Chapter 1289 Gao Zhan is captured
The continuous abandonment of the city has undoubtedly done great damage to morale. Therefore, chaos began to occur soon after Gao Anahu led his army out of the city, and people kept leaving the team.
Gao Anagong still remembered his master's instructions and set out overnight without stopping. Although he also restrained those who escaped along the way, he did so under the premise of not affecting the team's forward speed. If it was too troublesome, He simply ignored it.
As a result, more and more people choose to leave the team. Some Hebei Shiliu are not willing to follow Gao Zhan. They were forced to suffer coercion before. Now that they have the opportunity, they naturally have to find a way. Escape!
While traveling in the middle of the night, a soldier suddenly came in and reported: "To report to the general, Wei Shaofu broke the axle of his carriage and left it on the side of the road. When the soldiers were unprepared, he actually led his slaves to escape!"
"Hmph, these Han slaves really can't be trusted!"
After Gao Anakhu heard this, he immediately darkened his face and snorted coldly. Wei Shou's status is naturally different from that of ordinary soldiers. He actually escaped privately and got lost. When Gao Zhan catches up in the future, he will inevitably reprimand and punish Gao Anahu.
Because he rushed to the state border in a hurry, Gao Anagong did not arrange for a large-scale search. He just ordered Cui Jishu and other important people to be gathered in the Chinese army to guard them tightly and not give them a chance to leave the team.
After Wei Shou and his party left the team, they did not dare to escape to the wilderness too far away from the road. Not only were tigers and wolves roaming wildly in the wilderness, but there were also strong men fleeing for their lives. However, they had no sharp weapons to defend themselves. They had only a few slaves holding wooden staffs to protect them. Wei Shou walked back along the road, one foot deep and one foot shallow, while paying close attention to the movement on the road. He was extremely nervous.
"My lord, are you going to return to Qingzhou City? If the Tang army attacks..."
The servant who followed Wei Shou also looked confused. Seeing Wei Shou walking back and forth, he couldn't help but ask in a low voice.
After Wei Shou heard this, he sighed and said, "I wish the Tang army would attack quickly. Alas, I was burdened by my reputation and was detained by the bandit king. If I had stayed in Yecheng at that time, I think I would have eaten Tang Lu by now!"
Before he could finish sighing, a group of knights suddenly galloped over in the night, and the group hurriedly lay down among the haystacks. However, there were dogs barking in the team, and they stopped several feet away from Wei Shou and others and kept barking.
"Who is hiding on the side of the road? Get out of here!"
Upon seeing this, the group of knights naturally understood that someone was hiding on the left side of the road, and they shouted loudly with bows and swords drawn.
"No, don't hurt anyone! My, my master is Young Master Wei..."
When the servants around Wei Shou saw this, they quickly called out the identity of their master to avoid being killed by the knight.
"What is Mr. Wei? Could it be that he is a traitor and a puppet official?"
After hearing this, the knights were a little confused and asked again. At the same time, they also showed their identity as scouts of the Tang Army.
After Wei Ting heard this, he did not wait for the slave to reply, but hurriedly shouted in response: "The warriors and so on turned out to be warriors of the Tang Army. It's really gratifying! A certain Wei Shou was the uncle of Li Miao, the king of Jiangxia in the Tang Dynasty. He was captured by the thieves. I have fallen here, and now I am abandoning the thieves and returning to justice, and I beg you to recruit the brave men into the country!"
Although Wei Shou was in this puppet dynasty, he was also very concerned about the personnel affairs of the Tang Dynasty. He especially tried his best to find out the official status of his nephew Li Miao in the Tang Dynasty. At this moment, he quickly shouted out in front of the Tang army.
Although these Tang army scouts had never heard of Wei Shou's name, they still knew the name of their clan king. When they heard Wei Shou shouting the name of Jiangxia King, they separated into two people and stepped forward to greet Wei Shou with a line of ceremony. come out.
