People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 1616 Wang Xiaojie, died in battle
The four gates of Lanzhou City were open, and one could vaguely see the frightened people inside.

The flood rushed in from Shanzhou, and when it reached Lanzhou, its power was seriously insufficient. At most, it rushed into the city and flooded some land.

If Yanhai Lake and all the rivers along the way could be blocked, and there was another half month of heavy rain, it would not be a problem for the flood to completely destroy the city of Lanzhou, but that is no longer possible now.

Li Xuan rode his horse and stood in the west of Lanzhou City.

Outside the west gate.

More black-armored cavalrymen were gathering on the mountain road behind him.

On the Huangshui River beside them, a number of flat-bottomed ships sailed along the river directly towards the north of Lanzhou City, and finally quickly blocked the North City and East City gates.

All the soldiers encountered along the way either dropped their weapons and lay on the ground, or were killed directly.

The soldiers under Li Xuan were terrifyingly determined.

It's like racing against time.

Surrender or die.

There is no third way.

Fortunately, the right guard water soldiers were not strangers to these left guard soldiers, and with no way out, more and more people surrendered.

Only the South City Gate was not occupied by any soldiers.

The people in the city were rushing out of the south gate in a panic. Fortunately, there were no soldiers chasing them. Although they were a little panicked, it had not yet reached the point of being trampled.

Li Zhu, Li Gu, Cui Ding, Ren Enci and others gradually gathered behind Li Xuan.

……

“Coming from the west, you must enter from the west, then exit from the east, and step into Longxi in one step.” Li Xuan looked up at the sky above the west city of Lanzhou.

Perhaps because the flood came from the west, the people in the west city ran away the earliest and very few stayed behind.

Now, it's almost silent.

Eerily silent.

Li Zhu, Li Gu, Cui Ding, Ren Enci and others fell completely silent at this time.

Li Xuan sighed, retracted his gaze from the sky, turned to look at Cui Ding, and said: "Send people to climb in from the northwest corner of the city wall, then wet the houses in the northwest corner with water, and then set them on fire!"

"Yes!" Cui Ding immediately turned around and left, and a team of Jinwu Guards followed him away.

Li Xuan turned to look at Li Gu and said, "Have someone throw the burning wet wood along the west wall. Don't stop."

"Yes!" Li Gu immediately turned around and left with his men.

The rest of the people were fully aware that there was something strange in this West City.

And it was on this road that Li Xuan took to enter West City.

Countless cavalrymen galloped back and forth, and the road from Lanzhou to Longxi had been completely cut off.

Li Xuan could even hear the sound of galloping cavalry coming from Hezhou in the distance.

Li Xuan was somewhat surprised when Ma Sizong was defeated by Qu Chongyu. Is Ma Sizong so incompetent?

But once Ma Sizong was defeated, Li Xuan no longer had to worry about Hezhou, especially after Li Duozuo was transferred there.

After all, Li Duozuo and Li Xuan had fought their way up the ancient Yellow River Road together.

He was very familiar with that road.

So when they came down from the plateau again, Ma Sizong couldn't resist at all. At this time, they had already come out from Hezhou.

Some of them went to Lanzhou, some went to Dingxi, and the last part went to Tianshui.

Once they captured Tianshui, they would only have Qizhou as an obstacle between Tianshui and Chang'an.

But Li Xuan could completely ignore Qizhou and head straight for Chang'an, as Qizhou did not have many troops at all.

Li Xuan raised his head and saw thick smoke rising wildly in the west city of Lanzhou.

There seemed to be endless flames burning in the smoke.

The people further away saw this scene and couldn't help but cover their mouths with tears in their eyes.

From a distance, Lanzhou West City looked like it had been set on fire.

The temperature between heaven and earth was also rising rapidly at this moment.

At this time, waves of chaotic footsteps finally appeared in the West City.

Especially near both sides of the central main street.

Li Xuan shook his head with some sadness and said, "He would rather choose to ambush and kill me here than destroy the granary in the rear and then escape. At least when he reaches Dingxi, he still has some support. His hatred for me is really extraordinary."

If Wang Xiaojie went to the granary, he would definitely cause chaos and even delay Li Xuan's journey to Dingxi.

