Fu Shanhe

Chapter 179 Seeing Through the Plot
"Report!"

"The Patriarch is having a bad time..."

Just when he was halfway through his words, the soldier who was delivering the message suddenly realized that there were many more foreigners at the scene.

It would be a shame to tell outsiders the information we have finally found out.

"Hurry up and tell me, there are no outsiders here!"

Although he spoke beautifully, the He clan leader was bleeding deep in his heart.

But he couldn't stop his subordinates from speaking out, because everyone had just heard it. If he continued to hide it, he would offend everyone.

Among all the chieftains, the He family's strength can only be considered average, and they simply cannot afford the consequences of incurring public anger.

"Our people captured a defeated soldier coming from the direction of Xunzhou. According to him, the Marquis of Zhongxiao was defeated in Pubei and the army was almost completely wiped out."

As soon as the messenger finished speaking, the faces of all the chieftains and clan leaders changed drastically.

All the anomalies can now be explained.

Upon learning that the main force had been defeated and knowing that he had no chance of winning, Boss Su chose to flee with his troops.

There's nothing wrong with running away.

Running away when you can't win is very common in the world of Tusi. But when you run for your life, you have to take everyone with you!

The White Lotus Holy Kingdom's direct troops ran away, leaving them as cannon fodder. This is too much!
"The Su guy is disloyal, what do you think we should do?"

The He clan leader asked knowingly.

If you disobey military orders and run away, you will be held accountable.

No matter how much they dislike the Holy White Lotus Kingdom, Guangxi is still their world.

Only if we all unite to shoulder the blame can we avoid being held accountable.

"Otherwise, we can temporarily retreat to a nearby village to avoid the government troops and wait until Guangxi becomes clear."

The Wu clan leader suggested.

His village was in Siming Prefecture. Other chieftains could escape, but Wu could not.

The government troops never show mercy to rebels.

After the last major defeat in Lianzhou, several small chieftains there were all liquidated by the imperial court.

The leading chieftain had his property confiscated and was executed, the young and strong who participated in the war were kept in a prisoner-of-war camp, and his clansmen were still in prison waiting for the court to take action.

According to convention, the families of traitors would be exiled.

This is Lingnan, so there is no need to worry about exile, but military service is inevitable.

If nothing unexpected happens, once the garrisons are established in various places, they will go there to perform labor service.

The only beneficiaries were the lower-class villagers, who were transformed from slaves into civilians.

They migrated out of the mountains and were divided and resettled in various places.

“It’s easy to enter the mountains, but the problem is how to deal with the food and fodder?
Without the White Lotus Holy Kingdom to provide us with food and fodder, your few villages alone cannot support so many troops.

By then, the government troops only need to block the main traffic routes to trap and starve us to death.

I think you should stop thinking too much. Go back and take your people with you to migrate before the government troops come."

After hearing the proposal from the Zhu clan leader, the faces of the chieftains whose territories were nearby changed drastically.

Migration is easy to say, but it is a bad idea in practice.

Although the world is big, the land has its own owners.

Even if the government troops did not stop them and allowed them to leave, where could they migrate to?

Changing to another place and starting a new empire is not something that can be accomplished by just talking about it.

Once they leave their nest, they become rootless.

It is only a matter of time before it is swallowed up by other chieftains.

The more likely possibility is that they were blocked by government troops as soon as they took action, and then annihilated halfway.

"Migration is impossible, and our Wu clan will not abandon our ancestral heritage.

Since everyone is unwilling to go into the mountains and unite to fight against the government troops, we will take our leave first!"

After saying this, the Wu clan leader turned around and left.

After seeing this scene, several chieftains whose territories were nearby also said goodbye and left.

Everyone wanted to stop it, but they didn't know how to start.

When it comes to the life and death of the clan, it is not something that can be convinced with just a few words.

"If we let them go like this, they won't defect to the government troops, right?"

The Zheng clan leader said worriedly.

"do not know!

Whatever they choose, we can't stop them.

Unless you are willing to fight them here and let the government troops take advantage of you."

The He clan leader said unhappily.

It is impossible for him to be the evil guy.

Detaining people by force and forcing them to act together will only create enmity.

If things go wrong, the other tribe might come and take revenge on us during the march.

We are running for our lives now, not staying to fight the enemy.

It doesn’t matter how many soldiers you have, the key is to run fast.

After the chieftains looked at each other, they turned around and left tacitly.

……

"Da da da……"

As the sound approached, the ground began to tremble.

"cavalry!"

"Chief, there are cavalrymen ahead!"

When the spy brought back the news, the sounds of cavalry had already appeared in the sky.

The Wu clan leader, who had led the team to flee, now had a terribly gloomy expression on his face.

In order to avoid being cannon fodder, he was in a hurry to lead the team away.

I never expected that I would run into government cavalry here.

"Quick, retreat to the hill on the left!"

The Wu clan leader gave the order decisively.

There are indeed cases where infantry defeated cavalry, but the Wu family was definitely not one of them.

