Chapter 149: 147: A Talent for Training Troops

The choice was easy to make, because… Zhao Han was almost out of grain.

They had carried rations into the mountains on New Year's Eve, and now it was already the fourth day of the new year. The whole way they hid by day and moved by night, terrified of being discovered, so raiding for grain had naturally been out of the question.

Then a night raid on the army camp it would be!

And at this very moment, Tian Younian, the Prefect of Yuanzhou, was being pestered all the way from the city to the army camp by the County Magistrate of Yichun.

County Magistrate Fang Lu was pouring out his woes: "Prefect, why have you conscripted so many troops? The great households in the city have practically trampled the county yamen's threshold flat."

The Yuanzhou prefectural yamen and the Yichun county yamen were in the same city.

"Keep your nose out of military matters. Go back and guard the city properly — don't let the rebels steal it from under you." Tian Younian had no desire to explain anything to a fool.

The bandits at Duchang had already been wiped out by government troops; the whole of northern Jiangxi was at peace.

Tian Younian had long since arranged with the Governor to march together after the Lantern Festival. Now that the rebels had taken the initiative and come to them, so much the better — they would trap the rebel Zhao and finish him off right in Fenyi County.

Arriving at the army camp, his private secretary Hong Yan came forward and said, "Prefect, the army provisions are all ready. Over 2,300 troops have been assembled."

Those 2,300 counted as "veterans." The temporarily recruited men were not even worth counting — they were household slaves supplied by the city's great families, plus idlers and riffraff from the city.

All told, the total had already surpassed five thousand!

Another xiucai stepped forward — it was Zuo Xiaocheng, the one who had once offered his services to Xie Xuelong. He was now living at his maternal grandfather's house in Yichun County, and he had been spreading word everywhere of the rebel Zhao's detestable crimes, saying the rebel Zhao meant to slaughter every landlord under heaven, which had the great families of Yichun County so terrified their bodies went limp.

And precisely because of this, the great clans of Yichun eagerly donated money and grain to fund Prefect Tian Younian's troop recruitment and bandit suppression.

Zuo Xiaocheng cautioned: "Prefect, the rebels in Fenyi County are undoubtedly that rebel Zhao. This villain is extraordinarily cunning and his troops advance with terrifying speed. You must take strict precautions against him stealing the prefectural city."

"Set your mind at ease. I left 300 elite troops in the prefectural city, and another 800 local militia as well." Tian Younian had long since had everything worked out.

Zuo Xiaocheng added: "Tonight the camp has assembled several thousand troops, and on the boats at the wharf outside the city, mountains of grain and fodder are piled up. You must guard carefully against a night raid by the rebel Zhao."

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Private Secretary Hong Yan laughed: "Worthy Brother Zuo, it seems the rebel Zhao has frightened the gall out of you. We have long since sent out many scouts all along the Yuan River. Can the rebel Zhao sprout wings and fly here to raid us by night?"

Zuo Xiaocheng started to speak, then stopped, thinking he was indeed overthinking things.

Tian Younian frowned, thought for a moment, and said: "Tonight, set extra sentry posts. Assign more men to guard the army provisions. Tomorrow morning we take the oath and march!"

In the Chongzhen reign there were two men named Tian Younian. The other one had not yet passed the jinshi examination, but he was already widely acknowledged as a great master of the Mao School of the Odes.

This Tian Younian before them, however, was only a juren by qualification. That he had risen so swiftly to the post of Prefect was entirely due to promotion through military merit!

The fellow came from a Shaanxi military household. His father and elder brothers were all military officers. From childhood he had studied archery, horsemanship, and military strategy; passing the juren exam had been merely incidental. He had bought the post of County Magistrate, and wherever he was sent, he invariably raised troops — either to exterminate bandits or to campaign against rebels.

After lunch, Tian Younian personally inspected the army camp, constantly offering words of encouragement to the soldiers, while also pointing out flaws in the camp's layout.

Retake Fenyi County seat?

Tian Younian had never entertained such a thought. All he wanted was to bottle up the rebel Zhao in Fenyi County, then join forces with Governor Li Maofang and Assistant Surveillance Commissioner Wang Siren to wipe out the rebels' several thousand troops once and for all!

The moment he received word of the rebel situation, Tian Younian had dispatched messengers to Nanchang and Jiujiang to coordinate with friendly forces.

