Chapter 245: Battle of Xi'an 1
After receiving the news that Wu Sangui's Jianlu troops were attacking Xi'an, Zhao Xiaofei's army immediately ordered to advance.
Zhao Xiaofei stood in the cold wind, wearing fish-scale armor weighing dozens of kilograms. He drew his command knife and shouted to the soldiers below the training ground: "Soldiers of the Ming Dynasty! The final decisive battle is about to come! The rebels and the Jianlu are fighting fiercely in the front. I really hope that they will all die fighting each other! But this is impossible! Victory is not something that can be waited for! It is won with our own hands! We have the most powerful weapons in the world, the most elite soldiers, and indomitable warriors! You have families behind you waiting for you to go home for the New Year! They are looking at us with expectant eyes! They hope for peace in the world and a good life with you! Will you disappoint your loved ones' expectations of you?"
The five hundred or so officers below answered in unison, "No! No! No!" Their voices resounded through the heavens.
"Okay! Go back and convey my words! We must end the war before the Spring Festival and go home to celebrate the New Year!" said Zhao Xiaofei.
"Go home for the New Year! Go home for the New Year! Go home for the New Year!" The officers below answered in unison.
"Okay! Let's go back and follow the established guidelines! Let's go!" said Zhao Xiaofei.
"The Ming Dynasty will win! The Ming Dynasty will win! The Ming Dynasty will win!" After the government troops finished their response, General Zhou Wanshan continued to assign tasks.
Zhao Xiaofei would leave professional matters to professionals, and he would not get involved. He returned to his tent and saw Li Sihong packing up her things.
Zhao Xiaofei said, "Madam! Just let the maids do these things. Why do you have to do it yourself?"
"The war is coming soon. I need to pack up and prepare some items just in case!" Li Sihong continued to pack as she spoke. After a while, she started writing a list.
Zhao Xiaofei smiled and shook his head and said, "You women! You are doing useless work. Many things are almost unused after being packed up! Look, why did you transfer a few chariots over? Wouldn't it be better to let them all go to suppress those Jianlu cavalry? Do I need someone to protect me?" Zhao Xiaofei pointed at the handwritten order written by Li Sihong and smiled.
"You are the commander-in-chief of an army! This iron-shell tank can save your life at the critical moment. I hope it will not be used, but it is still necessary to be prepared for the worst!" said Li Sihong.
"Okay, okay, okay! I have to listen to my wife! My wife is cautious in using troops, comparable to the female Zhuge Liang!" Zhao Xiaofei smiled and hugged Li Sihong in his arms, intending to do something bad.
Li Sihong said shyly, "Let go! The army is about to set off, stop making trouble!"
"I won't! When we return to Nanjing, or go directly back to the capital, and they see that I'm pregnant again, don't you think they will be jealous of you?" Zhao Xiaofei said with a wicked smile.
"Oh my! What's this? It's so embarrassing!" Li Sihong shyly opened the hand that Zhao Xiaofei extended to her.
However, the more Zhao Xiaofei resisted, the more excited he became, and he immediately had sex with Li Sihong in the big tent.
After a moment of passion, Li Sihong straightened her clothes and said angrily, "It's all your fault! I won't be able to ride a horse in a while!"
"If you don't want to ride a horse, take a car! Who really expects you to lead troops on horseback! We use this to fight!" Zhao Xiaofei said, pointing to his head.
Under the orders of Zhao Xiaofei and the command of Zhou Shuai and Wan Shan, Shangluo was soon unable to withstand the attack.
First, a barrage of artillery fire, incendiary bombs, and shrapnel shells were fired at the East Gate as if they were free. The rebels were unable to raise their heads, and the walls were littered with the remains of soldiers. The houses below the city were also set on fire, and the civilians and the rebels rushed to put out the fire.
But this was completely ineffective. The power of modern chemistry was beyond the comprehension of these Ming people. The fire could not be extinguished, and upon discovering it, the people simply fled in all directions.
In the sky, a command hot air balloon waved a command flag to nearly a hundred hot air balloons behind it.
After receiving the order, the soldiers above flew over Shangluo City and started dropping bombs.
A black dragon was painted on the hull of a wooden boat suspended beneath the hot air balloon, and the sound of bombs being dropped by the Conqueror Army created the illusion of a dragon spitting pearls and a conflagration descending from the sky. The scene was truly stunning, with flames erupting everywhere in the city, thick smoke billowing, and the people screaming as if they were in hell on earth.
Zhao Xiaofei, who was standing on the mountain watching all this, laughed heartily and said, "You really think I can't beat you! I'll show you what it means to burn down a whole camp!"
Li Sihong felt a little sorry for the tragic scene and said, "Husband! They've lost the city gate. Stop the bombing! After all, they are all Han Chinese!"
"They are all helping the rebels! We are officials, and they are bandits! We can't be too kind to them! Those who can survive in the end are those who have accumulated virtue and done good deeds in their previous life and this life. In my eyes, there is no innocent or not! I only look at whether it is beneficial to the court and to us!" said Zhao Xiaofei.
In his eyes, the death of these civilians was far better than the deaths of tens of millions more in the future. But Li Sihong didn't know that! She looked through the telescope, seeing people crying and shouting everywhere, some struggling in the sea of fire. She felt a pang of pain, so she put down the telescope and turned away.
Zhao Xiaofei thought to himself: Women are women, they're just too soft-hearted! They say kindness doesn't command an army, and it's true. Women! They're just too soft-hearted!
Zhao Xiaofei saw that Li Sihong looked unhappy, so he said to the messenger, "Tell them to stop the bombing! Save the injured civilians if you can!"
The messenger went down, and Li Sihong's face finally looked better.
In less than a day, Shangluo City was captured. The rebel army was completely exposed to the Ming army's eyes and had nowhere to escape. In the end, not many of them were left.
Zhao Xiaofei brought Li Sihong into the city and saw signs of burning everywhere. Some broken limbs had not been cleaned up yet, and the air was filled with the nauseating smell of burning human flesh.
Some people even knelt on the ground, kowtowed, and kept muttering, "Evil dragon, please go away!" An old woman said, "Oh my God! Why would an old man die before a young man? My son! Wake up!" As she spoke, she shook a charred corpse.
It was obvious that the old woman could not face the pain of losing her son, and some people were searching for something in the ruins.
Zhao Xiaofei had long been numb to the tragedies of war, whether in modern times or during the Ming Dynasty. All he cared about was victory, so what did the death of a few people matter? The history books recorded far more deaths than this!
Arriving at the Shangluo City Government Office, Zhao Xiaofei and Li Sihong entered the main hall. Zhou Shuai and Wan Shan were waiting for him. Zhao Xiaofei asked, "Is the loss serious?"
Wan Shan said, "It's nothing more than a loss of ammunition! Get ready tomorrow and set off immediately! Distribute medicine to the soldiers before you leave, or we might get caught in the trap!"
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