Chapter 187: Nowhere to Run

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He Zan hugged his arms and crouched beneath the rain shelter in the prisoner-of-war camp.

He had been shivering all night, his mind filled with questions he couldn't figure out.

Ever since the Ningxia troops were captured, the bandit soldiers had taken all their clothes; seven hundred and twenty prisoners, bare-assed, huddled together under the rain shelters, pressed body to body, relying mostly on shivering to keep warm.

He Zan didn't know what the others were thinking, but he had been watching the bandit soldiers the whole time.

The bandits were very orderly — most of them slept in the Ningxia troops' tents, a few kept watch over the prisoners, and some seemed to be specifically assigned to boil ginger soup and dry clothes.

Some prisoners discussed escaping; every rain shelter's frame was lashed together from eight long spears, which, even without spearheads, could still muster a certain fighting capacity.

Though they might not necessarily beat the bandit soldiers, holding out for a short while to let the main force flee west was no problem.

But many didn't want to run, because they had no clothes and would freeze to death outside.

By afternoon, the bandit soldiers delivered the dried inner garments, sending over a few dozen at a time at intervals.

Someone asked the bandit soldiers what they planned to do with them, and a bandit soldier said, "The General knows you're cold. Hold on a little longer, the ginger soup is almost ready."

People no longer wanted to run.

In the afternoon, some bandit soldiers called out a dozen or so men from the prisoner camp, came back carrying a big pot of ginger soup, asked who the officers were, and had the officers distribute the ginger soup to the soldiers.

The ginger soup wasn't enough to go around, and the Ningxia camp's soldiers were very dissatisfied with their officers.

Toward evening, when the rain had let up a little, the bandit soldiers came again and told them to hold on a bit longer, saying the camp had stewed horse-meat soup.

There was also flour they had brought over from Ningxia; they called out a few dozen more men from the prisoner camp to knead dough, saying they'd bake flatbread that evening.

He Zan asked once more: what exactly did the bandits plan to do with them?

By this time, the Ningxia camp's soldiers no longer much cared about that question; they had discovered that winning or losing a battle didn't make much difference to them.

Win, and the food was like this; lose, and the food was still like this.

Only, quite a few felt sorrow for those brothers who had fought in blood and died on the battlefield — if they had surrendered earlier, they too could now be wearing dry clothes and waiting for a meal.

As the sky was about to darken, the bandit soldiers carried over a dozen large pots into the prisoner camp, and this time they did not let the officers distribute the food.

The ones distributing the food were officers among the bandit soldiers; the officer on He Zan's side was called Zheng Hu.

"You're still asking what we want to do — what do you want to do?"

The bandit officer named Zheng Hu was very angry. He pointed at He Zan's nose and demanded, "This is Yan'an Prefecture. You Ningxia soldiers came all the way to Yan'an Prefecture to attack us, and you're asking what we want to do?"

He Zan was startled, then said, "You are bandits, we are government troops. Isn't it only right and proper for government troops to fight bandits?"

"Right and proper my ass! You think it's right and proper — so those dead Ningxia soldiers and Yulin soldiers deserved to die?"

As Zheng Hu supervised the bandit soldiers ladling soup for the prisoners, he took two steps closer to He Zan, looked him over carefully, and then said, "I wondered who you were. Now I remember — you're Commander He's young master."

As he spoke, he turned his head and sternly barked a couple of rebukes at the bandit soldiers ladling soup: "Every bowl the same, no skimping."

"Is Young Commander He still wondering in his heart — we know you're Commander He's young master, so why haven't we invited you into a tent, leaving you here to freeze alongside the Ningxia soldiers?"

In truth, Zheng Hu was laughing hard inside. Everything they had done since the battle ended today followed a script.

It had all been decided after the various post commanders conferred together — including deliberately making the ginger soup a little short and having the prisoner officers distribute it.

Deliberately making the meat soup a little more plentiful, and distributing it themselves.

Even having the soldiers serving the soup deliberately ladle out less, and then having the officers step forward to rebuke them — all of it was a script agreed upon in advance.

Just act according to it.

"Do you even know who you're fighting? Do you know what kind of war you're fighting?"

Zheng Hu stood among the prisoners, raised a hand, and pointed his thumb at his own chest: "Me — formerly a household elite vanguard under Vice General Li of Yan'an, served as a wagon-fort squad leader in Ji Garrison, fought the eastern caitiffs in Liaodong, fought the northern caitiffs in Yulin. My name is Zheng Hu."

A clamor broke out among the Ningxia soldiers in the prisoner camp.

Some of them knew that Liu Chengzong's force had deserters and border troops — this was no secret.

But there were huge differences between deserter and deserter, border troop and border troop.

A military household in Yulin Garrison who spent all day farming was a border troop; a man carrying poles every day at Pasha Camp on Gansu's eastern route was also a border troop; a household elite vanguard who had been to Liaodong and also returned to Yulin was also a border troop.

The difference between these was enormous.

"My general treated me very well. He tried everything he could, but my brothers and I still couldn't eat our fill. We rendered meritorious service to the court, but our merits couldn't be exchanged for reward money."

