Chapter 505: End of the Road
When Li Xian started to fight, he quickly realized that the chances of breaking out from the front were very slim. He still let Yan Chenglu and others rush forward in order to give himself the opportunity and time to leave from the rear.
The moment before the long knife pierced his chest, Yan Chenglu's bloodshot mind was still fantasizing about fighting his way out of here, attacking Mianyang Prefecture, and taking the head of Chang Suining to vent his hatred -
Without thinking about it, Li Xian was best at sacrificing other people's lives to save his own interests and livelihood. He was willing to sacrifice innocent people, including the people in the Duke of Korea's mansion, and a mere Yan Chenglu was no problem.
Li Xian spurred his horse at full speed and managed to escape from the military camp thanks to the delay and obstruction of the soldiers behind him.
When he left the military camp, he was surrounded by 8,000 soldiers, most of whom were his old subordinates who had followed him for many years. The generals among them were the troops left behind by his father, Duke Han Guo. They would suffer the same fate as Li Xian and were loyal to him.
But their loyalty was not enough to make Li Xian feel soft-hearted. To Li Xian, this loyalty was just a talisman that could be used to exchange his life for another's.
After Li Xian left the military camp, he first ordered 3,000 men to fight desperately to stop Xiao Min, and then he exchanged clothes and armor with his confidant He Shan, and ordered He Shan to lead his men to take another route to confuse the pursuers.
Fighting and fleeing all the way, Li Xian managed to escape to Dongting Lake just before dawn.
At this time, most of the thousands of soldiers stationed in Dongting were Li Xian's men. The leading generals were more inclined to flatter Li Xian in the army on weekdays. In addition, the news of Li Xian's rebellion was not yet known at this time. Li Xian also used the excuse of urgent marching. While it was still hazy, the selfish generals did not ask any more questions and hurriedly let them go.
After leaving Dongting Lake, Li Xian asked his men to take a short rest and counted the number of people. He was shocked to find that there were less than two thousand people.
Xiao Min pursued relentlessly but failed to shake off. He had no choice but to keep sending people to resist and delay the enemy from the rear. At this moment, these less than two thousand people were also very tired.
Not only that, Li Xian himself was also wounded by an arrow.
He was wounded in his left arm; the arrow feathers were broken by him, and the arrowhead was still embedded in the flesh and bones.
Taking advantage of the rest period, Li Xian had someone pull out the broken arrow for him and quickly applied medicine to the wound. However, because the soldier who drew the sword was not as meticulous as the doctor, even after bandaging the arm, Li Xian's arm was still unable to move. The pain made him sweat profusely when he moved.
At this time, Allan, who had followed him all the way to this place, stepped forward and held up a porcelain bottle: "This medicine can relieve the general's pain."
Li Xian clenched his teeth in pain, looking pale as he glanced at her and asked, "When did you prepare this medicine?"
"Before leaving," Allan said, "It is Allan's responsibility to prepare medicine for the general."
Li Xian knew that if he couldn't relieve the pain, it would affect his journey. He looked at Allan and ordered, "Take one first."
Allan didn't hesitate, poured out a pill and swallowed it.
Li Xian watched her movements closely before he felt relieved and gave the order to continue on his journey.
His target is still Yuezhou.
His original plan was disrupted by Xiao Min, and he fled in a hurry, so that the soldiers accompanying him had very little dry food and medicine. In this situation, if they just fled blindly, they would not be able to hold on for long even without Xiao Min coming to kill them.
It was impossible for Xiao Minbi to pass the news to Yuezhou so quickly. He only needed to get there faster and occupy Yuezhou City. Then, with the city gate barrier blocking the way, he could take his troops to rest and catch his breath. Now he had to survive first before he could plan the next step! Driven by the desire to survive, Li Xian and others rushed all the way and arrived at Yuezhou City in the afternoon.
Due to the special situation in Yuezhou, the city gates were closed even in the daytime. Li Xian's subordinates pulled out the commander's flag and shouted to the guards on the top of the city wall: "Open the city gates quickly! Welcome the commander-in-chief into the city!"
Seeing this, the guard did not hesitate and immediately did as he was told.
The heavy city gate was slowly opened, and Li Xian rode into the city with more than a thousand soldiers.
At this time, a deputy general in charge of guarding this place heard the news and came forward to salute Li Xian.
The sound of the city gate closing behind him finally made Li Xian feel at ease. Without getting off his horse, he ordered, "Pass the order down. No one is allowed to open the city gate without my permission. Anyone who disobeys my order will be executed!"
"Yes!" The deputy general agreed. Seeing Li Xian's armor and the wound cloth wrapped around his arm, as well as his exhausted and wounded subordinates behind him, he couldn't help but ask solemnly: "May I ask why the commander-in-chief suddenly came to Yuezhou? I wonder what happened?"
