Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 259: The beginning of chaos in Dazhong
"let me go!!"

"Hey hey hey..."

At nightfall on the ninth day, as the rebels had been suppressed, the soldiers from the four towns, who had relaxed their composure, began to look for fun.

Some choose to have a good rest or play football and drink, while others go around and cause trouble in the surrounding villages.

Among them, the Tangqi responsible for peripheral reconnaissance undoubtedly gained a larger range and space for activities.

Because of this, they often sent two or three people out to investigate, while the rest went into the countryside to have fun, and humiliating women was common.

Anyone who was unwilling would be immediately labeled as a remnant of the rebel army and captured as a slave.

It is precisely because of the lax military discipline that the government troops' defense is particularly weak tonight.

Fifteen hundred elite cavalrymen could barely defend the military camp for ten miles north and south. Cui Yu, Jiang Xi and others naturally knew the actions of the officers and soldiers, but for them, it was appropriate to let the soldiers relax appropriately.

It would be bad if the soldiers and generals were angered and a mutiny broke out.

With their connivance, many officers and soldiers were enjoying themselves around the military camp that night.

As time goes by and the night deepens...

As the sounds of revelry in the camp gradually faded, the time had come to Chou time (1 o'clock).

When everyone was extremely sleepy, a buzzing sound came from the north all the way south.

The outer Tang riders who heard these sounds thought they were flies and mosquitoes, but after a while they woke up from their sleep and subconsciously picked up their wooden whistles and blew them.

"Beep--"

The shrill whistle should have been transmitted in steps to the central army, but something went wrong somewhere and the whistle did not quickly reach the barracks. Instead, it was blown countless times before it received a response and was transmitted to the south.

"Buzz rumbling..."

"Enemy attack!!"

"Enemy attack!!"

The dull sound of horse hooves came from the north, and the military camp in southern Linfen was in chaos.

Some were still drunk, some were half-drowsy, and some were awakened from their nightmares by the sudden whistle and couldn't help shouting.

This kind of shouting continued in the military camp, but was quickly stopped and suppressed by experienced generals, so it did not cause a camp roar.

"Pierce armor! Everyone pierce armor!"

"Screw rustle..."

"Enemy attack pierces armor!"

"Beep--"

Shouting, the sound of armor, the sound of wooden whistles...

All kinds of sounds echoed in their ears, and everyone put on their armor urgently. Even those drunk soldiers climbed up in a hurry.

"what happened?!"

"Where did the enemy attack come from?"

Cui Yu, wearing a middle garment and a coat, walked out of the military camp. The military camp was in chaos, and everyone ran out of the tents to fight each other with armor.

In the chaotic environment, the sound of wooden whistles from the north of the military camp was getting closer and closer, and the makeshift armored soldiers were ordered to station in the north.

However, the situation was too chaotic, with armored soldiers everywhere between the tents, making it impossible to reach the north to station troops as quickly as expected.

"Buzz rumbling..."

The dull sound of horse hooves could be heard in the north, and thousands of cavalrymen holding torches rushed towards the camp.

"Array!!"

Hundreds of armored soldiers on the north side of the military camp tried to rely on the wooden fences and chevaux de frise outside the camp to defend against the enemy.

However, facing their formation, thousands of elite cavalrymen galloped around the military camp.

Just as more and more armored soldiers gathered to the north, thousands of cavalrymen drew their bows and shot arrows into the military camp.

Rockets rained down into the camp in an instant, setting tents, haystacks and other objects on fire, with flames shooting into the sky.

Even though the government troops guarded the camp gate to prevent the elite cavalry from breaking into the camp, the raging fire made the camp even more chaotic.

"Leave the camp! Form a formation!"

Cui Yu, Jiang Xi, Zheng Zhu, Ma Mingguang and others each commanded their own troops and broke out towards the north gate.

More than 2,000 armored soldiers rushed out of the camp gate first and lined up outside the camp to resist the enemy.

