After defeating the soldiers and soldiers gathered in the west courtyard and capturing Cao Xuanwen alive, the gate of the west courtyard was opened, and Xu Huai did not let all the soldiers and horses go directly to kill various places in the state government.
Before the raid, Xu Huai and the others had studied the internal layout of the state government office in detail, and they also knew very well that the military camp in the Northeast City had an alley leading directly to the state government's back house. The state government's back house was also divided into the main courtyard and the east and west courtyards for the servants.
Officials who were transferred to Lanzhou from other places had their families and servants living there, and the courtyard was even more complicated than the former Yamen.
Their military strength is already very limited. Except for Xu Xin'an and Niu Er who led more than a hundred people to stay at the west gate to keep everyone in and out of Kelan City, and to guard the inside and outside of Kelan City, only two hundred people were killed inside and outside the Zhou Yaxi Courtyard.
Armored Cavalry.
At this time, we are in a hurry to disperse. If something happens midway, we may be caught off guard if we want to adjust our deployment.
Xu Huai decided to divide the two hundred armored cavalry into two teams:
One team, led by Yuan Lei, continued to stay outside the government office. One was to alert the defenders elsewhere in the city, and the other was to intercept the officials in the government office so that the soldiers could escape.
If these soldiers and subordinate officials are blocked in the state government office, they will always be a turtle in the urn, and they can be caught later.
Xu Huai personally led the remaining armored cavalry to fight, armed with shields, swords, spears, bows and crossbows, and went directly to the back house with Wang Ju, Wang Xian and Yin Peng to kill.
At this time, Xu Huai no longer needed to charge forward. Instead, he held a Zhemu walking bow in his hand and swept forward surrounded by many armored soldiers.
There are many subordinate officials and soldiers in the state government, and they are basically Han people from the south of Shuozhou. They only follow Cao Shixiong's lead, but when they see more than 30 soldiers and 20 armor soldiers in the west courtyard, they are almost there.
In the blink of an eye, they were slaughtered by powerful enemies who suddenly came in. Who would dare to come forward and seek death?
Xu Huai, Wang Ju, Wang Xian, and Yin Peng led the team through the verandahs and paths, and headed straight to the backyard, as if they were in a deserted land. Whenever a door was locked from the inside, Xu Huai would arrange for men to scale the wall directly.
past.
Occasionally, three or five servants or soldiers came over to stop them with knives, or they didn't have time to escape. How could they be their opponents? They were just a few more dead souls of swordsmen, and a few more corpses lying in a pool of blood.
The backyard was also a complex of buildings with snow-covered eaves. Xu Huai and the others followed the layout plan and went directly to the courtyard where there was a gateway, a barracks, and an alley.
It is also the garden of the state government. It covers an area of more than two acres. Some winding fish ponds were dug, many ornamental trees were planted, and a rockery three to four feet high was piled in the corner - this
The garden is a beautiful scene with lush green vegetation in spring and summer, but at this time the water is frozen and snow-covered, and the trees are all bare and withered.
Xu Huai and the others rushed into the garden, when a group of female relatives, escorted by dozens of servants, ran in panic from the east courtyard. They seemed to be trying to escape from the government office, but they were knocked into the ground by them.
These female relatives, more than a hundred armored soldiers, came in like wolves and tigers, each with a ferocious look, their swords, bows, and armors were stained with blood. They were all frightened out of their wits. They screamed and wanted to turn around and flee back to the east courtyard.
The women and children in this house are all targets for capture, so how can they be allowed to escape?
Yin Peng led dozens of soldiers and rushed to the north gate. Without Xu Huai's orders, Wang Xian led ten soldiers and went straight to the moon gate on the east side to block the retreat of these women and children.
Those armed servants were quite brave, but they didn’t even have armor, so how could they withstand the attack of dozens of armored soldiers? As soon as they fought, some people were frequently hacked to the ground. Many female relatives panicked and were forced to the northeast corner of the garden.
Retreat.
The rockery is in the northeast corner. Dozens of women and children have no choice but to retreat and are huddled in the corner. However, there are also martial arts practitioners among the female relatives. An old woman saw the Tongbai Mountain soldiers approaching, drew her sword and shouted angrily before moving forward.
A sergeant cut off:
"Where did the thieves come from and dare to act recklessly in our Kelan City?"
Xu Huai strictly prohibited the killing of women and children in the army. The sergeant had not been alerted when he saw the old woman holding a knife. But when he realized that the old woman was slashing with a very powerful knife, the shield in his left hand was struck by an armed servant from the side.
Holding him down with a spear, he was so stunned that he forgot to move aside.
Seeing that the sergeant's neck was exposed to the woman's sword, Xu Huai was so anxious that he shot an arrow towards the woman's face and ordered in a cold voice: "During the confrontation, all women and children holding swords will
The enemy is killed with meritorious service and without guilt!"
"Ancestor!"
When the female relatives saw the old woman being shot, they screamed in panic.
The old woman was hit in the face by Xu Huai's arrow. She didn't fall down immediately. She stared at Xu Huai in disbelief. Her face was wrinkled and trembling like a dead tree. Blood soon overflowed along the arrow shaft.
"Those who abandon their swords and kneel down can live!" Xu Huai put another arrow on the string and stared at dozens of women and children. Many of them held the swords and refused to abandon them. He immediately
He shot a middle-aged woman in the face, causing her blood to spatter five feet; Xu Huai could already hear the sound of enemy reinforcements running in the alley and the sound of armor rustling. He had no time to tangle with these women and children.