"My general was a good man, so in the end, on an empty stomach, I was defeated by Lion Camp. I wanted to stake it all — it's just one life, isn't it?"

"Lion Camp received me with congee. I surrendered, and from then on I never went hungry again... Do you know what you're fighting for?"

Zheng Hu looked around at the Ningxia soldiers. No one could answer his question. He continued, "When we entered Shanxi, we originally wanted to raid the princely estates. You have princely estates over in Ningxia too — you know how rich the princely estates are."

This time, some Ningxia soldiers nodded in agreement, though they were immediately silenced by a look from Young Commander He.

Zheng Hu smiled, said nothing about it, and simply went on: "Crossing the Yellow River from Yanchuan, you reach Yonghe County. That place is so poor it doesn't even have princely estates. We couldn't go any farther east — the land was crawling with bandits. We helped the common people suppress the bandits."

"Government troops came from the north to launch a punitive campaign against us. On the way, they first burned several villages, and from those several villages there was a single survivor. General Liu led us to suppress the soldiers and pacify the people."

"I want to ask you — you came all the way from Ningxia, traveling a thousand miles to fight this battle." Zheng Hu asked the border soldiers around him, "What did you come here for?"

He Zan said, "Then what about Li Laochai? He plundered Heshui County, besieged the county seat — shouldn't he be exterminated? Yet you joined forces with him. How does that make you good people?"

"He's a famine refugee. You've been chasing and attacking him the whole way — didn't you notice that his people are no different from common folk?"

Zheng Hu's line was sophistry. Li Laochai's bandit soldiers were far from being common folk; quite a few had been mountain bandits and robbers even before the great drought struck.

But in terms of fighting strength, it was true that He Huchen's Ningxia troops handled them like child's play.

Two or three hundred men could chase several thousand of Li Laochai's men and rout them; catching up meant a great victory.

Just then, the post commander from another pot ran over and said to Zheng Hu, "Post Commander Zheng, the Ningxia soldiers on my side insist on joining Lion Camp. What do we do?"

"That won't do!"

Zheng Hu frowned and said, "General Liu said that their General He hasn't been defeated yet. Besides, the prisoners also said they have a stockade at the mountain pass to the west. If they join Lion Camp now, won't the next battle just be forcing them to fight their former brothers?"

Zheng Hu turned his gaze to the Ningxia soldiers on his own side and asked, "Do any of you intend to stay?"

With He Zan present, the men on his side didn't dare speak, but the hope revealed in many of their eyes could not be hidden.

He Zan was about to die of rage — every single Ningxia soldier around him had little stars in their eyes.

"Ai."

Zheng Hu sighed and said to the auxiliary soldier standing beside him, "Go ask the General — maybe we should just keep them."

The auxiliary soldier jogged out of the prisoner camp.

Inside the command tent that had originally belonged to He Huchen, Liu Chengzong blew at the oil slick on his horse-meat soup and slowly took a sip.

Warmth slid down his throat, spreading through his limbs and every bone in his body, even clearing his senses and orifices considerably.

The Lion Camp's mess soldiers were getting better and better at making horse-meat soup.

The auxiliary soldier ran into the tent to explain the situation, drawing a head-back laugh from Liu Chengzong.

This was a signal — proof that people's hearts could be won.

The Lion Camp's junior officers had suffered heavy losses in this battle; many soldiers had caught wind-chill, and some, like Huang Shengxiao, were still running a fever.

The soldiers' combat effectiveness was severely affected.

But that did not mean they could not beat He Huchen — wind-chill, fevers, all those problems plagued He Huchen's troops just as much, and his troop losses were even greater.

It was simply that Liu Chengzong did not want to fight anymore.

This battle carried immense significance — it meant the roles of attacker and defender had reversed.

The soldiers who survived this great battle all possessed extremely strong fighting will, and they had routed government troops in a head-on, hard-fought clash... this was the first time.

As long as the Lion Camp's structure remained intact, they would fear no punitive expedition by any government army.

Everyone who survived was a treasure; any death or injury from storming the stockade was something Liu Chengzong was unwilling to see.

Moreover, these Ningxia soldier prisoners held an unusual significance for Liu Chengzong.

They were not the same as the Yulin troops.

At noon, Liu Chengzong had sought out several Ningxia soldier prisoners and asked about the situation in Ningxia.

In that region, soldiers were basically all extinct households — extinct households meant no ties and no attachments.

As long as their mental resistance could be erased, all of these men could join the Lion Camp.

Winning hearts came first.

It was just that the discipline officers' efficiency was truly far higher than he had imagined.

Liu Chengzong lifted his bowl, drank quickly a few times, picked out the horse-meat slices and ate them, scalding his mouth as he drank. Only after finishing did he hurriedly throw on his straw rain cape, put on his bamboo hat, and run toward the prisoner camp.

His armor had already been dried, but the whole point was not to wear armor.

Several household retainers ran into the camp first, and then Liu Chengzong entered the prisoner camp.

He had barely stepped inside when, beside a nearby soup pot, a group of surrendered soldiers dropped to their knees: "General, take us in!"

