Chapter 286: Exit as soon as you appear
Heba Duba and his son charged forward and killed the rebel leader Wei Kegu. It was such a heroic moment.
But after he burned down Wei Kegu's camp, the entire rebel camp fell into chaos, and Heba Duba was in such a mess when he led the Wuchuan heroes.
There was no way. Just as Dugu Ruyuan said, the rebels had no leader among each other, and it was entirely up to Wei Kegu to maintain basic order.
Now that Wei Ke is dead, even all the basic order has been lost.
Among the rebels, some soldiers were forced to join the rebels, including Gao Huan and his group of Huaishuo people.
After hearing that Wei Kegu was killed by Heba Duba and the entire rebel army fell into chaos, Gao Huan was stunned for a moment, and then was overtaken by the Wuchuan people!
Gao Huan immediately contacted Huaishuo's relatives and friends, brought Sima Ziru and Dou Tai to his side, organized a team, and escorted their families to escape towards Pingcheng!
It was precisely because Wei Kegu did not trust the Huaishuo people, who were the last to surrender, that their camps were all outside the main camp, allowing Gao Huan and his troops to escape quickly.
Standing on the mound, looking at the chaos in Wei Kegu's camp, Gao Huan spat and said to Sima Ziru and Dou Tai beside him:
"Damn Wuchuan people!"
Sima Ziru and Dou Tai also looked unhappy. Just when Gao Huan was still plotting to assassinate Wei Kegu, the Wuchuan people had actually succeeded!
Sima Ziru said:
"He Liuhun, we can only hide our identities when we flee back to Pingcheng."
Gao Huan nodded helplessly. As the military commander guarding Huaishuo, there was no way to wash away the stain of Gao Huan's surrender to the rebels.
If he escaped back to Pingcheng as Gao Huan, he would definitely be punished by the court.
Thinking about how he had worked so hard to become a military leader and how he had spent all his family wealth to accumulate reputation, but now he had to throw all these things away, Gao Huan grabbed the reins in anger.
Compared with Gao Huan, Dou Tai had a deeper hatred for the people of Wuchuan.
He was still wearing mourning clothes at this time. His father Dou Le died fighting because the people of Wuchuan opened the city and surrendered.
Although it was Wei Kegu's army that killed Dou Le, it is not wrong to put the blame on the people of Wuchuan.
"Let's go."
Gao Huan looked back at Huaishuo City. He had a premonition that he would not be able to return to Huaishuo for a long time.
Among the rebels, in addition to those like Wuchuan who were dragged into the rebellion, there was also a group of ambitious people who wanted to take advantage of the chaos to gain benefits.
Some of them were military commanders from the Six Garrisons. They either actively or passively brought their tribes to join in the burning, killing and looting with Wei Kegu.
There are even some nomadic tribes on the grassland. After the Six Towns Rebellion, they went south and mixed in with the rebels to rob and compete for survival resources that were in short supply due to the winter plague.
When Wei Kegu was still alive, these tribes were able to maintain a normal system of dividing the spoils. After hearing that Wei Kegu was dead, it was like Tang Monk was captured by monsters and Zhu Bajie was busy dividing the spoils and running away. These gangs began to rob Wei Kegu of his food and weapons.
At first, they just robbed the granaries directly, but it soon turned into mutual attacks and robberies.
It was not until this time that Heba Duba realized that things were not as he had expected.
There are just too many people!
The Wuchuan people gathered by Heba Duba totaled only three to four thousand people, some of whom were women and children who were unable to go to the battlefield.
However, there were more than 100,000 rebels in Wei Kegu's camp. With so many people in chaos, Heba Duba couldn't even find a way to break out!
What's worse is that the news of Heba Duba's attack on Wei Kegu has spread, and now they, the Wuchuan people, have become the most conspicuous targets in the camp.
No matter who is loyal to the rebels, they must kill Heba Duba to avenge Wei Kegu and get rewards from Po Liu Han Baling.
He was still disloyal to the rebels and wanted to get Wei Kegu's head so that he could seek credit from the government troops.
Heba Duba was also a human being, and he also got tired. After repelling several waves of rebels with evil intentions, Heba Duba dragged his tired body and waited until nightfall when he set up camp.
All the generals sat together and looked at Dugu Ruyuan.
Dugu Ruyuan was the only one who had raised questions about the previous plan, so he must have anticipated the current situation.
Dugu fought fiercely for a whole day as he wished, but he still looked cool and relaxed. He looked around and said:
"Now we can only break up into smaller groups and flee separately."
Everyone looked at each other and quickly divided themselves into several units based on family.
Heba Duba's eldest son Heba Yun immediately jumped out, pointed at Dugu Ruyuan and said:
"The assassination of Wei Kegu was a plan agreed upon by all of us! Now Dugu Lang is actually trying to escape separately! This is to alienate us Wuchuan people!"
Heba Yun was not stupid either. Heba Duba, who had killed Wei Kegu, was now the rebels' first target. After they fled separately, the Dugu and Yuwen families could take advantage of the chaos to escape, and at that time the pursuers would chase after the Heba family.
Dugu Ruyuan said coldly:
"When we discussed the matter that day, I said that once Wei Kegu died, the rebels would be in chaos. If we don't have a sound retreat plan, we might not be able to escape the camp. What did Heba Junzhang say at that time?"
Heba Yun was speechless for a moment, and Dugu continued as he wished:
"If we continue to run away like this, I'm afraid we will all die here."
