Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 159: Going to Beijing to Serve the King

On the night of the tenth day, Sun Huaiyi invited his soldiers to a dinner in the name of commemorating Zhou Dayou.

Naturally, those invited were those who were dissatisfied with Deng Ren.

During the party, Sun Huaiyi deliberately complained bitterly, saying that it was Deng Ren who ordered him to kill Zhou Dayou and that he was forced to do so.

The soldiers felt the same way, and since there were no outsiders here, they also complained bitterly and expressed their dissatisfaction with the defending general Deng Ren.

As he was speaking, Sun Huaiyi had someone bring wine and meat.

For low-level soldiers, these are all good things, and sometimes they may not see them once in half a year.

But the soldiers all had concerns.

Drinking during wartime is a serious crime and may even result in beheading.

Sun Huaiyi bewitched and said:

"Drink a little to cheer yourself up, don't worry. We are the only brothers here, and we will never tell anyone else."

After saying that, Sun Huaiyi took the lead in drinking.

The other soldiers saw this and thought that what Sun Huaiyi said made sense. And since the commander had taken the lead in drinking, it would not be a problem for them to drink less, so they all drank as well.

After drinking, the soldiers took advantage of the alcohol and said many words expressing their dissatisfaction with Deng Ren.

Sun Huaiyi felt that it was about time and made a gesture.

A soldier suddenly stood up and shouted:
"You openly drank during wartime, and you dared to slander the general. I will report you!"

With that, the soldier quickly ran away.

The other soldiers were sobered up instantly after seeing this. Thinking about the cause of Zhou Dayou's death and what they had just said, they were all extremely terrified.

"Lord Dusi, what should we do?"

The soldiers asked anxiously:

Sun Huaiyi looked at a loss.

He murmured in a voice that everyone could hear:

"This, drinking during wartime and criticizing the general, if General Deng knew about this, I'm afraid we would all be executed!"

The soldiers became even more panicked after hearing this.

At this moment, Sun Huaiyi seemed to have just woken up from a dream, and said to several of his close followers:

"Quick, catch up with that man. We can't let him report the situation to the general!"

Upon hearing this, several of Sun Huaiyi's close associates hurried after him.

However, all of this was directed and acted by Sun Huaiyi himself, so naturally they couldn't catch up.

A few people pretended to walk around outside twice, then ran back anxiously to report.

"Oh no, Lord Dusi, I saw that man has already entered the general's mansion!"

Upon hearing this, Sun Huaiyi's face turned pale and he sat down on the ground.

The soldiers around were all shocked and frightened.

"Lord Dusi, what should we do?"

Sun Huaiyi said in despair: "It seems that we can only wait to be killed!"

When the soldiers saw that Sun Huaiyi was so desperate, they were terrified to the extreme.

Sun Huaiyi then drew his sword, put it on his neck in front of everyone's shocked eyes, and said:
"Rather than bear the blame and beheaded by the general, I would rather commit suicide here first!"

The soldiers couldn't help crying when they saw this.

Sun Huaiyi held the sword, roared, and was about to commit suicide.

At this moment, the confidant suddenly reached out to stop Sun Huaiyi, and grasped Sun Huaiyi's sword with his hand, leaving drops of blood.

"Sir, and all my colleagues, Deng Ren followed my advice and killed soldiers without any regard for the friendship of his comrades. How can he be a good general? Think about our families. If we commit suicide, how will they live in the future?"

The soldiers lowered their heads upon hearing this.

The confidant said again:

"Anyway, we have no way to survive. Instead of sitting and waiting to die, we might as well take action. I heard that Kah Khan of the grassland is a powerful leader. He has promised that anyone who can help him break the city will be rewarded with a thousand gold coins and given an official title. Why don't we give it a try?" With death approaching and no way to retreat, and with huge profits to lure them, most of the soldiers were persuaded.

Only a few soldiers were concerned about their national integrity and were unwilling to surrender to the grassland, so they were killed directly by Sun Huaiyi!
That night, Sun Huaiyi led his troops to the city wall, killed his own defenders, and sent out a signal that had been prepared long ago. When the grassland soldiers saw the signal, they immediately rushed over!
In fact, when Sun Huaiyi sent out the signal, the soldiers already knew that they had been fooled.

