Li Jinxiao didn't notice the little moves of Wang Dongyuan and Zhang Jian at all. He kept stopping the soldiers from escaping. The west side was blocked, and the soldiers started to run away from the south again. The Song army in the south also evacuated.
By the time of the fifth watch, the soldiers' flight was completely out of control. Countless people were fleeing. Even the soldiers who were stopped by law enforcement were shaken and began to disappear continuously.
Li Jinxiao had no choice. He was really exhausted and sat in the tent sulking.
Son-in-law Wu Miao advised: "Father-in-law, don't take this kind of thing to heart. It is not necessarily a bad thing for these soldiers to escape. If they collapse on the battlefield, it will be a big trouble."
Li Jinxiao sighed and said: "My dear son-in-law is right. I am too vain. I always think that 200,000 people are very impressive. I didn't expect that they are all just a bag of water. I don't know what I will do tomorrow? Tens of thousands of cavalry."
Ah! How can I possibly defeat him?"
Although Wu Miao was the governor of Hezhou, he was also Li Jinxiao's military advisor. He thought for a while and said: "If it doesn't work, retreat south. If we go over the mountains, the cavalry will not be able to catch up with us."
Li Jinxiao said with a worried look: "But what if they send people to kill Hezhou first? There are hundreds of people in Lijiapu!"
Wu Miao was also a little panicked. His wife and children also lived in Lijiabao. He quickly said: "Then we must send people to Lijiabao first and inform them to retreat first, evacuate Sichuan, and evacuate to Lin'an!"
At this moment, Li Yong, Li Jinxiao's second son, rushed in and said: "Father, something serious is going on. Our army no longer has ten thousand people!"
"What?"
This news was like a thunderbolt, and Li Jinxiao was completely stunned. He thought that all the hundreds of thousands of people had fled, leaving at least more than 30,000 elite soldiers. Unexpectedly, there were less than 10,000 soldiers.
"Yong'er, you're not mistaken!" Li Jinxiao was so anxious that his voice changed.
"There is absolutely no mistake. When the boy gathered his troops, he only gathered 8,100 people, and then the whole camp was empty."
"What about Wang Dongyuan and Zhang Jian?" Li Jinxiao suddenly remembered these two people and asked anxiously.
"Both of them can't be found, including the children of their two families, not a single one of them is missing."
"Two bastards!"
Li Jinxiao understood immediately, and the two men also ran away.
At this time, Wu Miao said anxiously: "Father-in-law, let's go too! It's still dark. Once it gets bright, we will be completely finished."
Li Yong said: "Father, I will lead the army to break out to the west. You, your brother-in-law and eldest brother, disguise themselves as ordinary soldiers and flee south. I will buy you time."
"Have we reached this point?" Li Jinxiao asked with a trembling voice.
"Father, the enemy has 40,000 cavalry! If they find that the camp is empty, they will not wait for dawn and leave quickly! It will be too late if you don't leave."
"Let's go! Let's go now."
Li Jinxiao finally made up his mind and sent someone to find his eldest son Li Mi, who was in charge of logistics. At this time, he could no longer trust anyone and could only ask his second son Li Yong to cover them.
The father and son, together with their son-in-law Wu Miao and five or six close followers, all changed into coarse cloth, carried hoes and forks, and fled south.
Not long after they left, the second son Li Yong led 8,000 people to leave the camp silently and fled to the west.
But as soon as Li Yong led his army out of the military camp, he was discovered by Song army scouts who were watching outside. The scouts immediately rushed to report to the county king Chen Qing.
This news was a bit unexpected by Chen Qing. He pondered for a moment and then said to Liu Qiong: "You are leading the army to make another surprise attack to see what is going on in the military camp?"
"Follow the order!"
The three thousand cavalrymen had not yet been disbanded. Under the leadership of Liu Qiong, they rushed towards the enemy camp. This time there was no obstruction and the army rushed directly into the camp.
Chen Qing looked from a distance and felt something was wrong. Not only was there no one blocking the camp, there were not even soldiers running away in fear.
Is it really just as I thought, that it has become an empty camp?
After a while, a cavalryman rushed back to report, "Your Majesty, the camp is empty, there is not a single soldier!"
"It's just as I expected!"
Chen Qing immediately said to the commander Lu Gui: "General Lu will lead 20,000 cavalry to pursue the 8,000 soldiers who escaped. Send more scouts and be careful of enemy ambush!"
