Chapter two hundred and twelfth for His Majesty to kill a bloody way
According to common sense, local county magistrates and prefects are all herdsmen acting on behalf of the emperor, and have the responsibility of guarding the land and bringing peace to the people. Therefore, in history books, we can see that many generals were still alive after abandoning the city and fleeing.
It was very nourishing, and even relied on the army under his command to make the court extremely jealous, and then promoted and made a fortune, and even rebelled.
But it is rare to see local civil servants running away when the enemy attacks a city and still surviving.
Many civil servants would rather commit suicide than run away when the city was destroyed. This was not because they were afraid of death, nor because of how loyal they were to the dynasty, but because they wanted to save the whole family, and it was also caused by the universal values of the contemporary era.
public opinion.
He committed suicide when the city was destroyed. That means he sacrificed his life for his country and served His Majesty. He is a very loyal minister!
But if you run away, sorry, the court will chop off your head and put your wife and daughter into the Jiaofangsi.
In other words, if local officials such as Xu County Cheng and others want to abandon Zhengtai County, they will need to bear accountability from the court, and such accountability may result in loss of official position in the slightest, or loss of life or even damage to the family in the worst case.
This is why after Xu County Cheng and others were silent for most of the day, no one dared to tell the important reason for escaping. It was not because they were afraid of objections from others present, but because they were afraid of being held accountable by the court.
But now, someone pointed out another way for them, which is to go to Fucheng to ask for reinforcements!
On the surface, this method doesn't seem to make much sense. After all, everyone is not stupid. If you say you go to bring in reinforcements, you are just bringing in reinforcements? You'll be hit the same way later.
But at this moment, the situation in Zhengtai County is a little different. Normally, the person in charge of Zhengtai County should be the county magistrate Su Jiakang, but at this moment, Su Jiakang is not here. Not only is he not here, but he is also
More than half of the main defensive force in the city was taken away.
In other words, it was not Xu County Cheng and others who caused the current crisis in Zhengtai County, but Su Jiakang.
The more critical point is that the magistrate of Zhengtai County is Su Jiakang, and he is the leader. If Zhengtai County is breached, he is the most responsible person, and if the court wants to hold him accountable, he will definitely be held responsible.
And he, Xu County Cheng, is just the second in command, and the others are not worth mentioning.
In this situation, because Su Jiakang's unauthorized actions took away the troops defending the city, Zhengtai County was breached, but he, Xu County Cheng, was not afraid of danger. After the county was captured by the rebels, he decisively moved troops to Fucheng, and then
Recover Zhengtai County and wipe out those abominable puppet Tang bandits.
Who dares to say anything wrong with him like this?
Maybe the court will reward him greatly!
As for whether he ran away after the city was broken or before the city was broken, who cares!
Therefore, Xu County Cheng thought about it and finally nodded: "The situation is critical now. We must request reinforcements from Fucheng as soon as possible!"
As soon as Xu County Cheng said these words, everyone else said: "Your Excellency is wise!"
"Having adults here is really a blessing to the tens of thousands of people in Zhengtai!"
After everyone boasted, they quickly dispersed. They were going to take their whole family to the city to recruit troops.
And Xu County Prime Minister took the lead. His family was not in Zhengtai County, but in his hometown. To put it bluntly, he was a naked official, so after he decided to go to Fucheng to recruit troops, he quickly summoned his personal entourage and more than fifty people.
The soldiers from the Mingwei Station ran directly across the street, then left the city through the East Gate and ran away.
At the same time, Li Xuan and others outside the city continued to retreat. These more than 500 people were still carrying a large army with heavy baggage. More importantly, they were still in an siege formation just now.
, it’s not that easy to adjust after a while.
You can't call it a retreat. Everyone just turned around and ran away in a swarm. That's not called a retreat, it's a collapse!
The retreat is organized and requires alternate cover, and each unit also needs to maintain complete organization and structure.
When the new armies of the Tang Dynasty organized their retreat, the cavalry squad led by Cao Mingda was already rushing backward and northwest. At this time, his cavalry squad was completely used as a reconnaissance cavalry and needed to detect the Ming army behind.
At the same time, it is necessary to check whether there is an ambush by the Ming army in the northwest.
If you don't run into the Ming army's ambush, you will die miserably.
Time passed bit by bit, and not long after, Cao Mingda suddenly rode his horse in person and rushed to Li Xuan: "Your Majesty, there are many Ming troops found in the northwest!"
"Ming army? How many are there?" After Li Xuan heard the news, his face became even more gloomy. The Ming army not only appeared behind him, but also appeared in the northwest. Damn it, are they all in his belly?
Ascaris, knew that he planned to retreat to the northwest?
Cao Mingda said: "There are at least three hundred of them, less than three miles away from us!"
At this time, not only Li Xuan, but also Fang Dongquan, Wang Shanxu and others also became extremely gloomy. It was over. They were surrounded by the Ming army, and it was a typical siege of three buildings. To the northeast is Zhengtai County, and to the southwest is Zhengtai County.
