Chapter 363: Roadblock

On the seventeenth day of the fifth month of the tenth year of Chongzhen (Note 1), at the Wuhu docks.

Lu Pioneer poked his head out from the cabin of a grain transport ship. The river wind dispersed the stuffy heat inside. He took a deep breath on the deck and sat down on the planking near the gunwale. The Wuhu docks lay in pitch darkness. There was a night watchman at each end, east and west, their lantern light drifting through the night like fireflies.

A faint rustling came from behind him as another twenty-some people came up onto the deck. The shore was very quiet, broken only by the occasional bark of a dog. In the darkness, no one said a word. The hull rocked gently, and the river water lapped against the dock's stone steps with a soft, splashing murmur.

"One last time: wait for the light signal before going ashore, and follow the high lamp ahead. The raid target is the Luo Sect's convent. There are three exits. First Squad and Second Squad will assault the main entrance. Third Squad's two teams will block the doors. The Vanguard Squad clears the path. The Rear Guard Squad is the reserve."

In the darkness, they couldn't make out the speaker's face, but Lu Pioneer knew it was the Deputy Battalion Commander of the Land Combat Division. He was lean, dark, and wiry. The Marine Corps drilled by the riverbank every day, often stripped to the waist, so most were fairly dark, but this Deputy Battalion Commander far surpassed the rest — even looking at him in daylight, you could only see the whites of his eyes.

Word was that after the Susong Great Victory, they would expand the Marine Corps by one division. This Deputy Battalion Commander was almost certainly going to be the new Battalion Commander. Because his squad leader had captured the Sweeping King alive, Lu Pioneer had basked in Tang Ershuan's reflected glory and was due for promotion to Banner Commander. Now, with the expansion, he could angle for a Centurion rank. Being selected for this mission to Anqing was a chance to earn merit.

Lu Pioneer had never been to Wuhu, nor did he understand why they had to raid a bunch of porters in the dead of night. But he knew that some time ago, the Anqing Canal Gang had come downstream, and over three days their numbers had gradually swelled to three hundred. They'd been taking jobs at the docks for low pay, leading to multiple brawls with the local porters.

The Deputy Battalion Commander's voice was now right beside him. "Quite a few of this lot are River Bandits. They've done their share of murder and robbery on the river. Today they're meeting to discuss starting a rebellion in Wuhu to coordinate with the Roving Bandits. It's inconvenient for our Anqing Garrison Battalion to send troops openly, so they've sent us in secret. Therefore, none of you are men of the Anqing Garrison Battalion. If you're captured, the Garrison Battalion won't acknowledge you. You're only permitted to say you're with the Anqing Canal Gang. After we leave Wuhu, no one is allowed to mention this again. Anyone with a loose tongue will be dealt with for leaking military intelligence."

After he finished, he said no more. Everyone crouched in the darkness, waiting for the signal from the shore.

Lu Pioneer had worked as a porter at the docks himself. These people basically lived on the poverty line. Their daily force pay was barely enough to feed their families. A single day without business meant the whole family went hungry. So they normally feared the authorities, but in private feuds they were quite fierce and brave, often killing over a few dozen copper coins. Many of their leaders had been River Bandits, plundering passing ships on the river. In terms of individual combat ability, they were no worse than the Roving Bandits' Old Bandits. So Lu Pioneer didn't dare be careless.

He groped to check his equipment once more. The Deputy Battalion Commander had assigned him to lead the Vanguard Squad, all elite soldiers selected from various companies, responsible for clearing any potential ambushers along the way. Lu Pioneer carried a waist saber and had a throwing axe tucked at his back — the kind the Marine Corps usually used for chopping mooring lines and wood, but it worked for killing people too. Besides the standard leather armor, he was also equipped with auxiliary armor. The rest of the men were fully armed, their weapons mainly waist sabers, tang pa, and long staves. Each man had a rattan shield. According to the intelligence the Deputy Battalion Commander had shared, that bunch of porters had a few swords, but mainly used big clubs and carrying poles. The rattan shields were for defending against those clubs.

They waited for about a quarter of an hour. A lantern lit up on the second floor of a building in the middle of the docks and traced three circles. The Deputy Battalion Commander gave a low command. The men filed down the gangplank in single file. From a ship nearby, another twenty men also disembarked.

