Chapter 026: Strict or Not
Zhao Yulin helped Ma Linger up and asked everyone to transport the wounded across the river as soon as possible. Lei Man took him to the office at the dock to reflect on his inability to lead troops in battle, which led to the loss of so many good brothers.
Zhao Yulin knew that he heard Zhu Congwen scolding people, and said that he did not blame him, Mr. Zhu did not understand the situation, and his words were too harsh. Now the situation has changed, and it is indeed necessary to make some adjustments.
He asked Lei Man to stay in Jiangbei temporarily, and the two of them worked together to take Denggao Mountain. He asked Zhu Congwen to be responsible for the defense of Cuiping Village and the training of the Shenwei Army, Lu Youpeng to be responsible for logistics, Chen Zhongshun to be responsible for management, and Liu Yuru to be responsible for the planning and construction of the city.
Seeing that his expression was too ugly, Lu Youpeng advised him not to blame himself too much. Everyone believed in him as the third young master, so they followed him to protect the wounded and left.
Zhao Yulin called Zhou Ping over and said that he was the chief of the navy of the Shenwei Army, so he had to keep a close eye on them and not allow any mistakes to happen, and the wounded had to be transported away immediately.
Lei Man asked him: What to do next?
Zhao Yulin asked Miao Gui to lead his men to investigate the mountain. First of all, they had to keep a close watch and not allow them to launch a surprise attack. He immediately went to the city to discuss with the prefect.
Zhao Yulin rode his horse into the city and came to the government office, where the county magistrate was also.
Prefect Xu said hypocritically that the Shenwei Army was indeed mighty and brave, and that they had won the battle with a smaller force and saved the wharf. The prefecture would reward Zhao Yulin with 1,000 strings of cash, and that all casualties would be reported and compensated the same as the official army.
Zhao Yulin thanked the prefect for his kindness and said that it was only thanks to Lord Xu who led the troops to save the dock that the Shenwei Army was able to save it.
The prefect laughed and said he had other arrangements.
After this great victory at the dock, the prefect finally regained his face and was in a good mood.
Zhao Yulin was furious and said he wanted to destroy Denggaoshan and asked for weapons and gunpowder. The prefect was eager to see him and said that with the help of the Shenwei Army, they would definitely be able to destroy the bandits in Denggaoshan this time.
The county magistrate asked him worriedly what to do.
He said that Lord Xu's troops had been fighting in succession and were already exhausted, so he let the Shenwei Army attack the front while the government troops guarded the back mountain to prevent the bandits from escaping. He personally led his men to destroy this group of bandits.
Everyone in the government office was stunned. They thought to themselves that Zhao Yulin was so arrogant. The government troops had failed several times, and he could win by leading a team of local militia?
Later, Prefect Xu slammed the table and said, "Okay, let's do it." He arranged for Xu Chaolin to open the armory and let Zhao Yulin choose whatever weapons he wanted.
Zhao Yulin said goodbye and left the city and returned to the dock. Zhu Congwen had already driven three squadrons of troops over.
Chen Xian also brought craftsmen over and taught the soldiers how to use the Zhuge crossbow on the spot. Zhao Yulin told him to take people to the armory in the provincial government immediately and move whatever they liked, and make sure to move more gunpowder.
Chen Xian understood immediately and led his men out.
The next morning, Zhao Yulin led the soldiers of the Shenwei Army to carry their fallen comrades to the Baita Cemetery and buried Ma Jin and the others. Everyone vowed to avenge their dead brothers.
He supported Ma Ling, who was already crying, and asked her to cross the river. She refused and asked Zhao Yulin to leave her alone and let her die here.
Zhao Yulin grabbed her around his waist and carried her onto the boat, and also asked all the elderly people in the Happy Home to move across the river.
