"Throw it! Throw all the money down to me!"
Seeing that the pursuers behind him had indeed fallen into the trap, they reined in their horses and stayed where they were to collect the silver. Wang Pu couldn't help but be overjoyed. The more silver he threw away, the fewer the pursuers were.
If he is defeated and dies, all the money will belong to these pursuers. As long as he can save his own life, he will not hesitate to throw away all the money he carries.
The king of Dai had hoarded ten thousand taels of gold and no less than five hundred thousand taels of silver in his residence. Due to the hasty departure, Wang Pu's soldiers only took away about half of the silver.
But for the pursuers behind them, boxes of silver being thrown from the carriage, and the resulting waves of silver must be a rare spectacle.
"Tsk tsk! Money still works!"
Wang Pu looked back on his horse and couldn't help but feel proud. It seemed that in the eyes of these pursuers, the king of the Ming Dynasty was not worth as much as silver.
At first, they saw several boxes of silver scattered on the ground. Only a small number of Ming soldiers stopped chasing and dismounted to pick up the silver.
But as the number grew larger and larger, most people couldn't bear it anymore and it turned into looting.
Wang Pu did not forget to shout loudly to the pursuers who were still pursuing him: "This is one million taels of silver! I will give it to you and others!"
Although the amount was exaggerated several times, it was indeed given to the pursuers in disguise, and it had to be given.
The silver ingot that fell to the ground also acted as a blocker. Once the war horse stepped on it, it would lose its balance and even fall to the ground.
The closer to the prey, the easier it is for the pursuer's mount to stumble and have to retreat appropriately.
"The dog thief is really hateful! He actually messed up the morale of our army! It's really intolerable!"
Although Li Chengdong, who was eager to achieve success, wanted to capture Wang Pu, the thoughts of the soldiers accompanying him were not consistent with the general's.
If everyone can pick up a hundred taels of silver, if Wang Pu wants to run, let him run. If you don't chase him, there will be others.
Furthermore, the dog thief Wang Pu can't run very far. It's not too late to chase him after picking up the silver. Let him run two miles first.
Although Li Chengdong spoke frequently and ordered the soldiers not to stop to pick up silver, his subordinates were all poor people who were blinded by money.
"Each person is only allowed to pick up two ingots of silver, and mount the horse immediately to pursue them! Anyone who dares to disobey will be killed immediately!"
There are orders from above and countermeasures from below. There are always clever commanders who come up with a compromise.
It can satisfy everyone's psychological demands without delaying the pursuit. It is the best of both worlds.
In this way, the time it took to pick up a hundred taels of silver only allowed Wang Pu's defeated troops to run a hundred steps away.
"Whoever captures or shoots the dog thief Wang Pu will be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver!"
Seeing that his men could not resist the temptation of money, Li Chengdong fortunately came up with a plan.
The prince had previously rewarded himself with two thousand taels of silver, and he could give half of it to the meritorious people below.
"Okay~!"
Hearing that there was money to be obtained soon, they pursued together with the general soldiers, and the nearly a hundred people who had not left also became excited.
As the personal guards guarding the general soldiers, they would not dare to leave without Li Chengdong's order to collect money.
But everyone also has that thought, but they just dare not put it into action. It is absolutely a lie to say that money is like dirt.
There is another reason why the dog thief Wang Pu is chasing after him, and that is that the prey ahead must have gold, silver and jewelry on him.
This dog thief is very cunning and will definitely not throw away all the treasures at once. He will definitely have some backup plans.
As long as Wang Pu is caught, everyone can get the stolen goods together. If the dog thief is handed over to Shangfeng, the treasure can naturally be divided among everyone.
This is a well-established rule. This has been done in the capital, and the prince has never scolded him.
When you get to Datong, do it again, otherwise everyone will not have much motivation to chase the dog thief.
Chasing him for twenty miles in one breath would not be so persistent without enough temptation.
Li Chengdong saw a group of people chasing Wang Pu two hundred steps away on the right, and the leader was He Zan.
He Zan's men and horses were also impressed by the silver. They either dismounted to pick up the silver, or stepped on the silver and fell to the ground.
There are now less than fifty soldiers around him, but they still show no sign of stopping, and they are still biting Wang Pu's tail.
"Father, if you go further north, you will be out of seclusion!"
Wang Qi knew that if the army went up the river, they would arrive at Zhenqiang Fort at the border pass, and only from there could they exit the pass.
If you can't get out of the customs, you can either go west to Yulin Guard and Weiyuan Guard, or cross the river to Yanghe Guard and Gaoshan Guard.
"...Go to Zhenqiang Fort to find out first. If that doesn't work, then go west to Yulin Guard. Jiang Xuan, the deputy general of Yanghe Guard, ignores my kindness, so it's okay not to go!"
The further east you go, the easier it is to encounter exposed armies, especially in the northeast of Xuanda where there are many defensive troops and the terrain is steep, making it difficult to engage in battle easily.
If Zhenqiang Fort cannot be passed, go west to the Yulinwei area and find an easy place to break through.
