Chapter 296: Longyan Battle Record (19)

Early the next morning, when Wang Zhubao arrived at the rear palace gate with thirty able-bodied porters, he too sensed something was off.

But Wang Zhubao was a civil official; he only noticed the reduced number of sentries at the gate and the silence within the courtyard, failing to see that the sentries had already swapped their firearms.

Ding Liqiu, who had come upon hearing the news, fanned himself as he ushered Wang Zhubao into the rear palace.

The rear palace had shed its clamorous, hot-blooded military-camp atmosphere and returned to its former quiet, serene temple-like style.

Following behind Ding Liqiu, Wang Yuanzai felt increasingly creeped out as they walked and finally could not hold back. He opened his mouth and asked, "Mr. Ding, where is the main army?"

"Heh heh, they left at midnight last night."

"Ah!?" Wang Yuanzai halted mid-step at these words, then hurried to catch up. "But those two cannons haven't gone with the army?"

"Those were meant to confuse the local gentry. Why would we need cannons to smash a broken stronghold?"

"Oh..." Wang Zhubao's expression shifted several times, then he stroked his beard and chuckled. "So that's it. Truly, all is fair in war. You are brilliant, sir!"

"Brilliant or not, it's nothing special." By then the two had reached the entrance of the command post. Ding Liqiu turned around and pointed at several prisoners kneeling on the ground, bound with ropes. "These gentlemen here — you are no stranger to them, are you, Lord Wang?"

"Hm?" Wang Zhubao looked down at the sound, and the soldiers standing behind the prisoners cooperated by grabbing the prisoners' hair and yanking their heads back, revealing their faces.

The moment he clearly saw these men's features, a certain someone could not help but take a slight step back.

Before he could put on another act, Ding Liqiu, still fanning himself, pointed at the prisoners one by one. "These fellows are all the lookouts who have been keeping watch in the woods outside the gate for the past ten days or so. Before the troops set out last night, we conveniently rounded them up... Hmm, some of them are your men, aren't they, Old Wang?"

Wang Yuanzai forced a dry laugh. "You jest, sir. I do not recognize these bandits."

"Then what about this one? Master Wu of Yantou Stronghold — you must know him, right? Didn't you two hold a secret meeting just yesterday?"

"Sir, do not speak recklessly!" Looking at the battered, utterly vicious Lin Dajin, Wang Yuanzai was now somewhat incoherent.

"Poor memory, is it? No matter. Once you get to Zhangzhou Prison, you'll naturally remember."

Seeing the cold look in Ding Liqiu's eyes, Wang Yuanzai knew the scheme was exposed. In panic, he involuntarily stepped back again. But his movement suddenly stopped: two hands had appeared on his shoulders, pressing him in place.

Wang Yuanzai turned his head sharply and found that, at some unknown moment, two more people had appeared behind him. These two, one old and one young, bore vaguely similar features. They wore Flying Fish Robes and had Embroidered Spring Blades at their waists — none other than the local Embroidered Uniform Guard Hundred-Household Officer, Ma Rulin, and his son, Ma Jigong.

"Seize him! Escort him to Zhangzhou to be handed over to the judiciary for lawful processing!"

At Ding Liqiu's explosive shout, the soft-foot head wrap on Wang Zhubao's head was swatted off by the awe-inspiring Embroidered Uniform Guard. Immediately after, a foot stamped into the bend of his knee, and a certain father-son pair, with extreme deftness, tied up the kneeling Wang Yuanzai.

Looking at Wang Zhubao, who was now too terrified to speak, Ding Liqiu smiled and said to him one last time, "You probably didn't know there's a term called 'background check.' Oh, and by the way, that nephew of yours who was supposedly killed by bandits? Back then, he actually died in a shootout with his own men over an uneven split of the loot... Am I right?"

While Ding Liqiu, who had stayed behind to garrison, was cleaning out the demons and monsters in the county seat, Wei Yuan had already led the main force of the Red Spear Camp to eat breakfast in the mountain forests fifty li away.

The name "Red Spear Camp" was actually a temporary one coined after arriving at Longyan. This unit was the 1st Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Regiment of the Imperial Army.

Counting those fort garrison troops, even at the most generous estimate, the regular Imperial Army here didn't even reach the establishment of a single regiment of later generations. The 1st Company was thus the most important mobile force.

To borrow a description from later generations: this was a unit with a long history, born in the early days of the nation's founding, the same age as the Empire itself.

This was a meritorious company with distinguished battle records, having fought through the Tainan Security War, the Zheng Extermination War, the Taipei Colonization War, and a series of other conflicts — the claws and fangs of the Empire's outward expansion.

This was a sharp, vanguard company of superior military skill. All its soldiers had undergone over a year of grueling training and had participated in multiple real battles. The unit had successively produced a large number of elite soldiers of excellent quality and political reliability — these men had now been promoted one after another to officers, becoming the seeds and backbone of new units.

We have no doubt that this heroic unit will become a cradle of generals in the future.

... Wei Yuan had set out with the troops at exactly midnight last night. Since this was a long-distance raid, the soldiers all carried individual packs and rations.

As the tactical core unit, their equipment was naturally the best.

All-cotton, machine-made, fully green "Jungle Pattern" military uniforms, with a cut similar to the camouflage fatigues of later generations — though the color was a bit ugly... It couldn't be helped. Never mind that even migrant workers wore camouflage in later times; that was digital camouflage designed by computer programs, made from chemical-fiber blended fabrics, something a 17th-century knockoff faction could never produce.

