Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 222 Fire
Two days later, on the 25th day of the second month of the third year of Qianfu, south of Caozhou City.

As dawn broke, a thick fog blanketed the Baigou River.

To avoid being discovered by the Tang army outside, Huang Qin and other generals of the rebel army hid on the south wall of the city early on, waiting for the southeast wind to blow.

At this moment, Huo Cun cautiously looked down through the eye hole and saw that the surface of the Baigou River in the distance was shrouded in mist, and he could only vaguely see the outlines of the Tang army's fleet.

After looking around for a while, Huo Cun still couldn't see clearly, so he had no choice but to retreat reluctantly and then run into the city tower.

At this moment, Huang Qin and about a dozen other military commanders were sitting on stools, waiting for news from outside. Yang Shouzhao was also among them.

Why did Huang Qin trust this man? It was because Yang Zhao was right beside him. If Huang Qin was tricked, he would only lose some prestige, but Yang Zhao would lose his life.

Only then did Huang Qin believe this man and decide to take a gamble.

He also wanted to show his second brother that Xiao Ba was not just a parasite who only knew how to respond; Huang Qin could also shoulder the great responsibility of the Huang family.

At this moment, Huo Cun entered, glared at Yang Zhao, and cursed:

"Didn't you say it would be a southeast wind? Where's the wind? If it doesn't blow today, I'll tie you to the flagpole and let you be blown around in the wind!"

Yang Zhao glanced at it, inwardly scoffing, but outwardly still forcing a smile:
"Huo Erlang, please calm down. We, the people who live on the water, have been here for so many years. If we didn't even know what kind of wind was blowing, how could we do business?"

That's absolutely true. These pirates were able to plunder large ships using only small boats and sampans, all thanks to the wind direction on the lake. They might not know about other places, but as long as it was a regular wind, every one of the locals, who had lived there for generations, knew it.

Sometimes people don't need wisdom, experience is enough.

And today is the day when the southeast wind blows.

Huo Cun snorted. He was from Hebei and didn't know the situation here. Seeing that the bandit leader was speaking so seriously, he didn't say anything more and could only pace back and forth anxiously.

Huang Qin watched Huo Cun walk away, and his annoyance grew. He snorted:
"Erlang, can't you sit down for a while? Your presence is making us feel uneasy."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Jue, who was also wearing armor and a matching robe, sighed inwardly:

"This Huang Balang is indeed unsuitable to be a commander. How can someone say he is upset before a major battle? What are his men supposed to think? And Huo Cun, he's just a brave and strong man, yet he's so arrogant. If someone is this restless, I would have killed him long ago. He's disrupting the morale of the army!"

Over there, Huang Qin's words indeed made many of the generals frown. They were originally indifferent, but now, seeing Huang Qin's expression, they realized that he was really going to do it!

Not everyone was like Yang Neng, eager for war. They thought things were fine as they were. They didn't have to fight and kill each other. They could just stay inside the city, and no one could attack from the outside. They didn't have to lose anyone either. Anyway, once Huang Dalang returned with his troops, the city would fall on its own without any further attack.

So why rush?

Huo Cun, still oblivious, continued speaking after hearing Huang Qin's words:
"Hachiro, you have no idea how angry I am! I wish I could tear those righteous soldiers outside the city to pieces!"

After saying that, he suddenly clasped his hands in a fist salute:

"Hachiro, when we fight the Righteous Army, make me the vanguard! I'm determined to avenge my brothers!"

Unexpectedly, after Huo Cun finished speaking, Huang Qin stammered and said:

"Well, let's talk about that later. We can take things one step at a time. Let's attack the Xuanwu Army in the north first, and we'll have other opportunities later!"

Huo Cun was very unhappy when he heard this, but given his relationship with Huang Qin, he couldn't expose him in public. So he could only sigh and sit on the stool, feeling sullen.

Fighting Xuanwu Army? He immediately lost interest.

Over there, Yang Shouchao, who had been calm and collected all along, couldn't sit still any longer, because Huang Qin's attack plan was different from what had been agreed upon.

So, suppressing his inner turmoil, he smiled and said:
"Hachiro, weren't we supposed to be attacking the Baoyi Army? Why did we attack the Xuanwu Army in the north first?"

He had barely asked the question when Yang Neng, standing beside him, puffed out his chest, put his hands on his hips, and said:

"I suggested it, so what? Out of all those people, the Xuanwu Army is the most foul-mouthed! They dare to curse my mother, I'll take their lives!"

After saying that, Yang Neng glared fiercely at Yang Zhao, ready to berate him if he dared to utter a single word of dissent.

