Jinting Han people

At this stage of the coup, the war had completely slipped out of the control of either side, violating their original intentions.

Liu Xian had emphasized beforehand that while a coup would inevitably involve significant warfare, the consequences must be carefully considered. If the situation spiraled out of control, it would certainly affect the aftermath of the war, the righteous cause of the coup, and further exacerbate the divisions within the court. But now it seems that this is an unavoidable outcome.

When Sima Yi saw the flames burning in the west of the city while in the Eastern Palace, he couldn't help but shed tears. He cried to the emperor, "This is all my fault. After the war, I will invite eminent monks and Taoist priests to come and pray for the souls of the dead. If I cannot absolve myself of my sins and dispel my resentment, I will have no regrets even if I face the consequences of karma in the afterlife."

He then said to Liu Xian, "Lord, we can't delay any longer. We must find a way to achieve our goal in one fell swoop."

Although he didn't know the details, Liu Xian knew that this commotion must have been caused by Zu Ti, and that it had ultimately escalated into such a large-scale disaster, which was truly unpredictable. If they dragged it out any longer and Luoyang was reduced to ruins, then even if they won, it would be equivalent to losing. Therefore, even though he understood that now was not the best time for a decisive battle, he agreed to the order and replied, "Your Highness, please allow me some time to consider it."

Sima Yi's biggest asset right now is holding the emperor in his hands, which gives him the initiative on the battlefield. However, his disadvantage is also obvious: he has far too few loyal troops.

In the Eastern Palace, although Sima Yi had gathered many men to join his ranks, even half of the court officials were present, but the loyalty of many could not be trusted: Wang Yan was currently observing the outcome from outside the city, and while the troops inside the city were numerous, expecting them to fight at full strength was wishful thinking. It was precisely because Liu Xian considered these factors that he had planned a pincer attack from Jinyong City, catching Sima Jiong off guard.

But given the current situation, King Qi was prepared, and the original plan of a pincer attack was no longer feasible. To win, the strategy had to be changed: create a suitable defensive environment to force King Qi to attack recklessly, disrupting his forces, and then seize the opportunity to win.

Thinking of this, Liu Xian had a risky idea, but whether it could be carried out was not up to him. Therefore, after hesitating for a moment, he looked directly at Sima Yi and said, "Your Highness, are you willing to gamble your life?"

Seeing Liu Xian's solemn expression, Sima Yi could easily guess that his strategy must be extremely risky. However, Sima Yi had always been a risk-taker, and without hesitation, he blurted out, "What plan do you have, Lord? Please speak freely."

Liu Xian asked bluntly, "Your Highness, I need you to bring His Majesty along as bait. Can you do that?"

Upon hearing this, Sima Yi immediately understood Liu Xian's intention. Liu Xian wanted Sima Yi to bring the emperor to the battlefield to force Sima Jiong to launch a full-scale attack, while he would wait on the sidelines for the Qi army to reveal a weakness during the decisive battle, at which point he would attempt to break the deadlock.

During the Rebellion of the Seven States, Zhou Yafu employed a similar strategy. He watched as the allied forces of the seven states besieged the King of Liang in Suiyang, while he himself held firm in Changyi, dragging the rebellious army out of battle until their morale plummeted. At that moment, Zhou Yafu suddenly launched an attack, chasing the enemy south of the Yangtze River and achieving a great victory, thus completely quelling the Wu-Chu rebellion.

Unlike before, the one defending Suiyang is the Prince of Liang, not Emperor Jing of Han. If this strategy is adopted now, Sima Yi will die on the battlefield with no chance of recovery if he is not careful.

Even so, Sima Yi did not hesitate and slammed his fist on the table in front of everyone, saying, "There is no other good way but this, so let's do it this way!"

He then asked Liu Xian, "How many troops does the Prefect need? Do you need me to send some more?"

Liu Xian said, "Your Highness need not worry. My Songzi Battalion, which was previously stationed in Yanshi, arrived in the east of Luoyang City last night after the coup. I am leading 1,500 men as a surprise force, with Zu Shizhi as an inside agent. After you start the battle, we will lure out most of the Qi army, and then I will try to capture the King of Qi!"

Sima Yi asked, "How should I lure the Qi army?"

Liu Xian fluently said, "You should lead your army to Jianchun Gate (Shangdong Gate), stay there with the Emperor for a while, and then spread the word to the surrounding merchants and people to collect grain and boats. Claim that once the supplies are gathered, you will head north across the river, take the Emperor to Hebei, and go to join the King of Chengdu."

"When King Qi hears the news, he will surely be anxious and send a large army to Jianchun Gate to seize the emperor. You must defend it. As long as you can buy time and force him to send reinforcements, my chances of winning will greatly increase."

