Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 181: Unable to Escape Captivity

But Emperor Longqing fled to the north.

To the north, Dongxianpo.

Prince Chungshun fled here with his gold.

Also fleeing with King Zhongshun were Cheng Fan, Cui Shu, and many other ministers.

The reason why everyone fled here is because this is the most suitable escape route.

The Huaiyin army was coming from Dashiqiao in the south, so they definitely could not escape to the south.

To the west is the Taihang Mountains, and it is not suitable for them to bring their families with them.

The east is the direction where Emperor Longqing escaped. It is obvious that the bandits will focus on capturing them. If they escape there, they will definitely be implicated.

So the best route is north.

That is the direction of Dongxianpo.

However, they never expected that Fang Yong had also set up an ambush here.

The ambush troops at Dongxianpo looked at these people who had escaped, and after a careful look, they discovered that the emperor's carriage was missing, and some disappointment appeared on the faces of the soldiers.

But no matter what, these are all big fish.

When Prince Zhongshun's carriage was about to pass through Dongxianpo, the ambush troops at Dongxianpo suddenly rushed out and shot a large number of crossbow arrows. The guards of the prince's palace fell down in rows like wheat.

"Don't move, kneel down and you will die!"

The soldiers shouted.

Looking at the gleaming swords and spears in the hands of the Huaiyin army, King Zhongshun knelt down without any hesitation.

King Zhongshun knelt down and said to the Huaiyin soldiers:

"Don't do it, don't do it, but we are brothers of the Huaiyin Army? I am a sworn brother to Huang Wenzhou, the salt envoy of your Huaiyin Army, and I have also been friends with your General Fang for a long time. Brothers, please show some mercy!"

After hearing this, the soldiers of Huaiyin Army were not sure whether what King Zhongshun said was true or not.

The leader of the Huaiyin Army was named Jiang Feng. He was born into a commoner family and rose to the position of commander step by step through military exploits. Although his official position was not low, he had no access to such important intelligence, so he could not tell whether what King Zhongshun said was true or false.

But seeing that King Zhongshun was so sure of what he said, Jiang Feng thought that if the other party was really the general's friend, it would not be a good idea to make things difficult for him.

So Jiang Feng asked King Zhongshun to stand up temporarily, since the other party could not resist anything alone anyway.

King Zhongshun was overjoyed when he heard this. He quickly stood up and brushed off the snow and dust on his clothes.

How could he, a loyal and obedient king, endure the humiliation of kneeling on the ground?

Quickly shake off the dirt, so you don't have to suffer the humiliation of kneeling on the ground.

Jiang Feng led his men to other ministers.

Walking up to Cui Shu, Cui Shu hurriedly said:

"Masters of the Huaiyin Army, please do not do anything. I am Cui Shu of the Hejian Cui family. My daughter is now the general's favorite concubine. We are a family!"

After hearing this, Jiang Feng and the Huaiyin soldiers around him looked at each other in surprise.

He thought about it and it seemed that the general had stayed in Hejian for a few days and took in a concubine, but he didn't know her specific name.

"Then...you should get up first!"

Jiang Feng said.

Upon hearing this, Cui Shu quickly stood up and patted the ground with King Zhongshun.

King Zhongshun clapped his hands while looking at Cui Shu and said angrily:

"You traitor, you actually betrayed your country and surrendered to the enemy. You are so shameless. The country of Daxi has fallen to its current state because of people like you."

Cui Shu said nothing, but just brushed the dust off silently.

However, he had already started thinking about how to make contributions in the new dynasty.

Jiang Feng came in front of Cheng Fan.

Cheng Fan also knelt on the ground obediently.

This cabinet minister who assisted Emperor Longqing in regaining power knew better than anyone else how to flexibly adjust dignity.

In the past, he and Zhang Tingzheng were political enemies, but he was defeated by Zhang Tingzheng without any resistance in the government. At that time, he relied on flexible adjustment of dignity, retreated bravely, resigned from his official position, went to Zhang's house in person to plead guilty, and finally avoided liquidation.

