Chapter 428: Defending Xizhou City to the Death
A few days ago, Xizhou City.
Ever since Huo Zheng led 100,000 Xizhou troops to the capital, new news has been reported every day.
Wherever the King of Chang'an went, all local officials took the initiative to open the city gates and led the people out of the city to welcome him. There was never a real war.
Later, the generals of King Rui's party suffered defeat after defeat, and even when Huo Yang personally led his troops to Jiangyang City, he was unable to reverse the defeat.
However, sending troops to the capital is different from repelling foreign enemies. They are all from Daxing and cannot be killed indiscriminately. Therefore, Chunzhi can understand why Huo Zheng surrounded Jiangyang City but did not attack it.
The lives of civilians and soldiers are all lives, and we must not harm innocent people for the sake of quick success and instant benefits.
Every time news came from the front, the wives of the generals would come to the palace to listen with Chunzhi.
Yuzhu is there every time.
Chunzhi knew she was worried about Gu Yuanjia.
Although Master Gu is a scholar, Huo Zheng will not let him go to the battlefield, but Master Gu has blocked arrows for Huo Zheng before. The situation ahead is complicated and there are many situations, which makes it hard not to worry.
However, like Yuzhu and Chunzhi, even though they have people they care about, they never delay their daily work.
No matter what happens, life must go on.
On this day, the wind and snow stopped for a while, but the weather was surprisingly cold.
Chunzhi was wearing a fox fur coat and holding a hand warmer, watching Huo Zian practicing sword in the courtyard.
The young boy practiced very well. He said, "Daddy is not around, so I have to protect my mom."
Chunzhi watched the young man sweat profusely from training in the cold weather. He handed the hand warmer to Cui'er beside him and wiped his sweat with a handkerchief. "Let's stop here for today."
Huo Zian nodded obediently, then said, "Then I'll go read a book."
Chunzhi watched the young boy leave and walked towards the front hall, asking, "The letter from Jiangyang City should have arrived by now, right?"
"It used to arrive at dawn every day, but I don't know what happened today. It hasn't arrived yet." Cui'er also found it very strange and said immediately, "I'll send someone out of the city to check."
Just as he finished speaking, the guards outside came to report, "Something big has happened! Our Xizhou City is under siege!"
"What?" Cui'er's eyes widened as her voice suddenly became louder. "Who is so bold as to surround our Xizhou City?!"
Chunzhi was a little flustered when she heard the news, but she quickly forced herself to calm down, "Did you see who was coming?"
The gate guard who came to report the news replied: "It's the Northern State Army!"
"Northern Province Army..." Chunzhi remembered that when Huo Zheng wrote to her earlier, he said that he had sent people to explain the reasons to the chief officers of the three parties, namely, Eastern Province, Southern Province and Northern Province. These people also made it clear that the situation was unclear and they would not take sides with anyone, so they would neither send troops to help nor prevent the Western Province Army from entering Beijing.
But now the Northern State Army suddenly arrived at the city gates.
Cui'er also knew about this, and immediately scolded Beizhou for being good-for-nothings, going back on their word, and doing bad things in secret!
Chunzhi had no time to curse, so he immediately ordered people to close the city gates, and then summoned all the officials of Xizhou and the remaining military generals to the palace to discuss matters.
Everyone responded and immediately did as they were told.
Soon, the officials of Xizhou and the generals who stayed behind arrived at the front hall. Chunzhi didn't wait for them to salute, and told them about the siege of Xizhou City by the Beizhou army.
The generals immediately asked for permission to withdraw their troops.
Chunzhi didn't waste any words and immediately handed over the only 30,000 remaining troops in Xizhou to them. When Huo Zheng left, he was also afraid that something might happen in Xizhou, so he didn't take all the troops with him, leaving only 30,000 behind to prevent any accidents in Xizhou.
Chunzhi held the token for dispatching these 30,000 troops. She took it out and solemnly handed it to the eldest general, General Li, and said, "The safety of Xizhou City is now entrusted to you."
All the soldiers said in unison: "Don't worry, Princess. We will defend Xizhou City to the death!"
After the generals left, a group of civil servants stayed behind to discuss countermeasures with the princess.
Princess Chang'an has been attending government affairs with Prince Chang'an since he came to Xizhou to quell the rebellion and repel the Xiling people. She has also been involved in all the major and minor affairs of Xizhou in recent years. So when Xizhou City was besieged this time, all the officials quickly accepted the princess as the backbone to discuss countermeasures.
Officials said that there was enough food and grass in Xizhou City, and as long as they defended the city gates, they could hold out for some time.
As long as they can hold out until Huo Zheng takes over Jiangyang City and captures Huo Yang alive, the crisis in Xizhou City will naturally be resolved.
The problem is that Jiangyang City is located in the middle of Xizhou and the capital, a thousand miles away from Xizhou. It takes time for the news from here to be delivered. Moreover, the Beizhou army suddenly attacked Xizhou, and it is unknown what changes have occurred in Jiangyang City.
Huo Yang doesn't have any great abilities, but he does have a lot of dirty tricks.
Chunzhi's worries were not unreasonable. The officials in Xizhou were all very worried about the prince's situation.
Therefore, Chunzhi proposed that Xizhou City must be defended at the moment and must not be a drag on the soldiers in the front.
A small mistake can affect the whole body, and if you lose one step, you lose everything.
Everyone responded in unison and immediately issued a notice to recruit militiamen, striving to unite the soldiers and the people and defend Xizhou City at all costs.
The Beizhou army attacked Xizhou City, but failed to break through the city gate after fighting for a day and a night.
Originally, the commander of Beizhou wanted to catch Xizhou off guard, but he didn't expect that the city gate of Xizhou City was reinforced to an incomprehensible degree, and the soldiers defending the city also fought desperately. No matter how they threatened Li Xiu, no one was shaken.
The siege lasted until the second day, when both sides were exhausted and took a short break.
The people in the city had lived in peace for several years, and they were frightened when they saw the noise of war.
The siege subsided for a while, and the city became chaotic again.
Someone shouted loudly at the gate of the palace: "Xizhou City is under siege, but Princess Chang'an has not appeared yet. She must have escaped secretly!"
"Prince Chang'an took all of our Xizhou's troops to the capital to seize the throne. Now he must be obsessed with the throne and doesn't care about the life and death of our Xizhou!"
"We people in Xizhou have such a miserable life! We've always been abandoned!"
These unruly people are obviously spies who are taking advantage of the opportunity to disrupt the people's morale.
More and more people gathered outside the palace, discussing the matter. Someone retorted, "The prince and princess will not ignore Xizhou! They will not ignore us!"
Those people shouted loudly, "There are no good people in the royal family. Do you think the Prince and Princess Chang'an truly want to benefit Xizhou? Not at all! They just want to accomplish something for the emperor to see so they can return to the capital and inherit the throne! All of us are just stepping stones for the Prince and Princess Chang'an!"
The people surrounding the palace were talking endlessly, and someone shouted, "Nonsense! Don't listen to their nonsense!"
It was soon drowned out by various voices.
At this time, the troublemakers took the opportunity to shout, "There are so many people gathered in front of the palace, and Princess Chang'an hasn't come out yet. She must have escaped long ago! I heard there is a secret passage leading out of the city!"
Before he finished speaking, the guards and maids in the palace rushed out and stood on both sides. Chunzhi also strode over.
She said, "There is indeed a secret passage in the palace leading out of the city, but I won't leave. Anyone in the city who wants to leave can leave through the secret passage! I will clear the way for them and will not stop them."
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