Chapter 1310: Joining the Army Through the Imperial Examinations — Is That Only for the High-Born?

Niu Jie was caught completely off guard and thrown heavily from his horse onto the muddy ground, seeing stars from the impact — but it was only a fall; he had not been shot. The "good fellows'" flintlock pistols had little accuracy, and although several muskets had been aimed at his back and fired, what they hit was the rump of the horse beneath him. The horse's hindquarters burst open, and it instantly went wild, bucking hard and throwing him off.

At first he did not understand what was happening, until gunfire erupted all around his ears and shouts in Sichuan accents rang out: "The royal army is here! Follow the royal army and kill the rebels! Joining the army through the imperial examinations — is that only for the high-born?"

When he heard "the royal army is here" and "kill the rebels," Niu Jie still had not reacted — the Shun had held Sichuan for more than twenty years, and in Niu Jie's mind, the Shun's heavenly troops were the royal army, while Zhu Cilang and his men were the rebels! But the moment he heard "Joining the army through the imperial examinations — is that only for the high-born?" he knew at once that the Sichuan men at Niulan Pass had risen in revolt.

Because only Sichuan men and Yunnan men would shout such an absurd slogan!

He struggled to his feet, drawing his sword as he looked wildly around. One glance told him that Niulan Pass had already descended into utter chaos — choking gunsmoke hung everywhere, and everywhere came the sounds of battle cries and clashing weapons. If one listened carefully, one could make out battle cries in Chu accents, Sichuan accents, and Shaanxi accents alike!

The Chu accents, needless to say, had to be the "good fellows" Niu Jie himself had brought to Niulan Pass! There were certainly Zhu the rebel's undercover agents among them. Judging by the situation, probably quite a few!

The Shaanxi accents, of course, came from the Shun troops at Niulan Pass! They were no rabble. Though caught by surprise and badly mauled by the enemy's flintlock pistols — even the Military Commissioner Wu Ruyi's fate was unknown — they had still, from the very first moment, organized resistance under their junior officers. On both sides of the long street inside Niulan Pass, they fought in a tangled melee against the Ming troops who had suddenly struck while disguised as righteous soldiers.

The Ming troops taking part in the surprise attack were all cavalry of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. They were not many — only four or five hundred — all veterans of the demobilized "Overcome-Difficulty New Army," and their fighting strength was not weak. But their numbers were far too few — and the reason they were so few was fear of being detected by Niu Jie and the Shun Trade Bureau "good fellows" around him. Niu Jie and those Trade Bureau agents were no fools; if more than half of the five thousand men under their command had been undercover agents, how could they possibly not have known? So the true undercover agents numbered only a few dozen ringleaders plus these four or five hundred Embroidered Uniform Guard cavalrymen.

The remaining four thousand-odd men were merely the ringleaders' underlings, who had followed along only after receiving generous rewards from their bosses, and had no idea that they were in fact not rebels at all, but the royal army.

These underlings, unaware of their true identity, had little fighting capacity, so the real backbone was these four or five hundred elite cavalrymen.

Wu Ruyi, for his part, had been highly vigilant, stationing more than five thousand men inside Niulan Pass. Even under surprise attack, that should have been enough to suppress four or five hundred Ming cavalrymen and more than four thousand "jianghu underlings."

But the Ming side surely had a follow-up move!

Niu Jie did not need to think to know that behind his own force, elite Ming troops must be following. If the gates of Niulan Pass could not be closed and the drawbridge raised before they arrived, then the trouble would be enormous.

He turned his head to look toward the gate of Niulan Pass — what met his eyes was a dense mass of human heads, jammed into a solid crush!

Raising the drawbridge at the gate was now impossible; the only option was to drop the thousand-jin portcullis as quickly as possible.

He hurriedly looked up toward the top of the wall, and was shocked to find that it too had already fallen into chaos!

It was not that the attacking Ming troops had sprouted wings and flown up there — it was that the Sichuan corvée laborers and convicts on the pass had revolted!

The Sichuan-accented cry of "Joining the army through the imperial examinations — is that only for the high-born?" was all shouted by them!

As it happened, it was something of a coincidence: when Niu Jie and his men arrived at Niulan Pass, the expansion and reinforcement project there was at its very peak — Wu Ruyi had assembled over ten thousand corvée laborers and convicts at the site, preparing to expand the originally small and flimsy pass into a bastion fort, and also planning to build walls on the slopes on either side of the pass.

So at this moment, both above and below the pass, it was all Sichuan corvée laborers and Sichuan convicts.

