Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 166 Ambition
Yang Yanbao muttered to himself, wondering what was wrong with his elder brother. But then he saw his brother turn into the inner courtyard and come out again a moment later.

This time, however, the man was wearing a two-piece suit of armor and a helmet. He strode forward and said in a deep voice to his younger brother, Yang Yanqing:

"You stay and guard the pass; I'll be right back."

After saying that, Yang Yanqing mounted his horse again, picked up his spear, and galloped off once more, this time charging forward with unstoppable momentum.

……

Gao Renhou, who was in the camp, also received the report and learned that three knights had just rushed out from inside the pass. He dared not slacken his efforts and led more than thirty elite cavalrymen from the camp out.

As soon as the troops arrived, they saw three more riders charging in from inside the pass. This time, all three were clad in iron armor and were rushing towards them.

Gao Renhou shouted and led more than thirty elite cavalrymen to meet them.

In these small-scale cavalry skirmishes, whoever has more horses holds an absolute advantage.

At that moment, more than thirty elite cavalrymen crossed the ravine and charged straight at the three knights.

Suddenly, the knight in front of him shouted:
"Yang Yanqing, you hermit, die!"

Gao Renhou, a member of the cavalry, was startled by the roar and a sense of foreboding rose in his heart. Then he saw the man who called himself Yang Yanqing spur his horse, speed up, put down his lance, and charge forward.

The lead rider was slightly slow in lowering his lance, and was directly knocked away by Yang Yanqing. Before the rider could even fall off his horse, Yang Yanqing had already closed in, lance in hand, and charged forward.

Three cavalrymen were directly stabbed to the ground. One of them had his lance hit Yang Yanqing's armor, but it slid off the edge and he was knocked off his horse.

In just a few breaths, the four elite cavalrymen at the forefront were stabbed down by Yang Yanqing, which made Gao Renhou, who was lagging behind, cry out in alarm.

Thirty riders against three riders—no, against that one knight named Yang Yanqing—and they actually lost their spearheads. What kind of freak is this?

Without hesitation, Gao Renhou drew his longbow, nocked an armor-piercing arrow, and, while riding his horse, strung the bowstring and fired an arrow at the charging Yang Yanqing.

The arrow is two feet nine inches long, with a fletching of one inch and seven-tenths inches. It can kill tigers and leopards instantly, and even when it lands, it can stand upright and stick to the ground, which shows its sharpness.

As soon as the arrow was shot, Yang Yanqing ducked his head, and his helmet flew off with it, causing him to curse loudly in fright.

At this moment, Yang Yanqing dared not let the other side fire again. He roared and accelerated to charge once more.

At this moment, two riders caught up from behind, one holding a round shield to protect Yang Yanqing's sides.

Even though the distance was already very close, Gao Renhou still fired another arrow, but because the bowstring was not fully drawn, the arrow lacked kinetic energy. Although it hit Yang Yanqing's abdominal armor squarely, it only just broke through the armor and did not penetrate deeply.

Then Gao Renhou was hit by Yang Yanqing with a horse spear and fell directly to the ground.

Just as Yang Yanqing was about to swing his spear and smash Gao Renhou's head, he saw the remaining enemy cavalry charging at him like madmen.

He parried twice with his lance, but still had no chance to turn, so he could only shout:

"You're lucky!"

After saying that, he charged out from the weak spot on the side and ran away.

Out of the corner of his eye, Yang Yanqing saw the enemy general being pulled up by his men. He grinned, gripped his bow sack, and drew his ox-horn bow, ready to fire another arrow at the man.

Suddenly, he saw an enemy rider thrusting a spear at his companion. Without hesitation, he turned his bow and shot, and the righteous army's cavalryman fell from his horse.

He was still waiting to fight, but when he looked up, he saw an enemy troop rushing straight towards him from the camp. Seeing this, Yang Yanqing didn't linger in battle. Instead, he laughed loudly at Gao Renhou, who had already been helped back onto his horse.
"Enemy general, you're lucky. You won't be so lucky next time you see me, Yang Yanqing!"

After saying this, he rushed back into the city with two attendants.

At this moment, Gao Renhou, covered in dust and grime, retreated in a sorry state behind the trench, surrounded by the cavalry.

