Zhao Jie was a little surprised. What was surprising was that he really didn't expect that Zhao Ji would have such courage to fight back from the front line of Hezhe!
To be honest, this was a change that Zhao Jie did not expect, because the troops in his hands were really not enough to deal with the double-sided attack by the two forces.
Li Mingshun's troops in the city were originally larger than Zhao Jie's, so it was actually impossible for Zhao Jie's troops to enter the city and close the city gates to wait for reinforcements.
Zhao Jie's only source of support was the southern front field troops who were constantly coming from behind him, drawn from the direction of Shanchong.
But if Zhao Jie has it, Zhao Ji also has it! The troops brought out from Hezhe were said to be at least 300,000. Counting the garrisons of Xiajuan and Dongqing, Zhao Ji was able to collect almost 400,000 troops along the way!
Although Zhao Ji is still at a disadvantage in terms of total military strength, these troops do exist, and Zhao Jie must of course defend them.
The most annoying thing is that Zhao Jie was unable to calculate Zhao Ji's accurate troop strength: according to normal people's approach, Zhao Ji must leave enough troops to defend the Xiajuan area to prevent Fengjiang's army from attacking Xiajuan City.
But this is the thinking of normal people! Who in the right mind would give up He Zhe and leave Zhao Chen's 800,000 troops in Fengjiang?
So maybe, Zhao Ji will really call back all the troops like a madman, so Zhao Jie must calculate the troops that Zhao Ji can use based on the total troops that Zhao Ji has in hand!
How many troops does Zhao Jie have? He has about 1.1 million field troops! Yes, it's more than what Zhao Chen has in his hand.
These troops were originally used in the direction of mountain rushing, preparing to regain the light. But Zhao Jie did not devote the main force to the fierce attack on Guiguang. He had been conserving his strength.
However, he, Zhao Jie, was not Zhao Ji, so he could not ignore the Shanchong defense line and mobilize all the troops to participate in the battle to seize the imperial capital.
In order to ensure that there would be no problems with Shan Chong's basic base, Zhao Jie left an army of 500,000 in Shan Chong and gave it to his trusted generals to command.
At the same time, he must also allocate troops to control Jutian and Pingfeng: these places are his transportation thoroughfares and grain-producing areas, and he must control them.
If he did not maintain his troops in these areas, the only way to reach the imperial capital would be through Dongqing. This road has now been blocked by Zhao Ji.
After much calculation, Zhao Jie immediately mobilized the troops to support the imperial capital. In fact, there were only 10 divisions, about 150,000 people.
Most of these troops are on the way, because it is impossible for Zhao Jie to mobilize so many troops to go to the imperial capital unknowingly, so they are still one or two days away from the imperial capital.
Zhao Ji is actually in the same situation: he cannot transfer all the frontline troops to the imperial capital, and the railway transportation capacity is only so much, so the troops he can use to reach the outskirts of the imperial capital are actually less than 3,000 troops!
Things immediately became interesting: Zhao Jie and Zhao Ji's troops were both heading towards the imperial capital in a steady stream. In terms of combat effectiveness, Zhao Jie's troops were higher, and in terms of military strength, Zhao Ji seemed to have more troops.
After all, Li Mingshun in the imperial capital and the Dahua Army in the northwest directions all supported Zhao Ji by default, so Zhao Jie's situation was quite unfavorable.
If he attacks with too few troops, he is simply seeking death.
But if he retreats and gives way to the south gate, then Li Mingshun will join Zhao Ji and drive Zhao Jie's troops out of the imperial capital! When Zhao Ji has the banner of righteousness and Li Mingshun, who is capable of fighting, to command the battle, Zhao Jie will almost be done with it.
Therefore, after thinking about it, Zhao Jie felt that he could not retreat no matter what! He must stick to this place and stop Li Mingshun from joining Zhao Ji at all costs.
In fact, he made the right bet: Zhao Ji actually didn't have many troops in his hands. He kept the main force behind the reins to prevent his retreat from being blocked.
The whole thing is this: Zhao Ji actually wanted to wait for Zhao Chen to retreat to Hezhe, and then he would lead his troops back to the imperial capital. But when he suddenly heard the news that Zhao Kai was seriously ill, Zhao Ji panicked.
He felt that it was too late to wait for Zhao Chen in Hezhe, so he led his troops and hurried towards Xiajuan! Before he even got off the reins, he suddenly realized a serious problem: the troops were advancing too slowly.
In panic, Zhao Ji had many new thoughts in his mind: Although Zhao Chen still had 800,000 troops in the encirclement, what if the Fengjiang army that occupied Hezhe attacked westward and caught up with him? ?
After thinking about it for a while, Zhao Ji left most of the troops under the reins to prevent any unexpected events. In fact, he could have left the troops in Hezhe and led the others first, but he never thought of this at the time!
He felt that he did not wait for Zhao Chen because he was afraid that Zhao Chen would not listen to his instructions or provide him with support after he retreated to Hezhe, causing him to lose in the battle with Zhao Jie to seize the throne.
But this was all what he thought of afterward. When he led his troops back to Xiajuan, he just had a hot head and couldn't wait to return to the imperial capital to seize power. He was ready to sell Zhao Chen to reduce the variables in his seizure of power.
