Sweep Yuan

Chapter 24 Motley Crew Against Motley Crew

"Open the gates and slaughter all the Red Turban rebels!"

Seeing that the postmaster was about to personally lead his men out of the station, Commander Liu Ji'an hurriedly volunteered for the mission:

"Why must Your Excellency personally lead the charge? This humble servant is willing to lead two hundred soldiers to capture and kill the bandit chieftain and present him to Your Excellency!"

"My plan has been decided; there is no need for further argument!"

After Wang Baiyin finished speaking loudly, she moved closer to Liu Ji'an, lowered her voice, and cursed:
"Foolish! The soldiers have no will to fight. How can I boost morale if I don't personally lead the charge?"

On the surface, relying on the defensive walls and using numerical superiority to thwart the enemy's offensive seems like the right approach.

But Wang Baiyin did the opposite, not because he was stupid, but because he knew how unreliable the morale that was stirred up by words could be.

Holding the station might repel one or two attacks by the bandits, but it would be difficult to inflict heavy casualties on them. The bandits only need to control the key roads outside the station and bring in reinforcements from the surrounding villages to slowly wear down Chulan.

When that time comes, if we can neither win nor escape, then it will be truly over.

Only by taking advantage of the enemy's small number of soldiers and their unstable foothold, and launching a fierce attack on their weaknesses, can we have a chance of victory.

As long as one can win a battle and take a few heads, one will have the leverage to report to one's superiors.

Even if they voluntarily abandoned Zhanchi afterward, they would not be punished by the court.

Liu Ji'an knew all this, but he was still worried that Wang Yiling was taking a risk and wanted to persuade him again.

"But, Your Excellency is of noble birth, why would you need to—"

Wang Baiyin was worried that she might waver, so she quickly interrupted Liu Ji'an.

"I know my limits and will act accordingly. You stay here and do not let these bastards take advantage of the situation to cause trouble."

"Yes!"

Wang Baiyin knew nothing of military affairs, but he understood people's hearts. In order to win this battle, he left two hundred men for Liu Ji'an, and took all the other stationed men and women with him, just to create momentum and intimidate the Red Turban rebels.

Once the disorganized group of thieves had moved to the open area to the north and formed a battle formation, the thieves came into view.

The enemy forces were indeed few in number, and they did not even march in separate columns; from a distance, they appeared as a small, unorganized group.

Aside from the large number of flags which were somewhat intimidating, the rest of the group basically fit the characteristics of a newly rebelled mob—disorganized formations, mixed clothing, and a rabble with little fighting ability.

The Red Guards had nearly eight hundred men, and in terms of sheer numbers, they already overshadowed the Red Turban bandits in the distance.

The bandits clearly noticed the commotion on Zhan Chi's side, and their already disorderly marching formation became even more chaotic. They even stopped, and it seemed that a leader stepped forward to give a speech, presumably to boost morale.

After a while of this commotion, the bandit army finally regrouped and continued their advance.

Clearly, the bandit leader was a strategist with solid tactics, and it was unrealistic to think that he could scare the bandits away with a show of force.

Wang Baiyin led the elderly, women, and children out of the station without intending to actually fight, but retreating after bringing them out was a blow to morale. Allowing the enemy to steadily advance to the station was also a huge blow to the morale of his own side.

After much hesitation, Wang Baiyin concluded that both sides were a motley crew, and the outcome depended entirely on morale; whoever backed down would lose.

The key to breaking the deadlock was to destroy the enemy's morale, and he had no shortage of such means, so he gave the order:

"Commander Wang, you lead the cavalry to find an opportunity to disperse the bandits, while I personally lead the station guards to cover your retreat." After the founding of the Great Yuan Dynasty, a series of postal management systems were successively promulgated, such as the "Station Red System," the "Regulations on Horses and Horses," the "Regulations on Station Households," and the "Laws on Prohibiting Envoys from Traveling by Post."

