Although Lu Yuan was very reluctant and said the words 'entire army retreat' through gritted teeth, he also knew that he could no longer retreat at this time.
Hearing that Lu Yuan had made up his mind, Luo Ren and Chief Su realized that nothing happened, and the others in the tent breathed a sigh of relief. Although they were not optimistic about the prospect of rebellion, it was always good to live one more day.
Luo Ren and Chief Su immediately arranged for a retreat. Retreating is also very particular. If the enemy retreats in a swarm, they can easily chase them down as long as they have cavalry, so detailed arrangements must be made.
Luo Ren first arranged for the army to receive the troops stationed at the west gate, north gate and south gate of Jinan City. He then arranged to attack the city for two consecutive days, and then withdrew on August 26.
At this time, only Pingshan Guard and Dongping Guard had arrived at Jinan Prefecture. The soldiers of Jinan Guard had also suffered heavy losses in the battle to defend the city in the past few days, and their total strength was not much more than that of the rebels outside the city. Xie Cheng was worried that there was fraud, so he did not send any troops.
pursuit.
Of course, Zhuang De, the commander of the Dongping Guard, was very puzzled by Xie Cheng's decision. Zhuang De said to Xie Cheng: "Commander Xie Du, even if he is worried about fraud, there are still three thousand cavalry in the city, so the cavalry can be used
Pursuing, even if you are just hanging from a distance to avoid traps, is still better than sending no soldiers at all!"
But Xie Cheng insisted: "Now our army is not much larger than the rebels. If the three thousand cavalry are ambushed after being sent out, our army will be completely unable to contain the enemy. Once the rebels bring a large number of young men to attack the city again,
There is nothing for them to worry about."
Xie Cheng is the commander-in-chief of Shandong Dusi. Since he has made up his mind not to send, there is nothing else anyone else can do. Although Zhuang De thinks that Xie Cheng is too cautious, what Xie Cheng says is not unreasonable, so that's all.
Then on August 27th and 28th, Linqing Guards, Rencheng Guards and other three guards and soldiers from several thousand households came to Jinan City. The total military strength in Jinan City reached more than 30,000 people.
Forty thousand people.
On August 30, Xie Cheng left three thousand households to guard the city. Zhuang De, the commander of the Dongping Guards, was the main defender and personally led more than 30,000 people to pursue eastward. If he could defeat the enemy before the imperial decree officially arrived,
If he rebelled, he would have achieved great success. In addition, since the three guards of King Qi rebelled and he was actually not responsible, he could probably be granted the title of Shihou.
On the top of Jinan City, Zhuang De looked at Xie Cheng's leaving back and thought to himself: 'Why did Xie Cheng behave so differently? He was so careful at the beginning that he didn't even send cavalry, but there were more troops waiting to come.
Such boldness only left three thousand households in the city. Xie Cheng has changed a lot in the past few days!'
On the evening of August 29, Luo Ren and Chief Su led the remaining 16,000 troops to retreat to the bank of Baiyun Lake in Zhangqiu County.
At this time, their army had completely lost morale. Before the attack on Jinan, although morale was not high, there was always a point, but after they withdrew from Jinan City, they completely lost morale.
Although they retreated safely from Jinan City, because Lu Yuan initially ordered an all-out attack on the city, they suffered huge losses in Jinan, and a total of 6,000 people died under Jinan City.
The dead are not the scariest thing, but the wailing of countless wounded people inside the camp is destroying the morale of this army all the time.
Later, when they retreated, they left the seriously injured soldiers outside Jinan City. By the time this army retreated to the shores of Baiyun Lake, they had completely lost their morale.
After arriving at Baiyun Lake, not only Luo Ren and Chief Su, but also Lu Yuan knew that this army could no longer fight, and listlessly directed the soldiers to set up camp. He asked people to set up his camp, and then got into his own camp first.
's camp.
Lu Yuan was lying on the bed, thinking to himself: 'Now it seems that this army has no way to fight. I am afraid that just one thousand households can defeat these 16,000 people at this time.'
'It seems that we can't bring too many people to be buried with us. I originally wanted to capture the city of Jinan and slaughter hundreds of thousands of people there, but there is no chance now. However, Zhangqiu on the way from here to Qingzhou,
The four counties of Zouping, Zichuan and Linzi can still be captured, so we will attack these four counties under the pretext of boosting morale. After defeating them, we will launch troops to loot and massacre these four counties.'
'And after returning to Qingzhou, there are more than 200,000 people in Qingzhou City. As soon as the imperial soldiers reach the Qingzhou City, they will set fire to completely destroy the Qingzhou City and let the entire Qingzhou City people be buried with me! Even if the imperial soldiers try their best to put out the fire.
People can always kill half the city.'
'This way hundreds of thousands of people will be buried with me, so it won't be a loss!'
Lu Yuan had made up his mind and slept soundly that night. Early the next morning, he called Luo Ren, Chief Su and others over, and said to them calmly: "Command the army to attack Zhangqiu County immediately."
Chief Su asked in confusion: "Zhangqiu does not have the imperial troops and horses. It is easy to attack Zhangqiu County, but what is the use of conquering Zhangqiu?"