Looking at the five fallen cavalrymen, Gao Renhou was both angry and ashamed. He rushed to Sun Chuanwei, who had come to his aid, and said:
"Listen to me, return to camp immediately."

Sun Chuanwei was completely bewildered, but he still shouted to his troops:
"withdraw!"

……

The next day, at the same time, at the small training ground inside the pass, Yang Yanqing was still riding his horse and shooting arrows, still making the same attacking moves, but this time he seemed even more spirited and joyful.

His two riding companions also sensed this, and when they handed Yang Yanqing a dry towel after his training, they smiled and asked:

"My lord, you seem quite pleased today? Perhaps you enjoyed yesterday's battle?"

Yang Yanqing laughed heartily, took the dry towel, and as usual wiped his beloved horse first, then wiped himself before replying:

"You are so thoughtful, that's right. I, Yang Yanqing, have practiced martial arts for twenty-four years, enduring countless hardships and sweating profusely. Back then, I didn't understand why we, being mountain people, needed to learn horseback riding and archery. It was like learning something useless. But as I've grown older, I've come to realize that among all martial arts, only archery, horsemanship, and spear fighting are truly where we, as martial artists, are willing to risk our lives."

As he spoke, Yang Yanqing still said regretfully:
“But we are in the mountains after all. In the past, even if there were conflicts, it was just leaping through the forest and drawing blood with bows and swords. When would I be able to get involved in mounted combat? But in yesterday’s battle, even though I managed to rout the enemy cavalry a little, they were first-rate knights, each skilled in their own way. And after fighting those cavalrymen, I suddenly feel a different kind of skill in mounted archery today.”

After saying this, Yang Yanqing shook his head and muttered:
"I, Yang Yanqing, possess such martial arts skills, yet I am destined to spend my remaining years in the mountains. Alas, what a pity."

Although the voice was soft, the two companions still heard it.

One of the smaller channels:

"My lord, since you have such ambitions beyond the mountains, why did you refuse the invitation from the mountain huts in Shuzhou?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Yanqing spat on the ground and sneered:

"What kind of invitation is this? They just want me to work for them. But what kind of pigs and dogs are Wu Jiong and Li Ben? Do they even deserve to serve us? They're dreaming."

Upon hearing this, the other attendant nodded in agreement and said to his companion:
"What you say, Lord, is absolutely right. My Yang family is also a descendant of loyalty and righteousness. Although that damned court harmed our ancestors, our Yang family has never lost its principles. And who are Wu Jiong and Li Ben? I've heard that these people are no longer human after they came down from the mountain. They burn, kill, and slaughter, killing for the sake of killing. They are simply beasts! How can you, Lord, be associated with such people?"

After being reprimanded by his companion, the person who brought it up was also embarrassed and tried to smooth things over by saying:

"My lord, since that's the case, why don't we go out and raid ourselves? Our Yang clan also has hundreds of followers in the mountains, but because we've been bound by the rules, we haven't been able to raid, which is why we've been suppressed by Shuzhou. If we could also get supplies from outside the mountains, or find a few powerful families to sell our goods, we wouldn't have to worry about not being able to strengthen the Yang clan."

Hearing this, Yang Yanqing hesitated.

The Yang family descended from their great-grandmother and settled in the mountains, with four generations of their descendants living there.

At that time, the two brothers were the posthumous sons of their great-grandfather, Yang Ji, the great general of Huaixi.

This man was raised by a group of family retainers in his youth and lived among the monkeys in the mountains, yet he possessed a leader's demeanor.

At that time, Yinshan Pass was controlled by another settlement. Although there were not many merchants passing through the pass and it was quite dilapidated, it was much richer than the mountain huts because it controlled the only waterway in the nearby mountains.

Because of their strength, this settlement also exploited the mountain huts, making them gather charcoal from the mountains and then offer it to them. In return, these huts would receive a few bags of salt.

This is why controlling the passageways in the mountains is so important. No one can live in the deep mountains forever; they need to exchange goods with the outside world. Whoever controls these passageways controls these mountains.

At that time, the Yang family lived in seclusion in the mountains. During his upbringing, their great-grandfather had befriended a group of mountain bandits. These men had learned martial arts, archery, and swordsmanship from his father's guards, and had mastered the skills to hunt tigers and leopards. With martial arts skills came courage, and as the great-grandfather grew up, he quickly won over the mountain bandits and, in a humiliating transaction, successfully incited them.

