Chapter 162: Mobile Corps Commander Warfare

Sun Chuanting did not participate in the military operation organized by Hong Chengchou, and he dismissed such an act of using a cleaver to kill a chicken with utter contempt. As the Governor of Shaanxi, he still had the duty of pacifying the people and did not need to personally lead troops into battle. Although Hong Chengchou was honored as the Governor-General of the Five Provinces, he had no jurisdiction over Sun Chuanting, and seeing that he was unwilling to join, he did not press the matter.

Sun Chuanting stayed behind under the pretext of inspecting the prefectures and counties of southwestern Shaanxi, then ordered Xu Zhong and Liu Yingjie to escort the surrendered Zhang Wenyao and Tuo Yangkun's forces to the main camp in Xi'an, before personally leading nearly ten thousand Qin troops to turn toward Fengxiang Prefecture in the southwest, heading straight for Ma Jinzhong and the other roving bandits. Zhang Wenyao desperately wanted to follow along to earn merit by suppressing the bandits, but Sun Chuanting refused him on the grounds that he was needed to pacify the surrendered troops.

The reason Sun Chuanting arranged for the surrendered bandits to turn back to Xi'an Prefecture was, first, to conveniently receive military supplies from the court, and second, to replenish grain nearby in Xi'an; the daily consumption of these eight thousand men was a staggering amount, and the military grain Zhou Yuji had brought did not account for them.

The grain consumption of the more than twenty thousand government troops under Hong Chengchou now largely depended on supplies from Sun Chuanting in Xi'an Prefecture. The army's consumption of nearly a year in northern Shaanxi had long since driven Yan'an Prefecture and Qingyang Prefecture to the west to their wits' end. Had Sun Chuanting not reaped abundant harvests from military farmland in Xi'an and taken over the heavy burden of supplying the army, the Prefects of these two prefectures would have long since submitted their resignations.

On the White Stone Plain at the border between Fengxiang Prefecture and Pingliang Prefecture, tens of thousands of roving bandits had pitched their camp, their clamor and shouting resounding across the entire plain; the bandits, dressed in a motley assortment of colors and styles, either laughed and roughhoused, drank and gambled, or listened to tunes and watched opera—the whole camp was as lively as a market fair.

Inside a tent at the center of the bandit camp, Ma Jinzhong, Hun Tianwang, Renyi Wang, and several other major bandit chieftains, along with their trusted subordinate commanders, were drinking and playing finger-guessing games. Several crude wooden tables were littered with dirty dishes and cups, and a jumble of various smells mingled together, enough to make one retch.

Ma Jinzhong, around thirty years old, bore the typical look of a northwestern man—a square face with a pair of thick brows over sharp, gleaming eyes, a straight nose and wide mouth, and a tall, sturdy build.

He was a native of Magang Fort, Guyuan Prefecture, Pingliang Prefecture, Shaanxi. Poor in his youth, upon reaching adulthood he relied on his strong physique to join the local bandit horsemen, following their leader in raiding merchants and wealthy households across the region. Because this gang of horse bandits was ruthless, leaving virtually no survivors after their raids, Pingliang Prefecture reported them to the Shaanxi Governor's office. Under the urging of the then-Governor of Shaanxi, Wang Qiaonian, the Shaanxi garrison mobilized elite border troops to launch a surprise attack on Ma Jinzhong and his men. After nearly half an hour of fierce fighting, the majority of this gang of over six hundred horse bandits was wiped out, with only Ma Jinzhong and a hundred or so others escaping with their lives.

Because Ma Jinzhong was ruthless and cunning, possessed considerable strategic sense, and dared to fight desperately on the battlefield, he became the leader of these hundred-odd survivors.

After escaping with their lives, they dared not operate near the Shaanxi garrison again, so they headed south into the Fengxiang Prefecture area. But to avoid drawing another encirclement by border troops, Ma Jinzhong's gang did not make any overly aggressive moves, mainly sticking to plundering, with far fewer killings than before.

As roving bandits sprang up frequently across Shaanxi and the government troops of the Shaanxi garrison were conscripted to put out fires everywhere, Ma Jinzhong, now free of restraint, began leading his men in frenzied looting; they broke through the fortresses of wealthy households in prefectures and counties, seized large quantities of money, grain, and women, then recruited soldiers and bought horses to expand their ranks, quickly building a fearsome reputation throughout the Fengxiang Prefecture area.

