Chapter 891: Lost Justice
The men and horses in Jingkou were always in a state of combat readiness, so they were dispatched very quickly, and 20,000 men and horses were quickly summoned.
Of course, only Chen Baxian and a few of his confidants knew about the specific deployment of troops. The other soldiers were ordered not to talk and inquire about military secrets, so it was not clear how many troops were dispatched to Jiankang to obey orders.
The 20,000 men were divided into several groups. Among them, the boat division was led by Hou Andu, who swam up the Yangtze River and headed straight for Stone City. The overland cavalry was led by Chen Baxian and Zhou Wenyu respectively, traveling day and night along the south bank of the Yangtze River to Jiankang City.
The most dangerous part of this raid was that his whereabouts and intentions were revealed during the journey, and Wang Sengbian mobilized a large army to snipe him in the middle. This was really a loss of ground.
Therefore, Chen Baxian led his army to set off late at night, trying to shorten the time the army was exposed to the blue sky and daylight as much as possible, and to reduce the chance of being glimpsed by the soldiers and civilians along the way.
Despite the inconvenience of marching at night, due to the new arrival of troops and various incentives, physical strength and morale were very abundant, so the marching speed was not slow. By the time it was daylight, the team had already traveled nearly half the distance.
The route from Jingkou to Jiankang is a relatively busy traffic artery, so there are also many tourists and garrison soldiers along the way. In order not to make the troops appear too impatient and disturb the soldiers and civilians along the way, Chen Baxian ordered the troops to slow down. Speed, claiming to be ordered to enter Beijing along the way, but it did not cause any commotion or suspicion.
Because the journey was slowed down during the day, when it was almost dark in the evening, Chen Baxian's men still had not arrived at the place agreed upon when the army set out.
Hou Andu, who entered by boat in the river, found no trace of the land army at the predetermined place. He was greatly frightened. He hurriedly went to the shore to track down Chen Baxian. He grabbed his saddle and said angrily: "I will wait for our common masters to join us." Since we are embarking on this journey for the sake of chaos and wealth, we are all the thieves below, so there is no room for hesitation and hesitation! If things don't work out, everyone will die, so there is no reason to die first and live later!"
Hearing that Hou Andu misunderstood that he was afraid and hesitated to move forward, Chen Baxian did not explain much. He just said with a smile: "What Andu taught me is perfect. With such a brave man, everything will be done!"
After saying this, he ordered the entire army to speed up. After seeing this, Hou Andu breathed a long sigh of relief. After apologizing to Chen Baxian, he hurried back to the riverside to board the boat and continue to advance towards Stone City.
Not to mention the Jingkou troops fighting to advance by land and water, there has been no abnormality in Jiankang City recently. Although Wang Sengbian was disgusted with Chen Baxian in his heart, he still did not regard him as a life-or-death enemy.
He was still thinking about how he would wait until the envoy Jiang Jun returned to report Chen Baxian's attitude and response to the recruitment, before he would consider the next steps to be taken against Jingkou. Before that, he had not paid any extra attention to Jingkou. .
After all, there is more than one thing that Wang Sengbian needs to worry about at the moment, and apart from being good at military affairs and supervising operations, he does not have outstanding talents in dealing with chaos. Some are at a loss and don’t know where to start.
Today, Wang Sengbian has been dealing with matters related to Jiangzhou.
Wang Lin is a stinky villain. Wherever he is, there will be all kinds of disputes. In the past, Liang Emperor Xiao Yi could control and suppress him, but now he has become even more unscrupulous. , turned a deaf ear to Wang Sengbian's various orders, and acted recklessly in Jiangzhou, turning the already chaotic and anxious situation into a mess.
After reviewing the letters of complaints and complaints sent to the court by local powerful people from all sides in Jiangzhou, Wang Sengbian suppressed his anger while secretly scolding Wang Lin for his misdeeds, but he still had to work hard one by one. Give a reply to appease the emotions of these Jiangzhou powerful people.
These so-called Nanchuan heroes each held their own troops and were somewhat unruly. However, they met Wang Lin, who was more perverse and violent than them.
However, the imperial court still needed to rely on these powerful Jiangzhou powerhouses to intercept Lingnan Xiao Bo, who was about to lead his army northward, and Wang Sengbian also needed them to contain Wang Lin to prevent him from continuing to move downstream after he was no longer constrained, thus causing his own The unstable downstream situation has become even more chaotic.
Originally, Wang Sengbian wanted to entrust the task of replying to these Jiangzhou heroes to Xu Ling, who returned with Xiao Yuanming. However, Xu Ling tried to write several replies, but the wording was too elegant and profound, and those Nanchuan heroes had no academic knowledge. They were vulgar and illiterate, and they might not be able to understand the court's comfort and encouragement to them, so Wang Sengbiancai wrote in person to reply to the letter.
