Dugu Jingyao is reborn as Li Chu's beloved

Chapter 401 Fierce Battle

The rest of his guesses were basically the same as Li Chu's. The only mistake he made was that the so-called secret room the secret guard mentioned was not a secret room, but actually a passage leading directly to where An Lushan stored his troops and weapons.

But these are not important anymore. They just need to ensure that casualties are minimized. However, the only thing they don’t know now is how many soldiers he has stockpiled, which makes them somewhat passive.

But no matter what, they had to hurry up and deploy their defenses. Guo Ziyi left the palace and took the emperor's written order to go to the camp outside the capital to mobilize troops.

Li Chu also worked tirelessly to arrange the defense of the city, and if a fight really broke out, he told the people not to move around to avoid being harmed.

The prince summoned the commander of the Imperial Guard and the Dugu family army stationed in the palace to discuss the deployment of defenses in the palace.

An Lushan was also mobilizing his troops. In a place surrounded by mountains, he raised his bowl and said, "Comrades, I, An Lushan, am honored to have you. This mission is quite difficult. If anyone wants to withdraw, I, An Lushan, have no objection. If you are willing to join me, when the mission is successful, we will share the benefits!"

The people below didn't flinch at all. They also raised their bowls and shouted, "We will follow General An until death! We will follow General An until death!"

Seeing that everyone was full of energy and of one mind, An Lushan laughed heartily and said, "Haha, okay, then I'll drink this cup first!" After that, he drank it all in one gulp and threw the wine bowl to the ground.

Seeing this, the other soldiers also drank the wine in their bowls and threw them on the ground.

An Lushan said, "Since you are willing to fight with me, let's attack Chang'an before daybreak, when the people inside have no chance to react!"

One of the soldiers below took the lead and said, "We will follow the general until death!"

Everyone joined in and shouted, "We will follow the general until death!" The shouts that came one after another were particularly clear in the mountains.

An Lushan continued, "Okay, okay, okay. All the soldiers, listen up! Quickly get ready! We'll assemble and set off in one stick of incense. Our destination is Chang'an!"

The soldiers said, "Yes, General!" and then dispersed in an orderly manner and got ready.

After an incense stick of time, everyone gathered in the open space they had just been in. After the officers and soldiers finished counting the personnel, one of the lieutenants said, "General, the soldiers are all in place!"

An Lushan had also put on his armor. He said, "Alright! All the soldiers, listen up! Let's go! Attack Chang'an!"

All the soldiers shouted: "Yes!"

An Lushan and Shi Siming rode at the front, followed by several lieutenants, followed by several thousand cavalry, and finally infantry, and several catapults. The entire group of soldiers set out for Chang'an City in a mighty procession.

Before they arrived, the Crown Prince and Li Heng had already made arrangements for the defense of the city. Even Guo Ziyi had already arranged rescue operations with Dugu Xin, and was now preparing to lead 40,000 Dugu family troops and 20,000 military camps in the suburbs of Beijing to march towards Chang'an City.

However, the reinforcements were a little late after all. After all, they had to go to the palace to report to the emperor, which delayed them for some time.

About half an hour later, Anshi's army was already at the gates of the city.

The soldier on duty on the city wall was a little panicked when he saw the dark crowd below. He hurried to report the situation, and Li Chu was there too.

Seeing his panic, he knew that An Lushan was probably bringing his men, so he asked, "Is there a large army coming?"

The soldier nodded and said, "Your Highness, that's right. There are quite a few of them, and they look like a huge mass. Because it's dark, the exact number is hard to see, but we can confirm that there are cavalry, infantry, and seemingly catapults."

Li Chu felt pessimistic after hearing this. He thought that An Lushan was really underestimated. He not only had infantry and cavalry, but also catapults.

So he frowned and said, "Follow me to take a look."

The leading soldier and the soldier who reported the news followed Li Chu to the top of the city wall.

At this time, An Lushan was shouting: "Do you know who I am? I am An Lushan, the 'adopted son' of the Emperor and the Imperial Concubine, equivalent to a prince!"

The soldier was also a little timid, because he had never expected someone to attack the imperial city directly! He thought being a gatekeeper in Chang'an City was safer, but he never thought that one day he would have to go to the battlefield...

