Frontier Army Warrior

Chapter 864: Two Route Combination

Wei Ming bowed and said, "I just want to convince you all that this is the most reasonable escape plan."

These high-ranking officials of the imperial court in the room were used to being selfish and rarely thought about things in this way. They simply did not believe that the Zhenxi Army would rescue their families for no reason.

If they put themselves in their shoes, they would not risk offending the powerful rebels to save their family members who are their opponents in the court.

Prince Rui waved his hands irritably and said, "Well, we can choose two paths. One is to have your family follow the Imperial Guards and head north to Jingxi Prefecture, or the other is to head northeast to Kancheng."

Prince Lu glared: "How do we divide it?"

“Let them choose.”

Wei Ming shouted, "Your Highness, this is unfair. They have no judgment and only follow our instructions."

King Rui scolded him, "It's fine as long as you have the ability to judge. What are you yelling about? The people here now can make their own choices."

Everyone in the room looked at each other, not knowing which route to choose.

Wei Ming took a deep breath and said, "It's right to trust Wei."

Despite this, most people still feel that it would be safer to let family members follow the main group.

Ma Buxuan proposed, "Your Highness, my Lords, we are taking advantage of the time difference. We will march to Jingxi Prefecture ahead of time and block the news along the way. This will allow the rebels to reach Jinggao Prefecture first, and then turn around and pursue us. We can leave some troops behind to block them along the way, delaying the rebels' pursuit and ensuring that the main force reaches Jingxi Prefecture smoothly."

His theory immediately won the approval of most people.

Wei Ming had no choice but to leave the command center and immediately called his men to give them orders.

"Go and inform all the generals and have their families follow the Cannes Line. I will send people to escort them along the way."

"Yes, General."

Wei Ming led 10,000 troops, plus Ju Chaoyue and Dang Guihong, each leading 10,000 troops.

He assigned a thousand men from each battalion, a total of three thousand, to escort the family teams along the Cannes line.

Most of the generals still believed in General Wei Ming, so soon, tens of thousands of family members were divided into two teams.

Following the large army of the Imperial Guards all the way, they left the city from the north gate of Jinggao Prefecture and headed straight north.

The other route left the city from the east gate and headed northeast towards Kancheng.

Regardless of the direction of the two teams, they were heading towards Lin Feng's Zhenxi Army.

However, the journey to Jingxi Prefecture is much longer, and if we can't keep up the pace, we might encounter the rebels halfway.

Among the tens of thousands of family members, the rich, powerful and influential ones all have carriages to ride in, while the families of ordinary soldiers can only run along.

The elderly, the weak, women and children accounted for the majority of the people, so their marching speed was naturally not fast.

Along the way, children cried and adults shouted, which was very disturbing to hear.

From Jinggaofu to Kancheng, not only is there the Jinjiang River between them, but the land distance alone is more than 800 miles. At the speed of these military dependents, it would take half a month to travel.

The other route is even longer. Jingxi Prefecture and Jinggao Prefecture are 1,200 miles apart. It will probably take about a month to reach there safely.

It is obvious that the rebels were much faster. If the Royal Guards had not blocked them, these family members would have been captured and killed by the rebels.

No matter what, King Rui has ordered everyone to set off early and leave Jinggao Prefecture before the rebels cross the river.

He also sent a large number of royal guards to block the news along the way, so that the rebels could not find their trace for the time being.

Qiu Jie and Jing Zhaoheng each led 30,000 troops and attacked Jinggao Mansion in two directions.

After crossing the Jinjiang River, they traveled quickly all the way and arrived at the foot of Jinggao Prefecture in less than ten days.

Jing Zhaoheng's southern route was closer, so their 30,000 troops arrived at their destination first.

The vanguard cavalry circled Jinggao City and found that there was no one inside or outside the city. They suspected that the city in front of them was already a deserted city.

They immediately reported to Jing Zhaoheng and rested on the spot, waiting for the general's orders.

Jing Zhaoheng was an old soldier with rich combat experience. As soon as he arrived at the city, he immediately ordered his soldiers to attack.

Thousands of soldiers crossed the trench, cut the chains of the drawbridge, and then attacked the city gate.

All these attacks did not encounter any resistance at all.

Soon, the city gate was knocked open and all the soldiers rushed in.

It was indeed an empty city. There was not even a dog in the entire city.

Jing Zhaoheng didn't wait for Qiu Jie to arrive. He asked someone to take out the map. He moved his finger along the curve of the map for a moment and then fell into deep thought.

"Come here, send out scouts to track the movements along three routes."

Someone gave the order, and the cavalry battalion quickly equipped themselves, mounted their horses and rushed out of the city gate.

Going all the way west, all the way north.

There are also all the way running northeast.

Jing Zhaoheng waited in Jinggaofu City for half a day. When it got dark, the cavalry came back.

There were no traces of any march along the route to the west.

In the north, there were obvious traces of a large number of people, horses and vehicles moving around.

There are also traces of movement in the northeast direction, but the traces of vehicles and people account for the vast majority.

At this point, Jing Zhaoheng already had an idea in his mind.

Early the next morning, Jing Zhaoheng divided his troops into 5,000 men and followed the traces on the land to pursue in the northeast direction.

He led 23,000 troops and pursued them in the northeast direction.

Two thousand people were left behind in Jinggaofu City, which was also included in the territory of the Taisho Dynasty.

Jing Zhaoheng's 20,000-strong army set out from Jinggao Prefecture. Two days later, they met Qiu Jie's troops on the way. The two sides joined forces and turned back to Jingxi Prefecture to chase them.

This actually saved two days of travel.

Although the 50,000-strong army encountered small groups of Royal Guards blocking them along the way, they were unable to form an effective interception.

With only 10,000 rebels, they defeated the blocking Royal Guards without slowing down the army's marching speed at all.

The vanguard of the 50,000 rebels had already seen the tail end of the large group of Royal Guards fleeing at an accelerated speed ahead.

All the soldiers immediately became excited, estimating that they would be able to catch up with them in another half a day.

King Rui rode a warhorse and marched in the middle of the team.

He received a report that the rebels had chased to within less than ten miles, and it seemed that they would be able to catch up with the Royal Guards in only half a day.

At this time, the Imperial Guards, along with their families, had only traveled half the distance and were unable to escape the rebels and reach Jingxi Prefecture.

King Rui frowned as he watched the team marching forward.

"Why did the rebels arrive so quickly?"

Ma Buxuan had been by his side the whole time, and when he heard this question, he quickly spoke.

"I'm afraid the news leaked out, and the good news wasn't contained along the way."

Prince Rui sighed and said, "Let Wei Ming and Dang Guihong lead the troops to intercept them. Do everything in their power to ensure that the others enter the territory west of Jing."

Ma Buxuan nodded: "Yes, Your Majesty, this is the only way."

After saying that, he turned his horse's head and ran to the back.

He was very worried that King Rui would ask him to lead the army to stop the enemy. As the commander of the Royal Guards, it should be his proper duty.

But Ma Buxuan was afraid that he would be entangled by the rebels and unable to escape. The rebels also had follow-up troops. Once they caught up with him, he would be finished.