Sweep Yuan

Chapter 49: Why is it too urgent to fry each other?

Although Han's Fourth Division was smaller than the combined forces of Peng and Zhao, its poor discipline and scattered formations still gave the impression of an endless expanse when viewed from a distance.

It was the same messenger from that day who came to the station and shouted.

"Listen up, everyone! Open the station gates immediately and welcome General Han into the station, or else—"

whoosh-

Li Wu, fully armored, stood on the wall and, before the messenger could finish speaking, shot an arrow, interrupting the messenger's clamor.

The arrow was merely a warning and missed, but the messenger was so frightened that he immediately turned his horse around and fled back.

Before long, various commands and shouts began to come from outside the station. After a commotion lasting for half an hour, the army outside the station began to attack the station, which was in a scattered, arc-shaped formation.

Inside the station, Li Wu also rallied the soldiers and station households to the station wall with the words, "Whoever doesn't let us live, we'll kill them!" and ordered the cavalry to prepare for a counterattack.

By this point, Wen Sijiu and Chen Cheng dared not harbor any more illusions.

The survival rules in chaotic times are extremely cruel. If Han Si breaks through Chulan Station, ordinary soldiers and station households may still have the chance to serve as laborers in order to fight for that slim chance of survival.

Li Wu, Chen Cheng, Tian Changcai, and other civil and military officials, and even Wen Sijiu, would all have a very high chance of being killed by Han Si under the pretext of silence.

Otherwise, Han Si would not be able to explain to Sesame Li, Zhao Junyong, and others what exactly happened to Chu Lan.

There was no room for compromise between the two sides. They had to either actually fight or at least show a willingness to perish together in order to deter the Red Turban Army that was stirring up trouble outside the station.

Outside the Red Army's camp, a large formation of Red Turban Army soldiers stood.

"General, everything is ready, let's begin the battle!"

"These damn Tartars are just bastards. If we don't give them a good beating, we can't expect these dogs to behave."

Yes, that's right—

General Han, sitting on horseback, frowned slightly and raised his right hand. His generals behind him immediately stopped shouting.

Han Si was over forty years old, slightly hunched over, and his thin, gloomy face rarely showed intense emotional changes. However, his narrow eyes and slightly upturned goatee seemed to be telling his subordinates not to easily question his decisions.

“Let’s wait a little longer. Even when beheading someone, we need to verify their identity. They’re all Marshal Li’s troops, after all. We should give them a chance to back down, shouldn’t we? Go and call them again.”

"Huh? More—"

The messenger, nicknamed "Dog," knew he had already angered Li Wu and secretly groaned. He wanted to decline, but seeing Han Si's increasingly gloomy face, he dared not say another word.

"Yes!"

After more than half a month of training, Sesame Lee launched its expansion plan of "first the south, then the north".

Peng Erlang and Zhao Jun took the lead in attacking the most difficult city, Suzhou, and took away a small portion of the best-equipped Rui Battalion troops in the city. Han Si led a detachment, which also had several thousand men, most of whom were elite soldiers.

His decision to attack Chulanzhanchi was a last resort. If he didn't force these surrendered "second-rate Tartars" to become cannon fodder and deplete the Yuan army's strength, he would have to use his own troops to fill the trenches and attack the city.

The reason he waited even after setting up his formation was that he didn't want to take on a tough challenge and lose his limited forces. As for whether forcibly requisitioning personnel and supplies from Chulan Station would offend Shishan, he didn't care.

The latter was merely a surrendered soldier and outsider with no roots in the Red Turban Army of Xuzhou. Using him was like using a dog, while not using him was like using dog meat waiting to be cooked. He wasn't worth General Han's attention.

Moreover, in chaotic times, the least valuable things are human life and morality.

Shishan has already withdrawn the most capable young men from Chulan Station. If he were to take the rest of them to the battlefield to be worn down, it would actually lighten the burden on the former. If Shishan knew about this, he might even have to thank Old Han.

Unfortunately, different perspectives lead to different ways of considering the problem.

Li Wu could not understand General Han's "good intentions" and could not stand the repeated provocations of his messenger. This time, he did not shoot at the foot of the enemy, but ordered several archers to aim together.

"Ah! The dog has been hit by an arrow!"

"How dare those two Tartars kill our brothers!"

"Kill all these Tartars and avenge our brother Gou'er!"

Chulan was at least a military stronghold, originally with a rammed earth wall nearly eight feet high. After Zhima Li occupied Xuzhou City, Wang Baiyin urgently built four arrow towers. Although its defense was weak, it was still far superior to that of ordinary villages.

In terms of manpower, Li Wu mobilized everyone thoroughly—the strong would climb the walls to defend against the enemy, the weak would transport supplies, and anyone taller than a car wheel, regardless of gender, was prepared to defend against the enemy.

He had already made up his mind that even if he was ultimately defeated and killed, he would never let Han Si's wishful thinking succeed.

On Han Si's side, the Red Turban Army, though a formidable sight from afar, was incomplete in armor and weapons, its formation scattered, and its soldiers of varying ages carrying spears and clubs haphazardly, wearing their headscarves askew, or laughing and joking among themselves, revealing its true nature as a rabble.

The army hadn't even cut down trees or built carts to prepare for the siege. Instead, fueled by the false morale of their large numbers and the shock of Gou'er's death, they sent out three hundred newly arrived refugees, armed with knives, spears, clubs, and makeshift shields, who charged haphazardly toward the city wall.

This action, rather than attempting to climb the wall with bare hands, was more of a gesture, an attempt to intimidate the other party and force them to surrender.

Unfortunately, Han Si overestimated the fighting spirit of his headquarters and underestimated Li Wu's determination to fight to the death.

Three hundred men rushed forward in a swarm, then retreated in panic. After suffering fierce attacks from arrows and stones, and losing more than ten men, the hot-blooded Red Turban soldiers finally calmed down.

Despite the thwarted attack, the disgruntled generals still clamored to set up camp, wait for the logging to prepare large shields and battering rams, and then launch a final assault on Chulan Station, massacring these reckless Tartars to avenge their fallen comrades.

Han Si, however, had to face reality and think about how to end this farce in a dignified manner.

To be honest, their troops have a numerical advantage. If they really make up their minds to cut down trees to make a batch of large shields and battering rams, and grit their teeth and suffer some casualties, they will definitely be able to break through the weakly defended Chulan Station in one or two days, or three to five days.

However, his goal this time was to capture Suining County, which was occupied by the Yuan army, rather than suffer heavy losses at Chulan Station, where his allies were stationed, thus wasting precious time for the expedition.

The previous threats were all aimed at acquiring manpower and resources from the station at minimal cost.

Unfortunately, these stationed troops were too ungrateful and their will to resist was so firm that it was impossible to win without suffering heavy losses. Even if they eventually won, the casualties on both sides would be considerable, making it a losing proposition.

While subordinates may act impulsively to seek revenge and pleasure, the commander-in-chief, who bears the weight of the entire army, cannot fail to prioritize and issue orders haphazardly.

Indeed, after his attack was thwarted, the proud General Han finally learned the importance of prioritizing tasks.

(End of this chapter)