PS: Thanks to book friend He Cheng for promising the reward.
"General, now is not the time to punish General Li. Take advantage of the fact that the thieves have just entered the city and drive them out of the city quickly. Otherwise, Yulin City will be doomed." The messenger said to Wu Zimian eagerly.
When he came to Wu Zimian, in addition to bringing news from Du Zhenwumen, his other mission was to ask for help, and he sought support through Wu Zimian.
"Come here, give me the order to open the Xuanwei Gate immediately." Wu Zimian summoned his own soldiers and ordered the city gate to be opened.
The man who delivered the letter was stunned when he heard this.
He quickly said: "Zhenwu Gate has been lost, but Zhenyuan Gate can still hold on. Please ask the general to send troops for reinforcements immediately."
"Go back and tell Liu Chun that I will allow him to evacuate on his own." Wu Zimian told him, then walked towards Xuanwei Gate under the city wall.
This is to escape!
The person who sent the letter quickly realized what Wu Zimian was going to do.
He felt shameful about Wu Zimian's behavior of abandoning the city and fleeing, but he had no intention of returning to Zhenyuan Gate to deliver the message, and chose to follow Wu Zimian down the city wall.
Under the city wall, there were already soldiers holding horses waiting in front of the horse crossing under the city wall.
Wu Zimian took the reins, got on the horse, and rode towards the Xuanwei Gate in front with the soldiers around him.
Xuanwei Gate, known as the Great West Gate, was slowly opened.
"drive!"
Wu Zimian dismounted his horse, led his soldiers out of the city from Xuanwei Gate, and marched away.
As soon as the general left, the defenders in the west of the city naturally had no intention of defending the city. They rushed towards the Xuanwei Gate that had been opened, hoping to take advantage of the chaos and get out of the city.
The movement here at Daximen attracted the attention at Xiaoximen.
When the city gate guard at Xiaoximen learned about Wu Zimian's escape from Yulin Town, he immediately abandoned the guards on the city and fled back to the city with a few of his trustworthy men. He wanted to go home and pack his bags before fleeing. Yulin Town.
As soon as the guards in the west of the city fled, chaos quickly broke out in the west of the city.
Among them, the Tiger Banner War Barracks, which was attacking the west of the city, took advantage of the chaos and entered the city.
Liu Chun, who was stationed at Zhenyuan Gate, did not see the situation here in the west of the city. However, he was almost unable to hold on in the face of the back-and-forth shelling from dozens of cannons outside the city, and enemies from the direction of Zhenwu Gate rushed to Zhenyuan Gate. He had to divide his forces to deal with the enemies coming up from the rear.
"General, brothers, we can't hold on any longer. Please think of a way!" The guard of Zhenyuan Gate came to the watchtower with his face stained with blood.
Liu Chun missed him, quickly came to the window behind the watchtower, and looked outside.
On the streets of the city, he saw a large group of enemies advancing towards the Zhenyuan Gate, while the defenders he had left behind to stop the enemies were retreating little by little, almost to the base of the city wall.
"Follow me to break out of the siege and go to the west of the city to meet General Wu." Liu Chun walked out of the watchtower holding his weapon.
He didn't know much about Wu Zimian's situation in the west of the city. He only knew that Li Kaiyang, who was stationed at Zhenwu Gate in the east city, surrendered to the enemy and took the initiative to open the city gate and let the thieves into the city.
He couldn't go to the east city, so he wanted to go to the west of the city to meet Wu Zimian.
The guard of Zhenyuan Gate raised his hand and wiped the blood on his face, gritted his back teeth and said: "It's his grandma's, I'll fight for it."
There are enemies inside and outside the city walls here in Nancheng. If you want to go to the west of the city, you can only break out of the siege.
The city wall is more than three feet high from the outside of the city. It is naturally impossible to jump from the city wall to the outside of the city. If you want to go to the west of the city, you can only fight your way out through the horse path under the city wall.
