Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 186 Vegetable Man
On the 18th day of the first month of the third year of Qianfu, southeast of Yuanju in Caozhou, a fog shrouded the countryside, and a listless procession walked with difficulty.

In the mist, mournful cries could be heard from the ranks every now and then, only to fall silent abruptly.

At the very front of the procession, a sallow-faced man dressed in a flowery shirt led seventy or eighty strong men armed with knives and spears, followed by countless emaciated men, slowly guiding the procession forward.

At this moment, a man with half a tooth missing, wearing a red headscarf, whispered to the sallow-faced man:

"Qu, those two look like defeated soldiers from Yunzhou. Their hands are calloused so much, they don't look like farmers."

The sallow-skinned man squinted and said expressionlessly:
"and then?"

The toothless man with the red turban was stunned, and without thinking, he said:
"Of course we should kill them, otherwise keeping them alive would be a waste of food."

The sallow-skinned man shook his head and said:
"Stop thinking about it. Those two are useful to us. Stop thinking about that all day. Instead, think about where to get food. If we can't get food, all our brothers will die."

But the man with half a tooth still wouldn't let it go, and kept saying:
"Qu, what use are those two? Are they short of food? We might as well just kill them and eat their meat."

The sallow-faced man glanced at the man and immediately cursed:

"Eat, eat, eat, all you think about is eating? You bastards, if you were any better, would I be sending others to train you?"

"Look at us, we can't even line up properly. If I don't get those Yunzhou soldiers to train us properly, we'll be slaughtered and eaten by others sooner or later!"

The man with half a tooth blushed and stammered:
"Then we old brothers can rest assured, even if the Yunzhou soldiers have trained us well, we still have to kill them."

The sallow-faced man ignored him, having his own plans.

You idiot, all you know is killing, killing, killing! If you kill those two soldiers from Yunzhou, won't that cut off our way to join the government army? Do you really think we can survive on these peasants?
Given the current situation in Caozhou, hundreds of thousands of people have already eaten everything they could find. Those who can survive have sought refuge with the government troops and entered their camps to eat their provisions.

But how to join the army is something we still need to think about. In any case, it's a way out, and we can't let it end like this.

……

Behind this group, two or three hundred people followed like zombies, stepping along the front.

They didn't know where they were going, but only by following such a group could they avoid becoming food for others, not to mention that the bandits ahead would give them some food.

In the group, there were two men with large bones but so thin they were just skin and bones, supporting each other as they walked. One of them was obviously much younger, perhaps not even twenty, while the other was a little older and was talking quietly to him.

“Xiao He, these thieves are really hateful. They only give us half a bowl of rice a day, enough to keep us from starving but also preventing us from running away. We are completely exhausted now. If we had known it would be like this, we would have just died there with our brothers.”

Despite his young age, Xiao He clearly had his own ideas. After hearing his companion's words, he shook his head:
"Old Guo, what are you talking about? We have to live, otherwise our brothers will have died for nothing."

But Old Guo gave a bitter laugh:
"Do we even have a chance to survive? I think these bandits are just feeding us like meat. Look at those who were killed before, they've all been dragged to the front lines in the end?"

As he spoke, one of the men in the group finally collapsed to the ground with a thud.

As soon as the man fell to the ground, the previously numb and expressionless crowd immediately avoided him, almost unable to bear to look at him.

The man who had fallen knew his fate; he was still breathing and weakly reached out his hand, pleading for help from those around him, but no one could save him.

Xiao He tried to pull him up, but was stopped by Lao Guo next to him.

Then a bell rang out from the thick fog, and two thieves riding warhorses and wearing red turbans came galloping over.

After seeing the person lying on the ground, they waved and shouted into the thick fog:
"There's another one here, take it with you."

As soon as he finished speaking, five men with red eyes pushed a cart over, on which were already placed three corpses, all of which were still warm.

As soon as these people appeared, the zombies, as if they had encountered a plague, tried their best to walk away from this place and away from them.

After the five men arrived, they first looked at the one who had fallen to the ground. Seeing that he was still breathing, they smothered him to death.

