Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 99 Sneak Attack
A few days later, Xue Chonghu's unit received a mission.

The task was simple: stand guard at Hukoubao.

The group stopped the troublesome work of building houses and clearing land, and put on their armor and weapons.

"Run! Walk!"

Commander Qin Ming rode on horseback, leading a thousand men out on a mission.

There's no need to defend the house; just keep the cattle and sheep tethered.

Xue Chonghu followed at the back of the group, running in unison with the others behind the horses.

As they ran, Xue Chonghu felt that his group of people were very different from before.

As for what was different, Xue Chonghu couldn't quite put his finger on it.

The group set off in the early morning and drove intermittently for three hours to reach the outside of Hukoubao.

A town had been established near Hukoubao, and when the group arrived, some people were already eating by the roadside.

Which team are you from?

A man dressed as a military officer stood by the tea stall and called out to Qin Ming.

Qin Ming replied, "Commander Meng, I am Qin Ming, commander of the 12th Squadron of the Sanggan River!"

Meng Hetong is now the garrison commander of Hukoubao, while the original garrison commander, Yang Xiangyun, has been transferred to another thousand-household unit.

"Eat and rest where you are. Don't wander around. They will come from the south this afternoon to buy back the prisoners. The exchange will take place around here."

Qin Ming's men became excited upon hearing this.

"Great! The imperial court is going to ransom us and take us back!"

"Finally, I don't have to work every day anymore!"

"You can go home."

"I knew the imperial court would come to our rescue!"

"Long live my emperor!"

"This past month has been exhausting!"

"If I go back today, I'll be home by the twelfth lunar month."

A group of people were happily whispering among themselves.

Compared to those who were happy, Xue Chonghu appeared quite calm.

Tian Shoucai, who was standing nearby, saw Xue Chonghu and asked, "Brother Hu, why are you unhappy?"

Xue Chonghu said, "Back home, I only get a few acres of rice paddies. Here, I can get dozens of acres of land, plus food and lodging. They say they'll provide a house and a wife. It's better to stay here than go home."

Seeing that Xue Chonghu didn't want to go back, Tian Shoucai laughed and said, "Don't you care about your parents anymore? How can you be so unfilial?"

Xue Chonghu replied, “My family only has thirty mu of land. My parents are still alive, and I have two older brothers. If the family property is divided and I get at most ten mu of land, I won’t have enough to eat when I go home. Moreover, the imperial court paid money to redeem us, so they certainly won’t give us any more money.”

"I just went home like that, and I'll still be farming when I get back."

Xue Chonghu said again, "Going back to farm is good enough. If we surrendered soldiers go back, we will be criminals. It's better not to go back. If the court makes us continue to serve as soldiers and fight, and we are at the forefront of attacking the city again, we will be just like the thousands of people who died in the moat."

Xue Chonghu's words calmed down the people nearby.

These are all ordinary people, all conscripted soldiers.

He had no money, no power, no connections, and no backing.

Tian Shoucai laughed and said, "You're overthinking it. The imperial court will definitely save us this time!"

Xue Chonghu nodded without offering any explanation.

The group sat down to eat, and a large number of porters brought over buckets of thin porridge and baskets of steamed buns, distributing them to the soldiers.

The side dishes I'm having with rice are spicy radishes that I just made, and some other seasonal pickled vegetables.

Around one or two o'clock in the afternoon, the main forces of both sides gathered on the open ground outside Hukoubao, the place where Li Laiyong used to shoot prisoners.

The Wen Dynasty army numbered over 20,000, all equipped with bows and arrows, as well as sword and shield soldiers, armored soldiers, fifty fine steel crossbows, and ten catapults.

Beijiwu stood on the city wall, looking at the ballistae and catapults in the distance, frowning as he watched the group of people.

Want to keep playing?
The ballistae and catapults were both 500 meters away, not too close to Tiger's Mouth Fortress.

