***
There were 100,000 troops fighting in Laohukou, 20,000 troops fighting in Bashupo, and the situation in Yuanzhou City was even more chaotic. There were 9,000 Jiangxi soldiers, more than 20,000 left-wing troops, 60,000 to 70,000 Yuanzhou City residents, and 50,000 civilians. They were all in a mess, with each other in their midst, and the fighting never stopped.
Now Qin Mu's thousand-strong army also charged into the city, which was like suddenly pouring a bucket of cold water into a boiling oil pan, preventing the entire Yuanzhou City from exploding.
At this critical juncture of chaos, on a high slope in the northwest corner of Yuanzhou City, a team of over a hundred cavalrymen emerged from the other side of the slope like a ghost. At the front was a woman in red, probably in her twenties, with a slender figure, firm breasts, a delicate and heroic face, and the red dress made her look like a burning flame.
The hundreds of men following behind her were all dressed in ordinary people's clothes, but each of them exuded a fierce aura and had the eyes and looks of an eagle or a wolf.
If Li Xiangjun was here, she would definitely recognize the woman in red as Hong Niangzi, a female general in Li Zicheng's army. The two sturdy men beside Hong Niangzi were named Gui Sandiao and Xing Laoqi.
Looking at the chaotic Yuanzhou City and the dead and wounded people everywhere, Lady Hong frowned slightly, wondering what she was thinking.
Holding a goose-feather knife in his hand, Xing Laoqi said disdainfully: "It is true that the evils sent by heaven can be forgiven, but the evils brought by oneself cannot be forgiven. Zhang Xianzhong's 200,000-man army is attacking Tiger's Mouth fiercely, and the city of Yuanzhou is still full of dog-eat-dog fighting. It seems that Jiangxi will really fall into the hands of Zhang Xianzhong."
Gui Santiao said, "In my opinion, Your Majesty should not have gone to Shaanxi. Jiangnan is so good. Damn it, look at these rubbish. If our Dashun Army came here, we would be able to crush them like a dead tree or a rotten wood. Taking over Jiangnan is as easy as drinking water. Now, it's all Zhang Xianzhong's."
"Yes, once Yuanzhou is destroyed, the whole of Jiangxi will belong to Zhang Xianzhong. He has become so powerful that we can expect him to submit to us just by saying a few harsh words. If it were me, I would not agree to do so. I don't know what the king is thinking."
"If you two keep your words down, no one will think you are dumb. What does the king think? Is it your turn to talk about it?" Hong Niang suddenly shouted, and the two burly men immediately shut up, not daring to say a word.
"Huh!" Hong Niangzi suddenly exclaimed in surprise, because a large number of war horses suddenly poured out of the north gate of Yuanzhou at this time, which made people feel quite unusual.
A large number of war horses continued to pour out, charging near the north gate. The more than 100 cavalrymen who were trying to control the north gate immediately drove the pouring war horses northward, accompanied by countless ordinary people. Under the organization of this cavalry, the people became more orderly, and some even took the initiative to help lead the horses northward.
"Sister Hong, they are wary of us." Xing Laoqi pointed. The hundred or so cavalrymen outside the north gate were already thin in number, but at this time, half of them were sent to rush to the high slope more than a mile away from where Lady Hong was, and stood guard vigilantly.
"As long as they don't take the initiative to provoke us, just ignore them. Let everyone be careful and not do anything provocative." Hong Niangzi instructed Xing Laoqi.
Gui Santiao licked his lips and said, "Sister Hong, this is several thousand war horses. Why don't we go after him and take as many as we can."
"Don't you think it's not chaotic enough? The king sent us here to pass on the message. He wanted Zhang Xianzhong to be cautious and not dare to enter Jiangxi, so as to avoid the whole of Jiangnan being taken away by him and giving him the capital to compete with the king. At this critical moment, you are still adding to the chaos. Isn't this actually helping Zhang Xianzhong a lot?"
Gui Sandiao grumbled somewhat unwillingly: "Are we going to cause more trouble? I don't think Yuanzhou can be defended. If we don't want this horse, it might become a bargain for Zhang Xianzhong in the future."
"Old ghost, stop talking. It's always right to listen to Sister Hong."
Hongniang was too lazy to talk to them and continued to look at the situation outside Yuanzhou City. She saw thousands of war horses pouring out, and thousands of civilians followed. This group of civilians were somewhat different from the original ones who escaped from the city. Most of the original ones who escaped were the elderly, the weak, women and children, while this group were mostly young and strong men, each holding a variety of weapons such as swords, guns, and wooden sticks in their hands.
