Knowing he could not escape death, Liu Ziyu, the commander of the Youyun rebels, ordered his personal guards to create momentum and wage psychological warfare against Emperor Zhaowu Chen Huai'an, who was personally leading the expedition. At the same time, he turned his horse around and prepared to personally lead the charge, even if it meant dying on the battlefield, rather than being captured and tried by Chen Huai'an.
"Left and right guards, listen to my command! Follow me to slay that imposter emperor!"
After saying that, Liu Ziyu was about to personally lead the team into battle.
"General, wait—"
However, just as Liu Ziyu was about to die on the battlefield, he was pulled back by his deputy general Li Meng.
Immediately afterwards, Li Meng "overstepped his bounds" and directly issued orders to his subordinate generals on behalf of the commander-in-chief Liu Ziyu: "Vanguard Generals Liu Ming and Fan Bao, I hereby order you two to each lead 10,000 troops to launch an attack on the imperial army from the left and right flanks respectively. There must be no mistakes!"
"Your subordinate obeys!"
These two staunch confidants of Liu Ziyu, unaware that they had been used as scapegoats, immediately obeyed orders and urged their troops to charge towards the imperial army.
Li Meng then turned to Liu Ziyu and said, "General, before the imperial troops have completely surrounded us, let's hurry and break out with our personal guards. As long as we're alive, we can always fight again!"
"Yes, General Liu!"
At this moment, the newly appointed Great Khan of the Turks, Batel, who had already sensed something was wrong, also rode forward to persuade him: "General Liu, that dog emperor Chen Huai'an has ambushed us here today, clearly intending to annihilate the Youyun Anti-Rebel Army and our Turkic cavalry. We must not fall into his trap!"
"It's not too late to evacuate now. Once we're on the northern steppes with you, that's our home ground. And if all else fails, we still have hundreds of thousands of Arab troops in the Western Regions, who will be our solid support!"
"General, Khan Batel is absolutely right!"
As they were talking, Dong Tianbao, another deputy general who had just withdrawn from the battlefield, saw that things were not going well and hurriedly approached Liu Ziyu to persuade him, "General, don't hesitate, let's go!"
"If we don't leave now, it will be too late to escape once the emperor's army completes its encirclement!"
"withdraw--"
Finally, Liu Ziyu could not withstand the repeated persuasion from the group and, with resentment and anger, issued the order to retreat.
However, how could Zhao Zilong, the commander of the Imperial Guard, easily let Liu Ziyu retreat?
Zhao Zilong roared, "Bandit leader Liu Ziyu, don't run!"
"Soldiers of the Imperial Guard of the Great Tang Dynasty, listen to my command! Follow me to kill the rebel leader Liu Ziyu! We must not let him escape! Liu Ziyu, the rebel leader, prepare to die!"
"Kill them!"
Immediately, the two armies, which were already engaged in a chaotic battle, once again fell into fierce fighting.
A moment later, Emperor Zhaowu Chen Huai'an, who was personally leading the expedition, also rode his horse into the battlefield. His tall, golden figure moved freely among the rebel army, as if he were in an empty field.
His agility was so great that even Xiao Po, the commander of the Imperial Guard responsible for protecting the emperor, could not match him. He could only sigh in his heart: The emperor is as brave and valiant as ever!
At this time, the battlefield of Jiapigou had gathered more than 200,000 troops from the imperial army and the Youyun rebels, and the two armies were completely entangled.
Even if Chen Huai'an wanted to take the life of the rebel general Liu Ziyu, he was powerless to do so. He could only watch helplessly as Liu Ziyu and his men fought and retreated, breaking through north of Juyong Pass.
The situation on the battlefield of Jiapigou reversed again and again in a short period of time, leaving the rebel soldiers from Gui, Shun, and Tan prefectures who were watching the battle completely overwhelmed and their minds were almost not enough to keep up.
Especially when Emperor Zhaowu Chen Huai'an personally led the imperial army out of Juyong Pass and surrounded the main general Liu Ziyu, the main generals of the three prefectures of Youyun who were watching the battle were filled with fear and unanimously cast grateful glances at Zhao Xiaofei, the main general of Gui Prefecture.
Previously, if it weren't for his strong dissuasion, these two would probably have been instigated by some die-hard rebel generals under their command to order their soldiers, who had already laid down their weapons, to pick up their weapons again and throw themselves into the battlefield, joining forces with General Liu Ziyu to attack the imperial guards from both sides!
If that were the case, after Emperor Zhaowu quelled the rebellion, even if the generals died on the battlefield, their entire families would probably be too numerous to count.
Looking back now, it seems that the emperor, who was stationed at Juyong Pass, was the one who strategized and won battles from afar; everything was under his control.
I was such a fool, being completely fooled by that bastard Liu Ziyu. What nonsense about raising an army to quell the rebellion and cleanse the emperor's court? It was clearly Liu Ziyu who wanted to rebel and become emperor.
That bastard, if you want to die, don't drag others down with you! You've caused so much suffering for us brothers and our soldiers!
Eh—
Just as the group was cursing their commander Liu Ziyu's ancestors in their hearts, Liu Ziyu and his men, who were fighting and retreating, suddenly began to attack the area where the soldiers from Gui, Shun, and Tan prefectures who had been watching the battle were located.
"General Zhao, General Yang, look—"
Tanzhou's commander, Lei Li, pointed forward and said urgently, "It's Liu Ziyu! They... they're attacking in our direction!"
"Generals, what... what should we do?"
In fact, when Lei Li, the commander of Tanzhou, asked this question, he already had the answer in his heart.
what to do?
Of course, we should arrest Liu Ziyu, the mastermind behind this rebellion!
The three of them were just worried about not having a chance to redeem themselves through meritorious service. Now, the rebel general Liu Ziyu was heading straight for their camp. If they didn't seize Liu Ziyu now and present him to the emperor to make amends, when would they ever get another chance?
Sure enough, after hearing the question from Lei Li, the commander of Tanzhou, Zhao Xiaofei and Yang Ke, who were left behind, smiled knowingly and said in unison, "We must not let Liu Ziyu escape alive!"
General Zhao Xiaofei of Guizhou declared righteously, "Liu Ziyu has incited the people and raised an army in rebellion. Such a traitor must be captured alive and handed over to the Emperor for judgment!"
"That's right!"
Yang Ke, the commander of Shunzhou, understood perfectly and continued the conversation: "We were all coerced and misled by Liu Ziyu, and thus we committed a grave mistake under his deception. Only by capturing him alive can we wash away our injustice and sins!"
"good!"
Zhao Xiaofei clapped his hands and said, "Since that's the case, then the three of us will join forces to raise an army. Even if the emperor wants to hold us accountable for deceiving the emperor and committing treason afterward, we must not let Liu Ziyu escape today!"
"Generals, give your orders!"
As he spoke, Zhao Xiaofei, the commander of Guizhou, was the first to mount his horse and go to the Guizhou rebel camp to issue orders, calling on the soldiers who had laid down their weapons to pick them up again and prepare for battle.
Following this, the rebel soldiers in Shunzhou and Tanzhou also resumed preparations for battle under the call of their respective commanders.
A moment later, at the heart of the vast Jiapigou battlefield, the soldiers from the three prefectures of Youyun, who had been observing the battle, roared with deafening fury: "The wicked general Liu Ziyu, dismount and surrender at once!"
"Liu Ziyu, you guilty general, dismount and surrender at once!"
"Liu Ziyu, you guilty general, dismount and surrender at once!"
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