Chapter 2186 - Unexpected News

The "surprise troops" numbered little over a hundred, but Luo Mao commanded only ten men. A single volley couldn't stem the human tide. Their firing rate couldn't form a continuous wall of fire—they could only fight and retreat. Fortunately, a few men still carried grenades. Throwing them in succession to deter pursuit, they managed to avoid being overtaken and engulfed.

The 2nd Squad arrived in time. A head-on volley followed by bayonet charge quickly stabilized the position. However, this "surprise force" proved numerous with surprisingly tough fighting spirit. Though stunned by the initial volleys, once recovered, they charged again desperately. Judging from attire and weapons, they were neither local Han nor rioting Yao—probably troops from some unknown native chieftain deep in the Liangguang mountains, conscripted by the government.

Seeing the 2nd Squad's footing unstable, able only to retreat with alternating cover, Li Dong grew anxious. Suddenly, a cannon boomed from behind. White smoke streaked overhead and smashed into the approaching enemy mass. A thunderous crack—the explosion dropped enemy troops in patches. Two more shells followed, blowing the enemy off their feet.

Now even the most "fearless" couldn't endure. They routed. Li Dong, with insufficient forces, dared not pursue and immediately contracted his troops.

At this time, cannon fire from Shijian's direction grew denser. Shells constantly flew over Li Dong's heads toward the enemy. The enemy army, which had seemed somewhat methodical, couldn't stand firm under artillery barrage. Suddenly they were like ants doused with boiling water—the nest exploded, fleeing in panic. Some even ran toward Li Dong's positions in their confusion.

"Squadron Leader! Bugles from the enemy's rear flank!" Malay suddenly shouted.

Li Dong cocked his head listening. Indeed, bugles sounded faintly on the wind. The "Charge" call. His spirits rose. The Fubo Army outflanking to attack from the rear!

Sure enough, the enemy formation descended into chaos. Driven down from the mountain pass by the Fubo Army, several hundred compressed into a small area between the pass and Shijian: ahead lay constant artillery fire from Shijian and National Army volleys; behind, the Fubo Army's fierce assault; right flank, the Sui River; left flank, continuous mountains. Truly no road to heaven, no door to earth—locked in a pocket for slow annihilation.

In desperation, many jumped into the Sui River attempting to swim across, only to be shot by cannon and volley fire. Countless drowned. When guns and cannons finally ceased, over two hundred corpses littered the battlefield. Only a few dozen managed escape.

An 8th Battalion company pursued the enemy nearly ten kilometers, stopping only at Baoding Mountain's foot, where they established a forward camp. The road here left the Sui River, turning north toward Guangning County seat—an important transportation node.

The battle at Shijian's North Pass was the Sui River Detachment's largest engagement en route, with the heaviest casualties. Losses concentrated in the Wuzhou Squadron: four dead, over a dozen wounded, and one missing—Ai Buyi. He'd vanished after going to contact the Guangning 1st Squadron. The Guangning 1st Squadron soldiers claimed they hadn't seen him. No corpse was found during battlefield cleanup.

Could he have been captured? Li Dong wondered. But the enemy routed after encirclement—impossible they'd think of taking captives while fleeing for their lives. Moreover, his direction was completely opposite the enemy's attack—how could he be captured?

The Fubo Army also suffered one dead and over ten wounded. The Guangning Battalion 1st Squadron leader, who'd retreated first, was brought before Yang Zeng.

"You are the Guangning Battalion 1st Squadron leader?"

"Yes... yes..."

"Did you order the retreat?"

"Yes, it was me."

"Execute him."

After issuing this order, Yang Zeng immediately gave a second: "Interrogate the captives immediately. I want an intelligence report!"

The detachment quickly cleared the battlefield, treated wounded, and purged surrounding remnant enemies. From corpses abandoned on the battlefield, one could clearly distinguish Ming troops in uniforms, Yao in indigo jackets, and Lang (Zhuang) from Guangxi... This confirmed Xu Ke and others' previous speculation: to oppose the Senate outsider, Xiong Wencan had mobilized all available resources to "add chaos" to the South China Army.

From captives' mouths, they learned this incoming enemy force was a native chieftain's armed contingent sent by Xiong Wencan from Guangxi, combined with Yao and local bandits, gathered into a large force commanded by a "General" under Xiong Wencan. As for this general's identity, captives couldn't say clearly. Only that he was a "Han official."

This "Han official" had arrived in Guangning with troops half a month ago. Flying the official flag with proper seals, he'd soon gathered numerous adherents. Currently he commanded a "mixed armed force" exceeding a thousand. The composition was complex: native chieftain forces from Guangxi, Ming army stragglers, various bandits, rioting Yao, and local militia seeking fortune in chaos. A complete hodgepodge.