It is the main force of the Ming army led by Su Jiakang, and there are also 300 Ming troops in the northwest.
As for the east, that was the direction to Fucheng. Even if he escaped and killed Li Xuan, he could not escape to the hinterland of the Ming army in the direction of Fucheng. That would be courting death.
Li Xuan looked around, then focused his attention on Zeng Ziwen and said: "If our entire army attacks, can we break through the three hundred enemies in the northwest? Can we break through the encirclement of the Ming army before the Ming army catches up from behind?"
Zeng Ziwen said: "With the combat power of our army, especially the combat power of our musketeers, it is not a big problem against the 300 Ming army, but it takes time to arrange the troops. I'm afraid I won't be able to win them in a short while!"
There is definitely no problem in fighting, and the chance of winning is not small. But the problem is that the Ming army is not stupid. They will not decide the outcome with you in one go. They will change their formation and maneuver to contain you for a while.
, the main force of the Ming army behind them will catch up, and everyone will die by then.
After Li Xuan heard this, his eyebrows furrowed even more tightly: I'm afraid he will be killed in Zhengtai County this time. It's a pity that his great cause of the Tang Dynasty has not officially started yet, and it has only been more than a year since he came to this era.
, but now I’m afraid it’s going to be over.
Li Xuan's face looked ugly, and Fang Dongquan and the others also had gloomy faces. They also knew the danger of being surrounded.
But at this moment, Cai Erhu, who had always been inconspicuous among the people and rarely expressed his opinions in military decisions, suddenly showed a trace of doubt, and then pointed to Zhengtai County not far away: "Look, they are...
What's going on? Are they trying to come out of the city?"
Following his prompt, Fang Dongquan and others also set their sights on Zhengtai County!
I don’t know when, there was no one on the city gate of Zhengtai County, but this is not important. What is important is that the city gate that was once breached by Cao Mingda and the others, but was later closed again by the Ming army, was once again slowed down.
Slowly opened!
Li Xuan frowned and squinted his eyes and said to himself: "Is it possible that the Ming army in the city is going to attack, with the intention of attacking him from both front and back with Su Jiakang in the rear? If this is the case, then I will die from heaven!"
At this time, another reconnaissance cavalry quickly arrived in front of Li Xuan and said: "Report, the two hundred puppet forwards in the rear are less than three miles away from our army, and they are expected to arrive in a moment!"
"Your Majesty, we can't wait any longer. We must leave immediately. If the food and baggage is lost, it will be lost. We will leave the green hills without worrying about having no firewood!" Qian Mengjiu said with an anxious look on his face!
Zeng Ziwen also said: "The situation is urgent now, and we really can't wait any longer!"
At this time, Li Xuan looked at the city gate that was slowly opening. Although no Ming army had appeared there yet, it might not be long before hundreds or even thousands of Ming soldiers swarmed out!
He took a deep breath and nodded slightly to the captain of the guard beside him, and at the same time slowly pulled out the decorative sword on his waist.
He held the long sword in his hand, and the cold light on it made everyone around him see it clearly!
The captain of the guard team next to him became cautious after seeing Li Xuan's actions. Then he waved his hand, and immediately more than a dozen guards in the guard team got on their horses and surrounded Li Xuan.
Each of these personal guards also pulled out their long swords, showing a solemn expression!
Even though Li Xuan didn't speak and the guards in the bodyguard didn't speak either, Fang Dongquan and the others could see that their emperor was going to personally lead the bodyguards into battle.
In other words, it's not right to fight, it should be to run away!
Because when Li Xuan needs to go into battle in person, it can only be the most critical breakout, because breaking out means escaping in other words.
How could he escape without going into battle himself? Could it be that he stayed in the encirclement foolishly and let his subordinates break out and escape on his behalf?
At this time, Butcher Chen also said to the soldiers beside him: "Bring me my knife!" Then he said to the soldiers of the Heavy Armor Sword and Shield Team under his command: "Brothers, wear armor!"
After saying this, he turned to Li Xuan and said, "I am willing to open the way for Your Majesty!"
Li Xuan did not speak, but nodded slightly. Butcher Chen immediately strode out and walked to the front of the heavy armored sword and shield team, holding up his butcher knife: "Brothers, the time for a bloody battle has come. Wait and kill hard."
Damn it, fight a bloody path for Your Majesty!"
Wang Shanxu, Fang Dongquan and other generals on the side also got on their horses at this time, and then led their respective troops to prepare for a breakout.
The Tang Dynasty's new army outside the city moved very quickly, especially after abandoning all the baggage such as grain and grass, they could break out of the encirclement lightly without being weighed down by the baggage.
At this time, the heavy door on the other side of Zhengtai County was finally completely opened. Li Xuan turned his head and looked at the gate of Zhengtai County in time. The next moment, he saw his mouth slightly opened, and many expressions flashed across his face.
Soon he was seen saying a few words to the ordering soldier beside him, and then he was seen raising the sword in his hand and shouting loudly: "Kill!"