Chapter 477 Changan’s counterattack

In late spring, in March, there was no grass growing in the city of Chang'an, because the grass had been eaten up by the horses, and the birds had been wrapped up in their bellies.

The willow trees along the long street also have no green branches. Looking up, they are not as vibrant as they were at this time of year.

This time, Xue Bai could no longer collect food from the city. Hunger filled the capital of the Tang Empire. Every time the rebels attacked the city, the defending generals no longer cared much about how many lives were consumed, but felt more like a waste.

their physical strength.

In the evening, the rebels finally managed to retreat again. Even Xue Bai and Wang Nanlan sat down leaning on the battlements.

Their horses didn't like to stay on the bare city anymore. One bent its neck and bit the red tassel on Wang Ruolan's helmet, as if treating it as a flower in the field, while the other licked Xue Bai's face.

With all the sweat on his face, he knew he needed to eat some salt.

Xue Bai stretched out his hand and touched the dry bristles on the horse's head. He didn't think it smelled bad, but felt very close to it and said, "Save some fat. In a few days, we will go out of the city to kill the enemy."

The name of his war horse is "Houla", which probably means mottled coat in Turkic language. It was given to him by Li Guangbi when he was in Taiyuan. He traveled from Changshan to Pingyuan to Yongqiu to Luoyang to Chang'an.

I rode it and it saved my life.

Hoela seemed to be able to understand some human speech, and neighed, looking at the green grass outside the city, yearning for it.

After a while, Du Wulang brought someone to put out today's rations. He quietly approached Xue Bai and nudged him with his elbow.

"Hello."

"What?" Xue Bai asked lazily, not wanting to move at all.

Du Wulang smacked his lips, blaming him for being so indifferent. He looked around and then whispered: "Take it, I'll give you one more."

He held an egg in his palm and stuffed it into Xue Bai's hand without leaving any trace.

Xue Bai then remembered that when he first came to Du's house, Du Wulang secretly gave him extra food. After so many years, many things have changed dramatically. It's hard for Du Wulang to still maintain his kindness, but he is not at all

No progress.

"Gugu Niang is dead, this is the last one."

"Gu girl, who is it?"

"Hen." Du Wulang said a little sadly: "We have reached the point where we have to kill the chicken to retrieve the eggs. What are we going to do next?"

He had lost a lot of weight. When he spoke, he turned to look outside the city and could already see his clear jawline and sunken cheeks.

Xue Bai casually handed the egg to Wang Ranran's hand and said: "You can eat it, it will be more useful than me."

Wang Nan was not polite, he took it and knocked it on the wall, peeling the eggs, but he still wanted to scare Du Wulang.

"It's okay. If I'm hungry, I'll eat Wulang, which has fine skin and tender meat."

"Don't make trouble." Du Wulang was really afraid that Wang would rarely joke like this, so he flattered him and said, "I'll just find a way to get you some more food."

"You know what's interesting." Wang Ruowan finally stopped telling those trivial jokes and said, "Next time I come back from hunting in the city, I'll give you a bite first..."

At night.

Xue Bai was so tired that he fell into a deep sleep, vaguely smelling the aroma of meat.

He followed the smell of the meat and walked through the bonfires. He saw several soldiers sitting there eating barbecue.

"Xue Lang, the general has driven back the cattle and sheep from outside the city. You can also have a taste."

He then sat down by the campfire, took a plate, and a soldier cut him some pieces of meat with a dagger. At this moment, he felt extremely happy.

But when he turned around to look, he found that the soldier next to him had a piece of hoof on his plate.

"This is?"

"Xue Lang, it's okay. You can eat meat, and I can eat this." The soldier lowered his head and ate happily.

Xue Bai watched him gnawing the meat on his hoof, and suddenly understood something... This was his war horse.

"Hoora?"

He turned around and saw no horses around him, but felt a chill on his back. The hunger he had never experienced in his previous life, and the deep fear brought about by hunger, seemed to be strangling his neck.

.

Hunger was far more terrible than the enemy. He realized this, so he did not get angry at the soldiers, but the hand holding the plate was trembling.

suddenly.

"Help!"

Hearing this call, Xue Bai looked back and saw Du Wulang tied up next to a large pot. There were many heads piled next to him, and one person was sharpening a knife there.

"What do you do?"

"Kill him to get enough food."

