Wang Daochun was furious at Liu Yulie's hesitant behavior. However, due to his duties, he was completely at a disadvantage.
In desperation, he had no choice but to write a memorial to the court.
[The thieves have been trying to pacify me for a long time. With one pacification, the big city fell, with another pacification, the Deng County was lost, with three pacifications, Huang County was destroyed, and with four pacifications, they were approaching Laizhou. The pond report was blocked, and the situation was almost dire.]
Although Wang Daochun's memorial was intended to criticize the policy of appeasement, it did mention a key issue.
That is, Laizhou was under siege and completely lost contact with the outside world.
As a result, the civil and military officials in Laizhou City were unable to detect what was happening outside.
And this loophole also laid the foundation for the tragedy that followed.
In particular, the actions of Zhang Guochen and Qu Yiyang are even more suspected of being moles.
It's okay for Qu Yiyang to say that as an official, he wanted to make meritorious deeds, so he did something wrong. However, as a Liao native, Zhang Guochen was so active in connecting, it is difficult to guarantee that he had ulterior motives.
Under such a major crisis, all parties are still scheming and scheming.
Facts have proved that what they made wrong in the end was definitely their own destiny and future.
Taking advantage of the opportunity to negotiate with Liu Yulie, the rebels quietly completed the transfer.
Li Jiucheng's son Li Yingyuan personally led the rebel cavalry, secretly bypassed Liu Yulie's army, and burned all the grain and grass stored in the sea warehouse by the reinforcements. Not only that, Li Yingyuan also burned the only bridge on the glue, cutting off the reinforcements' food route.
When the military news came, Liu Yulie was immediately dumbfounded.
Tens of thousands of troops, without food and grass supplies, were in danger.
Liu Guozhu, the commander-in-chief of Baoding, didn't even think about it and immediately suggested: "With the establishment of the constitution, we must withdraw our troops quickly. Otherwise, our army will be in chaos without fighting and the enemy will take advantage of it."
Wang Daochun held a different opinion.
"No. Withdrawing the troops in a hurry at this time will definitely cause chaos in the whole army. Once the rebels attack, everything will stop. We must first arrange the defense before we can retreat slowly."
However, Liu Yulie didn't listen to him at all and hurriedly said: "Quick, quick, quick, order the entire army to withdraw across the glue."
This time it was over. The reinforcements were already in disarray. After receiving the order to withdraw, all the troops were afraid that they would be slow to run and become the backstop, so they scrambled for the way.
For a time, tens of thousands of troops crowded into a group, fighting for it and even drawing swords at each other.
Even the scheming Wang Daochun couldn't help but vomit blood when he saw this scene.
"Absurd, really absurd."
Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming had been waiting for the opportunity for a long time. As soon as they saw the chaos among the reinforcements, they immediately pressed forward with their troops and pursued them one after another.
The reinforcements were even more chaotic, running around in panic, and countless people were pushed into the glue. Countless people drowned and were killed. For a time, the entire river was dyed red.
In the end, the pile of corpses actually blocked the river, and the fleeing people simply escaped across the river by stepping on the pile of corpses.
Wang Daochun was also trapped in the rebel army.
He was a civil servant, and he always lived in a dignified manner. He always rode a carriage when he came in and out. But in such a chaotic army, the carriage could not run at all.
The servant tried hard to hold on, but was still shaken by the storm.
"Go quickly, go quickly, don't stop!"
Wang Daochun also looked panicked and kept urging, but he couldn't find the way without distinguishing things.
Just as he was at a loss, sudden bursts of murderous cries swept over him from a distance.
But it was the rebels who came to kill him.
The defeated soldiers nearby let out miserable howls and ran around like headless flies.
The carriage was caught in the middle and could not move.
After a moment, the rebels rushed closer.
Seeing that there was no hope of escape, Wang Daochun gritted his teeth and got out of the carriage, stood upright, and said in a deep voice: "I am..."
A meteor iron arrow came quickly and penetrated into his chest, causing all his subsequent words to get stuck in his throat.
"Ho...ho...ho..."
Wang Daochun felt that all his strength was rapidly passing away, and the world in front of him was getting darker and darker. The moment he was about to lose consciousness, he couldn't help but look back to his past life.
After working so hard for so long, who has succeeded?
The reinforcements were killed and fled in a great rout, which was unknown to the people in Laizhou City.
On April 16, Zhang Guochen followed the agreement with Qu Yiyang and invited Xu Congzhi and Xie Lian to the top of Laizhou City on the pretext of inspecting the city defense.
Looking around, we can see that the trenches outside the city that have been dug by the rebels are crisscrossed like a chessboard.
Laizhou City is like a chess piece on this chessboard, life and death are decided by people.
"Xu Zhongcheng, if you continue to fight, it will only increase corruption. Be it Laizhou or Dongjiang, they are all my subjects of the Ming Dynasty. Why don't you care about the hardships of the people and insist on committing more crimes?"
Xu Congzhi said coldly to him.