"Well, at that time, His Majesty and I will personally go to the front lines to jointly supervise the army, ensuring that the Qi army will have no time to spare!"

The two discussed the details of the plan for almost an hour, and finally finalized the details.

As the Eastern Palace Imperial Guards began their operation, sleet began to fall again from the gloomy sky. The fine snowflakes resembled white fireflies, making it feel like the dead of winter, and the weather grew increasingly cold. Liu Xian observed the snowflakes in the sky and couldn't help but recall the past. Back then, the Guanzhong Plain and Longyuan region were also swept by howling winds. When Liu Xian went to Qin Prefecture to persuade people to surrender, he was so blinded by the wind that he couldn't open his eyes. In comparison, the weather in Luoyang wasn't actually that cold, but the humidity was too high, which easily led to plagues and diseases.

Now, nearly ten thousand more refugees have been added to Luoyang. If a decisive victory cannot be achieved soon, and the situation drags on for a few more days, Luoyang will probably become a complete hell.

Under Sima Yi's orders, the Imperial Guards left the palace and began to move towards Jianchun Gate. On one hand, they spread the news that the emperor was about to leave the capital, and on the other hand, they erected a canopy symbolizing the emperor on the city gate to indicate that the emperor was temporarily residing there.

Liu Xian led several dozen armored soldiers from the Sili Prefecture, quietly searching outside the city. At this time, just like inside the city, doors were tightly shut outside, and the streets were deserted, save for a few pine and poplar trees, and willows bare of leaves, their branches laden with white hair like the sparse white hair of an old man. Perhaps due to the war, even the noisy crows had disappeared.

About half an hour later, Liu Xian and his party left the outskirts of the city and arrived at a camphor forest about five miles north of Jinyong City. As soon as they stopped, a rider galloped out of the forest, dismounted, and bowed to Liu Xian, saying, "My lord, you have arrived."

The newcomer was none other than Gongsun Gong. Liu Xian asked, "How long have you been here?"

Gongsun Gong replied, "About an hour."

Liu Xian followed Gongsun Gong into the forest and saw a thousand knights standing like stone statues in the woods, silent as iron. He couldn't help but admire them and asked, "We may be fighting on horseback today. The cold wind is so biting. Have you all rested well?"

Gongsun Gong replied, "My lord, tigers are most ferocious when hunting prey in the dead of winter."

"Why?" Liu Xian asked with a smile. "It's in the ice and snow that the ferocity of wild beasts is unleashed!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Xian laughed heartily. Seeing that morale was high, he immediately dispatched Meng Tao to Jinyong City to contact Zu Ti and reveal the battle plan to him. He hoped to arrange a time to welcome Liu Xian and his men into the city, and ideally, to find out the whereabouts of Qi King Sima Jiong.

About 35 minutes later, Meng Tao rode back and said to Liu Xian, "Lord Zu has gone to the palace to inquire about the situation. He hopes we will wait here for a while and enter the city around dusk. At that time, Commander Ji will open the gate for us, and he will try to pass on the message to us."

But at this point, Meng Tao hesitated slightly and added, "However... Brother, when I went to see Lord Zu today, I saw that his eyes were red and his face was dark. He seemed to be in a bad mood. Could something have changed?"

"Ha, what kind of person is Zu Shizhi? You don't understand. If he would back down at the last minute, he wouldn't be Zu Shizhi."

Liu Xian smiled, calmly reassuring Meng Tao, but inwardly he hesitated. He roughly guessed that last night's fire was clearly an accident, and after causing so much damage, Zu Ti himself probably felt guilty, which might affect his state of mind. Although Liu Xian wasn't worried about him switching sides again, he was concerned that Zu Ti's state of mind might influence his actions, which would be disastrous.

Even so, he had no other choice but to wait according to the pre-arranged plan.

Around noon, the Qi army opened the Yunlong Gate and attacked Jianchun Gate, immediately engaging in fierce fighting with the Imperial Guards. The sounds of battle were deafening; even from several miles away, Liu Xian could hear them clearly. Liu Xian hurriedly left the camphor grove and stopped on a small hill to look out. He saw the walls of Luoyang hidden among a sea of ​​white dots amidst the swirling snow. After listening for a while, he noticed the fighting showed no signs of abating; in fact, it seemed to be intensifying. It appeared the Qi army had deployed its elite forces, determined to reclaim the Emperor.

After standing there for a while, as dusk approached, Liu Xian grew increasingly stiff and cold. Suddenly, a crackling sound came from his fur hat. Liu Xian reached out his hand to catch the falling snowflakes, only to be surprised to find that it was actually small hailstones! The larger hailstones bounced wildly in his hand, causing a slight sting. Liu Xian turned around and saw the Songzi Camp knights standing silently in the hail, awaiting his orders.

