Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 370, The Young Marshal Surrenders

The Zu family's troops, unaware of the impending disaster, were still besieging Ma Qi and his men at the foot of Qianshan Mountain.

Meanwhile, reinforcements from the Huaiyin army had secretly surrounded them.

At the end of Shen Shi (3-5 PM), as the sun sets, the gongs and drums sound.

The soldiers from the Zu family, exhausted from a day's work, withdrew from the mountain.

Actually, it wasn't dark yet; in fact, strictly speaking, the mountain assault could still be carried out even in the dark.

However, although these soldiers were raised by the Zu family, they were only receiving a salary. At first, some of them thought of breaking into the Buddhist temple and capturing Chu Renfeng to claim the reward because of the generous reward offered by the Zu family. However, after several days of setbacks and the deaths of many soldiers, these tragic scenes had already made them calm down and they began to just loaf around instead of putting in any effort.

As for the generals, many of them accepted bribes from Ma Qi and simply went through the motions.

Therefore, as soon as it got dark, before 5 PM, the soldiers withdrew.

These soldiers were generally undisciplined. After coming down the mountain, they immediately started a fire to cook, with virtually no defensive measures. Some soldiers casually piled up their weapons, leaned against trees, or rested on haystacks while waiting for their meal.

The generals didn't really care about this situation; most of them enjoyed themselves in their private tents, where women's voices could be heard.

When the old commander was still alive, Zu Xian led the army to guard the far northern frontier, and the military discipline was not so bad.

However, after the old commander fell seriously ill, Zu Xian, under the guise of the old commander's orders, secretly led his troops back to Fengtian. The generals enjoyed the good things in Fengtian, and thus began to degenerate one by one.

To pursue Chu Renfeng, Zu Xian needed to stay in Fengtian City to stabilize the situation after Chu Yuqi's death, so he could only send his younger brother Zu Mao, who had no experience in commanding troops, to lead the pursuit.

Zu Mao was just a playboy who was neither good at military affairs nor at literature. There were many generals in the army who were more suitable than Zu Mao.

However, the matter of hunting down Chu Renfeng concerned the life and fortune of the Zu family, and Zu Xian dared not entrust it to anyone else but his own younger brother.

It should be noted that Chu Renfeng had been trained by Chu Yuqi for many years and had great prestige in the army. If he were to hand over command of troops to someone else, and Chu Renfeng persuaded them to surrender, the whole thing would be over.

Zu Xian knew that Zu Mao was not up to the task, but he only had Zu Mao as his choice.

As expected, Zu Mao failed to live up to Zu Xian's expectations.

After Chu Renfeng escaped from Fengtian, Zu Xian immediately ordered Zu Mao to lead a large army to pursue and kill him.

But Zu Mao was reluctant to give up the luxuries he enjoyed in Fengtian. He wanted to bring luxurious carriages and beautiful maids with him, so he could only let the vanguard pursue him first, and he himself led the main force out of the city the next day.

This action gave Chu Renfeng a great opportunity to escape.

After leaving the city, Zu Mao sat in a luxurious carriage, but the bumpy road was still unbearable for him. He chased all the way to Liaoyang, where he felt like his body was about to fall apart. He went straight into the city and handed over the pursuit to other generals.

Therefore, the pursuing troops were scattered and undisciplined, mainly because the nominal commander was still enjoying himself in Liaoyang City, a hundred miles away.

The steaming hot sorghum and millet were cooked, served with wild vegetables, and topped with a layer of lard. The soldiers' mouths watered, and they began to eat.

Zu Xian secretly led his troops back to Fengtian to plot a rebellion, which did not have the moral high ground. Therefore, the only way to ensure the loyalty of the soldiers was to improve their treatment. As a result, the soldiers' food was quite good, especially in this era, it was considered to be of a very high standard.

There's nothing more blissful than eating steaming hot sorghum rice mixed with vegetables soaked in lard.

If so, perhaps it's when you look up unintentionally at that moment and see a shooting star swaying in the sky.

A fiery red meteor, trailing a long tail, fell straight toward them against the backdrop of the slightly darkening sky.

