Chapter 53: Stop Chasing

Zhang Dade had brought three hundred Qing soldiers out of the city, including forty personal guards, every one of them armored — far stronger than Battalion Commander Kong Guoliang, who had only a few armored personal guards.

"Catch the man on the gray horse, and the reward will be generous!"

Zhang Dade's calculations were excellent. He led his elite troops in an attack on the Taiping Camp, so even if the Ming soldiers before him were only a feint, he had nothing to fear.

With forty well-trained, truly elite armored soldiers in hand, he could always cut a bloody path back to the city. As for those soldiers without armor, he did not care — at worst he could conscript another batch of laborers in Deqing.

These days, a two-legged toad was hard to find, but two-legged men could be grabbed by the handful.

"Quick, don't let the man on the gray horse get away!"

Battalion Commander Tang Sanshui was eager for merit and desperate to capture the xiucai who had killed an official. Baring his teeth, he roared and launched an attack toward Zhou Shixiang's position.

"Retreat! Retreat now!"

The moment he saw the Qing soldiers charging, Zhou Shixiang wheeled his horse and fled without a word, with not the slightest thought of playing hero. No matter how capable he was, he could not fight ten men at once.

Cutting down an enemy general amid the chaos of battle was something that only happened in romances!

"Run for your lives!"

The Jiangxi soldiers ran fastest. The Luoding soldiers were still standing there stunned; by the time they came to their senses, the Jiangxi men were already a dozen zhang ahead.

"What the hell are you all standing around for? Run!"

Peng Dazhu cursed and cracked his riding whip, then abandoned his men and galloped off. Only when they saw their squad leader flee did the Luoding soldiers react, turning and fleeing in panic.

"Brothers, after them!"

Seeing the Ming soldiers before them so utterly useless, the Green Standard troops who had charged out were all fired up. They surged forward with roars, and in the blink of an eye they had chased the Ming soldiers more than a li.

"The rebels have broken! The rebels have broken!"

The Green Standard soldiers on the city wall cheered loudly when they saw the Ming soldiers fleeing, but Lu Gongming's brow was tightly furrowed, a sense of foreboding in his heart.

Zhang Mazi, just wait — soon you'll see what I'm made of!

The harder the Qing army pressed, the happier Shao Jiugong was — though he did not forget to keep himself running at the front. Otherwise, before his clever plan could succeed, his own life would be lost first.

He ran with great method, always keeping himself within Zhang Dade's line of sight, lest Zhang Mazi lose sight of him and turn back. Little did he know that at this moment, the other man had no eyes for his old nemesis.

"After him! Don't let the man on the gray horse escape! Faster!"

Watching Zhou Shixiang's figure on the big gray horse recede farther and farther, Zhang Dade grew anxious. He kept lashing his mount and shouting urgently at his men to charge.

Nor did he simply chase blindly — from time to time he glanced around, fearing that a large Ming force might counterattack.

But look as he might, no large Ming force appeared, so he relaxed his guard and set his whole mind on capturing Zhou Shixiang to claim merit before the Prince of Pingnan!

They chased on for four or five li. By then, both the Taiping Camp men and the Green Standard troops were gasping for breath.

More than ten Luoding recruits who could not run fast enough were swarmed by the Green Standard soldiers and hacked to death.

Another dozen or so simply could not run any farther, so they threw down their weapons, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed, hoping the Qing army would spare their lives. The Jiangxi soldiers performed far better — not one of them fell behind.

The Qing soldiers did not stop to cut down these kneeling Ming troops, but kept pressing forward. A reward had been posted above: whoever captured the man on the big gray horse would receive thirty taels of silver.

Thirty taels was no small sum. As the saying goes, with a rich reward, brave men will come forward — these Green Standard soldiers could not help but risk their lives.

They had not chased long before they noticed the Ming soldiers ahead constantly throwing things onto the ground. When they saw clearly what the Ming soldiers were throwing, the Green Standard troops at the front instantly went red-eyed.

The Jiangxi soldiers had long since been issued bits of silver and copper coins, and now they kept tossing copper coins onto the ground.

A few careless scatterbrains, too nervous, forgot the earlier instructions and threw out their silver bits along with the coins — so when the others began throwing silver, they had nothing left to throw.

The remaining Luoding soldiers, meanwhile, had already thrown away everything they had, and only wished their legs would move faster; they had no mind to grope in their clothes for anything.

The Green Standard soldiers at the very front saw the ground strewn with copper coins and bits of silver dropped by the Ming troops. Truly, men die for wealth as birds die for food — base instinct drove them to stoop and pick the money up.

The silver bits were easy enough to grab, but the copper coins were hard: some had landed in piles of ash and had to be fumbled for before they could be fished out.

The Qing soldiers in front were all picking up money, while those behind had no idea what was happening and kept charging stupidly forward — until they collided with their comrades ahead and fell into chaos.

When they saw the silver and copper coins the Ming soldiers had discarded on the ground, they too instinctively bent to pick them up. For a time, a dense mass of heads was staring at the ground.

Over on the other side, Zhang Dade saw the Ming soldiers scattering things behind them as they ran without looking back, and his heart jolted violently: That bastard Shao Jiugong is pulling this trick again?!

Tang Sanshui had also noticed what the fleeing Ming troops were doing. As a man who had personally suffered those two crushing defeats, he instinctively stopped and said to Zhang Dade with lingering fear: "Sir, Shao Jiugong's trick is vicious. Let's not chase any farther."

"Chase! Why wouldn't we? Does that turtle-spawn Shao Jiugong take me for a pig, thinking the same trick can fool me again? Don't worry — the turtle-spawn really is fleeing this time!" Zhang Dade bared a mouthful of yellow teeth, his face full of defiant disbelief.

"Sir, what if there really is an ambush ahead? Caution keeps a ship safe for ten thousand years!"

Tang Sanshui, however, had truly been frightened by Shao Jiugong's cunning, and seeing the soldiers in a chaotic scramble for copper coins, he had long since lost heart. Capturing Zhou Shixiang would indeed be a great merit, but there was no need to risk his neck for it.

If there really was a Ming ambush ahead, that great merit would turn into a great disaster.

"Hmm..."

His subordinate's wavering made Zhang Dade's own heart waver too. But he reckoned that that bastard Shao Jiugong was no Zhuge Kongming of surpassing intellect — he could not possibly use against him a stratagem he had already used twice.

If he really did, it would not make him look clever; it would make him look like a stupid pig!

Could there be a fool in this world who fell for the same trick three times in a row?

Still, "caution keeps a ship safe for ten thousand years" was always right. The surrounding country was all hills, and it was hard to say that bastard Shao Jiugong would not treat him like a pig after all. A little caution could never hurt.

With that thought, Zhang Dade shouted at the soldiers picking up coins: "Don't pick it up! Don't pick it up! It's a Ming trick — a Ming trick!"

But the soldiers were in complete disorder, and Zhang Dade shouted for a long time without getting them to stop. Fortunately, his armored personal guards still kept some order — they were veterans of many battles, not tempted by small gains.

They stood around their Garrison Commander's horse, weapons in hand, staring wide-eyed at the soldiers picking up coins.

"Damn it all!"

The soldiers' disorder made Zhang Dade curse furiously. Just then, a sharp-eyed personal guard suddenly cried out: "Sir, the Ming soldiers have stopped running!"

At those words, Zhang Dade and Tang Sanshui both shuddered violently at the same moment: Damn it — they really are pulling this trick!