Chapter 336: Do Not Worry

"My lord, do not worry. Your subordinate has his own plan. Men!" Two household retainers immediately appeared before him. Xu Strengthening gave a commanding shout, "Bring the lord's horse."

Shi Kefa waved his hand in anger. "Deputy Regional Commander Cheng and his thousands of soldiers are trapped deep in encirclement. This official will absolutely not retreat before the battle begins."

"Lord Circuit Intendant, your noble integrity is beyond reproach. How dare this humble one entrap Your Lordship in dishonor." Xu Strengthening glanced at the opposite bank, then turned back and said gravely, "This time, Adjutant General Pang is launching a pincer attack on Erlang Town. This is the moment for a decisive life-and-death battle with the Roving Thieves. This lowly officer has already resolved to fight them to the death."

Shi Kefa stared at Xu Strengthening, shocked and suspicious. "Then what is the meaning of bringing the horse?"

"This lowly officer wishes to request that Lord Circuit Intendant proceed first to White Cliff Stockade. Your Lordship devises strategies from the command tent. The encirclement and annihilation of the Roving Thieves is already set in motion. What remains is for us military men to decide victory on the battlefield. But in war, nothing is certain. When the situation is truly unfavorable, we must still leave some leeway. Your subordinate's opinion is to request Your Lordship to go first to White Cliff Stockade and take command there. Should the battle turn against us, the main army will also have a line of retreat."

"White Cliff Stockade..." Shi Kefa hesitated. "A great battle is imminent. This official should remain here to steady the troops' morale. Planning a retreat at this moment is, I fear, inappropriate."

"My lord, hear a word from this lowly officer. The Roving Bandits have not been causing trouble for just one or two years. If we cannot annihilate them this time, we will annihilate them next time. But this place, Susong, has gathered the elite of our Jiangnan officers and soldiers. It took Military Commander Zhang several years of effort to build them to this scale. If by any mishap they are lost, how could they be hastily reassembled? If Jiangnan is plunged into misery, would we not be failing the Military Commander and failing the Emperor?" Xu Strengthening wiped his cheek; in the firelight, there seemed to be a glint of tears. "A military man like this lowly officer dying is of no consequence. But the safety of Anqing rests entirely on Your Lordship alone. Preserving this sole remaining sharp blade of Jiangnan is the greater principle. Therefore, this lowly officer kowtows and begs Your Lordship, setting aside personal reputation this time, to prioritize the safety of Anqing, to prioritize the greater situation in Jiangnan, and to proceed first to White Cliff Stockade to make advance preparations."

The sound of hoofbeats from the opposite bank rang out again for a spell. The voices grew increasingly chaotic, and a few points of firelight flickered. The surrounding Wusong Troops stirred with waves of agitation.

"Preserving Jiangnan is the greater principle. I never imagined Regional Commander Xu possessed such insight." Shi Kefa raised his head again. "But the Old County Bridge is so critical..."

"This Old County Bridge, leave it to this lowly officer. As long as this lowly officer has a single breath of life left, this Old County Bridge will remain. There is no time to lose. I beg Your Lordship to proceed immediately to White Cliff Stockade. Quickly, bring the horse!"

Xu Strengthening waved repeatedly, ordering the household retainers to bring the horse, then personally assisted Shi Kefa in mounting. Once on the horse, Shi Kefa looked somewhat dazed. He gave Xu Strengthening a few more words of advice, and finally, under Xu Strengthening's urging, departed in the direction of White Cliff Stockade.

Watching Shi Kefa's silhouette disappear into the black night, Xu Strengthening let out a long breath. The Mobile Corps Commander of his personal soldiers, his face pale, came up beside him and said, "Regional Commander, how are we supposed to hold the bridge now?"

Xu Strengthening wiped the sweat from his forehead and waved his hand fiercely. "Hold what bridge? Burn the damn bridge for me! Let's see what the Roving Thieves can capture then."

The Mobile Corps Commander stared at the Regional Commander in astonishment. "But just now, my lord, you said to hold the bridge."

