serious man in the red chamber

Chapter 455 Before the decisive battle

Two days passed in the blink of an eye. In order to capture the Purple Mountain as soon as possible, Li Chengyang sent out his own troops and more than [-] elite troops to repeatedly attack the battlefield. However, he failed to do so despite the stubborn resistance of the officers and soldiers.

Balls of artillery fire from the Purple Mountain Fort bombarded the crowd of rebels, and immediately some rebels were blown up.
Chinese army camp
In front of the sand table, the generals of each battalion stood silently.

The old Nan'an County Prince seemed to be injured, his clothes and armor were damaged, his face was bruised and bruised, he was sitting on a chair nearby, his eyebrows furrowed.

In just two days, Li Chengyang suddenly lost a lot of weight. His eyes were filled with bloodshot eyes. He paced back and forth in front of the sand table. After a while, he said irritably: "How long will it take to capture the Purple Mountain?!"

All the generals looked at each other, and no one said a word.

At this moment, Li Chengyang's trusted lieutenant rushed in and knelt down to Li Chengyang: "Commander, the defenders' artillery fire is too fierce, and our brothers can't attack."

Li Chengyang: "Have all the leading generals withdrawn?"

The lieutenant general said: "Come back to the commander-in-chief, they have all been withdrawn."

Li Chengyang's eyes turned cold: "Behead them all! Send some more people. If they can't capture the Purple Mountain, I'll kill them all!"

The lieutenant general said with a look of amazement, "Yes!" He replied and hurried out.

Li Chengyang flicked his sleeves, walked quickly to sit on the dragon chair in the middle, and said to the old Nan'an County Prince: "We can't delay it any longer. If we can't capture the Purple Mountain before noon, we will set fire to the mountain! I can't control that much."

The old Nan'an County Prince closed his eyes
For a moment, the sound of artillery in Zijin Mountain was deafening, and fireworks were soaring into the sky. The rebels charged again. At the end of the day, the rebels, who had been unable to attack for a long time, set fire to the mountain. The fire ignited in the eastern foothills of Zijin Mountain. The fire spread throughout the entire area in an instant due to the wind. The fortifications on the mountain were extremely strong, but the defenders could not bear the smoke and fire, so they could only break out of the encirclement and retreat into the city.

The fire quickly spread to the entire Purple Mountain, including Longneck Mountain.

Li Chengyang originally planned to set up artillery on Longneck Mountain, bombard the Taiping Gate from a high position, suppress the officers and soldiers on the city wall, and then take the opportunity to dig a tunnel outside the Taiping Gate to attack the city. The fire helped him capture the Purple Mountain, but it also ruined his plan. .

Li Chengyang stood by the tent and looked into the distance, and squeezed out a few words through his teeth: "Only the ants are attacking the city."

The old Nan'an County Prince and several lieutenants stood behind him and trembled.

Ant attack means that soldiers climb up the city wall one by one like ants. This attack method is inefficient, weak and causes heavy casualties.

However, the ants attacking the city in Li Chengyang's mouth did not refer to soldiers, but to the people of Waiguo City.

Li Chengyang turned around: "What do you think?"

Several people were silent and lowered their heads.

A feeling of loneliness came over him, and Li Chengyang was startled for a moment, and then showed a hint of fierceness: "It's okay if we don't drive the people away. Do you have any other ideas?"

Everyone slowly lifted him up. The old Nan'an County Prince looked at Li Chengyang and opened his mouth a few times.

Li Chengyang was angry and said coldly: "If you have anything to say, just say it!"

The old Nan'an County Prince said: "Today is the day Jia Hu agreed to have a decisive battle."

Li Chengyang looked straight at him.

Old Nan'an County Prince: "I just made a calculation. Even if we successfully break through the Taiping Gate, we won't be able to rush in too many soldiers and horses. A lot of people are consumed here. We can only watch groups of elites charging into the battle. The result is a group of elites. Another group has fallen, unable to attack for a long time, and falling into a passive situation! When things have reached this point, you might as well, might as well..."

Li Chengyang looked at him, waiting for what he would say next.

Old Nan'an County Prince: "The reason why I agreed to the commander's attack on Zijin Mountain is to rebuild the morale of the army. Now that the goal has been achieved, we can fight Jia Hu decisively!"