By then, with the help of Dingxi City, he will be able to hold on for a while.

After all, they still have a lot of troops in Ganliangshasu.

There are even Tianshui's 10,000 Zuo Tunwei troops and 10,000 You Wuwei troops in the rear, which can still compete with Li Xuan.

Li Gu and Ren Enci did not speak. Li Xuan smiled and said, "Perhaps it is because he knows that Dingxi and Tianshui cannot stop me. Li Gu, dispatch 2,000 Right Guards to enter the city from the west gate. If anyone tries to stop us, kill them all."

"Yes!" Li Gu did not hesitate at all. The next moment, two thousand soldiers of the Right Guard in black clothes and black armor entered Lanzhou City first.

Shield, crossbow, spear, and black armor.

Under Li Gu's command, the Right Guards rushed to the streets without any hesitation and the Left Guards appeared.

The sound of fighting suddenly rang out.

The sound of people falling to the ground continued to be heard, and blood soon flowed on the street.

The smoke gradually dissipated.

One by one, the soldiers of the Left Guard were killed in the street.

Even if someone hid in the house, they would be quickly dragged out and stabbed to death.

Wang Xiaojie's ambush and killing technique completely failed.

The dangers on both sides of the street where Li Xuan was walking were completely eliminated by the soldiers of the Right Guard.

Only in the middle of the street, there were a dozen left guards escorting Wang Xiaojie as he retreated quickly.

But unfortunately, although they had armor on them, they had no shields. Faced with countless crossbow arrows, countless soldiers could only fall down one after another.

In the end, only Wang Xiaojie was left.

On the long street and on the roofs on both sides, countless crossbows shot densely from above, left, right, and below.

The huge force brought by countless crossbow arrows was so great that Wang Xiaojie was hit in the foot by an arrow after he held on for a moment... There was only a pause, and the next moment, more crossbow arrows had already hit Wang Xiaojie.

At this moment, Wang Xiaojie raised his head and stared at Li Xuan outside the west gate.

At this moment, Li Xuan slowly rode his horse into Lanzhou City.

For a moment, a trace of helplessness flashed through Wang Xiaojie's heart.

Why, why do people like them never get good opportunities?

A black crossbow arrow flashed past Wang Xiaojie's last swing of the spear and pierced straight into his forehead.

In an instant, all Wang Xiaojie's movements stopped.

……

On the long street, Li Xuan urged his horse forward slowly and calmly came to the body of Wang Xiaojie.

Looking at his old friend with unwillingness in his eyes, a trace of sadness flashed through Li Xuan's heart.

His achievements are not in the present, but in the future.

The senior generals of the Tang Dynasty had passed away, and the only reserve generals were Li Xuan, Heichi Changzhi, Li Duozuo and Wang Xiaojie.

Heichi Changzhi and Li Duozuo were of foreign origin, while Li Xuan was from the royal family. In the future, when the emperor weighs the military power of the world, the only person he can rely on is Wang Xiaojie.

But he couldn't see this clearly at all.

Li Xuan raised his eyes and said calmly, "Don't move anything, just put him in the coffin. Also, find his seal of the Left Guard General and give it to Tang Zhenxing. With Tang Zhenxing as the Left Guard General, call Hua Dazhi to come and tell him to send a message to the Ganliangshasu army, telling them that I have already entered Longyou and will go to Chang'an soon. The overall situation has been decided."

"Yes!" All the soldiers bowed in unison.

Li Xuan urged his horse calmly and said, "Go forward, join the Right Army Guard, threaten Dingxi, and at the same time order Anxi Protector Wang Fangyi to take the opportunity to charge into Tianshui and completely cut off the retreat of the troops in the northwest."

"Yes!" All the generals bowed their heads at the same time.

Li Xuan slowly urged his horse and began to speed up on the streets of Lanzhou City.

From the west of Lanzhou, walk directly to the east of Lanzhou.

Finally, we came out from the east city of Lanzhou.

In an instant, fresh and familiar air rushed into my breath.

Longxi, Longxi.

The land of Longxi is already within Li Xuan's sight.

Now, one third of the troops under Empress Wu are in Longxi.

