Chapter 974: I Encountered Government Troops

Each household servant carried three days' worth of dry rations. Aside from the essential cooking gear and supplies, the carts only carried horse fodder; all the remaining load capacity was given over to those wooden chests and bundles.

That evening they found an abandoned village to set up camp. Here the Smelling Incense Sect had not poisoned the well water, but nothing else remained in the village. The corpses had all turned to white bones, and at night one could see red-eyed wild beasts roaming about — impossible to tell if they were wild dogs or wolves.

The atmosphere was somewhat oppressive. Zhao Jin and Liu Yong did not try to console anyone. From the way the men had been selected to the unusual marching route, it was impossible for no one to harbor misgivings.

By early the next morning, Bayin and the several mounted household servants he led had returned from scouting. If they pressed on without stopping, they could make contact with the Smelling Incense Sect rebel army's main camp after nightfall, and this camp was an hour and a half's journey from Ziyang City.

"An hour and a half's journey — that must be about twenty li? They're laying siege from that far out?" Zhao Jin found it strange. Although the Smelling Incense Sect rebel army's elite main force was all at the foot of Jining City and this was just a token effort, they still shouldn't be so far away. At this distance, what kind of siege was it? The city could send people out at will to seek help or launch sorties.

"Yesterday, from a distance, this subordinate observed that the bandit camp sends out several thousand men every day, marching in formation to parade beneath the city walls. Ziyang City keeps its gates shut and does not come out either. The rest of the time, neither side moves. The bandit camp sends men out to forage for grain," Bayin added.

Liu Yong interjected at this point, "There are quite a few estates of the Prince of Lu's manor in this area, and their stores are very rich. Otherwise the bandits couldn't sustain themselves."

"... If we weren't so strong, they really would have laid a fine trap this time..." Zhao Jin said musingly.

"The government troops are just too useless," Liu Yong remarked, but he was talking about a different matter. In such a situation, the government troops still dared not come out of Ziyang City — they truly were useless.

"They must have sent out dispatches asking for help, but they definitely all went to Jinan and the capital. Who else anywhere would care whether they live or die?" Zhao Jin commented.

After a few remarks, they quickly returned to the main subject. Bayin continued, "The bandit camp is laid out very casually, though they have dug a trench around the outside. The rest of the men are crowded together in a chaotic mess, but as for what it's like inside, this subordinate dares not speak recklessly, because there was no way to get in, and from a distance one couldn't see clearly."

Ge Tianfeng had risked life and limb beneath Jining City, had barely escaped death himself, and had even overseen the battle and killed quite a few men before finally breaking into Jining City. He had thought he would go in and eat his fill and enjoy himself, but he never expected this good fortune would not fall to him.

After Jining City was opened, Ge Tianfeng did get two reward meals, and there was even meat in the food. Others wolfed it down, but Ge Tianfeng inexplicably wondered if it was human flesh and nearly vomited. Only later, when they fished out pig bones, did he realize he had been overthinking it.

He thought good days lay ahead from then on, but after those two meaty meals, he was issued a long spear and a set of clothes stripped from a corpse. Then someone told Ge Tianfeng that he was now a Divine Soldier of the Faith.

Someone trained them in how to form ranks and how to follow orders. Ge Tianfeng listened in a daze and never quite understood. All he knew was that the man training them talked a dazzling game — something about how if they all stood in formation and advanced like this, no army under heaven could stop them, and they would be invincible.

After that, Ge Tianfeng was led toward Ziyang City. They said they were going to besiege the prefectural seat of Yanzhou Prefecture. Once Ziyang was taken, everyone would not only eat their fill and have meat, but also have women in their hands.

Back at the foot of Jining City, the great Smelling Incense Sect army had routed the government troops. Ge Tianfeng had lived through that scene and knew that even if they won, someone like him would still die at the front. This Ziyang, the prefectural seat of Yanzhou Prefecture, was said to be even larger than Jining. He had no idea what kind of fight would unfold beneath it, but once battle was joined, it would surely be a death sentence.

He went on the march with fear and trembling, and arrived beneath the city walls without incident. Seeing the towering, majestic walls of Ziyang City, Ge Tianfeng drew a sharp breath. He thought to himself that if they had to fill the moat and storm the city, he probably wouldn't have the same good luck he'd had at Jining City. If they fought in the open field, he would certainly be pushed to the front to die. By this point, Ge Tianfeng was already thinking of running away.

But after arriving at the prefectural seat, what happened exceeded Ge Tianfeng's expectations. First, everyone formed up in ranks and paraded beneath the city walls. At the start he was afraid, terrified they would clash with the government troops inside the city. Unexpectedly, the city's four gates were tightly shut and they never came out to fight. The ones leading them on these parading demonstrations also knew their limits and never got too close, lest they provoke the arrows and firearms on the battlements.

The two sides maintained a standoff. During this time, men were sent out to break into several estates of the Prince of Lu's manor, plundering the supplies and fodder within. After that, every day was just spent demonstrating outside the city.

In the refugee camp — now called the Smelling Incense Sect Northern Pacification Army's main camp — people preached every day, saying that the Long Live Lord of Resurgent Fortune, the Living Maitreya Buddha, had already exercised his great divine powers. Now several columns of divine soldiers were rampaging across Shandong. Once they had swept through every area, they would converge beneath Ziyang City and attack together. When that happened, this city would collapse at a single blow. Once the city was opened, everyone would be a founding hero of the dynasty, with glory, wealth, and rank assured.

