Chapter 224: Dead End (Medium)

Zhang Fang saw that Chen Qiyu's banner in the east had not had time to rejoice, and saw that the battalion soldiers who were full of hope for a savior were killed all over the field by these "brothers" from yesterday like chopping melons and vegetables, and finally understood that he had fallen for a big fool. At this time, An Bangyan behind him also sounded the horn, turned the feint attack into a real attack, and launched a general attack of the whole army.

The body of Governor Wang, who was dressed in a red official robe, was tied by Chen Qiyu on a bamboo frame more than two feet high and carried to the public, and everywhere he went, the Ming army completely collapsed.

Zhang Fang quickly calculated in his heart: the west is the main force of Anyi, the east is blocked by Chen Qiyu, and the south is the Liuchong River controlled by "100,000 Miao Man" - well, run north! To the north is the Burning Fort controlled by An, although this guy is An Bangyan's nephew, and he sent an envoy to ask for surrender a while ago, although he was sternly rejected by Lord Wang, but he didn't completely tear his face, shouldn't he do things absolutely? As long as you can escape, and then to the north, you will find the Xiongsuo Zexi that you have just circled...... It's a stone's throw away from the old nest Zunyi!

Thinking of this, the handsome Zhang Fang did not hesitate any longer, and gave an order to the guards around him, leaving the handsome flag in place, and dozens of horses went all the way to the north.

The tall banner is a magnet to attract enemy troops. In this era, the generals of either side do not have a God's perspective overlooking the overall situation of the battlefield, and can only judge the location of the opponent's command center through the Shuai Qi - leave the Shuai Qi in place, the more Miao thieves attracted, the smoother Zhang Dashuai's escape will be, right?

Not this time.

Chen Qiyu suddenly defected, and in a hurry, Zhang Fang only took a few dozen horse guards to escape, and he didn't even bother to call the dozens of foot guards who had been sent to the rear team to resist An Bangyan's stable front. The battalion officer of the Chinese army looked up at the handsome flag of the "Pingbarian General" fluttering high, and then looked at the back of the handsome party who had galloped out half a mile away, looked back at the Miao soldiers who were full of excitement and babbling at him in all directions, spat on the ground with a black face and hatred, and ordered to his guards: "Cut the flag!" Tell the sons and daughters to shout 'the handsome abandon the army' to Lao Tzu! Let's stop fighting, let's drop! ”

Zhang Fang faintly heard the neat Chinese voice of "the marshal abandons the army" behind him, and immediately turned back to Zhang Gu angrily, just to see the Chinese army marshal flag falling down, and a surge of anger against the Miao thief suddenly rose in his heart: These damn Miao barbarians, why don't they like to kill and surrender!

Although most of the time they can't succeed, even if they get the past reward, they will be deducted and they won't get much, but the Ming army still likes to cut off the heads of soldiers and even innocent people. And the "barbarian" Miao people do not have the first level of merit, so unless there is an inextricable blood feud with the Han army in front of them, or completely killed the red eye, as long as they surrender to the ground, generally speaking, the vast majority of the battalion soldiers will be sent to work as coolies after a few hits at most. That's what Zhang Fang hates: if the Miao thieves kill them indiscriminately, won't the group of dogs resist desperately for a while and buy themselves more time to escape!

However, due to the early reaction and the fact that the headquarters has a lot of troops - even the soldiers with auxiliaries and the people are strong, with a total number of more than 10,000 people, and they have spread out a big beach - it seems that neither An Thief nor Chen Thief has noticed his small group of cavalry at this time.

Not far ahead is the Burning Castle. Zhang Fang's slightly relieved heart lifted up again: Will the thief be in the position at this time and run out to stop him? Needless to say, the advantage of riding a horse is to run fast; But there are also disadvantages: the dependence on the road is too great, and you can only run along the official road - and of course the Burning Fort is built close to the official road! At this time, Zhang Fang and the others no longer dared to care about any horsepower, their feet spurted their horses, their mouths shouted loudly, and they whipped on the hind buttocks of the war horse, and swept past the fort at a gallop.

Thankfully, it was quiet in the Burning Castle. Dozens of horsemen galloped past the fort with their hearts, and peeked at it, only a few dozen brute heads appeared on the castle wall and looked at their party, and the fort door was not opened at all. Even so, Zhang Fang didn't dare to relax, and ran all the way to the sunken West Mountain, sweating profusely under the horse, and no matter how fast he whipped, he stopped driving desperately.

Of course, these horses are one in a hundred good horses, but they have run all the way at full speed for sixty or seventy miles, and if they are not well recuperated for a month, they will be scrapped if they do not die. But it's nothing, stay in the green mountains, don't be afraid of no firewood, as long as Zhang Dashuai can run back to Zunyi's lair, horses, soldiers, and silver...... In time, it's not about how much or how much! Alas, when he thought of silver, Zhang Fang's heart was dripping with blood: there are several carts of silver! ran too quickly, but the guards hurriedly stuffed a few tablets into their arms, and at this moment they all fell back into the hands of the thief and the thief Chen - together with those military rations, they were given to them for nothing by their own efforts!