Over forty people came up onto the dock and expertly formed up into ranks. Lu Pioneer stood at the head of the squad. A high lamp lit up ahead, and Lu Pioneer followed the Deputy Battalion Commander to its base. The man holding the lamp was tall and looked like a porter too. There was also a guide, carrying a lantern by himself, his demeanor quite composed.

Although Wuhu was a bustling commercial city on the Great River, its city wall wasn't built until the Wanli era. The wall was five li in circumference and three zhang high. Because the city came first and the wall later, both inside and outside lacked planning. The streets and alleys were narrow and winding, with dead-end alleys everywhere. For an outsider, without a guide in the dark of night, it was absolutely impossible to find the Wuhu Canal Gang's meeting place.

The man carrying the lantern said quietly to the Deputy Battalion Commander, "The managers from several gangs are all in the convent discussing matters."

He had a Wuhu accent. Lu Pioneer sized him up by the lantern light. The man had a knife scar on his face. He was most likely a local River Bandit, perhaps even a member of the Wuhu Canal Gang itself, though somehow he had sided with the Anqing Canal Gang.

The situation along the river at this time was similar. The Luo Sect itself had four branches, two of them in the Jiangnan region. Although the Wuhu dock porters all worshipped Luo Zu, they had no unified organization. They were divided into several small gangs that fought amongst themselves, with quite a few River Bandits mixed in. This time, with the Anqing Canal Gang arriving in force, those small gangs were preparing to band together. Today's meeting at the convent was precisely to discuss this.

The Deputy Battalion Commander waved his hand. The men split into squads and followed behind the high lamp, moving silently through the streets and alleys in the darkness. Not a single person made a sound, just like during their night combat training.

Dogs barked in a few places among the streets. Lu Pioneer stayed alert, paying attention to his surroundings. Though fully armed, walking through unfamiliar streets and alleys in the dead of night still made him somewhat tense.

The high lamp continued east, then turned a corner south. They came face-to-face with a night watchman making his rounds. Lu Pioneer raised his hand and repeatedly waved it downward. The main force following behind him immediately halted, completely concealed in the darkness.

The night watchman froze for a moment when he saw the high lamp and lantern. Curfews were for common folk. It was normal for dock masters and high officials to go out at night, swaggering along with their lanterns lit.

Because the light blocked his view, the night watchman couldn't see the crowd hidden in the darkness behind. He kept his head down and walked on silently, intending to pretend he hadn't seen anything. Just as he passed the high lamp, two figures suddenly darted out of the darkness. A large hand clamped over his mouth, and he was pinned to the ground.

The night watchman was scared out of his wits, his arms and legs flailing wildly. Then he heard the man say, "If you want to live, don't make a sound."

The night watchman lay on the ground, panting heavily. Lu Pioneer beckoned one of his men over and told him to guard the watchman. After standing up, he paused for a moment, then took the watchman's clapper and lantern.

The squad continued forward, winding through the twisting streets and alleys for quite a while. The high lamp stopped again at an intersection. The man with the lantern poked his head out from the alley entrance to look around, then hastily covered his lantern with a black cloth. He returned to the Deputy Battalion Commander's side and said, "There are lookouts up ahead. Four of them. They weren't here when I checked earlier."

"How far to the convent?"

"A hundred paces."

The Deputy Battalion Commander turned to look at Lu Pioneer. They hadn't anticipated a roadblock. They had somewhat underestimated the Canal Gang — who knew they would be this vigilant? But Lu Pioneer wasn't overly worried either; they had training for dealing with ambush armies in normal times.

The Deputy Battalion Commander craned his neck to look. Two dim yellow lanterns sat on the street edge up ahead, with a few figures beside them. A crisp slapping sound rang out — probably someone swatting mosquitoes.

Lu Pioneer studied the scene carefully for a moment, then said quietly, "There's also a gong. If it's struck, they'll definitely hear it a hundred paces away. We can't attack straight on."

This street was a straight road. There was no cover from the alley entrance onward; even at night, they'd be easily spotted. The Deputy Battalion Commander turned to the guide and said, "Is there another way?"

"We'd have to go back the way we came to the river, then circle around."

The Deputy Battalion Commander said in a low voice, "If we circle around, I'm afraid the people in the convent will run. And what if there are lookouts on the other side too?"

