Harue Kagetsu - Chapter 122

Soon, Gao Qiao found Shao Fengzhi’s body in front of a low hill not far away.

He was killed by someone cutting his throat, and there was blood on the ground, and he had been out of breath for a long time.

Gao Qiao and others searched around the neighborhood, but there was no whereabouts of Xiao Yongjia.

It got dark and the search continued. In the middle of the night, Li Xie also came to hear the news, and brought a lot of people to join the search.

The next day, they were all searched for dozens of miles around, but there was still no news of her.

The search scope has continued to expand.

Three days passed, and Gao Qiao couldn’t sleep, his eyes were almost bleeding.

But Xiao Yongjia, like a drop of water, completely disappeared under the sun without a trace.

…

The situation became more serious.

The battle situation in Wangjiang County on the western front was urgent. The Jingzhou rebels were smashed. In just a few days, the defenders kept asking for reinforcements, but Jiankang could no longer tell the surplus.

Previously, all the available troops in Gao Qiao’s hands had been forced to split into four. One branch in Wangjiang County, one branch in Jiankang, one branch guarding the triangular defense line of Jurong, Qu’a, and Piling, and another branch operating in the hinterland.

Almost all the counties and counties in the southeast of Yangzhou fell into the hands of Tianshijiao. This army originally moved in the central area to stop the Tianshi Sect from continuing to expand to the central part of Dayu like a plague, but now, under the pressure of another serious threat from Xuancheng, Gao Qiao We could only temporarily abandon this plan, and ordered Poyang, Yuzhang, Linchuan, Jian’an and other central counties adjacent to the southeast to organize their own troops to defend themselves. Yesterday, the army was transferred back.

The army was not sent to the Western Front. Even if he rushes to the past at this moment, the overall situation has not changed much.

Although the Jingzhou rebels returned badly in the previous Northern Expedition and suffered damage at that time, they still have the foundation. Gao Qiao knew nothing about the strength of this army. On the premise that he did not have enough troops to fight against, the reason why he deployed Wangjiang County before was just to slow down the speed of the rebels going down the river in order to gain more time for Jiankang.

This time, the army that was transferred back was incorporated into the Jiankang and triangular lines of defense. Behind the line of defense were the empress, hundreds of officials, the hundreds of thousands of people evacuated from Jiankang, and the countless refugees from the counties in the southeastern part of Dayu who had fled because of the Tianshi Religion. Nothing to lose.

Gao Yin is the supreme commander of this line of defense.

Qu’a, where the emperor is located, is located in the innermost position of the triangular defense line, and there is a strong city defense to rely on. Gao Yin entrusted it to Lu Jianzhi, who heard the news from the filial piety. These days, I have been running between Jurong and Piling.

This evening, he had just assembled an army of about 1,000 people, and went from Jurong to Piling overnight. After passing by a village where only half of the villagers had escaped, he saw a horse-riding soldier holding a clucking reed chicken. And the burden that obviously did not belong to him, he turned on his horse and fled, and then chased after a gray-haired old woman.

Although this soldier has gone to Doosun, his clothes are still recognizable at a glance, and it is from the Guangling Army. How can the old woman catch up with such a strong cavalryman with a lame leg? Seeing that he was thrown farther and farther, he fell to the ground and cried out in grief. The soldier didn’t turn his head, and quickly ran away toward the depths of the field.

Although the Guangling Army of the Gao clan has made great achievements over the years, its military discipline is much stricter than that of other foreign troops in the Southern Dynasty. But Gao Yin also knew that many middle and high-ranking generals in the army who came from the second-class gentry who depended on Gao’s family were brave in battle, but they had some common problems that the gentry could not avoid. Not every army can follow military regulations.

It was his uncle Gao Yun. Although he was brave and good at fighting and worked hard, he was short-tempered, liked to be flattered, and had a proud disposition. Even if Gao Qiao often reminded him, he would inevitably indulge his subordinates’ harassment.

Uncle Gao Qiao didn’t know about this. In the past, I also tried to clean up military discipline. But among the nobility, those intertwined human relationships from generation to generation have long been deeply rooted, like a chronic disease. It is often Gao Qiao’s prudence and restraint that everyone listens to. After the purge, the old ways gradually reappeared, and the cycle began again and again.

Uncle is helpless about this.

These, Gao Yin has also seen in his eyes. But even the uncle can’t cure the root, what can he do? All he can do on weekdays is to restrain his subordinates.

At the time of this national disaster, there were soldiers of the Guangling Army who practiced the people like this. Needless to say, they were deserters at first sight.

