Chapter 1340: Across Wuxing

Chapter 1340: Across Wuxing

At dawn, a burst of rapid horse hooves suddenly sounded in the wilderness, immediately breaking the peaceful environment.

"What happened? How could there be the sound of horse hooves?"

The sleeping soldiers in the camp were suddenly awakened. They grabbed the sabers next to their bunks and asked with alarm, "Is it possible that the Tang army is attacking?"

There were also some people with a big heart who didn't pay attention to this. When they opened their eyes and saw that it was still early, they turned over and continued to sleep, muttering: "Why are you panicking? King Linchuan personally led his elite troops to go out to kill the camp at night, thinking that he was returning victoriously. Even if the Tang army really comes and they have strong horses to carry them, we can't escape. We might as well wait in camp to avoid being shot by stray arrows. "

However, there are still only a few people with such stable emotions. Most people feel frightened when they hear the sound of horse hooves that is getting faster and faster and the distance is getting closer. Many people can't help but put on their robes and rush to the house. I left the camp and wanted to find out what exactly happened.

At the same time, rapid warning gongs and drums also sounded in the camp, and all the battalion commanders began to shout and summon the battalions to quickly form formations to meet the enemy. However, not many battalions were willing to respond. Most of the battalions The soldiers were still running around in a senseless panic.

Not long after, a cavalry team appeared on the outskirts of the camp. It was blocked by fortifications such as the Juma Gorge outside and did not rush forward directly.

It was still dark, the light was not sufficient, and the battalion soldiers could not clearly see the specific situation of the cavalry, but their formation and running rhythm did not look like their Wuzhong division. There are few horses in Jiangdong, and the limited horses are mainly Shu horses and Yunnan horses. Their bodies are not much bigger than donkeys, and their running speed is not too fast. The war horses outside the camp are obviously not like this.

"It's the Tang army attacking, the Tang army is coming to kill! Hurry, quickly report to the King of Linchuan and fight against the enemy!"

Because Chen Qian just led her troops to leave last night, and when she left, in order to avoid too much panic and turmoil, she did not tell the soldiers outside the house her true whereabouts. She only said that she was going to lead her elite troops to kill The camp attacked the Tang army, so after the soldiers outside the palace confirmed that it was the Tang army who was attacking, their first reaction was to report it to King Linchuan, hoping that the elite of the palace could lead them to fight the enemy together.

But when these camp soldiers actually walked out of their own camps, they found that the entire camp became a bit empty and deserted, especially the closer they got to the Linchuan Prince's Mansion, the deserted the camps became, with almost no soldiers walking around.

Such a strange situation naturally made people feel bad, so some soldiers bravely rushed into these camps to search, and soon found that there was no one between the camps, and they became more and more panicked: "The camp." Why is there no one there? Where have everyone gone?”

"Could it be that you went out to attack the enemy camp and haven't returned yet?"

Someone else speculated that King Linchuan led his troops to attack last night, and the camp had indeed arranged some arrangements for the entry and exit of the soldiers. The situation was chaotic at that time, and these ordinary soldiers were strictly prohibited from leaving the camp. They were secretly grateful that they had not received the mobilization order. They checked in and rested early, but they did not know much about what happened next.

Of course, these people didn't know what happened specifically. After Chen Qian led his troops to evacuate first, Shen Ke and others who stayed behind that night dispersed the soldiers who had gathered in the camp outside the palace in batches.

Those who were given priority to disband and leave the camp were mainly the subordinates directly under each general and some of the powerful disciples of Wuzhong. These people were able to leave first to avoid the enemy's attack. As for the battalion soldiers who were still left in the camps outside the palace, it was too late to disband. At the same time, they also needed to stay to attract some of the enemy's offensive, so no one notified the main force of these battalion soldiers at all. News that the troops have evacuated!

Now that the Qingqi troops of the Tang Army had reached the vicinity of the palace, these people suddenly became alarmed, but by now it was already too late.

They stumbled out of the empty camps, and soon rushed towards the Linchuan Palace with confusion and confusion. But when they came to the palace, they only saw some ordinary slaves and servants. As for King Linchuan and his confidants, they had already disappeared.

"Could it be that the king abandoned everyone and ran away?"

Someone was walking hurriedly in the empty palace and asked in a trembling voice with a look of panic.

