Chapter 693: Full Pursuit
Chapter 693: Full Pursuit
The next morning, Yu Wenzhi held a sacrifice at the bank of the Minjiang River outside the city to the Minjiang Dragon King. However, he did not ask the Dragon King to bless Bashu with good weather. Instead, he affirmed that the Minjiang Dragon King would bless his regime and prevent Li Xiaogong's army from invading Bashu.
Unfortunately, Yu Wenzhi prayed to the wrong god. Instead of praying to the Dragon King of Minjiang River, he should have prayed to the living god Wei Wentong. Wei Wentong led an army of 30,000 to guard Jianmen Pass. If he appeased him, it would be more effective than any other god.
Although the sacrifice seemed a bit like a farce, Song Enping made full use of this opportunity and anchored more than a dozen ships about two miles away from the sacrificial site.
At noon, the sacrifice was over, Emperor Yu Wenzhi returned to the city, and all officials also returned to the city. The martial law on the river was lifted, and a large number of blocked ships set sail one after another. Song Enping's cargo ship also set sail and headed towards the altar.
Pei Ju was still chatting with several officials under the shed near the altar. There was a time difference. The sacrifice was over and the ban on boats was lifted, but the excitement of the whole sacrifice was still there, so some officials walked slowly, which was normal.
At this time, a man walked up to Pei Ju and whispered, "You can get on the boat now!"
Pei Ju glanced around and saw a cargo ship moored at the altar by the river, only thirty steps away from him.
Pei Ju stood up and walked towards the cargo ship. Several senior officials who were chatting with him were also going to leave at the same time. They followed Pei Ju tacitly. Pei Ju and five officials boarded the ship silently.
Although several craftsmen who were dismantling the altar saw them boarding the boat, they did not dare to ask any more questions. The boat immediately turned around and headed south. The other thirteen officials also boarded the boat in different places. The river was full of boats, and it was impossible to tell which boats carried the officials.
An hour and a half later, the guards who had been waiting for Pei Ju for a long time reported the case. Several guards were also monitors. They thought Pei Ju was having lunch at the altar and had been waiting patiently. However, when they saw that all the people who were performing the sacrifice had left and the altar and the shed had been dismantled, there was still no sign of Pei Ju, the guards realized that something was wrong.
Currently, the general in charge of the internal guards under Yu Wenzhi is Pei Qiantong, the general of the Wuhou Guard. This kind of person is very motivated when he has milk, and he defends Chengdu like catching a thief. But once there is no benefit, or he finds that the future is not optimistic, Pei Qiantong loses his enthusiasm, and Chengdu's defense and control suddenly becomes lax.
Although Pei Qiantong no longer had the motivation to do things, he still knew what was important and what was not. When his subordinates reported to him that Pei Ju was missing, Pei Qiantong jumped up. It was okay if ordinary people disappeared, but it was not okay if high-ranking officials disappeared. Yu Wenzhi would not forgive him.
Pei Qiantong also immediately realized that the official who escaped might not be just Pei Ju, so he immediately ordered people to check the residences of various officials.
Pei Qiantong paced back and forth in the lobby anxiously, waiting for news from his subordinates. Soon, his generals came to report, "General, there are about 19 officials missing!"
Pei Qiantong slammed his fist on the table. It turned out to be a planned escape. He gnashed his teeth in hatred, "A bunch of bastards!"
He did not dare to hide it and immediately rushed to report to Yu Wenzhi.
Yu Wenzhi was a very narrow-minded person. He would rather suffer no benefit himself than let others suffer misfortune. When he heard that Pei Ju and other officials had escaped, he was furious and cursed Pei Qiantong for being incompetent.
Pei Qiantong said tremblingly: "Your Majesty, since Pei Ju escaped during the sacrifice by the river, it is very likely that he escaped by water. I suggest intercepting him by water!"
Yu Wenzhi gnashed his teeth and said, "I don't care whether they escape by water or land. I order all checkpoints to intercept them. No matter what, they must be captured, regardless of life or death!"
"I humble my duty and obey my decree!"
Pei Qiantong immediately went down to deploy interception.
Although Yu Wenzhi could not control the local government, he was able to control the army. He deployed more than 100 checkpoints in various places in Bashu, but most of them were land checkpoints. There were only three water checkpoints, one in Wenshan County of Wenshan Prefecture in the north, the second in Chengdu, and the third in Longyou County of Meishan Prefecture in the south. However, the main purpose of these land checkpoints and water checkpoints was extortion. Usually, as long as money was given, they would not search at all.
This is how Shi Xiaozhen's fleet passed through the Longyou County checkpoint and headed north. After paying sixty taels of silver, they did not encounter any trouble and headed north smoothly.
But after Pei Qiantong sent fast horses to inform all checkpoints of the emperor's urgent order, the checkpoints dared not act recklessly. They strengthened their personnel and ships and strictly checked all passing pedestrians, carts, caravans, and ships to ensure that no suspect would escape.
That night, Song Enping's cargo ship sent Pei Ju and 19 other officials to Liu Jing's manor in Tongyi County. After they had a good meal and rested for a few hours, before dawn, they boarded six warships of the inner guards and set off south.
The Western Sui Dynasty left behind more than 500 warships, mainly small and medium-sized, with most of them less than 1,000 stones. The warships were mainly distributed in two places, one was Chengdu and the other was Longyou County, Meishan County.
There is no relationship between the naval warships and the water checkpoints. The navy of Longyou County has two thousand people and more than one hundred large and small warships, while the water checkpoints have only more than two hundred people and more than thirty speedboats.
Of course, if a major incident occurs, the water checkpoints can urgently seek help from the navy.
Longyou County is today's Leshan, where the Minjiang River, Dadu River and Qingyi River meet. Its strategic position on the water is very important. At this time, more than 30 speedboats loaded with soldiers intercepted on the Minjiang River. All ships heading south had to pull over for inspection. Their goal was very clear. They would ignore the ships heading north, the ships on the Dadu River and the Qingyi River, and only check the ships heading south from Chengdu.
The shore was filled with ships that had been intercepted and were waiting for inspection. All the ships were parked obediently alongside and no one dared to confront the government.
At this time, six warships of the Inner Guard came. They were all 2,000-stone warships and looked similar to cargo ships, but they were made of fine materials and were built very solidly and sturdily. The leading warship even had a cast iron ram installed at the front. Not only that, more importantly, they were all equipped with wheel paddles. When necessary, they could step on the paddles to increase the speed.
There were almost no ships on the river. Six warships were floating downstream, which was very conspicuous. Five inspection ships immediately went forward to intercept them and demanded that the ships pull over for inspection.
The Longyou navy also received orders, and more than a hundred ships were dispatched and anchored on the shore. If any ship resisted inspection, they would intercept it.
The naval general was called Miao Anxin, a local. He was originally a general of the Western Sui Dynasty and surrendered to Yu Wenzhi. At this time, Miao Anxin was standing on a thousand-stone ship and looking at the six large ships. He suddenly found something wrong. These were chariot ships and warships, not cargo ships.
He was horrified and ordered, "Sound the alarm!"
"Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!"
Alarms sounded on the riverside, two thousand soldiers took their positions, and warships began to move out.
The six warships fired arrows at the same time, and the five inspection speedboats were caught off guard. The inspection soldiers were shot and fell into the water one after another.
One of the inspection boats blocked the way ahead, and Shi Xiaozhen shouted, "Crash it!"
(End of this chapter)