"I humbly obey orders!"
Lu Gui took the order arrow and rushed to lead the troops.
Chen Qing also sent commanders Li Yan and Wen Shunyi each with 3,000 cavalry to Guozhou and Chongqing Prefecture to capture the families of Wang Dongyuan and Zhang Jian.
At the same time, an order was sent to Tang Qian, ordering him to send out a hundred scout teams to capture suspicious people who escaped from the gang along the way.
Li Jinxiao fled with his son and son-in-law. They did not dare to ride horses and could only walk with their legs. After more than ten miles, Li Jinxiao could no longer walk. His son-in-law Wu Miao had to go to a nearby village and rent a fishing boat at a high price.
This allowed them to escape south on a fishing boat.
It was already dark at this time, and the cavalry of the Song Army ran back and forth from time to time on the official road by the river, making the situation very tense.
"dinner time!"
Perhaps because of the high price, the boatman and his son were very attentive and brought them a hot breakfast. It was actually very simple, including a large bucket of porridge made from old rice, two bowls of pickled radishes and a dozen boiled eggs, and the rest was just
there is none left.
Li Jinxiao had never eaten such poor food. The musty smell in the porridge made him vomit. He couldn't eat it. The pickled radish was mainly because it was not clean, and there were pickled flies on it.
Li Jinxiao could only eat two boiled eggs. He couldn't help but ask: "Do you have any other fresh food on board?"
"Fresh?"
The old boatman scratched his head and said, "Or there will only be fish."
Li Jinxiao likes to eat fish, so he quickly said: "Fish is okay, is it available on the boat?"
"We don't have them on the ship, but they do exist in the small market ahead. I asked my son to buy a few of them. They might be a bit expensive, but that's okay, sir!"
Li Jinxiao knew that he wanted to make a profit, so he nodded, "The price doesn't matter, let your son buy some fresh fruits and vegetables."
"Buy a few more buckets of good rice and we'll cook for ourselves." Wu Miao said unhappily next to him.
They actually feed them stale rice. These farmers are really unkind.
The old boatman wholeheartedly agreed, gave his son a money bag, and whispered to him to buy something. His son nodded repeatedly and jumped into the water without even touching the shore. Not long after, he was seen swimming ashore and running away into the distance.
The old boatman had to wait for his son to come back, so the fishing boat moved slowly. About half an hour later, the fishing boat arrived in Yang'an County, and the city wall of Yang'an County could be faintly seen in the distance.
At this moment, a dozen small boats came from a distance and quickly approached the fishing boat. Everyone became nervous. Suddenly, the old fisherman took two steps quickly and jumped into the river, disappearing without a trace.
Almost at the same moment, Li Jinxiao suddenly saw the boatman's son, who was sitting on Song Jun's boat and looking at them with a proud look on his face.
Li Jinxiao's heart sank. He knew it was over. The boatman's son was not going to buy food, but to report the news.
This cunning father and son played tricks on the food, giving them an excuse to leave the ship to buy groceries. At this moment, Li Jinxiao felt that all his thoughts were in despair, and his death was coming.
Wu Miao was also very upset. They should not have left in such a hurry and hid in the mountains for ten days and midnight. When the storm passed, it would not be too late for them to leave quietly.
Dozens of military crossbows were aimed at them, led by General Tang Qian. After receiving a report from the fisherman's son, he personally led more than a hundred of his men to intercept and arrest them.
"General, that's him, Li Jinxiao!"
A Hezhou soldier recognized Li Jinxiao and reported loudly.
Hearing that the other party was Li Jinxiao, the old fisherman smiled particularly happily. He had never been so happy today. He got the reward of 500 guan. These bastards only gave themselves 5 guan of money and asked him to send them away. What a dream!
A general jumped on the bow of the opponent's ship, used a spear to lift the curtain, and shouted sternly: "Come out with your hands up, otherwise we will let go of arrows and no one will survive."
"Don't shoot the arrows, we surrender! Surrender!"
Several of his confidants gathered together and ran out with their hands raised. Li Jinxiao had no choice but to take his son and son-in-law and walked out of the cabin with their hands raised.
After walking out of the cabin, Li Jinxiao looked at the blue sky and white clouds in the sky, sighed deeply and said, "I am Li Jinxiao!"
