Chapter 147: Eliminating the Honor of Arms
Yan Hao, the commander of the Ganyong Battalion, was shot to death in a flash, and everything was caught off guard. Wang Ziteng and the commanders of other battalions were even more shocked.
Just as they were stunned, a loud shout came from the rebel camp opposite.
"Brothers, look, the bodies of the soldiers from the Fenyong Camp and the Liwei Camp are still hanging there. Wang Ziteng will not give us a chance to live. Only by killing Wang Ziteng can we have a chance of survival. Kill him!"
What followed was a deafening shout of killing that reached the sky. The words spoken by Yan Hao, the commander of the Ganyong Camp, were drowned out by the deafening shouts of killing. In the chaos, not many people in the rebel army noticed that he was shot.
On the high platform, the other commanders of the Four Brave Camps were instantly panicked upon seeing this.
Tao Qian shouted at the top of his voice: "I am the commander of the Guoyong Battalion. Brothers of the Guoyong Battalion, listen up..."
As soon as he started to speak, he stopped abruptly with a "puff!"
Tao Qian suffered the same fate as Yan Hao before, with an arrow piercing his chest. He looked ahead in disbelief, which soon dimmed. Until his death, he never understood why the other side pointed their arrows at him without hesitation when they were clearly shouting "Kill Wang Ziteng".
Tao Qian died with his eyes open.
The other governors on the platform only realized at this time that the generals under their command in the opposite rebel army clearly did not give them a chance to speak and wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible.
After figuring it out, they quickly turned around and dodged, preparing to escape from the platform.
"Pfft!"
"Pfft!"
"..."
Obviously, the rebel generals did not give them any chance. A hail of arrows shot all the commanders of the Four Brave Camps into a hornet's nest.
"this…"
Not far away, Wang Ziteng and other generals saw the scene and gasped in surprise at the same time.
"The rebels are crazy! Run away... run away!" One of the regiment commanders shouted in panic.
As he shouted, he tried to turn around and flee in a direction where there were fewer people, but was stopped by Wang Ziteng's personal guards.
"Wang Ziteng! Do you want everyone to be buried here with you?" The governor shouted angrily, "If everyone dies because of you, the court will not let you go. Then your whole family will have no way to survive. You'd better think it through!"
Upon hearing this, the commanders of other regiments and camps turned to look at Wang Ziteng with unfriendly expressions.
It's really fucked up. You, Wang Ziteng, are greedy for merit and reckless. These people are already victims of the reorganization of the army, and now they are implicated by you and destroyed by the hands of the rebels.
Outrageous!
Wang Ziteng's face was gloomy. He looked around and glanced at the generals of the Beijing Camp. He knew that the army had lost its morale and the situation was hopeless. He said in deep thought, "Everyone, please break out of the encirclement. If you are lucky enough to escape, quickly dispatch your troops to suppress the rebellion."
Upon hearing this, the commanders of each regiment and camp did not stay any longer and scattered in all directions, looking for ways to escape.
These commanders are only thinking of retreating to their camps, so why would they lead their troops to quell the rebellion? They are also worried that some of their own men may also want to rebel, so it is better to remain calm at this time.
Wang Ziteng watched the generals go away like lost dogs, sighed deeply in his heart, filled with infinite sadness, and finally reflected on how things had developed to the current situation?
I really am eager for quick success and self-righteous, but what's the use of waking up now?
"General, there are few people over there. We, the generals, will protect you as you break out!" Han Rui, Pang Guang and several other trusted generals protected Wang Ziteng as he broke out.
They are Wang Ziteng's loyal aides. If Wang Ziteng is gone, they will not be able to survive, so they have no choice but to live and die with him.
On the other side, in the rebel camp.
Xu Kun, the lieutenant general of the Ganyong Camp, sat high on his horse, looking at the current situation and feeling relieved.
The more than 20,000 troops from the Four Brave Camps they brought had now surrounded the Jiedushi's camp and began to carry out suppression in different areas.
Just now he decisively ordered his trusted soldiers to shoot and kill the Four Brave Camp commanders on the high platform because he did not want those people to disrupt the morale of the army.
Anyway, the rebellion has already started, so what's the harm in killing a few governors?
Then we can just put the blame on Wang Ziteng. The dead will have no chance to defend themselves.
