Chapter 327: Drive straight in
“Wow…”

In mid-winter, when the north is covered with snow, many areas in the south are still green.

Guizhou’s mountains and dense forests, coupled with its winding rivers, almost express “mountains and waters” to the extreme.

If there were not countless fishermen paddling bamboo rafts on the river, others would probably have thought that this place was in a primitive dense forest, rather than Shi’an County, the seat of Guizhou.

Shi’an County, Guizhou, was the seat of the Guiguan Jinglüe Prefecture. Its city was located on the west bank of the Li River. Its circumference was only three miles, and there were more than 30,000 people inside and outside the city.

As an important town in Lingnan and the seat of Guizhou, Shi’an County was not only responsible for the public security of the 19 states under the jurisdiction of Guangxi, but also for providing support to Qianzhong Road and Lingxi Road at any time.

Because of this, there are quite a few soldiers in Shi’an County, but compared to the elite soldiers from the Central Plains who are fully armored, the soldiers here prefer paper armor and leather armor.

Compared with iron armor, paper armor is lighter and cooler, and is deeply loved by soldiers in Lingnan.

Although it sounds unreliable, high-quality paper armor can be used just like barbette armor to prevent arrows from entering and protect the safety of armored soldiers.

For Guiguan soldiers who often have to face water battles, paper armor with a certain buoyancy can sometimes be used to save lives.

If you fall into the river wearing iron armor, you will basically die…

“Fish, fresh fish!”

“Everyone, get out of the way. Don’t block the grain trucks!”

Under the morning sun, white mist rises from the surface of the Li River, giving people an unreal feeling of beauty.

Fishermen, boatmen and merchants were all loading and unloading goods or doing business at the ferry on the west bank of the Li River, and the scene was very lively.

Outside the ferry, Guiguan soldiers wearing paper armor and pin armor were looking at the ferry lazily. A few miles behind them was the Shi’an County.

Under their gaze, merchants and common people passed through the inspection at the city gate and walked into the narrow and winding streets of the city.

On both sides of the street are low earthen houses with roofs covered with straw and mud, which will grow moss over time, and walls made of simple rammed earth.

Compared with the cities in the Central Plains, Shi’an County is not prosperous, but it is also quite lively.

The barbarian vendors, dressed strangely, were shouting to the passers-by in Aokou Mandarin and selling their own fruits and vegetables, or medicinal herbs picked from the mountains.

Occasionally, a few ox carts passed slowly, their wheels rolling over the rammed earth road, raising a cloud of dust.

Such a scene is very charming, but it cannot conceal the decline and turmoil of the court.

On the streets, there were many soldiers extorting money from vendors or eating and drinking for free.

It seemed that overnight, the number of soldiers in Shi’an County increased several times, and the street vendors suffered much more grievances than before.

The initiator of all this was Wang Xianzhi, who fled Yongzhou and headed north along the Yu Shui (Pearl River) and Li River, and the Tianping Army he led.

“Damn it! These rebels are really good at running. They were in Liuzhou five days ago, and now they have run to Zhaozhou.”

At a certain stall, a thirty-year-old man wearing black hammer armor was sitting in the main seat and talking, with two lieutenants wearing black paper armor on his left and right.

The other tables were occupied by either team leaders or squad leaders, while the stall owners were just working with dry smiles on their faces.

“Will they come to Shi’an?”

The officers were worried about speaking, but the general laughed and said, “If they dare to come to Shi’an, they will really walk into a trap!”

“The elite troops from several counties in Guizhou have been transferred here, and the officers and soldiers from Daozhou and Yongzhou in Hunan are also gathering here.”

“If they dare to come, we will be able to accomplish our mission, hahaha…”

The general laughed heartily and then changed the subject to talk about other things.

Soon, bowls of bone soup accompanied by Hu pancakes were served.

Everyone broke the Hu pancake into pieces and started eating with the broth.

After eating and drinking, the group of people got up and left the stall, and the stall owner didn’t dare to speak, let alone get angry.

A diner in the corner put down ten copper coins, stood up and walked out.

A quarter of an hour later, he boarded a bamboo raft heading south. After going down the river for fifty miles, he asked the fisherman to stop the boat at the shore, gave him fifty coins, and went ashore.

The fisherman happily collected the fifty coins, looked at the deserted forest on the shore, and after a while he rowed the boat back to Shi’an County.

At the same time, the diner who left walked into the dense forest for more than ten miles, then passed the official road and walked into the valley beside the official road.

A road was trampled out in the valley. The man walked along the road for two or three miles and then saw a natural valley.

