Looking north towards the rivers and mountains

Chapter 318 Chickens Fighting Each Other

On the evening of the 25th, the atmosphere in Changzhou was extremely heavy.

The doors and windows of the rear hall of the military camp were tightly closed. Boluobuhua sat cross-legged on a folding chair, with three military reports spread out on a low table in front of him, arranged from left to right, like three slaps to his face.

The first account states that the archers of the patrol office suffered a major defeat at Shilin Village. The patrol officer was killed, and more than ten archers died. Their bodies were dragged to the village entrance and displayed to the public.

In the second instance, Chen Bao'er of Benniuba gathered more than 200 people, who wrapped their heads with yellow headscarves and called themselves the "Yellow Headscarf Army." They blocked the canal and robbed merchant ships.

Third part

He picked up the third one and slammed it down hard.

"Huashan!" Boluobuhua was furious, his face turning pale and then red. "Baohua Temple has been occupied. The patrol station was burned down, and the monks from Jinling were driven down the mountain. Good, very good indeed!"

He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over Bayan and Harabuhua standing below the hall, and asked, "Tell me, are they in cahoots, working together to embarrass me?"

Boyan stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said, "Your Majesty is wise. The White Lotus Sect has been operating in Shilin Village for over a year, and several surrounding villages have been misled. Chen Bao'er was originally a powerful figure from Benniuba and has never had any dealings with the White Lotus Sect. As for the Huashan gang..."

He hesitated for a moment, then whispered, "The leader is a woman, clad in iron armor and wielding a machete. She claims to be the sworn sister of Zhu Dingbo, the bandit leader of Huashan. Zhu Dingbo was killed several months ago, and the remaining bandits either went up the mountain or scattered. This woman may be one of the survivors who, taking advantage of Your Majesty's absence from Jurong, has regrouped in the mountains." Boluo Buhua pondered for a moment, then asked, "You mean the three groups are unrelated?"

Having served as an official for many years, Bayan naturally dared not speak definitively. He simply said, "Your subject (a member of the prince's staff) is merely reporting the facts. The White Lotus Rebellion was to seek help from Maitreya Buddha, Chen Bao'er's rebellion was to avoid being conscripted, and the woman from Huashan's rebellion was to avenge her sworn brother. The reasons for these three groups are all different." "Different?" Boluobuhua sneered, reaching for the silver pot on the low table and taking a swig of mare's milk wine. The wine dripped down his chin, but he didn't bother to wipe it away. He continued, "I was just splashed with excrement at the gate of the imperial camp, then Huashan was occupied, then the White Lotus Rebellion killed the inspector, and now a Yellow Palanquin Army has appeared at Benniuba. Tell me, is this a coincidence?"

Boyan remained silent.

Harabuhua, unable to stand still any longer, interjected, "Your Majesty, I believe there must be someone pulling the strings behind this. The officials and commoners of Changzhou are all incompetent and corrupt, and the local powerful families are secretly colluding with the White Lotus Sect. They are taking advantage of Your Majesty's trip south to try and give you a hard time."

"Who?" Boluobuhua stared at him.

Harabuhua opened his mouth, then, quick-wittedly, said, "Changzhou... the Lu family, a powerful local clan in Changzhou, and... and the Yang family." "Do they have the guts?" Boluobuhua interrupted him. "I've been in Changzhou for a month, and the Lu family has been extremely respectful, while the Yang family is still providing provisions. Even if they aren't entirely sincere, would they dare to rebel? They wouldn't dare even if they had ten lives. I think you're trying to use this opportunity to loot, aren't you?"

Harabuhua awkwardly took a half step back.

After a moment of contemplation, Boyan slowly said, "Your Majesty, the White Lotus Sect and the Yellow Cloth Army can be dealt with in Changzhou, but Huashan is a matter of Your Majesty's reputation and must be wiped out as soon as possible."

Boluobuhua leaned against the back of the folding chair, staring at the roof beams for a long while in a daze.

Whether it was a misperception or not, Bayan noticed that although the Prince of Zhennan still had a tense expression, there was a hint of shame, anger, worry, and even regret in his eyes. What was he regretting? Was it his arrogance and eagerness to accept bribes? Bayan couldn't accuse him, because he himself had accepted bribes, and quite a lot of them. "The most important thing now is to wipe out the bandits of Huashan; nothing else matters." Boluobuhua pulled himself out of his thoughts and said, "Pass down the order. Bayan, Harabuhua, hold your breath and listen quietly."

"First, send people to Yangzhou to transfer all the remaining troops of the scouts and the Han army commanders, and send two commanders each from the crossbowmen and artillerymen's offices, as well as the Mongol army commanders."

