Chapter 377 Chess Player (IV)

Now that Xiao Yan had given the order, it would be unforgivable for the imperial guards to deploy their troops and cause chaos below. The hundreds of soldiers on Yingtian Gate did not hesitate at all. Relying on the advantage of their armor and the fact that they were on a city wall nearly 15 feet high, the threat of arrows from below was minimal. So they all stood in front of the gap in the battlements and shot downwards.

In addition to these hundreds of bows and crossbows, dozens of crossbows were also fired indiscriminately at the crowd of imperial guards. Among the hundreds of arrows were dozens of spear-shaped arrows, which flew straight into the seemingly endless imperial guards under the city.

When the arrows fell into the crowd, the soldiers of the Imperial Guards could still use their shields to defend themselves, but the arrows shot from the crossbows could easily shatter the wooden shields when they flew into the crowd. If the Imperial Guards were arranged in a tight formation, the arrows could even pierce through several people in succession, nailing them to the ground and killing them instantly.

Just now, the imperial guards were so angry and humiliated that they fired a wave of bullets at Xiao Yan, but their formation was still in disarray.

Some of those who thought they were brave stood in the front with nothing in their hands, while the soldiers holding shields knew to form a formation to protect the surrounding area tightly. However, the “bang bang” sound of bowstrings on the city wall instantly merged into a continuous muffled sound, and arrows with heavy arrowheads shot down from high above, forming a dense rain of arrows without almost aiming.

Arrows kept falling from the city walls, hitting targets one after another. Although most of the imperial guards were wearing armor, or leather armor if they didn’t have iron armor, these arrows hit their faces, necks, arms, and thighs. Wherever they hit, bright red blood immediately splashed. No matter if the soldiers who were shot screamed or endured the pain and just groaned, they all immediately sought cover to hide, and the ranks were scattered for a while.

No one could have imagined that there were already dozens of crossbows waiting in the palace. These weapons were not very accurate but extremely powerful. When fired in tandem, they could actually achieve a sweeping effect. Once fired, large groups of imperial guards fell to the ground in succession. The bloody scene was extremely tragic.

Fortunately, the imperial guards were indeed elite. Even though they had suffered more than a hundred casualties in an instant, they still quickly shrank and gathered together under the leadership of the officers, trying to form a tighter horizontal formation. They used shields to resist arrows falling from high altitudes and used battering rams to cover the city gates. At the same time, long ladders were also protected and carried to the city walls, obviously intending to storm.

As a result, many arrows shot down from the city walls were indeed blocked outside the shield wall. Countless imperial guards rushed towards the city walls like crazy at the command. As for the huge arrows shot down from above that pierced through the shields and nailed people to the ground, they could only leave it to fate.

Behind the siege team, the imperial guards’ archery team took out bows and arrows to shoot at the Night Warriors on the city wall. Even the stone cart began to shoot fireballs towards the Yingtian Gate, but the hit rate was too touching.

The wall of Yingtian Gate is 40 feet high, and 10 feet including the que tower. The depth of the gate is nearly 80 feet. For the attackers, it is extremely intimidating both psychologically and visually. In addition, when they got close to the wall, the Ye Bushou on top began to throw huge rocks, rolling logs and boiling water down, with a high hit rate and more lethality than arrows. Therefore, even with siege equipment, the offensive of the imperial army seemed to make almost no progress for a while.

Niu Cunjie was so anxious that he was turning back and forth in the back. Especially when he looked up, he saw Xiao Yan standing there in the distance, looking down at the place indifferently. He did not retreat a single step, as if he regarded the thousands of imperial guards under the city as nothing more than chickens and dogs. Niu Cunjie was even more shocked and angry.

“No, we can’t continue to be in a stalemate here.” Niu Cunjie gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice: “Xiao thief is fearless and obviously has a backup plan. When my spy hurried back from Hulao two days ago to deliver the news, the Guide Army was already rushing towards Luoyang. It is possible that Xiao thief saw that the Guide Army was coming and brazenly launched the incident tonight!”

He looked at Yuan Xiangxian and Kou Yanqing fiercely and said in a low voice, “Once the Guide Army arrives, we will all be finished. There will be no place to escape!”

“Yingtianmen City is high and strong, what can you do?” Kou Yanqing sneered.

“Damn it.”

Niu Cunjie cursed loudly, but suddenly spurred his horse forward, drew the sword at his waist, pointed it at Xiao Yan, and shouted loudly.

“All soldiers, listen to my orders, march forward bravely, and break open the city gates to rescue the emperor at all costs! Whoever breaks through the palace gates first will be immediately appointed as a military governor and rewarded with one million strings of cash! Whoever captures the thief Xiao, regardless of life or death, will be given a kingdom of his own! This is a secret decree from the emperor himself. The entire Hebei province will be made a vassal state. As long as you capture and kill the thief Xiao, you will immediately become the King of Yan!! The thief Xiao’s treasury is stocked with tens of millions of cash. If you win this battle, all of it will be a generous reward for our imperial army! If you break your promise, you can take my head!”

