The Empress's First Running Dog

Chapter 525 Zhao Duan comes out of retreat (5k)

The sun jumped out of the ground and the world suddenly became bright.

The main force of the imperial army was advancing towards the rebel stronghold, Ning'an County.

However, the expected rebel resistance did not come, but instead, they began to encounter large numbers of refugees who were driven here along the way.

Somewhere on a hillside.

Xue Shence was dressed in military uniform, looking solemnly at the plain ahead. The cold wind blew on his face, and his hair fluttered under his helmet:
"The army still can't move forward?"

In front of the field of vision, the road was completely blocked. The refugees with their families fleeing from the direction of Ning'an County were so numerous that there was almost no end in sight. They carried luggage, carriages and horses, forcing the imperial army to stop.

Even though the soldiers below were constantly leading the refugees from the road to the side of the road so that they could move away from the main army, the team could only advance at a very slow speed.

"Your Excellency, there are too many refugees. We are carrying a large amount of equipment and supplies, and we cannot take a detour. This is already the fastest speed we can go." A military officer behind him responded helplessly.

Xue Shence sighed softly, waved his hand, frowned, and whispered:
"Somewhat something is wrong."

Behind him, Mo Chou walked up the hillside against the wind and asked:

"What's wrong? The enemy is obviously using these refugees to slow down our march and avoid a head-on confrontation with us."

In today's counterattack, the army in the city was divided into three teams.

Xue Shence led the largest army, including Chen Huoshen's firearms battalion, as the main force and advanced head-on.

Commanders Shi Meng and Yuan Feng each led a team to attack along the other two routes.

Xue Shence said calmly:

"From the refugees' words, we have confirmed that most of them are from the vicinity of Ning'an County, including Wenshui County. They were ordered by the rebels to leave the city and were driven to flee to our side along this route.

This is a very clever move. It can seriously slow us down and buy us more time, but it also leaves us with a big burden...

Oh, if the rebels chose to burn the city at the most critical moment, then these refugees would have lost their homes, and the court would have to find a way to spend a lot of manpower and material resources to settle the refugees.

I'm afraid that the military rations that Governor Zhao had worked so hard to collect would not be enough to feed these refugees.

This is the opponent's real killer move."

Of course, what he didn't say is that driving away the refugees was also to reduce the harm of "burning the city".

Even though King Mu had been defined as a "traitor", he chose to burn down the city, an act that was doomed to bring him infamy. However, burning only houses and fields... and burning people to death are still two completely different things.

Su Dan drove out a large group of refugees, which not only disgusted the imperial court, but also reduced the resistance and consequences of burning the city.

Mo Chou asked doubtfully, "Since you see it so clearly, what's wrong?"

"Time." Xue Shence turned back and looked at her seriously:

"It's too early to use this trick. If we want to fight to the maximum extent and buy time, we should first send out troops and rely on the terrain along the way to hinder our progress and cause us as much damage as possible, and then drive away the refugees...

But Su Dan has chosen to do this now. I suspect that some of my previous judgments were wrong, but I still need the intelligence feedback from the other two teams to verify it. "

Mo Chou pursed her lips and said with worry in her eyes:

"We have been out of the city for several hours. Considering that Shi Meng and Yuan Feng's team set out earlier, they should have received some news by now."

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, a military hawk broke through the clouds in the eastern sky.

Soon, a military intelligence report from Yuan Feng was delivered to the hillside.

Xue Shence unfolded the letter, glanced at it, and his face darkened slightly. He said to the group of generals who had gathered:

"Yuan Feng's team is advancing much faster than expected and has already passed Yinma Village."

Everyone is delighted:

"The enemy must be aware of our superior strength and know they cannot resist, so their morale is low and they have no will to fight to the death."

Mo Chou was also confused and asked, "Isn't this a good thing? Why are you so sad?"

Xue Shence shook his head and sighed deeply:

"Is it a good thing? Something must be wrong when things are out of the ordinary. Based on my experience fighting with Su Dan some time ago, this group of rebels is definitely not scattered sand that surrenders at the sight of danger. It is impossible for them to retreat so quickly. Combined with these disaster victims in front of me, there is only one answer!
That is, Su Dan has already withdrawn the main force of the rebels, and only a group of mediocre soldiers are left outside occupying the territory!
He clearly controlled the geographical advantages, but he gave them up on his own initiative and handed them over to us!

