Chapter 689: Unexpected Betrayal
Chapter 689: Unexpected Betrayal
In the middle of the night, Du Fuwei suddenly received news that the Sui army in the south of the Yangtze River had divided into two groups and attacked Langya County. Du Fuwei was shocked and quickly sent someone to find his military advisor Xu Liang.
Xu Liang was a descendant of the Xu family, a wealthy family in Donghai County. Since Du Fuwei and the Xu family formed an alliance, the Xu family not only gave the salt business to Du Fuwei, but also sent their outstanding descendant Xu Liang to be Du Fuwei's most senior aide.
Du Fuwei was very satisfied with the Xu family and soon appointed Xu Liang as his military advisor. Du Fuwei listened to all his suggestions. Xu Liang advised him that Donghai County was next to the bed of King Jin and he would never tolerate the presence of troops here, so he advised him to move north.
Du Fuwei agreed with this and moved his base to Langya County. Fu Gongyou refused to leave Donghai County, so Xu Liang advised him to break off with Fu Gongyou completely.
Xu Liang then set about reforming the military system for him, and eventually formed a three-tier military system of 10,000 recruited troops, 20,000 elite troops and 80,000 salt workers. With very little financial resources, he had an army of 110,000, which really made Du Fuwei very satisfied.
After Qin Qiong captured Donghai County, Du Fuwei was eager to retreat north to Gaomi County. It was Xu Liang who advised him not to give the King of Jin an excuse to send troops to attack them.
Du Fuwei was so confused that he actually followed Xu Liang's advice. Even if Xu Yuanlang and Ge Qian were destroyed, he would not take any action.
But now that the Sui army had entered the country, Du Fuwei began to panic.
Not long after, Xu Liang hurried over and asked, "Your Majesty, why did you come to see me in the middle of the night? What's the urgent matter?"
Du Fuwei could not help but complain to him: "Didn't you say that the Sui army would not attack us? Now we just got the news that Qin Qiong's army has already attacked Linyi County, and Luo Shixin's 30,000 troops have also attacked Langya County from the east. What should we do now?"
Xu Liang said calmly: "Your Highness, don't worry. I have a good plan in mind. Let me go back and prepare. I will report to Your Highness after dawn!"
"Okay! Go get ready."
Xu Liang left in a hurry. Du Fuwei couldn't sleep at all. He paced back and forth, thinking about countermeasures, and was extremely anxious.
After waiting until the dawn, Du Fuwei sent his guards to fetch Xu Liang. However, the guards soon came back to report, "The military advisor is missing. We couldn't find him in the mansion. The servants said he left in the middle of the night. We don't know where he went."
Du Fuwei was stunned. What was going on? Why did the military advisor disappear?
At this time, the guard reported, "General Wang Xiongdan wants to see you!"
Du Fuwei quickly ordered: "Let him in!"
Not long after, Wang Xiongdan hurried over and clasped his fists in the hall and said, "Your Majesty, the military advisor left the city at five o'clock in the morning. I asked him and he said that he was ordered by your majesty to go to Linyi County to count the grain."
"what?"
Du Fuwei's eyes widened. He was not a fool, he just blindly trusted Xu Liang. Only then did he realize that Xu Liang had escaped.
"Did he leave on horseback?" Du Fuwei asked.
"He went away in a carriage?"
There was still time for the carriage to catch up, but Du Fuwei immediately ordered: "You lead my cavalry to chase him immediately, and you must bring this thief back to me."
Wang Xiongdan understood that Xu Liang must have betrayed his master. He immediately clasped his fists and said, "I obey your orders!"
Wang Xiongdan led a thousand cavalrymen in pursuit along the official road. Du Fuwei was annoyed and ordered Sima Du Kun to immediately gather the salt workers. Du Kun was Du Fuwei's cousin. He had been studying since childhood and could recognize a few words, but he was not capable and could not do anything big, so he could only be appointed as Sima.
At noon, Wang Xiongdan came back. Xu Liang was tied up, with blood all over his face and body. He was pushed in front of Du Fuwei, but he held his head high and had a completely different expression.
Du Fuwei said angrily: "I have always treated you well, why did you betray me and leave me?"