Lu Yuan said: "The morale is now so low. If we don't think of ways to boost it, half of our people will have fled before we can reach Qingzhou. How can we still defend Qingzhou City? If we don't seal the sword for two days after Zhangqiu is defeated, no matter what,
It will be done by the soldiers."
"What!" Luo Ren, Chief Su and others were shocked. Although they are rebels now, they are from the imperial army's economic and military forces. Everything still follows the imperial court's military disciplines, although they can't do anything on the march.
No crime, but I have never condoned the army's wanton rape of the people. But now I have to violate the military discipline and law they have always followed and indulge the soldiers.
Luo Ren and Chief Su looked at Lu Yuan with burning eyes, as if hoping that he would give up the order. But Lu Yuan stared at them in turn and said, "What are you looking at! Why don't you go and deliver the order right away?"
After Chief Su sat in his seat for a long time, he sighed: "I finally became a thief today!" Then he went out of the tent to deliver orders. The other people sitting there also had sad expressions.
Although they rebelled against the imperial court before, they were still a regular army. They could be called rebels, but they were not considered thieves. But with this order today, their military discipline would be gone and they would become thieves completely.
At the same time, it is hard to say what the emperor would think about this order. The civil and military officials who were originally from Shandong would probably hate them to the core, and even if they did, they would probably never survive.
However, this order can indeed boost morale. With this order, the already non-existent morale was restored a little bit. Especially the eyes of many soldiers who did evil things in daily life and were often punished by military disciplines were even brighter.
Perhaps stimulated by this order, packing up the barracks, which was supposed to take a long time, was completed quickly.
Although Chief Su and others issued this order, they were unwilling to dirty their hands and led their own soldiers at the outermost perimeter, unwilling to command something that could not be called a war at all.
However, there is no imperial army in Zhangqiu City. It is just a temporary army organized by the county magistrate. It is easy to resist the mob, but an organized army cannot resist.
Lu Yuan personally took command of the battle and attacked Zhangqiu County in different levels. Soon Zhangqiu County fell. Lu Yuan personally announced the order of "not sealing the sword within two days" at the gate of the county. Soon, a loud roar sounded in Zhangqiu City.
There were various noisy sounds, mixed with the completely unrestrained shouts of the soldiers and the cries of the people.
It was not until nightfall that Luo Ren and others, who really did not want to spend the night outside the city, entered the city with their own soldiers.
As soon as they entered the city, they were stunned by the sight in front of them. Each of them stood there blankly, and there was no reaction at all when blood flowed from the city wall onto their bodies.
According to Zhang Jiude, a resident of Zhangqiu County who later survived, "Among the citizens, there were those who hung from beams, those who threw themselves into wells, those who drowned in rivers, those who had bloody faces, those whose limbs were severed, and those whose limbs were chopped but still moved. Their bones and flesh were in a mess."
"Day and night, the neighbors would rape anyone who refused to obey in public. Their hands would be nailed to the board with long nails and they would still be raped."
Although Luo Ren and others had fought in battles and had seen countless people die in front of them, they still couldn't accept the sight of Asura like this.
Just as they were standing at the city gate, Luo Ren suddenly felt someone grabbing his legs. He looked down and saw a disheveled woman looking at him with tears in her eyes, begging: "Please
Lord Jun, please let my father go, and I am willing to accompany Lord Jun."
Luo Ren looked sideways and saw two soldiers fighting with a civilian holding a spear. One of the soldiers snatched the spear from the civilian's hand twice, and the other was about to chop the civilian to death with a knife.
Luo Ren shouted loudly: 'Stop!'
The two people were stunned when they heard the shout and looked sideways. Of course they knew Luo Ren, so they stopped. One of them even smiled and said: "Master Su, since you have fallen in love with this woman, we will give it to you."
." Then the two of them walked away with their knives.
Luo Ren asked one of his guards to help the common man up, and then he said to the woman: "I don't need you to accompany me. I saved your father and daughter not for reward, but for peace of mind."
Then he looked at the shivering woman and said, "I'm letting you go now, because I'm afraid you won't be able to go far before you suffer misfortune again, so you'd better follow us first. I won't let you go until they leave Zhangqiu County."
Walk."
The common man came over to support his daughter. He could see that this man was not telling lies, so he knelt down and said, "Caomin Zhang Jiude thanks you!"
Luo Ren helped him up and said, "Don't say thank you anymore." They had brought the soldiers here, so how could he have the nerve to accept the word "thank you".
Luo Ren asked one of his personal guards to take out a piece of clothing for the father and daughter to put on, and then asked the personal guard to take the father and daughter to find a place to settle down first, while he took the rest of the people to Zhangqiu.
County government office. He expected that it would be Zhangqiu County government office a long way away.
Sure enough, Lu Yuan was at the Zhangqiu County Government Office. When Luo Ren arrived at the Zhangqiu County Government Office, he saw Lu Yuan sitting in the lobby, drinking wine. But just above the lobby, next to his seat, there were several
The body was lying there.
Lu Yuan heard the footsteps, raised his head and said to Luo Ren with a smile: "Brother Luo is here? Sit down and have a drink?"
