Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

As the defeated armies retreated to Qingzhou City in embarrassment, the entire city was suddenly shrouded in a dangerous and tense atmosphere with dark clouds threatening to destroy the city.

Qingzhou City had already been disturbed by Gao Zhan and his cronies, but now the clouds of war had shrouded it again, and it suddenly became more chaotic.

The soldiers and people in the city packed their belongings and wanted to flee out of the city. They were worried that they would be trapped in the city and had no way to escape. However, the people in the surrounding countryside flocked into the city with their families and their families, fearing that they would be attacked and looted by the rebels if they stayed in the countryside. The city gates were crowded everywhere, and the people refused to give in for their own ideas of turning the crisis around, so much so that they started fighting among themselves.

At this time, the palace that Qingzhou Prefecture had transformed into was in chaos. Everyone from the puppet leader Gao Zhan to the following people were not interested in anything, they were all worried, and they kept complaining.

"The old thief in Hulu really misled me! I had a chance to win before, so I relied on the strong walls of the country to take responsibility for myself, which made me underestimate the enemy's strength and make no more preparations for war. Now that the old thief is dead, he has left me stranded in Qingzhou, making it difficult for me to get out of trouble. , it’s really hateful!”

Among all the complaints, Gao Zhan's voice was undoubtedly the loudest. In addition to being frightened, he also felt regret and anger in his heart.

He had previously planned to send his confidants to Guangzhou to prepare large ships as a retreat, but due to Hu Luping's success in resisting the enemy, he temporarily gave up this plan. However, he did not expect Hu Luping's victory to last for such a short time. In the blink of an eye, the city was destroyed and he died.

At present, all the enemy forces from the north and south directions have broken through the defense line and are heading towards Qingzhou City. Gao Zhan originally regarded Hu Luping as the last life-saving straw, but he didn't expect that this straw would drown him in Yanzhou first. This inevitably made Gao Zhan A feeling of despair arose in my heart.

"How many soldiers and horses are there in the city now? Gather them quickly, Gong Congyi will rush to Guangzhou to avoid the enemy's edge!"

At this critical moment, Gao Zhan was ready to use his tactics like turning into Rufeng again, hoping to abandon the city and escape before the Tang army besieged Qingzhou City.

However, when he just revealed this intention, Cui Dana, the son of Cui Siam and the son-in-law of Emperor Wenxiang, who was participating in the discussion, stood up and said quickly: "Your Majesty, this plan is absolutely impossible! Now the enemy is coming fiercely. If I He stayed in Qingzhou to fight. Qingzhou's city defense had also been maintained for a long time. There were many people in the city, and it was still possible to fight.

If we abandon this city and run away, the enemy will definitely pursue us one after another, making it difficult for me to stand still and fight. From Qingzhou to the east, the road is endless and the road is endless. Rushing to the east is asking for death! Moreover, the Supreme Being remains in Qingzhou, which is still a land of China. Once he is expelled overseas, the Qi family's national property will be extinct from China..."

"Shut up! In this critical time, your disciples are trying to prevent me from going out to find a way out. What is your intention? The bandits have won many battles, and the enemy has become invincible. Now, if you stay here, you can win? Dog thieves Are you here to coerce me into surrendering to the enemy?"

When Gao Zhan heard this objection, he immediately glared at Cui Da and asked.

He was in an extremely worried mood and could not stand others questioning or denying himself. After scolding Cui Dana, he raised his hand and shouted: "Come here, take down this thief quickly, I want to take a look at this Is the thief's heart pure or dark?"

"Your Majesty, calm down, Your Majesty..."

The other courtiers present who were still waiting to be persuaded and begged for mercy were immediately frightened into silence after hearing this and did not dare to speak out again.

"If you are a foolish king and a villain, if you don't receive honest advice, the entire industry will perish with you!"

After being scolded by Cui Dana, he was shocked and angry. He was about to kneel down and beg for mercy, but when he saw Gao Zhan walking towards him with a sharp knife in his eyes, he knew in his heart that he might not be able to survive today, so he simply changed his mind. Heng, he also yelled and cursed loudly.

"The dog thieves really have bad intentions! If traitors like you hadn't filled the country, how could our country be defeated?"

Gao Zhan became even more furious when he heard the curse. He asked his left and right men to hold Cui Dara's arms, and stabbed the sharp knife in his hand into his chest. The tip of the knife came out directly from the back of his heart. After Cui Dara was stabbed through the heart, , Even if it is fatal, it will be fatal on the spot.

After killing Cui Da on the spot, Gao Zhancai looked around at the people present and shouted sternly: "Who among you wants to stop me from going east?"

Everyone lowered their heads to avoid Gao Zhan's cold and stern eyes, and naturally they did not dare to speak any more words of objection.

Gao Zhan waited for a while, and when he saw that no one dared to speak and return, a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth, and then he said in a deep voice: "Since you are all willing to follow me eastward, let's go home and gather together quickly. Everyone, pack your bags, meet here tomorrow, and leave the city together to go to Gwangju! Remember, don’t wait until the time comes, and go quickly!”

After hearing this, everyone quickly stood up and said goodbye, then dispersed and returned to their temporary residence in the city, preparing to continue their escape.

