Chapter 129 - 123 Pursuit
Zhao Hanzhang brought all the cavalry, and only eight hundred infantry, leaving the rest to guard the Wu Castle.
The cavalry went ahead. The Wu Castle is not far from the county town, and fast horses can reach there within fifteen minutes.
Not long after leaving the fortress, they encountered civilians fleeing from the city scattered in all directions. Upon seeing them from afar, the civilians ran into the fields.
Some people’s luggage fell, but they dared not turn back to pick it up. When they fell, they rolled and crawled into the fields, trying to stay as far away as possible.
Zhao Hanzhang glanced and instructed Zhao Ju, "Pass the order: After entering the city, save people only, do not disturb the civilians!"
Zhao Ju acknowledged, selecting two scouts with loud voices to convey the command.
The group of people quickly arrived at the gates of Xiping County. The gate area was in chaos, with corpses lying everywhere. Apart from the occasional civilians fleeing from the city, there was no one guarding it.
Zhao Hanzhang rode into the entrance with her men just as a man was pulling a disheveled woman and a child out, collapsing to the ground upon seeing them.
Unable to see clearly Zhao Hanzhang on horseback, he pushed his wife and child behind him. Zhao Hanzhang pulled her horse and asked, "We are from Zhao’s Fortress. Where are the rebel troops in the city now?"
The pale-faced man slightly regained his composure upon hearing Zhao’s Fortress, looked up to see Zhao Hanzhang was a woman, and immediately burst into tears, kowtowing with his wife and child, pointing shakily towards the city, "In... inside..."