"It's burn, not hold. You must have misheard." Xu Strengthening finished cursing loudly, then grabbed him and lowered his voice. "Circuit Intendant Shi would never permit us to burn the bridge, nor permit us to run. If we had delayed with him like that, the Roving Thieves would have arrived soon, and none of us could have escaped. We could only send him away first."

The Mobile Corps Commander quickly said, "My lord is brilliant. But since we're running anyway, can we just not burn the bridge?"

"We run after burning the bridge. Those Roving Thieves are all mounted. If you don't burn the bridge, can you outrun them?"

Xu Strengthening waved his hand, and the Mobile Corps Commander hurriedly shouted, "Bring the firewood."

The several household retainers nearby immediately responded, "The firewood is all wet."

"Ah!" Xu Strengthening cried out in alarm. "Why didn't you dry it earlier?"

The several household retainers looked at each other. If the firewood was all wet, what were they supposed to burn to dry it?

The household retainer Mobile Corps Commander came over ingratiatingly and said, "My lord, do not worry. Drying it now is too late, but the cotton blankets each soldier carries are all inside the tents. We can perfectly well use them to burn the bridge."

Xu Strengthening gave a great shout. "Mark one merit for you. Quickly, bring all your cotton blankets over here."

The order was passed down. The various officers executed it quickly, dispatching soldiers who frantically carried them over. Soon, a large pile was heaped on the bridge. But the formation also fell into disorder. Facing a night raid by the Roving Bandits at night, this pressure was still immense for the soldiers of Wusong Camp. Just moments ago, with the household retainers guarding them, they could not flee. Now, in this chaos, quite a few took advantage of the darkness to desert.

Xu Strengthening naturally knew this too, but at this moment he could not worry about so many things. Seeing that the cotton blankets were piled about enough, he ordered men to pour tung oil on them. But the tung oil could not be found, so he had to dispatch more soldiers to search the camp for it.

During this delay, the battle cries in the darkness opposite drew closer and closer to Old County Bridge. Finally, the figures of routed soldiers appeared at the bridgehead. At this moment, the tung oil also arrived. The Wusong Troops could not bother with much else and hastily splashed it on. A few torches were tossed, and a great fire instantly blazed on the bridge.

As long as this bridge burned, Wusong Camp would be temporarily safe. The soldiers and civilian laborers all immediately burst into cheers.

The routed soldiers who had fled here were blocked at the bridgehead. Most of them had discarded their weapons, carrying at most a waist saber. Facing the raging inferno on the bridge surface, they could not extinguish it. They shouted curses incessantly from the opposite side. Some broke off long branches from the surrounding trees, trying to poke the cotton blankets into the river.

"Shoot arrows! Shoot arrows! Shoot toward the bridgehead!" the Mobile Corps Commander yelled. The household retainers of Wusong Camp drew their bows and nocked arrows one after another, loosing a chaotic volley toward the opposite side. After a few miserable screams, the crowd on the opposite bank scattered in a hubbub.

The morale of Wusong Camp soared. With their psychological safety assured, the soldiers stopped running and went in droves to the camp area to haul new cotton blankets, vowing to burn this wooden bridge until it collapsed.

Xu Strengthening, meanwhile, coolly observed the opposite bank. Over there, after all that commotion, he had only seen routed soldiers, not even a single mounted soldier. He did not know where the Roving Bandits the path-lurking soldiers had reported were pursuing from.

"Tell them to throw the cotton blankets slower. Doing things requires using your brain. They need to be pressed against the bridge surface to burn it through. What use is piling them high and burning on top?" Xu Strengthening gave instructions calmly. On the bridge surface, the great fire blazed fiercely, raising the surrounding temperature, but the wood of the bridge surface seemed not to have caught fire yet. It still required more thought from the Regional Commander.

Just as he was giving these instructions, a sudden boom—a huge sound erupted nearby, startling Xu Strengthening. Turning his head to look, it was actually those few artillerymen firing the cannon. He could not help but say angrily, "What are you firing the cannon for now!"

