The sound of horses' hooves heard at Xihuamen was the cavalry that had just arrived at Xuande Gate.

The first to arrive at the Xuande Gate in the south of the imperial city was the Third Army's Du Yu Hou Dong Zunxun and the Ma Army Commander Deng Fei, the two of them led the crowd of 800 elite horsemen to rush to the crossroads in front of the Xuande Gate, and immediately turned around to the west, a large stream of horses formed a bend, galloping rapidly. The battle of hundreds of iron hooves was already earth-shattering, and there was no obstruction along the road; In the face of the formed cavalry armed to the teeth, the fool went to stop it.

The Guards Department is next to the left gate of the Imperial City, next to the Xuande Gate, and there are already some people watching from a distance at the gate of the Guards. But Dong Zunxun and the others ignored the guard division at all and rushed straight to their destination.

The imperial city is approximately square, slightly longer from north to south, and more than two miles long on the side. Dong Zunxun's department went west from Xuande Gate to the southwest corner tower of the imperial city, and then went straight to the north, with a total distance of about two miles, and he led the army to rush to Xihua Gate in more than a minute (about a minute).

A huge square flag fluttered in the wind on the horse, with four bold words on it: "Summoned to rebel". Dong Zunxun rode a very tall pure-blooded red horse from the Western Regions, with double layers of heavy armor all over his body, and only two eyes were exposed like an iron man, and even the mouth and chin had a perforated piece of finely wrought iron.

The sound of "rumbling" horses' hooves is deafening!

Dong Zunxun took the lead, and was the first to rush to the Xihua Gate, only to see the palace gate open, and immediately rushed with joy. At the same time, the bow and arrows were already in hand, and when I looked up, I saw that the door was in chaos, and some soldiers and women had been killed on the ground. The first drop of blood has been seen, what nonsense is there to talk about!

"Smack!" The bowstring sounded, and a heavy arrow flew out with a diagonal angle, and in the middle of a soldier besieging Luo Yanhuan faced the door; Before the man fell, there was another string sound, and another person was in the chest, and he was ten steps away!

"Xiao Dong!" Luo Yanhuan, who was covered in blood, was overjoyed, "You're finally here!" ”

"General Luo!" Dong Zunxun responded, "Call your people to get out of the way!" ”

Before the words fell, Dong Zunxun had directly thrown away the expensive carved bow, and the "huh" cold light appeared, and the exquisite riding sword came out of the sheath from his back, long, thick, and narrow. Dong Zunxun's war horse had already rushed directly into the crowd of cherry spears, and while swinging the sword with his right hand, he held the unbladed blade behind the long sword with his left hand, directly breaking the armor, and the sound of metal impact and screams sounded at the same time.

A moment later, his own soldiers also penetrated directly without regard for life or death, and the horsemen slashed desperately. One of the pro-soldiers on the side had no one to protect the left flank, and was immediately killed by several stabbed Sakura spears in blood. Dong Zunxun was hit by several arrows in the chest, and his horse was also injured, he fell off his horse, and many cavalrymen behind him abandoned their horses and walked up to protect them with long and short weapons.

More horsemen abandoned their horses and crowded in. Hundreds of horsemen were blocked outside the palace, and the horse army could not run away and occupied a lot of space, so the army abandoned their horses and fought on foot. The bowstring "snapped" and arrows flew in the air.

The garrison who had just been reinforced at the gate of the city was weak, and the military general seemed to have been cut by Luo Yanhuan, and the men and horses were in a mess, and they were chased by Dong Zunxun's department in an instant, and the defenders were defeated and fled. But the crowd was already red-eyed, and the crazy rebels rushed up and killed, not caring about others surrendering or begging for mercy.

Some of the defenders were squeezed into the corners, and the rebels poked at people with long and short weapons, no matter how many times they wanted, and the gatehouse was littered with corpses. Except for some of the soldiers who fled in panic and fled to the small door of the inner wall, the remaining defenders in the not very spacious space inside were all slaughtered, and one by one they could not die anymore, and many of them were stabbed by at least dozens of knives and slashes, and their flesh and blood were blurred.