Meanwhile, Huang Qin also offered an explanation:
"That Baoyi Army is a bit ruthless. Let's strike the weakest one first. That way, we'll achieve greater results and boost morale even more!"

Since Huang Qin had already said this, Yang Shouchao dared not insist any further, for fear of arousing suspicion.

But his back started to sweat, because he was afraid he had caused trouble.

While inside the main tent, Yang Shouchao noticed that the Tang general named Zhao Huai'an harbored ill intentions towards him. He was also indignant about the man, wondering what merit or ability he possessed to be able to address the powerful eunuch Yang Fuguang as a brother.

Yang Shouchao, who also prided himself on being a hero of his generation and had hundreds of brave men under his command, could he only be someone else's son? Could Yang Shouchao be content with this?
So since Zhao Huai'an has a grudge against me, I might as well set a trap for him, let him suffer, and preferably die directly from the grass army's counterattack.

Yang Shouchao was confident that he could manipulate things, since he was the only one maintaining the plan.

He can just say something to Huang Qin, and then the Cao army can decide who to attack based on his word.

Therefore, he privately suggested that Huang Qin attack the Baoyi Army. The reason was simple: the Baoyi Army was close to the Baigou River, and they could burn the fleet and take advantage of the chaos to attack the Baoyi Army to the west.

But who would have thought that Huang Qin, despite his seemingly reasonable words, was actually afraid of Zhao Huai'an and wouldn't even dare to touch him.

It seems Zhao Huai'an is quite formidable, otherwise Huang Qin wouldn't have been so cowardly.

Yang Shouchao was mistaken about Huang Qin.

He wasn't afraid of Zhao Da, but the generals and core members of the army were. They had all participated in the Battle of Yuanju before. At that time, the Baoyi Army had only six hundred armored soldiers when they managed to withstand seven or eight rounds of attacks from the Puzhou bandits.

Now, the number of the Baoyi Army on the other side is boundless and endless. Can you handle that?
So when Huang Qin decided to launch an attack today, no fewer than five or six groups of people came to say the same thing. They didn't say they were afraid, but rather that there were too few veteran soldiers in the army. Even with the help of a surprise attack, it would be safer to choose the weakest one to attack.

And who is the weakest? Needless to say, it's the Xuanwu Army.

In addition, the Xuanwu Army had been hurling insults and profanities during this period, offending many of the common army generals. The morale of the men below was high when they heard that they were going to fight the Xuanwu Army.

Taking all these factors into account, Huang Qin decided to change his target.

He knew that Huo Cun wanted to fight the Baoyi Army, so he didn't inform Huo Cun in advance. Anyway, they were all brothers, and he could just say a word afterward.

Seeing Huo Cun sitting there looking rather dejected, Huang Qin was about to comfort him when he suddenly slapped his forehead and cursed himself for being so forgetful.

It turned out that he had forgotten to feed the soldiers breakfast, so he ordered the servants to bring them breakfast.

Suddenly, the banners outside began to flutter in the wind. Everyone instinctively looked out, and then a warrior ran in from the city wall, excitedly shouting:
"Hachiro, the southeast wind is coming!"

Upon hearing this, Huang Qin stood up excitedly, laughed heartily, and then said to Yang Zhao:
"Brother Yang, you are indeed a master strategist. The southeast wind has indeed come. I wonder when your army's fire ships will set sail?"

Yang Zhao's panic did not diminish in the slightest; he could only smile outwardly.

"I told my brothers that as soon as the wind picks up, we'll set sail!"

Huang Qin slammed his fist down and said readily:

"Good! We must win this battle! I will report you to my second brother for the greatest credit!"

……

North of Caozhou City, countless soldiers and officers were sitting on the street eating.

Large pots were filled with stewing beef; Huang Qin had really gone all out for this counterattack.

Numerous bandits huddled in the streets, clutching wooden spears, their eyes fixed intently on the large cauldrons. The pungent aroma of meat permeated the streets, and even some resident villagers who hadn't joined the bandits were now cursing as they smelled the meat.

Some of the children, not understanding the situation, cried and complained of being hungry, and were then beaten and scolded by the adults.

"Eat, eat, eat, even your last meal before you're executed?"

Yes, in a sense, this meal was the last meal the soldiers of the peasant army were eating.

Everyone present knew that their superiors were ordering them to risk their lives, but no matter what, at least they could have some meat to eat, right? Wasn't that better than starving to death?

As the pieces of beef were scooped out, each person received a piece of beef about half the size of a fist, along with plenty of beef broth.

A dark-skinned, thin soldier had just finished his meat and soup and was trying to queue up again when the cook spotted him and dragged him out.

Seeing that he was about to be beaten, the skinny, dark-skinned soldier was quick-witted and immediately shouted:
"I'm taking this for our leader, don't beat me up!"

