Chapter 21 Hongnong Palace

Military intelligence and war reports from the rear fell one after another on the hearts of the Yang brothers and others like snowflakes.

It is a hot summer day, but I feel as cold as the coldest day of winter.

General Murong Ding, the General in Charge of the Eastern Expedition, was leading his troops to besiege Hulao Pass.

This battle report was sent three days ago, which means it is unknown whether Hulao Pass is still in the hands of the rebels.

After all, the army led by Murong Ding was part of the central army plus the main force of the Youzhou Zhenrong Army. They were all elite soldiers who had experienced many battles. They were simply not comparable to the old, weak and sick people who stayed behind in the Eastern Capital Guanzhong.

As for Liyang, where the uprising began, it had already been captured by General Zhendong Gao Huang, and Yang Xun's confidant Zhou Shan, who stayed behind in Liyang, was defeated and captured.

In addition, the central army led by the General of the Auxiliary State has already recovered Ji County, which is the place where Yang Xun crossed the river before, and should be close to Luoyang now.

In other words, they don't have much time.

Just at this time, the elders of Hongnong began to go to the rebels, bringing cattle, sheep, food and wine to reward the army, and asked Yang Xun to lead the army to capture Hongnong Palace before leaving.

Yang Xun was somewhat tempted, but after being persuaded by Yang Sui and others, he decided to continue heading towards Tongguan.

But the subsequent proclamation from the government troops made Yang Xun so furious that he directly gave up the plan to attack Tongguan and immediately ordered his troops to attack Hongnong Palace.

The content of the manifesto was roughly as follows: Your Yang family has been blessed by the country for generations, your father Yang Su was a high-ranking official, and the soil on his grave hasn't even dried yet, yet you, an unfilial son, have rebelled. Yang Xun could tolerate these words, for he had heard so many insults since the rebellion that his ears were almost callused.

But the manifesto also said, let's bring your father out of the grave and let him see how your unworthy descendants perished.
It would be strange if Yang Xun could endure this, so he immediately ordered the entire army to attack Hongnong Palace.

After reading the manifesto, Yang Sui could only sigh and say, "We will all die here."

After Murong He and Pang Lingxun led 7,000 soldiers into Hongnong Palace, they immediately began to arrange defenses.

As the emperor's temporary palace, Hongnong Palace is itself a palace city with city walls.

Before the battle, Murong He specially took out a letter to announce that reinforcements from the court would arrive within three days.

They only need to hold out for three days to accomplish great success.

Yang Xun did not give them much time. On the second day after arriving at Hongnong Palace, the rebels had already arrived outside the palace. They immediately set up ladders made of tree bark and began to attack the city.

Yang Xun claimed to his troops that in the Hongnong Palace there were beauties and jewels collected by Emperor Murong Ying, as well as mountains of grain. Once they captured the palace, all these would be theirs. This greatly boosted the morale of the rebels.

The battle entered a white-hot state as soon as it started. Relying on their military advantage, the rebels besieged the Hongnong Palace on three sides. Twenty thousand people were involved in the battle in each direction. Yang Xun led the remaining ten thousand people as a reserve.

The morale of the rebels was high. At the main gate, under the threat of rain of arrows from the defenders on the palace city, they still risked their lives to rush to the edge of the moat and jumped into the floating bridge. Then hundreds of soldiers holding large shields and carrying huge logs came to smash the city gate.

The defenders in the city were not too worried about this as they still had enough supplies for the defense and simply put down the Yaksha Arena that had been set up long ago.

The Yaksha Hammer weighing a hundred pounds whizzed down with a sound of breaking through the air, killing several rebel soldiers with shields on the spot. At the same time, the continuously falling stones also caused casualties to the rebel soldiers. The first team of rebel soldiers who rushed over soon lay dead in front of the gate, and the battering ram also fell to the ground.

The rebels immediately rushed to the second team and continued to break down the door.

At the same time, the rebels' pontoon bridge was also built. Yang Shancai, who was in charge of the front palace gate, immediately ordered the rebels to carry long ladders across the river and attack the city in an ant-like manner.

The following battle was even more brutal. The elite soldiers of the rebel army rushed across the moat under a hail of arrows, and then placed long ladders that had not even been scraped off the bark on the walls, and then climbed up the ladders while shouting. The defenders threw stones down from the battlements, and many soldiers who climbed up were hit by the stones and fell down.

For a moment, the battlefield was filled with shouts and wailing.

The rebels also mobilized archers to shoot at the top of the city walls from behind the siege troops, which caused great trouble for the defenders.

The two sides fought back and forth, and the number of casualties continued to increase.

Li Yuanhui was on the city tower in the middle of the palace gate. Without even wearing armor, he hid in the tower and carefully observed the situation on the battlefield.

This siege was much more brutal than the last rebel siege he experienced in Dongdu.

The various rebel forces took turns attacking the city, leaving almost no stone unturned, without any probing, and directly launched a fierce attack.

Li Yuanhui, who had been in the army for more than a month, could see this clearly.

"There's something wrong with the rebels. How can they attack a city like this? They just rush in without caring about anything. This kind of attack can't last for a few days." Cousin Dou Xianjun at the side was still a little confused.

Zhao Er said, "Although the letter that Prince Gaoyang showed yesterday was fake, the main force of the court should have arrived near Luoyang. Yang Xun doesn't have much time. The army will arrive within a few days. If he can't capture Hongnong Palace in a short time, he will die. So he won't consider what will happen in a few days."

Dou Xianjun said, "When Duke Chu Yang Su was still alive, the Hongnong Yang family was so prosperous, with students and former officials throughout the government and the country. But in just a few years, it has become like this."

Dou Xianjun's family is the Fufeng Pingling Dou family, which is known as the "Three Auxiliary and Five Families" together with the Hongnong Yang family, Fufeng Ma family, Jingzhao Wei family, and Jingzhao Du family. They have coexisted since the Han Dynasty and have a deep connection with the family.

Therefore, the Hongnong Yang family, which is also a Guanzhong family, also feels a bit sad about what they are experiencing now. Even if the emperor will not kill all the Hongnong Yang family, the Yang family will not be able to turn things around in Dayan for at least several decades.

Yang Xun has his own way to death, but if the emperor can really tolerate him, he may not rebel.

Zhao Jiong heard this and said, "It's the time and fate. Yang Xun shouldn't have rebelled."

In fact, he wanted to say that Yang Xun should not rebel at this time. The timing was not right. If he waited and watched until the Liaodong War became tense, or waited for a few years, would the situation be different?

But as for the question of whether to oppose or not, he didn't think there was anything wrong with Yang Xun.

Although dynasties come and go and aristocratic families exist for thousands of years, if given the opportunity to aspire to the throne, which aristocratic family can resist the temptation?

However, when faced with chaos, most aristocratic families will make two or more preparations, and naturally they cannot put all their eggs in one basket.

Li Yuanhui thought to himself, I wonder if the Zhao family has the ambition to seize the throne now. By now, many people with discerning eyes should be able to see that Dayan is about to be defeated, right?
Li Tang vs. Zhao Song should be a crushing victory. His second brother is not just a good fighter, he is "unparalleled in military ability since ancient times".

However, no matter how good a fighter is, unexpected situations cannot be ruled out.

Therefore, in the following period of time, I have to build a good relationship with the Zhao brothers. If the situation turns out to be that of a Feilong riding on the face and losing, then I can still have an old friendship to remember. My requirements are not high, just give me a rich man.

Of course, if our Li family takes over the world, we will satisfy the wish of the second brother Zhao and ask his father to make him the Minister of Guanglu.

You should still have some face.

(End of this chapter)