Liu Chun rushed down the horse path with his own soldiers.
However, before they could take a few more steps forward, they were attacked by crackling fire cannons in front of them, forcing them to retreat to the horse path.
"Come on again." Liu Chun's eyes widened angrily, his eyes red.
He had no choice of retreat. If he wanted to leave Zhenyuan Gate, he could only fight his way out of the siege in front.
More than a dozen soldiers found shields and rushed forward with the shields. Liu Chun was protected from behind and quickly moved forward under the protection of other soldiers.
boom! boom! boom!
The officers and soldiers blocking the Tiger Flag soldiers in the city had been suppressed and retreated step by step. However, Liu Chun and others wanted to move forward to break through the siege in front, and were immediately attacked by the Tiger Flag soldiers.
In an instant, countless muskets were fired at them.
The shields in the hands of those soldiers were no different from paper within twenty or thirty steps of the fire cannons. Countless muskets shot through the shields and hit Liu Chun's soldiers behind the shields.
More than half of the dozen soldiers holding shields were killed or injured at once. Liu Chun, who had been hiding behind, was directly exposed and faced the gunman in front.
"Retreat, retreat, retreat." Seeing that the shield could not protect his safety, Liu Chun did not dare to take the risk and rush forward, so he led his men back to the horse path again.
The Zhenyuan Gate guard who also retreated lowered his body and squatted in front of Liu Chun, saying: "No, General, the thieves' guns and guns are too powerful, we can't rush through at all."
The bandits in front of him were getting closer and closer, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead because he was so nervous.
"If you can't rush through, you have to find a way to rush out, otherwise we will all die here." Liu Chun bit his lower lip hard.
There were thieves inside and outside Zhenyuan Gate, and he knew he could only survive if he escaped.
"If Zhenwumen hadn't fallen and allowed the traitors into the city, we wouldn't be so passive here at Zhenyuanmen." The guard of Zhenyuanmen said bitterly.
Liu Chun glanced at him and said, "You have time to talk nonsense, so why not think about how to escape."
"The fire blunderbuss in the hands of the thieves is too fierce, and the reloading time is faster than ours. Moreover, it does not require a match rope. It will be difficult for us to rush over." The guard of Zhenyuan Gate looked bitter.
He had only heard that Tiger Character Flag's firearms were powerful before, but after contacting them, he discovered that Tiger Character Flag's firearms were more powerful and more difficult to deal with than the rumors said.
"If you don't want to die, hurry up and find a way." Liu Chun glanced at the guard of Zhenyuan Gate beside him.
The other party's withdrawal made him very dissatisfied.
The guard of Zhenyuan Gate hesitated for a moment and said: "There is a way, which may be able to block the thieves' muskets, but I am afraid that we will run out of time."
"Don't be too pretentious here. If you have any ideas, please tell me immediately. You won't know until you try it." Seeing the hesitation of the Zhenyuan Gate guard, Liu Chun couldn't help but urge him.
The guard of Zhenyuan Gate gritted his teeth and said: "It is not difficult to block the thieves' muskets. As long as a thick quilt is spread on the wooden board and water is poured on it, it will be very difficult as long as the muskets are not held in front of the musket mouth. Pierce it.”
"If there is such a way, don't tell me earlier. Hurry up and prepare." If there weren't too many people on Ma Dao, Liu Chun would have wanted to kick him.
The guard of Zhenyuan Gate did not move, but said: "The door panels and cotton we collected were all used to resist the shelling outside the city. There is no wealth at all."
"Then go to the city wall and get it." Liu Chun said angrily.
The guard of Zhenyuan Gate said hesitantly: "If we take them all away, there will be nothing to resist the bombardment of the rebels outside the city."
"Idiot, you think Zhenyuan Gate can withstand it." Liu Chun cursed, then turned to the soldiers on the side and said, "You guys, go to the city wall and get the things."
Several soldiers climbed up the city wall on the horse track.
