xymnovel Chapter 284 The Last Strength
Chapter 284 The Last Strength
Chapter 284 The Last Strength
August 5th, Jurong County, Huashan.
It had just rained lightly that morning, making the mountain path exceptionally treacherous.
Cheng Ji, the head of the Dadu Suo, followed in the group, walking with a slippery gait.
He was wearing an old leather armor, which I don't know where he found it from. It smelled strongly and had several holes from insects, making him look very shabby.
The drums had sounded for the third time, a clear signal to advance. Nearly three hundred men from the capital, armed with swords, spears, and halberds, were making their arduous march along the designated attack route.
Dozens of soldiers stood at the front, fully equipped with spears, shields, and iron armor, looking quite formidable. But if you observed their expressions, you would find them quite intriguing; each one was like a frightened bird, ready to retreat at any moment.
The sounds of fighting could already be heard from the other side.
Before setting off, Cheng Ji had seen Zhou Xian, a chivalrous outlaw from Xijindu, leading a dozen or so outlaws, with the interpreters of the Han army following closely behind, numbering nearly a thousand.
Actually, there is a third way.
Led by Lu Demao, the head of Lujiazhuang in Liyang Prefecture, a thousand soldiers from Yidu New Army set off along another route.
Clearly, this was a tactic of splitting up and launching a coordinated attack. The plan was excellent, but while the splitting up was successful, the coordinated attack failed.
One group has already engaged the bandits, while the other two have not yet arrived.
Whether it was a misperception or not, Cheng Ji felt that after hearing the sounds of friendly fire, the entire troop's marching speed slowed down slightly. No one gave the order, but everyone tacitly slowed their pace.
He turned his head and glanced behind him.
The winding mountain road was crowded with people, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Those men were auxiliary soldiers, registered in the military register of the Wanhu Prefecture, but their main task was to support the regular military households; their combat effectiveness was very weak. With the main soldiers slowing down, it was clearly unrealistic to expect these auxiliary soldiers to be brave and diligent.
He sighed inwardly, then breathed a sigh of relief. At that moment, the last remaining things in his heart had vanished with the wind.
The Yuan Dynasty is beyond saving.
The group continued to move forward, and as they reached a narrower mountain path, a sudden commotion arose ahead.
Cheng Ji's heart tightened, and he shouted, "Don't panic, stay by my side."
Having said that, he took the drawn bow and pointed to a shield bearer standing in front of him.
The large contingent has come to a complete stop.
Cheng Ji climbed a high slope and looked ahead. He saw the sounds of weapons clashing coming from behind a grove of trees. As the fighting deepened, the screams gradually became more frequent.
He looked around again.
The soldiers turned pale and a clamor arose, which could not be contained no matter how hard they tried.
Some people sighed softly, saying that they were unlucky and would not even be able to get a full meal when they were about to die.
Some people were in tears, saying that they had worked hard to build houses for this official and paint walls for that rich man, and the money they earned had to be used to pay tribute to the officers in the garrison. Now that they were dead, what would happen to their families? They would probably just starve to death.
One of the soldiers, his face filled with fear, shouted that the land the court had allocated to his grandfather had been taken away by the commander in his generation. He not only had to farm the land for the commander, but also had to be driven around like a slave. He wanted revenge and didn't want to fight anymore.
Cheng Ji slowly closed his eyes, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the bow.
The Crossroads weren't incapable of fighting; the problem was, what were the soldiers fighting for? They were like enemies to each other. It was already a miracle they didn't sneak up on you with an arrow during the chaos. Expecting them to fight to the death was like trying to get fish from a tree.
Conversely, if we solve the problem of why the soldiers are fighting and boost their morale, even if they are not particularly skilled fighters, they will at least not collapse at the first contact. It is quite possible for them to engage the enemy in a few exchanges and inflict some casualties.
But he couldn't see any hope; it was rotten, rotten to the core.
The outcome has already been decided behind the trees.
Large groups of Crusader soldiers turned and fled, colliding head-on with the slow-moving main force, creating even greater chaos.
On the narrow mountain path, terrified people ran around in all directions, and many accidentally fell into the deep valley.
"Defeat! Defeat!" When they were still hundreds of paces away from the battle, the soldiers around Cheng Ji started shouting and fled in all directions, and the officers couldn't stop them.
One unfortunate centurion was knocked to the ground, and countless feet trampled over him until he fell silent.
Cheng Ji was also swept up in the chaotic crowd and mechanically retreated backward.
He tried to turn around and move forward, but all he encountered were his own defeated soldiers, who knocked him off balance.
Under the prevailing circumstances, the efforts of a few individuals are simply ineffective.
At noon, Cheng Ji, still in a daze, didn't know how he escaped back to the camp.
He didn't care anymore, he just pointed at his own soldiers and found that only six out of ten had returned, so he immediately went to look for them.
Fortunately, three of them returned one after another, but one person was still missing. They wanted to go out of the camp to look for him, but the commander closed the camp gates and strictly prohibited people from going out.
