At the moment when the city wall fell, Yang Hao's heart suddenly tightened - the moment for a counterattack had finally arrived......

Before the dust of the crumbling earthen wall had cleared, a group of brightly armored cavalry swarmed in, and the well-trained horses easily avoided the earth-wood stones that stood in their way. The three hundred iron riders stabbed the wound that had just been torn open. However, things in the world are always so unexpected, and just as the knights are brandishing their swords and rushing through the dusty gap to prepare for a desperate battle, despair suddenly strikes, and behind the gap in the wall is a semi-circular clearing, surrounded by two trenches and three repulsion formations. The galloping horses faced the white forest stakes and let out a terrified wail in unison.

"There is a trap, withdraw the troops!" The knights quickly came to their senses, turned their horses, and walked back.

But the bad thing is that the impatient foot soldiers have squeezed into the gap, and the dense crowd is like a thick syrup that cannot be dissolved, sticking together, entangled and tearing, and no one wants to separate anyone. The black waves outside the city continued to pour like a gap, and now the people who were squeezed in front could only stand on tiptoe, and it didn't matter where they went, depending on the direction of the crowd. The only thing left for them to do was to pray for the "Great Sage Ancestor High Ascending Dao Golden Gate Xuanyuan Emperor the Great" to bless them with peace.

This sudden change poured cold water on the heads of the Hedong soldiers who were in a state of madness, and the originally high morale suddenly dropped below freezing. Fear spread rapidly among the soldiers, and the tense nerves of the generals had reached the point of collapse.

Suddenly, the dust was flying in the northwest outside the city, and an iron cavalry suddenly appeared behind the side of the siege army, like a fierce tiger looking at a flock of sheep. At the same time, hundreds of large drums hidden behind the city walls rumbled loudly, and the sound was earth-shattering. In an instant, it crushed the last trace of morale of the Hedong Army.

The collapse came suddenly.

――――――――

Yang Hao suddenly understood what it meant to be defeated.

The monstrous black waves that were still pressing on his heart just now, suffocating and helpless, suddenly collapsed like an iceberg. When the well-disciplined and well-trained Hedong Army was defeated, it was no better than the rookies of the recruits.

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

The west gate of Feng'an City was opened, and the long-suppressed soldiers of the Tiande Army rushed out like the water of the embankment, chasing the black waves of the retreating dynasty all the way to the past.

Ling Tong, who had been soaked in sweat and armor, suddenly danced with his hands and feet, looking at the defeated Hedong Army and shouting "yo, yo" like a young man who had not dried up, and then his legs and feet were weak, and his body fell heavily to the ground, and the guards hurriedly ran over to help him, but he was violently pushed away. He stuck the knife in his hand into the ground, lay down on all fours, closed his eyes, and breathed in the bloody air. Now he doesn't want to care about anything.

"Let them do it themselves." Tang Hu's tense face also showed a smile. It's not that he's willing to give up command, it's that no one can control such a chaotic situation. "Let them do it themselves." It is said to be a kind of heroism, but it is not a trace of helplessness. Looking at Yang Hao with a solemn face, Tang Hu smiled with relief, with this experience, his student can finally leave the school.

On the eve of the all-out counteroffensive of the Tiande Army, a team of 100 people lurking in the dense forest of Xishan touched Dong Bacheng's command post under the leadership of Cheng Keling and suddenly launched an attack. At the beginning of the siege, Dong Bacheng only left a dozen guards by his side, and originally thought that he could take Feng'an City in one go, but he didn't want a quick victory and turned into a stalemate, and the stalemate turned into a rout. After the first round of siege was frustrated, Li Yufang quietly sent 200 people from the bottom of the mountain to protect the Chinese army.

Cheng Keling's surprise attack seriously dampened the veteran's self-esteem, and seeing his subordinates retreating like water, the veteran's skin was blood-red, and both eyes could spew fire. Seeing Cheng Keling panting out of the bushes with a team of 100 people, the seventy-year-old veteran jumped up in a gaffe, rolled up his sleeves and scolded Cheng Keling to be right.

