Tang Dynasty Mingyue Song Dynasty Pass

Chapter 807: Escape Under the Moonlight

Two days later, Su Chen led a huge army with 150,000 cavalrymen marching like dragons and tigers, heading straight for Prince Xing's Palace. The mighty momentum and the brilliance of their weapons and armor were like the surging mountains and seas, shaking the heavens and the earth.

The army set up camp ten miles away, with battle flags fluttering and morale high.

Such military intelligence was secretly transmitted to the depths of the palace by scouts disguised as imperial guards. When Liu Xiong heard the news, fear spread like ice in his heart, chilling him to the bone.

  There are 150,000 troops, and the number is still expanding, approaching 200,000. The defenders of Prince Xing's Palace are only 30,000 to 40,000, and most of them have never been baptized by war. With such a huge disparity in strength, how can the city be defended?

Su Chen's name is also well-known in Lingnan. He is so brave that he once fought against the Northern Song army and repeatedly blocked the Song army north of the Yangtze River. In the past, Zhao Kuangyin put pressure on Li Yu of the Southern Tang Dynasty to hand over Su Chen, so that the Song army retreated, and Su Chen became a victim. However, would he surrender easily?

Su Chen hid his tricks and escaped. When he returned, he had a new look. He destroyed the vassal king of southern Fujian, wiped out Wuyue, and drove out the Song army that invaded Southern Tang. He eventually established the Wu Kingdom, with outstanding achievements and awe-inspiring power. With such a great military exploit, how could Liu Xiong of Lingnan not be afraid?

Now, Su Chen led an army of 200,000 and stationed them outside the city. Liu Xiong felt a sudden fear in his heart and could hardly suppress it.

"Zhi Tingxiao and Guo Chongyue, you are really the ministers who misled me!" Liu Xiong was furious, his voice full of indignation, "The Wu army is as powerful as a mountain, coming in a mighty force. How can we resist such a behemoth? It's really nonsense, it misled the country and me!"

After saying this, he urgently ordered the eunuch to summon Gong Chengshu to the palace. His face was livid, and his eyes were full of determination. "Quickly prepare the staff, pack up all the gold and silver treasures, select a group of loyal and brave men, and leave the capital tonight."

Gong Chengshu was surprised when he heard this, and asked in confusion: "Leaving overnight? But during the day, His Majesty said that he would defend the capital and live and die with the city!"

Liu Xiong was furious when he heard this and said, "Humph! The 200,000-strong Wu army is like a dark cloud pressing down on the city. If we don't leave tonight, it will be too late to regret it tomorrow! How can we defend this capital? I give you one hour to take away everything you can. If you can't take away, burn it and don't leave any benefits for the Wu army! We need to escape far away. There is a ferry in the southwest. We can go south and stay away from the Wu army."

After he finished speaking, Liu Xiong's eyes flashed with determination and helplessness. Obviously, he had prepared for the worst.

Seeing that Liu Xiong had made up his mind, Gong Chengshu knew that it was futile to persuade him. In addition, he was also afraid of the Wu army. After all, he was notorious. Once the city was broken, he would be the first to be hit and would not be able to escape. Thinking of this, he secretly calculated that he had been worried about the possibility of encountering accidents on the way to move the capital. Now if he led a small number of elite troops to leave Beijing, he would be able to better control the situation and ensure his own safety.

Gong Chengshu readily agreed and then went deep into the palace, where he secretly summoned a group of trusted eunuchs and began to search for treasures in the palace. At the same time, he quietly passed the message to several concubines, asking them to prepare quickly and gather in front of the hall an hour later.

For a while, the harem was extremely busy. All kinds of hurried calls came one after another, mixed with uncontrollable sobs, and the entire palace was in chaos.

Gong Chengshu carefully selected 3,000 imperial guards and appointed several reliable eunuchs and du yuhou to accompany him. Anyone who was not a trusted member was not allowed to be brought along in order to ensure the loyalty and controllability of the team.

An hour passed quickly, and Liu Xiong, wearing armor and fully armed, walked out of the palace. With a command, flames shot up into the sky, and the palace and the stored supplies were reduced to ashes in the blazing flames. Then, he led the concubines and 3,000 imperial guards, and hurriedly fled the capital under the cover of night, heading straight to the southwest.