Gao Yin was furious, stopped his journey immediately, ordered someone to chase after him, surrounded the fleeing soldier, caught him back, returned the old hen and burden to the old woman, waited for the old woman to stop crying, wiped her tears, thank you so much He walked away, turned around, and slapped the soldier with the whip across his face. Extremely angry, he ordered the deserter’s head to be chopped off on the spot.

The soldier rolled on the ground, and the golden medicine fell out of his arms. He cried and begged for mercy, arguing that he was a messenger, and he did not intend to escape from the camp, but for a reason.

Dao, over 30 years old and never had a woman, he returned from sending a letter the day before yesterday, took a shortcut, and went out into the field. He happened to meet a woman who was seriously injured and was dying. , deserted and hid the woman. When I came out today, I was looking for gold and medicine for her. I just passed by and saw the village. It seemed that there were still people in it. I had a bad idea for a while, so I went in and grabbed something.

The soldiers wept bitterly and kept kowtowing for mercy. He promised again and again, saying that as long as he spared his life, he would immediately return to the barracks and would not be a deserter again.

When the war was about to break out, why did Gao Yin listen to him in his spare time, and ordered him to be pulled and chopped up. He suddenly remembered something, his expression changed slightly, and he stopped, asking about the age, appearance, and injuries of the injured woman. At the location, I vaguely felt that I had met someone, and immediately ordered someone to follow the soldier to arrest the woman.

This place is only half a day’s journey away from Jiankang. Gao Yin saw it and immediately sent someone back to summon the news.

In the early morning of the next day, the morning light was faint, and on the road leading to Jiankang, with the sound of horses’ hooves becoming clearer and clearer, Gao Qiao arrived overnight.

Gao Yin also went to Jiankang yesterday and met Gao Qiao, only to find out that his aunt was attacked and disappeared a few days ago when she was about to give birth. At that time, my uncle searched hard for a few days, but there was no news, and the war was pressing.

I saw my uncle yesterday and saw that he was in good spirits, but in just a few days, he lost weight, so haggard that Gao Yin could hardly believe his eyes. Knowing that he was clearly hurt to the extreme, the war was coming, but he could only put things aside temporarily and deal with the incoming enemy with all his strength. At that time, he was also very sad in his heart.

Before leaving, in private, Gao Qiao told him about Shaw’s appearance and body, saying that this woman should know the whereabouts of the eldest princess. .

When he heard the description of the deserter yesterday, he thought of Shaw Brothers at that time, so he notified Gao Qiao overnight.

“Uncle, my nephew suspects that the woman should be the Shaw Brothers. It’s just that no matter what my nephew asks, she will never answer. I wanted to send her to Jiankang, but I was afraid that she would be seriously injured. come uncle…”

Gao Yin took Gao Qiao to a dilapidated house at the entrance of the village, and pointed out, “It’s inside, uncle can see it.”

Gao Qiao stared at the door, strode forward, and pushed the door open.

In the dark corner against the wall, a woman curled up. His neck was leaning against the wall, his clothes were scratched and torn, and there was dried blood on his chest. The exposed face and hands are full of scratches, his complexion is like paper, his expression is tired, his eyes are slightly closed, he is half dead, and he has no vitality.

Hearing the sound of the door being pushed open, the woman slowly opened her eyes, her eyes fell on the person’s face, and her eyes suddenly glowed, and the whole person seemed to be alive in an instant.

She sat up quickly and raised her hand to brush her hair on her temples to make herself look neater.

“high…”

“Wicked woman! Where is the eldest princess? What have you done to her?”

Gao Qiao’s eyes fixed on her face, an arrow stepped in and asked.

The veins on both sides of his forehead were throbbing faintly, and his voice was hoarse like a torn drum.

In the eyes cast, the kind of forbearance and deep disgust and hatred she had never seen before.

Shao Yuniang didn’t know that she lost the perfect opportunity back then. With her high status and her own humility, she would never have the opportunity to serve him again in this lifetime.

It is precisely because of this that she hates Xiao Yongjia even more.

But she still refused to give up. Always had that little hope.

It was at this moment that she suddenly understood and was completely desperate.

…

On that day, Shao Yuniang saw that Xiao Yongjia had escaped, so she climbed up and chased after a few steps, scolding Shao Fengzhi for having no way out.

Shao Fengzhi was forced by her and went after Xiao Yongjia again.

Before chasing the hill, just when she thought Xiao Yongjia would be captured, a young woman suddenly appeared from the hill and stopped in front of Shao Fengzhi.

But when she raised her hand, before she could see how the woman made her move, Shao Fengzhi fell down.

She only saw a streak of blood, which spurted out of her brother’s throat following the woman’s raised hand, splashing several feet high.

Shao Yuniang did not know this young woman who suddenly appeared.