And the words that he would be able to come back in half a year at most if he stayed in the palace made these officials even more helpless. The situation has deteriorated into this. Now he was defeated like a mountain, and the enemy troops had already attacked outside the city of Jingjiang Mansion, and he was helpless. Will we be able to call back in half a year? According to the current style of play, whether the Han Dynasty can still exist in half a year depends on God's will.
I just thought so in my heart, but no one dared to persuade me at this time. I'm afraid that the Lord will say, since you pity them, please stay with them. It just so happens that you can also intercede with that person on their behalf. And for these officials, they know it. Those royal family members, the court might not necessarily kill them just for the sake of reputation. But if his rebellion falls to the court, he will be dead.
Therefore, although I felt a little ashamed, no one dared to persuade me. In fact, how do these people know that the people who really should be evacuated have already been evacuated long ago. Those who were left behind had already been eliminated by him who should have been eliminated. Even if the remaining people in the court stay without killing, they will not pose any threat to him. And based on his judgment, that master would definitely kill a group of people.
When he first started his army, the imperial court lost half of Jiangnan, and that king could kill his own son with a single blow. Now that he has all the advantages on the surface, how can he let go of his clan members who have become a burden? That Lord never pays attention to the so-called false reputation. Keeping these useless things and costing a lot of money is definitely not something he can do.
The reason why he left those clan members behind was to force that person to kill them. Even though he got rid of his biggest headache, he got a bad reputation. The reputation that the Guilin County Prince's Palace has accumulated over more than a hundred years cannot be matched by a newcomer like him. He killed his own clan members, and when the time comes, he will see who he will be targeting. But he was certain that that person would definitely not be him.
As for what those ministers thought, he didn't care at all. For him, the most critical thing is to ensure his smooth retreat to Nanning and Wuzhou. The amount of grain and grass hoarded in Nanning and Wuzhou is simply not enough to feed an army of 20,000 and a large number of officials. Before he left, the large amount of grain and grass stored in Jingjiang City would naturally be transported away as much as he could.
There are so many means of transportation there to transport so much garbage and insects. In particular, a large number of ships on the Li River were originally transporting gold and silver to Guangzhou, but because the water transportation was cut off by the army and cavalry, most of them never returned. There are only less than a few dozen small boats left on hand. These ships are not enough to transport food, so there is no room left to transport those people.
If you choose one of the two, food is naturally more important. This was also the main reason why he gave up those clansmen. After he agreed to evacuate, the entire Jingjiang City suddenly became busy. In fact, the ordnance and food in the city are quite sufficient because they have to face the battle of defending the city. But other baggage has been secretly transferred to Xunzhou Mansion. Therefore, transporting grain and grass is a major headache.
After deciding to evacuate tonight, the entire Jingjiang Mansion was filled with soldiers. All the people, except the men, were temporarily recruited, and the rest of the people were driven back to their homes. Anyone who dares to remain on the street will be shot without mercy. At the same time, large quantities of food and ordnance were quietly transferred to the Lijiang Wharf. Until the dozens of boats left behind were packed to the brim.
At the same time, a large number of bamboos were cut down, including the bamboo forest in the palace garden that had been growing for more than a hundred years. The wood originally prepared for defense on the city head was used to roll large quantities of bamboo rafts and wooden rafts. The livestock collected in the city, or rather robbed, were also filled with food and ordnance. The entire royal palace's livestock, including the elephants originally used for viewing, were pulled out.
It’s just that the amount of food and ordnance stored in the city is too much. Even so, by the time they set out in the evening, only less than half of the food and ordnance in stock in the city had been transported. However, when they set out in the evening, these officials discovered that the master had brought more than thirty concubines. High-end famous wines and dozens of carriages were also brought. Even the cook from the original palace was brought along.
More than a hundred eunuchs not only brought a large number of live fish from the Li River, various chickens, ducks and geese, as well as some valuable game. He even carried his royal toilet. It seems that because of this master, each family was given only one carriage to carry his wife and children. All the valuables that I had worked hard to save were lost because I could not carry them. I became pauper almost overnight, and these officials could only shake their heads in silence.
The Lord ignored the expressions of these officials who were too angry and dared not speak, and directly issued the imperial edict and set off. Following his order, carriages one after another, guarded by 3,000 pro-troops, passed through the city one after another. But at this time, these people did not know that there was a pair of evil wolf-like eyes outside the city, staring here. Behind him, two thousand cavalrymen were carefully covering their horses' mouths.
And among the people who evacuated, no one knew that the official cavalry that attacked from the south of Quanzhou was not the thousand men they had judged, but a full three thousand cavalry. These three thousand cavalry were almost managed by Zhao Wushu by gathering together the cavalry from the north and south of Huguang. There were also a thousand cavalry among them, which were intercepted by Zhao Wuye when Cao Rui's cavalry retreated north.
The man who led these three thousand cavalry was Zhang Tiande who performed well in the Battle of Nan'an. During the day, when the rebels were transferring food to the Li River dock, they were discovered by the reconnaissance cavalry he sent. With his sense of smell honed in the battle of Nan'an, he immediately sensed that the rebels were trying to escape. Immediately send someone to inform Zhao Wushu's main force who is heading south at full speed from Quanzhou. Get as close as possible to one side.