"Take a team with you and find Wang Ziteng. Make sure to take his head!" Xu Kun instructed a trusted general beside him.
"Yes!" The general obeyed the order and left.
It doesn’t matter whether there are other fish that have escaped the net, but Wang Ziteng must be killed quickly. This is their bargaining chip to mobilize the army to petition the emperor, and it is related to the success or failure of this rebellion.
In the central army camp, Wang Xian, the commander-in-chief of both the Yangwei Camp and the Zhenwei Camp, observed the situation around him and planned to break out from the northeast corner.
Just as he was about to rush out with a few guards, he saw two people walking towards him quickly.
"Captain Wang, wait a minute."
Wang Xian was quite puzzled when he saw the two people blocking his way, and asked cautiously: "Who are you?"
"Reporting to the commander-in-chief, my name is Chen Qing, and this is Pei Xu. The two of us are captains of the New Army Guard. We're here on the orders of Commander-in-Chief, Lord Shen, to escort the commander-in-chief out of the camp." Captain Chen Qing of the New Army Guard bowed.
As he spoke, he took out Shen Yuan's token and handed it to Wang Xian to verify his identity.
Chen Qing and Pei Xu were the two captains of the new army guards who were previously seconded to Wang Ziteng by Shen Yuan. In name, they were there to assist Wang Ziteng in training the new army, but in reality they were Shen Yuan's eyes and ears.
Just before the rebels surrounded the camp, the two received a secret order from Shen Yuan to protect Wang Xian at the critical moment.
"Captain of the New Army Guard?" Wang Xian was stunned when he heard this. He didn't expect to see someone from the New Army Guard in his current situation.
He took the token and took a look at it, and found that it was indeed the token of Shen Yuan, the commander of the new army.
Wang Xian looked up at Chen Qing and asked in confusion, "How are you going to escort me out of the camp?"
The camp is now besieged by the rebels, and the possibility of a successful breakout is very small. Even if there are two more captains of the new army guards, it will not increase the chances of victory much.
Chen Qing said: "The situation is urgent, so it is inconvenient to explain in detail. If the governor believes in our Lord Shen, please follow me."
Wang Xian thought for a moment, then put aside his doubts and said, "Okay, you lead the way."
Their hope of breaking out was slim in the first place, but now that they have someone to support them, they might as well give it a try and give it their all.
In addition, Wang Xianben was also a loyalist to the emperor and had a natural trust in Shen Yuan. Moreover, he had paid close attention to Shen Yuan's deeds in the past and admired him very much. There was no reason for the young man to go to such great lengths to harm him.
"Captain Wang, this way."
Chen Qing and Pei Xu led the way, and the group soon arrived at the camp platform in the middle of the Jiedushi's camp.
At this moment, everyone was looking for a gap in the surrounding corners to break out, but this camp located in the center of the camp was empty.
Wang Xian was puzzled and asked, "Aren't you trying to break out of the camp? What are you doing here?"
Although there is no one here right now, it won't be long before the rebels surround us, and we are just waiting to die here.
Chen Qing asked, "Does the commander remember the military parade at Chaoyang Gate when His Majesty was in the sky?" Upon hearing this, Wang Xian's mind flashed with the scene of Emperor Yuanzhen flying in the sky on a hot air balloon. He was very surprised and asked, "Are you talking about the giant sky lantern?"
Chen Qing was about to answer when his eyes suddenly lit up, raised his hand and pointed to the sky, and said happily: "Commander-in-chief, please look!"
Hearing the voice, Wang Xian raised his eyes and looked in the direction Chen Qing pointed.
They saw a spherical object floating towards them in the air, and it suddenly came closer and closer, accompanied by a roar, and slowly became bigger in their field of vision.
This movement also attracted the attention of other people on the battlefield, and no one reacted to what it was for a while.
Most of the soldiers here had not watched the military parade outside Chaoyang Gate that day. Even if they had seen Emperor Yuanzhen flying in the sky, the hot air balloon at that time had been painted and modified, and there were many differences in appearance from ordinary hot air balloons. In the current tense and chaotic environment, it is normal that they cannot recognize it for a while.
"Marshal Jie, what is that?"