What does it mean?
This means that he had no intention of fighting us, nor did he think about defending the city! Instead, he was ready to withdraw from the beginning! We were deceived by his pretending behavior!"

Scammed?
Mo Chou and the others were startled!
In the past two days, the court has been analyzing the actions of the rebels and has come to the following conclusions:

Su Dan is prepared for failure, but he will still fight against the court.

It was intended not only to buy time to transport the looted materials in the city, but also to weaken the imperial court's military strength as much as possible and hinder the offensive momentum.

The subsequent tactical arrangements were also made based on this judgment.

But at this moment, Xue Shence said that Su Dan had never thought about fighting, but had already started to evacuate.

Mochou's heart suddenly skipped a beat:
"If that's true, doesn't that mean the other party might burn down the city in advance? They won't wait until they 'can't defend their territory' or 'can't beat us' to do this, but their goal from the beginning was to burn down the city?!"

At this time, a falcon also flew over from the western sky.

"Report! Commander Shi has sent a message! His troops have captured Wenshui County! They are heading towards Ning County!" The messenger came running.

For a moment, everyone was stunned.

"Wenshui County has been captured?!" Xue Shence couldn't believe it.

You know, the purpose of Shi Meng's team was only to contain Wenshui County, and they were not the main force of the attack at all.

Therefore, Chen Huoshen's artillery was not equipped at all. Therefore, it is impossible for Shi Meng to capture the city by relying on firearms.

It took only a few hours for one of the two cities occupied by the enemy to be captured. How could this not be terrifying?
Could it be that the defenders in Wenshui County have also withdrawn?

"Impossible. Our spies have repeatedly confirmed that the main forces of the rebels are stationed in Ning'an and Wenshui cities. It is impossible for the other side to withdraw without anyone noticing! It is impossible for such an obvious target to go unnoticed in advance!" someone questioned.

Xue Shence immediately snatched the letter and was slightly stunned after reading it.

Mo Chou came closer and her expression became strange.

According to intelligence, the successful capture of the city was attributed to the Death Squad led by Wei Xianzong.

The first target of the Death Squadron was Wuhe Town, which they captured unexpectedly smoothly. Afterwards, Wei Xianzong led the officers and soldiers of the Death Squadron to change into rebel clothes, disguised as "ruined soldiers" and fled to Wenshui County.

And successfully tricked the city gate open.

Of course, this was achieved mainly thanks to the assistance of the "puppet soldiers" from the former patrol office of Wuhe Town who surrendered voluntarily.

In addition, there is another important factor, that is, the "garrison commander" of Wenshui County and Chen Yong, the chief of Wuhe Town, are relatives...

“After Wei Xianzong successfully entered the city, he disguised himself as Chen Yong’s subordinate, approached the Wenshui County garrison, found an opportunity to kill him, and took down the rebels’ command post in the city.

Then they instigated some of the surrendered soldiers of the imperial court in the city to revolt... opened the city gates and welcomed Shi Meng into the city, and only then did they capture Wenshui County. Well, the musket team in Shi Meng's hands also played an important role."

Mochou read out the information with a strange look on her face:

"After Shi Meng captured the city, he discovered that burning points had been set up in various places in Wenshui County. According to the intelligence provided by the surrendered soldiers and military orders, the plan to burn Wenshui County would be launched today. Fortunately, we broke through it in advance."

After a pause, he added:

"As for Wei Xianzong, he has led the Death Squad, pretending to be defeated soldiers again, and fled to Ning'an County, trying to blend in."

Is this still possible? The generals looked at each other in bewilderment.

The intelligence only briefly mentioned the result, but you can tell from your brain that the process is definitely not that simple.

The enemy general is not a fool, how could he be easily tricked into opening the city?
"Emperor Xianzong of Wei... Governor Zhao has saved a great general for us." Xue Shence sighed. Even he was amazed by the courage and ability of the former commander of Qingzhou.

Xue Shence waved his hand and said:

"This is good news. Now that the Wenshui River has been breached, there are no refugees hindering Shi Meng's way. He is likely to attack the rear of Ning'an City first and cut off the opponent's evacuation route. This time Su Dan will have a headache.

