Chapter 215 Western Route Army

In March of the seventh year of Zhengde, tens of thousands of bandit troops surrounded Runing.

Henan Runing was the fiefdom of Emperor Xianzong's younger brother, Prince Chong Zhu Jianze, but Zhu Jianze had long since passed away, and his son, Prince Chong Zhu Youxuan, also died in June last year. Prince Chong's son Zhu Houyao had not yet inherited the title of Prince Chong, and was only twelve years old at the time, so all major matters in the palace were decided by his mother, Consort Li.

Princess Li was no more than thirty years old, with a pair of phoenix eyes, two curved willow-leaf eyebrows, skin as white as cream, and a slim figure. She had a charm of her own sitting in the main seat.

"Your Majesty, the enemy army surrounded Runing City. Fortunately, Lu Cheng, the commander of the Runing Guard, reacted quickly and arranged the city defense equipment in advance, blocking the enemy army's two attacks on the city. Otherwise, the consequences would be disastrous." The chief historian of the palace stood behind the curtain, bowed and recounted what happened outside the city.

Princess Li frowned slightly, thinking in her heart that if the enemy army entered the city, the palace would not be able to hold out with just the few guards there.

If the enemy troops were allowed to enter the palace.
Princess Li was very confident in her appearance, and at that time she had no choice but to commit suicide to maintain her innocence.

If a beautiful and noble woman falls into the hands of the enemy, it would be better for her to die than to live.

Therefore, at this moment, the palace and Runing City are now in a relationship of mutual benefit and mutual benefit.

"Cui Changshi, take 1,500 taels of silver from the palace's storehouse to reward the soldiers." Concubine Li ordered through the curtain: "Also, buy all the meat in the city in the name of the prince and send it to the city defense."

"Yes!" Cui Changshi responded, and when he saw that the princess had no other arrangements, he stepped back to make the arrangements.

On the wall of Runing city, the deputy commander Lu Cheng was wearing chain mail armor inlaid with plum blossoms, a phoenix-wing helmet on his head, and a sword on his waist. He had one hand on the hilt and was inspecting the city defense with a serious expression.

"Sir!" A captain ran over, knelt on one knee and saluted, saying, "We just received a message from a carrier pigeon, saying that it will take five days for the reinforcements to arrive."

"Five days?"

Lu Cheng breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Go collect some more stones, logs, and gold juice to cheer up the brothers. They are just bandits. We can defend the city walls. What is there to be afraid of?"

"Yes!"

At the same time, in the bandit camp outside Runing City, the bandit commander Zhao Hao also had a piece of intelligence in his hand.

After reading it, he looked a little strange, and it was hard to tell whether he was happy or sad.

The four commanders sitting below looked at each other, and one of them stood up and bowed and asked, "Commander-in-chief, what happened?"

Zhao Hao thought about it for a while and felt that there was no need to hide this matter, because the court would definitely publicize it vigorously, and then the people below would also know about it.

On the contrary, his concealment may lead to the demoralization of the army.

Therefore, he adjusted his mood and said with a little sadness: "In the first month of the year, the court sent Xianning Earl Qiu Yue, Right Censor-in-Chief Peng Ze, and Honglu Temple Minister Ou Zanghua to lead their troops to fight against us. The Eastern Route Army has been besieged by these three people and the whole army has been defeated."

"what?!"

"Chief Qi has always been steady, this shouldn't happen!"

"Yes! That bull is like an animal. If it gets aggressive, it can't be controlled without a few good hands. How could it be completely defeated?"

As expected, the four commanders present were all shocked when these words were spoken, and they all started talking about it.

You have to know that in terms of combat effectiveness and destructive power, their Western Army cannot compare to the Eastern Army.

As a result, the Eastern Army was wiped out without a single sound?
At this time, a commander suddenly said: "So we were able to sweep across Henan because Lu Wan was too weak?"

In an instant, everyone turned to look at this idiot.

Zhao Hao laughed loudly and said, "Hahaha, Lu Wan is the right assistant minister of the Ministry of War, a high-ranking official, how could he be weak? The destruction of the Eastern Route Army must have been a trick of the court. The Grand Marshal and the Deputy Marshal are both resourceful and will surely be able to see through the court's tricks."

"Over the years, we have been able to attack Fengyang in the east and conquer cities such as Si County, Suzhou, and Dingyuan. We did this because of the wise leadership of the Grand Marshal and the Deputy Marshal, rather than relying on the bravery of ordinary people and fighting blindly."

