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Chapter 153 Xia Ge'er has done a great service!

The men who came were the young men from Erlangtan and Taiping Town!
After the full moon celebration that day, the old man relayed what Commander Ma had said to the clansmen.

Everyone reacted in unison, without hesitation, determined to wipe out these bandits and avenge the He brothers!

The mountain people's logic was very simple: since they had benefited from Erlang wine, they should repay the He brothers.

It's one thing to have no opportunity, but to shrink back now that you have it is truly shameful. Any wine you brew from now on will be sour...

Seeing this, Commander Ma also made up his mind and mobilized his subordinates.

Taiping Town guards Taiping Ferry, facing the Yang family, who have occupied Bozhou since the Tang Dynasty, as well as the Shengmiao and Duzhangman tribes. Ma Qianhu's army is not as lax as the garrisons in the interior, otherwise those barbarians would have rebelled long ago.

Of course, maintaining full combat readiness in the army as was the case at the beginning of the dynasty was unrealistic. Therefore, he pursued a policy of elite troops, using the funds allocated for maintaining a thousand soldiers to support three hundred combat-ready elite troops, while the rest were merely there for show…

This time, he brought out his own hundred-man squad, which was similar to the personal guards of the commander or the chief commander. Their combat power and fighting spirit were the strongest in the entire thousand-household unit, and they were exceptionally obedient.

Of course, Zhou Baihu's people are not included...

With the generous reward offered by the county, the soldiers gladly obeyed the commander's orders and took on the main force in this battle.

~~
After deciding to go to war, Commander Ma summoned the old man to the county government office to discuss the battle strategy with Magistrate Lu overnight.

At first, Magistrate Lu didn't take the old man seriously. But he soon discovered that the old man actually knew the hydrology and topography of Luzhou like the back of his hand.

Commander Ma is far inferior to the old man in this regard, which is why he was asked to come along.

Since the safety of all the able-bodied men in the clan was at stake, the old man naturally took on the task. He analyzed in a deep voice:
"The terrain around Shangbaisha is complex and easy to defend but difficult to attack. If we cannot launch a surprise attack and catch them off guard, we will surely fail!"

"That's absolutely right!" These words convinced Magistrate Lu and You Muyou. This was a lesson they had learned after several fruitless attempts. The old man, however, had hit the nail on the head; his skill was not only far superior to theirs, but also far better than those incompetent officials in Luzhou City.

"Furthermore, we are infantrymen, not accustomed to naval warfare, so we must take them by surprise and avoid direct combat. But given the close ties between the Shangbaisha bandits and the county, someone must have already tipped them off."

“That’s for sure. Many of the bandits were originally impoverished families from the county,” You Muyou nodded.

"So they should be very vigilant right now, making it difficult for them to launch a successful sneak attack," the old man judged.

"Then this battle can't be fought?" Magistrate Lu was completely clueless about warfare.

"Of course there are ways to fight," the old man said confidently. "War is not like daily life; it's all about deception. If you can fool the enemy, you can win!"

Commander Ma glanced at him, thinking to himself, "You've certainly applied military strategy to your daily life..."

Then the old man said, "We can use a trick to deceive them. We can pretend to retreat first, and then launch a surprise attack!"

Commander Ma: 'The same old tricks...'

Despite the criticisms, the strategy itself is quite sound. In fact, effective strategies are often simple and straightforward, because only simplicity makes them feasible.

To trick someone, you need to rely more on the execution level than on the strategy itself.

The three of them worked through the night to finalize the details. At dawn, Commander Ma led his men away from Hejiang County in a grand manner.

To mislead the bandits, they loaded their 'loot' onto five crooked boats, making it look like they were returning home for the New Year with a full load.

In reality, those five boats were carrying armor, shields, and other protective equipment used by regular troops, which Magistrate Lu had secretly allocated to them...

The group advanced by both land and water, traveling south for twenty miles along the river before crossing the Chishui River under cover of night and entering the vast mountains of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

The mountain path was rugged and treacherous, fraught with danger, but this was how the mountain people had made their way out of Erlangtan. And at this time of year, there were no mosquitoes or miasma…

The only problem was that Commander Ma required them to travel by night and hide during the day to conceal their movements as much as possible. Fortunately, they had plenty of time; each night they only needed to walk twenty li of mountain road, which didn't take much to do. They could simply find a forest to sleep in during the day and replenish their strength.

So, the more than four hundred men slept during the day and marched at night, arriving at a place called Yangshiba downstream on the 25th. The Yangtze River channel in Hejiang County is shaped like a "ㄩ". Shangbaisha is in the upper left corner of the "ㄩ", and Yangshiba is in the upper right corner.

The old man chose this place to cross the river for two reasons: firstly, it was far from the territory of the river bandits, so he wouldn't be discovered by their spies and informants; secondly, the current was slow and the sandbars were numerous, making the crossing the river the easiest.

The five crooked boats had been waiting in the reeds of the sandbar for a long time. However, the main force did not cross the river immediately, but rested on the sandbar. Although it was a seventy-mile journey by boat between here and Shangbaisha, the straight-line distance was only ten miles!

This ruthless precision is why Commander Ma insisted on having the old man make the decision. If it weren't for his severely weakened legs, Commander Ma would have dragged him to the battlefield.

