Chapter 65

King Pingyang’s rebels came very quickly, and they hardly encountered any decent resistance on the road, so they attacked Pucheng, surrounded them on all sides, and boasted that they would take the city within a few days.

Naturally, the rebels have the confidence to say so. As a result, the incident happened suddenly, and the rebels left the imperial court and the cities along the way to the north to prepare too hastily. Second, there is a huge disparity in the numbers of the two sides. The King of Pingyang has been secretly planning for a long time. This time, in addition to some staying in Pingyang Mansion, he dispatched nearly 50,000 troops and horses, while Pucheng only had 5,000 troops stationed.

Faced with such a predicament, at the beginning of the siege, Pucheng Ling was not very nervous.

He also has reasons for optimism.

He was born in the army and has quite a lot of experience in commanding battles. He has 5,000 garrisoned troops, all of whom are elite soldiers. They are well-trained and obey orders. Although the number is far less than that of the rebels who came to attack the city, but relying on the city’s defense to resist for a while, he should not be there. Next.

In addition to this, and more importantly, Pucheng holds a special status.

Since many years ago, the imperial court has set up a triple line of defense on the way to the north to guard the capital.

Pucheng is the southern end of this line of defense.

Behind Pucheng, hundreds of miles away in a few days, is Longguan in the middle of the defense line.

When the country was at its peak, there were fifty thousand soldiers stationed in Longguan alone. Although it is not as big as before, there are still some ten thousand or two thousand people.

Pucheng is like the gate of Longguan, and the imperial court clearly states that as long as Pucheng encounters an attack, Longguan must send troops to support it.

Before the rebels arrived, Puchengling had sent someone to Longguan to report the news, requesting that the Longguan guard would send troops to support in time. As long as you stick to your side for a few days, wait for the reinforcements to arrive, and take advantage of the terrain, you should cooperate with the inside and outside. Even if you can’t defeat the rebels and relieve the siege, the problem should not be big.

However, the development of the situation exceeded Pucheng Ling’s expectations.

Three days later, the Longguan reinforcements he was waiting for did not appear as scheduled.

Three days later, the reinforcements were still missing. In the face of the fierce attacks launched by the rebels again and again, the defenders at the city head continued to suffer casualties, and the entire city was in jeopardy. Fortunately, Pucheng’s defense was strong, and Pucheng’s leaders were encouraging, and the people also heard that the rebels burned, killed, and looted, and they spontaneously supported it.

But the people in the city are already unstable. Rumors began to spread that the court had abandoned Pucheng.

Puchengling’s initial confidence also gradually shaken. But he still held on to a glimmer of hope, hoping that the reinforcements had encountered obstacles on the way.

His last ray of hope was finally shattered a few days ago.

That day, after repelling another attack organized by the rebels, he waited for an edict from the imperial court.

The court ordered him to stick to the city for a month, regardless of the cost, otherwise, he would be punished with the crime of dereliction of duty, the crime and his family.

At this point, Pucheng Ling finally understood the intention of the court.

The terrain of Longguan is dangerous and difficult to attack. At the expense of Pucheng, the imperial court will gather the troops that can be called to Longguan, where they are ready to block the rebels with all their might.

Pucheng is just a **** in the plan of “losing the **** to protect the car”.

Pucheng Ling’s parents and wife are all in Beijing. He can only do so.

He concealed the news and continued to boost the morale of the remaining soldiers with reinforcements that would never arrive.

Inside the siege, more and more people died, and the pessimistic atmosphere in the city became stronger and stronger.

There are no impervious walls in the world.

On the fifteenth day, the news that Pucheng was abandoned by the imperial court was completely spread.

Puchengling killed two deserters who had shaken the hearts of the army, and took the remaining less than a thousand soldiers, armed with weapons, to the top of the wall.

No one believed they would be able to withstand the rebels again. including themselves.

One after another towering ladders, built on the wall. The rebels, like ants, climbed up the ladder and rushed to the top of the city.

Breaking the city is imminent.

Pucheng Ling was hit by several arrows. Behind him, there are desperate people all over the city. The father calls the mother, the mother holds the child, and runs around the city like a headless fly. At the last moment before the city is destroyed, I want to find a place to hide.

There were horrified cries everywhere.

The end has come, but there is no way back. With a tragic heart, Pucheng Ling took the last remaining hundreds of soldiers from the city to fight against the rebels who kept jumping from the ladder, making a last effort that was doomed to be useless.

Suddenly, in the depths of the distant wilderness, there seemed to be a sound of killing.

At first he thought he had heard it wrong. But soon, with the sound of killing, a large black shadow appeared on the distant horizon.

It was a huge cavalry army that only the frontier could breed.

Thousands of horses galloped, like a black tide coming from the ground, rushing in from all directions, in the direction of the city.

Under the clear sky, a huge black flag that made the enemy look discolored, fluttered in the strong wind.

The rebels under the city also found that the situation was different, and the general immediately ordered to stop the siege and lined up to wait.

The hundreds of soldiers left by Pucheng Linghe slaughtered the rebels who had no time to retreat. Then, as if in a dream, they ran to the city wall, staring at the opposite side as the cavalry advanced, which became more and more difficult. Clear banner.

They finally recognized it.

Puchengling was stunned for a moment, and suddenly, he let out a roar full of unbelievable ecstasy: “The sky will not kill me!”