A group of civilian soldiers without even complete iron weapons were asking for their lives if they confronted the cavalry head-on.

The order was issued too late. In the blink of an eye, the enemy cavalry circled behind them. On the battlefield, leaving your back to the enemy is dangerous.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

The sound of muskets rang out, and the soldiers who fell behind were killed or wounded instantly.

Driven by panic, the chieftain's soldiers abandoned their baggage and weapons and rushed forward, fearing that they would fall behind and become targets of the enemy.

"The enemy's morale has been reduced, don't chase them too closely!"

After three rounds of volleys, Shu Zhongyi calmly gave the order.

Under normal circumstances, after the volley of musketry is completed, it is time for close combat.

The current situation is special and the rebel formation has become chaotic.

Attacking the enemy camp would only mean chopping off a few more heads.

His mission was to delay the rebels, not to annihilate them.

Previously, in order to destroy the ferry and cut off the rebels’ retreat route, the White Lotus army was allowed to escape. Now, we cannot let these chieftain troops escape again.

Our boss is working hard to promote the policy of land reform in Guangxi.

Compared with the army of the Holy White Lotus Kingdom, it is more important to leave these chieftain soldiers behind.

If we let the tigers go back to the mountains now, these people will become a major hidden danger when the land system is reformed in the future.

……

“Chief, the spies have sent news.

Several chieftains who left with Wu were intercepted by the government cavalry and are now forced to Ruilin Mountain. "

The He clan leader smiled slightly when he received the news.

Fortunately, Wu ran fast and blocked the knife for him, otherwise the He family would be the ones in trouble now.

After expressing his relief, his eyes suddenly became moist.

The rabbit dies and the fox is sad.

Although the chieftains of Guangxi fought among themselves, they were still united when facing the imperial court.

The chieftains in Lianzhou area were finished, and now it was the turn of the chieftains in Siming Prefecture to be in trouble.

At this point in the war, the overall strength of the chieftains in Guangxi has been greatly reduced.

If Dayu was overthrown, they would still have a chance to recover while the world was in chaos.

Once the White Lotus Rebellion was suppressed, the severely damaged chieftains of Guangxi would be unable to resist the court's reckoning.

"Pass the order down, the army should speed up.

While the government cavalry was entangled by Wu, they immediately rushed to the ferry.

Also send people to keep an eye on other tribes to see if anyone sends troops to rescue the Wu clan."

The He clan leader suppressed his unnecessary emotions and gave a decisive order.

Reason told him that at a time like this, everyone would just mind their own business.

But emotionally, he still hoped that someone could give the Wu family a hand.

The lips are cold and the teeth are dead.

If the chieftain of Siming Prefecture can hold out for one more day, their preparation time will be extended by one more day.

“Chief, now that the enemy’s cavalry has arrived, the ferry crossing is likely to be destroyed.

Those guys from the Holy White Lotus Kingdom took a detour and went straight to Siming Prefecture.

If the ferry is available, they won't bother going far away!"

Hearing the young man's reminder, the He clan leader reacted immediately.

The enemy cavalry appeared here, they must have come with a mission.

Just one thousand cavalrymen certainly cannot defeat an army of tens of thousands.

The best option to prevent them from evacuating was to destroy the bridges and the ships at the ferry.

"Oops!"

"The court's target is us. They deliberately let the White Lotus Sect leave!"

The He clan leader couldn't help but exclaimed.

If the government cavalry tried to stop them, the troops of the Holy White Lotus Kingdom would never be able to evacuate intact.

Not intercepting it immediately was obviously intentional.

The two armies together had more than 70,000 people.

No matter how strong the government troops are, they only have so many soldiers.

If these 70,000 people fight to the death, they can cause considerable trouble to the government troops.

Things are different now.

After letting the 10,000 White Lotus Holy Kingdom troops escape, the remaining chieftain troops completely lost their morale.

Including these chieftains, their first thought was to run away rather than stay and fight to the death with the government troops.

The combat effectiveness of an army that only thinks about escaping can be almost ignored.

The government troops could easily destroy them east of the Yangtze River at the lowest cost.

After realizing the truth, the He clan leader was stunned.

If we rush to the ferry as planned, we will definitely not be able to cross the river.

Going to Siming Prefecture and crossing the river from upstream, there was no time left.

Since the government troops have set up such a big trap, it is impossible for them to break it easily.

It is possible that the enemy's main force is on the way here.

"Chief, since there is no way forward, give the order to turn around!
We should be able to escape while we still have time and break away from the main force."

The young man suggested.

Can't afford to offend, can afford to hide.

It is not shameful to temporarily avoid the attack of the government troops.

“You can’t move now.

The Wu family is an example. Once we turn around and head towards Siming Prefecture, the government cavalry will immediately pounce on us.

Unless we get other tribes to act together, it will be difficult to successfully evacuate from Siming Prefecture under the harassment of government cavalry.

The main force of the government troops should still be some distance away from us, so let's wait until night.

At that time, we will use the cover of night to evacuate directly and avoid the enemy cavalry!"

……

(End of this chapter)