Chapter 186: Interception

An hour later, Lu Xiangsheng received the battle report that Dushui Bridge had been seized by government troops and the route west from Zhushan had been cut off.

Of the five thousand roving bandits, more than half were killed or wounded, and most of the remainder fled toward Huangmao Pass. Government troops lost one hundred thirty-three dead and two hundred seventy-five wounded.

The casualties were mainly inflicted when the bandit chieftain personally led more than two thousand men in a fierce counterattack, but after the government troops withstood the bandit onslaught, the spearmen pressed forward bravely and soon routed the rebels, and their chieftain fell on the field.

Yang Maogong had already sent men to clear the battlefield, and after tidying the open ground, let the soldiers rest in shifts, ready at any moment to meet reinforcements the city might send out.

Inside the city, Zhang Xianzhong received Sun Kewang's report and immediately assembled his men to go out the west gate in support. But because his forces were scattered across the walls of all four gates, by the time they gathered it had already been nearly half an hour, and at that moment his subordinates watching from the west gate tower reported that government banners had already been raised over Dushui Bridge.

Zhang Xianzhong was both shocked and furious, and full of regret.

By now he had figured it out—the government troops had deliberately concealed their strength so he would not flee early, and he should never have listened to Pan Du'ao's advice to defend the county town.

Of the four gates, only the east gate showed no sign of government troops. To the east lay the camp where Luo Rucai and the others were stationed at Fang County. The government troops might have deliberately left the east gate open, or perhaps they simply had not gotten around to it yet.

But judging from the present situation, there were very likely government troops lying in ambush to the east. He had no idea whether the messengers he had sent to contact Luo Rucai and the others had reached Fang County—if the several contingents there did not come to his aid, he would be a turtle in a jar.

Whether his adopted son Sun Kewang was alive or dead was now impossible to determine. This was his favorite adopted son—if he had fallen on the field, it would be like losing an arm.

Zhang Xianzhong, restless and anxious at heart, returned brooding to the county office, preparing to discuss the next course of action with Pan Du'ao and Xu Yixian.

Luo Rucai and the others, who had returned to Fang County from Zhang Xianzhong's place, informed the Left Golden King Lin Yangcheng, who was recuperating from illness, of the current situation, then gathered together to discuss where they should go from here.

Among this band of roving bandit chieftains, Lin Yangcheng was the oldest and had risen in rebellion earliest. Though he had only a little over two thousand men under him, they were all battle-hardened veterans, and Luo Rucai and the others usually deferred to him as their leader.

After listening to Luo Rucai's brief account, Lin Yangcheng frowned and pondered for a long while before speaking: "I've been thinking it over, and Cao Cao's strategy is workable. We should immediately send men to scout the west and north, and we must find out the true strength of the government troops. Also send someone to Baokang to contact Chuang Tiantian—his five thousand men can fight. Whether we fight or flee, we should stick together with him!"

As several groups of scouts were sent out one after another, Luo Rucai and the others ordered their men to inventory grain and supplies, prepare the carts, and be ready to leave Fang County at any moment.

Several days after the scouts were dispatched, reports came back one after another from the Zhushan direction to the west—no government troops had appeared along the road from Zhushan to Fang County—while the scouts sent north had not yet returned word. The men sent toward Baokang had just come back, bringing Liu Guoneng's message: he was preparing grain and supplies and could come to Fang County at any time.

Just then, Zhang Xianzhong sent men over first.

The messengers told Luo Rucai and all the chieftains: government troops had already reached the north of Zhushan city, numbering fewer than ten thousand. The Eighth Great King invited all the chieftains to bring their troops to Zhushan and join forces to defeat the government army.

After seeing off the messengers from the Xi'an camp, the crowd gathered in Lin Yangcheng's tent to discuss the news Zhang Xianzhong had sent.

Lin Yangcheng spoke up: "Brothers, what do you make of the message Yellow Tiger sent? If the government troops really aren't many, then we truly could take a crack at them!"

