Water Margin begins as a captain in Yanggu County

Chapter 421 May my descendants be ministers of the Great Yan for generations to come!
The gates of Wuzhou were indeed opening, and countless soldiers rushed out, including the prefect Huang Sheng, who rode out on a low horse...

At this moment, there was no longer any bandit facing the city. The bandits were all closely watching the direction of the thundering hooves, hoping to hide as soon as possible...

Those iron cavalry were truly capable of disrupting and killing, even displaying remarkable discipline. Their routes seemed preordained, and they had to deal with the bandits arrayed outside the city at every turn...

At this very moment, the city's garrison also rushed out. Some of the bandits might have wanted to fight, but most of them had only one thought in mind: to quickly hide and escape...

Having too many people isn't necessarily all good; it can greatly boost the sense of complacency among some of them.

Just like how Yelü Dashi, with only a few thousand men, slaughtered more than 100,000 Song soldiers, leaving their corpses stretching from south of Yanjing all the way to Xiongzhou...

The reason is simple: on a battlefield with too many people, one feels that with so many people, it's okay to exert less effort, it's okay to dodge, it's okay to retreat a little...

On the contrary, armies of a few hundred or a thousand men often have better cohesion, especially in the defense of fortified villages. With a few hundred men in a fortified village, the Song army could often hold it like a nail, and tens of thousands of enemies could not break through it.

At this very moment, with countless bandits ahead, the thousands of defending soldiers rushing out of the city, their formation scattered, reacted instinctively to hide and take cover...

In reality, these defending troops who rushed out were far less capable than the bandits outside the city, because they had never fought a war before, and most of them had never killed anyone. They were just rushing out, and at the first moment of engagement, they were even a bit flustered and didn't know how to use their weapons properly...

However, as long as there is local concentration and unity, even in such a chaotic situation, it is not difficult to kill scattered bandits.

What was Yang Zaixing doing at that moment?
He initially led his men to meet them in the southeast, but the Yan army cavalry charged in and he missed them. He then quickly led his men to follow within the formation, but they could never catch up with the horses...

Then, seeing the Yan army's strong horses galloping in disarray, he thought of choosing a direction and intercepting them in advance...

He circled among the crowd, constantly boosting morale and gathering more men. After much deliberation, he resolved to stop this reckless horde of knights, lest the consequences be dire.

The idea was correct, but reality was quite different from the idea. It was also because none of these bandits, including Cao Cheng and Yang Zaixing, had ever seen such a scene of iron cavalry charging into battle...

No matter how hard Yang Zaixing tried, he could neither catch up with the valiant knights, nor stop them, and he couldn't even find a position to intercept them...

Su Wu rode his horse back and forth, charging wildly, crashing and circling...

There was no surprise or excitement, only a blank expression; it was all too familiar and too simple...

Even his own soldiers thought this was quite ordinary; these bandits, who hadn't yet become a force to be reckoned with, were nothing more than weeds...

On the distant platform, Cao Cheng was also dumbfounded. He repeatedly shouted and beat the drum, but to no avail.

In his desperation, he paced back and forth along the edge of the command platform, shouting orders to the left and right, hoping to command the countless bandits, or at least get them to cooperate and drive out the mere thousand or so knights…

Originally, the plan was to defeat those fierce knights, but that was no longer the case. All they wanted was to drive them away and prevent them from charging and killing so recklessly...

Simply giving orders back and forth... is no different from having no orders at all...

It's truly impossible to command them; even if military orders are issued, the various units cannot carry out what the orders say...

Cao Cheng turned to look, and there was supposed to be a person standing next to a tent to the side, but when he looked again, the person was no longer there...

Cao Cheng thought to himself, "They've run away again, they must have run away again..."

The words were certainly true: Ninth Prince Zhao Gou had fled again, even more decisively than last time. So decisively that the moment he saw the shadow of reinforcements, without even clearly seeing Su Wu's dragon banner, he had already turned and left...

Which way to go? Actually, it's northwest...

What lies to the northwest from here? Zhaozhou, and further northwest is Guizhou. If you continue in this direction, you will enter the mountains and forests... And what lies further west in the mountains and forests? You will inevitably reach the Dali Kingdom.

For Zhao Gou, the best course of action was to head to the mountains and forests first...

In that instant, Cao Cheng turned to look at the place where Zhao Gou was no longer there, and then looked at the chaotic formation in front of him. A thought popped into his mind: should he also leave quickly like the Ninth Prince?

If we don't leave now, will it be too late?
He could see the dragon banner clearly. If the emperor was coming as the vanguard, the main army must be approaching. If they were too slow...

go?
don't go?

Cao Cheng looked around, his heart filled with complex emotions, torn and hesitant...

