Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1194: Alone and helpless
With the arrival of Sha Dingzhou's personal guards, the rebels in the Duke of Qian's Mansion withdrew one by one, and the chaotic Duke of Qian's Mansion finally settled down.

Sha Dingzhou walked around the mansion with a smile on his face, checked the situation in the mansion with great interest, and finally came to the central hall with great satisfaction and sat down on the armchair in the middle.

He touched the chair under his butt, glanced around, and couldn't help laughing.

Sha Dingzhou was happy not for anything else, but because this chair was where Mu Tianbo usually sat. In Yunnan, Kunming, and the Duke of Qian's Mansion, no one could sit on this chair except Mu Tianbo. When he came here before, he just sat down and watched Mu Tianbo sitting on this chair and chatting and laughing with envy, but today, Sha Dingzhou took his place and sat on this seat.

"Your Majesty is in a good mood!" When Sha Dingzhou was happy, a man hurried in from outside, saw Sha Dingzhou sitting in the right seat and smiling from ear to ear, and spoke lightly.

"Haha, it turns out that my prime minister is here." Seeing that it was Tang Jiabin who came, Sha Dingzhou was even happier. He stretched out his hand and pointed to the position below his left hand and said, "Today's success is due to you. I promised that day that as long as the big thing is accomplished, I will make you prime minister. From now on, you are my prime minister, haha! Hahaha!"

Sha Dingzhou laughed loudly. At this moment he actually called himself the widower. In his opinion, Kunming had been taken and he had occupied the Duke of Qian's Mansion. The big thing had been decided and he should reward his subordinates according to their merits. As Tang Jiabin was his adviser and brother-in-law, he had to fulfill the promise he had made to him.

The corners of Tang Jiabin's mouth twitched slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but he did not speak immediately, nor did he sit down under Sha Dingzhou. After taking two steps forward, he first saluted Sha Dingzhou respectfully, and then called him "Your Majesty".

When this name came out, Sha Dingzhou became even happier and was so happy that his teeth popped out.

After complimenting Sha Dingzhou, Tang Jiabin said to Sha Dingzhou in a serious tone, "Your Majesty, although we have taken Kunming now, we cannot say that the major issues are completely settled. First of all, Mu Tianbo escaped from Kunming City, and his whereabouts are unknown. I think Your Majesty should immediately send troops to pursue and capture Mu Tianbo. No matter whether Mu Tianbo is dead or alive, as long as he falls into Your Majesty's hands, you can rest assured."

"The Prime Minister is right. I think so too." Sha Dingzhou nodded. Although he was very proud of himself now, he was not completely carried away. He was very clear about the status and influence of Mu Tianbo and the Duke of Qian's Mansion in Yunnan. He originally thought that he could get rid of Mu Tianbo in Kunming, but he didn't expect that Mu Tianbo's servants and soldiers fought desperately, buying time for Mu Tianbo to escape.

When his troops completely surrounded the Duke of Qian's mansion and eliminated the remaining servants, Mu Tianbo had already led his men to break out. Although Sha Dingzhou later ordered his men to pursue Mu Tianbo, Mu Tianbo's servants were brave and fearless, and they still escaped from Kunming City and were chased all the way. At present, there is no news, and it is unknown what the current situation is.

After hearing Sha Dingzhou's answer, Tang Jiabin was slightly relieved, but he still asked, "I wonder how many troops did the king send to pursue?"

"I don't know the details. I have to ask someone." Sha Dingzhou thought for a while and then called his subordinates to inquire about the matter. The other party told Sha Dingzhou that they had indeed sent a thousand people to pursue and were heading towards Chuxiong.

Hearing this, Tang Jiabin frowned and asked, "Are you sure you were chasing Chuxiong?"

"Of course. We received a report an hour ago saying that Mu Tianbo and others fled towards Chuxiong. In that case, we should chase them towards Chuxiong." The other party answered as a matter of course.

Tang Jiabin pondered for a moment, then bowed to Sha Dingzhou and said, "Your Majesty, I think Mu Tianbo will not flee to Chuxiong. Please send troops to Luoci immediately to intercept Mu Tianbo!"

"Luoci? Isn't Luoci in the north? Mu Tianbo is going west, why send troops to the north?" Sha Dingzhou asked puzzledly.

Tang Jiabin explained, "I think Mu Tianbo's westward movement is a false alarm. He may have made a detour to flee north to Wuding. If he really went to Wuding, he must have gone to Luoci first. So I ask the king to send troops to Luoci immediately. If we can intercept Mu Tianbo in Luoci, there will be no more trouble."

"This..." Sha Dingzhou hesitated for a moment, and looked at the subordinate who had just spoken, as if trying to get his opinion.

"Luoci? Wuding? What a joke!" The subordinate shook his head and said, "Absolutely impossible! The previous report clearly stated that Mu Tianbo ran to Chuxiong. Chuxiong is in the west, how could he go to the north? Moreover, there are Ming troops stationed in Chuxiong. If Mu Tianbo lost Kunming, where else could he go but Chuxiong?"

"There are Ming troops in Chuxiong, but there are no Ming troops in Wuding? General, don't forget that there are also Ming troops stationed in Wuding now!" Tang Jiabin immediately retorted.

"How can the Ming army in Wuding be compared with Chuxiong?" The man thought that Tang Jiabin, a mere scholar, didn't know how to fight, and was simply being too smart. He told Tang Jiabin that there were nearly 10,000 Ming troops in Chuxiong, while there were only about 3,000 in Wuding, and Wuding was also Wu Bikui's territory. Although Wu Bikui had died, he had been in Wuding for many years and had a strong foundation. After Wu Bikui's death, although his main force was annihilated, many of his followers still escaped. In addition, there were still remnants of forces in Wuding who were resisting those villages that followed Wu Bikui in the rebellion. Mu Tianbo had sent an army to Wuding to suppress the local area and wipe out the remnants of Wu Bikui. From this point of view, Wuding was far less safe than Chuxiong.

