Chapter 90: The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind
That night.
Just after dusk, Xu Rong ordered his troops to cook.
After eating, taking advantage of the last rays of light in the sky, the 30,000-strong army set out on their journey and rushed towards the eastern suburbs of Chang'an.
When we reached Bashui, it was already completely dark.
The cold moon cast a faint glow, reflecting the rippling waves on the surface of the Bashui River.
Passing the famous Ba Bridge, Chang'an City is already in sight.
Compared with the famous Tang Chang'an City in later generations, the Western Han Chang'an City is much inferior. The city's circumference is only 25,100 meters, and its area is less than one-third of the former.
The most exaggerated thing is that after several generations of expansion by emperors, Chang'an City had built Changle Palace, Weiyang Palace, Minguang Palace, Gui Palace and Bei Palace, and the palaces together accounted for 3/4 of the city's area.
There are very few places for civilians to live.
In addition, after the Eastern Han Dynasty moved its capital to Luoyang, the city of Chang'an gradually became deserted. The palaces had not been repaired for many years and most of them were in disrepair. No wonder in history that Dong Zhuo returned to Chang'an and built a villa in Mei State.
There are three gates in the east wall of Chang'an, namely Bacheng Gate, Qingming Gate and Xuanping Gate.
The Bacheng Gate leads directly to the Weiyang Palace. Nearby is the canal dug from the Bashui River, which runs from east to west through the entire Chang'an City and is also the only source of water in the city.
Qingming Gate leads to Mingguang Palace.
Only Xuanping Gate leads to the civilian area, which is also the area actually occupied by Dong Min and others.
Very shabby.
No wonder the Guandong families looked down on the barren land of Guanzhong. If Chang'an City was like this, one can imagine how big the other cities in Yong and Liang states would be.
Most of them just built a mud wall and called it a day.
The place where Xu Rong and Duan Wei agreed to meet was Xuanping Gate, the northernmost gate in Dongcheng District. It has three doorways, each 8 meters wide and can accommodate 12 cars running in parallel.
After all, it was once a capital city, so at least the city gate is still magnificent.
There is also a moat outside.
When all 30,000 troops had passed Baqiao and assembled two kilometers outside Xuanping Gate, Xu Rong immediately ordered people to light torches and wave them in a regular pattern according to the previously agreed signals.
After a while, torches were lit up on the top of the city, swaying and responding.
Xu Rong was delighted.
Soon, the Xuanping Gate suspension bridge was slowly lowered.
"Crack~~~"
The sound of the city gate opening was particularly harsh in the silent night.
"kill!"
Xu Rong was overjoyed. He rode a Xiliang horse and personally led his troops towards the city gate. He wanted to command the troops to rush into the city as quickly as possible and surround Dong Min's mansion, barracks and other key locations.
We also need to connect with Duan Wei as soon as possible.
The huge army suddenly moved and rushed forward quickly, walked on the suspension bridge, crossed the moat, and rushed into the city.
The night was completely torn apart...
The people of Chang'an who lived near the city gate heard the faint noise coming from near the city gate and the crisp sound of horse hooves hitting the bluestone slabs. They were so scared that they hid their heads in their quilts.
I didn't have the guts to check what was going on.
Although there are three city gates, it will take a long time for the 30,000-strong army to enter the city.
In the city, Xu Rong had successfully contacted Duan Wei, and was about to lead his troops under Duan Wei to surround Dong Min's mansion and take Dong Min under control first.
At this moment, something strange happened.
"kill!!!"
The noise came from Minguang Palace on the south side of the street, a long-abandoned palace.
Suddenly, the old palace gate opened from the inside, and rows of fully armored soldiers holding swords and guns rushed out, and soon formed up on both sides.
Then, Dong Min, holding a big knife, walked out surrounded by a group of soldiers, with murderous intent on his face.
"You cheated me!"
Xu Rong was shocked and had already put the dagger in his hand on Duan Wei's neck.
"I...I don't know what's going on." Duan Wei was panicked and his face turned pale.
"Tie him up!"
Xu Rong frowned and no longer wanted to care about Duan Wei.
Inside the palace opposite, Dong Min's army was still pouring out like a tide. Except for the 3,000 soldiers directly under Duan Wei, the rest of the army was actually all hiding in the palace, waiting to deal a fatal blow to the enemy.