The valley was crowded with people. Nearly a thousand elite soldiers in armor were sitting on carts with their harnesses removed. There were also people feeding thousands of oxen and more than a hundred draft horses.

When everyone saw him coming, they immediately became noisy.

“Be quiet!”

Suddenly, there was a scolding sound and Wang Xianzhi walked out from the corner.

“Shang Dalang, what’s going on?”

Wang Xianzhi stood in front of Shang Junchang with a frown on his face.

Shang Junchang stood beside him, took off his futou slowly, and then wiped the sweat from his forehead:

“General, the troops of Guiguan and Hunan have been mobilized. The former are stationed in Shi’an County, and the latter are gathering at the border of Guizhou…”

Wang Xianzhi’s face suddenly turned ugly when he heard this: “They are really fast…”

After the evaluation, Wang Xianzhi’s eyes flickered, as if he was thinking about how to avoid the officers and soldiers from Guiguan and Hunan Town.

Seeing that he was silent, Shang Junchang immediately offered a suggestion:
“General, in my opinion, we should avoid the main force of the government troops in Qi’an County, go around Gongcheng, pass Daozhou and Chenzhou, and enter the Jiangnan West Road.”

“Go to Jiangnan West Road?” Wang Xianzhi raised his eyebrows slightly, then motioned for him to continue.

“Please take a look at them all…” Shang Junchang took a deep breath, then took the map from the ox cart next to him and unfolded it.

He pointed to the route above and explained and analyzed it for Wang Xianzhi: “Hunan Town is backed by Jingnan Town, and Jingnan Town is an important town that protects the southern capital Jiangling. It has sufficient military forces and is guarded by the envoy Xiao Ye.”

“If we go north through Hunan Town, we will be surrounded. Even after a bloody battle, it will be difficult to cross the Yangtze River.”

“Compared to this, Jiangnan West Road is different.” Shang Junchang circled Jiangnan West Road with his hand and continued:
“The military preparations of the Jiangnan West Road are lax. Back then, Qiu Fu from East Zhejiang led a group of peasants and was able to stir up trouble in Jiangnan. What about us?”

Wang Xianzhi’s eyes flashed with approval, and he nodded: “Go on.”

Seeing that Wang Xianzhi approved of his idea, Shang Junchang breathed a sigh of relief and continued, “As long as we enter Jiangnan West Road, the military force there will not be able to stop us at all.”

“After entering Jiangnan West Road, we passed through Jizhou and Hongzhou (Nanchang) to Jiangzhou (Jiujiang) to seize ships, cross the river and enter Huainan Road.”

“Although the Huainan Road is ruled by the Prime Minister Linghu Tao, the road has been plagued by problems for many years, with bandits rampant in the territory, and the government troops dare not go deep into the mountains.”

“In this way, we can hide during the day and move at night, crossing mountains and ridges until we are out of Huainan. Finally, we can rush back to Puzhou and ask Envoy Yang to apologize to the court on our behalf. Perhaps we can still have a glimmer of hope.”

The Yang Envoy mentioned by Shang Junchang is Yang Han Gong, the governor of Tianping Army.

Yang Han Gong was born into the Hongnong Yang family, and his father was the Grand Marshal Yang Ning, so naturally his words carried great weight.

Whether the mistakes made by Wang Xianzhi and others are big or small depends on whether there is anyone speaking up for them and whether they are sincere in admitting their mistakes.

Shang Junchang grasped the point of the problem, and after Wang Xianzhi heard it, a look of joy suddenly appeared on his face, and he reached out and patted Shang Junchang on the shoulder.

“Shang Dalang, you really speak in a long-term way.”

“In that case, let’s do as you say and go through Gongcheng to the Jiangnan West Road!”

“General, you are wise!” Shang Junchang bowed quickly, and after Wang Xianzhi gave a few simple instructions, he led everyone out of the valley and broke out to Gongcheng County.

As time went by, the troops in Guiguan, under the command of Zhao Ge, gradually began to encircle Zhaozhou.

However, Zhao Ge sent troops to search for a long time, but still failed to find any trace of Wang Xianzhi and others.

If Wang Xianzhi and his subordinates had not appeared in Zhaozhou and were seen by many people, Zhao Ge would probably have suspected that his intelligence was wrong.

“Sir, the bandit leader has led his troops into Chenzhou!”

A few days later, when the general of Guiguan ran into the Shi’an County Government with an urgent report, the urgent military report in his hand was snatched away by Zhao Ge in a blink of an eye.

Zhao Ge had been suffering from insomnia these days because of Wang Xianzhi and his group. Now that he had the news, he naturally stayed in the main hall first.

He quickly opened the urgent message and read all the contents at a glance.

“How dare these bandits be so rampant! So cunning!”

