Chapter 639: Field Battle

When Bai Lang came to the border, he brought not only his younger siblings and personal guards, but also Jia Rong, whom he had dragged along, as well as Jia Rong's wife and two concubines. When Bai Lang arbitrarily led his troops out of the pass, he arranged for Jia Rong and the others to stay at a stronghold on the grasslands and left troops to guard them. However, once news arrived from within the pass that the Emperor was furious and had declared the Earl of Tianshui a rebel, Jia Rong was so terrified that he fell ill. This illness lasted for several months, and by the time Bai Lang returned, having directly attacked the border and captured the pass city...

Jia Rong had officially passed away from his illness.

Heaven is my witness, Bai Lang truly did nothing in that matter. When comforting Qin Keqing, You Erjie, and You Sanjie, he could only say, "Jia Rong lacked the fortune to endure such things." These women dared not say that it was Bai Lang's own doing; how much good fortune would one need to die right now and not implicate one's family... As for these women, what else could they do? Bai Lang was cut from the same cloth as Cao Gong Mengde Aman. Furthermore, Bai Lang possessed the courage of a tiger, and how could the three women possibly resist him...

Thus, without a shred of shame, Bai Lang had the three women attend to his daily needs, which could be considered "relieving his fatigue."

Unfortunately, these three women remained delicate, and marching with them was nearly impossible, so that was that—Bai Lang ordered Bai Biao to lead his main force to cover the logistics troops, letting the three women travel slowly within the supply train. He had Bai Xiao lead fifteen hundred infantry to provide support along the way, while he himself took Bai Bao and Bai Ying's fifteen hundred cavalry and fifteen hundred infantry to march rapidly, heading straight for the Capital. Along the way, Bai Lang did not spare a single prefecture or county city.

Bypassing them was impossible; if he bypassed them, his logistics line would be doomed—though Bai Lang didn't really care about logistics to begin with, as once he stormed the Capital, what wouldn't he have? But, big brother, we are rebelling; we must at least look like we are marching to war, and securing the logistics line was one such example. Attacking the cities was also quite simple; the officials in most of these cities were useless trash. Bai Lang ordered Bai Bao to lead the cavalry in a surprise attack on the city gates, which succeeded two out of three times.

Once they broke in, it was even simpler: seize the government office, seize the armory, and seize the granary; basically, the city was secured. If anyone took the opportunity to commit illegal acts on the streets, they were beheaded on the spot. Military supplies were taken directly from the government treasury; however, as is often the case in many cities, the figures on the books never matched reality—having it on the books but nothing in actual stock was the norm for the imperial court...

"It's only been three generations since the founding, for fuck's sake." Bai Lang cursed, and now he could only order them to prey on the wealthy—since it was already like this, he might as well just loot the local wealthy families. In any case, under this imperial court, any wealthy family was basically not a good person, and they definitely had a hand in the local deficits. As for the county magistrates and such in the city, Bai Lang knew that you basically couldn't squeeze much out of them—what should have been shared with the masters above had already been shared, and what should have been converted to cash had already been sent back to their hometowns. At most, there was only a bit of liquid wealth left in the official's place.

Under Bai Lang's personal supervision, Bai Bao and Bai Ying led their respective troops to raid homes and exterminate clans in both the city and the countryside—this was a business of risking one's head; one had to be ruthless.

There were also those who closed their gates to defend the city and constantly sent out scouts to report. Bai Lang also felt that if the Emperor in the Capital didn't know the Earl of Tianshui was rebelling by now, he shouldn't be the Emperor anymore. Right now, he was likely convening the cabinet to hold a meeting and mobilizing various troops to defend the throne... "However, the Capital Battalion is probably even more rotten than the Eight Banners and the Luying Bing; I reckon they're on par with the Ming Dynasty's Capital Battalion... At most, they'll just summon the Liaodong troops and the Shandong troops?"

