The layout of Luoyang Royal City was much more complicated than the typical city. In fact, just the east side of the city included the Upper East Gate, the Middle East Gate, and the Lower East Gate. However, as the Middle East Gate and the Lower East Gate were relatively small, the Upper East Gate was usually the Upper East Gate.
The inner city of Luoyang Imperial City was also divided into two parts, the Southern Palace and the Northern Palace. The Southern Palace was where the Emperor and his ministers worked, while the Northern Palace was where the Imperial Family lived. Yang Rui's main goal was to find Young Emperor Liu Bian and Empress Dowager He in the Northern Palace.
After entering through the Upper East Gate, he headed straight for the Northern Palace. Under Wu Qiong's guidance, Yang Rui quickly arrived at the Northern Palace's Eastern Gate. Along the way, Wu Qiong ordered her subordinates to set fire everywhere to attract the attention of Dong Zhuo's troops.
Although Yang Rui did not know Wu Qiong and Zhou Qiong, the two of them knew Yang Rui. When Dong Zhuo first entered the capital, Yang Rui was one of the four powerful forces. Therefore, most of the officials in the capital knew Yang Rui, including Yang Rui's identity as the Vice Alliance Leader of the Heroes Against Dong Zhuo.
Because of this, Wu Qiong and Zhou Qiong did not suspect Yang Rui at all when he entered the Upper East Gate under the banner of Yuan Shao. After stabilizing the situation at the Upper East Gate, Yang Rui's first priority was to find Young Emperor Liu Bian and Empress Dowager He. This was exactly what Wu Qiong and Zhou Qiong expected!
Yang Rui was doing this for the sake of his mission, but Wu Qiong and Zhou Qiong had other reasons for making rescuing Young Emperor Liu Bian their primary goal. Naturally, Yang Rui did not know about this.
In public, after rescuing Young Emperor Liu Bian, the Heroes Against Dong Zhuo would have a legitimate reason to attack. Dong Zhuo's replacement of Young Emperor Liu Bian as King Chen Liu was the main reason for the Heroes Against Dong Zhuo. If they could rescue Young Emperor Liu Bian, the Heroes Against Dong Zhuo would be righteous. If they lost Liu Bian and allowed Dong Zhuo's replacement as King Chen Liu, the Heroes Against Dong Zhuo would change the nature of the Heroes Against Dong.
Wu Qiong and Zhou Qiong were aware of this, which was why they had been protecting Young Emperor Liu Bian with all their might. When he saw that Yang Rui's forces were far from enough to control Luoyang Royal City, the first thing he thought of was to rescue Young Emperor Liu Bian! Moreover, Wu Qiong, Zhou Qiong, and the others had been planning to rescue Young Emperor Liu Bian for a long time!
Of course, there were also some private reasons that made rescuing Shao Di their primary goal. Yang Rui only learned about it a long time later.
"I am Wu Qiong, quickly open the city gates!"
Meanwhile, Wu Qiong had sent people to set fire to the area to attract the attention of Dong Zhuo's camp. As he led Yang Rui's troops to the east gate of the North Palace Inner City, he shouted towards the city gate.
"Creak, creak …"
After Wu Qiong shouted a few times, the east gate of the North Palace opened!
Yang Rui had been worried that the inner city gate would be difficult to break through and was prepared for a tough battle. He didn't expect the gate to open so easily. He no longer hesitated. He led Gao Shun, Zhang Ning, Wu Anguo, Chen Lin, and the other generals, as well as a group of soldiers, and charged into the east gate of the North Palace Inner City.
Unlike when they controlled the east gate of the outer city, it was much easier to control the east gate of the North Palace Inner City. Moreover, they didn't cause too much of a commotion. This surprised Yang Rui. Little did he know that Wu Qiong, Zhou Qiong, and the others had been planning this for a long time. After all, both sides had made rescuing Young Emperor Liu Bian their primary goal!
On top of the east gate of the North Palace Inner City and the city walls on both sides. There were about five to six thousand soldiers arranged by Wu Qiong. Yang Rui also sent Wu Anguo to lead fifteen thousand Fifth Grade Iron Guards to guard this place to ensure a smooth escape route.
Earlier, when they were at the east gate of the outer city, Yang Rui had already noticed how Wu Anguo led his troops into battle. Even though they couldn't be compared to Gao Shun and Zhang Liao's soldiers, the soldiers led by Wu Anguo were still very powerful. They were not much weaker than the other troops! Because of this, Yang Rui was not worried about leaving Wu Anguo to guard the east gate of the North Palace Inner City!
"Quick! Quick! Quick … "
They were still led by Wu Qiong. Yang Rui led the remaining Iron Guards and Valiant Soldiers towards the place where Young Emperor Liu Bian and Empress Dowager He were being held captive. The process was so smooth that even Yang Rui was surprised!
Yang Rui couldn't believe that the journey would be so smooth even when he found Young Emperor Liu Bian and Empress Dowager He! In the base of Dong Zhuo's camp, Yang Rui easily saw the target of this trip with Wu Qiong's help and even had the chance to ask Empress Dowager He about it. He even asked Empress Dowager He about the people in charge of the palace's headwear and crowns.
