Zhengzhou Zhizhou, who had lost hope, heard these words and his eyes lit up.
Yang He led his army to abandon Zhengzhou City, which also gave him an excuse to escape from Zhengzhou City. Even if the court wanted to punish him for losing his land, he could put all the blame on Yang He.
As for whether the imperial court will pursue Yang He or him, the magistrate of Zhengzhou, in the future, it depends on their respective methods.
At worst, he would take the money he had accumulated over the years as an official and go to the capital to manage it. Maybe he would have a chance to leave Henan and continue to be an official in a place where there are no bandits or rebels.
As long as there is an official job, no matter how much money is lost, it can be recovered in the future.
Seeing Zhengzhou Zhizhou in a daze, the master next to him called out softly: "Dong Weng, you need to make an idea quickly. The affairs of Zhengzhou City must not be hidden from the thieves outside the city. Maybe they have already gone to the police at this moment." The rebels have sent a message.”
"Yes, yes, yes, we can't stay in Zhengzhou City. Let's leave immediately. You and I will go together." With that said, Zhengzhou Zhizhou grabbed the master's arm and ran towards his sedan chair.
At this time, the master also breathed a sigh of relief.
If Zhengzhou Zhizhou doesn't want to leave Zhengzhou City, he has already planned to sneak away secretly.
Now that Zhizhou is willing to leave, there will definitely be no shortage of people to protect him on the road. He can go with Zhizhou, which will provide more protection for safety and save the need to find a new host.
As Zhengzhou Zhizhou left in a sedan chair.
At the originally empty city gate, people began to gather and scramble to escape from the city.
Most of the people who escaped from the city were wealthy families or families with some savings. On the contrary, not many poor people left.
It is not easy for a poor person to have a place to shelter from the wind and rain. Let alone the rebels, they will not be willing to leave even if the knife comes from the sky.
What happened in Zhengzhou City could not be concealed from the Tiger Banner Cavalry who arrived outside Zhengzhou City first.
Because of the small number of cavalry, when Yang He led the army to leave Zhengzhou City, he did not stop him. He just sent a few cavalry to follow and stare at them from a distance.
Naturally, there were also cavalrymen carrying the Tiger Flag to deliver messages to the army.
At this time, Chen Xunping was leading his army on the way to Zhengzhou City.
The cavalrymen who came back to deliver the message met the army on the road in less than half an hour.
Because he brought important news about Zhengzhou City, he was immediately brought to Chen Xunping as soon as he returned to the army.
"No need to be polite, please tell me about the situation in Zhengzhou City." When Chen Xunping saw the person who came back to deliver the letter, he immediately asked about the situation in Zhengzhou.
The cavalryman who delivered the message said: "Reporting to the division chief, Governor Yang He has left Zhengzhou City with the Ming army in Zhengzhou City and is retreating towards Zhongmou. There are no soldiers guarding Zhengzhou City now, and the people in the city are rushing to flee. As soon as the army arrives, We can capture Zhengzhou City immediately."
"Isn't this an empty city plan?" Staff Qin Rong said with a smile.
Chen Xunping smiled and said: "The empty city strategy is impossible, but Yang He is probably afraid of us, abandoned Zhengzhou City, and is planning to escape back to Kaifeng."
"We can't let him escape back to Kaifeng, otherwise it will be really troublesome. After all, he is accompanied by thousands of soldiers and horses. If we really want these Ming troops to return to Kaifeng smoothly, it will not be conducive to our subsequent attack on Kaifeng." Qin Rong said.
After hearing this, Chen Xunping nodded slightly and said: "Yang He left Zhengzhou City not long ago. Most of his thousands of soldiers and horses are infantry. If we let the cavalry chase, we can certainly catch up. However, our cavalry is too small. Even if we have too few cavalry, If we catch up, we may not be able to defeat Yang He's troops."
"Aren't there dragoons?" Qin Rong said, "We don't have many cavalry, but there are many dragoons. Although they can't be used as real cavalry, they can still chase people."
Chen Xunping thought for a moment and said, "I will let the dragon cavalry intercept Yang He's troops."
Dragoons are known as mounted infantry.
Because they were equipped with a large number of livestock, the marching speed was much faster than that of ordinary teams. Moreover, the dragoons were not completely incapable of horse fighting, and some of them could carry out simple mounted fighting.
A group of more than 3,000 dragoons abandoned the heavy baggage they carried, used animals to carry people, and left the army first.
When passing through Zhengzhou City, more than 3,000 dragon cavalry went around the outside of Zhengzhou City. They did not stop at Zhengzhou City. Instead, they brought several cavalrymen to guard outside Zhengzhou City.
The reason why they were brought along was because the tiger-shaped banner cavalry monitoring Yang He's army left marks along the road, and they needed to lead the way to chase Yang He's army.
The Ming army led by Yang He was loose along the way and carried a lot of baggage, so the marching speed was not very fast.
"How long does it take to get to Zhongmu County?" Yang He, who was sitting in a sedan chair, called a member of the Qianhu family to ask.
Qianhu on horseback looked around and said: "We have not gone far from Zhengzhou City, but we are still far away from Zhongmu County! We will definitely not reach Zhongmu County today."
The journey from Zhengzhou City to Zhongmou County is sixty or seventy miles, and it is impossible to get there in one day.
"Go and find Mr. Chen." It was useless to talk to a young military attache, so Yang He asked the Qianhu to call Chen Yongfu.
Not long after, Chen Yongfu rode up to Yang He's sedan.
"Supervisor, do you have anything to do with the general?"
Chen Yongfu did not dismount, but rode to the window on one side of the sedan.
"I always feel that something bad is going to happen. Can you speed up the march of the army and try to reach Zhongmu County today?" Yang He asked.
Chen Yongfu grinned when he heard this and said: "We will definitely not be able to reach Zhongmu County today, unless we are cavalry, but our troops are basically infantry."
"Isn't it okay to speed up the march?" Yang He asked.
Chen Yongfu shook his head and said: "Actually, our marching speed is not slow anymore. If we leave all the baggage we carry, we might be able to go faster."
"Then lose them all. In short, you can get as much as you can. I just need to get to Zhongmu County earlier." Yang He directly asked Chen Yongfu to give up the luggage he was carrying.
He was afraid that if he continued like this, he would be overtaken by the rebels.
Although the official army did not have much cavalry, the rebel army had many livestock and horses.
After hearing this, Chen Yongfu frowned subconsciously and said hesitantly: "Really lost the baggage?"
"Lost!" Yang He said affirmatively, and then said, "Don't worry, no matter how much is lost, I will make up for it when you return to Kaifeng."
When Chen Yongfu saw that Yang He promised to make up for it, he felt relieved and said, "The general will arrange for the soldiers to throw away those heavy baggage."
The order was quickly passed on.
The officers and soldiers first picked up the bulky ones and threw them away. Gradually, rumors began to spread among the lower-level officers and soldiers that the rebels were catching up. The officers and soldiers who fled for their lives even threw away all the weapons in their hands.
There were also two Fran cannons, all abandoned on the road.
