Chapter 957: Cavalry-Archer Hit-and-Run

The troops from Guangping Prefecture and Daming Prefecture in Northern Zhili had only just arrived, a little over a thousand men. Combined with the locally recruited government forces, the total was still under three thousand. As for when the Shanxi border troops would arrive, that was anyone's guess.

Even this hastily scraped-together force of three thousand showed no sign of any drive to quell the rebels; when it came to ravaging the local populace, however, they were first-rate experts. Elsewhere, people fled the tide of refugees stirred up by the Smelling Incense Sect, but here in Caozhou, there were actually gentry and commoners fleeing the disaster brought by the soldiers.

Even if the government troops marched out to battle, victory or defeat was unknowable, but the common folk along the route would likely suffer a second round of devastation. Some chose to remain in Caozhou, while the Shi brothers took their men and resumed their roving, even planning to risk their lives charging back to Shi Family Manor to perish together with the enemies who had destroyed their home.

It was only after the Zhao Battalion arrived that their hope for revenge was rekindled. And once they witnessed the Zhao Battalion's strict military bearing and iron discipline, they committed themselves wholeheartedly.

The Shi brothers knew the Zhao Battalion would definitely strike Shi Family Manor, because the manor sat squarely on the army's unavoidable line of march. To keep the route clear for troop movements and grain transport, such an obstacle blocking the path had to be eliminated.

The Zhao Battalion moved even faster than the Shi brothers had anticipated. On the first day, they took in the men and debriefed them on the situation; on the second day, they dispatched a large force to attack.

The three Shi brothers, plus two militia leaders familiar with the terrain — no one else was taken. Two hundred cavalry rode straight for Shi Family Manor.

When Xuzhou agreed to send troops, the Shi brothers were beside themselves with excitement. But seeing a mere two hundred riders, their hearts sank halfway. Shi Family Manor was occupied by nearly ten thousand able-bodied refugees. No matter how great the advantage of these two hundred cavalry, what use could they possibly be against such an overwhelming disparity in numbers? Could it be that the Zhao Battalion was also just going through the motions? After all this trouble, were government troops the only ones they could truly count on in the end? Though the Zhao Battalion was also a local militia outfit, it was one that could field nearly a thousand riders...

The Shi brothers were fond of practicing martial arts, but their main trade was business. Their mounted archery and combat skills were merely passable. However, their family had money, so they could afford to hire capable militia instructors, and they were not without discernment. As they advanced toward Shi Family Manor, they could see that the two hundred cavalrymen around them were all outstanding riders, which set their minds somewhat at ease. The only thing that puzzled them was that these two hundred mounted retainers of the Zhao Battalion spoke with a peculiar accent; they could not tell which province they hailed from.

And so they arrived at Shi Family Manor. The manor's stores were considerable, enough to sustain over ten thousand people for a few days. The clamorous din was immense, but the perimeter defenses had been set up in a slipshod manner — sentry posts, watchtower guards, that sort of thing.

When this mounted force of just over two hundred appeared within sight of the Smelling Incense Sect rebels, every drawbridge at Shi Family Manor had already been raised, and the stockade walls were packed with men, putting on a show of being fully prepared for battle.

"These refugees do have a bit of form about them," remarked the Zhao Battalion commander leading the detachment. Even his accent sounded like the Mandarin of Shanxi, yet carried a strange, slightly off-key inflection.

Seeing their family manor occupied by others, with no telling what had become of its interior, the Shi brothers' hearts had long been seething with boundless hatred. They itched to charge straight in and begin a slaughter. But the manor's stockade walls were built thick and high, accessible only by drawbridge, with a moat outside. The manor had fallen over half a month ago, and they could see the moat had been widened since.

Just as the Zhao Battalion commander had judged, the refugees entrenched here had long-term intentions; they were not simply going to eat and drink the stores dry and then leave.

The Zhao Battalion's cavalry column slowly advanced toward the stockade walls of Shi Family Manor. This left the Shi brothers deeply perplexed. How could cavalry possibly assault these fortifications head-on? Was this not simply suicide?

As the cavalry drew closer, the Smelling Incense Sect rebels on the stockade walls began to clamor. The Zhao Battalion's mounted column remained utterly steady. When they came within bowshot range, arrows actually came shooting down from the walls, but they lacked any accuracy or power, falling harmlessly to the ground.

At the sight of arrows, the Shi brothers were startled. Since when did the refugee bandits have these? Had the rabble that once carried nothing but sharpened bamboo and wooden poles begun to adopt proper organization? This was not really surprising. During their roving, the Shi brothers had already gotten word that many bands of outlaws and mounted brigands had begun swearing allegiance to the Smelling Incense Sect. Xu Hongru had welcomed all of them generously, handing out titles like General and Regional Commander. While these men of the rivers and lakes were also a motley crew, there were some outstanding figures among them, and most at least knew something about fighting in formation.

At the sight of such weak, feeble archery, a wave of laughter rippled through the Zhao Battalion riders. Many reached for their own bows. The Shi brothers waited to see them return fire, but to their surprise, the commander turned and barked an order to stop. He rode a full circuit around Shi Family Manor without making any move to engage, then headed directly to the manor's north side, halting on the road that was the only route between Shi Family Manor and Jining.

"Did they come all this way just to take a look around?" The Shi brothers were dumbfounded as they watched the Zhao Battalion riders dismount. The two Shi family militia instructors nearly lost their tempers on the spot.