The household retainer Mobile Corps Commander went over and beat them, scattering the artillerymen. Xu Strengthening shook his head. When he turned back to the opposite bank, he saw that those routed soldiers had abandoned any thought of extinguishing the fire and were fleeing one after another along the river. Some who could swim jumped directly into the river and swam across. Some who could not were wailing loudly.

Xu Strengthening could not help but snort. "Not a shred of military bearing."

From the darkness, he suddenly heard curses from the opposite side. "Shi Kefa, you made us sell our lives, and now you cut off our path to survival, you shameless dog official."

Xu Strengthening furrowed his brow, but thinking that the opposite side would soon be killed by the Roving Bandits, he decided not to bother with them. Who knew that the cursing over there would grow more and more vehement. Someone started cursing Zhang Guowei. It looked like if they weren't stopped, they would start cursing the Emperor. There were still many soldiers and civilian laborers around. If word got out later, it would be bad. So he cleared his throat and spoke.

"Insolence! How dare the likes of you revile Lord Circuit Intendant Shi! This official is Xu Strengthening, Regional Commander of Wusong, under the command of Lord Circuit Intendant Shi..."

A gander-like voice from the opposite side roared, "Xu Strengthening, you dog thief who will die without descendants! If you don't put out this fire, when I get over there, I'll light your sky lantern!"

Xu Strengthening pointed two fingers together like a halberd at the opposite bank. "You, you grunts, dare to threaten a superior officer! Do you think this official is so easygoing as to tolerate your insults? Try cursing one more time!"

A group of people on the opposite side shouted curses. "Xu Strengthening, you turtle grandson!"

"Xu Strengthening, you son of a bitch!"

"This is outrageous." Xu Strengthening burned with fury, his fingers trembling with rage. Across the river, he cursed back at the opposite side. "You bunch of turtle grandsons! A bunch of dog thieves! All of you are trash waiting to be captured by the Roving Thieves and lit as sky lanterns!"

Seeing their superior officer personally on the front line, the household retainers under his command surged onto the riverbank and cursed loudly at the opposite side. For a time, the two banks of the Old County River were engulfed in the flames of war, and the spittle from both sides nearly made the river water rise by another inch.

Regional Commander Xu, cursing with rising excitement, put his hands on his waist and leaped up with force. In that brief moment of hang time, he still accurately seized the opportunity and spat a thick wad of phlegm toward the opposite bank with a "puh."

Just as the thick phlegm was launched, the Old County Bridge beside him suddenly let out a crashing sound. The soldiers of Wusong Camp cheered in unison.

"Has there been any reply from Lord Circuit Intendant Shi's side?"

"No word yet, but my lord, do not worry. Wang Zenglu just sent a man back to report that there is still cannon fire from the direction of Fengjiadian."

"Cannon fire is good. It means Cheng Long and the others are still there."

Pang Yu breathed a sigh of relief and rallied his spirits to continue inspecting the camp area. In the night, outside Erlang Town, points of firelight dotted the landscape. Some civilian laborers had lit campfires along the main road as an early warning against night raids—a method the Garrison Camp had learned from the Roving Bandits.

Campfires were lit everywhere within the town. Under the guard of civilian laborers, captives were hauling away corpses, carriages, and miscellaneous debris, blocking every alleyway facing north and heightening those collapsed sections of wall.

At the dock on the southern side, lanterns blazed brightly. Three grain transport ships were moored at the bank. Dozens of civilian laborers were moving provisions, tung oil, gunpowder, and other military supplies. The Erlang River was a bustling commercial waterway for goods from Guangji and Susong. It flowed into Dragon Lake, then out to the Yangtze via the Lei River—the reverse of the route Pang Yu had taken this time. Parts of the Erlang River channel had silted up, forming sandbars. Pang Yu had originally worried that the grain transport ships could not be pulled up this far, but today's torrential rain had raised the water level. The ships had reached Erlang Town smoothly, delivering supplies and able to take away the sick and wounded, greatly lightening Pang Yu's logistical burden.

There was still standing water on the stone-paved road at the dock. As the footsteps of the few men moved, they splashed up small sprays of water.