Bayan secretly calculated that the scouts and Han troops still had over a thousand men left, the Mongol army consisted of cavalry with over six hundred riders, and the crossbowmen and artillerymen, totaling less than nine hundred men across four thousand households, made up a total of two thousand five or six hundred men, which wasn't enough...

"Secondly, instruct the Changzhou Wanhu Prefecture to intensify its attack on Shilin Village. The White Lotus sect's roots are in Jiangxi, Lianghuai, and Huguang, but it has no foundation in western Zhejiang. We should carry out a thorough extermination."

"Thirdly, the Zhenjiang Wanhu Prefecture is ordered to immediately mobilize, divided into two groups: one to intercept from the rear and block the retreat of the White Lotus Sect and the Yellow Cloak Army bandits, and the other to block the territory of Danyang County to prevent the Huashan bandits from fleeing eastward."

"Fourth, issue an order to mobilize the Yidu New Army (stationed on Jiqing Road), Huai'an (Taiping Road), Jiankang (Ningguo Road), Guangde (Guangde Road), artillerymen and craftsmen (Huzhou Road), and interpreter Han army (Jiangyin Prefecture) to reinforce the six Wanhu Prefectures, and divide the troops into Jurong and Changzhou, without fail."

He still holds the title of "Grand Marshal of Three Provinces," which has not yet been revoked, so he has the authority to mobilize these troops. Whether they obey or not, and how to coordinate between them, is another matter entirely.

"Your Majesty, you mustn't!" Bayan immediately advised.

"Why?" Boluobuhua asked, his eyes wide.

Bayan, his forehead slightly sweating, said, "Your Majesty, the armies have just dispersed; to start another large-scale war now would be difficult."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Boluobuhua asked unhappily.

"It would be better to order the Yidu New Army, the Han interpreters, the artillerymen and craftsmen, and the Huai'an Ten Thousand Households to guard the border carefully and wait for the enemy to tire themselves out," Boyan advised. "Only the Jiankang and Guangde Ten Thousand Households should be dispatched north, with the Taizhou Ten Thousand Households (stationed in Huizhou Road) and the Zhenzhou Ten Thousand Households (stationed in Zhenzhou and Chuzhou) serving as backup. In this way, most of the troops mobilized will be the military households that have been resting and recuperating since the last time, and it will not be a large-scale mobilization that would cause a stir."

Boluobuhua's eyes darted around a few times, but he didn't answer immediately.

Bayan was all too familiar with his king's expressions and knew that his king was actually all bark and no bite. In his previous rage, he had wanted nothing more than to summon all his troops and wipe out the bandits in one fell swoop, even to the point of reducing them to ashes. But now he had calmed down a bit, and with Bayan's persuasion, he was actually slightly afraid.

Not only was he afraid of the soldiers complaining, but he was also afraid of being reprimanded by his superiors—"You have already reported the victory, saying that the Huashan bandits have been wiped out, but you have sent out even more troops than last time. What is the reason for this?"

"We'll do as you say," Boluobuhua finally nodded and said.

Bayan breathed a sigh of relief. Harabuhua looked at this person and then at that person, but didn't say anything, which was taken as tacit agreement.

Once the plan was finalized, the entire Prince's residence was immediately mobilized, with messengers dispatched in all directions to spread the word.

Unbeknownst to them, their direction had been completely skewed, and no one had any intention of plundering money in Jiangyin and Suzhou anymore; they just wanted to get through the immediate crisis first.

On the morning of the 26th, hundreds of soldiers, their faces dark and their spirits low, marched westward along the official road.

Eighty soldiers led the way, followed by four hundred auxiliary soldiers, and with some vehicles, the procession stretched for a full two miles.

As they drew closer to Shilin Village, the soldiers donned their armor, but their weapons were of varying quality. Some carried spears, others carried ring-handled swords, and one even carried a bow with a broken string, cursing as he walked.

The auxiliary soldiers were in even worse shape. They wore all sorts of clothes: tattered jackets, short tunics, and straw sandals. Some didn't even have proper weapons, and set off carrying only a carrying pole and a hoe.

The commander was a chiliarch surnamed Wang, who was riding his horse swaying back and forth, yawning incessantly.

I drank until the wee hours last night and set off before dawn this morning. I was really tired.

"Hurry up! Hurry up!" He snapped, whipping a soldier beside him with his riding crop. "Stop dawdling! We won't even reach Shilin Village by noon!"

The team seemed to have sped up a bit, but that was all it "seemed" to be.

Hundreds of people walked on the official road, raising dust high into the air, visible from two miles away.

As the sun rose higher, the fog dissipated, revealing the true faces of both sides.