Li Yufang took a lot of effort to persuade him. Cheng Keling, who has always had a reputation for bravery, was forced by the momentum of the veteran, his hands, feet, and heart were all weak, and a hundred people watched Li Yufang with more than a dozen guards escorting Dong Bacheng, who was thunderous, calmly away. When he came to his senses and was about to chase after him, the two hundred guards who were waiting not far away killed him, and Cheng Keling was defeated after a little resistance.

At this time, the battle in the west of the city had ended, the creek and Mo were densely packed with corpses, the Hedong Army lost at least 2,000 people, and the passionate Tiande Army did not continue to attack the Hedong Army that retreated into the mountains and forests. The Hedong Army is indeed the strongest force in the world, and after suffering such a crushing defeat, the remaining soldiers have begun to wake up from the panic, one army, one gang, one team, one brigade...... Assemble quickly.

Dong Bacheng's heart also calmed down, and he quickly summoned the generals and subordinates to counterattack. It is up to man to plan things, and things are to be done in heaven. Just when Dong Bacheng and the generals were urgently discussing the counteroffensive plan, the breeze was not good just now, and the sky was clear, but suddenly there were thick clouds and a strong southeast wind. The Tiande army under the mountain set fire downwind, and there was little rain in March, the weather was dry and dry, and the fire that rose with the wind instantly turned Xiaoxi Mountain into a hell of a nose. Dong Bacheng's last glimmer of hope was also dashed, and when the guards forcibly carried him out of the hill, this half-life veteran suddenly broke free from the guards' hands and crashed head-on into a mountain rock.

Fortunately, Li Yufang saw through his heart in advance and hugged him by the waist, so that a generation of famous generals did not hate the field.

In the face of the rout, some people in the Hedong Army advocated taking advantage of the victory to pursue and destroy it in one go. Wu Ming asked Yang Hao: "You are the chief official of Feng'an, what do you think?" Yang Hao said: "I really want to chase, but do we still have the strength to chase?" Let's not chase it. Wu Ming glanced at Tang Hu, then looked at the empty talk, and suddenly said, "Yang Hao, you kneel down facing Chang'an." Yang Hao didn't say a word and knelt down.

"On March 29 of the first year of Tang Kaicheng, Wu Ming, the young eunuch of the Chang'an Thorn Horse Academy, ordered Shao Qin, the second generation of the Governor of the Academy, to award the twelfth generation disciple Yang Hao the Golden Eagle Badge in the west of Feng'an City."

Wu Ming pinned a golden flying eagle badge to Yang Hao's robe, Tang Hu helped Yang Hao up, and said with a smile: "You are the first disciple of our Thorn Horse Academy to receive the Golden Eagle badge in the past eleven years, I hope you can soar in the sky like this golden eagle and protect the Tang Dynasty." ”

Yang Hao knew that all the disciples of the Thorn Horse Academy who passed the assessment would receive a Bronze Eagle Badge when they graduated, and only a very few outstanding disciples could get the Golden Eagle Badge. Looking at the heavy badge on his chest, Yang Hao didn't have much joy in his heart.

Six days ago, Wu Ming rushed to Yongfeng late at night to summon Meng Bochang and read out a secret edict to himself, which was written on a ribbon by Emperor Wenzong Li Ang on his finger, to the effect that he was held hostage by the power castration and could not fulfill his obligations as an emperor.

Yang Hao and Meng Bochang have both seen this secret edict with their own eyes, but they can't understand the deep meaning behind it. Wu Ming's interpretation is that Emperor Wenzong asked the courtiers with conscience in the world to unite immediately, get up early to serve the king's army, sweep away the eunuchs, and rebuild the rivers and mountains.

The old minister, who had lived in seclusion for many years, began to travel around the world again, and Yongfeng was his first stop after leaving Chang'an. In addition to reading this secret edict, Wu Ming also passed on an edict from Emperor Wenzong, asking Meng Bochang and Yang Hao to use the three states of Hetao as the basis, reorganize the army through the military, and then Xu Tu to subdue Zhenwu, unite Shuofang, Hedong and other feudal towns on one side, form a northern ring encirclement of Guanzhong and Jinnei occupied by the Shence army, and when the time is ripe, they will raise troops into Beijing to destroy the eunuchs in the DPRK and the Tang Dynasty in one fell swoop.