Luo Yanhuan spat out a mouthful of blood, and pulled out an arrow in his chest, causing a twisted convulsion on his face in pain. He shouted, "Array! Hold this place, fight until you have a soldier, and my army on the left will come soon! ”

When he looked back, the ground was littered with corpses and bloodstains, and many of the undead were struggling and screaming. There were many women who had their faces painted on their faces, and those women, whose weapons were only short swords, had no protection on their bodies, and they had died miserably when they were hit, and their white dresses were mottled with blood. But at this time, Luo Yanhuan didn't see Cao Tai, and immediately shouted: "Father-in-law Cao......"

At that moment, he felt that Cao Tai had helped a lot, and it was a pity that he died, so he searched for the corpse on the ground. At this moment, behind the dozens of surviving women, a eunuch came out and said, "Gonggong Cao went from the small door to the front hall. The miscellaneous family saw him go with their own eyes. ”

Before long, the reinforcements in the palace had not yet been seen, and the sound of horses' hooves outside was already ringing like thunder.

Thousands of troops poured into the streets outside Xihua Gate like a flood. The army that came so soon could only be the left wing! Starting from the Suzaku Gate, there is less than a stick of incense until now; For unprepared military camps, it is very problematic to even assemble a commanding man and horse in a stick of incense.

Sure enough, a big flag soon appeared in people's sight, and the flag embroidered with a tiger pattern made the soldiers see it very familiar and friendly. The soldiers on horseback were all infantrymen, and some of them were riding a horse, and when they arrived at the place, they dismounted when they heard the shouts of the generals. Generals at all levels brandished their swords and cursed to organize their armies to form a phalanx. There was a commotion outside, except for the horses, which were all people.

The soldiers who controlled the Xihua Gate breathed a sigh of relief when they saw this. Dong Zunxun hugged his fists and said: "General Luo has made the first contribution, my Uncle Guo will definitely pay extra attention to it, I am really envious!" ”

Luo Yanhuan said: "The key to opening the palace door is the eunuch surnamed Cao...... I thought I was going to die here. He clenched the hilt of his blood-dripping sword, "The guards are novices, they don't know how to guard the city gates, and they hesitate to fight a decisive battle, otherwise we people will fight to the death if we hold up half a pillar of incense here!" ”

His nervousness had not yet been contained, and he said vigorously: "First, the eunuch opened the palace door, and I quarreled while scaring him, delaying time; Later, the pro-soldiers also came up to pull. But the guard couldn't eat me, and he didn't dare to use his sword and gun easily, and he tossed for a lot of time.

Later, the movement of the army was so obvious that the man (the guard) finally came to his senses and shouted to close the city gate immediately. I killed him on the spot! With dozens of people occupying the door, how can the defenders close the door? I had to move, those women were really not afraid of death, and took out their short swords to help block the door, but nearly half of them died in vain; The short sword is useless in the battle, the defenders all use bows and arrows and long weapons, and they have to block the door with the short sword, and they can't be bullied, they can only be used as a wall of flesh, and they can't reach others......"

At this moment, I saw Guo Shao also coming, and he was close to a heroic woman in armor, who was Jing Niang. Guo Shao stepped forward, took a look at the scene of Xihuamen, and immediately stepped forward and held Luo Yanhuan's palm with both hands, and said with a touched face: "General Luo, you have made a miraculous achievement!" ”

Luo Yanhuan, who was still eating rice at the Shimizu Yamen in Tokyo two years ago, may not have understood the concept of miracle skills for a while, and said in a daze: "The last general has not disgraced his mission, and he has finally handed over the errand!" ”

Guo Shao said: "The most difficult places in this battle include this Xihua Gate!" If you can't break through quickly, you will have to attack in a delayed manner, which will greatly increase all kinds of unpredictable variables. That's why I've sent you, a general, to come in person! ”

Luo Yanhuan hurriedly said: "Thanks to the commander's proper planning, the eunuch can open the city gate as an internal response." ”

