Seeing the army's morale collapse, Ji Wudao shouted sternly: "You and I are both traitors. Even if you surrender now, Xiao Ning cannot protect you. Fight with me and I will ensure that you will be rich and prosperous in the future!"
"General, the situation is not good for us. We had better break out first. As long as we have the green mountains, we will have no worries." The military advisor under Ji Wudao saw that the soldiers were defeated by the Weining Army. The defenders in the city chased them out and killed them from the front and back. Even though they had more soldiers, the situation was very bad. He persuaded Ji Wudao.
Ji Wudao looked at Xiao Ning from afar. No one knew Xiao Ning's ability to lead troops better than him. Although he was unwilling to give up, he also knew that the situation was over. He had missed the best opportunity to occupy Shengjing. Delaying would only cost him the troops under his command. He shouted loudly: "My men, follow me and fight out. Everyone will be rewarded!"
Urged by the sound of the horn, Ji Wudao gathered everyone together and concentrated their firepower to break out.
Xiao Ning and Ji Wudao fought on horseback for several rounds. Ji Wudao was knocked off his horse by Xiao Ning's sudden attack. Several lieutenants of the rebel army rushed forward, helped Ji Wudao up, and retreated while fighting, "Retreat, retreat quickly!"
Relying on the lives of a group of soldiers to fight their way out of a bloody path, the deputy generals surrounded Ji Wudao and led the army to flee in panic.
The remaining troops that failed to withdraw with Ji Wudao in time became a loose group without anyone to command them, and were all disarmed and captured by the Weining Army.
"General, should we chase them?" The leader of the Weining Army asked Xiao Ning for instructions.
Xiao Ning shook his head. They were in a hurry to travel this time, and there were 30,000 cavalrymen coming. It was raining heavily tonight, and it was difficult to see the formation. Ji Wudao had no way of estimating how many people had come, and he had been caught off guard. If he sent people to continue the suppression, Ji Wudao would be forced into a desperate situation, with no hope of survival. He might not be able to guarantee that he would not fight to the death.
Besides, the emperor's life or death was unknown, and leaving Ji Wudao behind would be able to control the emperor and then kill him. He was also charged with embezzling military pay and intending to rebel.
Yu Qizhe welcomed Xiao Ning and Liu Ziqi into the city. Xiao Ning asked the Weining army to stay outside the city and set up tents to rest.
"I'm late." Liu Ziqi saw that Yu Qizhe was covered in blood and had many injuries. The wound on his shoulder was still bleeding. He couldn't help feeling a little apologetic. After all, this man was Jiaojiao's husband. If something really happened to him, Jiaojiao would be so sad.
"It's not easy for big brother to persuade General Xiao." Yu Qizhe's face was a little pale due to blood loss. He knew that it would be even more difficult to mobilize the Weining Army without orders, but fortunately Liu Ziqi arrived in time, otherwise Kyoto would have been lost tonight.
Liu Ziqi had led troops to the battlefield in Lingnan, and he knew very well how difficult it was for Yu Qizhe to defend the city for two days and nights with more than 20,000 soldiers from three camps against Ji Wudao's army of 100,000. Especially since he was a scholar, this made him look at Yu Qizhe with a new respect and changed his previous impression of him.
"Treat your wounds properly. Don't leave scars on your body and make Third Sister sad." Liu Ziqi's attitude became much gentler. "I will take General Xiao to see father. You go get some good sleep. We can talk about anything tomorrow."
Yu Qizhe stood in the rain and remained silent.
Seeing that he was hesitant to speak, Liu Ziqi asked, "Do you want to say something?"
"I know that Yu Jiao has secret guards given by big brother. Have you received any news from them in the past few days?" Yu Qizhe pondered for a moment and asked.
When Liu Ziqi heard that it was about Yu Jiao, his face changed: "I didn't receive any news. Is my third sister not in the city?"
Yu Qizhe shook his head. "A few days ago, she said she wanted to take Fei Ge'er back to Changkui to bury Liu Sanniang. I thought the capital was going to be in trouble, so I agreed to go back and arranged three Jinyiwei to escort her. But a few days ago, Ji Wudao asked one of his men to tell me that he threatened me with Yu Jiao's safety."
He didn't say anything else, but Liu Ziqi already understood his concerns, because after hearing this, his heart sank as did Yu Qizhe's.
"The third sister should not be in Ji Wudao's hands, otherwise she would have used it to coerce you and me." Liu Ziqi analyzed rationally, but as soon as he finished speaking, he gestured and summoned his close guards, and told them: "Leave the city and follow the route from Shengjing to Changkui to find the third sister. Report back as soon as possible if you have any news."
"Yes." Several secret guards took the order and left.
Yu Qizhe's eyes fell on the departing secret guards. He said goodbye to Liu Ziqi, arranged the injured soldiers in the three camps and other matters before returning to Wanfu Bridge.
Song Nian heard a knock on the door and asked cautiously, "Who?"
Hearing Yu Qizhe's voice, he hurriedly opened the door and said happily: "Sir, you are back? Were the rebels defeated?"
Yu Qizhe nodded slightly.
Seeing that his body was covered in blood, Song Nian hurriedly went to find some medicine and called his mother to boil water and cook.
After Yu Qizhe took a bath, he asked Song Nian to help him apply medicine. Song Nian carefully sprinkled the powder on the wound. When he saw that the bleeding had stopped, he breathed a sigh of relief: "The wound on your shoulder is quite serious. I'm afraid you have strained your bones. Don't get wet in the next few days. It would be great if Madam was here. The golden medicine Madam made is really useful..."
Song Nian kept talking and didn't notice Yu Qizhe's slightly gloomy expression as he looked at the medicine bottle.
Mrs. Song brought the food over and placed it on the table. Yu Qizhe only moved his chopsticks twice and then asked Song Nian to leave.
Song Nian thought that he had killed too many people and seen too many corpses while defending the city in the past two days, so he had no appetite. He thought that he should be fine after a day or two of rest, and asked his mother to cook some appetizing rice porridge tomorrow.
The night rain was noisy. Yu Qizhe lit candles in the bedroom. The room was filled with the faint scent of her medicine. He walked to the bed and lay down on it, hugging the quilt as if he had held her in his arms in the past. He listened to the sound of rain for a long time before slowly falling asleep.
Liu Mansion Study
Liu Yu said: "General Xiao, it's fortunate that you brought the Weining Army here, so Ji Wudao retreated."
Xiao Ning waved his hand and said, "If it weren't for Ziqi and Young Marquis Gu who took the risk to send me away from the capital, I, Xiao Ning, would have been killed long ago. Besides, my hand was healed thanks to Miss Liu San."
Xiao Ning moved his right wrist with a smile on his face. This was the first time he led his troops to fight against others after his hand injury healed. It was really exciting. It was a pity that he could not go into battle to kill the Oirat and Tatar.
"Father, is there still no news from Xianyang?" Liu Ziqi asked.
Liu Yu nodded: "On the first day of Ji Wudao's siege, I sent a letter to Xianyang. Yesterday, I sent another letter by express horse, but no news came back. It seems that the previous news must be true. The emperor fell into a coma after taking the elixir. Although Ji Wudao led his troops to retreat, he has been labeled a traitor and there is no guarantee that he will not counterattack."
When Xiao Ning heard that Emperor Mingzheng was unconscious after taking the elixir, he was actually somewhat happy and said, "Ziqi and I have made some arrangements in Datong. If Ji Wudao escapes back to Shanxi, he will be in big trouble. Since the emperor is already unconscious, why not..."
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