Chapter 124: The Eighth King is in vain
At one o'clock in the evening, we arrived in Dingbian City.
Tomorrow is the time for the rebel army to evacuate this small border town. At this moment in the county town, a very depressing atmosphere spreads from the military camp to all directions.
Although there were more than 100,000 refugees and more than 100,000 indigenous people in the city, most of them were unaware of the rebel army's evacuation, but some people could guess that the day when the Eighth King would leave Dingbian City was getting closer.
To be honest, since the Eighth King Zhang Xianzhong occupied this county town, not only the refugees but also the common people have a way to survive. At least they can go to the porridge shed to drink porridge every day without worrying about starving to death at any time.
Even the original inhabitants of the city, especially most of the civilians, felt that their lives had become better and better over time.
Zhang Xianzhong obtained a large amount of ill-gotten gains, but it was inconvenient to carry the money with him on the army's movement. He decided to use it to transform it into the hard power of the rebel army. So he bought up all kinds of military supplies at high prices, and the price he offered was at least 50% higher than the market price.
This attracted a large number of merchants who were omnipresent, and they came to Dingbian City to trade with truckloads of various goods.
The prosperity of business will naturally drive all industries in Dingbian City to prosper.
Even the natives of Dingbian City, as long as they have a little business acumen, have earned several times or even dozens of times more money than usual in the past few months. They are very profitable.
It can be said that since Zhang Xianzhong captured Dingbian City, the vast majority of the people, except for the officials and gentry whose families were destroyed by the rebel army, have benefited.
Especially in the past two months, the rebel army's military discipline has been getting better and better, and even harassment of civilians has rarely occurred.
The more than 200,000 people now gathered in Dingbian City really do not want Zhang Xianzhong's rebel army to leave.
"Xiao Liuzi."
An old soldier of the rebel army who was guarding the west gate said to a 17 or 18-year-old recruit beside him, "The king has ordered us to evacuate Dingbian City tomorrow. Our good days are coming to an end!"
"For a long time to come, our rebel army will inevitably be displaced."
"Those ferocious elite border troops will arrive here soon. If we don't run, we will die."
His expression was extremely complicated, and he felt all kinds of emotions.
Anyone who has gone from being a poor and destitute commoner to a rebel soldier who has temporarily no worries about food and drink and has lived a comfortable life for a period of time would not want to lose it so soon.
But what can be done?
The current rebel army is simply no match for those elite border troops. If they don't want to die, they can only run away.
"Not afraid!"
This young recruit, who had just become a warrior, had great confidence in the king. "Anyway, I will go wherever the king goes. After joining the rebel army for these few days, I finally feel like I am living like a human being. I don't have to be bullied by the government and those local tyrants anymore."
"what?"
He suddenly raised his head, looked at the end of the official road in the distance, then looked at the sky, and said in confusion, "Why do I hear a rumbling sound like thunder? Is it going to rain?"
At this time, the old soldier next to him changed his expression drastically, and pointed with a trembling hand to the end of the official road ahead!
Suddenly, a lot of smoke and dust rose there, and a large group of cavalry appeared from afar, making the sound of horse hooves like thunder!
This cavalry was galloping here at such a fast speed, like lightning!
After just a few breaths, it was almost reaching the city gate!
"not good!"
"Enemy attack!"
He was so frightened that his face turned pale. He grabbed the confused recruit with one hand and ran into the city!
"The government troops are attacking!"
"Everyone, close the city gates!"
"Go and report to the king!"...
The speed of this sudden attack by government troops was so fast that the rebel soldiers responsible for defending the city would have no time to close the city gates.
This old soldier and the new recruit he was leading were caught up by the attacking cavalry of the government army before they even ran through the city gate. Two cold rays flashed by, and their heads flew high!
By the time their headless bodies fell to the ground, a group of soldiers riding on their magical war horses had already rushed through the city gate and entered Dingbian City!
"Everyone follow me!"
Cao Bianjiao, who was leading the way, holding a top-grade spiritual spear, galloped towards the main road in the city, occasionally killing one or two rebel soldiers who were running wildly in front of him, while shouting orders!
"Rush directly towards the county government office!"
