"My Lord, where are we going?"
Chu Qiao pulled the reins of her horse, turned around slowly, and said calmly, "Go charge at the north gate guarded by the Cavalry Battalion."
He Xiao was slightly stunned, and asked in surprise: "Aren't you going to Ziwei Square to rescue the fourth young master?"
Chu Qiao smiled and said confidently: "Don't worry, he will come to meet us."
After saying this, he rode out of the posthouse first.
At the north gate, there were more than 40,000 soldiers guarding the Cavalry Battalion, all of them fully armed. This army once led by Zhao Che has now become Zhao Yang's personal army, following Zhao Yang in his campaigns, and their loyalty is no less than that of Chu Qiao's Xiuli Army.
At this moment, they were looking at the team of less than a thousand people opposite with contempt. Standing on the tower, the defending general He Qian sneered and ordered his men, "Kill them."
The city walls were high and thick, and had a large number of defensive tools. Generally speaking, it was impossible to attack a city gate like the capital of Daxia without a force three to five times that of the enemy. However, Chu Qiao currently only has less than a thousand people with her. If she dares to attack the army of tens of thousands guarding the pass, it would be tantamount to courting her own destruction.
The Xia army sent a soldier with a loud voice, who first tried to persuade Chu Qiao to surrender, but after talking for a long time and seeing that she had no reaction, he began to curse Zhuge Yue as a traitor, who had conspired with the Seventh Prince Zhao Che to murder the Xia Emperor. Now he was surrounded in the city and could not escape, and would definitely die without a burial place.
Chu Qiao listened quietly without any reaction. But after a while, she suddenly heard the soldier's words getting more and more outrageous, even saying that Zhuge Yue and Zhao Che were having an affair, and that he was a homosexual. She couldn't help but get angry, and spread her hands and said to He Xiao, "Bow."
He Xiao didn't say anything and handed Chu Qiao a bow and crossbow.
Chu Qiao bent her bow and drew her arrow, which flew out like lightning. The soldier was also very capable, as he must have been cursed and yelled at the battlefield many times over the years, so he had been prepared for it. When he saw Chu Qiao's arrow coming, he turned over and jumped off his horse. Unexpectedly, before the man hit the ground, an arrow came from below like a ghost, shot into his mouth and came out from the back of his head.
He Qian was furious and immediately issued an attack order. Arrows flew into the sky and a black mass of troops came attacking like a mountain or sea. The sound of Xia's charge resounded through the world.
Compared to the might of the Xia army, the Xiuli army was silent. They were not within the range of the bows and arrows. Only occasionally a few strong soldiers could shoot arrows, but they were already exhausted. The soldiers of the Xiuli army could just use their swords to knock the arrows aside.
He Qian is the gate keeper and should be guarding the gate. But now Chu Qiao's troops are just surrounding them without attacking, so the battle cannot be fought. Does he want his soldiers to go down and fight those cavalry with bayonets? Seeing other colleagues charging into battle and helping His Highness the Fourteenth Prince to build his empire, he could only stay here and guard it. After finally getting a group of enemies, they just stood there hesitating and refusing to take action. He Qian was so angry that he was fuming. At this moment, a cavalryman from the opposite side suddenly ran to within an arrow's range with a shield and shouted something at him.
He Qian was stunned and ordered the entire army to be quiet. He was quite old and his hearing was not very good, so he asked the guard beside him: "What did that person say?"
The guard looked very unhappy. After hesitating for a long time, he whispered, "General, the man asked you if you are willing to surrender. He said that if you continue to be stubborn, they will destroy us."
He Qian was immediately furious. Want to destroy him?
He had an army of 40,000, while the enemy had less than a thousand men. Although it was said that King Xiu Li was an expert in military tactics and could often defeat a larger force with a smaller one, she had basically been on the side defending the city in the past, relying on the high walls and sharp swords to barely be able to defend. Now, using a thousand cavalry to attack the city gate was simply wishful thinking.
Just as He Qian was roaring in anger, a bright yellow firework suddenly exploded in the eastern sky, and thousands of fireworks formed a beautiful scene.