Such a generous reward, not to mention the imperial guards, even Yuan Xiangxian, Kou Yanqing and the court officials who were dragged here were all stunned. They all looked in amazement at Niu Cunjie who was riding on his horse with such majestic look.

There is no need to say more about capturing and killing Xiao Yan or conferring the title of King of Yan. I am afraid that no one present has the ability to achieve such a great feat, but just by breaking into the palace gate, he can be appointed as a military governor and receive a reward of one million strings of cash! Moreover, all the tens of millions of strings of wealth accumulated in Xiao Yan’s treasury are rewards for the imperial guards. Even if they are distributed to everyone, everyone can get 10,000 strings of cash!

Suddenly, a strange cry came from the imperial guards, and countless soldiers rushed to break down the door at all costs, while more soldiers rushed forward frantically, arrows raining down, all shooting at Xiao Yan.

After all, if he were to hit the thief Xiao, he might even be crowned king!

The Ye Bushou on the city wall also tried their best. The sound of bowstrings was like heavy rain. The large group of imperial guards rushed in and fell to the ground in rows. However, the imperial guards, who were furious, just raised their shields and moved forward. In an instant, they had put up several wooden ladders on the city wall.

Although the morale boosted by such a huge reward was not the right way, and was not enough to sustain a war from beginning to end, for a moment, there was a trend among the imperial guards of being willing to sacrifice their lives!

Even Xiao Yan couldn’t help but smile and said to those around him, “He is indeed a brave man, but it’s a pity that he is on the road to death.”

The people around Ye Bushou had no time to answer him. At this time, they all had serious expressions, holding bows and crossbows or rolling logs and boulders, all of which were aimed at the people below the city. Xiao Yan looked relaxed, but they could not be careless. If the city was broken, they would die, but they dared not let Xiao Yan take the risk himself!
The imperial guards fought desperately and paved a bloody path with hundreds of lives. The imperial guards, with their iron heads ramming the gate, broke through the rain of arrows from the city wall that never stopped, and finally the battering ram hit the Yingtian Gate hard.

There were several loud bangs, and the two thick palace doors began to tremble. Countless dust fell, and the imperial guards in the doorway cheered and shouted, as if they were about to break down the palace gates, rush into the palace, capture and kill Xiao Yan, and hold the emperor hostage in exchange for the wealth and glory of these first to arrive.

On the city wall, the fireballs thrown by the stone carts had already ignited the painted and colorful towers with carved beams and painted rafters. Li Mang looked serious and clasped his fists towards Xiao Yan and said, “Your Majesty, the imperial guards are very arrogant. I’m afraid that we can only rely on the advantage of the palace walls to dare to show off in front of Your Majesty. Please allow me to go out and fight, let them see what is sharp!”

There were fireballs and rockets flying in the sky, making the city walls as bright as day. Standing on it at this time, one could see that in addition to the three or four hundred soldiers on duty on the Yingtian Gate, there were an equal number of soldiers sitting on the ground inside the Que Tower, wiping their weapons and armor, waiting leisurely.

In addition to the nearly 1,000 soldiers on the city wall, inside the Yingtian Gate that was hit hard, there was a group of 500 armored soldiers holding Mo Dao standing in formation, all wearing Mingguang armor, iron armor, shoulder guards, arm guards and armor skirts to protect them tightly, and they all wore iron masks, standing there like iron towers. Not to mention that the Yingtian Gate in front of them was shaking constantly, even if the two palace gates were about to fall down at any moment, they would not be shocked or move, and they did not say a word to the deafening shouts outside, just waiting silently. Youzhou is rich in cavalry and warriors. Dingba was equipped with thousands of heavy armored infantry during the Liu Rengong era, and later all of them were taken under Xiao Yan’s command. They had fought against Li Cunxu’s Yaer Army and Feihu Army at Gaoliang River, and did not retreat even a step. They were extraordinary elite.

This time, Xiao Yan handed all of Dingbadu’s cavalry over to Tian Daocheng to lead them to rescue Fengxiang. Among them, the heavy armored infantry were all kept in his hands. They were equipped with the best armor and weapons in the Daliang treasury. Their combat power soared and was even more powerful than when they were in Gaoliang River.

If Li Mang were to lead this Modao Army to charge out, he would probably be able to tear a hole in the Imperial Guards and drive them back hundreds of steps, greatly reducing the morale of the Imperial Guards and even causing them to be defeated!
However, what Xiao Yan needed was not only to defeat the imperial guards, but also to have Niu Cunjie, Yuan Xiangxian and others take the officials hostage and escape from Luoyang, and then to raise the slogan of serving the king everywhere and tear Daliang into pieces.

He didn’t want to have to deal with attacks from these people when he was fighting against Jin Shu or Yuan Tiangang.