At this moment, Wang Ziteng was breaking out to the west when he suddenly heard a reminder from the lieutenant general beside him. He looked up and saw a giant balloon descending towards the central camp.
“That is…” Wang Ziteng stared at it. This thing gave him a very familiar feeling. After pondering for a while, his eyes suddenly lit up and he said in surprise: “Sky Lantern… It’s that Sky Lantern!”
During the military parade that day, he went up to the Chaoyang Gate tower and saw the hot air balloon that Emperor Yuanzhen was riding in up close, so naturally his impression was more profound than that of others.
Soon, he came to his senses and hurriedly ordered his confidants: "Quick! Protect me to the central camp!"
Following closely, some of the governors who were trying to break out in other directions also reacted and made the same decision as Wang Ziteng, stopping their breakouts and quickly rushing to the central camp.
These military commanders and generals who had won military honors were fortunate enough to go to the Chaoyang Gate Tower that day to watch the military parade. They now recognized that this big balloon was the same one that the emperor rode that day. If they could ride on this thing, they could escape immediately. Why bother fighting to break out and gamble on that slim chance?
At that moment, the generals who broke through from all sides turned around and rushed towards the central camp, hoping to seize the chance to survive before everyone else.
At this time, the rebel general Xu Kun also noticed something unusual and asked in surprise: "What... are they going to do?"
A guerrilla general beside him reacted and was shocked. He said, "Oh no! General Xu, are they going to run away?"
Xu Kun was puzzled and asked, "If they go to the center, how can they escape our encirclement?"
"Balloon, it's that balloon!" The guerrilla general took a deep breath and said quickly, "On the fifth day of June, there was a military parade at Chaoyang Gate. I happened to be on leave that day, so I went to the gate to watch the ceremony, and I saw His Majesty flying into the sky on a big balloon like this..."
He briefly and quickly described what he had seen during the parade.
Xu Kun finally reacted, and was horrified. He shouted anxiously, "Quick! Take your troops to hold Wang Ziteng back. Don't let him get close to the central camp. Go!"
After giving the order, he personally led a thousand men straight to the central camp.
At this moment, an extremely strange scene appeared on the battlefield.
Wang Ziteng and the commanders of various regiments and camps turned back from various breakout directions and ran madly towards the center, followed by the rebels who were chasing and blocking them.
Wang Ziteng and others defended while retreating quickly to the central camp, but their retreat speed was ultimately limited because they were being chased from behind.
The rebel leader Xu Kun ignored everything else and led his men straight to the central camp in order to control the hot air balloon as soon as possible.
But he was the farthest away from the central camp, and even though he led the cavalry at a gallop, he was ultimately unable to catch up.
When he arrived first, he saw that the hot air balloon had already taken off and was rapidly rising in distance.
"Oh, so many times..."
He reined in his horse and stopped, stunned for a moment, then reacted, took out the bow and arrow from under the saddle and shot several arrows at the hot air balloon. Although one arrow hit the target, the arrow had already lost its power and did not cause any damage to the balloon. He could only watch the hot air balloon fly away.
Moreover, he didn't even see clearly who the hot air balloon rescued.
"Is Wang Ziteng still here?"
"General, Wang Ziteng is there." A captain pointed to the west.
"Fortunately, as long as this old thief didn't escape, it's fine." Xu Kun looked in the direction of Wang Ziteng in the west, his eyes cold as he said, "Pass the order down, kill this old thief Wang Ziteng as soon as possible at all costs!"
He had already sensed something was wrong. If things dragged on, it would be disadvantageous to the rebels. He had to fight quickly and decisively.
Wang Ziteng and other regiment commanders felt a chill in their hearts when they saw the rebels occupy the central camp and the hot air balloon rising into the sky.
Especially Wang Ziteng, he could sense that the rebels' offensive against him would significantly increase, and he was afraid that he would not be able to escape today...
……
At this time, on the hot air balloon, Jiang Fan was personally controlling the hot air balloon, and next to him stood Wang Xian, the governor of the Yangwei Camp and the Zhenwei Camp.
Due to the limited carrying capacity, it was naturally impossible for the new army guards Chen Qing and Pei Xu, as well as Wang Xian's personal guards, to take off into the air.
