Located at a side door to the east of Zhuque Gate, next to the Imperial Ancestral Temple, Ancestral Temple and other buildings, a cavalry bolted out and instead of continuing forward, they turned their horses' heads to the east, passing through Pingkangfang and reaching the East Market.
The East Market is quiet late at night. There are some red lanterns hanging on the river, which looks a bit deserted in the night. The boats are docked at the pier, swaying in the wind, as if they are waiting for the boatman to return.
The cavalry ran along the main road next to the East Market and hurriedly arrived at Chunming Gate.
There was a group of cavalry waiting at Chunming Gate. They were all well-equipped and indifferent. The bags of sand and soil blocking the city gate had been emptied. When they saw someone coming, they quickly opened the city gate, extinguished the torches, and hurried out of the city under the bright moonlight.
Not long after, Wang Shengzhi led his men to pursue him to Chunming Gate. When he saw the discarded torches, bags of sand and soil on the ground, and the wide-open city gate, he became furious and shouted: "You bastard, you actually had a plan to escape."
"Sir, they have horses, but we can't catch them, what should we do?" a captain asked anxiously.
"Let's go and catch up. It's dark, and the horses can't run fast. The King of Han has arranged a backup plan, so we can't run." Wang Shengzhi said angrily and rushed out of the city.
The soldiers quickly followed up. They didn't want to give up on such a big fish.
…
Beiyuan, inside the Zhongjun tent.
An Guozheng walked around anxiously. All the troops went to attack the palace, leaving only his own men on standby. With the fighting power of the Hanzhou Army, the palace would be easily captured. Then wouldn't he be able to gain any military merit?
However, Duke An Guo did not dare to lead his troops to support regardless of the order. Although Qin Huaidao was usually kind, generous, and easy to talk to, when it came to military orders, he was quite unkind.
"Report——"
An officer rushed into the Chinese military tent, raised his hands and said: "General, the scouts guarding the gates of Chang'an City came to report that a cavalry was spotted at Chunming Gate rushing out and heading east."
"cavalry?"
An Guogong reacted suddenly and said excitedly: "Haha, we deserve the big fish. Our siege troops did not have horses. The cavalry must be the enemy's commander. If you want to run away, I will catch him personally."
Soon, a huge cavalry group rushed out of the camp and roared eastward.
When it comes to horseback riding, An Guogong's people all grew up on horses, and their riding skills are excellent and their speeds are extremely fast.
Running wildly all the way.
Less than half an hour later, the army caught up with a cavalry group. Duke An Guo shouted excitedly: "Give me an order to outflank this group of enemies. Be sure to block this group of enemies and prepare to fight."
"Follow the order!" a general immediately responded.
The army was soon divided into three, and the two troops separated and detoured from both sides.
The main force continued to speed up the pursuit, and the people on horseback took out their big bows, took out their feather arrows, and let go of the reins. The people on the horse undulated as they ran, unaffected by the bumps, and their hands were very steady.
"Boohoo!"
One after another, the feathered arrows whizzed away, heading straight ahead.
The fleeing cavalry in front also quickly changed their formations and divided into three. One group stayed behind and the other two went to intercept the people who were coming up in a roundabout way. Only two to three hundred people were left to continue charging forward.
An Guogong knew at a glance that Big Fish was among the two or three hundred people, but the enemy fought very resolutely and desperately. He was so angry that he shouted: "Warriors of the grassland, shoot freely and kill them all."
"Boohoo!"
One after another, the feathered arrows whizzed away with incomparable accuracy.
The people behind did not have bows and arrows, not even a shield, but they had repeating crossbows and sabers, and the equipment was not bad. They all raised their repeating crossbows to fight back. Unfortunately, the horses were running and their bodies were rising and falling, making it difficult to control the shot.
The crossbow arrows either hit the sky or hit the ground, and there was no accuracy at all.
When An Guogong saw this scene, he laughed: "Hahaha, it looks like bluffing, but it's just a fake trick, shoot him!"
The soldiers also saw that this cavalry looked extraordinary, but was not good at using crossbows on horseback. They were determined and were not in a hurry to charge up to close combat and continued shooting arrows.
After several rounds of arrow rain, most of the cavalrymen in the rear fell down, and the rest dismounted under the general's orders. In this way, the power of the repeating crossbows was unleashed.
"Charge forward and kill!"
An Guogong yelled, "This is the moment we have been waiting for. The infantrymen are dismounted, and they are not a threat. What's more, there are only more than a thousand people, and there are nearly ten thousand people around him, so they are sure to win."
The soldiers rushed forward on horseback, lowering their bows and drawing their sabers.
Under the moonlight, the sword was shining brightly, he raised it high and then slashed hard.
"kill--"
Suddenly, there was a loud shout of killing.
Although the Duanhou cavalry were good at fighting and very resolute, they were still made of flesh and blood. They were either knocked away by the horses, or cut down to the ground and trampled to death by the horses behind them.
The army rushed forward like a rolling torrent, drowning and swallowing the cavalry behind them, and continued to move forward.
Soon, the army chased away, leaving behind corpses all over the ground, as well as scattered and ownerless horses.
Wang Shengzhi led his men to catch up. When he saw this scene, he shouted excitedly: "Haha, there is a war horse. Hurry, ride the horse instead and continue the pursuit."
With that said, Wang Shengzhi found a war horse, jumped on it, and continued to chase.
The soldiers also mounted their horses one after another. Although their riding skills were not good, they were just walking, so it was not a big problem.
While pursuing all the way, Wang Shengzhi saw large armies fighting on both sides. He couldn't see clearly under the moonlight, so he ignored them and continued running wildly with his own men.
Not long after, a forest appeared in front, and someone was fighting, blocking the way.
"follow me."
Wang Shengzhi quickly changed direction, led everyone to rush past from the side, and quickly rushed into the woods.
The woods were dense, which was not conducive to the running of war horses. Wang Shengzhi signaled everyone to dismount and continued to rush forward. He rushed to a small hillside in one breath and was shocked when he saw that the army also walked through the woods instead.
"General, what should we do?" A captain stepped forward and asked, panting from exhaustion.
"The army that came in should be our own people. They came in to search the mountain. It can be seen that the big fish escaped. There are woods all around. If you are in trouble, go over there." Wang Shengzhi pointed to a higher hillside and said.
Everyone hurriedly followed, running all the way, unable to see clearly, stumbling and looking very embarrassed.
After running to the top of the mountain, everyone was so tired that they collapsed on the ground, gasping for air.
Wang Shengzhi had good physical strength and quickly climbed up a big tree to see far away.
Under the moonlight, the surrounding woods were gray and nothing could be seen clearly. Wang Shengzhi was so anxious that he kept scanning the surroundings with a pair of sharp eyes, and suddenly found a night bird flying in a forest.
At night, the birds in the woods will not fly unless they are frightened.
Thinking of this, Wang Shengzhi was overjoyed and quickly jumped down from the tree and shouted: "If you find the target, follow me."
As he said that, he ran in the same direction regardless of whether everyone could move.
The soldiers stood up one after another and followed with gritted teeth, but the speed was much slower.
At the critical moment, Wang Shengzhi ignored his troops and kept jumping and running alone, like a hungry wolf looking for food under the moonlight, with extremely fast speed.