The howling of the camp!
He Lianheng trembled, stammering, "Could it be that this was also within Liang Xiao's calculations..."
Camp howling was a very dangerous phenomenon in military camps, and he would have had ways to solve it under normal circumstances.
But today, the army had just gone through a major battle, losing tens of thousands of men, their morale was scattered, and the soldiers had to face the threat of the Great Qian army at night, causing widespread panic. The restraint of officers over soldiers was greatly weakened, making it almost impossible to resolve the camp howling!
And one of the consequences of camp howling was mutiny in the army...
The screams from the military camp rose one after another. The vast majority of the soldiers' minds collapsed, and some even experienced temporary delirium, beginning to kill each other.
Even the soldiers of the Sun Moon Army and the Spring Return Sect, due to days of marching and exhaustion, and harboring resentment, were successively affected.
"The people of Great Qian refuse to be rebels of the He Lian family! Kill He Lianheng, defect to Marquis An Guo, and return to Great Qian!!"
At this moment, someone,不知是谁, raised their arms and shouted. The chaotic military camp suddenly found a common cause. Countless soldiers hardened their hearts and raised their arms in response, directly charging towards He Lianheng's camp.
He Lianheng, hearing the roars of his soldiers from afar, felt his liver and gallbladder split with terror. He led his personal guards, running and asking, "Who is leading the troops in rebellion!"
"My Lord! It's General Ya Men, Yue Yun!!"
The messenger officers who fled back in disarray covered their heads and scurried, responding in unison.
"This treacherous rogue! No wonder he ran when he saw Nan Jiyun!" He Lianheng was instantly furious.
Yue Yun was usually brave, but his ancestral home was not in Xichuan, so he could not even wipe out his entire clan...
The army mutiny intensified. Master Long Yue and the Brocade Robe King, along with his young lord, rushed out of the camp in a panic. After understanding the situation, they were shocked and enraged.
"Annihilate all rebel troops immediately!"
The Brocade Robe King ordered in exasperation. Suddenly, a messenger officer reported, "Your Majesty, Sect Leader! Our army is also experiencing a mutiny!"
Upon hearing this, the two supreme commanders felt something explode in their chests.
They had rushed all the way from the southwestern jungles to Xichuan Jiange to seize Hanzhong, exhausting their soldiers. They gained nothing and then...
In the camp of over a hundred thousand men, mutinies broke out in successive camps. More and more soldiers joined Yue Yun's ranks, and they charged all the way to the central army tent, where He Lianheng was nowhere to be seen.
The rebel alliance turned upside down overnight, and even the Sun Moon Army and the Spring Return Sect began to experience small-scale defections.
Thousands of Sun Moon Army soldiers and Spring Return Sect disciples tore off their own insignia, determined to return to Great Qian and become soldiers of Great Qian.
Especially the Spring Return Sect disciples, who were not only exhausted from the continuous marching but were also treated like cattle and horses by the core disciples of the Spring Return Sect as peripheral members.
Now, upon learning that Liang Xiao's army was only twenty li away, having easily broken He Lianheng's army of 110,000, and could arrive at any moment.
No one was willing to face death!
Liang Xiao certainly did not let down his guard. Great Qian's scout teams stretched for more than ten li, with a twenty-man unit every so often, ensuring that messages could be relayed at the fastest possible speed.
The Great Qian scouts who were probing in the distance were also startled and reported back one after another.
"Enemy mutiny!!"
It was already nearing dawn when Liang Xiao and his soldiers received the news, filled with both surprise and joy.
"It must be the Marshal's psychological warfare and recruitment slogans that have taken effect!" Nan Jiyun and the others were so excited they almost jumped.
Liang Xiao immediately ordered, "Advance tonight, recruit the enemy, and pursue He Lianheng and his ilk!"
The Great Qian soldiers had enjoyed several hours of rest, ate heartily, packed dry rations, left twenty thousand men to guard the camp, and the rest followed Liang Xiao to charge into the enemy camp.
In the rebel camp, facing the army mutiny, He Lianheng, Master Long Yue, the Brocade Robe King, and other leaders could not control too many soldiers. They could only hastily gather two thousand elite troops and flee towards Jian'ge by horse and cart.
They fled until dawn, and the more than two thousand people finally escaped the military camp.
"He Lianheng! My over ten years of preparation with Master Long Yue have been ruined by you!!"