However, the time they have to buy is limited, and we must speed up the process. We can no longer take it slow. Pass the order down, drive the refugees away violently, and clear the roads as quickly as possible!"

He turned around and looked towards the direction of Ning'an County, the Fang Tian Huaji in his hand feeling heavy and cold.

……

……

Ning'an County, inside the lobby of the county government office.

The atmosphere was solemn at the moment. Generals walked in and out hurriedly, but there was no sign of disorder.

The entire city had begun evacuation preparations as early as yesterday. Everything should have been chaotic, but under Su Dan's rule, it appeared to be in good order.

The entire Ning'an County was now empty, the people had been driven away, and the remaining rebels were like a precision instrument, following Su Dan's military orders. The "Juren General", the vanguard general of the Yunfu rebels, sat in the hall with a serious expression.

He was wearing an official robe, a black gauze hat, and only half a piece of soft armor on his upper body. In the gaps of the armor, there were several books that were often read.

Su Dan has a handsome appearance, a fair face and a light beard, and he has the air of a scholar.

"General, the sixty-seven burning points in the city have been properly prepared, and the people have all been driven out of the city. We only need to give the order to burn the city."

An officer came to report in the hall.

Su Dan nodded slightly and said with a smile: "That's right, order the army in the city to prepare to evacuate. We will leave today, and when we leave, the city will be burned down."

The officer took the order and left.

The evacuation order was only issued today. No one below knew about it. This was an arrangement made to avoid being discovered in advance by the imperial spies in the city.

At the back of the hall, a deep voice suddenly sounded:

"Amitabha, what the general said before was to defend the city and burn it down only as a last resort."

The person who spoke was actually a big monk, but he was not wearing monk's robes, but a very common cloth shirt.

He carried a huge bamboo hat with a gauze curtain and a long stick on his back, but the scars from his ordination on his bald head revealed his background.

Su Dan turned around and said to the monk with a smile:
"Master Fanlong, as the saying goes, all is fair in war. The imperial court has a large army, so it is useless to defend this city. The news we released before was just to confuse Xue Shence. Including the fact that setting fire to the city requires four signals to be met at the same time, why is it so complicated?
There was only one real signal, which was "burn when withdrawing troops". As for the property in the city, it was indeed a pity, but it would take too long to transport so much property away, and the noise would be too loud. It was impossible to hide it from Xue Shence, so he had no choice but to burn it."

He explained patiently.

This is naturally because the other party’s identity is special.

This monk named "Fanlong" is a martial arts expert in a temple called Shenlong Temple on the Huai River.

The main temple of Shenlong Temple in the capital was destroyed, but the branch temples scattered across the country, especially in the areas occupied by the rebels, still exist.

Monk Fanlong came here on behalf of Prince Mu to protect General Su Dan.

Fan Long put his hands together, and sighed on his tough face:
"Amitabha."

Hypocritical...Su Dan smiled but said nothing.

Suddenly, a messenger came from outside the hall and reported:
"General, a group of over a hundred soldiers from the Wenshui County garrison fled outside the city, claiming that Wenshui County had been breached by Shi Meng, the commander of the Imperial Divine Machine Camp, using firearms! The garrison commander was killed tragically!"

what? !

Su Dan’s smile froze on his face, and he finally felt uneasy!

After careful questioning, he murmured:
"The new firearms are really powerful in defeating the Qingzhou Army's Shenji Battalion..."

He quickly walked to the map on the wall in the lobby, looked at it carefully, and his expression became increasingly unsightly.

Wenshui County has a special location. Once occupied by the imperial court, his retreat route can be cut off.

As a result, his plan to lead the troops to evacuate today would be difficult to implement, because once they evacuated, even if Ning'an County was burned down, the road would still be empty.

As long as Xue Shence breaks through the obstacles of the refugees, he can drive straight in and catch up, but the Yunfu army is blocked by the Shenji Camp of Wenshui County...

Being attacked from both sides is a taboo in military strategy!
"Order! All troops must defend the city and use the city to resist Xue Shence. Also, escort the detained civilians to the vicinity of the city gate. Once the enemy uses the artillery, we will use it to force them to be cautious."

Su Dan immediately ordered:

"Send another order, the troops on the eastern front will cooperate with the cavalry to retreat and open up the evacuation route!"

