Chapter 374: Dawn (Second update, begging for monthly tickets)

After passing that dangerous stretch, the main force quick-marched again to make up for lost time. Since spotting that encampment, everyone's mood had grown somewhat tense. Guan Dadi kept peering in all directions, afraid that a band of roving bandits might appear somewhere. Fortunately, there were no more large bands of roving bandits on the road. The main force skirted those stockades, even giving the already-ruined villages a wide berth.

The paths they traveled were mostly country lanes, and occasionally they still had to enter the fields. Walking on this plowed-over land was not easy, and it was even harder for the pikemen. From steadying that one-zhang-four-chi pike, a blister had already formed on Guan Dadi's hand. At this moment, he deeply envied those musketeers, who carried their firelocks on slings and looked completely at ease.

After passing the dangerous stretch, the wooden gags in their mouths had been removed, allowing the soldiers to breathe more smoothly. Chen Xin trusted the discipline of the Dengzhou garrison, so the drill manual did not mandate the use of gags during night marches; the commanding officer decided based on the situation. On relatively safe stretches, they could march more comfortably.

After resting once more, the Dengzhou army turned north, entering the foothills of the southern slopes of Mount Taixing through a mountain pass. They first headed north for a stretch, then turned into a ravine and generally maintained that direction as they advanced. The path became difficult to traverse, and people kept tripping over rocks and mounds of earth. Guan Dadi pulled himself together and stared fixedly at where the man in front of him placed his feet, then stepped in exactly the same spots, so he wouldn't have to spend energy choosing his own footing.

The main force halted and advanced intermittently through the mountain terrain. Along the way, special service teams and scout riders who were clearing the path guided them. In the ravine there was a small southeast-trending trail, extremely narrow, with shrubs and thickets on both sides. All kinds of insects chirped in concert, and occasionally some indistinct animals scurried past.

By now they had already covered over eighty li. Coupled with their somewhat tense mood, the physical drain was even greater. Everyone felt utterly exhausted, and the ranks were filled with heavy, labored breathing.

On the narrow mountain path, the Dengzhou garrison's formation could no longer maintain six files abreast and gradually narrowed to three files. The formation became somewhat disordered. Guan Dadi had grown up in the mountains and did not fear mountain paths, but even he rarely walked them at night like this. Just before turning into the mountain terrain earlier, Guan Dadi had dimly glimpsed the distant lights of the roving bandits' campfires, his mood excited yet tinged with a little anxiety.

As Guan Dadi walked on, he noticed that the light seemed to have grown a little stronger. He looked up: a last-quarter moon hung high in the night sky.

"It won't be long before daybreak," Guan Dadi muttered in his heart. "When will we finally get there?"

Guan Dadi had no idea how much longer he had walked. He simply followed closely behind the man in front of him, until an order to halt was passed forward. The command was relayed from man to man toward the rear. Guan Dadi was no good at reading, but passing on verbal orders was no problem; he relayed it to the man behind him without missing a single word. After the baton-like relay, the large formation finally gradually came to a stop, and the chaotic sound of footsteps faded away.

The squad leader made a downward-pressing gesture beside them, and the soldiers sat down one after another, laying their pikes on the ground. Guan Dadi's throat was parched, but without permission, he still could not drink water on his own. Just then, Zhong Lao came over from the front and happened to run into Zhou Shao'er right beside Guan Dadi. Guan Dadi heard Zhou Shao'er asking why they had stopped.

Zhong Lao crouched down and said in a low voice, "The special service team has gone through the woods to scout the location. They need to confirm the position of Zijing Liang's main camp. The staff officers need to assign positions to each unit. Only then will we enter the ambush positions according to the marker flags. The special service team men haven't returned yet."

Zhou Shao'er looked at the moon's position and said, "There's probably about one watch left until daybreak. What's the special service team doing? They didn't even think to send someone back first."

"Someone did come back first, but there was no one at the designated spot. In pitch darkness over such a vast stretch of mountains, maybe they got lost, or maybe they missed each other on the way."

Zhong Lao's tone also carried some anxiety. After speaking, he returned to the company commander's position. Zhou Shao'er then passed the order to rest and regroup. Guan Dadi opened his coconut ladle and began drinking water. He didn't care about anything; after all, he only had his one life. Not being a leading cadre, he didn't have to take responsibility for others — he just had to follow orders and kill people.

The men squatted in the ravine amid the mountain wind and insect chirps, waiting. Only after half a ke did another order come through. This time the squad leader came in person, saying as he walked, "All personnel, gag yourselves. Anyone who speaks will be executed on the spot. When we turn into the forest to march, carry your long spears slanted backward; don't let them hit the branches overhead."

