Ang Lee and several of his subordinates stood on the city wall of Nanning Province, watching Nan Jiyun leave the city with 1,000 troops. This was destined to be an extraordinary night. Whether it was the informant's account or the investigation of the military scouts, it was enough to prove that the rebels in Cuandi had decided to kill the officials sent by the Tang dynasty.
As the general who pacified Cuandi, Ang Lee could not tolerate the officials sent by the Tang dynasty being killed by the rebels in Cuandi. Once such a thing happened, it would have a great impact on the situation in Cuandi. Moreover, it would also greatly damage the image of Ang Lee and his subordinates, making the glory they worked so hard to achieve worthless.
"Big Brother, tonight may be a tough battle. Why don't you send more troops? Can Nan Jiyun wipe out all the rebels with only 1,000 troops?"
Li Kunxiong asked.
Li An said softly, "Nan Jiyun and I have already discussed this. The place where the rebels launched their sneak attack is relatively isolated, and there are only two escape routes. Our army only needs to deploy two hundred troops on each of these two escape routes. That should be enough to stop this motley crew. Nan Jiyun can lead the main force to kill the enemy to her heart's content. But if we send too many troops, first, it's not necessary. Second, it's easy to cause too much commotion and alert the rebels."
"Yes, Big Brother. Then we'll wait for the good news in the city."
Ang Lee nodded and said, "Except for the soldiers patrolling the city, the rest of you go back to rest. Nan Jiyun will definitely come back with good news at dawn."
Li Kunxiong waved his hand and led the generals down the city wall to their residences to rest.
After returning to his residence, Ang Lee did not feel sleepy. After all, if something went wrong with his plan and the officials of the Tang dynasty were killed, the consequences would be extremely serious.
Of course, apart from Ang Lee, many other people also suffered from insomnia. In Cuan Shouyu's residence, Cuan Shouyu, his mother, and Duan Jianwei all suffered from insomnia.
Their secret plan would be carried out on this night. According to their calculations, on this night, the team of Tang dynasty officials would stop at a remote courier station. The courier station was not large. There were only three or four two-story buildings. There were more than ten superior rooms and more than twenty ordinary rooms. In addition, there were seven or eight woodshed and sundry rooms.
There were more than fifty officials sent by the imperial court, as well as many guards and odd-job workers. In total, there were more than two hundred people.
The small relay station was naturally a bit overwhelmed to receive so many people. Fortunately, the troops had brought tents. The guards and odd-job workers could stay in the tents, and the rooms in the relay station could all be vacated for the officials to live in.
There was a large open space in the backyard of the relay station where the tents could be set up. In this way, there was a certain distance between the Tang dynasty officials' residences and the soldiers' residences.
Although there would definitely be guards on sentry duty at night, it was not a problem for hundreds or thousands of rebel forces. As long as the team of Tang dynasty officials showed up at the relay station on time and stayed to rest, they had enough power to kill all the officials of the Tang dynasty. They were still confident about this.
Of course, what worried Cuan Shouyu, his mother, and Duan Jianwei the most was that the army would send elite troops to pick up the officials of the Tang dynasty. Once that happened, their plan might fail. However, in order to achieve their goal, they had to take the risk.
The moon in the sky was incomplete, which made Cuan Shouyu and his mother not in a good mood. Cuan Di also liked his team members. A half-moon meant imperfection, and this made them wonder if their plan was also imperfect. Would there be unpredictable accidents in such a strict plan? These questions troubled them and made them extremely upset.
It was destined to be a sleepless night. Since they could not sleep, Cuan Shouyu and her son walked out of the room and took a walk in the yard. They talked about some relaxing topics to relieve their depressed mood.
"Mother, it's Duan Jianwei."
Walking into the pavilion, Cuan Shouyu saw Duan Jianwei pacing not far away, but Duan Jianwei obviously did not notice them.
Ah Kuang pursed his lips and said in a relaxed manner, "It seems that we are not the only ones who can't sleep tonight."
The two looked at each other and walked toward Duan Jianwei.
"Commander in Chief, Madam, you didn't rest either."
Duan Jianwei suddenly noticed Cuan Shouyu and her son walking over and was slightly surprised.
"Like Sir, we can't sleep."
