Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 287: Insufficient Strength

"kill!!!"

Yang Zhong was wearing armor and angrily hacked at the soldiers in front of him.

Although Yang Zhong was over fifty years old, his physique was still as strong as ever. He managed to knock several soldiers in front of him off the city wall.

Many sections of the Lingwu city wall have been turned into rubble and ruins. Fighting was going on everywhere, and the outer walls were almost all breached. The Qi people even stood on the outer walls and shot at the Zhou people.

The Zhou people became ruthless and scattered lamp oil and weeds between the two walls. They then shot with ignited arrows. A raging fire broke out under the city. The charging soldiers screamed and rolled over, trying to extinguish the fire.

However, in this season, this fire cannot last too long, and it is unrealistic to kill too many enemies.

The gap on the west side is already very large.

The enemy's tunnel soldiers dug many gaps under the west city wall, causing a large section of the west city wall to collapse.

Yang Zhong also sent people to release smoke into the tunnel, placed iron thorns and chevaux de frise at the collapsed city wall, piled up stones on wooden frames, and compacted them with water and mud.

The sunset is blood red.

Yang Zhong chopped again, staggered, and almost fell down. The personal soldiers beside him hurriedly supported him.

The whistling sound of arrows was heard, and the arrows flew past Yang Zhong's ears. Yang Zhong and others hurriedly squatted down, and the soldiers who had no time to dodge fell to the ground with howls.

Yang Zhong's helmet fell to the ground, and his hair was disheveled.

The whole person looked like he had crawled out of purgatory, his face was covered in blood, one of his eyes could not be opened at all, the corners of his mouth were swollen, and the whole person was almost unrecognizable.

He sat on the ground, gasping for breath, struggling to get himself up and looking around for the situation.

The Qi people were repelled again.

But the city walls were littered with corpses.

Those were not just the bodies of soldiers, but also those of many civilians and common people.

Yang Zhong took a deep breath, dropped his knife with holes all over it, picked up his spear, and stood up using it as a support.

All that could be heard from all around were cries and groans.

Yang Zhong looked around blankly, then looked into the distance again.

The enemy is searching for wounded soldiers and clearing the battlefield.

"Treat the wounded and reinforce the city walls."

Yang Zhong gave an order, and his personal soldiers helped him to a flat place and asked him to sit down. Someone wiped his face and then treated his wounds.

Yang Zhong leaned against the wall at a loss, allowing the military doctor to treat his wounds.

His whole body seemed to be numb, and he didn't even feel any pain when the doctor fiddled with his wounds.

The doctor carefully helped him clean his face. Looking at Yang Zhong's white hair, the doctor burst into tears.

The generals are coming.

Tian Hong and another young general sat next to Yang Zhong.

Tian Hong wiped the blood off his face without saying a word. The young general lowered his head and sobbed slowly.

Yang Zhong suddenly laughed.

"Liu Taozi suffered a lot of casualties, right?"

Tian Hong whispered, "Not a small amount, much more than we have anyway."

"This brat still values ​​me as much as ever. He would rather kill me than let all his elite soldiers die!"

"Are you afraid of me to this extent?!"

"Hahaha~~"

Yang Zhong smiled, but suddenly he started coughing violently.

Tian Hong said coldly: "When he first captured Yongfeng, it was the same. He sent out his entire army to attack and keep the Duke."

"Cowardly rat!!"

"If I also had 30,000 men under my command, would I allow him to push me to this extent?!"

Yang Zhong cursed subconsciously, and suddenly said: "However, the siege is getting better and better. This kid is so bold that he uses me to train his troops?"

Tian Hong's face was full of fatigue. "Duke, if the reinforcements don't come, I will die with the general tomorrow."

"What? Can't bear it anymore?"

"I really can't bear it anymore. I originally thought that today would be the day I would die. Today is already a lucky day. Tomorrow, I really can't bear it anymore."

"Reinforcements. Reinforcements."

Yang Zhong lowered his head and murmured a few words.

He suddenly laughed, "I thought that although Yuwen Hu was mediocre, he could still distinguish things clearly and would not make stupid mistakes in such important matters."

"I didn't expect that he would actually be willing to abandon Lingwu."

"I overestimated him and underestimated Liu Taozi."