The man's pleas for mercy lasted only three breaths before finally ceasing.

His body was then lifted onto a cart and eventually taken to a grove of trees.

Here, five corpses were hanging upside down from the trees like pieces of pork, each with a knife wound on their neck, and below them was a large bucket filled with blood.

After the five men arrived, they examined the blood and, seeing that it was of good quality, chuckled.

Suddenly, one of them twitched his nose and looked into the depths of the woods with a puzzled expression.

There, amidst the thick fog, stood a dozen or so knights.

He was about to shout at the top of his lungs when an arrow pierced the air and struck him directly in the throat, killing him.

With that arrow, the remaining knights drew their bows and shot all five butchers dead in the forest.

As a result, the smell of blood in the forest became even stronger.

Half a day later, the knight who had shot the first arrow led his warhorse out, followed by ten elite cavalrymen, all of whom were as pale as he was.

They were Zhu Jing from Shouzhou and the Flying Tiger Cavalry who accompanied him on his scout missions.

Zhu Jing struggled to suppress his nausea, looked towards the muffled groans and footsteps coming from the distant mist, mounted his horse, and addressed the crowd:

"Let's go, kill these beasts."

The ten riders didn't speak. They all mounted their horses, strung their bows, took out their maces from their saddlebags and tied them to their saddles, and then galloped into the mist with their lances tucked in.

……

After the butchers dragged their group away, the people who were to be used as meat became even more silent. They had no strength to resist or escape, and could only numbly flee from this place, praying that they could make it to the end.

This is the sixth person to fall today.

Some of the people in the group were former rogues who had been absorbed into other rogue groups, but their circumstances remained unchanged.

Some of them were craftsmen, and only those with skills could survive until now. However, as the supply of worthless vegetables and meat in the group dwindled, if they weren't replenished, they too would eventually be killed.

The group also included some remnants of the army. Some were local militia members from the vicinity of Yuanju, while others were officers and soldiers of the Taiping Army who had been defeated earlier. But the two most important members were actually the main ones.

The two men were none other than Xiao He and Lao Guo, who had just been talking to each other. They were also the remnants of the Second Yunzhou bandits that the bandit leader had been hoping to have help him train his troops.

These two men were defeated soldiers who escaped two months ago. The younger one was named He Gui, and the slightly older one was named Guo Shaobin. Unlike the other defeated soldiers in the group, they were both from the Taiping Army's elite yamen (sons of officials) and were skilled in martial arts.

No matter how skilled you are in martial arts, if you don't have rice to eat, you'll just be fish on someone else's chopping board.

At this moment, He Gui's emotions were still turbulent. Even though he had seen it countless times, he still clenched his fists and angrily said to Guo Shaobin beside him:

"Old Guo, we'll kill these beasts sooner or later!"

Compared to He Gui's righteous indignation, Guo Shaobin shook his head, not even having the strength to be angry. He smiled bitterly:

"Old He, what's the point of saying 'sooner or later'? I already feel like I'm going to die."

Seeing that He Gui was about to speak, he waved his hand and said with difficulty:

"Xiao He, if you can return to Yunzhou alive, please take care of my family for me. Treat them as your own family and take good care of them."

He Gui's tears flowed instantly. He supported Guo Shaobin's swaying body and said desperately:

"No need, you can take care of your own family! Did you hear me, Lao Guo?"

At this moment, He Gui felt pain and despair; he hated the military governor Xue Chong.

The brothers had warned this man to be wary of the bandits' cavalry, but he still advanced recklessly with light troops. In the end, he managed to escape back to Yuncheng alive, but how many of our brothers did he lose?

Those people from Chang'an deserve to die! They took away our millet, and now they don't even know how to provide disaster relief!
What have my poor sons from the three states done to deserve this?
At this moment, He Gui wished he had a knife. Even if he had no strength left, he would still wield the knife and wreak havoc on the world!

Then he heard the sound of horses' hooves coming from the thick fog behind him.

……

Thieves patrolling in the thick fog on both sides could clearly tell that the sound of hooves was different from that of their own men.