Judging from the fact that Mu Tianbo fled Kunming in a panic, he is now as frightened as a stray dog. Normally, he would run to Chuxiong, and facts have proved that Mu Tianbo fled to Chuxiong. In this case, how could he go to Wuding?

"Your Majesty!" Tang Jiabin said to Sha Dingzhou, "The most important thing right now is to catch Mu Tianbo. If he escapes, the consequences will be disastrous. Even if the probability of him running to Wuding is small, we still have to be on guard! It's better to be safe than sorry!"

Sha Dingzhou pondered over Tang Jiabin's words and felt that what he said made sense. As a chieftain of Yunnan, he knew too well the influence of Mu Tianbo. If Mu Tianbo escaped alive, there would be a lot of trouble. He had to catch Mu Tianbo no matter what, and he couldn't let him escape no matter if he was dead or alive.

Thinking of this, Sha Dingzhou made up his mind and ordered his subordinates to assemble troops immediately and send soldiers from the main road to Luoci to intercept Mu Tianbo. If Mu Tianbo really ran to Wuding, then Luoci was the only way to Wuding. If an army was stationed in Luoci, they would definitely be able to intercept the enemy.

But after the order was given, the generals hesitated and did not obey immediately, looking conflicted.

Sha Dingzhou asked immediately: "What? You dare to disobey my order?"

"I dare not!" The general said hurriedly: "My king, it is not that I disobey your order, but it takes time to gather the troops. It is difficult for me to attack immediately."

"Why is this?" Sha Dingzhou wondered.

The other party explained that although their troops had taken Kunming City, they had not yet completely controlled the entire city, and sporadic battles still existed in various places. More importantly, everyone was excited about the capture of Kunming City. While the various units in the city were clearing out the remaining resistance forces, they were also looting on a large scale. In particular, the elite vanguard troops thought they could make a fortune after taking over the Mansion of the Duke of Qian, but they did not expect Sha Dingzhou to send his personal soldiers to station there and drive them out of the Mansion. All the property in the mansion went to Sha Dingzhou, but they did not get any benefits.

After leaving the Qian State Mansion, these people were worried that other troops would get the benefits in the city, so they couldn't wait to plunder everywhere. They also said that this was allowed by Sha Dingzhou, and now the troops were having fun in the city. If they gathered troops at this time and sent them to Luoci, it would be impossible to complete it in a short time. It would be possible only after they had plundered almost everything.

After hearing this explanation, Sha Dingzhou looked a little embarrassed. The other party was right. This was indeed his promise. After taking down the richest mansion of the Duke of Qian, Sha Dingzhou had to give his subordinates some soup after eating meat, right? So when he asked the vanguard army to withdraw from the Duke of Qian, he made a promise to the other party, allowing the other party to attack the officials, gentry and rich people in Kunming City and let the soldiers plunder.

Now these guys are looting enthusiastically. Sha Dingzhou can imagine ordering them to give up the property that is about to be obtained and go out of the city to chase. Not to mention whether these guys can obey the order, it will not be so easy even if they want to gather.

Although Sha Dingzhou was a Tusi and was now a lone figure, he was actually just a member of the local forces in Yunnan. The Tusi's army had poor discipline, and Sha Dingzhou knew the character of these guys very well. If he hindered them from making money, they would definitely resent him. If the people's hearts were scattered, it would be difficult to lead the team. Sha Dingzhou could not go against the wishes of the majority.

"Your Majesty, I think we should immediately restrain the troops in the city and regulate the order in the city. We must not let the soldiers plunder at will. We have taken Kunming, but if we cannot stabilize Kunming, or even if they burn, kill and loot in the city, we will not be able to stay in Kunming in the future. Moreover, pursuing Mu Tianbo is the top priority right now, and we must not delay it, Your Majesty!" Tang Jiabin advised hurriedly. He had just arrived and did not know that Sha Dingzhou had allowed his subordinates to plunder Kunming. He immediately became anxious when he heard about this.

"That's easy for you to say!" As soon as Tang Jiabin finished speaking, the general sneered, "Why do we follow the king to start an army? Isn't it for glory and wealth? Now the king is the master of Kunming, and the next one is the master of Yunnan. He has also captured the Qianguo Mansion. Don't you think that the subordinates can't follow the king to get some money?"

"Are you trying to get money? You are letting the soldiers plunder and arouse public anger. You are trying to ruin the king's foundation!" Tang Jiabin asked with his eyes wide open.

"Master Tang, please don't scare me. I'm not scared." The general said nonchalantly, "So what if those rich people in Kunming City robbed them? What public outrage is there? As for the foundation, it's even more ridiculous. The king's foundation is with us. The knife is in the king's hand! As long as we are here, the king's foundation will be there. Without these brothers, what foundation can we talk about?"

"Besides, the knife handle is in our hands. Who in Kunming City dares to disobey? Aren't you afraid of losing your head?"

"You! You...!" Tang Jiabin was furious. This soldier was unreasonable. He was really pissed off by his crooked reasoning. But when he saw Sha Dingzhou's indifferent expression, Tang Jiabin became anxious and continued to persuade Sha Dingzhou to immediately organize the guards into a maintenance force, gather all the troops scattered in the city, put an end to the looting, enforce military discipline, and stabilize Kunming.

(End of this chapter)