"According to our spies, the enemy's camp is not far from the county government office! We'll go and take it down right away!"
Following his order, more and more elite border soldiers who had already rushed into Dingbian City, riding their spirit beasts and war horses, rushed recklessly along the main street directly towards the county government office!
……
"what?"
"Dingbian City has been lost? Cao Wenzhao's elite cavalry have already rushed into the city?"
Zhang Xianzhong was in the military camp checking whether the soldiers in each camp were ready for evacuation. Suddenly, he saw Zhang Kewang rushing in angrily and hurriedly reporting this shocking news to him. He was stunned for a moment!
"My king, let's go!"
"It's too late! It's too late to gather the soldiers!"
"How many can escape depends on everyone's luck!"
Zhang Kewang's face turned pale, and he lost all his composure. He shouted to Zhang Xianzhong, "If we don't leave now, when Cao Wenzhao or Cao Bianjiao lead their troops to attack the camp, we will really be unable to leave!"
He was well aware of the strength of the elite border troops in Yansui Town. Now they were caught off guard by the rebel army and were completely unprepared. How could they withstand the attack?
Well! Even if they were prepared, they couldn't stop the charge of Cao Wenzhao's 3,000 elite cavalry!
If you don’t run now, you will really die here!
"go!"
"We'll go out the back door of the barracks!"
Zhang Xianzhong came to his senses instantly. Although he was heartbroken and wanted to vomit blood, he had to accept the reality that he had worked for three months in vain.
He gritted his teeth and said this, then he used the Yunlong Nine Turns Technique, which he had already mastered, and after a few flashes he arrived at the large parade ground in the military camp.
Looking at the soldiers of the old camp who were in a mess, he was angry and anxious, and shouted: "All soldiers of the old camp, take your weapons and follow me!"
"quick!"
"If you don't want to die, follow me now!"
After saying that, he immediately jumped towards the back door of the military camp and hurriedly said to Zhang Kewang who was following closely beside him, "Take the soldiers and climb out from the wall not far from the back door of the military camp!"
"I'm going to get something, I'll catch up with you guys in a minute!"
He did not carry his entire set of spiritual weapons with him, but kept them in the master bedroom in the backyard of the county government office.
He also wanted to take the official seal and magical weapon away.
By the way, he also wanted to go to the Wang family compound next door and take the orphan camp with him to break out and escape.
The loss of other personnel is not a big deal, they can be replenished at any time in the future, but if the young camp that he has trained with all his efforts is trapped in Dingbian City, he will probably be so angry that he will vomit blood! "Okay, my king! I will try my best to take away more soldiers from the old camp, you have to come quickly!"
Zhang Kewang was indeed a general who was both civil and military. Although he was panicking, he remained calm and immediately agreed. While yelling and directing the messy soldiers in the old camp to gather at his place, he hurriedly ran towards the back door of the military camp.
The rebel camp here was in chaos. In the Wang family compound not far away, Li Dingguo, who was leading his 18 young warriors to train military formations, also learned the bad news.
"The city is broken?"
"The government troops suddenly rushed into Dingbian City?"
Li Dingguo was really frightened this time, and his eyes widened!
Not only him, but all the young soldiers who were training in the Wang Family Compound were stunned for a moment.
They could never have imagined that the rebel army, which was so prosperous and preparing to evacuate Dingbian City in an orderly manner just a moment ago, would suffer such an irreversible fate!
God knows how much effort the Eighth King Zhang Xianzhong has put into building this already well-organized rebel army?
Now all the efforts are wasted in one day!
Such luck, really unique!
Fortunately, Li Dingguo was not an ordinary teenager. He had a mature mind and in a split second, he had a plan for the situation. He immediately shouted to the fully armed team members on the scene, "Don't panic, everyone, follow me!"
As a group of little beggars who had been begging in Dingbian City for three years, it could be said that no one was more familiar with every tree and blade of grass in Dingbian City than these orphans.
"Don't pack your things, and don't bother with our spirit beasts and war horses. The most important thing now is to escape!"
At this time, from the direction of the military camp not far away, there was a deafening shout of killing. Li Dingguo's face changed and he shouted, "Cao Yongxiang, Tang Guangqiang, Huang Zhanglong, Liang Hetang!"
