Chapter 127: Westward

In the gloomy sky, sparse snowflakes began to drift down. Though it was already early spring, the weather remained bitterly cold.

Pang Yu stared with bloodshot eyes at the Roving Bandits in the South Suburb, far from the City Wall.

Corpses half a man's height were piled beneath the City Wall. Hundreds of commoners had died between the attackers and defenders, and the survivors had been marched back to the main camp.

"The Roving Bandits in the East Suburb have struck camp and left," Zhuang Chaozheng reported to Pang Yu in a low voice. "According to the information obtained from interrogating that Long Family yesterday, the East Suburb force belongs to Geli Yan's troops."

"I saw them. They've already taken the Official Road." Pang Yu nodded. "The ones planting heads and driving commoners to assault the city are all under the Sweeping King's command. Everything in this South Suburb sector is his."

"Squad Leader, Geli Yan has left. The other Roving Bandits likely won't stay long either. Should we mount a Pursuit?"

Pang Yu turned his head to look at Zhuang Chaozheng. This Tongcheng farmer had an honest, simple face. Even after becoming a Team Leader, he still hunched his body when speaking to Pang Yu, his gaze somewhat evasive, his self-confidence not very strong.

"It's good that Team Leader Zhuang is thinking about Pursuit. That's how Battle should be fought." Pang Yu sighed. "But our Zhuang Squad doesn't have many men left. We can't easily pursue."

Having received praise, Zhuang Chaozheng puffed out his chest a little. But he was slow of speech and could think of no words to persuade Pang Yu, nor any way to increase the Zhuang Squad's numbers, so he could only remain silent.

At that moment, a small unit of troops emerged from the Sweeping King's Camp Ground, followed by a large Red Banner, advancing toward the City Wall. Though the distance was still great, Pang Yu could already make out the blue coats of Guards among them.

Over ten men in blue coats were being escorted by over a hundred Roving Bandits. It seemed they had been captured during last night's raid.

On the wall, people murmured among themselves, occasionally stealing glances at Pang Yu. Their eyes no longer held the reverence from after yesterday's City Defense, but now carried more fear.

The Guards were bound tightly with ropes and ordered to halt a hundred paces from the city. Beside each man stood a Roving Bandit, holding various kinds of blades in their hands.

That large Red Banner halted before the Guards. Beneath the banner was a big man wearing a Red Archery Robe. He gave a few words of Advice to an attendant beside him, and that attendant immediately dismounted and ran toward the City Wall.

Approaching the City Wall, that attendant raised a Shield and stopped outside the range of the stones. Exposing only his head, he shouted, "My master the Sweeping King bids Tongcheng County Magistrate Yang Erming and Two-Shift Squad Leader Pang Yu to know: if we do not Breakthrough your city today, there will always come a day when we do. If you surrender the city now, your lives may yet be spared. Otherwise, when we Breakthrough in the future, we will certainly hack your bodies to ten thousand pieces."

There was no Reply from the wall. A volley of Arrows shot out, and the attendant raised his Shield to protect his body, fleeing in panic beyond the range of fire.

A command rang out beneath the Red Banner. Over ten Roving Bandits struck simultaneously, and the heads of over ten Guards fell to the ground almost at the same instant. Their bodies followed, collapsing, the blood from their necks gushing over the ground like a Spring.

There was little stir on the wall. Had this been Two Days ago, everyone would likely have been so terrified their legs went limp. Now, seeing such a scene, even the Community Soldiers were accustomed to it.

Pang Yu stared fixedly at the big man beneath the Red Banner. That must be the Sweeping King.

Pang Yu watched the Sweeping King for a long time, then said fiercely through gritted teeth: "There will come a day when I behead you right here."

……

On the second day of the second month of the Chongzhen Eighth Year, countless columns of smoke rose from the countryside around Tongcheng. On Zilai Street, flames flickered and thick smoke billowed. Beside the Official Road across the city moat, fierce fires blazed just as brightly. A great number of civilian houses were burning. Mounted Roving Bandits hurled torches in Every Direction, while the Roving Bandits on foot were even more thorough, raising their torches to ignite everything before leaving. During the City Assault, a small portion of Zhang Xianzhong's troops had been quartered right on Zilai Street, and as they withdrew, they began burning the buildings.

The Roving Bandits had abandoned their plan to continue the City Assault. It was not that they lacked the strength to attack, but that they were unwilling to accept heavy losses.

The Roving Bandits withdrew, but no one on the City Wall cheered. The defenders felt not the slightest joy. Nearly a thousand houses outside the city had been burned, and the commoners killed were even harder to count. Judging from the range of the smoke columns, the Roving Bandits had devastated an area at least twenty to thirty li in radius. The loss of life and Wealth within this area was incalculable.

Since the early Ming, Tongcheng had never known great chaos. A century of growth and prosperity was largely destroyed in Two Days. The entire way along the Official Road was a path of ruins.

Geli Yan's troops had all departed. Their Vanguard had already easily breached Qianshan, which had no City Wall. All three thousand seven Company Commander of Qianshan were now occupied by his forces.