With Li Xuan's current strength, as long as he can completely absorb this force, the comparison between his and Empress Wu's forces will be balanced.

Take Longxi and march into Chang'an.

March into Chang'an and threaten Luoyang.

Step by step.

"Gee!" Li Xuan shouted coldly, and the next moment, he rushed forward madly.

……

On the black banner, tens of thousands of cavalry followed Li Xuan and rushed out of Lanzhou City.

Ma Sizong of Hezhou on the right was defeated by Qu Chongyu, Tang Zhenxing and Li Duozuo.

Ganliang Shasu's military strength was totally unexpected. In just one day, the 30,000 troops under Wang Xiaojie, Hua Dazhi and Min Wengu were suddenly defeated.

Their army, after attacking the mountain several times, was flooded and attacked by the navy led by Li Xuan. Only a little over 10,000 men were left. It was a disastrous defeat.

In the end, even the food and military equipment stored in Lanzhou all fell into Li Xuan's hands.

After Qu Chongyu, Tang Zhenxing and Li Xuan reunited and Nan Ju also took charge of Lanzhou, Hua Dazhi immediately led 5,000 cavalrymen towards Ganliangshasu.

Hua Dazhi originally came from there and is more familiar with it than Lanzhou.

The only person he needed to deal with was the Dunhuang Governor Linghu Mou.

Li Xuan was not worried that Hua Dazhi would betray him again, because in fact he no longer had any more choices.

Min Wen Gu and Wang Xiaojie all died at the hands of Li Xuan, and only Hua Dazhi survived.

Especially for those who find it difficult to understand Li Xuan's water attack technique, Hua Dazhi's betrayal may be easier for them to accept.

In fact, the reason why Li Xuan was not worried about Hua Dazhi's betrayal was because he believed that as long as he quickly took Dingxi, Tianshui and Chang'an, Hua Dazhi would be the most loyal person to him.

At that time, Hua Dazhi also believed that he was absolutely loyal to the orthodoxy of the Tang Dynasty.

Twenty thousand cavalrymen gathered together and charged towards Dingxi City at an incredible speed.

These are the troops under Li Xuan that have temporarily entered Longxi. There are more cavalrymen charging out along the ancient Yellow River Road and Shanlan Mountain Road.

The further back in time went, the more troops Li Xuan had under his command.

……

Dingxi City is a place with undulating hills and spreading mountains.

The Guanchuan River and the Xi River converge outside Dingxi City, forming a moat, which finally bypasses the city and becomes the Dong River, flowing to Tianshui.

Lanzhou in the northwest, Taozhou in the southwest.

A strategic location in Longxi.

Countless cavalrymen gathered behind Li Xuan, and in front of them was Dingxi City. The wooden bridge over the moat had been lifted high.

The city walls were full of soldiers defending the city.

"There were originally 5,000 soldiers in the city, but when Ma Sizong escaped from Hezhou, he took 3,000 with him and then fled into Dingxi City." Tang Zhenxing whispered to Li Xuan about the situation in Dingxi City.

"Ma Sizong is incompetent in fighting, but he is absolutely first-rate at escaping." Qu Chongyu's face was full of disdain.

Li Xuan smiled calmly, drove his horse forward slightly, raised his head to look at the top of the city wall, and shouted loudly: "Brother Ma, come out, I know you are there."

On the top of the city wall, Ma Sizong's expression changed slightly behind the parapet.

He felt annoyed. He didn't know why, but no matter where he was, Li Xuan always knew he was there.

"King Peng." Ma Sizong finally stood up and looked straight at Li Xuan under the city. He couldn't help but grit his teeth and asked, "Where is Wang Xiaojie?"

"He died in the battle." Li Xuan said calmly, looking up at Ma Sizong and said, "Brother Ma, open the city. I promise that I will never hold your family accountable for what happened to you."

Ma Sizong clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, saying, "Does Your Majesty really think he has a sure win?"

Li Xuan raised his head calmly, looking past Ma Sizong towards the direction of Tianshui City behind him, and said softly: "Anxi Guard King Fang Yi and Right Army Guard General Li Duozuo have already rushed to Tianshui. I can now send 10,000 people to Tianshui. How long do you think it will take me to take Tianshui?"

(End of this chapter)