"Did the guards show up?"
Li Zhao asked with a cold light flashing in his eyes.
"No, even their night clothes are provided by the guards."
Zhang Han also felt that this matter was very suspicious.
Li Zhao didn't speak anymore, walked slowly towards the city, took out the telescope he brought from Chang'an Township, and started to look at it.
The current location is the East City, and the city walls are covered with city defense troops.
Under the influence of the telescope, the blurry distance appeared clearly in front of him. He saw gray and green white, and the white was a line of tents. Thieves were coming in and out. Around the tents, the shadows of trees were swaying. There were people underneath, either walking or resting, and smoke was rising from the kitchen.
Just like the news from the scouts, the rebel army was really stationed two miles away. Judging from the number of people, it was a hundred thousand. No, when he thought of a hundred thousand, Li Zhao's face changed.
He quickly adjusted the focus of the telescope to the farthest point and tried his best to look around.
"Something's wrong!" Li Zhao frowned and asked Zhang Han quickly, "Is it true that the 100,000 bandits reported by the scouts appeared in the direction of the east gate?"
Zhang Han didn't know why Li Zhao asked so. Seeing Li Zhao's seriousness, he responded affirmatively, "Yes, the scout followed the rebels for ten days and ten nights, and finally saw them camped two miles away, and then came back to report. Absolutely It can’t be wrong.”
The wrinkles on Li Zhao's forehead had condensed into a line, and he stayed for a long time wherever the telescope looked.
"No, not 100,000, at most 30,000."
Yes, under the telescope, no matter how he estimated, he could not estimate the number of 100,000 troops, no more than 30,000 at most.
"Thirty thousand, that's impossible!" Zhang Han was confused, but when he saw Li Zhao looking at something unknown, he shook his head and smiled, secretly thinking that the general was really suspicious. How could he see it from such a distance?
Since we can't see it, how can we get 30,000 troops? The general was joking.
The scout's news was not wrong, even if it was one hundred thousand, he had made all preparations and was waiting for the one hundred thousand bandit army to come to his door.
"General, you are paranoid. The scouts did not send any news that the rebel army has moved."
"But there are no 100,000 troops two miles away."
Li Zhao stood on a higher place and glanced around. What he saw was the same as what he had just seen. This was his estimate. Even if the number was different, it would not be too different. But from what he saw, There is absolutely no way it is one hundred thousand.
"Can the general see things two miles away?" Zhang Han felt that it was a bit outrageous. It was unheard of to see things two miles away.
Li Zhao didn't mean to say anything more and handed over the telescope, "See for yourself."
Zhang Han took it and looked at it curiously.
"Put this thing in front of your eyes and you can see everything from two miles away." Li Zhao explained.
Zhang Han was even more curious and did not hesitate to put the telescope in front of him.
These are binoculars with a unique shape and a burst of darkness.
Zhang Han shook his head and suddenly felt that the general was making a joke on him. When he was about to joke, two bright lights suddenly came from the ground. It was a little blurry at first, but then slowly became clear.
He saw mountain shadows, vague green, and colorful colors, but the rest was not clear.
"It doesn't look real!"
Finally, he said these words and slowly put down the telescope, only to hear Li Zhao's words, "Twist the button to adjust the focus."
Everyone has different vision and requires different focal lengths.
Li Zhao pointed to the end of the telescope, where there is a twistable circle.
Zhang Han once again put the telescope in front of his eyes, pressed it against the eye socket, and slowly adjusted it as Li Zhao said. Indeed, as he adjusted it, his field of vision slowly became clearer, and he could see clearly.
The branches of the trees are branches, and the leaves are leaves, with clear distinctions. There are also people of the same color under the trees, and there are tents next to them.
"You can really see it." Zhang Han couldn't help being surprised, dancing with his hands and feet.
"Estimate how many people there are?" Li Zhao reminded him.
Zhang Han straightened his expression, kept gesticulating with his fingers, and after a few breaths, he exclaimed, "As the general said, it's only about thirty thousand."
After many years of marching, I still have some idea of the number of people.
Zhang Han didn't realize the seriousness of the problem. The magic of the telescope made him particularly curious. The binoculars kept changing their positions and scanned the entire east gate direction for him.
The next moment, he exclaimed again, "Hey! What is that? It's long, and there seems to be a round hole at the end, facing the east gate. There are quite a few."
"Is it a battering ram?"
Zhang Han shook his head alone.
Generally, battering rams are not that small and do not require that many.
"Round hole?" Li Zhao suddenly turned his head when he heard this word, quickly grabbed the telescope from Zhang Han's hand, and looked in his direction.
I didn't pay attention to this side just now, so I didn't know there was any round hole, but now my goal is very clear. At first glance, my face is extremely ugly.
"This is not a battering ram, but an artillery piece."
Li Zhao was not mistaken, this was artillery. The bandits not only launched a large army to attack the city, but also brought artillery.
