Chapter 2300 - Surprise Attack on Wuzhou
After scaling the wall and entering the city, Jiang Suo, Song Ming, and their men slipped into a narrow alley behind the Prefectural Yamen. Jiang Suo and Yi Haoran had scouted this location beforehand, marking three adjacent civilian houses as their staging point.
A night watchman was making his rounds in the back alley. One of the personal guards rushed forward and cut him down with a slash across the waist. Another man immediately stripped off the watchman's tattered clothes and donned them himself, picking up the clapper and lantern to continue the patrol.
The rest vaulted over the courtyard walls, opened the gates from inside, and dozens of men surged into the courtyards. Doors and windows were quickly sealed as they concealed themselves within.
Jiang Suo followed the group inside and found seven bodies sprawled across the courtyard—women, children, and elderly. His stomach turned. As he looked away, he saw soldiers dragging four bound captives into the yard, forcing them to their knees with blades raised to strike.
The prisoners were either very old or very young; the youngest was just a child. Cloth strips gagged their mouths, and terror contorted their faces. Seeing the corpses on the ground, they writhed and whimpered for mercy.
"Spare them," Jiang Suo said to Song Ming. "These are innocent commoners. Why must they die?"
Song Ming laughed. "General Jiang, you truly have a Bodhisattva's heart. A soldier must be decisive. Though they are innocent, a single cry would ruin everything. Since ancient times, those who achieve great things do not fret over trifles or speak of small mercies. Only those who dare to kill can save the state!" He waved his hand and whispered, "Execute them."
His guards complied. Broadswords rose and fell, and all four heads dropped in an instant. Blood pooled across the courtyard. Jiang Suo couldn't bear to watch and turned away. Years of warfare had hardened his heart considerably, but senseless slaughter still disgusted him.
Whether bandits or government troops, they were all bloodthirsty by nature, treating common folk like weeds to be cut down.
Song Ming paid no attention to his discomfort. He called over two of his most meticulous guards and ordered them to creep along the back wall to the rear gate of the Yamen and listen for any movement inside.
Xie Erren's eyes were bloodshot. The fury over Cai Lan's betrayal still burned within him, keeping the naturalized staff around him silent as cicadas in winter, afraid to even breathe too loudly.
When Zhao Fengtian arrived to report the latest situation, Xie Erren's expression remained blank. After listening, he said flatly, "Very well. Continue the interrogation. Find out what treasures they're hiding..."
"Chief, perhaps you should rest first..."
"I'm not tired." Sleep was the furthest thing from Xie Erren's mind. The drum tower struck the third watch—the deepest hour of the night. Feeling restless, he rose from his chair and paced around the flower hall that served as his office, stretching his stiff muscles.
A muffled explosion suddenly rumbled from beyond the city walls.
Xie Erren froze. That was gunpowder. There had been little fighting around Wuzhou lately, certainly nothing involving artillery. He sprang to his feet. "What's happening? Who's firing cannons?"
Before long, the duty officer rushed in to report: "The explosion came from Sanhezu—"
His words were cut short by a succession of blasts. Xie Erren's face drained of color, his legs trembling involuntarily. Could this be a massive counterattack by the Ming army? Wuzhou had so few troops...
"Quick! Assemble everyone, full alert!" He paused, aware of how panicked he sounded, and forced himself to speak more evenly. "Send for Qian Duo and Zhu Si!"
Qian Duo was stationed at the Three Generals' Office and would take time to arrive. Zhu Si, however, was already in the Prefectural Yamen. The explosion had jolted him from sleep, and he came running in his hastily donned uniform.
"What's the situation outside?" Xie Erren demanded the moment he entered, catching him off guard. Zhu Si had rushed over without stopping to gather information.
"Sir, I haven't had time to find out—"
"Then find out! Go see what the hell is going on!" As Zhu Si turned to leave, Xie Erren stopped him. "Gather all your men!"
"Chief, I have no men right now," Zhu Si said quickly. "The Second Squadron went to receive the convoy..."
Only then did Xie Erren remember that Zhu Si, Battalion Commander of the Wuzhou National Army, was currently a commander without troops. The only remaining unit, the Third Squadron, was stationed outside the city.
"Take my guard detail. Patrol the city gates first. If anywhere needs reinforcement, send men there."
Xie Erren had five guards around him, handpicked from the Garrison Battalion by the General Security Bureau. But that was far too few. After arriving in Wuzhou, he had recruited several young men with clean backgrounds and reliable families from the National Army and Detective Team to form a "Guard Squad." This was his last reserve.
"Yes sir, I'll go immediately," Zhu Si said. "I'll take two squads and leave one here."
"Go, go!" Xie Erren waved impatiently. "What could possibly happen here? The city walls are the priority!"
Zhu Si hurried out. Xie Erren's anxiety mounted as explosion after explosion echoed from beyond the walls, punctuated by the crack of gunfire and the boom of muskets. He moved to the window and saw what appeared to be firelight flickering in the sky over Sanhezu.
This is bad, he thought. Sanhezu is under attack. The Third Squadron was isolated there without support. They could probably defend themselves, but the prisoner camp would almost certainly be overrun.
