The Thief Prince

The men Shi Chong chose lacked backbone.

It's also possible that the government troops of that era generally lacked backbone.

Niu Ang only led them away for a quarter of an hour before returning, wiping the blood from his hands.

He grinned at Li Zheng and said, "Brother, they confessed."

Li Zheng asked in detail, but could only get the exact number of people on the other side and the situation of the grain transport, without much other information.

Come to think of it, unless Shi Chong was stupid, he wouldn't let the people who came up the mountain know too much.

Wu Anqing, who was standing to the side, said, "That Shi Chong thinks too highly of himself. Now that we have refused to be granted amnesty, I'm afraid he will come up on a raft and attack us soon."

Li Zheng nodded slightly: "In that case, please listen to my instructions."

All the leaders gathered around.

After thinking for a moment, Li Zheng said, "The 20,000 troops have come from afar. Shi Chong is from a noble family and has a high opinion of himself. He will surely think that we bandits would not dare to fight them in the open field."

"We should do the opposite, launch a surprise attack first, and blunt their momentum!"

The most important factor in defending a city is not high walls, weapons, or sufficient food supplies, but morale!

When an enemy force of 20,000 attacks a mountain, the bandits of the stronghold will naturally feel fear; this is only human nature.

In this situation, if Li Zheng chooses to only defend and not attack, morale will become increasingly low under the continuous attacks of the imperial army.

Therefore, we must take the initiative and win the first battle against him.

This wasn't meant to cause Shi Chong much trouble; it was purely to boost morale.

"If the enemy attacks the mountain, the cavalry will be unable to perform effectively," Li Zheng said slowly. "We can have the entire cavalry leave the mountain and circle around to the vicinity of the enemy camp, forming a pincer movement with Liangshan."

"Once they launch their attack, let the vanguard pass first, then wait for their supplies and baggage to pass before burning their supplies and destroying their baggage!"

"If the situation at Liangshan becomes critical, the cavalry can also harass the rear, preventing the government troops from becoming too comfortable."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

The other leaders didn't understand, but Wu Anqing, Cao Su, He Zhihan, and others had read military books.

Ultimately, warfare is all about logistics. This tactic may not be a particularly ingenious strategy, but it is definitely the most effective.

Li Zheng looked around at the group of leaders, but finally looked at Wu Anqing, whom he trusted the most:

"Brother Wu'an, I'll leave this cavalry to you."

Wu Anqing's expression was solemn: "Brother, rest assured, leave it to me."

Li Zheng nodded slightly, then looked at the Zheng siblings and Gan Xun: "Although the enemy has a large number of troops, they are not good at swimming."

"Select some brothers who are excellent swimmers and launch a raid while they are crossing the water, sinking a few of their boats and disrupting their morale."

All three bowed and agreed.

Li Zheng nodded and then said, "I will personally oversee the operation in the mountains and select three hundred elite armored soldiers and five hundred skilled archers to ambush the enemy at the foot of the mountain."

"After they land, we will attack them while they are crossing the river. Their morale will be thrown into chaos, and we can then take the opportunity to strike. It would be even better if we could kill two or three enemy generals."

Having said that, he looked at everyone and asked, "Brothers, do you have any questions?"

Now that everyone is completely convinced of Li Zheng's abilities, how could there be any opposition?

They each received their orders and went to prepare.

Wu Anqing led eight hundred cavalrymen, escorted by the Zheng siblings, across the other side of the marsh, and circled around to the enemy's rear.

The rest were also sharpening their knives, just waiting for the big battle to begin.

Meanwhile, back at Shi Chong's camp...

Shi Chong waited and waited, for a whole day and night, but the troops who had offered amnesty still did not return.

Having already made up his mind, he knew the other side would not accept the offer of amnesty and would detain the person.

He didn't wait any longer and summoned his generals: "Order all troops to cut down trees to make rafts. Once we have enough, we will advance into the enemy camp!"

Gong Hu bowed to Zhang Jing and said, "General, why don't we give the soldiers another round of rewards so they will work harder?"

This is the current state of the Great Zhou army.

The phenomenon of officers falsely reporting troop numbers and embezzling military pay is very common.

Even when the money is issued, it is often withheld by officers at various levels, resulting in soldiers receiving significantly less than they actually receive.

However, where there's a policy, there's a countermeasure.

Soldiers also have many ways to seek their own benefit, such as demanding exorbitant prices.

Before any war breaks out, generals must distribute rewards in advance so that soldiers will be willing to fight.

Moreover, if any unforeseen events occur during the battle, additional rewards will be given to appease the troops.

If they refuse, then they can expect a commotion.

Although Shi Chong disliked this practice, he had no choice but to agree, considering that felling trees to make boats was no longer within the scope of normal military operations.

He then distributed another round of rewards, and all the Imperial Guards and local militia joined forces to cut down 50-60% of the trees near the marsh.

This move actually made things easier for Li Zheng; if government troops attacked the mountain again in the future, it would be difficult to find so much timber.

Meanwhile, the government troops worked for a day and a night, building more than ten large rafts and hundreds of small rafts.

Shi Chong ordered the giant spirit general Wang Kuang to guard the main camp, while he personally led the main force to attack the mountain.

At this moment, the sky was just beginning to brighten, and a thin layer of mist floated on the water.

Twenty or thirty people stood on each small raft, with swords and spears leaning against each other and bows and crossbows lying at their feet, packed tightly together.

Shi Chong rode in front on a large raft, with a general's flag standing beside him.

At a command, the rafts left the shore one after another, with poles and oars lowered in unison, slowly moving into the depths of the lake.