"Are these the defeated rebel cavalry?!"

"No, how could there be so many?"

Cui Yu was stunned. Seeing this, Jiang Xi also hurriedly said:
"They fired rockets to drive us out of the barracks, and they were definitely planning to attack us."

Before he could finish his words, Cui Yu immediately gave the order:

"Form the Six Flower Formation, and don't mess up your formation!"

"Meet the soldiers in the camp and form a battle line!"

Under Cui Yu's command, the armored soldiers who walked out of the military camp first began to form a formation, but more government troops trapped in the military camp were threatened by fire and arrows.

"Uh-huh!!"

"Extinguishing!"

"Don't worry about the fire, leave the camp through the north gate!"

"There are too many people at the North Gate, break out to the East Gate!"

"Don't squeeze!"

"help me……"

Under the blazing flames, some people were trapped and suffocated to death, while others were trampled to death.

Large numbers of government troops fled the barracks. Except for a small number of soldiers wearing armor, most of the others were not wearing armor.

Because of this, Wang Shouwen, who had been waiting outside, immediately ordered: "Shoot!"

Arrows rained down, and those unarmored government troops were shot and killed by Tianping's elite cavalry.

The Tianping elite cavalry engaged the government troops who tried to form a battle formation in close combat, and broke and trampled on them when they failed to form a battle formation.

"Um..."

"Xilulu!!"

"Boom..."

Among the four gates of the military camp, except for the thousands of armored soldiers outside the north gate who held their ground under the command of Cui Yu, the other government troops who escaped from the east, west and south gates were disrupted by Wang Shouwen and ran around like headless flies, and were easily defeated by the Tianping elite cavalry.

"Li Chengxun, you bastard! How dare you bully me!"

Looking at the military camp on fire, Cui Yu cursed loudly.

"The most urgent task now is to form a formation to defend ourselves and ask for help from the envoy!"

The military supervisor Ma Mingguang urged them on, and seeing this, Cui Yu immediately commanded the army to form a large six-flower formation to defend.

As the army was in chaos, they had few cavalrymen around them, and the south was full of elite cavalrymen of the rebels, so Cui Yu was not in a hurry to send out elite cavalrymen.

"Fire arrows!"

"Raise your shield!"

Attack and defense, arrows rained down.

Jiang Xi, Zheng Zhu and others, under the protection of their personal soldiers, dodged the arrows in a panic.

"When we withdraw to Linfen, I will impeach this beast!"

"Li Chengxun is a murderous peasant!"

The two of them cursed loudly, but it was of no avail.

More than 18,000 soldiers and horses lost thousands because of Li Chengxun's military intelligence.

The careers of the four men were ruined because of Li Chengxun's false military intelligence, and the situation became a life-and-death struggle.

"Xu..."

"General, the government troops are forming a battle array at the north gate, with no less than 10,000 soldiers and horses!"

"General Ji, should we wait for an opportunity to charge in?"

After several rounds of fighting, the government army camp, except for the north gate, was littered with corpses and blood.

Wang Shouwen stopped his horse, panting, and several military commanders beside him bowed and reported the situation.

Hearing this, Wang Shouwen thought for a moment, then raised his hand and said, "Ignore them. Send people to guard the bridge first. When the fire in the barracks is extinguished, capture the armor and money and retreat to Qinshui!"

"Yes!" The generals responded one after another, and then watched the fire gradually die down, and immediately transported away all the gold, silver and copper coins that had been melted by the fire.

In addition, armor that was intact was also captured and loaded onto horse-drawn carriages and taken away.

After crossing the Pu River, Wang Shouwen ordered his men to cut off the floating bridge built by Cui Yu and others, leaving 500 armored soldiers to escort the horse-drawn carriages to march south. He personally led the remaining 2,000 elite cavalry to the southeast and head straight for Yicheng.