"The rebels are ambitious and will cause chaos. If they are not severely punished, those who imitate them will be like crucian carp crossing the river. When the world is corrupted, will Mr. Zhang be willing to take the responsibility?"
Zhang Guochen's face turned livid and he said angrily: "Nowadays, the proposal of recruitment is praised by everyone from Long Live to the court. What's the point of Xu Zhongcheng's defense alone? If he obstructs the grand plan, isn't he afraid of being held accountable by the Framers of the Constitution?"
Xu Congzhi could only resist.
"Humph, I am the governor of Shandong under the orders of His Majesty. If you want to punish me, you must discuss it with the court and the three departments. Even if Liu Zhixian has overwhelming power, he can't even think of making me back down even half a step."
In fact, he was still very panicked in his heart.
Just because Laizhou was besieged, he couldn't know the situation outside. He didn't know what the big guys in the DPRK were like, so he could only cope with the changes by staying the same.
Seeing that he was still stubborn, Zhang Guochen was filled with murderous intentions. He snorted angrily, slapped his palm heavily on the battlement, and then walked away.
No one noticed that a red strip of cloth slowly fell from his palm, which happened to be watched by the rebels outside the city.
Seeing Zhang Guochen leave in anger, Xie Lian was in a dilemma and stamped his feet: "Hey, Xu Zhongcheng, why are you so stubborn?"
After that, he quickly left and followed to comfort Zhang Guochen.
Xu Congzhi was the only one left, standing alone on the city wall, holding on to the wall stacks, looking into the distance. He seemed to want to see through the fog that covered the world and people's hearts, and find a solution.
He didn't find a way, but he was met with bad luck.
In a trench outside the city, a red cannon has been set up and filled with projectiles and gunpowder.
When he saw the banners falling from the city, the gunner immediately lit the fuse.
In a moment, with an earth-shaking loud noise, dozens of kilograms of projectiles came out of the gun and headed straight for the city.
At a distance of less than 500 meters, the shells came with a breath, giving no one any time to react.
In an instant, the sky on top of the city collapsed, the dust and smoke became loud, and countless shattered stones flew in all directions, sweeping away everything they encountered.
One of the stones happened to hit Xu Congzhi on the head, causing the Shandong governor to die on the spot without even a scream.
It happened so suddenly that no one reacted. When they saw that Xu Congzhi was really dead, all the soldiers and civilians in the city couldn't stop crying.
The cloud of failure also hangs over Laizhou City.
Xie Lian watched in shock as Xu Congzhi turned into a puddle of mud, with the last bit of blood and courage wiped out.
At this moment, an idea suddenly popped into his heart...
Perhaps appeasement is the only solution.
As soon as Xu Congzhi died, the balance of power in Laizhou City changed rapidly.
Xie Lian changed his stance and began to favor appeasement.
Zhu Wannian was also a little desperate, feeling that the imperial court's rescue efforts would end there and nothing would change.
Instead of fighting and destroying the city, it is better to appease them.
Only Yang Yufan still took the lead in the battle, and no matter how Zhang Guochen and Qu Yiyang tried to persuade, intimidate, or seduce him, he would not change his mind.
However, he is just a military commander, and he doesn't even have the right to speak on such a big matter.
For a time, all the civil and military officials in Laizhou fell silent, waiting patiently for the outcome of the discussion between Liu Yulie and the rebels.
They still don't know that Liu Yulie has been defeated and is at the end of his rope.
If Deng Qi, the commander-in-chief of Sichuan, had not happened to arrive with his troops and collect the defeated troops, all the reinforcements brought by Liu Yulie would have been lost.
It's interesting to say that Deng Qi's reinforcements were actually from the same group as Yang Yufan and Wang Hong.
However, Sichuan was too far away, so Deng Qi gathered his troops and hurried all the way. When they arrived in Shandong, even Liu Yulie was defeated.
Also because of Deng Qi's arrival, Liu Yulie's failure could not be concealed.
Eight hundred miles of urgent military information was quickly sent to the capital, the court was shaken, and the balance of forces between the two sides immediately changed drastically.
"You keep promising me that Shandong will immediately become peaceful as soon as Liu Yulie arrives. Look, what did Liu Yulie do?"
In the court hall, Chongzhen roared like thunder, not giving Zhou Yanru any face and reprimanded him face to face.
This was already the third wave of reinforcements from the imperial court, but the result was still no progress, and the troops were lost.
How does this make the world feel?
What do the Mongols think of Houjin outside the Pass?
What do you think of Sihai Fanyi?
What do you think of the donkey outside the east gate?
Zhou Yanru trembled, knowing that his career was at its most dangerous moment. But he still had to work hard and never give up.
"Your Majesty, Liu Yulie has really done his best."
Wen Tiren immediately stood out from the crowd and had completely opposite views.
"Your Majesty, only the Guan Ning Cavalry can put an end to rebellion."
Chongzhen didn't listen and suddenly asked: "Where is Zuo Mengeng? What is Zuo Mengeng doing?"