Martial Arts: Start with 100,000 Xiliang Cavalry

Chapter 145 The fire illuminates Beijing, fate is determined (34)

Haizhou and Xuzhou are across the river.

The Xuzhou Legion had arrived in the capital a long time ago, and at this moment there were Xuzhou soldiers participating in the melee on the central long street.Haizhou soldiers, on the other hand, took a boat to the east of the capital via the East China Sea and entered the capital.

Zhou Cheng had been waiting for this army for a long time.

It was Zhao Zhiguang who instructed him to lead the Haizhou army to participate in the battle of defending the city.

Zhao Zhiguang previously concluded that Emperor Qingxiang would definitely have doubts about Zhou Chong after passing through Fu Chengyang.At this time, if Zhou Cheng showed himself vigorously, the probability of robbing Qingxiang's favor would naturally be higher.

And is there any way to express yourself better than actively leading troops to participate in combat.

It's just that he really didn't expect that the capital would be breached so quickly.

So much so that when Zhou Cheng led the Haizhou Corps to arrive, they had to collide head-on with the Bei'an Army on the central long street.

At this time, on the front line, the defenders of the capital had almost been defeated, and Li Gui was powerless to recover. Most of the members of the Li family were killed, but there was no possibility of changing the situation of the battle.

Even if Zhou Cheng led the Haizhou Corps to come, it was just a delay.

Thinking of this, Li Gui couldn't help but feel sad. His Li family's famous name for generations will be ruined by this generation. This made him go to the Nine Springs. How could he have the face to meet his ancestors?

"Old General Li, how did the war become like this?!"

Zhou Cheng went to Li Gui and asked, but Li Gui shook his head and remained silent.

Haizhou soldiers came quickly, but collapsed even faster.

The reason is very simple, the defenders of the capital city have been "science popularized" by Li Gui before, and they are psychologically prepared for Su Yuan's "unusual technique".But Haizhou soldiers did not. When they saw the enemy's wounds healed and saw the skeleton soldiers get up, one can imagine what would happen.

The corps that came across the sea by boat was almost collapsed with the Bei'an Army, which Su Yuan didn't expect.

"The combat effectiveness of Haizhou soldiers is so weak?"

He didn't know that the Haizhou soldiers had been on the boat for several days, and they were dragged by Zhou Cheng to fight such a tough battle without rest after landing, and their physical strength was no longer enough.Being frightened like this again, there is no reason not to be defeated.

The defeat of the Haizhou soldiers fled back one after another, and the guards in the capital, which had been able to support for a while, also completely collapsed.Like an infection, the soldiers scrambled and ran back, completely losing the courage to fight.

It’s over.

When Li Gui saw this situation, his heart was ashamed.

"Your Highness!"

At this time, the imperial guards arrived and came to Zhou Cheng's side, and said anxiously to him: "Please follow me and leave immediately!"

"Okay, go to the palace!"

Zhou Cheng is not stupid, the army has collapsed, and they are still here waiting to die?Back to the inner city of the palace, maybe there is still a way to survive.

However, the Imperial Guard shook his head and said, "No, Your Highness, we are going to the East City Gate, and take a boat at the ferry!"

"By boat?" Zhou Cheng was taken aback.

Li Gui was already mentally prepared and said, "The Holy Majesty is going to abandon the capital and escape by boat."

As soon as he finished speaking, his eyes froze suddenly.

In the direction of the inner city, the sky suddenly brightened!
It was still late at night, and the red light that illuminated the sky was undoubtedly a flame.

"The palace is on fire!" Zhou Cheng also exclaimed when he saw the flames rising into the sky.

The Imperial Guard remained silent for a few seconds, and said, "Your Highness, the Holy Majesty has passed away. The Holy Majesty's last will is to burn down the capital."

"what!"

Zhou Cheng and Li Gui spoke in unison.

"Please hurry up, Your Highness! It will be too late!"

The Imperial Guard squad stopped talking and forcibly took Zhou Cheng away.One of them did not forget to say to Li Gui: "General Li, hurry up and go to the ferry. All civil and military officials will be evacuated, so naturally there is your place on the ship."

"My position...hehe."

Li Gui looked at the imperial guards who led Zhou Cheng away, and smiled wryly.

"A defeated general, what else is there to live for? My Li family would rather die in the fire with the capital, than just live in mediocrity!"

With a long roar, he turned around to look at the surging Bei'an army, drew his sword and said, "May the dead follow me!"

He was still arrogant, but no one responded.

"Humph!"

Zhao Yun rushed to the front, faced Li Gui desperately, mercilessly, and sent a single shot.

puff……

Li Gui's chest was pierced by a silver spear, and then he was provoked by Zhao Yun.

"The coach is dead! You will surrender and not kill!"

With Li Gui's death like this, the other soldiers no longer had the desire to fight, nor did they want to run away, and they knelt down and surrendered.

Su Yuan had also come down from the city wall at this time, and he saw the sky-high flames of the inner city from above, and he already realized what happened.

"Full speed to Dongcheng!"

He had already guessed that the old man Qingxiang would abandon the capital to escape, and it was not worth giving up, but he even set fire to it. This is really shameless, but it also fits the character of the old man.

Su Yuan must not be reconciled to letting those high-ranking officials and nobles go by boat like this. He and Zhao Yun led the cavalry to pursue at full speed.

When approaching the inner city, the fire had already spread. Not only the royal palace, but also many houses were burned down. Some people were burnt to death in the room before they could escape from the room.

