The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 198 Selection of Death Squads

With Hong Chengchou's order, thousands of laborers were conscripted and moved to Yinchuan, where they lived in the northern suburbs.

Amidst the whips and curses of the overseers, a massive project to dig a river and build a dam began.

Thousands of laborers, like worker ants, shuttled back and forth across the huge construction site, carrying earth, stones, and timber from demolished houses to the riverbank.

Jiang Han stood on the city gate tower of Deshengmen in the north of the city, looking at the bustling construction site not far away through his binoculars, his face gloomy.

The government troops' dam-building operation kept him up at night.

He knew Hong Chengchou was ruthless, but he never expected him to be so heartless and insane.

During the Wanli era, when the rebellion of Bo Bai was quelled, the people of Ningxia Town were still able to barely survive. Therefore, even when Yinchuan was flooded, the imperial court could relocate people from other places to replenish the population.

But now it is the Chongzhen era, and droughts and locust plagues have struck one after another. There are hardly any households left in Ningxia.

If Hong Chengchou had actually flooded Yinchuan, perhaps one in ten people in Ningxia would have survived.

For both public and private reasons, Jiang Han could not stand idly by and watch Hong Chengchou flood Yinchuan; it was time to take the initiative.

Five days later, the sky was overcast, the moonlight was dim, and thick clouds obscured the starlight. He had waited for the perfect opportunity to launch a night attack.

That night, around midnight.

The Zhenyuan Gate in the west of the city was quietly opened, and Shao Yong led five hundred elite cavalrymen out in single file.

The cavalrymen, each with gags in their mouths and their hooves covered, wearing only light black outfits, silently blended into the darkness.

The reason Shao Yong took the detour through Zhenyuan Gate in the west of the city was mainly because Hong Chengchou had a large force guarding the north of the city, in order to prevent him from launching a surprise attack on the construction site.

Yinchuan, as the town of Ningxia, covers a large area, with a circumference of eighteen li (approximately 4.5 kilometers), and has six city gates.

No matter how many troops the government forces had, it was impossible to cover everything. Hong Chengchou could only focus on defending the north and south gates to prevent the enemy from raiding the construction site or fleeing south.

Under the cover of night, Shao Yong led five hundred cavalrymen, easily bypassing the government troops' defenses from the west of the city, and headed straight for the dam construction site to the north.

After months of continuous siege, the government troops outside the city were already exhausted.

At midnight, the sleepiest time of day, even the scouts on guard duty outside the city were overcome by drowsiness and did not notice the cavalry that had quietly left the city.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the dam construction site to the north came into view in the distance.

The temporary barracks next to the construction site were pitch black.

After a long day of arduous labor, thousands of laborers were fast asleep, their snores the only sound in the barracks.

Only near the sentry posts on the outskirts of the construction site were dozens of huge bonfires lit for lighting and surveillance.

However, the government troops responsible for guarding the area were also exhausted.

They gathered in twos and threes around the campfire, warming themselves and chatting. Some even fell into a deep sleep, clutching their spears.

No one could have imagined that the bandits inside the city had already quietly crept up to their side.

This was not due to the government troops underestimating the enemy or being careless.

At first, Hong Chengchou repeatedly ordered all troops to be on high alert and guard against enemy night attacks.

However, several months passed, and the bandits only knew how to stay in the city and defend, never launching a single attack.

Over time, many of the soldiers and officers lowered their guard, believing that the enemy troops had been terrified by the sheer force of the army and dared not leave the city to engage in battle.

Shao Yong stopped a hundred paces away on a small earthen mound, poked his head out, and carefully observed the movements of the guarding soldiers.

Upon discovering that the government troops were lax in their defenses, he immediately waved to his subordinates behind him.

Dozens of scouts then quietly dismounted, drew their short blades from their waists, and stealthily approached the group of dozing sentries.

With a few short, muffled groans, the surrounding sentries died instantly in their sleep.