"Pooh!"
Xu Liang spat heavily, "My Donghai Xu family is a clean family, and my uncle is the teacher of the prince of Jin. How can I serve a bandit like you as my leader? You are just dreaming!" Du Fuwei pointed at Xu Liang, shaking with anger, "You advised me to move north, you have no good intentions!"
"I just want you to leave Donghai County. How can the Xu family of Donghai continue to live under your tyranny?"
Du Fuwei could no longer hold back his anger, so he drew his sword and stabbed Xu Liang in the chest. Xu Liang died instantly from Du Fuwei's sword.
In the afternoon, Du Kun brought shocking news that hundreds of thousands of salt workers had gone south, the salt fields were empty, there was no one in Changhai Town, and Zhao Changhai could not be found.
Du Fuwei was stunned and could not say a word for a long time. The military reform he was once proud of turned into a joke. He realized that he had been cheated by the Xu family.
At this time, Du Fuwei's trusted generals Kan Ling, Wang Xiongdan, Ximen Junyi and others rushed to the palace to discuss countermeasures with Du Fuwei.
Everyone also knew about Xu Liang's affairs, but in order to save Du Fuwei's face, they did not mention him again.
Kan Ling said quickly: "Gaomi County is mountainous and easy to hide in. Why don't we withdraw the army to Gaomi County immediately?"
It was Xu Liang's suggestion to annex Gaomi County, not Du Fuwei's original intention. Now that Xu Liang is dead, Du Fuwei is a little shaken.
Du Fuwei hesitated and said, "If we want to hide in the mountains, we might as well hide in Changbai Mountain in my hometown. I know Changbai Mountain better."
Everyone looked at each other, wondering if the lord had changed his mind?
Wang Xiongdan asked cautiously, "My lord, do you not want to go to the Shandong Peninsula?"
Du Fuwei shook his head. "I want to go to Shandong Peninsula, but I don't really want to go to Gaomi County. Gaomi County has many mountains, a small population, and no escape route. In fact, I originally wanted to return to my hometown Qi County, but Xu the thief kept persuading me that Gaomi was so good and I could continue to make salt. I believed his slander and decided to go to Gaomi County."
At this time, a personal soldier reported in the hall, "Your Highness, a pigeon message has been sent from Gaomi County, and a 20,000-man Sui army has occupied Gaomi County."
Everyone was stunned. Du Fuwei sighed and said, "See? The Sui army also knew that I was going to retreat to Gaomi County, and they have already blocked my retreat route."
At this time, Du Fuwei regained his former decisiveness. He immediately said: "We will retreat to Qi County. Qi County has sufficient food and population. We can rise again in just a few months. If things don't work out, we can retreat north to Hebei."
Everyone unanimously agreed to go to Qi County.
That night, Du Fuwei led an army of 30,000 to retreat northward. They did not carry any baggage, and each soldier only carried five days of dry food. They retreated northward quickly.
To the north of Langya County were Lu County, Qi County, Beihai County and Gaomi County, and to the south were Pengcheng County, Xia Pi County and Donghai County.
The border with Qi County is very narrow, only a few dozen miles away. This area is all hilly and low mountains, and there is only one small county within a hundred miles around, Ying County.
Li Jing had anticipated that Du Fuwei would retreat to Qi County, so he suggested stationing a special force in Ying County. Xiao Xia accepted Li Jing's suggestion and sent General Su Dingfang to lead 10,000 cavalrymen to intercept Du Fuwei in Ying County.
This was the first time that Su Dingfang was entrusted with an important task after joining the Prince of Jin's army. It was also a test for him by Xiao Xia, who asked him to independently lead 10,000 cavalry to intercept the enemy.
This was not Su Dingfang's first time fighting. He had fought against the bandit army in Hebei Province, engaging in more than ten battles of varying sizes, making the bandit army terrified.
That afternoon, Su Dingfang finally got the news that Du Fuwei's army was taking the road to Qi County, which made him very happy. He was worried that Du Fuwei's army had gone to Gaomi County and he would have no chance to make any merit.
He immediately led 10,000 cavalrymen to Panlong Mountain in the south.
(End of this chapter)