With such a favorable situation and hundreds of thousands of troops, once he leaves, it will likely be impossible to gather that number again in the future...

With his departure, he will lose the hearts and minds of the people and the army, and it will be difficult for anyone to trust him again...

The reason he was able to raise an army so quickly and bring it to this point is that his base of support is his reputation and the hearts of the people in the martial arts world. Once he leaves, it's one thing for the lackeys to leave, but how can those who truly believe in him and the heroes of the martial arts world still believe in him in the future?

Thinking this through, he stopped and shouted, "Go and order all units to return to camp immediately!"

After saying this, he ordered his soldiers to go in all directions. He then turned to look at his own camp, which was small and could not hold many people. Even disregarding accommodation, food, and sanitation, if people were packed together, it could probably only hold thirty or forty thousand people...

There was no other way but to act quickly. At this moment, there was no time to think too much. As long as they returned to camp, they could stabilize the army and then consider the next steps. Those thousand-odd cavalrymen were absolutely incapable of attacking the camp...

In fact, Cao Cheng didn't even need to give any orders; some clever people had already started turning around and running towards the camp...

Following military orders naturally accelerates this process...

Yang Zaixing was still trying his best to block and intercept them within the great formation. In the crowd, he was completely unaware that the rebel army on the outer perimeter was fleeing towards the camp...

He could only sense that the people around him were becoming increasingly sparse...

With the troops sparsely distributed, the Yan soldiers charging into battle found it incredibly easy, and Yang Zaixing struggled to keep up...

When Yang Zaixing finally realized what was happening, he was furious, but there was nothing he could do but hurry back to the camp...

Yang Zaixing thought that he should either sound the retreat or fight to the death. Why was he neither sounding the retreat nor retreating, and why was the camp gates open?

What's the logic behind this? What's the deal with Cao Cheng, this commander-in-chief?

In fact, Cao Cheng was also clever. If he had simply sounded the retreat, he feared that the tide of war would have been unstoppable and the army would have scattered and fled.

Although these thousand or so cavalrymen caused chaos and killed countless enemies, their numbers were still small, and the number of enemies they killed was not actually that many. Most of the bandits were in their formation and felt relatively safe. They hadn't yet reached the point of complete rout; they were just in disarray...

Therefore, Cao Cheng's idea was to gather as many troops as possible first, rather than immediately sounding the retreat. He wanted to fill the camp to capacity first, and once it was full, there would still be at least 30,000 to 40,000 men left to go...

If we truly suffer a crushing defeat, then it will be irreversible; all the hard-won progress we've made will vanish in an instant...

But when the camp was truly full, even more people couldn't get in, and defeat still occurred...

The Yan cavalry continued to charge and drive away the enemy, even charging right up to the densest areas outside the camp. Countless bandits were unable to enter the camp and could only run in all directions, with the entire mountainside filled with fleeing bandits...

And Huang Sheng's troops, although they did not kill many bandits, were they not also driving away the bandit army at this time?
A massive defeat was clearly imminent. Su Wu had seen it many times, but Huang Sheng was seeing it for the first time. In his view, how could it not be an earth-shattering victory?
Overjoyed, Huang Sheng, sitting on his horse, shouted incessantly and danced with excitement.

The area surrounding Wuzhou is covered with mountains and forests, and slowly... countless bandits were swallowed up by these forests...

Countless bandits' corpses littered the fields...

Su Wu led his cavalry, but stopped galloping and slowly rode around the camp. Everywhere they went, inside the camp's fences, were pairs of terrified eyes...

The dragon banner slowly came to a stop in front of the enemy camp. Su Wu dismounted, took off his helmet, and was truly exhausted—both he and his horse were tired…

Su Wu, however, did not return to the city. Seeing that it was still early, he walked closer to the camp gate and said, "Someone, go and persuade them to surrender..."

Armored knights rode forward, approaching within a dozen paces of the camp, and shouted: "His Majesty the Emperor of Great Yan has personally come to deliver a decree to you: those who surrender will be spared death, while those who resist will be beheaded after death, and their families will be imprisoned and sold!"

After saying this, the armored knight repeated it a few more times, then turned and left. The camp was crowded with people, but no one answered, and no arrows were shot at him...

They were all listening and watching in a daze...

Only after the knight turned and left did the murmur of whispers begin...

Su Wu turned back to comfort his horse, the Snow-White Black Steed. It was indeed a fine horse, and it must have been exhausted from countless battles. Su Wu felt sorry for it...

In the distance, dozens of riders, all on ponies, came galloping by...

When they were only a few dozen paces away, they reined in their horses and dismounted. Dozens of men came galloping over, one of them dressed as a civil official, who was the first to kneel down, followed by dozens of soldiers who also knelt down...

