Xie Ming

Chapter 8 Breakout is imminent!

Wu Linzheng's entrustment before the battle was quite meaningful. He planned a battle for Li Huchen, and Xiao Jingchuan gladly accepted it.

Speaking of Li Huchen, his life was quite rough, but since he became Wu Linzheng's subordinate, Wu Linzheng has promoted him a lot over the years and treated him like half his own son.

Right now, the capital city is in a precarious situation. Wu Linzheng is responsible for defending the city and will not plan to abandon it. However, he knows in his heart that the capital city can no longer be defended!
At this critical moment, Xiao Jingchuan rushed into Wu Linzheng's sight in fine clothes and on a fierce horse. Wu Linzheng's eyes lit up and he had his own plans in mind.

Based on his brief observation, he realized that Xiao Jingchuan was definitely not a person who could be under someone else's command for long, and he would definitely achieve great things in the future.

If Li Huchen followed this person, he might be able to realize his ambitions in the future.

However, a person like Xiao Lang, although he keeps saying that he will escort the emperor south, may not really be willing to be used by the Ming Dynasty!
As the saying goes, heroes emerge in troubled times. Wu Linzheng was loyal to the core, and his lifelong wish was for the Ming Dynasty to last forever. So he was somewhat frightened and thought of taking this opportunity to insert Li Huchen into Xiao Jingchuan's team.

Wu Linzheng couldn't judge whether Hu Chen could understand his intention and protect the Ming Dynasty wholeheartedly, but he had visited him three times to ask for advice on the state affairs and to help the old ministers of two dynasties. At this time of national crisis, this was probably all he could do!

"Haha, Xiao Lang is upright, I like him!" As he said that, Wu Linzheng turned to Li Huchen.

"My Lord, you and Xiao Lang must work together to escort the Emperor south. Don't slack off on the way!"

"My Ming Dynasty has had seventeen dynasties and sixteen emperors. It's not easy!"

"You and I, Xiao Lang, are of one mind. In my opinion, it is impossible to defend the capital. You should go to Nanjing this time to help the prince ascend the throne and leave half of the Ming Dynasty to us!"

Wu Linzheng was a mature man who was good at planning for the country, and everything he said was loyal. Although Xiao Jingchuan realized that he wanted to take the opportunity to criticize him, he still admired this old hero.

"Well, old man, I've said everything I should and shouldn't say!"

"Xiao Jingchuan, Li Huchen!"

"The general is here!"

"The general is here!"

"Quickly return to your respective fronts and wait for orders!"

"Yes Yes!"

"Come here, bring me my crescent moon blade!"

After he finished speaking, his soldiers presented him with swords.

"Bang the drum!"

"Open the city gates, soldiers, follow me and charge!"

"kill!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

As the war drums sounded, Wu Linzheng did not look back, and rushed out of the city on his first horse. Behind him, more than a thousand death-defying warriors also followed him out, shouting and killing.

It's snowing in March and dark clouds are covering Kyoto!
The battle to break out of Xizhimen officially begins!
After the old general led his troops out of the city, the Xizhimen gate was closed again, waiting for the next step.

Xiao Jingchuan turned his horse around and returned to the battle formation with Li Huchen. When they arrived at the rear of the team, he waved and called Sun Peizhong (Xiao Jingchuan's personal soldier) from the team.

"General, you called me!" Sun Peizhong rode his horse forward.

"Well, you went to mobilize the troops. Did you get the sheepskin map in my tent?" Xiao Jingchuan asked in a low voice.

"I have brought it as the general ordered."

As he spoke, Sun Peizhong took out a folded map from his arms and handed it to Xiao Jingchuan.

Xiao Lang took it. It was dimly lit in front of the battlefield at night, so Xiao Jingchuan just took a quick look at it, then folded it three times and stuffed it into his arms.

When he looked up again, he suddenly saw Qi Dayong, a fat man in Li Huchen's team, struggling to tinker with the mechanism of a bird gun.

The gun was old and tattered and looked like it could no longer be used.

In fact, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, corruption was rife in the court, and in the army, it was common to see the withholding of military pay, understaffed battalions, and shoddy military equipment.

Xiao Jingchuan's Shenjiying Zuoying claimed to be the elite in the city, and its weapons and equipment were relatively good. But for an ordinary team like Li Huchen's troops, the supply of proper equipment was very tight.

And for Qi Dayong in such a team, it was already very good that he had a branching musket in his hand. If it broke, he would have no more.

