Chapter 494: Why Are You Hitting Me Again?

Ding!

A soldier on night patrol atop the walls of Liaocheng suddenly heard an inexplicable crisp sound from below the city wall.

But he did not pay it any mind, because he was merely a militia soldier scraping by in the army, not even drawing military pay, just getting three meals a day.

Patrolling the city wall at night was already doing right by the official masters.

The elite soldiers under Wu Lingxun's command, namely those frontier troops from Youzhou, did not handle night patrols. Wu Lingxun had them rest well, preparing for the upcoming winter campaign south into Henan.

Then he handed all these miscellaneous and rotten chores to the local militia from the prefecture and counties. In Wu Lingxun's view, no battle would occur in the near future, so there was no need to run his field army ragged either.

This was much like the logic of keeping a dog in the courtyard. A dog might not be able to kill a thief, but it would bark when it saw one enter the yard, and thieves did not come every few days, so there was no need to keep one's nerves stretched so tight.

Ding! Ding!

Two more crisp sounds rang out, and this militia soldier finally could hold back no longer, poking his head over to look down.

Just then, a Duannao thrust straight up from below at a tricky angle, piercing directly into his throat!

Squelch!

As the sound of blade entering flesh rang out, the figure in the shadows grabbed him and leapt up in a single bound, scaling the city wall! And this militia soldier fell flat on his back, clutching his neck, blood spilling everywhere!

The one leading the charge was none other than He Changqi, though very strangely, he was now reeking of piss all over, with fresh blood on his chest, looking somewhat disheveled.

"Come up!"

He Changqi reached out and hauled up the Yinqiang Xiaojie Army soldiers behind him! They were all elite assault troops in the army, charging at the forefront in battle formations and responsible for the first wave of scaling walls during sieges, with extremely rich combat experience.

Against an ordinary city like Liaocheng, whose walls were no more than two zhang high, the method He Changqi used was very simple, one they had even tested outside the walls of Kaifeng.

Tang dynasty city wall specifications had set standards, emphasizing "adapting to local conditions." That is, without exceeding the basic specifications, they made do with what was available and used local materials.

For instance, in a major city like Chang'an, the wall bricks' thickness (not the wall's thickness) could reach three chi; while the city walls of ordinary prefectures and counties, the better ones also used brick, except the brick kilns could not fire bricks that large, nor did they need to stack them that high.

So the wall brick thickness generally ranged between five cun and two chi, offering a wide range of choices.

In poorer areas that could not afford brick walls, they simply built walls from rammed earth. Those earthen walls could be climbed directly by finding any load-bearing awl.

The method He Changqi used was, to put it simply, extremely simple.

The joints where wall bricks met were often bonded with glutinous rice-lime mortar. This stuff could not withstand wind and sun, eroding far faster than the wall bricks themselves.

A casual chisel strike could carve out a gap, and over time it would even collapse. So under normal circumstances, repairing city walls was also one of the required skills for Tang dynasty Inspectors.

However, the Tang court had not allocated funds for repairing city walls for a long time, and Liaocheng was naturally no exception, with many eroded spots on its walls.

He Changqi stepped on these gaps and went straight up, chiseling his way as he went. After the first person got up, those lined up behind followed the gaps' positions for footholds, copying the method and climbing straight up.

The wall bricks of Liaocheng's city wall were less than one chi thick, with gaps everywhere, some not even needing to be chiseled, usable as-is, with footholds all over the place.

And so the scene of He Changqi scaling the wall "barehanded" came to be.

This method, once explained, was worth nothing, as crude as could be! If done during the day, or if discovered by the enemy in advance, it would be little different from suicide.

However, at night, catching the enemy off guard, the outcome was a completely different story.

"Ene—"

A defender on the Liaocheng wall saw He Changqi, and before he could shout the second character of "enemy attack," he was stabbed from behind, the blade tip already piercing through his heart, jutting partway out of his front chest.

