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

Chapter 1648 Luoyang, miles, one step away

The sharp spear blade pierced directly through the chest of the right army guard. Blood splattered and the last right army guard was driven off the city wall.

Immediately afterwards, more soldiers of the Right Guard rushed up the city wall.

Countless crossbow arrows were shot towards the city and outside the city at the same time. The right-hand guard in the city did not expect that crossbow arrows would also fall behind him.

In an instant, people and horses were thrown to the ground.

Li Xuan stood on the city wall and waved calmly, and the right guard cavalry at the front immediately pressed forward.

In a very short time, the soldiers of the Right Army Guard were completely driven out of Xishi Pass.

But even so, more soldiers of the right army were rushing into the city gate frantically.

Even though they were pierced by spear blades, they still rushed forward with all their might, trying to keep the black-armored soldiers in the city and prevent them from breaking out.

You know, as soon as they take a step forward, there is the Luo River Plain.

From here, it is less than 160 miles to Luoyang City.

The cavalry traveled 800 miles at a rapid pace, running day and night for twelve hours.

If we talk about speed, they can reach Luoyang in less than two and a half hours.

It is only a stone's throw away from Luoyang.

It can be said that as long as Li Xuan led his army out of Xishi Pass, he would be only one step away from putting a long knife on Empress Wu's neck.

Standing on the city wall, Li Xuan raised his eyes and looked at the vast world outside Xishi Pass.

There, Cheng Wuting commanded more people to attack the city gate regardless of his life, and farther behind him, a thousand cavalrymen had quickly arrived as reinforcements.

Not only that, on the left and right sides, more cavalrymen were lying in ambush at the foot of the mountains on both sides.

As long as Li Xuan breaks out of Xishi Pass, more cavalry will immediately rush out from behind and the situation will immediately change.

In the military camp farther away, more soldiers began to carry the few siege ladders and headed towards Xishi Pass.

Along with more came countless crossbows and catapults.

Even though Cheng Wuting had not made preparations for the siege in advance, he still had some siege equipment in his hands.

Ten thousand soldiers have been fully mobilized, and in Mianchi County farther away, there are also ten thousand soldiers ready to reinforce.

If Li Xuan rushed out like this, he would probably suffer casualties.

Li Xuan had to admit that Cheng Wuting was still quite capable.

If he continues to fight, he may be able to turn defeat into victory.

Li Xuan suddenly turned his head and looked towards the direction of Hulao Pass with a sneer in his eyes.

The next moment, he turned around again, looked towards the city gate, and said in a deep voice: "Close the gate."

The order was issued quickly, and soon, the south gate of Xishi Pass was closed with a loud bang.

"Block the city gates, and each unit will take turns to go up to the city wall. The rest, rest and recuperate." Li Xuan said sideways, and Li Lang, who was following him, immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

They fought their way from Hangu Pass to Shanzhou, and then from Shanzhou to Xishi Pass.

He hadn't eaten or rested much for the entire day, and after several rounds of fighting, he had consumed a lot of energy.

There are still Cheng Wuting's 20,000 men outside, and it will be disadvantageous for them to continue fighting.

Not to mention that there are Lou Shide's 20,000 troops at Yanling Pass. If Tang Zhenxing takes Yanling Pass now, it will be fine, as he can completely tie down Lou Shide's 20,000 troops at Yanling Pass. But if Tang Zhenxing fails to take Yanling Pass, and instead allows Lou Shide to calmly dispatch tens of thousands of reinforcements, then they will be in trouble.

You know, now the entire army is relying on Li Xuan alone. If he fails, the entire army may collapse.

On the contrary, by defending the city, they can recover their strength and combat effectiveness faster.

The key is that reinforcements will arrive faster.

……

The night rain is still falling.

Cheng Wuting looked at the completely closed city gate and was somewhat surprised. The thought that Li Xuan might need to take a break did flash through his mind, but the possibility of this happening was not great.

In comparison, it would be more beneficial for Li Xuan to directly break out of Xishi Pass and head towards Luoyang City.

