In September of the second year of Guangxi, Li Dao Guobian's 30,000 rebels came to the city of Chang'an.

Li Dao, who had just defeated the famous general Huangfu Song and was victorious in martial arts, was full of confidence in being able to take Chang'an City.

In his eyes, it seems that there is a shortage of major generals in Chang'an City today, and some of them are only the remnants of Huangfu Song's retreat into the city. And what he led was a tiger and wolf division that had been fighting at the border for a long time, not only was it fully equipped and had many soldiers, but it had just won a big victory, and its morale was great.

No matter how you look at the balance of forces between the two sides, Li Dao feels that it is not a problem for him to capture Chang'an City. However, the overconfident Li Dao ignored one thing, to be more precise, he ignored a person, and to be more accurate, Li Dao ignored this person's determination to defend the city to the death.

This person's name is Zhong Xuan.

When later historians wrote history, they usually praised him as a generation of famous ministers in the Guangxi period.

The Xiliang rebels will soon understand his strength, but at this time, Li Dao is still riding on a horse galloping Chang'an, and his mind is full of his own obscenity of standing in the middle of the pass and looking down on the world.

And standing on the tower of Chang'an City, Zhong Xuan, looking at the continuous influx of wounded soldiers in the city, the people were panicked, some people of the world and even Chang'an officials began to pack their bags and prepare to slip away at any time, a sad sadness surged in his heart, the situation was so erosive, Li Wei Guo Yan's rebels were already on the way to Chang'an, and the imperial court was greatly injured after a series of political turmoil, the court was not very stable, and Zhong Xuan did not have illusions about being able to rush to Chang'an.

However, since the Son of Heaven entrusted Chang'an to himself, he had the responsibility of guarding the land, and he must be loyal to the festival.

Zhong Xuan clenched his fists and made up his mind to defend Chang'an.

However, in order to successfully defend Chang'an City, he still needs to complete a few steps.

First of all, he convened the big and small officials and gentry in Chang'an City to hold a general mobilization meeting. The meeting was not held at the Yamen, where official business was usually conducted, but at Zhong Xuan's mansion. When all the guests came to Zhong Xuan's house, they were stunned to find that Zhong Xuan had prepared more than a dozen tables of delicious food for them.

The officials and gentry who looked at each other sat down one after another, not knowing what their chief official wanted to do.

At this time, Zhong Xuan, who was about the same as the people who came, stood in the hall with his ear cup, and said to everyone with tears in his eyes: "Everyone, I, Zhong Yuanchang, have been entrusted by the Son of Heaven to serve as the Chang'an Order, and have received the help of my colleagues and squires many times. Now that the traitors are coming, the major general of Chang'an Bing is afraid that it will be difficult to resist. I have decided to defend Chang'an to repay the kindness of the Son of Heaven. And if any of you wants to go out of the city to surrender or escape, I will not stop it, this meal is the wine of love between you and me, and you and I will be mortal enemies on the battlefield, and we will not show mercy. If someone stays with me to keep the festival, Yuan Chang has thanked him in advance, this meal is our desperate wine, and everyone will fight together until the city is broken, and everyone will rest until they die. If you can survive the battle, I wish to meet you again and enjoy the wine. ”

Zhong Xuan said it decisively, and everyone was deeply affected.

Integrity is still a virtue revered in this era. Life is precious, but if you steal your life and exchange it for fame, what is the point of still living.

As if they had a soul in their hearts, everyone said at the same time: "I am willing to guard Chang'an with the envoy and rest to the death." ”

Zhong Miao burst into tears and drank the wine in the cup with everyone.

After a drinking banquet, Zhong Xuan successfully boosted morale. However, for Zhong Xuan, this is only the first step, and if he wants to successfully defend Chang'an City, he still needs the help of one person.

Zhong Miao came to Huangfu Song's Mansion.

Since the defeat and retreat into Chang'an City, Huangfu Song, as a famous general, found it difficult to accept the fact that he was defeated by a nobody like Li Dao Guo Yan, and hid at home and refused to come out, and made up his mind to commit suicide and martyrdom when the city was broken.

In the future battle to defend the city, Zhong Xuan still needs to rely on Huangfu Song's force, so reinvigorating Huangfu Song is the most urgent thing for him to do next.

