Translator: ryangohsff Editor: Nora
Chapter 869 – The King Escapes
In a short amount of time, many civilians swarmed toward the city gates.
During war time, the city gates were naturally shut tight. The civilians did not care and grumbled, asking the soldiers to open the city gates. The soldiers naturally did not agree as the enemy was still sieging and opening the gates now was just letting them in.
The civilians did not care. Before life and death, the fall of the country did not seem that important anymore. As more and more people gathered near the city gates, the situation looked like it was about to get out of control.
The people were ready to charge past the defensive line set up by the Guards troops.
Not far away from them, the fire had once again spread, and the thick smoke bellowed.
Seeing that, the civilians were all emotional. Some people were prepared to force their way through. Amongst the people, many of them were family of the Guards Soldiers, and some of them begged the soldiers while others scolded them.
“Report to the General!”
The city guard general was covered in cold sweat. He could only seek help from the commander, Ismail.
Ismail was currently at the north city region. When he got the report, his face was really dark. Ismail realized that something was not right when the fires suddenly started. When the air strike started, he finally realized what was going on.
Following which, various emergency reports spread to Ismail.
Someone has intentionally started a fire, and people were requesting for Ismail to order their capture; they were demolishing houses and needed Ismail to move the Guards Soldiers. Now, the city gate was facing an emergency and needed Ismail to make a decision.
Ismail could pretty much guess that the storage exploding was not a coincidence. If not, why would all three explode at the same time with such timing? They exploded right as the enemy was sieging.
The following arsons and bombings further proved his conjecture.
“This is a massacre; it’s a war crime!”
Ismail’s face was really ugly, as he did not expect the enemy to use such a vicious technique.
Just as Ismail was hesitating, Mohammed the 6th sent soldiers to find Ismail. The king requested him to cover the imperial family as they made their escape.
“Immediately!” Mohammed the 6th rushed him. He was really anxious.
Obviously, he did not hold much hope that the Guards army could defend the city. Retreating out of the imperial city and out of Morocco meant that he would still have a chance to go to a neighboring country and become a wandering king.
If he chose to stay in Rabat, he would either be buried in the sea of flames or be killed by the enemy.
What to choose between the two was just too easy a choice to make.
When Ismail saw that, he sighed as he could not oppose the king’s orders. However, escorting them away and even to a neighboring country was not an easy matter and needed to be planned.
Thinking about that, Ismail decided to bring his forces back to the palace.
Within the Imperial Palace, Mohammed the 6th and the higher ups of the country were all gathered together. When they saw Ismail, it was like they were looking at their savior.
“Ismail, tell us your views.” Although Mohammed the 6th was old, he was not dumb and knew that if they rushed out of the city in such a big group, it would be like throwing themselves into the hands of the enemy.
On the way to the Imperial Palace, Ismail had already thought carefully, “King, this is my view. There are large amounts of civilians at the city gate. Why don’t we open the gates and mix into the people and escape? Once we get out of the city, we gather again.”
“Good, let’s do it that way!” Mohammed the 6th was delighted.
The next part was easy to handle. They all found commoner clothes, and under the protection of similarly dressed guards, they sneaked into the crowd.
At the same time, Ismail gave two military orders. First, open the city gates and let the people out; second, tell the Guards Soldiers and players who were still valiantly fighting to continue fighting.
At the crucial moment, Ismail could continue to be stone hearted.
Without the army stopping the enemy, the moment they charged into the palace, they would immediately know that the king had escaped. If that happened, under the chase of cavalry, they might not be able to escape to a neighboring country.
At 11 AM, the various city gates were opened up.
Large amounts of civilians swarmed out of the gates and exited the city. As expected, the expedition army had already gotten the order not to harm the innocent.
The civilians left the imperial city smoothly and disappeared into the wilderness, escaping in all four directions. Some chose to go toward Casa Blanca, while some hid in the mountains. Some hid not far from the city, hoping for the day that they could return to the imperial city.
Mohammed the 6th and his men hid amongst the clamor and naturally managed to escape. To not raise attention, Ismail only brought 500 Guards, his Personal Guards.
As for the Moroccan players, they basically did not get too far.
On this earth, there was no place for them. The moment they lost the country war, no matter where they were, whether they were dead or alive, they would be forcefully teleported to the land of trials.
Since that was the case, why struggle?
The city siege still continued. The combat occupation players’ morale waned, and they were planning to lose their lives, not bothering about the fire in the city. The Guards morale was also waning, especially after they saw many civilians leave. They had lost their fighting spirit.