As for the sudden conscription of household slaves and riffraff, that was purely to intimidate Zhao Han with overwhelming numbers, to frighten him into shrinking back inside Fenyi County seat, not daring to come out. The longer he dragged things out, the greater the government troops' odds of victory. He only needed to stall until reinforcements arrived.

Tian Younian did not dare underestimate the rebel Zhao. Anyone who could launch a campaign in winter was a ruthless character.

What was more, the rebel Zhao had raided Binjiang Town and swept away the several hundred elite troops Tian Younian had spent two years training!

His inspection of the camp complete, Tian Younian returned to his quarters to rest. He took out a copy of the Jixiao Xinshu and began to read — a book he had been studying for twenty years.

This man might appear to be a civil official, but in truth he had little classical learning; even passing the xiucai exam in Jiangxi would have been a struggle for him. Yet he was thoroughly versed in military strategy, and he was highly skilled in archery and horsemanship. In battle, he could lead from the front, charging at the head of his men.

As he read, Tian Younian suddenly set down the military manual, stepped outside, and studied the great mountain behind them.

It was already afternoon. Tian Younian gave the order: "Cut down the woods at the foot of Yuegong Ridge, and send a few men into the mountains to search for enemy movements!"

Yuegong Ridge was vast — the great mountain that rose abruptly southeast of the prefectural city; Yuegong Ridge was merely its highest peak.

Sending a few men to search the mountain was certainly useless, but cutting down the woods near the camp was feasible.

In fact, the camp was over a thousand paces from the foot of the mountain, not pressed right up against it.

This army camp was a permanent one, with many barracks already built — all rammed-earth structures. Any notion of a night raid to set the camp ablaze in a chain of fire was pure nonsense.

At various corners of the camp, several watchtowers had also been erected, usable both for keeping watch and as archery towers.

After nightfall, Tian Younian again personally inspected the camp, ordering the sentries and archers in the towers to stay sharp.

Only after all this was done did Tian Younian finally return to his quarters to sleep. Exhausted, he was soon snoring like thunder.

…

Zhao Han had set out at the third watch, and by the time he reached the foot of the mountain it was nearly the fifth watch — the equivalent of walking from midnight past four in the morning.

They marched at an easy pace, conserving their strength.

The fourth day of the new year: there was no moonlight, and the darkness before dawn was pitch-black.

The soldiers making the night raid often stumbled and fell by accident; the sentries inside the stockade could hardly see clearly. On the contrary, the braziers the sentries had placed in the watchtowers to ward off the cold became beacon lights guiding the rebels in.

Huang Yao led eight hundred men around to the north; Huang Shun led eight hundred around to the south; Zhao Han personally commanded nine hundred directly to the east.

A pity they had no watches, and could not time their simultaneous attack precisely.

After the two flanking forces had circled to their attack positions, each waited a short while. Huang Yao's side lit their torches first — two torches per man, sixteen hundred torches charging toward the camp.

Hearing the battle cries, Zhao Han and Huang Shun lit their torches as well. In all, over five thousand torches blazed to life across the three routes.

Because Tian Younian's defensive arrangements were too tight, there was no way to creep up to the stockade undetected. They all lit their torches and began the assault two or three hundred paces from the stockade; any closer and the sentries would have spotted them.

"Reb— rebel raid!"

The sentries went pale with shock and, one after another, sounded their horns. The archers in the watchtowers hurriedly strung their bows.

The officers and soldiers in the barracks panicked. The temporarily conscripted household slaves and riffraff fled outside before even getting their clothes on. Seeing countless torches blazing on all sides, they were so terrified that the camp broke and they fled for their lives, surging toward the west where there were no enemies. They even knocked the camp gates flat in their stampede.

The troops who had trained for about half a year fared little better — they at least put their clothes on before running for their lives.

Only the thousand-odd true veterans, without any need for orders from above, spontaneously grabbed their weapons and converged on Tian Younian's quarters.

This Prefect really did have a knack for training troops!

Even Xie Xuelong's men, had they encountered such a situation back then, would surely have panicked and lost all unit cohesion.

Every watchtower had six archers.

Huang Yao was the first to reach the outer perimeter of the camp; the stockade wall was taller than a man. He tossed his torch aside, planted his long spear against the ground, and used the leverage to vault clean over the wall. Then he killed two soldiers guarding the gate and threw open the southern entrance.

