Chapter 135: Breaking the Camp

In truth, Zhao Sihai was not nearly as contemptible as they imagined. Yes, he did not want to die here for nothing — he had even long planned an escape route — but it was by no means solely to save his own skin.

Rather, he acted on the belief that as long as the green hills remain, there will be no shortage of firewood.

After the first and second lines of defense fell, Zhao Sihai knew Yutai Temple could not be held.

Especially when he saw the soldiers who had withdrawn into the main hall, every one of them terrified out of their wits by the Qing army, and the old, weak, women, and children who had fled inside weeping and wailing to heaven and earth — he knew this last line of defense could not be held either.

When the Qing army outside was calling for their surrender, Zhao Sihai was considering how to get Song Xianggong out, and had no thought of surrendering. But after Lin Wanfu and the others came, he changed his mind — surrender might not be a bad way to save their lives.

At this point, even if he fought to the death, he could at most hold out a little while before it was over. Rather than let all the living be slaughtered by the Qing army, it was better to surrender and be done with it.

At the very least, it might preserve the lives of these several thousand old, weak, women, and children.

Of course, after deciding to surrender, Zhao Sihai kept a trick up his sleeve. If the Qing army still meant to kill them after the surrender, he would lead his men in blasting a bloody path out with thunderclap bombs.

Even if they still could not break through, he would drag a few Qing curs down with them.

Whatever Zhao Sihai's purpose in agreeing to surrender, Lin Wanfu and the camp elders all breathed easier. But someone raised a worry: what if Chief Administrator Song refused to surrender?

Lin Wanfu said through gritted teeth, "If Lord Song refuses to surrender, we'll tie him up. We can't let one man drag everyone else to death with him, can we?"

"No!"

Zhao Sihai flatly shook his head and said it could not be done. He said he would only take responsibility for advising Song Xianggong to surrender, but he would absolutely never bind Song Xianggong and surrender him.

If Lin Wanfu and the others insisted on doing so, then they might as well tie him up too!

Zhao Sihai's attitude was firm, and he still had several dozen loyal fighting men under him. How would Lin Wanfu and the others dare fall out with him?

They could only awkwardly agree that if Song Xianggong would not surrender, they would act as circumstances allowed and find a chance to surrender on their own. As for Song Xianggong, no one would go ask him.

If he had a way to escape, he could escape; if not, his life or death was up to fate.

Once everyone agreed, Zhao Sihai raised no further objection.

He found Song Xianggong in the main hall, arranging defensive matters with Zhao Wu, hemmed and hawed a few words, and finally steeled himself to advise, "Master Song, the Qing curs have us surrounded so tightly not a drop of water can get through. There is no way out now.

Perhaps... perhaps we should surrender." After he finished, his face reddened.

"Surrender?"

Song Xianggong had not expected Zhao Sihai to think of surrendering, and stared at him in great surprise. Then he sighed, closed his eyes, and struggled within himself for a moment before finally making his decision.

He said, "If you want to surrender, surrender. I absolutely will not.

I have surrendered too many times in this life. Let me be a man once before I die."

Having said this, he turned his head to look at the stunned Zhao Wu. After a dozen or so seconds, he turned back to Zhao Sihai and said with some anger, "There is less than an hour until dawn.

We still have several hundred men who can put up a fight. If we break out with full force, we may not fail to get through.

But if we just surrender like this, may I ask you, Brother Zhao — can you face Brother Zhou and the others? Can you face all the old brothers of Daqiao Mountain?

Can you face the dead Brother Hu?"

Hearing these words, Zhao Sihai was shaken, and his face reddened again. He stared at Song Xianggong's face for a long time, then said through gritted teeth, "It is not that Sihai wants to surrender, but circumstances leave us no choice.

I fear we cannot wait for Brother Zhou to bring troops to the rescue. Outside, Lin Wanfu and those camp elders also want to surrender.

If we stop them, in the end we may only harm those still alive. Master Song, look carefully — outside there are the old and the very young.

If we truly let the Qing army slaughter them all, how could we bear it? Say what you will, dragging them along on this march was our brothers' own ruthlessness — the methods of roving bandits.

Now that we cannot protect them, what is wrong with giving them a way to live!"

After hearing this, Song Xianggong's expression darkened, and he said nothing. But from behind him came a woman's voice: "Company Commander Zhao, was it my father who sent you to persuade Lord Song to surrender?"

Zhao Sihai looked toward the voice. It was Lin Wan'er, the woman Zhou Shixiang had taken in as a maidservant. At this moment she held several cloth bandages in her hands, and there were traces of blood on her hands and cheeks — clearly she had just come from bandaging the wounded.

"If it truly was my father who sent Company Commander Zhao here, then please, Commander, go tell my father that even if everyone in this hall surrenders, his daughter will not!"

Having said this, the haggard Lin Wan'er gave Song Xianggong a light bow with clasped hands, then turned and went back to bandaging the wounded soldiers.

"A hundred thousand soldiers cast off their armor at once — and not one among them was a man."

Watching Lin Wan'er's departing figure, Song Xianggong suddenly murmured to himself, then sighed softly.

Zhao Sihai's face burned. Lin Wan'er's words made him flush, and Song Xianggong's words shamed him even more.

After a long while, he shook his head and gave Song Xianggong a bitter smile.

"Very well.

Since you do not wish to surrender, Master, Sihai will stand with you. But we can only take those willing to break out with us.

Those unwilling, we cannot force. It does not matter if we die, but we must give them a way to live.

If you agree, I will go arrange the men and prepare for the breakout."