Zhao Ge, the governor of Guiguan, was so angry that he trembled after reading the urgent report.

He said that he couldn’t find the rebels. It turned out that the rebels took a detour to Chenzhou, and only started looting and exposed their whereabouts when they entered Chenzhou. “Sir, they have left the country. Should we chase them?”

Everyone asked carefully, Zhao Ge couldn’t help but glared at him: “You’ve already left the country, what are you still chasing?!”

Each vassal state had its own garrison. Sending troops to the territories of other officials without permission was a serious crime that could lead to the loss of official position. Zhao Ge naturally did not want to commit such a serious crime.

While thinking, Zhao Ge took a deep breath:

“Although it took a lot of effort, at least we drove them out of the Guiguan area.”

“I will report this matter to the court, but since they have left the country, we don’t need to chase them. We can continue the training as usual.”

“Yes……”

After learning that they didn’t need to stop and pursue Wang Xianzhi and others, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“Go back!”

Zhao Ge raised his chin and gestured before returning to his study. After writing the memorial, he sent someone to deliver it to Chang’an as soon as possible.

In the next half month, the news that Wang Xianzhi led the Tianping Army garrison to mutiniate and led the army all the way north from Lingnan spread like a huge rock thrown into a pond, causing waves throughout the world.

The common people in the western part of Jiangnan were terrified upon hearing the news, and the officials treated it as a powerful enemy and stepped up their defenses.

After Wang Xianzhi led his army from Chenzhou into the western part of Jiangnan, he immediately carried out large-scale looting in Jizhou, mainly stealing carriages, horses and food to replenish military supplies.

The people of Jizhou were terrified and fled into the city for refuge. Jizhou Governor Zhao Ke also hurriedly sent fast horses to Hongzhou for help.

Pei Tan, the governor of Jiangxi, was stationed in Hongzhou at that time. Upon learning that Wang Xianzhi had looted Jizhou, he immediately summoned Liu Quan, the thief-catching general in the army, and asked him for countermeasures.

“General Liu, this Wang Xianzhi is extremely arrogant. He even dared to plunder in Jiangxi. I want to defeat him. Do you have any good ideas?”

Inside the Hongzhou government office, Pei Tan sat in the main hall, with countless documents on the desk, most of which were related to people’s livelihood.

At this moment, his brows were furrowed and his tone was anxious.

In response to his question, Liu Quan, the bandit-catching general, said calmly, “Don’t worry, sir. These are just some chaotic soldiers. There is nothing to worry about.”

“If the rebels want to return to Henan from Jiangxi, they can only go through Hongzhou and use the boats in Jiangzhou to cross the river.”

“Hongzhou is heavily guarded. Even if they cross the border, they dare not pass through Zhongling. They can only go through Gao’an and Xinwu and head north to Jianchang.”

“I am willing to lead the army to set up an ambush outside Xinwu County, and when the rebels pass by, we will wipe them out in one fell swoop.”

Liu Quan was full of confidence, which made Pei Tan’s eyes flash with approval. He nodded and said, “Okay! I’ll do as you said. Please annihilate them to serve as a warning to others!”

“I obey your command!” Liu Quan bowed and accepted the order calmly. Half an hour later, he led two thousand Jiangxi troops towards Xinwu County.

However, as soon as they walked out of the barracks, crossed the Gan River and headed west to Xinwu County, many people at the ferry crossings on both sides noticed them.

Looking at the Jiangxi soldiers who were constantly getting off the boat, a man among the countless stalls at the Ganshui Ferry looked at the person sitting at the same table.

The people at the same table understood what he meant, and immediately got up, rented a draft horse, and galloped south.

Two days later, there were more and more draft horses on the road. Everyone on horseback understood each other tacitly and rushed towards their goal.

At noon on the third day, more than a dozen men riding on draft horses and heading south gathered in front of a camp more than 30 miles north of Luling County, Jizhou.

The camp was crude, hastily enclosed by horse-drawn carriages, and the soldiers set up tents inside to rest.

But even though it was so simple, no one took the initiative to attack and encircle them.

“All will!”

Shang Junchang walked into the tent. Wang Xianzhi had just finished breakfast. When he saw him walk in, he immediately stood up and asked, “How is it?”

“As the general expected, the Jiangxi general has already led his troops to Xinwu County to set up an ambush. There are at least two to three thousand of them.”

“If we go north as planned, we will be surrounded.”

Shang Junchang explained hurriedly, and Wang Xianzhi also found the map and pointed, saying:
“You bastard! There are heavy troops at the two main roads of Zhongling and Xinwu. It seems that we can only cross the Gan River, Xu River and Yu River to the east, enter Raozhou, and then go north to Chizhou.”

