Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 63 Beginning and Ending
The next morning.

At Shili Pavilion, Gongsun Zan fought all night and, after stabilizing his position, immediately began his breakout attempt.

He had already received news that Prefect Liu's fortified village was under siege.

Gongsun Zan's army had few warhorses left, so he led his elite troops and several hundred soldiers eastward with armored soldiers leading the way.

The Taihang bandits continued their all-out encirclement, but Gongsun Zan disregarded the casualties of his soldiers, leading his elite armored warriors to break through the encirclement and head east to rescue the governor's fortified village.

He left the flags and ceremonial guards at Shili Pavilion, and also left thousands of infantrymen there.

These infantrymen have essentially been abandoned.

The bandits were targeting Gongsun Zan's banners to surround and intercept him, and most of them were still besieging Shili Pavilion.

Without the elite soldiers and righteous followers, those infantrymen will soon surrender to the bandits—they were recruited in Beixin City and were previously refugees from Zhongshan; they will not fight the Taihang bandits to the end.

Gongsun Zan had no other choice at this point. It wasn't that he couldn't deal with the Taihang bandits who were besieging him, but that he didn't have the time.

At this time, the Han Dynasty had not yet collapsed, and the court was functioning normally.

Zhuo County was captured by bandits, and as the county magistrate, he was unable to recapture the city after its loss, which is a capital offense.

Only Liu Kuan and Liu Wei, two members of the Hongnong imperial clan, could save his life, probably by depriving him of his official position and demoting him to a commoner—that would be the best possible outcome.

But if something happens again at the prefect's villa, he will have no choice but to go into hiding and flee for his life.

He couldn't even go home. The crime of losing a city and abandoning territory is different from murder and robbery. This matter cannot be concealed. If he escaped home, his family would arrest him and turn him in.

Gongsun Zan was only born out of wedlock. If he were to fall into disgrace and lose power, the Gongsun family of Liaoxi would have no reason to protect him, lest it implicate other members of the family and prevent them from becoming officials.

Now, Gongsun Zan can only try to save the life of Prefect Liu Wei.

Otherwise, you'd have to become a thief.

……

At noon, when Gongsun Zan led his army to the outside of Liu Wei's fortified village, the outer defenses of the fortified village had already been breached, and the supply depots on both sides had been surrounded.

A large group of thieves had already started ramming the door with logs.

The logs are large pieces of wood, and they weren't just used for defending cities and smashing people. These giant logs had many uses, such as for ramming gates or for supporting city gates from the inside.

If you sharpen the giant log slightly, nail it to a few carts, and then push it against the gate, you'll have a youthful version of a battering ram.

These small, makeshift battering rams are no match for large cities. Once a large city seals its gates with wood and stone, it is very difficult to break through by ramming alone. If there are any people on the city walls, they can stop it by throwing stones down.

But the fortified village couldn't hold it off.

When people talk about fortified villages, many mistakenly believe that they are like city fortresses, where everyone can stay and defend themselves...

Actually, no, the fortified village couldn't accommodate that many people.

The essence of a fortified village is actually a warehouse, a place to store money and grain. Although it is indeed built solidly, it cannot compare with a real city.

In those days, powerful clans relied not on the defensive capabilities of their fortified villages, but on the supply capabilities of their warehouses.

Some wealthy families have a large workforce, such as the Lu family, which can organize its retainers, private soldiers, servants, tenants and other able-bodied men into thousands.

Defending a fortified village essentially means concentrating all the family's manpower around the fortified village to defend it, relying on the food stored in the village, and using numbers to force the bandits to retreat.

But Liu Wei doesn't have that many people here.

Liu Wei came from another place to serve as an official. His family was in Hongnong, and the able-bodied men in Zhuojun only numbered a few hundred in private troops and a few hundred in servants.

Therefore, he would bring all the officials and soldiers of Zhuo County to his own fortified village to make up the numbers.

Liu Wei's fortified village was located east of the Yongding River, which was the norm for fortified villages in that era, as they were situated near the water to prevent the warehouses from catching fire.

His private army set up a military post to the west and south of the fortified village, forming a triangular formation with the village, which was quite professional.

The county officials and constables guarded the temporary wooden wall erected on the outside, which served as a connection.

Liu Wei himself led his servants to guard the fortified village, which was well-equipped with weapons, bows and arrows.

There is a side gate on the north side, and the area outside the gate is downhill, making this direction less vulnerable to attack and serving as the fortified village's retreat route.

The arrangement was actually quite reasonable; the only problem was that Liu Wei had too few men.

After the two outposts were besieged, the wooden walls guarded by the county militia were easily breached by the battering rams, forcing them to retreat outside the fortified village.

Without the connection, the outposts became useless, and the number of soldiers at the outposts was too small to break through the encirclement and support the fortified village.

Liu Wei was indeed incompetent in warfare. After the county soldiers were driven back, he ordered them to form a defensive formation outside the fortified village, while his retainers and servants defended the inner walls of the village.

This was a terrible decision...