"You four, bring everyone and follow me!"
"Hurry up! Otherwise you really won't be able to escape!"
He knew that given the brutality of the government troops, even teenagers like them, once captured and confirmed to be rebel soldiers, would definitely not be able to escape a fatal blow, so he was very anxious.
"Okay, Boss!"...
With Li Dingguo as their backbone, the young warriors in this team remained calm despite the panic. They immediately followed Li Dingguo, leaped forward, and a moment later, they slipped out from the back door of the Wang family compound!
"This way!"
"Everyone, come this way. There is a small alley that leads to the land temple where we stayed for three years!"
"The government army has such a huge advantage now that they will definitely leave enough people outside the city to wait and kill the rebels who escape from the city!"
"With our current combat power and cultivation level, if we encounter them, we will only die!"
Li Dingguo led everyone and ran quickly along the alley leading to the Land God Temple at the East City Gate, while explaining to the people behind him.
He's right.
As long as Cao Wenzhao is not stupid, he will arrange enough people to wait outside the city.
If you climb over the wall and run away now, there is a high chance that you will be caught up and killed by elite cavalry.
This option is too risky, and Li Dingguo certainly won't be in a hurry to take everyone out of the city.
The best way is to find a way to hide first, and then sneak over the city wall to sneak out at night.
Anyway, the city defense formation of Dingbian City is now ineffective, and the city wall, which is only a few feet high, cannot stop warriors like Li Dingguo from climbing over it.
"Boss, the team led by Liu Wenxiu, Ai Nengqi, and Zhang Huier did not follow us. After running out of the Wang Family Courtyard from the back door, they seemed to have taken a detour towards the county government office."
Cao Yongxiang, who was bold and careful, remained calm. He did not forget to look around while running away and said to Li Dingguo beside him.
"Humph!"
Li Dingguo's face changed slightly when he heard this. He snorted coldly and said, "Liu Wenxiu is really lucky. He is lucky this time."
He knew better than anyone that Liu Wenxiu, Ai Nengqi, Zhang Huier and others would not die so easily.
After all, in history, they have always been by Zhang Xianzhong's side and became his right-hand men.
If Liu Wenxiu followed him this time, Li Dingguo would not mind taking revenge on him and killing him suddenly!
Liu Wenxiu's choice this time was equivalent to escaping a fatal disaster.
However, his luck was so good that the direction he ran away was exactly opposite to Li Dingguo's.
Young people like Li Dingguo are very familiar with the terrain here.
Everyone turned left and right quietly and ran quickly for less than a quarter of an hour. They had avoided everyone's sight and entered the land temple where they had lived for three years.
"Huh? There's no one in this dilapidated temple?"
"Yeah! Where did all those people go?"
"Could it be that they are all running to the porridge stall to eat porridge because it is time for dinner?"...
When these young men saw that their former friends were no longer there, they all shouted in surprise.
Only Li Dingguo and Cao Yongxiang knew that their former friends had been taken out of the city by Hongmei more than ten days ago and had temporarily settled in a very secret little valley.
It's not just them. In the past month, Hongmei has often led several warrior girls into the city, and found ways to take away a large number of orphans in Dingbian City in batches, at least thousands of them!
However, these things cannot be explained to the young men in his team until they safely escape from the city tonight.
"Okay, everyone, keep your voices down!"
Li Dingguo scolded, "We are in an extremely dangerous period now. Try not to speak and keep quiet to avoid attracting the enemy!"
"Cao Yongxiang, Liang Hetang, the two of you go find a place to hide nearby and be responsible for external security. You must remain highly alert!"
"If anything unusual happens, report back immediately!"
Li Dingguo didn't want to fail at this critical moment, so he immediately made arrangements.
"Okay, boss!"
"Boss, don't worry, we will hide well and keep on guard."
Cao Yongxiang and Liang Hetang are very clear about the current situation. They are still in a critical moment and are in danger of losing their lives at any time.
They quickly agreed, turned around and walked out of the ruined temple, found an extremely secret place nearby, hid their bodies, and began to be on guard.
(End of this chapter)