Chu Qiao looked up at the east for a long time before she said calmly, "Okay, open the city gate."
Ping An was listening at the side and was stunned for a moment. Just as he was about to speak, He Xiao asked seriously, "Do you want to eliminate all the opponents?"
Chu Qiao frowned slightly, weighed the options, and said, "Let's see if they dare to resist."
Ping An's eyes almost popped out when he heard this. He was about to ask them if they were crazy when he suddenly heard He Xiaochen shout, and a team of armored soldiers rode forward on their horses. There were forty people in the two rows, front and back. Everyone held a bow and arrow. The arrows in the front row had an oil paper bag stuck in them, while the arrows in the back row were rockets.
"Target, North Gate. First group shoot at the upper left corner. Second group shoot at the lower left corner. Third group shoot at the upper right corner. Fourth group shoot at the lower right corner. Fifth group shoot at the center. Ready. One, two. Fire!"
In an instant, the first row of arrows flew out and slammed towards the heavy city gate. Immediately afterwards, the second row of rockets followed. At the moment when the first row of arrows hit the city gate, a rocket was inserted into each oil paper package. With a strong wind, a fire started.
He Qian was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter, "Your Highness Prince Xiu Li is planning to burn my city gate? Haha, then this little fire is not enough!"
However, just as he finished speaking, there was a loud bang and a huge explosion sounded at the city gate, and the entire city wall was shaking violently, like an earthquake. Black smoke rose into the sky, and in the dark night, it looked like thousands of troops rushing towards us.
Afterwards, He Qian watched in amazement as the Zhenhuang city gate, which he had guarded for more than twenty years, suddenly shattered in a cloud of black smoke, along with half of the city wall, turning into ruins.
The Zhenhuang city gate, which was the pride of Daxia and claimed to be difficult to break through even with a million troops, completely ended its 300-year undefeated historical record at this moment.
"Groups six to ten, get ready. Target: the eastern section of the city wall. Group six..."
He Xiao's voice was heard again, and right after that, another string of high explosives blew up the eastern section of the city wall. After three consecutive times, most of the northern city gate collapsed, and the road ahead of Xiu Li's army was now flat.
"Listen up, people on the other side!" Ten messengers rode forward, each holding a simple loudspeaker, and shouted, "Put down your weapons immediately, put down your weapons immediately, squat on the ground with your hands on your head, we accept your surrender and will spare your lives. People on the other side, listen up, put down your weapons immediately..."
He Qian's face was covered in black and gray, and he was stunned. He couldn't understand why his 40,000 men were defeated so easily? They hadn't even fought a single sword fight. Why did the other side blast open his city gate with just a few firecrackers? Why are there such terrible firecrackers in this world? How come he had never heard of it?
Chu Qiao rode over and looked down at He Qian who had fallen from the tower. She nodded calmly and said quietly, "General He, I'm grateful for your help."
In an instant, He Qian was so depressed that he almost vomited blood.
At this moment, dust suddenly rose in the east, and Zhuge Yue, with three thousand men under his command, came roaring in like thunder. He was somewhat shocked by what he saw, but only he heaved a sigh of relief when he saw Chu Qiao was safe and sound.
On the devastated battlefield, the two men were separated by a long distance, each sitting on horseback, their eyes piercing through the layers of the crowd, staring at each other quietly under the starless and moonless night sky.
Chu Qiao stretched her lips and smiled slightly. Until this moment, she was still wearing a bright red auspicious dress, a phoenix coronet and a bridal robe, embroidered with phoenix patterns, an eight-treasure chicken blood necklace on her brow, and her hair tied up high. All of these were royal etiquette. In such a ferocious night, she looked dignified, graceful, noble and sharp.
Zhuge Yue rode up to her and asked, “How are you?”
Chu Qiao smiled, "Not bad."
Yes, it's okay. After receiving your letter, I knew that someone would do something unusual on the wedding day, but I didn't expect them to be so bold. Nothing went wrong. I was just worried about you, but I had to keep it to myself. I was just a little worried. No one was hurt, no one was humiliated. Everything is fine, all is well.
