Tang Dynasty Bandits

Chapter 68 Jiangling Death Squad
"Heaven compensates for the equals and upholds justice. The bandits who tell these lies to deceive the world are right before our eyes."

"Did you see? Just a month ago, they burned down your hometown, murdered your loved ones, raped your wives and daughters, and turned the peaceful and prosperous city into a sea of ​​blood!
The speaker was Lei Yinfu, the military supervisor and judge of Zhaoyi, a Tang dynasty. A member of the Thunderbolt Hall, a martial arts sect, he was a high-ranking official and one of the "Five Heaven-burning Swords" under Marshal Yan. Because of his meritorious service, he had been transferred from Zhen Ranyu's service to Zhaoyi Town, where he was given important positions. But now that Song Wei was bedridden, command of the suppression effort fell into Marshal Yan's hands, and Lei Yinfu returned to his former master's command.

Those who received his instructions were thousands of soldiers from Jiangling.

They were subordinates of Li Fu, the governor of Shannan East Road. Because Jiangling was a tax-heavy area with a large population but few soldiers, many of Jiangling's sons and daughters joined the army in Xiangyang for training.

"Tell me, what are you going to do now?" Lei Yinfu asked with satisfaction, staring at the blazing anger in the eyes of these Chu men.

"Revenge! Revenge! Revenge!"

"Kill the thief! Kill the thief! Kill the thief!"

The Jiangling soldiers threw up their sleeves and led the charge, thousands of them roaring in unison, shaking the earth. Their murderous intent condensed into fighting spirit, as if to disperse the layers of clouds that had accumulated in the sky.

Jiangling is still undergoing difficult reconstruction. As soldiers, they have no time to verify whether their relatives and friends have been killed.

But after being passed on by word of mouth many times, they got the news that the bandits had massacred people inside and outside Jiangling, killing millions of people.

No one in Jiangling could face such news without weeping and gnashing their teeth in hatred.

Lei Yinfu admired General Yan's military tactics to the extreme.

In ancient times, there was a dark military tactic that advocated slaughtering one city and conquering ten. By exaggerating the number of massacres committed by one's own side, the enemy army could be intimidated, achieving the effect of defeating the enemy without fighting.

But Lei Yinfu never thought that the dark military tactics could be used in this way.

The military manual "Six Strategies" written by Jiang Taigong says: There was a general who died, and his sons and nephews who wanted to avenge his general were gathered into a group and called the "Dare to Die Soldiers".

These Jiangling men have turned into vengeful spirits who are not afraid of death. They will reap the heads of bandits at the cost of their own lives.

As for who exactly transferred the garrison troops around Jiangling, who exactly delayed sending reinforcements and watched the Cao army capture Jiangling, and who exactly exaggerated the number of massacres.

Faced with such a group of angry revenge warriors, how could the thief believe him even if he tried to explain to them in person?
When Yan Shuai Zhen Ranyu arrived with his army, Wang Xianzhi's Cao army was caught in a situation where it was sandwiched between the government troops on the east and west. To the west was Yan Shuai's army, to the east was the trenches carefully built by the Zang governor's troops relying on the mountains and rivers, to the south was the surging river, and to the north was the endless Dabie Mountains.

The death knell tolled, and the time had come for the Spider Queen to close her web. Cold clouds gathered in the sky, as if a giant wolf spider covering the sky was retracting its eight claws.

Whether it was Zhen Ranyu's headquarters or the Xiangyang Army and Xuanwu Army temporarily under her command, they all flew fiery red flags, fluttering in the wind, as if to turn the sky into a blood-red color.

General Yan personally led the Heluo army as the central army, the Shannan East Road Jiedushi Li Fu led the Xianghan troops as the right defense, and deployed their troops along the river. The Xuanwu Jiedushi Mu Renyu led the Xuanwu army as the left Zhen, and the eunuch Yang Fuguang sent by the court to supervise the army led two thousand soldiers and horses as the follow-up.

The government troops, adorned with sleek armor and a majestic formation, resembled a mythical beast, a Pixiu, perched between mountains and rivers, poised for a fight. Their front thrusts, like the sharp claws of a Pixiu, brimming with murderous intent, were poised to strike and rip the bandits' lines apart like silk.

The 7,000 soldiers under the command of the governor of the east were using snow-white soul-guiding banners, which popped out from the trenches that stretched like the Great Wall, revealing a deep and strange feeling.

Their army array was filled with white stone coffins loaded onto horse-drawn carriages. The burial governor was the leader of the Xiangxi Corpse Control Sect, so needless to say, within these coffins lay the Yingzhou army's secret weapon—the "Earth Immortal."

In the cramped area of ​​Qizhou, the tough and sturdy Huaixi Mule Army could not display their excellent riding and archery skills, and often had to choose to dismount and fight.

In comparison, the red or green walking corpses in the coffins posed a greater threat to the Grass Army. In the previous fierce battles, hundreds of Grass Army soldiers under Liu Yanzhang had been killed on the spot by the earth immortals with their huge force, or died from poisoning after being bitten.

Faced with attacks from both sides, Wang Xianzhi had no choice but to divide his troops to fight the enemy.

Liu Yanzhang, deputy leader of the Zhenyi League, led his troops to deploy on the east side, setting up deer horns and connecting shields to form a city, to guard against the Zang governor leading the Huaixi army to attack the rear of the Cao army.