Guan Dadi took out his wooden gag and gently bit it in his mouth. It was a three-cun-long bamboo slip, its edges polished smooth. Just like in the Qi Family Army, his unit and name were written on it. Anyone who lost it after battle would invariably be punished. During nighttime standby, anyone found by the provost guards without the gag in their mouth would also be punished — the purpose was to forbid them from speaking casually.

The pikes of the forward unit rose up one after another. Guan Dadi also inserted his pike into his carrying sling, letting his shoulder bear the weight, then gripped it tightly with both hands to keep it from swaying wildly. The main formation advanced again. After halting once more, the squad leader ordered a left-face on the spot.

Guan Dadi guessed they had reached their assigned position. In front was the northern slope of a hill, covered with a large stretch of woods. Guan Dadi was somewhat worried about how they would get through, but by then they had already reached the edge of the forest. The trees in the woods were not too dense. The soldiers entered the forest by passing between the trees. Their pikes began to get in the way, constantly catching on the horizontal branches above and making cracking sounds.

Guan Dadi removed his pike from the carrying sling and slanted it backward over his shoulder to lower its height, dodging tree trunks all the way as he climbed toward the hilltop.

On the southern foothills of Mount Taixing north of Xiuwu, beneath the tranquil moonlit night, only the calls of various insects could be heard in the forest. Moonlight like water fell through layer upon layer of branches and leaves onto the ground, illuminating the dead branches and fallen leaves that covered it, making this forest seem like an illusory realm.

Inside the forest sat rows upon rows of Dengzhou soldiers. Without the roving bandits noticing in the slightest, they had already quietly entered attack range. The hundred-li march was finally completed before daybreak. The Dengzhou garrison, hidden in the mountain forest, had already deployed along the long southern slopes of the foothills. Two square-formation company battalions had drawn up a long formation of six ranks, directly facing the northern side of the roving bandits' main camp beyond the mountains. They only needed to walk out of the forest to be in battle formation.

The soldiers were conducting their final brief rest and regrouping. These soldiers, accustomed to bearing hardship and hard labor, mostly came from farming families or mountain folk. The ample nutrition and training before and after enlistment had given them extremely robust physiques. Now, stimulated by their tense emotions, their physical strength still remained at a relatively abundant level.

Guan Dadi sat on the ground, his wooden gag clenched in his mouth. Through the uneven branches and trunks ahead, he could see the lingering firelight of the roving bandits' camp in the distance. Strangely, he did not feel too much nervousness in his heart; instead, he hoped the battle would come sooner. At a time like this, of course, he also felt not the slightest drowsiness.

Once they were in ambush position, the squad leader had passed the order for everyone to rest and await orders. Although they had just completed a hundred-li raid march, after several rests, he felt he still had the physical strength to fight. This was thanks to his powerful constitution and daily training. But the mosquitoes and insects in the forest tormented him terribly; strings of welts had been bitten on his hands and face. Even the refugees were unwilling to spend the night near the mountain forest — the closest were over a li away. If it were only the mosquitoes and insects, that would be one thing, but they were also strictly forbidden to swat them. Anyone who made a sound while in ambush could be beheaded.

Ten paces diagonally ahead of him were the four ranks of detached troops. They would spearhead the attack, and as long as they did not encounter a powerful counterattack, they could not fall back to the main formation. The entire tactic of the square-formation company battalion was for the line companies to advance frontally while the detached troops penetrated and struck, crushing the roving bandits' organization at top speed and triggering their collapse.

The squad leader walked past the front of the formation, bent over, and whispered something to the squad commander, then looked up at the color of the sky. Guan Dadi also tilted his face up to look at the moon's position. Daybreak was not far off. He guessed the time to attack was drawing near.

Sure enough, after only a brief moment, two orderlies began passing orders along the battle line. The squad leader stood up and said in a low voice, "Remove gags. Keep your movements light."

A rustling sound spread through the ranks. Guan Dadi finally removed that detestable gag from his mouth, then carefully put it away. That thing had made him drool quite a bit of saliva.

"Dress ranks!"

Guan Dadi hurriedly took out his coconut ladle and gulped down a big mouthful of water, a wave of comfort spreading through his mouth. Then he unwrapped the cotton cloth covering his pike blade, and also removed the leg wrappings from the bright helmet between his legs and put it on his head, to make it easier to distinguish friend from foe in the dark night.

