In order to prevent another accident, Nan Jiyun asked all the officials of the Tang Dynasty in the courier station to follow him to Nanning Province overnight.
Nan Jiyun led the main force to escort hundreds of captured Cuandi rebels. He walked at the front of the team. The officials of the Tang Dynasty from the capital, as well as the guards and handymen, walked in the middle. The warriors of the military reconnaissance team walked at the back of the team.
The team formed a long snake formation and moved slowly with torches in their hands. Because the road in Cuandi was not very good, the officials of the Tang Dynasty did not take carriages. Instead, they all rode horses. Each official was equipped with a group of horses. In addition, there were more than 20 extra horses to prevent the horses from falling ill and dying on the way.
The environment in Cuandi was relatively difficult. Fortunately, it was already early winter when the officials of the Tang Dynasty entered Cuandi. The climate had already become extremely cool. Except for the terrible terrain, other aspects were okay, especially with many mountains and trees. The scenery was quite pleasant and pleasing to the eyes.
Many officials were tired when they traveled at night. After all, they did not idle during the day. After a day's journey, they had to set off again after only a few hours of rest. Even the toughest man would be tired, let alone these literati who had studied history books since childhood.
The officials of the Tang Dynasty kept dozing off while sitting on the horses. Some of them simply lay on the backs of the horses and fell asleep with their arms around the necks of the horses. Anyway, there were handymen who were responsible for leading the horses. As long as they did not fall asleep, they would not fall off the horses.
Many of the officials of the Tang Dynasty who wanted to take a nap fell asleep unconsciously and fell off the horses, screaming in pain.
After being helped back on the horses by the handymen, these injured officials of the Tang Dynasty were completely awake and did not feel sleepy at all.
Early the next morning, Ang Lee heard the magpies chirping outside the house as soon as he got up. Then, a soldier who had been waiting for a long time immediately told Ang Lee the news of last night's victory.
Knowing that things were going smoothly and that the officials of the Tang dynasty were about to enter Nanning Province, Ang Lee was naturally very happy. He immediately summoned all his subordinates to prepare to welcome these officials. At the same time, he ordered the soldiers in the city to prepare prisons to imprison the captured rebels.
An hour later, Ang Lee and his subordinates warmly welcomed the officials sent by the imperial court at the north gate of Nanning Province. They greeted them warmly to ease the nervousness in the hearts of the officials.
After a simple greeting, Ang Lee had the officials return to their residences to rest. After all, these officials had not had a good rest for almost a day and a night. The bodies of these scholars were relatively weak. If they fell ill from exhaustion, wouldn't Ang Lee be guilty?
"General, none of the Cuandi rebels who participated in the operation escaped. These are all captives. The rest have been buried."
Nan Jiyun reported casually.
Li An praised, "Good job. Take these people to the prison and interrogate them properly. See who ordered them to do this."
"Yes, General. I'll do it right away."
Nan Jiyun replied.
After arranging the officials of the Tang dynasty and the captured rebels, Ang Lee returned to his residence.
In Cuan Shouyu's residence in Nanning Province.
Cuan Shouyu, her son, and Duan Jianwei could not sit still.
Cuan Shouyu's subordinates had told Cuan Shouyu and her son what had happened at the north gate. The army of the Tang dynasty had successfully thwarted their conspiracy and wiped out more than a thousand of their people. Most of them were captives, but the officials of the Tang dynasty were unharmed. Now, all of them had entered Nanning Province and were under the protection of the army.
After carefully planning for a long time, they had suffered such a serious defeat, which greatly damaged the confidence of Cuan Shouyu, her son, and Duan Jianwei.
What was more troublesome was that some of the captured rebels knew that the three of them were the masterminds behind the operation. Once these people exposed them, their good days would come to an end. They had been conferred titles by the Tang dynasty but tried to murder the officials of the Tang dynasty. This was not a small crime. If they were caught, they would definitely be convicted of a felony.
"Mother, our plan has completely failed. Our people have been captured. Once they confess, we will die. There's no time to lose. Let's evacuate quickly. It'll be too late if we delay."
Cuan Shouyu said seriously.
Ah Kuang nodded and said, "Okay, let's change clothes immediately and get ready to leave this damn place."
Cuan Shouyu and her son were already prepared. It took them a very short time to change into ordinary people's clothes. Ah Kuang was even more exaggerated. She directly dressed as a man and pretended to be a servant.