Many people were burned by the flames, struggling and screaming and rolling on the ground. Many people were choked to death by the billowing thick smoke. There were endless screams and cries, and the whole inner city was as terrifying as a purgatory on earth.

"Let me catch them, I will flay these bastards alive!"

Su Yuan's eyes were red, and he left a large number of soldiers to help save people and put out the fire.When a house burns, it burns. Saving people is the most important thing.

As for himself, he and Zhao Yun led some light cavalry to continue the pursuit.

When chasing to the East City Gate, there were still some defenders staying here, Su Yuan was merciless this time, and asked Mei Lanzhuju to kill them all with a sword, rushed out of the East City Gate, chased all the way, and encountered many carriages on the road .

Most of the carriages were wealthy businessmen, they were the last group to escape, Su Yuan didn't care about them, just continued to speed up, when the ferry appeared in sight, two big ships were getting on people.

Some of them saw the Su Yuan cavalry, and immediately shouted: "The Bei'an army is chasing you! Hurry up!!!"

"Wait, I haven't gone up yet!!"

"Anchor! Anchor!"

Everyone panicked and hurried to leave the boat.

Some things have been transported up, but people have not yet gone up.Some people have gone up, but things haven't gone up yet.

But when it is a matter of life and death, it doesn't matter if the property is still below, and the first thing is to ensure that people can get on the boat.The boatmen also quickly lifted the anchor and rowed to let the boat leave the ferry.

Those who didn't have time to go up were so anxious that they simply jumped into the water, hoping to grab the hull and climb up.A man, disregarding his wife and children, jumped off himself, grabbed an oar, and let the boatman pull him up.

"Let go! Dog!"

The boatman was also in a hurry to run for his life at the moment, so he called out to the boatman next to him, and the latter immediately swung his oar and hit the man on the head.

With a loud bang, the man let go of his hands and sank to the bottom of the sea, leaving his wife and children crying helplessly on the shore.

Su Yuan watched the boat go from a distance, and was so anxious that he could not help it. When he got to the ferry, the two boats had rowed 300 meters, and the other boats were destroyed and could not be used.

"Damn!"

In his haste, he immediately summoned the eight-ox crossbow. He himself pulled the reel, Zhao Yun and other soldiers also pulled it, and fired the crossbow spears at the traveling ship.

There were not enough crossbows, so Zhao Yun simply stuffed his own silver spear in it and fired it out together!
Whoosh whoosh!

More than a dozen spears were fired, seven or eight of them hit one ship, and two hit another.

The one that hit seven or eight of them stopped visibly with the naked eye, and the people on it could be seen keeping busy. It was obvious that the bottom of the boat had been poked and leaked, and the water could not go away.

And because the other one was not pierced through the bottom of the boat, it could still move forward, so Su Yuan could only watch it leave without help.

He was really pissed off, but right now he had no boat in his hands, so there was nothing he could do.

"My lord, don't worry, at least one boat is left behind." Zhao Yun said, "The lord will catch all the people in the other boat sooner or later."

"……Um."

Su Yuan exhaled, what Zhao Yun said was right, at least he left one.He must be very angry if both boats were gone.

As for the one that ran away, it only ran away temporarily, and sooner or later he would be caught.

……

On the boat that escaped by chance, everyone had lingering fear for the rest of their lives after the catastrophe.

Fortunately, it wasn't their boat that was leaked by the crossbow gun, otherwise they would have left them behind... What would be the consequences if it fell into Su Yuan's hands?Just thinking about it makes my scalp tingle.

Fortunately, fortunately, His Highness did not board that boat!

Prime Minister He Zhongping was on this boat at the moment, looking at the pale Zhou Cheng, he felt terrified in his heart.

If Zhou Cheng got on that boat... the new crown prince would probably have to be replaced.

He walked up to Zhou Cheng and respectfully said, "His Royal Highness, please don't be overly sad. We will be safe when the ship arrives in Haizhou."

"..."

Zhou Cheng experienced ups and downs so quickly that he didn't know what to say at the moment.

After holding back for a long time, he said: "Father finally... made me the crown prince?"

"Yes."

"Father, he..." Zhou Cheng had a complicated expression, and put his head in his hands, "But now, the capital has been lost, I, the prince, what else..."

"Your Highness!" He Zhongping suddenly yelled, waking Zhou Cheng up, "Although the capital is lost, there are still ten prefectures in Great Zhou, even if Su Yuan conquers Qin and Xu prefectures, Your Highness will still occupy the eight southern Qin prefectures." The land in the eight prefectures of Qinnan is fertile and the people are rich, why is Your Highness worried about being decadent? Please cheer up!"

After receiving such a drink, Zhou Cheng felt as if he had just woken up from a dream, and his expression gradually became resolute.

"What the prime minister said is right! I must not be decadent and make mistakes. The emperor entrusted me with a heavy responsibility. I have to work hard, train soldiers and horses, and one day beat the Qinjiang River and regain the capital and states. Only in this way can I be worthy of my father's trust! I am worthy of my father's trust! Great Zhou ancestor!"

He Zhongping finally showed a smile when he heard the words: "Your Highness has great ambitions, this is really a blessing in misfortune."

Zhou Cheng nodded, looked around the boat, and said worriedly: "It seems that many court officials are not on this boat. Lu Guang, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, Feng Shilang of the Ministry of Officials, Shen Shilang of the Ministry of Industry..."

After he made such an inventory, almost half of the court officials were absent.No doubt they all stayed on the other boat.

He Zhongping remained silent.It was better for them to stay than for Zhou Cheng and himself to be left behind.

This is all destiny, if you want to blame it, you can blame your own bad luck, not others.

(End of this chapter)