That saying has been passed down among the Yang family descendants ever since, and Yang Yanqing can still recite his great-grandfather's words today:

"No one is born lowly, yet we have always been lowly, eating wild millet from the mountains and rats from the ditches. How are we any different from those animals? And what about those people down the mountain? What they eat and use, isn't it all earned through our hard work? And today, we want to ask, why is it that they get to live this kind of life? Why can't we?"

"Do you intend to be trapped deep in the mountains, eating rats generation after generation?"

Then my great-grandfather led his angry band of mountain men down the mountain, occupied Yinshan Pass, and laid the foundation for the Yang family's legacy for the next four generations.

As the grandfather and father successively opened up the mountains and forests, the Yang family's influence expanded to more than a dozen mountains, with dozens of controllable mountain settlements and thousands of mountain settlements that could be mobilized.

At this moment, Yang Yanqing was spurred on by his companion's words. Yes, our ancestors were able to build a family business for four generations, and I, Yang Yanqing, also consider myself a hero. How could I not create my own business?

He murmured:
"Are we born lowly? Are we to be trapped in the deep mountains, eating rats generation after generation?"

At this moment, Yang Yanqing's desire to leave his mountain retreat and make a difference grew even stronger.

While Yang Yanqing was thinking, his younger brother Yang Yanbao had also arrived. He came with a message and happened to hear his brothers discussing something, so he waited without saying anything.

However, although he didn't speak, a voice inside him said:
"My elder brother is unwilling to follow our late father's dying wish to remain in the mountains, which has finally ignited his ambition to leave the mountains. But if he has such ambition, why doesn't he just join the Guangzhou army on the other side?"

At this moment, recalling his previous encounter at the opposite camp, he became increasingly aware that the Guang Prefecture governor, whom he had never met before, was no ordinary person.

The Yang family has lived in the mountains for four generations, nearly ninety years. They have thought about controlling this mountain range, but it is just too big, bigger than the ambition of a single person.

So even though the Yang family had worked hard for four generations, they could only barely stand on equal footing with those clan leaders and powerful chieftains. Take Wu Jiong and Li Ben, whom the elder brother looked down on, for example; they were just powerful chieftains from the Xiyang barbarians in the Shuzhou mountain area.

Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, after the Renjia clan was relocated from Bashan to this mountainous region by the imperial court, they gradually took root in the mountains south of the Yangtze River, and it has been six or seven hundred years now.

Moreover, the Xiyang barbarians were among the first tribes to roughly extend their influence over this mountain region. Wasn't the Yiyang barbarians in Guang Prefecture wiped out by their attacks?
The Yang family has indeed worked hard, but so what? It took four generations before they could barely stand and talk to those barbarian chieftains of Xiyang.

Ultimately, the efforts of several generations of others are simply more than the efforts of four generations of yours.

Therefore, Yang Yanbao was very clear that the development of their Yang clan had actually come to an end. Whether in the south or the east, these mountain clans had been around for generations and had long been organized. How could they be annexed by them?

The only way out was to the southwest, where Macheng lay beyond the mountain pass, and further away was the more prosperous Huangzhou.

But are these people capable of plotting against the E'yue Observation Commissioner?

But Yang Yanbao also knew that there was no future for the clan if they continued to be trapped in the mountains. Now, several generations of them could still remember the teachings and glory of their ancestors, but who knew what would happen if an unworthy descendant came along? Wouldn't their Yang clan end up like the settlement that occupied Yinshan Pass before, facing extinction?

That's how cruel the mountains and forests are; resources are scarce, so they don't support waste.

Therefore, in order to continue the clan, he had to leave this mountain, but not like his brother, who fought alone.

Yang Yanbao seriously considered one person: Zhao Huai'an, the prefect of Guang Prefecture.

They didn't know much about this governor of Guang Prefecture. It was only after he launched an attack on the mountain more than two months ago that they learned of this remarkable figure from the mountains to the north.

At that time, few mountain strongholds took these Guangzhou troops from outside the mountains seriously. After all, the mountain gods would not protect outsiders. Indeed, in the past hundred years, there have been governors who coveted the huge profits from tea and tried to attack the mountains.

Isn't it true that they all marched into battle only to return in disarray? This time, the governor of Guang Prefecture is simply repeating the same mistake.

