Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 271 I must consider whether this is my only chance to become the county governor of Annan!

Wang Yue divided his troops into twelve groups, aimed at the Annan people's lair here, and launched a devastating offensive.

The cavalry cannot make full use of their superior mobility in these deep mountains and forests.

But the marching speed is at least faster than that of the Five Army Battalions which rely entirely on foot.

Therefore, the 1,000 cavalrymen from the 3,000-man battalion led by Wang Rui were the fastest to arrive at Xijiaozhai.

Like Niujiao Village, Xijiao Village is also full of women and children working in the village.

The young men and the elderly were nowhere to be seen.

When the women, children and common people working in Xijiao Village saw the Ming army led by Wang Rui, their reactions were exactly the same as those of the people in Niujiao Village.

They stopped what they were doing and stared blankly at Wang Rui and the others. There was no panic or fear in their eyes, only dullness and numbness.

"Stop!"

When they were fifty steps away from Niujiao Village, Wang Rui suddenly raised his hand and stopped the troops.

"Draw your bow and get ready!"

"put!"

This time, Wang Rui did not underestimate the enemy and paid great attention to the villagers in the village.

These women and children can no longer be called villagers. Their military skills are so high that they can even be called militia.

The soldiers of the Three Thousand Battalion took out the bows and crossbows from their backs and started shooting at the people in the village!

It was not until the arrows struck that the villagers became alarmed and began to scream and look for places to hide.

But it was too late. A large number of militiamen were hit by arrows. Although the injuries were not fatal, they had lost their ability to move.

"Ahhhhhh!!! Wow, hurry up and press the side button..."

A series of unintelligible Annamese words were heard, and Wang Rui raised his hand and pressed down again.

"put!"

After the second round of volleys, there were no more surviving militiamen outside Xijiao Village, and the remaining surviving militiamen all hid in the houses.

Wang Rui drew his long sword and ordered the soldiers behind him: "Go in and search. Anyone who is alive will be killed without mercy."

"Be careful with their blowguns. They are very poisonous."

"Yes!"

Wang Rui led the way and walked into Xijiao Village with his subordinates, where they searched carefully and alertly.

These militiamen had no chance to launch a surprise attack; they were quickly searched out and killed completely.

Similarly, they found a jar of poison, countless homemade bows and arrows, and feather arrows that had been poisoned in the village.

This proves that Wang Yue’s speculation was not wrong. These thirteen villages were not ordinary villages at all.

All the villagers in these villages are soldiers. They have all received professional military training and are good at killing the enemy.

"Retrieve the arrows, take these things with you, and rush to Qushui Village at full speed!"

"Yes!"

Wang Rui took away all the usable supplies, including the can of venom and arrows, and then immediately rushed to Qushui Village where the main force was located.

There was also a sea of ​​blood and corpses in Qushui Village.

This village is the largest in the surrounding area, with a population of over a thousand.

But these people are not enough to fill the gap in the face of an army of 100,000.

It didn't take long before Qushui Village was completely slaughtered by the Ming army and became a dead village.

The poison found in Qushui Village filled a large tank.

There were also thousands of homemade poison arrows.

Wang Yue did not waste these things. He asked the logistics troops to preserve them carefully and take them with them on the road.

After Wang Yue and the main force rested for a while in Qushui Village, the troops that Wang Yue had sent to destroy other villages also came to Qushui Village one after another to join them.

"General, Xijiao Village has been destroyed, and all the militiamen have been executed!"

"General, Yuhua Village is destroyed!"

"General, Dajiao Village has been wiped out!"

"General..."

All thirteen villages were massacred by the Ming army.

Moreover, these troops that were sent to destroy other villages all brought back the venom they had made.

Thirteen venom tanks of various sizes were also carried by the logistics troops.

"Keep marching!"

After everyone came back, Wang Yue didn't waste any more time and immediately gave the order to set off.

The 100,000-strong army set off again and quickly headed for Xuanhua Prefecture.

……

In the deep forest, a small troop of several thousand people moved cautiously.

This troop was the Mu Cong troop that was chasing after them.

They followed the traces left by Wang Yue's troops and chased them closely.

But even though there were traces of marching, they lost their way in the dense forest and went around in a big circle.

Mu Cong did not have the map of Annan given by Zhu Youtang, so he was very unfamiliar with the environment here and everything looked the same to him.