Afterwards, he relied on his health advantages to outlast Zhang Tingzheng, and eventually assisted Emperor Longqing in regaining control of government and wielding great power.

Now faced with a similar situation, he once again lowered his dignity to the lowest level.

Jiang Feng looked at the kneeling Cheng Fan and asked hesitantly:
"Well, you should have nothing to do with the general, right?"

Cheng Fan shook his head.

His base is in Shanxi, and he has little contact with Fang Yong in Huaizhou.

Moreover, due to the rebellion of the Jin bandits, countless Shanxi officials were killed or injured, and the Cheng family was forced to migrate. His power was greatly damaged, and now he does not have many resources to use.

The only marginally useful point was that during the Jinhai Rebellion, Mao Jie turned to him for help in order to cover up the crime. He settled the Jinhai affairs for Mao Jie and also promoted Mao Cheng to the deputy general of Jinling. In a sense, he was doing a favor to the father and son.

But in this situation, I don’t know if this favor will still be of any use.

You can only treat a dead horse as a live doctor.

Cheng Fan gritted his teeth and told Jiang Feng that he had done a favor to Marquis Zhaowu and was willing to join the general and persuade Marquis Zhaowu to surrender and submit to the Huaiyin army.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Feng scratched his head and asked Cheng Fan who Zhaowu Hou was.

Cheng Fan explained that the Marquis of Zhaowu was named Mao Cheng, and now he was leading a small force of more than ten thousand men in Wang Ziteng's army.

Neither of them knew that Mao Cheng had been captured by Fang Yong.

When Jiang Feng heard Cheng Fan say that the other party was a general of a small army with tens of thousands of soldiers under his command, he thought that this person might be of great use to the general, so he asked Cheng Fan to stand up as well.

Cui Shu and King Zhongshun, who had already cleared the dirt, glanced at Cheng Fan who had just arrived.

There was a lot of dirt stuck on Cheng Fan's body.

Because Cheng Fan knelt for too long, the snow melted and mixed with the dust to become mud, which could not be wiped off.

Prince Zhongshun showed a look of contempt.

"Hmph, you little tail-wagging villain! Daxi's kingdom is being destroyed by people like this..."

Jiang Feng walked towards the next person.

When they met, he actually had seen her before.

Gao Jing.

"Okay, you get up too!"

Gao Jing thanked him repeatedly, and then stood together with King Zhongshun and others.

Prince Zhongshun and others raised their eyebrows.

This Gao Jing is quite capable at work. He carried imperial edicts to Huaizhou several times to appease the thieves in Huaizhou. But he is also a traitor?

What happened to Daxi?
Soon, Jiang Feng gathered all the officials and nobles who had fled together and drove them south, preparing to join the large army in the south.

King Zhongshun and others walked in front, and the Huaiyin army followed closely behind.

At this time, Emperor Longqing came over on horseback.

From a distance, it turned out to be King Zhongshun!

Looking behind, there were vaguely many troops, but because of the large number of carriages and horses of those officials blocking the way, Emperor Longqing could not see clearly what kind of troops they were.

However, seeing that Prince Zhongshun and others showed no signs of being controlled, Emperor Longqing instinctively understood that these troops were reinforcements that Prince Zhongshun had brought from somewhere.

So Emperor Longqing hurried forward and shouted:
"Brother, it's me!"

At this moment, everyone was stunned.

Because Emperor Longqing was wearing a guard's uniform, the Huaiyin army behind him did not think for a moment that this person was the emperor.

Although Prince Zhongshun recognized Emperor Longqing, they were brothers after all, so he hesitated briefly.

At this moment, Cui Shu beside him seized the opportunity.

Cui Shu pointed out without hesitation: "This is the emperor!"

Upon hearing this, the Huaiyin troops reacted instantly and rushed forward like wolves and tigers.

(End of this chapter)