Chapter 194: City gate falls

"Commander, the enemy army stationed along the Yu River has moved!"

Li Mu, who was in his sleep, got up from the bed after hearing this news.

"Pass the order: have the night-duty troops take the opportunity to harass the enemy army; do not let them withdraw into the city safely."

"Notify Thousand-Household Yun to assemble people and prepare to trick the city."

"Tell Thousand-Household Shu to immediately assemble the cavalry."

"If the tricking of the city fails, take advantage of the rebel army entering the city to forcibly seize the city gate."

Sending troops deep into the enemy's rear to disrupt the rebel army's strategic layout was only one link in the entire combat plan.

If there was an opportunity to take Nanning in advance, Li Mu would also not give it up.

The Bai Lian Sect rebellion had consumed a large amount of Great Dayu's national strength; if they were not suppressed, it would cause a big mess.

"All of you shut up!

If you startle the enemy's scouts, I..."

Before he could finish, "bang, bang, bang..." the sound of muskets rang out, and the scarred-faced captain was shot and killed directly.

"Enemy attack!"

The terrified shouting tore through the night sky, causing the rebel army team marching in the dark night to fall into endless panic.

In the pitch-black night, visibility was less than thirty meters.

Some soldiers with night blindness were even more miserable, unable to distinguish even their own people, let alone discover the enemy army.

"The enemy army doesn't have many people; they can't stop us."

"Pass the order to all units to quickly appease the morale of the army!"

Old Su hurriedly ordered.

The judgment was not wrong; it was just hard on the personal guards responsible for passing orders.

Marching in the dark night, the generals of all units were moving; no one knew their specific locations.

Not long after leaving the Regional Commander, the personal guards responsible for passing orders soon fell into the chaotic crowd.

Marching while tied with ropes seemed to be a good way to prevent soldiers from falling behind.

But once the team fell into chaos, soldiers often made different reactions.

Pulling and dragging each other caused the formation to lose control completely.

Some clever soldiers decisively drew their knives to cut the connecting ropes and fled alone to save their lives.

Someone started it, and the rest soon followed suit.

The prestige of the Great Dayu Dynasty for over two hundred years could not be eliminated in a short time.

For most people, participating in the Bai Lian Sect rebellion was itself being coerced into it.

Seeing the imperial army kill their way back, the Bai Lian Sect seemed to be failing, so naturally, saving their lives was the priority.

Anyway, it was pitch black, and the generals above couldn't see who had become a deserter.

The once-arrogant supervisory teams are now equally blind.

If the Bai Lian Sect won, they would pretend to be routed soldiers and return to the team.

If the imperial army won, they would flee home and continue to be obedient subjects of the court.

Everyone had heard the news: the court had issued an amnesty order, and all soldiers who voluntarily left the rebel army would be exempt from punishment.

This was the survival wisdom of small people.

They didn't care about being ruled by the court or being ruled by the Bai Lian Sect; everything was prioritized by saving their lives.

"Uncle, the situation is not looking good."

"The enemy's gunfire is getting denser; I fear we have stepped into the imperial army's encirclement."

"Continuing to stay here and letting the enemy army close the encirclement will make it difficult to leave."

"Hurry up and order the retreat!"

"Run as many as you can; as long as the green hills remain, there's no need to worry about firewood."

The personal guard captain hurriedly advised.

In a feudal dynasty, such a big thing as rebellion naturally required bringing the clan along.

As long as one person became the mastermind, the rest, regardless of whether they were willing, could only follow.

The team Old Su pulled together brought along over a dozen male members within the five degrees of kinship, plus over a hundred fellow villagers and relatives.

The life and death of others didn't matter, but these family members had to be brought out alive.

"Disperse and retreat!"

Old Su said in a deep voice.

He didn't know how many people the enemy had ambushed, nor did he know in which direction the enemy's main force was ambushed.

Now he could only choose to disperse and retreat to avoid being wiped out in one go.

The dark night was not entirely bad.

Under the cover of night, Old Su and his party left without causing a ripple.

Nanning city.

The shouting and killing outside the city woke Huang Yuheng from his sleep.

"What happened outside?"

"Did the retreat plan leak, and the imperial army ambushed us halfway?"

"..."

The soul-searching questions he asked himself were answered by no one.

The enemy army besieged Nanning city on three sides, and the garrison troops had long since withdrawn their scouts, knowing almost nothing about the situation outside the city.

Including whether the retreat order he issued was delivered to the front-line generals on time, it was an unknown.

"Marquis, a team of our people has retreated to the Xicheng Gate."

"Do you see whether to open the city gate and let them in?"

The night-duty captain hurried over to ask.

The longer the time dragged on, the more dangerous the team became.

