Chapter 166 Rescue
Soon, thirty-nine of the forty-one county towns under Yanmen County were conquered, leaving only Yanmen County Town and Gang County. Turks were everywhere in the county, and even more so outside the county town. The number of troops mobilized by Shibi Khan this time was roughly more than 300,000.

Just when the emperor was extremely anxious, Su Wei reported another piece of bad news: "Your Majesty, the food in the city is only enough for the army to eat for 20 days. Even if we save more, it will be difficult to survive for a month."

Even if it was a county town, with more than 100,000 people pouring in all at once, plus the existing military and civilians, it was inevitable that there would not be enough food and fodder.

Even if the emperor knew nothing about military affairs, he knew that Shibi Khan had an army of 300,000. Even if Chang'an and Luoyang immediately sent troops and summoned troops from all over the world to rescue, it would take a long time on the way and they might not be able to defeat Shibi Khan after they arrived.

"All food should be provided to the soldiers defending the city first. The rest of us, including me, should eat less. No need to give food to those useless people!"

The useless people naturally refer to monks, Taoist priests, and performers like them. These people the emperor took with him wherever he went, but they ended up with such an ending.

For more than ten days, the Turks continued to attack the city day after day. The emperor did not even see the shadow of reinforcements, and the morale of the army was close to collapse.

This is because the emperor is here, and the soldiers who are accompanying him are the brave and capable troops. Otherwise, facing such an attack, they would have opened the city and surrendered long ago.

Seeing this, the ministers could only persuade the emperor to go to the city wall in person to boost morale. The emperor tried to cheer up after being comforted by the empress, but as soon as he climbed up, he saw a sharp arrow flying towards him, which almost hit him.

The emperor took several steps back and almost fainted. He refused to take another step forward, so Su Wei had to pass on his decree: "Those who have made contributions in defending the city will be given a sixth-rank position and a hundred gifts, and those who have official positions will receive an increase in the corresponding amount!"

The emperor returned to the palace and sent someone to pass on the message: "All soldiers, work hard to defeat the enemy. As long as you can protect the country, don't worry about wealth and honor. I will not let the officials use swords and pens to destroy your merits!"

The emperor's promise successfully boosted the morale of the army. All the soldiers were enthusiastic and fought day and night, resulting in heavy casualties.

The morale of the army was still okay, but the emperor had completely collapsed. He hugged his youngest son, Prince of Zhao, Yang Gao, and cried bitterly. His eyes were swollen from crying and he couldn't even speak clearly. The civil and military officials were all stunned.

We have fallen into this situation because of your willful behavior, and we haven't cried yet. As the Son of Heaven, you actually act like a woman. This...

Yuwen Shu hurriedly said, "I am willing to lead several thousand elite cavalry to escort Your Majesty out of the encirclement!"

Su Wei frowned: "We still have some strength to defend the city. Light cavalry is the strength of the Turks. Your Majesty is the ruler of ten thousand chariots, so how can you act rashly? If something goes wrong, what should we do?"

The emperor did not speak, but silence was also a form of rejection, and the other officials immediately said, "Why not occupy the strong city to weaken their strength and summon troops from all directions to come to our aid?"

Yu Shiji also immediately said that they should not act rashly, and should give more rewards to the soldiers to boost morale and wait for rescue.

However, the escape was in haste and most of the treasures had been discarded, so it was difficult to get a generous reward, and the emperor could only make more promises.

Xiao Yu, the Minister of Internal Affairs, suggested: "It is the custom of the Turks that Kehedun can predict military plans. Princess Kehedun Yicheng married a foreigner as the emperor's daughter. Without the support of the Great Sui Dynasty, she will find it difficult to gain a foothold in the Turks. We should immediately send an envoy to ask for help."

In the past, when Emperor Gaozu of Han was besieged at Baideng, he was able to survive by bribing the Xiongnu Chanyu's wife, Yanshi. With this precedent in mind, the emperor naturally had no objection and immediately arranged for elite cavalry to break through the siege and deliver the message.

