Sweep Yuan

Chapter 104 Suddenly Hearing of Changes at Haozhou After Breaking Dingyuan

"Ouch!"

"what!"

Guojiazhuang, Dingyuan County, Haozhou.

Guo Zixing watched as the two hundred guards' offensive and defensive training became quite impressive, and sincerely praised them:
"Brother Shao, your methods of organization and training are indeed effective. In such a short time, we have already achieved this. If we could have another half month, what would we have to fear even if hundreds or thousands of Tartars came to invade?"

Shao Rong sensed that Guo Zixing's words implied a postponement of the uprising, and immediately became anxious.

“Brother Guo, although the imperial court has issued an edict allowing local militias to be established, you have not reported your gathering to the authorities. With so many of us, the commotion is quite large, and it may have already alerted the county. If this continues, things may change.”

"Hahaha!"

Guo Zixing, full of heroic spirit, waved his hand and laughed:

"We're just afraid that corrupt official is too cowardly to lead his troops out of the city. If he dares to come and capture us, we can wipe out the government troops who are leaving the city, and then take the opportunity to storm into the city. Wouldn't that save us a lot of trouble?"

Shao Rong had attacked cities and been the first to scale them, so why would he be afraid of a mere hundred or so archers from a small county?
"I can take two or three hundred men and defeat those archers in Dingyuan City. Why do you need Brother Guo to take action personally? I'm worried that the Peng Zu family in Luzhou Road to the south will cause trouble. If they take Hefei and then take the opportunity to attack Dingyuan, what will we do?"

After Xu Shouhui and Zou Pusheng launched their uprising, followers of the Southern Branch of the White Lotus Sect in Luzhou Road responded one after another. The rebel army called itself "Peng Zu's Family" and was said to be quite powerful, having already occupied several county towns.

During this period, several groups of people from the "Peng Zu family" gathered near Hefei and issued a "heroic invitation," inviting heroes from the surrounding areas to join them in this great undertaking. It is said that tens of thousands of people have already gathered.

The rumors may be exaggerated, but to create such a large force, there must be at least 10,000 to 20,000 people. With that many people, they might actually be able to take Hefei.

Dingyuan is just north of Hefei. If the "Pengzu family" takes Hefei and then marches into Dingyuan, Guo Zixing has neither the reason nor the strength to stop them.

Without Dingyuan, Guo Zixing could only follow the "Peng Zu family," but he didn't believe in the White Lotus sect, so he couldn't make a name for himself by following them.

Thinking of this, Guo Zixing finally became serious.

"To be honest, Brother Shao, we originally planned to launch the uprising before the new year. Now that you have brought so many elite soldiers and trained our men well, we must bring forward the uprising. However, we are unsure about the situation on Huai'an Road."

Shao Rong had been waiting for news from Shishan, but news from across the country often took ten days to half a month to arrive, and there were many rumors during the war, so it was difficult to distinguish the truth from falsehood when he occasionally received a message.

He originally wanted to send his own people back, but Guo Zixing was worried that Shao and Shi were conspiring to harm him, so he insisted on sending his brother-in-law Zhang Tianyou to gather intelligence.

Just as Guo and Shao were worrying about the lack of communication, Zhang Tianyou ran back, covered in sweat.

"Brother-in-law, brother-in-law, there's news! I haven't even crossed the Huai River yet, but I've already seen quite a few people fleeing here. A merchant told me that the 'Red Heart Camp' has surrounded Wuhe City with tens of thousands of troops. Oh dear, this trip has exhausted me. I need to have a drink of water first."

"There's some warm wine inside, go drink it yourself."

Guo Zixing had no time to greet his brother-in-law; his mind was preoccupied with the siege of Wuhe by the tens of thousands of troops at Shishan.

Wuhe is not like Hongxian. It is only a hundred li away from Haozhou and is connected by the Huai River in the middle. Shishan took Wuhe instead of Sizhou because he was based in Hongxian. He must have had designs on Haozhou, which is closer to Wuhe.

Just like when Li Zhima started his uprising and immediately attacked Xuzhou after occupying Xiao County, Dingyuan City was small and had little food, making it unsuitable for great undertakings. Even if it were occupied, it would be difficult to withstand a full-scale attack from the government army.

After launching the uprising, capturing Dingyuan City was only the first step. After reorganizing the troops, they had to advance and capture Haozhou City.

Thus, relying on the Huai River and backed by the four cities of Suzhou, Lingbi, Hongxian, and Wuhe, they could concentrate on dealing with the government troops in Anfeng Road—this was the uprising plan that Guo Zixing had long ago prepared.

For this reason, he sent Zhang Tianyou to Haozhou last month to contact the heroes in the city.

Unexpectedly, before they could even launch their own uprising, Shishan had already captured Wuhe City.

That bastard from Yidu, he actually dared to scheme against me, Lao Guo!

Shi Shan was not related to him, yet he sent people and equipment to support his rebellion. Guo Zixing had never believed that anyone in the world would be so kind, but now that all the clues were connected, he instantly realized the truth.

"Brother Shao, how have we treated you?"

Guo Zixing's tone suddenly turned cold, and his gaze toward Shao Rong was somewhat unfriendly. Shao Rong knew exactly where the problem lay.

He led his men south to "trade horses," taking the route of Hongxian-Wuhe-Haozhou-Dingyuan. He knew all too well where Shishan might attack next if he captured Wuhe.

If he were still in the "Red Heart Camp," he would certainly hope that Shishan could take Haozhou.

In this way, Shishan could break free from the constraints of Xiaoxian Lao and enter the world, allowing his subordinates to follow him and gain even greater wealth.