Before the rebels arrived, they had already hidden themselves and were waiting for reinforcements. To the rebels, they were not core figures and they would not spend too much energy searching for them.
It was Wang Xian's first time riding a hot air balloon, so he was inevitably a little excited. After a moment of silence and calming down, he asked, "Why did you save only me?"
Jiang Fan replied: "When we discovered the rebellion, we only had time to arrange this one hot air balloon."
This was just an excuse that I had thought of in advance. Of course, the new military guards have more than one hot air balloon.
But Shen Yuan had no intention of rescuing Wang Ziteng and other military commanders immediately. These people were just baits.
If Wang Ziteng escapes, the rebels will have no choice but to turn around and attack Anding Gate. In this way, Feng Ziying will certainly not be able to hold on. Once the rebels enter Shenjing City, it will be the biggest disaster.
Therefore, Wang Ziteng's life is needed to delay the main force of the rebels.
"Why me?" Wang Xian asked the second question.
Even if there was only one hot air balloon, why would Shen Yuan choose to save him?
"Because in the current Beijing camp, Lord Shen only trusts Governor Wang. And..." Jiang Fan said in a serious tone: "Only by rescuing Governor Wang can we quell the rebellion in the shortest possible time."
This was true. Shen Yuan really only trusted Wang Xian at the moment. Neither Wang Ziteng nor other military commanders of the Beijing Camp were worthy of his trust.
It's not just because Wang Xian is a member of the emperor's party, but also because Wang Xian is currently the commander-in-chief of the Yangwei and Zhenwei camps, commanding an army of nearly 40,000.
Moreover, under Wang Xian's governance, although the military discipline of these two battalions was not as good as that of the New Army Guard, it was much better than other regiments and battalions.
Rescuing Wang Xian would mean having an army of 40,000 soldiers whose combat power far exceeded that of the Four Brave Battalions to suppress the rebellion. Adding Shen Yuan's several thousand new army guards would be enough to completely wipe out the 30,000 rebels.
From the very beginning, Shen Yuan was thinking about more than just suppressing the rebellion.
He wanted to annihilate the rebels completely, and... he also wanted to use the rebels to eliminate all the military meritorious generals at once, thus making a complete change.
(End of this chapter)
Yan Hao, the commander of the Ganyong Battalion, was shot to death in a flash, and everything was caught off guard. Wang Ziteng and the commanders of other battalions were even more shocked.
Just as they were stunned, a loud shout came from the rebel camp opposite.
"Brothers, look, the bodies of the soldiers from the Fenyong Camp and the Liwei Camp are still hanging there. Wang Ziteng will not give us a chance to live. Only by killing Wang Ziteng can we have a chance of survival. Kill him!"
What followed was a deafening shout of killing that reached the sky. The words spoken by Yan Hao, the commander of the Ganyong Camp, were drowned out by the deafening shouts of killing. In the chaos, not many people in the rebel army noticed that he was shot.
On the high platform, the other commanders of the Four Brave Camps were instantly panicked upon seeing this.
Tao Qian shouted at the top of his voice: "I am the commander of the Guoyong Battalion. Brothers of the Guoyong Battalion, listen up..."
As soon as he started to speak, he stopped abruptly with a "puff!"
Tao Qian suffered the same fate as Yan Hao before, with an arrow piercing his chest. He looked ahead in disbelief, which soon dimmed. Until his death, he never understood why the other side pointed their arrows at him without hesitation when they were clearly shouting "Kill Wang Ziteng".
Tao Qian died with his eyes open.
The other governors on the platform only realized at this time that the generals under their command in the opposite rebel army clearly did not give them a chance to speak and wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible.
After figuring it out, they quickly turned around and dodged, preparing to escape from the platform.
"Pfft!"
"Pfft!"
"..."
Obviously, the rebel generals did not give them any chance. A hail of arrows shot all the commanders of the Four Brave Camps into a hornet's nest.
"this…"
Not far away, Wang Ziteng and other generals saw the scene and gasped in surprise at the same time.
"The rebels are crazy! Run away... run away!" One of the regiment commanders shouted in panic.
As he shouted, he tried to turn around and flee in a direction where there were fewer people, but was stopped by Wang Ziteng's personal guards.