Once everyone had put on their bright helmets, the squad commander made an upward hand gesture and said in a low voice, "Stand up!"

Guan Dadi's entire squad stood up. The other squads around them also rose. Shadows moved in the forest, and the uniform suits of mail armor produced faint clinking sounds. A moment later, the forest became utterly silent. All the soldiers stood quietly at attention, awaiting the order to attack.

A peculiar birdcall rang out.

"Move out!" The detached troop commander raised his flag-lance. The detached troops in front of the four line companies passed through the edge of the forest and began advancing, a rustling of footsteps sounding through the woods. Guan Dadi suppressed his excitement and watched their figures threading through the trees.

Another birdcall. "Move out!" The squad leader gave the order in a suppressed voice, then led the way forward. Guan Dadi stepped out, advancing at the squad leader's pace. The long pike in his hand slanted backward, constantly catching on the horizontal branches above and making sharp cracking sounds. Some dead branches fell and struck the soldiers' bright helmets, causing minor confusion. At this moment, Guan Dadi could not help but especially envy those detached troops; their bayonet flintlocks looked so compact and formidable.

The advancing square formation was broken up by the trees in the forest into countless fragmented small squads, like flowing water constantly gathering and being divided again. Fortunately, they were not far from the edge. The trees soon became sparse, and ahead lay roughly a hundred paces of shrubs and thickets.

Over two thousand Dengzhou soldiers in square-formation organization, arrayed in six ranks by company, slowly appeared outside the forest. Moonlight shone on their bright helmets, trimming the edge of the forest with a long, silver-white chain. The two square-formation company battalions deployed all eight of their line companies on the first line. In front were four hundred detached troops. On the outer flanks were the two companies of the First Company Battalion, over a thousand men, all organized into flexible twenty-four-man combat groups.

Behind the front-rank square formations followed over two hundred bayonet flintlock musketeers. These soldiers were respectively the Fifth Battalion's battalion-level detached troops and two detached troops of the Third Guard Battalion. Chen Xin had left one company of the Guard Battalion to defend the camp, but had drawn off the most flexible detached troops. These men were under Zhu Daichun's control as a reserve force. Last of all came Chen Xin and his guard unit.

The branches in the border area had basically all been chopped down by the roving bandits and turned into the campfires on the slope below. Without the nuisance of branches and leaves, Guan Dadi's long spear became easier to handle. The light outside was also better. The moonlight reflected off the dense helmets of the detached troops ahead, giving off a silvery-white radiance. Those points of light began to sway, accompanied by the rustling sound of mail armor shaking — the detached troops were beginning to accelerate.

Guan Dadi followed behind his squad leader, stepping on the shadow of the comrade to his right as they advanced through knee-high grass. He stole a glance at his company commander Zhou Shao'er's company flag. The company flag was a bit blurry under the moonlight, but he could tell its pace was also quickening. The deputy company commander now moved up to the front rank, tilting his flag-lance forward as he walked, while turning his head to look at both sides. Toward Guan Dadi's side, he extended his left arm and pressed it down twice.

Guan Dadi knew he was adjusting the formation, signaling this side to slow slightly. His steps slowed a little until the deputy company commander withdrew his left hand. Then they maintained their pace. Guided by the company flag, they moved faster and faster, gradually shifting to a quick march. The soldiers panted quietly. There was still no talking in the ranks, only the increasingly dense sound of footsteps and the clanking of iron implements.

A strange sensation between motion and stillness filled the land. Guan Dadi's heart raced. He gripped the pike shaft with both hands to keep it from swaying too badly. The detached troops ahead of him had already jogged to beyond fifty paces away. At that moment, the ground underfoot loosened, the thickets became sparse, and Guan Dadi finally returned to flat ground. As he ran, he peered toward the outer flanks on both sides and could faintly make out some bright points that had thrust ahead of the flanks, their advance extremely rapid.

Over a li away, some campfires still smoldered, stretching as far as six or seven li out. Tens of thousands of roving bandits were sleeping soundly. This was also the time when the night watch was weariest; even many of the ambush sentries had fallen fast asleep. The entire camp remained utterly quiet, completely unaware that the government troops they had been planning to ambush were already upon them.

Under the moonlight, the gleaming silver Great Ming army formation formed an enormous arc, like a sinuous tidal front, flooding over the shrubs and thickets at the end of the southern foothills of Mount Taixing, silently surging toward the oblivious roving bandit camp beyond the mountain forest. (To be continued...)

PS: Begging for monthly tickets.