In the afternoon, the sky gradually became dark and unclear, and autumn rain gradually began to fall. The woods, waterfronts and endless Liang army camps in the distance have all disappeared, and within the reach of the forces, it is as if there is no one there. Chang'an is shrouded in a gray silence.
The Liang army began to attack the city again, and the trenches in the south city had long been filled in by mountains of earth. Liang people swarmed towards the city wall behind the ravine like ants, and the ground that had just been washed away with blood was instantly trampled into yellow-black mud by countless leather boots. The drizzle was still falling densely in the air, and the city walls in the distance were silent, like huge tombs.
Soon, the sound of fighting rang out from Anmen, followed by Xi'anmen and Fu'anmen. Despite the wisps of autumn rain, the sound of killing no longer rose into the sky like it did a few days ago. Instead, it became extremely faint, as if coming from an extremely distant place.
The big drums on the city wall were still beating the drums, and the bells in Weiyang Palace were also ringing. The melodious sound of the palace bells was like a sound from the sky penetrating the rain curtain and reaching everyone in Chang'an City. The streets of Chang'an City were also silent. It was said to be under martial law, but in fact there were no guards patrolling the streets. The rest either went to the city to join the fight, or had been transferred to the palace to prepare fortifications, leaving the entire street empty. What? No one can see it either.
The remaining residents of Chang'an are living at home. In order to save their lives, they each had their own ideas. Some people blocked the door of the courtyard with rocks, giant trees, water tanks and other imaginable things, and began to find ways to hide food and property in the courtyard. Some people gathered together valuable things at home, hoping that when the Liang army invaded the city, they would offer these and pray to the Liang people that their whole family's lives would always be saved.
Of course, the most anxious ones were the officials. Except for the palace ministers who were still on guard in the palace, the lower-level officials saw the seriously injured Lu Bu being dragged into the palace. When they understood that the city could not hold on for long, they all changed their clothes and made Poor refugees dressed up and escaped from the government, and went to temples and Taoist temples where the poor gathered, praying to deceive the eyes and ears of Liang people. Although their actions were different, the same thing was that they all prayed to their ancestors for blessings to survive this disaster. People who are usually domineering, violent, and domineering, now face the threat to their lives, but they have regained their cowardice like a pika. Heaven may take pity on these miserable and pitiful people, but it is powerless to save anyone.
Previously, the imperial court sent letters to Yizhou Liu Yan, Bingzhou Liu Bei and Chen Chong asking for help. After Yizhou Mu Liu Yan received the edict, he actually said that he would send troops to serve the king and ordered Zhang Lu to suddenly send troops to Hanzhong. Hanzhong's soldiers had already been depleted. , was recovered by Zhang Lu in one fell swoop. Unexpectedly, after the recapture, Zhang and Lu's 40,000-strong army remained motionless at Yangping Pass.
The only ones we can count on now are Bingzhou Liu Bei and Chen Chong, but they are definitely out of reach today.
The rest of the city was filled with wounded soldiers and new recruits who had no intention of fighting anymore. Fenwu General Lu Bu was still in the palace seeking first aid. How could he resist the Liang army's fierce attack? Maybe it's the bells that ring throughout the city. At this time, Chang'an City was not so much resisting as it was praying for a miracle from the sky, but all that fell from the sky was the gentle autumn rain.
At Shenshi, the shouts of killing at the Xi'an gate suddenly became louder. The Liang army finally broke through the first city gate, turning their roar into the fear of every Chang'an person. At that time, after Lu Bu was trapped in the camp and Yang Biao pulled him back to the palace, the person in charge of commanding the defense of Anmen was the servant Mingong.
Three years ago, he rescued the emperor from the hands of Chang Shi and was granted the title of Marquis of Duting. However, he has been idle since then and was finally reactivated this time by Dong Zhuo. As soon as Wang Yun died, he asked the emperor for orders to supervise the battle on the grounds that he had killed a regular servant. Dong Cheng knew that his loyalty could be used, so he agreed. But at this time, Lu Bu was injured, and the only one who could command the army was Mingong. He was not lacking in courage. He imitated Lu Bu and went into battle to kill the enemy in person with a long sword to encourage the soldiers. However, the Liang people were no better than Chang Shi. Several people saw him. He was dressed as gorgeously as a high-ranking official, so they rushed to besiege him. Min Gong looked at one thing and missed the other. He was stabbed five times by the Liang people and died on the spot, and his military morale collapsed.
The ministers had expected this news, but when the city was destroyed, they were frightened. The adults at Shangshutai sent some people to the city gate to inquire, but before the inquirers came back, the defeated troops began to pour into Weiyang Palace. The residents were quite confused when they saw this, and ran towards the palace gate. Some people wanted to inquire about the news, but soon they saw the Liang people who had followed them into the city. They were marching along both sides of the north-south street. There were so many people that they couldn't see their heads and tails.
At this time, there were no more than a thousand soldiers in Weiyang Palace, and there was a sudden panic both inside and outside. At that time, the person on duty in the palace was Li Su, the new Tiger Guard general. Dong Cheng ordered him to collect the defeated troops and close the gates of Weiyang Palace for defense. However, there was an endless stream of officials and refugees who fled into the palace, and it was difficult to close the doors. Li Su had no choice but to be ruthless and ordered his cronies to guard the gates, and only allowed soldiers with weapons to enter the city. For a while, I cried loudly inside and outside, and walked all the way to the Chancellor's desk. All the princes at the Chancellor's desk had tangled expressions on their faces, and some sympathetic people even hid in the palace where they could not be heard, to deceive themselves that there was no such tragic scene.