After a pause, "If we attack the city, there will be a situation of attrition. Jia Hu can afford it, and he can drag us to death."

Li Chengyang's eyes turned to the lieutenants again, and they all knelt down.

Li Chengyang was startled for a moment, then started walking back and forth quickly, then stopped suddenly and said to the old Nan'an County Prince: "Go to the study and draft a letter of challenge for me to challenge Jia Hu."

The old Nan'an County Prince replied: "Yes." He turned around and walked towards the back tent.Watching the old Prince Nan'an disappear through the study door, Li Chengyang's eyes were filled with confusion for the first time.
At this time, Taipingmen was in full swing. Jia Hu ordered people to build urns inside the city wall and dig deep trenches to prevent the rebels from attacking through tunnels.Therefore, even if the rebels blow down the city wall, it will not be easy to enter Jinling City.

The wind was blowing loudly, the fire was raging, the fire burned half of the sky red, and the heat wave could be felt on the city walls!
It was at this time that Jia Hu and Shi Nai stood side by side on the Taipingmen wall.

Jia Hu: "It's a nice mountain, but it's a pity."

Shi Nai smiled: "Li Chengyang is desperate!"

Jia Hu: "If Li Chengyang is willing to fight again, should we accept the fight?"

Shi Nai thought for a while and replied: "If the red-haired ghost's intelligence is accurate and the rebels have insufficient morale and disordered morale, they will definitely be defeated. After a few days, most of the rebels will be destroyed, and we can easily defeat them." Rebels.”

Jia Hu: "What if Li Chengyang drives the people outside the city to attack the city?"

Shi Nai was startled when he heard this, and then gritted his teeth: "There is no one who will not die in a war! No matter how hard the people are, the military and national affairs can be forgiven by the people."

Jia Hu turned his head and looked deeply at Shi Nai: "From a military point of view, you are right. But from a political point of view, everyone can watch the rebels drive the people to attack the city, but I can't! Also, I can't! , I also need a fair and square victory to strengthen myself, stabilize people's hearts, and increase my political chips."

"But the rebels still have at least 30 troops, and our army does not have the advantage."

"No but!"

Jia Hu interrupted Shi Nai with a wave of his hand, "Tell me, how should we fight this battle?"

Shi Nai smiled bitterly: "The Liaodong Army and the Southern Xinjiang Army are both elite field armies of the imperial court, and the generals leading the troops are also veterans on the battlefield. This is a fierce battle, cavalry versus cavalry, infantry versus infantry, and gunmen. Against the Fire Gun Soldiers, it depends on who can win first!"

At this moment, Jia Yun came over with a letter and bowed to Jia Hu: "Commander, this is a letter sent by the rebels. It says it is Li Chengyang's letter of war." As he said this, he handed over the letter The letter was presented.

Jia Hu took the letter, opened the seal and read it. After reading a few lines, his face darkened.

Shi Nai and Jia Yun both looked at Jia Hu in surprise.

Jia Hu handed the letter to Shi Nai, "Li Chengyang said that if he doesn't leave the city for a decisive battle, he will kill all the people in Waiguo City tonight."

Shi Nai was shocked when he took the letter and said, "This beast!"

Jia Hu said to Jia Yun: "Go and tell all the camp leaders to go to Ningrong Street and wait for me to raise the camp to discuss matters!"

Jia Yun cheered up and said, "Yes!" She turned around and strode away.

Jia Hu looked at the Purple Mountain that was swallowed up by the fire again, his eyes reflected a blazing fire, he closed his eyes and said, "Let's go back to Ningrong Street!" After saying that, he turned around and walked down the tower.

The group of people were galloping towards Ningrong Street when they came face to face with a horse on horseback galloping towards them.

The horse gradually approached, with Lin San sitting on it.

Jiahu Le stopped his horse.

When Lin San saw Jia Hu and his party, he quickly reined in the reins.

Lin San got off his horse, ran to Jia Hu, and said in a trembling voice: "The little emperor is dead." He took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Jia Hu.

Jia Hu's heart skipped a beat. He took the letter, tore open the seal and read it. His eyes suddenly widened!

Shi Nai opened his eyes and looked at Jia Hu closely.

After an unknown amount of time, Jia Hu came to his senses and said to Shi Nai: "Feng Tang and his son colluded with the Korean Tatars to rebel, and the little emperor died in the rebellion."

(End of this chapter)