Guo Shao glanced back at the people who were rectifying the queue one after another, and said: "Opening the Xihua Gate has been half successful, let's go all out and talk about the merits when he celebrates his achievements." ”

He sighed again, turned his head and said in a deep voice: "The corpses of these women, you ask the soldiers to find a place to place them first." They died for our great affairs at a critical moment, and they should be given no less courtesy than the fallen soldiers. ”

……

Outside the Jinxiang Palace, Qiao Kang was anxiously ordering the mobilization of reinforcements from all gates, and the soldiers were very chaotic in a hurry. Of course, he won't pay attention to a eunuch who walks away with a whisk, there are many people in the palace, but there is no shortage of eunuchs.

Cao Tai shrunk up, whisked the dust in his arms, and buried his head in the Jinxiang Palace.

After entering, a eunuch finally recognized him and stepped forward to stop: "Gonggong Cao, where are you going?" ”

Cao Tai said: "The miscellaneous family has something important to see Yang Gonggong (Yang Shiliang)." ”

The eunuch's power and position were completely inferior to Cao Tai, and when he heard that he wanted to see the regular servant of the same level, he said: "Father-in-law Cao came with the miscellaneous family." "At this juncture when the wind is tight, how to deal with it is a matter of the above, neither offending people nor taking any risks.

They passed through the main hall, pulled aside, and entered the apse. Soon saw Yang Shiliang, Yang Shiliang's face was not bloody, and took Cao Tai into a room.

The sound of horses' hooves outside the imperial city had resounded through the front hall not long ago, and when I heard that there had been a fight on the side of Xihua Gate, Yang Shiliang asked the eunuch who came over there, saying that he was waving the tiger flag...... Tiger Army.

Before Cao Tai could speak, Yang Shiliang asked urgently: "Is it Guo Shao's Hujie Army's left wing that came outside?" ”

"There is also the right wing, and Gao Huaide in the right wing also followed Guo Shao to raise troops. Guo Shao is the life-saving benefactor of Gao Huaide's sister, and the chief general of Gao Huaide's nephew, who controls the entire Hujie army. Cao Tai glared and said, "There are more than 20,000 people in total, sweeping most of the capital, and they have just broken through the Xihua Gate, and the army is coming into the imperial city." ”

Yang Shiliang frowned: "Guo Shao wants to rebel?" ”

Cao Tai said: "Why did he rebel? The queen's sister is the wife he is marrying, Guo Shao and the Fu family are relatives, and his qualifications are not enough, if he doesn't hold the queen's mother to sit on the glory and wealth, why should he rebel with his head? ”

"That's just as well." Yang Shiliang couldn't help but nod.

Cao Tai said in a deep voice again: "What is the situation of the official family, Yang Gonggong knows best, right?" The bed must not be able to get up, can you still speak clearly? ”

Yang Shiliang said: "It was worse yesterday, I can only say one or two words, and I have to rest for half an hour...... His mind is not confused, and he can hear others; Just say it in front of him and he will gently nod or shake his head. ”

Cao Tai said: "Then Gonggong Yang thinks the official family can still be good?" Also, the 20,000-strong army has already raised troops into the imperial city, will they still slowly watch the officials shake their heads or nod? ”

Yang Shiliang was silent for a long time.

Cao Tai said softly without moving: "Wang Zhong looks miserable, isn't he still dead?" If you don't die, you can't expect it...... Wang Zhong had made a plan early, but the risk was too great; Gonggong Yang is not in danger at all now, so why not sit back and enjoy it temporarily? ”

"How do you sit back and enjoy it?" Yang Shiliang asked.

"The official family can't govern anymore, and there is still the prince; The prince's mother is the queen...... The Queen's army of cronies has entered the city! Gonggong Yang, you have to think clearly, who will be in power in this court, is it not an obvious matter? Cao Tai said.

Yang Shiliang suddenly "pounced" and knelt in front of Cao Tai: "Father-in-law Cao, for the sake of many years of friendship, please help the miscellaneous family introduce and say a few good words!" ”