There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 194 Another Night Raid
Chaling Prefecture City.

Instead of pressing his advantage, Chen Younian continued to besiege the city. He also recruited several bandits and had them carry the head of the bandit leader, Yitiaolong, to the outside of the city every day to show off their power.

At first, the bandits, including Kill King and Winged Tiger, were furious and fired arrows at the city walls, but after a few times, they became numb to it.

With the dragon dead, tens of thousands of bandits were scattered, and the reinforcements from Ling County were basically gone.

There's still no news from Youxian, but that very lack of news is what makes it all the more despairing.

Youxian is separated from the Wugong Mountain by a section of the mountain. If Mantianfei really wanted to go south to rescue them, he would have to cross the Wugong Mountain first, break through the Han army's defenses, and then enter Chaling to rescue them.

But now, let alone whether they can actually come, even if they can, I reckon they won't be able to hold out.

It's all over!

Chen Younian had only besieged the city for less than three days. During the day, Han soldiers would come seven or eight times, but they didn't attack the city; they just kept their heads up to annoy them.

The bandits in Chaling City were on the run almost every day, sneaking out under the cover of night by hanging themselves up by ropes.

King Shajin tried to suppress them, but he couldn't. The more he tried to suppress them, the faster his bandits ran away. The morale of his men had collapsed, and the army was difficult to lead.

Two more days passed.

King Shajin summoned all the bandit leaders for a meeting: "We can't delay any longer. People have been sneaking away and escaping every day these past few days. If we delay any longer, not only will the Han army not be able to invade, but our own men will probably all run away."

Upon hearing this, the bandit leaders exchanged glances.

The winged tiger asked, "Then what do you suggest we do about the King of Slaughter?"

King Sha Jin didn't mince words, saying directly, "My idea is simple: while we still have tens of thousands of men at our disposal who can fight, let's charge out of the city and fight the Han army to the death."

The Demon King frowned and said, "A direct confrontation might not be easy! You saw how powerful the Han army is just a few days ago when they killed King Jin. They even have cannons, which we don't."

King Shajin nodded: "That's precisely why we need to attack. Our men are terrified. If we don't attack, do you think we can hold the city? We'll just be wasting our time. The Han army has most of Hunan, and we only have one broken city. What do we have to fight the Han army with?"

Winged Tiger chimed in, "King Killer is right. We have the advantage in numbers now. Even if we can't win, we still have a fighting chance without artillery. If we stay cooped up in the city, we'll only be waiting to die. We might as well take advantage of the fact that the enemy hasn't all fled and go out of the city for a fight. If we succeed, we can live a carefree life. If we fail, we won't die in vain."

The winged tiger's words were crude, but the principle behind them was sound.

The bandit leaders who joined the uprising against the Han dynasty were certainly not the type to accept their fate and be content with the status quo. Since they had already broken off all pretense of civility, they did not believe that surrendering now would allow the Han army to let them go.

After all, they knew in their hearts what they had done. Killing landlords and Qing officials was one thing, and the Han army could forgive them.

But slaughtering civilians, raping and abusing women, and killing for pleasure—these cannot be resolved simply by calling it rebellion or war.

If the Han army captured bandit leaders like Sha Jinwang, simply punishing them with mining slavery would not be enough to atone for their crimes; they had to be beheaded to appease public anger.

The King of Slaughter and his men were well aware of this, which is why no one was urging them to surrender the city. Surrendering would likely mean certain death, while fighting back might offer a chance to turn the tide.

Once a plan is set, it's better to do it sooner rather than later.

That night.

The bandit leaders, including Sha Jin Wang, Cha Chi Hu, Hun Shi Mo, Wu Feng Gui, She Ta Tian, ​​and others, each selected their elite soldiers, assembling a force of three thousand, and prepared to launch a night raid on the Han army camp.

In their view, although the Han army was good at fighting, their side was also composed of old and elite soldiers.

With three thousand against three thousand, a nighttime sneak attack wouldn't necessarily result in defeat.

The north and south gates of Chaling City were opened, and the three thousand old thieves split into two groups, led by Kill King and Winged Tiger as temporary leaders, and sneaked out of the city with their men.

They didn't light torches, relying entirely on the moonlight and the firelight from the Han army camp for navigation, and secretly circled around to the north and south sides of the Han army camp.

