The dark clouds in the sky slowly gathered in front of them.
The journey from Hangzhou to Huzhou was a journey of fleeing.
Looking back at the days that followed, Hangzhou was breached on the fourth day of the New Year, and everyone fled from the city in panic. After that, the most direct choice for many people was to go to Jiaxing. At that time, Fang La's army was still besieged and intercepted, leaving many people behind. Later, large batches of scattered people gathered on the road and some order was restored. It was already the sixth and seventh day of the New Year.
At this time, the Fang La volunteer army gathering in Hangzhou from the west was almost full and began to expand in all directions. The refugees who gathered again painfully chose the direction to go. Although the mountains around Hangzhou were not deep, they gathered and scattered on the land crisscrossed by waterways. Some were caught and killed by the volunteer army, while others were captured and sent back to Hangzhou in batches.
For several months, Fang La's momentum was at its peak. Fang Baihua resisted Kang Fangting's Wuchu Camp in the northwest, and Chen Shisheng's Wuwei Army in the south was pincered by Deng Yuanjue and Si Xingfang. Fang La, Fang Qifo, and the others heavily captured Hangzhou. After that, there were echoes of uprisings everywhere. On the roads around Hangzhou, by the time the muddle-headed refugees reacted, they had already discovered that, starting from Hangzhou, no matter which direction they went, had become a minefield filled with danger.
Apart from those who managed to escape in the mountains and villages by luck, there were not many who managed to safely escape from Hangzhou in the form of a large army. These people who were driven out of Hangzhou and homeless eventually became sacrifices or the first subjects of the "Yongle Dynasty" established by Fang La. The influence of the Wu dynasty in Jiangnan was suppressed to its lowest point. Of course, if one wanted to find a small bright spot, there were naturally some.
The entire process only happened in a corner of the border between Hangzhou and Huzhou. At that time, a large number of rich merchants and gentry had gathered in the largest group of refugees from Hangzhou and made many turns to this place. The entire preparation took place in less than two days from the early morning of the 10th to the morning of the 11th of the New Year.
Strategically speaking, it was very difficult to complete a complicated operation in a day and a half. At that time, there were five volunteer armies that were approaching from behind, led by Yao Yi, Lu Qiao, Xue Dounan, Mi Quan, and Shen Zhucheng. The small number of Black Feather Guards and some of the Tyrant's Blade Camp soldiers led by Liu Dabiao were not included. These five troops added up to a total of more than six thousand people, and their morale was high. Among the fleeing troops, there were a total of three thousand wounded soldiers. Including the guards and bodyguards of the wealthy merchants, there were more than a thousand of them. However, the battlefield was different from a fight. The combat power of these one thousand people was not reliable.
In hindsight, these teams had only engaged in a simple battle of wits within a radius of less than forty kilometers. Then, they began to attack each other. Things were simple, but the result was somewhat unexpected. Of course, Fang La's troops were not the only ones who were surprised by what happened at the beginning. Even the fugitives themselves did not realize what had happened until they experienced extreme astonishment.
The gathering dark clouds, the hot and uneasy weather, and the winding river, the troops stretched out into the distance. There were nearly ten thousand people in this advancing troop. At this time, at the end of the troop, there was a commotion and internal strife brewing. The crowd was whispering to each other. At the front and middle of the troop, some soldiers or advisors on horseback were running back and forth. Most of them were holding pen and paper, and they were scattered into each small troop of the wounded soldiers to record what needed to be recorded.
It seemed a little hasty to make such statistics while they were fleeing. However, this matter had started in the morning, and the message from the higher-ups was simple. At this time, the leader, Chen Xing, had a detailed discussion with the aristocrats led by Tang Xiuxuan. As long as the troop went to Hu Province, every soldier would be a meritorious escort. In order to reward them according to their contributions in the future, everyone's name and place of origin would be recorded at this time. Regardless of whether it was the officers or the soldiers, no one would be left behind. If these people had family members who passed away or were separated from them in Hangzhou, every one of them would receive additional financial compensation. This was the reward that everyone deserved after escorting these "important figures".
After Hangzhou City was breached, it was difficult for the Wu De Camp's troops to maintain their organization. Although there were more than three thousand soldiers in this troop, the troops that each of them belonged to were rather messy. Most of them had also lost the will to fight. The reason why Chen Xing Dou could become the military leader of this troop was because he had the most people under his command. There were more than seven hundred people. Although the rest of the troops obeyed orders, it was rather troublesome to operate them.
