Chapter 652: The Battle in Chang'an is temporarily closed

Li You and Bai Li Jin left the palace in a daze. Walking on the streets of Chang'an, you could still hear the shouts of killing from the city gates around you. There was no one on the street. Everyone was shrouded in the black clouds of war and shivered.

"Doctor Baili, do you have time to sit at my prime minister's mansion?" The two walked together, and Li You said to Bailijin.

Baili Jin turned his head and looked at Li You, and then he realized that Li You must have discussed with him for the sake of Ying Zhuang's words just now, so he nodded and said, "Okay!"

The two came to Li You's mansion and sat opposite each other in the garden of Li's mansion. Li You asked his servants to serve two cups of hot tea, and let the servants leave. In the huge garden, only Li You and Bai Li Jin were left.

After taking a sip of tea, Li You said, "Doctor Baili, you can hear clearly what Your Majesty said today. You are an old minister of my dynasty. I want to hear your opinions?"

Baili Jin shook his head and said, "I don't know that now my great Qin Dynasty is the only lonely city left in Chang'an. Although there are still tens of thousands of elite troops, how can I do what hundreds of thousands of Deng troops outside the city? Although I am reluctant to see the destruction of the Qin Dynasty, to be honest, I really have no confidence in Bai Qi this time."

Li You nodded and said, "What Doctor Baili said is exactly what he thought in his heart. Although Bai Qi is one of the few famous generals in the world, it is as the saying goes, two fists cannot beat four hands. With only tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in Chang'an, it is too difficult to compete with hundreds of thousands of Deng troops gathered with famous generals outside the city. You and I will not be willing to die. But we have promised in front of His Majesty that we must protect Ying Qin's bloodline no matter what. Now the direct bloodline of Ying's family is in Chang'an City. If we resist to the end, once the city is broken, it will probably be very tragic. The tragic power of Xiang Kingdom in the past is still vivid in my mind. If we take a step back, even if we can escort the prince out of the siege, the world is vast, where can I stay in the Qin people?"

When the Qin Dynasty was destroyed, the main forces of the Guandong Rebel Army were in the Central Plains. Even if Xianyang fell, the Longxi area was still under the control of the Qin Dynasty. Therefore, when Xiang Yu slaughtered the Ying clan, he fled westward and finally rebuilt Qin in the land of Xiliang. However, now Longxi and Xiliang are all under the control of Deng's army. In the whole world, except for the lonely city of Chang'an, there is no land belonging to Qin. Where can I go if I leave Chang'an?

"With Li Xiang's opinion, are we going to open the city to surrender?" Baili Jin asked tentatively. The word surrender never belonged to Qin. It is mainly that every time the Qin people surrendered, it would bring endless pain to the Qin people. More than two hundred years ago, Zhang Han led his troops to surrender Xiang Yu, resulting in the killing of 200,000 Qin troops. Ying Ziying surrendered to Liu Bang, resulting in the slaughter of the Ying clan by Xiang Yu. Therefore, the Qin people dared not surrender, for fear of repeating the mistakes they had more than two hundred years ago. But now that things have come to this point, it seems that they have no way to preserve Ying Qin's bloodline except surrender.

Li You shook his head and said, "This is just the last helpless choice. Now Your Majesty is still here. I, Daqin, still have tens of thousands of elite troops. Although it is difficult, it is not hopeless. Let's wait!"

Although Li You said he had no hope for Bai Qi, he still hoped that God would give Qin a pity and give Qin a way out. If Bai Qi could really repel Deng's army, Qin could start again.

Bailijin nodded and said, "That's right, then wait a little longer!"

At the same time, on the top of Chang'an City, Bai Qi personally led the troops to repel the attack of Deng's army once again. He was sitting on the city tower, with a haggard face. Although the Deng's army had only ten days to attack the city, it was only these ten days that made Bai Qi feel as if ten years had passed.

"Your Majesty!" Qin general Bai Chen had just counted the casualties and walked in to report to Bai Qi.

"What's wrong? How about our army's casualties today?" Bai Qi asked with bloodshot eyes.

Bai Chen replied: "Our army suffered more than 1,000 casualties today, which is not too big. However, now the city is short of medicine, and many wounded soldiers cannot be treated at all. Without sufficient medicine, these wounded soldiers may have to wait to die. In addition, there are also big problems in the city's food. It is estimated that it will be enough for the whole city's military and civilians to eat about one month."