After saying this, Dugu Ruyuan simply left the temporary tent, and then Yuwen Gong also left with his three sons.
The third son, Heba Yue, immediately said to his father: "Grandpa, they will definitely escape overnight!"
Heba Duba lowered his head and said:
"If they want to leave, there's no way to stop them. Let them go. We'll disguise ourselves and escape tomorrow morning."
After hearing what their father said, the Heba brothers could only suppress their anger and take the time to rest and prepare for escape tomorrow.
Heba Yue's guess was correct. In the middle of the night, Dugu Ruyuan led his troops to escape from the camp, and Yuwen Gong also withdrew with the Yuwen brothers before dawn.
After dawn, Heba Duba discovered that more than half of the people in the camp were missing, so he ordered the entire army to continue breaking out.
But this time Heba Duba's luck was not so good.
Just in front of him, there was a Tiele camp.
The Tiele people were also a nomadic tribe on the grassland. The Uighurs herded horses for the Rouran people, and the Tiele people specialized in ironwork for the Rouran people.
The white disaster last winter left the Tiele people without food. After the Six Garrisons Rebellion broke out, the Tiele people went south to join the rebel army, waiting for an opportunity to burn, kill and loot.
However, unlike other tribes, the Tiele people, because they have been blacksmiths for generations, not only rob food, but also often rob weapons and armor.
It is also because of this that the Tiele people's equipment is extremely elite, far superior to other rebel armies.
As Heba Duba's army was the first to open the city and surrender, Wei Kegu did not confiscate their weapons and armor, and they still used the full set of official army weapons and armor.
So when Heba Duba just broke camp, he was targeted by the Tiele people.
Just like yesterday, Heba Duba still led the charge, with his eldest son and second son providing cover on both sides, and the third son leading the remaining troops to break through.
When the Tiele people stood in front of Heba Duba, Heba Duba still used the same method to charge, first confusing the enemy's army and then escaping in the chaos.
But this time I hit a wall.
This Tiele army was exceptionally well-equipped, and Heba Duba's first charge was blocked.
Because the Wuchuan people had disbanded and the number of troops behind them was insufficient, they were soon surrounded by the Tiele people.
Then the Tiele people were surprised to find that the "fat sheep" they surrounded were actually Heba Duba, who attacked and killed Wei Kegu!
More Tiele people surrounded them. Hebaduba charged and broke through twice in succession, but was blocked by the enemy's iron armor and shields each time.
Seeing that more and more people were surrounding him, Heba Duba made up his mind, replaced his long spear with an armor-piercing iron-bone spear, gritted his teeth and rushed out.
Compared with long weapons such as the long spear, the iron bone spear has a shorter attack range, so Heba Duba has to fight in close combat with the enemy.
Thanks to Heba Duba's natural strength, after half a day of siege, he actually broke three iron shields and opened a way to escape.
When Heba Yue saw that the enemy had a gap, he immediately led his troops to rush out.
Seeing that the Tiele iron shield soldiers were about to block the gap, Heba Duba rushed forward again waving his iron bone sword, but this time he was not so lucky.
The spearmen who had been prepared long ago thrust out from under the iron shield and pierced into the armpit of Hebaduba's horse.
After being hit by the spear, Heba Duba's horse immediately struggled and neighed, throwing Heba Duba off the horse. Then the Tiele cavalry stepped forward and nailed Heba Duba to the ground with a spear!
"Grandma!"
Heba Yun and Heba Sheng behind him roared, and they rode forward and hammered the Tiele knight who had killed them. However, when they saw that Heba Duba had died, Heba Yun was about to dismount and carry his father's body, but was stopped by Heba Sheng.
Heba Yue, who had already broken out, shouted:
"Brother, retreat quickly!"
The two brothers saw tears in each other's eyes, but thinking that it was their grandfather who risked his life to open a way for them, Heba Yun and Heba Sheng could only bear the pain and break out, fleeing towards Pingcheng.
It was not until April 7 that Po Liu Han Baling, who came after hearing the news, discovered that in just a few days, Wei Kegu, the "King of Wei" he had just conferred, had died, and Heba Duba, the leader of the Wuchuan Army who killed Wei Kegu, had also died. Only less than 30,000 people were left out of the 100,000-strong army!
Po Liu Han Baling could only incorporate the remnants of Wei Kegu's army.
By now, the six towns had rebelled, and there was no place left to rob in the north.
Po Liu Han Baling looked to the south and realized that his food supply would not last long, so he had to go to Hengzhou to rob.
But standing in front of him was Baidao City, which guarded the exit of Baidao. Po Liu Han Baling reorganized his troops and prepared to attack Baidao City.
At this time, the newly appointed Northern Expedition Commander-in-Chief Yuan Shen had just left Luoyang.
The Pingcheng army also lacked food supplies. Yuan Tianmu, the Taiwei official who was sent to comfort the army after the New Year, did not bring much food with him.
Now there is famine in the army, and Yuan Tianmu is sent to the surrounding areas to collect food and fodder.
Yuan Tianmu looked around Hengzhou and after much thought, he felt that Xiurongchuan, where he had passed by, was the richest.
When Yuan Tianmu came to Xiurong with the imperial seal in hand, he was warmly received by Erzhu Rong, the chief of the Xiurong people.
Recently I have been mainly laying the groundwork for the characters. I will be done with them soon.
(End of this chapter)