Huangfu Song, who was lying on the couch, heard the servant say that Zhong Xuan was asking to see him outside the door, and was about to tell the servant not to see him, but who knew that Zhong Xuan actually walked into the inner hall by himself, bypassed the screen and came to him.

"Yizhen (Huangfu Songzi) is closed and gone, don't you want to watch my Han overturn and the people of Li suffer?" Zhong Miao shouted loudly.

In terms of qualifications and age, Zhong Xiang is the younger generation of Huang Fu Song, but in the face of Zhong Xuan's reprimand, Huang Fu Song actually lowered his head in shame, and said with self-reproach: "Your Majesty paid me with a heavy responsibility, but I was entrusted by Your Majesty." Now Chang'an City is no longer a matter of action, the enemy is strong and I am weak, and it is my fault that I am so critical! ”

Zhong Xuan shook his head again and again, and said in disappointment: "Yizhen Gong's words are wrong! Victory and defeat are common things in soldiers, and Yizhen Gong has been on the battlefield for a long time, and he is so obsessed with winning or losing. On the occasion of the next young study tour, Changwen Yizhen is a famous man in the sea, and now it seems that it is better to be famous than to meet! ”

Huangfu Song was surged out by Zhong Xuan's anger, and asked angrily: "In this way, what can you do to break the thief?" ”

"Solid walls and clear fields, waiting for rescue!" Zhong Xuan said briefly.

Huangfu Song shook his head and said: "The imperial court has to take into account the movements of other princes, I am afraid it will be difficult to make up your mind to rescue Chang'an." ”

Speaking of this, Huangfu Song glanced up at Zhong Xuan and asked, "I think Yuan Chang also understands this matter in his heart, right?" ”

Zhong Miao smiled sadly and said, "I will wait for the food of the monarch and the matter of loyalty to the monarch, so I will naturally do my best." If it doesn't work out, on the day the city is broken, I will just die for the country, and it will not be in vain to live vigorously in this world! ”

Huangfu Song saw Zhong Xuan's resoluteness, his eyes were resolute, and he was deeply touched. It's a big deal, it's a death, what do you care about?

He jumped up from the couch, got down to the ground and held Zhong Xuan's hand, and said gratefully: "Zhong Xuan's words made me wake up like a dream." I will go with you to defend the city and go to the national disaster together. ”

Zhong Xuan also said excitedly: "It's all a general!" ”

The revival of the famous general Huangfu Song gave Zhong Xuan a major boost to his plan to defend the city, and Zhong Xuan was free to begin his operation to clear the wilderness.

He first issued an order that from now on, the gates of Luoyang will be closed, and no one will be allowed to go out at will. In the name of protecting the people from the rebels, he moved all the rural people around Chang'an into the city, and promised to compensate them for all their losses.

In addition, at this time, it was the autumn harvest season, and Zhong Miao mobilized all the soldiers and civilians of Chang'an to go out of the city to grab the autumn grain, but it was too late to collect it, so he burned it down, and tried to leave not a grain of grain for the rebels.

In addition to burning grain, Zhong Miao also burned the houses of the people who moved into the city, cut down the trees in the mountains and forests, and collected a large number of stones.

Zhong Xuan's practice of extremely bad natural environment has achieved good results, and after Li Dao Guo Yan's rebels arrived in Chang'an, Li Dao couldn't help but look up to the sky and let out a long roar when he saw everything around him:

"It's so evil!"

The entire Chang'an surrounding, thousands of miles of red land.

When the Xiliang rebels came here, everyone wanted to grab a vote in the rich Chang'an, but they didn't expect Zhong Xuan to do it more thoroughly than them. His thoughts were the same as Xun Yu's, Xiliang was poor, and the rebels relied on Hedong for supplies. Zhong even sent an army to harass the rebels' supply lines, hoping to make it difficult for the rebels to resupply. He thought that if he could drag the Xiliang rebels until winter, things might turn around.

Zhong Xuan's idea is very good, but the reality is very cruel.

On September 13, the Xiliang rebels launched an attack on the city of Chang'an.

