Tang Dynasty Bandits

Chapter 37 Earthly Immortals and the Huaixi Mule
"Earthly immortal?" When Huang Chao's nephew Lin Langjun heard Qin Yan say this, he was so shocked that he felt as if a apple could be stuffed into his mouth.

Of course he knew that the "earth immortals" Qin Yan was talking about were not a kind of immortal, but the kind of monsters that were said to be transformed from resurrected dead people.

Zhu Wen sneered, "It seems that the 'Three Burial Master' is here."

"Master Tripitaka? Isn't that Master Xuanzang who went to the West to seek Buddhist scriptures at the beginning of the country?"

Huang Chao shook his head. "It's not the 'zang' in 'Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva,' but the 'zang' in 'xiazang.' Besides, 'zang' is also this person's surname."

Lin Yan was shocked: "There is such a rare surname?"

Huang Chao said calmly, "I am the Inspector of Funerals in Yingzhou. My other identity is the leader of the Xiangxi Yushi Sect."

He didn't think it was a strange thing at all.

It is not uncommon for people from the underworld to serve as officials in the imperial court. For example, Lei Yinfu, the military supervisor of Zhaoyi, who is now trapped in Songzhou City by the rebel army like a bird in a cage, is from the Lei family of Pili Hall.

In the previous battle at Rift Valley, Wang Xianzhi's troops had been attacked by Lei Yinfu using Thunderbolt Hall's gunpowder arrows and gunpowder packs, suffering heavy losses. Now, Lei Yinfu had also suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Songzhou, fleeing into the city in a state of panic. The Cao army had, in a sense, redeemed itself.

As the saying goes, "It's easy to practice in the Six Gates." If a gangster can get an official position, he will not be regarded as a "court lackey". Instead, he will be quite proud of it.

Even if all they get are a few scraps that slip through the fingers of the aristocratic families.

"Disciple, I will lead the troops to rescue them immediately!" Zhu Wen said resolutely.

At the several city gates besieged by Huang Chao's army, the government troops were also trying to launch a breakout attack. Meng Kai was away, and several generals including Duan Hongyan were already locked in a bitter battle.

It was obvious that this attack was a premeditated attack from both inside and outside after quietly communicating with the people inside the city.

Since the rebel army has now surrounded Songzhou City tightly, it is obvious that the enemy has also planted people among the rebel army, so that they can cross the blockade and get in touch with the city.

"Uncle..." Lin Yan hesitated slightly, but then he mustered up his courage and said, "Zhu Wenying and I will go together!"

This thin, shy and indecisive boy finally showed his reliable side at the critical moment.

"Good!" Huang Chao clapped his hands cheerfully. "You two, send your light troops to support us immediately. Our infantry will follow soon!"

The "burial governor" who called himself the "three burial masters" was undoubtedly not an easy person to deal with.

But Huang Chao did not say anything too much like "be careful".

After the brutal Battle of Songzhou, Huang Chao had already trusted Zhu Wen's abilities.

Zhu Wen and Lin Yan mounted their horses and led the cavalry out of the camp.

When they arrived, they saw a desolate scene.

Flags were broken and scattered on the ground, the battlements collapsed, stained with streaks of blood that had not yet dried. Flames spread on the wooden walls of the village, dancing in the summer breeze, and the heat was overwhelming.

Midsummer is obviously a very suitable time for fire attack.

When Wang Xianzhi besieged the city, he did not set up camps for seven hundred miles like Liu Bei did when he was attacked by fire in Yiling during the Three Kingdoms period. He only set up siege fortifications at the city gate.

But the fire prevention measures were obviously not done well.

For example, the pre-Qin work "Han Feizi" said that when building a military camp, one must "be careful to fill the gaps with fire" and use things like earth ash to block the gaps in the wooden walls, so that the whole piece of wood will not be so easy to burn.

But Wang Xianzhi's army did not have such a sense of vigilance.