During the few days of rest, Commander Ma sent out skilled scouts to monitor the every move of the Shangbaisha bandits.

After confirming that they were completely unaware, the main force crossed the river on the night of the 29th. Once ashore, they immediately set off, traveling ten miles through the night along mountain paths, arriving at the watchtower mountain behind the water fortress before dawn on the 30th!

Four hundred men lay in ambush in the dense forest on the northern slope of the mountain for a whole day. Scouts on the ridge even witnessed the entire process of the bandits decorating with lanterns and killing cattle and sheep...

After dark, the bandits began to drink wine from large bowls and eat large chunks of meat, their commotion audible even from the mountains.

Only then did Commander Ma issue the order to attack!
The battle plan was simple: first, elite scouts would kick down the door, and then Zhou Baihu's troops would sneak into the bay and burn the boats.

After the fire was lit, Commander Ma's main force launched an attack.

The Su family militia were responsible for blocking the fleeing river bandits on the outer perimeter, as well as providing reinforcements from the regular army in emergencies...

~~
On New Year's Eve, debt collectors didn't come, and the bandits' vigilance was at its lowest. During the New Year holiday, no one would linger outside the village. With that sense of responsibility, what couldn't they do? Why would they choose to become bandits?
This gave the government troops ample time. Only after the gatekeepers had drunk their fill did the scouts, who had been lying in wait for a long time, rush forward and, amidst the deafening sound of firecrackers, swiftly and decisively finish them off, and open the gates of the stockade!
The government troops who had been waiting for a long time swarmed in. After entering the village, they split into two teams and headed straight for the harbor on the riverbank to burn the boats.

Another group of one hundred elite soldiers slowed their pace and quietly made their way to the Hall of Righteousness in the center of the village.

Once the fire broke out in the bay, they were like tigers that had been lying in wait for many days, revealing their sharp claws and charging fiercely towards the still unaware water bandits!
Most of the bandits were drunk; some were carrying wine jars and drinking contests everywhere, some were shouting and setting off firecrackers, and others were sitting on stools, completely disoriented...

When the government troops stormed out, they were completely caught off guard. Some of their comrades had already been beheaded, and many others were still in a daze, asking, "Huh, what's going on?"

Of course, there were also many who were very vigilant. As soon as they saw the armor of the government troops, they tried to draw their swords, but they all missed... Only then did they realize that it was New Year's Day and they were going to drink. If they drank, they would definitely fight.

Therefore, the chief specifically ordered that no weapons be brought, lest someone die and it be considered unlucky.

Now all he could do was swing the bench and overturn the table to slow down the government troops' attack, and then turn and run.

The government troops didn't pursue, but instead indiscriminately hacked and slashed at those who stood in their way. Swords and spears slashed and reaped the lives of the drunken bandits like wheat being harvested! Pairs of thick-soled military boots rolled over the carnage and blood on the ground, like boiling water poured onto snow, cutting through the debris without hindrance into the hall!

The situation inside the Hall of Righteousness was slightly better; the head guards, having not been drinking, were still able to maintain their fighting strength. However, against the elite government troops, clad in armor and bloodthirsty, all resistance was futile…

In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, all the guards in the hall had fallen to the soldiers' blades. However, this still bought the masters time to escape.

Hunjianglong and his brothers escaped through the back door of the Juyi Hall, rushing towards the riverbank, only to find a raging fire burning in the bay. Their boat had been doused with oil and set ablaze by government troops…

"Quickly, Chief, escape into the mountains!" The Second Chief pointed to the shadowy Diaolou Mountain to the north of the village.

The leader nodded, and the bandit leaders took advantage of the chaos to flee down the mountain, intending to hide in the forest.

But then a chilling bowstring twanged, and countless arrows shot out from the forest, instantly felling the second-in-command and his men to the ground.

"Kill!" The Su clan members, who had been lying in ambush for a long time, seized the opportunity to rush out of the woods and pounce on the remaining enemies.

Upon seeing this, the leader took off running. But instead of turning back, he tried his best to stay parallel to the Su clan members so that he would be less likely to be shot.

Seeing that he was about to circle around and disappear into the woods, Su Tai, who was closest to him, roared, "Watch out for arrows!"

Upon hearing the shout, the leader immediately changed direction to dodge. But Su Tai's shout was in vain!
At the same time, Su Tai transformed into a bolt of lightning, took a running start, leaped into the air, and pounced on the leader who was moving in a serpentine pattern, barely managing to knock him to the ground!
After landing heavily, the two rolled and wrestled on the ground. The leader tried to pull out a dagger from his pocket to stab Su Tai, but Su Tai's arms gripped his elbows like iron clamps. Both men, their eyes bloodshot, roared and struggled like wild beasts, even making a cracking sound as bones broke!

At this moment, the tribesmen rushed over and, together, quickly subdued the defenseless chieftain. Only then did they discover that his arms were hanging limply at his sides; they had been broken by Su Tai…

"Damn it, kid, you shouldn't be running a distillery, you should be a soldier!" Commander Ma walked out of the woods, seemingly chatting and laughing, but his legs were actually swaying slightly.

He never expected that even though he was hiding far away, the River Dragon would actually go around in a big circle and pounce on him.

If Su Tai hadn't pounced on him like a hungry tiger, he would have been the one to fall to the ground...

(End of this chapter)