Chapter 3503 The defeat is determined
Although the heavy snow has not stopped, the sky is gradually getting brighter, and the scenery far and near can be seen clearly. General Xin Mao directed his classmates to open the last few wooden boxes, take out the shells and stuff them into the barrels, with a gloomy and worried look on his face.
The classmate next to me said: "Classmate Xin, we have run out of shells, what should we do?"
General Xin Mao looked at the growing number of rebels gathering on the shore, feeling worried. I don't know where these rebels got a few sampans from, and they are trying to row the sampans close to the ship to prevent them from firing artillery. In fact, there is no need to obstruct at all, the cannonballs are running out, these ship artillery are just decorations...
It is conceivable that a large number of rebels must have gathered at the Foundry Bureau at this moment. Once there is no artillery support, the Foundry Bureau will be captured and annihilated by the rebels in an instant. All students will face the rebels' swords, guns, swords and halberds and fight bloody battles.
With the number of rebels being several times greater than the number of college students, none of the students in the foundry would be able to survive unless they surrendered...
Xin Mao kicked the empty wooden box next to him away, eyes red, and said fiercely: "What else can we do? Let's retreat!"
If they don't retreat, they will all fight to death and be buried in the belly of a fish when they are surrounded by rebels.
General Xin Mao gritted his teeth and said: "Shot all the shells, and then we retreat!"
"Here!"
Among the students in the academy, Cen Changqian, Xin Maojiang and others have always been leaders. The other students are all convinced, and now they regard them as leaders and obey their words.
"Tongtongtong"
When the last round of shells was fired, General Xin Mao ordered his students to raise anchor and sail, and sailed the ship towards the north of Kunming Pond, which was opposite to the direction of the foundry, and there were no rebels on the shore. But at this moment, except for the ice where the ship was parked, which was shattered by their thunderbolts, the rest of the place was still frozen. The ship crashed into the nearby ice floe, and after sailing not far away, it hit the ice, and the bow of the ship was damaged. The ice was tightly clamped, making it difficult to move forward.
"Get off the boat!"
Xin Mao held a horizontal knife in his hand and jumped off the side of the ship first. He stumbled on the ice and almost slipped. When he stabilized his steps, he saw that his classmates had jumped off the side of the ship and gathered behind him. Then he took steps and ran towards the north shore.
Dozens of students followed closely behind, running wildly on the ice.
The rebels on the south shore were trying to get close to the ships in the pool, trying to prevent the artillery fire from continuing. Suddenly the artillery fire stopped. The ships sailed further north, and then were blocked by the ice. Then the students on board abandoned the ship. And escape...
This sudden change stunned the rebels, who didn't understand why these students gave up their powerful artillery.
Until someone reacted and shouted: "The cannonballs must have been used up! Hurry, hurry, catch up with these students, don't let any of them go!"
Two hours of artillery volleys killed countless rebels. The rebel positions outside the foundry were plowed over and over again by artillery shells. Corpses were strewn on the ground with countless mutilated limbs. It was like a hell of blood and fire. The rebels The army's anger has long been unstoppable, and they vowed to capture these students alive and then cut them into pieces!
Now that I saw these students abandoning the ship and running away, I naturally wanted to pursue them closely. It's just that the north and south shores of Kunming Pond are far apart, and the ice in the pond was shattered by thunder. At this moment, there are ice floes everywhere, and you can neither walk across it nor row your boat forward, so you have to retreat to the shore and go around the edge of the pond. The embankment pursued, but was already a step too late.
Xin Mao led his classmates to the shore. In the wind and snow, his sight was blocked and he could not see the situation on the other side. However, he did not dare to delay for a moment. He ran north along the frozen Fengshui River until he reached the Weishui River and then turned around. And heading east, when approaching Longshouyuan, they followed the terrain southward to Xuanwu Gate.
At this time, rebels are everywhere inside and outside Chang'an. These students have no way to go to heaven or earth, so they can only defect to Youtunwei. After all, this is the army of Fang Jun, the secretary of the academy, and has always been recognized by the students as "one family." ……
……
In the foundry, seeing that the number of artillery shells fired from Kunming Pond was getting less and less, and that the rebels were gathering more and more without the threat of artillery, Cen Changqian understood that it was probably that the ships on Kunming Pond had run out of artillery shells, and couldn't help but feel anxious.
On the one hand, they are worried that without the bombing and deterrence of artillery, the rebels can attack the Foundry Bureau unscrupulously. On the other hand, they are even more worried that General Xin Mao and others will be surrounded and annihilated by the rebels, and the entire army will be wiped out...
