Without money, what is the point of being a traitor?

Chapter 490 Ambush
Pei Yuan immediately recognized Zhang Rong, who was riding his horse listlessly in the front. Next to him was the fat captain Sun Bo, whom Pei Yuan had seen several times.

The two men were surrounded by a dozen Jinyiwei, and behind them was a large group of Beijing guards.

Pei Yuan moved his gaze away from the soldiers and looked at the carriages and baggage driven by the strong men behind, judging Zhang Yong's possible location.

Just as Pei Yuan's eyes were roaming back and forth among the carriages, he suddenly heard Chen Toutie beside him exclaim, "Not good!"

Pei Yuan's gaze was instantly drawn back and he followed Chen Toutie's gaze.

Sun Bo suddenly rode his horse forward a dozen steps, then jumped off the horse and carefully observed the traces on the ground.

Then he looked around sharply.

When Sun Bo's gaze swept across here, Pei Yuan even had the illusion that the two of them were looking at each other briefly.

Sun Bo seemed to be unaware of anything as he slowly mounted his horse and rode back slowly.

But Pei Yuan had a strong intuition.

The ambush has been exposed!
He couldn't help but curse in a low voice, "What a good thing Chen Xinjian did!" Then he urged directly, "Move, cut off their retreat!"

Chen Toutie also understood that this was because Chen Xinjian had blocked all travel to the north in order to prevent others from discovering the clues.

Even those who went south were dealt with by Chen Xinjian whose whereabouts were exposed.

But Chen Xinjian underestimated the enemy and failed to completely clean up the traces on the ground.

Unexpectedly, the other party happened to have a careful Jinyiwei captain who immediately discovered something was wrong.

Chen Toutie was afraid that his brother's negligence would ruin Captain Pei's plan, so he quickly urged his men to send out the signal.

A man nearby hurriedly grabbed a large red flag from the ground, emerged from the bushes and trees, and began waving it.

The woods in the distance rustled in response, blocking the convoy's path.

The fat military officer has already reunited with Zhang Rong and his team.

Pei Yuan could see the two men exchange a few brief words, and then the dozen riders quickly rushed towards the convoy.

Pei Yuan couldn't help but give a hard high five.

Now that Zhang Yong's team has not yet penetrated deep into the ambush area, the clues exposed in advance may make it very likely that the troops responsible for blocking the retreat will not have enough time to complete the encirclement.

Even though Zhang Yong's chance of escaping was slim, Pei Yuan didn't want to take that risk.

The elite Beijing troops were puzzled when they saw Zhang Rong and the cavalry returning in a panic. The dozen or so riders had surrounded a carriage, and then someone got off the horse and pushed another person onto the horse.

At this time, the ambush troops that were sent to block their retreat could no longer be concealed.

Many Beijing troops then noticed that there were signs of large groups of soldiers moving in the mountains and forests on both sides.

Just as they were at a loss as to what to do, they heard Zhang Rong shouting from his horse, "The enemy is trying to assassinate us, all troops, meet them!"

Hearing Zhang Rong's shout, the Beijing troops became even more noisy and confused.

Some people looked around in panic, some ran towards the carriage where the weapons were placed, and some just wanted to run away without caring about anything.

The first wave of ambush troops on Pei Yuan's side were approaching from all directions and began to fire crossbows indiscriminately.

After the first wave of indiscriminate shooting by the Xuzhou soldiers who were at the forefront paused for a moment, and the auxiliary soldiers who were following closely behind them rushed to the front and also began to shoot arrows in a panic.

Although these auxiliary soldiers had practiced repeatedly, many of them still made mistakes in a panic. Some shot their crossbow arrows away, while others shook off the arrows in their haste.

Pei Yuan watched silently, but he was not too disappointed.

Although those Xuzhou soldiers had fought in the Battle of Yanggu and had gained inflated confidence, and to some extent could be considered arrogant and strong soldiers, they still lacked some combat experience.

Moreover, it was obvious that the attackers in this ambush were from the imperial court.

These Xuzhou soldiers were driven onto the battlefield. Facing such an enemy, they were able to decisively shoot arrows after panicking, which made Pei Yuan very satisfied.

Relatively speaking, the psychological changes of those Luo believers may be smaller.

Because they had no idea what an imperial army led by the Embroidered Uniform Guard meant.

Their poor performance is completely normal for newcomers on the battlefield.

Fortunately, although this volley of arrows did not cause many casualties, it completely disrupted the unprepared Beijing troops.

The Xuzhou soldiers at the front had no chance to restring their bows and crossbows. They simply drew their weapons and rushed towards the Beijing troops who were in chaos.

