Chapter 332: The Choice

"They're dealing with the Jiangnan troops, and they've even brought out the cannons."

Outside Moyanpu in Susong, the road was packed with marching crowds and carriages. Two faint cannon blasts echoed from the distance, stirring a commotion among the servants. The squad leaders cursed and shouted, forcing the servants to keep moving.

Sweeping King Zhang Yichuan stood on the post road with his hands clasped behind his back, surrounded by the general officers of his subordinate posts. One of them listened carefully for a moment and said, "My lord, these cannons are strange — one moment they're ahead, the next they're behind."

"Strange as a donkey's balls — fire one cannon and it echoes from both ends." Zhang Yichuan waved for those around him to be silent. Sure enough, another cannon blast sounded, and it indeed came from the west. The west was the direction they had come from, and they had just passed through not long ago. The tail end of the servant column probably hadn't even finished crossing that Erlang Town yet. No one knew why they were firing cannons.

Zhang Yichuan tilted his head. "Could someone be setting off firecrackers?"

The general officer of the Second Post frowned and thought for a moment. "It's not even New Year's — who'd be setting off firecrackers?"

Sweeping King paused briefly and said, "If you can't figure it out, send someone to look. Gather the First Post and dispatch five veteran squad leaders to that town we just passed to investigate."

The First Post was his veteran camp, his lifeline in a crisis, and it was right beside him — the fastest to assemble.

Before the general officer could leave, several riders came galloping urgently. The leader was a Post Commander from the veteran camp, and the riders behind him wore expressions of sheer anxiety. Their horses were lathered in sweat. Seeing they had come from the west, the general officer knew something really had happened in that town and stopped to wait for the news.

The Post Commander leading them shouted, "These two squad leaders were sent by Liu Wenxiu of the Western Camp. They say government troops have struck that town we just passed, coming from Susong County Town, and they're asking you, my lord, to turn the troops back and relieve them."

"Didn't I, your lord, sweep Susong County Town clean long ago? How could government troops come bursting out of there?" Sweeping King rubbed his chin. Early in the eighth year of Chongzhen, he had easily taken Susong County Town, which had no city wall, swept every corner spotlessly clean, and even defeated Pan Keda, who had come to the rescue from Anqing, along the way.

He looked at Liu Wenxiu's horse soldier behind them. "Your lord asks you: where did these Susong government troops come from?"

The horse soldier's face was drenched in sweat. "Lord Liu said it was the Anqing Garrison Battalion, but he didn't say where they came from."

Sweeping King frowned at the words "Anqing Garrison Battalion," but he showed no panic. "Letting the enemy strike right at your doorstep before crying for help — what were your scout cavalry doing scouting?"

The messenger horse soldier could not answer. Liu Wenxiu had dispatched him in the very first batch without giving any details, only telling him to notify Eight Master at once. It might be the Anqing Garrison Battalion — he hadn't even mentioned they came by boat. Now that Sweeping King was questioning him, he could only assume their own scout cavalry had been careless.

"How many troops and horses did that garrison battalion bring? Why is there cannon fire?"

The horse soldier just stood there dumbly. He had passed through the town when he set out, but in his rush to deliver the message, he hadn't even seen the government troops.

Sweeping King yanked out his horsewhip and lashed it straight at the horse soldier's head. "Your mother's cunt hair — you don't know a damn thing, what fucking use are you, you donkey's balls!"

The horse soldier hastily blocked with his hand. His sleeve split open at once, the skin on his arm tore and the flesh split, and he hurriedly reined his horse back several steps, a string of agonized cries coming from his mouth.

"This lowly one still has to deliver a message to Eight Master."

Surrounded entirely by Sweeping King's men, the horse soldier dared not argue. He promptly pulled his horse and fled, accepting the whip stroke for nothing.

Sweeping King glared fiercely after the horse soldier. Only after he had ridden far off did he turn to his general officers. "What's Old Eight's reasoning here? Which government troops are we even fighting? Did we take the wrong road? Were we supposed to be encircling the Jiangnan troops south of that town back there?"

This single breath fired off several questions. The general officers naturally could not answer. The veteran camp's general officer was a capable old bandit around thirty. He looked around and said, "My lord, the road probably isn't wrong. Liu Wenxiu sent men to guide us. We traveled this road the year before last — if it weren't a post road, the surface wouldn't be this good. It's the road to Taihu. Eight Master said we were all going ahead to besiege the government troops, but now there are government troops in the town behind us instead. Right now we need to figure out first: are we besieging the government troops, or are the government troops besieging us?"