"Xu Rong, tonight is the day you die!" Dong Min grinned.
"snort!"
Xu Rong, however, remained calm. He organized the troops that had already entered the city to form a defensive formation, while he ordered the follow-up troops to stop entering the city and form a formation outside the city.
Prepare to support the front army.
In Xu Rong's opinion, no matter Duan Wei was cheating or Dong Min saw through Duan Wei's plan, Dong Min seemed a little anxious.
If he waited until all his troops entered the city, the attack would obviously be much more effective.
Now, the city gate is still under the control of Xu Rong's troops.
This way you can attack when you advance and defend when you retreat.
Xu Rong was indeed an experienced general. Faced with the sudden change, he quickly adjusted the military deployment and defended tightly against Dong Min's army that had already rushed up.
The two armies fought each other in the narrow streets.
The blood dyed the bluestone slabs red. The originally sleeping Chang'an City had awakened ahead of time. All the people around were awake, and they were all terrified.
It is not known what happened.
Seeing that Xu Rong handled the situation appropriately, Dong Min just sneered. Xu Rong probably still doesn't know what kind of disaster he is about to face.
What a desperate situation.
Dong Min calmly adjusted his troops' battle formations, making sure to block any direction of Xu Rong's troops' breakout and compress the latter's movement space to near the city gate.
At the same time, Dong Min ordered archers to climb onto the roofs on both sides of the street and, from their high vantage point, pose a deadly threat to Xu Rong's troops trapped in a corner of the city gate.
Xu Rong's troops, who had no strategic location to defend , began to suffer increasing casualties.
Xu Rong soon realized this problem. It was unwise to fight in the city while the enemy had the advantage of time and location, so he ordered the central army to begin to retreat.
I have already planned to withdraw from Chang'an City completely and make further plans later.
Originally, Xu Rong wanted to defend Xuanping Gate to the death. After all, it was not easy to occupy the city gate, so he avoided a very costly siege.
Now it seems that it is not possible.
Xu Rong knows how to make choices and flexibly adjusts his response measures according to changes on the battlefield.
But just as Xu Rong was giving orders , a bigger change finally happened. In the dim night, Ma Teng led an army of 50,000 and suddenly appeared in the eastern suburbs of Chang'an City like a divine army descending from the sky.
"kill!"
Following Ma Teng's order, his general Cheng Yin led 10,000 Xiliang cavalry and rushed towards Xu Rong's rear army which had just formed a battle formation.
The cavalry's collective charge caused the earth to shake.
Ma Teng had a stern expression on his face as he commanded the rest of the troops on horseback, either charging, detouring, or encircling, slowly and steadily trapping Xu Rong's troops.
We must unite with Dong Min's army in the city to annihilate Xu Rong's troops in one fell swoop.
"Chang'an, I'm here." Ma Teng's blood was boiling.
…
In the city.
When Xu Rong learned that Ma Teng was leading his troops to attack, a trace of panic finally appeared on his calm face.
Fell into a trap!
Xu Rong felt bitter, knowing that there was no way the matter could be resolved peacefully.
"General, what should we do now?" Deputy General Xue Kui was even more panicked. He was born in the Yellow Turbans and previously served as a Quchang in the Liaodong Army. When the City Guard Army was reorganized, he was arranged to serve under Xu Rong.
"There is no other way. We can only hold on and wait for help." Xu Rong's face was grim.
Xu Rong was not a general without a sense of the overall situation. As far as he knew, not only were Zhang Ji's troops stationed in Xinfeng County, but Zhang Liao's troops were also on their way north.
He could only take a gamble, betting that both teams would arrive in time to rescue him.
"General, do you want to send someone to ask for help?" Xue Kui asked.
"Send them, send them now, remember to send more groups, break out before the enemy completes the encirclement." Xu Rong would naturally not sit and wait for death.
"Yes!" Xue Kui quickly went down to make arrangements.
In the current situation, Xu Rong alone cannot handle it.
Fortunately, in addition to the former generals of the Liaodong Army, the city defense army also included many of Lu Zhi’s former disciples in the army, all of whom were first-class generals who were good at fighting .
Therefore, facing wave after wave of changes, the 30,000 city guards could still barely cope with it.
At least there was no major defeat.
That's already amazing.
Xu Rong focused his mind and stopped thinking about anything else. He only thought about how to resist the enemy's attack.