The attendants who were accompanying him advised Mu Cong several times not to chase anymore, for fear that something unexpected might happen.

But Mu Cong's attitude was very firm. He must chase and catch up with Wang Yue's large army.

At this moment, Mu Cong was extremely anxious.

How could they not catch up with such a large army?
If something terrible happened because of his negligence, he would be unable to sleep or eat.

At this moment, the soldier in front suddenly turned around and reported to Mu Cong: "My Lord, there is something going on ahead, it seems to be a stockade!"

"What?! Be very careful and alert!"

Upon hearing this, Mu Cong's expression immediately changed, as if he was facing a formidable enemy.

"Everyone, draw your bows and arrows, and be ready at any time."

"If there is anything unusual in the village ahead, take action immediately, regardless of age, gender, kill everyone immediately, do you understand?"

"Yes, Your Excellency the Duke!"

Although his trusted troops were puzzled by Mu Cong's cautious attitude, they still nodded and obeyed his orders.

Mu Cong led his trusted troops and approached the village cautiously, even deliberately slowing down his breathing.

His trusted troops really didn't understand why Mu Cong was so nervous when it was just an ordinary village.

This is not the behavior that should be expected from a victorious general like him who had quelled many rebellions of chieftains.

Slowly, Mu Cong and his trusted troops arrived near the village.

But the scene inside shocked them and made them break out in cold sweats.

In the village, blood was flowing and corpses were scattered all over the ground.

The people in the village were slaughtered, and there was no one alive in the entire village. And those villagers who were killed were women and children, not even a young man or an old man!
Mu Cong frowned and walked in the village to check the situation, feeling a little heavy-hearted.

The followers around Mu Cong couldn't help but frown and look angry after seeing such a cruel scene.

"These...could they be done by General Wang's troops?"

"How could they be so cruel as to kill even unarmed civilians, women and children?!"

"What they are doing is simply tarnishing the reputation of the Ming Dynasty and bringing discredit to the Ming Dynasty!"

"..."

The followers spoke angrily, expressing their indignation for the Annan women and children who died tragically on the ground, and accused Wang Yue's large army of being too cruel and inhumane.

Mu Cong glanced at the followers around him, his face gloomy and he said nothing.

At this moment, a trusted soldier suddenly shouted excitedly.

"Everybody, come on! Come and see!"

"There is a new grave here. It is so big!"

"And the wooden plaque in front of the tomb is engraved with Chinese characters!"

"..."

The man's shouting attracted the attention of a large number of soldiers.

They gathered around curiously, stood in front of the big tomb, looked at the Chinese characters on the wooden sign, and guessed what was written on it.

Unfortunately, not many of these soldiers can read, and basically all of them are illiterate. They can’t understand what the words mean just by looking at them.

It was not until Mu Cong came over with his followers and saw the Chinese characters on the wooden sign that his expression suddenly became serious. He read out the characters one by one to the soldiers around him.

"The collective tomb of loyal and heroic soldiers of the Ming Dynasty."

Hearing this, the expressions of the surrounding soldiers also became serious.

Those buried here are all their brothers and sisters.

As fellow soldiers, they had already prepared themselves for death. On the battlefield, they would be buried where they died.

Some are lucky enough to die on the battlefield and return to their hometown after the war.

But more people will stay on the battlefield permanently.

At this time, the soldiers under Mu Cong stood in awe of the Ming martyrs in the tomb.

Wooden signs are made of freshly cut wood.

The words above were also carved deeply with a knife, penetrating deep into the wood.

Below the wooden plaque, there is a brief epitaph.

It records how they were deceived by these Annan women and children militia and let their guard down, which led to their attack and death.

After reading this epitaph, those followers who originally thought that Wang Yue’s troops were cruel all blushed and lowered their heads in shame.

They were still expressing their indignation for the dead Annan women and children and were still angry about the brutal acts of the Ming army.

But when they read this epitaph and learned the truth of the matter, they realized how stupid they were and how wrong they were.

It turned out that these so-called women and children were actually militiamen who had received military training and possessed combat capabilities.

If it weren't for Wang Yue's troops who eliminated the threat for them first, they would have been the ones who fell into the attack.