"Commander, Madam, you can't leave me behind."
Seeing that Cuan Shouyu and her son were ready to run away but did not inform him, Duan Jianwei was very dissatisfied.
Ah Kuang hurriedly said, "Mr. Duan, we are too conspicuous if we stay together. We should split into two groups. We will go east, and you will go west. After leaving the city, we will meet ten miles outside the south gate."
"Okay, let's go now."
Duan Jianwei had no better way. What else could he do but run away at this time?
Cuan Shouyu and her son left their residence alone and hurried to the east. Because they had changed into ordinary people's clothes, ordinary people could not recognize them. After Duan Jianwei went out, he went west alone, ready to escape from Nanning Province from the west gate.
Around Cuan Shouyu's residence, many military spies had been lying in ambush. Seeing someone leave in a hurry, they immediately followed and reported this matter to Ang Lee.
"Big Brother, our people reported that there was an abnormality in Cuan Shouyu's residence just now."
Li Feiyu reported.
Ang Lee thought for a moment and frowned. "This stranger has finally appeared again. We must follow him closely and see who he is. The other two people are in a hurry. There must be something wrong."
"Big Brother, why don't we arrest them all and interrogate them?"
Li Feiyu felt that it was too time-consuming to follow them. It was better to arrest them directly.
Ang Lee shook his head and said, "No, we can't arrest people for no reason. We have to be democratic, understand?"
"What does democracy mean?"
"It means we have to be reasonable. We can't always be violent. We have to be violent when we encounter something. I understand."
"Yes, Big Brother. I understand. We have to be democratic. We can't be violent."
Li Feiyu seemed to understand.
"General, the captured traitors have confessed that Cuan Shouyu and his mother colluded with Nanzhao's Duan Jianwei to kill the officials of the Tang dynasty. The evidence is conclusive. We can arrest them now."
Nan Jiyun came in excitedly and reported the progress of the interrogation.
Ang Lee stood up and ordered, "Take the troops to arrest them immediately."
Then he personally led the troops to Cuan Shouyu's residence.
Cuan Shouyu's residence was not far from Ang Lee's residence. They soon arrived on horseback.
After a large number of troops surrounded Cuan Shouyu's residence, Ang Lee led some troops to rush in and arrest everyone in the residence.
"General, Cuan Shouyu and his mother are not here."
"We've searched everywhere. Cuan Shouyu and his mother are not here."
Ang Lee nodded and said, "It seems that they have disguised themselves and escaped. Fortunately, they didn't leave for long. Chase after them immediately. Also, capture that stranger. He is very likely to be Duan Jianwei."
"Yes, General."
Ang Lee personally led a troop of troops and chased them along the east road in the city. He also sent his subordinates to control the city gate and prevent them from escaping from Nanning Province.
"General, there is a secret passage on the east city wall."
The military informant who followed Cuan Shouyu and his mother found a secret passage on the east city wall. Obviously, Cuan Shouyu and his mother escaped through the secret passage.
"What about them?"
Li Feiyu asked.
"They suddenly disappeared when I followed them to the city wall. I searched here for a long time and found this secret passage. They should have escaped through the secret passage."
Ang Lee was almost certain that the two who escaped must be Cuan Shouyu and his mother. These two people had committed such a big crime and must be caught and punished. Otherwise, how could they show the majesty of the Tang dynasty?
"The only place where Cuan Shouyu and his son can escape is Dongcuan. The chief of Dongcuan is A 'Kou's father. They must have escaped there. They must pass through the east road to Dongcuan. If we start chasing now, we should still be able to catch them."
Ang Lee was sure that Cuan Shouyu and his son must have escaped to Dongcuan. He immediately decided to lead a troop of troops to chase after them.
There were more than 100 cavalry soldiers in the army, all of whom followed Ang Lee to chase. In order to expand the search area, the cavalry divided the soldiers into several groups to chase, outflank, and detour, blocking all the escape routes of Cuan Shouyu and his son.
A 'Kou had long been ready to evacuate from Nanning Province. For this reason, he had arranged his confidants outside the secret passage and prepared more than a dozen horses in the nearby dense forest for escape.
After escaping from the secret passage, Cuan Shouyu and his son immediately got on the horses and rushed to Dongcuan at the fastest speed under the protection of several confidants.