At Youshi, the sky was dark, drizzle was falling, and fires shot out one after another in the south and west of the city in the distance. Subsequently, Zhang Liao, Cao Xing and other soldiers who defended the city were also defeated and returned to the palace. At this time, not only the Xi'an Gate was broken, but the guards at Anmen and Fu'an Gate were also defeated. The Liang troops gradually poured from the gates in the south of the city to the west, south and even the north of the city. After guarding the city gates, they removed the fences surrounding the city, and then Guarded heavily.
The Weiyang Palace was in chaos. There were at least 3,000 soldiers entering the palace, but because the organization was in chaos, there was no unified dispatch for the moment. All the generals reported the situation to General Jianping Dong Cheng, who then informed the emperor. When the emperor was in such a situation, he couldn't help but feel sad, but he was not sad because of himself. He asked Dong Cheng: "Today the city was destroyed and the capital was destroyed. Is it because of my nonsense on the city?"
Dong Cheng looked at his immature and youthful face, and sympathy arose in his heart. He comforted him: "Your Majesty, there is no need to blame yourself. Neither Fenwu nor the ministers objected. How could this be your Majesty's fault?"
Then Dong Cheng went to ask about Lu Bu's injury. The imperial doctor said that General Fenwu was destined to survive, but he could only leave it to fate as to when he would be able to recover from his injuries. After hearing these words, Dong Cheng felt that all eyes were on him. He did not speak, but subconsciously straightened his spine to rectify the army. Even he didn't know how long he could last.
At the same time, the leaders of each Liang army officially entered Xi'an Gate, and each commanded their deployment to enter the city at night. Most of the Liang army was entering the city from three sides and began to further encircle and seize the palace in the city. At this time, the fierce fighting has generally ended, but the gates and cities have not yet been completely taken over. Because the Weiyang Palace was intact and the city was yet to be attacked, the Liang army still ordered military discipline. No major burnings or killings occurred. They only strictly prohibited people in the city from leaving the city and confiscated the weapons of the captured and surrendered Northern troops.
Under Jia Xu's arrangement, the first thing the generals did when they entered the city was to visit Huangfu Mansion. After Huangfu Jianshou and Huangfu Li learned that Wang Yun was dead, they had already thought about everything. They had removed the curtains between the palace gates, and planned to use some money to buy peace from the Liang army. Unexpectedly, the Liang army was defeated. After entering the city, not only did they not do any harm to his family, but they also met several leaders of the Liang Army, which caught them off guard.
Jia Xu, Xu Rong and others respectfully paid homage to Huangfu Song's body, and then saw that there were more than 20 people in Huangfu Song's house, and they only had two cars at home. This made them sigh with emotion. They all said that the car riders were really upright officials. He also wanted to give Huangfu Song's family some goods, rice and noodles, but Huangfu Jianshou refused.
Jia Xu asked the reason, and Huangfu Jianshou replied directly: "The adults taught the boys not to accept wealth for nothing, especially the wealth from the army."
Seeing Huangfu Jianshou carrying Huangfu Song out, Jia Xu couldn't help but smile bitterly. He asked: "The servants have also served as officials in the court. You don't think that we are harboring evil intentions, right? The world is difficult, and being a person is also difficult. Riding on a chariot The outcome is a warning for us! If you didn’t seek to survive, why would you have come to this point?”
Huangfu Jianshou did not answer. He looked at Jia Xu for a moment and said, "This time your army moved without trace and fought like a god. It must be Jia Jun's handiwork."
Jia Xu was startled. He looked around and saw other colleagues looking at him, obviously also surprised. Jia Xu usually lived in seclusion and did not personally lead the charge. At most, he just rode on the sidelines and watched. No one knew the identity of the mastermind in his army. The Chang'an court still thought that the leader of the Liang army was Niu Fu. Who expected that he would be killed by Huangfu today? Jian Shou cried out, and Jia Xu suddenly had murderous intentions in his heart.
"Invincibility starts with sacrificing the ancestor"
Huangfu Jianshou didn't know what he was thinking, so he just said it truthfully: "Your Excellency once said that after his death, there would be chaos in the court. If Dong Gong can quell the chaos, it must be because Jia Jun was reused, because there is only one in the court. Jia Jun's talent is just like him. When we saw that Dong Gong was dead, we thought that even Jia Jun could not save his life. Unexpectedly, Jia Jun was so talented! We have to admire your foresight."
Jia Xu broke into a cold sweat after hearing this, and sighed: "I can predict life, and chariot and knight can predict death. How can I say that chariot and knight can be the same?" Then he asked casually: "Does chariot and knight have other words to explain? ? If there is any difficulty, we will do our best to help you, regardless of our lives or treasures."
Huangfu Jianshou hesitated for a moment, then replied: "What about life? I asked for the reputation of the adults in my family, so I postponed leaving the capital. Now that my wish is over, I just ask Jia Jun to let us leave."
"If we destroy the city today, we will not harm the servant. Why should the servant leave the city?"
"Since Mr. Jia asked, I will speak out boldly. You still have words before your death. Although Mr. Jia can defeat the imperial court today, the world has not yet been decided, and the people's hearts have not yet been decided. In your opinion, those who can achieve great things will eventually be Chen Tingjian and Liu Xuande. People. Although the general is victorious today, the future is unknown."
Li Jue and Guo Si on the side were furious after hearing this and wanted to swing a knife at him, but Jia Xu stopped him. Jia Xu turned back and looked directly at Huangfu Jianshou for a moment, still smiling and said: "What Chaqi said is certainly reasonable, but there is no need for the servant to leave in a hurry. The Bingzhou army is coming in these few days."
He closed his eyes for a moment, regained his breath, and then his face changed to a cold expression, and he said: "As for who wins and who loses, we will know in the next few days."
Chapter 23 Chang'an is destroyed