Following these words, the man sharpening the knife suddenly turned around and struck down with his knife. No one knew who was killed. Blood spattered all over Du Wulang's face, which made him cry loudly.

When the blood burst out, Xue Bai saw clearly that the other party was actually Zhang Xun, and was shocked.

He opened his eyes, still feeling a lingering fear in his heart.

"Are you having a nightmare?" A soft female voice asked softly in the darkness.

"Um."

Xue Bai thought in a daze that he was sleeping in the tower. After waking up, he remembered that Yang Yuyao was here tonight.

In the dim moonlight, Yang Yuyao was seen sitting beside the couch, her figure becoming much thinner.

He stretched out his hand to pull her, hugged her into his arms, and pressed her hard against her. The warm fragrance of soft jade came into his arms, which made people feel very comforted.

His mind was still thinking about the scene in the dream. When he came back to his senses, Xue Bai realized that Yang Yuyao in his arms was actually resisting his embrace, and pushed his chest with his hand.

At this moment, the door of the room was pushed open, and someone entered the room. He whispered on the other side of the screen: "Huh? Where is the person?"

The man in Xue Bai's arms increased his strength, pushed on his chest a few more times, broke free, and turned his back.

At this moment, someone carrying a candlestick walked around the screen, it was Yang Yuyao.

Xue Bai turned his head and looked at the charming and sassy face in the candlelight. He was a little confused. If Yang Yuyao was there, who was he holding in his arms just now?

Two Yang Yuyao appeared inexplicably, so they were probably in a dream... I had a dream within a dream tonight.

"He seems to be having a nightmare. He shouted twice just now, so I came over to take a look." The woman with her back to Xue Bai spoke, and her voice turned out to be Yang Yuhuan.

Yang Yuyao quickly stepped forward, placed the candlestick on the bedside, and asked, "What did you dream about?"

"Nothing, why is the imperial concubine here?"

"Forgot? Her choreography of "Broken Formation Music" will be performed at Qingmen tonight, and then she will come to my place."

"I'm so hungry that I have no energy left. Can I still dance?"

"There was no dancing, just singing. The soldiers liked it very much..."

Even so, Yang Yuhuan's interest was much higher when he mentioned Qu Yue and that it could help defend the city. After talking about it, he was like a happy oriole, showing the vividness of the past again.

temperament.

This war seems to have freed her up a lot.

"All in all, morale has improved a lot." At the end, she said, "Can it be considered that I have done my best?"

Xue Bai thought to himself that it was because Chang'an City was not hungry yet.

Others didn't know he was here, so Yang Yuhuan didn't encounter any restrictions on male and female defense when he came here, and no one paid much attention to it at this time. But because of the little thing just now, Xue Bai felt a little embarrassed and left first under the night.

.

The night wind blew away a wisp of fragrance and residual warmth in my arms.

He walked to the stable and saw that his horse was still there, and felt relieved. So he walked up to its left side, opened his arms and hugged it, feeling its breathing.

The war horse's breathing was very heavy, its belly rose and fell, and gradually Xue Bai maintained the same breathing rate, as if they had returned to the days when they were galloping on the flat land of Hebei. They had been besieged for too long.

"Want to run?" Xue Bai asked.

The war horse didn't answer, but dug its hooves into the dirt, making a clattering sound.

~~

The next day.

"Reinforcements are coming, King Beiping, from the west, reinforcements are coming from the west of the city!"

When Xue Bai heard such an incoherent report, he was watching the enemy formation on the southern city wall. After hearing the words, he immediately took the reins, climbed on the horse's back, ran on the city wall, and headed straight to the west city.

The wind on the city wall is strong and the sight line is excellent. You can see the enemy troops surrounded by black crows outside the city, and you can also see the straight streets inside the city dividing each square into squares.

Today's Chang'an City is huge. The perimeter of the city wall is more than seventy miles. Xue Bai galloped from the south city to the west city for less than half an hour. He looked around and saw cavalry outside the city under the banner of Shuofang Army.

They are trying to break out of the city.

The soldiers kept cheering and attracted many officials, their voices full of hope and joy.

They thought that Shuofang's army was really coming.

Only Xue Bai knew that it was all false. It was impossible for Li Heng to let Shuofang's army come to rescue Chang'an now, and he even tried every means to stop it. If someone comes now, it must be that the troops of King Qin from Shu County have arrived and have obtained
To be continued...