Chapter 975: Cavalry Tramples the Camp

He had no idea why the government troops asked such things. The Northern Sweep Army camp of the Smelling Incense Sect sounded imposing in name, but inside it was utter chaos — nothing more than the old camp occupying one decent spot, a former estate manager's compound. As for the rest of the units, or maybe there weren't really separate units at all, every day after foraging for grain they'd just crowd and shove and scramble over each other, with no fixed place for anyone.

The government officer had specifically asked whether they had any bows, firearms, or the like. Ge Tianfeng had indeed seen some — a few fierce, ruthless men in the old camp carried bows, and they'd use the old and weak among the refugees as targets for shooting practice and amusement.

They asked a great many things, so many that Ge Tianfeng's head swam afterward and he couldn't recall it all. But a few things struck him as strange. This government officer was far too young — only a few years older than himself at most. And these government troops looked nothing like government troops ought to. Though Ge Tianfeng hadn't seen many government troops, the discipline and order he witnessed, that grim, razor-sharp elite bearing — none of it seemed like what government troops should have.

These were all thoughts that came later. At the time, all Ge Tianfeng remembered were those government soldiers barely older than himself, whose very appearance made his eyelids twitch uncontrollably.

After the questioning, Ge Tianfeng was dismissed. He'd thought he might be finished off with a single stroke, but for the sake of that bowl of dough-slice soup, he figured it would've been worth it. To his surprise, he was sent to help out over by the ox and horse carts, where piles of dust-caked old clothes were being sorted and packed into crates. This left Ge Tianfeng utterly baffled.

Early the next morning, Ge Tianfeng ate two large flatcakes with salted fish and pickled vegetables, thinking that life held no greater pleasure than this. Then he was summoned again and told to lead the way and point things out.

For the sake of this good food, for the sake of this courteous treatment, Ge Tianfeng was willing to stake his life on it. He agreed readily, of course. After setting out with them, Ge Tianfeng couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement — no wonder they were government troops, their equipment and expenditures were so lavish. Wasn't cavalry just one man, one horse? Why did they have two horses? Was the spare one just for carrying baggage?

When they'd covered half the distance and could see the Smelling Incense Sect's "Northern Sweep Army" camp in the distance, the government cavalry halted. Every man dismounted, stripped off his government uniform tunic, then opened the baggage on the spare horses. They helped each other don iron armor, then pulled the uniform tunics back on over it. This confused Ge Tianfeng — shouldn't the armor go on the outside of the uniform?

As they drew closer and closer to that refugee camp, Ge Tianfeng grew more and more uneasy. There had to be at least twenty thousand people in that camp, yet he'd counted these government cavalry several times — only four hundred riders. Back when that so-called Great General from Shandong had led nearly a thousand horsemen, the refugee horde had routed them utterly. What could four hundred riders do? Watching them approach without pause, were they really planning to just charge straight in?

Watching the Smelling Incense Sect's Northern Sweep Army camp draw ever nearer, and glancing at the towering city walls in the distance, Zhao Jin tightened the helmet on his head. After wearing Zhao Character Camp's own forged armor for so long, the government-issue gear always felt wrong.

"Charge in, don't get bogged down in a tangled fight — just punch through them again and again!" Zhao Jin bellowed. The squad leaders of the cavalry units shouted their acknowledgment and passed the word to their men, with occasional phrases in Mongolian — quite a few of the mounted retainers brought this time were of Mongol origin, and these men were indeed the most reliable.

"Remember to shout loud: 'Government troops slay the rebels, Heaven's soldiers exterminate the bandits!'" Zhao Jin roared out his instructions. At these words, even on the verge of battle, a few chuckles rippled through the ranks. The scrawny refugee tied to a horse at the very rear looked utterly baffled, having no idea what everyone was laughing at.

"This kid's got some nerve, at least," Zhao Jin remarked offhandedly.

Beside him, Ma Chonghao was quick to respond: "Master Jin, these roving bandits have fought and clawed through so many places — if he didn't have nerve, he'd be dead by now."

"True enough!" Zhao Jin laughed brightly, then took his long saber in hand.

The long saber was six chi in length, with a one-chi blade — not much different from a short spear. The reason for using this weapon was that government cavalry didn't much favor the Zhao Character Camp style of cavalry lance; such mounted combat techniques required rigorous training and discipline, and didn't showcase individual martial valor, so government cavalry had little liking for them.

They were not far from the refugee camp now. Seen up close, it was clear that what Ge Tianfeng and the other refugees had said was true — this was no camp at all, at best just people living together. Heaps and piles scattered everywhere, garbage and filth all around, plundered goods strewn about so haphazardly they were barely distinguishable from the trash.

By now the refugees had spotted the arrival of Zhao Jin's "government cavalry unit." Panic seized everyone, yet no one organized any resistance — they simply fled in chaos like headless flies.

It was roughly as they'd estimated beforehand: the resentment that had once built up from hunger and despair, then been whipped into fury, had been worn away entirely over these past days.

Enough people had died, they'd taken various cities and towns, and everyone could at least get a little something to eat to stay alive — some had even come out ahead. Then, once that reign title of "Great Achievement and Prosperity" was proclaimed, and official posts and titles were handed out from Emperor down to One-Word Equal-to-the-Throne Prince and on to Marshal and General, even more people lost their drive.

