Chapter 20: Bloody Battle at the City Gate

  Sun Cheng and Lu Yong led their troops back to Chaoyang Gate after settling their families, preparing to escort Gu Zhenhua out of the city. At this time, Chaoyang Gate had become chaotic.

  Li Zicheng's general, Gao Yingxiang, led his troops to storm the Chaoyang Gate, while a large number of officials and nobles also gathered at the Chaoyang Gate, trying to escape, resulting in a collision between the two sides.

  It is said that when dogs are desperate, they jump over the wall. Chaoyang Gate was already the last escape route. If it were to be occupied by Zhu Wang again, there would really be no hope of escaping the city. In this desperate situation, the aristocrats' innate martial spirit seemed to have been ignited, and they fought together with Gao Yigong's army.

  Both sides were getting more and more brutal, with corpses falling every moment, shouting and killing each other for the last way out, blood staining the city gate. Sun Cheng and Lu Yong saw these people fighting desperately, but they didn't have any sympathy, it was just a dog-eat-dog situation, the more who died the better, however what worried them most was still Gu Zhenhua.

  "Big brother, it's already past midnight, why hasn't lao si come out yet?"

  Sun Cheng also frowned: "Lao Si is not a fool, I believe he will come out."

  "Alas, that's the thing, but in another moment or two, it will be daylight, and at that time, Zhang Liang's soldiers will definitely rush over. At that time, let alone escape, we might even be wiped out by Zhang Liang."

  "No matter what, we have to wait for Lao Si, if he doesn't come out, we can't leave!"

  Just then, Li Yan led his men to kill him. After discovering Gu Zhenhua's notice, Li Yan realized the seriousness of the problem and hastily asked for orders to catch the culprit.

  Li Yan also hastily led his troops into the city to search, but as soon as he entered the city, he found that something was wrong. Everywhere were fleeing nobles and officials, big and small vehicles filled the streets. The common people were also scattered and fleeing, the order of the capital had completely collapsed, and Li Yan suddenly felt the severity of the problem.

  Li Zicheng only brought more than 20,000 soldiers, while the capital city had a population of one million. Once it gets chaotic, it's really troublesome. Therefore, Li Yan hastily ordered his soldiers to post notices to pacify the people and disperse the crowd. In addition, he organized soldiers to sing folk songs to comfort the people's hearts.

  "Slaughter cattle and sheep, prepare wine and rice, open the city gate to welcome the King of Chu, the King of Chu has come but does not pay taxes!"

  "In the morning, I seek promotion; in the evening, I seek harmony. Lately, it's hard for poor people to survive. Early in the morning, I open the door and worship the King of Fortune, and both big and small are delighted."

  ……

  Li Yan's idea wasn't bad, but it was just a bit too late. Panic is like an infectious disease; once it spreads, it's not that easy to stop. The common people saw the soldiers rushing into the camp and ran away in all directions, without caring what they were singing about.

  The common people were like an avalanche, running wildly everywhere, and Li Yan was also left bewildered. Just then, Li Guo arrived with his men. He had been injured on the hands of Gu Zhenhua and almost lost his life; fortunately, the military doctor had just finished bandaging his wound. Li Guo was gnashing his teeth in anger and resentment.

  He was hurt by a nameless little soldier, where would he put his face! Li Guo also ignored the pain and led his men to search for Gu Zhenhua's party in the city, just as they ran into Li Yan.

  As soon as the situation was mentioned, Li Yan suddenly felt that something was wrong and hastily said: "Hurry up and report to Chuang Wang, I suspect that there is a force in this city that specializes in making trouble for us."

  "What should we do then?"

  "Immediately close the city gate and comfort the people. As long as the situation is stable, there's no need to worry about finding anyone!"

  Li Yan finished speaking, and at the same time sent someone to inform Li Zicheng, while leading his subordinates to rush to each city gate to convey orders. After much difficulty, they arrived at Chaoyang Gate, where the killing was most intense, Gao Yigong was in a fierce battle with the imperial guards, and the ground was covered with a layer of corpses.

  Seeing this scene, Li Yan hastily ordered his men to kill them. Although his troops were not many, they won by surprise. They killed from the city, and Gao Yigong's troops were outside the city, attacking from both sides.

  Those aristocratic family guards didn't have much fighting power to begin with, they were just relying on their numerical advantage and barely managed to fight against the Dashun Army. Now that they're being attacked from both sides, they quickly collapsed. What's the point of being a duke or a marquis? Their own lives are worth more than that. These family guards saw that things weren't going well, so they all ran away, and before leaving, they still took some of their master's treasure with them.