"Throw away the flag, disguise yourself as a violent army, and confuse the defenders in the fort!"
Wang Pu still wanted to leave through the nearest Zhenqiang Fort. A Qing army was stationed at Maoerzhuang opposite Zhenqiang Fort.
As long as he can connect with it, he can repel the pursuers behind him and realize the dragon entering the sea, leaving the Dog Prince helpless.
Under the order of "Emperor Taizu" Wang Pu, the "Pre-Jin Dynasty" became the official army of the Ming Dynasty again, and galloped towards Zhenqiang Fort.
"Hurry up and catch me up! Shoot the arrow!"
Seeing that the prey in front of him had dropped the flag on the ground and was clearly in a state of defeat, Li Chengdong's confidence increased sharply.
There was still an hour before sunset. If he pursued so quickly, he would be able to capture and kill the dog thief Wang Pu in one fell swoop before dark.
Wang Pu's army of the former Jin Dynasty still had more than 500 horses, which made it the largest group of the three groups, but they did not dare to turn around and engage the pursuers.
From the "Emperor Taizu of the former Jin Dynasty" to ordinary soldiers, they were all busy running away, for fear of being pierced by an arrow from the vicious dog behind them if they ran too slowly.
After running across a slope, Wang Pu leaned over and looked back. There were more than a hundred chasing troops fifty paces away, hundreds of cavalry three to four hundred paces away, and more than a thousand cavalry a few miles away in the distance.
As long as he leads his army to turn around and kill the enemy behind him, their large groups will follow, making it impossible for him to escape, so he must not fight.
If you can't get rid of the pursuers before dark, you can wait until sunset before heading north. It will not be difficult to lead more than a hundred personal guards out of Zhenqiang Fort.
However, Dai Wang's family was thrown out of the car, they almost ran out of money, and the pursuers were close to them again. Wang Pu had no more people or things to throw away that could delay the pursuers.
The accompanying family members obviously slowed down the team significantly and cost the lives of many soldiers. If this continued, no matter how much money they threw away, they would not be able to get rid of the vicious pursuers behind them.
After learning from the pain, Wang Pu made a major decision: "Give up your family and let us hunt in the north!"
This is also a last resort. Take them without leaving the border, otherwise they may be overtaken by the pursuers before sunset.
Wang Qi did not want to carry out the order, and was still urging her: "Father! You must not do this! My mother is the queen, how can she fall into the hands of the enemy?"
How can this be done? They are all family members. In addition to his wife and concubines, there is also his mother.
Seeing that his son dared to disobey his orders, Wang Pu immediately scolded him fiercely: "Stupid! Those who achieve great things don't stick to trivial matters! The current situation is so dangerous, there is no need for women to be kind! If there are women in the family, we will not be able to escape!"
If we don't get rid of these burdens, our country will be destroyed, our family will be destroyed, and we will be defeated and die.
Wang Qi also knew that this was indeed the case, and had no choice but to sigh: "Alas~!"
In order to escape for their lives, this time they threw away everything they could in the team.
Dai Wang's family, hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and even his own relatives were left to the pursuers.
Wang Qi couldn't help crying when he saw the carriage carrying his mother slowly moving away from him.
As the former Emperor Taizu of the Jin Dynasty, Wang Puxinna's dozen or so beautiful concubines were also abandoned, including many Yangzhou thin horses bought with a lot of money but not yet enjoyed.
Of course he was reluctant to give them all to the pursuers like this, but the situation was so compelling that if he hadn't done so, he would have feared for his own life.
When I see Huang Taiji, I will borrow 10,000 troops from him, and it will not be too late to enter the customs for revenge. After that, I will marry a hundred beauties to avenge today's shame!
"Go and cut off all the carriages. If there are women among them, they are prisoners of the imperial court. No one can act rashly without my order. They must be carefully guarded. If there is any violation, I will definitely kill them without mercy!"
Li Chengdong from behind also saw the sudden situation. Apparently Wang Pu abandoned the few carriages in the team. Considering the previous situation, Li Chengdong judged that there should be money and women in it.
There is no need for him to worry about the money. If there are really female relatives, especially Wang Pu's immediate family members, they must not be touched easily. If this spreads out and the prince learns about it, he will definitely be punished accordingly.
Li Chengdong didn't want to be severely punished by the prince for playing with Wang Pu's woman, so he strictly ordered his subordinates to keep the female family members under guard. No matter who dared to openly disobey orders, he would execute them on the spot without waiting for the prince to send someone to investigate.
"yes!"
A private soldier led 20 people to leave the group and gallop towards the carriage. If there were dignitaries and silver coins, and they were carefully guarded, it would be regarded as a military achievement.
After discarding the last batch of burdens, Wang Pu's cavalry finally picked up speed. Coupled with the interference of the carriage, the distance from the pursuers was widened to about 200 steps.
Now he can ride his horse and run wildly without restraint. The ten thousand taels of gold carried by the soldiers have not been discarded yet, which is enough to feed a group of people.