Most of those held in the camp were captured Ming officers, soldiers, and local officials. If the camp fell, these prisoners would scatter—not only creating new threats in the rear but also marking two large black marks on his record for the governance of Wuzhou.
Cold sweat trickled down his back. Just as he stood there paralyzed with indecision, Qian Duo arrived.
"What's the situation?"
"I've already been up on the tower to look." Qian Duo hadn't been resting; he was on duty at the Three Generals' Office. He had climbed the wall the moment the explosions began. "The blasts came from the camp. It's on fire now, and there are flames at the Third Squadron's ramparts. Some force has attacked Sanhezu."
"How large?"
"Impossible to judge at this point. But judging by the size of the fire, the enemy has already breached the camp—the camp's own defenses were never strong. Everything depends on whether Jiang Yougong can retake it quickly..." Qian Duo hesitated. "I launched a signal rocket to request status, but..."
"But what?"
"Every time we launch a rocket, the enemy launches multiple rockets simultaneously to jam our signals. We can't interpret Sanhezu's reply."
"What about the optical signal device..."
"The fire at Sanhezu creates too much interference. We can't make out anything."
Damn it! Xie Erren fumed silently. Those people in the Industry Sector working on wireless radios should all be shot!
"Let's go. We'll observe from the tower." Pacing here accomplished nothing; he might as well see the situation firsthand. They left the Prefectural Yamen and climbed to the Nanxun Gate. Leaning over the battlements, they saw flames roaring skyward over Sanhezu, with faint sounds of battle drifting on the wind. Fires dotted the riverbank, and signal rockets streaked into the sky one after another.
"Company Commander Qian," Xie Erren said urgently. The situation looked dire—not only was Sanhezu likely lost, but the Third Squadron appeared to be in mortal danger. "Assemble your troops immediately. Send a platoon out to rescue Sanhezu. If we don't act, Jiang Yougong's entire squadron will be wiped out!"
"Chief, that's not wise," Qian Duo said hesitantly. "Sending a small unit out of the city in the middle of the night to provide support... what if they walk into an ambush? Besides, we have too few troops in the city as it is..."
"Then—then what do we do?" Xie Erren's voice cracked.
"I'll send a few capable men to rappel down the wall and scout the situation, then make a decision based on what they find." Qian Duo's mind was already made up. Neither the Third Squadron nor the prisoner camp were truly important targets. Wuzhou itself, and Elder Xie, were what he had to protect. Moreover, the chaos outside suggested the enemy was bluffing—trying to draw reinforcements from the city and ambush them on the way.
"All right, all right. Send men quickly."
"Please return to the Yamen, Chief. I'll take charge here and send word as soon as we learn anything." Seeing Xie Erren's rattled demeanor, Qian Duo knew the Elder was unreliable right now and would only be a hindrance if he stayed on the wall.
In the back alley, Song Ming and his men heard the cannon fire and knew the Sanhezu operation had begun. Shouts and commotion echoed from the streets beyond. The group remained silent, waiting.
After what felt like an eternity, three soft knocks sounded at the courtyard gate. Song Ming's pulse quickened, and he immediately ordered the door opened.
The personal guard posing as the watchman gestured toward the rear door of the Prefectural Yamen. Song Ming and Jiang Suo felt their hearts pounding wildly. Everything was going smoothly.
Who would have thought that this heavily defended Wuzhou was so hollow inside?
At Song Ming's signal, several guards formed a human ladder and quickly scaled the wall to open the rear door. The soldiers filed in without a sound.
Xie Erren returned from the tower feeling shaken. He hadn't expected the Ming army to still possess such strength—to penetrate this deep into enemy territory... It seemed the Liangguang strategy had been overly ambitious.
He sank into his chair, exhaustion washing over him. Moments later, Zhu Si sent a messenger to report: enemy activity had been spotted outside various gates, but no attacks had materialized. Defenses at all gates had been strengthened and were holding.
"Good, good." Xie Erren exhaled in relief. The enemy apparently wasn't here to storm the city. Wuzhou should be safe...
Before he could finish the thought, a burst of clamor erupted outside—screams, cries of agony, then gunshots. Xie Erren bolted upright. What was happening now?
As he hesitated, his security secretary stumbled through the door, drenched in blood, one arm missing entirely.
"Enemy attack—" he shouted, then collapsed dead on the floor.
Xie Erren was thunderstruck. This was the Wuzhou Prefectural Yamen. Though the garrison was small, high walls surrounded it on all sides, and the city wall lay beyond. The Baojia system within the city was strict as well. Where had enemies materialized in the dead of night?
His hand shot into the drawer for his pistol, but before he could draw it, a dozen men in black surged into the room. Their leader, a short, wiry man, pressed the tip of a border army war saber against Xie Erren's chest.
"Let go!"
Though the man's accent was thick, Xie Erren immediately released the pistol.
"Chief Xie," the intruder said in a low voice, "you're coming with us. Don't try anything foolish, and we won't harm you."
(End of Chapter)