Tang Dynasty Bandits

Chapter 183 Surprise Attack on the Enemy Camp
Zhu Wen exchanged pleasantries with Wang Shenzhi and learned that their family were descendants of the Langya Wang clan. During the Hou Jing Rebellion, they fled from Jiangdong to Fujian to escape the disaster. Later, the An Lushan Rebellion ravaged the Central Plains, and the population of Henan plummeted. After the rebellion, the court summoned the refugees and rebuilt the desolate land. Wang Shenzhi's fifth-generation ancestor, Wang Ye, became the magistrate of Gushi and moved his clan over, settling in the Guang Prefecture.

By this reckoning, Wang Shenzhi is a relative of Alliance Leader Wang Xianzhi.

Whether Wang Shenzhi's family history is true or fabricated is irrelevant. The swallows that once graced the halls of the Wang and Xie families now fly into the homes of ordinary people; the official registers of the Tang Dynasty did not recognize the Langya Wang clan.

The so-called descendants of the Langya Wang clan bring no benefit whatsoever; mentioning them is merely fodder for gossip.

Gao Yan's camp was situated in a secluded and narrow valley, flanked by steep cliffs and rock walls. He also set up barbarian fortresses on the north and south slopes, which, under normal circumstances, would be impossible to breach quickly.

Wang Shenzhi, a familiar face who had passed through this area many times over the years, was completely different.

From the map completed by Wang Shenzhi, Zhu Wen learned that there was a winding path in the northern part of the valley. There used to be a Liao people's village along the path, but Gao Yan recruited Liao people to fight, so the village must be empty.

Wang Shenzhi's talent for remembering routes was truly rare in the world. For areas he had visited several times, he could create a three-dimensional memory palace in his mind without having to re-examine them, and he could even draw it clearly for others to understand.

Wang Shenzhi's appearance immediately dispelled the fog of war in the eyes of the common soldiers, something Gao Yan could not have predicted.

Zhu Wen quickly made a decision, determined to crush his opponent with a lightning-fast surprise attack.

Huang Chao allocated 2,500 men to him for this military operation, but the core force was still Zhu Wen's own 1,000-strong Luoyandu army.

Zhu Wen's second elder brother, Zhu Cun, was the second most prestigious figure in the group after Zhu Wen. He led 1,500 men to stay in place and attract the enemy's attention.

They planted as many flags as before and set up multiple stoves to cook meals within the camp. Unless one got very close, it was impossible to tell that the camp's troop strength had been reduced.

Zhu Wen led a thousand elite soldiers out of the camp under cover of night, wearing leather armor and lightly armed, each with a small wooden stick in their mouth to keep quiet.

These small wooden sticks, shaped like chopsticks, are called "mei" and have straps at both ends so they can be tied around the neck. In historical records, surprise attacks are often described as "running swiftly with mei in one's mouth."

Because the mountain road was steep, they did not bring any cattle or horses.

In early spring, the mountaintops were still covered in snow. Zhu Wen and his men braved the biting mountain winds, moving slowly through the mountains. They slowed their pace, making good use of the forest to conceal their tracks, both to avoid alerting the enemy and to conserve the soldiers' energy.

After two days and nights of marching, the raiding party finally reached the flank and rear of Gao Yanjun's camp. During this time, Zhu Cun launched a rather skillful feint attack on the enemy lines, which was easily repelled by the enemy while effectively controlling losses.

As they approached the enemy camp, the troops extinguished their torches and relied on the firelight inside the enemy camp for illumination.

The three brothers, Zhang Guiba, Zhang Guihou, and Zhang Guibian, simultaneously fired arrows in the darkness, felling the sentry guarding the gate to the ground.

The troops attacked from three directions like a tidal wave, hacking and slashing wildly within the village.

Almost all the men in the village went to fight alongside Gao Yan, leaving behind only the elderly, women, and children.

But the barbarian women were fierce, and they still raised their swords and spears to resist.

The soldiers showed no mercy, killing anyone they encountered, even the elderly with gray hair or underage boys, who were all killed with a single blow.

Several of the younger rebel soldiers looked reluctant, but Huo Cun then discovered a pile of dried heads hanging on an altar, some of them those of barbarians and others of Han Chinese.

The mature-beyond-his-years Wang Shenzhi calmly said, "These barbarian tribes have a headhunting culture. If they can't hunt down the heads of Han people, they will hunt down each other."

As he spoke, Wang Shenzhi grabbed a loudly crying barbarian baby, threw it onto a stone, and its brains splattered on the spot.