Wang Xianzhi led the army in the west to form a circular formation, and he led the central army. Taking advantage of the fact that the number of the grass-roots army was twice that of the official army, he formed a more dense formation to make up for the disadvantage that the rebel army was not as well trained as the official army.

As a result, the large formation spread out on both wings of the Flame Army was wider in front than that of the Grass Army, and its depth became shallower, making it appear extremely thin compared to the thick Grass Army formation.

But no one doubted the strength and sharpness of the formations deployed by Marshal Yan. If Marshal Xue's civil engineering skills were unparalleled, then Marshal Yan's mastery of formations was equally unparalleled.

The government troops were able to advance southward in a remarkably short time, precisely trapping Wang Xianzhi's army. Besides the iron chains across the river that consumed the Cao army's time, General Yan's "divine movement formation," which enabled the rapid movement of infantry, was crucial to the successful implementation of the strategic plan.

"Vaiśravaṇa, the Heavenly King, and Prince Nezha, the Heavenly Prince. May the noble spirits of these gods protect us, eradicate the bandits, report to the Emperor, and protect the people. This country has nurtured scholars for two hundred years, and today is the day to die for justice!"

Lei Yinfu stood before the three armies and roared like thunder: "Who can forget the hatred of the country and the family feud? Brothers, follow me to kill the bandits!"

The belief in Vaisravana, originating from Buddhism, has often been revered as a military god by warriors since the Jin Dynasty. However, in recent years, his faith has begun to be confused with that of the famous founding general Li Jing, leading to Vaisravana's son, Prince Nezha, often being mistaken for Li Jing's son.

As Lei Yinfu finished his words, a series of sharp, wind-breaking sounds, accompanied by the crackling, flaming noises, rang out. Dozens of arrows, sharp as spears, whizzed toward the front lines of the Grass Army with the force to pierce rock and shatter stone. After traveling over a hundred paces, the gunpowder bags attached to the arrowheads exploded with a bang, sending sparks flying and scorching the Grass Army soldiers, causing them to scream in agony.

This was a rocket fired from a double-bow crossbow. The Lei family of Thunderbolt Hall had served the imperial court for generations, and the majority of Tang Dynasty firearms were manufactured by this family.

After two or three years of fierce fighting, the quality of the Cao army has improved significantly. The vanguard troops are in neat formation, with long spears lined up like a forest of steel, or like a porcupine with its body covered with thorns.

A dense formation is a strong one. Faced with the high morale of Yan Shuai's army, Wang Xianzhi deployed his troops densely, forming a circular formation and even setting up antler barriers in front of the formation. His intention was to take a defensive stance in the unfavorable situation of being attacked from both sides, using the advantage of numbers to wear down the government troops' spirit and wait for an opportunity to counterattack.

No matter how powerful the crossbow was, a single arrow could only penetrate two or three people like a string of gourds. However, the flying flames instantly disrupted the front line of the Cao army.

The vanguard troops led by Lei Yinfu were charging forward like a tiger coming down the mountain. The Jiangling men shouted loudly, and there was a determination to take revenge in everyone's eyes.

The same was true for Lei Yinfu. He could not forget the miserable state he had in the battle of Songzhou when he was trapped in the city and was in a state of panic all day long.

As one of the "Five Swords of Burning Sky", he is finally able to return to fight under Marshal Yan. This is a great opportunity for Lei Yinfu to avenge his shame.

In Wei Liaozi's Art of War, the opposite of "A dense formation is solid" is "A sparse formation is effective."

To defend, a dense formation must be adopted to ensure a solid defense; to attack, a dispersed formation must be adopted to leave enough space between soldiers to facilitate a breakthrough.

This also means that when facing the enemy's well-defended formation, the attacking vanguard troops often have to face attacks from two or more enemies.

However, war is all about courage. Marshal Yan used dark military tactics to manipulate people's hearts and minds, completely mobilizing the fighting spirit and morale of these Jiangling warriors.

They are now fearless warriors, vengeful souls blazing with rage, and a torrent as surging as a river.

Taking advantage of the gaps torn open by the fire crossbows, the Jiangling soldiers bravely rushed in, cutting into the enemy formation with their front lines, leaving many bloody cuts in the grass army formation.

"Did you see that?" Atop a high mountain, Wind Commander Li Guochang twisted his short beard, one strand at a time, almost making one think he was about to pluck it out entirely. "Flame Commander's vanguard troops held the opposing spear formation with their spears, while brave warriors armed with swords, long knives, and axes blended in, finding openings to advance and widen the gap in the enemy's formation. It looked like they were charging with morale, but in reality, they were very methodical."

"Aunt, what's the point of all this coordination of troops and formation changes?" Li Cunxiao frowned and said, "I can charge into the enemy formation with the Yuwang Spear in my right hand and the Biyan Claw in my left, and then I can smash even the seemingly impregnable enemy formation into pieces."

Li Guochang calmly gave Li Cunxiao another slap on the head.

"If you have courage but no strategy, you can't be a great general."

"That's hard to say." Li Cunxiao said unconvincedly, "War is all about killing more people. Isn't killing people as easy as chopping melons and vegetables?"

Faced with this kid's reckless attitude, Li Guochang was a little helpless.

If it were to that kid Keyong, there would be no need to say these words at all. As for Li Cunxiao, if you tell him, he will probably just listen with one ear and out with the other.

But since they couldn't let this kid join the battle, all the grandfather and grandson could do was to find a high hill to watch the show.

(End of this chapter)