Most of the fields on both sides of the official road were abandoned, with the stubble of crops that were not harvested last autumn still standing, gray and bare. Further on, the terrain gradually became undulating, and mounds appeared on both sides of the road, covered with withered grass and shrubs.

"Commander, there's a dense forest ahead," a junior officer said, approaching the commander's horse and pointing ahead. "The road is narrow; it's easy for someone to hide there."

Qianhu glanced at it and didn't think much of it.

"Those White Lotus cultists know how to ambush?" He scoffed and said, "It's too late. Split the team into two groups and go in batches." The junior officer opened his mouth but didn't dare to say anything more.

The team quickly arrived near the dense forest.

The official road narrows here, and the terrain on the north and south sides is higher, like a small earthen slope, densely covered with trees.

The road surface was full of potholes, and it was extremely slippery after a light rain last night.

A portion of the soldiers passed through first without incident.

Another group of soldiers and auxiliary troops lagged behind, supporting each other and cursing.

The commander, riding his horse in the middle of the second contingent of soldiers, was yawning with his head down.

Just then, a sharp whistle suddenly rang out from the woods on the left.

Qianhu looked up abruptly, but before he could see what was happening, a deluge of stones began to fall from the sky.

It wasn't a bow and arrow; the White Lotus Sect didn't have that many bows.

Instead, all sorts of oddly shaped stones rolled down from the top of the mound, carrying mud and withered grass.

Some of the large stones that were pushed down landed on the main road, even bouncing twice before crushing into the crowd.

A donkey cart loaded with dry rations was hit by a stone, shattering the cart. Startled, the donkeys reared up, braying, and dragged the wrecked cart forward, creating chaos.

"There's an ambush!" someone exclaimed.

Before the shout had even finished, a whistle rang out from the mound on the right.

Suddenly, a hundred or so figures rose from the withered grass, looking down at the soldiers who were in chaos in the middle of the road, armed with bamboo spears, wooden lances, hoes, sickles, and rakes.

"Go! Move forward! Charge through this section!" The commander drew his sword and shouted the order.

The soldiers at the front received the order and took off running, but the road was too narrow and they couldn't run fast because of the crowd.

The auxiliary soldiers behind, unaware of what was happening ahead, continued to surge forward, causing the two streams to swarm together and the scene to become increasingly chaotic.

On the left-hand mound, the number of rolling and crashing stones gradually decreased, and a group of White Lotus cult members came into view. They were dressed in variegated clothes, with red cloths wrapped around their heads. The leader was a tall man who held an iron fork with a gleaming polished tip. Despite the cold weather, he was shirtless, and a lotus flower was tattooed on his chest.

"Maitreya will descend to deliver all sentient beings!" he roared, and was the first to rush down the mound.

Dozens of people followed behind, some carrying knives, some guns, and others carrying pitchforks. They charged down the mound with unstoppable force, sending stones crashing down with a clatter.

On the official road, the vanguard soldiers had already run several hundred paces when they looked back and saw their comrades-in-arms cut in two. The White Lotus Rebels had attacked from both sides, cutting off the road. The auxiliary soldiers had no will to fight; they threw down their belongings and ran. Carrying poles, hoes, and food bags were scattered all over the ground.

Someone ran into the swamp by the roadside, got stuck in the mud and couldn't pull his feet out, and was then stabbed down by someone who caught up with him.

Some people rushed around like headless flies, constantly creating chaos in their own crowd, until they were cleaved to the ground by a single blow.

Some people shouted and yelled, even weeping, constantly undermining their own morale.

The commander had just rushed out of the narrow passage and reined in his frightened warhorse when he looked back and his face turned pale.

"Go back! Go back and provide backup!" he ordered.

The soldiers in the vanguard ignored him. They ran even faster, some even stripping off their armor and throwing it by the roadside, just to get as fast as possible. Commander Wang, on horseback, was isolated and helpless. Behind him were the scattered auxiliary troops, and in front of him were the fleeing soldiers. On the mound to his left, even more White Lotus followers emerged, a dark mass of at least two hundred.

Finished!

A stray arrow flew in and struck his horse squarely in the neck.

The horse neighed in agony, its front legs buckling, throwing Commander Wang off. He landed in the mud, his face covered in blood. He tried to get up and run, but an iron fork pierced through his chest from behind.

"The commander is dead! The commander is dead!"

The shouts spread like a plague, and the last bit of morale collapsed.

On the official road, the soldiers scattered and fled, some to the east, some to the west, some into the wasteland, and some into the forest.

The White Lotus followers, who were initially trembling with fear, are now riding high on their victory and pressing their advantage.

A victory in a brutal, low-level military contest is about to be secured.