War Rages Across the Land, Bandits Rise

Chapter 101 War Rages Across the Land, Bandits Rise

The camps in the Jia Si Suppression Area.

"Hahaha, gentlemen, young and old, it's time for us to prove ourselves!"

Huang Xiushi, the flag bearer of the Bingzi Battalion, climbed onto the roof of the enclosed house carrying a horse-slaying sword and laughed loudly at the strong men protecting the river: "Do you still remember the reward that Master Kun gave us? Five taels of silver for killing a thief, five taels!"

Back in the capital, we toiled away digging mud, and after a whole month we barely earned an ounce! Killing one thief was worth half a year's work for us!

"A real man like you will make a fortune following Lao Huang!"

At the call of Huang Xiushi and the team leaders, more than fifty able-bodied men guarding the river responded, willing to leave the camp to kill the bandits.

Outside the camp, several miles away, was the rebel camp.

Enraged, Yu Hongzhi pointed at the hundreds of women's corpses and begged his kneeling followers for mercy, saying, "You dogs! Didn't I tell you yesterday? Women only ruin big things. No women allowed!"

Have you never slept with a woman before? Do you treat every woman you sleep with like a treasure? There are plenty of others like that...

""

One of them, who did not beg for mercy, was a member of the tribe who had been pinned to the ground, but suddenly stood up.

Pointing at the pile of corpses, he roared at Hongzhi, "That wasn't something I stole. She's my lawfully wedded wife, who's been with me for so many years."

'

Yu Hongzhi's personal guards immediately drew their swords and rushed over, hacking the man to death.

Pointing at the newly added corpses, Yu Hongzhi shouted to the other followers, "Listen up, you are not allowed to bring women, not even your parents or children!"

If we insist on taking them with us, we will walk slowly and be overtaken by the government troops' cavalry!

Even if you manage to defeat the government troops' cavalry and survive, you will still cause the deaths of other brothers!

To save the lives of all my brothers, I have no choice but to kill you!

Having said that, he ordered the leaders beside him, "Send them to lead the charge, break through that camp, and we'll spare them this time!"

After a while.

"My eyesight isn't good, Lao Xu, could you help me figure out what character that is?"

Huang Xiushi, mounted on his horse, raised his saber with one hand, pointed at the flag in the distance, and asked the officer beside him.

The captain squinted to make out the flag, then suddenly burst into laughter: "Former Army Lieutenant General Nine-Dragon!"

"Nine-Dragon? Shi Jin, the Nine-Dragon?"

Huang Xiushi was taken aback upon hearing this, then burst into laughter, "Hahaha, he's the Nine-Tattooed Dragon, and I'm the Leopard Head!"

'

"Banner commander, you've got it wrong!"

A squad leader behind Huang Xiushi jokingly said, "It was Wang Jin, not Lin Chong, who defeated Shi Jin, but he was still the instructor of the 800,000 Imperial Guards."

"Hey, there's more than just Leopard Head as one of the instructors for the 800,000 Imperial Guards, there are several?"

Seeing several hundred rebels charging towards them, Huang Xiushi's smile vanished, and he ordered the strong men guarding the river behind him, "Keep your heads down and watch out for the rebels' arrows!"

Pat-pat!

After taking several dozen steps closer, the rebels stopped and then fired arrows.

However, the rebel archers were generally poorly trained and lacked strong archery skills.

Of the ten arrows fired, only one or two would hit the river-guarding soldiers, as they were easily blocked by the large protective helmets.

After firing several volleys of arrows, and finding that none of the river-guarding soldiers had been injured, Nine-Tattooed Dragon had no choice but to raise his spear and command, "Charge!"

Urged on by the supervisory team, the rebels charged toward the strong men guarding the river who were lined up in front of the camp.

Due to a lack of knowledge and experience, Nine-Dragon ordered the charge too early. By the time the rebels got close to the government troops, many of them were already panting heavily from exhaustion.

"Charge with me!"

Huang Xiushi shouted loudly, brandished his saber, and charged ahead of the rebels!

Led by the team leader and captain, the strong men protecting the river followed Huang Xiushi as they charged towards the rebels.

Many of the rebels sent to lead the charge harbored resentment because their wives had been killed; they simply hadn't stepped forward yet.