It sounded wonderful, but they couldn't even get a few full meals. All the grain plundered from various places was handed over to the Old Camp for redistribution. Though there was clearly plenty of grain, by the time it reached everyone's hands, only a bowl of gruel remained. Yet the thousand or so men in the Old Camp had meat at every meal. As for money and women, not a bit was left for those below — it all went to them to enjoy and revel in.

Under such circumstances, Ge Tianfeng grew more and more uneasy. If their own reinforcements came, he would still be pushed to the front to die first. There were no longer so many old and weak refugees to drive forward; there was no one left to stand in front of Ge Tianfeng. If no reinforcements came, whether government troops arrived or Ziyang City came to its senses, it would be perilous either way. Ge Tianfeng had already lived through the chaos of a rebel army and knew that within it, the odds of survival were one in ten.

Yet staying put offered no way out either. He grew hungrier by the day, and those so-called assembly masters and incense heads grew more vicious by the day, killing people at will.

Rather than wait for death like this, it was better to run first. There might be no food outside either, and there were mounted bandits and the like, but in this so-called Northern Pacification Army camp, he lived in constant fear, and the things he witnessed were horrifying and sickening. Ge Tianfeng felt he was still human, but if he stayed long in such an environment, he feared he would cease to be one. There were far too many brutal and depraved things happening there. At the very least, Ge Tianfeng did not want to become meat stewing in a pot...

Once, when Ge Tianfeng went out with a group to forage for grain, he accidentally overheard the squad leader talking. He said something like, "Why is there still no news from Jining City? By all accounts, a victor should have emerged by now. Could something have gone wrong?"

When the squad leader discovered Ge Tianfeng eavesdropping, his expression immediately turned vicious and his look was very hostile. It was precisely for this reason that Ge Tianfeng decided to run. The large force was scattered and chaotic, and even when they surrounded an estate it was noisy and tumultuous. Seizing a gap, Ge Tianfeng ran out. A few people saw what Ge Tianfeng was doing, but no one made a sound. Too many people were sneaking away now; one less person meant one more share of rations for the rest — it was no bad thing.

After escaping from the refugee horde, Ge Tianfeng even made several detours, afraid of being discovered. Once he was certain he had gotten away, he inexplicably broke down and wept. He could finally be sure of one thing: if he had stayed any longer in that so-called Northern Pacification Army, he would have gradually ceased to be human.

Where to go? Though Ge Tianfeng was unfamiliar with the geography, he knew that all around him were large bodies of Smelling Incense Sect troops. If he kept walking, sooner or later he would be caught again. At worst, he would just run again — he had to try his luck. Ge Tianfeng made a resolution that was not much of a resolution.

He had left camp on an empty stomach, and during his desperate flight he had no chance to replenish himself. By the time it was getting dark and he turned back onto the main road, Ge Tianfeng was ravenous. He even thought of returning to the refugee horde — at least there was a bowl of watery gruel there. But just at that moment, he heard the sound of hoofbeats. Unbelievably, he saw government cavalry.

Weren't the government troops supposed to have been beaten so badly they dared not come? Wasn't the nearest government relief force supposed to be at least a month away? How were they here already?

Ge Tianfeng knew full well how government troops dealt with refugees: kill without mercy, never showing leniency. If he ran into cruel ones, they might even torture and interrogate him — that would be a fate worse than death.

He had to flee, fast. He should have known better than to run from that refugee horde; at least he could have lived a few more days. Ge Tianfeng turned and sprinted wildly, but the other side had already spotted him and spurred their horses in pursuit. As the distance closed, before Ge Tianfeng could throw himself to the roadside, a noose flew from behind and bound him up tight. He was dragged along the ground for several paces. Just when he thought he would be dragged to death alive, Ge Tianfeng was hoisted straight onto the horse. But by this time, Ge Tianfeng, starving and terrified, had passed out completely.

When Ge Tianfeng awoke, he did not see his deceased parents or fellow villagers. He was startled awake by the aroma of noodle soup. Ge Tianfeng had not expected to still be alive, nor had he expected these government troops to actually give him something to eat — and they had even bandaged his wounds.

The noodles were made of coarse grain, and the broth seemed to have dried fish in it. To Ge Tianfeng, this was unsurpassed delicacy. As he gulped it down, Ge Tianfeng truly thought he had died. Not even that so-called paradise on earth had such fine fare.

After he finished eating, several government army officers came in and began questioning him about the refugee main camp. Their manner was very amiable, and they promised that if everything he said was true, it would count as meritorious service, and in the future he would not want for food and warmth.

Ge Tianfeng had never encountered government troops like these. Back in his hometown, the people from the yamen were all overbearing bullies, cursing and beating common folk without a single kind look. Yet here they had saved him, given him good food, and questioned him kindly. For that bowl of noodle soup alone, Ge Tianfeng held nothing back.

The government army officers asked in great detail — the layout of the main camp, the placement of things inside, how many men were in the Old Camp, and so on. Ge Tianfeng told them everything he could remember. Fortunately, in his constant efforts to steal a bit of food and to save his own skin, he had always been observing the details everywhere, so he actually knew quite a lot.

My writing has been going fairly well these past few days, so I want to push myself. Starting today, I guarantee at least two updates a day. For every hundred monthly tickets, I'll add an extra chapter — currently fifty-five tickets short. For every new Alliance Master, I'll add an extra chapter. Don't laugh at how high these conditions are; my writing speed isn't fast, so this is the only way I can motivate myself. Thank you, everyone.

Thanks to old friends "Mu Ming," "User Silent Witness," "Lin Hai Guan Tao 2014," "Book Friend 24114722," and "User Light in the Darkness" for your tips. Please continue to support Great Ming Warlord with subscriptions, monthly tickets, and tips. Thank you, everyone.