As planned, one side launched a surprise attack to draw attention, while the other side immediately headed straight for the Han army's main camp, preventing the Han army from coordinating their efforts.

This idea sounds somewhat feasible, but it's actually pure nonsense. They haven't solved the biggest problem. They only said that one side would launch a surprise attack, but who would launch the surprise attack first?

Nobody's saying anything! After launching the surprise attack, can we tie down the Han army? What if we can't tie them down or the Han army ignores us?
Moreover, what if someone deliberately conserves their strength and doesn't fight with all their might?
Fortunately, the King and his men were lucky; the problem ended before it even began, because the Han army discovered them.

There was no other way; for Han soldiers, night-vision lookouts were practically a game-changer in ancient night raids.

These people thought that without torches, they could remain undetected under the cover of darkness. But to the Han soldiers with night vision goggles, these bandits were brazenly marching towards their camp, and there were thousands of them at once. Did they really think they were blind and couldn't see them?
"Dudududuwuwuwuwu~~~~"

"Dudududuwuwuwuwu~~~~"

Inside the Han army camp, bugles sounded one after another. Most of the Han soldiers, who were already resting, quickly got up and picked up their weapons upon hearing the bugles.

The lookout relayed a message to Chen Younian via walkie-talkie: "General, there are two groups of bandits, each with nearly a thousand men, to the north and southeast of the camp. They seem to be planning a night attack on us."

"Haha, good day!" Chen Younian was already dressed in his gear, his sleepiness completely gone, and he licked his lips with excitement.

Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Younian immediately ordered the entire army to launch an attack, dividing his forces to meet the bandits from the north and south.

"Kill the thief!"

"The great man is victorious!"

The Han army camp erupted in chaos, leaving the bandit leaders, including Kill King and Winged Tiger, who were still leading their troops infiltrating outside completely bewildered.

"Your Majesty, we've been exposed!" an old thief warned King Shajin.

Kill King said irritably, "I know, hurry up, tell the brothers to light the torches immediately, stop hiding, get ready to fight!"

King Shajin was getting carried away. He couldn't believe that since they had all rebelled together, why was the Han army so powerful that they could even defend against a night raid? He was not convinced!

As veteran elites under the command of the King of Slaughter, they did have some fighting power compared to ordinary bandits, and they immediately lit torches one after another.

"kill!"

Hundreds of old traitors who belonged to the King of Slaughter took the lead and went to meet the Han army.

Because the two sides were already very close, a melee was about to break out. Although these old thieves had torches in their hands, they couldn't see clearly at all. They only knew to charge headfirst and just happened to run into the Han army's spears.

The Han army has further modified the Mandarin Duck Formation, removing the wolf-tooth rakes and replacing them all with long spears. The tactics have also been slightly improved, making it suitable for cold weapon formations and infantry formations in conjunction with artillery.

Dozens of seasoned thieves were caught off guard and were instantly stabbed to death with spears, leaving the other thieves stunned.

"Kill me!"

The Han soldiers were not confused. At the captain's command, they thrust with their spears and slashed with their swords.

After several rounds, they killed all of Wang's old thieves, more than a hundred of them.

"Run!"

"The Han army knows magic and are all heavenly soldiers and generals; we can't defeat them."

The remaining old thieves were all brought back to their senses by the beating, and they remembered the battle of Anren County. The Han army was not only powerful with artillery, but also with cold weapons.

The desertion of the king's elite troops also prompted other bandit leaders who had been observing from the sidelines to flee.

The thousands of bandits arrived quickly, but ran away even faster.

The attack by the King of Slaughter was utterly crushed at the first touch. As for the Winged Tiger attacking the north, that guy was even more impressive; he didn't even bother to fight, and as soon as he was discovered, he immediately turned tail and ran.

Kill King and Winged Tiger didn't even dare to return to Chaling City. They simply scattered and crossed the river to escape, going wherever they could, since they couldn't go back to Chaling to wait for death.

On the walls of Chaling City, seeing that their leaders had fallen after only a short time of fighting outside, the remaining bandits were not stupid. They quickly opened all the city gates and scattered in all directions.

Overnight, Chaling City fell, and tens of thousands of bandits fled. Chen Younian immediately seized the opportunity and sent five hundred soldiers to attack Chaling City.

(End of this chapter)