"Chen Rulie pursued the Sweeping King to Chema River. A group of Roving Bandits provided support, roughly a hundred or so mounted soldiers. Chen Rulie did a general reconnaissance. The area around Chema River is densely packed with camps..." Yang Xueshi coughed once, rubbed his forehead, and continued, "City River Stockade has been taken by the Roving Bandits. The ones currently occupying it are the Eight Thieves."

"Lord Circuit Intendant Shi's fortified strongholds—seems they can't take a beating." Pang Yu shook his head and smiled. Back when Shi Kefa was building fortified strongholds all over the Anqing region, Pang Yu had disagreed with most of them. But he had supported the ones at Chema River in Susong and Tianning Fortress in Qianshan. At Chema River, two were ultimately built: City River Stockade and Tufeng Fort. (The old site of City River Stockade is in today's Chehe Village; the place name Tufeng Fort still exists; both are located northwest of present-day Hualiang Village.) Currently, City River Stockade had been taken, while the situation at Tufeng Fort was unknown.

Most of the stockades and forts from the Roving Bandit chaos in the eighth year of Chongzhen survived. This was the basis for Shi Kefa's large-scale construction of stockades, believing that the Roving Bandits lacked the ability to assault fortifications. But Pang Yu did not think so. The Roving Bandits' actions were entirely driven by economic motives. When they first entered Anqing, they could loot supplies everywhere, so naturally it was not worth risking their lives. But now that they were coming a second time, Anqing was utterly desolate. To obtain the supplies needed for survival, the Roving Bandits could only attack the stockades. Their tolerance for casualties would naturally increase. Most stockades lacked training and could not withstand a siege by the Roving Bandits.

"Where does the Advisory Room believe the Roving Bandits will engage in battle?"

Xie Zhaofa, behind him, did not hesitate and immediately said, "East of Chema River is a flat plain, but most of it is paddy fields, unfavorable for the Bandits' mounted soldiers. However, they can hold the bridge. If the Roving Bandits want to defend, it will be east of the bridge. If they want to retake Erlang Town, they should be on the west bank. Before nightfall, a unit of Roving Thief mounted soldiers returned as reinforcements and held the west bank. It looks like they intend to retake Erlang Town tomorrow."

"Should we wait for the Roving Thieves to attack, or should we take the initiative to assault the Roving Bandits?"

"This subordinate believes we should still take the initiative and attack. The roving bandits are hemmed in between Erlang Town and Fengjiadu, but we are also surrounded by bandits ourselves. The Sweeping King is at the mountain pass, and Geli Yan is in the Huangmei direction. Our camp must concentrate forces to annihilate the Eight Bandits before we can link up with Deputy Regional Commander Cheng. If the Eight Bandits break through Fengjiadu first, then they will be the ones besieging our Garrison Commander camp. There must be absolutely no delay in between."

Pang Yu nodded. "The bridge over the Chema River is the key point. The Advisory Office, revise the battle plan again. The Personal Guard Division's departure time should be earlier — they need to reach Wang Zenglu before daybreak. Tell Wang Zenglu to keep scouting the Chema River through the night. If the roving bandits try to pull back to the opposite bank, he must seize that bridge at all costs. Under no circumstances can the Eight Bandits' main camp family dependents be allowed to cross the river."

"If the roving bandits retreat to the east bank of the Chema River, they will be unable to besiege our Garrison Commander camp. The forces of Old Huihui and Geli Yan on this side are insufficient to attack our main army. This subordinate believes that most of the Eight Bandits' camps are west of the Chema River — they cannot run across tonight. Cao Cao's camp is also at the mountain pass, and the camps of the Sweeping King and Chuang Tatian are mostly in this stretch as well. They are unlikely to abandon them. The possibility that they are plotting a counterattack is greater."

"A counterattack would be perfect — as long as they don't run, anything works." Pang Yu thought for a moment and said, "Don't let them rest tonight. Send one company each to the north and west, both with a cannon. Fire once every half a quarter-hour. Stage a night raid at least once every half-hour — even banging gongs and beating drums will do. Get the cannons to Wang Zenglu's side as fast as possible. In short, don't let them rest."