The leading civil official, Huang Sheng, the prefect of Wuzhou, was kowtowing, tears streaming down his face: "Your subject Huang Sheng thanks Your Majesty for saving my life!" The many soldiers followed suit, kowtowing as well…

Su Wu raised his hand and waved: "Get up and speak..."

Huang Sheng slowly stood up, wiping away his tears, and said, "If Your Majesty had not come today, I would have hanged myself inside the city tower. Your Majesty's might in charging into battle and killing the enemy today was astonishing and left me speechless. Your Majesty is mighty! Your Majesty is mighty!"

Su Wu looked Huang Sheng up and down, and asked with a smile, "So you can ride a horse too?"

"I...I learned to ride on the way to Guangxi, I dared not ride too fast...when I did ride, I just held onto the horse..."

Huang Sheng was truly genuine; he couldn't stop the tears streaming down his face and kept wiping them away...

Su Wu laughed and said, "It's not easy. You actually dared to lead your troops out of the city to fight just now. You have quite the courage..."

Huang Sheng waved his hands repeatedly: "I am as timid as a mouse. I wouldn't even dare to draw my sword and commit suicide. But seeing Your Majesty's divine might, invincible among 100,000 bandits, I have suddenly felt a bit of courage..."

"Have you killed the thief?" Su Wu asked with a slight smile.

"I didn't manage to kill them." Huang Sheng immediately shook his head, but then turned his head again: "However, some of my soldiers did manage to kill the bandits."

Su Wu slowly stopped smiling, raised his hand and beckoned: "Come closer..."

Huang Sheng strode forward and walked up to Su Wu...

Su Wu suddenly said, "This Great Yan has not been easy... I came from Bianjing thousands of miles away so that this Great Yan could stand firm. Now, Wuzhou and even the Guangnan region should truly belong to Great Yan, right?"

As he spoke, Su Wu also sighed...

Why must you come in person?
Isn't that also for this reason? This land of China is so vast, yet how difficult it is to unite people's hearts?
Where else did Su Wu's influence not reach? One is Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi; another is Sichuan…

He had to come and see this country, to let everyone in it feel his presence, and to let his story be told all over the world…

Now that this matter has passed, how could the Emperor's divine might not continue to be known in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions?

This is also a way to unite people's hearts. In the future, the children of Guangdong and Guangxi will grow up listening to the stories of the emperor's invincible bravery here. Many people have witnessed the stories firsthand. How can those young people not be excited and thrilled?
How could they not feel a sense of belonging to the country?

Huang Sheng understood Su Wu's words, but only half of them. He immediately knelt down and repeatedly said, "Your Majesty, I am guilty! I am guilty! In the past, I have been disrespectful to Your Majesty in private. Your Majesty did not despise me for my lowliness, nor did you despise the people of Wuzhou or the people of Guangdong and Guangxi. Today, Your Majesty has traveled thousands of miles to save my life and the people of Guangdong and Guangxi from suffering. Your Majesty is truly a sage ruler throughout history! The model of a ruler is no more than this! Your Majesty, I bow again and beg Your Majesty's forgiveness!"

"Get up..." Su Wu gently raised his hand.

But Huang Sheng did not rise. He spoke again: "Today, I swear here that from this day forward, I am willing to die for Your Majesty, I am willing to die for the Great Yan, and I wish that my descendants, generation after generation, will be subjects of the Great Yan!"

These words stirred a strange sense of melancholy in Su Wu's heart. Perhaps this was the first time Su Wu had heard such straightforward words of loyalty from a civil official, especially from a civil official of the old Song Dynasty.

How could Su Wu not sigh? It's always a good start, isn't it... I finally heard it...

But then Huang Sheng turned his head and gestured something, and the soldiers kneeling behind him started talking all at once.

"May I serve the Great Yan for generations to come!"

"May the Great Yan Dynasty last for generations..."

"From this day forward, I will serve Your Majesty to the death!"

"I will never forget Your Majesty's life-saving grace!"

Su Wu waved his hands to the left and right, saying, "Alright, alright, get up!"

Huang Sheng then stood up again, but said, "Your Majesty, what I have said comes from the bottom of my heart! It is by no means flattery! Your Majesty does not know that my heart is already ashen today. Your Majesty is like a god descended from heaven, Your Majesty..."

"Enough..." Su Wu liked to hear it, but knew that hearing these words too much was meaningless. However, he did offer a compliment: "You're not bad either. Instead of surrendering, you're preparing to die on the city wall..."

"Your Majesty, I am ashamed. All I think about is for the sake of my descendants. They are in Hebei. How can I follow the rebels?" Huang Sheng said bluntly.

Su Wu actually took a look at Huang Sheng, just because of Huang Sheng's straightforwardness.