"I thought he would divide his troops to plunder Lianggan, and disperse part of Lingzhou's troops to the western garrison town in advance. Even when he came to attack us, I thought he wanted to trap me and then send people to attack Lianggan. Hahaha, I didn't expect that he really came for me. I am more important than Lianggan!"

"You are such a jerk, attacking Lingwu at all costs. What a jerk!"

Yang Zhong stopped talking, and the city wall became quiet again.

The sounds of crying and groaning from all around could be heard faintly.

Yang Zhong's expression gradually became resolute, and he looked at the two people in front of him.

"I underestimated the enemy, which is why I ended up like this. If reinforcements don't arrive tomorrow, you should surrender the city."

"Cut off my head and give it to Liu Taozi, maybe you can save your life."

Tian Hong is a stern person, always with a stern face, and everything he says sounds very serious.

He shook his head and said, "Duke, I have changed the monarch several times in the past, but this time, I don't want to change it again."

"If the city is lost, kill a few more bandits before you die."

Yang Zhong was about to speak.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom~~"

The sound of war drums could be heard faintly in the distance.

Everyone was horrified, and Yang Zhong struggled to get up. The young general hurriedly helped him up, and everyone looked into the distance.

"General!!"

"Reinforcements!! They are our reinforcements!!"

The young general was almost in tears at this moment.

In the dim sky, a large-scale army could be seen emerging in the distance. Although the distance was very far, the generals recognized at a glance that they were their own people.

They swept across the entire plain in a mighty force, with knights on both sides and infantry in the middle, adopting a standard attack formation and slowly moving towards this place to the orderly beats of drums.

The Qi soldiers under the city wall also looked a little uneasy at this moment. They shouted, and some cavalry quickly rushed out of the camp and began to form a battle line.

The two generals were overjoyed at this moment, and even the soldiers who survived by chance roared loudly.

The next moment, the Zhou soldiers quickly changed their formation. They sped up and rushed towards the Qi camp.

Yang Zhong's eyes widened, he looked up at the sky, his lips trembling.

"How dare the four-region coalition forces attack the camp at night?!"

"Who is the commander?!"

"Give them a military order!! Tell them to stop!! Stop!!"

Yang Zhong roared madly.

The young man had not yet reacted, but Tian Hong reacted quickly and rushed to the top of the city wall.

At the same time, behind the army that was charging over.

Hou Longen rode on his warhorse, his eyes bloodshot, and he also shouted angrily: "Who told him to charge?! Who told him to charge?! Retreat!! Stop!!"

At this moment, the front army had already started fighting with the enemy.

Hou Longen cursed so harshly that his whole body was shaking, and almost all the scouts were knocked out.

The sky was growing darker and darker. The general's flag had lost its effect. The army, which had been in neat formation, was now like a flock of sheep, running around in all directions. The generals could not find their own troops, and there were roars and shouts of killing everywhere.

Yang Zhong ordered his men to light torches, and he was staring outside the city.

The battle situation outside the city became increasingly blurry until it could no longer be seen clearly, but one could still hear the shouting and see the faint glow of fire.

Yang Zhong's forehead was full of blue veins and his whole body was trembling.

As long as tens of thousands of troops are deployed outside the city, Liu Taozi will not dare to attack the city. At that time, he can only choose to fight with the reinforcements or retreat. What a good situation this is.

But now?

Tens of thousands of troops from different regions were engaged in a head-on battle with the defenders stationed in the camps under the pitch-black sky.

"Is it Yuwen Hu himself who is leading the troops to support us?!"

Yang Zhong couldn't think of anyone else except Yuwen Hu who could possess such superb command skills.

But it was all in vain. Given the current situation, Yang Zhong could not go out of the city to fight, nor did he have the ability to do so.

He could only pray that his side would have fewer casualties and not collapse completely. Yang Zhong did not sleep a wink the entire night.

The next day, the sky gradually began to brighten.

Outside the Qi camp, there were corpses scattered everywhere, almost piled up into a small hill. The distribution of the corpses was very irregular, and some even appeared under the city wall.

The soldiers under Liu Taozi were cleaning up the battlefield in an orderly manner, but his reinforcements were nowhere to be seen.

On the official road of Huizhou.