After hearing what Zhao Hao said, the commanders nodded subconsciously, thinking that what the governor said made sense.

Zhao Hao was afraid that his subordinates would think too much, so he simply gave an order: "While the court's attention is now on how to deal with the Eastern Route Army, we should work harder to capture Runing and send the Prince of Chong, Zhu Houyao, to the Grand Marshal."

"We divide our forces into three groups and attack simultaneously. The defenders will inevitably make mistakes in the chaos. That will be the opportunity we have been waiting for!"

"Yes!" However, what Zhao Hao did not expect was that the defenders of Runing City were so motivated by the reward from the princess that they did not allow a single enemy soldier to reach the city wall for three consecutive days.

Zhao Hao was so angry that he started cursing in the camp and swore that he would make Concubine Li suffer after he captured Runing City.

But on the fourth day, before the enemy's war drums sounded, before the trumpets blew, and the soldiers had not yet assembled, a deafening sound of artillery fire suddenly came from the sky, followed by nearly a hundred artillery shells that streaked across the sky like meteors and landed accurately in the enemy's camp.

Fire suddenly broke out in the camp and smoke billowed.

The rebel soldiers were stunned by the sudden attack and fled in panic.

The tents were blown to pieces by artillery shells, and a raging fire broke out. The fire spread rapidly, turning the camp into a sea of ​​​​fire.

The roar of artillery fire, the shouts of soldiers, and the collision of weapons intertwined together, forming a chaotic and tragic picture.

The soldiers struggled to survive in the sea of ​​fire, but the artillery fire was merciless and many people were instantly swallowed up by the fire and turned into ashes.

This sudden and continuous artillery attack also stunned Zhao Hao, who had just woken up.

Under the protection of the elite, he rushed out of the camp. Seeing the soldiers running around, he could not help but draw his sword and slash at them. After killing a soldier, he shouted, "Don't panic! Don't run around. Where's the commander?! Where's the team leader?! Come out here!"

Unfortunately, no matter how loud his voice was, it could not beat the sound of the exploding shells, so no one listened to him.

Zhao Hao killed several soldiers in succession before he was able to gather nearly a hundred people.

When he wanted to continue doing this, a burst of orderly horse hoof sounds came from afar, and the sound was like rolling thunder, approaching rapidly.

As the sound of horse hooves approached, a solemn and murderous atmosphere came over us. In the distance, dust was flying, and a well-trained cavalry team was galloping towards us like a violent storm.

The morale of the troops that had just gathered, after seeing this cavalry, quickly disappeared like the Yellow River bursting its banks.

"Kill!" Zuo Lengchan roared while holding up a single sword.

The cavalrymen behind him responded one after another, and the long swords they raised turned silver in the sunlight, like a giant dragon tumbling on the battlefield.

Every flip meant hundreds of lives fell under their long swords.

With a "swish!" sound, Zuo Lengchan easily chopped off three heads. Blood splattered half of his body. Combined with the fire and smoke behind him, Zhao Hao was so scared that he screamed: "Retreat! Retreat quickly!"

Ding Mian spotted Zhao Hao, who was protected by many soldiers, and immediately pointed over there and shouted, "Brother, it's the bandit leader!"

"Where are you going!" Zuo Lengchan roared and led the cavalry to charge forward.

However, Zhao Hao's guards were not afraid. They had no formation, no shields, and no bows and crossbows, but each of them was a good fighter in the world.

Among them, seven or eight people directly used their lightness skills to try to kick the cavalrymen off their horses.

But they picked the wrong opponents this time. Zuo Lengchan, Ding Mian, Gao Kexin, and Deng Bagong, which one of them is not a top-notch master in the world?
"The clown!"

Deng Bagong sneered and used the Songshan sword technique to directly stab the two men to death.

When the others saw this scene, they were immediately shocked and shouted: "Songshan Sword Technique?! Are you from the Songshan Sword School?!"

"So what?" Ding Mian said, and with one move of Jade into Tianchi, he killed two more people.

Zuo Lengchan didn't even bother to look at these people and rushed towards Zhao Hao.

Looking at Zuo Lengchan who was like a demon god on the battlefield, Zhao Hao shouted in fear: "No, my brother is Zhao Sui! You can't kill me."

With a "swish" sound, it was incredibly smooth.

Zhao Hao's head was chopped off, and Zuo Lengchan raised the head with a single sword and shouted: "The commander is dead, surrender and you won't be killed!"

(End of this chapter)