Wang Pu secretly calculated that if he had to fight a bloody battle with the pursuers behind him, at most a hundred people would be able to get out.
If each person is rewarded with ten taels of gold, the total amount is only a thousand taels, which only accounts for about 10% of the total amount carried.
The remaining part can still be used to make a comeback. This is to keep the gold and not worry about running out of firewood.
"Father! If the pursuers persist, we will definitely not be able to get out smoothly. It is better to repel the enemy and start hunting in the north!"
Wang Qi saw that after running so far, the pursuers behind him still showed no sign of leaving, so he planned to fight to the death.
"...Forget it! There is a hill in front of you on the left. I will lead more than a hundred riders away first to lure the pursuers. My son will lead hundreds of riders to ambush on the north slope, trying to kill this group of thieves in one fell swoop, and then go north to get out of the pass. , if the war is unfavorable, we must not be reluctant to fight, we must retreat north immediately!"
No matter he wins or loses, Wang Pu will keep running towards Zhenqiangbao. If Wang Qi can beat him, he will fight. If he can't, he will run away.
"My son, I will obey my father's decree!"
Wang Qi didn't want to die in the battle. It would be best to successfully attack the pursuers by surprise. If that didn't work, it would be better to take action.
Seeing that Wang Pu had led his team away, Wang Qi ordered everyone to ambush in a place where the woods were still lush.
Soon Li Chengdong led his pursuers to catch up. As soon as the horses climbed to the top of the hill, he planned to continue the pursuit without any hesitation.
"There's an ambush!"
Suddenly, a sharp arrow flew past him. Li Chengdong was shocked and shouted to his men in a hurry.
"ah……"
Before he finished speaking, a soldier was hit by an arrow and fell from his horse. In an instant, hundreds of sharp arrows flew in like a swarm of locusts.
Dozens of people led by Li Chengdong were immediately killed, and some of them fell on their backs. In the blink of an eye, more than ten people were injured.
The bandit soldiers actually wanted to ambush and then counterattack their own troops while escaping, which Li Chengdong did not expect.
Naturally, he would fight to the death, and he would definitely not be surrounded and killed by the bandits who were about to be driven to the end.
"Don't panic! Follow me and charge out!"
Li Chengdong waved his saber to deflect the incoming arrows. Unexpectedly, he was hit by an arrow in the leg. The pain was so unbearable that he had to turn his horse and retreat.
When the remaining soldiers saw that the general had escaped, they naturally had no intention of fighting and began to retreat to the south.
"Shoot these thieves to death, general!"
Wang Qi refused to give up and wanted to catch everyone on the other side.
Because they were afraid of being discovered in advance if they were too close, the ambush troops of the former Jin Dynasty ambush farther away. This resulted in not only a low hit rate of arrows, but also once the target fled, they could not catch up for a while.
Seeing that the opponent's general was only fleeing with more than ten people, Wang Qi couldn't help but beam with joy and planned to annihilate him in one fell swoop. However, just after he ran halfway, he found that the opponent had turned back and planned to make a comeback.
"Kill these grandsons for me!"
Li Chengdong had already gathered hundreds of riders coming from behind, pulled out the arrow from his calf, and was gnashing his teeth and shouting on his horse.
After chasing for dozens of miles, the dog thief Wang Pu didn't catch him, but instead killed many of his own soldiers and was shot by that bastard Wang Pu's subordinate. How could this not make Li Chengdong resentful?
"Brother Li, don't worry, He is here!"
Just when Li Chengdong was about to commit a bloodbath, He Zan arrived with dozens of cavalry, but by visual inspection there were only thirty or forty people.
"Okay~! Let's join forces together! We must capture and kill the dog thief Wang Pu!"
Li Chengdong, who suffered a hidden loss, also gave up his plan to go deep alone. If he wanted to capture the dog thief Wang Pu, he still had to rely on more people to win.
Although He Zan's troops were not large, he came at the right time and could be regarded as a helping hand. Moreover, He Zan was a general appointed by the prince, so the prince still had to give him face.
Everyone thought that this was a smooth battle, and that they could drive away the rebels like autumn leaves sweeping away the fallen leaves. Unexpectedly, the rabbit dared to bite people when it was anxious.
Seeing the brothers who died tragically, everyone became angry and vowed to avenge the brothers who died in the war, and they would not stop until they killed the thieves with their own hands.
"Come on~! No one can escape!"
The battle was imminent, and Li Chengdong ignored the pain from his leg wound and still ordered his soldiers to launch a full-line attack.
If even Wang Pu's men and horses cannot be retained, how can the class teacher have any face after returning to the court?
"How dare you, the traitor, be so arrogant! Let me shoot you with arrows!"
Seeing that the number of incoming enemies was about the same as his own troops, Wang Qi wanted to act like a trapped beast still fighting, repelling the enemy first and then running away.
It's just that he forgot one thing: Li Chengdong's success just now was all due to Li Chengdong's underestimation of the enemy's aggressive advance.
Now that the two armies are facing each other head-on, these soldiers of the "Forward Jin" are no match for the enemy.