"Thwip, thwip, thwip!"

From the two nearby watchtowers, twelve archers loosed their arrows. In their panic, they hit only four targets.

"Take the towers!"

The two squad leaders who had charged in first immediately led the nearby soldiers to seize the watchtowers according to plan. The rest followed Huang Yao and kept fighting their way deeper inside.

"Mother!"

"Spare me!"

Some fleeing government troops were driven back by Huang Yao's men. In the darkness, they could only run blindly with their heads down.

On the eastern side, Zhao Han had been struck by an arrow, but luckily he was not wounded. The shaft had hit the padded jacket below his ribs, angling downward and tearing through the cloth, passing so close it practically grazed his flesh.

He led his troops straight toward the deeper part of the barracks, while Zhang Tieniu and Liu Zhu each took men to seize the towers.

Zhang Tieniu had also thrown away his torch. Without even a shield, he scrambled madly up the ladder. The enemy archers were more panicked than he was; their hands trembled as they strung their bows. One arrow struck Zhang Tieniu in the shoulder, another felled the soldier behind him, and all the rest flew wide.

"Kill!"

Zhang Tieniu had already climbed up. Facing him was a sentry's thrusting long spear.

The man was recklessly bold. He stretched out his right arm to parry — the spearhead pierced straight through his sleeve and slashed a long gash across his arm. Another spear thrust came; Zhang Tieniu ducked low to dodge, and in that evasive motion he drew his axe and lunged, chopping off half of an enemy's hand with one blow.

Two spear-wielding sentries, plus six archers — Zhang Tieniu charged in, axe in hand. First he wounded one, then killed another, then sidestepped and barreled forward, knocking an archer clean off the watchtower.

At last, his comrades surged up as well and slaughtered all the remaining enemies.

"Kill the foe!"

Zhang Tieniu raised his axe high and roared as he descended from the watchtower, charging toward the main battlefield inside the encampment.

Tian Younian had not even undressed; he was still wearing his armor. Startled awake, he immediately grabbed his bow and saber, strode out of the barracks, and ordered the bugler to sound assembly.

Over thirteen hundred elite veteran soldiers swiftly rallied around Tian Younian, and they even formed up into a battle array.

Fortunately, when Zhao Han had launched his surprise attack on Binjiang Town, he had drawn away several hundred veterans, including over a hundred archers. Otherwise, the elite troops around Tian Younian would certainly have numbered more than eighteen hundred at this moment.

The man ran his army with extreme strictness and never skimped on pay or rations.

To support so many soldiers, aside from contributions of money and grain from wealthy households, he must have resorted to highly unorthodox methods. For instance, while suppressing bandits in Pingxiang County, he had conveniently killed two great landlords, publicly declared it the work of rebels, and seized a vast amount of money and grain for military funds.

Facing such a tight formation, Huang Yao dared not close in. He formed up his own ranks at a distance and waited for reinforcements to arrive.

Tian Younian also dared not take the offensive. Though both sides had lit torches, charging and fighting in the dark could easily throw formations into chaos, and enemy troops were already attacking from his north and east.

The rebels had him surrounded on three sides, with over twenty-four hundred men.

Tian Younian was trapped inside the camp with only a little over thirteen hundred soldiers — but more than eight hundred of them were archers.

Zhao Han could not help but exclaim in admiration, "Prefect Tian is truly formidable. In the art of training troops alone, he already rivals the famous generals of ages past!"

"Are you Zhao Yan of Luling?" Tian Younian asked.

"I am," Zhao Han replied.

Tian Younian laughed. "You're not bad yourself, to have led troops over the mountains through the snow."

"Surrender," Zhao Han said. He was loath to launch a frontal assault; the enemy's archers were a headache.

"Very well," Tian Younian agreed at once.

"Hm?"

Zhao Han was instead somewhat surprised — Tian Younian had surrendered far too readily.

Tian Younian said, "My family home is in Shaanxi. My entire family died at the hands of the roving bandits. Word came some time ago that my father and elder brother have also fallen in battle. The Tian family has already repaid its debt to the sovereign's grace. What remains, I must consider for myself. I have a concubine in the prefectural seat of Yuanzhou; she bore me a son who is now nearly two — the last surviving ember of the Tian family line."

Well then, one must thank the Shaanxi roving bandits for severing Tian Younian's ties and worries back home.

(End of chapter)