But I'm not surprised that Da Qin also has this thing. Needless to say, it must have been brought by time travellers.
In fact, he already knew about the appearance of artillery. Qin Shihuang had surrendered a lot of them at that time, but they were just destroyed.
In this way, the artillery made by the bandit army was not the only ones that were destroyed at that time. They must have had the intention to rebel against the Qin Dynasty, and they also moved the artillery in batches and routes, and only that batch was confiscated.
Firegun artillery was widely used in warfare in the Ming Dynasty. The most powerful of them was the Hongyi cannon. It can't be seen clearly from such a distance. I wonder if it is a Hongyi cannon. If it is really a Hongyi cannon, it would be dangerous.
This is not an unfounded worry. The effective range of the Hongyi cannon is about one thousand meters. If the city wall is destroyed at this distance and a hundred thousand troops pour in, it will be difficult to resist even if machine guns and other weapons are used.
Moreover, an army of 100,000 has turned into an army of 30,000. The bandit army must have other plans. As for what the plan is, he can't figure it out for the time being, but one thing he knows very well is that if all 50,000 city defense troops are concentrated at the east gate , Xianyang will be destroyed.
"Artillery?" Zhang Han didn't know what Li Zhao was thinking. He was confused because he had never heard of this thing. "What is artillery?"
"A thing more terrifying than a battering ram. With this thing around, the east gate may be in danger."
"Dangerous? This thing is really that scary." Zhang Han's face became serious.
"It's terrible, very terrible. If it's enough, it can level Xianyang."
What he saw just now was only dozens of artillery pieces. He couldn't guarantee whether there would be more. If there were thousands of artillery pieces, they wouldn't be able to stop them with the weapon in his hand.
He must make strategic adjustments to deal with all this.
Otherwise he would not be able to defend Xianyang.
"Anyway, this battle is not as simple as we imagined. From now on, you should immediately order people to pay close attention to the whereabouts of the guards and those people, and wait for my orders."
Zhang Han heard what Li Zhao meant and immediately ordered him to go.
Li Zhao looked quietly into the distance, completely motionless, as if he was deep in thought.
The next moment, he quickly called Zhang Han.
"Zhang Han, you immediately disperse 50,000 troops to various city gates and send weapons down at the same time." Li Zhao spoke hastily. Zhang Han realized that the situation was urgent and did not ask any more questions.
"I'll take away five thousand with grenades, six thousand with cannonballs, and you distribute the rest to each city gate."
Three thousand grenades have been distributed, and only seven thousand are left. Five thousand are taken away, and only two thousand are left. This is not enough for the four-sided city wall, and there are not yet in the east. This is a bit difficult for Zhang Han, but Li Zhao I can't care about that much.
As for the anti-aircraft guns, one thousand were given to each of the three city gates before, and the rest was reserved for the east city gate. This was also for precaution.
Zhang Han sensed something was wrong and became nervous and asked, "What do you mean, general? Do you want to leave?"
"Yes, we can only leave, and there are two thousand elites going with us."
Zhang Han realized the seriousness of the problem, calmed down and asked, "What is the general going to do?"
"Destroy them all!"
"What? Two thousand troops to defeat each one? It's too dangerous. You can't go. If you want to go, I'll have to go." Zhang Han retorted and volunteered.
At this moment, the bandit army must be besieging the city without a general. Li Zhao can take charge of the overall situation if he stays, but leaving will definitely shake the morale of the army. But he is different, he is just a deputy general.
Moreover, the two thousand elites were trained by him, and he knew their combat habits best.
This is not the main reason. The main thing is that this trip is too dangerous. Da Qin can do without him, but it cannot do without Li Zhao.
Li Zhao punched him, glared at Zhang Han, and said angrily: "This is a military order, you have to execute it."
"General, you must not do it. The bandit army is very large in number. Although the two thousand army has powerful weapons, it is by no means its enemy. Moreover, the seventy thousand bandit army has disappeared. This trip is very dangerous. Please let Zhang Han take his place."
Zhang Han knelt down, raised his hands and begged.
Li Zhao looked at this loyal man and felt moved in his heart, but he could never do this.
Zhang Han was right, he didn't know as much about the two thousand elites as he did, but he knew the use of these weapons better.
"Stop talking, I've made up my mind, go make arrangements quickly."
Li Zhao turned around and rushed straight to where the two thousand elites were. Then, a soft voice came.
"Control Lang Zhongling and kill the suspicious people. Don't let them succeed!"
"Also, I will leave five hundred machine guns for your use, and quickly select five hundred people to familiarize yourself with."
Machine guns are no better than cold weapons and must be familiar with before they can be used.
Zhang Han understood the meaning of these words. He was cruel, watched the figure disappear, stood up suddenly, led a thousand troops, and assigned them to various city gates.