The Wu De Camp was said to be an elite troop, but in reality, they did not have much combat experience. After this great defeat, if they only wanted to rebuild their organization, many people would probably be afraid. However, after this order was issued, these people began to gather on their own for the convenience of recording. They temporarily elected officers according to the original distribution of the military camp. Although it looked like they were each occupying a mountain, at least they had established a tighter weave. During this period, Chen Xing Dou had naturally placed trusted subordinates to develop their power, so that orders could be issued more quickly.
During the statistics of the number of troops in the troop, some rumors began to spread among the soldiers and commoners. Naturally, there was negative news, including the troops that were already closing in on them and the road that was blocked in front of them. These rumors had already spread secretly and were made public to everyone's ears. After that, there were some other news that spread in the ears of the people.
"Mister Tang and the others have already found a way …"
"I heard that someone from the Tang family is friends with the traitors of Qingfeng Camp. Now that we have more than three thousand Wu De Camp soldiers, Qingfeng Camp will make way for us …"
"No, I heard that there is a person called Ning Liheng who came up with a plan. He calculated everything. General Chen and the others treated it like a treasure. My cousin was at the camp. He saw it last night … "
"Who is Ning Liheng?"
"Hey, you guys don't know. This person looks like a scholar, but he has the title of 'Foresight in Ten Steps'. He is also very skilled in martial arts. Back in Hangzhou, Fang La and the others caused trouble in the city, and he helped with the plan. Later, Shi Bao, Fang Qizo, and the others personally went to kill him, but they were schemed against by him. After killing a few people, he swaggered off, leaving Shi Bao and Fang Qizo disgraced. Alas, it's a pity that the city was breached too early. If they could hold on for a few more days, I heard that Fang Qizo would have been killed by him … "
"… I heard that he also has a title in Jianghu. It's not 'Foresight in Ten Steps'. People call him 'Bloody Butcher'. This time, he can definitely pass …"
All sorts of messy rumors were spread, including Ning Yi's actions in Peace Alley. His nickname and whatnot were also spread.
Of course, this did not alleviate the anxiety in most people's hearts. In a situation where there were enemies in front and behind them, not many people could trust a hothead who was not famous before. Even if they portrayed him as the reincarnation of Zhuge Liang, it would not give people much confidence.
However, in this fleeing group, the soldiers, rich merchants, landlords, and officials did not have much choice. Once the army under Fang La's command caught up with them, they would not have a chance to escape. Only death awaited them. At this time, they could only believe in what they could believe. However, it was different for those who were poor or did not have much money in the group. They had originally followed the crowd and thought that this group was safe, so they followed together. Now that they suddenly heard the news, they immediately became anxious. This group was not very orderly, and there were originally all kinds of contradictions. In the beginning, they were only suppressed by the unity of everyone. However, after the despairing news came, the contradictions immediately intensified.
For these commoners, even if they were caught up, they could choose to surrender in the end, or break up into small groups and hide in the ravines or villages. As long as Fang La's army did not completely wipe out the area around Hangzhou, there was naturally a chance of avoiding them. On the afternoon of the tenth day of the New Year, under the wanton indulgence of the higher-ups of the group, the group crossed the river branch in front of them from a nearby place called Shiqiaobin. Because of a small scale fight, the fleeing group split into two groups, one consisting of seven thousand people and the other nearly three thousand people.
These three thousand people began to turn northeast in the direction of Jiaxing, trying to go around Qingfeng Citadel and Xiaoluo Town. These people were mostly made up of commoners, but there were also rich merchants and officials who thought they were clever and mixed in. In these people's view, the rebels chasing from behind were mainly looking for money. If they used the seven thousand people as bait, they would more or less have a chance of survival. There were also those who felt that there was danger ahead and simply began to leave the group, dispersing into the surrounding areas as commoners.
At this moment, the pursuers at the back also started to face some difficult decisions. As they got closer and closer to the largest group of escapees, some messy information started to appear in front of them.
From the mouths of the refugees who were alone, they could easily inquire about all kinds of information. The size of the group, the internal strife that began to appear in the group, the miraculous rumors that spread among the group, such as "Ten Steps to Calculate", "Bloody Hand Butcher", which made Shi Bao, Fang Qifo, and Liu Dabiao disheartened. Then there were rumors that some people began to leave the group alone, or that certain rich merchants and certain officials began to leave the group and escape into the mountains when they found out about the urgency of the situation.