But as the mountain shelters to the north were swept away one by one, the mountain shelters near Yinshan Pass panicked.

How long has it been? Just two months, right? So many mountain huts have been breached by the Gwangju army, and tea gardens have fallen under their control.

Everyone knew that this time was different; they had to unite around the Yang family and fight to the death against the Guangzhou army that was about to march south.

Therefore, during this period, people flocked to the Yang family's mountain shelters, with dozens of people joining the Yang family's ranks every day, bringing their belongings with them.

Some of these people did indeed hope to gain protection, but most were actually envious of the passage occupied by the Yang family, and they longed for the Yang family to lead them into Macheng.

Even the most ignorant person knows that robbing the rich is the way to go.

Perhaps it was because his elder brother had been influenced by these people too much that he developed such unrealistic fantasies.

But do you really not know that the moment of life and death for the Yang family has arrived?
When Yang Yanbao was captured and taken to the camp of the Baoyi Army in Guang Prefecture yesterday, he noticed that this army was different. It should be an advance force of that governor, and the number of people was not very large.

Even so, this team was full of discipline. Those people were what you would call professional martial artists. They even lined up to get their meals, which is something that a mountain hut could do.
Thinking of this, Yang Yanbao recalled the great catastrophes in the history of the Dabie Mountains.

That was during the Yuanjia period of the Liu Song dynasty in the Southern Dynasties. There was a general in the Southern Dynasties named Shen Qingzhi, who, like the governor of Guang Prefecture today, began to raid the mountains.

Historically, how many mountain people did Shen Qingzhi abduct? He swept through the mountains several times, abducting a total of 170,000 to 180,000 people.

Therefore, Yang Yanbao understood better than the people in the mountains that their mountain was not insurmountable; history had already provided the answer.

It's a pity that his cronies and followers only have money and knives in their minds, not history or literature.

And he naturally became the one who was out of place.

Now, Yang Yanbao saw the shadow of Shen Qingzhi in that Guang Prefecture governor. The fact that the Guang Prefecture governor was able to break through the northern mountain strongholds in just two months shows that his people had a certain understanding of the situation in the mountains and were extremely good at mountain warfare.

Furthermore, these people have now bypassed the mountain huts in the middle of the mountain range and are heading south along the Huangshui River to Yinshan Pass, indicating that the governor of Guang Prefecture has realized that the only way to control the mountains is to control these passages.

Now, the Gwangju army is strong, tactically sound, and has endless manpower outside the mountains. What chance do the mountain huts inside the mountains have?

Knowing the general trend, why not submit to the governor of Guang Prefecture sooner? After all, the earlier you submit, the more attention you will receive.

Yang Yanbao had no intention of saying these words, because it would be pointless for him to say them. After all, he was a novice in martial arts. Even though he had read many books and knew about hundreds of years of history, in the eyes of his brothers and other martial artists, he was still just a child.

Looking at his ambitious elder brother, Yang Yanbao sighed inwardly:

"Brother, will the family prosper under your leadership, or will it perish under your rule?"

Coughing, Yang Yanbao interrupted his brother's reverie and delivered a piece of intelligence:
"The enemy camp has just hung up white banners. It must be that one of their generals has been killed in battle, and they are now breaking camp and retreating to the shore."

Upon hearing his younger brother's words, Yang Yanqing immediately realized that the enemy general he had knocked off his horse yesterday was very likely the enemy's commander-in-chief. He jumped up with joy, playfully punching his brother and complaining:
“You should have told me about something this important right away. What are you just standing there for?”

Then Yang Yanqing ignored his younger brother, had his attendants put armor on him, and then rode off again.

This time, however, the bells rang loudly inside Yinshan Pass, and countless villagers who heard the bells, barefoot and wearing straw sandals, carrying various weapons, rushed out of the pass in a swarm with a dozen or so knights.

At this moment, Yang Yanqing, who led most of the mountain garrisons to attack, spurred his horse forward and soon saw the Guangzhou army retreating to the shore.

He gazed at the enemy troops, their ranks covered in white flags, and roared:
"How rude! You come and go as you please, showing no respect for your master. Today, you will all be fed to the fish and shrimp."

After saying this, he led his troops to rush towards the panicked Baoyi Army on the distant shore.

(End of this chapter)