On the ninth day of the first lunar month, Song Che set out from Jinling with a wordless edict and headed north along the canal to the Central Plains.
Entering Gyeonggi Province, the ground is full of hungry people who have been displaced by the war.
This area should have been the richest, but now it is extremely poor, except for the cold and pain.
On the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, the Xiliang army abandoned Luoyang and withdrew to Chang'an for the final resistance.
On the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, Song Che arrived in Luoyang City. When we first saw it, it was full of flowers, but when we saw it again, it was in ruins. They say that after a hundred years of changes, the world has changed in ten years. Counting the days, it has not yet reached ten years, right?
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Central Plains Army marched westward and attacked Chang'an City from both sides with the Western Expedition Army.
On the nineteenth day of the first lunar month, the two armies met outside Chang'an City, with a total strength of 450,000.
"Hahaha...Brother Song, General Lin, it's been so long!"
Jiang Yuntian came out of the camp laughing and greeted him with arms.
"Brother Jiang, I have good news and bad news here. Which one do you want to hear first?" Song Che asked with a smile.
"You guy... you try to sell me off as soon as we meet," Jiang Yuntian said with a smile: "I'm always sweet first and then bitter, so you tell me the good news first."
Song Che smiled and said, "The good news is that the princess has given birth to a son for you."
"Hahaha..." Jiang Yuntian looked up to the sky and laughed, "I said it was a son, but you didn't believe it!" He patted Song Che on the shoulder again: "Hand over your daughter obediently!"
He suddenly thought: "Hey, by the way, what's the bad news?"
Song Che squinted and smiled, "Bad news, I looked at your son carefully and he looks nothing like you."
Jiang Yuncai's face that was so full of laughter turned serious again, and he rolled his eyes, "This joke is not funny at all..."
"Hahaha……"
"Come on, let's go into the camp and discuss business." Song Che greeted and walked towards the camp.
Twelve generals from both armies gathered in the camp, surrounding the map of Chang'an City, and listened to Song Che's orders.
"General Jiang, General Shi, and General Lin, each of you will lead an army of 100,000 to attack the east, west, and south of the city; General Long and General Zhao, you will lead an army of 50,000 to attack the north of the city;
There must be fierce attacks on the east, west and south sides, and false attacks on the north. The purpose is to give the Xiliang army the illusion that the defense in the north is weak and lure them to break out from the north. "
"Military advisor, what about us! We look forward to atoning for our crimes day and night and avenging our previous shame!"
Yang Jinbao and Chen Hong couldn't wait to step forward to ask for help.
Song Che smiled and said: "Two generals, don't be impatient. I haven't finished speaking yet. I will keep the credit for capturing the thief specially for you." He paused and pointed to Lishan Mountain and Gaoling on the map:
"Besieged by our army on three sides, Ma Wei will definitely flee from the weakest north with his troops. Generals Long and Yang, you must try your best to consume Ma Wei's troops and force him to flee towards Lishan Mountain;
General Chen, you are waiting at Lishan with 50,000 troops. As soon as you see Ma Wei's remnant, attack and strangle him. If you can capture the thief, it would be best. If not, drive him to Gaoling.
Ma Wei's escape must be with Qingqi. When he breaks through Beicheng, he will be weakened first, and Lishan will weaken him again. If he wants to Gaoling, he must first cross the Wei River;
General Yang, you will station troops on the south bank of the Weishui River. Ma Wei, who is running east and west at this time, must be exhausted. If you, General Chen, attack from up and down, you will definitely capture him! "
"What a brilliant idea! What a brilliant idea!"
"Okay, at Mao tomorrow, we will organize our troops and generals to attack the city and capture the thieves!"
…
On the twentieth day of the first lunar month, the sky was slightly bright. Song Che and Jiang Yuntian led a hundred thousand troops and hundreds of artillery to confront the east city.
The old rule is to persuade them to surrender first.
"Master Ma, you and I are old acquaintances. You are at the end of your strength today. Why bother to hold on any longer? I hope you will find your way back and surrender to Kaicheng. Maybe you will be spared your death!" Song Che shouted towards the wall.
Ma Wei cursed: "What a joke! The real Emperor is in Chang'an. As Liang ministers, you don't want to uphold the orthodoxy, and you raise troops to fight against it. You are a treacherous person, and your crime is extremely heinous!"
Song Che took out the imperial edict from his sleeve and shouted loudly: "According to His Majesty's decree, I came to Chang'an to welcome the Supreme Emperor back to the capital. Why not uphold orthodoxy?"
He frowned coldly, pointed at Ma Wei and cursed: "Old thief! You are using the emperor to command the princes, and you are trying to seek power and usurp the throne. This conspiracy is known to everyone in the world. If you don't want to hurt future generations, quickly open the door and surrender, and send You are still too great an emperor, otherwise your nine clans will be harmed!"
"You fart! I support orthodoxy, am loyal to the emperor and patriotic, and will be remembered forever even if I die!"
Then there’s no need to talk?
"Fire artillery and attack the city!"
"Come on!"
Dongcheng fired the first shot, and West City and Nancheng rushed to respond. The continuous sound of cannons and charges kicked off the war.
The siege lasted from dawn to dusk, with seven back-and-forth attacks. There were mountains of corpses under the wall and rivers of blood.
Finally, before dark, the ammunition of the Xiliang army was exhausted. Jiang Yuntian took the lead in breaking through the east gate with all his strength. Immediately, there was a response from the east and south, and the army swarmed in.
As expected by Song Che, Ma Wei led 10,000 light cavalry to break through from the north gate toward Lishan Mountain.
"The prey is trapped."
Standing on the city wall, surrounded by smoke, Song Che slowly put away his telescope.
Jiang Yuntian, whose armor was stained red by blood, sighed softly: "What kind of loyal minister did he say he was? In the end, he just wanted to escape on his own?"
Song Che said: "Once something loses its value, even the emperor will be abandoned."
"Then...what's next?"
"What do you think we should do?"
"If you don't do it, you won't stop!" Jiang Yuntian looked hard and made a gesture of wiping his neck.
"You want to kill the emperor?" Song Che shook his head, "Although Zhao Sui is an incompetent emperor, if you kill him, you will never have a good reputation in your life."
Jiang Yuntian asked in confusion: "Is it possible that you really want to welcome him back to the capital?"
Song Che smiled and said: "He is the Supreme Emperor, so of course he has to welcome him back to the capital. However, it is a long way to Jinling. Isn't it reasonable for him to get sick or something on the way?"
"oh!"
"Oh oh oh..."
"Oooo……"
"receive!"
Song Che raised his hand and said, "Let's go to meet the Emperor!"