Seeing that the outer outposts had been cleared away, the scouts skillfully moved the barricades and deer antlers, clearing the obstacles blocking the camp gate for the cavalry.

As the scouts struggled to push open the gate, Shao Yong suddenly drew his sword and pointed it forward:
"Charge with me! Set fire to the camp!"

"kill!!"

The quiet night was instantly shattered as Shao Yong took the lead, guiding his elite cavalry straight into the camp.

Five hundred cavalrymen, like a sharp knife, plunged deep into the heart of the government army. They lit their torches and threw them forcefully into the defending troops' tents.

The soldiers guarding the construction site only awoke as if from a dream when the thunderous sound of horses' hooves and shouts of battle echoed through the night.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

A series of shrill screams suddenly rang out, but by then it was too late.

The government soldiers rushed out of their tents, disheveled, and were horrified by what they saw: countless torches, like falling stars, were thrown from the hands of the bandits and landed precisely on their tents and the mountains of hay.

A raging fire shot into the sky in an instant, turning the entire night sky blood red!
The bandit riders, lurking in the firelight, were like vengeful ghosts, constantly firing arrows in all directions.

The government troops were in a panic and had no time to organize a resistance. They only wanted to escape, but were overtaken by the cavalry that were following closely behind and knocked to the ground.

With a gentle tread of its iron hooves, the fallen soldier's chest caved in and his bones shattered.

The entire camp was instantly transformed into a hellish scene, with flames engulfing the thick smoke, and government troops trampled and hacked to pieces everywhere.
Screams, pleas for mercy, and the neighing of warhorses shattered the tranquility of the night sky.

Seeing that the defending troops had already collapsed, Shao Yong did not linger in the battle. He immediately blew his bone whistle, gathered his cavalry, and headed straight for the dike not far from the camp.

That was the real purpose of his trip.

It wasn't until the bandit cavalry were about to leave the camp that Ma Shouyi, the garrison commander in charge of defense, finally snapped out of the chaos.

"Stop them! Stop them now!!"

Ma Shouyi roared and gathered his hundreds of personal guards, attempting to block Shao Yong's path.

This dike was built by thousands of laborers who toiled for five or six days. It's still only half-finished. If it's destroyed by the bandits, their crime will be enormous.

Not only will the construction schedule be delayed, but the entire camp will also be submerged by the dam, and thousands of people will be buried under the silt of the Yellow River.

Ma Shouyi dared not be negligent; even if he died today, he would stand in front of the bandit cavalry.

However, under the full-speed charge of hundreds of cavalry, this hastily assembled infantry defense line was as fragile as paper.

Shao Yong didn't even slow down; he spurred his horse and charged straight at Ma Shouyi.

Faced with the terrifying impact of the warhorse, Ma Shouyi was no match for it. His vision went black as Shao Yong rammed him and his armor, sending him flying.

Ma Shouyi suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, struggled futilely for a couple of moments, and then collapsed to the ground, unable to get up.

With their commander killed in action, the already crumbling defensive line could no longer hold. The guards scattered and fled, only to be easily caught up by the cavalry and killed one after another.

After defeating the garrison, Shao Yong led his troops and successfully stormed the massive dam.

"Quickly, dismount! Stuff all the explosives inside and shove them into the bottom of the dam!"

At Shao Yong's command, dozens of guards dismounted and quickly unloaded heavy explosive packages wrapped tightly in tarpaulins from their horses.

The group, carrying explosives and torches, searched for a long time before finally placing the explosives near the load-bearing structure of the dam and the floodgate.

Standing atop the high embankment, Shao Yong looked down at the north of Yinchuan City. He saw that torches had been lit in the direction of the main camp of the government army, and accompanied by the rapid sound of drums and gongs, a fiery dragon was rushing towards the camp at full speed.

"Quickly, the main force of the government troops has moved!"

"Connect the fuse and get on the horse quickly!"

Dozens of long leads were quickly connected together, extending over a hundred paces away.

"ignition!"

At his command, several soldiers simultaneously lit the end of the fuse.

