met free Chapter 234: Crashing into the Encirclement
Chapter 234: Crashing into the Encirclement
King Huai's troops suffered heavy casualties. The many able-bodied men he had brought along along the way were like sand, and were quickly torn apart by the continuous attacks of King Ji's army.
Such a large army is like bubbles, which can be easily punctured by a sharp needle.
It also resulted in many casualties among King Huai's own elite troops.
By now, King Huai was surrounded in the military camp by King Ji's army and was doomed to fail.
Prince Ji was very angry. Prince Huai had looted Prince Ji's mansion thoroughly, so he would naturally not let him go easily.
He was also planning to capture King Huai and force this guy to hand over all his property.
He brought tens of thousands of troops with him, but lost thousands of soldiers in today's battle.
Especially the cavalry, which was reluctant to be used indiscriminately before. But when they saw King Huai's vassal troops lined up, they could not attack easily, otherwise the losses would be too great.
But today, tens of thousands of cavalrymen, after losing three thousand soldiers in succession, managed to defeat the elite army of King Huai's vassal kings.
In addition, all of his elite infantrymen were dispatched to attack, leaving King Huai's troops helpless.
As for the fleeing able-bodied men and the civilians they took with them, King Ji was not interested and was also annoyed. Such a bunch of useless able-bodied men and rioters caused his army to lose thousands of people.
How could he not feel distressed, so he prepared to take down all of King Huai's troops and retrieve his captives.
The soldiers of the vassal kings are all elite, and Prince Ji naturally knows this.
It is very difficult to train elite soldiers. You can't just give them weapons and expect them to become elite soldiers in a few months.
That requires long-term participation in bloody battles, as well as the creation of various materials and long-term training, to become a truly powerful elite.
In the real decisive battle on the battlefield, the elite can fight to the death and be your true backing.
The tens of thousands of Huai troops who were now surrounded, as well as the thousands of captured prisoners, were all food for King Ji.
King Huai also knew that he really had no hope.
He had no choice but to order the infantry to attack tomorrow so that he could flee south with the remaining 800 or so elite cavalry.
King Huai is now deeply regretful. He is unwilling to accept it. It is all the fault of the barbarians who fooled him.
It was also Fang Chengyu's fault that he was a waste. He was actually defeated by an incompetent little boy of the old man, who led a bunch of elite soldiers and wiped out his tens of thousands of elite Fang family troops.
This led to him being in this situation now.
At the same time, he hated Prince Ji, that bastard, even more. They were both vassal princes, but now he was helping the old emperor to fight him. It was so stupid.
The envoy sent by King Huai returned with a bitter face and said, "Your Highness, King Ji said that he will not reconcile with us."
"Unless the prince goes to his tent in person to apologize."
"Asshole." King Huai was furious and smashed the tea bowl in his hand to pieces. "Prince Ji is going too far. Didn't you tell me that if he forced a fight to the death with me, the casualties would be too great, and the brats in the east wouldn't let him go?"
The messenger shook his head slightly. "Your Highness, of course I did, but Prince Ji didn't care at all. He didn't care about the tens of thousands of troops led by the Sixth Prince. He also said that he was ordered to suppress the rebellion and there was no room for negotiation."
King Huai's last hope was gone.
He looked at his generals.
The usually loyal generals all bowed their heads.
King Huai took a deep breath and said calmly, "If anyone is willing to resist to the end, I will have someone escort his family safely south."
This made several generals look around.
Now their families are all in Huaizhou Prefecture, and King Huai has gathered them all together in the name of protection.
Although King Huai cannot return to Huaizhou Prefecture now, the generals defending Huaizhou Prefecture are King Huai's true confidants.
It is impossible to betray King Huai unless there is an order from King Huai.
He also said that once King Huai left, he would safely take care of their families.
But no one knows whether it is possible to travel south safely, after all, there are many dangers along the way.
If King Huai could ask the garrison to send personnel to escort a general's family, it would be very safe.
Someone immediately stepped forward and saluted, "Your Majesty, I am willing to stay here and fight to the death with Prince Ji until the very last man."
King Huai nodded and said, "That's very good."
The other generals felt aggrieved, but King Huai assured them that he would release their families immediately.
The next morning, before dawn, King Huai led hundreds of cavalrymen to quietly leave the military camp and immediately galloped south.
Along the way, except for the soldiers of King Ji who were on duty at night, everyone else was still sleeping in the barracks.
They were all caught off guard by this group of cavalry that suddenly appeared. King Huai's real elite troops tried their best to break through the encirclement and escort King Huai out safely.
When the fat Prince Ji found out, he was so angry that he killed the general from the south on the spot.
He gave another order, urging 3,000 soldiers to pursue immediately, and to catch up with King Huai at all costs.
The others continued to surround King Huai's soldiers and force them to surrender. There were still tens of thousands of elite soldiers here.
But what King Ji did not expect was that even after King Huai escaped, these soldiers of King Huai continued to fight to the death and had no intention of surrendering.
King Huai ran for dozens of miles until dusk, and did not dare to rest at all.
The war horses were so tired and panting that they had to stop, otherwise they would have been exhausted to death.
"Your Highness, Prince Ji's cavalry is still chasing us." said the messenger who came from behind.
King Huai frowned. "What on earth is this King Ji planning to do? I've left my army and Huaizhou Prefecture behind. Does he really want to kill me?"
"How come he is so loyal to the old emperor?"
This is what King Huai had always thought. He felt that King Ji wanted to capture him just to win credit for the old emperor.
Logically speaking, this is extremely unreasonable. He is just a vassal king. No matter how great his contributions are, can he expect the emperor to give him the throne?
After all, the prince is already a real warlord, so what else can he be rewarded with?
"Rest for an hour and continue on our journey." King Huai is now a lost dog.
His few hundred last guards had little combat effectiveness at all, and there were three thousand cavalrymen chasing him.
King Huai secretly resented that if his 3,000 elite cavalry were still there, he would have fought them long ago.
King Huai's soldiers were extremely tired. They just dismounted and sat down to rest, stuffing dry food into their mouths.
Suddenly a group of soldiers appeared from all directions.
"Your Highness, be careful, there is an ambush." The subordinate immediately warned.
King Huai stood up quickly and looked around, only to find a group of soldiers wearing round hats everywhere.
"Who are you?" King Huai was shocked and frightened at the same time.
Someone in the crowd shouted, "Prince Huai, surrender! We are Prince Ji's troops. If you don't surrender, we will be sorry."
"It's Prince Ji again," King Huai cursed. "What does he want? Is he trying to wipe out my entire clan? I curse him to a horrible death."
Prince Ji had beaten him so badly that he had no chance of survival. Even escaping had become a luxury for him. In this situation, how could he not hate him?
The ambushing generals shouted, "Since King Huai is stubborn and refuses to repent, everyone obey my order and kill without mercy."