“Report!”
In the Imperial Study of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the messenger soldier quickly knelt before the emperor.
“Your Majesty, news has come from Guangning Gate. The Guangning Gate was breached by the Mongols using explosives.”
The emperor closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said to an old general with white hair beside him, “Grand Marshal, is the fall of Guangning Gate so fast, will it affect the overall situation?”
Liu Fang said, “Your Majesty, the garrison at Guangning Gate only had two thousand men, it was a matter of time before they were breached. This minister has already deployed one thousand men from the Five City Garrison and one thousand five hundred men from the Five Army Camp, scattered throughout the south city.
Once the Mongols enter, they will be met with resistance, making them unable to advance an inch, and we will hold them off until the reinforcements arrive.”
The thirty thousand troops the old emperor had taken away included twenty-four thousand from the Beijing Garrison.
Currently, the Beijing Garrison had a total of only ten thousand men.
Ten thousand men defending the vast capital city, once spread out, there would be holes everywhere.
Therefore, they decided from the beginning to abandon the south city and concentrate their forces to defend the west city and the north city.
The new emperor seemed to see the south city becoming a sea of blood.
However, he had no choice.
The Emperor Emeritus had fallen ill, and the entire capital's defense rested on his shoulders.
They could only defend one day at a time.
Waiting for the reinforcements to arrive.
Everyone had already abandoned Guangning Gate.
But at Guangning Gate, the gate stood wide open, yet the Mongols dared not enter.
After Jia Yu repelled the first wave of enemies, he went on to kill three more waves.
The city gate was littered with corpses.
To counter the enemy cavalry, Jia Yu had his men use the Mongol corpses as obstacles.
This stunned the supervising eunuch.
Especially, seeing Jia Yu sitting at the gate, holding a large saber, eating his flatbread in the midst of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
The Eunuch Liu seemed to see the two dukes Ning and Rong, who had followed the Taizu Emperor on his campaigns to the south and north.
Back then, with Dukes Ning and Rong, the Taizu Emperor conquered the world, invincible.
They subdued the fierce and valiant remnants of the Ming Dynasty, fought against the Mongols in the north, and drove the Jurchens to the icy depths of Liaodong.
“Such a valiant warrior must be reported to His Majesty!”
Eunuch Liu looked at the sky, wishing it would be night soon, so he could return to the palace to report his findings.
The commanders of the five thousand men from the Five City Garrison and the Five Army Camp in the south city received orders from the palace to prepare to burn down buildings and obstruct the enemy at any moment.
After waiting for two hours, there was still no sign of the steppe warriors.
They sent someone to check Guangning Gate.
The steppe warriors were held back at Guangning Gate.
Jia Yu was like a perpetual motion machine, supporting wherever needed.
Sometimes with bows, sometimes with spears, he launched ranged attacks against the enemy.
By noon, the steppe warriors outside Guangning Gate did not dare to approach the city wall.
The black-armored devil at the city gate would kill anyone who came close.
The soldiers at the city gate were now led by Jia Yu.
He was simply too fierce.
This man was a one-man fortress, impenetrable by ten thousand men.
Guangning Gate was open, but the enemy dared not enter.
The black-armored soldiers on the city wall were also all top-notch warriors.
Any enemy who scaled the wall would be killed and sent tumbling down.
None of the steppe warriors were their match.
The gate guard had already prepared himself for a glorious death.
Seeing Jia Yu turn the tide, he felt a great respect for him.
However, seeing the empty city gate, the gate guard felt a little uneasy.
“Jia Baishu, do you think we should find stones and wood to block this city gate?”
The able-bodied men in the city were organized, tearing down a large amount of wood and stone from the houses behind them.
As long as they blocked the city gate, with the combat prowess of the black-armored soldiers and Jia Yu, Guangning Gate would be safe.
“Why block it?” Jia Yu finished his flatbread in a few bites, looking at the enemy camp about two kilometers away from the city.
“If I block the city gate, how can I go out?” Jia Yu pointed at the captured warhorses, “Prepare the best quality fodder and feed these horses well.
You lead your men to take over my men's defensive area.”
Jia Yu knew the gate guard was afraid, so he said, “Don't be too worried. The soldiers who are relieved will rest right at the city gate.
If anything happens, they can immediately go to support.”
The gate guard wasn't like those clueless martial aristocrats from the capital.
He was a veteran from the border.
Hearing Jia Yu's words, he had already guessed Jia Yu's intentions.
“Jia Baishu, your merits are already great, there's no need to take such a risk.”
Mongols were everywhere outside the city.
Standing beside the gate guard, Eunuch Liu, with pale skin, beardless, and wearing ill-fitting armor, also spoke, “Indeed, indeed, your merits are enough, the nation is in peril, His Majesty needs valiant generals like you to protect the country.
You cannot take such a risk.”
Eunuch Liu had followed the current emperor, knowing how much pressure he was under.
A valiant warrior like Jia Yu was exactly what the emperor needed most.
Jia Yu shook his head, “The best defense is offense.
The Mongols are only momentarily stunned by us, they still have the advantage in numbers.
Once they recover, they can kill us with their sheer number of men.”
Jia Yu glanced at the sun, “The Mongols will certainly launch another attack, and my men still need to rest.
During this time, the defense of the city wall is up to you.”
After speaking, Jia Yu disregarded the gate guard and Eunuch Liu, found a spot to lie down and close his eyes to rest, soon snoring loudly.
Eunuch Liu couldn't help but smile wryly, and said to the gate guard, “Do as Jia Baishu instructed, he's a valiant warrior, his understanding of the battlefield situation is definitely better than ours.”
As Jia Yu had predicted, the Mongols rested for a while and then resumed their attack on Guangning Gate.
Fifty of the Black Armored Soldiers were dispatched to join the gate guard in repelling the Mongol attack.
Soon, the sun was about to set, and the Mongols, having left behind four or five hundred corpses, retreated to their camp.
The entire outer perimeter of the capital city was filled with Mongol tents.
The Xizhi Gate, which was under heavy attack, was still filled with the sounds of fighting.
Where the Mongols were focusing their main assault, cannons roared incessantly.
Night slowly fell.
...