Chapter 453: A Random Choice

"Vice Battalion Commander, we spotted a group of Jianzhou Bandit scouts in the direction of Lingqiu Road, about twenty or thirty of them. We were outnumbered so we pulled back. The Jianzhou bandits chased us for a stretch, then disappeared." The lead scout spoke loudly.

Zhong Laosi said with displeasure, "What the hell kind of military intelligence is that?"

The scout replied cautiously, "The mountain roads are narrow. The Jianzhou bandits didn't dare come over, and we didn't dare go over either. We faced off for about half a quarter-hour before they raised their shields and advanced, so we turned around and came back."

Zhou Shao'er added, "We don't have many scouts; we can't beat those Jianzhou scouts in a fight. If a few of us got captured, they'd be interrogated and our real strength would be exposed."

Zhong Laosi flipped through the map. "Jianzhou bandits in the Lingqiu Road direction, no report back yet from the Guangchang County direction. Damn it, these Jianzhou bandits won't even let this backwater gully go. How many commoners can they catch running around all day? Are they really this damn poor?"

"Did you make out which banner they belong to?"

"Blue. A few had white-armor back-banners. They looked a bit small — couldn't tell if it was Bordered Blue Banner or Plain Blue Banner."

Zhong Laosi turned it over in his head. The intelligence was extremely vague. According to information gathered along the way, the opposing force might include Blue Banner, White Banner, and Bordered Yellow — several banner colors.

After thinking for a moment without reaching any conclusion, Zhong Laosi said to the company commanders, "What do you all think?"

Zhou Shao'er glanced at the others. Seeing that no one spoke, he had no choice but to raise his hand and say, "I think the Jianzhou bandits don't look like they intend to attack Daoma Pass. If they really meant to strike, they'd be advancing swiftly with light cavalry, rounding up every commoner on Lingqiu Road. The fact that they only gave our scattered scouts a brief chase shows their will to fight isn't strong."

Another company commander, Liu Yue, also agreed with Zhou Shao'er. He said to Zhong Laosi, "The Jianzhou bandits love using spies. They may have sent men to scout the three passes and found the defenses tight. Back then in Beizhili they couldn't even take Changli. Now Daoma Pass has forces from Zhending and Baoding massed together, plus troops from Tongzhou and Tianjin. There's absolutely no way the Jianzhou bandits can break through the pass, and Daoma Pass can't be bypassed. At most they're just here to grab some people on the road."

At that moment a clamor rose outside. The refugees who had been walking slowly suddenly began shouting and screaming, racing for their lives toward Daoma Pass. Several people were knocked over by the crowd and fell by the roadside.

The Long Qibing around the post station immediately went on alert, but after watching for a long time they saw only commoners fleeing — no Jianzhou bandits appeared at all.

After a quarter-hour, it finally quieted down outside. A garrison soldier came in to report: several commoners coming from Lingqiu Road said they had seen Jianzhou bandits over ten li away. That had instantly thrown everything outside into chaos.

Zhong Laosi cursed under his breath. The commoners must have been talking about the same group of Jianzhou bandits the scouts had spotted. To think they could frighten people into this state. Now these commoners were fleeing toward Daoma Pass and would surely block the reserve troops. Zhong Laosi glanced at the sky. He had no choice but to dispatch two platoons to seal the road, while the main force made camp right there at Zouma Post.

Around Zouma Post stretched range after range of mountains. Who knew how many Jianzhou bandits were hidden in there. Zhong Laosi snorted and slapped the table. "Staying here is no solution. At most we bivouac one night. If Lord Chen ordered us to help defend the three passes, fine. But the order is to strike at the Jianzhou bandits' detached forces. We can't just stop here near the Inner Great Wall. Which way do we strike — Guangchang or Lingqiu?"

The indoctrination officer stroked his chin and stood up. "On this point, I believe..."

