Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 358 Your Lie in April
To make matters worse, the bandit cavalry that had previously harassed the government troops also appeared in the rear.

Several thousand cavalrymen stood far away, about ten miles away, seemingly keeping a close eye on the government troops' every move. Whenever the government troops were to withdraw, the enemy cavalry would dare to cooperate with the main force to launch a pincer attack from both sides.

This is terrible. Yang Wenyue racked his brains but couldn't figure out why he hadn't received any warning messages when the main force of the enemy troops had penetrated deep behind enemy lines.

and many more!

Yang Wenyue suddenly remembered the military report from Zhucheng that he had received earlier, and immediately ordered his staff to take it out and place it on the table.

More than ten military reports were lined up in a wide line, as if leading the civil and military officials back to a few days ago.

He slammed his right hand on the table, then pointed to the inconspicuous newspaper. Yang Wenyue's voice became hoarse and regretful, and the blood vessels in his eyes seemed to gradually fill with blood.

It turns out that the main force of the bandits had already appeared, but they were all misled by a large amount of urgent military intelligence!
Reports of encountering major forces were everywhere, and Yang Wenyue could only gamble based on his experience, but he still lost!

"The bandits are truly cunning!" Yang Wenyue sighed briefly, while Lu Wenjin, standing beside him, continued to curse the bandits for their despicable behavior.

Du Cang remained calm and composed, seemingly anticipating that his side would fall into the enemy's trap. "His Beiwei Army always uses feints and deception in its military operations..."

If our troops are lured across the Yellow River and head north, the main force of the enemy can easily seize Jinan, and even the entire Shandong province. The blame for the loss of our own princes will weigh heavily on us, and we cannot bear the consequences.

To fight the enemy openly and gain a chance of survival is actually the best course of action.

The most urgent task at hand is to find out the number of enemy troops.

If the enemy troops use feints to delay, then we will launch a major attack and break through their trench formation.

If the enemy forces are numerous, our troops can dig trenches and build fortifications to confront them. We can also send elite cavalry to seek reinforcements from all directions. This place is not far from Jinan, and reinforcements will arrive in no time. The enemy will then be caught in a pincer movement... Hmm..."

After a moment's thought, Du Cang immediately revised his proposal, "In my humble opinion, the enemy forces are mostly weak. Based on my understanding of their nature, they must have already ascertained our strength at the foot of Gaowan City—and important military intelligence must have already reached the hands of their commander."

If the enemy soldiers were confident in their superior numbers, they would never have dug trenches and set up camp here, adopting a defensive posture awaiting my fierce attack. Instead, they would have rushed forward to fight me in a fair battle.

Therefore, the main force of the enemy army was definitely not fifty or sixty thousand troops, but at most thirty or forty thousand. The extra military tents were just a feint!
Our army not only has the strength to fight, but can also crush the enemy in one fell swoop!

As soon as Du Cang finished speaking, the tent fell silent. He had thought his colleagues would marvel at his well-reasoned analysis and praise him.

Unexpectedly, a group of civil and military officials cast puzzled and surprised glances at him, as if to say, "You've had too much to drink."
Du Cang pondered for a moment before realizing what was happening, and suddenly felt a surge of heat rise up his spine and rush to the back of his neck—

I am merely a junior officer, and it is an honor to be led into the military council tent by Governor Yang. How could I be qualified to speak so eloquently in the tone of "Commander-in-Chief of the Army"?

If Governor Yang were to fly into a rage and charge him with "disrespect before the army," he would be dragged out and given twenty lashes.

"It was my presumptuousness. If my humble opinion offends your ears, I hope Governor Yang will forgive me."

With his hands clasped in fists, his drooping head was almost level with his fists, like a loyal dog seeking its master's favor.

Du Cang couldn't help but add in his heart, "Offering advice here is ultimately not as easy and comfortable as it was in the Beiwei Army."

"It's alright. What General Du said is reasonable and well-founded. He has cleared away the clouds of fear of encountering the enemy and pointed out our chances of victory. What is wrong with that? It's just that tens of thousands of royal troops are here, so we cannot act rashly."

Yang Wenyue waved his hand and let the matter drop.

"It is indeed risky to determine the number of rebel soldiers in just a few words, but it is more than enough to send a group of elite cavalry to the enemy lines to sprinkle exorcising substances and, incidentally, to carefully investigate the rebel soldiers' deployment."

"This plan is brilliant! The enemy troops have ventured deep into our territory with the help of a feint attack from a detachment to confuse us, and they also likely have sorcerers summoning fog to conceal their tracks. Otherwise, it's impossible that tens of thousands of bandits would have only received two warnings after traveling two hundred miles. As long as we break the enemy's evil magic and render them incapable of fighting back, our chances of victory will increase by three times!"

“Perhaps the people are misled by the bandits and are willing to cover up their actions—” another military officer angrily denounced.

"Do these bandits possess such evil magic to bewitch the people? There are at least hundreds of thousands of people in the surrounding counties. How could these bandits and sorcerers have such power?"