However, the imposing army and siege machinery made Arctic Martial realize that the other side was trying to find a way to deal with him.

The transaction was not handled by Beijiwu, who doesn't like to get involved. This time, it was Meng Hetong who was in charge of the transaction.

Meng Hetong led a group of people out of Hukou Fort and shouted to the envoy a hundred meters away: "Let's begin the exchange now. Release our prisoners first, and we will release the people on your list after we have confirmed that everything is correct."

Marquis Zhang Jian of Dingxi shouted loudly, "You release them first!"

Beiji Wu frowned and scolded those below, "You always make us go first in everything. You call yourselves a benevolent army and a nation of etiquette, but all you ever do is try to take advantage of others?"

"Fine, let's release one! Since you don't trust us, then come and exchange them one by one!"

"Meng Hetong, I'm leaving this place to you!"

After hurling his insults, Beijiwu left the city wall area, not giving the other side a chance to launch a sneak attack.

Marquis Zhang Jian of Dingxi had just seen Beiji Wu when he discovered that Beiji Wu had left.

Being humiliated in front of the army, Zhang Jian was so angry that his beard almost flew off.

"You damned scoundrel!" Zhang Jian cursed under his breath.

Meng Hetong shouted, "Release them! Release the one surnamed Wan first!"

Marquis Zhang Jian of Dingxi dared not ruin things, and hurriedly shouted, "Take the cart over there!"

A bullock cart carrying a load of silver passed by, with several women, old people, and children following beside it.

A member of the imperial family surnamed Wan was exchanged for Lü Siming's parents, wives, concubines, children, and 10,000 taels of silver.

This person, who commands the highest price, is Emperor Wanye's cousin and a veteran military supervisor who has served for many years.

The prices for the rest plummeted, though they all started at a few hundred or a thousand taels.

Yang Xiangyun and Gao Shimian's families were also exchanged, and Meng Hetong's sister and brother-in-law also came over smoothly.

The rest were mostly family members of the original Beiyuan Army; nearly 3,000 of the original 6,000 were replaced.

After the last troop of robust Wanzhou cavalry returned, Meng Hetong began to lead his men back to Hukou Fort. The Marquis of Dingxi glanced at the ashamed faces of the Wanzhou cavalry, then tried to locate Beijiwu.

"How many people are in the city?" Marquis Dingxi asked casually.

Qin Jian immediately said, "There are more than 10,000 people, but they are all soldiers who surrendered like us. Many people thought we would ransom them all. These are people who want to abandon the darkness and turn to the light. If we attack now, they will definitely be willing to join us in attacking from both inside and outside!"

Marquis Dingxi had not considered attacking, but after hearing Qin Jian's words, he suddenly had an idea.

But in the end, they gave up.

"We must not act rashly, nor can we break our promises. Let's retreat!"

Marquis Dingxi was well aware of the disastrous consequences of acting without authorization.

Even if you win, you might not die, but you won't receive any credit or reward.

If you lose, you will die.

Unless they can kill Beijiwu immediately, the entire court will absolutely not plead for someone who has acted without authorization.

Just as the Marquis of Dingxi was preparing to retreat, a cry from the crowd erupted from within Hukou Fort!
"We want to go home!"

"Let us go back!"

"What about us! We haven't gotten out yet! The imperial court wants to ransom us!"

"Save us!"

"Don't go! We're still here!"

Of the more than 10,000 soldiers in the city, at least seven or eight thousand were thinking of going home. Now that they saw the high-ranking officials and generals of all ages leaving, as well as the commanders of the Wanzhou Iron Cavalry and Light Cavalry, they were waiting to follow them out.

But now they're closing the door?!
"Don't close the door! We want to go home!"

"go home!"

"go home!"

"go home!"

Thousands of soldiers, weapons in hand, stood in the barbican, on the city walls, and near the main road, shouting in unison.