"How could it be possible? Impossible, absolutely impossible! The king is determined to defend his home and country, how could he abandon the crowd and run away! The dog thief himself is frightened, so he can't slander the king!"

When someone heard this, he shouted angrily: "Don't you know that the elite of the royal family went out to cut the camp last night?"

But even if the troops who went out to attack the enemy had not returned, the Tang army had already come to kill them. It can be seen that those who went out to attack the enemy were already in danger. What's more, even if they go out to attack the enemy, why do all the civil servants in the mansion disappear together?

"You thieves and slaves, do you know where King Linchuan and the officials in the palace have gone?"

Some frightened and angry soldiers directly arrested and controlled the remaining slaves in the mansion, and then started to stare and ask questions.

"Nu, Nu, I really don't know, but I saw that Chief Shen led his troops to the southeast before dawn, and left a message saying that he would return home and summon his sons to fight against the enemy..."

Naturally, the servants didn't know the thoughts and movements of the nobles in the house. When being questioned, they could only carefully tell some of the things they overheard.

Before the truth of a matter could be found out in the palace, the roar of people and horses outside the palace had become loud again.

Although there are a lot of defenses built outside the camp, these defenses also require the cooperation of manpower to be effective in blocking the enemy. However, all the soldiers who remained in the camps ran towards the palace. There was no one guarding the defense. After wandering around and watching, the Tang Army's rangers naturally quickly found a breakthrough and rushed in directly through the gaps in the defense.

"The King of the Tang Dynasty passed through Wuxing and went south to attack the bandits in Kuaiji. It was not to disturb the sentiments of the Wuzhong countryside. You and the Wuzhong townspeople should quickly abandon their weapons and avoid death!"

At this time, there were thousands of soldiers rushing around inside and outside the palace, but the Tang army's light cavalry that came here only had a few hundred men and horses. The gap between them was too huge. In addition, the Tang army's governor also Noticing that these Wuzhong countrymen looked panicked and had no intention of forming a formation to resist, he ordered his subordinates to shout to persuade them to surrender.

These Wuzhong disciples have been gathering near the Linchuan Palace for some time. It can be seen that they hold a relatively resistant and hostile attitude towards the invasion of the Tang Army. The main purpose of gathering here is also to fight against the Tang Army. Despite the current situation The changes were somewhat beyond their expectations, but naturally they could not be easily persuaded to surrender.

Some soldiers even tried to wave their swords in preparation for an attack when they saw the Tang Army's cavalry approaching. But now they are completely unorganized, and sporadic counterattacks are not enough to cause effective damage to the Tang Army knights. Instead, they are shot back by these Tang Army rangers because of their stubborn attitude.

The individual soldiers of the Tang Army are quite well-armed. These knights are equipped with light armor, bows, swords and weapons. Their adaptability and combat effectiveness are very impressive. Although there was a huge disparity in numbers between the two sides at this time, when they launched a counterattack, it was difficult for the Wuzhong soldiers present to resist, and many soldiers were soon shot dead on the spot.

Although there are a lot of soldiers left in the camp, most of them are ordinary countrymen. They are neither the original armed forces of the state and county, nor are they directly affiliated with the powerful. Many of the equipment are even self-prepared, which is different from the army. The weapons of the Tang army were naturally incomparable. As the Tang army began to engage in guerrilla attacks, the number of casualties increased rapidly, and soon reached as many as a hundred or ten people.

"Quickly retreat into the palace, and then defend it after entering the palace!"

Seeing how powerful the Tang army was, the Wuzhong soldiers immediately panicked and hurriedly swarmed into the palace. The scene became more and more chaotic. Even though some generals wanted to organize their troops to fight back, in this mess Under the impact of the crowd, he couldn't do it at all, so he could only be dragged back into the palace.

After seeing this, the soldiers of the Tang Army outside the mansion no longer continued to attack and kill. Instead, they rode horses and roamed around outside the mansion, trying to drive back as many of the countrymen who were fleeing in various places as possible and into the palace.

Although this palace is quite majestic, it is just a mansion and not a solid city. Although these soldiers retreated to it, they would be safe for a while, but when the Tang army arrived here, it was only Just catching a turtle in an urn.

The camps outside the palace were relatively scattered and were not built for purely military purposes. The villagers who gathered here were often from the same village or attached to a famous powerful man. However, those powerful men had already learned the news of the main force's withdrawal, and immediately led their own troops to leave quietly, leaving the other villagers behind.