"Success or failure will be decided tonight. How can we sleep peacefully?"
Duan Jianwei frowned and looked at the two of them. He said solemnly, "Commander in Chief, Madam, I suddenly feel that there seems to be a flaw in our plan."
"Flaw? What flaw?"
Cuan Shouyu and her son turned pale with fright. They had a very bad premonition.
Duan Jianwei frowned and said, "The ambush location we chose is indeed an excellent location, but it's only fifty miles away from Nanning Province. It's too close. Once the army sends reinforcements, won't our efforts be in vain?"
Cuan Shouyu and her son looked at each other and felt that it made sense. They only wanted to choose an area that was convenient for them to attack, but they ignored the fact that the army would send reinforcements. Moreover, the closer they were to Nanning Province, the more likely it was that the army would send reinforcements.
"Mother, this afternoon, two armies left the city, each with fifty to sixty people, from the north gate and the west gate. I don't know if they went to meet the officials of the Tang dynasty."
Cuan Shouyu said nervously.
"The two armies only have more than a hundred people. This shouldn't pose much of a threat to our operation."
Ah Kuang was not too worried.
Duan Jianwei did not think so. He said worriedly, "You are too careless. Why didn't you tell me such an important thing earlier? The army is extremely elite. Even if there are only a hundred people, it's enough to protect the officials of the Tang dynasty. You have never fought with the army, so you don't know their combat strength."
"Mr. Duan, our people have gathered thousands of people. Do we need to be afraid of the army of more than a hundred people? You are underestimating our warriors."
Cuan Shouyu said with a little pride.
Duan Jianwei said with a worried face, "I'm sure you know the combat strength of Cuan Chongdao's army very well. But in front of our Nanzhao Army, they can't withstand a single blow. Cuan Chongdao himself was killed by our Nanzhao soldiers, but the army can easily defeat our army and even easily injure but not kill us. This method is far better than our Nanzhao Army. Therefore, the army's elites are not as powerful as you think. They are really very powerful."
Hearing this, Cuan Shouyu and his mother were very surprised. They had fought with Cuan Chongdao for several months, so they naturally knew the strength of his army. But the reality was that Cuan Chongdao's powerful army was no match for Nanzhao's army, and Nanzhao's army was much weaker than the army's. In this way, the strength of the army's army would be far better than the scattered soldiers organized by them. It seemed to be really easy for a hundred elites to beat a thousand mobs.
"Our operation has begun. If more than a hundred elites really go to pick up the officials of the Tang dynasty, won't our plan completely fail? What should we do?"
Cuan Shouyu said nervously.
"If we can't kill them, it won't be so easy to take action in the future."
Ah Kuang was also a little worried.
Duan Jianwei frowned and said, "We can only pray that these soldiers who left the city are going to carry out other orders instead of picking up the officials of the Tang dynasty. In this case, we may still have a chance to win. Yes, at present, we can only pray."
"If we succeed in eliminating these officials of the Tang dynasty, it will be worth it even if all the thousands of soldiers die. But if none of the officials of the Tang dynasty die, but our soldiers are annihilated by the Tang Army, it will be a heavy loss."
"Among the thousands of people, at least a dozen know that the three of us are the manipulators behind the scenes. Once they are afraid of death and betray us, we will really have a dead end."
Duan Jianwei was shocked. He looked at Ah Kuang and said angrily, "Why do your subordinates know me? I'm here to help you, but you dragged me in."
"If we don't show Mr. Duan's prestige and use Nanzhao as our backing, how can our subordinates be at ease and do things boldly? Now we are all in the same boat. Mr. Duan, don't think about staying out of it. You'd better think about what we should do if the plan fails."
Ah Kuang responded directly.
Duan Jianwei looked very angry, but there was nothing he could do. After all, he chose to cooperate with Cuan Shouyu and his son. How could these two people not know his character? So, how could they not guard against him?
"Well, let's wait for the news from the front. Once it goes well, we will carry out the next step of the operation. If it doesn't go well, we may be exposed. We should leave Nanning Province immediately and hide in a safe place. We can come up with a good plan later."
Duan Jianwei analyzed.
Ah Kuang nodded and said, "Mr. Duan, go back to your room and rest first."
