The word "reversed" may be the most common word in the Later Tang Dynasty army in recent times, and it is also the last word that the officers and generals of the Later Tang Dynasty want to hear.

Since last year's famine, the Later Tang Dynasty court has been deprived of the treasury, coupled with the detention of the army, officers and generals in various places, and the dissatisfaction in the hearts of the soldiers has long accumulated to the extreme, as long as there is a little spark, it will ignite the entire grassland.

Or to be more accurate, the military system of the Later Tang Dynasty was originally that the military salary was less in peacetime, and the soldiers had to fight bravely on the battlefield if they wanted to be promoted and make a fortune.

Such a system can certainly ensure the high morale of the soldiers, but its flaw is that the war cannot be stopped, and once it stops, it is prone to chaos.

Therefore, when the Jin State expanded externally, the morale of the Jin army was high, and they won consecutive battles; When the Jin army was defeated in the Battle of Pingyin, the Jin State and even the Later Tang Dynasty entered a relatively stable period, so that the contradictions that had been covered up by the fierce war before became abrupt.

The soldiers could not seize the advantage on the battlefield, and their little money alone was not enough to support their families, so the dissatisfaction of ordinary soldiers with the court has been fermenting since then.

And the financial crisis in Houtang since last year has catalyzed this problem to the extreme; In addition, a series of events such as Li Cunmiao's favor of the fortunate servants, the queen's interference in politics, the eunuchs' supervision of the army, and the weakening of the feudal towns jointly triggered a frenzy of rebellion among the soldiers.

At this time, Wang Wen and other five soldiers took the lead in attacking, beheading Guo Shun on the spot, and then instigated other soldiers to rebel, and immediately received a large number of soldiers responded.

However, after all, Congma Zhi is Li Cunmiao's most trusted army, and there are many people who are still loyal to Li Cunmiao for two generations following Li Cunmiao's father and son, including Guo Congqian, the commander of Congmazhi, who has no idea of rebellion.

As a result, the rebellious soldiers and the soldiers who were still loyal to Li Cunqiao fought fiercely on the city wall.

In the Wu army camp outside the city, after hearing the report from the soldiers, Liu Xin's face was full of disbelief.

He immediately made a judgment: "The defenders fought by themselves? How is this possible? It must have been a trick of the enemy, deliberately staging a scene to induce our army to attack, and they laid an ambush to prepare to ambush our army. Well, it must be! ”

The soldier who came to report hurriedly said: "Governor, the little one can hear it clearly, the enemy army is really fighting, it doesn't look like acting." Why don't you go and see it yourself? ”

Liu Xin's heart moved when he heard this, and it was good to take a look, if the enemy really wanted to set up an ambush, there would always be horses' feet exposed; If the enemy army is really in chaos, it will be even better, and maybe they can take advantage of the chaos to seize the city.

Thinking of this, Liu Xin immediately put on his armor and took a few guards out of the camp to watch under the city wall.

After arriving at the bottom of the city wall, at a distance of fifty or sixty steps, Liu Xin saw at a glance that the scene on the city wall was indeed a real battlefield, and he was immediately surprised.

Because of the sudden outbreak of civil strife, the torches lit on the walls did not even have time to be extinguished.

Under the light of the torches, Liu Xin could clearly see that the swinging long knife, the splashing blood, and the falling head all showed that the enemy army really had civil strife.

"This, this, this is really a godsend!"

Liu Xin, who was overjoyed, immediately reacted, the 60,000 defenders in the city had a lot of grain and grass savings, even with the strong combat power of the Wu army, even with the amazing power of artillery, it was not easy to take the city, and it was very likely that it would have to pay a huge price.

But now, the defenders are in internal strife, which is obviously a great opportunity for the Wu army.

"Take advantage of this opportunity to attack immediately!" Liu Xin made a decision on the spot to send troops to attack, and at the same time sent people to inform Zhou Ben and Li Chengding, so that they could attack at the same time to contain the enemy.

After a fierce battle during the day, the defending non-commissioned officers were already tired, demoralized, and discouraged; In particular, the defenders on the eastern city wall actually had infighting, which created an excellent opportunity for the Wu army.

The 1,000 elites immediately sent by Liu Xin immediately rushed to the city wall with a decisive momentum, and after a fierce battle, they finally seized the city gate, and let the Wu army, which had been waiting outside the city, enter the city and occupy more places.

The defenders did not give up, and they continued to resist by relying on the streets, while sending reinforcements from other directions in an attempt to counterattack.

However, in the face of the defenders' counterattack, the Wu army finally captured the city gate, and it was impossible to give up even if they tried their best.

The soldiers gritted their teeth and persevered, and the soldiers on both sides fought a tragic and bloody battle at the east city gate.