“Being born into such a primitive tribe is your misfortune. May you be reborn into a better family in your next life,” Wang Shenzhi said without changing his expression.

This barbarian stronghold is located on the only route for a surprise attack; if even one person escapes, they could potentially inform Gao Yanjun.

In historical military operations, even when Han Chinese armies launched surprise attacks on Han territory, they would sometimes kill civilians to silence them. The fact that their opponents were barbarian tribes who would rob and kill Han Chinese caravans and collect their heads as souvenirs only lessened the psychological burden on the commoner soldiers.

After the massacre, all six hundred-plus people in the village, including women and children, perished except for eight Han Chinese women who had been abducted. As a precaution, Zhu Wen ordered them all bound, gagged with hemp seeds, and locked in a cellar. They would be released after the victory, when he returned to loot the spoils of war.

Huo Cun suggested killing and eating the chickens and dogs raised in the village to replenish the soldiers' strength, but Zhu Wen stopped him.

Dawn was approaching, and if the sounds of roosters crowing and dogs barking did not come from the hillside, the barbarians on the hillside would surely realize that something had happened to the village.

The chickens and dogs were left to roam freely within the village. Attracted by the smell of blood, the dogs quickly began to gnaw on the corpses scattered on the ground, and then the chickens followed suit, pecking at the brains scattered on the ground, leaving the scene in complete disarray.

Both chickens and dogs have a habit of eating carcasses, regardless of whether they are of the same kind or different species. Often, this is not due to hunger.

After clearing out the barbarian stronghold, Zhu Wen decided to divide his troops there.

The selection of the squad leader posed a challenge for Zhu Wen.

The Battle of Xuanzhou and Nanling did indeed cause the Cao army to lose a number of talented military leaders in a short period of time.

Zhu Wen said that the surrender of Qin Yan, Bi Shiduo, Xu Qing, Chang Hong, and others to the government army was "like sifting wheat, with the best ones at the bottom and the chaff going with the flow." But the vacancies they left behind could not be filled in the short term.

It's not that we can't find people who can surpass them, but rather that newcomers lack the prestige to command respect in a short period of time.

Tian Jun was a very brave cavalry general, but he was not good at commanding infantry surprise attacks.

The three Zhang brothers were excellent archers, but not enough to stand alone in a commanding position.

After a moment's thought, Zhu Wen made a decision: he would appoint Zhu Zhen as the leader and Huo Cun as the deputy, jointly commanding a force of four hundred men to attack the Manliao fortress on the north slope. He himself would lead the remaining six hundred men in a surprise attack on Gao Yan's main camp.

Although Zhu Zhen is brave and resourceful, he has only been promoted a short time ago. Huo Cun's advantage lies in his seniority and ability to command respect. Such a combination should be able to handle things properly.

Small groups of enemy sentries operating among the peaks were all killed and slaughtered by Zhu Wen's unarmored rapid reaction troops. The enemy's attention was drawn to the camp guarded by Zhu Cun, and they had no idea that they had fallen into Zhu Wen's carefully laid counter-encirclement.

"kill!"

As dawn broke and the sunlight shone down, the soldiers of the Grass Army emerged from the forest like ghosts, spitting out small wooden sticks from their mouths. Roaring, they rappelled down the steep cliffs using long ropes, charged forward, and used broadswords to smash the antler-shaped barricades at the camp gate. Their eyes blazed with fire as they stormed into the enemy camp.

Zhu Wen looked back and saw billowing dust rising from the northern hillside.

Almost simultaneously with Zhu Wen's main force, Zhu Zhen and Huo Cun also launched a surprise attack. Before long, the defeated barbarians on the north slope would be driven into the valley and storm the main gate of Gao Yan's camp, forming a pincer movement with Zhu Wen's surprise attack team.

Zhu Wen squinted, sizing up the enemy soldiers who were hastily donning their armor to fight. Many of them were still sleepy-eyed, their eyes filled with shock and fear.

Even the valiant and invincible Long-Wu Cavalry performed so poorly when faced with a surprise attack by light infantry.

The brave soldiers of the peasant army poured into the enemy camp like a flood, and were invincible.

Gao Yan was brave and resourceful, and became famous at a young age, but there was a reason why he subsequently faded into obscurity for ten years.

"Compared to cavalry charges, Gao Yan is probably not very good at commanding infantry battles," Zhu Wen commented.

The outcome of this surprise attack was no longer in doubt.

(End of this chapter)