The Emperor Xiao An was overjoyed after reading the report. He could not believe that someone could escape from under his nose and that he could not intercept them. He immediately ordered that the princess be summoned.
Princess Zhaoning was naturally ecstatic upon hearing that the enemy had retreated. She gathered all the personnel in the temporary palace and ordered them to lie in ambush by the roadside.
Zhu Meng led his men at full speed, pursued by Du Shun, Liu Ce, and Liu Tie. Of his ten thousand men, more than half were lost, and he managed to escape the pursuit with less than three hundred soldiers.
Hearing the shouts of pursuit gradually fade, Zhu Meng breathed a long sigh of relief and said to the soldiers beside him, "We have finally escaped. The sky is about to dawn, and if we keep running for a while, we can find a place to rest."
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard shouts from the side, "Charge, kill them, don't let the people of the Great Earth Kingdom escape!"
The shouts sent Zhu Meng into a state of panic. He had just escaped the pursuit from behind, and now there were ambushers.
Without a word, Zhu Meng urged his horse to continue running. Princess Zhaoning, while directing her subordinates to focus solely on Zhu Meng's men, spurred her horse in pursuit of Zhu Meng.
Zhu Meng had been running all night and fighting along the way. He was tired, and his horse was exhausted.
Princess Zhaoning, on the other hand, had the advantage of being well-rested.
The two of them chased each other for less than five miles before Princess Zhaoning caught up.
By then, the sky had brightened, and Princess Zhaoning could clearly see the person running ahead. It was Zhu Meng. It was a case of searching high and low and finding him unexpectedly. Since she had encountered Zhu Meng here, she could not let him escape again.
As she chased, Princess Zhaoning shouted loudly, "Zhu Meng, where do you think you can run to this time?"
His identity revealed, Zhu Meng was filled with despair.
He knew that if he were captured this time, there would be no good outcome. Therefore, he had to deal with Princess Zhaoning behind him.
With this thought, he lowered himself onto his horse's back, quietly removed his long bow, and drew an arrow from his quiver. Suddenly, he straightened up and shot backward.
Unfortunately, Princess Zhaoning was a disciple of the Lotus Cult Master. Such a trick could not possibly deceive her. Seeing Zhu Meng crouch down, Princess Zhaoning knew he was up to something. Thus, as Zhu Meng drew his bow, Princess Zhaoning also took out her bow and arrow.
Princess Zhaoning was even more skilled than Zhu Meng. She drew three arrows simultaneously and nocked them on her bowstring. Just as Zhu Meng turned to shoot, Princess Zhaoning released her three arrows.
With a crisp clang in mid-air, the arrow Zhu Meng shot was precisely intercepted by Princess Zhaoning's arrow.
The remaining two arrows flew towards Zhu Meng like lightning.
Seeing the arrows approaching, Zhu Meng had no time to dodge and could only try his best to avoid the vital points.
With two dull thuds, two arrows struck Zhu Meng's left shoulder and thigh.
"Ah!"
The pain made Zhu Meng tremble. His body swayed, but he managed to stay on his horse.
However, his wounds caused severe bleeding. In the biting cold, blood flowed outwards.
After running for a short while, Zhu Meng could no longer hold on.
He saw the figures in front of him start to blur and knew that he could not last much longer. He lowered himself, hugged his horse's neck, and let fate take its course.
Princess Zhaoning chased for less than two miles before seeing Zhu Meng slump down and his horse slow its pace. Princess Zhaoning knew that Zhu Meng could not hold on any longer, so she was not in a hurry.
Princess Zhaoning slowed down, maintaining a distance of about ten feet behind Zhu Meng's horse.
This distance would give her enough time to react if Zhu Meng made any sudden moves. After following him for another two miles, she saw Zhu Meng's body sway and then fall to the ground with a thud.
Zhu Meng lay on the ground, facing the sky, motionless.
Seeing this, Princess Zhaoning was relieved. She blew a whistle with her pinky finger, and the guards following behind quickly caught up.
Princess Zhaoning pointed at Zhu Meng and said, "Tie him up and take him back to collect the reward from my father."
Then, Princess Zhaoning turned to survey the scene. Apart from a few scattered soldiers who had escaped, the more than two hundred men Zhu Meng had led were almost annihilated.
As Princess Zhaoning was about to lead her men back, she heard the sound of horses' hooves. Looking up, she saw that her father had arrived.
Upon seeing Princess Zhaoning, Xiao An waved his hand repeatedly, "Jingfeng, hurry back to Wannian City with me. There are no more enemy troops outside the city."
Hearing this, Princess Zhaoning became excited as well. She paid no attention to the scene and hurried back with Xiao An.
Outside Wannian City, Liu Xiangnan had already ordered his men to clear the battlefield.
Zhu Meng had fled in such a hurry that he had left behind all sorts of supplies and had no time to take them with him.
Liu Xiangnan directed his men to collect tents, provisions, various military supplies, and even armor and weapons, and store them in Wannian City. To put it simply, they had achieved a great victory and returned with their spoils.
Liu Xiangnan's reputation in Wannian City grew even further.
Meanwhile, a thousand miles away, in Qingguang City. The Emperor of the Great Earth Kingdom, Qiao Posen, received a report from his subordinates early in the morning that the people of the Great Cang Kingdom had also withdrawn. The campsites left by Liu Rumei and her men were empty, with not a single person left.
Qiao Posen was dumbfounded. He had assembled over a hundred thousand troops to defend the city, but how had the other side fled overnight?
At this moment, the old Grand Tutor Suodelo stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid we have been tricked by the enemy. After we burned their provisions, they wanted to withdraw. They deliberately launched a large-scale attack to force us to retreat to Qingguang City, allowing them to escape."
Qiao Posen nodded at this statement. "If that is the case, we cannot let them escape so easily. Immediately issue an order for all troops along the route to intercept them with all their might. We must stop them. When the Crown Prince returns, we will surround them from all sides and annihilate these three hundred thousand troops within the borders of our Great Earth Kingdom."
At this time, Liu Rumei had already retreated over a hundred miles with her men. She ordered her men to carry only seven days' worth of dry rations. Within seven days at most, they would be able to retreat fully to the Great Cang Kingdom.
Chen Xiaobei had already been evacuated nearly three hundred miles away. After all, he had left a day earlier than Liu Rumei. However, because he had retreated quietly, he had only dared to travel at night.
But today was different. Since Liu Rumei had also begun her retreat today, Chen Xiaobei and his men also dared to travel openly.
At the same time, the troops of the Great Earth Kingdom along the route had received the order to surround them.
Meanwhile, back in Wannian City, Emperor Xiao An had returned with his men. Without even waiting to hear Liu Xiangnan's report, he immediately went to see the Crown Prince Xiao Jingyun.
Xiao Jingyun's face was sallow, and he had become emaciated.
After seeing him, Xiao An's heart grew heavy.
Upon hearing Zhou Quan's report that they needed to find a specific toad to detoxify him, Xiao An felt even more despair. This was a problem that was almost impossible to solve.