Chapter 1347 Escort
Chapter 1347 Escort
The east gate of Jicheng has been opened, and countless cavalrymen rushed out.
Unfortunately, the streets were not wide enough and the city gates were too narrow. In order to prevent the enemy from rushing in directly, the gates of the city walls were designed to be rather tortuous, that is, the city gates of the city walls were not in a straight line with the gates of the main city.
This design was purely for military defense reasons, but at this moment it caused great trouble for escape.
Murong Huang waited for a long time before rushing out. At this time, there were only about 300 riders outside.
After crossing the moat, he met his sons Murong Zun and Murong Ba, and saw Prime Minister Feng Yi, Internal Secretary Gao Xu, Left Chief Clerk Wang Ji, Left Sima Han Jiao and others.
After waiting for a while, General Pingxi of the Left Army also arrived.
A moment later, military advisor Murong Ping, general's chief secretary Liu Xiang, captain Zhao Pan, redundant cavalry attendant Yang Xie and others arrived in a panic.
Lan Rong and Yang Jing were the last two to rush out. As they ran, they shouted, "My king, please leave quickly. The Pei family has rebelled. There is already a bloodbath inside the East Gate, with countless casualties."
Murong Huang's expression froze, and he said hesitantly: "My son..."
He still had a large number of young children who had not come out with him. They were led by their mothers and were riding in several carriages, so they would definitely be stuck in traffic.
Lan Rong was so angry that he cursed: "I just saw Qiu Liju was stopped by someone and couldn't get away, so I turned around and rushed to kill him. He is using his life to stop the pursuers for the king, why is he still fussing?"
"Yes, father, you still have us." Murong Zun rode forward and said sincerely.
Murong Huang sighed.
That's right, he has two sons, Zun and Ba, by his side, and Xuantu has the crown prince Jun, three sons. Compared to them, women are nothing.
Even if he didn't have a son, he shouldn't have done that. He was only forty years old. If he lost his wife, he could remarry. If he lost his son, he could have another one. It was more important to preserve his useful body.
Thinking of this, he no longer hesitated, and marched eastward with the more than 700 riders who had gathered together, never looking back.
After he left, people continued to flee from the city gate, some were Xianbei cavalry, some were tribal nobles, and some were Yan officials and their children.
The dull sounds of horse hooves could also be heard from the south and north of the city. It was obvious that the Liang cavalry stationed in these two places, after receiving the order, left the camp one after another, organized themselves into teams, explained their tasks, and then launched a pursuit.
The sounds of killing in East City gradually shifted to the city gate.
Qiu Liju, who had led his army to counterattack, retreated from the city gate in a panic. Just as he was about to ride his horse back, he was hit by an arrow. His body swayed on the horse for a moment, and then he fell to the ground with a bang.
The more than one hundred riders who followed him lost their backbone and immediately scattered and fled.
After Qiu Liju's death, Muyu Gen led his army to rush towards the city gate again. The sound of killing was once very close to the outside of the city. In the end, he was blocked by the private soldiers of the three rebellious families of Pei, Du and Huangfu, and failed.
Muyu Gen fought to the end and died of exhaustion, and hundreds of his soldiers were almost all killed.
The scale of the battle was not large, but its brutality was even greater.
Afterwards, the Shi, Pei, Du and Huangfu families rushed to various places in the city, searching for the Xianbei nobles who had not escaped, and took them out one by one in order to redeem themselves.
In times of crisis, people who are brothers in normal times draw their knives against each other. The wind direction changes so quickly and the world is so bizarre as this.
In the south of the city, Shao Yu received the news that a riot had occurred in the city and Murong Huang had fled in panic. He immediately ordered more than a thousand cavalrymen to chase in the direction of Murong Huang's escape.
It was a little dark and the road was bumpy, but both sides put in as much effort as they could, one chasing and one fleeing, and rushed out for more than ten miles.
