boyutpedia Chapter 220 The Timid Emperor
Chapter 220 The Timid Emperor
Now, King Huai's army has reached the outskirts of the capital, which has aroused everyone's attention.
After all, that is the capital, the heart of the Dawu Kingdom. Once the capital is captured, the emperor will be driven off the throne.
The entire capital is under martial law. Don't even think about leaving! This is a death order from the Emperor Wu. If we die, we die together. You think you can run away with your families? Don't dream on.
Instead, I sent all my family members to my family in the south as quickly as possible, and now I feel a little more at ease.
Looking at the remaining few Beijing camps that had gathered together, the commander-in-chief of the city defense, Duke Baoguo, who was appointed by Emperor Wu himself, was very depressed.
"What kind of rubbish are these? Can they defend the city?"
The deputy general beside him, the Marquis of Zhennan, was quite disgusted: "Don't let them get into chaos as soon as the fight starts."
Both of them were commander-in-chief and deputy general temporarily appointed by the emperor as commander-in-chief of the capital.
When they were young, the two were also veterans who had fought with the old emperor. They were not like those heroes whose ancestors had followed Taizu until now and were just waiting to die.
These two people still have quite a lot of combat experience.
Duke Baoguo was also feeling aggrieved. No wonder the Sixth Prince went north to fight Duke Dingguo without taking them with him. These guys would be worse than beggars if they went there.
"Alright, don't feel wronged. Even though they are not good enough, they are still the Beijing Battalion, with 30,000 soldiers."
The Marquis of Zhennan rolled his eyes. "They have 30,000 troops? Look at them, many of them are both young and old. How can they be so powerful?"
However, the Marquis of Zhennan looked at the groups of guards who were wearing armor or holding weapons and running towards him and asked: "These guards won't run away, right?"
"These are all guards of the wealthy families in the city. How could they possibly run away?" Baoguo Gong said confidently, "After all, they are guards that can be beaten by tens of thousands of people. His Majesty has personally issued an order that if any guard escapes, the Imperial Guards will raid their house. They are all led by their families, so there is no need to worry about them."
These people were either led by trusted people or their sons. Together, there were tens of thousands of guards, and many of them even had armor.
The Marquis of Zhennan looked towards the Imperial Palace and muttered quietly, "If Your Majesty could also send the Imperial Guards to defend the city, we would have a better chance of winning."
Baoguogong frowned: "Don't talk nonsense."
After looking around to see if there was anyone around, he whispered, "That's His Majesty's last resort. How could he be willing to send them here?"
Everyone knows that the Imperial Guards are the real elite troops selected by Emperor Wu himself from time to time.
Especially after the Fourth Prince rebelled, a large number of grassroots officers were purged from the Imperial Guards. Now the Imperial Guards are under the personal command of Emperor Wu.
It was useless for the Marquis of Zhennan to be envious. He felt that as a deputy general, he was extremely frustrated. He was not given any good chance, and was sent here to guard the city with a bunch of trash.
"You can also send the Crown Prince's East Palace Guards."
"What a pity, they were all dragged into the palace."
The crown prince had three thousand guards protecting the Eastern Palace, but they were all dragged into the palace by Emperor Wu in the name of protecting the crown prince and forcibly put under the management of the Imperial Guards.
With the protection of these three thousand elite soldiers, Emperor Wu has a better chance of winning.
"Don't worry too much." Baoguogong said leisurely: "Who among those noble ancestors doesn't have hundreds of elite guards?"
"Isn't this a gathering of several thousand people?"
The nobles all value their lives very much. Who doesn’t have hundreds of guards with sophisticated weapons and armor?
Including the two of them, they also had it, but as the commander-in-chief, they had to send a large number of trusted subordinates.
"Besides, the Sixth Prince is only a few days away from here. If he's fast, he can return in three days at most."
Speaking of the Sixth Prince, even the Marquis of Zhennan admired him: "The Duke is right. The Sixth Prince's army is our last resort."
"But I have to admire the Sixth Prince. He relied on those rubbish to manage the Fang family army and actually wiped out the bastard Fang Chengyu. The old guy was even captured. It's incredible."
Both of them were veterans who had fought alongside Fang Chengyu and had fought in battles with the old emperor.
Now things have changed. The old man was taken prisoner and brought back to the capital, while they no longer have any military power and have become one of the powerful people in the capital, living a life of idleness and waiting to die.
"Let's not talk about this for now." Duke Baoguo looked towards the city and asked, "How long will it take for the young soldiers sent by Jingzhao Prefecture to arrive?"
"Isn't that so?" The Marquis of Zhennan pointed to several chaotic places in the capital: "Those who were pulled out are all light and strong, but these people are even more unreliable."
Baoguo Gong lost interest after just one look. A group of yamen runners went from house to house, shouting for their men to run out with weapons to support the city wall.
But look at what they are holding, either hammers or shovels, and some even have kitchen knives and wooden sticks. Can they defend the city with them?
"Report." A messenger came forward quickly: "Report to the Duke, the rebels are less than thirty miles away from the capital."
The two of them gasped: "King Huai's troops are running so fast, they are right in front of us in the blink of an eye."
Duke Baoguo immediately issued an order: "Tell the commanders of each city gate to guard it well for me. Anyone who dares to escape will have their entire family killed."
Anyway, the commanders of the city gates and many officers' families were rounded up in the name of protection.
They were forced to strictly defend the city, otherwise the butcher's knife would really be chopped down.
Since he took over the position of commander-in-chief, Baoguo Gong, as a veteran of the battlefield, naturally knew that everything had to be prepared.
Various military equipment, supplies, and city defense items were transported to the city walls in batches.
At the beginning, the main force was the miscellaneous soldiers gathered from the Beijing camp, and then thousands of guards from various families were dispatched to various city gates.
As for those young and strong people, let’s transport various supplies first, otherwise if they come up, it would be like seeking death.
Don’t let the situation get to the point where you’re unable to resist and end up destroying the entire city’s defenses.
At noon that day, King Huai's mighty army had arrived at the city.
At first there were only a small number of cavalry, and then infantry with flags arrived one after another.
Looking at the city wall of the capital, it seemed like there were heads everywhere, which made the people on the wall gasp.
King Huai's troops arrived one after another, which was even more shocking. King Huai actually gathered nearly 200,000 soldiers and horses.
There are heads everywhere. Where did King Huai get so many troops? Can he afford to support them?
Is this still the useless prince in the legend?
That afternoon, King Huai, who was in his forties and dressed in a dragon robe and looked very imposing, rode a tall horse to the front of the army.
Hundreds of well-trained guards were around him, protecting him very vigilantly.
Looking at the tall city walls of the capital, King Huai's eyes were filled with nostalgia and resentment.
It was here that he was looked down upon, bullied and ridiculed by everyone. It was also the place where he pretended to be a grandson for the longest time.
Now he has finally returned with his army, and as soon as he returns, he wants to directly fight for the throne.
King Huai swore in his heart that he must capture the old man Emperor Wu and torture him to avenge the humiliation he suffered at the hands of this bastard.