Chapter 257: Great Defeat 5
Zhao Xiaofei said: "Yes! These Donglin Party members are afraid that I will become more powerful and no one will be able to control me. They put their own interests above the interests of the court and the entire Han people. These people deserve to die! They talk about benevolence, righteousness and morality, but in fact they are all thieves and whores. Don't they know that when the nest is overturned, no eggs can remain intact?" Zhao Xiaofei became more and more angry as he spoke.
Li Sihong smiled softly and said, "Husband, don't be angry! When we return to Nanjing, we will try those who should be tried and arrest those who should be arrested. We still have to treat the Donglin Party differently. We can't just lump everyone in the same boat!"
Zhao Xiaofei laughed when he heard this and said, "I thought my wife would say, 'Go back to Nanjing and kill all the Donglin Party members!' My female general is really kind-hearted! During the day, she can shoot and kill the enemy leader from the car, but at night she is here advising me to kill fewer people and treat the Donglin Party differently. What a contrast!"
Li Sihong smiled and said, "You and I are one, husband and wife. Of course I want to vent my anger for my husband. The world is about to be stabilized, but they have disregarded the greater good and done such a thing. Killing them a thousand times would not be too much. But I don't want people to say that my husband is a tyrant, like Qin Shi Huang who burned books and buried scholars alive!"
Zhao Xiaofei laughed when he heard this and said, "Burning books and burying scholars? Who said that? They were clearly killing sorcerers, but these Confucian scholars were slandered like this. If Qin Shi Huang could hear these words in the underworld, he would probably tell the King of Hell, 'If I had known this, I should have killed all those Confucian scholars! Since I have been wronged, I will kill them all and be done with it!'"
Li Sihong laughed and said, "Husband! Where did you hear this? How come I don't know about it? Is this another rule left over from the Kingdom of Nan'ao?"
Zhao Xiaofei thought to himself, how would I know which book this is from? I think I saw it on TikTok. He didn't have time to read books! But he pretended to be serious and said, "Of course I've read it! It's just been a long time and I forgot which book it was! I'll look for it when I get back!"
Hearing this, Li Sihong said, "Husband! When the world is pacified, can you take me to Nan'ao? I want to read all the books there!"
When Zhao Xiaofei heard this, he thought, "Haha! My hometown is an era of information explosion. No one can read all the books in the world."
However, Zhao Xiaofei really wanted to tell Li Sihong the truth. After all, he had already told the princess, let alone Li Sihong, who was deeply in love with him! He felt that he should be frank.
So Zhao Xiaofei made up his mind to tell Li Sihong his secret.
Zhao Xiaofei said, "Madam! I want to tell you..."
Before he finished speaking, there were shouts and cries of killing outside the tent. Zhao Xiaofei was about to rush out to see what was going on when a personal guard walked in and said, "Your Highness, please leave quickly! The Tartars are coming! The camp is in chaos!"
"What?" Zhao Xiaofei really didn't expect that he would be hit by more misfortunes and his luck would start to run out.
Li Sihong stepped forward and said, "Husband! Why don't we get in the car first and rush out of the camp with the personal guards? Once we get there, we can send a messenger to notify Wan Shan and General Zhou!"
Zhao Xiaofei hesitated. "Can't we just run away when we hear something's happening?" But at this moment, several sharp arrows shot into the tent. Zhao Xiaofei quickly hugged Li Sihong into his arms and exposed his back.
These few arrows made Zhao Xiaofei determined to let his wife go first, as it would be the safest. So he said to his personal guard, "We'll go thirty miles south. You go to the magistrate Wanshan and General Zhou. After you put down the rebellion, come find me thirty miles south!"
"Yes!" the guards responded, then went down to make arrangements. Zhao Xiaofei ordered his guards to assemble, while he and Li Sihong drove the chariot southward. Zhao Xiaofei was clearly frightened by the attack and worried about Li Sihong's safety.
Meanwhile, Wan Shan and General Zhou were leading their troops in a massacre throughout the camp. Seeing the tragic scene before him, Wan Shan's heart sank. These were all our own people! Where did the Jianlu cavalry come from? Someone must be plotting a rebellion!
After several rounds of killing, many people calmed down, carefully identifying their companions, and the killing gradually stopped.
The bodies of Ming soldiers were everywhere, most of them had been hacked to death by their companions or had their heads broken and bloodied by muskets. The tents had been burned, and the supplies were impossible to count.
When everything was almost done, when General Zhou went to the central army tent to look for Zhao Xiaofei, he found the place in a mess. There was no sign of Zhao Xiaofei at all!
At this time, General Zhou heard someone groaning and found a man who looked like a personal guard wailing outside the tent. General Zhou walked over and asked, "Where is the prince? Where did the prince go?"
The guard was shot in the leg. He said coldly, "The prince and the concubine went west! The central army tent was attacked just now, and I was hit by a hail of arrows! I didn't catch up with the team!"
After hearing his words, General Zhou immediately drew his sword and put it to his neck, saying, "Who the hell are you? Going west? You'll run into the Tartars! How could Your Highness be so stupid? I felt something was wrong when I saw the arrow wound on your leg just now!"
General Zhou had just noticed that this guy's eyes were not right, flickering from side to side. Furthermore, the arrow wound on his leg was too shallow. How could an arrow shot at such a close distance in the midst of a chaotic battle penetrate so shallowly? So, there was clearly something wrong with this guy. But this guy, who looked like a personal guard, was still trying to argue, saying, "I'm not lying! General Zhou! The prince and the concubine really did go west!"
At this time, one of General Zhou's personal guards ran over and said, "General! We found a body not far away. It looks like someone strangled him to death! And I happen to know the deceased. He was the prince's messenger."
The guard-like figure's face changed drastically when he heard what Zhou's guard said. He grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it at Zhou. Zhou ducked, barely avoiding it.
His guards, however, picked up their rifles and fired a single shot at the fleeing figure of the fake personal guard. With a bang, the man fell to the ground, blood gushing from his chest and his limbs twitching.
Zhou Shuai knew someone had sent Zhao Xiaofei away to harm him. He immediately called Wan Shan, who asked, "How could this happen? How many traitors are there among us? Is Li Zichu still able to continue his duties as a Jinyiwei?"
"If Chongzhen hadn't abolished the Imperial Guards, who would be left in the end? They were all good-for-nothings!" said General Zhou.
Wan Shan said, "I'm going to take people to find the boss now! You stay in the camp and continue to deal with these messes!"
"Don't leave in a hurry! How much did we lose tonight?" Zhou Shuai asked.
"More than 10,000 people, most of them are new recruits! That's enough! Let's go! Every second we delay will put Zhao Xiaofei in more danger!" After saying this, Wan Shan hurriedly left the camp with 500 guards.
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