This force had occupied Guangning three days ago. Huaiji, due to strenuous resistance by local village braves and militia, hadn't fallen, but traffic in and out had been cut off.

"What? Guangning has fallen?" Yang Zeng and Huang Chao were greatly shocked by this news.

Though some county seats had indeed fallen after bandit chaos spread, those fallen seats were all where no personnel had been officially sent yet, "maintained" temporarily by local gentry or surrendered Ming officials. These seats either lacked armaments or surrendered garrisons proved half-hearted, easily exploited by external forces. Their fall wasn't strange. But Guangning County had a naturalized citizen County Director and a National Army squadron.

This squadron even had spare capacity to garrison a squad at Shijian, showing the situation wasn't critical.

"Where are the Great Song officials in the county?" This was Huang Chao's greatest concern.

"Great Song officials in the county—some died in battle, some were killed. Heard they killed quite a few. The Magistrate was caught and beheaded..."

This blow struck harder than before. Especially for Huang Chao. Though he didn't know this County Director personally, he knew those appointed as County Directors by the Senate were elite among naturalized citizens. Many had followed the Senate five or six years, working their way up from village cadre or administrative positions in enterprises and agencies, cultivated over many years.

The dozen-plus naturalized cadres who'd gone with him to organize the team were also mostly carefully cultivated elites with both grassroots experience and training.

The loss of these cadres far exceeded the loss of several National Army squadrons in severity.

As for how the county seat fell, captives couldn't explain, knowing only that stratagem was used to take it from inside and out. Part of the National Army died in battle, another part surrendered when the city fell, and remnants with a few surviving cadres fled to Huaiji.

Hearing a few survived, Huang Chao felt somewhat better. But hearing some surrendered felt even worse. In all the years since the Fubo Army's founding, no matter what storms encountered, there'd never been units or soldiers who actively surrendered. This time it actually happened!

"Most National Army lack sufficient training—naturally their fighting will isn't strong. Chief needn't mind too much," Yang Zeng said. "They're all temporarily conscripted old soldiers and commoners. How much fighting will can they have? I think having units like the Wuzhou Squadron that can fight already exceeds expectations. Even that Guangning 1st Squadron—retreating before the enemy without collapsing on the spot is already quite good."

"You're right. We were too rash—didn't train them properly. On what basis did we ask them to throw away their lives?!" Huang Chao said with some pain. "Too self-righteous!" He paused. "How many cadres and soldiers sacrificed in vain? This is all the result of our arrogance and rashness!"

Yang Zeng dared not answer. He knew Chief Huang addressed the Senate—this didn't belong to categories he could comment on. He whispered, "We should still recover Guangning as soon as possible..."

"Not as soon as possible, but cautiously," Huang Chao said. "Don't repeat the mistake of rashness."

Yang Zeng had originally wanted to send a few companies light-packed to strike straight at Guangning, but since the Senator instructed otherwise, he couldn't disobey. He ordered the Sui River Detachment to abandon boats and land at the campsite near Baoding Mountain, stockpiling transshipment materials, preparing to launch a siege against Guangning County seat.

Guangning originally belonged to Sihui. In the Jiajing era, Sihui's northwest suffered years of turmoil, so in Jiajing's 38th year, Guangning County was established by carving land from Sihui County, taking the meaning "widespread peace," still belonging to Zhaoqing Prefecture. The city wall used long stone strips as base, covered with green bricks above, over eight meters high. Though not as tall and large as Guangzhou's city wall, it was strongly fortified—not a small city easily taken. Originally, Zhu Mingxia and others all thought no matter how chaotic Guangning became, at least the county seat could be kept from falling.

According to captive confessions and intelligence: over a thousand enemy troops guarded the city. Strength approached the Sui River Detachment's, and they had city wall protection plus considerable firearms. So whether commanders like Yang Zeng and Huang Chao or ordinary officers and soldiers below, all knew this would most likely be another bitter battle. However, soldiers' morale ran very high. Hearing the county's naturalized director and National Army were killed by bandits, they all felt common hatred. They clamored to ruthlessly teach this gang of bandits who dared provoke "Senate prestige" a lesson.

Considering the task's arduousness and National Army casualties, Yang Zeng decided this time the 8th Battalion, which hadn't acted yet, would undertake the main attack mission. For Li Dong's squadron soldiers, this was undoubtedly a huge relief. Continuous battles along the way had already left them somewhat exhausted.

The Fubo Army's combat power was legendary, their equipment incomparable. The biggest difference between Fubo Army and National Army, at least superficially, was firearms—or more directly: they had cannons. These hollow iron pillars always polished shiny made National Army soldiers envious. If the Wuzhou Squadron had cannons during the North Pass battle, they might not have let the enemy reach the breastwork at all.