With an exclamation, a man stumbled and fell down, and the horse fell to the ground on its front legs, and then fell to the side, struggling a few times and failing to get up, so he had to lie on his side on the ground, looking helplessly at his master. The sky had already darkened, and Zhang Fang estimated that he had run to the "own" territory of Xiongsuo Zexi, and he did not see the pursuers at this time, so he put his mind at ease and ordered: "Just rest here." Continue to rush tomorrow morning, and we can return to Zunyi at noon! ”

Luckily, there are many streams in the area. The guards dismounted one after another, the chief guard took out the jerky from his backpack and handed it to Zhang Fang, some began to clean up the place where they slept overnight at the edge of the forest, some collected firewood, and the rest took the reins of their companions and led them to the stream to drink horses. The owners of the fallen horses limped off their helmets to fetch water, and after enduring the pain, brought their helmets filled with clear water to the mouth of their foals—they cherished their horses much better than their comrades in the army.

They ate a little by the campfire, and everyone loosened their straps, but they did not remove their saddles, but they only stumbled and told them to graze nearby, and no one took off their armor, but found a more comfortable place to lay down, and in a moment there was a sound of snoring. When the cold moonlight shone down, everyone fell asleep except for the two who were on duty in the first round.

After about half an hour, the two sentries could not bear the strong attack of sleepiness, woke up the other two to take over, and in the blink of an eye fell to the ground and fell into a deep sleep. One of the shift changers got up in a daze, feeling that the light of the campfire was a little dazzling, so he raised his hand to block his eyes, walked out a few steps and untied his trouser belt to urinate, and suddenly stumbled under his feet, as if he had tripped over something, and fell headlong. The other person was still staring, and just wanted to stand up, when a bamboo arrow flew silently and hit the throat. The guard reached for the arrow with both hands in vain, grunted softly twice in his throat, and fell to the ground.

Zhang Fang, who was asleep, was kicked in the face fiercely, and with a "snap", his nose was fractured. In the light of the bonfire, Zhang Dashuai, whose face was covered with blood, saw an old acquaintance with fear - the old man of Xiongsuo Zexi, who was cleaned out of the house by himself not long ago, Si Dingzhou! Turning his face to look at his own guards, there were snowy Miao knives around his necks, and a few who tried to struggle were all killed on the spot mercilessly.

On the afternoon of the second day, Si Dingzhou led more than 100 tribesmen into the gate of Huozhuo Castle, while Zhang Fang and the others were tied up in a string and staggered in the middle of the team.

Fort Blaze is An's lair. As we said before, An Wei is the son of An Yaochen, the consolation envoy of Shuixi who has made great contributions to the Ming Dynasty, because he can't pay the benefits demanded by the Han officials, he has not dared to take office, and An Bangyan is his own uncle.

On the surface, An Bangyan and Luxury Chongming openly rebelled together, and An Wei did not participate in it - everyone knows that this is a self-preservation strategy within the An family: the two families of Luxury and An were just forced to endure by the Han officials, and no one really wanted to overthrow the Ming Empire, and the biggest luxury was just to fight for a more relaxed autonomy, and the Han officials should not bully people to death. However, compared with the huge empire, the small toast in the southwest corner is insignificant, if it succeeds, everyone is happy, in case of failure, An Jia Zhengshuo will stay out of the matter after all, and can always leave an incense stick, so that the whole clan will not be wiped out. Not long ago, when Wang Ershantun was generous, An Wei also sent someone to ask for surrender, on the one hand, he reiterated his firm position that he did not participate in the rebellion, and at the same time interceded for his uncle: as long as Lord Wang agreed to forgive, Xiao Anzi was willing to persuade his uncle to capture the father and son of Yu Chongming to respond to Wang Shi!

Of course, his request was rejected by the righteous and ambitious Lord Wang: of course, extravagance and disobedience must not be forgiven, and rebellion must also be punished, and all rebels who participated in the rebellion must accept the thunderous wrath of the court! Of course, if there is indeed remorse, the court will also be lenient, for example, to change the sentence of a thousand cuts to a halve or a beheading or something.

The messenger of the throne departed in a huff.

It is precisely because of this that when Zhang Fang was brought into the Fire Castle, a trace of luck rose in his heart: Wang Ershan is dead, and now he is the biggest! As long as he sees the position, he will be rewarded as the supreme commander of the whole army...... Well, the little barbarian can agree to any conditions - as long as he can let himself go!

However, Zhang Fang did not see Anwei. The entire Fort was almost empty, except for the dozens of Miao soldiers who were seen on the wall of the first day, the fort was full of old and young women and children.

Si Dingzhou rested overnight in Huocao Castle, and the next day he escorted Zhang Fang and his party on the road. At noon on this day, Zhang Fang finally met the person she didn't want to see the most: An Bangyan.

In fact, Anwei has always been in the Burning Castle, but it is just a simple place. However, the weak are weak, and the Burning Castle should have a few thousand soldiers, to say the least—where have these people gone?

At this moment, the Miao soldiers of the Burning Fort were on their way back - with the head of Vice Marshal Xie Zhongren.