Liu Chengzong hurried over to help each one up. His right arm had no strength — as soon as he pulled one up, another went down. Only after a great deal of lifting and urging did he finally make his way into the camp.

Looking at the more than seven hundred prisoners, he stood at the very front of the formation and raised his left arm, beckoning to the crowd.

The soldiers around each soup pot were in somewhat different states — after all, the discipline officers assigned to them were different. Some persuaded with reason, some moved with emotion, some tempted with profit.

People had different reactions to different methods of urging surrender. Even at this point, those in the camp willing to surrender were really only about half.

If not for the great drought in Yinchuan this year, it might not even have reached that number.

"I am honored by your regard. My name is Liu Chengzong. Most of the brothers in the Lion Camp are border troops. We fought because each served his own master, so toward defeated border troop brothers, our rule has always been: those willing to stay, stay; those willing to leave, leave."

He swept his open hand before him and said, "You came to attack me on orders, each serving your own master. I do not blame you. If the battle is now over, then as usual — those of you who wish to stay, I will keep every one; those who wish to leave, I will issue some travel money and send you home."

"It is just that the battle is not yet over."

As he spoke, his tone shifted: "If you surrender to me now, three days from now you will have to fight Grand Commander He at West Mountain Pass. Can you fight them?"

"We can!"

A few loud shouts of "We can" from the prisoner camp stunned Liu Chengzong.

This was not how he had planned it — he had not expected anyone to answer that line at all.

"Those who shouted 'can,' come forward!"

Two squad leaders promptly pulled forty or fifty men to the front. The one at their head clasped his fists and said, "General Liu, I am Dai Daozi, squad leader from Ningxia's Hengcheng Fort. I can fight them!"

Well now — Liu Chengzong looked at this man, in his thirties, his face full of hatred, what seemed like tear tracks still on his cheeks, and asked, "A grudge?"

"I have no grudge against them, but I have a grudge against the Qing prince's estate. I've long wanted to stop working for the court!"

Discipline officer Chen Qindai ran over and whispered in Liu Chengzong's ear, "General, Dai Daozi's daughter died three years ago at the hands of a Defender Lieutenant of the Qing prince's estate. In Yinchuan, he always wanted revenge, but they never let him enter Yinchuan city."

Liu Chengzong nodded, walked down to stand before Dai Daozi, and said, "Good. From now on, your squad of brothers is in the Lion Camp. I don't know if I can avenge your grievance, but if the chance ever comes to go to Ningxia, I will certainly let you kill your enemy with your own hands."

At just that one sentence, Dai Daozi's eyes reddened again. He clenched his teeth and turned his head aside. "Can't take revenge anymore. Died of illness."

Liu Chengzong said no more. He had someone lead Dai Daozi and his men out of the prisoner camp, then continued to the remaining men: "I will release you to go back, to Grand Commander He's fort. If any are willing to stay, when Grand Commander He withdraws, you stay behind — I will take all of you."

"If everyone wants to stay, then we will simply send Grand Commander He on his way from the fort at West Mountain Pass. I will absolutely not harm anyone who wants to leave. You can go back and tell everyone in the fort about this."

"You also know that the brothers of my Lion Camp are not to be trifled with. Fight one more battle, and who knows how many will die. The Lion Camp can win once, so it can win a second time."

"If the fort surrenders, those willing to stay and follow me will eat their fill every meal, with meat now and then. I, Liu the Lion, will give out money to spend. Those willing to leave — surrender, and I will give five qian for travel expenses and send you home."

After Liu Chengzong finished speaking, the soldiers in the prisoner camp whispered among themselves. People seemed to be discussing how to handle this matter.

Then immediately they heard Liu Chengzong say, "You still have plenty of time — no need to discuss it in a rush. Finish the meat soup and flatbread before you go. Grain is hard-won in a drought. This was squeezed out of the Lion Camp brothers' rations. Don't waste food."

With that, Liu Chengzong turned and led his household retainers out of the camp.

Afterward, the guards on the west side of the prisoner camp relaxed slightly. A shout came from that side: "Once you've eaten your fill, leave from this side. Your Grand Commander is at West Mountain Pass!"

Skyward Monkey followed Liu Chengzong out and said beside him, "Actually, if we kept them, we could control them. Breaking them up to attack the fort wouldn't be bad either. What if they go back and resist the siege alongside He Huchen?"

"Resist the siege?"

Liu Chengzong smiled dismissively and raised his left hand, gesturing across the camp. "Have you calculated He Huchen's provisions? When they withdrew from here, they didn't take their grain carts with them. Even if they carried off some food, it got soaked."

"Over six hundred men running back to He Huchen's camp at Yellow Dragon Mountain Pass — is his camp even that big? These men have no weapons and no armor. What are they going to resist with, cutting down trees for weapons?"

From the moment of victory, what he had calculated was to devour He Huchen's entire Ningxia force.

Liu Chengzong drew a deep breath, narrowed his eyes to gaze at the distant mountains, and only then did the corner of his mouth curl into a smile. "They can't run! You'd better worry more about how we're going to feed so many people."