At dawn, Cui Yu, Jiang Xi, Zheng Zhu, Ma Mingguang and others sent out hundreds of elite cavalry. After confirming that Wang Shouwen had withdrawn, they reorganized the troops and sent people to collect the bodies of the soldiers who had been attacked and killed.

"kill!!"

At noon, thousands of cavalrymen were entangled in the territory of Yicheng and fighting back and forth.

"Where are you going, traitor?"

Li Zhiyi led more than 1,800 elite cavalrymen to engage in a battle with more than 1,400 elite cavalrymen of the Tianping Army.

Wu Wei and Zhu Huai were worried that Li Zhiyi was being pursued from behind, so they could only fight and retreat at the same time.

As they gradually approached Yicheng, the six hundred Hezhong cavalry and infantry in Yicheng also rode out of the city and lined up on Yishui (Huihe River), with their backs to the wooden bridge for crossing the river.

Yishui is a tributary of Pushui, with a width of 70 to 80 zhang. It has only been frozen for 3 to 5 days, so the ice is not thick. If you want to cross the river without getting wet, you have to cross the river via this wooden bridge. Six hundred cavalry and infantry dismounted and formed a six-flower formation to guard the wooden bridge.

Seeing this, Wu Wei and Zhu Huai, who were fighting and retreating, felt that there was no way up to heaven or down to earth.

"Damn it, let's fight these damn officers and soldiers!!"

Wu Wei knew that his troops were already exhausted and naturally could not break through the six-flower formation formed by the six hundred cavalry and infantry.

In this case, it would be better to stop and fight the pursuers behind us, every soldier counts.

"Go! Kill..."

Wu Wei urged his horse on and charged towards Li Zhiyi and other elite cavalrymen with his spear in hand.

Seeing him leading more than 600 veteran Tianping soldiers to attack, Zhu Huai stopped in his tracks. Seeing that more than 500 Hu cavalrymen around him were wavering, he couldn't help but feel nervous.

"If you resist stubbornly, I, Zhu Huai, will probably die here today."

"In that case, why not lead the army to kill Wu Wei and make amends for the mistake?"

Thinking of this, Zhu Huai immediately prepared to gather the Hu cavalry in the river to take action.

Unexpectedly, before he could take any action, dust appeared from the northwest.

"Reinforcements?"

Zhu Huai clenched his spear tightly, but before he could make any move, he saw cavalrymen flying the Tianping flag emerging from the dust.

Wu Wei was overjoyed: "Wang Lang!!"

"Brothers, Wang Lang is here!"

Wu Wei shouted, and the morale of the old soldiers around Tianping was shaken, and Zhu Huai also quickly put away his thoughts and shouted:
"Kill the government troops and capture Yicheng!!"

"kill……"

When the wavering Hu cavalry saw Wang Shouwen leading his troops to arrive, they immediately pretended to be firm and charged towards the elite cavalry of the Tianxiong Army.

Li Zhiyi, the cavalry general of the Tianxiong Army, saw this and immediately turned his horse around: "Retreat! Retreat to Quwo!"

In an instant, the roles of both sides reversed, and the Tianxiong Army became the pursued party.

The Tianping Army joined forces to pursue the clerks, and hundreds of Tianxiong Army soldiers fell off their horses and died.

Seeing this, the Hezhong cavalry infantry who was guarding the wooden bridge alone hurriedly retreated to Yicheng, but was noticed by Wang Shouwen.

Wang Shouwen led his troops to turn their horses around and killed the Yicheng cavalry and infantry in three consecutive battles. Only a hundred people escaped into the city.

Without waiting for the city gates to be closed, Wang Shouwen led his troops into Yicheng, captured and killed all the officers and soldiers of Yicheng, and looted the Yicheng treasury and the wealthy households in the city.

"I will only give you four hours. After four hours, the army will immediately set off for Qinshui!"

"Yes!"

Wang Shouwen gave instructions to the generals beside him on the street in the city, then turned his horse's head and looked at Wu Wei.

"Dalang..."

