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In the end, Jiang Xiao broke through and escaped.
The process was easier and smoother than imagined.
On the one hand, Jiang Xiao no longer spared any effort or distraction. When he led the remaining "Chaofeng" dead soldiers to charge, he did not care about the cost or damage. Even if he saw another "Chaofeng" dead soldier accidentally falling off his horse and being captured alive, , Jiang Xiao also ignored him, neither rescuing nor silencing him.
In addition, without the burden and restraint of Zhu Hejian and Hu Xiao, Jiang Xiao can be said to be relaxed. The combat ability that he once served as a night guard in Liaodong and constantly dealt with Jianzhou Jurchen elites was quickly demonstrated.
Even in the face of the dense and desperate encirclement of the bastards, even in the narrow space in Nanjing City, he can still keenly judge the changes in the battle situation, quickly find the flaws, and lead the "Chaofeng" dead soldiers to charge repeatedly and kill without stopping. Stop, once again causing heavy casualties to the lowly disciples, and once again tearing apart the encirclement of the lowly disciples.
On the other hand, Jiang Xiao's successful breakthrough was also due to the fact that the siege momentum of the lowly soldiers was greatly reduced.
Although the fishermen with the nine surnames came on the scene and played a miraculous role in quickly restoring the morale of the lowly disciples, the leaders of the lowly disciples had already suffered heavy casualties when leading the charge, so the middle-level command system of the lowly disciples had also been paralyzed, and they were unable to charge and attack. There was no cooperation or coordination, and they would even trample and collide with each other.
In addition, Huo Zhengyuan conveyed the order to capture as many people as possible alive, which made the lowly people a little helpless when they attacked. The fishing nets and harpoons of the nine fishermen had been completely exhausted and could no longer work wonders. Therefore, Jiang Xiao was able to break through. Naturally, the pressure is greatly reduced.
In this way, under the ebb and flow, Jiang Xiao tried his best, abandoned most of his horses and supplies, and suffered a lot of casualties among his dead soldiers. Finally, he was lucky enough to break through the siege of the lowly people and escape from the West City. Men escaped from Nanjing City.
But the cost is also extremely heavy.
Before being ambushed by the lowly men, Jiang Xiao had nearly fifty "Chaofeng" dead soldiers under his command. He also asked the Nanjing government for hundreds of fast horses and various supplies, and he also had a large number of crossbows, swords and guns.
But when he broke through and escaped, Jiang Xiao was not only wounded in many places, but there were less than ten "Chaofeng" dead soldiers who escaped from Nanjing City with him. Everyone was also injured. As for the horses, weapons, and arrows , and all kinds of supplies, nine out of ten were lost.
Under such circumstances, even if Jiang Xiao and the remaining "Chaofeng" dead soldiers temporarily escaped from Nanjing City, they would no longer be able to escape the court's subsequent pursuit as easily as expected.
Unless... there is another unknown force outside Nanjing that is willing to take huge risks to protect them.
*
On the other side, facing the window on the third floor of Juying Pavilion, Huo Zhengyuan watched helplessly as Jiang Xiao led the remaining "Chaofeng" dead soldiers to break through and escape, and couldn't help but shake his head.
"Sure enough... Even though the numerical advantage is huge, everyone is risking their lives, and it is a calculated and unintentional ambush, the scoundrels are a mob after all, and they are hungry all year round and their bodies are weak. I think It is still too reluctant to use them to ambush such a group of well-trained and well-equipped elite soldiers..."
Hearing Huo Zhengyuan shake his head and sigh, Tang Sheng couldn't help but feel nervous, secretly hating his fellow lowly fellows for being so incompetent.
Although they had nearly a thousand men, they were unable to annihilate all the forty or fifty bandits... Tang Sheng also felt that such a result was too embarrassing.
If Huo Zhengyuan becomes dissatisfied because of this, blames himself for not doing things well, completely underestimates the role of humble status, and thus affects his own future, what should he do?
Thinking of this, Tang Sheng quickly and cautiously explained: "It's still too hasty... From the time you ordered the villain to secretly connect all kinds of lowly people, there have only been two or three days. The villain has no time to organize training and no chance to screen. Elites, just explaining the pros and cons and mission objectives to them has already consumed most of the energy and time..."
Huo Zhengyuan waved his hand and said with a smile: "Don't worry, I'm not dissatisfied. This result is also expected! In fact, my goal from the beginning was not to annihilate all these gangsters, but to seize the opportunity to capture them alive and follow the clues. Find the mastermind behind these gangsters! Judging from the current situation, the results are pretty good, only a few people escaped, and a large number of injured gangsters were captured alive, which is enough for me to interrogate the truth! "
After saying that, Huo Zhengyuan turned to his staff Guo Min and said: "The ambush has been settled. Go and check the specific situation in person to see how many people the gangsters captured alive and whether there are any important figures among the gangsters." Caught."
Tang Sheng was eager to express himself and said anxiously: "There is no need to bother Mr. Guo with this kind of thing! Just let the villain do it!"
Huo Zhengyuan slowly shook his head: "No, you just stay with me."
Huo Zhengyuan asked Guo Min to rush to the scene to investigate the situation, not only to quickly grasp the number of dead soldiers captured alive, but also to confirm the current situation of the seventh prince Zhu Hejian as soon as possible.
If Zhu Hejian was detained in Nanjing by the lowly people and was not harmed in the chaos, then everything would be easy, and Huo Zhengyuan would show up directly and take the credit for rescuing the prince.
But if Zhu Hejian is still carried away by the dead soldiers and leaves Nanjing without a trace, or is seriously injured or even dies in the chaos, then Huo Zhengyuan will immediately distance himself from the relationship and shirk all responsibility. On the heads of the lowly people.