Wu Ming also revealed some of the contents of the secret meeting between the four butlers of the Thorn Horse Battalion in Beijing not long ago. In order to remove the eunuchs and rebuild the rivers and mountains as soon as possible, the four stewards of the Thorn Horse Battalion decided to secretly organize the rebel army in Qianzhou by the Yamato Society, and unite Shannan, Liangchuan, Jingnan and other towns to jointly oppose the eunuchs; After occupying Liangzhejiang, Yuanhe Society subdued Huainan and united Shannan Dongdao, Eyue and other towns to form an anti-eunuch mutual insurance alliance; The Changqing Society raised troops in Lulong, and united the two towns of Pinglu and Weibo to raise an uprising against the eunuchs; The Baoli Society raised troops in Tiande, subdued Zhenwu Town, and united Shuofang and Hedong Towns to form an encirclement and deterrence in Guanzhong from the north.

The newly founded Kaicheng Society did not participate in the four secret meetings, but promised to be in the middle of the way.

As the old saber of the Yuanhe Society, Wu Ming has long lost the view of the door in his heart, and he is very fond of Yang Hao, the only student of the Baoli Society who has passed the civil and military double examination in seven years and the first to win the Golden Eagle badge in eleven years. Because of this, after reading out the secret decree, he called Yang Hao alone in front of him and had another conversation with him.

Wu Ming asked, "What do you think of the four secret meetings?" ”

Yang Hao replied: "If the four families work together, it is not difficult to bring down the eunuch party. But if the eunuch party is overthrown, it may not be able to do what His Majesty wants. ”

Wu Ming smiled and asked, "Why is this?" ”

Yang Hao replied with a smile: "I'm afraid that at that time, Your Majesty will worry about the division of the feudal town again." ”

Wu Ming smiled and asked, "Will you also support the army and divide one side like them?" ”

Yang Hao shook his head and asked worriedly and hurriedly, "Didn't Your Majesty see this?" ”

Wu Ming smiled, "No matter how chaotic it is at that time, it is also my own business." Then he asked, "What are you going to do?" ”

Yang Hao got up and said solemnly: "The student is now a mess of paste in his head, please ask the teacher to guide him." ”

Wu Ming nodded, and cast an appreciative glance at Yang Hao: "You just need to always remember that 'righteousness and heavenly principles are greater than one's own selfish desires'." The rest is just improvisation, don't be too rigid. ”

Yang Hao asked again: "How should the disciple take a few steps now?" ”

Wu Ming thought for a while and said, "Let's separate from Bochang, it's better to divide early than late." ”

Because of this conversation, discussing who would lead the troops to save the siege of Feng'an, Yang Haocai and Meng Bochang were red-faced, and he felt that he owed Meng Bochang a favor. In the end, under the mediation of Wu Ming, Meng Bochang agreed to let Yang Hao lead the troops to relieve the siege, he not only let Yang Hao take away the two most elite battalions of the Tiande Right Army, but also allocated the two most capable deputy generals Ling Tong and Li Tong to Yang Hao.

After Dong Bacheng's army was defeated and left west, Xiao Yong of Nancheng could not overcome it for a long time, and when he learned that the Western Route Army was defeated and retreated, he knew that there was no hope of victory and had to order the withdrawal of the army. Of the more than 1,000 people left in Xiao Yong's hands, more than half were Liu Xi's old department that had changed before. During the siege of the city, they were driven by the Hedong army, and they did not dare to have any dissenting intentions, and at this time, seeing that the general trend of the Hedong army had gone, they turned to the front and opened a knife in the back of the exhausted and panicked Hedong army.

Xiao Yong was defeated, except for a few troops who could not escape from crossing the river, most of them were annihilated, and he himself was captured by Li Tong.

Feng'an City turned from danger to safety, and the soldiers and civilians inside and outside stood on the blood-soaked yellow earth and carnivaled all night.

――――――

Notes:1. The Great Sage Ancestor Gaoshang Avenue Jinque Xuanyuan Emperor "is the Taishang Laojun, and the honorific title was given by Tang Xuanzong.

2. The map used in this article can be found in ""