“Chizhou belongs to Xuanshe Town. The Jiangxi Army dare not cross the border to pursue us easily. We can seize boats in Chizhou and cross the river to the north.”

Wang Xianzhi’s thoughts were quick. Within just half a cup of tea after learning the intelligence, he had already figured out how to break out.

“General, you are wise!” Shang Junchang praised Wang Xianzhi. Wang Xianzhi put away the map and said:

“We will give each of the salt merchants who brought us the news ten strings of cash, and return the goods to them!”

“Yes!”

Wang Xianzhi knew very well that if he only relied on his own people who were unfamiliar with the place and had different accents to gather intelligence, he would definitely not get any good intelligence.

Because of this, he released the private salt dealers near Jizhou in advance and seized their goods, promising to release the goods and reward money if they brought back information.

In order to protect their goods, many private salt dealers had to gather intelligence for him, thus avoiding the eyes of the Jiangxi Army.

Now that we have obtained the information, there is no need to stay any longer.

Thinking of this, Wang Xianzhi immediately issued a military order: “Order the three armies to move camp immediately!”

“Yes!” Shang Junchang bowed in response, and then began to issue military orders.

An hour later, more than 900 Tianping soldiers quickly changed their marching route at the signal of Wang Xianzhi.

The army crossed the Gan River, Xu River and Yu River to the east and entered the territory of Raozhou.

Liu Quan waited in Xinwu for several days but there was no sign of Wang Xianzhi. It was not until someone among the private salt dealers informed him that he learned that the Tianping Army had taken a detour to the east.

Upon hearing the news, he was so angry that he beat his chest and stamped his feet, but there was nothing he could do. He could only ride back to Zhongling on horseback and tell Pei Tan that Wang Xianzhi had taken a detour to Raozhou.

“The rebels are cunning and will never be allowed to leave Jiangxi. I will personally lead the troops to defeat them!”

When Pei Tan learned that Wang Xianzhi had entered Raozhou and intended to go north to Chizhou, he immediately slammed the table and wanted to lead his army to pursue Wang Xianzhi.

Faced with his impulsiveness, Liu Quan quickly persuaded him to stop:
“Envoy, the rebels have already entered Raozhou. It is too late for us to pursue them now.”

“If they enter Chizhou at that time, you and I can only watch from outside Chizhou, wasting money and food.”

“If we cross the border without permission, we will be criticized and even punished by the court.”

Pei Tan naturally knew that the vassal states could not cross the border at will.

However, Wang Xianzhi fled from his military base in Jiangxi to Chizhou. If the imperial court investigated, he would definitely be convicted as an official on the run.

Although he will not lose his official position, he may have no hope of promotion in the short term.

Liu Quan was a local general of the Jiangxi Army. He didn’t care about promotion, but he, a fringe official, was not up to the task.

“Is it really impossible to catch up?”

Pei Tan breathed heavily. He didn’t want to delay his career because of this incident.

In response to his question, Liu Quan quickly shook his head: “Our army lacks horses and carriages, so we will definitely not be able to catch up with them.”

“Okay…” Pei Tan felt aggrieved. He knew Liu Quan did it on purpose, but he could do nothing about it.

After all, he was just a rogue official, while Liu Quan was the local tyrant in the Jiangxi army.

Now Liu Quan does not support him. Even if he forcibly orders Liu Quan to lead his army to Raozhou with him, he cannot command them to cross the border into Chizhou.

Thinking of this, Pei Tan could only suppress his anger, picked up his pen and wrote a memorial, requesting the court to allow him to cross the border to pursue Wang Xianzhi, and also wrote another handwritten letter.

“Send the memorial to the court and the handwritten letter to Xuanzhou, quickly!”

“Yes!”

Pei Tan handed over the memorial and the letter, and Liu Quan breathed a sigh of relief.

To be honest, although he was not afraid of the Tianping Army, he did not want to see his men killed or injured.

The imperial court is facing financial difficulties now. Who knows whether the court can provide financial relief to its brothers after they die?

Since Wang Xianzhi has already fled to Chizhou, this matter is no longer under the jurisdiction of the Jiangxi Military.

As for whether the imperial court would blame him, Liu Quan was even less worried.

Wang Xianzhi was able to come to Jiangxi from Lingxi. Even if the imperial court wanted to blame someone, it should be the three towns of Lingxi, Guiguan and Hunan, and then it would be their turn.

Thinking of this, Liu Quan walked out of the yamen with the memorial and the letter, and sent fast horses to deliver the memorial and the letter to Chang’an and Xuanzhou respectively.

(End of this chapter)