Unable to see the battlefield, Liu Xian could only pray in his heart that Sima Yi and his imperial guards could hold out in the great battle. He had never liked praying, because in his view, it was tantamount to abandoning part of his human responsibilities.

But there are always things a person cannot do. Just as a person cannot walk on one leg, a war cannot be won by a single general. Especially in such a major battle that concerns the fate of everyone, Liu Xian had to choose to trust others, so at this moment, all he could do was pray and believe.

The fighting lasted for two hours, during which time the hail pelted them, but no one seemed to notice. Liu Xian frequently sent scouts to the outskirts of the city to gather information, but the answer he received from Ji Shao was always, "Wait a little longer."

When the scouts reported that "we can go," Liu Xian nodded subconsciously at first, then was startled and said, "Should we enter the city?"

Without waiting for a response from those around him, he immediately said, "Notify the entire camp to depart immediately!"

Thousands of men immediately mounted their horses, left the woods, and galloped towards Jinyong City. On the way to the city, Liu Xian could hear more and more clearly the sounds of fierce fighting and the shouts of soldiers inside the city, as if they were right next to his ears. The constantly swirling hailstones around him gave him the illusion of walking through a rain of arrows.

The cavalry galloped swiftly, and in less than a quarter of an hour, the Songzi camp had arrived at the foot of Jinyong City. Ji Shao and Huangfu Shang were standing at the city gate to greet them. Liu Xian didn't even dismount; he sat on Fan Yu's back and loudly asked Ji Shao, "How many men does Sima Jiong have with him now?"

Ji Shao looked up at him and slowly said, "There are still three thousand armored soldiers, and they are the three thousand most elite armored soldiers of the Eastern Expeditionary Army."

"Three thousand men?" Liu Xian muttered to himself at first, then smiled and said confidently, "Three thousand men are nothing to fear! Where are they?"

Ji Shao said, "This is a message from Zu Shizhi from two quarters of an hour ago. The Grand Marshal is currently in the Mingguang Hall."

Upon hearing this news, the location of Mingguang Hall immediately came to Liu Xian's mind. He had seen the map countless times and remembered very clearly that Mingguang Hall was located in the north-central part of Luoyang Palace. He then planned out a route to enter the palace in his mind.

After riding for a while, Liu Xian's previously stiff and cold body warmed up, and he even had beads of sweat on his forehead. He turned around, faced the soldiers of Songzi Camp, slowly drew his beloved sword, Changsheng, raised it high, and loudly proclaimed to the crowd:
"Gentlemen! The time for decisive battle has come! I have heard that you have not suffered a single defeat since you joined the army. This is something to be proud of, but you have something even more to be proud of! That is that you have met me. I, Liu Xian, the Commandant of Sili and the heir of the Duke of Anle, will surely lead you to achieve even greater feats!"

Liu Xian's eyes were as beautiful as a rainbow, and his breath was as hot as fire. He shouted, "Those who are a step behind me will bring shame upon your descendants!"

"Wan Sheng!"

Everyone was awestruck by his imposing presence, especially the former members of the Shanggu Camp. They seemed to see the shadow of their old lord, and were moved. So they drew their swords, looked up at the sky, and shouted in response.

Having said that, Liu Xian gave no further orders and walked straight through the gates of Jinyong City into Luoyang. What came into view was a scene of ruins, with walls and rubble reduced to ashes everywhere. Among these ruins were refugees seeking shelter from the snowstorm.

The refugees stared wide-eyed as Liu Xian led the charge, galloping through the streets, his cavalry following in a rolling cloud of dust. In the gloomy sky, they were like a giant wave rising from nowhere, appearing and disappearing in an instant. As if guided by the gods, they marched resolutely through the charred remains of the Grand Marshal's mansion, heading swiftly towards the imperial palace.

Two days ago, the Thousand Autumns Gate, which had been burned down, still lay on the ground, broken into several pieces. Unswept corpses remained on the road, frozen stiff by the wind and snow. Arrows stuck in the snow and earth still stood stubbornly upright. But at this moment, the hooves of galloping horses trampled them all over, thousands of hooves flattening them.

The Qi soldiers in Mingguang Palace had only just heard the sound of hooves. After a brief commotion, they formed ranks in front of their lines, but before they could complete their formation, they heard a neigh. Looking up, they saw a knight appear before the palace gate. In an instant, hundreds of knights appeared behind them like shadows, occupying the entire palace gate. They then treated the army as nothing and charged straight in.

The hailstorm continued unabated. Liu Xian brandished his sword and gave the order, and the cavalry broke through the enemy lines like paper. (End of Chapter)