"You believe jack shit. War is none of your business. Have you studied the drill manual? Have you taken the crash course? Have you trained in three-rank volley fire? Get the hell out of my way. Company commanders, speak up." Zhong Laosi cut him off without the slightest courtesy. The indoctrination officer bit his lip, his face flushing red with fury.

After Zhong Laosi finished asking, no one spoke. There were only these few mountain passes; unlike the plains, which had many roads, here, with the enemy situation unclear, whichever route they took was fraught with risk.

The whole group of company commanders and section chiefs kept silent. Zhong Laosi called on someone by name: "Zhou Shao'er, speak."

"Uh, well, maybe we should go to Guangchang. It's only a bit over sixty li. Lingqiu is farther — over a hundred and ten li to go, and it's all mountain roads along the way. Even if we run into the Tatars, we won't kill many... well, since there's no intelligence either way, I can't say for sure."

"Anyone else?" Zhong Laosi swept his gaze around. "If none of you will speak, then I'll do the talking. There are Jianzhou scouts in the Lingqiu direction, which means there's a large Jianzhou force operating in the mountains. On the Guangchang road, there are very few fleeing commoners. I judge that the Jianzhou bandits have already sealed the mountain pass. Judging by marching distance, the Jianzhou bandits may have already withdrawn. Lingqiu, on the other hand — the Jianzhou bandits are close by, which makes it suitable for us to focus our attack. Since the company commanders, section chiefs, and staff officers are all silent, fine. I'll decide directly. We go to Lingqiu. The baggage train stays at Zouma Post. Fourth Company brings up the rear and will catch up to the forward element once the reserve troops arrive. First Company takes point and opens the road, with one four-pounder cannon attached. If we encounter Jianzhou bandits, press the attack continuously and bite down on their tail."

Zhou Shao'er followed behind Zhong Laosi out the door. After settling his red soft cap with ear flaps firmly on his head, he watched the indoctrination officer storm off angrily in the distance. He asked Zhong Laosi in a low voice, "Let me ask you, Chief Zhong, why did you pick Lingqiu instead of Guangchang County? That reasoning of yours is a bit forced. There may be fewer commoners on that road, but it could also be that the commoners from Guangchang fled toward Zijing Pass, so fewer came this way."

"If you really want to know, I can only say there's no reason. I picked at random." Zhong Laosi shook his head.

Zhou Shao'er was dumbfounded. "You're saying you chose to attack Lingqiu at random?"

"That's right. Am I some immortal? Right now I have zero intelligence. If so many of you don't know what to do, how the hell would I know? But staying at Zouma Post indefinitely won't work. Our advantage is that the Jianzhou bandits don't know we're coming. If we stay here without moving, we'll quickly lose that advantage. The mountains make intelligence unclear, but they're also our best cover — the Jianzhou bandits will be just as blind. If we drag our feet at Zouma Post, once the Jianzhou bandits mass together or withdraw, our chance is gone. So Zouma Post is only a support point. We have to pick a direction and advance. Relatively speaking, since Jianzhou bandits were spotted in the Lingqiu direction, the odds of catching a group are higher."

Zhou Shao'er scratched his head. "What I want to know is, did you actually base the choice of Lingqiu on that? It's also possible those Jianzhou scouts have already slipped right back to Lingqiu. They send a few hundred armored troops to block the mountain pass entrance — at that narrow width, even if Guan Gong were reincarnated, you couldn't fight your way out."

"I'll tell you the truth. I picked at random. Right now we're basically completely blind. I'm only sticking to one principle: we can't drag this out indecisively at Zouma Post, and we can't adopt a defensive posture. As for which direction is better to strike, only heaven knows. Lord Chen once said, a worse mistake than a wrong decision is making no decision at all. So right or wrong, I'm picking Lingqiu."

Zhou Shao'er: "..."

The vast Taihang Mountains, gray peaks like a sea, the ranges blanketed in white snow, heaven and earth a scene of desolation. Snow began falling again from the sky. Though it was already the second month, the winter snow season of the Little Ice Age had lengthened.