  As the people were about to disperse, the Dashun Army gradually gained control of the city gate. Li Yan hastily ordered the closure of the city gate. However, at this moment, a group of cavalry suddenly rushed over and clashed with the Dashun Army at the city gate.

  This cavalry team was Sun Cheng and Lu Yong. Seeing that the battle at the city gate was about to end, the Dashun Army was about to close the city gate, but Gu Zhenhua had not arrived yet.

  Two people's eyes turned red, once the city gate is closed, aren't the people inside the city like fish in a pot, unable to wait any longer?

  "Second Brother, it's time for us brothers to show our skills!"

  Sun Cheng and Lu Yong led their men, like a whirlwind, rushing towards the city gate. When they were still fifty steps away from the city gate, they all dismounted, each holding a Remington rifle in their hands, all of which had been loaded with ammunition beforehand.

  Flames flashed, the sound of gunfire like exploding beans came, and in an instant more than a dozen Qing soldiers trying to close the city gate were shot dead. Sun Cheng and Lu Yong fired a shot, then casually threw away their firelocks, jumped onto their warhorses, and charged towards the Qing army!

  Gao Yi's face turned red with rage as he saw someone daring to launch a sneak attack on his subordinate.

  "You're looking for death, you rodent!"

  Gao Yi swung his sword and slashed at Lu Yong, who hastily wielded his own sword to counterattack. The two men clashed in a frenzy of killing. The city gate was extremely narrow, leaving no room for evasion, only the clash of blades and the sight of blood. Whoever retreated even slightly would be putting their life at risk.

  "Kill!" Lu Yong suddenly shouted, his chopping knife hacking towards Gao Yigong's neck. Gao Yigong sneered, not caring at all, his hands tightly gripping the hilt of his knife, and with a sudden burst of strength, he knocked Lu Yong's chopping knife away, and with a swift motion, struck at Lu Yong's head with his own knife.

  This knife was as swift as lightning, both fierce and ruthless. Lu Yong hastily dodged to the side, the blade grazing his shoulder as it passed by, instantly sending a wave of scorching pain over him, a piece of flesh sliced off.

  The pain on his shoulder instead stirred up Lu Yong's blood, he swung his big knife and clashed with Gao Yigong, their weapons collided, sparks flying everywhere. To say that Lu Yong's martial arts were not bad, but compared to a true general who had crawled out of a pile of dead bodies, he still lacked some experience in facing the enemy.

  Just then, Lu Yong's ribs and thighs had two more wounds, although they were not deep, but the blood was flowing, and his combat effectiveness was getting weaker and weaker.

  "Kid, I respect you as a man, why don't you just surrender to the bandit king and I'll make sure you live a life of luxury!"

  "Fart!" Lu Yong scolded loudly: "Can't change the nature of a bandit, maybe you'll die in front of me!"

  Gao Yi and Lu Yong clashed, neither willing to yield or hold back. Each move was fatal, the blade heading straight for Lu Yong's vital spots, putting him in a precarious situation.

  Just then, Sun Cheng also rushed over, his arrow wound had not fully recovered, but at the moment of desperation, he didn't care about many things. The two men surrounded Gao Yigong, killing and chopping wildly. Gao Yigong was no pushover either, completely fearless.

  Just as they were fighting, the soldiers who had rushed into the camp had recovered from their confusion. Li Yan personally commanded the soldiers and launched a counterattack against Sun Cheng's men. These guards were all good fighters, but they gradually fell to the disadvantage, with more and more casualties.

  Time ticked away second by second, and both Lu Yong and Sun Cheng were covered in wounds, with blood splattering everywhere and their clothes stained red. Sun Cheng's shoulder had been slashed by a knife, and the new wound merged with the old scars; one of his arms was almost disabled, but he still held his knife single-handedly, refusing to retreat in the face of death.

  Lu Yong was even more miserable, with a cut on his forehead and blood flowing down, one eye completely dyed red. The two of them were almost at their limit, but still propped themselves up with willpower.

  Knock your head on the ground, sworn brothers for life and death, don't let them take a step back!

  "Kill!"

  Sun Cheng stared at Gao Yigong's knife as it chopped towards him, he didn't dodge or evade, the knife in his hand also chopped towards Gao Yigong, completely a life-or-death struggle!

  Just then, an even louder sound, like a burst of thunder, rang out in his ears!

  "Kill!"

  "Kill!"

  Gu Zhenhua finally brought people to kill, he led the way, followed by Xue Biao and Gao Hongtu, like an arrow, rushing towards Gao Yigong, and these Dashun Army.