Seeing this, Xiao Jingchuan kicked his horse's belly, walked to the front of the fat man, took out the exquisitely crafted short-handled bird gun from his waist, and threw it into the other's arms.

"Fat brother, your name is Qi Dayong, right?"

Xiao Jingchuan's behavior was completely unexpected. The fat man Qi Dayong was caught off guard and was frightened.

"what?"

"General, I am Qi Dayong!"

As he spoke, the fat man managed a faint smile in fear, looking very embarrassed. "Your gun is too old and can no longer be used."

"What I'm throwing to you is a weapon I carry with me. It has a short handle. You know how to use it, right?" Xiao Jingchuan said.

"Yeah! I know how to use it!"

"No"

"But General, I won't accept the reward without merit. I even contradicted you before. You..."

The fat man felt ashamed when he saw Xiao Jingchuan treating him like this.

"Haha, I like soldiers like you, you're honest!" Xiao Jingchuan suddenly turned his head and shouted to Li Huchen.

"Dayong, who said you were just being rewarded for nothing? I still have a job for you to do. Do you dare to accept it?"

"Why not? General, just give me your orders!" Qi Dayong agreed readily and neatly, feeling the favor.

"Hehe, look over there."

As he spoke, Xiao Jingchuan raised his hand and pointed to the locations of Crown Prince Zhu Cilang, Third Prince Zhu Cihong and veteran minister Ni Yuanlu in his team.

"Some of the people in my team are royal nobles, and some are high-ranking officials in the court. They have noble status but are too weak to protect themselves."

"I have already arranged personnel among my subordinates to provide enhanced protection."

"When we break out, Dayong, how about you help out a little bit at the periphery and keep an eye on it for me?"

After Xiao Jingchuan finished speaking, the fat man straightened his back immediately.

"Okay! General Xiao, don't worry. Dayong has made a note of this and will definitely protect these people at the cost of his life!"

"Please!" Xiao Jingchuan said as he bowed to show his seriousness.

22:30 PM (:)

In the cold wind and snow, Wu Linzheng led more than a thousand cavalrymen, like a sharp blade, and rushed straight into the bandits' central camp with the sound of drums beating and shouting and killing.

At this time, it was dark outside the city. The soldiers besieging the city could never have imagined that at this time, the defenders in the city would dare to go out to meet the enemy!
They only left a small number of people on night duty, and the defense was sparse. Many soldiers who were still besieging the city were dozing off and were bleary-eyed, in very poor condition.

Boom boom boom!
The war drums sounded, the city gates opened, and Wu Linzheng rushed out without any warning. The enemy army responded hastily. Although the number of our troops who left the city was limited in a short period of time, they had the upper hand and became more and more courageous as the battle went on.

"Report——"

"Report!"

"It's not good, Governor!"

"The Xizhimen garrison launched a surprise attack at night and is now heading towards our central army camp!"

Under the command of Liu Zongmin, the Left General of the Ru Marquis of Dashun Army, an official outside the tent broke into the central army tent in a panic and reported hastily.

"Why panic!"

Liu Zongmin was awakened from his sleep and was very angry. While answering the call, he picked up the wine glass beside the couch and threw it at the official who came into the tent.

"A surprise attack at night? Who is leading the troops? How many people are coming to charge?"

After hearing what the official said, and also hearing the sound of drums beating in the distance outside, Liu Zongmin became alert and stood up to ask questions.

"Reporting to the commander-in-chief, it is too dark. It seems that the person leading the troops is Wu Linzheng. He has more than a thousand soldiers and horses charging into the battle line, and his momentum is very strong!" The official replied.

"Wu Linzheng? More than a thousand soldiers?"

"This old man doesn't want to live anymore!"

"I was just worrying about how to attack the city tomorrow, and he came here on his own accord!"

"Pass the order, blow the trumpets and beat the drums, and have the entire central army advance to resist the charge of Wu Linzheng's cavalry."

"Liu Heita and Wang Bingquan's troops on both wings will attack the central army and surround him."

"Hurry up! Don't let that old guy Wu Linzheng get away!"

As he spoke, Liu Zongmin fumbled in his hands, and seeing that the official was slow in his movements, he gritted his teeth and threw out another wine jug.

"What are you staring at?"

"Hurry up and pass the message to me!"

"If you delay the opportunity, I will peel off your skin!"

Frightened, the officer turned around and ran out of the commander's tent, and all the camps sent orders to leave.
(End of this chapter)