Yang Rui naturally thought of Diaochan when he asked this question. However, the answer he received wasn't ideal. Empress Dowager He couldn't answer such a detailed question in a short amount of time. All he knew was the general location of these female officials.
According to Empress Dowager He, Yang Rui ordered Zhang Ning and Chen Lin to lead most of the troops to the east gate of the North Palace with Young Emperor Liu Bian and Empress Dowager He to wait there. Meanwhile, Yang Rui and Gao Shun led 1,000 Iron Guards to the place Empress Dowager He mentioned to search.
However, after arriving at the few courtyards where the female officials lived in the northeast of the Northern Palace, Yang Rui discovered that Diao Chan was not the only female official in charge of the headdress and crown. Moreover, the other female officials were also living in the surrounding courtyards, and it was impossible to find Diao Chan at once. Thus, Yang Rui gathered all the female officials he could find and headed towards the eastern gate of the Northern Palace.
After all, it was just a spur of the moment thing. He didn't have much hope of finding Diaochan in the first place. Yang Rui naturally didn't waste too much time on Diaochan. By the time he arrived at the east gate, Zhang Ning and the others had just arrived.
However, at this time, the North Court East Gate had already fallen into a fierce battle. Wu Anguo led a group of Iron Guards and was already having a hard time defending. With the addition of Zhang Ning and the others, they were able to stabilize the situation and firmly control the North Court East Gate.
If the situation in the inner city of the North Palace was already like this, it wasn't hard to imagine that the situation at the east gate, where Zhang Liao was stationed, would be even worse. Therefore, Yang Rui ordered everyone to stop fighting and quickly retreated from the east gate of the North Palace. He then brought Shao Di, the Empress Dowager, and the thirty-odd female officials to the east gate of the outer city.
Shao Di, the Empress Dowager, the female officials, and the others walked slowly. Yang Rui arranged for Gao Shun, Zhang Ning, and the other 6,500 Valiant Warriors to guard behind them. Chen Lin was also among them. Yang Rui, Wu Anguo, and the rest of the Iron Guards cleared all obstacles along the way and rushed to the front.
Wu Qiong's previous act of setting fire to the outer city had a certain effect. After Yang Rui and the others left the North Palace, they saw many spots of fire in the outer city. It actually attracted a lot of forces from Dong Zhuo's camp to put out the fire!
However, they didn't get far before they heard the battle cries coming from the east gate tower. It was a lot livelier than when Yang Rui entered the east gate. Clearly, Dong Zhuo's forces in Luoyang had begun to fight back with all their might! Yang Rui immediately urged his troops to charge with all their might, increasing the speed of their return.
"Guo Si is here, don't you dare!"
Just as Yang Rui and the rest were advancing quickly, a general suddenly appeared from the side, slashing towards Wu Anguo who was at the front, his momentum was extremely turbulent!
Fortunately, Wu Anguo wasn't easy to deal with. He grasped the long handle of his great hammer at the right moment and narrowly parried the seemingly unavoidable slash. After being forced into a passive position for a few moves, Wu Anguo was already entangled with Guo Si. The hammer and the saber clashed, and it was hard to tell who had the upper hand.
When Yang Rui saw this, he hastily sent a group of about two to three thousand Iron Guards to assist in the battle and hold back Guo Si's troops. Yang Rui himself led the remaining forces toward the east gate of the outer city. The closer he got to the east gate, the more dangerous the situation was. Yang Rui didn't have the time to waste on Guo Si and the others!
"Kill!"
"Ah …"
When Yang Rui finally reached the east gate, he realized that the situation here was more dangerous than he had imagined. At this time, Zhang Liao and a small group of troops had been forced to the vicinity of the city gate tower. The surrounding city walls were filled with Dong Zhuo's soldiers, continuously reducing the space for Zhang Liao and the others to move inwards!
Even though the Steel Guards were valiant and had the buffs from Zhang Liao's support skills, there were only about one or two thousand of them left. Zhang Liao himself was currently fighting with two Dong Zhuo's Generals at the outermost position. These two Generals were actually not much weaker than Zhang Liao.
Yang Rui didn't say anything. He led the remaining ten thousand Iron Guards up the city walls and temporarily stabilized the situation at the most critical moment. With the addition of Yang Rui and the others, the vicinity of the city gate tower was once again under control. The soldiers of Dong Zhuo's camp were chased up the city walls again.
However, the fact that Yang Rui didn't bring any long-range soldiers was his biggest flaw. There were many archers mixed in with the enemy soldiers. Although the soldiers of Dong Zhuo's camp were at a disadvantage in close combat, these scattered archers were constantly shooting arrows and causing casualties to Yang Rui's men!
Therefore, it could be said that every moment of time defending the east gate was exchanged for by casualties. Yang Rui currently had a limited number of soldiers. Therefore, after Yang Rui climbed up the city walls, he led his men to the north side of the city wall and tried his best to break through. He wanted to gain more space to defend by attacking!
The area near the south side of the city wall was where Zhang Liao and the enemy general were fighting. With Yang Rui's current strength, he couldn't help much. Instead, he might even get himself killed. Wu Qiong, who was traveling with him, also led her men around the area where Zhang Liao and the enemy general were fiercely fighting. She tried to break through the south side of the city wall, but the effect was not obvious.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