The rations the soldiers carried were compressed biscuits shipped from Dayuan. These high-calorie compressed biscuits, wrapped in oil paper and mixed with beef, sugar, oil, and nuts, contained precious sodium nitrite — a special supply item to be used only in wartime.

As for weapons, there's no need to elaborate: the Type 38 Rifle plus explosive packs — a combination that could probably serve until the end of the world.

Guided by flashlights, fluorescent vests, infrared night vision devices, and nearby Special Operations Team members, the well-trained soldiers in their cowhide boots walked silently and swiftly along the official road, like the ghost soldiers and paper horses of legend.

Anyone who has seen old photographs from the late Qing Dynasty knows that the so-called "official roads" of ancient times, once outside the city, were in fact nothing more than a muddy ditch lower than the surrounding ground.

On both sides of such a muddy ditch were chaotic, deeply pressed cart ruts. Even on a main artery like the Beijing-Tianjin road, the width of the road surface only allowed two horse-drawn carts to pass each other.

Thus, when the Emperor traveled, spreading yellow earth along the road wasn't just for show: passing through those deep ruts on either side, a wooden wheel could easily slip out of place or sink in if one wasn't careful. If the earth wasn't laid down beforehand to fill them, what a disaster it would be if the boss got thrown out to eat dirt?

... The Longyan official road of the 17th century had far fewer such refinements: outside the county seat, even cart ruts were rare on the road surface. Everywhere were narrow, undulating, broken, and dilapidated dirt paths. This was mountainous country, where pack horses and donkeys were common, and horse-drawn carts were few.

Even so, compared to those forest trails, the official road was still very important — the troops had to use the official road to cover as much distance as possible before daybreak; otherwise, it would be even more troublesome during the day.

Fortunately, the soldiers of the 1st Company were all elite troops, and they frequently conducted night march training, so the march that night was very fast. After two brief rests along the way, by daybreak the unit had already traveled over sixty li northeast of Longyan, entering the territory of Ningyang County, with about thirty li of mountain path remaining to Duima Ridge.

By this point, the soldiers could properly rest and reorganize in a mountain col by the roadside.

The plan for the entire campaign was this: the previous morning, the transmigrators had already sent false information to the bandit lair via the internal moles, stating that the troops would set out today.

After sending the false information, the troops would march at double-time that very night, with the goal of reaching the ambush site not far from Duima Ridge as early as possible the next day.

As for the bandit gang, since the information they received was wrong — that the official army would come slowly, bringing cannons — their departure time would be very late.

According to the normal marching logic of the Great Ming official army, the fastest the official army could cover the nearly one hundred li of mountain path to reach the vicinity of the county seat would be that evening. As for launching an attack, they would first have to wait out the night.

So Wei Yuan was in no rush now. Arriving at the preset location before noon would be fine.

After eating their rations, drinking from their iron water canteens, and resting for an hour, the troops broke camp again. Though it was already broad daylight by then, to avoid being seen by travelers, the unit's speed was actually slower than at night: the mountain road conditions were very poor, and to reduce the non-combat attrition rate, the marching speed had to be lowered.

At 10 a. m., the troops passed through the bandit gang's preset ambush point: Hulu Valley.

Hulu Valley was true to its name, formed by two connected circular basins. One large and one small, with narrow openings at the front, back, and middle, surrounded by smooth cliffs on all sides, and dense forest and mountain rocks overhead — it was perfectly suited for laying an ambush and using the weak to defeat the strong. The moment the bandits launched their attack, they would only need to push rocks down from above to seal off the narrow openings, then simply continue pushing more rocks.

Hulu Valley not only had strategically vital and difficult terrain, but it was also the only route to Duima Ridge. The 1st Company had been very cautious before passing through Hulu Valley; only after the Special Operations Team members who had circled around to the commanding heights beforehand observed and directed them did the main force gradually enter.

After passing through Hulu Valley, the troops walked another seven or eight li of mountain path. At this point, the transmigrators' own ambush point finally came into view: Bald Ditch.

The transmigrators' requirements for an ambush site were very low: as long as there were no gullies, secret passages, or stone forests — terrain that could help the prey escape — it would do... Bald Ditch was very suitable.

A long stone ditch, with smooth cliffs over twenty meters high on both sides. Aside from the front and rear entrances being somewhat wide and unsuitable for trapping the enemy inside, everything else was fine.

The main bandit force setting out from the direction of Duima Ridge, wanting to go to Hulu Valley to ambush the official army, would also have to pass through Bald Ditch first. And when that time came, the local gentry would have no special forces above their heads using telescopes and infrared search devices to help locate the enemy. We'd just see how it played out.

After the troops arrived near Bald Ditch, they split into two. Led by Special Operations Team members who had scouted the terrain beforehand, they followed the stone paths along the cliffs up into the forest above Bald Ditch.

From this moment on, the two hundred soldiers, divided into two groups by Bald Ditch, officially entered ambush status.

According to the deduction, if the bandit gang believed the official army could only reach the vicinity of Ningyang County by evening to spend the night, then the optimal time for them to set out to lay an ambush at Hulu Valley, over twenty li away, would be just before dawn tomorrow.

So the troops would need to stay in ambush from noon all the way until tomorrow morning. Of course, deductions were ultimately just armchair strategy; the bandit gang might act earlier or later, so the troops had to remain on alert the entire time.