weaving

Chapter 1206 Collapse...

On May 17th, just after midnight, more than a dozen cavalrymen were seen galloping out from the central army headquarters of the Left Camp and heading towards the surrounding camps of the Left Army. The sound of hooves was soon drowned out by the night wind and could not be heard clearly.

There was no trumpet call, no one shouted!

The camps of the left army seemed to have made an agreement in advance. They quietly broke camp and marched towards Weishi in the southwest.

Although they tried their best to conceal their actions, they still alarmed the soldiers of Ding Camp and almost disrupted Yang Dezheng's camp, almost causing a camp roar.

Soon, Ding Qirui, who received the news, sent someone to find Zuo Liangyu to ask: "General Zuo, why did you suddenly withdraw your troops? I wonder what the reason is?"

Zuo Liangyu had already packed up and was ready to leave at any time, so he refused to meet the interrogator sent by Ding Qirui and only ordered Zhang Yingxiang, the general of the central army, to simply reply to him: "Our army has received the emperor's urgent secret order and is going to rescue Kaifeng City by a detour."

"General Zuo is rescuing Kaifeng, why are you retreating to the southwest?"

"This is confidential, I can't tell you!"

Having decided to withdraw the troops, Zuo Liangyu naturally would not take Ding Qirui seriously anymore. He left the lieutenant from Ding's personal army who came to question him stunned on the spot, while he swaggered away with his soldiers and left the camp.

…………

In fact, Zuo Liangyu had already planned to withdraw his troops the day before, but was delayed by the news that the Yongyi Army had arrived to the north of Zhuxian Town, so it was not very difficult for Zuo's army to prepare.

Originally, Zuo Liangyu wanted to stay for two more days to see whether the battle situation in Zhuxian Town would improve with the arrival of Yongning Earl Zhang Cheng.

But this afternoon, both Yang Wenyue and Hu Dawei's camps were defeated, causing his left army to face the entire defense line. Moreover, the fierce attack launched by the Chuang army in the afternoon also made him feel chilled. He no longer cared about the consequences, and preserving his own strength was the first option.

Therefore, after returning from Ding Qirui's meeting at his headquarters, he immediately summoned the commanders of each camp and announced the latest decision to withdraw troops to Nanyang, with everything going according to the original plan.

…………

The entire division of the Zuoying army headed straight for the southwest in a hurry, and they also seized some mule and horse carts from the Dingying camp along the way.

As the incident happened suddenly, the soldiers of Ding Camp looked at everything in front of them in confusion and initially forgot to stop Zuo Camp. But when they saw that the officers and soldiers of Zuo Camp were stealing their mules and horses, they finally came to their senses and the two sides killed each other.

Fortunately, the soldiers of the left camp did not dare to stay too long. Although they had the upper hand in force, they had no intention of fighting. They hacked and killed their way through, and shot arrows to drive back the pursuing soldiers of the Ding camp, and hurried to the southwest...

Ding Qirui was in his own central military tent, stamping his feet and sighing anxiously, but he was completely helpless and at a loss as to what to do.

In fact, he had long been worried that Zuo Liangyu would do this, abandoning him to the two thieves Chuang and Cao and escaping with his troops alone, but he never thought it would happen today.

At this moment, another lieutenant came in to report: "General Yang, also... also led his troops to flee south!"

"What……"

Ding Qirui was really panicked this time: "Tell me again, who... who fled south?"

"Yang Dezheng... General Yang... fled to the south..."

………… In fact, it was not Yang Dezheng’s original intention for his troops to flee south, but his real wish was to lead his troops to protect Ding Qirui and escape together. After all, in his opinion, Ding Qirui was still a powerful figure.

What's more, his younger brother Yang Deqin was still in Ding Qirui's camp. He escaped not only to protect his powerful backer, but also to save his younger brother.

However, things went against his wishes. When the guerrillas and commanders in his camp saw the left army fleeing, they became panicked, fearing that they would be left behind and become the victims of the bandits.

Without saying a word, they mounted their commander Yang Dezheng on his horse, and without even having time to pack up their tents, they led their elite infantry and cavalry and fled out of the camp to the south.

…………

"Yang Dezheng, did he run away too?"

Ding Qirui's heart suddenly felt cold, his fingers trembled, and he was at a loss for a moment, as if the sky had fallen: "It's over... It's all over now!"

His personal deputy general Yang Deqin rushed into the central army tent, without even bothering to salute him, and hurriedly approached him, saying: "General, the left army has escaped, Yang Dezheng and Fang Guoan have also fled, we should hurry up and leave, otherwise we may not be able to escape!"

Although his trusted general Yang Dezheng abandoned him, Ding Qirui could not hate Yang Deqin at all. After all, he was his only lifeline now.

"Do not."

Ding Qirui's eyes widened as he shouted, "I will fight the enemy to the death. Even if I die here, I will not let the emperor down!"

"Zuo, Yang, Fang, all the camps have fled. We are alone and unable to fight the enemy. We can only save our bodies and serve the emperor. Commander, please do not make a mistake and give your life here in vain."

Yang Deqin also knew that one should act according to the rules in an emergency, so how could he let him die so easily? He glared at his guards and shouted, "What are you waiting for? If you don't want to die, quickly get the commander-in-chief and follow me to withdraw to the south."

"No... I want to be loyal to the emperor... I want to fight the enemy to the death..."

Ding Qirui was carried out of the central military tent by his personal soldiers, but he continued to shout, acting like a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty!

…………

As the incident happened suddenly, the soldiers of Ding Camp fled south hastily without any preparation. Many soldiers did not even have time to put on their armor, and some even left their weapons in the camp.

Because Ding Qirui was being carried away when he escaped, he did not have time to pack many things. Even the imperial sword bestowed upon him by Emperor Chongzhen remained in the central military tent and he forgot to take it with him.

Moreover, since Ding Ying was the last group of government troops to escape from Shuipo Ji, he was pursued by a large number of bandit troops. In the panic, he even abandoned his seal of the commander-in-chief and the imperial edict bestowed by Emperor Chongzhen while fleeing.

At this point, the 170,000 government troops in Shuipo Ji had completely collapsed!

The first to be defeated were Yang Wenyue's troops, who fled south along the Shahe River Valley; the second were Hu Dawei's troops, who were protected by his personal general Hu Zichen and first fled south, and then turned to retreat to Chenliu in the northeast.

In addition, the troops of Zuo Liangyu and Fang Guoan fled to the southwest towards Weishi; Yang Dezheng and Ding Qirui fled south one after another, following Yang Wenyue's footsteps, and fled towards Fugu and Xihua.

The fleeing soldiers were divided into six teams, running in three directions as if they were desperate...

As they were running away, each of them split into several smaller groups, fighting for the right of way. Everyone wished they had two more legs than the others, or even a pair of wings...