavalry in each state camp should not exceed 1,500, so it can be concluded that this batch of reinforcements is by no means a single What's more, even if Ximen Leizang is Captain Habayashi, he might not be able to dispatch cavalry from the state capital camp.
The corner of Xue Poye's eyes twitched, unexpectedly thinking of an almost impossible possibility.
With the wisdom of Emperor Deqing, he may not have expected that after his death, the powerful royal family would do some rebellious actions, and these cavalry, could it be that he planted his back before his death
This is almost impossible.
After all, these are thousands of cavalry, how could they gather together so quickly and accurately as soon as the royal family launched a rebellion? How can it be hidden from the eyes and ears of the royal family.
This is not ten or even a hundred horses, but thousands of horses. If such a huge army is always on guard against the royal family's rebellion, how could the royal family's intelligence network in the Great Chu Kingdom be unaware
Xue Poye fell into deep thought.
He himself did not believe that at this time, reinforcements from the imperial court would arrive.
In the rebel army formation, just as Liu Guogong and Ye Guogong were discussing something in a low voice, the third messenger had arrived: "Report, thousands of cavalry and tens of thousands of infantry have arrived at the city gate, stop there, Didn't enter the city...they have already raised the flag!"
"What banner?"
"Chu character flag!"
"Chu character flag?" Ye Guogong suddenly changed his face: "Then... that is the imperial court's reinforcements? Where did the imperial court get the reinforcements from?"
Mr. Liu Guogong held his whip tightly. He had gone through countless winds and rains. Although he was shocked, he still maintained his composure. He said in a deep voice, "The order will go on. The soldiers of the Wuzhou camp will guard the streets. If there are rebels, stop them."
Since the Inspectorate and the Kyoto Prefecture were able to block the elite garrison troops for more than an hour on a dozen long streets with less than a thousand people, there are still 10,000 people in the Wuzhou camp, so naturally they can also block the reinforcements from the imperial court.
"Brother Ye, in the current situation, we can only take down the palace as soon as possible, and take down the queen mother and prince. With them in our hands, even if reinforcements from all the state capitals arrive, there is nothing we can do." Liu Guogong said plainly.
Ye Guogong glanced at the top of the city. The Habayashi guards at the top of the city are already ready to fight, and once the battle starts, his daughter Concubine Su Gui will be pushed off the top of the city alive.
"I just hope that the Wuzhou camp can hold on, so buy us some time!" Ye Guogong stroked his beard and said calmly: "Speaking of which, even if the incoming army is the imperial court's reinforcements, our strength is far superior to theirs... Just some guys who came to die."
"Brother Ye, I'm afraid things won't be that simple." Liu Guogong said indifferently: "They have thousands of cavalry, and one cavalry can count as ten, not to mention that these reinforcements have obviously been ambushed a long time ago. What I am worried about now is... who is this?" The ones left behind? In this world, who has the ability to deploy such a powerful cavalry regiment?"
Ye Guogong frowned, opened his eyes suddenly, and deep fear flashed across them: "You mean...?"
Liu Guogong nodded and sighed: "Except for our Emperor, who else has this ability!"
"But...he's dead." Ye Guogong said with certainty.
There was also a look of doubt in Liu Guogong's eyes.
He is also very sure of this point. On the day when Shengjia died, because of his and Ye Guogong's special royal status, he had seen the remains of His Majesty the Emperor, and with their decades of vision and observation, he was sure that His Majesty was dead. Otherwise, they would not dare to launch a mutiny without His Majesty's death.
It's just... how to explain the reinforcements from the imperial court
Just when the two princes were puzzled, the fourth messenger cavalry galloped over.
This time, the cavalryman didn't report anything, but just presented a letter. Duke Liu took the letter and saw a bloodstain on the envelope at first sight.
The bloodstain was obviously just wiped off, and it still smelled bloody.
Mr. Liu Guo frowned, took out the letter, opened it gently, and after only one glance, his face became even uglier, or in other words, a real sense of fear appeared on his face.
Ye Guogong reached out to take it, and took a look, his hand couldn't help trembling.
The two princes of the state with deep wealth in the city were shocked by a small letter, and their expressions lost their composure.
There were only three words written on the letter.
"Death to the traitor!"
