Frontier Army Warrior

Chapter 871 Human Resources

Prince Rui Zhao Xun, Prince Lu Zhao Bing, Minister of War Tang Bingqian, Commander of the Imperial Guards Ma Buxuan, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue Lin Cangshi and others were taken to the prison van, with disheveled hair and tattered clothes, looking extremely miserable.

Thirty thousand Taisho Imperial Guards, escorting a large group of more than twenty thousand fleeing people, slowly marched towards Kyoto City.

Until yesterday, the last military force representing the Dazong Dynasty was declared completely dead.

Because the 18,000 soldiers of Zhao Gui's personal guard camp finally chose to disband because they could not support themselves.

Some of them were recruited and assessed by the Zhenxi Army and entered the engineering battalion, while others were discharged from the army and became civilians.

The emperor's personal army, which was once so powerful, ended up like this. The soldiers did not receive any subsidies after retiring.

Of course, compared to other people in the Royal Guards, their ending was already very good.

Emperor Zhao Zhen had no money, so he dismissed most of the palace maids and eunuchs.

Fortunately, Zhu Qisheng took some valuable things from the palace before leaving, so he could still support a certain number of servants.

Therefore, Zhao Zhen was transported to Tianzhi Mansion, where he found a house and temporarily lived there. He also kept more than a dozen concubines and twenty or thirty palace maids and eunuchs around him.

Zhao Shuo and Zhao Gui each led fifty guards and were responsible for the emperor's safety.

Ju Chaoyue did not find Lin Feng in Jingxi Prefecture. It was said that Lin Feng had gone to Shanglin Prefecture.

There was no way. Without Lin Feng’s permission, no one dared to let Prince Rui and others enter the country.

Ju Chaoyue rode non-stop to Shanglin Mansion.

Finally, he saw Lin Feng inspecting Zhenxi No. 2 in the dock outside Shanglin Mansion.

Ju Chaoyue traveled without sleep and had become very thin, with a dark face and covered in dust.

As soon as he saw Lin Feng, he immediately knelt on the ground and shouted loudly.

"My Lord, please save me..."

Lin Feng looked at Ju Chaoyue's embarrassed appearance in surprise and asked with a frown.

"General Ju, please stand up and speak. What happened?"

Ju Chaoyue was helped up, his voice choked with sobs.

"Duke, please say something. Prince Rui and tens of thousands of his troops and servants are rushing to Jingxi Prefecture to seek your protection."

Lin Feng gestured to bring tea to Ju Chaoyue.

"Tell me the details of the situation."

Ju Chaoyue didn't even bother to drink water and quickly recounted the details.

Lin Feng nodded after hearing this: "If that's the case, why not? As long as they enter the territory of Jingxi Prefecture, they will be considered to have entered the protection range of the Zhenxi Army, and the Zhenxi Army will naturally provide protection."

Upon hearing this, Ju Chaoyue knelt down again and kowtowed like crazy.

"Your Excellency is righteous. I knew this would be the outcome. On behalf of the tens of thousands of families of the Imperial Guards, I thank you for your kindness."

Lin Feng waved his hand: "Take your people to make the connection. I'm afraid Jingxi Prefecture can't accommodate so many people. Try to settle them in Sanjiang Prefecture or Dingyuan Prefecture."

Ju Chaoyue was already impatient. He was afraid that the rebels were chasing him too quickly and the Zhenxi Army would not be able to catch up in time.

"My Lord, could you please send someone to go with me to Jingxi Mansion to pick up Prince Rui?"

Lin Feng nodded: "Cheng Liang, take some people with you to assist Jingxi Prefecture in the resettlement work."

Cheng Liang immediately bowed and said yes, then turned around and took Ju Chaoyue out.

The two of them traveled quickly from Shanglin Prefecture to Jingxi Prefecture.

Cheng Liang took Lin Feng's order and mobilized 5,000 troops in Jingxi Prefecture, crossed the west bank of the river, and headed south to meet them.

Unfortunately, only twenty miles after they left Jingxi Prefecture, they saw corpses in the fields by the roadside.

As they continued south, more and more bodies were found on the road and along the roadside.

Ju Chaoyue's heart sank.

It's over. Judging from the situation, the fleeing crowd has been caught up by the rebels.

Cheng Liang dismounted, came to a corpse and examined it carefully.

"General Ju, this man was hacked to death."

Many soldiers also dismounted and looked around.

Many of the bodies were killed by weapons, while others had no scars on their bodies and may have died of exhaustion and starvation.

Ju Chaoyue looked into the distance and sighed.

"Alas, it's still a step too late."

Cheng Liang frowned and asked, "General Ju, what should we do now?"

Ju Chaoyue shook his head: "With over 50,000 rebels, I'm afraid we won't be able to catch them back..."

He suddenly pondered and said, "There are 30,000 Royal Guards. What are they doing?"

Although he couldn't figure it out, he said to Cheng Liang anxiously.

"General Cheng, can you mobilize the army to defeat the rebels and rescue the families of those soldiers?"

Cheng Liang shook his head sadly: "General Ju, you know that without the boss's order, no one dares to go to war with the rebels."

Of course Ju Chaoyue understood, but he just rubbed his hands, not knowing what to do.

"The Duke has already promised to rescue these people, but now they've been captured by the rebels. What should we do?"

Cheng Liang had followed Lin Feng for a long time and learned how to analyze problems.

"General Ju, this place is already outside the territory of Jingxi. If we rashly start a war with the Taisho Imperial Army, it will cause a full-scale war. This matter can only be handled by my boss. It will be useless to ask anyone else."

Ju Chaoyue turned around and looked towards the north.

"Alas, the journey is long. I'm afraid the rebels have already returned to Kyoto."

Cheng Liang was helpless and could only sigh in silence.

After a moment, Ju Chaoyue said dejectedly.

"Let's go back to Shanglin Mansion and report this to see how the Duke handles this matter."

Cheng Liang had no objection. The two of them mounted their horses and led five thousand men back.

The two were still on their way back when Lin Feng had already received the report.

Including a large number of nearly 30,000 imperial guards, they were surrounded and killed in the fields by more than 50,000 rebels.

Among them were two great generals, Wei Ming and Dang Guihong.

These two generals had followed Lin Feng and served as his staff for a long time. Needless to say, they were loyal and upright and would never be cunning or deceitful.

Lin Feng held the report and sighed for a long time.

This news made him even more regretful than the fact that King Rui and others were captured by the rebels.

Lin Feng felt that it was within his expectations that Prince Rui, Prince Lu and other princes and ministers were captured by the rebels.

These guys only know how to play power games and have no means of controlling the war situation. It is only a matter of time before they are defeated by the rebels.

Unless they, like Zhao Zhen, surrendered to him early on, they might be able to save their lives.

Of course, if Prince Rui Zhao Xun was captured, he would not necessarily lose his life.

Zhao Zheng probably won't target him for the time being.

Lin Feng thought that Zhao Zheng needed someone in his family to watch him ascend the throne to fulfill his long-cherished wish.

Prince Rui and Prince Lu are not the most important characters.

The most important person has been settled in Tianzhi Mansion by Lin Feng and has become a wealthy civilian.

Maybe he doesn't have a lot of money, but his background is still quite noble.

Lin Feng was lost in thought when Pei Qiyin brought over a cup of tea and gently placed it in front of him.

"General, are you thinking about how to rescue Prince Rui and others?"

Lin Feng shook his head: "I am not interested in these nobles and ministers. The main thing is these tens of thousands of people. They are a great human resource."

Pei Qiyin glanced at the report in Lin Feng's hand.

"There must be 20,000 or 30,000 people, right?"