The evacuation route does not need to pass through the Wenshui River, so as long as the cavalry that is not good at defending the city is sent to contain the people of the Shenji Camp, they can still evacuate.

Upon seeing this, Monk Fanlong lowered his brows and felt uneasy.

……

At the same time, in Ning'an County.

In an empty residential area, "Sikong", a member of the assassin organization "Xiu Yi Zhi Zhi" of Prince Mu's Mansion, looked vigilantly at a group of mysterious people who suddenly appeared in the courtyard.

The boy, who was about seventeen or eighteen years old, was very thin, but his arms were extremely long, his eyes rolled around, and he looked very smart.

At this moment, he held a handleless dagger in his hand and stared at the uninvited guests in cloaks:
"who are you?"

The leader was tall and straight, two heads taller than Sikong. He looked down at the young man and casually took out a token from his waist, threw it over, and said coldly:
"Where is the embroidered clothes envoy Nie Yurong?"

Did he know about the existence of my elder sister? Sikong was surprised and quickly caught the token. He looked at it carefully and saw the word "Mu" clearly visible on the token.

Many anti-counterfeiting details also match.

This is a warrant that only the eunuchs in Prince Mu’s Palace have!
Sikong did not dare to be careless and bowed respectfully:

"Envoy Nie Xiuyi is now lurking in the enemy camp. I wonder why you are here?"

"He's not here..." The leader frowned, but still raised his hand to take off his hat, revealing a long and thin face:

"We are here under the order of the prince to help General Su fight the enemy."

When he took off his hat, Sikong finally saw that the man was carrying a strange wooden bow on his back.

The young man was stunned for a moment, then blurted out: "Master Lu Tong?!"

He recognized the man's identity: Lu Tong, the best archer among the retainers of Prince Mu's Mansion, nicknamed "Wan Tian Qing".

……

……

Just as the two armies set out and a war was about to break out.

Taicang Prefecture City, inside the Lu Mansion Villa.

Zhao Duan watched the formation in the house gradually dim, and wisps of flames were madly absorbed and gathered into the Red Flame Holy Armor.

Two whole days passed as he continued to smelt and refine, throwing almost all the usable rare items looted from the gentry in the city into the "furnace" of the Red Flame Holy Armor.

The effect was also extremely significant. At this moment, the color of the Red Flame Holy Armor was no longer red, but had turned white.

This is the change that occurs after the internal accumulation of magic power reaches a certain limit.

"The magic power in this armor at this moment is definitely beyond the ordinary world, and it is very likely to reach the level of a celestial being."

Zhao Duan raised his hand and took the armor. It felt warm to the touch, but just touching it gave him a thrilling feeling.

It was as if this was a blazing furnace that could explode at any time and burn everything.

He put on the "full blood version" of the Red Flame Holy Armor, covered it with his clothes, walked out of the yard, and raised his hand.

In the pool, an ancient seal was also flying around, covered in misty water vapor. It was the Black Turtle Seal.

Now the color is almost pure black, forming a sharp contrast with the pure white Red Flame Holy Armor.

"Who would have thought that this seal contains almost an entire underground river? But this is already the limit. With my true cultivation level, I would not be able to activate any of these two talismans to their full potential."

Zhao Duan murmured in a low voice.

Suddenly, he looked up and saw a certain spot on the courtyard wall, and said:

"come in."

A black shadow then twisted and leaped into the courtyard, gradually condensing into the appearance of the worshiper Song Jinxi. The killer eunuch bowed and said:

"Sir, the scholar has sent back information, and I think it is necessary to inform you."

Two days ago, Zhao Duan asked him to ask the gold medal shadow guard scholar for information about Bai Falcon.

"Speak." Zhao Duan said lightly.

Song Jinxi said:

"The scholar said that the white falcon has been captured by Xiu Yizhizhi under Prince Mu's palace, and is most likely dead. So the white falcon in the palace should be fake, and may be pretended by Xiu Yizhi."

Zhao Duan was not surprised at all, as if he had expected it. He nodded and walked out of the Lu Mansion:
"Very good, follow me back to the government office."

Song Jinxi asked, "Sir, do you want to arrest this man for questioning?"

Zhao Duan shook his head, looked towards the south, and said softly:

"Xue Shence has already gone to war, so we can't be absent."

(End of this chapter)