Not to mention that the real elite forces were all at Jining, Zouxian, and Tengxian. The force outside Ziyang City was merely a feint, a diversionary force — it served no real purpose. Sending these refugees here was less about attacking and harassing than about foraging for food. You couldn't keep a hundred thousand or several hundred thousand refugees in one place for long; if you did, once enough time passed, they'd completely exhaust the local resources. Far from being a usable force, they'd become a calamity.

A force like this hardly deserved the name — pure rabble. Even if they'd learned a few methods of standing in formation and marching in step, before the elite cavalry of Zhao Character Camp they weren't worth mentioning.

Trenches had indeed been dug outside, but to make coming and going easier, or to transport plunder, many sections of the trenches had actually been filled in, leaving passage unimpeded in and out.

"Heaven's soldiers slay the bandits! Government troops slay the bandits!" Zhao Jin and his men all bellowed at the top of their lungs, as if afraid no one would recognize them as government troops, and charged straight in.

The last time, beneath the walls of Jining, when Zhao Jin had led the cavalry in a charge, the refugee horde — which had at least some semblance of order — had frantically dodged and fled, and after charging a hundred paces their weapons still hadn't tasted blood. In this so-called camp, the refugees' reaction was even more pitiful: some fled for their lives, while others dropped to their knees and begged for mercy.

Zhao Character Camp would certainly have valued these refugees' lives, for they were precious manpower. But government troops would not. On the battlefield, government troops would not show these rebels a shred of mercy.

Those refugees who knelt and begged for mercy from the very start probably saw the arrival of government troops as a kind of deliverance. This life of drifting with the refugee horde, where death could come at any moment, was simply too brutal an ordeal — many could endure it no longer. With the government troops here, they could surrender and become law-abiding commoners again; even becoming convict laborers would be better than now.

But the "government cavalry unit" neither swerved nor slowed in the slightest — they simply trampled straight over them. Flesh and blood flew. Perhaps that, too, was a kind of deliverance.

With the shouts of "government troops" and "slay the bandits," the entire refugee camp surged into motion. Starting from the point where the "government cavalry unit" had charged in, the whole camp began to seethe and boil with panic.

Every man on horseback was on edge. The chaotic camp was full of fleeing refugees, yet who knew if some crazed fool might launch a sneak attack? And in a camp of tens of thousands, there might be some seasoned warriors — if those men picked their moment to strike, there would certainly be danger.

The way to deal with it was to keep charging, to throw this refugee camp into total rout. Once the crowd was stampeding in chaos, no matter how great your skill, you couldn't keep your footing — you could only be swept along by the tide.

Though the men of Zhao Character Camp stayed taut as bowstrings, they encountered no real danger. Even though their weapons still hadn't tasted blood, they had already inflicted massive casualties on this refugee camp. Everywhere the cavalry unit advanced, the ground was littered with dead and wounded — people trampling and shoving each other, killing one another in the crush.

They swept in just like that, bold as you please. Most of the manor that the refugees had overrun was already in ruins; only the compound where the original estate manager had lived was still reasonably intact. This, naturally, was where the core members of the refugee horde made their quarters. By now, men were already standing atop the walls, shouting themselves hoarse at those below. They did have proper weapons in hand, but most hadn't even managed to get their clothes on properly — who knew what debauchery they'd been indulging in during the night.

The cavalry of Zhao Character Camp did not attack this place; they simply circled around it. As they passed, every man who could shoot from horseback drew his bow and nocked an arrow.

A shower of arrows rained down. Some men tumbled straight off the rooftops; others, caught without time to dodge, were struck dead or wounded. In an instant, not a single person remained on the walls. The "government cavalry" of Zhao Character Camp did not slow in the slightest — they charged straight out, having pierced through the refugee camp from end to end for the first time.

Ge Tianfeng was tied to a horse's back, guarded by two "government cavalrymen," yet his heart still pounded with terror. He thought, with so many people in that camp, if he went in and got caught up in it, wouldn't that be the end of him? Refugee commoners like them, though sometimes driven to desperation they could throw their lives away, were mostly afraid of death — otherwise they wouldn't have ended up like this. What Ge Tianfeng hadn't expected was that they'd swagger in so brazenly, and then swagger out just as brazenly. He hadn't seen anyone get hurt, yet he'd already spotted plenty of dead and wounded among the refugees.

These "government cavalry" were actually this formidable. Yet Ge Tianfeng was puzzled — if the government troops were so strong, why hadn't they come before? With horsemanship and archery this skilled, the Smelling Incense Sect's rebel army that day beneath Jining's walls probably couldn't have withstood them.

"Gen... General, it'd be easier if we set fires!" someone shouted out. Zhao Jin rejected it outright, saying, "It's too chaotic in there — if a fire starts and we get trapped inside, what then? Follow me, we'll charge in from another direction. Remember, the key is to scatter them — don't get bogged down in killing the enemy!"

His men roared their assent, wheeled their horses around the camp, found another entry point, and charged straight in. During this circling maneuver, they'd already encountered those muddle-headed refugees who thought only of fleeing outward, never imagining that the "government cavalry" had shifted to a different direction. They'd thought disaster was upon them, but to their surprise, the government troops couldn't be bothered with them at all and simply charged past. Stay out of the way, and you could live.

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