The Brocade Robe King was so furious that smoke puffed from his nostrils. He drew his sword on horseback and was about to kill He Lianheng but was stopped by Master Long Yue and the young lord of the Brocade Robe.
"We underestimated Liang Xiao and the Great Qian soldiers. It's not the fault of the He Lian family head!" Master Long Yue reminded him while trying to remain calm.
The defenders of Jian'ge were all He Lianheng's men. If they fell into infighting at this time, they would not be able to escape safely.
He Lianheng roared, "If you could have predicted Liang Xiao himself would come, why would you have dared to chase out of Jian'ge? How can the blame for the defeat be pushed entirely onto me, this general? Wasn't it you, Brocade Robe King, who proposed taking Hanzhong in the first place!"
The Brocade Robe King also quickly regained his composure and sighed, "For now, we can only retreat to Jian'ge!"
Although everyone hated He Lianheng, what he said was correct.
Even they did not know that Liang Xiao was personally leading the army for a journey of over two thousand li!
Jian'ge was a strategically important pass, easy to defend and difficult to attack. The difficulty of attacking Jian'ge was far greater than the arduous expedition to attack the Taiji Kingdom.
As long as the defenders of Jian'ge did not fall into internal strife, Liang Xiao might never be able to break through.
It was precisely because of this that the leaders of all parties took for granted that Liang Xiao's first destination would be Liaodong, which was a reasonable choice...
But Liang Xiao, by exploiting this "impossibility," caught He Lianheng completely off guard!
He Lianheng, greedy for merit and impetuous, in order to take Hanzhong as soon as possible, overstepped his authority to declare himself emperor. Taking advantage of Liang Xiao's absence in Liaodong and the impossibility of reinforcement, he proactively attacked out of Jian'ge, allowing Liang Xiao to achieve unexpected victories...
At this moment, He Lianheng was filled with regret, but he also knew that if he didn't find a way to escape back to Jian'ge, he would definitely be caught by the Great Qian cavalry.
Suddenly inspired, He Lianheng roared, "Quickly set fire to the mountains!"
Master Long Yue quickly understood and sighed, "It seems that the He Lian family head is indeed not an ordinary person. It's just that Liang Xiao is as unpredictable as a god or a ghost..."
The Brocade Robe King was on the verge of tears, but if they didn't set fire to the mountains now to hinder the pursuit of the Great Qian cavalry, they would be caught sooner or later.
The mountains and forests along which the two thousand people passed were engulfed in raging flames.
In the rebel camp, Yue Yun led the resistance army, taking the lead, specifically killing those Sun Moon Army and Spring Return Sect disciples who refused to surrender to Great Qian.
"Those who are willing to return to Great Qian, follow us to defect to Marquis An Guo!!"
The slogans in the military camp continued to ring out. After the camp howling, the army, having vented through slaughter, gradually calmed down. They spared no effort in eliminating dissenters and purging the Sun Moon Army, the Spring Return Sect, and He Lianheng's three factions who had been causing trouble in Xichuan.
After a night of mutiny, there were countless casualties.
As the soldiers calmed down and looked at the ground covered with corpses, they also felt lost and helpless.
"General Yue Yun, can... can Marquis An Guo really accept us..." a general, whose rank was higher than Yue Yun, asked weakly.
His comrades knew that Yue Yun was a fierce general under He Lianheng, but because he did not understand "worldly affairs," He Lianheng was often displeased with him, and he was never given important positions.
Yue Yun nodded and said decisively, "Marquis An Guo has always treated the people of Great Qian kindly. Even if we don't receive rewards, we will never be mistreated by Marquis An Guo! Haven't you seen the newspapers?"
The soldiers responded weakly, "We have seen them. We really envy the soldiers of Great Qian..."
Everyone could not hide their envy and collapsed on the ground, sighing with emotion.
The status of Great Qian soldiers had reached an unprecedented high. Especially the soldiers in the northern territories, everyone was proud.
And they were still under He Lianheng, rebelling against the imperial court.
Those soldiers who were unwilling to surrender to Liang Xiao were all purged. In addition to the Sun Moon Army and the Spring Return Sect disciples, there were also some soldiers who had committed many evil deeds with He Lianheng before and were afraid that Liang Xiao would settle scores.
Plundering civilians, raping women, capturing "sacrifices" for the Spring Return Sect...
"The Great Qian army is here!!"
At this moment, the military camp was in chaos, everyone was terrified, looking towards the northeast.
Liang Xiao's army had indeed marched at night and arrived at the military camp after dawn.