The Mongols outside Guangning Gate suffered a heavy defeat, and the Mongol main camp was busy defending other places.
Guangning Gate became quiet.
The people from the grasslands outside had retreated.
The capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty was not ordinary, and the Mongols only had 160,000 troops (a large number of them were water), which was not enough to surround the entire capital.
The Mongols thought they could use the Great Zhou's firearms to attack one location.
As long as they broke through one city gate, they could charge into the city and plunder.
There was no fighting at Guangning Gate, and Jia Yu followed Liu Gonggong to Xizhi Gate.
Now, the west city was under heavy attack, and reinforcements were urgently needed from all directions.
Xizhi Gate.
The most intense battlefield between the Mongols and the Great Zhou's army.
The Minister of War, Niu Jizong, personally stationed himself at the city gate.
When the Emperor Emeritus set off for Xuanfu, he brought with him a large number of civil and military officials, but he did not bring the Minister of War, Niu Jizong, or the Grand Marshal, Liu Fang.
He didn't bring Liu Fang because Liu Fang was already very old.
He didn't bring Niu Jizong because Niu Jizong had some conflicts with certain people in the army.
Especially the conflict with the Prince of Qi, Qi Yun, their feud was very deep.
Therefore, Niu Jizong was left behind to guard the capital.
And then things went wrong.
The Emperor Emeritus's 300,000-strong army was surrounded and attacked by the Jurchens and Mongols.
Seeing the situation was not right, the commander of the Imperial Guard, Feng Tang, and the commander of the Three Thousand Camp, Wang Ziten, led the way, and the Imperial Guard protected the Emperor Emeritus as they broke out.
The Five Armies Camp and the Divine Machine Camp covered their retreat.
They brought the Emperor Emeritus out from the midst of the enemy's encirclement and returned to the capital.
Of the 300,000-strong army, some died, some scattered.
The 80,000 elite troops of the Five Armies Camp in the capital's garrison were reduced to less than 40,000.
The Divine Machine Camp had to abandon their baggage to break through, and under the protection of the Five Armies Camp, they didn't lose many people.
The Three Thousand Camp cavalry suffered heavy losses, and out of 15,000 cavalrymen, only less than 7,000 remained.
Out of 150,000 who followed the Emperor Emeritus on his expedition, only less than 70,000 returned.
Half of the capital's garrison, which had been meticulously built by the Young Duke of Rong, was gone.
These nearly 80,000 people were the elite of the elite, the capital that the Emperor Emeritus was proud of, the capital that gave him the audacity to follow the example of the Ming Emperor Zhu Qizhen and personally lead an expedition.
Before this battle, the Emperor Emeritus, relying on the capital's garrison, had intimidated the world.
One battle, and half of it was gone.
The Emperor Emeritus fell ill after seeing the statistics.
"Kill!"
Below the city, the Mongol infantry launched a new wave of attacks.
Cannonballs flew from afar towards the city wall.
The soldiers on the city wall silently crouched by the wall.
"Damn it." Niu Jizong heard the sound of the cannon fire and found a place to hide: "Using our firearms to attack us, those damn Mongols, when my reinforcements arrive, I'm going to find you on the grasslands."
Niu Jizong had spent a long time on the frontier.
At that time, the commander of the capital's garrison was still the Young Duke of Rong, and whenever there was any movement from the Mongols in the north, the Young Duke of Rong would lead his troops deep into the grasslands.
At that time, the Mongols and the Jurchens, upon seeing the Great Zhou flag, would run as far as they could.
"Minister, let's be realistic, let's defend the city first."
A middle-aged man next to Niu Jizong, about the same age as him, wiped the dust off his forehead.
"The Mongols are like crazy, attacking without regard for casualties, and they're using cannons to bombard us, our soldiers are suffering heavy losses, you have to think of a way, call in another unit."
"Where can we find more troops in the capital now?" Niu Jizong said loudly: "Four, the Emperor has already called in the troops from Guangning Gate, the guards in the southern city, each gate has less than a thousand men guarding it.
In the east city, there are only over 800 guards.
Where do you want me to call in troops."
Niu Jizong was very helpless, the veteran soldiers who had returned from Xuanfu had no time to rest before they were sent back to the battlefield.
Now, the only reason the capital could hold on was because of the capital's garrison's old foundation.
"Can we move the Imperial Guard from the Emperor's side."
The middle-aged man tentatively asked a question.
"Impossible." Niu Jizong remained silent for a moment, then shook his head: "The Imperial Guard is our last line of defense, we only need to hold on for another half a month, the reinforcements from other places will arrive.
When that place can't hold on anymore, let me know, and I'll lead my personal guards to take over.
If the Mongols want to break into the city, they'll have to step over my body..."
Boom!
A deafening explosion rang out, and the city wall about 300 meters south of Xizhi Gate collapsed in the violent explosion.
..
"Warriors of my tribe, gold, silver, jewels, and beautiful women are right ahead!" a Mongol Wanhu raised his arm and shouted: "Charge with me, take their money, take their food, take their women!"
"Charge!"
The moat outside the city had already been filled in with a path, and the Mongols, without riding horses, climbed over the collapsed city wall, using both hands and feet.
On the street inside, the young and strong men responsible for this area were fighting a group of people wearing leather armor, who looked like guards, with crude weapons.
The other side was well-trained and had a superior advantage in weapons and equipment.
The young and strong men who had been drafted were clearly no match for them.
"I'd rather die than let them kill their way in." A big man managed to kill a guard, seeing that other young and strong men were backing down, he immediately shouted: "They're just the Mongols' running dogs, we can hold on a little longer, wait for the official troops to come, drive them out.
If we let the Mongols kill their way in, our families, wives, and children will all be at their mercy!
We have more people than them, killing one is no loss, killing two is a gain."
The big man's words stabilized the young and strong men who had been scared and wanted to flee.
The guards looked at the big man with murderous intent in their eyes.
They were about to scatter these weak Zhou people, allowing the Mongols to advance unimpeded.
"Kill him!"
Two guards rushed towards the big man.
The big man saw the two guards charging towards him and broke out in a cold sweat.
He was already struggling to deal with one of them, let alone two at once.
They came at him together, and he was quickly overwhelmed.
Swoosh, swoosh...
Just when the big man was overwhelmed, covered in wounds, and about to fall, the two guards who were about to cut him down fell to the ground.
However, a large number of Mongols had already climbed down from the breach.
Rumbling, rumbling, the sound of deafening horse hooves echoed from within the city.
"Everyone, get out of the way!"
A sharp, feminine voice shouted.
And there were the sounds of arrows tearing through the air.
The big man was pulled aside by other young men, and the deafening hooves were upon them in an instant...