The blade tip gleamed with cold light under the torchlight!

More and more Yinqiang Xiaojie Army soldiers scaled the wall like phantoms.

Because there had been no preparation beforehand, only a small portion of the Liaocheng militia responsible for patrol were actually patrolling the wall, a small portion were patrolling the streets, and quite a few were hiding at the base of the wall slacking off.

They heard the sounds of fighting on the wall and did not immediately process what was happening. By the time they realized something was wrong, He Changqi had already led his death squad charging down the wall, killing their way straight toward the city gate.

The soldiers guarding the city gate were not local militia, but frontier troops from Youzhou. In just one exchange, He Changqi could tell that these men were not the pushovers who could not last a single move under his hand earlier, and in an instant both sides began taking casualties.

The Yinqiang Xiaojie Army's rampaging momentum was checked; though they still charged toward the city gate, their speed of advance had been greatly blunted.

Seeing the battle at a stalemate, He Changqi suddenly had a flash of inspiration and shouted loudly: "The city has fallen! Run! The city has fallen! Run!"

Hearing his shout, the Yinqiang Xiaojie Army soldiers still on the wall who had not yet come down joined in shouting.

"The city has fallen, run!"

"The city has fallen, run!"

"The city has fallen, run!"

For a moment, shouts of the city falling and running were everywhere, and those Liaocheng local militia, already like startled birds, finally had their last string snapped.

In their panic, these people actually opened the north gate themselves, then jumped directly into the Tuhai River outside the north gate!

Quite a few swam from the south bank of the Tuhai River to the north bank!

Then they vanished into the vast night, their whereabouts unknown.

The Tuhai River was still a seasonal river in the Tang dynasty, drying up in autumn and rising during the plum rain season.

The people of Liaocheng normally used it only as an open sewer. Because of this river's existence, the north wall was virtually undefended at night, with the gate guarded by local militia.

This scene left those Hebei frontier troops still fighting desperately at the other gate positions dumbfounded!

They were subordinate to the Najiang Army under the Youzhou Jiedushi, all hardened men who had survived a hundred battles; actively abandoning the city gate to flee was something they simply could never bring themselves to do.

The enemy not opening the city gate, while their own side opened it instead, was truly unheard of!

Though these Hebei frontier troops were being beaten back step by step by the Yinqiang Xiaojie Army, they could still ensure the city gate held; they never expected to be backstabbed by their "own people" like this!

It was like being in a fight with someone and getting stabbed in the kidney—the fighting spirit instantly deflated!

In an instant, the defeat collapsed like a mountain crumbling!

"Jiedushi, the north gate, the north gate! The north gate is undefended!"

Someone on the wall shouted down to those below.

Actually, he did not need to shout; Fang Chongyong outside the city had been closely monitoring the battle, waiting for He Changqi and the others to open the city gate.

The moment the north gate was opened by the local militia, he noticed the situation and immediately ordered Wang Nande to lead five hundred men to charge the north gate!

This wave of assault directly shattered Liaocheng's defenses!

After the time it takes to burn one stick of incense, all four city gates were opened. The few remaining Hebei Najiang Army soldiers rushed to the prefectural office, preparing to make a last stand. As for the local militia, they had long vanished without a trace, not a single one left.

These Tuanjie soldiers aren't afraid of military law at all.

When they shed their uniforms they become local farmers; everywhere are relatives, neighbors, old acquaintances. They can hide with any family for a while, and once the heat dies down they are heroes again—who would remember they once were deserters.

Wu Lingxun, who was used to the carefree life of the border town, never expected the Tuanjie soldiers to be truly "united"; one person's shout sends a hundred fleeing.

Wu Lingxun clearly never studied properly; Sun Tzu of the Warring States already explained in Sunzi·Jiudi: "The lords fight on their own lands, which become scattered lands."