These villagers have been gathering near the palace for the past few days. The channels for getting the news are relatively closed, otherwise they would not be dumped here directly. Although he has been abandoned now, the obsession that has been instilled in his heart to resist the Tang army has not been reversed for a while.

And precisely because of this obsession, even though the situation has changed drastically, they still refused to leave. Coupled with the expulsion of the Tang Army's rangers, most of the thousands of surrounding Wuzhong villagers were driven into the palace. .

At the same time, the Tang army in the rear also learned that something had happened to the base camp of Wuxing Xiangqu, so the Tang army that had been scattered to attack various places quickly moved to surround and surround the Linchuan palace.

After the Tang army broke through the front line of Songjiang, all armies moved forward together and raided separately. Different units used light cavalry scouts to communicate with each other. As their battle circle gradually shrank, some personnel changes became more and more clearly detected.

The main force that dispersed from the Linchuan Palace was evacuated in batches last night, and most of them were marching on foot. It only took a few hours from midnight to dawn, and a considerable part of them had not gone far. And because these troops came from all over Wuzhong and returned home in a hurry, some simply threw themselves into the trap and plunged into the area already controlled by the Tang army, and were immediately surrounded and intercepted.

"Chen Qian has abandoned everyone and left? This disciple has been stubborn and clamoring a lot recently, but he doesn't want to be so well versed in the art of avoidance!"

Shuofeng, who had already led his troops to Wucheng, the capital of Wuxing County, couldn't help being surprised when he learned that Chen Qian had escaped first, and frowned.

The Tang army had been crossing the river for a long time, and they had a good grasp of the human situation in Wuxing. Chen Qian had always firmly expressed her hostility to the Tang army coming south, including the defense arrangements in Songjiang and other places.

Therefore, Shuofeng also secretly estimated that entering Wuxing this time would inevitably lead to a fierce battle. Therefore, after entering Wuxing, he immediately dispatched divisions and brigades to cut off some strongholds around Changcheng County that might provide reinforcements to Changcheng County, and then prepared to return to Wuxing. Concentrate your efforts to attack the Linchuan Palace here, and try to eliminate Wuxing's anti-Tang forces north of the Qiantang River.

However, he did not expect Chen Qian to be so clever. He evacuated the Great Wall before the Tang army formed a siege against Changcheng County. The so-called vow to defend the ancestral tombs of the Great Wall, etc., all became empty words.

Although Chen Qian had left Wuxing, after learning that many Wuzhong villagers were still left in the Linchuan Palace, Ruo Feng led several thousand troops from Wucheng directly to Changcheng County, and at the same time sent Yuwen Xin to lead two thousand elite cavalry troops to chase in the direction of Chen Qian's retreat. If Chen Qian and his party could be intercepted and captured on the north bank of Qiantang River, it would be great.

Yuwen Xin and his party were originally attacking near Jiaxing. After receiving the news, they immediately gathered their troops and went straight to Yuhang, a big city north of Qiantang River, along the canal Baichi Du in Wuxing.

However, they did not know much about the geographical conditions of Wuzhong. They thought that the Baichi Du line was in the dry season, and it should be very simple to cross the river. However, they did not expect that the river ditch connecting the Qiantang River at the lower end of the canal was silted up, and the flooded mudflats were dozens of feet wide. It was also the cold season in late winter and early spring, so it was naturally impossible to wade across the river. They could only go back dozens of miles upstream and find a suitable place to cross the river near Longxi, Wukang.

After such twists and turns, it was difficult for Yuwen Xin and his party to intercept Chen Qian and his party on the north bank of the Qiantang River, but they did not rush in without other gains. They happened to arrive at Longxi Bay, one of the settlements of the Shen family in Wuxing.

Shen Ke, the governor of Zhenzhou, was from Longxi, Wukang. After evacuating from the Linchuan Palace, he led more than 3,000 villagers back to Wukang, preparing to intercept the Tang army coming from the south in the north of the Qiantang River by relying on the terrain of Longxi Bay and the manor fortress that he had run for many years in his hometown.

However, when he was still calling on his tribesmen to repair the walls of the manor, he did not expect that a Tang cavalry force of several thousand people came out from behind to attack him. Under the attack of this Tang army, Shen Ke's tribesmen who responded hastily were quickly defeated, the manor was also breached, and thousands of tribesmen, including Shen Ke himself, were captured on the spot!