"Wang Ziteng! Do you want everyone to be buried here with you?" The governor shouted angrily, "If everyone dies because of you, the court will not let you go. Then your whole family will have no way to survive. You'd better think it through!"
Upon hearing this, the commanders of other regiments and camps turned to look at Wang Ziteng with unfriendly expressions.
It's really fucked up. You, Wang Ziteng, are greedy for merit and reckless. These people are already victims of the reorganization of the army, and now they are implicated by you and destroyed by the hands of the rebels.
Outrageous!
Wang Ziteng's face was gloomy. He looked around and glanced at the generals of the Beijing Camp. He knew that the army had lost its morale and the situation was hopeless. He said in deep thought, "Everyone, please break out of the encirclement. If you are lucky enough to escape, quickly dispatch your troops to suppress the rebellion."
Upon hearing this, the commanders of each regiment and camp did not stay any longer and scattered in all directions, looking for ways to escape.
These commanders are only thinking of retreating to their camps, so why would they lead their troops to quell the rebellion? They are also worried that some of their own men may also want to rebel, so it is better to remain calm at this time.
Wang Ziteng watched the generals go away like lost dogs, sighed deeply in his heart, filled with infinite sadness, and finally reflected on how things had developed to the current situation?
I really am eager for quick success and self-righteous, but what's the use of waking up now?
"General, there are few people over there. We, the generals, will protect you as you break out!" Han Rui, Pang Guang and several other trusted generals protected Wang Ziteng as he broke out.
They are Wang Ziteng's loyal aides. If Wang Ziteng is gone, they will not be able to survive, so they have no choice but to live and die with him.
On the other side, in the rebel camp.
Xu Kun, the lieutenant general of the Ganyong Camp, sat high on his horse, looking at the current situation and feeling relieved.
The more than 20,000 troops from the Four Brave Camps they brought had now surrounded the Jiedushi's camp and began to carry out suppression in different areas.
Just now he decisively ordered his trusted soldiers to shoot and kill the Four Brave Camp commanders on the high platform because he did not want those people to disrupt the morale of the army.
Anyway, the rebellion has already started, so what's the harm in killing a few governors?
Then we can just put the blame on Wang Ziteng. The dead will have no chance to defend themselves.
"Take a team with you and find Wang Ziteng. Make sure to take his head!" Xu Kun instructed a trusted general beside him.
"Yes!" The general obeyed the order and left.
It doesn’t matter whether there are other fish that have escaped the net, but Wang Ziteng must be killed quickly. This is their bargaining chip to mobilize the army to petition the emperor, and it is related to the success or failure of this rebellion.
In the central army camp, Wang Xian, the commander-in-chief of both the Yangwei Camp and the Zhenwei Camp, observed the situation around him and planned to break out from the northeast corner.
Just as he was about to rush out with a few guards, he saw two people walking towards him quickly.
"Captain Wang, wait a minute."
Wang Xian was quite puzzled when he saw the two people blocking his way, and asked cautiously: "Who are you?"
"Reporting to the commander-in-chief, my name is Chen Qing, and this is Pei Xu. The two of us are captains of the New Army Guard. We're here on the orders of Commander-in-Chief, Lord Shen, to escort the commander-in-chief out of the camp." Captain Chen Qing of the New Army Guard bowed.
As he spoke, he took out Shen Yuan's token and handed it to Wang Xian to verify his identity.
Chen Qing and Pei Xu were the two captains of the new army guards who were previously seconded to Wang Ziteng by Shen Yuan. In name, they were there to assist Wang Ziteng in training the new army, but in reality they were Shen Yuan's eyes and ears.
Just before the rebels surrounded the camp, the two received a secret order from Shen Yuan to protect Wang Xian at the critical moment.
"Captain of the New Army Guard?" Wang Xian was stunned when he heard this. He didn't expect to see someone from the New Army Guard in his current situation.
He took the token and took a look at it, and found that it was indeed the token of Shen Yuan, the commander of the new army.
Wang Xian looked up at Chen Qing and asked in confusion, "How are you going to escort me out of the camp?"
The camp is now besieged by the rebels, and the possibility of a successful breakout is very small. Even if there are two more captains of the new army guards, it will not increase the chances of victory much.
Chen Qing said: "The situation is urgent, so it is inconvenient to explain in detail. If the governor believes in our Lord Shen, please follow me."