Their destination was the Li River, sixty miles southwest of Prince Xing's Palace. There were boats stored there, and they only needed to load the gold, silver, treasures and people onto the boats, and then they could set sail and leave, far away from this troubled place.

The flames from the palace shot up into the sky, alarming countless people in the city. They stopped to watch and talk about the situation.

After hearing the news, officials such as Zhi Tingxiao and Guo Chongyue rushed to the palace to put out the fire, and the entire capital city suddenly fell into chaos.

At the same time, three thousand imperial guards, led by Gong Chengshu, escorted Liu Xiong, gold, silver, jewelry and many concubines, fled under the moonlight, and finally arrived at a river ferry on the Li River.

Here, the moonlight was hazy, and several warships were quietly anchored in the water, as if they were their last hope on their escape.

Liu Xiong stood at the ferry, looking at the warship in front of him, with an indescribable complex emotion in his heart. He knew very well that this trip would mean leaving his hometown and it would be difficult to turn back. But in order to survive and to preserve the last bloodline of the Southern Han, he had to make this choice.

For a moment, the river beach was brightly lit with torches and filled with noise.

Everyone was busy unloading the boxes from the carriages, and transporting boxes of gold, silver and treasures to the ship. "Stop making noise, and don't crowd. Let the soldiers carry the treasures first!"

Liu Xiong shouted loudly, trying to calm the panic of the concubines, palace maids and eunuchs in the harem, so that their noise would not affect his mood, and he did not want to cause chaos and noise among the crowd.

"Your Majesty, it will take another half an hour to get everything ready. The tent has been set up over there. You can go there and rest for a while." Gong Chengshu stepped forward at the right time and suggested respectfully.

Upon hearing this, Liu Xiong nodded slightly, and walked into the tent with several concubines to rest for a while, waiting to set off again after all the goods were loaded onto the ship.

However, the tent did not become quiet. Several concubines began to chatter, full of worry and anxiety.

"Your Majesty, where are we going this time? Will it be a long journey?"

"I heard that the sea is windy and the waves are high. Do we really have to live on a deserted island?"

"Your Majesty, is the overseas land full of dangers?"

The concubines' incessant chattering made Liu Xiong angry.

"Qiang!"

He suddenly drew the sword from his waist and shouted angrily: "Shut up! Whoever dares to make a noise, I will kill him first! The Wu army is dozens of miles away and may catch up at any time. If we don't get on the boat, we will not be out of danger. Don't bother me anymore, I'm upset!"

After she finished speaking, the tent fell into deathly silence. The concubines looked at each other in shock.

Liu Xiong himself was terrified and even uneasy, so he had no intention of coaxing his concubines.

Upon hearing this, the concubines were so frightened that they dared not utter a word. After all, Liu Xiong was a man with unpredictable moods, and he would really kill someone if he said he would.

Outside the tent, Gong Chengshu stood at the door but did not go in. He knew Liu Xiong, the tyrant, very well. He knew that he was suspicious, bloodthirsty, and had unpredictable moods.

At this time, Liu Xiong could easily kill someone to vent his anger over a trivial matter, so Gong Chengshu naturally did not dare to approach him easily.

At this time, a young eunuch named Hong Zhu quietly walked up to Gong Chengshu and whispered, "Boss, it's better for us to leave this heartless man behind and take our trusted men with us! All the gold, silver and jewelry are ours."

After hearing this, Gong Chengshu nodded secretly. Most of the imperial guards and eunuchs accompanying him this time were his men. Even if he wanted to kill Liu Xiong, it would not be a difficult task for him.

But Gong Chengshu did not want to bear the crime of killing his master, so he quickly made a decision in his mind: among the thirty-six strategies, running away is the best one, so he might as well take the opportunity to leave.

"Let's go and get on board!" Gong Chengshu ordered in a low voice.

He led his trusted men and soldiers to board the ship in an orderly manner. Liu Xiong and the concubines were still waiting in the tent, unaware that Gong Chengshu had already changed his mind.