As soon as he arrives at the city of Luoyang, the whole world will be shocked.

Cheng Wuting raised his eyebrows and asked, "And then?"

Yes, and then, countless reinforcements rushed to Luoyang, and Li Xuan, who was alone in the deep, would immediately be surrounded and killed by countless reinforcements.

However, if he slowed down and joined Tang Zhenxing in charging into the Luo River Plain, or even if the two of them joined forces, they would be able to gain a firm foothold in the Luo River Plain.

Cheng Wuting was riding on his horse, watching the countless crossbow arrows flying down from the city wall. His men were completely shot down before they even reached the wall.

Cheng Wuting turned around and asked, "How are the arrangements for the barricades, horse traps, horse blocking ropes, and hidden crossbows going?"

"We are speeding up our efforts. The mountain pass will be covered in half an hour." His personal soldiers immediately bowed.

Cheng Wuting nodded, looked at the city wall, and said softly: "Pass the order down, reduce the number of soldiers attacking the city by half, and mainly use swords and shields."

"Yes!" The personal soldier immediately turned around and passed the order.

Cheng Wuting's gaze fell on the soldiers on the city wall, his expression solemn.

Compared to Li Xuan's men, who are almost all veterans who have fought on the battlefield for many years, Cheng Wuting's men are mostly new recruits.

Empress Wu's strategy to capture Yangzhou was to use veteran soldiers to consume the old soldiers under Pei Xingjian. After several rounds, the old soldiers under Cheng Wuting were almost completely wiped out.

Although these soldiers have fought on the battlefield several times, they are no match for the skilled veterans.

Many times, they don’t even know how they died.

There are also crossbows. Cheng Wuting did not expect that Li Xuan would come from Hangu Pass with so many crossbows and arrows, and even simple catapults and Fuyuan crossbows.

The most important thing is the heavy cavalry, which is almost invincible on the battlefield. Especially in the narrow terrain of Xishi Pass, Li Xuan has too many advantages.

Cheng Wuting's breathing became heavy. At this moment, a rolling stone flew over the city gate above the south wall and smashed heavily towards the outside.

In an instant, more than a dozen soldiers were crushed by the stones and began to wail.

But before the wailing could die down, more boulders flew out again, and with extraordinary accuracy, hitting several people each time.

Cheng Wuting understood instantly that Li Xuan had skilled craftsmen under his command, and it was extremely easy for him to command the catapult.

Cheng Wuting sighed softly and said sideways: "Order everyone to retreat within an arrow's reach of the city wall."

"Yes!" Soon, the order was conveyed, and the soldiers of the right army guard under the city wall retreated like a tide.

The city gate did not open suddenly. Cheng Wuting raised his head and a familiar figure finally appeared on the city wall.

……

In the rainy night, Li Xuan, dressed in black clothes and black armor, appeared on the city wall with a cold look.

Outside the city, countless torches were lighting up the city in the rainy night.

A hint of sneer flashed across Li Xuan's lips.

He could imagine that countless people had gone to bed early that night, but now were forced to get up again.

"Brother Cheng." Li Xuan raised his head and looked directly at Cheng Wuting who was three hundred steps away.

Cheng Wuting's brows immediately frowned. Before, Li Xuan used a fake edict of the previous emperor to destroy half of his city wall. Later, he said "revenge for Emperor Zhongzong". His soldiers rushed forward like crazy as if they were injected with chicken blood, and Cheng Wuting's men could not stop them at all.

Now that Li Xuan spoke again, Cheng Wuting felt inexplicably creepy.

Li Xuan smiled softly, looked at Cheng Wuting and said, "Brother Cheng, tomorrow, I will completely demolish the north gate of this city. What do you think?"

"Tear down the north gate?" Cheng Wuting was stunned at first, and his face immediately became completely ugly.

If there is no north gate, then this city gate will no longer have any meaning.

The city walls are so high that a large number of infantry must be used to attack them.

The mountain path is narrow, and Li Xuan's men are cavalrymen, and the most important thing for cavalrymen is speed.