Seeing the government troops approaching, several of them shouted, "We've been defeated! We've been defeated! Run for your lives!"

The other resentful rebels immediately joined in the shouting and turned to run away.

The rebels' formation was already quite loose, and this commotion threw them into complete chaos, with many of them fleeing in fear.

The supervisory team swung their knives and began hacking away, and there was no way to stop them.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Nine-Dragon fled with a dozen or so personal guards, but forgot to tell the guard who was carrying the flag to drop it.

"Prepare to die!"

Huang Xiushi charged into the enemy ranks, and no one dared to stand in his way. He cut down a rebel who was stunned in place and then charged toward the flag.

"You son of a bitch!"

Nine-Dragon turned around and saw that his personal guards were still holding up flags, and a mounted officer was rapidly approaching from a distance.

Enraged, he roared and swung his sword, cutting down the guards who were holding the flag!

"Banner commander, stop chasing! Look over there!"

The commander rode up to Huang Xiushi and pointed him to the other side of the battlefield: several hundred more rebels were attacking the camp.

"day!

'

Huang Xiushi had no choice but to abandon the pursuit of Nine-Tattooed Dragon, turn his horse around the collapsing bandit formation, and return to his own camp.

Fortunately, the team leaders and captains did their best to maintain the formation of the river-protecting men, and they soon broke away from the bandit formation.

The fighting strength of the river-guarding soldiers was not as good as that of the tax-protecting army or the Tongzhou garrison soldiers, but their organization and discipline were absolutely no worse, and even better.

Seeing that the government troops had retreated to their camp so quickly and regrouped, they were shocked.

The rebels attacking from the other side also slowed down, eventually stopping and turning to retreat.

Rebel camp.

Yu Hongzhi kicked aside the corpse of Nine-Dragon, randomly picked a leader from the vanguard where Nine-Dragon had been stationed, pointed at him, and asked, "What's your nickname?"

"Your Majesty, this humble general is Chen, the Leaping Tiger..."

"

"From this day forward, you are the new Nine-Striped Dragon!"

Yu Hongzhi, having sheathed his sword, turned to the leaders and said, "This village has no money and no women. Let's not fight. Let's keep moving forward!"

Zhang Kun, who had rushed back to Zhangjiawan on horseback, went first to the Liangshuihe camp and urgently asked Wei Sengteng, who was left there to guard the area, "What new movements have the rebels made? What is the situation in Xianghe County, Wuqing County, and the Jia Si Suppression Area?"

Wei Sengteng answered fluently, speaking at a steady pace: "The Iron King of Anpingdu failed to conquer the camp in the Jia Si Suppression Zone and continued northwest, probably heading towards Matoudian."

A group of rebels emerged in Qukouji, southeast of Xianghe County. Their leader, surnamed Zhou, called himself the Grand Marshal Who Saves People from Suffering.

In addition, bandits were causing trouble in Liangxiang County and Zhuozhou, southwest of the capital, and Xiong County in Baoding Prefecture.

'

Good heavens, the Fragrance Cult is really capable, managing to launch uprisings in so many places at the same time.

Just like Zhang Kun's campaign to suppress bandits, the situation gradually spiraled out of control after the emergence of the Fragrance Sect.

The "feint attack" tactic employed by the Fragrance Scent Sect is also spiraling out of control, and the situation is far more serious than that on Zhang Kun's side.

Initially, Wang Haoyi of the Wenxiang Sect suspected that the government had already set its sights on the sect.

They wanted the gangs and their branches in Shuntian Prefecture to cause a big commotion and attract the attention of the government.

This would then cover the retreat of the Wenxiang Sect headquarters in Yongping Prefecture to the sparsely populated Hejian Salt Transport Office to the south.

After retreating to the Hejian Salt Transport Office, they could continue south to the Taiyi Mountains to hide.

Alternatively, one could risk heading west, crossing southern Hebei, and escaping to the Taihang Mountains.

In order to make a smooth withdrawal, Wang Haoyi also bribed the jailers of Yongping Prefecture to silence his father, Wang Sen.

Unexpectedly, some of the branch offices that received orders from headquarters had some rather chaotic individuals.

Just like Gao Yingchen, who forcibly supported Wang Sen back then, he wanted to turn a big commotion into a real mess!