Wu Anqing was five or six miles away from the marsh, lying in ambush on both sides of the official road.

A gong rang out, and a troop of soldiers came from the end of the official road, with tents, wooden stakes and other things for building a stockade on their wagons.

Beside him, Wang Yingdou whispered, "Brother, should we charge over there now?"

Wu Anqing looked up at the sky and shook his head: "Let them pass."

At this moment, the enemy should not have attacked the mountain yet, and may return to reinforce at any time.

Moreover, this shipment wasn't carrying anything of great importance, so burning it wouldn't make much difference.

Another quarter of an hour passed, and Wu Anqing's ears suddenly twitched: "They're here."

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a long convoy, with twice as many soldiers and farmers as the previous one.

Those large carts looked incredibly heavy, with their wheels completely submerged in the ground.

"That must be the grain carts." Wu Anqing looked up at the sky. "It's about time. Tell the brothers to get ready to go!"

Wang Yingdou agreed, and the two of them each led four hundred cavalrymen to attack from both ends of the supply convoy.

The officer escorting the grain suddenly heard shouts of battle erupting from both sides of the road, and his heart trembled.

Then hundreds of bandits charged out, shouting, and were about to rush into the caravan. I felt like my bile was about to rise to my lips.

He couldn't help but curse angrily, "Damn it! Are those Imperial Guards all useless? How could they let the bandits pass by?!"

He had just ordered the local troops to defend when a rider had already charged up to him.

The newcomer had a cold expression, was clad in black mountain-patterned armor, and wielded a heavy iron halberd that whistled down with the wind.

The officer hurriedly brandished his spear to block, but unexpectedly, the heavy halberd, which looked heavy, was wielded lightly by the opponent, and its trajectory was changed during its descent.

The halberd blade fell rapidly, and the officer felt a chill on his neck before his view suddenly rose.

The surrounding soldiers looked over upon hearing the sound and were so frightened that they lost their minds.

But then they saw their own officer's blood shoot straight into the sky, lifting his head high into the air, leaving only a headless corpse sitting on his horse.

"Liangshan Wu Anqing is here; those who know how, do not block my way!"

Wu Anqing stabbed several stunned soldiers to death with a backhand, then drew his knife from his waist and chopped down the general's flag beside him with a single stroke.

Wang Yingdou, on the other side, was overjoyed upon seeing this and exclaimed, "Brother, you are so generous!"

Thinking that he was new here, he couldn't be too weak and let his brothers look down on him.

He immediately charged into the enemy ranks, his spear flashing up and down, aiming to stab the armored taxi soldiers.

This general's nickname "Drilling Wind Spear" is well-deserved. Although he may not be considered to have superhuman strength, his marksmanship is both fast and accurate.

It doesn't pierce the armor, it only pierces the face.

Anyone stabbed by him would have a large hole in their face, with their nose and eyes tangled together.

The rest of the Black Wind Cavalry were inspired and felt full of energy. They all brandished their weapons and charged into the enemy ranks.

The local militia were not soldiers, so they had never seen such fierce bandits before.

Their lines were immediately routed, and they fled in all directions, crying out for their fathers and mothers.

"Don't pursue a cornered enemy!"

Wang Yingdou shouted out subconsciously before realizing that he was the bandit.

He shook his head with a smile and said to his henchmen, "Quickly burn these grain carts and let's get out of here."

The henchmen took out their tinderboxes, blew on them, lit the torches that had been prepared, and threw them all at the grain cart.

It must be said that the grain transported from Jeju to Seok Chong was of excellent quality; not a single cart of it was damp.

The grain flammable material caught fire at the first spark, engulfing the grain carts in flames. Flames shot into the sky, and thick smoke billowed straight into the clouds.

Such a commotion could be seen not only by the government troops' camp, but also by Liangshan, which was more than ten miles away.

"Withdraw!" Wu Anqing brandished his heavy halberd and led eight hundred cavalrymen into the hills on both sides, disappearing without a trace in no time.

Meanwhile, Shi Chong had already covered half the distance and Liangshan was right in front of him.

Suddenly, someone nearby shouted, "General, look!"

Looking back, I saw a wisp of smoke rising from behind, followed by two, then three...

Shi Chong's forehead veins bulged, and he was furious: "What a scoundrel! He dares to attack even when he's about to die."

The adjutant beside him asked, "General, should we return to defend?"

Shi Chong looked around; all the rafts had been launched. He gritted his teeth and said, "We're not going back! We'll hand them over to Wang Xianfeng later!"

He chose to believe Wang Kuang.

Did these bandits think that attacking their own rear would throw them into disarray?

Such clumsy tricks can only scare those cowardly soldiers!

I'll charge into the mountains first, and once I've beheaded the bandit leader, I'll see if those arsonists come back or not!

Just as I was thinking about it, I suddenly heard the sound of water nearby.

thump--

One of the guards was caught off guard and was pulled into the water.

"Who goes there?!"

The imperial guards struggled frantically in the water, feeling as if their armor weighed a ton.

Just as the others were about to reach out with their oars to rescue him, they heard several more splashes of water coming from all directions.

Thump, thump!

People around him were falling into the water one after another. Shi Chong looked around warily, but he couldn't see a single ghost.

All that could be seen were a few dark shadows flashing by beneath the water.

The lieutenant was horrified: "General, could this be... Ah!!!"

Before the words were even finished, water splashed everywhere.

Shi Chong reached out to pull him up, but the other person had already fallen off the raft.

"Could it be... glug glug, it's... glug glug... a water monkey!"