The clues left behind by the ten thousand fleeing group were actually relatively clear. However, at this time, a series of things that interfered with their judgment appeared. They were scattered along the way and extended in different directions. The scouts of the five armies were all rushing forward and also collided with the scouts of the Wu De Camp in different directions. Yao Yi and the others had been heading north and were not united to begin with. Naturally, there were arguments over the distribution of prey and spoils of war. In the end, in order to maintain peace for the time being, the five armies separated themselves by a certain distance and chose a direction to advance forward. Because they had chosen the same direction, Yao Yi and Lu She's groups even quarreled again. Of course, at this time, no one was worried about fighting. Even if they caught up, the three thousand remnant soldiers would not be able to do anything when surrounded by seven thousand people.
That evening, the main force of the seven thousand fleeing troops turned back from the stone bridge where they had crossed the river. They almost brushed shoulders with Yao Yi's troops who were chasing them from the north. The troops took advantage of the night to travel several li south and set up camp at a dangerous bend in the river. The river was like a hook on this side. When they turned back south, there were all kinds of traces along the way. Now that there was a river in the east and south blocking the way, this bend was like a pocket that wrapped around the people. If Yao Yi and the others turned back south, they would almost certainly die. But Yao Yi and the others were in a hurry to chase north and did not come to investigate for a while.
That night, the five troops headed north using different paths. Among them, Xue Dounan and Mi Quan's thousands of people even crossed the other side of the bend where the others had set up camp. They also temporarily set up camp in different areas over ten li away from here. That night, the camp by the river was so quiet that it was almost suffocating. As long as the five pursuing troops broke camp and headed north tomorrow, they would have the first chance to make other operations.
No one dared to light a fire or light a lamp. Knowing the seriousness of the situation, everyone held their breath at this critical juncture of life and death. For a moment, they didn't dare to speak loudly. But when they brushed shoulders with Yao Yi's troops that night, they began to exaggerate it. It was just a small trick, but everyone needed some confidence to support it.
The next day, dark clouds gathered in the sky. Martial Virtue Camp sent out a few of their most elite scouts to pay attention to the movements of the troops in the north. Yao Yi's troops began to break camp, Xue Dounan and Mi Quan's troops began to break camp, and Shen Zhucheng's troops began to break camp. Lu Qiao's troops were at the back. He followed Yao Yi's route in the direction of the stone bridge. Then, on the day before they were about to cross the river at noon. He stopped …
He began to turn back.
*****
At noon, on a mountain in the north, a man called An Xifu rode on a horse and led the Black Feather Guards north.
His mission was different from Yao Yi and the others. It was also different from Liu Dabiao, who came to find people according to his temper. It seemed easy to disrupt Hu Province and prevent them from helping Jiaxing. Yao Yi and the others also treated it as a way to relax and make a fortune, but he had to be responsible for the overall situation.
Along the way, they chased after the fleeing people. This was harvesting the spoils of war, so they could be a little careless. However, Hu Province still had its own army after all. Thus, he led the Black Feather Guards and headed north quickly and had long surpassed the others' progress. For example, people like Qingfeng Citadel and Xiaoluo Town who suddenly rose to fame, because they had no prior contact with Fang La, now An Xifu had to go over and give them a name, and let them really contribute to the battle.
At this time, they were already close to Xiaoluo Town. A scout who had stayed behind to observe Yao Yi and the others' movements had also returned on horseback. As usual, he told him the daily progress of the five people. Looking at the information brought back by the scout, the man in black tapped on the map, frowned, and put the map to one side. He felt that this group of people was too mischievous and too slow. They were slow in fighting and slow in robbing money. They were really hopeless. As for the escaping team, it was a little strange. This thought just flashed through his mind, and then he didn't think about it seriously.
But after a quarter of an hour, the group gradually went down the mountain. Something gradually beat in his mind. He was stunned for a few times, then picked up the map and looked at it. After a while, he really frowned. "It can't be …"
He waved his hand to stop the troops. Then, he called over the scouts and began to report the information he had heard since yesterday. In the process, he thought of what had happened to Shi Bao and the others in Hangzhou. He thought of the purpose of the woman from the Liu family coming this time. Although he couldn't be sure, when he looked back, some ominous feeling seemed to be pressing down from the gray sky in the south.
"Ning Liheng …" He thought for a while. "I hope … it's not like this …"
*****
The sky was dark. In the camp, Chen Xingdou sat in the tent, deducing the plan brought by Ning Yi with two of his trusted subordinates. When the scout's news came, his whole face was already pale.
"How, how could this be … It shouldn't be …"
He subconsciously looked at Ning Yi's plan, which was a little complicated, but very convincing. So far, this step could only be regarded as the beginning. As a matter of fact, there were still thousands of people in this army. It was not impossible to really break through Qingfeng Citadel and Xiaoluo Town to go north to Huzhou, but the pursuers behind them were already close. If the battle situation was slightly delayed, they would be surrounded by nearly ten thousand people. Now that these generals and soldiers had completely lost the will to fight, it was impossible to say that the battle situation would go smoothly.