Liu Xiang, the chief secretary of Murong Huang, led dozens of soldiers and more than a hundred scattered soldiers to stay behind to cover the retreat. The two sides charged and shot in the wild. After a long fight, Shao Yu shot Liu Xiang to death with one arrow and killed all of his soldiers.
As a result of this delay, Murong Huang and others disappeared into the night.
The Left Cavalry Guard stationed in the north of the city also sent troops to pursue, but as soon as they set out, they encountered hundreds of Xianbei cavalrymen escaping from the north gate. The two sides fought a fierce battle, and the Xianbei people were defeated and fled in all directions.
The situation in the south of the city was similar. After Shao Yu led more than a thousand cavalrymen out of the camp, more than 800 Xianbei cavalrymen came out of the city, and the Bingzhou cavalrymen charged straight up. The Xianbei people had no intention of fighting, and after a few brief gestures, they fled eastward.
The two sides were in pursuit and entanglement throughout the entire night.
On the afternoon of the 13th, the Left Cavalry Guard killed more than a hundred people including Xian Yuliang, the supervisor of the Huangji Office.
On the morning of the 14th, the Right Cavalry Guard killed Song Bai, a military officer under Huang, and captured dozens of people.
On the night of the 15th, Shao Yu defeated the Xianbei chieftain Chi Nu who was left behind, killed his father and two of his three sons, and captured and executed more than a hundred people.
On the 16th, they pursued the enemy for another day without any result, and then retreated.
At this time, Li Chong had already sorted out all the affairs in Jicheng, counted the treasury, and sent the captured family members of Murong Huang and the king and ministers of Yan to the camp outside the city, preparing to follow the latest grain transport convoy back to Youzhou - the emperor had just arrived in Yan County and was inspecting and comforting the local clans and chiefs.
******
On the 17th, it drizzled continuously.
Murong Ke stared at his sister-in-law Ke Zhu Hun as if he wanted to bite her.
But Zhu Hun's body stiffened, and a hint of fear appeared on her bright and beautiful face, but it was only a flash, and then she snorted coldly and said, "Tufu, do you want to kill me?"
Murong Ke, who was full of murderous intent, was stunned by his sister-in-law's question and his clenched fists slowly loosened.
Gao gently pulled her son's sleeve and shook her head at him.
Seeing his mother's pleading look, Murong Ke finally stopped staring at Ke Zhuhun and sat silently beside his mother. Gao smiled, wiped the tears from her eyes, held her son's hand tightly, and said, "Tufu, it's mother who has implicated you."
Murong Ke shook his head.
Since childhood, he had seen his mother cry countless times, and had been treated coldly by his father and brothers countless times. It was only this year that his father let him get involved in military affairs for the first time.
In his heart, his attitude towards his father and brother was complicated, but if he was asked to take action against his relatives, including his sister-in-law, he was unwilling to do so.
"Get in the car, let's go!" A team of soldiers came over and shouted.
The words were impolite and the actions were rather rough, and Murong Ke was even pushed to the point of stumbling.
"Hey, I have been able to guard the prisoners with great difficulty and even asked for the job of handing them over. Don't scare me to death." A rough voice came from behind.
Murong Ke looked in the direction of the voice and saw a military officer with a big beard walking towards him.
He looked to be in his forties, wearing a tube-sleeved armor, with a bow and sword hanging from his waist, and a horsewhip in his hand.
Murong Ke recognized this man.
He was the second Liang soldier to rush towards the carriage they were in. The first group of people who rushed over were about to capture them, but they were desperately repelled by Chengda Muyugen and his men. Then this man led his troops to rush over, defeated Muyugen's troops, and captured a total of 20 to 30 people in several carriages.
At that time, this man selected more than 200 soldiers, lined up around the chariot, and had a murderous aura. Those who didn't know the situation thought they were protecting important people, but Murong Ke guessed that they were protecting their own spoils of war, and their target was not the Yan soldiers, but friendly forces.