Xu Huaiyou issued the military order, and the generals no longer had any scruples in their actions. When they saw anyone holding a sword or a weapon, whether they were women or children, they were stabbed with swords and spears, shot with bows and crossbows, and in the blink of an eye, dozens of women and children were cut down.
He was shot to the ground, and his blood flowed out into the snow.
The remaining dozen or so armed servants were also seized by Wang, and Wang Xian personally went in and dealt with them one by one.
The door from the back house to the alley was open, and a young military general with more than a hundred soldiers was seen stopping sixty or seventy steps away. Looking at the corpses in the garden, he roared madly: "You bastard, how dare you
Slaughter the women and children of my Cao family, Cao Cheng and I will make you die a miserable death today!"
"I'm just afraid you won't kill me!" Xu Huai curled his lips and smiled.
Xu Huai then personally climbed up the three-foot-high rockery and saw that the defenders from the East City, South City, and North City directions were all converging on the military camp in the north. It was obvious that they were preparing to gather there and recapture the Yamen.
Xu Huai finally got off the rockery in a leisurely manner, touched the string of the bow that had been loosened by the continuous shooting of the archer, changed it to a Zhemu walking bow, put it in his hand, and said to the guard beside him:
"Send an order to Yuan Lei that there are no enemy troops approaching from the outside. He is asked to divide three small teams into the prefectural government offices to clear out the courtyards. However, if women and children are found in the enemy's formation, anyone with a knife can be killed! I don't want to violate military discipline. In addition, ask him to
Send someone to carry the flagpole from the front office courtyard and bury it in the garden so that Cao Xuanwen can be hung up and tied up, so that the rebel soldiers in Kelan City can open their eyes and see the fate of those who surrender to the enemy!"
"I'm afraid these two boys are also the heirs of Cao Shixiong!" Wang Xian grabbed the two young men and said to Xu Huai.
"Who are you?" Xu Huai looked at the two young men with eyes full of anger and hatred and asked loudly.
Xu Huai had met Cao Xuanwen before in Shuozhou, but the other underage children of the Cao family had no chance to meet him. He saw that these two young men and the young military general who led his troops to kill in the alley were all related to Cao Shixiong and Cao Shili brothers.
The two looked alike and opened their mouths to ask.
"Bah, when my father comes back with his troops, I will skin you dog thieves!" A young man spat in Xu Huai's face.
Xu Huai raised his foot and kicked the young man to the ground, and ordered: "Both two little beasts are not good things. First, they will be stripped naked and given thirty whips. When the flagpole is buried in the garden, they will be tied up to show the public! Treason!
There are people in the army who know him, so there is no need to talk nonsense to them!"
When Wang Xian was about to take off the clothes of the two young men for execution, he saw a middle-aged man running over from the west yard with surprise and joy, shouting to Xu Huai: "Xu Huai! It's true!"
When you entered Kelan, I was not wrong about you at the beginning - I hope you will suffer a lot!"
Xu Huai stared at Xun Yannian who was walking quickly and saw that he was wearing a green coat. Although he did not have the majesty when he first met him in Kelan City, he did not look like he had been wronged. He frowned and asked: "Xun Yannian"
Lang Jun, where did you come from? Shouldn't you be imprisoned in prison at this time?"
"I..." Xun Yannian was startled and then said sarcastically, "Cao Shixiong persecuted him in every possible way. I could only pretend to be friendly with him, but I didn't suffer much. But I always want to escape from Kelan City.
——You, you don’t think that I really intend to surrender to the enemy, do you? Haha… How is it possible? Even though I, Xun, am powerless, I will never do such a cowardly thing… Haha…”
Xun Yannian laughed, as if Xu Huai was telling a very funny joke.
Xu Huai closed his eyes, opened his sharp eyes after a while, and said with a cold face: "If you can't bear the punishment, you have to temporarily succumb to Cao Shixiong's power, or if you are sitting in your own house at this time, you are not here.
Even if you become a guest of the Cao family in the state government, I will not ask too much and can send you back to Bianjing safely. Look at how many generals have died at the hands of the soldiers.
How many people in the city have been massacred by the rebels, how can you ask me to tolerate you? If you still have some consciousness, you can commit suicide and die. At least your reputation will not be completely ruined, and the children of the Xun family will not be implicated by you! This is the only way I can help you.
made!"
"You..." Xun Yannian sat slumped in the snow, as if all the strength in his body had been drained.
"You two find a room, help Mr. Xun, sit down and think about it!" Xu Huai waved his hand and arranged for the two of them to imprison Xun Yannian. Even if he had to arrange his "suicide", he was not busy at this time.
Xu Huai really didn't expect that Kelan City had only been completely controlled by Cao Shixiong for two or three days. Xun Yannian had no backbone and surrendered to the enemy so quickly, and even became a guest of the Cao family.
The defection of Cao Shixiong and other Shuozhou generals to the enemy had already made Wang Zhen extremely passive in the court. If he really sent Xun Yannian back to Bianjing alive, it would only make the government and the opposition party redouble their attacks on Wang Zhen - and this Xun Yannian was too famous
People are disappointed.
This also reminded Xu Huai that since the guards were all attracted to the north, he could arrange for people to break into the state prison and release the Lanzhou officials imprisoned by Cao Shixiong...
