Chapter 407 Look, the pseudo-Tang officials have surrendered!
When Fang Xitong took the general's sword and epaulettes from Li Xuan, he had tears in his eyes, and finally said in an extremely cautious manner: "My lord, I will lead the second brigade for your majesty, and I will not hesitate to do anything for it."
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He didn't say what feats he would accomplish with the Second Brigade or how many Ming troops he would defeat. What he said was that he would lead the Second Brigade well for His Majesty!
Fang Xitong knew his position very well. He could not compare in talent with Hao Bainian, or even Li Chunjing, but he had an advantage that others did not have, that is, he had already established an impression of his foolishness and loyalty in His Majesty's mind.
What he has to do now is to deepen the impression to the extreme!
If you want to climb up, you need not only talent, but also loyalty!
Besides, although his ability is not as good as Hao Bainian and Li Chunjing, he is still better than others. Otherwise, if there are so many people who express their foolish loyalty to Li Xuan, why can he be the battalion commander of the mixed camp before?
Then to the battalion commander of the main infantry battalion, the commander of the main regiment has risen all the way, that is because he also has some abilities, but he is not too outstanding.
Li Xuan took two steps forward, helped Fang Xitong up with his own hands, and then said: "I know Fang Aiqing's loyalty. Get up!"
"Now we, the Tang Dynasty, are facing the most difficult moment. I hope Fang Aiqing can defy my high expectations and deliver good news as soon as possible!"
Comrade Fang Xi said: "I will bear in mind what Your Majesty said, and I will certainly bring you good news for Your Majesty in the future!"
Although he knew that he had risen to the position because of his foolish loyalty to His Majesty, he knew better that if he was loyal but incompetent and failed to make dazzling achievements, His Majesty would not continue to reuse him.
After all, there were too many people in the New Army of the Tang Dynasty who wanted to replace him and become the commander of the second brigade.
After Fang Xitong officially assumed the post of commander of the Second Brigade, he put on a brand new general's uniform that day, and then appeared in the Second Brigade's camp to hold a military meeting. He didn't say much, but what he said was consistent.
Emphasize that the Second Brigade is His Majesty's army, and the purpose of its existence is to sweep away all enemies for His Majesty.
From these words, he once again emphasized his image of foolish loyalty in the eyes of outsiders!
And this is what he wants!
After determining the candidate for the brigade commander of the second brigade, the main force of the Datang New Army finally began to move south!
Because at this time, the forward troops of the Ming Army had already arrived at Lipingfu City. If they did not go south, the Ming Army would not only capture Lipingfu City, but might even march eastward into Xingquan Mansion.
The Xingquan Mansion is now extremely empty, and it is absolutely impossible to stop the Ming army from advancing eastward. Therefore, the main force of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty must go south in time to intercept the front of the Ming army on the west route, and strive to fight a strategic decisive battle in Liping Mansion, so that
Xingquan Mansion, the rear area, avoided the flames of war.
Otherwise, the various systems established by the Tang Dynasty in Xingquan Mansion will be destroyed, especially the many workshops under the Ministry of Industry, which cannot make any mistakes. Otherwise, the new army of the Tang Dynasty will not be able to obtain guns.
The artillery is loaded.
Just when Li Xuan led the main force of the new army of the Tang Dynasty and began to move south, Sun Yawei, the prefect of Liping Prefecture, who was the leading official in the Tang Dynasty and the only official in the Tang Dynasty frowned and looked at the Ming army outside the city!
Behind him stood a group of officials from the Tang Dynasty, including many surrendered officials from the Ming Army!
"Sir, the number of puppet Ming thieves outside the city has reached a thousand, and it is still increasing continuously. I am afraid that by tomorrow, there will be more than three thousand!" At this time, a middle-aged male official came to Sun Yawei's side.
He said this with an unconcealable fear in his expression!
"Now all those in the city who should be evacuated have been evacuated, leaving behind only the old and the weak as well as the wealthy gentry who still have aspirations for the Pseudo-Ming Dynasty!" He continued, and the underlying meaning of his words was already very obvious: We
It's time to run. If you don't run, it will be too late!
After hearing this, Sun Yawei turned around and glanced at the man. He didn't say anything, but just let out a cold snort!
The middle-aged official who just spoke was a county magistrate and a demoted official from the Ming Dynasty. This kind of person was originally greedy for life and afraid of death, otherwise he would not have surrendered to the Tang Dynasty in the first place.
If possible, they would most likely become traitors again and turn their backs to the Ming Dynasty.
It's a pity that they don't have this opportunity!
Because even if they wanted to be traitors, the Ming Dynasty would not agree!
They can save their lives by surrendering to the Tang Dynasty, but the Ming Dynasty or any traditional central dynasty will not treat traitors lightly. Since you have surrendered to the thieves and become rebels, then don't expect to get rid of the title of rebel, even if
If you don't come to punish the nine tribes, it is certain that your family will be confiscated and exterminated!
Who makes you so brave that you dare to surrender to thieves?
