roccoschili Chapter 222 Something bad happened
Chapter 222 Something bad happened
King Huai was a little prince who appeared weak and timid.
In fact, he is also extremely cruel. To him, no matter how many people die, it is not as important as the throne.
Even he didn't care about the death toll.
The civilians were just forced to flee, had no combat experience, and were all panicked. How could they possibly be a match for the Beijing Army? Even though the Beijing Army had not been training for a long time, they were still soldiers carrying weapons.
What's more, there were tens of thousands of guards capable of fighting, which resulted in heavy casualties among the able-bodied men who climbed onto the city walls.
Of course, they relied on their numbers, rushing forward in batches, and were constantly consuming the military strength of the Beijing camp.
No one can withstand the human wave tactics.
Duke Dingguo was furious. If he had known this would happen, he would have opened the city gates and led tens of thousands of troops to fight the so-called King Huai.
He even sent someone to deliver a letter to the emperor in the palace, hoping that Emperor Wu would send the Imperial Guards over and draw 5,000 elite soldiers from the city walls out of the city, which would be enough to defeat all these unruly people.
But Emperor Wu directly refused and just asked him to defend the city and wait for reinforcements.
The old emperor still doesn't know how many elite troops King Huai has.
He only knew that King Huai led so many troops, and there must be at least 50,000 or 60,000 elite soldiers.
Even if they were just some ordinary strong men who had trained for two months, they could fight if given weapons. He didn't want to waste his last trump card, the Royal Guards, on such things. Otherwise, if he lost, his life would really be gone.
Since the emperor did not agree, the Duke of Baoguo had no choice but to order his men to defend the city desperately and fight against the waves of strong men rushing up.
The two sides fought until it was dark, and King Huai saw that the city had not been taken yet.
Under the persuasion of others, he had no choice but to withdraw his troops.
He knew that if the fighting continued, these night-blind people would have no chance of breaking through the city, and it might even make things worse.
However, King Huai saw hope and felt that he could definitely capture the capital tomorrow.
Likewise, in the capital, there were heavy casualties today, even though they were facing able-bodied civilians holding all kinds of weapons.
But these people had no way to retreat and could only fight them to the death, which made the soldiers stationed for defense very unlucky.
Duke Baoguo waited until King Huai retreated, then went to the palace in person to report to the emperor.
King Huai's army did not have many elite soldiers. They were just a group of miscellaneous soldiers armed with all kinds of rags. As long as they went out of the city for a decisive battle and fought face to face, King Huai's army would collapse.
But the old prince refused outright: "Don't act rashly. The rebel is just waiting for me to send the army out of the city to fight him. I won't be fooled. You just have to defend the city."
"I will have Jingzhao Prefecture send more able-bodied men to you, and I will also have someone urge Old Six to come south immediately to provide support."
Duke Baoguo had no choice but to leave. He wondered why the emperor, who was so brave in the past, became so timid now.
What a good opportunity, but it was missed.
It seems that the emperor is really old.
Emperor Wu looked at the departing figure of Duke Baoguo, took a deep breath, and stared towards the north with a leisurely gaze: "Sixth Brother, please don't let me down."
"If I cannot return before the palace is breached, I will have no choice but to drag you two princesses with me to the afterlife."
On the morning of the second day, King Huai generously provided all the able-bodied men with enough food and water, and brought a large number of siege equipment that had just been made the night before, as well as tens of thousands of able-bodied men, back to the city wall.
The soldiers on the city wall all knew that a decisive battle had begun on a new day, but they felt frustrated yesterday and today was the same, so everyone was unhappy.
King Huai told several commanders: "I command you to capture the capital today. Everyone can be granted a title, otherwise everyone will be killed."
All the commanders promoted by him promised on the spot that they would break through the city wall as soon as possible.
However, just as the battle between the army and the Beijing troops on the city wall began, someone came running up on a fast horse, panting and shouting, "Your Majesty, it's not good."
King Huai was watching the battle between the two sides in the capital intently. He looked over at the man and frowned, "Why are you so alarmed?"
When the man arrived, he said in panic, "Your Highness, the 50,000-strong blocking army in the north was defeated by the Beijing troops coming south this morning."
"What?" King Huai couldn't believe it. "The 50,000-strong army in the north was defeated?"
"Where's Liu Zhen? Didn't he promise to help me stop the army from the north?"
Liu Zhen was his most trusted elite commander and also the top general of the Prince Huai's Palace.
He thought that leading an army of 50,000 would be enough to stop the remaining remnants of the little guys who had just fought a fierce battle with the Fang family army. Who knew that they would be defeated in the blink of an eye.
The man who came to report the news said dejectedly, "General Liu led an army of 50,000 men and just engaged in a decisive battle with a large army advancing from the south. However, our army collapsed at the first contact and was pursued for over ten miles. We suffered heavy casualties, and General Liu was killed in the chaos."
King Huai almost fell off his horse, and his guards immediately supported him.
After a while, King Huai gritted his teeth and said, "Liu Zhen is an incompetent wretch. With 50,000 troops, he couldn't even stop a group of remnants."
"Emperor Gaozong." King Huai shouted to the generals around him.
A general wearing elite armor stepped forward and bowed: "I am here."
"I will give you another 50,000 troops. Immediately march north to stop them. Do not allow them to take a single step south."
Gaozong did not accept the order in a hurry, but said: "Your Majesty, can you give me 10,000 elite vassal soldiers? Otherwise, I am not sure I can stop them."
"How can we waste the vassal kings' troops here?" King Huai angrily said, "They are the foundation of my struggle for the world. The ones to the north are just a bunch of remnants with little fighting power. What's there to be afraid of? My 50,000-man army is more than enough."
Gaozong had no choice but to lead several hundred of his own guards and the 50,000-strong army that he had called out to the north to block the enemy.
King Huai breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Emperor Gaozong could stop the little brat heading south for one day, this crumbling capital city would be breached.
But before noon, Gaozong ran back again, and even his armor was gone.
King Huai frowned and said, "Emperor Gaozong, what's wrong with you?"
Gaozong, sitting on his horse, cried in great distress, "Your Highness, I led a large army north to stop them, but they were too powerful. Our army was easily defeated. Countless men were running around, and it was impossible to organize them."
"Waste!" King Huai roared, "You are such a waste, what use do I have to you? Come, chop him up."
"Your Majesty, you can't."
"Your Majesty, wait."
The counselors immediately tried to stop him, and one asked Emperor Gaozong, "General Gao, how many troops are going south?"
Gaozong was terrified. He didn't want to be beheaded now, and was waiting to become a duke after the prince ascended the throne.
He immediately explained, "Your Highness, the troops heading south number 50,000 strong, all of them well-armored, and they even have several thousand cavalry."
"How is that possible?" King Huai said in disbelief. "How many soldiers did he take with him, that little bastard? And how could he still have so many troops after defeating that useless old man Fang Chengyu?"