Never mind this leisurely demeanor — they were only a few hundred paces from Shi Family Manor's north gate. Parading around here, what if the enemy launched a sudden sally? Would that not be courting death? Sometimes, being on horseback did not guarantee you could escape from infantry.

Some men broke up flatbread to feed their horses, others watered their mounts from skins, and still others were tending to their bows. It looked just like a countryside outing. The Shi brothers grew thoroughly disheartened; it seemed the Zhao Battalion could not be relied upon after all.

A manor meant for a few thousand people was now crammed with over ten thousand Smelling Incense Sect rebels. The noise was indeed a deafening hubbub. Even from several hundred paces away, the chaotic clamor within was clearly audible. Anyone could tell they were about to come out, and the lowering of the drawbridge confirmed it.

To the surprise of the Shi party, the Zhao Battalion cavalry's reaction was not slow. The moment there was movement over there, the men here mounted up one after another, swiftly forming a column formation. The Shi party, by contrast, failed to react in time; they were a step slow in mounting and preparing.

A great crowd surged out from the stronghold, all carrying sharpened long poles. Upon emerging, they did not charge forward in a wild rush. Instead, they noisily began forming ranks. This surprised both the Zhao Battalion riders and the Shi party. The Zhao Battalion men took it in stride, but the Shi men remembered only that when the manor had been breached, the refugees had come pressing in from all over the hills in a chaotic, seething mass with no sign of discipline. Yet now, it was obvious someone was imposing military discipline upon them.

The Zhao Battalion commander gave a whistle, and the cavalry column began to advance, though at a slow pace. The Shi men followed, but the further they went, the more alarmed they grew, because the refugee force pouring out of the manor was forming up, and its ranks were growing more and more orderly. Anyone who had fought in battle was sensitive to this — the more orderly a large formation, the greater the pressure it exerted...

"They've been drilled using our methods, but so what?" the cavalry commander said with a cold laugh. The Shi men heard him clearly enough.

As soon as the commander spoke, several riders nearby chimed in agreement, but they spoke neither in Mandarin nor in any northern or southern dialect. The moment they opened their mouths, the commander — whom they addressed as Squad Leader — furrowed his brow and reprimanded them bluntly: "How many times have I said it? You must speak Mandarin at all times. If you never get used to it, you'll never rise in rank!"

"Understood, understood!" the men beside him replied with sheepish laughs, in a bizarre intonation.

A distance of a few hundred paces. As the cavalry column slowly closed in, the formation over there finished assembling. The Shi party, still on horseback, all drew a sharp breath. The rebel bandit force actually looked the part. So many men, arrayed in a vast, grim formation — just looking at it made it hard to breathe.

Tense as they were, the Zhao Battalion riders were laughing amongst themselves. Even the usually steady squad leader commander wore a somewhat contemptuous expression. Still, he raised a hand and called out: "The refugee bandits have bows too. Everyone stay alert, don't get too close. Follow my lead — whatever I do, you do the same."

After he finished speaking loudly, some in the ranks repeated the instructions to those nearby in a tongue the Shi men could not understand. Just then, one of the Shi family's militia instructors caught on and muttered: "Young masters, those are Tatars. There are Semu and Tatars over in Jining — I've heard them speak before. That sentence just now, I happened to recognize it."

The group suddenly understood. Semu and Mongols were found all over the Great Ming, many serving as officials or in the guard-battalion system; it was nothing unusual. Mongol-born soldiers, however, had always been regarded in the Great Ming as possessing outstanding fighting prowess. But no matter how outstanding, how could these two hundred men possibly deal with the several thousand before them? Even if they could flee if outmatched, what use was that?

They watched as the squad leader raised an arm to gesture, then wheeled his horse and rode off to one flank. The entire column followed suit, and the Shi party hurriedly fell in behind.

The cavalry column shifted into a single-file formation on the move. The riders were all rather flamboyant, whooping and whistling as they swept past the front of the refugee bandit formation. At the closest point, the distance between them was no more than twenty-some paces. Watching the cavalry charge in and wheel away, the front ranks of the refugee bandits began to stir with unease.

The riders could clearly hear shouts from within the bandit ranks: "Just stand firm and don't move recklessly — the cavalry won't dare charge in. If they do, they're dead!" "This is how they won a great victory over the Ming army at Jining. We've got so many men, and they've got so few horsemen — we can win too!" "Everyone, call upon the Buddha, call upon His Majesty to protect us!"

Shouted at the top of their lungs, the cries gradually stilled the unrest in the formation. Some began to chant: "Maitreya Buddha, Western Paradise of the Immortals." Others simply called out: "Long live Fulie!" This Xu Hongru was both the sect leader and the so-called Zhongxing Fulie Emperor, said to be an incarnation of Maitreya. Chanting his name would bring divine protection. Many legends now circulated among the Smelling Incense Sect ranks. It was said that on that day, facing tens of thousands of government troops, the refugees on the battlefield had chanted in unison the honored name of the sect leader and emperor, whereupon divine soldiers descended from heaven and the government army collapsed without a fight, still not daring to show its face.

Watching this transformation, the Shi men felt a chill in their hearts. Military drill, combined with this religious fanaticism — just how great a calamity would this create? Yet the Zhao Battalion's cavalry column showed no reaction, simply riding closer at their own pace and loosing arrows at the nearest point.

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