Wang Lin attracted so much hatred that Wang Sengbian kept busy until nightfall. Even when the soldiers came in to ask him if he wanted to have dinner, he waved his hand and refused. Although this matter is not serious, if it is not handled properly, he will always feel a little uncomfortable.
When Wang Sengbian was still writing at his desk, suddenly there was a loud commotion outside. Wang Sengbian was still quite sensitive to this. After hearing these strange noises, he suddenly became alert and hurriedly put down his pen and rushed out of the room. Come, ask the soldiers what happened, and quickly get his armor.
Because the north side of Stone City is connected to the hillock, the terrain of the city wall is not steep. After Hou Andu and his party stopped the boat and landed ashore, they quickly put on their armor and geared up. Then Hou Andu took the lead and rushed towards Stone City with a long sword in hand.
At this time, the defense of Stone City was already lax, and when it was suddenly attacked by the enemy, everyone was in chaos for a while. After rushing to the bottom of the city, Hou Andu ordered the surrounding soldiers to lift him up and throw him into the wall. Then he walked left and right and killed him. Soon, he broke through a gap in the city defense, and all the soldiers filed in. , followed Hou Andu and continued fighting towards the military mansion!
At the same time, the forward troops led by Chen Baxian also rushed in from the south of Stone City and defeated the defenders of Stone City who had gathered in a hurry to resist.
At this time, Wang Sengbian in the military mansion also knew that the city was under enemy attack. Although he was quite panicked, he still forced himself to calm down and led his son Wang Ji who was accompanying him and the hundreds of soldiers in the tent to the left and right. Refusing to fight in front of Zhitang.
However, as more and more enemy troops poured in, Wang Sengbian's soldiers were all overwhelmed and defeated. They could only follow Wang Sengbian and his son and flee, hoping to fight their way out of Stone City. Go and flee to Jiankang.
However, after Chen Baxian and his two men met in the city, how could they allow Wang Sengbian to escape again. Because the city was filled with panicked soldiers and it was difficult to distinguish in the dark night, in order to find Wang Sengbian's whereabouts as soon as possible, Chen Baxian ordered his soldiers to guard the city gates, while he personally led a team of troops into the city to rush and kill him. pursuit.
After some time, Wang Sengbian's position in the city was locked, and he was leading the few remaining guards to resist in a warehouse in the city. After Chen Baxian heard the news, he immediately led his people to kill him.
At this time, Wang Sengbian and his party were almost exhausted, and at this time he also knew who was coming to attack. When he saw Chen Baxian approaching here surrounded by all the soldiers, he couldn't help but feel ashamed and angry. He shouted: "I have not betrayed my justice to the public, why did Chen Situ betray me?"
After Chen Baxian heard this shouting, he responded loudly: "Isn't it wonderful that the former comrades worked together to reward the royal family? I betrayed my old master, disrupted the imperial court, and betrayed the world. What does it mean that I have not betrayed justice!"
As he spoke, he waved his hands to order the soldiers to continue attacking. The soldiers around Wang Sengbian had already been killed and wounded. When he saw the enemy troops swarming in again, he pushed his son Wang Kai in front of him and continued to shout: "The former welcomes Zhenyang, I am also very grateful. Now, the army of Qi State has come to attack, like a mountain pressing down on an egg. I came to rescue you without losing my troops, but now I have attracted a large number of people to attack. Isn't it unjust? I beg Situ to live my life because of my righteousness. If I die, the government and the public will be in chaos, my dear. The more painful it is, the faster the enemy will be. Besides, this child has already been promised to the public, and the public will not tolerate it. "
Previously, when Wang Sengbian and Chen Baxian had not turned against each other and were working together, they formed an in-law relationship with their son Wang Jie to marry Chen Baxian's daughter. However, because Wang Sengbian lost his mother, they only made an engagement and did not get married. . At this time, Wang Sengbian was at the end of his rope, so he wanted to plead with Chen Ba to leave him a way to survive.
"The trend of righteousness can be disregarded by a certain person. The Taiwei has betrayed the country's favor, ignored the public's grievances, and acted contrary to the law, which is despised by the world. If I show favoritism and cover up, how can Emperor Xiaoyuan be so heroic as to forgive me!"
After Chen Baxian made his final response, he withdrew and retreated into the formation, no longer responding to Wang Sengbian's call for mercy.
As the only remaining guard around him died in the battle, Wang Sengbian and his son were also bound in this warehouse. Chen Baxian was willing to hang his own confidants who had objections, so how could he pity the lives of Wang and his son? He quickly ordered the father and son to be hanged here.
Not showing Wang Sengbian's head to the public and leaving his body intact was Chen Baxian's only kindness to his close comrade who once fought side by side. But the father and son were not the only ones who were killed that day. Later, after Chen Baxian's troops occupied Jiankang City, they launched a large-scale search for Wang Sengbian's pro-partisans, and seven father and son were killed on the same day.