So what Zhu Wen and Lin Yan saw was that the camp had completely collapsed, and the soldiers of Wang Xianzhi's army were retreating in panic, trying their best to form a line to resist the pursuit of the government troops.

Zhu Wen felt the heat wave coming towards him and used his left hand as a fan to fan the sweat off his face.

Even wearing only thin leather armor, it was still very hot... He sighed in his heart, if the legendary "Ice Power" really existed, I would definitely practice it, at least to relieve the heat in the summer.

He suddenly remembered that the technique that "Snow Marshal" Qi Kerang had practiced could create flying frost in June. He just didn't know if it would always work.

Zhu Wen saw a group of government cavalrymen galloping back and forth with spears in their hands. Just as Qin Yan had said, they were all riding mules.

These massive beasts, resembling donkeys and horses, looked unattractive, but their strides were steady. The knights at the head of the mules leisurely charged towards Wang Xianzhi's rebel army, their spears thrusting the infantrymen, shields and all, high into the air, sending them plummeting back down like tattered sandbags.

"Huaixi Mule Army." Zhu Wen sighed, "I never thought that after the fall of Huaixi Town sixty years ago, the court still preserved this branch of the army."

Huo Cun, a young general under Zhu Wen, said, "The Huaixi troops are the best in the world. No matter how hard the imperial court defends them, how can they easily give them up?"

Huaixi Town was a vassal town that had been destroyed for a full sixty years.

But it is still very famous today because Huaixi Town has been separatist and resisting the imperial court for nearly sixty years.

When it was at its most arrogant, the imperial court sent 16 armies to attack Huaixi, but they were still defeated and retreated.

Finally, Emperor Xianzong restored the country and still sent troops to 16 routes, mobilizing the troops of the whole country. After three years of hard fighting, he succeeded in reducing the power of the Huaixi vassal state. During this period, he also suffered several disastrous defeats.

Therefore, although Huaixi was defeated, the locals were still quite proud and claimed that "Huaixi's soldiers are the best in the world"!
The Huaixi Army had another characteristic: there were few war horses in their area, so they fought on mules and often defeated the imperial cavalry.

"It seems that Alliance Leader Wang's defeat this time was not unfair." Zhu Wen commented.

"Because the elite soldiers of Huaixi are still as powerful as they were in the past?" Lin Yan asked.

Zhu Wen shook his head and said, "More than that. Why are we only considering the possibility that General Yan's army might move down the Beibian River? Because after the An-Shi Rebellion, the imperial court's horse policy has been corrupted. Now, not only are our rebels short of horses, but the government army is also quite short of horses."

Huo Cun interjected, "So of course we underestimate the speed at which the enemy will arrive."

Zhu Wen said, "Because we overlooked the mules in Huaixi. Yingzhou is very close to Huaixi, so we can certainly bring over the mules that have been dormant for sixty years."

Sixty years have passed, and the Huaixi soldiers are definitely not the same Huaixi soldiers as they were back then, and the mules are no longer the same mules as they were back then.

I don't know how many generations have passed.

But looking at the group of mule cavalrymen in front of him who advanced and retreated in an orderly manner and fought calmly, Zhu Wen had to admit a problem.

"It seems that the mule is more difficult to deal with than the earth immortal."

As he spoke, a terrestrial immortal in a tattered Taoist robe, covered in green hair and emitting a pungent, rancid odor, staggered and lunged towards Zhu Wen. Zhu Wen swung his sword from his horse, a flash of red light sweeping across it, making a dull sound as it sliced ​​through its neck, leaving only a piece of skin and flesh attached to its head.

After the immortal's head hung down, he looked dazed and continued to walk forward. Zhu Wen slashed at him with a knife, completely cutting off his neck. His head fell to the ground with a bang, and his body was still rushing towards Zhu Wen, but Zhu Wen dodged it by turning his horse. The headless body quickly fell to the ground and was silent.