We must catch them all tonight! We must scare them with one blow so that they will no longer have the will to resist! We must subdue them from every angle!
He wants to make sure that there won’t be a second voice in the entire Central Plains!
So Xiao Yan just waved his hand without any anxiety, rejecting Li Mang’s proposal. Even if he had the power to fight the imperial guards and had the confidence to win, the Guide Army had not yet arrived to surround Luoyang, so he was not in a hurry.

Li Mang stood guard beside Xiao Yan sullenly, just staring at the chaotic imperial guards below the city. There were heads everywhere, all gathered together, desperately banging on the palace gate and climbing up the city wall by grabbing the wooden ladder. It was less than half an hour since the siege began, and at least a thousand corpses were lying under the city. Many of the living people were wailing in a pool of blood with no one caring. It was chaos to the extreme.

In the eyes of the imperial guards, Xiao Yan had only a few hundred men, and the city was about to fall, so some of the ministers who were dragged here were no longer waiting and watching. Some of them had already rushed to Niu Cunjie and others to offer suggestions, and some generals even patted their chests to guarantee when the city could be broken. It was unknown how many promises Niu Cunjie made to his subordinates.

Looking around, even in the entire Luoyang city, there were still countless flames heading towards Yingtian Gate.

Xiao Yan held the battlement and nodded with satisfaction. This was what he had to do. He had to let them see hope, so that all those who were dissatisfied with him but only dared to plot privately would jump out at this moment.

They all rushed to join the mutiny to overthrow Xiao Yan, so he didn’t have to be on guard against someone stabbing him in the back. After all, even if he killed people according to the list, he would still have a headache about what pretext to use.

The palace gate was crumbling and the counterattack on the city wall was even weaker. Seeing this, Niu Cunjie became even more crazy. He rode his horse in front of the formation and kept shouting orders loudly. Even his voice was hoarse. He knew very well that only if they could hold one of Zhu Youzhen or Zhu Wen hostage, they would have a chance of survival tonight.

——

Just as the sound of fighting was deafening under the Yingtian Gate, the earth-shaking sound of horse hooves suddenly rang out in the night to the east of Luoyang City, and it was overwhelming and rushing towards Luoyang.

The imperial guards stationed in the left wing camp came out of their tents and looked eastward, curious about which troops were coming. With such unrest tonight, would they really destroy the entire Luoyang?
The sound of horse hooves became louder and more frequent, like rumbling thunder, making the earth seem to tremble slightly.

In the darkness of the night, an endless stream of knights emerged, both men and horses sweating profusely.

There were also many heads hanging on the backs of the horses of the first few knights. If you looked closely, you could clearly tell that they were the heads of the main generals of the Right Dragon Army, which were previously sent to the White Horse Temple by the Imperial Guards.

Countless knights looked up and could see the sky north of Luoyang City illuminated by flames as bright as day.

The general in the lead had a cold expression on his face, and immediately gave a loud order: “Twenty commanders of the right wing, immediately go around the city to block the west gate! The traitors in the city are so bold that they dare to deploy troops in front of the King of Song. They are guilty of capital punishment! Pass on my order, no one in Luoyang City shall be allowed to escape!”

At this time, the imperial guards in the camp finally saw the “Guide” banner of the Eastern Army in the firelight, and they were all stunned. As for the generals and soldiers who had been clamoring to start a rebellion not long ago, they held their breath for a moment.

As the troops coming from the east got closer and closer to Luoyang, their figures became clearer and clearer. When I glanced over, I felt that they were endless, like a surging steel tide, as if they could drown all the guards and personal troops in the blink of an eye.

For a moment, the guards and soldiers all changed color, and some even climbed up the wall with weapons in hand to protect themselves. But the good news was that the Guide Army’s tens of thousands of cavalrymen rushed over, but they only fluttered their command flags and spread out in an orderly manner to surround Luoyang on all sides. In the camps on both sides of the Yangqu Canal, only thousands of cavalrymen were left to guard.

Such a huge cavalry, roaring back and forth, galloping in all directions, its elite spirit was not inferior to that of Ding Badu, another personal army under Xiao Yan. At this moment, the guards and personal army finally realized how much they had underestimated the Guide Army.

So this is the confidence of King Song!

When the King of Song transferred Ding Badu and marched westward away from Luoyang, all of the King of Song’s enemies in the court and the country breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that a great opportunity had arrived. But who could have imagined that the King of Song would abandon Bian Jing and recruit a Guide Army that was as elite as Ding Badu?
And even in Bian Jing, I’m afraid the King of Song also has other arrangements.

Among the imperial guards, the generals, both high and low, looked at each other in silence and could only smile bitterly.

It’s a pity that the nobles in the court thought that they could overturn the situation by joining forces with General Yang, but they didn’t know what would happen to the nobles and General Yang after tonight…

At this moment, countless loud shouts rang out instantly, rushing towards Luoyang like a rolling force.

“The Song King’s personal army has arrived, and is here to quell the rebellion!”

(End of this chapter)