Song Xianggong nodded heavily. "Good. It is decided. You will be in charge of the breakout. If I can escape danger, I will; if I cannot, I will end my own life, so as not to suffer humiliation at the Tartars' hands!"

"Good!"

Zhao Sihai nodded readily as well. He glanced at Zhao Wu, and the two turned and left together.

When Zhao Sihai came out, Lin Wanfu hurried up at once, his face full of expectation as he waited for good news from Zhao Sihai. But Zhao Sihai merely gave him a cold look, tossed out the words "You are not as good as your daughter," and walked off without looking back.

Zhao Wu, who had come out with him, also spat heavily at Lin Wanfu and strode off with a look of contempt.

I am not as good as my daughter?

Lin Wanfu was utterly baffled: where had those words come from?

At the Qing army's main camp below the mountain, several hundred ragged civilian laborers knelt in row after row on the ground. Around them, dozens of Green Standard soldiers with money-rat-tail queues watched them with tiger-like stares.

Under the Qing army's strict orders, not one of the laborers dared raise his head. Most of them wore expressions of near-numbness, obeying the Qing army's commands without the slightest sign of discontent.

Occasionally, someone could not resist raising his head to look around, and was immediately dragged out of the crowd by the Qing soldiers and given a vicious beating.

Even so, those Qing soldiers kept weaving through the crowd, brandishing gleaming swords and blades from time to time to intimidate the terrified laborers into staying still.

"Before dawn, His Excellency the Regional Commander should return in complete victory. Good thing these mud-legs didn't try to run in the chaos!"

Guo Xiaowu, the Green Standard Company Commander left to guard the main camp, stared excitedly at Yutai Temple on the mountain, calculating that once the main army came back down, he would pick a good-looking woman from the captives and have himself a fine time.

Just as his imagination was running wild, he heard the sound of hoofbeats approaching from afar.

The vigilance bred by years in the ranks made Guo Xiaowu spin around quickly. By the light of the campfires, he saw a dozen or so riders charging swiftly toward the main camp.

"This is a military camp! No unauthorized entry!"

Guo Xiaowu bellowed, but did not draw his saber. He assumed the newcomers might be banner troops from Xinhui city, because apart from the Han Banners in the city, the Green Standard had no cavalry.

If it really was banner troops from the city barging into the camp, he, a mere Company Commander, would not dare do anything to them.

But the riders paid him no attention at all, only charging swiftly toward the camp gate. In the blink of an eye, they were within a few dozen paces of the gate.

Hm?

Sensing something wrong, Guo Xiaowu was about to order his men to stand guard when the lead rider suddenly hurled a long spear straight at him!

With a sharp whistle through the air, cold killing intent struck from the left in an instant. Guo Xiaowu was badly startled and twisted aside, barely avoiding his chest, but could not avoid his shoulder. With a muffled "thunk," the spearhead drove viciously into his right shoulder.

"Aiyo!" With a scream, Guo Xiaowu ignored the searing pain in his shoulder, flopped down with a "thud," opened his mouth, and yelled, "Enemy attack!"

While that drawn-out cry of "Enemy attack" was still echoing in all directions, the riders charging the main camp had already reached the gate. Again the lead rider spurred his horse hard. With a long neigh, the warhorse's hooves slammed heavily against the wooden camp gate.

The Qing army had never imagined the "bandits" on the mountain would dare assault the main camp, so the camp had only been simply set up, with no chevaux-de-frise or other obstacles. The gate was even flimsier.

Under the warhorse's full-speed charge and heavy stomp, with a "creak," several wooden palings were kicked flying. The riders behind also spurred their horses at the gate, and after several impacts, the wooden gate collapsed with a crash.

And at this moment, the Qing soldiers in the camp still had not reacted to what was happening!

"Kill!"

Zhou Shixiang rode his big gray horse at the very front, swinging his long saber at a Qing soldier holding a long spear.

"Ugh..."

With heart-rending agony, the Qing soldier felt as though his chest had split open. Instinctively he reached out to pull at the long saber, but before his hand could touch it, the blade had already risen again. Then blood gushed from his chest, and his whole body flopped forward onto the ground.

"Qing curs, go die!"

Zhu Er yanked the reins and trampled hard over a Qing soldier, crushing every bone in the man's body to pieces.

Sabers hacked, horses charged, and the Qing army wailed like ghosts and howled like wolves.

Company Commander Guo Xiaowu had been struck by the spear and lay on the ground, his fate unknown. The remaining Qing soldiers had no one to command them and fell into chaos, and the several hundred laborers kneeling on the ground also exploded in panic.

In an instant, the Qing camp was breached, and soldiers and civilians alike inside were thrown into utter confusion.

"Kill!"

After Zhou Shixiang's cavalry squad succeeded in their surprise attack, the Xiongwei and Hujie battalions immediately charged out. Over a thousand soldiers surged toward the Qing camp with battle cries.

The few dozen remaining Qing soldiers could not possibly withstand the Taiping Army pouring into the camp. Without command, they were even less capable of effective resistance, and soon every Qing soldier in the camp was killed.

The laborers were stunned by the Taiping Army's sudden assault, not knowing who these black-clad soldiers were, and fearing they would be killed as well. Fortunately, after taking control of the Qing main camp, the attackers did not harm them.

The general in the lead even shouted toward Yutai Temple on the distant mountain: "Brothers of the rear camp! I, Zhou Shixiang, have brought the brothers of the front camp to save you!"

"Brothers of the rear camp! The brothers of the front camp have come to save you!"

Countless voices shouted at once. The resounding cry echoed back and forth through the valley, startling birds and beasts from all over the mountain and valley into flight.