Chapter 431 Protecting One Person Is Protecting the Whole City
Everyone on the tower was stunned when they saw this scene:
"What happened outside the city?"
"Why did the Northern State Army suddenly kill its own commander?"
"Those infantrymen in front are probably assassins in disguise. Wasn't that cavalryman behind here to support their commander? How did he suddenly shoot an arrow through their commander's heart?"
"No, that person is——"
"It's Huo Yan!"
Ren Dong saw the young cavalryman who had shot the Beizhou commander through the heart with an arrow on the battlefield looking up at the city wall. Although he was so far away, the man was wearing the armor of the Beizhou cavalry and holding the same sword as those soldiers, but she still recognized him as Huo Yan among the thousands of soldiers.
Huo Yan did not leave alone.
He led his men to disguise themselves as Beizhou soldiers and assassinated the Beizhou commander on the battlefield!
As soon as the commander died, the Beizhou Army immediately fell into chaos and everyone was in an uproar.
Huo Yan raised his blood-drenched sword and shouted, "I am the Ninth Prince Huo Yan! Suo Hongkai colluded with Prince Huo Yang of Rui to attack Xizhou for his own selfish desires, bringing chaos to the country. He has now been executed! Considering that the Northern Province army was deceived by him, those who lay down their weapons and surrender will be spared!"
Huo Yan was once trapped by the rebels on this battlefield, captured alive, and suffered humiliation.
Now, on the same battlefield, he used a trick to assassinate the commander of Beizhou. The dignity and pride that he had lost here were all picked up again in this moment.
All is fair in war.
Huo Yang was once defeated by these four words, and now he wins by these four words.
A group of assassins disguised as Northern State soldiers followed the Ninth Prince and shouted in unison, "Those who surrender will not be killed, considering that the Northern State soldiers have been deceived by them!"
"Considering that the Northern Province troops have been deceived by them, those who lay down their weapons and surrender will not be killed!"
"Considering that the Northern Province troops have been deceived by them, those who lay down their weapons and surrender will not be killed!"
Everyone shouted three times in unison, and many of the Northern State soldiers present began to waver.
After all, they had been attacking Xizhou City for three days and three nights without being able to break through. This was a tough nut to crack. Now, even their Beizhou commander had died at the hands of the Ninth Prince. It was clear that God was protecting Xizhou...
When the Beizhou Army was about to surrender, Suo Hongkai's deputy general suddenly raised his sword and shouted, "Don't trust him!"
"With so many people killed in Xizhou, how could they let us go? Now they say that if you surrender, you will not be killed. They are just trying to trick us into laying down our weapons. Once the Xizhou army arrives, they will immediately settle the score with us!"
Anyone who has served in the military knows that surrendering your weapons will not kill you. That is a condition set before two armies engage in combat, and it cannot be fully trusted until any casualties are caused.
Not to mention that they forcefully attacked Xizhou City for three days and three nights, causing countless casualties in Xizhou. Now the Ninth Prince said that they would not be killed if they surrendered, but it was just a temporary expedient because Xizhou City was short of soldiers and generals, and could not temporarily deal with such a large number of Beizhou troops.
Once the Prince of Chang'an returns with the Western Province Army to provide support, the Northern Province Army will be forced to pay with blood.
After Suo Hongkai's deputy general shouted like this, the Beizhou soldiers who were originally ready to lay down their weapons immediately clenched their weapons again. If they would be slaughtered by others after laying down their butcher knives, who would dare to lay down their weapons?
I would rather fight to the last moment than surrender!
Upon seeing this, Suo Hongkai's deputy general immediately spoke again: "Capture the Ninth Prince! Break through Xizhou City, and we will be the great heroes who support King Rui to ascend the throne!"
Some Beizhou soldiers were dazzled by the huge cake in front of them, and surrounded Huo Yan with swords raised to kill him.
"Your Highness, be careful!" A dozen secret guards of the Ninth Prince, dressed as soldiers from the Northern State Army, surrounded Huo Yan and protected him.
Huo Yan raised his sword and killed the Beizhou soldiers who kept charging towards him. He couldn't help but become furious as he watched his guards die one by one in front of him.
Seeing this, Honeysuckle on the city wall suddenly felt her heart rise to her throat, "Huo Yan!"
Chunzhi leaned on the city wall with one hand, watching Huo Yan fighting desperately with countless Beizhou soldiers. Although those Beizhou soldiers did not dare to kill the Ninth Prince, they slashed his arms and legs again and again. Even though Huo Yan had devoted himself to practicing martial arts in recent years and made great progress, he could not withstand the siege of these Beizhou soldiers.