Between the clustered mountains lay Lingqiu Road, connecting Daoma Pass and Lingqiu. This mountain road was built along the Tang River valley. Relying on the Tang River's scouring over thousands of years, a passage had been carved through the middle of the Taihang Mountains, and later generations built Lingqiu Road along the river valley.

The Tang River beside the road had already begun to thaw. In the middle of the river, water mixed with ice floes could be seen, flowing south with a soft murmuring sound. Snowflakes drifted into the water and were instantly melted away by the river.

Guan Dadi led his horse along the not-very-wide road. This was already the third day out from Zouma Post. On the second day they had covered only forty li the entire day, encountering no Jianzhou scouts along the way. At night they found a few dilapidated villages to bivouac in.

Steep mountain walls rose on both sides of the road, some places looking as if hewn by an axe. The marching column was filled with the neighing and panting of horses. Guan Dadi had been a Long Qibing since Lvshun and often trained jointly with regular cavalry. Regular cavalry warhorses were both quiet and obedient. Zhong Laosi had muttered about it many times — his wish was to replace all the Long Qibing's mixed-breed horses with warhorses, but Guan Dadi never believed Zhong Laosi's wish could come true.

"Halt!"

The soldier ahead turned and relayed the order. Guan Dadi immediately passed it back as well. They came to a stop one after another. On the narrow mountain road, this was the only way. Guan Dadi had been thinking all along: if they ran into Jianzhou bandits, would the army have to run onto the river surface to fight?

After stopping, Guan Dadi inspected the flintlock in his hand, then drew the thick-backed saber from its sheath on his saddle to look it over once. Together with the dagger on his belt, that was his entire set of weapons. But Guan Dadi very much doubted he would ever get a chance to use the saber — the mixed-breed horse under him had decent endurance, but its sprint speed was terribly slow.

"Check your powder!"

Another order came from up ahead. Guan Dadi's heart tightened. He raised the flintlock to his eyes, checked the position of the pan cover and the lock mechanism, looked them over several times, felt slightly reassured, then felt the leather cartridge box on his belt — ten paper cartridges inside, ten more spare in each coat pocket, and another twenty in his pack.

After finishing his check, Guan Dadi grew curious and stood up in his stirrups, trying to see what the terrain ahead was like. But many people ahead were doing the same. All he could see was that the rock walls on both sides grew lower up ahead — there seemed to be a stretch of relatively flat terrain.

After half a quarter-hour, the order to continue advancing came. First Company followed the mountain road slowly out into an open area. This was a somewhat larger river valley. To the northeast, a mountain road wound its way in — Guan Dadi had no idea where it led.

The column continued advancing, still in the direction of Lingqiu. After only a short distance, the column turned left and entered another road.

At the turn, the ground was flat. Several scouts and personal guards stood by the roadside, along with their Vice Battalion Commander Zhong Laosi. On the ground lay a man, more dead than alive. Zhong Laosi bellowed at him, "You dog traitor, how many men exactly are in the Bordered Yellow Banner behind us? How many from Plain Blue Banner have passed through? Spit it out and I'll give you a quick end. Don't make me put you to torture."

The man on the ground curled into a ball, his voice very faint. Then Zhou Shao'er asked Zhong Laosi, "There's also a part of Bordered White Banner behind. The numbers front and rear are about the same. Do we hit Manggultai or Abatai?" Zhong Laosi then furrowed his brow.

The column did not halt and soon Zhong Laosi and the others were out of sight. Guan Dadi did not hear Zhong Laosi's answer, nor did he much care. After all, they had fought this Manggultai back in Fuzhou, and he hadn't seemed particularly formidable. He looked around curiously. Up ahead appeared a military fort, with the three characters "Matou Pass" written on it. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, welcome to Qidian to cast your recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read at qidian. com.)