To intensify the conflict, with the 3,000 people as bait, he and his team quickly turned back and hid in a dangerous place that was unlikely to be searched by them. As long as they found some gaps, they could change their route again and get more space to operate. As for the feasibility of this point, Ning Yi had given a lot of analysis, such as the temperament of the leaders among the pursuers, how to use gold and silver to slightly widen the distance between them. To be honest, he had arranged a lot of contingency plans, and almost every situation had been predicted. When Ning Yi arranged some soldiers to deliberately mislead the pursuers and then spread out, Chen Xingdou actually had a lot of confidence in Ning Yi, not to mention that there was Qian Haiping next to him. Speaking of Ning Yi's original plan to deal with Shi Bao and the others, it was also quite effective.
In the team, they once again calculated the composition of the soldiers. The method was also provided by Ning Yi. After that, the rumors and splits in the team almost all confirmed a part of the plan. As expected, they also hid here for a night, but they did not expect that at this most critical moment, the other party actually discovered them and began to turn back.
In this plan, he used all kinds of methods to ensure that the other party would be deceived, and used complicated words to confirm the feasibility. After that, all kinds of plans were extremely tempting, but they did not clearly state what to do at this time. At that time, there seemed to be someone who suggested this, but at that time, Ning Yi was sick and only said, "You guys see how it develops, then decide whether to do this or not, okay?"
Nobody had ever seen such a detailed and convincing plan before. Even Tang Xiuxuan said, "We have to take risks." At that time, he showed strong self-confidence and other complicated arrangements in other aspects to temporarily suppress the skeptics, but at this time, it was like being hit on the head with a stick. The next day, things almost went wrong in a fatal way.
After staring blankly for a long time, Chen Xingdou grabbed the plan and walked out. The weather was hot and gloomy, so everyone still didn't know about the news and just waited quietly. He walked all the way to the Su family's tent. At this time, Ning Yi had just woken up. Since the evening of the ninth day of the New Year, the fever on his head had gotten worse. At this time, he had to be supported by Su Tan 'er to sit up in bed. The high fever also temporarily affected his thinking. When Chen Xingdou came in, he was a little confused and then shook his head. Chen Xingdou looked at him for a while and suppressed his trembling voice. "Something happened …"
Ning Yi rubbed his head. "Yao Yi … no, Lu Shao … it should be Lu Shao …"
Before he could finish speaking, Su Tan 'er, who was sitting on the side and helping him straighten his clothes, said, "General Chen, where is Lu Shao?"
Chen Xingdou was slightly dazed as he looked at the couple. Then he threw down the plan, grabbed a map, and drew a point. "He's at Shiqiao Ferry, he's turning back! He's discovered us! "
Ning Yi thought for a moment. "Where are the others?"
Chen Xingdou quickly drew four dots on the map. The five dots on the map formed a fan shape and surrounded this place. Some were closer and some were further away. Ning Yi looked at the map for a while and closed his eyes. "Then what are you waiting for?"
"You …"
"Lu Shao's army only has over a thousand people, and we have four thousand. They're scattered now and separated by the river, they'll discover us one after another. General Chen, this is the best time to take them down one by one. This is all I can do, what are you waiting for?" In front of Chen Xingdou, the scholar stood up with some difficulty and looked at him. His voice wasn't loud. "They're scheming against each other and are far away, so we can't rescue them in time. After these people are defeated, Hu Province's siege will be lifted. General Chen, in the future, you'll definitely be promoted to nobility and given wives and children. You know that."
Chen Xingdou hesitated for a moment and gritted his teeth. "You're making fun of me … you know, a defeated army is like a landslide. These people can't fight at all … even if they have over a thousand people …"
"But we're not fighting for others now. Since yesterday, we've told them the seriousness of the situation. They can take off their uniforms and hide in the mountains if there's more space, but that's impossible now. We have no way of retreat behind us. We're burning our boats and burning our cauldrons. Right now, we're all soldiers in grief. If we don't move forward, we'll die. "
"If … if we can't win, do you know …"
"You believe that plan!?" Ning Yi raised his voice slightly and pointed at the plan that Chen Xingdou threw on the ground. "That's all a lie. Let's stop here! I'm not a god, how can I calculate so much! General Chen, I can only control them for one day. They have been chasing us for a long time, and they have underestimated us too much. They have temporarily lost their minds and can't react in time. If this counterattack fails and they calm down, we won't have any chance. "
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
