Chapter 687 The Fall of Jinling (Part 2)

There were sounds of fighting everywhere in Jinling City.

The Song army invaded the city very bravely, like wolves entering a flock of sheep. Song cavalry and infantry were seen charging in every street. When they saw the Tang soldiers, they went up to kill them. Anyone who did not surrender would be killed.

If the able-bodied people come out to join in the fun, they will be accidentally injured, causing the streets to flow into channels with blood and corpses everywhere.

Some of the main roads were places where armies from both sides clashed. The sound of fighting could be heard throughout the streets and at different military camps and government offices.

Thick smoke was billowing, and some soldiers of the Song Dynasty were already setting fires everywhere. The people wailed loudly because torches fell into the houses and set fire to the houses.

In order to stop the Song army, some soldiers of the Tang army pushed wooden carts filled with firewood, lit them and piled them in the streets to block the Song army's attack.

In order to attack each other, both sides used all means, including shooting arrows, setting fires, etc., causing the entire Jinling City to be in chaos.

The Tang army continuously mobilized soldiers and horses in the city to counterattack in an attempt to recapture the west gate. However, the formation was broken by the Song army several times. Instead, more Song troops entered the Jinling City and were already attacking the northern city gate and the southern city gate.

Door.

Once these two city gates are breached, Jinling City will be completely lost.

At this time, although the North City Gate and South City Gate have not yet been breached, they are still in danger, because the soldiers at the two city gates heard the sound of fighting everywhere in the city, and their morale was frustrated. They already understood that one of the city gates had been lost, and the Song Army had entered.

City, they were attacked from both sides and at any time. They felt that the Tang Dynasty was doomed and Jinling was about to fall, which had a great impact on morale.

After half a day of fighting, at noon, the north city gate was breached, and Li Jixun led the Song army into the city.

Soon, the south city gate was also breached in the afternoon. Only the east gate was continued to be attacked by Wu Yue's army. The other three city gates were all captured one after another.

Seeing that they were unable to defend, some Tang troops began to abandon their armor and surrender.

At dusk, the Song army suppressed the Tang army in the city and took control of most of the official residences. Soldiers and horses gathered outside the palace city and surrounded the palace. There were five thousand imperial guards inside, who were also the imperial guards guarding the palace. However,

At this time, his face was ashen, because the five thousand imperial guards could not compete with the tens of thousands of Song troops outside the city.

The palace wall cannot be compared with the city wall outside, nor is it a place for combat and defense. The food and grass in the palace are limited and cannot support them for a few days. Moreover, the families of these Imperial Guard soldiers are also in Jinling City, which will make them feel constrained.

He was in a dilemma, worried about his family, being threatened and killed by the Song army.

At this time, Cao Bin and Pan Mei led troops into the city and also came to the outside of the Southern Tang Palace. They asked the soldiers to shout inside, asking Li Yu to come out of the palace and surrender. Otherwise, they would shoot random arrows into the palace and set fire to the entire palace.

Let all the people in the city be buried with him.

Zheng Bin, the commander of the Royal Forest Army, changed his expression after hearing this and quickly passed the news to Li Yu in the palace.

At this time, Li Yu was talking to several concubines in the palace. He also had a premonition of the imminent fate of the country, so he told a few women that he planned to let them disguise themselves as palace maids so that they could leave in the chaos, but the concubines all wanted to follow Li Yu.

With the total death.

Li Yu sighed: "Why are you doing this? The country is about to be lost. As the royal family of Li Tang and the leader of the country, I should sacrifice my life for this subjugated country to protect the dignity of my ancestral temple. You are just a woman, my concubine, what do you think?

Can you all follow me to hell? I plan to bring some precious calligraphy, paintings and authentic jade articles that I loved during my lifetime. I will die together with them and take them down to hell, and will not leave them to the traitors of the Song army!"

"Guan Jia, you need to calm down!"

"Yes, we can surrender to the Song army without having to die."

"If an official wants to die for the country, we must follow him. Even if he dies, we must be together."

The concubines Jiang, Baoyi Huang, and concubine Yu Liuzhu, as well as the palace servants Qiao, Qing Nu, Xue Jiu, Yi Ai, and dancer Yao Niang, etc., were all crying and saying something about dying for love and being reluctant to leave.

.

Li Yu was moved by what these concubines said at this moment. When he was wavering and sighing, Zheng Bin, the commander of the Imperial Guard, ran in and reported to Li Yu.

"Inform the officials that the Song Army has surrounded the palace. Give us a stick of incense and ask the officials to surrender at the gate of the palace. Otherwise, General Cao Bin, the leader of the Song Army, will order arrows to be fired and the palace will be set on fire, causing everyone to surrender.

The imperial guards, palace maids, and eunuchs all died here."

When Li Yu heard this, his face changed drastically. Although he wanted to die to express his ambition, he still hesitated a little. He just said the words of martyrdom in front of the queen and concubines, just to be more decent and not to be looked down upon by the concubines in the harem.

He lacks the courage to actually commit suicide.