Wang Xian thought for a moment, then put aside his doubts and said, "Okay, you lead the way."
Their hope of breaking out was slim in the first place, but now that they have someone to support them, they might as well give it a try and give it their all.
In addition, Wang Xianben was also a loyalist to the emperor and had a natural trust in Shen Yuan. Moreover, he had paid close attention to Shen Yuan's deeds in the past and admired him very much. There was no reason for the young man to go to such great lengths to harm him.
"Captain Wang, this way."
Chen Qing and Pei Xu led the way, and the group soon arrived at the camp platform in the middle of the Jiedushi's camp.
At this moment, everyone was looking for a gap in the surrounding corners to break out, but this camp located in the center of the camp was empty.
Wang Xian was puzzled and asked, "Aren't you trying to break out of the camp? What are you doing here?"
Although there is no one here right now, it won't be long before the rebels surround us, and we are just waiting to die here.
Chen Qing asked, "Does the commander remember the military parade at Chaoyang Gate when His Majesty was in the sky?" Upon hearing this, Wang Xian's mind flashed with the scene of Emperor Yuanzhen flying in the sky on a hot air balloon. He was very surprised and asked, "Are you talking about the giant sky lantern?"
Chen Qing was about to answer when his eyes suddenly lit up, raised his hand and pointed to the sky, and said happily: "Commander-in-chief, please look!"
Hearing the voice, Wang Xian raised his eyes and looked in the direction Chen Qing pointed.
They saw a spherical object floating towards them in the air, and it suddenly came closer and closer, accompanied by a roar, and slowly became bigger in their field of vision.
This movement also attracted the attention of other people on the battlefield, and no one reacted to what it was for a while.
Most of the soldiers here had not watched the military parade outside Chaoyang Gate that day. Even if they had seen Emperor Yuanzhen flying in the sky, the hot air balloon at that time had been painted and modified, and there were many differences in appearance from ordinary hot air balloons. In the current tense and chaotic environment, it is normal that they cannot recognize it for a while.
"Marshal Jie, what is that?"
At this moment, Wang Ziteng was breaking out to the west when he suddenly heard a reminder from the lieutenant general beside him. He looked up and saw a giant balloon descending towards the central camp.
“That is…” Wang Ziteng stared at it. This thing gave him a very familiar feeling. After pondering for a while, his eyes suddenly lit up and he said in surprise: “Sky Lantern… It’s that Sky Lantern!”
During the military parade that day, he went up to the Chaoyang Gate tower and saw the hot air balloon that Emperor Yuanzhen was riding in up close, so naturally his impression was more profound than that of others.
Soon, he came to his senses and hurriedly ordered his confidants: "Quick! Protect me to the central camp!"
Following closely, some of the governors who were trying to break out in other directions also reacted and made the same decision as Wang Ziteng, stopping their breakouts and quickly rushing to the central camp.
These military commanders and generals who had won military honors were fortunate enough to go to the Chaoyang Gate Tower that day to watch the military parade. They now recognized that this big balloon was the same one that the emperor rode that day. If they could ride on this thing, they could escape immediately. Why bother fighting to break out and gamble on that slim chance?
At that moment, the generals who broke through from all sides turned around and rushed towards the central camp, hoping to seize the chance to survive before everyone else.
At this time, the rebel general Xu Kun also noticed something unusual and asked in surprise: "What... are they going to do?"
A guerrilla general beside him reacted and was shocked. He said, "Oh no! General Xu, are they going to run away?"
Xu Kun was puzzled and asked, "If they go to the center, how can they escape our encirclement?"
"Balloon, it's that balloon!" The guerrilla general took a deep breath and said quickly, "On the fifth day of June, there was a military parade at Chaoyang Gate. I happened to be on leave that day, so I went to the gate to watch the ceremony, and I saw His Majesty flying into the sky on a big balloon like this..."
He briefly and quickly described what he had seen during the parade.
Xu Kun finally reacted, and was horrified. He shouted anxiously, "Quick! Take your troops to hold Wang Ziteng back. Don't let him get close to the central camp. Go!"
After giving the order, he personally led a thousand men straight to the central camp.
At this moment, an extremely strange scene appeared on the battlefield.
