Tang Dynasty Mingyue Song Dynasty Pass

Chapter 687 Jinling Falls

In Jinling City, there was the sound of fighting everywhere.

The Song army invaded the city very bravely, like wolves rushing into a herd of sheep. Song cavalry and infantry were seen charging in every street.

If the strong men came out to join in the fun, they would be accidentally injured, causing blood to flow in the streets and corpses everywhere.

Some of the main roads were the places where the armies of the two sides clashed, and the sound of fighting came from the entire street, different barracks, and yamen.

Thick smoke was billowing, and some soldiers of the Song Army had already set fires everywhere, and the wailing of the common people sounded, because a torch fell into the house and ignited the houses.

In order to stop the Song Army, some soldiers of the Tang Army pushed wooden carts full of firewood and lit them on the street, thereby blocking the Song Army's attack.

In order to attack each other, the two sides used all kinds of methods, such as archery and setting fire, which caused the entire Jinling City to be in chaos.

The Tang army constantly mobilized the soldiers and horses in the city to counterattack, trying to recapture the west city gate. However, the Song army overwhelmed the formation several times. Door.

Once these two city gates are breached, then Jinling City will be completely lost.

At this time, the North City Gate and the South City Gate, although not yet broken, are also in jeopardy, because the soldiers of the two city gates heard the sound of fighting everywhere in the city, and their morale was frustrated. They felt that the Tang Dynasty was finished and Jinling was about to fall, which had a great impact on morale.

After half a day of fighting, at noon, the north city gate was broken, and Li Jixun led the Song army into the city.

Soon, the south gate was also broken in the afternoon, only the east gate was continuously attacked by Wu Yue's army, and the other three gates were taken down one after another.

Seeing that they were powerless to defend, some Tang troops also began to abandon their armor and surrender.

At dusk, the Song army suppressed the Tang army in the city and took control of most of the official mansions. Soldiers and horses gathered outside the palace city and surrounded the palace. There were [-] imperial guards inside, which were also the Imperial Forest Army guarding the palace. However, At this time, his face was ashamed, because the five thousand Imperial Forest Army could not compete with the tens of thousands of Song Army outside the city.

The palace wall cannot be compared with the outer city wall, and it is not a place for combat and defense. The food and grass in the palace are limited, which cannot support them for a few days, and the families of these Imperial Guard soldiers are also in Jinling City, which will make them feel tied. Dilemma, worried about his family, threatened and hacked by Song Jun.

At this time, Cao Bin and Pan Mei led troops into the city, and also came outside the Nantang Palace, and asked the soldiers to shout inside to let Li Yu go out of the palace and surrender, otherwise, they would shoot random arrows into the palace and set fire to the entire palace. Let all the people in the city be buried with him.

Zheng Bin, the commander of the Yulin Army, changed his face after hearing the words, and quickly passed the news to Li Yu in the palace.

At this time, Li Yu was talking to several concubines in the palace. He also had a premonition of the fate of the country's imminent subjugation, so he was explaining to the women, intending to let them disguise themselves as court ladies and leave in the chaos, but the concubines wanted to follow Li Yu With the total death.

Li Yu sighed: "Why are you doing this? Jiangshan Sheji is about to be lost now. As the royal family of Li Tang and the owner of Sheji, I should give my life for this subjugated country to protect the dignity of my ancestral temple. You are just women, my concubine, how How can I let you all go to Huangquan with me? I plan to take some precious calligraphy and paintings and authentic jade articles, which are all my favorites, and I will burn them all together and bring them to Huangquan, not to leave it to the Song army thieves!"

"Official, you have to calm down!"

"Yes, we can surrender to the Song army without going to die."

"If the officials are going to die for the country, we have to follow. Even if we die, we have to be together."

These concubines Jiang, Baoyi Huang, concubine Liuzhu, and palace servants Qiao, Qingnu, Xue Jiu, Yi Ai, Maiko Mi Niang, etc., were all crying and crying, saying some words that they would die for their love and reluctance to give up. .

Li Yu was moved by what these concubines said at the moment, and was wavering, and when he was sobbing, Zheng Bin, the commander of the imperial guards, ran in and reported to Li Yu.

"Reporting to the officials, the Song army has surrounded the palace. Give us a moment of incense, and ask the officials to surrender at the gate of the palace. Otherwise, General Cao Bin, the leader of the Song army, will order to shoot arrows and burn the palace. The guards, maids, and eunuchs all died here."

When Li Yu heard it, his face changed drastically. Although he had the heart to show his ambition by death, he still hesitated after all. Just now, he said the words of martyrdom in front of the queen and concubines. He still lacks the courage to really go to die.

"If you don't surrender, burn down the palace and let everyone be buried with you?" Li Yu muttered to himself, after thinking twice, his heart softened, and he decided to go out of the city to beg for surrender.