At the same time, Li Chengding and Zhou Ben were also commanding the army to launch a fierce attack, especially after learning that the eastern city gate had fallen into the hands of the Wu army, the morale of the soldiers was greatly boosted, and the attack was even more unstoppable.

When the sky was about to dawn, Li Chengding's troops also successfully broke through the city gate; Then, Zhou's headquarters also invaded the city and engaged in street battles with the enemy, while the eastern gate was still in the hands of the Wu army.

At this point, the fall of Xingtang Mansion has become inevitable.

……

"Your Majesty, the city can't be defended, hurry up and break through!"

"Yes, it's still too late to break through, and if it's too late, it's too late."

As the bad news came one after another, all the generals had realized the danger of the situation, and immediately knelt on the ground and pleaded bitterly.

Li Cunmiao looked at the generals below expressionlessly, and only one word appeared repeatedly in his heart: "The general trend has gone!" ”

Yes, in Li Cunmiao's view, the current situation is that the general trend has gone, and the fortified city guarded by 60,000 troops was actually broken by someone in one day, which is simply a big joke in the world.

However, this is the case, and the enemy army really managed to break the city in one day.

This result was not so much because the enemy army was too strong, but because the morale of the Later Tang Army was weakened.

If it weren't for the Xiangzhou defenders who took the lead in rebelling, how could the Wu army be so quick to march to the city of Tangfu?

If it weren't for the fact that all the feudal towns in various places wanted to reap their profits and did not immediately send troops to help, why would he fight alone?

If it weren't for the defection of the soldiers from Ma Zhi, how could the Wu army break through the city overnight?

In short, the current situation is completely caused by the distraction of the Later Tang Dynasty itself.

Now that the outer city has basically fallen, the defenders still control the only territory in the inner city and part of the northern part of the city.

If he wanted to break out of the siege now, there might be a glimmer of hope if he left the city from the north direction, but that would also mean that he had to abandon the 60,000 defenders in the city.

After losing these troops, even if he could escape, what would he do? Do you rely on the feudal towns with evil intentions in various places?

Moreover, after the Wu army seized the Xingtang Mansion, it had already created a general trend, just like when Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, surrounded Xiang Yu under the wall, the general trend has been achieved, even if Xiang Yu breaks out, it is difficult to reverse the situation.

"In the past, the overlord of Chu refused to cross Jiangdong, so why should I break through now? Rather than suffer the humiliation of defeat in the future, it is better to die on the battlefield now! ”

Thinking of this, Li Cunmiao said sadly to Li Shaorong and other generals: "Since you generals have served me, you have shared hardships and hardships, and shared wealth and wealth. Now that the general trend has gone, even if you break through, you will not be able to escape the fall. I have decided to fight the enemy to the death today, what do you think? ”

Li Shaorong and the other generals looked at each other after hearing this, but then they understood that Li Cunmiao was already determined to die.

For those ordinary soldiers or feudal towns in various places, maybe Li Cunqiao is not a good master, but for these generals in front of him, Li Cunqiao is a good king.

Especially generals like Li Shaorong, they have been following Li Cunmiao for a long time, even if they leave behind the righteousness of the monarch and ministers, it is difficult for them to leave behind the mutual affection alone.

So after Li Cunmiao made up his mind, Li Shaorong took the lead in pulling out his sword, put his hair on the ground, and said loudly: "No matter what decision Your Majesty makes, the last general will follow him to the death!" ”

"The last general will follow him to the death!" The other generals followed suit and cut off their hair and put it on the ground.

Li Cunmiao's heart stirred when he heard this, how long had it been since he heard such a passionate oath? It seems that the last time was during the Battle of Pingyin, right?

Thinking of the Battle of Pingyin, Li Cunqiao couldn't help but think of the early morning of that day, the thousands of remnants led by Yang Wu, the king of Wu, had fallen into the most critical moment, in the face of the morale of the rainbow, attacking from many directions of the Jin army, at that time the king of Wu did not give up hope, but unexpectedly launched a counter-charge.

It was that counter-charge that directly collapsed the Jin army, and completely cut off the hope of the Jin army to dominate the world.

"In that time of crisis, King Wu Yang Wu was still able to resolutely launch a counter-charge, and although the situation I am in now is difficult, it is not necessarily worse than he was then. If Yang Wu can do it, why can't I do it? ”

Thinking of this, Li Cunmiao ordered in a deep voice: "Generals, although the enemy army has broken into the city now, they must be exhausted at this time after a night of fierce fighting. I am determined that after half an hour, I will personally lead the army to launch a counterattack, and who of the generals would like to go with you? ”

Li Shaorong and the others did not hesitate to respond loudly: "The last general is willing to go!" ”