Thinking of this, he felt a little ashamed.
What's the point of being a man if you can't protect your family?
Feng Bachi didn't bother to care what Murong Ke thought. After everyone arrived, he took hundreds of soldiers from his own government to guard the convoy and headed west.
Returning with them were more than 2,500 soldiers from other prefectures of the Zuo Jinwu Guard and more than 3,000 tribesmen from Henan noble families, who escorted the seized property and prisoners back to Yan County.
It started raining again and the road was not easy to walk on.
After marching westward for two days, they encountered a river that had changed its course after a flood. Looking at the vast swamp ahead, the entire army paused and then built a bridge and paved the road.
The carriage was simply abandoned.
All the women of the Murong family enjoyed the same treatment as the concubines of the Northern Song Dynasty in later generations. They were lifted up by people and crossed the swamp with difficulty. Song Gaozong's mother Wei and other concubines were taken to Shangjing, the capital of the Jin Dynasty. When they passed through Liaoze in early May, "it was like walking in the water. Although the concubines were lying in baskets, the camels and horses were soaked through their heavy clothes. The suffering of hell was nothing more than this."
After Feng Bachi got ashore, all wet, he sighed repeatedly.
There are many heavy rains in Liao during the summer. Rivers change their course every few days, and bridges and dirt roads are often washed away, making them difficult to repair.
Fortunately, the Recruiting Envoy had stockpiled a large amount of food and fodder in advance, first in Lulong, then in Pinggang, and then in Liucheng. Otherwise, life would have been really difficult.
He vaguely heard that even when the emperor came to Youzhou, there were local people who rebelled. The reason was that the transportation was too hard and many laborers died of exhaustion, illness, or escaped on the road.
On the night of the 21st, the group arrived at Liucheng and stayed outside the city.
In the middle of the night, there was still an endless stream of carriages and horses transporting food and fodder on the road.
The roads outside the city were full of potholes and muddy puddles. All the local men and women were mobilized to lay branches and cattails on the road to allow vehicles and horses to pass.
The Wuhuan Xiluo tribe was ordered to move eastward. More than a thousand people, young and old, men and women, drove cattle and sheep and took their belongings to Jicheng to report.
Feng Bachi saw a child sitting on a carriage, holding half a Hu pancake in his hand, nodding his head as if he was dozing off.
A group of burly men guarded him on his side, keeping an eye on him all the time.
After the child was awakened by the turbulence, he asked how long it would take for him to see the King of Yan. The men fooled him by saying "soon".
The child then took two bites of the pancake, and while chewing he fell asleep again.
On the 24th, the convoy reached the ancient city of Pinggang, but had to stop due to heavy rain.
At this time, Feng Bachi saw a team withdrawing from Jicheng and learned that a fierce battle had already started on Xuantu's side. The Xianbei people were still struggling, but the Wuhuan Kuli official tribe surrendered to Julu County King Shen.
After hearing this, he secretly laughed, saying that the Wuhuan people were just like that, they would not fight to the death. They could only share wealth, but not adversity.
As they were talking, Ke Zhuhun heard about the battle situation at Xuantu. Her expression was gloomy at first, then changed.
Duan was very worried. Big Murong (Murong Huang's younger sister) and Little Murong (Murong Huang's daughter) tried to comfort her softly, but Duan pursed her lips tightly, looking quite helpless.
Feng Bachi laughed secretly. She was a woman of a fallen country, why was she still thinking about those things?
But forget about Duan, Gao and others. Both men and women in the Murong family are good-looking. The men are handsome and the women are extremely beautiful.
Tsk tsk, if you meet someone who is popular with both men and women, it will be incredible! Murong brothers and sisters, sisters and brothers are probably favored by both.
The group walked and stopped like this, and finally arrived at Jundu County in the northwest of Yan County on the second day of the leap seventh month, where the emperor resided.
(End of this chapter)