Chapter 72 Breaking into Mingshui City
“Your Highness…”
Qu Tutong still refused to give up. Li Yuanji's words could convince Su Dingfang, but not him.
Without waiting for Qu Tutong to finish his words, Li Yuanji grabbed a spear from the guard and threw it out.
The rifle whizzed through the snow, and with the sound of the wind, it pierced steadily into a tree trunk not far away, making a hole in the trunk, and half of the gun tip protruded from the other side of the trunk.
Li Yuanji suddenly took action, and Qu Tutong, Su Dingfang, and all the guards around them were all startled.
Qu Tuhan could not continue speaking. He opened his mouth slightly and looked at Li Yuanji in surprise.
Su Dingfang and all the guards around him were shocked when they saw the half of the gun tip sticking out from the tree trunk.
Li Yuanji clapped his hands as if he had done nothing, and said to Qu Tutong with a smile: "If you really want to go, it's not impossible. As long as you can beat me, I will let you go."
Li Yuanji had a bright smile on his face, but Qu Tutong felt a hint of chill from it.
Qu Tutong opened his mouth, not daring to say anything like "Please enlighten me, Your Highness".
Although Li Yuanji only showed off a small part of his skills, this one move was enough to make Qu Tutong clearly realize the difference in martial arts between the two.
"Do you want to fight?"
Li Yuanji chased after Qu Tutong and asked questions with an eager look on his face.
Qu Tutong shook his head stiffly.
Only a fool would fight with Li Yuanji.
Li Yuanji could easily pierce the trunk of a big tree with his spear, and he could easily pierce the body of a person with his spear.
Qu Tutong felt that even if he put on three layers of iron armor, he might not be able to withstand this shot.
Li Yuanji is a little too strong, a little beyond ordinary people.
Fortunately, he is a friendly force, not an enemy.
If it were an enemy, it would definitely be a nightmare for the Tang Dynasty.
"Since you don't want to fight, then do as I tell you."
Li Yuanji put away the eager look on his face, glared at Qu Tutong and gave orders.
Qu Tutong agreed reluctantly.
Li Yuanji was too lazy to care about Qu Tutong's thoughts, and immediately ordered the flag bearer to go to the highest place of the tomb and convey the message to Luo Shixin in Mingshui City, asking Luo Shixin to be prepared for the response.
Mingshui City is now surrounded by Liu Heita's army. Although Liu Heita has not started to attack the city yet, Liu Heita's troops are everywhere in Mingshui City.
If Li Yuanji had not communicated with Luo Shixin in advance through flag signals, even if Qu Tutong and Su Dingfang led their men to break into the gate of Mingshui City, Luo Shixin would not dare to open the door easily.
The flag bearer held the flag and wandered on top of the high tomb for a long time. Luo Shixin in Mingshui City discovered him and immediately ordered the flag bearer to reply.
The flag bearers on both sides had a brief communication.
Li Yuanji ordered Qu Tutong and Su Dingfang to lead 4,500 people out of the dense forest.
Li Yuanji kept five hundred men for himself.
He was outside Mingshui City and could escape at any time, so he didn't need so many soldiers and horses.
On the contrary, Luo Shixin had to resist the attack of Liu Heita's army of tens of thousands and urgently needed military reinforcements.
After Qu Tutong and Su Dingfang led their troops out of the dense forest, Qu Tutong himself led five hundred armored men to the west gate, and Su Dingfang led the rest of the men to the south gate.
Liu Heita's troops were stationed at the four gates of Mingshui City.
The west gate faces Guangzhou and the direction of the Tang Dynasty's military camp. In order to prevent the Tang Dynasty from sending reinforcements to help Luo Shixin, Liu Heita deployed heavy troops at the west gate.
Qu Tutong led his men to the west gate to help Su Dingfang attract firepower.
Once the west gate is attacked, there is a high chance that the enemy soldiers at the south gate will rush to provide support. Once the enemy soldiers at the south gate leave, Su Dingfang can lead his men to easily break into Mingshui City.
After Su Dingfang entered the city, Luo Shixin in the city would lead his troops to break out from the west gate and cooperate with Qu Tutong to deal a head-on blow to the enemy soldiers at the west gate.
The heavy snow blocked the road, not only blocking Li Shimin's way to rescue Luo Shixin, but also blocking Liu Heita's way to send troops to rescue the west gate of Mingshui City.
It would take at least half an hour to get from the northeast of Mingshui City to the west of Mingshui City through the snow.
Half an hour later, the battle at the west gate of Mingshui City was over.
After Qu Tutong and Su Dingfang set off, Li Yuanji took his men to Gaofen to watch the battle.
After Qu Tutong and Su Dingfang came out of the dense forest, they quickly divided their troops but did not move.
Qu Tutong sent out scouts to clear out the enemy's secret outposts throughout Mingshui City.
The soldiers of Luo Shixin's army on the wall of Mingshui City were cooperating with heavy crossbows.
Whenever there was a place where people could hide, or a suspicious place, the soldiers under Luo Shixin would first shoot with heavy crossbows, and then the scouts sent out by Qu Tutong would go there.
After half an hour of investigation, all the enemy's secret sentries ambushed between the south and west walls of Mingshui City were wiped out.
Qu Tutong and Su Dingfang decisively led their men to rush out, rushing to the corner of the city wall at the fastest speed, and then one led the troops to the south gate and the other led the troops to the west gate.