If we had our servants and retainers lined up outside, and the county officials and soldiers defended the fort, we might have been able to hold out a little longer.

The county officials and soldiers had no will to fight. Seeing the vast number of bandits surrounding them and having no walls to rely on, few were willing to die for a governor from out of town. So they scattered and ran away.

The minor officials and county yamen runners were all locals, familiar with the terrain, and incredibly fast.

Those bandits from Taihang had a clear objective; they didn't stop these fleeing people at all, and firmly surrounded the fortified village.

Liu Wei hurriedly ordered all his retainers and servants to climb the walls of the fortified village.

But this was another bad move—placing too many people on the walls of the fortified village would actually cause it to lose its defensive capabilities.

The walls of a fortified village are not city walls. They are not wide, and although people can stand on them, it is difficult to place defensive materials.

Moreover, this is not a bastion, so the firing angle is limited.

People alone, without heavy objects like stones, cannot stop a battering ram with bows and spears.

The bandits pushing the carts would raise their shields for defense, even though those so-called shields were just doors, wooden fences, or the like, but at least they could protect against arrows.

To stop a rammed car, obstacles such as trenches, stones, thorns, moats, or manpower are needed.

But now there are not many obstacles outside the fort, and the bandits have a lot of carts.

The cart is an essential piece of equipment in all combat environments, with extremely wide applications, especially in plain terrain like Zhuoxian County, where having a cart or not makes a world of difference.

The Taihang bandits, who came out of the mountains, were most lacking in this kind of thing.

In Zhuoxian, a prefectural city, there were many handcarts. Not only did every household have one, but the government granary also kept nearly a thousand on hand.

Therefore, the Taihang bandits now have many more ways to attack.

Making battering rams, burning down doors, using handcarts as shields to dig and chisel through walls...

After going through several procedures, the fortified village already had several gaps.

Gongsun Zan led his elite troops in a swift charge, wielding his double-edged spear to kill countless bandits. In the end, he managed to reach the foot of the fortified village before the large number of bandits entered.

The armored soldiers cut down the bandits who were chiseling at the various gaps in the wall, and instead of letting the gates of the fort open, they climbed over the gaps into Wu Fort and wiped out the bandits inside.

They then used the thieves' corpses to re-block the breach, allowing the armored soldiers to defend, finally giving them a brief respite.

However, it can only hold out for an hour at most before the fortified village falls.

At this moment, including the Yi Cong, only three hundred elite troops remained in Wubao, and all their warhorses were gone.

Gongsun Zan paid no attention to the deaths and injuries of his men along the way, and abandoned all the wounded soldiers in order to save time.

However, there were several thousand Taihang bandits surrounding the area.

"Gongsun Bogui! Quickly...quickly...destroy the traitors! Destroy the traitors!"

Prefect Liu Wei had already wet his pants, and now that he had seen Gongsun Zan, he quickly grasped at this straw.

"...Clang..."

Gongsun Zan didn't speak, but threw the blood-stained double-edged spear in his hand in front of Liu Wei.

The double-edged spear was already dull, and a piece of flesh, perhaps intestines, was still hanging from the hilt.

Liu Wei was so frightened that he fell to the ground with a thud and kicked backward. The liquid seeping from his pants left a trail of smelly stains on the ground.

From noon yesterday until now, Gongsun Zan has been fighting for a day and a night. At this moment, his eyes are bloodshot, his body is covered in blood, and he is exhausted and can hardly fight anymore.

Those three hundred armored soldiers were also exhausted.

Defeat?

What can we use to break through?

Upon seeing the urine stains on the ground, Gongsun Zan frowned and turned to his men, ordering, "...Men, open the treasury and let everyone take money freely. Prepare to break out!" "Huh? Open the treasury?"

Liu Wei scrambled to his feet, baring his teeth and brandishing his claws: "No way!"

"Let the servants take the money and escape, so the Taihang bandits can rob the money, and the prefect can take advantage of the chaos to break through... Saving your life is the most important thing."

The bloodshot in Gongsun Zan's eyes concealed the contempt in his expression. He suppressed his anger and whispered an explanation in Liu Wei's ear before turning around to direct the soldiers.

"That...that's my money...my money!"

Seeing that the servants had already gone to the money warehouse, Liu Wei muttered to himself and tried to rush out.

Gongsun Zan grabbed him and pulled him back, tearing Liu Wei's official hat and clothes in a few swift movements: "Go change into servant's clothes, or you'll die here!"

Liu Wei spun around in place for a couple of seconds before finally coming to his senses. He then went inside crying and started changing his clothes.

Gongsun Zan also took off his helmet, removed his armor, changed into servant's clothes, and went outside the hall.

Before the Taihang bandits besieging Shiliting arrive, we should seize the opportunity to break through and escape with Liu Wei.

As for everyone else…

It depends on fate.

"Thanks to your continued loyalty, we are now too weak to fight any longer... Please take whatever money you have in the fortress! Now, everyone, flee for your lives!"