"It's just a small matter of distributing grain and money."

"The bandit soldiers are truly despicable; they actually distributed food to the treacherous people to bewitch them!"

"These damned traitors, all they do when paying taxes is complain and whine. But when the bandits come and give them a little something, they switch allegiances. They're like cats and dogs, fawning over anyone who throws them a handout! They deserve to die!"

"Yes, Brother Fang is right. After we wipe out the rebels, we will follow the example of the Beiwei bandits' method of killing eleven people alive and punish the treacherous people severely!"

"That's right, it's better to kill a thousand innocent people than let one guilty person go free!"

As the officials talked, they began to discuss what cruel tortures they would use to retaliate against the wicked people, ensuring that they would suffer a fate worse than death.

Upon hearing the discussions, Du Cang thought to himself that these people weren't thinking about how to defeat the enemy, but were already fantasizing about how to punish ordinary people after defeating the enemy.

It is precisely because of your arrogant attitude that the people were so easily won over by the bandits.

The civil officials looked down on Du Cang because of his low rank and limited power, but the generals and deputy generals took his analysis seriously.

According to Lieutenant General Du, the enemy soldiers in front of them were like a thin layer of paper; as long as the officers and soldiers concentrated all their efforts, they could open a gap.

The military officers had no hatred for the Red Turban Army, but the rebel soldiers humiliated them in every way in Gaowan County, singing and dancing, and jumping around in front of the Red Turban Cannons, treating the government troops as if they were not human.

How could a man of honor swallow such humiliation! The generals were only thinking of fighting the rebels to the death to avenge the humiliation they suffered at the hands of the Gaowan city.

Filled with hatred for the Red Turban rebels, the generals commanded their troops to change formations.

The tens of thousands of soldiers were scattered into five groups, surrounded by wagons and mule carts. This was to guard against the main force of the enemy in front of them, and also to guard against the enemy cavalry that were watching them from behind.

On the vast land, there are slowly moving "five-cylinder formations", and within each five-cylinder formation is a smaller, more subdivided formation of carts.

The army advanced for about four or five miles before halting.

A makeshift wooden platform was quickly erected in the central area. Yang Wenyue climbed the platform and looked into the distance, his mind filled with doubts.

The enemy's firearms were always incredibly sharp, so why did they not fire a single shot even as the two armies closed in to battle?
Since the enemy soldiers are not firing their cannons, and our own cannons only have a range of about two miles, let's send a cavalry team to probe the enemy's situation.

However, before setting off, the roosters, black dogs, and other livestock that accompanied the army suffered. They were all slaughtered and bled, and a bunch of cloth bags were stuffed into dung buckets and soaked through.

Hundreds of Ming soldiers rode out on warhorses, raising clouds of dust, the stench of "exorcising items" carried on the sides of their horses' backs filling the air.

Even with their nostrils stuffed with strips of cloth, the riders still suspected that they would be half-killed by this indescribable smell before they even reached the front lines.

Fortunately, the warhorses were fast and soon carried the riders to the wide trench.

However, just as the rider raised his hand as if to throw, he saw a series of rapid popping sounds coming from the trench, which was several feet wide, and a row of bullets, invisible to the naked eye, came flying through the air.

The unfortunate rider groaned inwardly; he had already estimated a safe distance, yet he was still hit by a bullet.

Just how far can the bandits' swift muskets reach? "Ah!" The screams of those hit by bullets were like muffled groans. Some were shot but did not die, falling off their horses, but their right legs got stuck in the stirrups. They were dragged for miles by their warhorses and dragged to their deaths.

Blood and excrement splattered everywhere, and the cavalrymen who had finished disposing of the filthy mess hurriedly turned and fled.

However, the bullets showed no mercy, mercilessly reaping lives and deaths among the men and horses within their range.

Although the cavalry unit suffered 20% casualties during this reconnaissance mission, the riders successfully threw the "exorcising item" in front of the enemy troops.

Even if the exorcising object cannot break the enemy's spells, it can still disgust the enemy to death.

The spell was broken, their true forms revealed, the bandit soldiers and sorcerers vanished into thin air, screams echoing everywhere—

Yang Wenyue did not see any of the above scenes, but through his telescope he saw hundreds of bandits stepping on wooden planks to cross the trench.

Some of the bandits used long poles to cross the trenches.

The "madman" who self-destructed while pole vaulting in Gaowan County was indeed a member of the bandit army!
Just as Yang Wenyue was feeling relieved that he had found the answer to a question, he saw hundreds of bandits facing the "exorcising object" without any hesitation, splashing up clumps of indescribable turbid liquid and playing around with their allies, playing a little game of "whoever gets the disgusting stuff on them loses".

The other bandits then mimed taking deep breaths, before jumping up again as if they were smelling not the stench of filth, but the hot rain falling on the stone wall at the turn of spring and summer.

The Red Turban bandits were not only fierce and fearless, but they could also tolerate such a stench?
Most people would vomit immediately after being in such a foul-smelling environment for even a short time, yet the bandits remained unharmed.