"Wang Lang, I...I am incompetent!"

Seeing that he could take a break, Wu Wei immediately bowed his head and admitted his mistake to Wang Shouwen.

Wang Shouwen saw this and asked about the process. Although he was somewhat dissatisfied with Wu Wei's loss of 9,000 soldiers, after all, it was he who let Wu Wei lead the old soldiers to escape before the battle, so he could only suppress his dissatisfaction and appease him:

"I gave the order for this matter, so it has nothing to do with you. You don't have to blame yourself."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Zhu Huai and said, "You can lead the army to break through without changing. I really didn't misjudge you."

After praising them, he didn't wait for Zhu Huai to speak, and explained to the two of them:
"The news of your defeat should have spread all around not long ago."

"Take advantage of this opportunity to seize the property of Yicheng and rush into Heyang in one go, not giving Heyang a chance to gather troops. Then, we will go to Weizhou and bribe the governor of Weizhou in Weizhou with money and take the opportunity to go to Tianping!"

"There are many hungry people in Henan right now. As long as we distribute money and food, we will be able to gather troops and capture Yunzhou."

"Then I will submit a petition to the court. I am not afraid that the court will not agree!"

Wang Shouwen still wanted to petition the imperial court after he became powerful, and this was also the general idea of the soldiers in various garrisons about their way out after the An-Shi Rebellion.

Having seen the soldiers from Heshuo, Zibo, and Qingzhou garrisons expel the military governors and then ask to stay, Wang Shouwen thought that the court would end this farce by appointing him as the governor of Yunzhou.

While he was thinking this, Li Chengxun in Zhengping County had just learned about the Battle of Linfen last night and the impeachment of him by Cui Yu and others.

"Ridiculous! I have already defeated most of the rebels. How can they attack Linfen with only a thousand cavalrymen?"

In the Zhengping County Yamen, Li Chengxun slammed the table in anger, but he was secretly afraid.

He thought of what Tuoba Sigong said yesterday, so he quickly looked at Tuoba Sigong:

"Captain Tuoba, you said yesterday that there were not enough horses and mounts in the battlefield. Is that true?"

"I guess I saw it wrong..."

Of course Tuoba Sigong would not admit it. If he admitted it, wouldn’t that confirm the impeachment of Cui Yu and others?

"Humph! Cui Yu has 18,000 elite soldiers, but he was attacked by less than a thousand remnants of the rebels. Now he wants to put the blame for the defeat on me!"

Li Chengxun snorted coldly and refuted Cui Yu's statement that there were thousands of elite rebel cavalry in the north.

However, he also knew that the rebels probably had some elite cavalry hiding elsewhere, otherwise why would the elite cavalry of the rebel army that his nephew was still chasing suddenly appear in the direction of Linfen in the north from the direction of Yicheng?

But of course he couldn't admit such a thing.

He had already sent a victory report to Chang'an. If Cui Yu's words were true, then his previous victory report would become a joke.

Before Li Chengxun could come to terms with his thoughts, hurried footsteps were heard outside the yamen.

Soon, Wang Chongrong walked into the government office with a military report: "Commander-in-Chief, military reports from Quwo have been received. Please read them!"

"Hand it in!"

Upon learning of the military intelligence from Quwo, Li Chengxun began to feel uneasy.

Sure enough, when he opened the military intelligence, he found that Li Zhiyi was telling about how he led his troops to pursue the elite cavalry of the rebels, and then was surrounded by the elite cavalry that appeared in the north.

Not only that, Yicheng was breached by the rebels and the situation inside the city was unclear.

Li Chengxun looked unhappy, and then he threw the military information into the incense burner and burned it in front of everyone.

"Li Zhiyi sent a message saying that more than a thousand elite cavalrymen came from Linfen and joined forces with the remaining rebels to repel them. Yicheng was captured."

He concealed the number of the elite cavalry in the north. Only in this way could he make the great victory he won in Zhengping look significant and avoid making the victory report a joke.