The guide stared at the two of them. "These managers are the most assembled they've been today. Gang Leader Jiang's intention is to capture them all, to avoid too many deaths from dock brawls that would make things difficult for the yamen. If we don't get them tonight, who knows when we'll have another chance."

The Deputy Battalion Commander said nothing. Lu Pioneer knew he was considering whether to launch a direct assault. The roadblock and the convent were a hundred paces apart. In the daytime, they could rush it quickly and trap the people inside. But at night, visibility was poor, and the soldiers were unfamiliar with the terrain. If they couldn't reach it in time, the people in the convent would all escape cleanly. So this hundred paces could determine the final success or failure.

The several dozen Marine Corps soldiers behind them all waited silently in the darkness. A dog in a nearby courtyard barked twice in succession. The sound of voices came from the street ahead, as if their attention had been drawn. If they came over to investigate, the raid might fail at the last hurdle.

Lu Pioneer looked up at the Deputy Battalion Commander and said, "I'll go over disguised as the night watchman."

The Deputy Battalion Commander thought for a moment, then nodded. Lu Pioneer set down his waist saber, quickly stripped off his leather armor, and hid the throwing axe inside his clothes. The Deputy Battalion Commander called over two more soldiers to join the Vanguard Squad. Lu Pioneer hastily gave a few instructions, then took out the clapper, picked up the lantern, and walked out of the alley entrance.

He recalled the night watchman's reaction from earlier. He struck the clapper once at the alley entrance, then pretended he had just noticed the roadblock up ahead. He stopped the clapper and walked forward with his head down.

The lantern light gradually moved forward. Five Marine Corps soldiers slipped out of the alley entrance, creeping closer in the darkness behind the lantern.

When the Wuhu Canal Gang men saw it was a night watchman coming, they even tossed a couple of stones his way. Lu Pioneer hunched his back and walked along the opposite side of the road, watching the men's movements from the corner of his eye. The brass gong was placed at one man's feet. That man was sitting on a low bamboo stool, within arm's reach of it. Lu Pioneer had to get as close to him as possible. The roadblock drew nearer and nearer, and his heartbeat gradually quickened.

He finally walked past the roadblock's position. Lu Pioneer slowed his pace and heard a voice beside him say, "Who…"

Footsteps erupted. Lu Pioneer whirled around, drew the throwing axe from his clothes, and lunged straight for the man on the bamboo stool. That man reacted quickly. The moment he saw the figures charging from behind, he reached for the brass gong, but he completely failed to notice Lu Pioneer lunging at him from the other side.

Lu Pioneer swung with explosive speed. The axe head struck the man's cheek with a sickening thud. The ferocious momentum sent the man toppling backward. The brass gong, already in his grasp, clanged against the door panel behind him. A cry burst from the man's mouth. Lu Pioneer threw himself onto him, clamping a hand around his throat. The cry was cut off abruptly.

Almost simultaneously, the charging soldiers had already tackled the other three Canal Gang members to the ground. Lu Pioneer swung the axe and struck the head several more times. The sounds of struggling and groaning in the street continued for a moment, then silence returned.

Quite a bit of blood had splattered onto Lu Pioneer's face. He panted for a moment, checked the other men, then raised the lantern and traced circles toward the alley entrance. The high lamp soon appeared at the intersection. The Deputy Battalion Commander rushed to Lu Pioneer's side, clapped him on the shoulder, and said, "Well done. Continue clearing the path."

Lu Pioneer returned to the high lamp, then advanced to another intersection. Twenty paces ahead was a convent. Two fires burned in front of the gate, and people were pacing there. The guide nodded to the Deputy Battalion Commander, signaling that this was the place. Lu Pioneer breathed a sigh of relief. The Vanguard Squad's main task was complete. Now they only had to assist the two squads leading the main assault. The Marine Corps had achieved surprise, and they were all equipped with armor. No matter how fierce the River Bandits were, they wouldn't be a match.

The Deputy Battalion Commander confirmed the locations of the other two doors, finished giving instructions to the squad leaders, and the three squads of Marine Corps soldiers leading the assault formed up their ranks. The Deputy Battalion Commander waved his hand. Dozens of Marine Corps soldiers surged out and charged fiercely toward the convent.

……

Note 1: The tenth year of Chongzhen had an intercalary fourth month, meaning there were two fourth months.