What incredible willpower!

Yang Wenyue couldn't help but wonder, what kind of brutal training methods had these bandits endured to be so fearless of death and stench?

This further convinced him that the elite bandits had been controlled by "evil magic," their three souls, seven spirits, five senses, and seven orifices.

But why did the "exorcising item" have no effect at all?
Yang Wenyue frowned and looked displeasedly at the official in charge of the "exorcism." The official's lips twitched, fearing that he would be questioned by the governor, and he immediately ordered a group of professionals to take the stage.

……

The moment the sharp firearms fired, the Zhao brothers and the people cheered for a long time.

Previously, a dozen or so government troops could roam freely in a village of over a hundred people, but now, several hundred cavalrymen, with even greater fighting power, were forced to flee in disarray, abandoning hundreds of corpses, under the barrage of fire from the Red Turban Army's muskets.

This shows the weakness of the government troops; the Red Turban Army can win!

As the smoke from the continuous volleys of swift gunfire gradually dissipated, Zhao Erhu suddenly saw the government troops pushing out dozens of large sidecarts.

"What is this...?" Zhao Erhu's eyes widened, his arm pointing into the distance hanging motionless in mid-air.

The vans were being pushed by neatly dressed soldiers, but standing on them were monks, Taoist priests, itinerant sorcerers, beggars, and others dressed in various costumes...

Every "magician" who could be associated with "gods and ghosts" or "magic" showed up.

They stood in their respective "vehicle groups," waving their ritual implements and performing spells. Banners and flags fluttered in the wind, and the sound of striking wooden fish and dropping copper coins created a symphony of exorcism. The faint smoke from burning incense seemed to drape these extraordinary individuals in a veil of green.

One of the elderly men, who appeared to be of "divine and otherworldly" appearance, seemed to be the master with the strongest magical powers.

He was dressed in a flawless gray robe and stood alone on the central carriage, holding a peach wood sword pierced with yellow talismans in one hand and shaking a bell in the other, as if chanting incantations and making hand gestures.

Hundreds of bald, tied-up, and loose-haired disciples from different sects followed behind the cart, chanting scriptures and incantations.

Even though Zhao Erhu was in the mountains and quite far away, he could still feel the invisible power of the religious assembly of hundreds of people.

The inaudible Buddhist and Taoist chants seemed to pierce through the air for miles, striking his very soul.

Such a massive exorcism procession would inevitably stir up superstitious thoughts even in atheists with pure hearts, let alone ordinary people like Zhao Erhu whose minds are full of "ghosts and gods".

Even the local people who had taken refuge there stopped cheering and instead became worried about the fate of the Red Turban Army.

If the government army's sorcerers break their luck, the Red Turban Army will likely lose this battle!
Zhao Erhu bit his thumb, feeling as if a thousand arrows were piercing his chest. He cursed himself for being useless and unable to share the burdens of the commanders.

He and the common people were sweating profusely with anxiety, and even the ordinary soldiers looked worried, fearing that the soldiers' magic might damage some of the commanders' "qualities".

The fully armed generals, however, seemed completely unconcerned, even sporting smiles that seemed more joyful than those for winning a battle.

"Hahaha... I didn't see that wrong, did I? We've forced the Ming army to fight like this? This is even crazier than our singing and dancing in front of the battle!"

"You know what, the Ming army also developed their own hot air balloons... They have a pretty strong learning ability."

"This isn't a fantasy or cultivation world, what's the point of putting all this junk together! Do you think we're monsters?"

"We were planning to wait until the Ming army was in position before making our move, but now that they've challenged us to a show of skill, we can't fall behind!" The speaker looked up at the sky and nodded at the clouds. "Brothers! Anyone interested in giving the Ming army a big show of skill?"

"Have!"

Upon hearing that something big was going to happen, the players immediately became interested.

You have to know that players are always full of creative ideas and tricks.

Different types of people often carry useless items to reduce their carrying capacity. But once they get into their fun, these useless items come in handy.

This kind of fun was originally intended for use further north, but it's fine to use it here for now.

Upon hearing the details, the commander in the main tent was so envious that he wanted to fly up the mountain immediately to join the prank.

Unfortunately, the plan was about to be executed, and he also had to oversee the overall situation from the camp of 30,000 troops. He could only look longingly at the mountainside and mutter words of envy.

With the theme of "fun and having a good time," hundreds of players set up deflated hot air balloons.

Under the watchful eyes of the soldiers and the astonished gazes of the people, they boarded a hot air balloon filled with gas.

Zhao Erhu watched as dozens of hot air balloons took off one after another, but their ascent speed was much faster than usual.

The officers seemed a bit anxious, eager to be promoted to higher positions.

He watched as hot air balloons transformed into "little balls" in his field of vision before disappearing into thick cumulus clouds.

There was no "thunderbolt" launched from the air, nor did it parachute into the enemy ranks to fight; instead, it disappeared into the clouds.

What are these officers trying to do?

(End of this chapter)