Therefore, Huo Zhengyuan had to keep Tang Sheng by his side. He did not attach much importance to Tang Sheng, but wanted to control Tang Sheng as much as possible and prevent Tang Sheng from straying away from him. If he found that something was wrong, he could kill and silence him as soon as possible.
Tang Sheng is the person who is responsible for connecting all kinds of lowly people and conveying orders to them. As long as Tang Sheng is silenced, Huo Zhengyuan can quickly put aside most of the relationships between himself and the lowly people.
But Tang Sheng didn't know what Huo Zhengyuan was thinking. He only thought that Huo Zhengyuan kept him by his side out of preference and attention, so he couldn't help being flattered and ecstatic.
Just when Guo Min turned around and wanted to leave, he saw a lowly man hurriedly running down to Juying's attic.
This person's name is Meng Haoxuan. He has a similar background to Tang Sheng. He was once a son of an official. He was reduced to a lowly status due to the central government's rectification of Nanjing's officialdom. He has been Tang Sheng's right-hand man for the past few days, assisting Tang Sheng in persuading all kinds of low-ranking officials. Ji worked for Huo Zhengyuan.
In Huo Zhengyuan's mind, Meng Haoxuan was also one of the targets who needed to be silenced if necessary.
Therefore, Meng Haoxuan knew very well that Huo Zhengyuan was currently hiding in Juying Pavilion, and if he rushed here in a hurry, there must be something important that needed to be reported.
Just in case, Huo Zhengyuan had already blocked all the doors and windows below the third floor of Juying Pavilion. Meng Haoxuan could not enter at will, so he stood downstairs and raised his head and shouted: "Seventh Prince, Your Highness the Seventh Prince! We are among the gangsters." His Highness the Seventh Prince was discovered! Those ruthless bandits actually kidnapped His Highness the Seventh Prince!"
After hearing Meng Haoxuan's cry, Huo Zhengyuan's eyes flashed, and he turned to tell Tang Sheng: "Ask him about the specific situation, especially the current condition of His Highness the Seventh Prince and whether he is injured."
When Tang Sheng heard the appearance of the Seventh Prince, he was immediately startled. He had never known that Zhu Hejian took the initiative to become a hostage. If he had known in advance that the gangsters were holding the Seventh Prince hostage, they would not have killed him. Dare to encourage the lowly people to ambush those tough bandits.
So, Tang Sheng quickly stuck his head out of the window and asked loudly: "Seventh Prince? You said the Seventh Prince is here too? He... what is his current condition? Has he been accidentally injured?"
Meng Hao The guard of the Grand Bachelor had his left arm chopped off by the bandit leader!"
After hearing Meng Haoxuan's answer, Huo Zhengyuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Not only was Zhu Hejian detained in Nanjing City, but Zhu Hejian was not harmed during the chaos. This result was considered the best situation in Huo Zhengyuan's plan.
Since Zhu Hejian was not injured, Huo Zhengyuan was the major contributor to the prince's rescue. He no longer had to hide his tracks and could appear openly and openly.
Huo Zhengyuan frowned and said to himself: "The Seventh Prince was kidnapped by gangsters and taken hostage? Why don't I know such important information at all? Fortunately, His Highness was protected by God and was not harmed during the chaos. Otherwise, we people would This is going to be a big mistake!”
After saying that, Huo Zhengyuan turned around and went downstairs, wanting to meet the seventh prince Zhu Hejian as soon as possible.
Tang Sheng, on the other hand, stood still for a moment, suddenly thinking about something, he couldn't help but feel chills all over and his scalp was numb.
But the next moment, Tang Sheng seemed to be unaware and quickly caught up with Huo Zhengyuan, still with a humble attitude and trying to please.
*
The Juying Pavilion where Huo Zhengyuan was located was not far from the West City Gate, so it only took him a cup of tea to arrive at the scene and saw the Seventh Prince Zhu Hejian.
And... Hu Xiao, who had passed out at Zhu Hejian's feet and was receiving first aid from the bastards.
After seeing this situation, Huo Zhengyuan's eyes flashed again, and he guessed many things in an instant.
But on the surface, Huo Zhengyuan was frightened. He quickly ran to Zhu Hejian and said loudly: "Your Highness, Your Highness, are you okay? Alas! I, I have absolutely no idea that you were kidnapped by the gangsters. I just saw the gangsters. He wanted to escape from the west gate, thinking that if these ruthless bandits were allowed to escape from Nanjing City, the prestige of the imperial court would be seriously damaged, so he hurriedly led people to intercept them. Unexpectedly... Well, fortunately His Highness was fine, otherwise I would have to What a big mistake!”
Afterwards, Huo Zhengyuan seemed to have just discovered Hu Xiao at Zhu Hejian's feet, and said in surprise: "Hu Youyi? This man is a close guard of Xiaguan, why is he here? I heard that he saved the seventh prince at a critical moment?" He has lived up to my years of teachings! Hurry! Carry him to a clean place and ask Doctor Zhang to diagnose and treat him! As well as the gangsters who were captured alive, they are all under strict supervision. They cannot be handed over to anyone without my instructions. …”
While talking, Huo Zhengyuan was about to send someone to carry Hu Xiao away, obviously to rob him.
Naturally, Zhu Hejian would not just watch Huo Zhengyuan's plan succeed, and he would say something immediately.
However, before Zhu Hejian could speak, he once again saw a lowly person running towards him in a hurry, shouting loudly: "Officers, soldiers, royal guards...there are so many people! The government is here! And I heard that the chief assistant is personally leading the troops!"
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