Chapter 1292: What? Government Troops Are Coming?

Niu Jie had already changed into a long blue silk robe, with a coat of chain mail draped over it, a long saber at his waist, and an iron-sheet helmet on his head. He stood on a raised platform made of two tabletops pushed together, and he actually looked somewhat like a great general of the Shun dynasty. A blue banner was held high behind him by a burly man, and on the banner a huge character "Li" had been embroidered in black thread.

Two rows of burly men in chain mail stood to his left and right, awe-inspiring and bristling with killing intent!

Below the platform stood men packed together in long blue cotton gowns, every face stubbled and rough, none of them looking like decent folk. They had already received their rewards, and each man had a large chest behind him, all filled with gold and silver — this Shunfeng Trading House clearly made good money, because for this uprising it had produced two hundred thousand taels of silver in one go. After rewarding all the jianghu heroes who had brought their brothers along to lend support, there were still over a hundred thousand taels left, which could be used for further rewards once the fighting started!

"The Great Shun Eastern Prosperity Prince has issued a decree!" Niu Jie roared, clasping his fist and saluting toward the empty air. "Our Great Shun heavenly host, a million strong, has already gathered at Yong'an. Before long it will sail down the river, destroy the remnant Ming, save the people, and unify the realm. All good men of the lower river who rise up to welcome the royal army shall be meritorious subjects of the Great Shun. When the royal army arrives, every one of you will be rewarded according to your deeds."

After delivering Li Laiheng's decree in plain speech, he looked at the crowd with burning eyes, taking in everyone's gaze.

Something's strange!

Niu Jie noticed that these "heroes" in the courtyard did not seem nervous, nor particularly excited.

This is rebellion!

If it succeeds, there is glory and wealth; if it fails, your family is exterminated and your house confiscated. How can such a matter be treated so lightly?

He was not entirely sure in his heart, but the words that needed saying still had to be said!

The arrow was already on the string and had to be loosed!

"The Prince has also passed a decree to me," Niu Jie said loudly, "ordering me to raise troops at Tiger Fang Mountain. All who join me in this first rising shall immediately enter the garrison as soldiers and officials!

Now, I lead you all in raising the banner against the Ming at Tiger Fang Mountain! From this day forward, you are all garrison soldiers of our Great Shun Heavenly Dynasty!"

Garrison soldiers? Not interested.

The men below simply could not muster any interest. After all this fuss and such great risk, just to become a soldier? If they truly wanted to be soldiers, did they fear there would be nowhere to take them?

Seeing the lukewarm response below, Niu Jie hastily added, "Everyone who becomes a garrison soldier will be granted forty shi of land. That is, land whose rent yields forty shi of grain!"

The Great Shun's "forty shi" had originally meant white rice, later changed to brown rice, and the latest standard was unhusked grain.

"Long live the Prince! Long live the Great Shun!"

"Welcome the Roving King! Down with the Zhu Ming!"

"Long live, long live, long live ten thousand years!"

The men in the courtyard finally cheered, and they looked reasonably excited.

Niu Jie was finally satisfied. Before he could announce the deployment for the uprising, he saw Scholar Zhang running frantically to the foot of the platform where he stood, then lowering his voice: "Young Master Li, bad news, terrible news!"

How is it bad? Niu Jie thought: How am I bad? My uprising has just begun and you say it's bad — are you cursing me?

He was just about to open his mouth to curse when Scholar Zhang's next words came out: "Government troops are coming!"

Government troops? Niu Jie did not react for a moment — he himself was a government soldier! It was the White Lotus sect over in Sichuan and Yunnan that were the rebels.

The fat man Liu of the Shunfeng Trading House, standing behind him, had already caught on and hastily added, "Young Master, it's Ming troops coming!"

Ming troops? Niu Jie was startled. The Ming troops had come too fast, hadn't they? He had just barely risen in revolt, and they were already here?

"How many are coming? Where have they reached?"

"More than a thousand," Scholar Zhang said. "They've split into two columns — one advancing from Yiling Prefecture, the other from Upper Baili Isle."

"More than a thousand and they still split into two columns? Is the intelligence reliable?" Niu Jie had attended the Kunming Military Academy and was well versed in military strategy, so of course he knew there was an opportunity here.

"Reliable!" Scholar Zhang nodded. "At least the column from Yiling Prefecture is certain, because the Yiling Prefecture garrison battalion has only five hundred men in all."

"Only five hundred." Niu Jie's breathing tightened.

If he could wipe out these five hundred men completely, wouldn't the prefectural city of Yiling fall into his hands?

