Sweep Yuan

Chapter 4 Punishing the Female Tartars

Xuzhou, Xiaoying, east of the city.

"Stop! Stop! Third Brother, I'm tired. Let's rest for a while."

"it is good."

Shi Shan put away the wooden gun and returned it to the weapon rack, then casually grabbed a cloth from the side to wipe his sweat.

That evening, when introducing himself to Zhao Jun, Shi Shan used his posthumous name.

Afterwards, when Li Wu asked about it, Shi Shan gave a nonsensical explanation that "to do great things, one must have a great name." So Li Wu begged his third brother to change his name to "Li Wu".

Although Shi San calls this guy "Old Five," he is different from Shi San, who is named after his birth order. He was only given this name because he was born on the fifth day of the lunar month.

The more than two hundred years of foreign rule by the Jin and Yuan dynasties interrupted the trend of rapid dissemination of knowledge to the people during the Tang and Song dynasties. Many people simply chose names randomly before they rose to prominence.

Although Li Wu's martial arts skills are not outstanding, he has a lot of strength and good endurance. Today's sparring session was not long, so he was not so tired that he could not move.

Because he had something on his mind, he was suppressed by the stone mountain, and as a result, he became less and less energetic the more he practiced.

Sure enough, as soon as he put down his weapon, Li Wu perked up.

"Third Brother, we did help the rebels capture the city gate and led the way, so we have some merit. But Chief Li is just keeping us hanging on and not letting us do anything. What does that mean?"

It's no wonder Li Wu was anxious; it's because the Red Turban Army leaders' actions were quite "unethical."

That evening, when Zhao Junyong led Shishan and Li Wu down from the city gate tower, Tian Qi and others had already moved the barricades and opened the inner and outer city gates, and the Red Turban Army soldiers who had been waiting for a long time rushed in.

The defenses of Xuzhou were not bad. In addition to soldiers patrolling the four walls day and night, two hundred-man squads were also deployed in the camp every night to take turns on duty.

However, at that time, fires broke out in many places in the city, and some ruffians took advantage of the chaos to loot. The Yuan army had to repeatedly divide its forces after its turn to rush out of the camp. By the time it encountered the main force of the Red Turban Army led by Shishan, it had less than a hundred men left.

When the two armies met, Peng Erlang, the second leader of the Red Turban Army, shouted and charged straight into the enemy formation with a large axe in hand. Xue Xian and others, who were responsible for setting fires to delay the enemy, also took the opportunity to break out from the side streets and alleys.

The Yuan army was already outnumbered, and then suddenly attacked from both sides by the rebel army, so how could they have the courage to resist?

At this moment, the thousands of Yuan soldiers in the camp were still frantically assembling under the shouts and curses of their respective officers. When they saw that the troops that had left the camp had been driven back by the Red Turban Army, they were immediately terrified.

Led by Shi Shan and Li Wu, the Red Turban Army had a clear objective and acted decisively, dividing its forces into several groups. One group headed straight for the central army camp, while the others went straight for key locations such as government offices and treasuries.

In this battle, apart from a group of Yuan soldiers who displayed great courage in their escape attempt, inflicting over a dozen casualties on the Red Turban Army that seized the North Gate, the resistance from other areas was negligible.

However, before Darughachi fled, he set fire to the military and civilian administration office, causing some trouble for Sesame Li and others who took over the area, and slightly delaying the Red Turban Army's actions.

Subsequently, in order to search for and capture the remnants of the Mongols and Semu people in the city, they caused quite a stir.

However, at that time, Shishan and Li Wu had already been invited into the East Camp by Zhima Li under the pretext of "treating them with courtesy," and they were unaware of what exactly had happened.

The small camp in the east of the city was originally the villa of a Mongolian nobleman. When the two moved in, there was still a large pool of blood on the ground.

The next day, Sesame Li sent two jars of fine wine and four sets of new clothes, and delivered meals on time every day, showing great courtesy.

Without having to exert any effort, they can simply eat their fill, sleep well, and then immerse themselves in practicing combat skills, living a leisurely and carefree life.

However, there were Red Turban Army soldiers patrolling outside the compound, which meant he was under house arrest.

News was cut off, and people could only guess what had happened from the occasional smoke rising from the city and the faint cries that could be heard.