The auxiliary soldiers of Luo Jiao who were following behind also followed suit nervously, and rushed forward in a rush.

Song Yan, Mi Bin, Sun Ran, Ma Tao and Dong Xing, who have already figured out what to do, are more determined than others.

They all knew the risk of letting the person escape alive, so they led their troops to charge as fiercely as possible.

The Beijing soldiers who were caught off guard became more ferocious when they saw that they were surrounded and their chances of escape were gone.

Some military officers who had obtained weapons and protective gear were guarding the baggage carts and shouting, organizing people to come over and change their equipment to fight.

The captain who led the team took a bow in his hand and stood on the baggage cart and shot in all directions. Every time an arrow was shot, someone screamed and fell down.

Seeing the ambush troops approaching, the Beijing troops, who had hastily put on armor and taken up weapons, also rushed forward fiercely.

Song Yan and Dong Xing rushed to the front, attacking the defense line of the Beijing army like an axe hacking into flesh and blood.

Many Beijing troops who used to pride themselves on being elite troops were shocked to discover that these ambush troops before them were not only tall and strong, but also extremely motivated.

The aura and ruthlessness of the ambushing troops, who were determined to win, frightened many Beijing soldiers who had never experienced a battle.

The two sides were fighting in chaos when they suddenly heard Sun Ran shouting from behind, "Stop them, they're trying to escape!"

As soon as Sun Ran's words came out, not only did Song Yan, Dong Xing and others look around in panic, even the Beijing troops couldn't help but look back in panic.

Then I saw that the dozen or so Jinyiwei riding on war horses had turned their horses around and galloped back the way they came.

Now, neither the ambush troops nor the Beijing troops could take care of each other.

The Beijing troops had given up resistance and turned around to chase after the cavalry.

The ambushing troops also knew that the key figure was with the cavalry, so they hurried to catch up.

The two teams of ambush troops who received the signal first just arrived at the official road, but before they could surround the enemy, the mounted Jinyiwei rushed over.

The two teams of ambushing soldiers who were blocking the rear quickly fired arrows, knocking down seven or eight cavalrymen running in the front row in one breath.

The fat military officer named Sun Bo roared, raised a long sword, and led two men to meet the ambush.

Those who still had arrows in their hands fired another round, but unfortunately Sun Bo's horse was fast and those people had little training, so only a few arrows hit Sun Bo. Sun Bo had several crossbow arrows stuck in his body, but he was as calm as ever, holding his sword and riding his horse into the ambush.

He was strong and his sword was swift, and he killed several people in the blink of an eye.

Afterwards, he gave up the fight and drove them away with his sword, trying to widen the gap he had opened.

Then several Jinyiwei arrived and helped him stabilize the situation.

Pei Yuan watched helplessly as two riders were about to charge out from the gap that had not yet closed. He looked around and shouted angrily, "Where is Qi Yanming?!"

Chen Toutie quickly comforted him, "Don't worry, Captain. Qi Yanming has gone to outflank the rear."

As soon as he finished speaking, a big black horse carrying a knight in black clothes and black armor rushed up from the gap to meet the two cavalrymen.

Qi Yanming and the two horses collided. A big knife first cut off a piece of white blade, and then the long knife swept across and directly cut off half of a man's body.

The left hand reached out and grabbed the other person.

The warhorse ran a few steps, and the captured person was lifted above Qi Yanming's head and thrown hard to the ground!
The two sides, who were in the process of disarray and fighting, were stunned when they saw how majestic and terrifying Qi Yanming was.

It took a while before someone cheered.

Sun Bo just took a glance, then without hesitation spurred his horse to change direction and fled.

Pei Yuan had seen how brave this guy was, so he didn't dare to leave any trouble behind. He didn't care whether Qi Yanming could hear him at this distance, and shouted nervously, "Stop him!"

Qi Yanming did not pursue him, but stopped his horse, drew his bow and shot an arrow at Sun Bo.

The arrow hit Sun Bo right in the back. Sun Bo was shocked but still rode away regardless.

Seeing this, Qi Yanming continued to draw his bow and shot another arrow at Sun Bo.

After shooting three arrows in succession, Sun Bo, who was stabbed in the back, completely stopped breathing. He fell off his horse like a piece of wood and fell to the ground.

Seeing this, many ambush troops cheered again!
Because the fight lasted too long, more ambush troops rushed out of the forest, many of them holding crossbows in their hands.

The centurion of the Beijing army saw this and had no chance left. He shouted, "Surrender! I surrender!"

As he said this, he quickly threw away the bow in his hand, showing his empty hands.

Seeing the centurion doing this, many of the Beijing troops followed suit, throwing away their weapons and shouting that they wanted to surrender.