Not many words, not many words, this kind of words seem very vulgar, but in this case, they have a shocking power.
The two princes of the country have experienced countless winds and rains. Even if the words are ten times more powerful, they will sneer and dismiss them. They are not afraid of the literal meaning. What they are afraid of is the handwriting of the three characters.
They could tell at the first glance that the handwriting on the letter... belonged to His Majesty the Emperor!
His Majesty the Emperor who has passed away actually left such a letter. In other words, this letter confirms that the army outside the city was arranged by His Majesty the Emperor during his lifetime.
What a deep city!
"Who is this letter from?"
The cavalry was ordered to reply, "It was shot by the commander of the incoming army."
"What does the coach look like?"
The messenger thought for a while before carefully reporting: "He is wearing a black cloak and a golden helmet, and the humble officer cannot see his face clearly."
Duke Liu Guo suddenly realized something. He had just ordered the soldiers of the Wuzhou camp to deploy defenses on more than a dozen long streets, but after the order was issued, it was only then that he realized that the officers and soldiers of the Wuzhou camp had not moved.
"Huang Da!" Liu Guogong roared in a deep voice.
Huang Da was always not far behind him, but after calling this time, he didn't hear Huang Da's response.
A lieutenant behind him replied: "Report to the Duke, Mr. Huang has gone to deploy the army to deploy defenses."
Ye Guogong frowned and said: "Even if the army is deployed to deploy defenses, why hasn't the Manzhou army made a move yet?" He glanced at Liu Guogong with a cold murderous look in his eyes, and saw Liu Guogong was also looking at him, and the two exchanged a look. They both sensed a trace of extremely hard-to-detect suspicion in each other's eyes.
The rumbling sound reappeared, and the feeling of shaking the mountains once again descended on every rebel in the square.
Xue Poye, who was very confused at the top of the city, finally saw black cavalry rushing into the city from outside the city. The Imperial Palace is the most majestic building in Kyoto City, the tallest building. Even in the dark, it is quite clear.
Looking at the South Yumen Gate, the reinforcements held up banners that covered the sky, and in front of them were dark cavalry clearing the way, rushing into the capital city and heading towards the imperial palace.
"My lord...that's the Chu character flag, our imperial court's reinforcements!" Gong Yangyue pointed at the reinforcements flag and said, a faint smile appeared on his always serious face.
Seventy percent of Xue Poye believed that the incoming army was the imperial court's reinforcements, and his tense heartstrings relaxed slightly, but he still said seriously: "Even if it is reinforcements, I am afraid that the combined strength is not enough to fight against the rebels. The rebels are too powerful. It’s too powerful, everyone, be prepared to fight to the death.”
"Vice President Xue...something seems wrong." Pan Zhenhai frowned. He had been observing the movement of the rebel army, and suddenly noticed something strange in the rebel army formation.
Xue Poye followed his instructions and saw a very strange scene in the rebel formation.
At the end of the army formation is the Huzhou Army. At this time, the Huzhou Army has formed a formation that is different from the conventional army formation. Unknowingly, the Huzhou Army has formed a semi-arc formation. Go up to the garrison, but it seems to surround the garrison from behind, and the garrison is obviously not aware of the actions of the Wuzhou army.
Xue Poye's eyelids twitched, he exchanged a glance with Pan Zhenhai, and said in a low voice, "No...impossible?"
Could it be that the Wuzhou Army is staging the Da Chu version of Infernal Affairs? This is a crazy plan.
Xue Poye's heart beat rapidly, what kind of game is this place? Just imagine that just a moment ago, the palace was still facing the most powerful attack of tens of thousands of rebels, and it was only a matter of time before the palace was breached. But now, although it is not certain that there will be any major changes in the ending, many details have been faintly revealed. This caused a subtle change in the situation of the rebellion.
The reinforcements arrived, the Manzhou army acted strangely, the Habayashi army was stationed in the palace, and the garrison... !
Just as the reinforcements were getting closer and closer, the Wuzhou Army did another thing that surprised everyone. Their main general, the Governor of Wuzhou, had circled to the rear of the Wuzhou Army at some point. Under the escort of a general of the Mingzhou camp, holding a bow and arrow in his hand, he shouted loudly: "The Holy One has a decree, the guards are rebellious, and they will kill without mercy!" Before everyone could react, they had already bent their bows Nocking the arrow, the arrow shot out with a "swoosh", and shot at a garrison commander.
