705 Temporary Defea (1/2)
Li Yu trusted in Crown Prince Chong Ming whom she had known for many years. That was the reason why the betrayal and slaughter raging in the Capital of Yan Kingdom tonight would happen. Xian Zhilang trusted Li Yu, but he was an able general of the empire who was known for his resourcefulness; besides acting in concert with Yan Kingdom's move according to Li Yu's demand out of his confidence in Li Yu, he did not forget to make his own arrangements.
For the sake of safety, he arranged a way out for thousands of Tang Empire black-armored cavalries to sneak into Chengjing City. The way out lied in the relatively least eye-catching Eastern City Gate.
The military orders were spread from restaurants to everywhere in Chengjing City via fireworks and the loyal cavalries. The cavalries of Tang Empire fought their enemies bravely and made their killing towards Eastern City Gate desperately, gradually gathering.
If Chong Ming and Long Qing were to allow the Tang Cavalries to converge their military strength together into one spot and to burst out of the city gate, finally making their way into wilderness, with the then deadly position transitioning into a position of origin, it would be extremely difficult for them to annihilate thousands of armored cavalries.
It was through years of patience and disguise that Chong Ming and Long Qing, the two brothers, finally obtained such a good opportunity. How would they allow this kind of situation to happen? At the time when the battle initiated, they had ordered the city gates in all the directions to be closed off.
The measures the Yans adopted were extremely cruel and relentless. The city gates were not closed as usual; instead, they were directly sealed with 10 thousand tons of stones and bulky iron gates. Thus, after the war ended, many civilian workers and forced labor would be employed to reopen the city gate. Even though the Tang Army would have made their way to the city gate, they would not be able to leave the city at all.
The only variable would be in the Eastern City Gate where the way out Xian Zhilang had arranged for the Tang Army lied and where he had naturally made some arrangements. A few strong militants in the Tang Army had taken control of the Eastern City Gate via leading hundreds of valiant fighters of the Tang Army.
The bulky iron gate hung in the air. The 10 thousand tons of stones were only a few feet away from the tunnel. Blood ran all over the floor of the city gate while the bodies of Yan Kingdom's city defenders lay amid pools of blood.
One could imagine how staggering and bloody the previous fight had been.
Gazing far into the city enveloped by the cover of night, hearing the sound of screaming and fighting drifting from afar and the sounds of buildings collapsing, the Tang Army soldiers stood at the waist of the city wall, with anxiety written all over their faces.
Meanwhile, the part of the Yan Army inside the city was caught up by the strong Tang Cavalries right now. Even though some of them noticed the on-goings in the Eastern City Gate, they would not be able to transfer a powerful enough army.
But all in all, it was impossible for them to fight on to the end.
All they hoped was to see the figures of their comrades as soon as possible.
Sounds of hoofbeats gradually rang out.
Looks of surprise were revealed on the Tang Army's faces.
But a short while later, the surprise on their faces all turned into anger and disappointment.
A lot of people dressed in black-priest clothing and cavalries showed up at the Eastern City Gate.
The one at the forefront wore a silvery mask.
It was Prince Long Qing and his fallen knight commanders that were coming.
A black peach blossom was in full bloom.
A powerhouse in the Tang Army quickly threw a punch, hitting that black peach blossom brutally.
Petals of the black peach blossom quivered slightly.
Another powerhouse in the Tang Army swept down from the city wall.
Several strong powerhouses in the Tang Army launched a synchronized attack at Long Qing.
The Tang Army did not concern itself with the fallen knight commander and focused only on the man wearing a silver mask.
All of a sudden, the aura and breath of the world became turbulent.
The thick city wall peeled off rustlingly.
Even the ancient city tiles began to shudder.
As for how long it had been going on, nobody could tell.
There was a sudden boom.
The 10 thousand tons of stones rolled down.
The iron gate slammed into the ground heavily.
”The Eastern City Gate has fallen.”
A subordinate was staring at the firework warning rising from the east with a ghastly pallor.
Xian Zhilang stopped walking, looking just as calm as before.
After a few moments' silence, he said, ”Since we can't leave, then we shall stay.”
”Give my command to all the camp generals that the Forward Camp is now in direct conflict with the Papal Cavalrymen of the West-Hill Divine Palace. Tell them that if they do not want to miss out something that fun, they all should go to the Archway Square and then to the Imperial Palace after all that is set.”
”Tell them that the goal of the battle has now changed. We currently have only two goals. The first one is to annihilate the cavalries of the West-Hill Divine Palace completely and the second one is to burn the Imperial Palace of the Yan Kingdom down and to kill the Yan Emperor.”
After a moment's silence, Xian Zhilang said then, ”If we can achieve both these two goals, then even though we may die here in such an idiotic way, we will have done our part for all the fellows in our Tang Empire.”
For the whole night, Chengjing City had been shuddering.
The iron gate falling in the Eastern City Gate was shaking continuously as well. Crashes, sounds of beating, kicking and hacking went off from time to time. It was until a long time later before everything went quiet.
Dawn broke.
Chengjing City in daytime finally became much quieter. It is only from some places that sound of chasing and fighting was still heard. The local authority started to get the civilian workers and local government runners organized to clean up the streets and alleys.
The iron gate at the Eastern City Gate was eventually pulled up at noon.
Corpses were seen everywhere in front of the iron gate, with remains of the Tangs and the Yans included, among which there were some others dressed in peculiar black-priest clothing. As the gate was lifted up, the blood which was not completely frozen flooded out like streams.
Seeing such a horrifying sight, the Yan Kingdom's civilian forces and soldiers all wore extremely pale looks on their faces. Especially when they saw those deep-cut palm prints and scars from the knife wounds embedded on the iron gates, they felt more terrified. They wondered inwardly, 'Is the Tang Army human or not? How can they be still filled with such frightening resolution even in such a desperate a situation?'
Having been hostile to Tang for many years, the Yan Kingdom had never won a victory in the battlefield. And it had always been in a position of being humiliated and bullied. The battle last night was no doubt the biggest victory that the Yan Kingdom had gained over all the anti-Tang battles in history. And it deserved to be recorded in the books and sent to all to appease the resentment the Yans had suffered for years.
Faced with such a great victory, normally all the people in the Yan Kingdom would have held a national celebration. But actually, there was no such atmosphere in Chengjing City at that time. The ones who had gained a victory felt no happiness at all.
People cleaned up the dilapidated corpses on the street with fear and revulsion. And they swept the scattered guts with brooms. For how many Yan Soldiers and grassland cavalries had been stampeded into muddy flesh, nobody could tell.
There was still sporadic fighting going on in some street alleys which none of the Yans dared to be close to. Only the Yan Army and barbarians coming from the grassland took their weapons and searched around with terror in their hearts. A young Yan Soldier found a Tang Empire cavalryman who was barely alive in a street corner; he hacked at him continuously in an extremely mechanic and numb way.
The Tang Soldier had long since been on the brink of death. He did not feel any pain at all with so many cuts across his body. Instead, he looked up at the young Yan Soldier with indifference and ridicule in his eyes.
He spat on the Yan Soldier. But there had been numerous holes pierced through his chest and lung, consequently, his breath was on the point of dying out and his spittle was bloody. The saliva he spat out could not be thrown out far away in the end and ended up landing on his own chest. He died then.