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After learning that the emperor was under siege and in imminent danger, reinforcements from various counties traveled day and night to gather at the edge of Yanmen County, confronting the Turkic troops. However, since they were obviously at a disadvantage in terms of military strength, they did not dare to advance and engage in battle.

They could only wait for the arrival of reinforcements from farther away. Gradually, more and more soldiers came and began to try to fight with the Turks, but they were defeated as soon as they came into contact with them. How could their exhausted army defeat the well-rested Turkish soldiers?

But with the arrival of reinforcements from Chang'an and Luoyang, the situation eased slightly, but they still could not reach the county city. Because the troops came spontaneously, there was no clear commander, and the army was in a state of disarray. Wang Shichong, who came from Jiangdu, was dishevelled and dirty, and wept sadly: "How can we spare our lives when seeing Your Majesty in danger? Now is the time to be loyal."

Wang Shichong's official position was not prominent, but the fact that he could rush here from Jiangdu so quickly showed his loyalty. It was also said that he had never taken off his armor and slept on the grass at night, so no one scolded him.

Wang Shichong was certainly not a loyal minister of the emperor. He just thought that the emperor would not die, so he was just pretending. When he saw that everyone had seen it, he stopped talking and just cried.

Li Shimin, who was standing behind the garrison general Yun Dingxing, suddenly spoke up: "Since they dared to raise troops to besiege the emperor, they must have thought that we were too late to come to their aid. We should raise flags and banners for dozens of miles during the day and sound gongs and drums at night. The enemy will think that reinforcements are coming and flee.

Otherwise, they are many and we are few, if they were to come all together to fight, our army would be unable to resist."

This is a good idea, but not everyone is qualified to give advice here. After all, if the emperor is not dead, then this would be a real achievement. Everyone looked at it and saw a handsome young man, but he did not look familiar.

The Beihai County Magistrate frowned and asked, "Who are you?"

Li Shimin replied: "I am Li Shimin, the second son of the Duke of Tang."

As the son of Li Yuan, Duke of Tang and the younger brother of Li Jiancheng, General of the Right Guard, he should be qualified to speak, and they should even praise him. Given his status, he should get a share of the spoils even if he does nothing, and it is indeed a good idea.

But that was in the past. Didn't you see that Yun Dingxing, who brought him here, didn't help speak for him, but let him explain his identity himself. It was obvious that he was not his backer, but only brought him in out of courtesy.

"You little brat, you have no right to speak here, get out!"

"Oh, your brother is a traitor like Yang Xuangan. You dare to come here instead of waiting for your punishment in the mansion. I think you are colluding with the Turks."

Li Shimin was sixteen years old, certainly not a child. Facing the exclusion of everyone, he did not react at all, but he also had no intention of speaking again.

Although the emperor could not issue an order to eliminate the Tang Guogong Mansion because his brother was leading a large army outside the city, he had already sent the imperial guards to monitor the situation, and the safety of the family was in danger.

He came here to try to see if he could save the emperor and alleviate the family's crisis.

The others were ready to change their words and make this strategy their own. They exchanged glances and decided that after eating this piece of meat, they could not grab anything else.

At this time, someone came in and asked, "When did the court convict me of treason? Was it your Majesty's will, or are you just talking nonsense?"

Everyone was shocked, but they all stood up involuntarily. Li Jiancheng strode in. There were several scars on his face and his armor was obviously damaged. After he came in, he looked around fiercely. The officials who had just accused Li Shimin immediately shrank their heads.

Why is he here?

No one expected that Li Jiancheng would come to save the emperor. Although the court did not make a clear order, the emperor's attitude was obvious. If Li Jiancheng dared to return to the Central Plains, he would definitely be killed with a reason, and it would not be surprising if he was torn into pieces by five horses.

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(End of this chapter)