Behind these civilians came a group of soldiers in neat formation and full of murderous intent. They fought and retreated at the same time. When the word "Qin" with red letters on a black background finally retreated from the north gate, the civilians outside the city immediately let out bursts of shouts.
"Master Qin, Master Qin..."
"Master Qin is out, Master Qin."
"... ... ... ... "
The three words Hongniang heard most often were "Lord Qin". From the calls of tens of thousands of people, it was not difficult to hear that they placed deep emotions and hopes on this Lord Qin.
Qin Mu was covered in blood, not knowing whether it was his own or the enemy's. He led a thousand men and horses to retreat from the city and lined up a hundred steps outside the moat. At this time, the north gate tower had been controlled by the left army. Arrows rained down from the tower. The left army general Shi Dasheng led thousands of men and horses, desperately chasing after them, trying to defeat Qin Mu and take back his warhorse.
Qin Mu used Liu Meng and Huo Sheng as the left and right wings, and launched continuous counterattacks against the left army that had crossed the moat suspension bridge. In the fierce fighting, teams of left army were forced into the moat, floating up and down.
A scout came rushing from the direction of Bashupo and reported to Qin Mu in a hurry: "My lord, my lord, Feng Xi has captured Bashuling. Hu Yan's three thousand troops have retreated to Longshan in the south. Feng Xi's more than ten thousand troops are charging towards Yuanzhou. My lord...ah!" He had just said halfway when an arrow shot from the city wall hit the scout's mount, causing the mount to jump up violently. The scout screamed and fell off the horse.
Qin Mu rushed over to help him up and asked anxiously, "What about Tiger Mouth? What's the situation in Tiger Mouth now? Tell me quickly!"
"Sir, the battle at Laohukou is still undecided. Zhang Xianzhong has put all his troops on the battlefield, and Wu Xueli's army is shaken. I'm afraid they won't be able to hold out for long..."
“Explore again, explore again!” Qin Mu shouted. The scout changed his horse and galloped away again. Qin Mu shouted to Huo Sheng, “Huo Sheng, take your troops and organize the people to evacuate quickly. Also, build a new defense line on the ridge five miles to the north. Quickly, we will hold on here first. Let Huang Lianshan bring the young and strong to help you. Hurry up!”
"Yes, sir." Huo Sheng responded loudly and galloped away with his 300 men. There were about 20,000 people who escaped from the city to follow Qin Mu. They were fleeing north in a disorderly manner. The scene was in chaos.
At this time, yellow dust rose from the west, and soon more than 10,000 left-wing soldiers were seen rushing towards them. However, they did not rush towards Qin Mu, but rushed into the west gate of Yuanzhou impatiently. The left-wing soldiers at the north gate did not understand what was going on, and thought that reinforcements had returned, so their morale was greatly boosted, and they launched a more fierce attack on Qin Mu.
Qin Mu had just led his army to repel a wave of attacks from the left army when another scout from the west came running back, "Sir, something terrible has happened. Tiger Pass can no longer be defended. Wu Xueli left 10,000 troops behind to cover the retreat, and he himself led my army back to Yuanzhou."
"What? Where is Wu Xueli? Are the rebels coming?"
"Sir, it's too chaotic. The west is full of Wu Xueli's soldiers and rebels. We can't get in touch with our brothers. Even if we find out something, we can't rush over. Sir..."
"Retreat! Liu Meng, retreat quickly, Lian Zhanbian, retreat quickly."
Qin Mu led his army to retreat while fighting, blocking behind 20,000 civilians and thousands of war horses. The pursuit of the left army was not the most terrible. What really gave Qin Mu a headache was the more than 20,000 civilians. These people followed him because of his name, Qin Mu, hoping that he could protect them and save their lives. Seeing pairs of expectant eyes and listening to their calls, Qin Mu couldn't bear to give up these people.
From a speculative point of view, it is unwise to abandon these people unless it is absolutely necessary, because as long as he succeeds in saving these people, his good name will spread throughout Jiangxi and he will be supported by countless people;
On the contrary, if he easily abandoned these people, his reputation would be no different from that of other warlords. Moreover, the thousands of war horses he had obtained at great risk were now being led by the people as they retreated northward. These thousands of war horses were too important to him.
Once this batch of war horses can be successfully transported back, Qin Mu can immediately start to form several thousand cavalry, which will have an immeasurable impact on future development.
Now the people are helping to lead the horses, and people and horses are mixed together. Abandoning the people is equivalent to abandoning the war horses, unless Qin Mu turns around and massacres 20,000 people.
.(To be continued..)
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