Hou Longen stood there, holding the horse in his hand. He was extremely tired, his eyes were red and bloodshot. In the distance, defeated soldiers were constantly returning here. The army was in chaos and disorder. It was impossible to tell who was who between the generals and the army. The command system had completely collapsed.

Yuwen Zhi stood aside, somewhat unconvinced.

"General, why did you kill my personal soldiers?"

Hou Longen slowly turned his head and looked at Yuwen Zhi. He did not answer the other party's question, but the murderous intent in his eyes was looming.

"Lord Chongye, why did you send troops on your own?"

"The Art of War says: Treat the near with the far, treat the rest with the tired, treat the full with the hungry. This is how to manage strength. The enemy has just finished attacking the city and is at its weakest. If you don't attack in time, won't you miss the opportunity?"

"Good opportunity?"

"Since this was a good opportunity, why didn't Lord Chongye cut off Liu Taozi's head?"

"It's too dark. I can't see."

Hou Longen clenched his fist several times and released it several times. He no longer paid attention to Yuwen Zhi, left the place directly, and continued to send people to gather the troops.

Because Yuwen Zhi and Hou Longen were late for many days, he did not dare to wait any longer and wanted to appear outside the city wall as soon as possible. On the one hand, he wanted to boost the morale of the defenders in the city, and on the other hand, he wanted to force the enemy to stop attacking. This led to him approaching the battlefield when it was almost dark. Then Yuwen Zhi suddenly launched a charge in the front army, and things became what they are now.

Hou Longen frowned at this moment.

The enemy's combat effectiveness was far stronger than he expected. Even without Yuwen Zhi, it would be difficult to defeat Liu Taozi with the troops under his command.

And now that we have suffered another crushing defeat, I don’t know how many defeated soldiers I can gather, and Lingwu cannot be lost.

Hou Longen had no choice but to lead his personal soldiers and cavalry to the outskirts of Lingwu City to harass the enemy's army before they had a proper rest and prevent them from easily breaking through the city.

Unfortunately, the morale of the defenders in Lingwu City has completely collapsed.

Li Qinhu led the light cavalry to fight against Hou Longen, while the rest of the armies attacked the city again.

Ladders were set up on the city walls, and the gentle slopes in various places could be used to directly reach the city walls.

Liu Taozi, wearing heavy armor, led everyone to the city wall.

This time, the fresh troops who had been well-rested joined the battle, and the Zhou army was quickly defeated. Even Yang Zhong could not defeat the increasing number of enemies in front of him, and under the protection of his personal soldiers, he kept retreating.

The Zhou soldiers were driven off the city wall, and Yang Zhong and others continued to fight with the Qi people in the alley.

They gave up their long weapons and fought with short weapons, retreating all the way to the government office.

When the city wall was completely destroyed, Hou Longen knew that the situation could not be changed, so he had to lead the cavalry to evacuate.

Yang Zhong and others were completely trapped in the government office.

Yang Zhong was guarding the door of the government office with a knife in hand, and there were only about thirty people left by his side.

The Qi soldiers kept rushing in from the gate. Yang Zhong fought and retreated, retreating to the backyard, and even to the inner room, refusing to give up resistance.

The soldiers surrounded the inner room and aimed their crossbows at it.

"Whoosh~~"

"Whoosh~~"

Crossbow arrows flew everywhere and screams were heard from the inner room.

Potala rushed here in a hurry, kicked the door open, and led the soldiers in.

There were many dead bodies lying in the house. At this moment, Yang Zhong was sitting on the ground with his back against the wall. He had several arrows hanging on his body and was gasping for breath.

The soldiers looked at him in fear and dared not step forward.

Just as Potala was about to give the order to capture him, he heard many soldiers rushing towards him from behind. He turned around and saw Liu Taozi walking quickly through the soldiers towards him, so Potala stepped aside.

After entering the inner room, Liu Taozi looked at Yang Zhong who was opposite him.

Yang Zhong also looked at Liu Taozi.

"The old general was defeated because of Yuwen Hu."

"If the old general is willing to surrender, we can kill Yuwen Hu together in the future."

Yang Zhong grinned and looked at Liu Taozi with disdain, "If you want to kill me, just kill me. Why are you talking nonsense?"

