Chapter 137: Real and Fake Jianzhou Barbarians

Tong Shouyue saw that Mao Wenlong, after being cursed at by him for half the day, showed no anger — his face still carried a faint, indifferent smile, as if he had seen through all worldly affairs and was free of desire. Enraged, Tong Shouyue roared, "Dog barbarian, what are you grinning at!"

Mao Wenlong's expression did not change, nor did he answer. His hand suddenly shot toward the blade resting against his neck, twisted his wrist to point the tip straight at Tong Shouyue, and thrust it forward violently, driving the entire knife directly into Tong Shouyue's body.

Mao Wenlong was a battle-hardened veteran — how great was his strength? After the blade entered, its momentum did not lessen, and it sank in all the way to the hilt.

Releasing the hilt, Mao Wenlong took a step back and bellowed, "Strike!"

At this, a sudden catastrophe erupted. The nearby garrison troops of Tongyuan Fort had not even reacted to what was happening before they were hacked down in a frenzy by their own allies — those Eight Banners soldiers who had entered the fort later.

These so-called Jianzhou barbarian Eight Banners troops had all come on horseback. The garrison of Tongyuan Fort stood there in a daze, but these two thousand-odd cavalrymen were not dazed at all.

Having long been fully prepared, the two thousand-odd cavalrymen directly drew their sabers and began slashing at the many garrison troops of Tongyuan Fort.

Cavalry against infantry at close quarters, before the appearance of divine weapons like the Maxim gun, was essentially no different from slaughter.

At that moment, the garrison of Tongyuan Fort could only curse their parents bitterly for not giving them two extra legs — but how could infantry outrun cavalry?

Amid the neighing of warhorses, many garrison soldiers were struck, their tendons snapped and bones broken, collapsing to the ground groaning without end.

The cavalrymen, their bloodlust aroused, hacked and slashed with reckless abandon.

They did not even spare the Tongyuan Fort garrison troops who had thrown down their weapons and knelt in surrender — they either trampled them to death under their horses or simply charged over and cut them down with a swing of the blade.

The garrison troops, originally dazed and disoriented by the sudden, violent attack from their own "master lords'" cavalry, now saw that kneeling in surrender still meant certain death. Some of the bolder ones decided to raise their blades and spears to resist.

Since death was inevitable either way, they might as well fight with everything they had — what if they fought their way to that one slim chance of survival?

But they never expected these cavalrymen to be so utterly vicious. Seeing someone raise a blade or spear to resist, they would simply spur their horses away, circle around these men, and go slaughter other garrison troops.

And just as the bypassed soldiers were rejoicing, a blade from another cavalryman would strike them in the back without warning. In a short time, the whole of Tongyuan Fort became a meat grinder of blood and flesh.

Of course, what this grinder ground up was only the blood and flesh of the Jianzhou barbarian garrison.

After two or three quarters of an hour, Tongyuan Fort was already a river of blood, with scarcely a single living soul left inside. Mao Wenlong, still not fully satisfied, simply called Geng Zhongming to his side and ordered, "Go.

Give every last Jianzhou barbarian an extra stab, so we don't leave any fish that slipped the net. Then cut off all their heads for me.

I'm going to give the Jianzhou barbarians a grand gift."

Geng Zhongming, hearing this, immediately turned and ordered his men to carry out the command. Only then did he turn back and say to Mao Wenlong, "A brilliant stratagem, Grand General! This time, those dog Jianzhou barbarians are really going to feel the pain."

After delivering this flattery, Geng Zhongming continued, "You have to admit, when that kid Shang Kexi got dressed up, he really did look like a Jianzhou barbarian. He even fooled the real Jianzhou barbarians."

The man who had just finished cutting people down and hurried over — the one disguised as the Jianzhou barbarian cavalry commander — was none other than Shang Kexi.

Originally a young man in his twenties, years of campaigning on the battlefield and drifting at sea made him look like a middle-aged man in his thirties. No wonder Tong Shouyue, the garrison commander of Tongyuan Fort, had failed to see through his true age.