Li Xian had no impression of the young deputy general in front of him. He did not answer the other party's question, but asked: "What's your name?"
"My lord, my name is Yuan Wenshi."
Li Xian still had no impression, so he did not dare to be careless, and once again gave a serious order: "There is unrest in the army. I am acting on the orders of the emperor. Without my explicit instructions, you must guard the city gates tightly."
Upon hearing about the "disturbance in the army", Yuan Wenshi's expression changed slightly and he responded more solemnly.
Seeing that he was loyal and obedient, Li Xianwei felt relieved and said, "Take me to the governor's mansion in the city and have someone prepare medicine and food for me."
Soon after he took the pill given by Allan, the pain in the wound on his arm disappeared, but it started to hurt again just now. It must be that the effect of the medicine has worn off.
"Yes." Yuan Wenshi agreed, and then added: "It's just that there are other nobles in the governor's mansion now."
Li Xian covered his aching wound with one hand and glanced around: "Who is here?"
"He is the governor of Huainan Province."
"... Chang Suining?" Li Xian frowned and said, "Why is she here? Why did you let her into Yuezhou City without permission?"
Li Xian was running for his life so fast that he didn't even bother to conceal the hostility and murderous intent that suddenly erupted from him.
Yuan Wenshi was stunned for a moment before explaining, "The commander may not know, but about four days ago, a method to cure the plague was found in Mianzhou, and Envoy Chang brought people to Yuezhou City to treat the people, and Minister Fang is also here."
After Bian's army withdrew from Yuezhou, some people in the city still did not leave. Some of them were too ill to travel far, or they were afraid of the war outside, so they chose to hide in Yuezhou City and did not go out.
After Yuan Wenshi took over Yuezhou City, he cleaned the city and burned corpses every day. He did not have the heart to kill all the people who were hiding.
It was not until Chang Suining arrived with doctors and treatment methods that the people dared to show up one after another. After counting over the past few days, there were actually thousands of people.
"How many people did Chang Suining bring?" Li Xian asked calmly.
"In addition to the doctors, there are a thousand cavalrymen."
Li Xian asked again: "How many people do you have under your command?"
Yuan Wenshi paused for a moment and replied, "Commander-in-chief, I am leading 5,000 soldiers here."
Li Xian's eyes moved slightly, and after thinking quickly, he said firmly: "Lead the way, and follow my orders later--"
If he leaves the city now, it will be tantamount to committing suicide... and he may be able to take Chang Suining's life in Yuezhou City while she is off guard!
If Chang Suining dies, the thousands of men under her command will surely fall into disarray, and then they will no longer be a threat.
Li Xian made up his mind and drove his horse forward.
Yuan Wenshi's mind turned over a thousand times, and he mounted his horse and followed. Halfway through, he slowed down his horse and said, "Commander-in-chief, the people ahead seem to be the people of Chang Jieshi."
This was a long street. Li Xian reined in his horse and looked ahead, only to see a group of dozens of cavalrymen standing and waiting in front.
After a while, a light green figure walked out from an alley. Someone was holding her horse, and another person in official uniform followed half a step behind. This person was none other than Fang Ting, the Minister of Rites, and his attitude was very respectful.
Fang Ting had no choice but to be respectful.
He was ordered by the emperor to control the plague, but when he arrived, Song Xian caused him a big mess, and he had no choice but to wait for orders. After the emperor gave him instructions to assist Chang Suining, he went to Mianzhou with his doctors.
In Mianzhou, his situation was somewhat awkward. During this period, he tried to ask the envoy Chang Jie about Song Xian's news. The envoy did not hide it from him and said to him: "Don't worry, Minister, Mr. Song has returned to the capital safely."
Fang Ting felt that there was some deeper meaning behind these words, but he did not dare to ask any more questions.
After all, they were on someone else's territory and the world was in such chaos, he had no choice but to be cautious and follow Chang Suining's arrangements to treat the people suffering from the plague - not to mention, the method of curing the plague was actually figured out by someone else.
This made Fang Ting feel relieved. Although he could watch Yan Chenglu burning civilians alive that day, for him that was the rule of officialdom, not that he was really born with a heart of stone and cruel. Now that these people had a chance to survive, he could also do his job better and felt fortunate.
And in the process of treatment, he witnessed too many tragic scenes with his own eyes, and it became increasingly difficult for him to accept the way of doing things of Duke Hanguo - now nine out of ten households in Yuezhou City are empty, half of which are caused by Bian's army, and the other half are destroyed by the plague.
Fang Ting was sighing in his heart when he suddenly heard the girl beside him say, "Duke Hanguo——"
Fang Ting reacted for a moment, thinking that this person would also scold Li Xian, but when he looked up, he saw the girl stopped, looking straight ahead, and said calmly: "Sorry for the wait."
Fang Ting followed her gaze and saw that the people in front had stopped, and the one leading them was the embarrassed version of the Prince of Korea.