After the ministers retreated, He Shikai could not help but come forward and said: "Cui Da may have had bad intentions in taking this animal, but his words are indeed reasonable. Now that Qingzhou people have gathered together, if it is still difficult to defend, then the east side will Mianzhou County was attacked in a hurry, and it would be even more difficult to defend it. Moreover, the high-ranking officials first informed the disciples of the eastward escape. There might be some who wanted to defect to the enemy but had not yet revealed their treachery. Tell me, the thieves are greedy for power and will definitely fight each other, making it harder for me to escape!"

After Gao Zhan heard this, he first sneered twice, and then whispered: "Even you understand things, how can I not understand them? These thieves all have deep personal agendas, and they will never agree with me. Life and death, the situation is critical now, and it is even more untrustworthy. All the words I just told are deceptive. As for the real way to survive, we need to find another plan!"

At this point, he motioned He Shikai to come closer to him, and whispered: "Later, you will avoid the eyes and ears of others and invite the envoy of King Linchuan of Chen State into the palace..."

"Are you going to flee eastward, but southward?"

After hearing this, He Shikai's eyes suddenly lit up, and he asked in a hurry.

Gao Zhan nodded after hearing this, and said with a sad expression: "The Qiang bandits are chasing me relentlessly, so I can't live in my homeland. Although the world is big, there are very few places where I can stay. If I flee eastward to Guangzhou, even if I can get rid of the enemy's pursuit, the best outcome is to be exiled overseas. Even if I can survive, there will be countless sufferings for the rest of my life, and it is better to die than to live.

The King of Linchuan of Chen State has great ambitions and is unwilling to succumb to the tyranny of the Qiang bandits. He often wants to compete with him. Moreover, Chen State still has natural defenses to rely on. If I go there, he will definitely treat me with courtesy. Wait. Now that the enemy troops are coming, Huainan and other places must be weak and unprepared. The voices of the crowd guide the enemy troops to chase us eastward, and we hide in the city and wait for the right time to break out, which will definitely increase our chances of survival! "

"Your Excellency has a brilliant plan. This time we will definitely be able to escape, and we will still have a long life to enjoy!"

Hearing Gao Zhan reveal his true intentions, He Shikai also nodded and praised him. Immediately, according to Gao Zhan's instructions, he went to secretly invite the envoy sent by Chen Qian of the Southern Chen Dynasty to the inner courtyard to discuss the route to break out to the south.

However, the speed of the deterioration of the situation still exceeded Gao Zhan's expectations. He originally planned to wait until the next day to pretend to flee eastward from the city, but this afternoon, a small group of Tang army scouts appeared outside Qingzhou City. Although the number of these scouts was not large, they caused greater panic to the people in the city.

Since Gao Zhan had summoned all the ministers to discuss the escape plan, the defenders in the city had no intention of repairing the city defense. On the contrary, ordinary people, seeing that there was no hope of escape, or unwilling to leave their homes, actively set up fences and roadblocks in the streets and alleys, hoping to block the attack of the chaotic soldiers and wait until the order in the city was restored.

Fearing that the Tang army's arrival too quickly might disrupt his plan, Gao Zhan also made some arrangements in advance. He re-employed Gao Anagong, who had fled back from Qizhou, and asked him to lead a group of soldiers to escort his carriage after nightfall, and arranged for his concubine Li and his eldest son Gao Chuo to set off together and rush to the state border as soon as possible to wait.

As for himself, he used the reason that the queen was injured and could not travel at night and had to set off again at dawn, and agreed to wait until the next morning to lead the remaining troops to chase Gao Anagong. However, he only let Gao Anagong know about this situation, and others did not know that he was still stranded in the city, and those officials naturally arranged for them to set off with Gao Anagong and his party.

After making this false impression of going east, Gao Zhan asked He Shikai to lead other troops in the city to maintain the city defense and make it look like everything was normal. As for himself, he and other trusted people transported the treasures and goods that had been looted in the past few days from the inner courtyard overnight and hid them in a temple in the south of the city.

After the transfer of the wealth and goods, Gao Zhan, Queen Hu and other trusted people hid in this temple near the city gate for a while, ready to escape when the time was right.

With Gao Zhan's arrangement, the situation did become confusing. As expected, not long after Gao Anagong and his party left the city, someone in his team really left the team and went to the Tang army scouts outside the city to inform Gao Zhan of the news of abandoning the city and fleeing.

After learning about this, the Tang army scouts outside the city were naturally anxious. They sent troops to track the east while investigating the real situation under the city. Of course, they did not forget to send soldiers back to report the situation.

The Tang army was certainly for the purpose of pacifying the various states in Shandong, and half of the significance of this war was on Gao Zhan. Although this guy did not make much of a difference when he was alive, his absence was of great significance to the Tang Dynasty. Now that the armies from all directions will attack Qingzhou, they will naturally not allow him to escape to other places!

So after hearing the news from the scouts that Gao Zhan was suspected of escaping again, Han Xiong was also a little nervous. He immediately ordered his troops to continue to speed up their advance and sent thousands of light cavalry to intercept Gao Zhan in Qingzhou.

At the same time, several Fengs and Gao Le in the north and south also sent their divisions to cooperate, and their attention was inevitably focused on the team that escaped from the east of Qingzhou City. After all, the city cannot be escaped. It doesn't matter if we attack Qingzhou City a moment earlier or later. If Gao Zhan escapes, this great achievement will be greatly reduced.