Hearing Geng Zhongming speak like this, Shang Kexi let out a "Heh," and said to Mao Wenlong, "Grandfather, how was your grandson's performance just now? Also, now that we've killed all these dog Jianzhou barbarians, what's our next move? Hold the fort and defend it? Or withdraw?"

Mao Wenlong said to Shang Kexi, "Yongxi, we can't hold this place. Take some men and find plenty of things to start fires. Burn this Tongyuan Fort to the ground. We're pulling out immediately. The Jianzhou barbarians' real reinforcements are probably almost here."

After Shang Kexi had taken the order and left, Mao Wenlong turned back to Geng Zhongming and said, "In the future, cut down on that kind of crap talk! Yongxi is a child who's had a hard life.

His father died at the hands of the Jianzhou barbarians — how could he not hate them? Making him shave his head and disguise himself as a Jianzhou barbarian this time really did wrong by the boy."

Geng Zhongming then said sheepishly, "The Grand General is right. I meant nothing else by it."

Mao Wenlong laughed. "Alright, alright. We're all soldiers here — where's all this crap talk coming from? Come on, let's go prepare that grand gift for the Jianzhou barbarians."

Once there was not a single living Jianzhou barbarian left in the whole of Tongyuan Fort, Mao Wenlong finally ordered his men to start setting fires inside the fort.

Seeing the flames rise, Mao Wenlong then gave the order to pile all the severed Jianzhou barbarian heads in front of Tongyuan Fort. He personally went and found a wooden board, took out a small knife, and carved a poem onto it:

"The Jianzhou barbarians sent troops to guard Tongyuan — today Lord Mao came to take a look.

Slaughtered all three thousand soldiers in the fort — come another day, in Shenyang this will be replayed."

After carving it, he stuck the wooden board right in front of the small mountain of heads — the Jingguan.

Geng Zhongming read it and deliberately curled his lip. "Grand General, you always boast of being well-read in poetry and books, at least a man of letters. What kind of stuff is this you've written? It'll just make those Jianzhou barbarians look down on you."

Mao Wenlong, however, laughed and cursed, "If I wrote in flowery parallel prose, would those dog Jianzhou barbarians even understand it? This is just fine.

We've got to be considerate of the Jianzhou barbarians' lack of learning, don't we? Besides, after spending so long with you bunch of ruffians, what trace of a scholar's bearing do I have left?

You're the ones who've corrupted me, you sons of bitches."

Seeing Geng Zhongming's sheepish grin, Mao Wenlong stopped scolding him and simply announced, "All troops! The Jianzhou barbarians' real reinforcements are about to arrive. We're pulling out!"

Shang Kexi, having finished setting the fires, ran over and said to Mao Wenlong, "Grandfather, next time your grandson is not playing a Jianzhou barbarian! This pigtail is damn awkward!"

Mao Wenlong picked up his utility knife, carefully cut off the pigtail hanging from the back of Shang Kexi's head, and then laughed. "You fool! Who knows when we'll get such a good opportunity again? Even if you wanted to play a Jianzhou barbarian next time, you wouldn't get the chance."

After carefully inspecting Shang Kexi's head and feeling quite satisfied with his own handiwork, Mao Wenlong laughed again. "Alright, since you can't play a Jianzhou barbarian anymore, you can play a bald donkey for a while instead!"

With a pained expression, Shang Kexi pressed his palms together, bowed, and said, "Ami-tofu!"

By the time Mao Wenlong and his party had fled far away, the Jianzhou barbarians' real reinforcements had just barely arrived before Tongyuan Fort. Looking at the smoldering ruins before him, Jin Peng, who had led the troops, was so furious he nearly vomited blood.

Seeing no possibility of pursuing Mao Wenlong, he had no choice but to take the doggerel poem Mao Wenlong had left behind and return to report.

How furious Hong Taiji was when he later got the news can be set aside for now. Far away in the capital, when the Chongzhen Emperor received the report, he too was so angry he kept cursing Mao Wenlong: "You wastrel! Such fine slaves, and you just went and wasted them all!"

Thanks to "The Wanli Hypocrite" author: Xuelai Luobo for providing the plot concept. The key issue is that this little newbie's writing skill is insufficient to write such a perfect scheme well. Sorry, sorry.

(End of Chapter)