Shi Shan was alright; he could roughly guess why Sesame Li was keeping him and Li Wu locked up.

The reason is nothing more than the instability of the people in the city, the fact that the relationships in various aspects have not yet been sorted out, and the fear that the eloquent surrendered soldiers will take the opportunity to expand their personal power, leading to a situation where they become too powerful to control.

He never expected Sesame Li to give him, an outsider, a chance. That night, the situation was urgent, and breaking the deadlock was the top priority. Only by saving his life could he talk about anything else.

As for the future?

It's not unreasonable for a deserter with no local connections to serve Sesame Li, but getting too involved with a "historically destined" loser might not be a good thing. Shi Shan understood this and remained calm, while Li Wu, being straightforward and not thinking that far ahead, was indignant.

No matter what, Third Brother and he were key figures in responding to the Red Turban Army's call to capture Xuzhou.

As a result, the Red Turban Army leaders, big and small, were all dressed in gold and silver, eating meat and drinking wine, and sleeping with rich women, while they were left here "in jail." How could he not be angry!

Shishan intentionally tempered Li Wu's rough nature, and did not rush to answer his question. He slowly wiped away his sweat, put down the towel, and picked up the Zhisun robe to put on.

This body came from a military household. It was six feet tall (a Yuan dynasty foot is approximately 31.2 centimeters in modern times), with thick eyebrows, large eyes, a wide mouth, and a straight nose, which pleased Shishan greatly.

After Shishan leisurely finished putting on his clothes, Li Wu was already so anxious he was practically scratching his head in frustration. Only then did Shishan slowly say:
"I'm not a mind reader, how would I know what they're thinking?"

"Whoa!"

Li Wu felt even more frustrated and impatiently fanned himself with his clothes.

Seeing that the time was almost right, Shishan smiled and said:

"Don't worry, I reckon Chief Li will summon us again soon."

"Really?"

Li Wu immediately became interested, stopped fanning himself, and pressed on with the question:

"When can we get out?"

Shishan did not answer the question, but instead asked Li Wu a question in return.

"You don't have to do anything or worry about anything now. You have plenty of food and drink every day. Why are you so eager to leave when you can have such a good life? What exactly do you want to do?"

"hey-hey."

Li Wu raised his hand to scratch his scalp and chuckled:
"I just think, what's the point of sitting here drinking when we're risking our lives to rebel? We need to find a few Tartars and vent our anger!"

After spending these past few days together, Shi Shan discovered that this seemingly honest and simple man actually had a cunning side. He roughly guessed what the fellow was thinking and chuckled as he scolded:
"Looking for revenge against the Tartars? These past few days, the real and fake Tartars in Xuzhou have probably been wiped out by the Red Turban Army. You probably don't want to find a female Tartar to vent your anger on, do you?"

When Shi Shan saw through his thoughts, Li Wu's dark face instantly turned a deep purple with embarrassment.

But after only a few breaths, he returned to normal, grinning and saying:

"Third Brother understands me best, hehe."

The common people's understanding of rebellion is to overthrow the powerful people who ride roughshod over them and to become the superior people themselves.

In the days that the Red Turban Army occupied Xuzhou, many people were immersed in the jubilation of "turning over to the people and punishing the Tartars." Although Shishan was confined to a small camp, he could guess what had happened from the commotion coming from outside.

Although he did not approve of Li Wu's low-level pursuit, he also knew that this was the reality. Even if he wanted to improve his own brother's "ideological awareness," he had to take it slowly and never preach to him.

"Look at you, so pathetic. We have money now. If you're feeling restless, go out there and you won't have to worry about not finding prostitutes to serve you. Why go looking for Tartars? Tartar women are filthy and disgusting, don't you find them disgusting!"

Despite being teased by Shi Shan, Li Wu wasn't angry. While getting dressed, he revealed his true thoughts.

“It’s not that I’m deliberately trying to seduce female Tartars, I’m just not happy about it. We’re doing this kind of business of chopping heads for them, and Chief Li is getting such a huge benefit but treating us like this—”

Dede dede—

The sound of horses' hooves approaching rapidly outside the courtyard caught Li Wu's attention.

"Shi Yishi, the Marshal requests your presence!"

　A fledgling author is being adorable online, begging for votes, reads, promotions, and support for their new book in its early stages!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)