Shibi Khan guessed correctly, the Turks were strewn with corpses, and the defenders of the imperial court also suffered heavy casualties. With no reserves to replace, the defenders who had been fighting for six hours were exhausted. The 20,000 men of the five battalions of the Praetorian Guard stationed on the eastern wall were almost dead, and there was silence on the city wall, and the corpses of the soldiers lay on the bluestone slabs at the head of the city, gurgling down the steps and down the streets.

The living are just more breathless than the dead, and all the wounds on their bodies.

Yongwu Lang was sweating profusely, and only a layer of skin was left on his left arm that was connected to his body.

Looking at his subordinates, he burst into tears and said slowly: "Brothers, we are all the most elite Praetorian Guards of the Great Sui, we have participated in the Tuyuhun War, we have participated in the Ili War, and we have participated in the three Eastern Expeditions to Liaodong. Thank you, Your Majesty! He gave us the opportunity to make us the Praetorian Guards admired by the world. Now, we're going to die, but we're going to have to die! Death is vigorous. Your Majesty promised us that after this battle of Yanmen, regardless of life or death, your Majesty will let the imperial court judge us. Even if we die, our families will receive our share of the reward. ”

"Now, brothers, speak your words! If you die in battle, the court will be able to sympathize with your family. ”

The wounded soldiers could hear it, and their eyes flashed with longing. One by one, they replied: "My name is Zhang Laosan, I am from Kyoto, and I live at No. 15 White Horse Street, Shandefang, Luoyang, Kyoto.

If I die in battle, please send the pension to this address, Boss Zhang, who is the eldest brother I raised from a young age. ”

"My name is Wang Shugen, I am from Xingyang County, Henan Province, and my address is Wangjia Village, Heishan Town, Xingyang County."

"Li Hu, from Baisha Village, Wujiang Town, Taiyuan, Hedong, please send it to my father."

"Luo Zhen, I came to Zhuo County, Hebei, I haven't been home for five years, I don't know if my family is okay. Please send it to Carpenter Luo from Luojia Village, Jinniu Town, Zhuo County. ”

The soldiers said one after another Chu Yunfei wrote with difficulty with that intact arm, and his forehead was full of sweat. He wrote these names and addresses on a piece of cloth and carefully put them into the pocket of the xiōng mouth.

He raised his head, tears flashing in his eyes: "The thing is at my mouth at this time, you take it out and hand it over to the imperial court." Brothers who survive, you are responsible for bringing your ashes back to your hometown for burial. Tell fellow relatives that we are the most elite Praetorian Guards of the Great Sui. Tell them that we died a vigorous death, shed blood for the people of the Central Plains to resist the grassland Hulu, and look up to the heavens and the earth! Let's swear! ”

"I swear if I survive, I will!" The crowd responded in unison.

"As for the dead" Chu Yunfei looked around at everyone and roared: "Let's be brothers again in the next life!" Long live the Great Sui! ”

Tears flowed from everyone's eyes, and they shouted in unison like thunder: "Long live the Great Sui!" ”

Of the 140,000 Turks who attacked the city for six hours, at least 60,000 fell, and at least 10,000 were seriously wounded, not to mention the others. This is a huge casualty figure, and the Turkic army is already wounded.

And the 100,000 Sui troops above the city, plus the 50,000 palace maids in the city, and the people in the city, were also suffering heavy casualties at this time, and there was a gloomy cloud. The rain of arrows and the stone bullets and fireballs thrown by the catapults of the Turks caused great casualties to the soldiers and civilians in the city. Coupled with the Turks' unwanted frenzied attack on the city, and the cruel short-range soldiers, the Sui army killed at least 40,000 forbidden troops in this night, and tens of thousands of people were seriously injured. After this night of brutal fighting, the Praetorian Guards in the city still maintained their combat effectiveness, at most less than 50,000 people.

The people in the city and the palace maids also suffered from the disaster of the fish pond, at least thousands of people died under the rain of arrows of the Turks, and the rest were injured. It was a completely frantic battle, with corpses piled up inside and under the city like a mountain, and even the tall walls of Yanmen were three points shorter.

In the distance, the sound of rumbling footsteps and the shrill drumming of the Turks sounded, and for the first time I can't count them, the Turks came up again, and the pale faces of the wounded were flushed, their eyes were shining, and their expressions were calm. They silently gathered together and lined up. There was a creeping sound of climbing from below the city, and the first head wearing a horned helmet appeared on the city wall. …,

The city pass is still continuing to be brutally and brutally killed, and in the Feiyun Temple, many civil and military ministers who rushed to the city are also standing there anxiously waiting. The doors of the two wings were still tightly closed, and the imperial doctors had been in for more than half an hour, but they had not yet come out.

