bookrandom Chapter 2165 Counterattack?
Chapter 2165 Counterattack?
Guo Ziyi remained silent.
He looked down at the sword on his lap; the cloud patterns on the scabbard were blurry in the dim light.
The Mo Dao team... Chu Ning has finally used this trump card.
This army, renowned for its heavy armor and long swords, was virtually unstoppable in narrow streets and alleys.
The Tang army's lightly armored infantry were indeed like paper in front of them.
"Commander!"
Seeing that he remained silent, the captain shouted anxiously again, "What should we do? Should we gather all the archers and set up an ambush at the street corner? Or use fire? Or..."
"Pass on the order," Guo Ziyi suddenly spoke, interrupting him.
The captain held his breath.
Guo Ziyi raised his head, his eyes showing no panic, no anger, only a deep, calm stillness.
He looked at the captain and said, word by word:
"Retreat to the north gate immediately."
The captain froze, thinking he had misheard: "General... you mean... retreat?"
"You heard that right."
Guo Ziyi slowly stood up, sword in hand: "Gather all the troops that can still move and retreat immediately from the north gate."
"There's no need to carry the provisions and supplies. As for the wounded... take what you can, and leave what you can't."
"But it's the commander-in-chief!"
The captain's voice trembled: "The Huai River is just outside the north gate, there's no way to retreat! And... and if we retreat, Jianghuai City will be completely lost! Two hundred thousand troops, three hundred thousand civilians..."
"Jianghuai City has been lost."
Guo Ziyi's voice was as cold as ice: "From the moment the East Gate was breached, it was already lost."
"To hold the inner city now is merely to buy time and increase casualties."
He walked to the window and opened it.
Outside, the firelight had already illuminated half the night sky, and in the distance, the Chu army's Mo Dao (陌刀) troops could be seen advancing slowly like a moving iron wall, and the Tang army suffered repeated defeats wherever they went.
"The fact that Guan Yun's Mo Dao team has been mobilized means that Chu Ning is already impatient and wants to decide the outcome in one fell swoop."
Guo Ziyi, with his back to the captain, said in a low voice, "In this terrain, the Mo Dao team is invincible. If we continue to defend, we will only be slowly worn down by the barricades and alleys."
He turned around, his gaze sharp as a knife: "Therefore, we must retreat."
"While we still have a few streets to stall for time, while the Mo Dao troops are advancing slowly, and before the rest of the Chu army has completed its encirclement—retreat immediately!"
The captain opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but looking into Guo Ziyi's unwavering eyes, he could only clasp his hands in a deep fist salute.
"I obey your command!"
He turned to leave, but Guo Ziyi called him back:
"When giving the order, do not say 'retreat'."
"Then... say what?"
“Say…” A resolute glint flashed in Guo Ziyi’s eyes: “Say that you have been ordered by the Commander-in-Chief to assemble at the North Gate and prepare for a counterattack.”
The captain was startled and understood.
This was intended to give the rearguard hope, making them believe that the main force was gathering at the north gate to launch a counterattack, thus allowing them to desperately hold off the Chu army and buy time for the main force to retreat.
"This subordinate...understands." The captain's voice was hoarse.
He walked away quickly, his footsteps disappearing swiftly at the end of the corridor.
Inside the Marshal's Mansion, only Guo Ziyi remained.
He walked to the wall and took down the Tang Dynasty military flag that had been hanging there for thirty years.
The flag is old and the edges are torn, but the character "Tang" on it is still clearly visible.
"Jianghuai, oh Jianghuai..."
Guo Ziyi stroked the flag and murmured to himself, "I have guarded you for thirty years, but today... I can no longer hold on to you."
He carefully folded the flag and tucked it close to his body.
Then, he picked up his sword, took one last look at the marshal's mansion where he had spent half his life, turned around, and strode out the door.
Outside, the Royal Guard had assembled, numbering about five hundred men, all wounded, but their eyes remained resolute.
"Let's go." Guo Ziyi mounted his horse. "To the North Gate."
The sound of horses' hooves rang out, and the group disappeared into the shadows of the streets and alleys.
Behind them, Guan Yun's Mo Dao team continued their steady advance, leaving a trail of corpses in their wake.
The fall of Jianghuai City is imminent.
But Guo Ziyi knew that the war was not over yet.
Retreat is to preserve our last strength.
It was so that he could fight Chu Ning again on another battlefield, at another time.
Outside the North Gate is the Huai River.
But across the Huai River, there was still half of the Tang Dynasty's territory.
As long as there is a single soldier left, as long as Guo Ziyi is still alive—
This war has not yet been lost.
Military orders spread like wildfire, rapidly reaching the remaining Tang army strongholds within the inner city.
"By order of the Commander-in-Chief—all units immediately assemble at the North Gate and prepare for a counterattack!"
At first, the generals who received the order were stunned.
Fight back?
In this situation, surrounded on three sides and with the Mo Dao troop closing in step by step?
But military orders are absolute, and since they came from Guo Ziyi, no one dared to question them.
Soon, the remaining Tang troops began to withdraw from the barricades and buildings they had been holding onto, flowing like streams into rivers towards the north gate.
On the eastern front, a Tang army unit that had been holding out in Changle Street was the first to receive orders.
The commanding officer looked at the Chu army's Mo Dao (陌刀) troops, who had advanced to within a hundred paces, then glanced at the military order bearing Guo Ziyi's command seal in his hand, and gritted his teeth:
"Withdraw! Assemble at the North Gate!"
"Captain, if we retreat, we'll lose this street!"
"Excuting an order!"
The captain roared, "The commander must have a deeper meaning! Everyone, take turns providing cover, retreat!"
Although the soldiers were puzzled, their long-term military discipline training made them instinctively obey.
The archers unleashed their final volley of arrows, the spearmen fought and retreated, and the shield bearers formed a rearguard.
They withdrew from the barricades, turned into the alleyways, and moved towards the North Gate along the planned route.
On the southern front, Feng Mulan's 30,000 Xuanjia Iron Cavalry have already broken through the southern district and are advancing along the main street toward the core of the inner city.
The horses' hooves thundered as they pounded on the cobblestones.
This elite force, which had been resting and recuperating for many days, was now like a tiger unleashed from its cage. Wherever it went, the scattered resistance of the Tang army was easily crushed like paper.
"General! A large number of Tang troops have been spotted moving north!" a scout reported on horseback.
Feng Mulan reined in her warhorse, her red armor gleaming in the firelight.
She squinted and looked around, and sure enough, she saw Tang troops orderly withdrawing from the battlefield and gathering towards the north gate in several streets and alleys.
"Towards the North Gate?" Feng Mulan frowned slightly. "The Huai River is outside the North Gate. Are they planning to cross the river to retreat?"
The lieutenant rode forward: "General, shall we pursue?"
Feng Mulan pondered for a moment, then shook her head: "No need. Our mission is to wipe out the remaining enemy forces in the inner city and control the entire Jianghuai city. As for the north gate... other troops will be responsible for it."
The "other troops" she referred to were the Chu army detachments originally positioned outside the north gate.
As per the pre-battle plan, in order to prevent the Tang army from breaking through, Chu Ning did indeed deploy 20,000 troops outside the north gate.
But these 20,000 troops were mainly there to prevent the Tang army from breaking out and escaping through the north gate. Who would have thought that the Tang army was not trying to break out, but rather to assemble?