Chapter 198

The column advanced along the official road. The August sun was still brutal; even the wind blowing through the mountains carried a wave of heat. Every man in the Garrison Battalion was drenched in sweat like rain.

Yang Xueshi spotted the green flag planted ahead and reported to Pang Yu, "My lord, there are two mountain springs in the hilly ground to the left front."

Pang Yu wiped the sweat from his forehead. "How far until we leave the mountains?"

"A few more li and we'll be out."

"Herald, order a halt and rest."

Guo Fengyou beside him summoned the drum and signal corps. A long-barreled copper blunderbuss was fired into the sky with a boom, followed by three gong sounds. The column on the official road ground to a halt.

The Central Army's great banner swept a circle, then raised a black triangle flag — the signal for gathering water and forage. Each company in turn raised its flag to acknowledge the order. Soldiers sat down along the roadside while men were dispatched to fetch water according to the green pennants' directions.

Pang Yu handed his canteen to Guo Fengyou and went to the roadside to find some shade. This stretch had not a single large tree, so he had to return to his mount and lean against the horse for whatever cover it could provide.

The river channel was right beside them. Several corpses lay in the riverbed, two of them half-submerged in the water. It was impossible to tell whether they were local commoners or people who had been swept along by the bandits.

Hundreds of such corpses already lined the route, most of them by the roadside, a small portion in the river channels. It was this small portion of bodies that rendered the river water undrinkable.

When fetching drinking water on the march, well water was best, followed by mountain springs seeping from rock. Water sources that flowed long distances over the surface, though they might look crystal clear, could well be contaminated by dead animals. Military Law also forbade drinking them directly, to prevent epidemics and non-combat losses.

The terrain from Beixia Pass to Shucheng was all unsuited to farming. The route was sparsely populated, and wells were hard to find. Now the river water was undrinkable, and the surface-flowing springs were also unfit, so they could only choose springs seeping from nearby rocks. The march had lost all regularity; whenever they came upon a suitable water point, Pang Yu had no choice but to stop.

Jiang Guoyong had found no place to rest either. He crouched beside his own horse for shade. Behind him was Bao Yu, slumped on the ground and gasping for breath, his back against the wheel of a cannon cart. The cart sat in a rut. The stretch of road from Beixia Pass had worn Bao Yu out thoroughly.

This section of the official road was not fully paved with stone slabs. Small slabs and earth intermingled, and the ruts varied in depth. The cannon cart often broke down amid the jolting. There was truly no other way; they had now removed the cannon barrel and placed it on a flatbed cart to drag along, while four other horses pulled an empty cannon cart separately.

Bao Yu himself had rarely walked like this. Pang Yu had deliberately not assigned him a horse, making him walk all the way from Tongcheng. This would deepen his experience of marching, so that when he designed cannon carts in the future, he would truly understand the meaning of mobility. The result of Bao Yu's experience was that he had lost a full circle of weight and looked to be down to half a life.

Guo Fengyou handed the coconut ladle back to Pang Yu. "My lord, won't you go rest in the shade of a tree?"

There was shade from trees not far below the road. Pang Yu, his head covered in sweat, shook his head. "Military Law states: when pausing to drink or eat dry rations, none may leave the road. A commander must set the example; how could I knowingly violate it?"

"This subordinate feels that this particular article of Military Law may not be entirely appropriate, especially in this great heat. It seems it could be amended."

"Until it is amended, it remains Military Law." Pang Yu took a sip of water. It still had a cool sensation; it must have been seeped from rock.

Guo Fengyou thought for a moment, then fetched an umbrella from his horse. He had just come over and opened it when Pang Yu waved him off. "Put your mind to the Guard Squad."

Jiang Guoyong crouched nearby without a word. Seeing this, Pang Yu beckoned him over. Jiang Guoyong hurried across at once.

"You've been to Shucheng. Do you know the terrain at the mountain pass exit?"

Jiang Guoyong hesitated briefly. "This humble one went to visit relatives about ten years ago, only once. I didn't pay much attention on the way, but roughly, after leaving the mountains it's similar to Tongcheng, and it flattens out further going north."

Pang Yu nodded. As long as it was similar to Tongcheng, that was fine. Whenever it came to marching and fighting, he missed the old satellite maps immensely. Now he could only use the domain maps in the county yamen, which looked like ink-wash paintings. He could only roughly tell which direction had mountains and which had rivers. How far a mountain range extended was impossible to see, let alone the actual terrain and landforms. This brought a great deal of trouble to the march.

The road from Beixia Pass to Shucheng cut through the foothills of the Dabie Mountains. Though in a mountain region, it was not a mountain road; it was all valley-bottom roadway with no climbing over ridges and peaks. It differed little from ordinary marching, but this was the Garrison Battalion's first time leaving Anqing, and the route was uninhabited, making it still far more difficult than previous marches.

