Chapter 0113 I'm Not Worthy

Although the bear didn't seem interested in eating people, Wang Xinyong and his soldiers still held their breath until the bear was completely out of their sight, and then they supported each other and stood up.

There was a big cut on Wang Xinyong's left leg, and the wound was throbbing with pain. Although it had stopped bleeding, it was hard to say whether the tendons and bones were injured with such a big wound. It was now late at night in late September, and the temperature on the mountain was extremely low. Wang Xinyong had just crawled out of the freezing cold river. His nerves had long been numb, and he could not judge the severity of his injuries at all.

The personal guard was not in much better condition. Wang Xinyong was injured in the leg, while he was injured in the arm. His right arm was completely broken and he couldn't lift his entire arm. Wang Xinyong pinched the palm of the personal guard, but the personal guard just looked at him blankly without any reaction.

Wang Xinyong: “…”

Pursing his lips, Wang Xinyong let go of his hand.

From his expression, the soldier probably understood that his arm could not be saved. He felt a little sad, but he did not want Wang Xinyong to know. So he smiled at Wang Xinyong heartlessly: "It's okay, General. I am already very satisfied to be alive."

Wang Xinyong looked at the smile on his face and blamed himself more and more: "It's all my fault."

He shouldn't have trusted Yuan Baifu so easily, shouldn't have followed him, and shouldn't have walked with him all the way without realizing that he had actually begun to rebel.

Good people are like this. When something goes wrong, their first reaction is to blame themselves, even if the incident has nothing to do with his work.

The personal soldier opened his mouth to refute him, but at this time Wang Xinyong had already raised his head. He looked upward, but the bamboo forest blocked his view. He could not even see the steep cliff that almost killed him.

Wang Xinyong: “…I have to go back.”

Yuan Baifu came prepared, but his soldiers were completely unaware of it. Once the truth came out, with Yuan Baifu's ruthless character, he might kill all his men.

Yao Xian might be able to hold on for a while, but he won't be able to hold on for too long. Yao Xian's prestige is not enough. There are many young and incompetent people in the rear army. Qu Yunmie dislikes their unstable personalities, but thinks they have some talent in fighting, so he sends them all to Wang Xinyong to receive further education as an honest man.

Those who succeeded in further studies would naturally go out to continue to make achievements. Those who failed could be divided into two types. One type was unwilling to listen to others but willing to listen to Wang Xinyong, so they continued to stay in the rear army. The other type did not listen to anyone and was directly sent by Qu Yunmie to various passes to serve as city guards.

Sometimes Qu Yunmie didn't dislike Wang Xinyong, but the soldiers under his command were the most in need of experience, so whenever there was any dirty or tiring work, he would hand it over to Wang Xinyong. ...

What is wrong with this approach? Let's talk about this question later. The current problem is that those people don't obey anyone but Wang Xinyong. They may obey Yao Xian for a few days for Wang Xinyong's sake, but five days, at most, they can't stand it anymore.

Wang Xinyong was anxious, but there was no point in being anxious. He had never been to this place before and didn't know how to get up. What's more, whether they could get out of the dense forest was one thing, and how they would survive in the next few days was the other.

The personal soldier supported Wang Xinyong, and Wang Xinyong held the personal soldier's arm. Both of them didn't know which way to go, so they had to continue walking along the river. Just as they took a step forward, they heard the sound of flapping wings in the distance. In this extremely silent night sky, the usual bird calls added a bit of distortion and horror.

"Gugugugu!——"

Wang Xinyong: “…” It’s a turtledove.

Okay, not so scary anymore.*

Wang Xin was trying to survive in the wilderness below, and it would probably take a long time before he could get back on the right path, but Yuan Baifu and his men arrived at the Hanzhong Basin early the next morning. After another morning of traveling, they arrived at the city where Shen Yangrui's troops were currently stationed - Zitong County.