Old Hui-Hui nodded: "I also think we can fight! Our several contingents together add up to nearly forty thousand men. If we're of one mind, even if we lose some people we can still eat up most of the government army! Think how much armor and weaponry we'd collect!"

Geli Yan did not answer Lin Yangcheng directly, but looked at Luo Rucai and spoke: "Cao Cao, what do you think? I keep feeling uneasy about this! Yellow Tiger's words can't be fully trusted!"

Luo Rucai pondered for a moment, then said: "I think we should send out more scouts to find out the situation clearly before deciding. If the government troops at Zhushan aren't many, we move camp over there, and once Yellow Tiger and the government troops have worn each other down, we go up and pick up the spoils! Also, send a thousand men to hold the road to Baokang—if the government troops are playing tricks, we immediately withdraw to Baokang and join up with Chuang Tiantian. Whether Yellow Tiger lives or dies, we won't be able to worry about!"

Old Hui-Hui asked in confusion: "So we're not letting Chuang Tiantian come over now? His men really can fight! If he came and joined us in going to Zhushan, our chances of victory would be even greater!"

Luo Rucai shot him a glance and said: "You blockhead! If the government troops are few, me and Yellow Tiger can handle them alone, and after the fighting we can grab more of that armor, weaponry, and supplies! If he comes, we'll have to split a lot of the goods! And if the government troops are playing tricks, with him at Baokang we still have a way of retreat!"

Old Hui-Hui fell silent, embarrassed. He knew in his heart that among them all, he was the dumbest, and from now on he'd better keep his mouth shut.

Lin Yangcheng praised: "Good! We'll do as Cao Cao says! Old He, you take your men and hold the road to Baokang! Spread all the scouts out! We'll prepare the troops right away, and the moment we get word, we move camp!"

Just as Cao Cao and the others were dispatching several more scouts and preparing to move camp toward Zhushan, at the mouth of the mountain hollow at Jieshan, more than thirty li north of Fang County, a loud whistle sounded and a mounted party of more than twenty riders emerged from a narrow path.

This was a small squad of Night Scouts under Zu Kuan, led by a platoon officer named Cui Sanyao, tasked with scouting the road ahead for the main force behind them.

The broad and sturdy Cui Sanyao jumped down from his horse and shouted toward a grove of trees where the whistle had just sounded: "Er Lengzi, have Li Er and Wang Cheng take over scouting ahead for you. You go back and report—tell the general to bring the main force out of the mountains without worry!"

At Cui Sanyao's shout, a war horse soon galloped out from a grove outside the hollow. Hanging from the horse's neck were four human heads with twisted, distorted features. The rider was around twenty years old, with very ordinary features, a lean but powerful build, a large bow slung diagonally across his back, and an iron hammer over four feet long thrust into a pouch on the side of his horse.

This Night Scout, nicknamed Er Lengzi, was named Li Bao by his full name. Though young and only three years in the army, few could match his martial skill. Li Bao, born to a hunter's family in Liaodong, shot a fine arrow and had a keen understanding of scouting and ambush, so he had been selected for the Night Scouts. This time he had been sent out with two others to scout ahead for enemy movements.

Li Bao spurred his horse up beside Cui Sanyao, reined in, and said with a grin: "Chief, I killed four bandit scouts! Li Er and Wang Cheng each got two!"

Cui Sanyao rolled his eyes and feigned anger: "Get the hell out of here! A few local bandits are nothing to brag about! If you've got the skill, bring back some Jianzhou barbarian heads, then I'll respect you!"

Li Bao curled his lip and replied: "Our army of a hundred-some thousand is all sitting in the cities—where am I supposed to find Jianzhou barbarian heads? If I ever run into the Jianzhou barbarians, I guarantee I'll shoot down a few of them!"

Cui Sanyao glared at him and scolded: "How dare you speak of such weighty military matters?! Go report to the general at once!"

About an hour later, the main body of government troops filed out of the mountain hollow in succession, with Zu Kuan's more than two thousand cavalry in the lead.