Liu Taozi looked at him calmly, lowered his head, and kicked out, and a knife was kicked to the side of Yang Zhong.

"Your knife is broken."

"use this."

Yang Zhong stretched out his hand tremblingly and picked up the knife painfully. He looked at Liu Taozi coldly.

"Don't think that you can be free from worries if you kill me."

"There are so many famous generals in the Great Zhou. As long as there is a wise leader to lead them, how can the people under your command compete with them?"

"If I can kill the general, I can kill them too. Don't worry, old general."

Liu Taozi replied immediately.

Yang Zhong paused, raised the knife in his hand, and said sadly: "It's not that I'm sparing my strength, it's that I'm not strong enough!"

"Shua~~"

The knife flashed and blood spurted.

Yang Zhong fell headfirst to the ground.

Potala stared at Yang Zhong angrily, gritting his teeth, "Brother, this old villain killed many of my people. Please allow me to chop off his head and show it to the soldiers as a sacrifice to the dead!"

Liu Chengcai stepped forward in a hurry and said, "Brother, Yang Zhong died for the country and should not be humiliated."

Before Liu Chengcai finished speaking, Liu Taozi threw the sword to Potala, who stepped forward with the sword to cut off his head. Liu Chengcai was a little surprised. Liu Taozi slowly said, "He died for the country, and so did all my subordinates."

Liu Chengcai was speechless and had to bow and retreat.

Lingwu had been reduced to ruins, and Liu Taozi's army was clearing corpses and debris here, with no intention of moving forward.

Liu Taozi's army also suffered heavy casualties this time, and those who survived also needed rest.

In the government office, Liu Taozi sat in the upper seat, and soldiers were stationed at various entrances and exits.

A man with his face wrapped in cloth walked up to Liu Taozi with his head lowered. After everyone left, he hurriedly took off the cloth.

"Your Majesty, your ... servant Zheng Daoqian pays homage to you!"

Zheng Daoqian's face was filled with guilt at the moment. He maintained the posture of saluting and explained, "My king, please forgive me. I have made many attempts, but there is no way to open the city gate from the inside. It is difficult to pass on the message. I can only make some changes in logistics, but it doesn't work. The heavy casualties of the army are all due to my inaction."

Liu Taozi shook her head and said, "Mr. Zheng, please stand up."

"This time, if Duke Zheng had not informed us that Yang Zhong had transferred the troops from Lingzhou, we would not have dared to send troops so quickly, and we would not have won the victory we have today."

"This is all due to the merits of Duke Zheng."

Zheng Daoqian repeatedly said he dared not.

"My lord, I have another idea."

Hou Longen had no choice but to retreat at this moment.

The army that came here has become what it is now because of an improper night attack. Hou Longen was afraid that Liu Taozi would send troops to attack after resting, so he had to lead his troops back to Huizhou.

As he was retreating, Hou Longen felt an indescribable feeling in his heart.

The Duke of Jin underestimated Liu Taozi. The people he gave him were not elite troops, and there were also three groups of local soldiers. It was impossible for him to repel Liu Taozi with these people.

At least 40,000 elite troops are needed to drive Liu Taozi out.

Now Lingwu has been lost, but Liu Taozi and others have also paid a lot of price. If the Duke of Jin could take this foolish son away and send some elite troops over, there might still be a chance to take Lingwu back.

After all, all the spiritual weapons have been destroyed now, so Liu Taozi and others can only remain as they are for a period of time.

Hou Longen thought as he walked, and sent several scouts to inform the news here.

When he arrived at Huining City, the city gate was wide open and knights rushed out and stood guard on both sides.

Hou Longen rode his warhorse and swaggered towards the city gate.

At this moment, Hou Longen suddenly realized something was wrong and he reined in his horse.

He looked at the knights on his left and right and asked coldly, "Where is your governor?"

"He didn't come to greet me?"

The knight didn't say anything, and the next moment, a knight suddenly rushed out of the city gate.

The knight was riding a tall warhorse, wearing a scary mask on his face and holding a lance in his hand. He looked at Hou Longen majestically.

"Who are you?!"

"Lanling King Gao Changgong!!"

"I've been waiting for you here for a long time!!"

"kill!!!"

(End of this chapter)