Niu Jie hurriedly climbed down from the tables and said to Fat Liu, "Old Liu, can your men march out?"

The government troops had come at too coincidental a time. Niu Jie had not yet organized the good men here at Tiger Fang Mountain into ranks, so the only force he could deploy was the Shunfeng Trading House's one thousand men.

"We can!" Fat Liu patted his chest. "My men are all good fellows from Sichuan and Yunnan. Each one is worth ten of the enemy!"

"Good!" Niu Jie beckoned to a big-bearded man under his command. "Beard Ji, I leave the heroes here to you and Scholar Zhang!"

"Your subordinate receives the order!"

"Order received! Order received!"

Niu Jie asked again, "Is there anyone familiar with the roads?"

"There is!" Wang Sihu stepped forward. "Your subordinate knows the terrain of Yiling Prefecture like the back of his hand!"

"Good!" Niu Jie swept his hand forward. "Move out!"

Wang Sihu was not boasting. He was from Yiling Prefecture and had traveled the jianghu, so how could he not know the terrain? With him leading the way, the Great Shun royal host surely would not fall into an ambush.

But what he never imagined was that the man leading the way for the Great Ming royal host knew the terrain even better than he did. That man had lived in Yiling Prefecture for over fifty years and had wandered all over it — this man was none other than Ding the Skinner!

In order to curry favor with Eunuch Pan, and so that his daughter Ding Yuying could climb the dragon and attach herself to the phoenix, he had gone all out, personally guiding a regiment of the Imperial Guard to set an ambush in the Wujiagang area west of Tiger Fang Mountain.

And the man commanding this "limited annihilation battle" was none other than Pan Yuchen, the Superintendent of the Eastern Depot. He had transferred a battalion of garrison troops from Yiling Prefecture to serve as bait, marching out of Yiling Prefecture city in broad daylight to lure the rebels of Tiger Fang Mountain into attacking.

At the same time, he had transferred a battalion of the Imperial Guard, disguised as Jiangling garrison troops, to march out from Upper Baili Isle, with a battalion of Black Cavalry following behind.

So no matter which target "Young Master Li" chose to strike, he would come to no good end.

But Wang Sihu did not know this. On the morning of the twelfth day of the second month, he and his good friend Yang Sanbao both put on blue clothes, hung waist sabers at their sides, and walked joyfully at the head of one thousand Great Shun "second-generation garrison" soldiers, imagining that they had already become one of them.

For the past month or so, the two of them had felt as though they were living in a dream!

Although they had not yet made it into the Great Shun garrison, they were already enjoying the treatment of garrison soldiers ahead of time. Scholar Zhang had assigned the two of them a house — the original owner had been a wealthy household in Tiger Fang Town who had fled together with Ding the Skinner. He had also arranged marriages for them; the brides' families were middle peasants of Tiger Fang Town who had originally looked down on them, but under Scholar Zhang's persuasion had all nodded their assent. In another month or two at most, they would be bridegrooms!

As for how far this Tiger Fang Mountain uprising could go, the two of them did not really care. They had nothing to lose, and it would be fine just to enjoy the thrill. If worst came to worst, they would follow Young Master Li and flee to Sichuan.

As long as they crossed the Yangtze and slipped into the Jing Mountains, they could make their escape to Sichuan. Once in Sichuan, even as a garrison soldier, it would be far better than grinding away here in Yiling Prefecture!

As Yang Sanbao thought and thought, his mind somehow drifted to Ding the Skinner's daughter, Ding Yuying. He had to admit, she was his regret!

At that thought, he wanted to find Wang Sihu and talk. He turned his head and looked at Wang Sihu, who seemed to be frowning and peering into the mountain forest by the roadside. He was just about to speak when suddenly Wang Sihu's head split open! It split open from the forehead, blood spurting out and splashing all over Yang Sanbao's face!

This terrified Yang Sanbao senseless. He hurriedly embraced Wang Sihu, whose body was still convulsing, and pressed his hand over the wound on his forehead, shouting loudly, "Old Four, Old Four, your head's split open, what do we do? How do you treat a split-open head?"

At that moment, dense gunfire erupted in his ears, so loud that Yang Sanbao's ears went numb, and at the same time there were screams and shouts.

Yang Sanbao also heard that Young Master Li shouting frantically: "Ambush, it's an ambush, retreat quickly—"

Ambush? Yang Sanbao's heart went cold. He had only been a rebel for a few days — was he about to lose his head already?

(End of Chapter)