When Zhao Ji was about to return to the imperial capital, he realized that behind Zhao Chen was actually the variable that threatened him the most to seize power: Zhao Yu! That's right, it's Zhao Yu!
Zhao Yu is also a prince, and in terms of status, he is also qualified to ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor. At the same time, look at the map now. There is support from the big boss, an actual control area, and a large army. Isn't it Zhao Yu?
What's even more frightening is that Zhao Yu still has widespread support in the court and among the people. He is really a greater threat than Zhao Jie!
Therefore, Zhao Ji, who was frightened, gave up the idea of dispatching troops from Xiajuan to return to the imperial capital. He led 3,000 elite troops to the outskirts of the imperial capital in a mighty manner.
At this time, there was still fierce fighting in the imperial capital. Zhao Jie gained the support of the nobles in the city and actually fought a back-and-forth with Li Mingshun, who had an obvious superiority in military strength.
Zhao Jie, who thought he was at a disadvantage, was already very nervous, but when he was commanding the battle, he suddenly heard two pieces of bad news.
"What did you say? What do you mean that Wang Yucai, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, and his family are missing? Doesn't he live in the south of the city?" Zhao Jie pointed at the map with his finger and angrily questioned the confidant who went to find the person.
The confidant was actually very wronged, and he replied mournfully: "Your Majesty! I went there in person, but, the place was already empty, and all the valuable things had been moved away!"
"Huh?" After hearing what his subordinate said, Zhao Jie believed it. Based on his understanding of his subordinates, if there are valuable things, he will definitely not mention them...
But where has the person gone? Originally, Zhao Jie wanted to find Wang Yucai and use coercion and inducement to get the Minister of Household Affairs to support him.
Coupled with the fact that he knew Zhou Qiang as a wallflower, there was no way he could build a court like that.
But now, Zhou Qiang is no longer mentioned, and Wang Yucai in the south of the city is missing. Zhao Jie smells a conspiracy. Who was he plotting against? Or is it that the other party is planning to plot against someone else?
Just as he was thinking about what was going on, news came from the airport outside the city that a force was attacking them, under the banner of the Prince's Guards.
At this time, Zhao Jie had no time to think about other issues. He immediately ordered several nobles to lead a battalion of troops to rush to the airport. In order to prevent these nobles from defecting temporarily, he also arranged for his confidants to follow with a company to help out.
The battle lasted all day, and by night Zhao Jie's troops had been compressed by Li Mingshun near the south gate of the imperial capital, defending with the help of several blocks of barriers.
The battle outside the city did not go well either. The Prince's Guards still had some fighting capacity, much stronger than the private armies of the nobles. The two sides fought fiercely until nightfall, and almost everything they could lose at the airport was lost.
All the planes parked at the airport were blown up, and the towers were blasted into ruins and used as a small high ground.
Relying on the anti-aircraft guns to the west, the defenders were able to stabilize their position, but they did not have many troops and limited artillery shells, so they urgently needed support.
Where does Zhao Jie have the troops to support them: the fighting in the city has heated up, and all his own guards have gone to the front line, leaving only seven or eight guards to protect the headquarters.
But early the next morning, the situation suddenly changed: a reinforcement force from Zhao Jie arrived and joined the battle. This new force defeated Zhao Ji's crown prince's guard outside the city, thus eliminating the risk of Zhao Jie being encircled.
Zhao Ji, who suffered a defeat, was unwilling to accept the defeat and launched the attack again. It's just that the Prince's Guards, who had experienced a rout, were even more defeated. This time they were defeated again without even seeing the airport.
Zhao Jie, who received support, also stabilized his position in the city. He mobilized his troops and launched a counterattack, which made Li Mingshun a little surprised: Isn't Zhao Chen helping Zhao Ji? Why did he play so poorly?
After careful investigation, he found out that Zhao Ji had sold Zhao Chen... The foreign aid that was supposed to arrive faster was no longer there!
Li Mingshun was so angry that he almost vomited blood: He had seen stupid people and stupid people, but he had never seen such an outstanding genius as Zhao Ji.
Only now did he know how much pressure Feng Kezhi, Qian Jinhang... and Zhao Chen were fighting under!
It doesn't matter that the enemy is extremely powerful, the key is that our own people have to dig holes and cause trouble for our own people! Who can bear this? Who can withstand this?
Fortunately, he had served as the commander of the city guard in the imperial capital all these years. If he were to be released, he would end up like Qian Jinhang and Feng Kezhi if he couldn't protect himself.
It’s really frustrating to think about it: The empire has reached this point, and it actually elected such a worthless prince as the emperor. It’s sad... It’s really sad!
Sighing, he shook his head. Li Mingshun knew that he still had to continue fighting, he still had an advantage! As long as he is still alive, as long as he has one breath left! We must protect the Dahua River and Mountains left by the late Emperor Zhao Kai!
"Here comes someone! Send a telegram to the heavy artillery regiment! Aim at the top of the South Gate city! Fire!" Li Mingshun, who could no longer care about anything else, ordered through gritted teeth.
(End of chapter)