He and Qin Yiming's Sichuan troops had been ordered to serve as the left wing of the army. After setting out from Yun County, to keep the army's route from being detected by the bandits' scouts, they had chosen to head east first, hugging the Xiangyang prefecture area as they marched south, and it took four full days before they reached the south side of Jieshan.

After the army came out of the mountains, it continued southward, and Zu Kuan, Qin Yiming, Gao Qixun, and others examined maps by the roadside and discussed the next strategy.

Zu Kuan extended a finger thick as a club and pointed at Fang County not far away: "The bandits have always been used to roaming, not defending cities. The orders we received are to drive the bandits toward Baokang, where the Huguang government troops will close in from the other side. Regional Commander Qin, you take your men and cut across from the Zhushan-to-Fang County stretch on the right. I'll send Night Scouts to scout the road for you—make sure the bandits don't flee south. I'll take the cavalry straight up from the north, and along the way I'll keep sending men to stay in contact with you. Once we arrive and spot the bandit camp, we attack together! These local bandits can't take a beating—just make sure none of the chieftains get away!"

Qin Yiming and Gao Qixun nodded in agreement.

Though both Zu Kuan and Qin Yiming had been given the title of Left Commissioner-in-Chief, in this round of promotions and rewards Zu Kuan had also received the honor of having his nephews and kin granted official posts. This showed how much the court valued Zu Kuan, so naturally he took the lead in this operation.

After Cao Cao and the others at Fang County confirmed that there were indeed no government troops along the road to Zhushan, they began forming up and heading for Zhushan.

But the scouts sent north several days earlier still had not returned, and the always-cautious Luo Rucai had specifically ordered that special attention be paid to any movement from the north—if anything unusual was detected, the entire army was to withdraw immediately.

The marching bandit column stretched out in a long line, with more than ten thousand men extending a full seven or eight li. To guard against surprises, Luo Rucai and the others divided their forces into units of a thousand men each, with the front unit advancing two li ahead and the rear units following in echelon. This minimized congestion and chaos on the road, but if they encountered government troops with superior numbers, they would be dangerously thin.

Before the several thousand men of the rear units had even set out from the camp at Fang County, the frontmost thousand-man unit had already run into the Sichuan troops cutting in diagonally from the north.

Calling it an encounter was generous—in truth, it was the prepared meeting the unprepared.

The bandits' attention was all focused on the road ahead, and their scouts had pushed out several dozen li—already far better than their old days of paying no attention to scouting at all.

Though the bandits had also sent men to scout their right flank, the north, those scouts were no match for the elite Night Scouts of the government army.

After barely a few dozen breaths of skirmishing, more than ten bandit scouts were cut down to the last man, and the government Night Scouts pressed forward and easily learned the bandits' movements in full detail.

Because the official road between Zhushan and Fang County was lined with too much rubble and underbrush to be suitable for ambush and charging, Qin Yiming immediately sent Gao Qixun with three thousand men to cut around from the west, while he personally led three thousand men straight onto the official road, slicing the bandit vanguard that had already passed through in two from the east and west, then annihilating it.

Old Hui-Hui, leading a thousand men as the vanguard at the very front of the column, was nearing Luoying Mountain when several scouts came galloping back. Old Hui-Hui spurred forward to meet them and saw that the scouts had arrows in their arms and shoulders—not life-threatening, but the blood loss had left them all pale-faced.

"How many government troops are ahead? How far from here?" Old Hui-Hui demanded harshly.

There was no need to ask whether the men ahead were government troops—what needed asking was how many there were, and then decide whether to fight or flee.

"Master Ma! Several thousand government troops are blocking the road three li ahead! We had over ten scouts, and only a few of us made it back!"

Hearing that several thousand government troops were blocking the road ahead, Old Hui-Hui said nothing more and immediately ordered the rear units to become the front and withdraw, fleeing while the government troops had not yet caught up.

But before the chaotic column could even turn itself around, panicked shouts were already coming from the rear units two li back.