In order to avoid encountering the patrolling soldiers of the Tang Army, they chose a remote path to take a detour and enter the only road to Dongcuan from this path to increase their safety.
Of course, it was because of their caution that they missed the best opportunity to escape. Under the personal leadership of Ang Lee, the first division rushed east along the nearest road and arrived at the main road to Dongcuan before Cuan Shouyu and his son.
"General, we rushed all the way and did not find Cuan Shouyu and his son. They should have taken another path."
"No matter which path they took, there will be our pursuers. They can't escape."
"General, could they have already entered the main road and escaped?"
Ang Lee cautiously said: "We can't rule out this possibility. Immediately lead 20 cavalry and chase them along the main road to Dongcuan."
"Yes, General."
The general led 20 cavalry and chased east along the main road.
Ang Lee always had a hunch that Cuan Shouyu and his son had not entered the main road yet. They should be running along a small path.
"General, there are people coming from the path ahead. Could it be them?"
"General, there are six people in total, and several batches of horses."
"Aren't there only two people? Why are there six people?"
Ang Lee grinned and said: "Maybe Cuan Shouyu and his son had a premonition and made arrangements outside the city in advance. Soldiers, get ready to intercept them."
The soldiers immediately spread out to greet them.
Cuan Shouyu and his son, who were running fast, were so scared that they quickly reined in their horses when they saw more than a dozen cavalrymen of the Tang Army coming from the fork in the road ahead. Obviously, the Tang Army had been waiting ahead for a long time.
"Mother, the Tang Army, why are the Tang Army here? Do they know about our escape plan?"
Cuan Shouyu's face was full of horror.
Ah Cha reined in her horse and looked back. She saw more than a dozen cavalrymen running fast behind her. There were strong enemies in front and pursuers behind, which made her very desperate.
"It seems that we have no way to escape."
Ah Cha looked around. There was no way to go at all.
"Mother, if we surrender, we can't escape death. Why don't we take a risk and rush over?"
Seeing that there were only a dozen cavalrymen ahead, Cuan Shouyu wanted to take a chance.
Ah Cha nodded and said, "Well, we'll die anyway. Let's rush out."
The group of six people, four guards in the front, followed by Cuan Shouyu and his son, rushed forward, while the horses stayed where they were to block the pursuers behind.
Looking at the four shining weapons, the soldiers all laughed. Wasn't this just throwing their lives away? With just these few people, they could break through their defensive circle.
A series of crossbows flew, and the four rebels in the front were all shot down from their horses. The horses that Cuan Shouyu and his son were riding behind were also shot by crossbows, and they were thrown off their horses.
Cuan Shouyu and his son struggled to get up from the ground and stood up with each other's help.
"The Imperial Court of the Tang Dynasty has treated you well. Why are you rebelling against the Tang Dynasty?"
Ang Lee scolded them even though he already knew the answer.
"The Tang Dynasty treated me as a puppet. What do you mean by treating me well? I only hate myself for not planning well. I'll regret it for life."
Knowing that there was no possibility of him being forgiven, Cuan Shouyu became tough.
Ah Cha looked at his son and said helplessly, "We have no way out. In order to avoid suffering physical pain, let's kill ourselves."
After saying that, he took out a dagger and stabbed himself in the heart.
"Mother."
Cuan Shouyu called out, took out a dagger from his arms, and committed suicide.
The two men's movements were very fast. The soldiers on their warhorses did not have time to react. They could only watch as the two men cut their own throats.
"General, they are dead."
A soldier jumped off his horse and tested the necks of the two. He found that there was no pulse. Obviously, their life signs had disappeared.
"Dig a hole and bury them."
Ang Lee ordered coldly and reined in his horse to return to Nanning Province.
The soldiers and horses that were chasing along the road to the east also returned under the call of the smoke signal.
While Ang Lee was chasing after Cuan Shouyu and his son, another group of soldiers had already captured the disguised Duan Jianwei and taken him to the prison, waiting for Ang Lee's punishment.
"Big Brother, that stranger has been caught. It really is the Duan Jianwei, haha."
Ang Lee nodded and said, "Cuan Shouyu and his son are also dead. Let's go and see the Duan Jianwei."
As he spoke, he led his subordinates to the prison.
"Mr. Duan, long time no see. Your luck is getting worse and worse."
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