"Government troops ahead and behind, and no idea how many have come. Easy for him, Liu Wenxiu, to say one line, but we can't just charge in like this…"

Sweeping King's expression shifted. After a moment's hesitation, his gaze settled on the post road, his eyes darting ceaselessly. This combined camp operation was massive in scale — Eight Great Kings had taken the lead. Each faction had too many servants and family dependents; they couldn't all crowd near Fengjiadu. Liu Wenxiu had put considerable thought into arranging the camp grounds. Cao Cao's force was the largest and had arrived first, so they were stationed at the Mountain Pass, occupying that flat area. Moyanpu already held Chuang Tatian's camp, so Liu Wenxiu had assigned Sweeping King to Chemache River, still several li from Moyanpu. This spot was only a dozen or so li from Fengjiadu. Sweeping King planned to lead his elite troops to join the siege early the next morning. Because the Western Camp and Chuang Tatian were ahead of them, today's march had been conducted with no precautions whatsoever. The column was stretched very long, and the combat horse soldiers were in a dispersed marching state. Assembling them would be extremely time-consuming and would also delay the march — a dilemma that troubled him greatly.

"I, your old man, have crossed the bridge in that town. It's the only bridge going to and from Huangmei. Government troops striking this place — could Susong be a trap?"

The veteran camp general officer drew closer. "My lord's concern is well-founded. Look — government troops both ahead and behind. Since Liu Wenxiu is begging for help, the ones who came can't be few. If they block us, it won't be pretty. We ought to at least have a contingency plan."

Sweeping King lifted his head and looked. The roving bandits' marching column was huge and chaotic. The horse soldiers each had their own servants, who followed their respective squad leaders and lords during the march, providing logistical support like horse maintenance, cooking, firewood gathering, and camp pitching. In a marching state, the column was a jumbled mess with zero combat capability. That was why they placed extreme importance on forward and rear scout cavalry reconnaissance — to get timely battlefield intelligence so they could assemble the horse soldiers for battle.

As the roving bandits' tactics matured, a situation like this, with government troops suddenly appearing just a few li away, had become extremely rare. Because this time they were coming to join a combined camp, with their own camp heads both ahead and behind, Sweeping King had naturally not sent out scout cavalry. He had only dispatched a few horse soldiers to maintain contact with the Western Camp. Who could have guessed that a force of government troops would emerge from behind them? This sudden situation had caught everyone off guard.

"Assemble all the foot soldiers — from the veteran camp and every post. Have the Post Commander and squad leaders mount their regular riding horses and gather them together, ready for a fight. Let their own women ride the spare horses and follow close. The stewards are to keep the servants under strict watch and control."

The general officers of the various posts immediately left to relay the orders, gathering the horse soldiers and foot soldiers of each unit to form a combat-capable force — and this invariably took no short amount of time.

Sweeping King turned to his veteran camp post commander and said, "Gather the troops and horses. Wait for Old Eight to set the plan, but don't just wait idly. We've roamed the world relying on caution — we need to have our own foundation. Don't charge in blind without scouting it clearly. Send a squad of reliable veteran squad leaders to that town and see exactly how many government troops there are. Also send a few men ahead to Old Eight's position and see what the siege situation is — exactly which government troops have come."

The various subordinates dispersed. Moments later, the nearest veteran camp began blowing conch horns. Red-clad veteran camp horse soldiers converged from front and rear toward the great command banner. At that moment, another cannon blast rumbled faintly from the west.

……

Outside Erlang Town, the deafening echo of cannon fire still reverberated. A cannonball had just struck the foot soldiers' assembly point. Xiao Wazi looked up toward that spot and saw two broken halves of a long spear fly up from the crowd. A wave of shrieks erupted within the foot soldier formation, and it immediately collapsed. The foot soldiers threw down their weapons and fled in panic toward the town.

Xiao Wazi was dumbstruck. He had not expected the foot soldiers to collapse so quickly. They had barely just arrived on the battlefield. After the cannonade began, the spirits of the surrounding servants shattered, and terrified screams filled the wilderness. The foot soldiers had been hastily organized in the first place and had never formed a proper battle line. Still in a state of widespread panic, they broke formation instantly under these two volleys of cannon fire. The horse soldiers trying to hold the formation cut down over a dozen men but still could not stop the rout. They soon abandoned the effort, and some horse soldiers fled along with the foot soldiers.

He glanced back toward the south. The government troops' battle line was advancing rapidly toward the town. The infantry unit on the official road was attacking especially fast and had already broken away from the government troops' formation — just like that cavalry unit that seized the bridge at Puzikou, charging straight for the market town with reckless abandon.

Liu Wenxiu's banner was still there, and the horse soldiers around it were still resisting, but their morale was clearly low. No one was willing to fight to the death with full effort. They simply could not stop that infantry unit, which was surging with irresistible momentum, and could only slow their advance slightly.

Though battle had not yet been joined, Xiao Wazi knew they were already defeated. Judging by the government troops' speed of advance, his camp would soon be overrun. Time was running out. Xiao Wazi dropped the severed head in his hand, yanked the jeweled cape off the corpse in one pull, and darted into the tent to rummage. His left hand had been firmly gripping the horse's reins the entire time. At this moment, nothing mattered more than the horse — he absolutely could not lose it.

