Chapter 42 Chapter 42 Praying Mantis Catching Cicadas
The imperial court's reaction was not unpleasant. The palace guards were in the hands of Ding Chengzong, and the gates of the inner city palace had already been closed tightly. The Ba tribe, and the city guards were controlled by four generals, Yang Yanpu, Tuoba Haofeng, Li Jitan, and Juxing. There was a change in the city, and they immediately sent their troops to help. At this time, the city was already on fire. Countless people ran around in panic, and it was difficult to distinguish between the bandits and the people for a while, which greatly delayed the time for the four soldiers and horses to return to help. In front of the palace gate, Tuoba Wu, Tuoba Qingyun and other soldiers gathered together. "Did you catch it?" "No, this old boy is not in the mansion. It is said that he went drinking with Ding Chengzong." "Hmph, I knew they were colluding and working together. Similarly, if you catch Ding Chengzong, you will also catch Zhongfang." "Did Lin Pengyu catch it?" "No, I arrested a family member to extract a confession, saying that the old guy went to the west of the city to spend the night at Widow Liu's house, and I have sent someone there." "Hey, this old bastard is not old at heart. I'll let him be a romantic ghost. What about Fan Siqi? This is the God of Wealth of our Western Xia Kingdom. Can you control him?" A leader who was in charge of raiding Fan Shangshu's mansion squeezed in panting: "I didn't catch him, and I don't know where this kid has gone." "It doesn't matter, have his family been caught? The one surnamed Fan is just a precious son. He controls the young one, and he is not afraid that the old one will go to heaven." "I didn't catch it either. It is said that his wife and children have returned to their parents' home." "Back to mother... back to your mother!" Tuoba Wu was in a hurry, and he didn't care about the other party's status as the leader of the clan, so he cursed: "That bastard is originally from the Han Dynasty, and his mother's family is far away from this mountain, and now it is under the rule of the Song Dynasty. At this time, his wife and children are returning to their mother's house? You careless thing..." "not good!" Before he finished cursing, Tuoba Wu's face suddenly changed drastically: "Why is it such a coincidence? Everyone is not at home, and the master didn't catch them. Did their family members catch them?" Tuoba Wu stared, all the leaders looked at each other, but no one answered, Tuoba's heart suddenly sank to the bottom of the valley. "boom!" A fire lotus bloomed in the sky, followed by countless torches lit up in all directions, and the city guards who arrived in time surrounded on three sides, spears and halberds, short knives and giant shields, layers of copper walls and iron walls, as majestic as a mountain! And behind them was the tall and majestic palace wall, and the marching path on the palace wall was densely packed with palace guards and soldiers, all of them holding bows and crossbows, ready to fight. All the heads turned pale when they looked at each other, suddenly the lights on the Meridian Gate were brightly lit, and flags and banners were fluttering on both sides, and a person slowly appeared in the tower, wearing a white robe with a round collar and a blue Zhuge scarf on his head, sitting on a wooden wheeled square chair cart, In his hand... actually shaking a feather fan lightly in his hand, it was Ding Chengzong. In the cold weather, the feather fan scarf, is it Zhuge Liang?Seeing Ding Chengzong's appearance, Tuobawu's nose almost crooked. Zhuge Liang was well-known in the barbarian Hudi clan, and his image was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, so Tuobawu naturally knew it. "Tuoba Qingyun, Ba Tuowu... so many leaders came to the Meridian Gate in the middle of the night? I am sorry for being late to welcome you, forgive me." On the tower, Ding Chengzong laughed loudly and said loudly: "I just don't know, what do you want to do when you gather at the gate of the palace at night with open flames?" "In such a situation, the opportunity must have been revealed early. Could it be that there are traitors among us?" Tuoba Wu glanced behind him, suppressed his doubts, raised his head, pointed his halberd and shouted: "Ding Chengzong, don't be hypocritical, do you think that if you get the news early, you will win? Our troops from various ministries are assembled, and our troops are no less powerful than those of the palace guards. The sum of the city guards, fighting to the death, the outcome is unpredictable." Tuoba Wu raised his arms and shouted: "Your Majesty, I am the King of the Tuoba Clan. Ding Chengzong held the King hostage and excluded our family. He has evil intentions. We want to clear the King's side, restore the kingship, suppress the court, and kill traitors. Leaders of all ethnic groups, for the sake of Daye Jiangshan, kill!" With Tuobawu's order, countless arrows flew into the sky and flew straight towards the Meridian Gate tower. Ding Chengzong chuckled, and the cart slid backwards. The two huge shields closed in front of him, like two door panels, " Tuk tuk tuk" there was a sound, and the door panel suddenly became stingy. Immediately, the lights on the city tower dimmed, all the torches were extinguished, and fell into complete silence. Immediately afterwards, several dark objects were thrown out of the night sky. Although it was night, the sky was a little clear after all, so the color was darker than the sky things can still be seen vaguely. "What is that? Get out of the way!" The members of the Tuoba clan also said that there was a trebuchet placed in the inner city. This thing is easy to use to destroy the city, but it is not very effective to kill people. Everyone moved away, and saw seven or eight dark objects crashing to the ground, and they were immediately broken into pieces. , Tuoba Qingyun couldn't help being surprised, he snatched a torch from his subordinates, and took a closer look. When he lowered his head, he saw a black oily liquid spreading everywhere on the ground. He lifted the whip, but felt his feet sticky, so he took a closer look, smelled a smell, and couldn't help but exclaimed in shock: "This It's fierce oil!" Without saying a word, the city was dotted with dots, as if the lights were shining brightly. Hundreds of rockets sprinkled all over the sky, igniting the fire oil with a bang. Tuoba Qingyunshou was standing in the fire