"Earth Immortals look quite intimidating." Zhu Wen pointed his halberd at the Wang Xianzhi rebels on the battlefield, who were being frightened and scattered by a few dozen sparsely packed green-haired Earth Immortals. "But they're a bit clumsy after all, and still not as threatening as mules."

"Besides, once dead, people are dead. They probably can't become Earth Immortals." Zhu Wenji pointed at the blood that had just spurted onto the ground from the Earth Immortal's severed neck. "I speculate that the corpse-controlling technique passed down from generation to generation by the Corpse Control Sect involves having living people take some kind of secret medicine to transform into this half-human, half-ghost appearance."

He sighed, "It's really inhumane."

Huo Cun frowned and thought: "A mule is born from a male donkey and a female horse, and black donkey hooves are said to be able to deal with earthly immortals."

He clapped his hands suddenly, as if suddenly realizing something. "Boss, I get it. No wonder mules are more powerful than earthly immortals!"

"Well said." Zhu Wen seemed to be very impressed with the young man's thinking. "Also, I remember you said you wanted to be a cavalry general."

"As a cavalry commander, capturing people alive is a very important skill. Boy, go over there and capture a Huaixi cavalryman, including his mule. Don't let any of Zhu Wen's men be lost!"

"Leading order!"

Huo Cunyi spurred his horse and rushed out, attacking a mule rider from Huaixi.

The enemy was chasing the defeated soldiers of Wang Xianzhi's army with spears. When they saw Huo Cun riding towards them, they quickly hung the spear on their waist and drew their bow to shoot. However, Huo Cun hid in one of his stirrups and avoided the sharp arrow. In the blink of an eye, he was close to them.

The knight had no choice but to strike Huo Cun with his long spear. However, Huo Cun raised his leather shield in his left hand and blocked the hastily launched spear. In a moment, his strong horse closed in front of the knight and slashed at the knight's chest with his sword.

The knight could only lean back to dodge, but he was no faster than the saber. The thick back of the blade slammed against the knight's breastplate with a clang, sending sparks flying. The knight screamed and fell off his horse.

Huo Cun laughed loudly, stretched out his arm and grabbed the man from mid-air, like a child, snatched the reins with his left hand, and led the stunned mule back to the formation.

"This guy with the same name as my second brother used to be a horse thief. I can't even match his horsemanship." Zhu Wen boasted to Qin Yan, Lin Yan and other generals.

Zhu Cunze continued to smile innocently, seemingly unconcerned. Back when the two brothers were subduing the Tongshan bandits, Huo Cun had injured Zhu Wen's arm and nearly been executed on the spot by the enraged Zhu Wen. It was Zhu Cun who, having discerned his talent, had saved this talented young cavalry commander. But why should he tell anyone about such a thing?

"Reporting to the camp commander, Huo Cun has fulfilled his mission and captured the enemy cavalry and presented them to us!" Huo Cun was slightly out of breath, but his still somewhat childish face had an unconcealable look of pride.

Zhu Wen nodded slightly to express his praise for Huo Cun.

At that moment, a soldier caught the mule knight who was thrown to the ground by Huo Cun and tied him up like a dumpling.

During the Tang Dynasty, the practice of capturing living people was quite popular and was an important means of undermining enemy morale. The army even had special forces dedicated to capturing living people. An Lushan, the culprit who started the An-Shi Rebellion, started out as a "capturing living general" in his early years.

A group of Huaixi mule soldiers were killing fiercely when one of their horses was captured in a flash. They were shocked and angry, and cursed loudly.

Zhu Wen did not give them a chance to react. With a wave of his hand, all the Grass Army knights rushed into the enemy formation like clouds and lightning, charging and killing!

Although mules are large, they are ultimately no match for horses in charging into battle. The Huaixi Army's mule-based warfare relied on two key strategies: first, relying on the mules' rapid maneuverability to dismount and engage on foot; second, using mules as mounted archers to harass and injure the enemy like a swarm of bees.