Wang Ziteng and the commanders of various regiments and camps turned back from various breakout directions and ran madly towards the center, followed by the rebels who were chasing and blocking them.
Wang Ziteng and others defended while retreating quickly to the central camp, but their retreat speed was ultimately limited because they were being chased from behind.
The rebel leader Xu Kun ignored everything else and led his men straight to the central camp in order to control the hot air balloon as soon as possible.
But he was the farthest away from the central camp, and even though he led the cavalry at a gallop, he was ultimately unable to catch up.
When he arrived first, he saw that the hot air balloon had already taken off and was rapidly rising in distance.
"Oh, so many times..."
He reined in his horse and stopped, stunned for a moment, then reacted, took out the bow and arrow from under the saddle and shot several arrows at the hot air balloon. Although one arrow hit the target, the arrow had already lost its power and did not cause any damage to the balloon. He could only watch the hot air balloon fly away.
Moreover, he didn't even see clearly who the hot air balloon rescued.
"Is Wang Ziteng still here?"
"General, Wang Ziteng is there." A captain pointed to the west.
"Fortunately, as long as this old thief didn't escape, it's fine." Xu Kun looked in the direction of Wang Ziteng in the west, his eyes cold as he said, "Pass the order down, kill this old thief Wang Ziteng as soon as possible at all costs!"
He had already sensed something was wrong. If things dragged on, it would be disadvantageous to the rebels. He had to fight quickly and decisively.
Wang Ziteng and other regiment commanders felt a chill in their hearts when they saw the rebels occupy the central camp and the hot air balloon rising into the sky.
Especially Wang Ziteng, he could sense that the rebels' offensive against him would significantly increase, and he was afraid that he would not be able to escape today...
……
At this time, on the hot air balloon, Jiang Fan was personally controlling the hot air balloon, and next to him stood Wang Xian, the governor of the Yangwei Camp and the Zhenwei Camp.
Due to the limited carrying capacity, it was naturally impossible for the new army guards Chen Qing and Pei Xu, as well as Wang Xian's personal guards, to take off into the air.
Before the rebels arrived, they had already hidden themselves and were waiting for reinforcements. To the rebels, they were not core figures and they would not spend too much energy searching for them.
It was Wang Xian's first time riding a hot air balloon, so he was inevitably a little excited. After a moment of silence and calming down, he asked, "Why did you save only me?"
Jiang Fan replied: "When we discovered the rebellion, we only had time to arrange this one hot air balloon."
This was just an excuse that I had thought of in advance. Of course, the new military guards have more than one hot air balloon.
But Shen Yuan had no intention of rescuing Wang Ziteng and other military commanders immediately. These people were just baits.
If Wang Ziteng escapes, the rebels will have no choice but to turn around and attack Anding Gate. In this way, Feng Ziying will certainly not be able to hold on. Once the rebels enter Shenjing City, it will be the biggest disaster.
Therefore, Wang Ziteng's life is needed to delay the main force of the rebels.
"Why me?" Wang Xian asked the second question.
Even if there was only one hot air balloon, why would Shen Yuan choose to save him?
"Because in the current Beijing camp, Lord Shen only trusts Governor Wang. And..." Jiang Fan said in a serious tone: "Only by rescuing Governor Wang can we quell the rebellion in the shortest possible time."
This was true. Shen Yuan really only trusted Wang Xian at the moment. Neither Wang Ziteng nor other military commanders of the Beijing Camp were worthy of his trust.
It's not just because Wang Xian is a member of the emperor's party, but also because Wang Xian is currently the commander-in-chief of the Yangwei and Zhenwei camps, commanding an army of nearly 40,000.
Moreover, under Wang Xian's governance, although the military discipline of these two battalions was not as good as that of the New Army Guard, it was much better than other regiments and battalions.
Rescuing Wang Xian would mean having an army of 40,000 soldiers whose combat power far exceeded that of the Four Brave Battalions to suppress the rebellion. Adding Shen Yuan's several thousand new army guards would be enough to completely wipe out the 30,000 rebels.
From the very beginning, Shen Yuan was thinking about more than just suppressing the rebellion.
He wanted to annihilate the rebels completely, and... he also wanted to use the rebels to eliminate all the military meritorious generals at once, thus making a complete change.
(End of this chapter)