However, when we are not worried about General Xin Mao's side, the rebels outside the Foundry Bureau no longer have the damage and deterrence of artillery, and there are several reinforcements. The number of people has become more and more. The city walls have collapsed in several places, and the rebels have rushed in. Inside the foundry, the students relied on the simple fortifications they had built before and used firearms to fight and retreat. However, they also killed a large number of rebels, making it impossible for the rebels to completely capture the foundry for a while.
However, the students and guards in the foundry had been fighting for a long time, suffering heavy casualties and being exhausted, and could not hold on for much longer.
Cen Changqian dodged the locust-like arrows above her head, found Ouyang Tong not far away, and said quickly: "I'm afraid we won't be able to hold on, so we must take a long-term approach."
Ouyang Tong's skinny face was full of exhaustion, and his left shoulder was wrapped in a square scarf. Blood was seeping out from under the scarf, which was from an accidental shot earlier.
He raised his hand and wiped his face, his eyes full of despair, but his tone was very calm: "You have to defend it even if you can't! There is so much gunpowder in the warehouse, once the rebels get it, the entire city of Chang'an will be blown up. ! You and I are disciples of the emperor, and we should be loyal to the king. Life and death are no big deal, and letting the rebels step over our bodies until the last moment is considered loyal to our duties and we will die without regrets."
There are so many rebels outside the Foundry Bureau that it is impossible to defend it with more than a thousand students. And because there was a huge amount of gunpowder stored in the warehouse and could not just be given to the rebels, there was really no other way but to fight to the death to have a clear conscience.
However, Cen Changqian cursed "confused" angrily, took his hand and went straight to the building in the center of the foundry bureau, where Xu Jingzong and Liu Xi were making arrangements.
Seeing the two people approaching quickly, Xu Jingzong's hands trembled and he asked in shock: "Has the defense line collapsed?"
Ouyang Tong endured the pain in his shoulder and looked very ugly: "There are constant streams of rebels. We are isolated and helpless. It is only a matter of time that the defense line collapses. If Lord Xu is afraid, he can just raise the white flag and go out and surrender." We will live in vain, but we will fight and die here to repay the emperor’s favor!”
Xu Jingzong's beard curled up and he said angrily: "What are you talking about? After all, I am also your elder, so I am so contemptuous and rude, I am simply unworthy of a human being!"
But it avoids the topic of surrender...
Ouyang Tong was stubborn and upright, and had never been ashamed of Xu Jingzong's character. He rolled his eyes and snorted, ignoring him.
Xu Jingzong was furious. Originally, these students were all overly conceited. In addition to being respectful to Fang Jun, they did not have much respect for him or Zhu Suiliang. Now that the rebels are besieging Chang'an City, the situation is extremely dangerous. The academy students accepted the prince's order and came to defend the Foundry Bureau. The blood and fire battles often involve life and death. These students do not take him seriously...
But what can he do?
Each of these bastards is a proud son of the emperor. Not only are they outstanding in their abilities and talents, but they also have a strong leadership background. Almost everyone has one or more powerful factions behind them. They are all his. Untouchable.
Liu Shi on the side also had a headache. He had previously envied Xu Jingzong for being able to serve as the dean of the academy. After all, these students have a bright future. Becoming their teacher today will help immeasurably in the future. It will be a great help to their career. .
I just learned today that it is not easy to be a teacher for these arrogant and arrogant people. If your own ability is not enough to make these little guys willingly respect you, you will not only lose their respect, but it will be counterproductive.
Look at Xu Jingzong now, he is so depressed that he is about to die...
However, when he saw that Xu Jingzong was a little angry, he quickly interjected: "The matter has come to this, it's not because we are unwilling to try our best, and we have a clear conscience. But we can't just sit here and wait for death, right? You two gentlemen, please tell us what countermeasures you have. Listen.”
He knew that these two people were the leaders of more than a thousand students outside, so he valued them very much and did not dare to treat them like ordinary students.
Cen Changqian said: "The situation is critical now, and the foundry bureau can no longer stand firm. Although we are not afraid of death, we can't let the rebels massacre and still have a large number of firearms in the warehouse taken away by them, right? So I think we should take the first step. Let's blow up all the firearms in the warehouse, then gather the entire army and break out to the south! Now that the sky is covered with snow, we can escape the annihilation of the entire army as long as we escape into the Zhongnan Mountains." (End of Chapter)