Sparks flew from the fuse, like several fiery serpents ready to devour their prey, as it swiftly snaked its way down the ground towards the bottom of the dam.

“Retreat quickly!!”

Seeing the fuse lit, Shao Yong immediately turned his horse around and led everyone away at breakneck speed without looking back.

Just a few hundred paces after they withdrew, a series of earth-shattering explosions suddenly erupted! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Dozens of explosive charges exploded instantly, and the terrifying shockwave, carrying earth, rocks, and wood debris, swept outwards from all sides of the dam with overwhelming force.

The entire ground trembled violently, as if an earthworm had turned over.

And so, the dam, which had taken shape after thousands of laborers had worked hard, was blasted open with a huge gap more than forty feet long.

The Yellow River, which had been blocked for several days, roared angrily as if a giant beast had broken free of its chains, and surged out through the huge breach.

The first to suffer were the government troops' camp near the dam, which was still burning and in turmoil.

The raging floodwaters crashed down on the camp like a wall of water. Many soldiers were still carrying buckets of water, trying to extinguish the raging fire in the camp, but they were swallowed up by the oncoming waves in the blink of an eye.

Thousands of government soldiers and civilians who had no time to escape were swept away by the flood, letting out desperate screams, and in the blink of an eye, they disappeared without a trace.

In an instant, the entire camp was transformed into a vast swamp.

The government troops who rushed to provide support hadn't even figured out what was happening when they saw a towering wave surge in and instantly engulf them.
Shao Yong stood on a distant earthen slope, reined in his horse, and looked back at the waters he had created with his own hands, which remained completely still.

After confirming that the government troops' dikes and camps had been completely destroyed, Shao Yong led his cavalry and disappeared into the vast night without looking back.

When Hong Chengchou led his main force to the vicinity of the camp, he saw only a raging expanse of water, with countless corpses of government soldiers and civilians floating in the water.

He looked at the scene before him and trembled with rage:

"Idiots! A bunch of idiots!"

"We told you to be wary of night attacks by bandits, and you've completely ignored us?!"

Despite the anger, the chaos still needed to be dealt with.

He quickly ordered his soldiers to dig and move stones everywhere to urgently plug the breach in the dike.

It took several thousand soldiers several days to finally plug the breach and divert the floodwaters from the camp elsewhere.

After cleaning up the mess, Hong Chengchou was not discouraged.

On the contrary, this night raid by the bandits strengthened his resolve to flood Yinchuan.

This night raid was just a minor setback.

The bandits usually stayed within the city walls and never ventured out. Their sudden night raid shows that they were aware of the danger and had resorted to desperate measures, sending troops to destroy the dike.

Having figured this out, Hong Chengchou immediately ordered his personal guards to re-conscript laborers to rebuild the dikes.

All I need to do now is strengthen my defenses. Once the dikes are built, the bandits inside the city will still be doomed!
Of course, before that, the officers and soldiers on night duty would be punished.

Since Ma Shouyi, the military commander in charge of the defense, had been killed in battle, Hong Chengchou turned his attention to the others.

He used the excuse that "the guards were unaware of the loss of the enemy" to behead the two commanders in charge of guarding Zhenyuan Gate that night, along with dozens of sentries, on the spot, and sent their heads to each camp as a warning to others.

Subsequently, he directly doubled the number of troops and ordered Cao Wenzhao and Yang Jiamo to personally oversee the defense, surrounding the entire construction site like an iron barrel and guarding it against the enemy soldiers.

When Jiang Han saw from the city tower of Deshengmen that the government troops had resumed building the dike and heavily guarded the camp, he knew it was time to break out.

Jiang Han and his generals had previously discussed this matter.

Holding out in Yinchuan would ultimately lead to certain death; to the north lay grasslands, and to the east and west, desert.

Their only option was to break through the siege and head south, returning to Guanzhong.

Shao Yong's previous night raid was not simply aimed at destroying the dam from the very beginning.

