Sweep Yuan

Chapter 22 Strategic Planning Gathers the Strengths of All

The day after killing Hu Pingren, Shi Shan arranged for Chang Tietou to lead a group to scout out enemy positions near Chulan and Fangcun. He even consulted Chen Cheng, who was "familiar with the surrounding geography," hoping that he would go with him.

However, this young master, who was already quite old, was arrogant and disliked the bald-headed bandit, and was unwilling to go deep behind enemy lines with him.

Chen Cheng was confident that a scholar could know everything without leaving home, so he volunteered to introduce the enemy situation today, hoping to show off his skills in front of a group of rough men.

Unexpectedly, after only a few words, Chen Cheng was publicly humiliated by Li Wu. Overwhelmed with shame and indignation, he turned his head away and remained silent.

Shishan didn't actually like Chen Cheng's superficiality, but he only had a few capable people under him, especially scholars. Chen Cheng was the only one among them, so no matter how many flaws he had, he had to use him first and couldn't be too demanding.

Seeing the atmosphere turn cold, Shi Shan glared at Li Wu, then looked at Chang Tietou and said:

"Old Chang, tell me what you've found out."

The bandits roamed various places year-round, and their greatest skill was scouting. Chang Tietou had to plan his advance and retreat routes before each operation. Otherwise, he would have died countless times over. He also looked down on Chen Cheng's high aspirations but low abilities.

"The Tartars at Chulan Station are very clever. They have sent scouts three miles outside the station to prevent us from getting close. We can't find out what's going on inside the station. I can only estimate from the length and height of the battle walls that it is a medium-sized station with about two hundred soldiers."

There were no people in the fields near the post road, and all the houses in the villages along the way were empty. The belongings had been packed away, even the bed boards and water tanks had been moved. People usually don't take these things when fleeing a rebellion. I guess the villagers were forcibly relocated to Zhanchinei by the Tartars.

The Tartars in Fangshan were a little more relaxed; sheep were still grazing outside the station. Si'er managed to get some information from the shepherd: the imperial court wasn't sending reinforcements, and people inside the station were panicking. Some had even seen the postmaster secretly transporting goods across the Yellow River, seemingly trying to escape.

The Dayuan station typically assigned two able-bodied men to each household. These men served in the station year-round, and their families were usually settled nearby. Over time, this led to the formation of natural villages and communities.

Chang Tietou's ability to notice the anomalies in these villages and communities and deduce the enemy's actions proves he's a seasoned scout.

Before the meeting, Shishan had already recorded the merits of the people who participated in the reconnaissance operation and distributed rewards. At this moment, he nodded again to affirm their efforts.

After listening to Chang Tietou's report, Shishan did not rush to conclusions, but instead inspired everyone to think – abilities are developed through practice. If you don't pay attention to training your subordinates in ordinary times, don't expect them to exert their initiative at critical moments.

Zhou Shier was originally a hired laborer in Xuzhou City and was not very clear about the living conditions of the station guards. After listening to Chang Tietou's introduction, he raised his own questions.

"Xuzhou has been in our hands for almost half a month now. We've traveled this far, and all the couriers along the way have run away. The Tartars in Fangcun are all trying to escape. Could the Tartars at Chulan Station have already fled by now?"

Upon hearing this, Tian Changcai, Deng Li, and others all showed delight on their faces.

After all, wars always result in death. If Chulan and Fangcun could be captured without bloodshed, who would be willing to fight the Tartars to the death?
Chen Cheng had done a lot of preparation for the imperial examinations in his early years, and although he didn't know much about officialdom, he was still far better than these unsophisticated bumpkins in front of him. Wanting to salvage his earlier loss of face, he continued:

"The station chiefs are independent of the prefectures and counties, and are directly under the jurisdiction of the Lu Prefecture Military and Civil General Administration. Xuzhou has fallen—cough, it is now in our hands. The Darughachi is nowhere to be found. The station chiefs have abandoned their posts without the clear orders of their superiors. The station chiefs will be beheaded by the court."

Wen Sijiu's thoughts wandered, recalling the various inexplicable actions of the Tartar officials in Xiao County and Xuzhou City. Combining this with Chen Cheng's words, he sighed:

"The emperor in the capital is the master of this land, and the local officials are just errand boys. We are rebelling and risking our lives, while they are guarding the city and fortresses just to earn a salary. No wonder these Tartars run away when they see us."

Shi Shan was somewhat unconvinced, thinking to himself that if the rulers of the Great Yuan Dynasty truly considered themselves the masters of this world, how could they have engaged in so many underhanded tactics that forced the people to rebel?
But hearing Si Jiu's words gave Sun Xun an idea. "In this world, how many officials are truly willing to risk their lives for the court?"

Neither station has many men, so they certainly wouldn't dare to reinforce each other. The Tartars in Fangcun are determined to escape. Could we leave some men to guard Chulan Station, and then trap them after we take Fangcun?

"inappropriate!"

The advantage of closing the gate to beat the dog is simply to take all the supplies inside the station. However, the enemy has no way to retreat and, unwilling to surrender, can only fight their way out. The resulting casualties have to be borne by the village and township militia, who are the main force.

Although Chen Cheng was determined to gradually hand over control of the village militia, he did not want his clansmen to be wasted in this way.

"Sun Tzu said: When besieging an army, leave an opening; do not press a desperate enemy. Even if the Tartars at Chulan Station dare not come out to challenge us, if we cut off their retreat and then launch a strong attack on the station, their casualties will certainly be enormous."

Sun Xun was only focused on achieving greater victories. Being an outsider with no local connections and no psychological burdens, he had few concerns and persisted in his own opinion.

"Who said we have to take it by force? Once we take Fangcun, we can just grab a few Tartars and send them to Chulan Station to demand their surrender. Are we afraid they won't?"

Chen Cheng became increasingly suspicious of Sun Xun's ill intentions, insisting that the Tartars in Chulan Station had not yet escaped and would certainly not surrender easily after the war began, and firmly disagreed with Sun Xun's viewpoint.

The two men held their own opinions and were deadlocked, so they could only seek Shishan's judgment.

"What's your opinion?"

Chang Tietou, Zhou Shier, and others, who were only interested in military achievements and wealth, supported Sun Xun, while Tian Changcai, Deng Li, and other village and community armed forces controllers, who were worried about their own capital, supported Chen Cheng.

Surprisingly, Wen Sijiu, who was in charge of supervising the army, also supported Chen Cheng and opposed underestimating the enemy and advancing rashly.

Having grasped the general's thoughts at this point in the meeting, and knowing that further discussion would only result in pointless arguments, Shi Shan exercised his authority as commander-in-chief and said:

"I heard from the magistrate of the Hundred Households Office that we should be lenient in assessing the enemy, but strict in defending against them. If our elite troops have fought several tough battles and dare to take on tough challenges, then it would be best to take Fangcun directly and then break through Chulan."

Unfortunately, we have only just assembled our troops, and our training is severely inadequate. Even a short march can cause a large number of soldiers to scatter. We cannot fight tough battles or withstand even minor casualties. We are prone to losing our composure in the face of unexpected situations and cannot employ any unconventional or risky strategies.

This is our battle to form our army; we can only win, we cannot afford to lose. I've decided to fight it fair and square!

……

P.S.: One li in the Yuan Dynasty was approximately 369.6 meters, which is quite different from the current city li.

Converting between Yuanli and Shili is complicated and inconvenient for readers. This book uses Shili (500 meters) as the unit of length measurement directly, so those who are particular about the exact measurement need not worry about it.

(End of this chapter)