Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 208 Surrender
The temperature dropped quickly, and when the rivers froze, the Tatar army was able to move south.

The arrogant envoy of the Tartar Grand Master disappeared after a few days. According to what he said, the Tartar Grand Master had deployed an advance team at the border. He was now going to spread the news and let the advance team go south to join forces with the King of Recruitment to protect the ancestors. Unfinished hegemony.

I don’t know whether the Tatar Grand Master’s team got lost in the vast desert or for some other reason, but my uncle never waited for them.

The troops of the imperial court suffered consecutive defeats and have regrouped. They are attacking in three groups. Gui Yibo is on the west, Liu, the governor and censor, is on the middle, and General Sun Shen is leading an army of 20,000 people on the east to attack us.

General Sun Shen was not an ordinary person. He had lost his fort in a cowardly battle and was already punished by military law. It is said that he was almost cut off from the sacrificial flag. Somehow, he managed to move him successfully and was beaten with dozens of military sticks. When Shangfeng employs people, he is allowed to make meritorious deeds.

My uncle decided to take tens of thousands of his men to garrison the stone city and wait for the advance team of the Tatar Grand Master. It was a stone city left by Tibet. The city was very dangerous and fortified. It was surrounded by cliffs on all sides. There was a moat on the mountain that was more than ten feet high. There were five holes dug into the city. The stone well stores water, and there is only a small door on the city wall, so only one person can ride in and out, which is extremely dangerous.

The uncle brought all the food, cattle and horses of the He clan, and also plundered a batch of military supplies to be escorted to Ganzhou. He thought that there would be no problem with the food and grass for more than half a year. As long as the Tatar Grand Master's army marched south, the inside and outside would be coordinated, even if it was temporarily If the Great Yuan Dynasty cannot be restored, it should not be difficult to occupy several Tunpu pastures.

I was still a big child back then, and I complained about having to ride on a horse for several days and having to keep an eye on my sister. However, personal will is insignificant. If I were not the niece of King Zhaoxian, I would have been abandoned on the grassland long ago. To fend for yourself and march all day and night, staying silent is the proper response.

Therefore, I hate the Tatar Grand Master's envoy even more. That guy brought an empty title and destroyed our hundreds of years of peace.

The thought often pops up in my mind, why does my uncle have so much faith in the Tatar Grand Master’s envoy? Could it be that he has already harbored objections?
Gui Yibo was a general born in Tuda. He was knighted by the imperial court for his outstanding military exploits. He took the lead and stormed the northwest city of Shicheng. He fought bravely and led four thousand Ganliang elites. He braved the rain of arrows and stones and marched straight in. They conquered the four peaks in the west of the city in one go.

While the Ming army was ecstatic, I leaned next to my aunt. The female relatives in Shicheng were trembling as they heard the loud killing sounds. Someone raised their head and sobbed lowly. The scene was almost filled with cries.

As dusk gradually sets in the west, my mind is racing. If I am lucky enough to survive, what should I do next? Then she quietly pulled her sister to stay away from her aunt.

I seem to understand what it means to be unpredictable. The situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly. The Ming army was originally in sight of victory. I don’t know which military sentry mistransmitted the order to retreat. The hasty retreat turned into a huge rout. Gui Yibo was hit by a target. , died fighting hard.

There is still something puzzling about Gui Yibo's death in battle. His uncle promised in public that he would reward the archer heavily, but strangely, no one came forward to claim the first prize.

Although my uncle is ambitious, I don't think he has the ability to strategize. Then, Gui Yibo is likely to die in the internal strife of the Ming army.

I can't help but tremble when I think of such a vicious enemy outside Shicheng. I used to hope that my father would be able to change his ways, but now it seems that there is little hope. If the Ming army wins, our whole family will die. If the Ming army fails, we can only go to the dark side. From then on he was a rebel all his life. As a result, I became depressed and lived like a zombie.

After the Ming army retreated, they were unable to organize an effective attack for a long time, and the two parties were in a stalemate.

Before the cold weather arrived, the Tatar Grand Master's troops indeed crossed the border and headed south. When my uncle received the report of the visiting horses, he laughed three times with joy and immediately drank a bag of kumiss, showing a high-spirited look.

He was overjoyed too early. The Tatar army had only a thousand people in total. They looted everything at the border and made a huge profit, so they went back home. The uncle's dream of joining forces with the Tatar Grand Master to revive the Yuan Dynasty naturally came to nothing.

Uncle understood that he had been a pawn of the Tatars on the northern steppes, and now he had been sacrificed worthlessly. He felt sad and angry and fell seriously ill.

The Ming army changed their strategy, burned the grasslands near Shicheng, and buried the bodies of men and horses in the springs outside Shicheng. As a result, all the horses in Shicheng starved to death, and the water sources were polluted, and the mountains and rivers were exhausted.

My father lied to his uncle about breaking out of the siege in search of clean water, waiting for an opportunity to surrender to the Ming army, and explaining why he was kidnapped by his uncle Feng San. The governor, Censor Liu, agreed and asked him to plead guilty and meritorious service.

My father received the order from Mr. Liu and preached that Tuda in Shicheng would be pardoned if he surrendered. As a result, the rebels in Shicheng had no intention of fighting and surrendered one after another. My uncle committed suicide in despair while he was ill.

The rebellion was resolved, and Mr. Liu kept his promise and temporarily placed us in Jinglu Tunbao to wait for the court's disposal, but we expected that our lives would have been saved.

General Sun Shen had some casual acquaintance with my father in the past. His wife Ru invited me and several other women and girls from the Tuda family to attend a dinner. According to the imperial system, the general's wife had to stay in the capital as a hostage. General Sun Shen's wife Ru is now in charge of his family's middle minister.

After the disaster, we were able to keep some small property, and I was very satisfied. I drove an embroidered plum painting overnight as a gift to Mrs. Sun Jiaru.

That evening, with red clouds flying in the western sky, I saw a group of people coming in from the gate of Tunbao. They were all young noble people, wearing beautiful clothes. I walked over with my head lowered.

General Sun Shen's mansion was very lively. I presented him with gifts, and the maid led me to a magnificently furnished hall.