Chunzhi watched this scene and solemnly ordered the soldiers guarding the city: "Open the city gate and support Huo Yan!"
Several Western State officials behind him immediately spoke up upon hearing this:
"Princess, you can't!"
"Opening the city gates at this time is tantamount to letting the Northern State Army into the city!"
"The Ninth Prince's life is certainly important, but compared to the hundreds of thousands of people in Xizhou..."
"Huo Yan went to the battlefield to assassinate the commander of Beizhou in order to protect Xizhou City!" Chunzhi interrupted them harshly, "Now Huo Yan is imprisoned. As the people he protects, are we supposed to just sit there and do nothing? We have to watch—"
Some people said, "He is the Ninth Prince. The Northern State Army would only kill him, not actually kill him."
"Sacrificing one person to protect the entire city's people, Princess, anyone would know what to do in this situation. If the prince were here today, he would definitely make the same decision as us!"
"No!" Chunzhi said firmly: "He won't!"
Chunzhi said: "If Huo Zheng were here, he would definitely protect one person and the people in the city!"
Those who had just said that the Ninth Prince would only be injured if he fell into the hands of the Northern State Army, and those who had said that they would sacrifice one person to protect the entire city, suddenly felt ashamed, but they did not think they were wrong.
Chunzhi said, "The fire wall is still strong. If we open the city gates now to support Huo Yan, we can close them quickly to stop the Northern State Army behind us."
As she spoke, she immediately called out "Jiang He."
"I'm here."
Jiang He immediately responded and stepped forward.
Jiang He is the head of Huo Zheng's secret guards and also his most capable subordinate. When Huo Zheng left Xizhou, he deliberately left him to Chunzhi and asked him to obey the princess's orders in everything.
Chunzhi said, "Take a few secret guards with good martial arts skills and use the ropes to descend from the city wall to rescue Huo Yan. After rescuing him, immediately seize the horses and return to the city. Don't linger for a moment. I will have the city gates open for a moment to let you in. This is a dangerous task. A delay will bring disaster to the people of the city. Do you dare to try?"
Jiang He said without hesitation: "I am willing to give it a try!"
"Okay." Chunzhi named ten more secret guards and asked them to follow Jiang He to rescue Huo Yan.
The people on the city wall quickly brought ropes and asked Jiang He and others to pull the ropes and use their lightness skills to cross the wall of fire and rush into the Beizhou Army to rescue people.
At the same time, Harue spoke again: "Archers, cover!"
"Yes!" Hundreds of archers on the city wall responded in unison, drew their bows and aimed at the Northern State Army.
When Huo Yan was badly wounded by wave after wave of Beizhou troops and could not even stand, and could only use his sword to support himself to stay standing, he wanted to look up at the city wall again.
There is someone there whom he can never forget even across thousands of mountains and rivers.
The man told him that he would remember him.
Huo Yan wanted to look up and take another look at her appearance. If they met again on Naihe Bridge in the future, he could say to her:
You see, I'm not a coward.
I haven't been a selfish and bad-tempered person all my life.
I don't listen to what others say, but I can't help but take what you say to heart.
Even though the people of Xizhou City watched Huo Yan being besieged and did not leave the city to rescue him, he did not feel any resentment.
He only cares about whether he is willing to do it, not whether it is worth it.
In fact, Huo Yan and other Northern State soldiers wanted to capture him alive and bring him to Huo Yang to seek credit. As long as he dropped his sword and surrendered, these Northern State soldiers would be happy to spare his life.
But he had already been captured alive once on this battlefield, and he absolutely could not be captured alive a second time.
Even if it means death!
Huo Yan gritted his teeth and raised the long sword in his hand, ready to kill one more Beizhou soldier before he died. At this time, Jiang He and others jumped down from the high city wall, pulling the rope.
They crossed the wall of fire and the heavily surrounded Beizhou Army to rescue the seriously injured Huo Yan.
Jiang He rushed the fastest, holding Huo Yan who was falling into the snow. He carried him behind his back with one hand, and killed two Beizhou soldiers with a sword in the other hand. "Ninth Prince, hold on!"
When Huo Yan heard this annoying voice, his eyes, which were about to close, opened again.
"Why is it you?"
Huo Yan's voice was hoarse and unpleasant, almost squeezed out of his throat.
Jiang He led the secret guards to repel the Northern State Army while carrying Huo Yan on his back, avoiding the arrows that kept coming down from the city walls and crossing the siege to grab the warhorse as planned. In the midst of his busy schedule, he didn't forget to reply to Huo Yan, "Don't be picky now, Ninth Prince."
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