"This is?"

boom! boom! boom!
A series of violent explosions rang out in the camp. The soldiers' faces changed drastically as they were engulfed in flames. White sorghum grains flew into the air and then fell into the soil.

"Cannons, it's cannons?"

"No, it's a fire arrow!"

"Run!" "Food!"

The camp was thrown into chaos instantly.

Soldiers cried out in agony as flames shot out. It was the dry season, and the military camp, along with the dead leaves and trees, was ablaze, with flames soaring into the sky.

Shouts of battle rang out from all directions, the sounds of banging and crashing drowned out by the howling of the flames. Many soldiers fell to the ground without anyone knowing what happened, with a bloody hole in their chest.

"It's the Fire Crow Divine Arrow, and a musket—Xianming's musket! The White Lotus Sect is firing!"

The bewildered general was so frightened that he ran out of the camp, ignoring the naked beauty behind him, and scrambled away as fast as he could.

However, the outside was surrounded by the White Lotus Sect, and the soldiers could not break through at all.

They ran back, but Ma Qi had already led his men out of the temple and attacked from both sides, completely blocking them.

"Those who surrender will not be killed. Drop your weapons and kneel down to surrender!"

The soldiers of Huaiyin shouted, and those who heard them immediately knelt down and begged to surrender.

As for weapons, they had no weapons at all, only chopsticks.

They were all eating when the rocket suddenly crashed into the camp. They were caught off guard and chased by the Huaiyin army, running around like headless flies. During this time, some people were so frightened that they unconsciously grabbed their chopsticks. Only then did they realize what had happened.

Not knowing whether this could be considered a weapon, the soldiers didn't dare to hold it and quickly threw the chopsticks on the ground.

The war started quickly and ended quickly.

The Zu family's pursuing troops were completely defeated, with 537 killed, 2,962 captured, and a large amount of supplies, gold and silver treasures seized, much of which had been given away by Ma Qi.

Some people escaped or fell off the cliff. The exact number of these people is impossible to count, but it is estimated to be around two or three hundred.

According to the captured generals, they had five thousand-man squads that pursued Chu Renfeng from different directions, with each squad consisting of 1,200 men.

One of the thousand-man teams was stationed in Liaoyang to serve Zu Mao, while the remaining four teams surrounded and pursued him from various directions. After news spread that Ma Qi was stationed on Qianshan Mountain, they all gathered there, so the total strength was around 4,800 men, or at least more, because some people died in the pursuit.

During this period of attacking the mountain, nearly a thousand people died. Adding the more than five hundred who just died and the more than two thousand nine hundred who were captured, it can be estimated that about two or three hundred escaped or fell off the cliff.

Of the four commanders of a thousand men, two were in the army and were captured by the Huaiyin army, while the other two were in the town at the foot of the mountain. It is estimated that they have already fled upon hearing the news.

There was nothing the Huaiyin army could do about this situation.

These people are acting too...bizarrely.

Because attacking the mountain was too arduous, the generals agreed that two people would be responsible for attacking the mountain, while two people would be responsible for logistics and supplies in the town at the foot of the mountain, rotating every three days.

The so-called "logistics and provisions" were, to put it bluntly, just something to enjoy in town; they used the excuse of "logistics and provisions."

The Huaiyin army could never have anticipated this situation. Despite their best efforts, they only managed to capture two, allowing the other two to escape.

After rescuing Chu Renfeng, the Huaiyin army returned with its troops.

Chu Renfeng was taken back to Jiulian City, where Wang Ziteng was located.

The Huaiyin army had already landed here. Their numbers were small, only about 20,000, but they were already a considerable force.

When Chu Renfeng arrived here, he naturally saw through the Huaiyin bandits' plans.

But what good does it do to see it? If it weren't for these Huaiyin bandits, Chu Renfeng would have been killed by his stepmother.

At that moment, Chu Renfeng, in cooperation with the Huaiyin Army, publicly announced that the Zu family had plotted to kill Commander Chu Yuqi, called on the generals of Liaodong to attack the Zu family, and at the same time announced his defection to the imperial court.

(End of this chapter)