Why?

In the past, during the Song Dynasty, many people abandoned their cities and fled, such as Zhao Mingcheng. Many others surrendered as well. Did they not have families?

Those who can prioritize their families over suicide are already far more numerous than many others...

Everyone has to care about something, things like integrity. You can't expect everyone to have that, but it's rare and precious to have someone who cares about it and is willing to die for it...

When Su Wu saw Huang Sheng approaching, he assumed that Huang Sheng was going to boast about how loyal he was to his country...

This person is actually quite adorable...

Huang Sheng is definitely tall among all the short people!

Su Wu asked, "Are you capable of being the Military Commissioner of Guangnan West Circuit?"

"Ah? Your Majesty..." Huang Sheng was about to kneel again.

Su Wu immediately raised his hand to stop him: "Why don't you try it first? If you do well, you'll be allowed to enter the capital in the future. If you don't do well, then we'll talk about it later..."

Su Wu didn't want to scare him. If he didn't do well, he might go to jail in the new dynasty, Great Yan. If things got really bad, he might even be beheaded...

"Your Majesty, I thank you for your boundless grace. I will do my utmost to fulfill this duty for Your Majesty!" Huang Sheng knelt down again.

Su Wu was actually quite pleased, and said, "Alright, you take your men back to the city first. I'll be coming into the city soon... You prepare food for the soldiers and fodder for the horses..."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Huang Sheng bowed and, without bothering with formalities, rushed off. He knew that doing his job well in front of His Majesty was more effective than kowtowing a hundred times.

The crowd followed behind, and once they had gone a little further, they were all overjoyed and quickly said, "Congratulations on your promotion, sir..."

"My lord, this time you have truly turned misfortune into blessing. The ancients were right; fortune and misfortune are interdependent..."

"Yes, yes, things are different now than before. In the past, there was no such thing as a regional governor. Now, in the new dynasty, the position of regional governor is permanent. They are the officials in charge of a region, true regional governors. Congratulations, sir!"

"Those who survive a great disaster will surely be blessed in the future!"

Huang Sheng was overjoyed, a smile on his face, and said, "From now on, I will serve His Majesty faithfully. Today, His Majesty saved my life, and I will repay him with my life. Yes, repay him with my life. Since ancient times, a scholar will die for one who understands him! This is how it should be, this is how it should be!"

These words didn't seem to be spoken by Huang Sheng to the others, but rather to himself.

"My lord is right. With such an emperor, we should be loyal! How can we not be filled with excitement today? Great Yan is great! Great Yan's emperor is even better!"

"Absolutely! From now on, we will all belong to Great Yan!"

"My husband... my husband..."

"What is it?" Huang Sheng asked.

"Sir, you now enjoy the Emperor's deep trust and are a high-ranking official in charge of a region. Your future is sure to be bright. Sir, you must help us out in the future..."

Upon hearing this, Huang Sheng's smile vanished, his brows furrowed, and his eyes swept around before he uttered a single sentence: "You all speak of opening the city gates today. I didn't mention this to His Majesty earlier to save face, but His Majesty will surely find out in the future... Which of you generals is truly capable? As for promotion... just wait and see if you will truly dare to risk your lives in the future..."

Huang Sheng spoke earnestly, but he was also angry inside. These people were all thinking of surrendering and opening the city gates... He was truly helpless while they were inside the city...

At this moment, after looking around, he was naturally unhappy...

These words made everyone lower their heads...

Then a man came and said, “My lord, it’s not that we are incompetent, but back in the days of the Great Song and the Great Yan, we…we didn’t know who we were fighting for. All we thought about was how to protect our own families…Now, now! This emperor has shown us such great kindness, how can we not repay it? How can we not be loyal? And let’s talk about tomorrow, my lord. Let’s see what tomorrow brings!”

Among dozens of people, there is always one who is unwilling to accept defeat. Although he did not oppose opening the city gates at first, it does not mean that he is not angry at all. As a military general, who does not want to be a brave and fierce warrior?
Huang Sheng took these words to heart; they made sense. The hearts of people in the Great Song and Great Yan were in turmoil. Guangnan and Wuzhou were a hundred and eight thousand miles away; how much loyalty and righteousness could be expected from them?
"Good, remember these words, and let's see what the future holds for you..." Huang Sheng nodded. He himself couldn't claim to have much loyalty and righteousness, so he thought to himself that after receiving so much teaching from sages, he should see if he could become a loyal and righteous minister in the future, and live a life without shame...

At this moment, inside the enemy camp, only in a partially packed tent, Yang Zaixing spoke angrily: "General, you didn't fight to the death when you should have. Now, with the camp so full, can it hold out until tomorrow?"

(End of this chapter)