Chapter 1278: Disobedience

Tiger's mouth city.

Gao Quan stood on the city wall, looking into the distance with a cold gaze.

That direction was exactly where the enemy camp was located, only seven or eight miles away from Hukou City.

He had already sent people to investigate. The enemy's camp was in a good location, with mountains on both sides. Although they were not big mountains, they could provide some geographical advantages. Not far from the camp was a small river that was a tributary of the Miljiang River, so there was no need to worry about the water source.

Yesterday, the enemy seemed to be recruiting soldiers here again.

Now, the enemy troops here are at least 20,000 to 30,000 people.

Moreover, the enemy had a large number of cavalry.

The enemy's cavalry numbers far outnumbered theirs.

Moreover, he had received accurate information that the defenders of Rende City had opened the city and surrendered.

Rende City has fallen into the hands of the enemy!

Now, he can neither retreat nor not retreat.

The enemy is already at the gates of the city, and has a large number of cavalry.

If they retreated to Dushou rashly, their cavalry would be easy to deal with, but their infantry would inevitably be ambushed by the enemy's cavalry.

But if we don't retreat, Dushou will probably fall into the hands of the enemy soon.

Under attack from both sides!

At this moment, Gao Quan regretted!

You will be outside, and your orders will not be accepted!

He shouldn't have waited for Wang Chi's order!

Now, he has obtained the king's permission.

However, they had missed the best time to retreat.

If he had retreated to Dushou a few days earlier before the enemy forces from the front pressed forward, they would have safely retreated to Dushou by now, and he would not have to be so embarrassed.

Now, the best way is to leave the infantry to defend Hukou City, while he leads the cavalry to retreat to Dushou and protect the capital.

However, once he, the commander-in-chief, withdraws, it will inevitably affect the morale of the troops defending Hukou.

A single thought put them in a dilemma.

Gao Quan thought hard, trying to find a better way to solve the current dilemma.

However, after much thought, he could not think of a better way except dividing the troops.

He wanted to lead his troops out of the city to engage in a decisive battle with the enemy, but he didn't dare.

If we go out of the city to fight, even if we win, it will probably be a pyrrhic victory.

The Le Dynasty no longer had many decent troops.

If he suffers heavy losses again, there will be no need to fight the rest of the battle.

He wants to win!

But the prerequisite for victory is to minimize the casualties on your own side!

At least we should leave ourselves with the strength to fight again.

Only in this way can we continue to deal with the enemy.

Just when Gao Quan was frowning, a soldier came running over in a hurry, "General, the Holy Envoy has arrived, please go and receive the order as soon as possible!"

"Holy Messenger?"

Gao Quan frowned, secretly confused.

Didn’t Your Majesty just send people here by water?

Those people left the city at night and returned to Qiming City to report.

They couldn't have taken the official road, so they should not have returned to Qiming City yet, right?

Why did Your Majesty send another Holy Envoy?

Although he was confused, Gao Quan still went quickly to receive the order.

When Gao Quan arrived, the deputy general was already waiting there with a few others.

"High power, listen to your orders!"

The eunuch raised his voice and waited for Gao Quan to kneel down before unfolding the imperial edict and reading it aloud: "Your Majesty has ordered Gao Quan to lead his troops to surrender to the Daqian army..."

Gao Quan suddenly raised his head and looked at the eunuch with a dull face, his heart filled with anger.

He could no longer hear what was said afterwards.

surrender!

Your Majesty actually ordered them to surrender to the enemy?

Damn!

What exactly is going on?

"General Gao, please accept my order!"

After the eunuch read the imperial edict, he handed it to Gao Quan.

It was not until this moment that Gao Quan came back to his senses with difficulty.

"Your Majesty, why are you surrendering?!"

Gao Quan did not accept the order, and questioned the eunuch who delivered the order with fiery eyes.

surrender?

Why would they surrender?

They still have the strength to fight!

They are just in trouble temporarily!

Facing Gao Quan's murderous gaze, the eunuch smiled bitterly: "General Gao, Wan'an City has been breached by the enemy, and now the enemy has already reached the capital..."

"what?"

Hearing the eunuch's words, Gao Quan and several generals behind him couldn't help but scream out in surprise.

Wan'an City has been... breached?

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Gao Quan gritted his teeth and roared: "Wan'an City has 5,000 to 6,000 defenders, and there are so many young and strong men helping to defend the city. How could Wan'an City be breached so quickly?"

Other places are too unclear.

But he was very clear about Wan'an's situation.

A large part of Wan'an's defenders were withdrawn from Pingxu Road on their own!

Those are real elite soldiers!

With so many elite soldiers guarding the city, how could the enemy break through Wan'an City so quickly?

The eunuch who delivered the decree sighed softly: "I heard that the enemy took less than half an hour to break through Wan'an City. Now there are rumors everywhere that the enemy has the help of Thunder God! General Gao, we are defeated, you should quickly accept the decree..."

Listening to the words of the eunuch who delivered the imperial edict, Gao Quan and several generals fell into a daze again.

The enemy broke through Wan'an in less than half an hour?

And Thor helps?

absurd!

This sounds ridiculous!

Gao Quan stood up suddenly and grabbed the eunuch who was delivering the imperial edict: "Tell me! Have you been bribed by the enemy? Are you forging the imperial edict?"

“Gao Quan!”

The eunuch's face changed and he shouted angrily: "The imperial edict is right here! Can't you tell whether it's real or fake?"

At the same time, the eunuch's guards immediately drew their swords, as if they wanted to take Gao Quan down.

"锔..."

The soldiers around Gao Quan also drew their swords and stared coldly at the guards.

In an instant, a tense atmosphere spread.

"That means you teamed up with the treacherous officials in the court to launch a coup and surrendered to the enemy!"

Gao Quan didn't even look at the imperial edict, his face was livid, "Tell me, which route did you come from?"

Facing Gao Quan's gaze, the eunuch couldn't help but feel frightened.

The guards he brought with him might be able to scare other people, but there was no way they could scare Gao Quan.

Gao Quan has a large number of troops at his command.

As long as Gao Quan gave the order, these wolf-like and tiger-like soldiers would chop them into meat sauce.

"Put the knife away!"

The eunuch raised his hand to the guards, and answered Gao Quan's question with a sullen face: "Of course, I came from the official road from the Imperial City to Hukou!"

"Humph, you really surrendered to the enemy!"

Gao Quan snorted coldly: "The enemy has already set up an ambush on the official road. The people I sent were unable to return to Qiming City through the official road. How can you, with so few people, pass through the official road?"

"We met those people!"

The eunuch's expression eased a little. "Those people let us go only after they knew we were here to convey an order for you to lead your troops to surrender! There were more than a dozen of us in our group, but they have already killed or detained us! If you don't believe me, you can ask them!"

As he spoke, the eunuch pointed at the guards who came with him.

They did encounter the Eighteen Ghost Riders.

Of course, they didn't know that those people were called the Ghost Eighteen Riders.

All they knew was that those people were elusive and extremely agile.

They had no power to resist at all.

A group of guards nodded, confirming the words of the eunuch who delivered the order.

Gao Quan swept his cold gaze over everyone, breathing heavily.

The next moment, Gao Quan snatched the imperial edict from the eunuch and pushed the eunuch away.

Looking at the contents of the imperial edict in his hand, Gao Quan's face was filled with anger.

However, as someone who had received countless imperial edicts, he understood that this imperial edict was true!

"Somebody come!"

Gao Quan threw the imperial edict away and pointed murderously at the eunuch and his guards.

"Take them away! Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy!"