Most of the enemy troops went to pursue Emperor Jianwen's fleeing army. The number of troops entering the city was less than 10,000. Seeing that there was no resistance in the city, these people thought that victory was in hand and scattered to seize key areas in the city. Little did they know that the real mass war had just begun.
Caught off guard, these 10,000 enemies were divided and surrounded by the militiamen of Beiping City, and fell into the turmoil of mass warfare. They quickly sank without even a chance to escape.
After retaking the city gate, Beiping City returned to Wan Lei's control. Naturally, the first thing Wan Lei did was to build the city gate, and at the same time summoned the militia leaders to come to a meeting to discuss the future plans.
City defense matters, especially the most sensitive issue of whether to send troops to rescue the emperor.
If it had been two months ago, Tie Xuan would have immediately led his troops out to rescue him. However, today is different from the past. The command of the army in the city is not in his hands. If Wan Lei doesn't nod, he won't be able to command a single move.
As for the nature of this army, whether it's imperial troops, rebels, or rebels, it's all in Wan Lei's mind. And judging from the fact that the generals are yelling at the imperial court for being ruthless and unjust, this army is likely to be
Become a rebel.
Dozens of generals below had enough of cursing, and then Wan Lei waved his hand and said: "Where will the Peking Army go from now on? If you have any opinions, just tell me."
"Mr. Wan, you run the army well and love the people like a son. Let us support you as our leader and together we will fight against the motherfuckers and bring down the world." A passionate major general said loudly, and many people began to agree, except for a few accomplished generals.
silent.
"Zhou Tianshou, what do you think?" Zhou Tianshou is the most important general of the Peking Army, and he is also one of the few silent faction.
"Sir, you are the leader of an army. You have the final say." Zhou Tianshou said with his hands raised.
"Rebellion, we were happy for a while, but the war has led to disaster, and we don't know how many people will suffer. If we don't rebel, we must send troops to rescue the emperor, otherwise we will be convicted of trapping the emperor. There are dozens of people near Beiping City.
Wan Mingjun, they are raising troops to ask for punishment, we are afraid that we cannot resist them." Tie Xuan said first.
"The emperor is ruthless and ruthless. He sent troops to rescue him. I am afraid that there will be no reward for his merits, and he may even be punished. What happened to Mr. Wan is right in front of us. Are we going to make the same mistake again?" A major general stood up and said indignantly.
, attracted many people to agree.
"This..." Tie Xuan was speechless for a moment. The current emperor is indeed unreasonable and does not distinguish rewards and punishments. Naturally, he cannot convince the soldiers.
"Mr. Wan, just tell me straight up, whether to save him or not," Zhou Tianshou said.
"Not saving the emperor is the same as launching an army to rebel; saving the emperor is likely to be guilty but not meritorious. This dilemma cannot be decided by me. Let's vote. The minority obeys the majority. If the majority supports the rescue, then go
Rescue; most people do not support sending troops, so be prepared to face challenges from all sides." Wan Lei said.
"My dear nephew, which side do you vote for?" Tie Xuan asked hurriedly. He knew that many of the people below were ordered only by Wan Lei. As long as Wan Lei expressed his stance, the following would definitely respond.
"I have a quarrel with the emperor. To show fairness, I will not participate in the vote. Everyone, the future of the Peking Army is in your hands. Please think carefully before casting your vote."
"Good nephew, this time is not only related to the fate of the Peking Army, but also related to the fate of the people in the city. We still have to summon the elders of the city and let them come to vote." Zhao Hongru, who was attending the meeting as a non-voting witness, said, although he was not
A general of the Peking Army, but his words also carry a lot of weight.
Because he provided the tons of kerosene used for Beiping city defense free of charge, and he led the Zhaozhuang villagers to smuggle it into the city bit by bit. He also sent people to secretly lay the fire lines. It can be said that
, to be able to retake the city of Peking, Zhao Hongru deserves the most credit.
As soon as Zhao Hongru said these words, Tie Xuan was secretly happy and wished he could go up to him to salute and thank him, because those elders were different from the military. They were pacifists and naturally supported sending troops to rescue the emperor.
"Okay, call them over right away and let's vote right away." Wan Lei said expressionlessly, but he was laughing secretly in his heart: voting, isn't this the prototype of democracy?
Of course, Wan Lei is also conducting a public opinion poll. If everyone supports the rebellion, he will also have to comply with public opinion. As for whether the rebellion can succeed, it can only be said that he will do his best to follow fate.
The military situation was raging, and soon, more than a dozen respectable elders were gathered in the meeting hall and began to vote anonymously. Since many people were illiterate, those who supported sending troops would draw a circle, and those who did not support would draw a cross. Soon,
The voting results came out, twenty-one circles and fifteen crosses.