Li Xian was still waiting for an opportunity to attack Chang Suining, so he didn't show any hostility at the moment. He just raised his hands and was about to speak, but he saw the young girl in green standing with her hands behind her back and said directly, "Take down Li Xian..."
As soon as she finished speaking, dozens of her subordinates drew their swords without hesitation.
Li Xian's expression changed drastically, and he immediately drew his sword and said, "What do you mean, Envoy Chang Jie?"
"Envoy Chang, is there any misunderstanding here?" Fang Ting asked in surprise, but seeing the soldiers behind Li Xian drawing their swords one after another, he subconsciously took another step behind Chang Suining. Even he himself could not explain why this was such an inexplicable trust.
"There is no misunderstanding." Chang Suining looked at Li Xian with a firm expression: "Duke of Korea Li Xian attempted rebellion but failed, and fled here."
"Nonsense!" Li Xian's eyes trembled slightly, but his voice became colder and colder. He pointed his knife at Chang Suining and said, "This woman slandered me and tried to kill the chief general of the imperial court. It is obvious that she has ulterior motives... Yuan Wenshi, follow me and capture her quickly!"
Chang Suining turned his gaze slightly and fell on Yuan Wenshi, whose expression was changing constantly: "General Yuan, quickly summon the troops to help me kill the rebels."
“Yes!” Yuan Wenshi cupped his hands, his hesitation instantly swept away. He reined in his horse and raised his hand, saying, “Capture the traitor Li Xian!”
Li Xian was shocked and angry, his eyes were like knives: "Yuan Wenshi, you dare to rebel!"
Yuan Wenshi obviously knew nothing beforehand, but now he wanted to attack Chang Suining just because of a mere statement he made without any evidence!
Yuan Wenshi looked solemn and showed no sign of wavering - Li Xian suddenly appeared here in a mess, and his words and actions were strange.
Although he was not Xiao Min's confidant, he was one of the captains who accompanied Xiao Min and Chang Suining to quell the Xu Zhengye Rebellion. He was promoted to general because of that battle.
Thinking back to the time when he failed to stay in Jiangdu by drawing lots, he had no appetite for three days. At this moment, the consecrated copper plate was still tied to his wrist.
There is no need to elaborate on who to trust at this moment, he knows the answer in his heart.
Seeing soldiers quickly surrounding him from all directions, Li Xian reined in his horse and retreated, gnashing his teeth as he looked at Chang Suining, no longer disguising himself: "You bitch, you and Li Rong are plotting against me!"
In this short moment, with Chang Suining's words "I've been waiting for a long time", he had figured it out... Yuan Wenshi had not yet heard the news, so why did Chang Suining look so confident? And Li Rong had been to Mianzhou before entering the capital, so the two of them must have conspired against him at that time!
Chang Suining hummed, "Not really stupid."
She stood there, her expression unchanged, as if she had planned everything out and was just waiting for him to fall into the trap.
Even though he was sitting on the horse, he still felt like he was being looked down upon by the horse.
This feeling of being calculated and manipulated by the other party made Li Xian feel like a fishbone stuck in his throat - the other party was just a girl of seventeen or eighteen years old, what right did she have! Being humiliated in this desperate situation, and the pain in his left arm that was gradually getting stronger, almost defeated Li Xian's last bit of rationality. He drew his sword and rode his horse to rush towards Chang Suining: "...Looking for death!"
However, before he could get close, a sharp arrow came towards him.
Li Xian's pupils shrank and he swung his sword to block the arrow, but several more flew towards him immediately and he was forced to fall off his horse while dodging.
Yuan Wenshi led his men to surround them with swords drawn, and the two sides quickly started fighting.
During the response, Li Xianji wanted to kill Chang Suining, but he had no chance at all. He could only watch the cleanly dressed girl in green standing outside the fight, as if he didn't even need her to do it herself.
This realization made Li Xian even angrier and aroused his greater murderous intent.
But just having the intention to kill was not enough. His men were already exhausted, and now they were surrounded with no way to retreat. The last of their fighting spirit was quickly fading.
Those people fell one after another, and soon there were corpses piled up at Li Xian's feet. He was in a panic, and Allan grabbed his arm and said, "General, follow me!"
Li Xian didn't care about anything else and followed Allan into a narrow alley. The moment he stepped in, he was shocked to find that it was a dead end.
Li Xian's face suddenly changed. When he turned around, a sharp arrow suddenly pierced his calf, causing him to kneel down with his knife in hand.
He tried to force himself to get up, but for some reason all the bones in his body ached as if they were broken, and black blood began to flow out of his mouth.
Sweat mixed with blood obstructed his vision. Dimly, he saw a light green figure walking towards him, accompanied by several armored generals.
(The lunch box was delivered overtime... I am only one step away... I accept the negative review o(╥﹏╥)o
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