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A horse galloped from the south and headed straight for Qin Mu's flag. Qin Mu had seen the man on the horse before. He was Qian Erxi, who had come to him last time to report Li Xiangjun's accident in Nanchang.
Qian Erxi was covered in dust, and his lips were cracked, probably because he had not even had time to drink water on the road. When he saw Qin Mu, he bowed his head.
Qin Mu frowned imperceptibly and asked, "Qian Erxi, what are you doing here?"
"Your Excellency, a pigeon from Ganzhou has sent a letter to Ji'an Prefecture. I rushed here without stopping after receiving the letter." Qian Erxi was somewhat seeking credit. Last time he went there and reported the news that Li Xiangjun was in danger in Nanchang, he was rewarded heavily by Qin Mu afterwards. "Please take a look, Your Excellency."
Qin Mu took the note handed over by Qian Erxi, and saw that it said on a certain day of a certain month, the prefect Yang Tinglin woke up.
Qin Mu handed the note to Sima An beside him, and then said to Qian Erxi: "Erxi, thank you for your hard work."
"Please don't say that, my lord. I don't deserve it. I am honored to be able to do my little bit for you, my lord."
"Rest for a while, then rush back to Ji'an as soon as possible. Send a message to Ganzhou for me. The prefect is seriously injured and needs to rest. Tell Xiang Liancheng to guard the back office and not allow anyone to disturb Prefect Yang's rest."
"Don't worry, sir. I will rush back to Ji'an and pass on your words to Ganzhou."
After giving the reward, and to ensure safety, Qin Mu sent five cavalrymen to escort Qian Erxi back to Ji'an.
Sima An said happily: "Sir, this is good..."
"It's hard to say whether it's good or bad." Qin Mu looked at the top of the city wall. The fighting between the captives and the rebels was still going on. Gao Ze had more people and was in a favorable position. Even though their morale was low, they were still able to turn the situation around little by little. The captives were driven off the city wall one by one. Some fell directly from the top of the city wall, and they must have died.
Looking from the high slope where Qin Mu was, the figures on the top of the city were as small as ants. The shouts and screams were only faintly heard, as if there was really a group of ants biting each other on the top of the city. There was not much blood or tragedy. Perhaps it was because he had stayed in this chaotic world for too long and had seen too much blood. He was a little numb.
"Your Excellency is worried that after the prefect wakes up, Xiang Liancheng and Tian Yimu will not be able to control the situation in Ganzhou, right?"
"Well, this is Xiang Liancheng's first time to take charge of something alone, so it's inevitable that there will be some omissions. Although Tian Yimu is meticulous, his overall vision is narrow. Mr. Sima, you should return to Ganzhou first. I can rest assured that you are in charge of the overall situation."
When they went to war, Qin Mu had told Xiang Liancheng that if Yang Tinglin woke up, he should be put under house arrest in the back court on the pretext of recuperation. But Yang Tinglin was not an ordinary person after all, and it was hard to say whether Xiang Liancheng could control the situation.
"Since you have such concerns, I will share your worries. However, as for Yuanzhou, I wonder what your plans are next? Do you really intend to retreat for Wanzai and sit on the mountain to watch the tigers fight?"
"The one who understands me is Mr. Sima."
Sima An hesitated for a moment and said, "Sir, the road to the west is full of dangers and difficulties. We must weigh our options carefully. Moreover, if you take this risk, the northern gate of Ganzhou will be wide open. If the situation changes, you may not be able to do anything."
"I know, so I won't go now. I have to wait and see the outcome of the fight between Lu Daqi and Zhang Xianzhong before I can take action."
"Then I will rest assured. Please also rest assured about the affairs of Ganzhou."
The two chatted for a while, and Qin Mu instructed Zhu Yijin: "Sound the retreat, let the rebels in the city take a break and drink some hot water."
"Yes, sir."
Li Tongliang and fifty other people mixed in with the fleeing soldiers and entered Ganzhou City smoothly. However, they ran into big trouble after entering the city. All the fleeing soldiers were isolated by Gao Ze in a military camp in the south of the city. The camp gate was guarded by the rebels in the city. Those who had just fled were not allowed to leave the camp without permission. Li Tongliang and his men were essentially imprisoned.
Li Tongliang and his gang were as anxious as ants on a hot pan. Qin Mu asked them to come in as internal support. The brothers outside the city were all counting on them. If they failed to complete the mission, how would they explain to Qin Mu
Fortunately, in the afternoon, bursts of killing sounds were heard from the top of the city. The rebels guarding the military camp were constantly being transferred to the city, and the rest were also in panic. Li Tongliang seized the opportunity and began to incite the thousands of defeated soldiers who had fled back to the camp.
"Listen everyone, we have already escaped once. If the soldiers break into the city again, they will definitely not accept our surrender. They will definitely chop off our heads and build a Jingguan."
"That's right, that's right. We are now locked up here. We don't know when the soldiers will come in. We can't escape even if we want to."
"We finally managed to escape, but we are locked up like criminals. Damn it, how can this be justified?"
"If we had known this would happen, we might as well not have come back."
"Don't wait foolishly. Listen, the sound of killing on the top of the city seems to be getting closer. Oh my God, maybe the soldiers will break in soon. Let's run for our lives."
The thousands of defeated soldiers in the camp became more and more frightened as they listened, and under the instigation of Li Tongliang and others, they continued to rush towards the camp gate. The dozens of rebels guarding the camp gate were also terrified. When they heard the thousands of people in the camp shouting that the officers and soldiers were breaking in, they immediately ran away when they were rushed.