However, he still mustered up the courage to say, "I'm truly sorry, but I'm just a soldier. I've never heard of this before, so I'm sorry I can't obey your order."

An Lushan said, "You are such a fool, don't blame me for being rude!"

Li Chu then came out and asked, "Why have I never heard of a prince like you?"

When An Lushan saw Li Chu coming, he couldn't help but sigh: "It's Prince Guangping! You came so quickly! Open the door for me quickly, I can still let you go."

Li Chu sneered, "Oh, An Lushan, you are truly arrogant. But if you want to attack the city, then I will accompany you to the end!"

An Lushan laughed heartily and said, "Hahaha, you are indeed a young man. Don't you see how many people you have and how many people I have?"

Shi Siming simply said, "No more nonsense! If you continue, their reinforcements will arrive!"

An Lushan then put on a stern face and said, "Li Chu, since you won't open the door for me, don't blame me for being rude! Prepare your catapults!"

The soldiers obeyed the order and moved the big stones onto the catapults. An Lushan gave an order: "Fire!" Several catapults fired at the same time.

Li Chu saw that An Lushan used catapults right away, and fearing that he wanted to end the battle quickly, he said, "Be careful to hide!"

Seeing the stones hitting the city walls, An Lushan and Shi Siming smiled. An Lushan said again, "Charge, soldiers!"

Upon hearing this, all the soldiers shouted in unison: "Kill!" and rushed towards the city wall.

Because of the early deployment, when someone tried to climb up the city wall with a ladder, Li Chu ordered his men to pour the prepared oil down, and the ladder became so slippery that no one could climb up.

Li Chu saw that this plan was initially effective, so he said, "Archers, release your arrows!"

Then the archers used arrows covered with oiled cloth, placed them on torches, and shot them out when they were on fire. Soon the area below became a sea of fire, which stopped An Lushan's men in their tracks.

An Lushan became furious when he saw this situation, and thought to himself: No, he had to break through the city gate quickly, so he also ordered the archers to prepare: "Archers, shoot!" With a command, thousands of arrows were fired.

Many people in the front row had already fallen. Seeing this, Li Chu quickly asked the surrounding soldiers to pick up shields to resist. An Lushan saw that the situation had finally turned around and shouted: "Charge!"

At this moment, another large number of soldiers came rushing in like a tide. They quickly replaced the ladders and continued to climb up the city wall. Li Chu and his men not only had to deal with these enemies climbing up continuously, but also had to do their utmost to resist the dense arrows shot by the enemy. For a while, they were so busy that they had no time to take care of anything else.

However, just when the situation was at a stalemate, the situation suddenly took a dramatic turn. In the distance, the sound of horse hooves resounded through the sky. It turned out to be Dugu Xin and Guo Ziyi leading a large number of reinforcements rushing towards them at lightning speed.

Among them, Guo Ziyi led a full 20,000 battle-hardened soldiers, who rushed into the city from other gates and assembled at this gate as quickly as possible. At the same time, Dugu Xin personally led the Dugu family army to launch a thrilling encirclement and encirclement operation from all directions outside the city.

When An Lushan saw the city gate wide open from afar, he was secretly delighted, thinking that Li Chu had run out of tricks and was going to make a desperate move and confront him head-on.

But what he never expected was that not long after, he heard deafening shouts and cries of battle from the rear. Then, a panicked soldier came running and reported, "General, a large number of enemy troops have suddenly launched an attack from the rear!"

It was not until this moment that An Lushan and Shi Siming finally woke up from their dream and realized that reinforcements had arrived in time. At first, they were unwilling to give up and wanted to fight to the death, but when they looked around, they saw that the reinforcements on both sides were so powerful and unstoppable, rushing towards them like a tiger descending from the mountain.

An Lushan then made a decisive move and shouted to his soldiers: "Don't fight any longer, retreat immediately!"

The moment Li Chu saw the reinforcements coming, the heart that had been hanging in his throat finally settled back into his stomach.

Instantly, he felt a surge of power surge within him, his entire being filled with confidence. He raised his sword high in the air, raised his arm, and shouted, "Soldiers, strike hard! Whoever takes the enemy general's head will be handsomely rewarded!" With his command, the city's defenders' morale soared, and they roared and charged at the enemy...