If it were merely a matter of demolishing the dikes, Hong Chengchou could easily mobilize more laborers to rebuild them and strengthen the defenses, making another night raid much more difficult.

Jiang Han's real plan was to get Hong Chengchou to shift the focus of defense to the dam construction site in the north of the city.

He wanted to mislead Hong Chengchou, making him believe that he would definitely defend Yinchuan City in order to develop his own power.

That's why they launched a night raid, dismantled the dikes, and prevented a water attack.

To be honest, if he hadn't been forced to, Jiang Han would have planned to stay in Yinchuan a little longer.

As the town center of a crucial border town, its military resources are far more abundant than those of any other city.

With readily available workshops and armories in the city, as long as there are enough materials, armor and weapons for thousands of people can be produced at a moment's notice.

However, the situation was beyond their control. The government troops came too fiercely and were even more ruthless in their attempt to flood Yinchuan, so they had no choice but to break out.

Currently, Hong Chengchou's defensive focus has shifted to the construction sites and dikes in the north of the city.

The southern part of the city, which used to be heavily guarded, is now estimated to have only two battalions left, totaling five or six thousand men.

This is his best chance to break through.

However, there is one crucial and fatal problem that remains unresolved.

What should be done with the supplies and provisions for these thousands of people when the army breaks out?
These infantry and cavalry could travel light and run very fast.

But we can't just ignore the huge supply train behind them, can we?

This contains the army's food and supplies; without it, this large army would probably have scattered on its own.

However, the supply corps was always slow-moving, so how could they possibly escape the pursuit of the government army's cavalry?
This problem, like an unsolvable knot, has troubled everyone.

Zhao Sheng proposed a solution to this problem.

His plan was to select a suicide squad, disguise them as a supply train, and use them as bait.

This fake supply train was not loaded with food and fodder; instead, the bottom of every wagon was stuffed with gunpowder and detonators.

When the government troops came to intercept and kill him, he detonated all the gunpowder and perished together with the pursuers.

After hearing the plan, Jiang Han instinctively wanted to refuse:
"Suicide Squad?"

"No! In our army, everyone, from top to bottom, is a brother!"

"They followed me, Jiang Han, to live a better life, not to be cannon fodder! How can I just stand by and watch them die in vain?!"

Zhao Sheng shook his head and explained:
"General, what I mean is to find ordinary people to impersonate them."

Jiang Han was stunned:

"How do we find the people? Where do we start looking for them?"

Zhao Sheng spoke calmly and without any emotion, as if he were recounting something utterly ordinary:
"Lure them with a large sum of money."

“In Yinchuan today, countless people are destitute and starving due to natural disasters and war.”

“A single bushel of grain or a few taels of silver can attract a large number of men willing to die for their families.”

Jiang Han looked at Zhao Sheng, his brows furrowed:
"These people are all ordinary citizens. What if they can't withstand the pressure when facing the government troops and desert in the face of danger?"

Zhao Sheng's lips curled slightly upward as he slowly uttered a few words:
"Binding it to the cart with iron chains."

Hearing Zhao Sheng's words, Jiang Han was somewhat incredulous, but before he could speak, Zhao Sheng asked:

"General, besides this, do you have any other way to ensure our army's supplies can be safely transported away?"

"At least for the time being, I can't think of any other way."

Jiang Han fell silent.

He couldn't think of a solution either. Although Zhao Sheng's plan was ruthless, it seemed to be the only feasible way.

He cared more about his brothers than the common people.

Jiang Han sighed and asked one last question:
"The common people are still unreliable."

"What if, at the last moment, they change their minds, are unwilling to die, and want to surrender to the government troops?"

This time, Zhao Sheng did not answer immediately.

He glanced at the assembled generals and bowed slightly.
"General, I have already selected dozens of soldiers from the wounded soldiers' camp who are willing to take on this important task."

"At that time, they will be responsible for lighting the fuse at the last moment and detonating themselves together with the officers and soldiers!"

(End of this chapter)