His expression changed drastically, and he shouted:
"Enemy attack!" But before the words were finished, eleven riders rushed out of the thick fog, like Asuras from hell carrying endless karmic fire, their eyes wide with rage, punishing these sinners.

Zhu Jing galloped ahead, his ox-horn horsebow jingling with a thunderous twang, emptying his entire quiver before taking a horse spear from his companion and charging at a dazed thief.

The immense power of the horse and the sharp spear sliced ​​open the man's neck, and his large head flew off, dripping with blood.

Almost simultaneously, Zhu Jing's cavalry, like a yellow dragon, stirred up endless dust, trampling the thieves into minced meat.

At this point, the original group of noobs had completely collapsed. They were running away in terror, stepping on their companions' bodies.

No one expected that these people would still have the strength to escape.

The moment the Baoyi Army's cavalry launched their attack, He Gui carried Guo Shaobin to avoid the cavalry's charge and then pulled him under a cart.

Seeing the thieves being mercilessly slaughtered, Guo Shaobin suddenly perked up and cursed fiercely:

"Kill them all! Kill them all!"

He Gui was equally excited, and he whispered to Guo Shaobin beside him:

"Old Guo, which side do you think these cavalrymen are from? Yicheng or Xuanwu?"

Guo Shaobin didn't even turn his head, his eyes fixed on him, and replied:

"Who cares which vassal state they're from, as long as they can kill the traitors."

At this moment, the situation on the field had changed. Just when Zhu Jing's cavalry was invincible, the sound of hooves came from ahead.

The leader was the same sallow-faced man from before. He rode his warhorse with the man with the missing tooth and seven knights.

Seeing his belongings completely wiped out by these people, the sallow-faced man roared and charged forward, spear in hand.

I never expected this guy to know how to use a horse spear.

This was the first thought that popped into Guo Shaobin's mind, and he instinctively exclaimed in surprise:

"This is trouble."

But no sooner had he said that than Zhu Jing, who was leading his cavalry to slaughter bandits, caught sight of the yellow-faced man. Suddenly, he pulled a well-struck crossbow from his satchel and fired a shot at the approaching bandit leader.

The arrow struck the yellow-faced man right in the forehead. Whether his forehead was too hard or the crossbow was too weak, the man charged forward with his spear still in his forehead.

Zhu Jing's expression changed. With a whoosh, he ordered his ten Flying Tiger Riders to scatter and avoid the oncoming bandit cavalry. In a split second, he turned his horse around, so that his back was now facing the bandit leader.

He ran ahead, with the yellow-faced bandit leader chasing behind.

Zhu Jing counted to six in his mind, then suddenly thrust the lance backward. The bronze counterweight at the lance's end produced a metallic clang, and the force that returned made Zhu Jing's skin ache.

Just when he thought he had killed the bandit leader, he suddenly heard a voice shouting from under a wooden cart not far away:

"Watch out, he's not dead."

At that sound, Zhu Jing didn't hesitate to release his spear, lower his head, grab the saddle, dismount from the right side of his warhorse, and then run a few steps with the horse while still holding onto the saddle.

With a quick step and a bit of leverage, Zhu Jing gripped the saddle tightly, and without even stepping on the stirrups, he used his waist and hips to pull himself back onto the saddle.

At that moment, Zhu Jing caught a glimpse of the spear being withdrawn out of the corner of his eye, and knew that his opponent would strike him in the back again in the next instant.

With almost no time for the people behind to react, Zhu Jing once again grabbed the Iron Bone Spear from the saddle on the side, then suddenly turned around, drew a large circle with his arm, and slammed it down.

With a single blow, the iron mace struck the yellow-faced bandit leader's head with tremendous force. Almost instantly, a piece of the man's skull collapsed, and fragments of bone even cut Zhu Jing's face.

Seeing the bandit leader fall to the ground filled with resentment and anger, even Zhu Jing, who was confident in his strength, felt a wave of fear.

Who is this guy? How come he didn't die after being shot in the forehead with an arrow?
Looking at the bandit cavalry that had been almost completely slaughtered by the Flying Tiger Cavalry, Zhu Jing jumped down, stepped on the bandit leader's chest, and removed the arrow stuck in his forehead.