The Tang hermit Li Quan offered a deep insight, stating in Tai Bai Yin Jing·Di Wu Xian Zu: "Soldiers rely on the soil, cherish wives and children; when pressed they disperse—this is a scattered land."

The surrendered army fights far from home; fleeing would likely end in death at the hands of local farmers, so they would rather die than retreat.

But the local Tuanjie soldiers have no such concern; when disaster strikes, fleeing is the first option.

The clamor of fighting inside Liaocheng gradually faded; soon, Che Guangqian, covered in blood, emerged from the south gate and, bowing, said to Fang Chongyong: "Jiedushi, the city walls have been cleared, the remaining troops have fled to the magistrate's office. He Laohu has already led men to encircle the walls."

"Let's go meet Wu Lingxun."

Fang Chongyong flipped off his horse, his expression somewhat odd.

The decisive strike that broke the city feels oddly inexplicable.

He stepped forward, lowered his voice, and asked, "Who opened the north gate of Liaocheng?"

"Uh, it was the Tuanjie soldiers inside the city who opened it themselves to flee back to their hometowns."

Che Guangqian answered truthfully.

Fang Chongyong couldn't help the twitch at the corner of his eye; he had painstakingly plotted, considering almost every detail, yet he never imagined the local Tuanjie soldiers would be so "hardy."

"Never mind, we'll discuss it after entering the city."

……

The crescent moon shines over the nine provinces, some families rejoice while others lament.

If Fang Chongyong's capture of Liaocheng could be called triumphant, Wu Lingxun, having been bludgeoned, wore a bewildered expression, still not recovered.

If it weren't for a personal soldier reporting that the magistrate's office was surrounded, he wouldn't have known what had happened!

"Tell me, how did you fail to hold the city gate? How did the Yinqiang Xiaojie Army enter the city?"

In the main hall of the Bozhou magistrate's office inside Liaocheng, Wu Lingxun, clad in armor, brandished a sword and pointed at a ten general kneeling on the ground.

He is the ten general responsible for night patrol tonight, yet he failed to defend the city.

If it weren't unsuitable to kill now, Wu Lingxun would have already slashed this man!

The atmosphere in the hall was unusually heavy; everyone present had their own thoughts but could not speak them to outsiders.

"General Wu, the magistrate's office is surrounded on all sides; we have fewer than a hundred troops, we fear we cannot hold it!"

Suddenly, a personal soldier rushed in from outside, bowed to Wu Lingxun, and said.

Under the torchlight, the faces of those present varied—some nervous, some terrified, some calm with an indifferent expression.

"Lay down your weapons and open the gate."

Wu Lingxun sat on the main seat like a deflated rubber ball. Because of the previous disastrous defeat, he was transferred to the surrendered army and is not the commanding general.

In fact, he didn't have much fighting spirit.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been assigned to Liaocheng to guard the flank. This is neither the main attack direction nor the primary defensive line.

He hasn't even recognized any of his subordinate generals.

"General Wu, would opening the city gate like this be improper?"

A deputy general stepped forward to ask, and Wu Lingxun for a moment couldn't recall the man's name, only that his surname was Huang.

"General Huang, don't let them die in vain. I am not dealing with the Yinqiang Xiaojie Army for the first time; they do not kill prisoners."

Wu Lingxun let out a long sigh, unwilling to explain further, waved his hand casually, and slumped in his chair.

I'm tired, let it be destruction!

"Understood!"

The Huang deputy general could only take a few personal soldiers, walk to the magistrate's main gate, order the guard to open it, and casually toss his weapons to the ground.

Accompanied by a sour clacking sound, the magistrate's gate slowly opened. He Changqi looked at the rows of Hebei rebel officers and soldiers standing on either side, unarmed, let out a cold snort, and, with his men, strode straight into the hall.

He glanced at Wu Lingxun, feeling a vague familiarity, as if having seen him somewhere before.