There were many officials in Nima, Xingquan and Liping Prefectures. After the fall of these two prefectures, many officials committed suicide and many escaped, but there were really not many who stayed and surrendered to thieves.
The Ming Dynasty couldn't tolerate those officials who escaped. If they were caught, they would be beheaded. In serious cases, they would be escorted to the capital to be interrogated by three divisions. If they didn't go to the bottom of the prison, Ling Chi would be the last one to explain to the world.
, how to promote the orthodoxy of the Ming Dynasty and its determination to resolutely suppress rebels and any rebellious behavior!
There is a price to pay for rebellion!
If you become a traitor and rebel, you will have to pay a price!
So when the Ming army came to the city, few of the demoted officials thought about surrendering again, because they all knew that that would definitely lead to death, but they didn't want to stay in Liping City and wait to die.
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Now there are only more than 400 bandit camps in the city, not even a single regular soldier. Although recently, the Liping Mansion of the Tang Dynasty also forcibly recruited the remaining young and strong and even the old and weak in the city to organize
Nearly a thousand people are preparing to defend the city, but can Lipingfu City be defended with this?
No matter how bad the Ming army is, the siege of thousands of people is not something these young men can withstand!
This city cannot be defended, so the best choice is to run away!
These demoted officials wanted to escape, but even other Tang Dynasty officials in the city actually agreed to evacuate first.
Anyway, they had emptied the city of all valuable things, leaving only a group of stubborn gentry and old and weak people, not even much food left.
After evacuating, you can retain your strength and save your life at the same time. This is naturally the best choice.
Sun Yawei knew their thoughts, but his thoughts were a little different. Retreat was definitely necessary, but when to retreat was something worth considering.
Now that the Ming army has not yet attacked the city, they have run away. Isn’t it a joke?
Moreover, if he delays the Ming army here for one more day, he will be able to give the army led by His Majesty one more day to prepare, so he wants to fight for it even if it only takes one or two days.
Why?
Only in this way can he reflect his role as the first border official of the Tang Dynasty!
Only later will I have the opportunity to enter the cabinet and be on an equal footing with Liu Bagou, Qian Mengjiu and the others!
Without meritorious service, how is this possible?
It is also interesting to say that many civil and military officials in the Tang Dynasty, especially those who took the initiative to surrender, are very ambitious. Civil officials want to enter the cabinet, military generals want to become generals, and one
Everyone wants to be the founding hero!
In fact, we can't blame them, because those who dared to take the initiative to invest in the Tang Dynasty when it first emerged were basically not normal people!
Basically, all of them are careerists who want to gain glory and wealth by taking advantage of this opportunity. Otherwise, who would take such a big risk and rebel by joining thieves? They are not middle-class people like Liu Bagou and Fang Dongquan.
They are very rational. They know that there are huge risks, but they also know that behind the huge risks are huge benefits.
In such things as rebellion, the risks and benefits are directly proportional!
Either die without a burial place, and even involve relatives and friends and be killed, or become a founding hero and live in glory and wealth for hundreds of years. This is rebellion!
Sun Yawei is also such a person!
For his own future, for his future glory and wealth, he had to hold off the Ming army for a few days. Even if he couldn't defend against the Ming army's attack for a day, he would have to retreat after he couldn't hold it.
No matter what, it is absolutely impossible to escape without fighting!
This doesn't fit his style!
"As the prefect of Liping Prefecture, I defend the land on behalf of the emperor's herdsmen. It is absolutely impossible for me to escape without fighting!" Sun Yawei turned around at this time and said to a group of officials under his command: "Go ahead and let them go."
The Pirate Camp and the Youth Camp must be on strict guard. Once the puppet Ming bandits attack the city, they must resist resolutely!"
Sun Yawei's righteousness was so great that the officials below had no choice but to sigh or grimace and continue to play the city defense game with Sun Yawei.
But Sun Yawei obviously overestimated his own charm, and also overestimated the IQ of some officials in the city! That night, several officials secretly ran out of the city to join the Ming army, trying to gain a lot of wealth. Interestingly, this
Among the several officials, none were demoted from the Ming Dynasty, but were all local officials from the Tang Dynasty. They were all descendants of downtrodden scholars, and then took the initiative or were forced to join the Tang Dynasty, and then became officials of the Tang Dynasty.
These few people happily ran to the Ming army camp and told the Ming army generals that they would provide important military information, so that the Ming army would be able to wipe out the puppet Tang rebel army as soon as possible!
The Ming army in the military camp was very curious. This was the first time they saw Puppet Tang officials. Many people shouted: "Come out and see, Puppet Tang officials have surrendered!"
The general of the vanguard of the Ming army received them in person very cordially, and then listened carefully to the military situation of Liping Fucheng that they took the initiative to tell, and highly praised their surrender to the Ming army!
Then he very considerately asked the soldiers to tie up these pseudo-Tang demoted officials and shouted: "Take them out and chop them!"
When his own soldiers hacked to death these pseudo-Tang demoted officials outside his account, he still smiled and said to his subordinate generals: "These fools!"