The cook cursed:

"Who do you think you are? Don't you know to come and get it yourself? Are you that old-fashioned?" The dark-skinned, skinny soldier hurriedly replied:
“My boss is Zhang Guihou, I gave it to him.”

Hearing this, the cook paused for a moment, then consulted with the two other cooks. They scooped a large piece of meat from the pot, ladled out a large bowl of soup, and finally handed it to the thin, dark-skinned soldier, saying:

"Take this meat to your boss. We all respect him as a hero! Let him eat his fill and vent our anger by killing those dog soldiers!"

Seeing that the dark-skinned, thin man's eyes were glued to him, the cook threatened and cursed again:

"If you dare to secretly lick it even once, and I find out, I'll stew your two ounces of meat! Do you understand?"

The dark-skinned, thin man jumped up, then nodded hurriedly, picked up the meat and soup, and rushed over.

There, a burly, strong-looking soldier sat under the shed, resting with his eyes closed. A dozen or so skinny, scrawny soldiers surrounded him, licking the soup from their bowls.

This soldier was Zhang Guihou. Ever since his elder brother went missing, and especially after he was suspected of defecting to the government army, the two brothers had been in dire straits.

Zhang Guihou was assigned to lead the infantry, while his younger brother Zhang Guibian was recruited as a cavalryman and had just gone with Huang Jia Dalang to attack Yunzhou.

Originally, the two brothers planned to run away because of how Cao Jun treated them, but now that they have been separated, neither of them dares to run away. If one of them runs away, the other will die!

At this point, the army was still unsure whether their elder brother, Zhang Guiba, had defected to the government forces. Ge Congzhou had pleaded for the two brothers, so they were spared. But once it was confirmed, the two would surely die.

This is the core of the bandit army; they are still a group of outlaw heroes, and this is their internal rule: traitors are always dealt with ruthlessly.

This is understandable, given that smuggling salt is so profitable, and if caught, the perpetrators are beheaded. If anyone in the group betrays them, the lives of the others are in danger, so the methods must be ruthless and cruel.

Therefore, even though Zhang Guihou was not killed, he was thrown into a miscellaneous army unit that resembled a suicide squad.

The rebel army was divided into inner and outer camps. The inner camp consisted of veteran soldiers, each of whom was a core member of their respective factions' leaders. The outer camp consisted of miscellaneous soldiers who filled the gaps for the veteran soldiers in every battle and died the fastest.

Zhang Guihou was just like that; leading a group of ragtag soldiers, it was only a matter of time before he died at the hands of the enemy.

He had just finished eating beef and was resting when the black monkey came running over.

This kid's surname is Hou. He's quite clever, but in this world, it doesn't matter whether you're wise or foolish, because everyone is going to die, everyone's destined to be a scapegoat, including himself.

The black monkey arrived, striding proudly past a group of comrades who looked like dogs, and then walked up to Zhang Guihou, fawningly saying:
"Boss, we've ordered you another serving of beef, oh, and soup too."

After saying that, the black monkey handed the meat and soup to Zhang Guihou.

Zhang Guihou looked at the black monkey's pitch-black hands covering the soup bowl, and couldn't accept it at all, so he laughed and said:
"I'll eat the meat, you can drink the soup yourself."

After saying that, Zhang Guihou used a small knife to cut a fist-sized piece of beef shank and began to gnaw on it.

The meat was good, but it lacked a bit of wine and scallions; otherwise, this "execution meal" would have been considered top-notch.

The black monkey watched its head devour beef, its mouth drooling. Afraid of embarrassing itself, it quickly gulped down a mouthful of beef broth.

Hey, come to think of it, we bandits are also salt smugglers, so why don't we put any salt in the beef soup we make for our brothers?

The beef is already cooked, what's a little salt needed? This Cao Jun is a hopeless idiot.

While inwardly grumbling, the black monkey didn't stop at all, slurping the beef soup spoonful by spoonful until it had scraped the bottom of the bowl clean. Then it started sucking on its fingers, which still had some soup clinging to them.

Watching the black monkey suck on his muddy hand right in front of him, Zhang Guihou felt a wave of nausea. He cursed himself inwardly.

"What era are we living in? How can you still have these bad habits? Do you still think it's the old days? Zhang Guihou, Zhang Guihou, you have to live! You have to live like a stray dog!"

Thinking it over, Zhang Guihou suppressed his nausea and finally swallowed the last bite of beef.

The black monkey sucking its fingers felt disappointed when it saw that its leader had finished all the meat without sharing any with it.

Then someone nearby asked ingratiatingly:
"Black Monkey, how did you get your meat? Tell us, and we'll go ask for some too, and we'll share some with you!"