Although the enemy 's secret sentries have been eliminated, it does not mean that they can act slowly.
Most of the secret sentries are on rotation. When a new secret sentry comes to replace the old one, if no one responds to the secret signal, he will immediately understand that something is wrong.
Therefore, Qu Tutong and Su Dingfang had to rush to where they needed to .
After Qu Tutong and Su Dingfang separated.
Su Dingfang was on his way quietly.
Qu Tutong let go and ran wildly.
Qu Tutong ran to the west gate first and headed straight for the enemy soldiers.
The enemy soldiers were not deployed near the west gate, but a thousand steps away from the west gate.
The reason why the enemy deployed troops here was to avoid being hit by hidden arrows from the top of the city.
The enemy soldiers became somewhat panicked after discovering the traces of Qu Tutong and his group.
Qu Tutong first fired a round of attacks with his crossbow, and when the enemy soldiers dodged the crossbow arrows, he quickly rushed to the enemy's position and started fighting with them.
The number of enemy soldiers was not small. After a brief panic, they immediately came to their senses and formed a formation using the "military fortress" they had built in advance to resist Qu Tutong's attack.
While resisting Qu Tutong, the enemy soldiers kept beating drums to remind Liu Heita that there was an invading enemy and to remind the troops at the South Gate and North Gate to come to the rescue.
After hearing the drumbeats, the enemy soldiers at the South Gate immediately moved.
Su Dingfang and his men lay in the snow, and when the enemy soldiers at the South Gate passed by them, he suddenly jumped out of the snow, catching the enemy soldiers at the South Gate off guard.
The enemy soldiers at the South Gate had no time to react and were taken care of by Su Dingfang's men.
After Su Dingfang dealt with the enemy soldiers at the South Gate, he immediately rushed to the South Gate with the captives.
After Su Dingfang and his party arrived, the people in Mingshui City immediately opened the city gate, and Su Dingfang and his party filed in.
After Su Dingfang and his party entered Mingshui City, a burst of horn sounds were heard from the top of the city wall.
The west gate of Mingshui City suddenly opened, and Luo Shixin led his men to charge out, and joined forces with Qu Tutong, giving the enemy a head-on blow. Then, without any desire to fight, they quickly retreated into Mingshui City.
By the time the enemy soldiers at the north gate and the troops sent by Liu Heita arrived at the west gate, only corpses were left on the ground.
Li Yuanji stopped reading after seeing this.
Qu Tutong and Su Dingfang had already led their men into Mingshui City, and there was nothing left to see.
Liu Heita was just angry and threw some stones into Mingshui City to vent his dissatisfaction. There was nothing else he could do.
After Li Yuanji descended from Gaofen, he ordered people to find a place with little snow and good soil at the foot of Gaofen Mountain and start digging a cave.
The battle in Mingshui City would not be able to end in less than three to five days. He wanted to witness this battle that would go down in history with his own eyes, so he did not plan to leave.
But it was impossible for him to stay in the snow for three or five days, so he had to dig a cave as a temporary shelter.
…
Inside Mingshui City.
Luo Shixin, Qu Tutong and Su Dingfang gathered in the yamen. Luo Shixin and Qu Tutong were sweating profusely, but Su Dingfang seemed to be normal.
Although Luo Shixin and Qu Tutong had only fought for a while just now, they had advanced and retreated quickly, and had consumed a lot of physical energy, so they were sweating profusely.
The first time Qu Tutong saw Luo Shixin, he saw a piece of cloth used to bandage the wound wrapped around Luo Shixin's neck.
After Qu Tutong took a deep breath, he stared at Luo Shixin and asked with concern: "Are you injured?"
Luo Shixin nodded silently.
Qu Tutong was puzzled and asked, "Didn't Liu Heita attack the city yet? How did you get injured? And you were injured in a vital part."
It would have been fine if Qu Tutong hadn't mentioned this, but once he did, Luo Shixin's face turned very ugly.
Seeing this, Qu Tutong hurriedly asked, "Could there be an accident in the city?"
Luo Shixin said nothing, but looked at Su Dingfang.
Qu Tutong hurriedly introduced: "His name is Su Dingfang. He used to be Liu Heita's man. Now he has surrendered to the Tang Dynasty and is currently the commander of the Qi Wangfu."
When Luo Shixin heard that Su Dingfang was Liu Heita's man before, his brows frowned instantly and he looked at Su Dingfang with more vigilance.
Seeing this, Qu Tutong and Su Dingfang probably guessed what Luo Shixin had experienced before.
Qu Tutong said in a deep voice: "Is Li Quhuo pretending to surrender?!"
Seeing that Qu Tutong did not avoid Su Dingfang at all, Luo Shixin hesitated for a while and said solemnly: "There is no problem with Li Quhuo for the time being, but there is something fishy about the captains under his command.
When I took over the defense of Mingshui City from Wang Junkuo, they wanted to open the city gates and let Liu Heita's vanguard troops in before I could gain a firm foothold.
Fortunately, my brothers in the mansion discovered this in time and stopped them. "
At this point, Luo Shixin clenched his fists and said with a sad face: "More than eighty of my brothers died..."
When Luo Shixin entered Mingshui City, he only brought two hundred people with him.
These two hundred people are all his subordinates, and they are also brothers who have followed him through life and death for many years.