Only then did he realize that the arrow had already pierced through the man's forehead and penetrated deep into his brain.

Good heavens, what a beast!

Looking at the nearly wiped-out band of thieves, Zhu Jing glanced at the limp corpses on the ground and shouted to the crowd:
"We are the Huainan Righteous Army, ordered to sweep away the bandits in Caozhou and gather the people. If you have the strength, continue to follow me back to the main camp, where there is water and food. If you are really too weak, wait here. Another group will come later. Once you have rested, you can go with them."

After Zhu Jing finished speaking, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Although they had seen that Zhu Jing and his knights were wearing imperial military uniforms, they were not sure that they had been truly saved until they heard him admit it himself.

Upon hearing Zhu Jing's words, even those who were completely exhausted gritted their teeth and stood up, determined to follow Zhu Jing.

What a joke! Who wants to stay here and rest, waiting for the Zhibao militia?
Seeing that the procession had started moving, Zhu Jing nodded and then instructed his men to organize the procession while he himself went to the cart.

It was someone from here who reminded me just now.

Then he saw two men, clearly with the bearing of warriors, stand up shakily. They put their hands on their luggage and called out:

"Ten officers from the Tianping Army headquarters, including He Gui and Guo Shaobin, greet the general."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jing quickly returned the greeting:
"Zhu Jing, a soldier under the command of the Huainan Baoyi Army, greets you both."

He Gui and Guo Shaobin were overjoyed to have survived such a close call, but in their elation, they felt dizzy and collapsed in front of Zhu Jing.

……

When the two woke up again, they were lying on a stretcher, carried by two strong porters in the procession.

He Gui struggled to sit up and saw that the number of people in this group was significantly larger than before.

Large numbers of people were moving forward with the crowd. On both sides of the road, swift cavalry could be seen galloping by from time to time. Soon after, a group of about ten riders would break away from the main group and seem to be charging towards other places.

He Gui nodded, having roughly understood how this Righteous Army fought.

They were clearly organized by caravans, with scouts sent out to search for bandit groups roaming the countryside. Once they found them, they would return to organize their cavalry to launch an attack.

The spoils and prisoners were then delivered to the convoy, and the convoy continued its operations.

He Gui could see the elite nature of this force. He himself was an infantryman, but the Taiping Army had previously had a cavalry force of three thousand men, so he was knowledgeable in this area.

Among the three thousand Tianping cavalry, there are probably not many who have the strength of these elite cavalrymen. Many of them were absorbed into Luodiao Capital by the previous high envoy.

Thinking of this, He Gui couldn't help but think that if the military governor of the Tianping Army were still that same Minister Gao, the Tianping Army might not have suffered this calamity.

Why did the Western Sichuan region have to suffer from the attack?
Suddenly, He Gui had a flash of inspiration; he realized who this Righteous Army was.

With his mouth agape, he excitedly shouted to Guo Shaobin, who was also staring blankly beside him:
"Old Guo, do you know who we've run into?"

Guo Shaobin turned his head, bewildered:

"Who? Isn't it the Huainan Army?"

He Gui couldn't help but burst into laughter again, and said:
"Fool, isn't this Baoyi Army the same as the Baoyi Capital of Xichuan? This is the 'Hu Baoyi' army!"

Guo Shaobin tilted his head back, propped himself up, and tried to look ahead.

In the distance, a huge camp appeared on the banks of the Baigou River, and next to it was a city, namely Yuanju City.

At this moment, a huge banner was erected on the city wall, which read:
"Hu Baoyi"

There was also a large banner that read "Prefect of Guang Prefecture," with two vertical flags on either side. One flag read "Saving the People from Fire and Water," and the other read "Suppressing the Rebellion and Suppressing the Bandits."

And all these flags are arranged around a huge banner with a single word:

"Zhao!"
Guo Shaobin's mouth dropped open; the Baoyi Army had so many flags!

　There is another chapter at noon

　　
　
(End of this chapter)