Chapter 68: Withdrawn

"We need to make preparations ahead of time!" Liu Chengyou murmured softly.

"We've rested long enough!" After a brief moment of contemplation, his gaze sharpened and grew resolute. Liu Chengyou straightened up, pressed his hand on the table, swept his eyes around the room, and said in a deep voice: "Pass the order to all armies and all camps—raise alert status and be ready to dispatch troops at any moment!"

With that said, he then instructed Xiang Xun: "Send word down—have our people keep a close watch on the situation in the Eastern Capital, with a report once a day!"

"Yes!"

"Heyang's three prefectures—since Wu Xingde has planted himself there like a nail, we might as well make good use of him!" Liu Chengyou thought for a moment, then continued: "Send a military order to Li Wanchao, have him lead the Surui Army toward Huaizhou to coordinate with Wu Xingde!"

"Unroll the map!" Having made these arrangements, Liu Chengyou stood up, walked to the center of the hall, and gestured with his hand.

Immediately, guards stepped forward and spread open the map hanging on the side wall. He beckoned the others over, and together they studied the Khitan's retreat route. Though no definitive intelligence had yet arrived, it was worth examining.

In his heart, Liu Chengyou was already certain—the time for the Khitan to withdraw from the Central Plains was drawing near. In Liu Chengyou's memory, though the specific date was hazy, he was quite sure that Yelu Deguang had set out back to the Khitan in the third month of this very year.

However, that very night, Liu Chengyou received an urgent report from spies in Henan: the Liao Emperor Yelu Deguang had already, on the seventeenth day, formally issued an edict to send troops back to the northern lands.

Even though he had anticipated it, it still caught Liu Chengyou somewhat off guard. To be prudent, Liu Chengyou chose to repeatedly verify the intelligence until he was certain it was accurate, then immediately sent riders at full speed to report to Jinyang. Afterward, he personally led his troops eastward and stationed at Hujun Pass.

In fact, after Wu Xingde's uprising, Yelu Deguang had already fixed the date for his return to his homeland. By the morning of the seventeenth, Yelu Deguang appointed his maternal uncle Xiao Han as Military Governor of the Xuanwu Army, leaving him to govern the various prefectures and entrusting all matters of the Central Plains to his hands, while he himself led the army back to his country.

Thereafter, the imperial carriage set forth. Over a hundred thousand troops, divided into several groups, marched north. All the officials of the Shi Jin court, palace women, eunuchs, artisans, craftsmen, maps and records, calendars and astronomical instruments, stone classics, bronze figures, the Mingtang water clock, the Taichang musical scores, the various court orchestras, the imperial regalia, ceremonial objects, and armor and weapons—all were sent to Shangjing.

Huazhou, Baima Ford.

This thousand-year-old ferry crossing, linking north and south, had already been packed full with numerous Liao troops and laborers. Especially after Yelu Deguang's imperial carriage arrived, the scene became even more chaotic.

If it were only horses and troops, it would never be like this. But there were countless treasures and goods to transport, conscripted laborers and able-bodied men to control, the hundreds of officials of the Shi Jin and their families to escort under guard, and Yelu Deguang's imperial carriage to protect with utmost care—on top of which, they had to remain constantly vigilant against those Han rebel armies that might suddenly emerge, desperate enough to risk death in attacks...

The Khitan's organizational capacity was never strong to begin with, and with all these entanglements, chaos was only natural.

The withdrawal of over a hundred thousand troops stretched nearly a hundred li from front to back. Vast quantities of supplies and war booty severely slowed the Khitan's northward march. And the various Central Plains rebel armies, growing smarter with each battle, had gradually learned "guerrilla warfare" through bloody lessons, harassing the Khitan continuously along the way, causing them tremendous trouble.

Though Yelu Deguang had previously sent dedicated personnel to collect boats at Baima in preparation for crossing the river, when the time actually came, the transport capacity was utterly insufficient.