Gongsun Zan gave his final order to his followers, opening the side gate of the fortified village and throwing torches into the granary.

As soon as the door opened, the Taihang bandits outside rushed in.

Gongsun Zan's men rushed forward, cut down several Taihang bandits who had entered, and then all of them rushed out.

Liu Wei's concubines and most of his servants also rushed out.

However, some servants were still stuffing money into their clothes in the treasury—these were particularly greedy, and seeing the mountains of copper coins piled up inside, they probably forgot about their own lives…

"go!"

Gongsun Zan, along with Liu Wei, mingled with the servants and ran out.

There were relatively fewer people surrounding the northern slope, and since it was downhill from the fortified village, many people scrambled and ran quite fast.

The Taihang bandits were besieging the fortress when they saw the gates of the fortress suddenly open. Some began to block the way, while others took the opportunity to rush into the fortress.

After discovering that everyone who ran out had bulging pockets, the Taihang bandits began a chaotic chase and robbery on the slope.

As the fire inside the fortified village grew larger, many Taihang bandits rushed into the village to fight the fire, lest the granary be lost.

The scene suddenly became extremely chaotic, and the encirclement of the Taihang bandits was also broken.

Gongsun Zan dragged Liu Wei along for a while, and Liu Wei suddenly tripped and fell to the ground, rolling several times, scattering his belongings everywhere.

"oops!"

Liu Wei cried and picked up the items, stuffing them into his arms.

Those were all valuable items such as gold and jade jewelry.

When the Taihang bandits saw this, they rushed over and slashed at Liu Wei's hand with a knife, starting to steal the gold.

"what……"

Liu Wei was stabbed in the arm and collapsed to the side.

Gongsun Zan grabbed Liu Wei and pulled him up, then took all the odds and ends from Liu Wei's arms and scattered them among the surrounding Taihang bandits.

Many bandits from Taihang Mountain were so busy looting the gold that they didn't bother killing the two 'servants,' which allowed them to escape.

Now Gongsun Zan could drag Liu Wei along much faster...

He ran faster than others who carried a lot of copper coins, even though he carried nothing.

The righteous followers, armored soldiers, and other servants all lagged behind.

The bandits from Taihang came from Beixincheng and Fanyang in the south, there were bandits in Zhuoxian in the west, and the east was blocked by water. So Gongsun Zan dragged Liu Wei and fled north.

As evening approached, Gongsun Zan stopped.

Liu Wei fainted.

Liu Wei was old, and after being slashed and dragged around by Gongsun Zan for half a day, it was already a miracle that the old man hadn't died suddenly.

With no bandits around, Gongsun Zan looked up and saw smoke rising from the northwest.

He remembered that there was a beacon tower about 30 li north of Zhuo County.

That was where he first arrived in Zhuoxian County.

With so many thieves, the beacon towers definitely needed to be used to raise the alarm.

The presence of beacon fires means there are soldiers at the beacon tower, and they are not bandits—bandits would definitely extinguish the beacon fires.

Gongsun Zan rallied his spirits and dragged the unconscious Liu Wei toward the beacon tower.

……

There were indeed soldiers at the beacon tower.

Liu Bei was waiting there with a small troop of cavalry.

This was also the fifth day that Liu Bei had mentioned to Zhang Baiqi.

Since Liu Bei was still feigning death, he first sent Zhang Fei with troops to garrison Zhuo County, while he himself lit the beacon fire.

Upon seeing the smoke signal, Zhang Baiqi, who was inside the city, led his underworld soldiers out of the north gate.

Liu Bei stopped at the beacon tower to meet Zhang Baiqi.

Gongsun Zan's luck had probably been exhausted by this night of fleeing.

He was dressed as a servant, and the others didn't actually recognize him.

Only Liu Bei could recognize him.

But Gongsun Zan went to the beacon tower where Liu Bei was located.

This was not because Liu Bei had a perfect plan... In fact, Liu Bei could only judge that Gongsun Zan might break through to the north.

Therefore, Liu Bei waited for Zhang Baiqi at the beacon tower, originally intending to lead Zhang Baiqi and the Ming soldiers to search and pursue them.

But unexpectedly, before Zhang Baiqi arrived, Gongsun Zan arrived first.

This is probably fate.

Gongsun Zan was so tired that his eyes were blurry. He saw Liu Bei standing by the beacon tower, but he couldn't believe it.

Or……

He thought he had seen a ghost.

"Xuande?!"

Gongsun Zan's voice trembled, and his hands shook as well: "You...you're not dead? How could you not be dead?!"

"Dead, but alive again."

Having already traveled through time twice, Liu Bei was naturally a person who had been resurrected from the dead. He drew his sword and walked towards Gongsun Zan: "Brother Bo Gui, I'll see you off."

A single sword severed his throat.

Gongsun Zan was not given another chance to speak.

This beacon tower has a connection with Gongsun Zan.

When he arrived, Liu Bei met him at this place.

When he left, Liu Bei saw him off here.

It can be said that it has a beginning and an end.

……

(End of this chapter)