Most of these people were dissatisfied with the Shun dynasty's rule, and many were hoping for the Ming army to come and deliver them. Now, stirred up by a handful of villains, they had of course risen in revolt en masse.

"Revolted! They've all revolted." Niu Jie gritted his teeth and muttered a few words, then suddenly bellowed: "Brothers of the Trade Bureau, follow me up to the pass and kill the rebels!"

Then, paying no more heed to the fierce battle raging on the long street, he loudly called out in Shaanxi dialect to the Trade Bureau good fellows under his command who could still move, summoning them all to charge with him toward the top of Niulan Pass.

Li Jinxue was one of those handful of villains!

"The royal army is here" — he had been the first to shout it. "Joining the army through the imperial examinations — is that only for the high-born?" — he had been the first to shout that too.

Nor did he merely shout. He had snatched a long-handled iron hammer from someone, swung it in a full circle, and brought it smashing down on the head of a nearby garrison soldier!

Li Jinxue, who moments before had been listless and exhausted at his labor, was now brimming with strength from head to toe. One hammer blow, and the garrison soldier's head was smashed to pulp!

There were other convicts atop the pass as well. They were mortal enemies of the Shun dynasty, and so they were the first group to strike, using hammers, shovels, carrying poles — anything they could lay their hands on — to smash at the garrison soldiers nearest them.

Spurred on by them, many of the corvée laborers on the pass also revolted and began attacking the nearby garrison soldiers.

Though the garrison soldiers were caught off guard, they all wore armor. As long as they were not struck in a vital spot by a blunt weapon, they suffered no serious harm and could immediately fight back with their weapons.

They had all undergone strict military training since childhood and were simply not opponents the corvée laborers and convicts could match. Thus, though few in number, they could still hold their own against these laborers and convicts. But they were so absorbed in fighting the enemies around them that for the moment they forgot — or simply could not spare a hand — to drop the thousand-jin portcullis.

The gates of Niulan Pass still stood wide open!

"Any man with guts, follow me and charge in! You'll all be damn heroes of the Overcome-Difficulty campaign! His Majesty the Emperor will richly reward you!"

The good fellows leading squad after squad of underlings roared out as well.

Whether they could turn from jianghu good fellows into the court's running dogs all depended on today!

Those underlings had all been fed full on silver issued by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and now their ferocity and ruthlessness surged forth. Every one of them grabbed a weapon and poured into the pass.

At the same moment, the Shun troops garrisoned inside the pass also rushed toward the long street by the gate — the entrance to the horse ramp leading up the pass wall was right beside the gate's long street! If they did not seize the long street by the gate, the Shun troops on the wall would be left to fight alone, and no one knew when the thousand-jin portcullis could be dropped.

Several thousand warriors on both sides thus clashed into a single tangled melee on the gate's long street, which was neither especially broad nor especially narrow.

Li Jinxue, who felt that in this lifetime he still had hope of taking the imperial examinations, was at this moment brimming with strength from head to toe, swinging his great hammer in a hard-fought, indecisive duel against a garrison soldier armed with saber and shield!

But swinging a hammer was, after all, exhausting work. He had gone without proper food and drink these past days while doing hard labor — how much strength could he have? At first, riding on sheer excitement, he seemed to possess boundless energy, but after swinging for a while he began to pant. And for all his swinging, he had not landed a single blow on his opponent — that garrison soldier was nimble, and his saber work was superb, parrying left and blocking right, easily fending off Li Jinxue's furious assault.

Seeing Li Jinxue's strength failing and his hammer swings slowing, the garrison soldier began to counterattack. First he slashed through the wooden shaft of Li Jinxue's great hammer with one cut, then thrust the tip of his saber at Li Jinxue's chest. Li Jinxue dodged hastily, but his foot caught on something unknown, and he toppled backward, the back of his head slamming hard against some hard object. Everything went black before his eyes, and he lost consciousness.

He did not know how long he was out. Only faintly, as if from far away, did he begin to hear the sound of cheering.

"The royal army is here! The royal army has come again! The Sichuan folk are saved... Joining the army through the imperial examinations — is that only for the high-born?"

It turned out the Ming army's reinforcements had arrived in force! What came this time was no rabble, but the elite troops of Shizhou Guard and the West Sichuan Garrison — no fewer than five thousand men!

Niulan Pass, strategically vital as it was, was now about to be seized by the Great Ming's royal army!

A new group has been opened; the group number is 635667889. All readers are welcome to join. Da Luoluo bows in gratitude. I also wish everyone good health and all the best.

(End of Chapter)