When he learned that this team of scouts was to track the team that fled from Qingzhou, Wei Shuang even volunteered to lead the way for them. In this wild and chaotic wilderness, no one knows what kind of accidents they will encounter. Of course, it is safe to go with the Tang army. As for betraying his old master, Wei Shou had no psychological burden at all.
With Wei Shou's guidance, this scout team quickly grasped the whereabouts of Gao Anagong and his party, and continued to convey the news to the rear. As a result, several front lines of the Tang army were invariably killed by Gao Anagong. A group of people were attracted. As for Qingzhou City, it will be left to the later divisions to make progress.
As several Tang Army pioneers and light cavalry followed up one after another, Gao Anahu gradually became aware of it and secretly complained in his heart.
Originally, he was prepared to listen to Gao Zhan's instructions and stay at the state border to wait for Gao Zhan to come from behind to join him. However, as the Tang military divisions and brigades came closer and closer, Gao Anagong did not dare to stay and quickly ordered The troops accelerated their advance, hoping to escape their pursuers. The two sides chased and fled, and the distance became closer and closer.
As several groups of Tang troops gathered on the way, they began to try to intercept and outflank them. Seeing that the enemy troops were getting closer and closer, the soldiers under Gao Anakhu's command were constantly breaking away from the team and fleeing along the way. As a result, there were fewer and fewer soldiers around Gao Anakhu, and in the end, there were only less than a thousand people left. .
"The thief will dismount quickly and accept surrender. Master Wang is magnanimous and I will spare your life!"
The soldiers of the Tang Army thought that Gao Zhan was among the troops, so they intercepted and outflanked them while shouting to persuade them to surrender, hoping to capture Gao Zhan alive.
Gao Anagong did not lose his loyalty. When things got to this point, he still loudly ordered the sergeants to accompany Gao Zhan's concubines and concubines to try to get rid of the pursuers. However, as the encirclement gradually shrank, Gao Anagong was unable to fight, was knocked off his horse, and was captured soon after.
"General Qi, there is no thief master here!"
The sergeants searched the team after intercepting it, but found no trace of the thief leader Gao Zhan, and hurriedly reported the situation to the general.
Yu Wenxin led the vanguard in pursuit, thinking that he could add another achievement. When he heard that Gao Zhan was not in the team, he was shocked. He hurriedly asked people to bring a group of prisoners up and shouted: "You thief masters" Where are you now?”
The ordinary soldiers did not know that Gao Zhan did not set out together, and they were a little confused at this moment. At this time, Gao Anahu probably realized that he and his party were being used as bait. Especially when he saw the eyes of the Tang army officers and soldiers almost spitting fire, he was also very panicked. He hurriedly kowtowed and said: "I know where the thief lord is. I I know where the thief lord is! I beg the general to spare my life, and I am willing to cooperate with the king to capture the thief lord Gao Zhan!"
Although Gao Zhan didn't have much ambition or ability to turn the tide, he did have some crooked talents. He arranged for Gao Anagong and his party to escape first, making people misunderstand that he had also fled, but he did what he wanted and directed all the forwards of the Tang army towards them. Dong attracted the enemy, but Qingzhou City was not attacked immediately.
But despite this, the situation in the city has not improved much. Although He Shikai was appointed to be in charge of the city defense, the city defense was already in a mess and in vain. Especially after the news of Gao Zhan's escape spread, the order in the city collapsed even more, and He Shikai was completely unable to restrain the soldiers in the city.
These garrison soldiers were recruited locally. Seeing that the city was about to be undefended, many people fled directly, planning to take advantage of the chaos to return to their hometowns. There are also people who, because they have knives and guns in their hands, can't help but become more daring and want to use the weapons in their hands to rob the city before the enemy troops arrive. As these knife-wielding murderers rush into the streets, riots in the city suddenly break out. It got worse again.
"No chaos is allowed! As long as you can defend the city and defeat the enemy, the Supreme Being will definitely reward you heavily!"