The faces of each of the ministers were incomparably heavy, and everyone was extremely concerned about the emperor's condition at this time. At the moment, if something happens, the world of the Great Sui is really in danger. There are five brothers in the emperor today, but now only the emperor is left, and the rest are either dead or claustrophobic in the palace.

If the emperor died, he could only pass the throne to the emperor's son, but the emperor only gave birth to two sons and three sons, and the most popular prince died early. The remaining two, an adult prince, King Liao, are barren and unbearable. Although the crown prince is still quite intelligent, he is only eight years old now.

What's even worse is that now the prince is also surrounded in Yanmen, but the king of Liao is surrounded in Lao County, which is not far away. In case of an accident for the emperor, many ministers have already believed that the CIMC world, which has already been in turmoil, will definitely be even more chaotic.

Many of these ministers have been secretly planning in their hearts, if the emperor dies, should they support the eight-year-old prince to become the emperor, or should they support the adult King Liao?

With a squeak, the door was pushed open, and the ministers hurriedly looked, but it was the princess's imperial doctor who came out first.

"How's the princess?" Empress Xiao hurriedly stepped forward and asked.

The imperial doctor said, "Although the princess's arrow seems to be very scary, but fortunately, the princess is blessed. The arrow entered from the back, penetrating the entire xiōng cavity and exiting from the front xiōng. Heavenly Guarantee,

Except for the loss of a lot of blood, it did not hurt the internal organs. As long as you have a good rest, it won't take long to recover. ”

As soon as she heard the news, Empress Xiao finally put her mind at ease. The rest of the ministers were also relieved, the princess was shot through and it was fine, so there should be nothing wrong with the emperor.

After another half an hour, several imperial doctors in Yang Guang's room opened the door and came out, and Empress Xiao and several ministers hurriedly stepped forward.

One of the white-bearded imperial physicians stepped forward and said to the queen, "Your Majesty has come here, please let the queen and a few people in charge of the government go in." ”

Empress Xiao and Su Wei, Yu Shiji, Pei Shiju, Pei Yun, Yu Wenhua and the six of them hurriedly walked into the room, and as soon as they entered the room, they saw a palace maid wiping Yang Guang's face. The Emperor had also woken up at this time, and his eyes were just looking at them.

Empress Xiao stepped forward, sat on the edge of the couch, held the emperor's hand and chuckled. "The imperial doctor has already said just now that Izumo is fine, and it is good to say that it is good to recuperate for a few days."

Yang Guang smiled at Queen Xiao and opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly coughed, and after coughing, everyone found that the spittoon held by the palace maid was full of blood in the sputum.

The white-bearded imperial physician hurriedly explained, "That arrow hit His Majesty's Xiōng mouth, and it didn't hurt the heart, but it hurt the heart. At present, we have healed His Majesty. And prescribed medicine, but it hurt the lungs, but it could not be cured for a while, and it was necessary to take medicine for a long time. "Although it was said lightly, it was actually a serious injury.

Yang Guang raised his hand to stop the ministers who still wanted to ask, and said softly, "I won't be able to die for a while, how is the battle situation in the city, and how long can I hold it?" ”

Su Wei stepped forward and said, "Drag Your Majesty Hongfu, we finally repelled the strongest attack of the Turks before dawn. Now that the sky is dawning, most of the Turks' siege equipment has been destroyed, although the Turks are still attacking the city, but there is no danger, we have defended it. ”

"How many casualties have we had? How many soldiers are there in the city? Yang Guang said weakly.

"Your Majesty, please rest assured, in the battle last night, we annihilated at least seventy or eighty thousand Hulu. Now that the Yanmen Gate is closed, there are Turkic corpses everywhere, piled up. Although the imperial court was also somewhat injured, most of them were only wounded, and there were not many war dead. At present, we still have at least more than 60,000 soldiers to fight, and we can fully defend the Yanmen Pass and wait for the arrival of King Qin's army. Pei Yun said euphemistically. He didn't want the emperor to worry, so he hurriedly reduced the number of casualties in his own house a lot.

Yang Guang let out a long breath, "That's good, that's good." ”

Suddenly, the voice of the chief eunuch came from outside the door, "Your Majesty, Lord Sima Dekan, the general of the Right Yiwei, has an urgent military situation to ask to see." ”…,

"Let him in."

Sima Dekan has now been promoted to the general of the Right Yiwei, but the black-clothed iron guard has been handed over to Yang Wu, the deputy commander of the imperial family. At this time, Sima Dekan, who was full of blood and iron armor, hurriedly walked into the house and said loudly, "Your Majesty, during the melee last night, a sergeant found that someone took advantage of the chaos to shoot an arrow book from outside the city. I opened it and found that it was an urgent report from Hebei. ”

As soon as he heard that it was an urgent report of military intelligence from Hebei, Yang Guang couldn't help but raise his body, "What does the urgent report say?" ”

"The minister didn't dare to open it in person, but please ask Your Majesty to open it in person." Sima Dekan took out the letter from his bosom and presented it.