The loud calls drew the attention of the Wenchao army outside, who all looked in that direction with curiosity.

Qin Jian immediately shouted, "My lord! The city gates are still open! The people inside are about to mutini!"

A mutiny? The Marquis of Dingxi squinted as he looked inside.

"What are you yelling about?!" Arctic Martial shouted, "They don't want you! They won't pay to ransom you! Go back here obediently! Or they'll kill you all!"

"Think about your own status! What kind of status do you have that the imperial court would be willing to spend money on you?!"

"A bunch of bastards!! They've eaten their fill here for a few days and forgotten who their parents are!"

"Do you have a grandfather who is an emperor in the south? A father who is a prince? A father who is a general?!"

Arctic Warrior's reprimand calmed the surrendered soldiers down, and they felt incredibly heartened.

The harsh and offensive insults extinguished some soldiers' hopes for Wenchao.

However, there are loyal ministers even in the Northern Wu region, let alone in the Wen Dynasty.

"Charge out! We'll get back ourselves!"

A soldier shouted and charged straight at his ally, who was only a hundred meters away.

After the first soldier fled, the people nearby quickly followed.

More than a hundred prisoners ran straight out of the city gate.

"General! Take us back! We want to go home!"

In a bad mood, Beiji Wu walked to the city wall to look down. Just as he was about to see how General Wen Chao would deal with these unwanted prisoners, he noticed a long spear flying towards him from several hundred meters away!

! !
Beijiwu quickly dodged, and the sharp ballista whistled through the air, landing on the unfortunate soldier inside the barbican.

"Kill the Arctic warrior, and you'll be rewarded with ten thousand gold pieces and granted the title of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households!!"

Marquis Dingxi decided to take a gamble and use the surrendered troops in the city to kill Beijiwu and completely eliminate the threat on the border.

The Wen Dynasty established itself by military force, and the entire nation valued martial arts. Especially now, when the country was still in the process of conquering, the generals had a great deal of freedom outside.

If we win, everything will be fine.

Lose or die!!
Warriors have never been afraid to risk their lives, and the Marquis of Dingxi staked his entire life on it.

"put!"

Two to three hundred pounds of boulder was launched by Wen Chao's top-of-the-line catapult and hit the rebel soldiers who had just run out.

The catapult was extremely powerful, but its short range meant it could only hit buildings inside the city from a distance of over 200 meters.

The soldiers outside the city were the first to fall victim, and the soldiers on the city walls and in the Arctic also fled in panic under the fire of ballistae.

Boom!
Steel arrowheads kept hitting the city walls.

After a round of reflections, the Marquis of Dingxi shouted, "Bow the ballistae! Advance the catapults! Strike only the Northern Wu!"

"Wanzhou Iron Cavalry!! Capture Arctic Martial!"

Marquis Dingxi led his troops in a charge, shouting to the surrendered soldiers who had been killed by ballistae and catapults, "Men of the city, listen up! Capture Beijiwu! A reward of ten thousand taels of gold and a title of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households!"

Meng Hetong immediately raised his knife and shouted, "Look at who's dead on the ground! They're your brothers who ate and slept with you! The imperial court doesn't care about you. Will you fight your way out with me, or continue to serve them?!"

Marquis Dingxi immediately raised his bow and arrow on horseback, aiming at Meng Hetong, and coldly said, "Spreading heresy! Die!"

Suddenly, a long spear flew down from the city wall.

The sharp spear pierced through the chest of the Marquis of Dingxi, pinning this general, who had spent his entire life fighting and killing on horseback, to his death!

Beijiwu shouted, "Follow me and fight your way out! Those who want to go home, go home! Those who want to be grandpas in Tongzhou and Jinzhou, come with me and fight!!!"

Beijiwu loudly rallied morale, then jumped directly off the city wall.

"Chief! Catch!"

As soon as Bei Jiwu landed, his men threw down a long spear.

The bloody battle begins!
(End of this chapter)