"Uh, you are…"

He furrowed his brow, unable to recall Wu Lingxun's exact name.

The two stared at each other with wide eyes.

"Alright, that's enough."

At that moment, Fang Chongyong also entered, casually pulling He Changqi aside so he wouldn't embarrass himself by calling the wrong name.

"General Wu, long time no see. Since our little gathering at Ye City, this Jiedushi has missed you greatly."

Fang Chongyong looked at Wu Lingxun with a smiling gaze and said.

Hearing this, the ten generals and deputy generals in the hall all stared at Wu Lingxun with terrified eyes, seeming to understand why Liaocheng had inexplicably fallen overnight.

Wu Lingxun, flustered to the point of feeling fire in his chest, pointed at Fang Chongyong and shouted, "Jiedushi Fang, stop talking nonsense. Last time I was merely captured after your troops launched a surprise attack; I'm not at all familiar with you, certainly not a friend! Not worth your concern!"

His words came out incoherent, as if his secrets had been exposed, looking angry and frantic.

"Alright, alright, as friends I won't make things difficult for you. General Wu, tidy up the weak ones, leave the weapons and armor behind, and then lead them out of Liaocheng wherever you like!"

Fang Chongyong waved his hand lightly and said.

Everyone present, friend or foe, stared in disbelief with widened eyes, wanting to speak but not knowing how to begin!

"Jiedushi, just release them like that."

Che Guangqian pulled Fang Chongyong aside and whispered.

"General Wu is our old friend now; don't make things hard for him."

Fang Chongyong emphasized the word "friend."

Che Guangqian immediately understood.

"Everyone, once you remove your armor, you can leave Liaocheng!"

"You all, everyone!"

Che Guangqian looked around at the crowd and shouted loudly.

"Wait, there's something I haven't clarified yet!"

Wu Lingxun, sweating profusely, shouted in a panic, but before he could continue, Che Guangqian raised her voice and shouted, "I'll count to ten; anyone who still refuses to leave the government office will be killed without mercy!"

"Ten, nine, eight, seven…"

Che Guangqian hadn't even reached five when the Hebei rebels inside the government office were all gone!

Including Wu Lingxun, they ran faster than rabbits!

Indeed, the human desire for survival is boundless.

"Jiedushi, the brothers are risking life and death; releasing Wu Lingxun is enough—why release those Hebei bandit troops as well?"

He Changqi asked with a dissatisfied expression.

"He Laohu, Jiedushi, this is a counter‑intelligence ploy.

When those people return, they'll claim Wu Lingxun is one of us, causing Huangfu Weiming and Wu Lingxun to distrust each other, eventually forcing him to rebel.

Moreover, those Hebei bandit troops, knowing we don't execute prisoners, will be in a good mood and release captives. Next time we face them, they won't fight to the death.

Che Guangqian acted as a messenger, explaining on behalf of Fang Chongyong to the generals present.

Liaocheng was the bridgehead Fang Chongyong chose for this Hebei campaign; capturing Liaocheng gave us a foothold in Hebei.

But how to wage the next battle is the real key.

"Send someone to have Li Sheng command the united troops of Caozhou, bring the first batch of supplies to stock at Lu County, and prepare to rendezvous with us. Have Li Sheng guard the floating bridge, block the surface of the Yellow River, and forbid navigation."

Fang Chongyong gave Duan Xiushi a brief order.

After the latter left with the order, Fang Chongyong turned to Che Guangqian and He Changqi and said, "Jiedushi entrusts you two with an important task. One of you holds a sword ready to kill, the other holds a ledger to talk slick. One plays the tough guy, the other plays the nice guy. Understand?"

"Please, Jiedushi, give the orders!"

The two clasped their fists in salute and said.

Fang Chongyong nodded slightly, thinking to himself: Huangfu Weiming, Huangfu Weiming, although I won't gain any flesh from handling this, making you spill a few liters of blood is still beneficial.