Chapter 200 Counterattack
The rebel leader Cao Jing joined forces with Xiling's 200,000 troops to attack Daxing. They were stopped by the troops led by Chang'an King Huo Zheng. After three days of hard fighting, both sides suffered heavy losses, with countless soldiers from both countries killed and wounded. Xiling wanted to retreat, but Cao Jing stopped them. If the Xiling army retreated at this time, the rebels would be in imminent disaster.
At this juncture, the secret agents planted among the Daxing soldiers brought news that Chang'an King Huo Zheng was killed in a mudslide on the way back to the camp. The Daxing soldiers were leaderless, and it was a good opportunity to capture cities and plunder land.
So Marshal Xiling and the rebel leader Cao Jing reorganized their troops and launched battles one after another. The generals on the Daxing side struggled to fight one battle after another.
In today's battle, the Xiling army and the rebels joined together to launch a battle to break through the Kinmen Pass.
The battle was launched overnight, with heavy weapons used to attack the city and seize the land. In the heavy snow, beacon fires shot up into the sky. When the two armies were about to break through the city gate, suddenly countless black-clad cavalrymen came from the rear of the Xiling army.
The vanguard general charged into the battlefield carrying a banner with the Chinese character "Huo" on it, shouting, "Prince Chang'an leads his troops to fight the enemy. Quickly open the city gates and join us in encircling and defeating the Xiling army!"
The dark iron cavalry behind him shouted in unison: "Prince Chang'an is leading his troops to fight the enemy. Quickly open the city gates and join us in encircling and killing the Xiling army!"
The sound was so loud that it almost shook the earth.
Huo Zheng rode out from the midst of thousands of soldiers and killed several Xiling soldiers with one sword. Blood splattered everywhere and the firelight illuminated his sharp eyebrows.
The horse's hooves stepped on the snow, and the clothes fluttered in the wind, just like a god descending from the sky.
The soldiers who were desperately defending the city on the tower saw this, and in an instant they went from disbelief to excitement, "Prince Chang'an is not dead!"
"Prince Chang'an is still alive!"
"Prince Chang'an is back!"
The soldiers in the city shouted and their blood boiled in an instant.
On the day when the rebels colluded with the people of Xiling to launch a war, they had a total of 260,000 to 270,000 troops, while the King of Chang'an had less than 100,000 troops. Despite such a huge disparity in numbers, the King of Chang'an personally led his troops to fight the enemy, fought for three days and three nights, and won the battle.
No one expected that this precious prince would sacrifice his life to protect the country and the people. He did not die on the battlefield, but died in a mudslide.
The surviving Daxing soldiers had witnessed the bravery of King Chang'an, and did not abandon the city and flee after "King Chang'an's death", but held their positions. They believed that the emperor who raised a son like King Chang'an would not abandon them. After fighting more than a dozen battles, both large and small, they held on to this day.
However, in this battle where he was sure to die, King Chang'an actually came back to life. Not only did he survive, he also brought reinforcements.
Now, it was time for them to attack the Xiling army from both sides.
"Open the city gates!"
The general defending the city shouted loudly.
"Open the city gate!" the soldiers shouted in unison.
The city gate, which had been shaken by the attack, was opened at this moment. The soldiers in the city raised their weapons and rushed out, shouting, "Kill!"
In an instant, they formed a pincer attack on the Xiling army and the rebels.
The Xiling army, which had been sure of victory, was suddenly caught in a dilemma, its formation was in disarray, and morale was low.
Marshal Xiling was fighting with the vanguard general who suddenly rushed out, while shouting: "Don't panic!"
But the sky was too dark, and countless black iron cavalry came with great momentum, surrounding the Xiling army like a tide, like the god of death coming, taking away countless lives.
The Xiling army was in chaos and was soon overwhelmed by the black iron cavalry.
Seeing this, Cao Jing rode his horse to Marshal Xiling and said to him, "Marshal, Huo Zheng caught us off guard. The morale of the army is unstable now. It's no use resisting head-on. Let's retreat first!"
Marshal Xiling exchanged several blows with the vanguard general, and was slashed on the arm by the other party. He also knew that the current situation was not good and that resisting was not a solution. He gritted his teeth and shouted, "Sound the horn to call off the troops! Retreat!"
The Xiling army sounded the retreat, gathered their troops and quickly withdrew.
When Cao Jing came to talk to Marshal Xiling about retreating, he had already ordered his troops to leave first.
At this moment, the entire army was retreating, and the rebels were the fastest running and in the front.
The injured Marshal Xiling was quickly escorted back by his trusted soldiers. Cao Jing ignored him and retreated with his own men.
The night was dark, snow was falling like a blanket, and amidst the dazzling firelight, Jiang Hao rode his horse against the crowd and came to Cao Jing. "Foster father, how are you?"
Seeing this, the people protecting Cao Jing made way for him.
"I got a little hurt." Cao Jing was hit by an arrow while retreating. He gritted his teeth and pulled out the arrow feather. He said to Jiang Hao: "The situation is not good today. Retreat quickly."
Jiang Hao lowered his head and replied "yes". When Cao Jing rode past him, Jiang Hao suddenly drew the long sword from his waist and chopped off Cao Jing's head with one blow.
The accident happened in a moment.
Before the people who were guarding Cao Jing could even react, they saw Cao Jing's head rolling to the ground.
The blood dyed the flying snow red, and Cao Jing's body fell from the horse's back with a bang.
His eyes were wide open, and he could not believe until his death that he would die at the hands of Jiang Hao.
"Jiang Hao! How dare you kill my adoptive father!" Upon seeing this, Cao Jing's other adopted sons immediately rushed forward and wanted to kill Jiang Hao on the spot.
Jiang Hao was well prepared. He picked off four brothers with one sword, finishing off each one with a single blow. Blood splattered all over his face, but he didn't even blink. "You're so filial! I'll send you to the underworld and continue to be Cao Jing's adopted sons!"
Only one of the four escaped Jiang Hao's clutches, and even though he escaped fast enough, he still had one of his hands chopped off. The rebels were all leaderless and surrounded by them.
Jiang Hao didn't care about the man who ran away. He held the reins with one hand and raised his sword with the other, shouting: "Cao Jing is dead, everyone obey my orders!"
The group following Jiang Hao immediately responded, "It's all up to Third Brother to order!"
Jiang Hao said, "Cao Jing colluded with Xiling and committed treason. His crimes are heinous. Brothers, join me in intercepting and killing the Xiling army. We will atone for our mistakes and surrender to the imperial court! From now on, we will eat military rations, receive military pay, and become military masters!"
The rebels were in a panic when they saw that Cao Jing was dead. Now they heard Jiang Hao say that as long as they intercepted and killed the Xiling army, they could make amends, surrender to the court, eat military rations, receive military pay, and become military masters. At this time, even a fool would know what to choose.
In addition, Jiang Hao's subordinates shouted loudly: "Make amends and submit to the court!"
Most of the rebels quickly chose to follow Jiang Hao to intercept and kill the Xiling army. Some of Cao Jing's diehards shouted that Jiang Hao was greedy for fame and fortune, colluded with the court, and committed patricide, and they wanted to fight him to the death.
Jiang Hao looked at those people, raised his hand to wipe the blood off his face, and chuckled, "Patricide? What kind of father is Cao Jing?"
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