When Zhu Guobi was fleeing, a riot broke out in Anping Town.
There are not many Imperial Guards in the city, so it should be difficult for them to cause any trouble.
But they have money.
In order to create riots, they spent a large amount of money to bribe the officials, soldiers, and a large number of ruffians, hooligans, beggars and vagrants in the city in advance.
As soon as the agreed time arrives.
The thugs began to cause trouble in the city to attract attention.
Beggars and vagrants took advantage of the chaos to set fire.
The generals and soldiers who took the money took the opportunity to disguise themselves as officials and soldiers of the capital and caused chaos in the city.
At this time, Zhu Cixiong and Li Xianzhong led the cavalry and appeared outside the city.
Now there are powerful enemies outside the city and internal strife in the city.
The Anping garrison had seen the fighting power of the border troops and did not want to fight them.
This sentiment intensified after Zhu Guobi escaped.
Many soldiers murmured in a low voice: "Why not surrender? The main force has fled. What are we still resisting?"
"Yes! The Southern Army says the Northern Army is a bandit army, and the Northern Army says the Southern Army is a rebel army. No one can tell which is right, the bandit army or the rebel army. Instead of fighting them, it is better to surrender to whoever comes."
Seeing more and more soldiers showing signs of surrender, a general shouted angrily: "Shut up! Anyone who talks about surrender again will be killed immediately!"
Just as he finished speaking, there was a commotion coming from the direction of the north gate of the city.
The sound was loud and intense.
Attracting everyone to look there.
A general asked, "What's going on?"
"Please wait a moment, sir. I will check it out right away."
Anping Town is not big, and the circumference of the city wall is only eight miles.
The soldier rode away and a moment later rode back.
As he climbed up the steps to the city wall, he shouted, "This is terrible. The north gate has been opened from the inside. The Ming army has already rushed into the city through the gate."
The general defending the city did not hesitate at all and shouted: "Surrender immediately. Anyone who disobeys my order will be executed!"
Nearby soldiers: ...
With the surrender of the defenders, Zhu Cijiong took Anping Town without bloodshed.
In the evening, Li Dingguo met up with Zhu Cijiong.
After learning that Zhu Cijiong had only sent a large number of scouts in the direction of Zhu Guobi's escape and had not pursued him, Li Dingguo immediately approached him and asked, "Your Highness, why didn't you take advantage of the victory to pursue Zhu Guobi?"
Zhu Cijiong smiled awkwardly and covered it up by saying, "Instead of chasing after the defeated Zhu Guobi, it is better to capture Dongchang Prefecture."
Although Li Dingguo did not agree with Zhu Cijiong's strategy, he could not say anything and could only follow orders.
After a short rest, they headed north along the canal towards Dongchang Prefecture.
In Dongchangfu City.
After hearing that Zhu Guobi was defeated, Xincheng Earl Zhao Zhilong almost collapsed: "How could Zhu Guobi be defeated? He has 70,000 troops! 70,000!"
"Zhu Cijiong and Li Dingguo have less than 9,000 men!"
"Seventy thousand against nine thousand, how could we possibly lose?"
"Let alone 70,000 people, even 70,000 steamed buns would be enough to starve Zhu Cijiong and Li Dingguo to death!"
Before he could vent his emotions, the herald ran up to him in a panic and said, "Sir, the enemy troops are 20 miles away."
Zhao Zhilong's first reaction was to surrender.
But he also felt that surrender might not lead to a good outcome.
Before following the prince in the uprising, he had already committed the crime of privately minting coins.
It's a capital crime.
In Chongzhen's eyes, following the prince in raising an army would definitely be considered a rebellion.
It is also a capital crime.
With two crimes combined into one, it is unlikely that he will have a good ending.
But if he didn't surrender, he wouldn't be able to hold on to Dongchang Prefecture.
Although Zhu Cixiong and Li Dingguo's cavalry could not attack a city, they could lay siege to it.
As the siege time increases and without reinforcements, the morale of the defenders in the city will become lower and lower.
There might even be a mutiny in the end.
They could neither surrender nor defend the city.
Zhao Zhilong decided to escape.
He ordered everyone to climb up the city wall to defend against the enemy, while he himself, with his personal soldiers and hundreds of cavalry, quietly came to the west gate.
The personal guard took the documents and ordered the soldiers guarding the city to open the city gate.
As soon as the city gate opened, they jumped out on horseback.
They thought they could escape successfully, but the defenders only opened the city gate and did not lower the drawbridge.
With a loud bang.
The city gates are closed.
Zhao Zhilong was dumbfounded.
He was caught between the city gate and the drawbridge.
He could neither escape nor return to the city.
Zhao Zhilong was furious and shouted towards the city wall: "Lower the drawbridge, quickly lower the drawbridge!"
The soldiers on the city wall were very contemptuous of Zhao Zhilong's abandoning them and running away, and pretended not to hear it.
Zhao Zhilong wanted to cry but had no tears. He shouted towards the top of the city wall: "I have treated you well on weekdays. Why do you want to kill me today?"
One general laughed and said, "Master Zhao, please stop shouting, or you might damage your voice and then be unable to beg for mercy."
Zhao Zhilong shouted for a while, but there was no sign of the suspension bridge being lowered.
He resolutely threw away his armor and jumped into the moat on his horse.
The freezing cold river water made Zhao Zhilong shiver, and he soon lost consciousness despite his usual life of luxury.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on a bed.
Next to it is a stove.
There were three people standing by the fire.
One of them looked familiar, but the other two were strangers.
He asked the familiar man, "Is it... His Royal Highness Prince Ding?"
Zhu Cixiong nodded.
Zhao Zhilong used all his strength to get up from the bed, knelt down and kowtowed: "Your Highness, please forgive me. I was deceived by Zhu Guobi and sent troops. Please understand your Highness."
"Haha!" Zhu Cijiong sneered: "No need to check, I know what's going on."
Zhao Zhilong kowtowed again and said, "Thank you, Your Highness, for your grace. I am grateful to you."
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