In this way, at least the lives of his queen, concubine, and prince can be saved. It doesn't matter if he dies alone, but he can no longer drag down the relatives in the court who get along with him day and night.

Li Yu sighed, and after dressing up and wearing the crown, he said to the commander of the imperial guards: "Let's go, I will see Cao Bin in the past."

"Official, please be more careful."

The Empress of the Great Zhou Dynasty and the concubines were all crying bitterly, with sadness and worry on their faces.

Li Yu nodded, then followed the commander of the imperial guards to the gate of the palace.

Resistance is meaningless, so Li Yu directly ordered to open the city gate.

Li Yu took Feng Jian, the chief eunuch, and Zheng Bin, the commander of the imperial army, out of the palace gate together, and walked to Cao Bin's horse.

Cao Bin watched Li Yu go out of the city, nodded slightly, knowing that his threat had worked, and Li Yu had no determination to die at all, so he came out of the city to beg for surrender.

Sure enough, Li Yu walked up to Cao Bin's horse with no expression on his face, bowed his hands and said, "Li Yu, the king of the Tang Dynasty, has met General Cao Bin, the commander of the Song Army."

Cao Bin did not dismount, but sat upright on the horse's back, condescending, and assumed the posture of a winner, which was related to the glory of Song Dynasty.

However, Cao Bin did not overly humiliate Li Yu, but just said lightly: "Li Yu, the power of the Tang Dynasty is exhausted. Today is the day when you represent the Tang Dynasty and surrender the whole country to the city. Do you have any objections?"

Li Yu was trembling, with tears in his eyes, but he did not object, and his voice was slightly choked up: "Li Yu has no objection, and is willing to surrender. I hope that Song Dynasty will stop fighting and enter my Jinling City, and he can also treat the people in the city well and reduce killing. In the future, they will He is also a citizen of Song State."

Cao Bin nodded and said: "Okay, since you didn't make the last resistance, then the casualties on both sides have been reduced, so I can agree to your request. I will restrain the three armies, and I will not burn, kill, plunder, bully the people, and protect your Li family royal family." Are you satisfied with the ancestral hall?"

Li Yu breathed a sigh of relief, cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, General Cao, for understanding righteousness."

Cao Bin sighed lightly, looking at Li Yu who was off the horse was also a little pitiful, but a poor person must have something to hate.

The huge Jiangnan vassal state was wiped out in just a few months, and there are still a large number of state capitals in the south, which have not been mobilized, which shows that this person has no political vision.

If Li Yu had foresight, when the Song army was pressing, he should go south and choose the southern hinterland, the terrain that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, temporarily move the capital there, and then mobilize local soldiers and horses to block it, and it can be delayed for another year or two, or even wait If the Song army's supply is insufficient, it will push out of the south of the Yangtze River, withdraw and go back.

It is a pity that Li Yu does not have this strategic thinking and long-term vision. He has been huddled in Jinling City, relying on the prosperous land of the Yangtze River defense line, greedy for pleasure, without any precautions and retreats, which caused such a speed of subjugation.

Although Cao Bin looked down on Li Yu in his heart, he knew that even though he was fatuous and incompetent, he heard that he had a talent for poetry, and he loved and sympathized with the people of the Tang Kingdom.

"Li Yu, the general will give you one night. You can go back to the palace and decide to take a few people to the north. I will lead troops here to pick you up tomorrow and seal up the palace treasury."

Cao Bin's meaning is obvious, that is, to give Li Yu one night to prepare, so that he can say goodbye to the ancestral hall, say goodbye to the concubines, choose which ones to take to the north, which ones to dismiss, and even let him choose some valuables to accompany him, so that he can go to the north Can get by.

After this farewell, there is a high probability that Li Yu and others will not be allowed to return to Jiangnan. If they go to Bianjing, even if they are not beheaded, they will be placed under house arrest and will not be free for life. This is the fate of a subjugated king.

"Thank you, General Cao!" Li Yu also understood the deep meaning of it, and was very grateful to Cao Bin. After saying goodbye, he took the guard commander and chief eunuch back to the palace city, and closed the palace gate again.

Shi Shouxin asked Cao Bin, "Why did General Cao give him one night? If he goes back and commits suicide, wouldn't we not be able to catch a living person, so we might as well capture him on the spot just now."

Cao Bin sighed: "Since Li Yu went out of the palace gate to talk to us and surrender, after returning, he has no determination to commit suicide. After all, it is the character of a woman's benevolence. Without the courage of fierceness and swiftness, there is no need to worry. Don't worry. Bar."

The generals listened to Cao Bin's analysis, although they had some doubts in their hearts, but since the coach said so, they stopped talking, and it depends on whether Li Yu will keep his promise and come out alive with his family in the early morning of tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)