The black monkey shrugged, pointed to the cook over there, and said:

"I asked Zhang for some beef, and he gave it to me! You can go and ask him!"

Hearing this, the bandits looked at each other. Although they thought Black Monkey's words were unreliable, they couldn't resist the temptation of the beef. They pushed and pulled each other, and mustered up their courage to ask for the meat.

Sure enough, when these men asked for meat again for the same reason, they were beaten up by a group of old guerrillas that the cook had called.

Hearing the wailing and crying over there, the black monkey chuckled.

At this point, Zhang Guihou said to the man:

"You're quick-witted, and you even gave me this meal. When we go into battle, you'll stay next to me with your shield. Don't worry about anything else. If anyone comes near my left, just charge at them with your shield. Remember, stick close to me, I won't wait for anyone!"

Upon hearing this, the black monkey was incredibly excited. He had endured not eating the whole way just for this.

The black monkey was clever; he knew that this was about to be the moment of life or death for him, and the only one who could save him was Zhang Tou, who had been sent down to the countryside.

He didn't know Zhang Tou's background, but just from his strong physique, armor, and iron mace, he knew he was a warrior.

Compared to Zhang Tou, these ragtag soldiers were practically a different species, so his only chance of survival was to stick close to Zhang Tou.

Hearing Zhang nod and pull him, Black Monkey immediately picked up a shield from the ground and shouted:
"Boss, don't worry, I swear to follow Boss Zhang to the death!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Guihou couldn't help but roll his eyes and chuckled as he retorted:
"Stop talking nonsense, you can't hear this before a big battle."

Then he looked the black monkey up and down, and touched its joints, exclaiming in surprise:

"You've got some potential. If you survive this, train hard under my wing! In a few years, you'll be known throughout the army for your bravery."

Upon hearing this, the black monkey chuckled, scratched the back of its head, and asked:

"Zhang Tou, I've heard that martial arts training requires enduring the coldest days of winter and the hottest days of summer. I wonder how many years it takes to make a name for yourself? Are you that talented? How many years will it take you to achieve something?"

Hearing this, Zhang Guihou was a little surprised. He thought that this black monkey must have come from a well-off family before, but that was all. In this world, who cares who you were before?

"Yes," he nodded, glancing at the black monkey.
"Hmm, what you're talking about is orthodox skill, and what you're doing is evil skill. If you can roll around on the field for two years and still not die, you can be called a brave general. As for not being able to master it? Oh, then you're probably already a dead man!"

Upon hearing this, the black monkey, who had just been lost in his fantasies, immediately fell silent. However, he still told Zhang Guihou his name:

“Zhang Tou, my name is Hou Zan, you can call me…”

Zhang Guihou nodded, patted him on the shoulder, and said:
"Okay, Black Monkey!"

He was still laughing when he suddenly saw something and quickly turned serious, saying to the black monkey:

"Quick, carry the shield on your back, and find a long spear, the longest one you can lift!"

Black Monkey was taken aback, then followed Zhang Tou's gaze and saw three yellow-clad riders galloping from the end of the street, heading straight for the military commander's residence.

Before long, amidst a flurry of activity, the bandit army that had ventured out of the city was finally almost ready, and unsurprisingly, Black Monkey and his miscellaneous soldiers were positioned at the very front.

Looking at the gleaming swords and axes of the old bandit leader behind him, who looked fierce and menacing, Black Monkey's legs went weak. He picked up a long bamboo pole and leaned against Zhang Guihou.

At this moment, Zhang Guihou, with his hair wrapped in a black headscarf, wearing iron armor and holding an iron helmet, looked south. Thick black smoke was rising from the sky there, growing darker and darker until it soon filled the entire sky.

This is?

Before Zhang Guihou could think any further, the old bandits on the city wall began to shout loudly, and then the drums on both corner towers began to beat. With a series of rattling sounds of chains grinding against each other, the drawbridge outside the north city was slowly lowered.

Then more than ten old bandits carried the wooden bolts together and pulled open the iron-clad city gate from both sides.

In this way, the vast battlefield outside the city was suddenly exposed to the sight of these peasant soldiers.

As the mournful bugle sounded, the bandits on the street, driven by the old thief's swords and axes, crossed the drawbridge and headed straight for the city's outskirts, where the Xuanwu army's main camp was in the distance.

The moment the bugle sounded, Zhang Guihou put his helmet on his head and headed straight out of the city.

Before Hou Zan could even react, he caught up, shield on his back, and thin bamboo pole in hand, shouting:

"Zhang Tou, wait for me!"

A great battle is about to begin.

(End of this chapter)