In the afternoon, Zhao Yulin held a meeting at the dock and decided to formally establish the Shenwei Army and appoint:
Lei Man is the chief of the Shenwei Army
Zhu Congwen is the military advisor of the Shenwei Army
Miao Gui is the captain of the first squadron of the Shenwei Army
Han Yongchao is the captain of the Second Squadron of the Shenwei Army
Lu Huacai is the captain of the 3rd Squadron of the Shenwei Army
Gao Jin is the captain of the 4th Squadron of the Shenwei Army
Hao Xiaoming is the captain of the 5th Squadron of the Shenwei Army
Zhou Ping is the captain of the Shenwei Navy
Zhao Yulin told everyone that the Shenwei Army is the army of us poor people, and its mission is to protect us poor people so that they can survive.
He ordered the Second and Fifth Squadrons to withdraw to Cuiping Mountain immediately and obey Mr. Zhu's orders to guard the new city. The remaining brothers followed him to fight the bandits who climbed the mountain.
Zhao Yulin withdrew two squadrons, but in fact only one and a half squadrons were withdrawn, because the second squadron was Ma Jin's former subordinates, and more than half of them had been killed or wounded in the battle at the dock, so they had to rest. So he made such an arrangement, which was already the limit of the Shenwei Army's use of troops.
In the afternoon, Chen Xian came back with weapons. The Shenwei Army got fifty suits of armor, two catapults, twenty barrels of gunpowder, and a number of swords, spears, bows and arrows.
Chen Xian said that the others were of little use, so he saved his trouble. He just pulled the two catapults back when he heard that Zhao Yulin was going to attack Denggao Mountain. He thought that after the modification, they could throw the newly made large mines to add power to the attack on the mountain.
Zhao Yulin was very satisfied and asked him to speed up the reform.
At this time, the bandits on the mountain were already quarreling.
Zhang Yanei ordered the robbery of the dock, but they only opened a smuggling warehouse of the Wang family in the east end. They stole dozens of jars of lychee green mixed with water, and were then dispersed by the Shenwei Army and the government army.
The bandits had lost more than 200 men and discarded a large number of weapons, and suffered heavy losses. They were quarreling fiercely in the Juyi Hall. Now the dazzling red flag of the Shenwei Army had been planted on the road leading up the mountain, and it was obvious that they had joined the government army to suppress the bandits. The climb to the mountain was already at a disadvantage because of the robbery at the dock.
Liu San's confidants felt that it was time to fire Zhang Yanei and let Liu San take over as the boss.
But Zhang Yanei has another trick, which is to throw silver.
He took out the silver he had hidden to reward the bandits who had been at the front and made the greatest contribution, and then told everyone not to lose heart. Although Zhao Yulin had joined forces with the government troops, climbing the mountain was no pushover.
The mob, motivated by the money, gathered around a table. The bandits gnawed on chicken nuggets, drank lychee juice mixed with water, and began to plan their next robbery.
The judge Xu Chaolin was dissatisfied with Zhao Yulin's initiative to attack Denggao Mountain head-on, thinking that it was underestimating his regular army.
The prefect said that Zhao Yulin was still young and hot-tempered. It was just the death of a few poor guys, but the boy was so angry that he couldn't bear it and wanted to vent his anger for his brothers. This was completely a woman's kindness.
Since he is seeking death, let him fight. Wait until he gets a bloody head and then teach him a lesson.
County Magistrate Chen Yun came to the dock and asked Zhao Yulin if he was sure. The government soldiers had fought several battles but failed to take him down.
Zhao Yulin said that he had to give it a try. The craftsmen in Cuiping Mountain were modifying the catapults and making thunder cannons. Once they were ready, he would go out immediately to kill the evil spirits who had climbed the mountain.
In the evening, the Shenwei Army was meeting in the office. Miao Gui said that it was unlikely that the bandits would come down the mountain on a large scale again, but it was hard to say if they would launch a small-scale sneak attack.
Lei Man, a rough man, also made the same judgment.
Zhao Yulin said that they couldn’t go down the mountain by the right way since we were blocking their way. What should we do?
Miao Gui said that he took his men to set up an ambush in a secret path on the side.
Zhao Yulin smiled and nodded, saying: That's right, remember: hide everything, even hold your fart.
Miao Gui led the team out with a smile.