"Now that the result of the vote has been decided, let's send troops. As for how to send troops, what are your ideas?"
"The defense of Peiping City is equally important. I believe that at most half of the troops can be assigned. However, there are few troops and horses in Peiping City, and many soldiers are not accustomed to horse fighting. Therefore, there are only a few thousand people who can fight. If a few thousand people want to win, they must
We need to launch a surprise attack." Zhao Quanjie said.
"Then who is willing to lead the troops into battle?" Wan Lei asked. He would not go into battle. After all, what he is good at is organizing, not charging into battle, so he would not participate in the matter of fighting with a knife, leaving the capable and daring people to do it.
Just go and do it, but in terms of retreating ten thousand steps, even if the reinforcements sent out are defeated, Beiping City still needs to be protected by him to ensure that nothing goes wrong.
"I am willing to fight." Zhou Tianshou was the first to stand up. He is a sensible person and knows that successfully rescuing the driver is a great achievement. If he wins this time, it is not impossible to be promoted to an official. And he just stood up
When he came out, several generals also stood up to ask for a fight.
"In this case, you should immediately lead the troops and prepare to go to war. I don't ask about the process or the result. You just need to do your best. By the way, Mr. Tie, as an official of the imperial court, should go with the army to fight. If the emperor can be rescued, it will be up to you.
Negotiate on your behalf to return to the city."
"That's natural. However, I am a civil servant and am not familiar with military matters. I still have to help you with the war. If the emperor is rescued, I will ask for your credit. If your request for credit is in vain, I will take the blame to thank you."
"To me, it doesn't matter whether you have merit or not. Lord Tie just needs to ask for credit for all the generals. However, I have a merciless request. I ask Lord Tie to give advice to the emperor for the sake of the heavy sacrifices of the soldiers and civilians of Shuntian Prefecture.
, exempt the Shuntian Prefecture area from taxes for twenty years.”
"Mr. Wan is right, our relatives defended the city of Beiping with their own blood, and we want to be exempt from taxes for twenty years!" At this time, the generals and elders below all responded one after another.
"Okay, I will do my best. If you don't succeed, I will be benevolent." Tie Xuan thought that Wan Lei was going to make things particularly difficult for the court, but he didn't expect that he only wanted a tax-free privilege. Although this was a bit difficult, it was not an easy thing. After all, it was smooth.
After years of wars in the Tianfu area, the area is vast and sparsely populated, and the annual taxes are not much. No matter how stingy the court is, there is no need to dig out money here.
The city of Peiping was preparing to send troops, but things were going badly for Emperor Jianwen. At this time, he finally realized how desperate it was to be chased and intercepted. No, the fleeing team had just left the city a few miles away.
They were overtaken by a cavalry force of 10,000 people, and they were chopped and killed indiscriminately. The fleeing army suffered thousands of casualties.
Although there were tens of thousands of troops in the escape team, these people were frightened by the enemy and were not strong enough to fight. If Xu Huizu, who was like the King of Hell, did not hold the battle, he would kill anyone who dared to surrender, so they did not surrender on the battlefield.
However, it is not an option to continue like this. Under the constant attack of the incoming enemy, the army will collapse sooner or later.
And Emperor Jianwen's trusted ministers were also frightened out of their courage, and the high-ranking advisers who usually boasted and talked were all gone. Although they were surrounded by tens of thousands of troops, they were now unable to advance or retreat. In this situation, they could not escape.
, when they wanted to retreat but had nowhere to retreat, many ministers regretted endlessly. They regretted that they should not have carried out a personal expedition, and even more regretted that they should not have sent out the army. Now that there is no way to go to heaven and no door to earth, it is too late to regret.
"Sir, there are fires and shouts of killing coming from the other side of Beiping City. It seems that something has changed." A sentry came quickly to report.
"Hasn't Peiping already fallen into the hands of the enemy? What else can happen? The enemy must have set fire to the city." Xu Huizu stood in front of the battle formation in military uniform to supervise the battle. He felt helpless at this time because there were tens of thousands of enemy troops around him.
They gathered around and launched a charge sooner or later. As for whether the temporary camp could block the enemy's attack, he didn't dare to hold out too much hope.
At this moment, a guard in Jinyi quickly came to Xu Huizu with a homing pigeon and said: "A secret report has been sent from Peiping City. Please take a look at it."
Xu Huizu took off the small tube tied to the carrier pigeon, poured out a piece of paper, opened it, and saw that his face turned from cloudy to sunny, and then from sunny to gloomy again immediately.
"Qin'er, my father has something important to report to the emperor. I will leave this place under your supervision. Anyone who dares to surrender will be killed without mercy." Xu Huizu dropped this sentence and left quickly.