Standing on high ground, surveying the messy scene before the ferry dock, Yelu Deguang's expression was extremely ugly. An unusual flush rose on his face from anger, and he said hatefully: "I hurried north, and this is the scene you show me? At this pace, when will we ever cross the river?"

All around him were palace eunuchs, and no one dared to respond. Seeing the Emperor in a rage, they all lowered their heads in fear, hoping not to draw his attention—in the past two days, Yelu Deguang had already executed several eunuchs in his fury.

"Where is the Yongkang Prince?" Yelu Deguang drew in a sharp breath, his tone growing increasingly irritable.

"Your Majesty, there were rebels causing disturbances at Zuocheng, and the Yongkang Prince personally led men to suppress them." Seeing that Yelu Deguang seemed to have been confused by his anger, a eunuch finally mustered the courage to remind him.

"Rebels! Rebels! Rebels again! These Han—why are they so troublesome? They have no idea what death means! They truly deserve to be slaughtered to the last one!" Yelu Deguang's fury erupted, and he immediately cursed: "And Wuyu too—does he need to personally deal with a bunch of grass-bandit scum?"

His steps carried the wind as he paced anxiously at the ferry dock. Only after some time did he manage to calm down somewhat. Yelu Deguang immediately ordered several ministers to be summoned.

"Pass the order—speed up the crossing! Tonight, I will camp at Liyang!" Spittle flying, Yelu Deguang waved his hands in the air and issued a stern command: "You will personally make the arrangements. If you fall behind schedule, you will be severely punished without mercy."

The several ministers exchanged glances, tempted to offer remonstrance, but seeing Yelu Deguang's ferocious expression, they wisely kept their mouths shut and reluctantly accepted the order.

His chest heaved, his breath came in rapid gasps, and after a long while, he still had not calmed down. Yelu Deguang did not notice that his temper was growing more and more violent. Suddenly feeling his body hot and restless, he waved his hand, immediately returned to the imperial tent, summoned a new consort, and vented his fire.

Not long after Yelu Deguang's stern order was issued, upon the great river, accompanied by a miserable wail of cries, a ship fully loaded with gold, silver, and wealth suddenly tilted and sank, swallowed by a whirlpool...

The water level of the great river had risen noticeably, and the current was far more turbulent than in previous days. Added to that, the ships were overloaded with too much cargo and could not bear the weight.

This seemed to trigger a chain reaction—soon, two more ships capsized in the middle of the river. The scene instantly became even more chaotic.

With accidents occurring, the ministers entrusted by Yelu Deguang with the urgent task of crossing could only hastily rearrange their plans. At the dock, ships already loaded with people and goods were brought back to shore one after another, unloading cargo and people to reduce weight. As for salvaging the sunken ships—that was impossible. And rescuing people—there was even less need for that.

Amid the chaos, another collision caused a ship to capsize. With the river surging, several sections of the pontoon bridge spanning the water broke open. Large numbers of Khitan soldiers who were crossing fell into the water. Most of these men could not swim and were essentially drowned on the spot.

The various accidents seemed to cast a shadow over the Khitan's journey north. The chaotic scene and the changing river conditions all seemed to portend that today was not fit for crossing, but Yelu Deguang had already issued his death order, so the Khitan from top to bottom could only grit their teeth and adjust, patch things up, and take risks...

That night, Yelu Deguang ultimately did not succeed in camping at Liyang. All told, it dragged on for four or five days before the tens of thousands of troops guarding his imperial presence and the vast quantities of treasure were finally fully ferried across the river.

As for the Khitan troops that followed, they took even longer. In this process, considerable lives and property were lost. Not to mention the conscripted laborers—among the Khitan soldiers alone, seven or eight hundred drowned in the river.

Moreover, perhaps once the situation stabilized in the future, no small amount of gold, silver, and wealth could still be fished out of the great river to fill the state treasury.