Duan Jianwei responded and turned to the guest room.
"Mother, should we make preparations in advance to evacuate Nanning Province?"
Ah Kuang said softly, "Since we entered Nanning Province, I have thought of a way out. Once things go bad for us, we will leave Nanning Province immediately."
"Mother, now the Tang Army has the final say in Nanning Province. What if we can't leave?"
Cuan Shouyu was a little worried.
Ah Kuang said disapprovingly, "My son, don't worry. Isn't there a secret passage on the East City Wall? The Tang Army doesn't know about it yet. Once things go bad, we will leave through the secret passage. When the Tang Army finds out, it will be too late."
"Mother is wise. I'll go and prepare now."
Cuan Shouyu was overjoyed.
Fifty miles north of Nanning Province, the officials of the Tang Dynasty rested in the posthouse as scheduled. The guards of less than a hundred people also pitched tents and rested in the backyard of the posthouse as Cuan Shouyu and the others had predicted. Everything was going according to their plan.
However, just four hours before they took action, two Tang Army troops with a total of more than a hundred people arrived at the posthouse one after another and strengthened the defense of the posthouse.
These traitors who were preparing to take action naturally understood that these soldiers were soldiers of the army. However, they had more than a thousand men and did not put the reinforcements of a hundred men in their eyes at all. Some of them even felt that the mission would be more interesting if there were more Tang soldiers guarding it, and it would be easier for them to show off in front of others in the future.
After dark, more than a thousand rebel forces hidden in many places took action to raid the posthouse on time.
However, as the military reconnaissance team was well-prepared, their surprise attack didn't achieve the desired effect. In fact, it was a complete failure.
After hearing the commotion outside, more than a hundred soldiers of the scouting team quickly got into battle formation and surrounded the posthouse to protect it.
The shields in the front row blocked the rain of arrows shot by the rebel forces, while the archers in the rear immediately returned fire with the Zhuge repeating crossbows, killing and injuring many of the rebel forces who were charging forward.
More than a thousand rebel forces rushed forward many times, but not only did they fail to break through the defense line of the military reconnaissance team, but they also left behind a large number of corpses and injured brothers who could not move.
Such a situation caused the rebel forces, who thought they were awesome, to fall into complete despair. They realized that the soldiers in front of them were as if they were made of iron, completely unmoving. No matter how they shouted and charged, the soldiers were able to calmly stay where they were and continue to fire back with the Zhuge repeating crossbows, causing huge losses to them.
Not only did they fail to complete the task, but they also lost one-third of their men. This made the rebel soldiers very nervous and prepared to withdraw temporarily and come up with a good plan later.
However, all of this was too late. Nan Jiyun had arrived with a thousand soldiers and sent four hundred soldiers to block the two escape routes. Then, she led the main force to attack these rebel forces.
With their escape route blocked and the combat power of the soldiers far superior to theirs, the rebel forces in Cuandi were all desperate. Under the persuasion of Nan Jiyun and the other soldiers, they all put down their weapons and surrendered.
Seeing that all the rebel forces had surrendered, Nan Jiyun immediately gave the order to tie up the hands of these rebels with ropes and line them up in a straight line. Of course, there was no need to tie up those who were injured and could not move. They were directly buried alive in a hole to save time and effort.
The officials of the Tang dynasty who lived in the posthouse were scared out of their wits when they saw more than a thousand rebel forces attacking the posthouse. At least ten of them fainted from fright. Many of them took off their official robes and prepared to blend in with the workers to save their lives.
Of course, they didn't expect that the one hundred soldiers sent by the military would be able to block the attack of more than a thousand rebels like Mount Tai. Moreover, they were able to defeat the rebels without suffering any injuries.
After Nan Jiyun arrived with the main force and subdued all the rebels, the officials sent by the imperial court finally breathed a sigh of relief and were glad that they had escaped a disaster.
Of course, there were also some officials who were frowning. They had almost met with a mishap when they just arrived at Cuandi. Wasn't this enough to show that the security of Cuandi was very bad? If so, how could their safety be guaranteed in the future? How uncomfortable would it be to live in fear all day long?
Of course, they were all officials without any manpower. Other than accepting such unfair treatment, there was no better way. To be continued.
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