Regardless of which troops they were, Bai Lang didn't fear a single one. Right now, it was those who closed their gates to defend that caught his attention—Bai Lang ordered Bai Ying to lead the army to attack the city. Including the temporarily conscripted laborers, there were at most two thousand people inside; Bai Lang, a veteran of many battles, could tell at a glance. There were at most three or four hundred regular soldiers; the rest were fundamentally incapable of fighting, so in Bai Lang's view, such a city should be taken in one fell swoop.

However, the young girl Bai Ying did not do well; she tried to ram the gate and scale the walls at the same time, only to be beaten back by the enemy, with casualties not even reaching a few dozen. Bai Lang stroked his beard and smiled—this guy, only in his teens, already looked quite mature, with a beard a finger long... "Still young... Bai Bao, you go. Order your men to fight on foot. It's just this many people; even with wheel-based tactics, they'll collapse in one round."

It was just as Bai Lang had expected. Although Bai Bao's fighting skills were also quite mediocre, after his men went through a round, the laborers on the city walls truly couldn't hold on anymore. The walls were occupied, and then, taking advantage of the momentum, the city was broken. The county magistrate had already committed suicide, and Bai Lang did not go too far; he ordered the magistrate's family—those who hadn't died yet—to take the magistrate's body back. He had no interest in insulting the dead. After thoroughly looting the wealthy families' assets in the city, Bai Lang ordered Bai Bao to lead the troops to watch the laborers in the city dismantle the city gates and a portion of the walls before following up.

Bai Lang was now paying his soldiers full wages plus bonuses; as for how they spent it, he couldn't be bothered to ask. Actually, according to his original intention, this money could be paid after the war, but thinking that this approach was too petty and stingy, he let it go.

There were also prefecture cities that closed their gates to resist, and in such cases, Bai Lang would personally take the field, setting up scaling ladders and leaping like a bird. Once on the walls, he was like a tiger entering a flock of sheep, scattering the defenders—behind him followed the warriors of the army, who killed their way down the walls, opened the gates, and the main army poured in. The imperial court finally managed to assemble its forces, pulling out ten thousand "elites" from the Capital Battalion, plus ten thousand Liaodong elite cavalry called in urgently, and finally, twenty thousand Shandong soldiers from Shandong, totaling over forty thousand troops, claiming to be one hundred thousand. They were commanded by one prince and two dukes from the Four Kings and Eight Dukes, with multiple great generals accompanying the expedition. The nominal supreme commander was the current Emperor's second son, the Prince of Yan.

These people left the Capital to hold the passes, intending to decide the outcome in a field battle against Bai Lang's army. Bai Lang had only two thousand or so troops at the time, while before him stood an army of nearly fifty thousand. Bai Lang ordered Bai Ying to lead the infantry to set up camp, and he personally led a few dozen personal guards to observe the formation. After looking, Bai Lang burst into loud laughter. Bai Bao rode his horse forward a step, "I don't know why Big Brother is laughing?" Bai Lang said, "I observe that the Prince of Yan's troops are light in the front and heavy in the back, wide on the left and narrow on the right; they really don't look like an army at all. Even if such people had one hundred thousand, I see them as nothing more than people marking their own graves! Send a challenge letter; watch me break them tomorrow!"

Not to mention the challenge letter, an envoy did come to Bai Lang's camp. Bai Lang raised his eyes and saw it was indeed an acquaintance, "Yo, isn't this the Nine Gates Commandant, Uncle Wang? It's been a long time since we last met." What else could Wang Ziteng be here for? To persuade him to surrender, of course. Bai Lang had come all the way, and no prefecture or county city could stop him; he took down famous cities and wealthy families in one blow. Such elite troops and strong generals rebelling, even the imperial court had to think twice... Thus, they had to find a way to persuade him to surrender.

The responsibility could be pushed onto the dead supervising eunuch; Bai Lang was at most just young and impulsive. The Emperor would say he was deceived, and if Bai Lang took back the title of Earl of Tianshui, the matter would be considered over—as for the future? Bai Lang knew this Emperor would never let him go, but right now, not only could he be absolved of guilt, but he could even be granted a higher title—with the merit of defeating the Mongol army outside the pass, his Earl of Tianshui could become the Marquis of Tianshui, and even a Duke was not impossible... ===== CHAPTER 640 =====