When the rebels left the city, he had been waiting for a long time. He did not touch the 10,000 rebels who set off first in the afternoon. Because of his battle in Nan'an City, he tasted the sweetness. There's no point in fighting those ordinary rebels. Because those rebels, with his years of leading troops, he had already seen that they were all new recruits. Such a weak opponent is really meaningless to him.
After he confirmed that the rebel king was also in the city, he had been waiting for Luan Jia, the rebel king, to appear. When the rebels broke out from Nan'an, he had a deep memory of the rebel king's superior and extremely rare war horse. In Nan'an City, he was even more impressed by the luxury in the rebel king's bedroom. It's just a temporary resting place, but it's so luxurious. The owner is definitely not one who can endure hardships.
Sure enough, he waited patiently until midnight, and finally waited until luxurious carriages drove out of the South City Gate under the escort of three thousand infantry. After hearing the news from the scouts, he immediately began to deploy. He left a thousand cavalry behind to intercept the second batch of 7,000 rebels who might return for reinforcements. The most elite two thousand cavalry were left behind to deal with these rebels who carried too much baggage.
And the battlefield he chose was on the north bank of Xiangsi River, which was the only way for the rebels to go south. This is the confluence of three rivers. The relatively flat terrain is suitable for cavalry assaults, and it will also maximize surprise. After marching in the middle of the night, the rebel army finally arrived at Xiangsi Water in the early morning. Even the forwards have begun to pass through the pontoon bridge set up by the former army, passing through the Xiangsi River.
Zhang Tiande personally led two thousand cavalry and attacked from the northwest. The intensive sound of horse hooves broke the tranquility of the early morning. Before the rebels could react, the two thousand cavalrymen were like a pack of tigers and wolves, breaking into a herd of sheep. The first wave of charges completely destroyed the rebel formation. The entire three thousand rebels, plus a large number of civilian officials, and eunuchs and maids, were thrown into chaos.
Because the losses on Jiangnan West Road in the early stage were too great, they almost lost the cavalry, which was not many in the first place and the quality was also not high. When the rebels abandoned Jingjiang Mansion, the total number of cavalry was only a thousand, and they were all the so-called personal soldiers of the Han Emperor. His five hundred cavalry were indeed much stronger than the new recruits in the infantry. But in cavalry combat, it was no match for the official cavalry.
Although the Tianzhu horses they rode were much better than the officers and soldiers who were partly equipped with Huguang horses and partly Dali horses. The large scimitar in his hand is also better than the saber in the hands of the officers and soldiers. But the problem is that cavalry is not just about good horses, it also requires tactics. What's more, some of these thousand cavalry are used for ceremonial purposes, and some are used to protect the Lord when he travels.
This cavalry tactical training is not without, but the training is really not good. Moreover, they are all equipped with scimitars and have no other weapons that the cavalry should have. Even though these people were the loyal confidants of the traitor king who spent a lot of money on him, they really worked hard for that master. But on the battlefield, you don't just have to risk your life. After just one wave of fighting, more than 30% of these thousand cavalry were lying down.
But these cavalry were the basis for the Han emperor to look after his family and protect his courtyard. Even though he was severely defeated on Jiangnan West Road, he still had no basis for mobilization. Most of these cavalrymen have even served as guards in the Guilin County Prince's Mansion for several generations. It was this master who spent a lot of money to raise him. Each of these thousand cavalrymen had a yearly salary that was much more than that of a sixth-rank official in the imperial court.
Supported by a lot of money, it has been passed down from generation to generation. These people are loyal to the rebel king, and they are not afraid of death. Although the cavalry was not very skilled in tactics, it was extremely fierce. After three people lay down in the first wave, the remaining people did not flinch. It was directly divided into two parts. One part held the scimitar high and fought to the death, while the other part relied on their own horses to desperately cover the rebel king's breakout.
After the guard was attacked, he immediately threw away the seventy-two-person sedan he was sitting in, and replaced it with his own Tianzhu horse that had carried him out of Nan'an City. He also threw away all his concubines, courtiers, and luggage, including His seventy-two-person royal sedan chair was decorated with dragons. It can be said that he didn't care about anything and worked hard to break through the encirclement all the way to the west. This guy is quite quick-witted after all.
He knew that no matter whether he broke through to the south, southeast or southwest, there would be someone waiting for him in front. Since the officers and soldiers can lurk so many cavalry under their noses, who knows how many people are around here. But since the sudden appearance of the cavalry from the official army came from the west, the only weak point where the official army could deploy was to the west where they appeared.
In fact, what he wanted to do more at this time was to turn around and return to Jingjiang Fucheng to rely on the strong city to defend the army. Originally, he thought that the 20,000 new troops had been trained for at least half a year and would at least be able to fight when they encountered the official army. Moreover, the three thousand soldiers around him who were chosen to protect the army were also the real elites among the twenty thousand soldiers. But it can still be said that it is vulnerable to the attack of the cavalry of the official army.
At this time, if we withdraw to Jingjiang Fucheng, we may not be able to defend it. The city is strong, but it also needs elite soldiers to defend it. Therefore, he could only choose another direction. After only a brief thought, he immediately decided to break out to the west. This time, it can be said that he got the bet right again. Zhang Tiande has limited troops. With enemies everywhere around him, it is impossible for him to divide his troops everywhere.