Enraged, he kicked away a small stool, went into battle in a daze, and fled in a daze. What a humiliating battle he fought.
Less than a mile away, in another camp, Han De, the commander of Yangshe, led his defeated troops into the camp in a noisy commotion.
Deputy Commander Zhao Ting came down from the watchtower and asked, "How is it?"
"Zhou Xian is dead, and his men have scattered." Han De straightened his helmet and replied, panting heavily.
"Dead?" Zhao Ting exclaimed in surprise, pulling his gaze away from the distraught, defeated soldiers.
"They were defeated in one fell swoop," Han De said. "I saw it clearly from behind. Zhou Xian is quite capable. Even though the bandits were wearing iron armor, he still killed two and wounded two others. His gang of desperados also made some gains, but they still couldn't win. About ten of them died, and two or three others ran into the forest and probably won't be coming back."
Zhao Ting nodded slowly and said, "The Yidu New Army was also defeated, and they returned even earlier than you."
Han De was not surprised at all.
"Lu Demao didn't intend to fight seriously. I heard he ran even faster than the Yidu New Army. He fired a volley of arrows and then left," Zhao Ting said. "The Yidu New Army fought the bandits for only a few rounds before being driven down the mountain path, leaving a trail of people rolling on the ground."
Upon hearing this, Han De felt a pang of sympathy.
Such narrow terrain is extremely troublesome; once defeated, more people die from trampling each other than from the enemy.
"The thief is about to give up too, isn't he?" Han De asked.
It has been more than two months since the Yidu New Army began its pursuit and interception in May. During this period, there have been dozens of battles, large and small. One of the bandit leaders, Zhu Sanshan, was killed, and one of Zhu Dingbo's sons was killed. The government troops have cut off no fewer than twenty heads of the bandits that were hanging up.
As for those who were killed but whose bodies were not retrieved, there must be more.
Zhao Ting and his men had privately calculated that the initial number of bandits was around seventy, along with archers from Jiangning and Jurong counties.
When able-bodied men fought, they could roam freely, going down the mountain whenever they wanted and seizing whatever they pleased, so casualties should not have been significant.
They were truly confined to the Huashan area only after the garrison troops from various towns arrived one after another in May, gradually encircling them. By then, there were probably only fifty or sixty bandits left.
More than two months have passed, and the two sides have clashed many times. Although the government troops have been almost entirely defeated, they have not been without casualties. Yesterday, the men of the Huai'an Wanhu Prefecture even launched a night raid and captured a bandit alive. The man had a scraggly beard, sunken eyes, tattered armor, and the knife he carried was dulled.
By now, the bandits should have suffered more than half casualties, and the remaining ones are exhausted. With a little more effort, we can wipe them out completely.
However, spending three months to wipe out dozens of bandits is really embarrassing to admit.
Just as Zhao Ting was about to say something more, a sudden burst of drums and shouts erupted from a camp in the distance.
He was taken aback at first, then quickly climbed the watchtower.
"From the Changzhou Wanhu Prefecture," Han De said, following behind.
"What's going on? The soldiers are mutiniing?" Zhao Ting asked in surprise.
"I'll send someone to find out." Han De bowed, then quickly went down from the watchtower and sent someone to investigate.
After an unknown amount of time, the men who had been sent out returned one after another, reporting in hushed tones.
Han Defu went up to the watchtower and reported: "It is said that there is a rebellion in Changzhou. Rumors are spreading in the army that their fathers, brothers, in-laws, and neighbors suffered a crushing defeat in the suppression, with countless dead and wounded. Some people are clamoring to return to Changzhou, and the officers cannot stop them. At this time, the Prince of Zhennan has sent people to appease them, saying that other troops will be mobilized to go to Changzhou."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Ting smiled bitterly for a long time.
The reason a rumor is a rumor is that it becomes distorted during its spread. Having traveled all the way from Changzhou to here, who knows how much embellishment or exaggeration was added?
Furthermore, the commander-in-chief of the Changzhou Wanhu Prefecture is utterly incompetent. Outsiders are allowed to come and go as they please, spreading hearsay everywhere – isn't that ridiculous? Is this a military camp or a marketplace?
"One wave subsides, another rises." Zhao Ting shook his head and said, "Let the Prince of Zhennan worry about it; it's none of our business."
The most important thing now is to bring as many men back as possible. If they all die here, what will we eat?
Han De deeply agreed and quietly looked ahead.
Hidden among the rolling mountains were the last twenty or thirty bandits. For them, today's victory was perhaps just a fleeting moment of glory. In their exhausted state, defeat was imminent.
However, after all this turmoil, the news of the joint suppression by the three provinces spread throughout Jiangdong and even Jiangbei, causing real damage to the dignity of the imperial court.
Han De suddenly remembered Cao Luo.
After this battle, it's likely that no one in Jiangyin Prefecture will dare to boss him around anymore.
The crisp sound of horses' hooves echoed in the distance.
Zhao and Han looked over at the same time and saw several messengers riding swiftly eastward.