"If you don't surrender, will you burn down the palace and bury everyone with you?" Li Yu murmured to himself. After thinking twice, he felt soft and decided to leave the city to beg for surrender.

In this way, he can at least save the lives of his queen, concubines, princes and others. It doesn't matter if he dies alone, but he can no longer drag down the palace and other relatives who live with him day and night.

Li Yu sighed, and after getting dressed and wearing his crown, he said to the commander of the Imperial Guard: "Let's go, I'll go see Cao Bin."

"Guan Jia, please be more careful."

The Queen of Zhou and her concubines all cried bitterly, their faces full of sadness and worry.

Li Yu nodded, and then followed the leader of the imperial guards to the entrance of the palace.

Resistance was meaningless, so Li Yu directly ordered the city gate to be opened.

Li Yu took the eunuch chief Feng Jian and the imperial army commander Zheng Bin out of the palace gate and walked to Cao Bin's horse.

Cao Bin watched Li Yu leave the city and nodded slightly, knowing that his threat had worked. Li Yu had no determination to die together, so he came out of the city to beg for surrender.

Sure enough, Li Yu walked up to Cao Bin's horse with an expressionless face, bowed his hands and said, "Li Yu, the king of the Tang Dynasty, has met General Cao Bin, the commander-in-chief of the Song Army."

Cao Bin did not dismount, but sat upright on the horse, condescending and assuming the posture of a winner. This was related to the glory of the Song Dynasty.

However, Cao Bin did not humiliate Li Yu excessively. He just said lightly: "Li Yu, the Tang Dynasty has exhausted its strength. Today is the day when you represent the Tang Dynasty and the whole country surrenders to the city. Do you have any objections?"

Li Yu's body was shaking, with tears in his eyes, but he did not object. His voice was slightly choked and he said: "Li Yu has no objections and is willing to surrender. I hope that the Song Dynasty will stop fighting and enter our Jinling City. They can also treat the people in the city well and reduce the killing. In the future, they will

They are also citizens of the Song Dynasty."

Cao Bin nodded and said: "Okay, since you did not make the final resistance, the casualties on both sides have been reduced. I can agree to your request. I will restrain the three armies and will not burn, kill, plunder, bully the people, and protect you, the Li family royal family."

Are you satisfied with the ancestral hall?"

Li Yu breathed a sigh of relief, cupped his hands and said: "I am grateful to General Cao, I understand the righteousness."

Cao Bin sighed softly and looked a little pitifully at Li Yu, who was under the horse, but there must be something hateful about a pitiful person.

A huge vassal state in the south of the Yangtze River was wiped out in just a few months. There are still a large number of state capitals in the south that have not been mobilized. This shows that this person has no political vision.

If Li Yu had the foresight, when the Song army pressed hard, he should go south and choose the southern hinterland, a terrain that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, temporarily move the capital there, and then mobilize local troops and horses to block it. It could be delayed for another year or two, or even wait.

If the Song army is short of supplies, it will push out of the south of the Yangtze River and withdraw back.

It is a pity that Li Yu did not have this strategic thinking and long-term vision. He has been huddled in Jinling City, relying on the prosperous land of the Yangtze River Defense Line, greedy for pleasure, and without any precautions or retreat, which resulted in such a speed of national subjugation.

Although Cao Bin looked down on Li Yu in his heart, he also knew that even though he was mediocre and incompetent, he had heard that he was talented in poetry and that he loved and cared about the people of Tang Dynasty with a little sympathy.

"Li Yu, this general will give you one night. You can go back to the palace and decide to take a few people with you to the north. At midnight tomorrow, I will lead troops here to pick you up and seal up the palace treasury."

Cao Bin's intention was very obvious, which was to give Li Yu one night to prepare, so that he could say goodbye to the ancestral hall, say goodbye to the concubines, choose which ones to take to the north, and which ones to send away, and even let him choose some valuables to accompany him, so that he could go to the north in this way.

Able to survive.

After this farewell, there is a high probability that Li Yu and others will not be allowed to return to the south of the Yangtze River. If they go to Bianjing, even if they are not beheaded, they will be placed under house arrest and will not be free for life. This is the fate of a subjugated king.

"Thank you, General Cao!" Li Yu also understood the profound meaning and was full of gratitude to Cao Bin. So after saying goodbye, he took the guard commander and the eunuch in charge back to the palace and closed the palace gate again.

Shi Shouxin asked Cao Bin: "Why did General Cao give him one night? If he goes back and commits suicide, we won't be able to catch anyone alive. We might as well capture him on the spot."

Cao Bin sighed: "Now that Li Yu has gone out of the palace to talk to us, surrender, and go back, he no longer has the determination to commit suicide. After all, it is a woman's benevolent character. Without strong and swift courage, she has nothing to worry about, so she can rest assured."

Bar."

After listening to Cao Bin's analysis, the generals had some doubts in their hearts, but since the coach said so, they stopped talking. They will see whether Li Yu can keep his promise and bring his family out alive tomorrow morning.
Chapter completed!