Under the scorching heat, all the knights of the Grass Army were wearing light armor. They could only charge forward with all their might, showing a reckless attitude and driving at high speed to avoid being hurt by the rain of arrows from the Mule Army as much as possible!
Wherever there is a battle, there is a place where corpses are left. If you are sure to die, you will live; if you are lucky enough to live, you will die.

Huo Cun's cavalry broke out and captured the enemy alive, which greatly boosted the morale of the Cao army and humiliated the Huaixi mule army.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zhu Wen and his men rushed in with their sharp arrows. Qin Yan, holding his banner, galloped away, and the other cavalrymen scattered and formed a horizontal column, hacking and killing indiscriminately among the scattered mule troops.

Wherever they rode, the mule riders there would shoot arrows in a volley, trying to stop them from approaching.

A knight was shot by the mule army's bow and fell off his horse with a scream. The empty horse continued to gallop forward and knocked a green-haired earth immortal to the ground.

But after the earth immortal fell to the ground, he staggered to his feet again.

Moreover, when the horse stepped forward, the earth immortal bit the horse's leg hard.

The empty horse, having lost its owner, showed a confused expression, then turned around and was about to run back to its own formation.

But its horse's face suddenly turned a strange blue color, and it started gasping for breath. Then it galloped around in circles like a madman, occasionally kicking up its heels on the spot. Finally, after letting out a painful neigh, it fell sideways and threw up a cloud of dust all over the ground.

He had been circling in the mule army formation like an eagle, charging and killing the grass army heroes several times, and his face changed slightly at this time.

The Xiangxi Yushi Sect is a rather mysterious sect, and has always been shrouded in mystery in the rumors of the martial arts world.

What is certain is that it has been serving the Tang Dynasty court for over two hundred years. However, the number of times the Yushi Sect's "Earth Immortals" have actually been used in battle is very few.

Now it seems that whether these "earth immortals" are the resurrected dead or the living transformed into monsters after taking secret medicine, there are a few things that can be confirmed.

First, they have extremely strong vitality. Even if they are hit by a galloping horse weighing hundreds of pounds, they can still get up as if nothing happened.

Secondly, their teeth are highly venomous and their bite can kill people quickly.

Third, they can distinguish between friend and foe and will not attack their own comrades.

With just these few points, these "earth immortals" are enough to become powerful weapons for the government army!

Lin Yan reined in his horse, drew his sword, and dismounted a mule rider. He pulled the reins and galloped away, sighing to Zhu Wen, "It seems that even earthly immortals may not be easier to deal with than mules."

"The mules were stunned by our attack just now and they didn't react for a while." Zhu Wen said as he turned his horse back to the formation, "Look carefully, Mr. Lin, you will find that the mules far outnumber our cavalry."

Lin Yan was startled and looked over, only to see that the mule soldiers were indeed rapidly regrouping and restoring order. These mule soldiers were elite troops, and they fought with great method. If they were allowed to react, they would be no easy opponent.

He was surprised and said, "So we can only...talk nonsense?"

"Not really." Zhu Wen said, his expression deep in thought. "Alliance Leader Wang is at the west gate, but it looks like Deputy Alliance Leader Liu has taken advantage of our arrival to regroup his troops. We can hold out for a while until our Master arrives with his infantry."

Lin Yan looked up and saw that the deputy leader of the Zhenyi League, Liu Yanzhang, was riding a green horse, holding a big spear, and leading dozens of reunited cavalrymen from Wang Xianzhi's army, charging into the mule army formation from the side.

At the back, the infantrymen of the Grass Army encouraged each other and formed spear and shield, sword and shield formations again.

Liu Yanzhang was not very good at using the long spear, but he had a solid foundation in martial arts. Although he looked thin, he was powerful as a mountain when he swung the spear. With one sweep of the spear, he directly knocked a mule soldier off his mule and knocked another mule soldier off his horse like playing polo.

"Thank you for your help, nephew Liangyu!" Liu Yanzhang immediately bowed and thanked him, "Otherwise, my army might not have had the chance to regroup!"

(End of this chapter)