As soon as Li Tongliang and his fifty men left the barracks, they immediately went to look for a pharmacy. There were a few rebels patrolling the streets, but the city was in chaos because of the fighting on the city walls. Both the rebels and the people who survived the disaster were facing their doomsday. Who would have the energy to patrol seriously? Li Tongliang and his men walked past the patrolling rebels openly, and no one questioned them seriously.
The doors of the shops and houses on the street were all closed. Li Tongliang and his companions finally found a medicine shop, but they couldn't knock on the door. Finally, they forced their way in, but found that the medicine shop was empty, with various broken objects scattered on the ground, as if it had just been robbed.
After that, they searched several drugstores in succession, but all of them had the same situation. Everyone couldn't help but feel a little desperate. Deputy Huang Erbao said, "Brother Li, let's not waste time. During the war, medicinal materials, like food, are in short supply. All the drugstores in Yuanzhou City must have been robbed. It's useless for us to look for more."
Li Tongliang said fiercely: "Damn it, if we had known this would happen, we should have directly incited those thousands of defeated soldiers to redeem themselves from their crimes and join us in seizing the city gate."
"Hey, Brother Li, this is a good idea. Now that the gates of Yuanzhou are locked, where can those defeated soldiers run to? Let's split up and look for them, gather them together, create chaos in the city, and then go and seize the north gate."
"This is the only thing we can do now, go quickly."
The fifty people were immediately divided into five groups and took action separately.
The defeated soldiers were still running around in the city like headless flies. Gao Ze went up to the city to supervise the battle and managed to hold the city. He had no time to take care of the things in the city, so there was chaos in the city.
Li Tongliang and his men were like mercury leaking out of the ground, wreaking havoc and stirring up trouble in the city. Soon, several fires broke out in the city. The fire spread with the wind, and thick smoke soon enveloped Yuanzhou City. Gao Ze, who was on the top of the city, saw the fire in the city and was horrified. He quickly sent people to put out the fire and clear out the rioters in the city.
Qin Mu, who was outside the city, also saw the thick smoke rising from the city. He immediately stopped Zhu Yijin and said, "The situation has changed. Don't rush to call back the troops. Quickly, beat the drums and have our troops launch an attack as well. Try to contain the rebels on the top of the city. Go quickly."
"Yes, sir."
Li Tongliang and his gang in the city not only set fire everywhere, but also kept shouting: "The soldiers are coming into the city!"
"Run away! The soldiers are coming into the city."
"If you don't run away, you'll die."
As the fire grew bigger and black smoke filled the air, the figures of people running back and forth on the street became blurred. The people in the city heard someone shouting that soldiers were coming in, but they couldn't tell whether it was true or not. They were so scared that they ran around in panic.
After Li Tongliang's several teams continued to create unrest and incited more than a hundred defeated soldiers, they did not delay any further and immediately rushed towards the north gate.
On the way, he encountered thousands of rebels rushing over from the top of the city. Without waiting for the other side to scold him, Li Tongliang shouted loudly: "General, General, it's bad, it's bad, the soldiers are coming in from the south gate."
"What? Where did the soldiers from the South Gate come from?"
"I don't know, General. Look, the soldiers have really broken in. They killed anyone they saw and burned every house they saw. Many people's heads were chopped off... General, Yuanzhou can't be defended anymore. Let's escape, let's escape..." Li Tongliang's words were half true and half false. There was indeed a fire in the south city, with thick smoke billowing. The surviving people of Ganzhou and the rebels who remained in the city were running around in panic. The scene really looked like soldiers had broken in.
Before the rebel general could ask any more questions, the thousands of rebels behind him were so frightened that they all fled in panic. Some of them took off their armor while fleeing to make themselves look like civilians.
The rebel general kept yelling, but no one listened to him. Weapons and armor were thrown all over the ground, and thousands of soldiers and horses had fled in all directions. He was so miserable that he could not even cry.
It was normal for the rebels to have such a reaction. Most of them had only been in the rebellion for a month or two. Some were forced to join the rebellion, while others joined the rebellion just for the sake of speculation, hoping to make a living or to get rich.
No matter what the reason was, it was impossible for them to have any loyalty to Zhang Xianzhong in such a short period of time. When the battle was going well, everyone would naturally obey, but once the battle went unfavorably, they would often scatter.
Zhang Tongliang took advantage of the rebel general's grief and suddenly jumped up and knocked him off his horse. After he snatched the armor and the warhorse, he immediately told Huang Erbao and the others to shout in unison: "Brothers, don't run away. You can't escape from this city. If you want to save your lives, you have to make meritorious contributions while serving your sentence."
"If we take the north and bring the soldiers outside the city in, we can avoid death and maybe even get a big reward."
"Hurry up, this is the last chance. Anyone who wants to save his life should follow us and seize the north gate together."
"Hurry up, there will be no such store if you miss this village."
It's true that the gimmick of making up for one's crime with meritorious service really gave many rebels a sudden realization. It's true. At this time, making up for one's crime with meritorious service is undoubtedly the wisest choice. Even if there is no big reward, it should be possible to save one's life by welcoming the officers and soldiers into the city.
After realizing this, quite a few rebels who were running around joined Li Tongliang and his team. When they rushed to the north gate, more than 300 people gathered behind Li Tongliang.
"Kill, seize the city gate!" Li Tongliang roared and rushed towards the city gate first.
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ps: Dear ones: The first few chapters on the shelves took a lot of effort for me, and I am still catching my breath. However, I cannot disappoint the book friends who still support me. I will start updating twice a day from today. Well, I will have to rely on the full attendance award to subsidize my life next month, and there will definitely be five to six thousand words updated every day.
———————Best regards!
.(To be continued..)
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