Next, Zhang Xianzhong's troops began striking camp. The columns of the Western Camp stretched on unbroken, from morning until dusk still not fully passed. The great banners of Zhang Xianzhong and the Sweeping King took to the Official Road one after another. A portion of the Sweeping King's cavalry had already set out, leaving only one Camp behind, guarded by several hundred cavalrymen, to cover the remaining Servants and Carriages.

This Official Road could accommodate two large Carts traveling side by side; its transport capacity was very strong. Each Long Family and Post Commander led their own attached Servants, carrying their household Carriages as they marched Go South. At this moment, the state of the Roving Bandits was more like that of a household moving house. The Servants of each household provided logistics for their own Long Family, and all the plundered goods relied on ox and horse Carriages for transport.

On a swaying ox Cart, half the space had been cleared. Xiao Wazi lay on his back atop the Carriage, his eyes slightly open as he watched the gloomy sky. Occasionally a snowflake drifted near his cheek, and Xiao Wazi would open his Mouth to catch it. That icy coldness made him feel better.

His ankle was swollen high. Every jolt of the ox Cart sent a piercing, heart-wrenching pain through him. Though he had saved his life by jumping from the top of the wall that day, he did not know if this foot would ever be usable again.

Because the city had not been breached, his First Ascent Merit had come to nothing. However, the Eight Great Kings had not abandoned him, instructing the General Officer of the Upper Fifth Post to continue providing for him. The General Officer passed the instruction to his unit's High Shine, and High Shine in turn instructed Xiao Wazi's Post Commander. All the Post Commander could do was clear half an ox Cart to carry him along and assign an old woman to bring him food.

Since Yesterday, Xiao Wazi's whole body had begun to burn with fever. The place on his arm wounded by the Iron nail was red and swollen, and the friction against his cotton coat caused a searing pain.

He had been drifting in and out of Confusion, not even knowing when they had taken to the Official Road, much less where the great army was heading. Now his consciousness had slightly recovered, but his whole body was still burning hot. He felt parched and Hungry. His body lay directly on the Carriage bed, cold and hard. Xiao Wazi's spine ached from the pressure. Right beside him were stacked Cloth and grain sacks, but that Post Commander was unwilling to let him use them for padding.

Xiao Wazi tilted his head slightly. The Cart wheel turned beside him. On the Official Road, a long string of Carriages merged into a cacophony of creaking and groaning, mixed with the neighing of oxen and horses and the hoofbeats of cavalry.

Just then, passing over a small rut in the Cart track, the ox Cart gave a violent jolt. Xiao Wazi's whole body flared with agony, and he let out an "Ah!" of pain.

On the noisy Official Road, no one heard him. Even the old woman assigned to bring him food was nowhere to be seen. His suffering seemed to matter not at all.

As the pain slightly subsided, Xiao Wazi slowly opened his eyes a crack. The gloomy sky swayed above him. What he feared most now was that if his Injury could not heal, the Post Commander would surely abandon him the moment Government Troops came in Pursuit. Whether he then fell into the hands of soldiers or local commoners, the outcome would be utterly miserable.

He moved his ankle a little; it was still unbearably painful. Xiao Wazi gritted his teeth, preparing to adjust his sleeping position. His back also ached fiercely.

At that moment, an aged face appeared in his field of vision. Xiao Wazi carefully identified it. It was the old man driving the Cart, whose features had a somewhat worried, sorrowful cast. He was a Servant taken in back in Henan, and had not been with them long. Although he was older, he knew how to care for the animals and how to harness a Cart, so the Post Commander had accepted him. Xiao Wazi had seen him often recently, but had never asked the old man's Surname.

"This lad's had a hard time." The old man shook his head and said to Xiao Wazi, "Lad, do you want something to eat or drink?"

Xiao Wazi nodded weakly. The old man produced a waterskin, removed the stopper, and brought it to Xiao Wazi's lips. The water flowed into his parched mouth, as sweet as Sugar juice.

Xiao Wazi let out a comfortable breath. The old man then took from his bosom half a blackened steamed bun, broke it into two pieces, and fed the smaller piece into Xiao Wazi's mouth.

Seeing Xiao Wazi chewing with large, ravenous bites, a hint of a smile actually appeared on the old man's naturally sorrowful face. He looked down at the remaining small piece of bun in his hand, carefully broke off a bit more, and fed it into Xiao Wazi's mouth.

Only when Xiao Wazi was eating did the old man stuff the very last bit into his own mouth, chewing it over and over, reluctant to swallow.

"Sir," Xiao Wazi asked in a hoarse voice, "where are we going?"

The old man swallowed the food in his mouth and replied, "I heard Tang High Shine telling the Post Commander master just now, we're heading to Qianshan."

Xiao Wazi gave an "Oh," closed his eyes, and tried to remember. When he had been ordered to go out and lie in ambush, it was the Great Banner bearer who had explained the directions to him. He had a good memory and could still recall them. He murmured to himself, "Past Qianshan is Taihu, and further on is Susong. All are places easy to take. If I could just recover from my wounds inside a city, that would be good."