Zhang Yanei was drinking in the Juyi Hall. A man named Yanshi, who was originally one of Zhang Baopi's men, said that a battle had just happened yesterday, and the officers and soldiers might not think of launching a surprise attack on us right now. Instead, we could give it a try. We could split up and go down the mountain to rob the wealthy and solve the current problem of food shortage.
Liu San thought this made sense and agreed to go down the mountain.
Zhang Yanei ordered his troops to make a feint down the mountain to attract the attention of the officers and soldiers. He also sent out two elite teams to go down the mountain from two small paths to try and see if they could break the blockade of the officers and soldiers.
So in the second half of the night, a group of bandits came down from the front mountain road, shot arrows and rockets at the Shenwei Army guarding the road from a distance, and rushed over shouting.
Lu Huacai, the captain of the third squadron guarding the road, remained calm and let the bandits come. He waited until the bandits were completely within the range of the bows and arrows before ordering the soldiers to shoot arrows.
This was the standard bow and arrow that the Song army had just received in the afternoon. The bowstring was very strong. After a volley of arrows and then another one, the bandits ran back crying.
The bandits on the side of the mountain quietly went down the mountain under Yan Shi's leadership. Hearing the constant noise in the front and the silence on this side, he felt secretly happy.
In his opinion, the Shenwei Army was nothing more than a group of civilian militia organized by Zhao Yulin. No matter how good they were at fighting they were just not afraid of death and had great strength. They were no match for the government troops who were armed to the teeth.
Seeing that they had already descended the mountain, Yan Shi shouted and quickened his pace.
Suddenly, several rockets were fired from the jungles on both sides, and the bandits immediately revealed themselves. Then, the sound of dense arrows flying was heard. The twenty bandits that Yan Shi brought down the mountain were immediately covered by the powerful firepower of Zhuge Crossbow.
Miao Gui was hiding here with the only fifteen Zhuge crossbows of the Shenwei Army, and the effect was indeed very good.
Following the tactics taught by Zhu Congwen, he divided the troops into three teams to form a cross-fire and lie in ambush, and sent three people in two groups to advance 300 steps to conduct reconnaissance. Naturally, all the situations were under control.
The scout reported back, and he slightly adjusted his position to surround the bandits. When all the bandits entered the ambush circle, he heard the sound of frogs croaking, and he immediately started to work. After three rounds of shooting, he narrowed the encirclement, lit torches to check, and found that all 21 bandits, including Yan Shi, were lying on the ground, some of them were wailing in pain.
On the east side of Houshan, our eternal second in command Liu San also came down the mountain with fifteen bandits. Liu San was already a habitual bandit and a skilled fighter, so he was much more shrewd than Yan Shi in doing this kind of thing. They came down the mountain cautiously, and when they saw the sentry posts of the officers and soldiers on the small road, they climbed over them.
After coming out of the mountain, Liu San gathered everyone together, distributed the silver he had on him to everyone, and said that they were all brothers who lived together. His purpose of going down the mountain was not to rob, but to leave. Not only would staying in the mountain harm people, but following Zhang Yanei would definitely lead to death.
These people wanted to follow him, but he shook his head and said that when he first met the Third Young Master of the Zhao Family, he had promised to be chivalrous and righteous. Now that he had broken his oath, it was impossible for them to follow him again. They should all go their separate ways and do something serious.
After Liu San finished speaking, he kowtowed to everyone and left with his two confidants.
The crowd scattered like birds and beasts.
At daybreak, Zhao Yulin and General Miao Gui escorted the captives to the government office. After hearing about the battle, the prefect praised the Shenwei Army and encouraged them to make new contributions.
Zhao Yulin brought his brothers back and told them to get some rest.
Xu Chaolin was depressed when he heard the news that Zhao Yulin had won the first battle. Damn, why didn’t his own people have such good luck?
He urged his men to search the mountain carefully.
Zhang Yanei waited on the mountain for a day and a night, but did not see Yan Shi and Liu San return, and thought they might be captured by the soldiers. Just as he was worried, a carrier pigeon from the city brought news, reporting how many of them the Shenwei Army had captured. Then he realized that Yan Shi was not careful in his work and lost his life.