If they were discovered by the enemy army and besieged, the team outside the city would be finished.

"Have you verified their identities?"

Huang Yuheng asked with concern.

At this time, the Holy Kingdom side could no longer be counted on.

To guard Nanning, they could only rely on themselves.

More manpower meant more strength.

"Marquis, verified."

"In the team below, many are familiar faces, and there are several that I recognize."

"They are all troops sent to guard the Yu River; there will be no problems!"

The young captain guaranteed immediately.

He had to recognize them; some of them were even introduced by him to join the Bai Lian Holy Kingdom.

The impression was as deep as it could be.

In this day and age, there were too few people willing to spend money to buy official positions in the Bai Lian Holy Kingdom.

Most of those who participated in the Bai Lian Sect rebellion were poor ghosts; gentry and merchants avoided them, let alone joined voluntarily.

Just giving money was definitely not enough to make him feel at ease.

People were also willing to submit a letter of intent, whether it was required to copy anti-poetry or kill court officials, they were all willing to do it.

At a glance, one could determine they were all firm rebel fighters.

"Let them in!"

"Remember to be quick; don't let the imperial army take advantage."

"In addition, arrange for people to watch them first and see if any imperial army scouts have mixed in."

Huang Yuheng thought and said.

Deep in his heart, Huang Yuheng cursed Emperor Yongning for being stupid for abolishing the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

If the Embroidered Uniform Guard still existed, the Bai Lian Holy Kingdom would absolutely not be as stable as it was now.

If Embroidered Uniform Guard scouts mixed in, just provoking internal conflicts would be enough for them to suffer.

The greater possibility was that as soon as the rebellion started, it would be nipped in the bud.

This was a lesson exchanged with blood by countless Bai Lian Sect predecessors.

Who could say clearly how many scouts the Embroidered Uniform Guard, which had shaken Great Dayu for over two hundred years, had buried among the people?

Including within the Bai Lian Sect, there had always been Embroidered Uniform Guard scouts.

These people were only urgently activated when the higher-ups needed merit; they would remain dormant in normal times.

Among some aristocratic families, there were even moles who had been lurking for several generations.

However, with Emperor Yongning's edict, now these threats no longer existed.

"The rebel army is slow to open the gate; will there be changes?"

Thousand-Household Yun, disguised as a rebel soldier, asked in a low voice.

"Sir, there should be no problem."

"After we infiltrated, we made many friends in the rebel army, and many of the soldiers guarding the city recognize us."

"I think they went into the city to report to the rebel leader Huang Yuheng."

The middle-aged man answered in a low voice.

This mission was the key to his turnaround.

The Embroidered Uniform Guards who came from Nanzhili were now mostly dead.

Only a few with background identities were still active on the front stage.

However, these people had all left the Embroidered Uniform Guard and had new official positions in the court.

Those like them without background, after being "killed," only had two paths.

Either spend a sum of money to buy a new identity and start a new life.

It seemed life was stable, but the safety factor was pitifully low.

Wealth losing the protection of power was destined to be unsustainable.

A slight lack of attention and exposure of identity, once discovered, would immediately be a disaster of extermination.

Commander Li, who helped forge identity documents, did not promise after-sales service.

If a problem occurred, they were not responsible for anything.

Even if they reported the person, it would be useless; they were insignificant.

Great Dayu's local officials, who didn't like trouble, wouldn't investigate deeply when it involved the nobility.

Or defect to Li Mu and seek official positions again with the identity of military households.

This was equivalent to a deep binding relationship.

Even if the identity was accidentally exposed, if the local officials wanted to investigate, they had to see if the guard station was willing to cooperate.

As for higher-level intervention, they didn't have that much weight yet.

The Emperor and those big shots in the court all had their eyes on the top and wouldn't care about the life and death of grassroots Embroidered Uniform Guard soldiers.

Even if civil officials wanted revenge, they had to be at least a Thousand-Household of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to be worth their attention.

"Hmm!"

"No accidents is the best."

"If Nanning is taken tonight, you will all be credited with the first merit."

"Commander Li has ordered that after completing this mission, you can all be officially appointed to official positions."

Yun Yufeng promised immediately.

This was not drawing a pie, but would definitely be fulfilled.

There were too many vacancies for officials in Guangxi; civil officials couldn't intervene, but Li Mu still had a say in the appointment of military generals.

Besides the ten guards of Guangxi managed by the Regional Military Commissioner's Yamen, there were also local garrison commanders and police inspectors, all belonging to the category of military generals.

Considering Guangxi's special situation, some grassroots civil official positions, such as Jail Warden, Assistant County Magistrate, and Registrar, also had room for operation.