With the border troops no longer suppressing them, the local authorities had only weak guard station soldiers and civilian militiamen with bows at their disposal, powerless to resist Ma Jinzhong; these men could hold city walls, but going out to suppress bandits would only be like lambs walking into the tiger's mouth. Ma Jinzhong's forces gradually grew from the original mounted gang of over a hundred into a large armed group of more than ten thousand.

But this run of good fortune—rampaging freely, plundering everywhere with no one able to stop them—came to an abrupt halt this year when Cao Wenzhao, Regional Commander of Lintao, and his nephew, Assistant Regional Commander Cao Bianjiao, led three thousand men into Fengxiang Prefecture.

The moment the uncle and nephew arrived in Fengxiang, they gave the local bandits a show of force.

After scouting out that another major bandit force led by Renyi Wang had set up camp at Wuli Slope west of the Fengxiang city walls, Cao Bianjiao led his mounted troops in a surprise attack on this bandit gang.

The bandits, who had just broken into a local wealthy household outside Long'an County and seized several hundred dan of grain and supplies along with several thousand taels of silver, were gleefully dividing the spoils on the spot, utterly unaware of the approaching danger. Cao Bianjiao suddenly charged out with five hundred cavalry, plunging into the bandit camp—horses trampling, blades cutting, spears thrusting—and in a moment, they had swept through and gone.

By the time Renyi Wang emerged from his tent, the government troops were long gone, leaving only corpses strewn across the ground and the wails of the wounded.

The bandits cursed furiously in the direction the government troops had fled, shouting that they would chase after them for revenge, but these bandits were mostly foot soldiers—how could they possibly catch up with government cavalry? The so-called revenge was merely a way to vent their fear.

When the tally was taken, this attack had killed or wounded over seven hundred men. The dead could be left aside, but the wounded all had broken bones and severed sinews—severe injuries that, given the conditions and circumstances of the time, would be hard to survive for more than a few days.

Left with no choice, Renyi Wang could only arrange for men to dig pits outside the camp to bury the dead, while the wounded were carried back to their own tents to await death.

To guard against another government attack, the bandits fashioned a number of crude cheval de frise and placed them at the camp entrance, so that if the government cavalry came again, they would have ample time to muster and meet the assault.

By the time several large pits had been dug, it was already dusk. Apart from the several hundred men carrying corpses out of camp to bury the dead, the other bandits were amusing themselves and idly chatting inside the camp, while Renyi Wang and the other chieftains were inside their tents embracing seized women in debauchery—everything seemed quite ordinary.

Before long, the sound of hoofbeats like a violent storm erupted outside the camp again, mixed with screams and shouts; by the time the bandits snapped out of their shock and immediately reported to their chieftains, everything had fallen silent once more.

Cao Bianjiao had again led his men in a surprise attack on the several hundred bandits burying the dead, slaughtering them all, and had every head cut off and arranged in a pyramid formation facing the bandit camp, as a warning to intimidate these rebels.

Renyi Wang was finally afraid. This band of government troops was like a pack of hungry wolves, lurking somewhere unknown, watching him and his nearly ten thousand men; the moment his side showed even the slightest opening, the government troops would suddenly pounce out to tear off a bite, then continue to conceal their tracks and wait for another opportunity.

This band of government troops was unlike other government forces that favored open formations and straightforward combat with bright blades—instead, they used these vicious, underhanded methods to gnaw away at the bandits. Renyi Wang knew well in his heart that if this nauseating style of fighting continued a few more times, this rabble under his command would surely scatter in utter chaos.

Seizing the gap when cavalry dared not fight at night, Renyi Wang ordered a retreat north under cover of darkness, deliberately taking rugged, difficult mountain paths to avoid being pursued and slaughtered from behind by government cavalry.

The bandits, carrying torches, ran dozens of li in one breath, only stopping after they had put nearly a hundred li between themselves and Fengxiang city. Fortunately, the government troops had not pursued—only then did Renyi Wang relax.

After the bandits hastily wolfed down a few mouthfuls of breakfast, Renyi Wang ordered them to continue retreating north at an accelerated pace. He had decided to leave Fengxiang for good and never return—this band of government troops had left an ineradicable shadow in his heart.

Cao Bianjiao had long since ridden far away after his two surprise attacks.

If he had three thousand cavalry under his command—no, even just two thousand cavalry—he would have slaughtered this entire band of nearly ten thousand bandits.