Most of the gold and silver was lost, and jewels and pearls were scattered all over the ground. Only half a bag of black beans for feeding the horse remained. He had no time to worry about gold and silver now. Without a second thought, he hastily hoisted the black beans onto his back. Another cannon blast sounded outside. With only one hand free, Xiao Wazi had no time to gather the fallen jewels. He dashed out of the tent. Only five of his own servants remained — all on the ground, clutching their heads and screaming. The rest had vanished, including his steward.

Half a year's gathered servants, reduced by half. Xiao Wazi let out a furious roar, venting the stifled anger pent up in his chest. Today was supposed to have been a good day. Eight Master up ahead had begun besieging the government troops. Once the official road was opened, they could resupply in Anqing. With all the camps gathered this time, they might even have taken Tongcheng in one push and avenged his brother.

He never imagined the winds and clouds would shift so suddenly. The Anqing Garrison Battalion had come by boat again, just like at Puzikou, and without the slightest delay had charged straight for Erlang Town — without even conducting any reconnaissance or probing. The various camps had large numbers of horse soldiers but no time to assemble them, allowing a single infantry unit to launch a surprise raid straight into the main camp.

He was just about to kick and beat the servants crying on the ground when several terrified shouts came from outside, followed by the rapid pounding of hoofbeats. Xiao Wazi poked his head out to look. A cavalry unit had appeared on the right wing of the government infantry formation — only about fifty men or so — but this cavalry unit had utterly shattered the roving bandits' will to fight. Post Commander and squad leaders alike had all abandoned resistance and were fleeing northward in a swarm.

"Anyone who wants to stay alive, follow me, your lord!" Xiao Wazi hauled up one of the servants weeping on the ground. The servant flailed his arms wildly, having completely lost his reason. Xiao Wazi slashed fiercely with his sword. The waist saber bit into the side of the servant's neck. Amid the spray of blood, the servant's crying stopped abruptly. His chest still heaved, but all that came from the wound in his neck were blood-frothed bubbles.

"If the government troops catch you, every one of you will have your heads chopped off to tally their merits. Not a single one will live." Xiao Wazi grabbed Wang Dashan, who was leaning against the tent.

Wang Dashan's face was already drained of all color. He instinctively clutched Xiao Wazi's hand.

"If the government troops catch you, the first thing they'll do is cut open your wife's belly and roast your child to eat."

"L-l-lord, this lowly one begs you to save…"

"The government troops are heading for the town — go east!" Xiao Wazi dropped him and said to the other servants, "Anyone who wants to live, follow your lord east."

Having said this, he no longer cared about the servants. He mounted his horse directly and fled. From time to time, the figures of horse soldiers flashed past his vision — but they were fleeing into the town. Xiao Wazi's heart was taut with tension. As he spurred his horse, he glanced sideways to the south. The red tide of government troops had already surged into the camp zone outside the town. The infantry unit on the official road was about to reach the market town.

The cavalry unit that had appeared on the flank earlier did not expand further outward; it merely screened the infantry's flank. The government troops' objective was indeed Erlang Town. Xiao Wazi confirmed he had fled in the right direction. He had passed through the market town earlier — its streets must still be jammed with people, horses, and carriages right now, definitely no good place to flee for one's life. Westward was the river, impossible to go. Only eastward lay Eight Master's position, and it also avoided the congested market town. After galloping hard for a stretch and pulling clear of the government troops' spearhead, Xiao Wazi even stopped to carefully observe the attacking government troops.

Amid the tide of people scattering in all directions, Wang Dashan supported his wife. Battle cries shook the heavens all around, mixed with the sounds of unfamiliar signal drums and horns — every sound filled him with terror. His mind was nearly a complete blank, utterly incapable of thought. The two of them wept as they walked helplessly eastward, even this direction chosen purely by instinct.

As they left the camp zone, a rumbling of hoofbeats sounded nearby. Wang Dashan looked up blankly just in time to see a government cavalryman whoosh past ahead of him. A spray of bloody rain burst from a fleeing servant, who then toppled to the ground.

Beyond wretched, wordless wails, Wang Dashan could no longer produce any other cry. His wife's hair had come loose, and she was nearly collapsing limp on the ground. Amid the fleeing figures all around, government cavalrymen kept passing by, cutting down one person after another they encountered. Some were already kneeling on the ground, kowtowing and begging for mercy. Wang Dashan did not know where to go, and so he just stood there, frozen, at the edge of the camp zone.

As he looked around in terror, Wang Dashan suddenly caught sight of Xiao Wazi's figure, halted on horseback. His mouth gaped open as he panted several breaths. Dragging his limp wife, he trudged with difficulty toward that figure — originally a stranger, yet now the only familiar presence.