There was no need to work hard to find connections; as long as they forged the identities of a few deceased scholars or provincial graduates, they could legally obtain the positions.

Many people wanted to be officials, but few were willing to serve as grassroots officials in Guangxi.

Referring to past experience, let alone Jail Warden, Assistant County Magistrate, and Registrar, even County Magistrates in Guangxi often had vacancies.

Many successful candidates for the imperial examination, after being appointed as County Magistrates in remote areas, simply hung up their seals and left.

Against this background, the court could only enable some local scholars and provincial graduates to serve as Assistant County Magistrates and preside over county affairs on their behalf.

Not only was Guangxi like this, but the situation in other remote areas of the empire was about the same.

With many vacant positions, Li Mu could naturally promise official positions.

Including the group of Thousand-Households including Yun Yufeng, all had reserved the position of Guard Commander in advance.

Regardless of whether the power content was enough, the title of a Rank Three official was real.

Crossing this step was equivalent to walking ten years less of a detour.

Solve the level treatment first, and if they didn't want to stay in Guangxi later, they could find an opportunity to transfer out.

The fact that these descendants of nobility could be attracted, let alone others.

"Sir, the city gate is open!"

Hearing the soldier's reminder, Yun Yufeng's face revealed a happy smile.

"Enter the city!"

With an order, the soldiers disguised as routed soldiers swarmed in.

The chaotic scene pushed the soldiers inside the city gate to the side.

Seeing this scene, the rebel captain guarding the city felt completely relieved.

That's right, this was the feeling.

When routed soldiers fled for their lives, there was never any order to speak of.

After a short hesitation, he also immediately opened his mouth to scold:

"Don't squeeze!"

"Line up, enter the city in an orderly manner!"

"Zhou Lao Liu, manage your... people..."

Before he finished speaking, the young captain suddenly discovered that a dagger was inserted into his body; the person who attacked was Zhou Lao Liu, whom he was familiar with.

At the same time, the soldiers entering the city also launched attacks on the nearby rebel soldiers.

"Enemy attack!"

By the time the surrounding rebel soldiers realized this, the city gate had already fallen.

A signal flare was fired, and the imperial army, which had long been ready, quickly set off toward the West Gate.

The Nanning siege battle broke out in an all-around way.

"Marquis, big trouble!"

"The Xicheng Gate has fallen..."

"The pseudo-dynasty... imperial army... has killed their way into the city..."

Receiving this news, Huang Yuheng was completely stunned.

Clearly, he had ordered strict prevention of imperial army scouts mixing in; he never expected that an accident would happen in the end.

Deep in his heart, he asked about the ancestors of the garrison general for eighteen generations, without realizing that he had cursed himself in.

"What are you stunned for?"

"You guys hurry up and notify all units in the city to immediately assemble troops and take back the Xicheng Gate!"

Huang Yuheng ordered in a panic.

Whether mending the fold after the sheep is lost would work, he had no confidence in his heart at all.

The title of Marquis Zhongxiao could only prove that he was the confidant most trusted by the Bai Lian Holy Emperor, not representing how high his military level was.

This kind of scene before him, when attacking Great Dayu, he had also encountered it.

It was just that at the time, he was the attacking side.

After taking the city gate and letting the main army enter the city, they soon took the city.

Now that the offensive and defensive positions had changed, how to save the dangerous situation was truly difficult for him.

After a slight hesitation, Huang Yuheng, who had come to his senses, decisively put on his armor.

He had no excellent strategy, but he still had stupid methods.

To guard the city, he only needed to solve the imperial army that had entered the city, and all the troubles would be solved.

The shouting and killing continued to expand, and the battle for the Xicheng Gate became increasingly bloody.

Countless rebel soldiers were forced onto the battlefield by the supervising team.

Many soldiers hadn't reacted before they muddledly lost their lives.

"Bastard!"

"Aim at the enemy soldiers and shoot!"

A bearded general scolded angrily.

He had seen people pit their teammates, but he had never seen anyone pit them so well.

The archers continuously shot and killed their own people, casting a shadow of failure over the Bai Lian Sect main army that was fighting back hard.

If it weren't for the fact that it was the time to use people, he would have wanted to behead these archers immediately to show the public.

"Swish, swish, swish..."

Looking at the arrows inserted in his body, the bearded general, with full unwillingness, fell into a pool of blood on the spot.

With his last strength, he spat out two words—"Traitor!"

Regret was already too late; the destruction caused by his own people turning against them at the last moment was far more terrifying than the enemy's attack.

Seeing the general die in battle, the Bai Lian Sect soldiers who had finally gathered their courage instantly lost their fighting spirit.

"Run!"

Even with the supervising team following behind, they could not stop their determination to flee for their lives.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 195 =====