But once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. Now that the rebellion has begun, they have no room for regret.

The grassland soldiers successfully entered Datong.

Deng Ren led more than 10,000 remaining soldiers to resist in the city alleys, but the situation was already hopeless and could not be reversed.

Deng Ren was afraid of death, so after resisting for half a day, he led the remaining soldiers to surrender at dawn the next day.

Kah Khan believed that all the previous tricks had failed to deceive Deng Ren, which showed that Deng Ren was a good general. So he not only chose to accept Deng Ren's surrender, but also let Deng Ren hold an important position in the army after his surrender.

On the contrary, Kah Khan did not take Sun Huaiyi seriously, who surrendered for the sake of wealth and fame.

At that time, the 15,000 reinforcements sent by Xuanfu had just arrived halfway.

The capital city had just received the news that the grassland had come to the border.

The ruling and opposition parties were shocked.

Emperor Longqing realized that he had been fooled before, so instead of attacking Liaodong, he chose to attack Datong directly.

But he didn't have time to pursue this now.

There are insufficient defenders in Datong and the situation is extremely critical.

Emperor Longqing ordered Wang Ziteng to return for assistance and at the same time transferred troops from Zhili, led by Gao Zhi, to rescue Datong.

However, no one expected that Datong would be captured in just ten days.

This news exceeded everyone's expectations.

After Kah Khan conquered Datong, he sent a small number of soldiers to garrison, while the rest of the large force followed him in a rapid attack.

Li Hao personally planned the route for attacking the capital.

Starting from Datong, passing through Yanghewei and Tianchengwei, entering Huailaiwei in northern Zhili, then passing through Badaling, conquering Juyongguan, and finally going straight down along Guangou to the capital.

The biggest advantage of this route is that it can bypass Xuanfu, allowing the grassland troops who are not good at attacking cities to reach the capital faster.

As the troops advanced, the Yanghe Guard and Tiancheng Guard they passed by on the way did not have much resistance and were easily defeated by the grassland troops.

On the way, the grassland army happened to meet reinforcements from Xuanfu.

The 15,000 reinforcements from Xuanfu were no match for the grassland army in terms of either quality or quantity, especially in field battles, where they had no power to fight back at all.

There was a general on the grassland. He wore a mask, wielded a silver spear, and was extremely brave. He broke up the enemy formation in one round. The reinforcements from Xuanfu were directly defeated and most of them were captured. Only more than a thousand people escaped back to Xuanfu.

The grassland troops then advanced rapidly and unstoppably.

Five or six days later, it snowed heavily.

The grassland troops approached Huailaiwei.

At this time, the grassland troops were very close to the capital. After breaking through Huailai, they only needed to pass Badaling and Juyongguan to reach the capital directly. There were not many defenders at Badaling, so only Juyongguan had relatively outstanding defense capabilities.

Emperor Longqing was really panicked this time.

Overnight, the situation deteriorated to this extent!

There are not many soldiers and horses in the capital area, and the border troops have no time to be recalled. Wang Ziteng's troops are still on the way. If the grassland attacks the capital at this time, I am afraid the country will be in danger!
The whole court was shocked.

Some people advocate war, while others advocate peace.

Some people also advocated moving south to Luoyang.

Cheng Fan and Cui Shu were both panicked and no longer cared about fighting for power. They ordered people to secretly transport their family property.

Compared with the panic of Cheng Fan and Cui Shu, Guo Bai was calmer.

Guo Bai has the Huaiyin Army as his backing, and his son Guo Suo holds an important position under Fang Yong, so Guo Bai is not worried about his own safety.

On the contrary, Guo Bai saw a huge opportunity here.

The sea is raising dust, the land of China is sinking, the felt is floating with catkins, and the nation is in danger. At this moment when the country is on the verge of death, shouldn't he, a loyal and good official of Da Xi and an important minister in the court, turn the tide and support the collapsing edifice?

For example, summon a person with outstanding virtue and extraordinary strength to come to Beijing to serve the king and save the Daxi country!
(End of this chapter)