oil, and he was instantly burned into a burning man , Tuoba Qingyun screamed, the fire hit his face, his eyes were so hot that he could not open his eyes, he could only run out with his eyes closed, his feet were wet with kerosene, his leather boots slipped, and he fell on his back, his whole body suddenly It's the same color as the fire. All around, the members of the Tuoba clan stared dumbfounded at Tuoba Qingyun, who was dancing like a flame and screaming like a pig being killed. Then, only hearing the whistling wind, many tribal warriors fell down screaming, surrounded by Tuoba Wu. Then a person fell down straight, with a sharp arrow sticking straight into his back, the arrow had penetrated to the fletching, the strength was astonishing, it must be a first-grade bow equipped by the palace guards. Tuoba Wu's eyes were red, and he shouted: "Bow and arrow suppress the city, attack from three sides!" They also secretly created some siege equipment in the mansion. The inner city is no taller and steeper than the outer city. Did they attack the palace?What's more, seven or eight clusters of flames ignited in the crowd, and they are a group of live targets right now. The palace guards are hidden in the dark, and their lives can be harvested with only arrows. In order to stop the threat of arrows at the top of the city.In terms of numbers, their numbers are not inferior to the city guards encircled on three sides. If the palace guards do not open their doors to meet the enemy, their strength is still higher than that of the city guards. After paying thousands of lives, Li Jitan and Yang Yanpu's army formation was breached first, and the two sides fell into a melee. Together, the arrows at the top of the city lost their effect, and the people on Tuobawu's side had no worries. Start giving it a go. The flames were raging, countless soldiers fought desperately, and the bloody soldiers fell one by one, but no one retreated, and there was no way to retreat. They were either the enemy or the enemy, and everyone's eyes were bloodshot, killing wantonly What kind of moves, what kind of martial arts are useless in such a melee between the two armies. Swords, guns, swords and halberds are like a storm. The competition is who is stronger, who is faster, and whose shots are more decisive and ruthless. , who is stronger, who can withstand the slashing, face to face, life and death will be immediately apparent. Finally, the people on Tuobawu's side were completely suppressed, and the flames of fierce fire oil were already a little weak, and Tuobawu's people were completely suppressed in the middle. They still had the strength to fight, and at least they could consume the city Half the strength of the guards, but defeat is inevitable, everyone is full of despair. "Surrender!" "Surrender!" The shouts were majestic and mighty, resounding from all directions, the lights on the city tower reappeared, Ding Chengzong reappeared, and shouted loudly with a calm face: "You wait until the general situation is over, why don't you surrender?" "surrender!" "surrender!" The palace guards shouted in unison, and the sound shook the world. The faces of the people in the Tuoba Department were ashen, but they still gritted their teeth and waited for the battle. Li Jitan shouted loudly: "Tuoba Wu, Tuoba Qingyun, for their own self-interest, bewitched you and others to rebel. Now that the general situation is over and the defeat is certain, you still want to be obsessed with it and follow them on the road to the underworld? Abandon your weapons immediately. Surrender, Your Majesty will definitely spare you, and Rao Er will not die." Li Jitan was injured, and with the blood splattered on his body, he was even more mighty as a murderous god. The dark crowd in front of the palace gate was silent for a while, and a leader standing in front trembled: "Jitan, You... are what you said true? Your Majesty... Your Majesty can really forgive us?" Li Jitan took a look at him, and recognized him as an elder of his clan, he should be his cousin in terms of seniority, and said, "Sixth Uncle, Your Majesty is my Buddha's protector, who uses thunderbolt methods, has the heart of a Bodhisattva, and the first evil should be punished. As long as you repent, the king will not slaughter, but... the law is strict, and punishment is inevitable." "Don't listen to his nonsense, he is the scum of our Tuoba clan, kill him! Our Tuoba clan can only die standing up, no one lives on kneeling!" There was a loud shout from the crowd, but it was Tuo Bawu who spoke. Tuo Bawu broke his arm in the scuffle, lost a lot of blood, and his face was pale. Li Jitan also shouted loudly: "Tuo Bawu is the chief culprit, kill him, raise his head and surrender, and plead guilty to my king!" Tuo Bawu's expression was ferocious, and he deliberately threw himself in front of Li Jitan and slashed him with a knife, but unfortunately he knew about his family affairs, and he also knew that with his weak body, if he really wanted to rush in front of Li Jitan, it was just to test the knife for him. . The crowd continued to remain silent, and after a long time, pairs of eyes gradually moved back from the enemy in front and cast their eyes on Tuoba Wu.At first, those gazes were a little hesitant, but gradually, they began to lock on to him. The pair of faint gazes under the firelight were like a group of wild wolves who would prey on someone... "boom……" When Tuobawu was dismembered by his own clansmen, his head rolled to the ground, his eyes wide open, and he died with unrepentant eyes, the palace gate slowly opened, and the guards of honor slowly lined up. , a majestic white horse under the crotch, appeared on the stage under the protection of the guards. Yang Yanpu shouted loudly: "Your Majesty has arrived, don't give up your weapons!" There was a sound of "ding ding dong dong", dropping weapons all over the ground, and the Tuoba clan who wanted to be on the side of the Qing emperor knelt down on the ground, and the city guards in all directions watched them with bows and crossbows, and if there was any movement, they would shoot random arrows. The king's guard of honor stopped on the blood-smeared square, and the officers and soldiers of the city guards on three sides all turned their gazes to their king. Among them, a pair of eyes suddenly flashed in the dark night, just like those When the members of the Tuoba clan stared at Tuoba Wu, they looked like wolves, as if they saw a piece of delicious lamb...