From Shanzhou to Xishi Pass, all the way down, from the mountains to the Luo River Plain, the cavalry's speed can enable them to kill in the shortest time.

Anyone who rushed into the mountain road would be slaughtered by the cavalry.

With just one sentence, Cheng Wuting no longer had any plans to retake the city wall in a short time.

If we cannot completely defeat the main force of Li Xuan's army on the Luo River Plain, then there will be no point in even retaking the city.

Li Xuan looked at Cheng Wuting and said calmly, "I'm afraid Brother Cheng will lose today's battle, so I wonder if I can trouble Brother Cheng to help me?"

"What help do you need?" Cheng Wuting narrowed his eyes and looked at Li Xuan, becoming extremely alert.

"Two months ago, the Queen Mother approved my memorial. Could you trouble Brother Cheng to deliver my reply to Luoyang?" After Li Xuan finished speaking, he turned around, picked up a black longbow, put two fingers on the arrow, and in an instant, the sharp arrow shot straight towards Cheng Wuting.

With a whoosh, the arrow flew in front of Cheng Wuting, but it didn't have much power left.

Cheng Wuting grabbed the arrow, then took off the cowhide bag stuck to the arrow, opened it and took a look, and immediately found that it was a memorial.

Regardless of the rain, Cheng Wuting opened the memorial and saw two words written in blood inside: "Revenge!"

With a "bang", Cheng Wuting threw the memorial to the ground fiercely, raised his head, gritted his teeth and looked at King Peng and cursed: "King Peng, do you hate me for not dying?"

……

On the city wall, Li Xuan watched Cheng Wuting throw the memorial on the ground, and a trace of sadness arose in his heart.

He raised his eyes, looked towards the direction of Songshan, and said softly: "Brother Cheng at least has a chance of not dying, then what about Emperor Zhongzong, who will make him not die."

Li Xuan suddenly turned his head to look at Cheng Wuting, gritted his teeth and said: "In the first year of Hongdao, Emperor Zhongzong ascended the throne, diligently managed government affairs, sorted out hidden fields, reduced taxes, and pardoned the world. He did not do anything wrong to the world, the people, the officials, and the royal family.

Seeing a wise monarch about to rule the Tang Dynasty, but he died just like that, who can I go to for justice?"

Cheng Wuting immediately shut up, raised his right hand and swung it back gently.

The countless soldiers behind him suddenly retreated slowly.

Countless people couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Li Xuan kept mentioning the death of Emperor Zhongzong. It was true that Emperor Zhongzong's death was somewhat unjust, but they were annoyed after Li Xuan said so much.

Li Xuan stopped talking, raised his eyes, looked towards Luoyang, and said calmly: "Brother Cheng, you lost this battle, but how did you lose? Those people in the court will always want to know clearly, so there are some things that you can't send just because you don't want to."

Cheng Wuting's expression couldn't help but change slightly.

Li Xuan turned around, looked at Cheng Wuting, and said softly: "So, Brother Cheng, tell them that I came here to avenge Emperor Zhongzong. I am furious and will burn down Luoyang City. Revenge, revenge!"

"Revenge, revenge!" Countless soldiers stood behind Li Xuan, holding swords and spears and shouting loudly with crazy looks on their faces.

This is the reason why they say the army that mourns will win.

……

The rainy night was getting heavier and heavier, but Cheng Wuting still stood in the rain, looking up at Xishi Pass.

At his side, several deputy generals bowed and waited.

Some of what Li Xuan said was correct. He had to report today's battle situation to Luoyang immediately.

After all, this place is too close to Luoyang. Li Xuan can reach Luoyang in half a day.

But how should the memorial be written?
Do we really have to send Li Xuan's revenge petition?
"Send people to Yanling Pass..." Cheng Wuting had just said half of his words when countless cavalrymen suddenly appeared on the mountain peak on the west side of the city wall and marched westward along the mountain.

The direction they were heading was Yanling Pass.

What Cheng Wuting didn't know was that at the same time, Yue Ju also arrived at the city of Luoyang.

(End of this chapter)