Chen Toutie quickly asked Pei Yuan, "Qian Hu, what should we do?!"

Pei Yuan looked at Chen Toutie unhappily and said, "You ask me about this? Don't let me be known as a surrendered soldier!"

Chen Toutie understood, and he waved his hand from a distance towards the battlefield and made a gesture.

The ambush troops who were on guard immediately fired their crossbows at the Beijing troops in a disorderly manner, and then rushed forward in a disorderly manner.

Pei Yuan couldn't wait to clean up the battlefield, so he took a few personal soldiers and went down the hillside to see the bodies of Zhang Yong and Zhang Rong.

Half of Zhang Rong's body was chopped off, and his right hand was still holding the broken knife.

Zhang Yong, the once powerful old eunuch, had half of his body smashed in the ground, and his head was not even completely intact, so one could only vaguely see his former appearance.

Pei Yuan personally cut off Zhang Yong's head, and then told Chen Xinjian, "Send it to Eunuch Bi as soon as possible. This is what we agreed on."

Chen Xinjian knew that he had made a mistake before and it was time for him to behave himself. He immediately put Zhang Yong's bloody head into a cloth bag in a dejected manner, called a few people, and rode away with him.

Pei Yuan looked at Chen Toutie, Song Yan, Mi Bin and others who had gathered around him, and ordered directly, "Clear the battlefield! No one can be left alive, take away all the weapons and armor, and don't worry about the rest!"

Then he said to Chen Toutie, "Look after the baggage and the silver. Each of you will have a share of those things!"

Those nearby who heard Pei Yuan's words couldn't help but cheer.

Pei Yuan also went over to check it out himself. He opened several boxes in succession and saw that they were all filled with silver.

Pei Yuan couldn't help but curse, "I didn't expect Zhang Yong to make so much money on this trip."

But when he thought about it, he wasn't surprised.

In the past two years, Shandong's prefectures and counties have been attacked several times by the Bazhou Army, and many prefectures and counties have fallen. Putting aside other things, just the fault of losing prefectures and counties, even if the court does not investigate deeply, the Ministry of Personnel will definitely not get a good review in this assessment.

Moreover, the attack of Bazhou Army on Shandong was not temporary. The Bazhou Army captured many civilians and robbed a lot of food and grass. Coupled with the subsequent looting by government troops and the collection of military supplies, Shandong was already seriously damaged.

When it comes to local governance, no matter how hard they try, it is difficult to achieve any results.

If there are some other mistakes, this Ministry of Personnel assessment will easily fail.

This way, you will have to waste several years before you can hope for promotion.

Now that they saw that Zhang Yong had a chance to turn the tables and could even have a say in front of the Minister of Personnel Yang Yiqing, those Shandong officials would naturally try their best to curry favor with him.

Pei Yuan threw a piece of silver back into the box. Listening to the crisp sound, he couldn't help but say, "If I had known this guy was so capable of making money, I would have waited for him to go to Nanzhili to make some money before I took action."

This time a large number of people were mobilized and the battlefield was cleaned up quickly.

Each corpse was repaired with a knife, and all usable weapons were taken away.

Our own casualties were also carried in horse-drawn carriages.

Pei Yuan asked several leaders to search the mountains and forests carefully again to make sure that no one was hiding in the chaos. Only then did he lead his men to evacuate to Tai'an Prefecture.

The place where they ambushed and committed the crime was the official road, and the news of Zhang Yong's murder would spread quickly. Leaving the place as soon as possible was the most appropriate way to deal with it.

Pei Yuan didn't feel relieved until he retreated into the hilly area of ​​Tai'an Prefecture and entered some territories controlled by Luo Jiao.

Pei Yuan was not sure whether this matter would develop as he had planned.

He was not in a hurry to dismiss the group and still let Qi Yanming continue practicing for the time being.

This ambush made Pei Yuan clearly realize that battle formation attack and defense and small-scale arrests and pursuits are completely different combat strategies.

The Jinyiwei were mainly engaged in arresting people, the Xuzhouwei were mainly engaged in shipbuilding, and many of the Luo sect members were engaged in farming.

So in the previous ambush, despite having undergone repeated training, those people still showed a great degree of panic.

Because this is a battle beyond their understanding.

If Pei Yuan wanted to put these people to good use, he should train them like real soldiers.

Pei Yuan doesn't have any talent under his command who has experience in commanding a major war, and the only one who can be used is my son Fengxian.

Thus, the personal soldiers of the Zhenxie Qianhu Suo, the local forces of the five Xingbaihu Suo, and a large group of Luo believers, began to train their battle formations under the guidance of the Bazhou bandit commander in an inexplicable and strange atmosphere.

(End of this chapter)