Chapter 103 Section 5 City Break

In mid-August, the Han army gathered under the city of Chang'an.Among them, there are county and county heroes, old officials, local ruffians, treacherous rascals, and even more poor people.However, regardless of their previous identities and status, they all have a common feeling, which is like dreaming.They are attacking the emperor Wang Mang, they are besieging the capital Chang'an! Facing the magnificent capital with a glorious history of more than two hundred years, they no longer felt awe in their hearts, and the emperor Wang Mang who lived in the capital was no longer awe-inspiring and inviolable.

However, Wang Xian and Han Chen, the temporary leaders of the Han army, did not dare to be blindly optimistic.Siege has always been a thankless chore, and Kunyang three months ago was a lesson for them.With a million troops, Wang Yi could not stop attacking Kunyang for a long time. In the end, the army was defeated like a mountain, and the elite of the new dynasty was destroyed in one fell swoop.Little Kunyang is so strong, let alone Chang'an, which has been painstakingly managed for more than two hundred years during the Han and Xin dynasties?Compared with Kunyang, and even compared with all the cities in the world at that time, Chang'an was an incomparably huge monster with a circumference of sixty miles, a latitude and longitude of fifteen miles, and an area of ​​thirty-five square kilometers. The city wall is three feet five feet high, and the wall foundation is seven feet thick. It is built with rammed earth, which is as solid as gold.Wang Xian and Han Chen walked around Chang'an City, like a tiger eating the sky, unable to say anything. After discussing, they decided to wait for Deng Ye, Shen Tujian, and Li Song to lead the crowd.

Although Chang'an was besieged but not attacked for the time being, the outside of Chang'an was already dominated by the Han army.Here, there is no law, no authority, and all the old order is gone. They can do whatever they want without fear of any punishment.Human nature at this time does not care about evil and goodness. They only pursue the pleasure of revenge and destruction. Years of despicableness and insults have finally turned into a violent carnival. Therefore, the Han army dug up the tombs of Wang Mang's grandfather, father, wife, and son outside Chang'an City, looted the funeral belongings, trampled on the bones, and burned the coffins.The Nine Temples, Mingtang, and Piyong outside the city, these iconic buildings that cost countless manpower, material and financial resources and represent the glory and dignity of the empire, also included their taxes and labor, but they were no longer needed, they were lit and burned.They danced in the smoke and shouted in the firelight.

Besides, Wang Mang, because he has been refusing to eat all the time, just drinking alcohol constantly, coupled with the severe lack of sleep, has greatly damaged his health. He has been unable to maintain enough sobriety, and most of the time he is in hallucinations. To him, the world is Both dull and sensitive, both real and absurd.After the Han army besieged the city, Wang Mang couldn't sleep all night, so he could only order the qin master to play the qin, the louder the better, hoping to sleep to the sound of the qin.The luthier hesitated and said: "The sound of the piano is too loud, I'm afraid it will be more difficult for His Majesty to fall asleep."Wang Mang smiled bitterly and said: No matter how loud the sound of the piano is, can it beat the roar of the Han army outside the city?

After the Han army burned and smashed and looted everything outside the city, they couldn't help but feel a little lonely. They also heard that Kai Huo's troops were rushing to Chang'an, so they all became nervous. The Chang'an city in front of them was the biggest treasure in the world. Allowing others to share, the money, food, and women in the city will belong to whoever grabs them. Of course, the first to strike first, so regardless of the danger, they began to attack the city day and night. Wang Mang had already given up on himself and ignored everything. The defense of Chang'an City depended entirely on Wang Yi alone.Wang Yi distributed the remaining 7,000 troops in Chang'an City to twelve city gates, and each gate had only 600 guards.Wang Yi also knew, how could the six hundred guards last for a long time?It's just a matter of chatting.

On the first day of September, Xuanping Gate was the first to be broken.Once the Xuanping Gate was broken, it was meaningless to hold on to the rest of the city gates. Wang Yi urgently retracted his line of defense, led his army back to Miyagi, and re-armed under the northern gate of Weiyang Palace to continue to block the Han army.After finishing his defense, Wang Yi broke into Weiyang Palace. When he saw Wang Mang, he kowtowed to the ground and said, "It's not harmonious!"You can't stay in the palace anymore.Your Majesty, please change your clothes, pretend to be a commoner, and take advantage of the chaos to leave the city.

Wang Mang laughed and said: "I am the Son of Heaven, and the country's death is my fault. What face do I have to run away?"I will die for my country, Qing and others may wish to do as they please.Wang Yi cried and persuaded again, but Wang Mang was unmoved.Seeing that Wang Mang's will was determined, Wang Yi kowtowed and bled, and said: "I am willing to die with your majesty." Wang Yi ran out to meet the Han army.Wang Mang summoned the little queen, Amo, to wait for him to bathe and change clothes. He changed into the emperor's court clothes, wearing a flat crown on his head, a jade seal of the kingdom on his waist, and holding a dagger of Emperor Yu. He was neatly dressed, and then stood in front of the mirror.He saw a person in the mirror dressed in the emperor's clothes, but obviously without a head.

Wang Mang was terrified, and then smiled wryly. What he saw in front of him might be an illusion or it might be real, he couldn't tell the difference.After wearing them, Wang Mang climbed up to the palace tower, looked down, and had a panoramic view of the entire Chang'an city.He took one last look at his capital city and said goodbye in his heart.Farewell, the world; Farewell, Chang'an. He cast his gaze to the distance, on the other side of the Wei River, where once stood the more glorious Xianyang Palace of the Qin Empire, but now it is in ruins, and it has turned into the dust of history together with its mighty master Qin Shihuang.There is nothing more than a death, Qin Shihuang can die, why can't he die?

However, he is still reluctant.He asked himself, compared with Qin Shihuang, compared with all ancient emperors, he loves this land more, he loves the people in this land more, he is more selfless and noble, he hopes to give them a golden kingdom , he hoped that they could get unprecedented dignity and happiness.However, he failed, he screwed up, and all his painstaking efforts only resulted in the opposition, curse, and hatred of the people. If he had died sooner, the result might have been better. Anyway, once he closed his eyes, the flood after his death had nothing to do with him. He came, he made a fuss, and then waved his sleeves without taking a single cloud away. .Sadly, he didn't have the luck to die well. He had to be punished while he was alive. All his hard work was wiped out while he was alive. Not to watch his favorite people rise up and betray.

He was old, so old that only his eyes remained.He was on the tower, like a stranger, watching his own fate.Looking around, under the North Tower, fierce battles are raging.Wang Mang couldn't help laughing, he felt the strangeness of life, a group of people he never knew, but now they wanted to put him to death.Looking at the Han army fighting bravely, he was even full of curiosity. Among these rebels, who would be the bastard who was lucky enough to kill him? It was already dusk, and the city was full of flames. He sat on the tower and was exposed to a sunset.