Unfortunately, he and his uncle had only three thousand men in total, and among the government forces in the northern Shaanxi area, apart from the Liaodong guest troops, this was already the unit with the most cavalry.

Setting aside his thoughts, Cao Bianjiao said not a word and continued riding at the head toward Longzhou, with the five hundred cavalry following silently behind.

Large bands of roving bandit cavalry were operating rampantly in Longzhou, and Cao Bianjiao decided to go scout the area, to see if there was an opportunity to ambush small groups of bandit horsemen and seize some war horses.

Because Cao Wenzhao lacked sufficient troops, he could only station the two thousand-odd infantry around Fengxiang city, while Cao Bianjiao volunteered to lead his men out to scout the bandits' movements and seize opportunities to strike and kill.

Toward this taciturn but highly skilled nephew, Cao Wenzhao had always treated him as his own son; he had complete confidence in Cao Bianjiao, knowing that this nephew was shrewd, not the type to be brave but foolish, so he let him do as he pleased.

In the several months since arriving in Fengxiang Prefecture, Cao Bianjiao had led his men out on more than ten strikes, and the major bandit forces of Ma Jinzhong, Renyi Wang, and Hun Tianwang had all suffered no small losses at his hands, yet none of them could do anything about Cao Bianjiao.

Because Cao Bianjiao had too few men under his command, he employed Mobile Corps Commander tactics—waiting for the moment when bandit numbers were small or their vigilance lax, then suddenly charging out to strike, and regardless of casualties, immediately riding far away. This style of fighting left the bandits utterly bewildered, their nerves perpetually stretched taut; even when going out to forage for grain or plunder, they dared not show the slightest slack, terrified that this god of death might emerge from somewhere unknown to take another bite out of them.

Among these several great bandit chiefs, Ma Jinzhong's situation was somewhat better. He had over two thousand cavalry under his command, mostly small horse bandit gangs who had come to join him attracted by his reputation. Though they could not match the toughness of Cao Bianjiao's men, nor their well-equipped gear, they still possessed the ability to put up a fight.

Cao Bianjiao coveted Ma Jinzhong's war horses, and his last several attacks had all been aimed at him. The two sides had clashed several times. Though Cao Bianjiao had seized over a hundred war horses, he had also lost more than ten of his men. Since the last raid a month ago, Ma Jinzhong had not seen government cavalry again.

But continuing like this was no solution. The several major bandit forces now dared not split up to plunder at all; they could only gather together before daring to attack county towns or wealthy households in the countryside. County towns were hard to take, and those wealthy households with their high walls and deep moats were equally hard to crack—sometimes even sacrificing several hundred lives would not bring one down.

To beat back the bandits who came to attack them, the wealthy households often spared no expense in offering heavy rewards to hold their fortresses. Because once breached, not only would the entire family lose their lives, but years of accumulated wealth would also become the bandits' spoils of war.

The tenant farmers held the same view—they defended the fortresses with all their might, utterly unafraid to die. They all knew the bandits' nature of burning, killing, and looting; how could they willingly let the bandits have their way?

Once, Hun Tianwang led more than five thousand men to attack a fortress in the countryside of Xiangquan County, and just as it was about to fall, Cao Bianjiao suddenly charged out with his men, smashed through Hun Tianwang's rear ranks, and rode off triumphantly.

Hun Tianwang, fearing the government troops had not gone far, and suffering from a lack of a large cavalry force to counter them, could only abandon the fortress that was on the verge of falling, gathered his men who jumped at every shadow, and returned to their stronghold on the plain.

So now the bandits had to guard against surprise attacks from the government cavalry on one hand, and fight hard against the wealthy households defending their fortresses on the other, and gradually their grain and supplies were nearly exhausted.

In the end, Ma Jinzhong decided to join forces with Hun Tianwang and the others to attack prefectural and county towns, in order to obtain sufficient supplies.

He sent men to contact Renyi Wang and Hun Tianwang, deciding to muster at White Stone Plain where Renyi Wang had set up his camp. Once preparations were complete, the three would lead their forces jointly to attack Lingtai County, splitting the gold, silver, and goods equally, to change the current situation of essentially sitting idle and eating through their reserves.

More importantly, Ma Jinzhong planned to lure out this government cavalry unit, seize the opportunity to annihilate it in one stroke, and then, riding on that momentum, become the top bandit boss of the Fengxiang area.