When the scout discovered that the Zhenbei Army had arrived, he immediately went back to report to Shen Yangrui. Upon learning that there were more than 70,000 of them in total, Shen Yangrui's face became extremely grim.

He only brought 50,000 men with him. 50,000 versus 70,000. It seemed like they still had a chance of winning, but that was the Zhenbei Army. There was no idle man in their army! ...

Shen Yangrui immediately sent all his subordinates out. Some of them went to Yizhou to recruit all the garrisons there and the private soldiers of the nobles. The other part went to Nanguan, Jianning and other places, asking the local prefects to hand over the garrisons to him immediately.

This is the advantage of the orthodox. They can recruit soldiers from any city at any time. Of course, whether they will give them or not is another matter. …

Shen Yangrui put on a posture of facing a formidable enemy, but his vigilant Zhenbei Army did not attack the city right away. Instead, they sent an envoy over, saying that their former general had something to say to General Shen.

Shen Yangrui did not meet the messenger because he felt there was something fishy going on. However, the messenger delivered a letter. Shen Yangrui was extremely suspicious, but he still asked his personal soldier to give the letter to him, and then he opened it carefully.

After reading it once, he felt that he might not be fully awake, so he read it again.

Shen Yangrui: “…………” He was shocked.

It is true that after a long journey, there is always a way out! I thought Da Sima was risking everything and picked a dead end that didn't look so dead. Who knew that the enemy would open up this dead end!

Wow, Da Sima is still foresighted. He will never admit defeat until the last moment, because no one knows how many idiots are hiding in the enemy! ...

Shen Yangrui almost laughed out loud, but before he got really happy, he calmed himself down. After all, Yuan Baifu's surrender might not be true. What if it was just a false surrender?

While he was prepared for Yuan Baifu's sudden change of attitude, he also called back his subordinates who were sent to Nanguan and Jinling, and asked them to change their route to Jinling and inform the Grand Marshal of the matter as soon as possible.

The means of communication in Nanyong was much better than those north of the Huai River. They had carrier pigeons and a complete post station system. Three days later, Sun Renluan received such a letter. He stared at the words on it: Yuan Baifu surrendered with 66,000 infantry and 8,000 cavalry. After a long time, he took out a new piece of letter paper and quickly wrote on it.

He did not discuss it with anyone because this was an urgent matter and he did not want to let those complicated court meetings delay such a good opportunity.

He wrote so much on the paper, but the main point was just one: he accepted Yuan Baifu's surrender, and he allowed Yuan Baifu to keep 50,000 of these troops. Moreover, he now appointed Yuan Baifu as the General of Zhenjun Army, the Protector of Ningzhou, and the Marquis of Zitong, but the prerequisite was that he had to defend Ningzhou well. If he did, he would further appoint Yuan Baifu as the King of Jiangyang.

If you can't guard it well, then there's nothing to say.

After finishing writing it in one go, Sun Renluan handed it to the guard beside him. Looking at the guard's back as he ran away quickly, Sun Renluan suddenly laughed.

Yuan Baifu... He has always had an impression of this person.

Back then, when Qu Yunmie was still under Huang Yanqin's command, he attracted the attention of Jinling because of his good skills and his excellent performance in leading troops to suppress bandits several times. So someone suggested to Sun Renluan that they wanted to see what Qu Yue's second son looked like. Sun Renluan wanted to keep him by his side to train him, so he nodded in agreement.

On the first day of entering the palace, it was Yuan Baifu who accompanied Qu Yunmie.

The officials in the court did not take Qu Yunmie seriously at all, they just treated him as a joke. At that time, Qu Yunmie had rosy lips and white teeth, was young and ignorant, and easily became the laughing stock of the officials. The officials not only laughed at him, but also laughed at Yuan Baifu who was standing next to him. Sun Renluan wanted to observe Qu Yunmie, so he had a deep impression. Qu Yunmie glared at everyone and even wanted to hit someone, while Yuan Baifu stood beside him without saying a word. He kept his head down and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.