The casualties of the army were not the biggest problem, because the casualties of the Deng army were even greater than theirs. However, the problem is that the Qin army is trapped in Chang'an City and cannot get any support. They can only rely on the food and medicine stored in the city. However, the problem of food has always been a big problem for Qin. Although Qin has been paying attention to hoarding grain for many years, although Chang'an City is large, the stored food is limited after all. In addition, former important towns such as Xianyang, Xingyang, and Hongnong were captured by the Deng army, and Qin's food has long been bottomed out.

There are tens of thousands of elite troops in the city, tens of thousands of ministers and tens of thousands of people, and so many people, how can the food in Chang'an City be enough? It's okay for a short time, but there are hundreds of thousands of troops outside Chang'an City. It's okay if there is enough food. After all, the Deng army has hundreds of thousands of troops fighting, even the powerful Deng State is very difficult. If it can be delayed for two or three years, there is no need to fight, and the Deng army will retreat by itself. But the problem is that the Qin State's grain is only one month left.

When Bai Qi heard this, he looked desperate. Without food, even if he had the ability, he would not be able to continue fighting Deng Jun.

"I know, you go down first!" Bai Qi said helplessly.

"Here!" Bai Chen responded and left.

After Bai Chen left, Bai Qi began to recall the past. He ambushed the Han general Zhou Shen in Wu Yueshan, and started the journey of Qin to take over Guanzhong. Later, he personally led the Qin army to defeat hundreds of thousands of Han troops, and finally set up the Guanzhong for Qin and return to his hometown. That was himself. How energetic he was, and he also ranked among the top few famous generals in the world. Later, he captured Nanshangdang, Hanoi County, and Henan County for Qin. He even fought against Zhao Xin, the world's number one general, and with one banner alone, he retreated 200,000 Zhao troops, with great reputation. Everyone was looking forward to the Qin army being able to sweep the world again under Bai Qi's leadership.

Then where did the decline of Qin begin? Bai Qi knew very well that Qin's strength arose because of him, and Qin's decline also arose because of him. If it weren't for his insistence on leading his army to attack Bashu, resulting in the death of more than 100,000 Qin troops, Qin would not have fallen into such a field. However, Bai Qi asked himself that his decision was not wrong. If he didn't fight Bashu, why would Qin compete with Deng Zhao? It was just that he had a game of chess and returned home in a crushing defeat.

After the Battle of Jianshan, Qin seemed to have fallen into a vicious cycle, and was defeated repeatedly, losing Nan Shangdang and Hanoi County one after another, and losing 200,000 elite troops in battle. It was also from that time that Qin was completely behind Deng Zhao and had no chance of rising.

Thinking of this, Bai Qi walked out of the city tower, came to the top of the city, and looked eastward, as if he saw Mount Li, where Qin Shihuang's tomb was located. Five years ago, Emperor Qin Yingzhuang led all civil and military officials to worship Qin Shihuang's tomb and call him emperor again, as if he saw the hope of the rise of Qin State, but now it seems that it is just the afterglow of the setting sun.

"Did the hard work of Daqin for more than two hundred years have only won such an ending?" Bai Qi closed his eyes and murmured.

After nightfall, the Deng army camp outside Chang'an City was brightly lit in the central army's tent. Xue Rengui summoned the generals to discuss matters and fought for ten consecutive days. The casualties of the Deng army were also huge. Although Xue Rengui wanted to take Chang'an City as soon as possible, he could not ignore the casualties? After all, the enemy of Deng State is not only Qin State, but also Zhao State. Although the loss in Chang'an City is not severely damaged, it will inevitably cause damage to Deng State. By then, the time to attack Zhao State is probably far away. Just when Xue Rengui was still hesitating whether to continue to maintain such an offensive, Mingjing, hidden in Chang'an City, finally sent an exciting news.

"Everyone, yesterday Chang'an Mingjing tried his best to send me a message. Emperor Qin is terminally ill and his life is not long!" Xue Rengui said.

"Be serious?" Everyone's eyes lit up when they heard this. They didn't know how old Emperor Qin was, but they were definitely younger. If Emperor Qin died, the emperor who succeeded to the throne would definitely be a child. How could he support Qin?