The commander did not react at all. When the sharp arrow came, there was no reaction at all. It entered from the back of the head and exited from the forehead. The commander immediately fell off the horse and twitched twice on the ground. Down, it does not move.
Before the garrison could react, several commanders of the Wuzhou army shouted: "Kill!" He took the lead in beheading the garrison soldiers around him.
Not only did the garrison not expect, even the soldiers in the Wuzhou camp did not expect that their superiors would slash at their allies. All they did was follow orders. That's all, until this time, they suddenly understood the orders given by the commanders before the expedition.
"Wherever my knife cuts, you cut it there. Don't ask why, and don't show mercy, because... if you don't cut them to death, they will cut you to death!"
So the Qizhou army was just startled, but quickly slashed the big knife in its hand at the garrison army of the alliance a few minutes ago.
In the blink of an eye, hundreds of guards died in front of the palace, and the marble square was immediately stained red with blood.
The two dukes didn't panic. They already knew that there was a big mistake in their plan. Although they were shocked, they would not really panic in the face of sudden changes.
They understand a truth very well, once they panic, the end of the garrison will come.
They still have tens of thousands of guards in their hands. At this moment, even if they fall into a huge well-designed trap, they still have the capital to make a final fight.
After all, the garrison is not an ordinary army. They are the elite army of the Great Chu Kingdom. They have suffered sudden changes, but they have not messed up their formation.
"The rear army has changed to the front army, and the front remains unchanged. Kill the rebels!" The garrison order sounded.
As a result, the soldiers of the garrison also shot at the Wuzhou army with their swords and spears. There was a sudden sound of killing in the rear of the square.
Seeing this sudden change, the prince on the top of the city was full of surprises and said loudly: "Okay, you guys... go out and help them."
Xue Poye said indifferently: "His Royal Highness, the situation is unclear, we must not act rashly... who can guarantee that this is not a trap set by the rebels?" play.
The prince cast a vicious glance at Xue Poye, but he also had to admit that at this time, it is the best policy to protect the palace honestly first. As for the battle under the city, let's wait and see the progress.
The fourth prince's face turned blue.
Huang Da came here on his own initiative, and he was extremely courteous. He also tested it a few times to confirm that this person really took refuge in him. The fourth prince was very proud of being able to gain the power of an army of one family.
It's just never expected that at the most critical moment of the battle situation, the Manzhou army rebelled, and Huang Da rebelled.
The fourth prince still can't figure out why Huang Da rebelled? The situation is obvious. At this time, the Fourth Prince is powerful. Even if the imperial court has reinforcements, the chances of winning are very high. Once he wins, Huang Da, as a meritorious minister, will definitely get a big reward.
But he betrayed.
For the prince? Of course it is impossible, the prince is too weak, even the weak ones cannot support the wall, and it is impossible for the prince to have such a powerful scheming and means to lurk the Qizhou army among the rebels.
Who is that for? Who in this world can drive Huang Da
His Majesty the Emperor? This is of course a very good explanation, but His Majesty the Emperor is dead, and it is impossible for Huang Da to give up his great future for the sake of a dead emperor's order.
The fourth prince's mind was in a mess, and he suddenly felt a little cold in his palms.
The Garrison Army and the Manzhou Army fought desperately in the square.
Huang Da's eyes shone with an extremely confident light. That kind of light made people think... that the rebel army will be defeated, and the court will eventually be the winner.
Why did Huang Da have such confidence
At this time, the reinforcements carrying the "Chu Character Banner" had passed through more than a dozen streets, and thousands of cavalry were divided into more than a dozen long dragons, and they rushed to the chaotic battle group without hesitation.
The infantry behind them blocked more than a dozen street intersections, making it easy for people to think of the phrase "catch a turtle in a urn".
The reinforcement cavalry obviously knew that the Yanzhou army was their own. They shuttled across the space, and their sabers slashed at the garrison. The impact of thousands of cavalry caused heavy casualties and chaos to the garrison.
Xue Poye on the top of the city sighed, and murmured: "The mantis catches the cicada, you must know... the oriole is at ease!"