If that was the case, the person lying in this joint tomb now might be themselves!
"I'm sorry, I actually felt sorry for these despicable and cunning enemies before. I was wrong about our brother troops!"

"Damn it! Who could have thought that Annan was so despicable that he even trained women and children as soldiers? We were wrong about this before and we were disrespectful to our brother troops. It's a sin!"

"I am guilty! I actually cursed our brother troops before, and I didn't expect that they would indirectly save our lives. I feel guilty and I repent!"

"..."

In front of the grave, many people apologized for their previous rash and angry behavior when they did not fully understand the situation.

Looking at this scene, Mu Cong sighed and said with emotion: "When I was a child, my grandfather once told me that the Annan people were in constant civil strife and all the people were soldiers."

“Not only women, but even children, will fight and kill from a young age.”

"They are good at collecting venom from snakes and insects, and then quenching the venom on arrows to attack and injure people."

"When they went south to the counties and prefectures of Jiaozhi, they suffered great losses at the hands of these militias because of their kindness."

"I didn't believe it at the time. I thought, how could a little kid kill someone?"

"Now that I see it, it is indeed the case."

"I'm afraid these martyrs were accidentally hit by their hidden arrows and died of poison."

Mu Cong was quick-witted and immediately analyzed the reasons for the deaths of these martyrs.

Mu Cong’s grandfather was Mu Sheng, the first Duke of Qian.

The first head of the Mu family, Mu Ying, Zhu Yuanzhang’s adopted son, was Marquis of Xiping during his lifetime and was posthumously named King of Qianning.

After the death of his brother Mu Chun, Mu Sheng inherited the title of Marquis of Xiping. In the fourth year of Yongle, under the order of Emperor Taizong, he and General Zhang Fu entered Jiaozhi from Dianzhou and launched the famous Battle of Jiaozhi.

After the war, the Ming Dynasty successfully established prefectures, counties and provincial governments in Jiaozhi, incorporating Jiaozhi into the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Because of his military achievements, Mu Sheng was promoted to Duke of Qian, a title that was hereditary.

Unfortunately, during the Xuande period, Le Loi rebelled again, and Mu Sheng was once again ordered to march to Jiaozhi.

Because of the obstruction of civil servants in the south of the Yangtze River, such as Yang Shiqi, the supply in the later period was in a mess, and important military intelligence was frequently leaked, which led to successive defeats in the war.

They also indirectly killed the famous general Anyuan Hou Liu Sheng, who went on the expedition to Jiaozhi with Mu Sheng.

This forced Mu Sheng to withdraw his troops, and the Ming Dynasty lost Jiaozhi forever.

After Mu Sheng's death, he was posthumously named King of Dingyuan, and his achievements were comparable to those of his father Mu Ying.

After so many years, the position of Duke of Qian fell to Mu Sheng's grandson, Mu Cong.

Since childhood, Mu Cong has always envied his grandfather Mu Sheng's achievements in Jiaozhi.

He earnestly hoped that one day he would be able to expand the territory of the Ming Dynasty and become famous through the ages.

Later, when Jiaozhi became independent from the Ming Dynasty again and changed its name to Annan, he was filled with hatred.

He wished he could lead his troops immediately to massacre the entire Li royal family and retake Jiaozhi.

Unfortunately, everyone knows what happened next.

Cabinet officials headed by Yang Shiqi and the Three Yangs, together with the Jiangnan smuggling group, secretly obstructed the Ming Dynasty's efforts to regain Jiaozhi.

Mu Cong saw it all and was worried. Even after becoming the Duke of Qian, he often sighed towards the south.

Now, His Majesty has finally decided to rule Annan again.

He was determined to seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

He is now nearly forty years old, and he must consider whether this is his only chance in his life to rule Annan.

To this end, he did not hesitate to leave his post and rashly break into the territory of Annan, just to catch up with Wang Yue's large army and participate in the war in the county of Annan!
In front of the collective tomb of the loyal and heroic soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, Mu Cong and his trusted soldiers bowed and clasped their hands in front of the tomb to show their respect.

Then he waved his hand and ordered, "Keep chasing. The main force must be ahead. Chase at full speed and make sure to catch up with them!"

"Yes, Your Excellency the Duke!"

At Mu Cong's command, three thousand trusted soldiers set off again.

Following the traces left by the large army, they chased forward.

(End of this chapter)