"What will the general plan to do?" Li Siye asked.

Xue Rengui sighed and said, "Our army attacked Chang'an for ten days, with great casualties, and the soldiers were very tired. If they continue to fight, it may not be worth the loss. I plan to suspend the offensive. Emperor Qin happened to be critically ill. Once Emperor Qin died, the Qin army would be depressed. At that time, we will have a much greater chance of breaking the city."

"But the general, although Emperor Qin is critically ill, no one knows when he will die. If he holds on until the beginning of winter, wouldn't our army miss the opportunity?" Deng Han said with some disagreement.

The Deng army initially had a goal of 600,000 to break through Chang'an City before the beginning of winter. If the offensive was suspended, once it was delayed, the Deng army would be forced to stop the attack. Most of the Deng army's soldiers were from the south and it was impossible to fight in the middle of winter. Therefore, once winter began, the Deng army would have to wait until the beginning of the next spring before attacking the city.

"Your Highness, of course, you won't wait for so long. It's midsummer now, which is not conducive to combat. I plan to take this opportunity to rest. After all, the soldiers have basically never heard of the war since the beginning of spring last year and are very tired. It will be more suitable to attack the city in autumn until the autumn is clear and cool. " Xue Rengui said patiently. Although Deng Han repeatedly stated that he was just a general of the guard, Xue Rengui had to be polite. After all, Deng Han's identity is the King of Jin in the current dynasty.

After hearing Xue Rengui's explanation, Deng Han still did not agree much. After all, midsummer is not the middle of winter, so how can he not fight? However, given his identity, he still didn't say much, after all, Xue Rengui is the main general.

Seeing that Deng Han no longer raised objections, Xue Rengui said to everyone: "I wonder what you think?"

Everyone thought for a while and felt that it was no big deal. After all, the continuous battles that have been around during this period, not to mention the soldiers under their command, even they were quite tired. It is of course good to have the opportunity to rest, so they said in unison: "It depends on the general!"

The next day, Bai Qi found that Deng's army was not siegeing the city. Although he felt strange, he didn't think much about it. After all, the Qin army is trapped in Chang'an City now, even if Deng's army has any conspiracies, he can do nothing. On the contrary, the Deng army can give Qin's army a chance to breathe. After all, the pressure under this fact is too great.

Just as the war in Chang'an was temporarily quelling, Jinyang City, thousands of miles away, also ushered in a triumphant army. After three months, Li Rubing finally defeated the Hu army and returned to the court. However, although this battle was won, the Zhao army suffered a great loss. Li Rubing led an army of 300,000 to fight, and in the end, only 170,000 to 180,000 were able to return, causing most of the people in Zhao to hang white banners.

After Li Rubing returned to Jinyang, he went to the palace without stopping because after he returned to Jinyang, he realized that the battle in Guanzhong had turned out like this, and Qin State had only one Chang'an City left. In addition, in order to avoid the edge of Deng's army, Zhao State took the initiative to withdraw from the Central Plains and defend the Yellow River line, which made Li Rubing very unhappy.

When Li Rubing entered the palace, the Song family and a group of important officials of the Zhao State were waiting for him.

"My dear Li Rubing to the Empress Dowager!" Li Rubing bent and bowed to salute.

Song nodded and said, "Great General, please get up!"

"Thank you, Empress Dowager!" Li Rubing stood up and thanked.

Song said with a smile: "In the battle of the northern border, the general defeated hundreds of thousands of Hu people and promoted the power of our country. The Ai family has discussed with the ministers and decided to add the general to the Lord of Wu'an."

Wu'an Jun was not unique to Qin. During the Zhao State, in addition to Bai Qi of Qin, Li Mu of Zhao State was also Wu'an Jun, and Su Qin, who was granted the seal of the six kingdoms, was also named Wu'an Jun.

"The Empress Dowager, there is no hurry to reward. I have something unknown. Please ask the Empress Dowager to solve the doubts!" ​​Li Rubing said.

"I wonder why the general is confused?" Song said.

Li Rubing said: "The Empress Dowager, Zhao Qin is an ally. Now Deng has defeated Qin to only an isolated city. Why didn't I send troops to rescue me? Also, why did I give up the Central Plains? You know, in order to seize the Central Plains, my Great Zhao also lost countless soldiers."