When Baiqi saw that, he ordered them to quicken the pace of their attacks to try to end it right away.
At the same time, Black Snake who was still housed in Rabat noticed that something was unusual. Not mentioning other areas, but just the palace was too quiet, and even the legendary country protector God beast did not appear.
Morocco’s country protector god beast was a golden lion. It had already awakened when Rabat was attacked. However, since the Imperial Palace was not attacked, it would not launch an attack.
Mohammed the 6th’s departure greatly disappointed the golden lion. Based on the rules of Gaia, once the king abandoned the city, the God beast could choose to continue sleeping.
Once the country changed hands, the country protector God beast would naturally change masters too.
Black Snake sneaked into the Imperial Palace. Seeing that the defense was lax and no one putting out the fire, he ordered, “Go, let’s go take a look.”
The following spies said, “Sir, wouldn’t this be too risky?”
Black Snake shook his head, “If we do not go in, we would not be able to find out what’s happening inside. That would mean we did not do our job. I do not want to be scolded by the king once more.”
When the spy heard that, there was nothing he could say.
Luckily, they were bold and highly skilled, so they entered the palace without much effort.
This raised Black Snake’s suspicion even more, “There’s no need to search. Let’s go see whether Mohammed the 6th is still here or not.”
“Sir, are you suspecting that Mohammed the 6th has escaped?” The spy was astonished.
Black Snake did not conclude and just said, “Let’s take a look.”
“Yes sir!”
Very quickly, they made a full round in the palace and naturally did not find anything.
“Damn, he really escaped.” Black Snake’s face turned black.
The spy said, “That should not happen, our men are monitoring every exit and did not see anyone go out.”
“Are you stupid? Will they be so bold when they leave the city? They must have disguised as commoners and left the city. The city gate was so chaotic, so we obviously could not see clearly.”
The spy was ashamed, carefully saying, “Then what should we do now?”
Black Snake was calm as he smiled deviously, “Its good they escaped, as it has done a huge service to our army. Send the news that he abandoned the city out, especially to the Morrocan Guards army. Also, send someone to inform the king and commander Baiqi.”
“Yes sir!” The spy understood, smiling along.
…
When the Moroccan Guards Army got the news, they were filled with disbelief and sent someone to the palace to confirm. Not only did Mohammed the 6th leave, but the soldiers did not even find Ismail.
Thinking about that, Ismail’s order sent a chill down their spines.
The Moroccan guards lost their will to fight, and they either stopped or tried to escape with the civilians. Some just surrendered right there.
Anyways, Mohammed the 6th had betrayed them, so they did not feel anything from surrendering.
Baiqi had gotten the news and immediately told the frontline forces to back off. He accepted anyone from Morocco that surrendered.
It seemed like this battle was unexpectedly smooth. Without needing to enter the city, they basically settled the fight.
As for the street battle training they did on the desolate island; naturally, it would not come into play.
Baiqi did not feel any regret about that.
Apart from ordering the frontlines to stop, Baiqi also did three things. First, he ordered the troops to do strict checks on the people who left to prevent soldiers and officials from leaving.
At the same time, it was to tell the people to not go so far and just camp in the wilderness for a while.
Secondly, Baiqi called Lu Bu and told him to bring a Cavalry Division to spread out and chase after Mohammed the 6th.
“If you find him, directly kill him. As for the others, escort them back to the city for the king to handle.” Baiqi instructed.
“Understood!”
Lu Bu accepted the orders and brought his troops right away. Along with him were also spies of the Black Snake Guards. Without the lead of the spies, Lu Bu would be left with no one familiar with the geography of the area and would not know what Mohammed the 6th looked like.
Thirdly, Baiqi ordered the troops to mobilize the civilian teens to extinguish the fire. During this battle, they had witnessed the strength of the Great Xia Dynasty, so they naturally knew their place and respected their new king.
Of course, there were guard soldiers who would rather die than surrender. These people had a commonality, their homes were either destroyed or their families were burned in the fire.
With these blemishes in their hearts, they naturally did not want to surrender to the enemy.
Of course, there were people who did not know what had happened. After all, the city was too chaotic, and they had no chance to meet their family. They could only surrender first. As for when they met their family later on, who knows what changes would occur.
The most awkward ones were the combat occupation players on the city wall. It was pointless for them to surrender. However, even if they fought, the expedition army did not bother about them, what a tragic sight.