Wu Sangui betrayed his allies and aided the enemy, a heinous crime.
Wang Yongji, the governor-general of Pingliao, was Wu Sangui's direct superior, and he knew that he would inevitably be implicated.
Although you won't necessarily die, all your previous efforts and achievements will be wasted.
And his clan will also be destroyed.
Like everyone else, Wang Yongji is not only afraid of death, but also an egoist.
In order to change the fate of the clan, he must do something.
So, he decided to fight to the death with Wu Sangui.
Fighting with the determination to die.
He knew that he was no match for Wu Sangui, but as long as he could die on the battlefield, the imperial court would not erase his achievements and reputation in pacifying Liao.
His family and his clan will continue to prosper with the help of these merits and fame.
With Wang Yongji's insistence, the withdrawal plan was agreed upon by everyone.
Before dawn the next day, Wang Yongji issued an order as the Governor-General of Ping Liao: General Huang Degong was injured in the Battle of Sarhu, and a large number of Mongolian cavalry were found in the direction of Kaiyuan, north of Shenyang. In order to ensure a safe retreat, all troops were ordered to temporarily withdraw and return to Fushun in an orderly manner...
Wu Sangui was having breakfast when he received the order.
He was stunned for a while holding the bowl of porridge, then turned to ask Hu Xinshui who was having breakfast with him: "What...what does this mean? Why did they suddenly withdraw their troops?"
Hu Xinshui put down his bowl of porridge and thought for a moment, then said, "If I am not mistaken, Huang Degong's troops suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of Sarhu yesterday evening. Wang Yongji has three main forces under his command, namely your Guanning Army, Huang Degong, and Li Xianzhong."
"The Guanning Army has now retreated to the north bank of the Hun River to rest, and Huang Degong has suffered heavy losses. Although Li Xianzhong is a good fighter, his troops are all cavalry and cannot attack Jiefan Village. The Northern Army is no longer able to continue the attack and can only retreat."
Wu Sangui also put down his bowl of porridge and said worriedly: "Do you think... they may have already suspected us?"
"No way?" Hu Xinshui scratched his head. "In the battle of Sarhu yesterday, we did not attack our friendly forces and leave evidence. We also sent out Bakyong to support us and did not sit idly by. Why do they... suspect us?"
Wu Sangui picked up the bowl of porridge and said, "What you said does make sense, but I still think the order to retreat was too sudden."
"No," Wu Sangui thought more and more that something was wrong. He put down the bowl of porridge again and said to the guards outside the tent, "Please ask Mr. Fang to come over. I have something important to discuss with him."
The guards outside immediately mounted their horses and ran towards Fang Guangchen's tent.
Not long after, a personal soldier came in with a letter: "Your Excellency the General, Mr. Fang's tent is empty, and he himself is nowhere to be found. I only found a letter on the shelf at the door."
"What? What did you say?" Wu Sangui jumped up and said, "Mr. Fang is gone?"
"It should be. This is a letter left by Mr. Fang." The personal soldier said as he handed the letter to Wu Sangui.
Wu Sangui hurriedly took the letter, opened the envelope and read it quickly.
It would have been fine if he hadn't seen it, but after seeing it he was completely frozen in place.
In the letter, Fang Guangchen told Wu Sangui that he was frustrated and decided to return to his hometown in Nanzhili to live a pastoral life.
He also reminded Wu Sangui that he might have aroused Wang Yongji's suspicion. He also advised Wu Sangui to either help the Jian Nu attack the Ming army or help the Ming army attack the Jian Nu, and not to be fickle.
Hu Xinshui, who was standing next to him, saw Wu Sangui was in a daze and patted him on the shoulder: "General, what did Fang Guangchen write in the letter?"
"Read it yourself." Wu Sangui handed the letter to Hu Xinshui, and continued to sit on the stool in a daze.
After reading the contents of the letter, Hu Xinshui suddenly felt something was wrong.
He did not think that Wang Yongji had suspected them, but was afraid that Fang Guangchen would betray them.
After all, Fang Guangchen was Wu Sangui's adviser before entering Liao, and he knew a lot of information that others didn't know.
Especially things like betraying friendly forces and aiding the enemy.
Not only did he know everything, he also knew the specific procedures.
Wu Sangui had recovered by then. He paced back and forth and asked, "What should I do?"
"What are your concerns, General?" Hu Xinshui asked.
Wu Sangui was sweating anxiously: "Of course it is Wang Yongji. According to Mr. Fang's guess, Wang Yongji may have suspected us. Now that he suddenly withdrew his troops, it obviously confirmed Mr. Fang's guess."
"General, you are worrying too much," Hu Xinshui began to explain, "Wang Yongji's military order states that during the retreat, Huang Degong will be in the lead, followed by Li Guo and Li Laiheng, followed by Li Xianzhong, then Wang Yongji, the governor of Ping Liao, and finally us."
"If Wang Yongji thinks there's something wrong with us, will he let us follow him?"
Wu Sangui stretched out his hands and rubbed his temples: "Hearing what you said, it does make sense. If I were Wang Yongji, I would stay away from the Guanning Army and would never get too close to them."
"So," Hu Xinshui gritted his teeth, "all these stories were made up by Fang Guangchen to save his life."
"Save my life? What do you mean?" Wu Sangui stopped and looked at Hu Xinshui.
He saw murderous intent on Hu Xinshui's face, very strong murderous intent.
"General, have you forgotten that Fang Guangchen knows many of your secrets? Those secrets cannot be exposed to the public. If they are leaked, the consequences will be disastrous. Fang Guangchen was afraid of being killed, so he wrote a letter to divert your attention."
hiss--
Wu Sangui took a breath and said, "I see."
He clenched his fists and thought for a while, then gave an order: "Come here, send a few post soldiers to hunt down Fang Guangchen in the name of delivering a letter."
Watching the post soldiers leave, Wu Sangui ordered again: "Pack up the baggage immediately and prepare to return to Fushun. When retreating, the baggage should be in front, the infantry in the middle, and the cavalry in the rear!"
At the same time Wu Sangui issued the order, Huang Degong and Gao Yigong stationed in Sarhu had already packed up and started to retreat.
They had loaded the supplies onto trucks overnight and set off immediately after receiving the order.
Take away everything that can be taken away, and pile up the things that cannot be taken away and pour kerosene on them, but do not light them immediately.
Li Guo and Li Laiheng followed closely behind and retreated together.
Behind him is Li Xianzhong.
Behind him was Wang Yongji himself and his three thousand central army soldiers.
Finally, there is Wu Sangui.
They each had their own thoughts and set out on their return journey.
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