He Shikai didn't expect the situation to collapse so completely. He was still clamoring to control the situation, but there were only a few people who were still willing to obey his orders.
Although Gao Zhan's tricks temporarily misled the Tang army, they also completely destroyed his own majesty and appeal. The soldiers and people in the city thought that he had abandoned the city and fled, and his subordinate He Shikai was even less powerful. People were in awe.
"Supreme bullshit, big bullshit rewards! You Hebei thieves, Hu Bei, retreated here and caused harm to this town. Now that the thief leader has abandoned everyone and fled, the thieves are still trying to trick someone into working hard. It's really hateful!"
Some generals couldn't restrain their anger, pointing at the soldiers and yelling, and some even shouted angrily: "The Tang army is about to besiege the city. Your Majesty is so heartless that he abandons everyone and leaves his confidants here, trying to make us fight to the death." It’s so unbearable to stop the enemy! Instead of giving up your life for this unkind lord, it’s better to take this thief’s confidant and surrender to the Tang army!”
"No, you can't..."
He Shikai originally planned to leave his troops after arranging the city's defenses, go to join Gao Zhan and others, and wait for an opportunity to leave the city, but he didn't expect the soldiers to get into chaos and treat his orders as nonsense, and even kidnapped him. Surrendering to the enemy, he was naturally shocked. When he was about to turn around and run away, before he could run too far away, he was caught by several strong soldiers by the neck. Soon after, he was tied up and locked in a room. middle.
The vanguard of the Tang army was attracted to the east, but the traveling army of the rear division was not fast enough, so a short vacuum was formed in Qingzhou City, giving the soldiers in the city time to loot and plunder.
However, as Han Xiong led his troops outside Qingzhou City, some of the defenders who had been waiting for a long time quickly dragged He Shikai out. Although He Shikai struggled hard, he was inevitably captured and sent to Han Xiong's camp. Come in front.
The situation developed to this point, which was also unexpected. Seeing that he had no hope of escape, He Shikai also quickly shouted: "General, spare your life, General, spare your life! This is He Shikai, a close confidant of Lord Qi, who has made great contributions." General Yu, Qi Lord Gao Zhan has not fled, but is still hiding in the city..."
"Is this true? Lead the division and brigade there quickly!"
After Han Xiong heard this, his eyes lit up in a hurry, he stepped forward, grabbed He Shikai and said in a deep voice.
Under the leadership of He Shikai, the Tang army quickly sealed off a temple in the south of the city. Before the arrival of the Tang army, the temple had been severely damaged and was looted by several groups of rebels and bandits. The entire temple was It's messy.
"My lord, where is the thief master Gao Zhan?"
He Shikai brought Tang Jun here. After seeing the mess in the temple, he was a little dumbfounded for a moment. He hurriedly grabbed a palace slave hiding in the corridor and shouted.
"There were soldiers who came into the temple to disturb them. Although they were repulsed, they came again soon. In order to hide their eyes from others, the Supreme Lord disguised himself as a woman and hid behind the temple with the Queen..."
The palace slave drooped his head and answered with a trembling tone.
At this time, the Tang Army sergeants who entered the temple to search also gained something. They led Han Xiong and his party to a row of Buddhist shrines in the temple. There were many palace slaves and female relatives hiding in this Buddhist shrine. After the rebels rushed in, they focused on this place. , so right now there are many disheveled palace people covering their faces and crying.
Han Xiong stepped into one of the Buddhist houses. There were many shirts, skirts and jewelry scattered on the ground inside the house. A person was lying on the couch, covered with a thin layer of Luo Shan. He had hairpins on his head and face, but his face was pale and his face was red. It was still red, swollen and bleeding, and his whole body showed a weak and miserable look after being ravaged.
Even though Han Xiong had seen a lot of things, he froze when he saw this scene after entering the room. It took him a while to recover. He was full of suspicion and asked He Shikai to come here. He pointed at the body lying on the couch and asked, "Is this really the thief leader Gao Zhan?"