“Hexi Xie Jiedu is here!”

He shouted out this roar with all his strength, hot tears rolled, and with a “pop”, the man fell on the top of the city.

In the wilderness outside Pucheng, the Hexi Army and the rebels fought together from afar.

The bows and arrows in the sky are like the rain of flint. The new blood was covered with layers of old blood, reddish through the fire-scorched city walls.

The rebels knew that Empress Liu wanted to abandon Pucheng and try their best to protect Longguan. Even if Xie Changgeng was summoned to pacify the chaos, the greatest possibility would be to meet at Longguan.

They did not expect that he would come to the rescue in person.

Although the troops had the upper hand, in the face of this elite cavalry with amazing fighting power from the frontier, the rebels gradually became weaker.

After fighting for half a day, several generals were lost, and the rebel army was distracted. Taking advantage of the darkness, they retreated in a hurry.

The siege that lasted for half a month was finally resolved. The gates of Pucheng were wide open, and the nearby fire sticks were lit up as bright as day.

In the city, the news that Xie Changgeng, the envoy of Jiedu in Hexi, personally led the troops to fight back the rebels, had already spread in the city. The whole city was desperate, and the people were grateful. Thousands of people rushed to the gate of the city, crowding on both sides of the street, wanting to see the true face of the youngest Jiedushi in the history of this dynasty.

Pucheng Ling had already woken up, and he led the officials in the city to the city gate and personally welcomed Xie Changgeng into the city.

He was supported and waited there, and finally heard at the end of the night, there was the sound of a swift horse’s hoof, coming towards the city gate, getting closer and closer.

Puchengling looked up.

Soon, accompanied by the sound of neat and heavy steps, two lines of burly armored soldiers appeared in his sight, and in the middle, a man walked in a big way.

The man’s armor was still unremoved, stained with blood, and the light of the torches around him illuminated his face.

His face was handsome, his eyes were blood-red, and the terrifying murderous aura was still not dissipated.

The people crowded at the gate of the city knew that this man was Xie Changgeng, the Jiedushi envoy of Hexi.

The surrounding noises, with his appearance, instantly quieted down.

Everyone held their breath and looked at the man covered in blood with eyes that were almost adoring and fearful. When he walked in front of him, they couldn’t help kneeling and bowing to him.

The man seemed to have never seen him, his footsteps paused for a while, his eyes glanced around the front, and among the countless faces, he quickly landed on Puchengling’s body.

This man, who has always been stoic, couldn’t hold back his excitement at the moment, his eyes were red, and he said, “Jiedu sent the gods to the sky to save the whole city from water and fire, great kindness and great virtue, unforgettable, please accept the next official one. bye!”

He led the officials behind him and hundreds of surviving soldiers to kneel and kowtow solemnly.

Xie Changgeng nodded and ordered him to get up. His eyes quickly glanced at the nearby faces again, and said indifferently: “Where did you place the Changsha Kingdom’s Wengzhu and his party?”

Pu Chengling was helped up from the ground by the people beside him, and then he said respectfully, “Your Excellency doesn’t know anything. Lord Weng is no longer in the city.”

Xie Changgeng was startled, then frowned: “What do you mean by that? Where did she go when she’s not in the city?”

Hearing his tone of voice slightly raised, Pucheng Ling hurriedly explained: “A little over half a month ago, Lord Weng and his group walked through the neighborhood. They did enter the city to avoid the rebel army, but then the people from Changsha who came to pick her up arrived. Lord Weng will follow the people of Changsha to take the waterway, from Pushui to the south of the Yangtze River, it should be safe.”

Xie Changgeng stopped.

“The one who came to pick her up was someone surnamed Yuan?”

After a while, he asked slowly.

“Exactly. Lord Weng called him brother. Before he left, Lord Weng asked Guard Liang and others to go back on their own, and there was no need to send them back. But Guard Liang said that before coming out, he had been instructed by you, Lord Weng, be sure to send Guard Weng and others back. Send it to Changsha and still go together.”

Xie Changgeng did not speak for a long time.

“The humble post has prepared a resting place for the adults, please enter the city.”

Seeing that his face seemed a little pale, Pucheng Ling hurriedly said.

Xie Changgeng closed his eyes, opened them, and said, “No need. The army is temporarily stationed outside the city, and you can provide food and grass.”

After he finished speaking, he turned around, and strode out of the city gate amid the voices of “Send the Jiedushi” one after another behind him.

The army has been stationed in the field outside Pucheng. From a distance, the campfires are lit up.

Xie Changgeng returned to the military tent, and as soon as he entered, his footsteps slowed down.

He slowly took off his armor, lowered his head, and saw an arrow cluster wound on his abdomen with a broken arrow shaft, and a large cloud of dark red blood had oozing out, staining the close-fitting blue shirt.

The military doctor arrived in a hurry and pulled out the grappling hook-shaped cluster of arrows that went deep into the flesh for him. Then the knife was scalded on the fire and attached to the flesh of the wound to stop the bleeding.

After disposing of the wound, Xie Changgeng wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, calmed down, and then called in a close guard, and instructed: “Go south along Pushui, immediately go after Liang Tuan, and recall him so that he doesn’t have to send him any more! ”

When his close followers go out, in order to ensure that they can track contacts, they will leave secret notes along the way that only their own people can track.

The guard glanced at his belly, said “adult take care”, and then left the tent, disappearing into the night.