Li Rubing's attitude seemed to be questioning the Song family, but the Song family was not easy to blame Li Rubing. After all, Li Rubing had just won the Battle of Northern Xinjiang and was in high prestige.

"This..." Song looked at Lin Qingfeng with a helpless look.

Seeing this, Lin Qingfeng gritted his teeth and quickly explained: "The General is unknown. Since the General led his army north to fight against the Hu people, the Deng army has strengthened the offensive against Qin. Emperor Deng ordered his son, King Jin, Deng Han, to personally lead a 150,000 army to reinforce Guanzhong, which greatly increased the strength of the Deng army besieged Guanzhong. At the same time, after Qin's several major defeats, the whole country's troops were less than 100,000. My Great Zhao did not want to rescue Qin, but was powerless. After the General went north, my Great Zhao had only 200,000 troops left. If you want to rescue Qin, you may have to send these 200,000 people to Guanzhong. What should I do if Zhao? And the reason for giving up the Central Plains is the same. Please forgive me!"

When Li Rubing heard this, he frowned. He suddenly heard that Qin was about to fall, and was anxious for a moment. He did not expect this. After listening to Lin Qingfeng's words, he realized the helplessness of the court. However, Li Rubing also had his own ideas. He did not care about Qin's life or death, but was worried that once Qin's support was gone, Zhao would not be able to stop him when Deng came in the future.

So he sighed and said, "It's my minister Meng Lang, I hope the Empress Dowager will forgive me!"

"It's okay, the general is also concerned about Da Zhao. The Ai family understands that the general must be very tired when he returns from the expedition. Let's go back to the mansion to rest first. If there is any important matter, we will discuss it tomorrow morning." Song said generously.

"Yes! I'm leaving!" Li Rubing responded and left.

Mingjing also immediately passed the news back to Wancheng after the news of the tragic victory in the northern border of Zhao State.

After Deng Sheng received the news, he summoned a group of important officials to discuss that Chang'an City has not been taken down yet, and the war in the northern border of Zhao State was over again. Deng Sheng was afraid that Zhao State would send troops south to rescue Chang'an and cause the war in Guanzhong to stir up trouble again. Although it might not change the overall situation, he did not want to cause trouble.

"Young masters, Mingjing sent back news from Hebei that Li Rubing had defeated the Hu army and led his army back to Jinyang." Deng Sheng said.

"So quickly? Can your Majesty know how the Zhao army suffered casualties in this battle?" Cui Hao asked.

Deng Sheng said: "According to Mingjing's secret report, the Zhao army won a tragic victory this time, destroying more than 200,000 Hu people, but also losing 120,000 elite troops."

Speaking of this, Deng Sheng couldn't help but feel a little happy. Although he admired Zhao's behavior, it has to be said that Zhao's defeat of more than 100,000 troops in the battle was also beneficial to Deng.

"That's great!" Everyone was very happy to hear this. Before the Battle of Northern Xinjiang began, Zhao State had only had an army of 500,000. Now it has lost more than 100,000 yuan in one battle, which is a serious injury to its vitality.

"It is certainly a good thing for our great Deng to lose troops and generals in Zhao State, but now our main task is to break through Chang'an City and pacify Guanzhong. I am worried that after Zhao State relieves foreign troubles, it will lead its troops south to rescue Chang'an City." Deng Sheng said.

"Your Majesty, don't worry!" Zhang Bin said: "The State of Zhao has suffered heavy losses in this battle, and its strength is greatly damaged, so they are unable to move south at all. On the contrary, what they are even more worried about is how to recover their vitality before our great Deng goes north."

"After that being said, we have to be careful!" Deng Sheng said. He also knew that the chance of Zhao's army going south was not high, but some things were not afraid of 10,000, but they were afraid of something, what if Zhao State got his brains?

Cui Hao said: "If Your Majesty is worried, you can send a message to General Xue Rengui on the front line to strengthen his defense. In addition, send a message to His Highness the King of Wei in Xingyang and General Murong Chui in Puyang, and order him to reorganize his army and respond to the Zhao army's southward at any time. However, Your Majesty does not have to worry too much. The overall situation in Guanzhong has been decided, and even if the Zhao army really goes south, it will be useless. It is a foregone conclusion that our great Deng will take Guanzhong."
Chapter completed!