Not only were the quotas for each station household clearly defined, but there were also corresponding quotas for carts, boats, and livestock such as horses, cattle, donkeys, and dogs. It was also stipulated that if any horse died, it would be replaced immediately (by the station official and the station household).

Due to poor management and heavy workload, the horses of the post station often collapsed and died under the strain.

To ensure the continuous operation of the station, station officials would require three to five households to jointly raise a horse, mule, or other livestock in preparation for "supplementary purchases".

Chulan Station originally had more than forty post horses, and with the addition of horses and mules temporarily requisitioned from the station households, the total number was nearly one hundred. Wang Baiyin then formed a small cavalry force based on this.

Wang Zhenye knew the true strength of his cavalry and dared not obey the courier's order to charge straight into the enemy lines. After receiving the order, he led his men to slowly approach the enemy on horseback, while nervously observing the enemy's movements.

The rebel army also noticed the advance of the Red Cavalry and stopped again to form a battle formation.

Due to insufficient training and panic in the face of battle, the enemy's formation was quite chaotic. If the two sides were closer, they might have been able to take the opportunity to charge directly on horseback and crush them in one fell swoop.

However, the two sides were more than three miles apart at this point. Even if the weak red horse was driven to run that far in one breath, it would not have much strength to cope with the fierce battle that followed.

To be on the safe side, we can only gradually increase the speed.

By the time Wang Zhenye and his men had closed the distance to within a mile, the Red Turban Army had already completed its formation.

Now it was Wang Baihu's turn to be conflicted.

The bandits' formation was very simple: they used simple wooden shields and bamboo spears to form a thin "spike shield wall," and then connected the four "spike shield walls" end to end to form an irregular four-gate encirclement formation.

Inside the enemy formation were more than two hundred bandits armed with bows and short spears; behind the army formation were bandit cavalry who had just mounted their horses. Wang Zhenye roughly counted them and estimated that there were more than fifty of them—more than the number of Red Cavalry.

In fact, given the size of the bandit army, deploying three small formations that form a defensive triangle against an enemy like the Chulan Zhan Ding in the relatively spacious Zhan Chi area would have been more effective in both offense and defense.

However, the thieves only set up a large formation, which probably indicates that the thieves were poorly trained and too cowardly, so they could only huddle together to increase their sense of security.

Even so, the bandits' formation was very crude, with many flaws, unable to cope with heavy cavalry charges or withstand the continuous attacks of light cavalry archers.

Unfortunately, the Red Cavalry that went out to attack numbered only forty-six men. They were few in number, lacked armor, and had little training. Charging straight into the enemy's "hedgehog formation" was out of the question. The flanking maneuvers of such a small force would have very limited killing power, and there was also the risk of being entangled by the enemy cavalry.

It's like a lame jackal encountering a mangy porcupine—it's a dilemma: bite or not bite.

To fight or not to fight?
While Wang Zhenye was still struggling with his decision, clouds of dust rose from the woods behind the Red Turban bandits.

An ambush? A feint?
Boom!Boom!Boom!
Wang Zhenye was hesitating whether to retreat when the sound of war drums rang out from behind.

Wang Zhenye knew that Wang Baiyin was tyrannical and strict in managing his subordinates. If he returned empty-handed, he would be severely punished. If he lost the Chulan Station because of this, he would be pushed out as a scapegoat.

Since things have come to this point, let's not care whether it's an ambush or a feint; let's just grit our teeth and charge forward.

"You two teams, go to the left; the rest of you, follow me to the right. After you get close to the enemy and fire an arrow, regardless of the result, immediately return to your team. Do not let the enemy cavalry entangle you."

His cavalrymen were not fools. They all saw that the battlefield situation was unfavorable to their side. They gritted their teeth and charged into the enemy formation, then hurriedly fired an arrow without even checking whether it hit the target. They immediately spurred their horses to turn left (right) in an arc.

If we don't fight back now, when will we?

(End of this chapter)