Zhuge Yue turned to He Qian and the 40,000 Green Camp soldiers and said, "Your Majesty was not murdered by me and His Majesty the Seventh Prince. The traitors are the ones you are loyal to. Now that foreign enemies are knocking on the border and internal strife is endless, we do not want to dig up the gates of Great Xia at this time. Go back and tell Zhao Yang that we don't want this Zhenhuang City and give it to him for free."
After saying that, he stretched out his long arms, carried Chu Qiao onto his horse's back, and swept away through the open gate like a gust of wind with his followers.
Zhuge Yue was not exaggerating. This Zhenhuang City was indeed given to Zhao Yang by him and Zhao Che.
Long before the wedding, they had already noticed that Zhao Yang would behave strangely. He instructed the garrison at Yanming Pass to allow his subordinates to provoke Yan Xun, and spread the argument that Yanbei had no fighting power in the country, stirring up the warlike spirit in the Council of Elders and the government. Afterwards, he used the excuse that a war was about to break out in northern Yan as an excuse to mobilize Zhuge Yue’s army through the Council of Elders. Through promises, he gained the support of the Wei clan, the Zhuge clan and other aristocratic families, dispersed the military power of Zhao Che and Zhuge Yue to various places, and used the excuse of training to temporarily weaken their strength during the wedding.
Zhuge Yue had to return to the capital for his wedding, but the military training in Yecheng had not yet been completed, so Zhao Che had to stay in Yecheng. Zhao Yang's plan was to take advantage of this opportunity to eliminate Zhuge Yue in one fell swoop, and then pin the label of traitor on Zhao Che. By then, Zhao Che would be alone and helpless, and would naturally allow Zhao Yang to slaughter him.
However, he did not expect that with the Green Camp Army, the Cavalry Battalion and the Capital Army under his command, plus Zhuge Huai's family army and Chu Qiao as a hostage, Zhuge Yue would still turn against him and cause him to fail.
When Zhuge Yue's troops reached Dongyu City, all the Qinghai troops stationed in Zhenhuang had already arrived, totaling 110,000. With the addition of some troops loyal to Zhuge Yue and Zhao Che, the total force approached 250,000.
At this time, Zhao Che, with his 170,000 Dong Hu troops, firmly guarded Yecheng, coordinating with Zhuge Yue from the north and west, and firmly controlled Zhenhuang City in his hands.
Within three days, various princes started to make movements. Four rebel armies from Yicheng, Xuanhua, Daliao and Qingcheng, successively approached Zhenhuang under the banner of "killing the rebels and restoring the imperial power", and started fighting with Zhao Yang. These people were not loyal to Zhao Che and Zhuge Yue. It was just that when the civil strife broke out, the princes from all over the country wanted to get a piece of the pie, and Zhao Yang, who occupied the capital, naturally became a piece of fat meat in the eyes of everyone. Some princes who had no brains but only military power naturally could not hold back, and they also began to dream of becoming emperors with their huge armies.
This was the reason why Zhuge Yue had given up on Zhenhuang before. Civil strife in Daxia is inevitable, so let's give a stage to all those who have rebellious hearts and let them stand out. At this time, whoever occupies Zhenhuang will be the target of public criticism.
In the territory of Daxia, smoke of war suddenly rose everywhere, and there were shouts of killing.
Zhuge Yue and Zhao Che took the opportunity to open the Qinghai and Donghu passes and sent a large number of troops to guard and inspect. Upon hearing the news, the people in various places who were in the midst of war all fled to the west and north with their families. In less than three days, more than 400,000 people passed through the Qinghai checkpoint alone. Although the Qinghai officials had prepared for more than three months in advance, they were still caught off guard by the sudden influx of refugees.
The princes from all over the country fought each other for more than ten days under the city of Zhenhuang. Many of the princes who originally wanted to watch the fun and take advantage were also angered by Zhao Yang. They all waited eagerly for Zhao Che to send troops so that they could gain a good reputation of loyalty and patriotism in front of their new master.