Fortunately, they were not far from Tongcheng. Many merchants from Beixia Pass traveled this road regularly and could provide a good deal of information about the road conditions. Even so, Pang Yu felt this stretch of road was hard going and always had an unsettled feeling.

"Has the grain transport behind caught up?"

Jiang Guoyong shook his head. "This subordinate truly does not know."

Only then did Pang Yu recall that he should have asked Yang Xueshi this question. The Central Army's scout cavalry was also responsible for front-rear liaison. His light cavalry had acquired warhorses yesterday, but the men were still the same men; they could only handle tasks like passing orders and surveying the road. Battlefield reconnaissance, raiding, flanking, charging formations — these higher-order tactics were things Pang Yu could not count on for now.

The grain transport behind was made up of civilian laborers from Tongcheng. Pang Yu had no dedicated Logistics Team. These laborers had originally only been transporting supplies to Beixia Pass, where there was a large force of government troops and the protection of the pass fortress — relatively safe. The moment they heard they were to go on to Shucheng, none were willing. In the end, Pang Yu paid the high price of one tael of silver per man, and with the added halo of the Stick God's prestige, he barely managed to recruit three hundred men, scraping together twenty ox-carts and donkey-carts. The rest were all wheelbarrows and shoulder poles, so their speed lagged far behind. Fortunately, there was only one road through the mountains, so there was no fear of the Roving Bandits flanking them. After leaving a small number of soldiers to guard the goods, he let them slowly catch up from behind, but at intervals, a scout rider had to go check on them.

After dispatching a scout rider to check on the logistics team, Jiang Guoyong came over and said in a low voice, "My lord, this subordinate has a question."

"Speak freely."

"My lord wrung this scout-and-probe assignment from Circuit Intendant Shi, but this is Shucheng county territory, and it's a bitter errand..."

Pang Yu smiled. The battle at Beixia Pass had not killed or captured any Roving Bandit headman. From interrogating the captives, they knew that Scorpion Block was the big man under the red banner outside the ruins. In the end, no corpse had been found, nor was he among the captives. The court placed greater weight on ringleaders. Pang Yu hoped to make some gains and enter the vision of higher authorities. Taking advantage of Scorpion Block's fresh defeat, if he could grab a bit more silver, that would be even better.

Shi Kefa had been quite hesitant about trespassing into the Fengyang Governor's jurisdiction. Pang Yu had exhausted his eloquence, persuading him in the name of rescuing the people of Tongcheng. In the end, Shi Kefa only agreed to let him go as far as the mountain pass exit and forbade him from approaching the Shucheng County Seat.

For this sort of relatively dangerous operation, Pan Keda and Xu Strengthening naturally would not come along. Pang Yu did not wish to operate with them either. This time it was the Garrison Battalion's independent march.

"That battle at Beixia Pass — we fought it in haste, didn't even form ranks. Apart from the first three companies, the other several hundred men saw very little combat. As it happens, there are still Roving Bandits over there. If we go to the edge of the Shucheng mountains and just form ranks facing the bandits, even that is a rare benefit."

Jiang Guoyong was about to ask more when he heard Yang Xueshi shouting up ahead. The two rose to look. On the official road in the distance, the scout rider had raised a red triangle flag.

Pang Yu said to Guo Fengyou beside him, "Enemy contact. Fire the signal cannon."

The signalman took the spare copper blunderbuss and lit it. The muffled boom of the cannon echoed back and forth through the valley.

Pang Yu halted his horse on the official road. A hundred paces away, over ten Mounted Bandits were circling their horses beside the road. Dozens of corpses lay on the road and in the river channel, many stripped of their clothes, bloated and swollen from soaking in the river water.

This was the mountain pass exit. The mountain slopes had gentled, the terrain growing more and more open. Many of the earthen mounds were suited for cavalry operations.

From the moment they spotted the Roving Bandits' scout riders, Pang Yu had led his troops in pursuit. The bandits had over ten mounted men; they merely harassed with arrows. Pang Yu used Rattan Shield Soldiers and archers to clear the way. The Garrison Battalion advanced slowly. The two sides fought and stopped, stopped and fought along the official road, neither achieving any result, until they reached this position. Here, the terrain on the left side of the river channel could already deploy troops.

Pang Yu could not say clearly why he stopped, nor could he recall which principle from the abstract military texts to apply. In Pang Yu's past professional experience, he placed great importance on the line of retreat. Right now there was only one official road. This road was both his retreat route and his logistics line. Because the mobilization had been hasty, the soldiers had only brought two days' worth of dry rations and were extremely dependent on the army provisions being transported from behind.