"The rebels have gathered more than 2,000 elite cavalry in Yicheng and are probably heading towards Qinshui and Heyang Town."

"General Wang Ya, send light cavalry from Jiang County to Heyang Town and ask Heyang Jiedushi Wei to stop the rebels from heading to Henan Road!"

"The last general takes command!"

Wang Chongrong's eyes flickered, and then he bowed and left the yamen.

After he left, Tuoba Sigong asked, "Commissar, the court has not allowed us to enter Heyang, what do you think..."

"I will submit a petition to the court now!" Li Chengxun explained hurriedly, then wrote a handwritten petition and sent someone to deliver it to Chang'an.

After the memorial was sent to Chang'an, Wang Shouwen of Yicheng decisively led his troops into Zezhou and entered Heyang Town.

Because he had not received the imperial decree to suppress the rebellion, the governor of Zezhou did not send troops to stop it, but instead rushed the military information to Mengzhou.

The governor of the three cities of Heyang was Wei Ao, who was deeply trusted by the emperor. He was sent to Heyang last year to serve as the governor of the three cities of Heyang and the inspector of Meng Zehuai and other states.

When the news reached Heyang, Mengzhou, Wei Ao was still governing the country.

"Didn't they say the rebels were defeated?"

Wei Ao raised his head and questioned the man in front of him. Upon hearing this, the Heyang Left Wing Army Commander bowed and said:
"The news sent yesterday did say that the rebels were defeated in Zhengping and have been defeated by the imperial court."

"I just don't know why these defeated rebels appeared in Heyang."

Hearing the military commander say this, Wei Ao immediately stood up and walked back and forth.

"Wang Bingmashi thinks that I should lead the army to suppress the rebels?"

"This..." Seeing this, Wang Bingma hesitated, then bowed and said, "I think it would be better to ask the court for instructions."

"..." Wei Ao frowned and was silent for a moment, then asked: "Where are the rebels now?"

Military envoy Wang did not dare to neglect the matter and immediately explained: "The rebels have already arrived at Qinshui and have not made things difficult for our army."

"Envoy Li is already gathering troops in Yicheng. It seems he is preparing to wait for the imperial court's order and then enter Heyang to fight the rebels."

Li Chengxun's attack on the rebels covered the towns of Fengxiang, Bining, Jingyuan, Heyang, and Tianxiong.

Now that the rebels have entered Heyang, he naturally has to ask the court for instructions.

Although doing so would waste a lot of time, the rules were there and if he didn't follow them, things would inevitably get into trouble.

According to the rules, Wei Ao could also attack the rebels, but if the battle was unfavorable, the imperial court would not commend Heyang Town.

Because of this, General Wang was unwilling to be an enemy of the rebels, but instead wanted to drive the rebels to towns such as Wei Bo or Yicheng as soon as possible.

Military Commander Wang was unwilling to fight the rebels. Wei Ao was just a scholar and naturally had no ability to lead troops in battle.

If the troops of Heyang Town were to be destroyed, his career would probably come to an end.

Thinking of this, Wei Ao hesitated for a moment and then said to Wang Bingmashi:

"In that case, I will immediately petition the imperial court and ask the military commander to send light cavalry to investigate the rebels' movements."

"Don't worry, sir. I will definitely fulfill your mission!"

Upon hearing this, Military Envoy Wang also breathed a sigh of relief, and then walked out of the yamen at Wei Ao's signal.

But when he walked out of the government office and got on the carriage, he told the driver:
"Send someone to tell the rebels of the Tianping Army to leave Heyang Town as soon as possible before the imperial court's order comes down!"

"Yes……"

The driver agreed, then drove to escort Wang Bingmashi home and sent light cavalry to deliver the message.

At the same time, Wang Shouwen and others also hurriedly marched eastward, preparing to pass through Zezhou, send people to bribe the Weizhou troops in Weizhou, and then enter Yunzhou.

(End of this chapter)