At the same time, a memorial was sent to the palace.
At night, the east city gate opened a crack, and figures walked out quietly. They were dressed in green and carried heavy luggage, but it did not affect their movements. Under the leadership of the leader, they quietly walked towards the mountains.
Zhangtai Palace.
Although it was night, the lights were still bright. At this moment, Ying Zheng was sitting leisurely in front of the table with snacks on the table. Sitting next to him were Feng Quji and Taiwei, who were accompanying him cautiously.
According to the news that kept coming, the bandit army was getting closer and closer to the east city. Although the three of them felt that the city gate was fine, they couldn't help but feel nervous.
At this moment, a guard came to report.
"Your Majesty, what's wrong, Li Zhao led two thousand troops and quietly left the city."
"Leave the city?" The first one to react was the Taiwei, and his words couldn't help but come out, "Two thousand troops, could they be two thousand elites? What does Li Zhao want to do?"
"Destroy my Xianyang City?"
Now they put all their hopes of defending the city on two thousand elites, but Li Zhao took them away, not to destroy the city.
"How dare he! Who gave him the courage?" Ying Zheng stood up, with an angry look on his face and his eyes fixed on the guard, "When did this happen?"
"A quarter of an hour ago."
"A quarter of an hour ago?" the Taiwei said anxiously, "If you act in the dark, there must be fraud, which may be detrimental to Xianyang. Your Majesty, please issue an order to recall Li Zhao immediately and capture him."
Feng Quji realized the seriousness of the problem, but did not think that Li Zhao acted randomly, and quickly explained: "Your Majesty, no, there must be a reason for Li Zhao to do this, and we need to find out before we can make a decision."
"How can we find out clearly? It's already clear enough. He abandoned the city during the crisis in Xianyang, which is a fraud. If he really had other reasons, why didn't he report it to His Majesty in advance?"
"This" Feng Quji was about to argue, but was stopped by the Taiwei, "Prime Minister Feng, do you want to say that the general's military orders from outside are not accepted? Humph! This is not outside, but in Xianyang."
"This" Feng Quji had nothing to say.
The three of them just stayed here. What strategy did Li Zhaozhen have and why didn't he report it? Reporting wouldn't take long anyway. Being so self-assertive makes people doubt his motives.
Ying Zheng's face became increasingly ugly, his suspicious temper became furious, and he suddenly shouted: "You, pass on my oral instructions and immediately order Zhang Han to lead an army of 10,000 to pursue Li Zhao and capture him."
He pointed at the guard who came in to report.
But the guard did not go immediately and hesitated to speak.
"Say something quickly!" Ying Zheng was angry.
"No!" The guard knelt down and cupped his hands, "Your Majesty, Li, General Li has dispersed 50,000 troops to various city gates. Now there are only 10,000 troops at the east gate. If he is sent out, the east gate will be empty, which is not advisable."
"What? He actually, actually" Ying Zheng sat down heavily, breathing heavily with anger.
"Your Majesty, what's wrong with you!" Feng Quji and Taiwei hurriedly stepped forward to support Ying Zheng. Feng Quji shouted, "Send the imperial doctor to you quickly!"
Soon, the imperial doctor came over, checked Ying Zheng's pulse, and prescribed some medicine to be decoctioned and taken, and Ying Zheng felt better.
"Your Majesty, what should we do now?" the Taiwei asked.
Ying Zheng breathed a sigh of relief and immediately ordered, "Quick, order Zhang Han to immediately mobilize all the city defense troops to the east gate, and be sure to guard him to death. As for Li Zhao, huh, I will kill him as soon as he guards the city gate."
"No!" The guard was about to leave with a message, when suddenly another guard came in, holding a book in his hand.
"Your Majesty, General Zhang Han sent someone to send an urgent memorial."
"Urgent memorial?" Ying Zheng didn't dare to neglect, he opened it immediately and took a look. After a few breaths, he smashed the memorial, drew his sword and stabbed the guard aside.
"Li Zhao is indeed deceitful. Not only did he abandon the city and put Xianyang in danger, but he also wanted to disrupt Xianyang. This is a heinous crime."
At this moment, Ying Zheng's trust in Li Zhao suddenly disappeared.
Feng Quji and the Taiwei didn't know why, so they quickly picked up the memorial and took a look. Immediately, the Taiwei became furious.
"Li Zhao dares to ask the doctor to investigate and arrest all the guards. He must be treason, treason!"
Feng Quji was completely speechless. He wanted to defend Li Zhao again, but found that he couldn't.
At a time when rumors are spreading in Xianyang, investigating Lang Zhongling and capturing all the guards will make the rumors even more unbridled, which is very detrimental to the current situation.
Such behavior is no different from treason.
However, Feng Quji did not think that Li Zhao was treasonous. If he was really treasonous, he would not risk his life to protect His Majesty during the eastern tour.
(End of chapter)