Yang Guang took the letter, checked it, and found that it was indeed the fire paint seal of Li Jing, the marshal of the Liao march and the general of the Right Military Guard, and hurriedly opened it for inspection. After reading the letter, Yang Guang was anxious and angry, and coughed loudly. Empress Xiao and the palace maid kept caressing Yang Guang's back, and it took a long time to stop Yang Guang's cough.

"Your Majesty, something happened in Liaodong."

Yang Guang was short of breath, and it took a long time to calm down, and his mouth trembled and said, "Li Jing sent an urgent report, that is, the rebels in Liaodong are attacking fiercely, and the rebels have actually increased their troops again." Now the Liaodong rebels outside Linyu Pass have reached 250,000, and Linyu Pass is now shaking. Just the day before yesterday, Luo Yi, the general of Hu Benlang, actually ignored Li Jing's generals and went out of the city to attack the rebel camp in Liaodong at night. As a result, they fell into the plan of the Liaodong rebels, and the 30,000 Hebei army fell into the encirclement of the Liaodong rebels. Except for Luo Yi, who fled back with more than 3,000 remnants, the remaining 30,000 troops were all wiped out, and most of them were captured. Even the four sons of Xue Shixiong, the general of the Left Imperial Guard, all became prisoners of the Liaodong rebels. ”

Hearing such a piece of news, everyone was stunned on the spot. Linyu Pass was originally guarded by 150,000 troops, and the last time the Liaodong Army attacked the fortifications, the discount was nearly 20,000. Now it has been discounted by nearly 30,000 people at once. There are only 100,000 people left in the entire pass blocking the Liaodong rebels, and now the Liaodong rebels actually have 250,000 troops. 150,000 people can't defeat the Liaodong rebels, and now there are only 100,000 people, but how to block the Liaodong rebels from entering the customs.

Yang Guang frowned and said, "When will Xue Shixiong's 100,000 Zhuojun soldiers and horses return to Linyu?" ”

Pei Shiju said, "The edict to Xue Shixiong was only issued yesterday evening, and the edict is down the river, so there is no guarantee that it will reach the hands of the government immediately." Even if the government gets the edict now and passes it on to Xue Shixiong, I'm afraid it will take a while in the middle. ”

"I'm afraid that at that time, Chen Pojun had already broken through the Linyu Pass and entered Hebei. In case Chen Po's army enters Hebei, he will go out of Feihu and Jingcheng into Hedong and join forces with the Turks, then it will be too late. Yang Guang knocked on the chuáng couch.

As for the emperor's speculation, no one dares to say that it is impossible. Although at the moment there are 350,000 troops in Hebei. But according to the Linyu Dangerous Pass, if it can't be stopped, what is the use of having more soldiers and horses. Chen Pojun's Liaodong rebels were quite a lot, a full 250,000, once they entered Hebei, there was no natural danger to rely on at that time, but I was afraid that Hebei was really uncontrollable. In case Chen Pojun really followed the Jingzhi and Flying Fox of Taihang Mountain into Yanmen in Hedong and joined forces with the Turkic army, who else could stop him at that time.

At the thought of this terrible result, all the people turned pale.

Yang Guang gritted his teeth and said, "No matter what, we can't let Chen Kefu enter Hebei, we have to find a way to drag him down first." After the court has settled the Turks, we will have nothing to fear from him.

But everyone present knows that this is undoubtedly a good opportunity for Chen Pojun at the moment, and with Chen Pojun's strategy, how can he miss such a good opportunity. Let the imperial court pass this pass smoothly, and then wait for the imperial court to pacify the Turks before destroying him?

There was silence in the room for a while, and after a long time, Yang Guang suddenly said, "Queen, go and ask someone to invite the princess over." Didn't the princess Zeng Yan, in this life, Chen Kefu will not marry, and I will fulfill her. ”

Empress Xiao was extremely surprised, and said in a lost voice, "Your Majesty, do you want to marry the princess to Chen Pojun, is this considered a harmony?" ”

Pei Yun was frightened when he heard Empress Xiao's words, and hurriedly objected loudly, "Your Majesty, Chen Kefu is a chaotic minister and thief, and Your Majesty's move is very inappropriate. Harmony is to be friendly with foreign countries, how can there be a reason to rebel against the ministers and relatives? Such behavior will not only not solve the problem, but will also encourage the arrogance of the anti-thieves. Your Majesty, by no means! ”！。