The western hillside was higher than the eastern side, blocking the view to the west. In such terrain suitable for deploying troops, normally scout riders would have to reconnoiter without fail. But now, because of the presence of enemy mounted men, the scout cavalry dared not detach from the main body. The western side was in a state of fog.

As the Garrison Battalion halted, the Mounted Bandits also stopped on the official road. This made Pang Yu even more suspicious.

"Halt and form ranks. First Company, Third Company, Fourth Company — front row, abreast. Left flank starting beneath the first earthen slope on the west side, right flank to the river channel. Fifth and Sixth Companies — rear row, abreast. The new recruits form up abreast behind my great banner. Second Company's remaining men supervise the recruits. Also, have Wang Zenglu come here."

The orders were quickly relayed. The First Company began a left turn, its three banner teams linking end to end. Pang Yu watched their movements the whole time. This transition from marching to combat was drilled daily on the parade ground, but a battlefield was not as regular as the parade ground. Some terrain had streams and trees. The entire formation had to fill the frontage but could not be crowded. This depended on the individual ability of the General Officers once they were practiced.

The Fifth Company also began leaving the official road, moving to the rear of the First Company's formation, preparing to become the second line.

The Third Company waited in place. Just as in training, the Garrison Battalion was still not proficient at forming ranks. If two companies followed too closely, they would often interfere with each other. Pang Yu observed while calculating in his mind. The fastest way for the first three companies to form the battle line was to execute a left turn and deploy simultaneously, stopping at different positions according to distance. As long as the First Company reached its position, the latter two teams would only need to advance a very short distance to complete the formation.

But that demanded too much control over each company's position in the column, something the Garrison Battalion was far from achieving at present. The entire engagement area was shaped like a trumpet, fanning out from south to north. Although Pang Yu had never deployed a formation before, he at least knew he had to defend the entire frontage and not let the Mounted Bandits circle around to his rear. Hence, a formation of three forward and two rear.

"My lord, your subordinate reports as ordered."

Pang Yu turned to look. It was Wang Zenglu, who had just arrived. His Second Company was basically shattered; only twenty-some men were uninjured. They could no longer continue fighting and could only be used to supervise the new recruits.

"Zenglu, take a look at the terrain."

Wang Zenglu gave it a rough glance. "My lord is worried about an ambush?"

Pang Yu stood in his stirrups and pointed to the west. "There is more than enough room to hide several hundred men there. The mounted bandits ahead have been active on the official road the whole time, blocking my scout riders from pushing forward to reconnoiter. Here the corpses have sharply increased, and they are all on the east side — perhaps to draw our army's focus of attention eastward."

Wang Zenglu had no horse. He stood on tiptoe to glance ahead. Those mounted men were still on the official road. Seeing the government troops forming ranks, they were now slowly riding closer.

He frowned and watched for a moment, then looked up at Pang Yu. "If there are ambushers there, they mean to cut off our retreat after we chase the mounted men, or perhaps strike our column at the waist... But my lord, you say those corpses are also meant to draw our attention — can the Roving Bandits be so cunning?"

Pang Yu smiled faintly. "In my professional career, whether enemies or partners, they have all been cunning and vicious men. Never underestimate an enemy. The Roving Bandits have rampaged across several provinces, living every day under pursuit and suppression by government troops. Even if a man were not cunning, a few years of such tempering would train him into it."

At that moment the First Company had reached its formation position. The three Banner Teams had moved a little too fast, and their formation was somewhat crowded. Yao Dongshan roared as he paced back and forth, pulling the men at the rear backward. Meanwhile, the Third Company was just beginning its turn. And the men of the Fifth Company behind still had not found their proper facing — their formation was not parallel with the First Company, but skewed somewhat toward the east. That Centurion still had not noticed.

"You have observed this formation. What do you think should be improved in the future?"

Wang Zenglu answered without hesitation. "This subordinate feels that for every three or four Companies, one Company Commander should be appointed. That would make coordination easier. Your Excellency will also be recruiting several hundred new men in Anqing. At one hundred men per Company, that will be over ten Companies. At present, Your Excellency gives the orders. If in the future all are managed by the Central Army, the Herald will have to relay orders to over ten Centurions. Forming up like this will be even more chaotic."

"This official has the same intention." Pang Yu said approvingly. "Zenglu, you fought with great courage at Beixia Pass, and the Second Company's performance was commendable. Once the new recruits are trained, you shall be promoted to..."

Before the sentence was finished, a burst of horn calls sounded from ahead. From the west and from among the hills ahead surged dense figures of cavalry, especially numerous on the western slope top. Yelling wildly, they spurred their horses and came charging at the still-forming Garrison Commander's Ying.