The Xiliang rebels numbered more than 30,000 people, while the defenders of Chang'an City were less than 5,000. However, the huge gap in strength did not stump Zhong Xuan, although Chang'an City had few defenders, there were 300,000 residents, plus Zhong Xuan gathered the people around Chang'an, the number reached 500,000. Zhong Xuan selected the light and strong to participate in the defense of the city, and these untrained people were not opponents to directly face the Xiliang rebels, but they could barely rely on the protection of the high walls to defend the city. The wood and stones collected before the rebels arrived came in handy, and under the overwhelming attack of bows and arrows and a rain of wood and stones, the rebels slowly retreated after paying hundreds of corpses under the city of Chang'an.

Just a temporary retreat.

Li Wei may be an idiot in politics, but he is a brilliant military strategist. He was keenly aware of the importance and urgency of capturing Chang'an City, and divided the army into three waves, taking turns to attack the city day and night, which put the defenders of Chang'an under great pressure.

When bows, arrows, and stones are exhausted, the untrained defenders will turn and flee in the face of the vicious rebels. What made Zhong Xuan desperate the most was that the army sent out to harass the rebels' supply lines was also ambushed and eaten by the rebels. After Zhong Xuan persisted for half a month, everything had reached the point of exhaustion, and Chang'an City was in danger.

In Zhong Xuan's heart, he didn't think about the rescue of the imperial court, but he also understood the difficulties of the imperial court, so in the face of this great pressure, in addition to informing the imperial court of the movements of the rebels at the beginning of the siege, he never asked the imperial court for help after that, and made up his mind to die on the day the city was broken.

Frankly speaking, in this matter, Zhong Xuan did underestimate Liu Wei's determination.

On September 30, the rebels launched the largest offensive since the siege of the city, and Li Dao personally supervised the formation and devoted all his forces to the siege.

Standing at the head of the city and looking at the rebels who were surging like locusts, Zhong Miao sighed sadly.

He couldn't do anything, he did his best.

Zhong Xuan found Huangfu Song and said, "Yizhengong, when the war is going on like this, I'm afraid Chang'an City will not be able to hold it." Born in troubled times, you and I go to the national disaster together, which is also magnificent! ”

Huangfu Song was sad and indignant in his heart, and looked up to the sky and sighed: "I think I am a brilliant Han and a hundred years old, how could I suffer such a disaster?" That's it! The general died on the battlefield, and now he can only die to thank the world. ”

Huangfu Song jumped on top of the battlements with a sword in his hand, and shouted loudly without avoiding arrows: "When a man is in the world, he should be vigorous and sacrifice his life for the country, so why die?" ”

Then, Huangfu Song personally took the lead in slashing and killing the rebels who climbed the tower. The other soldiers, under the influence of his example, let out the same terrifying roar, fighting the rebels to the death with the thought of dying together.

This desperate approach turned out to be a desperate result, and the battle lasted from morning to evening, and the rebels were finally repulsed once again. And the defenders of Chang'an City also paid a great price for this, the soldiers and civilians were killed and wounded countless times, the fierce standing on the battlements of the emperor who wanted to die and martyred the country almost begged for benevolence, three arrows in the body were carried down the tower, but fortunately there was armor on the body, there was no worry about his life for the time being.

At night, Zhong Miao stood on top of the city tower, hearing the painful moans of the wounded soldiers from time to time, and looking at the continuous camps of the rebels in the west, his heart was infinitely sad.

Although it miraculously temporarily repelled the rebels' siege during the day, Zhong Miao knew that with the current capacity of Chang'an City, he might not be able to support the rebels' attack tomorrow.

Looking back at the wounded soldiers around him, almost none of them were able to stand up properly. Zhong Miao knew in his heart that although he was lucky enough to repel the rebels' attack during the day, he was afraid that with the current capacity of Chang'an City, he would no longer be able to support the defense of the city tomorrow.

In other words, as soon as the day dawns, it may be their end.

Zhong Xuan gently drew the saber at his waist, and the long sword reflected the cold light in the moonlight.

Loyal Ministers Die. It's time.

Just as Zhong Xuan was about to put the long sword across his neck, a soldier next to him suddenly shouted: "Fire, it's fire!" ”

Zhong Miao was stunned for a moment, and he suddenly saw that the rebel camp in the distance was actually on fire.

(To be continued, stay tuned for the next chapter)