But Shao Rong, being at Guo Zixing's manor at the moment, had no choice but to plan for his new employer.

Moreover, in order to assist Guo Zixing's uprising, Shao Rong gave up his position in the "Red Heart Camp" and devoted countless efforts to it, not wanting his efforts to be in vain.

“Brother Guo is like a brother to me, and I have always regarded him as my elder brother. Although Shishan is also a hero, his foundation is too shallow and he is too hampered, making it difficult for him to achieve great things. As an outsider, I have no other wish than to assist Brother Guo in achieving great things as soon as possible.”

Shao Rong's words were sincere, and Guo Zixing realized he had gone too far. Just as he was about to try to calm him down, Zhang Tianyou came out of the room with a wine jug, drinking as he spoke:
"Some refugees said that Wuhe was breached by Shishan that very day. Brother-in-law, why do you look so pale? I haven't finished yet. But I don't know what happened, the army withdrew early the next morning, leaving only a small number of people to guard the city."

Snapped!
Guo Zixing slapped the wine jug out of Zhang Tianyou's hand and cursed:
"Drink! Can you finish what you were saying before you drink?"

"I."

Zhang Tianyou had always been somewhat afraid of his brother-in-law. Seeing Guo Zixing's anger, he said in a pitiful voice:

"I've said everything." Shao Rong, an outsider, felt somewhat embarrassed watching his brother-in-law and his wife arguing, so he quickly changed the subject to smooth things over.

"Brother Guo, things have likely changed in Huai'an. Should we move our uprising forward?"

"Yes, it should be done earlier."

Startled by his brother-in-law's words, Guo Zixing realized that he had been focusing only on Anfeng Road, which was short-sighted.

Regardless of the reasons why Shishan captured Wuhe and then hastily withdrew his troops, Huai'an Road will definitely be in chaos for a while. At this time, the pressure to start an uprising will be minimal, while the attention of the Haozhou government troops is focused on the neighboring Wuhe.

"Tianyou, go and contact Sun Deyan, Yu Er, Lu Da, Lao Pan, and the others now. In five days, no, three days from now, at 9:00 AM, we will meet at Zaogang in the south of the city, burn incense, drink wine, and embark on a great undertaking!"

This is a rebellion! Overjoyed, Zhang Tianyou immediately forgot all his fatigue.

"I'll go right now!"

Three days later, at Zaogang, south of Dingyuan City.

A cold wind whipped up yellow sand, creating a desolate atmosphere. The white lotus flag fluttered in the wind as over a thousand young men knelt on the ground, their eyes fixed intently on several figures on the earthen mound.

Guo Zixing, wearing a blue cloak and an oiled silk brocade robe, with a precious sword hanging at his waist, looked solemn. He held a stick of incense and placed it on the incense table. Following closely behind, Sun Deyan and the other three also offered incense one by one.

"The White Lotus descends to earth, the Bright King is reborn, borrow the power of my incense offerings to wipe out all the barbarians under heaven!"

Guo Zixing suddenly drew his precious sword, its tip pointing straight to the sky. The crowd below stirred. Zhang Tianyou gripped his iron spear tightly, his throat bobbing. Shao Rong squinted at Dingyuan, but his mind was on the more distant Wuhe.

"The court is tyrannical, changing the currency and increasing taxes. Heaven has sent down calamities as warnings: last year there was a great flood, this year a drought. Roads are littered with the dead and starving, yet the government only cares about forcing people to pay taxes. I ask you, elders, in this world, if we don't rebel, is there any way to survive?!"

"He's gone too far!"

"He's gone too far!"

The logic behind local landlords and powerful figures like Guo Zixing's rebellion and siege of cities is different from that of outsiders like Shi Shan, who relied on either cunning or the sacrifice of lives to breach a city.

They were the very foundation of the Yuan Dynasty's rule over the region, and in the past, they were honored guests of officials such as county magistrates and clerks. All that was needed was to bring them to the city walls and demonstrate that the Tartars were tyrannical and that the people of Dingyuan were determined not to accept the rule of the imperial court.

Guo Zixing simply ordered a thousand able-bodied men to surround the city, and the city descended into chaos.

The garrison on the city wall and the rebels below were related by blood, and they even dared to openly call each other by name. The county magistrate was furious and ordered his men to fire arrows, but only a handful of people responded.

When the battle began, the defending troops were only going through the motions, and the rebel army lacked long-range attack capabilities, so neither side suffered heavy casualties.

The stalemate lasted less than half an hour before the east gate was secretly opened, and Shao Rong led his men in.

Afterwards, Guo Zixing rode his horse into the city, stepping over the frozen corpses on the street, and headed straight for the county government office.

In front of the county government office, the county magistrate trembled as he raised his official seal and begged for mercy.

"I am guilty, I am willing to surrender the city..."

A flash of light, and a head rolled off.

"Humph! It's too late!"

The battle was won easily, but the plan to consolidate the various rebel armies under the guise of the siege failed.

Guo Zixing went straight to the county government office and took control of the building that symbolized administrative power; Shao Rong led his men to surround the treasury, preventing other rebel armies from getting their hands on it.

Without money, Sun Deyan and his men couldn't keep their able-bodied men in check. They risked their lives to burn incense and rebel, not to be servants of Master Guo, but to become masters themselves.

When Sun Deyan led the looting of shops in the city, the situation began to spiral out of control.

Shops overflowing with valuables, the private vaults of wealthy families, women from poor households—Master Sun had a good set of teeth and wasn't picky about food. Anything not belonging to his own family was a valuable item to appease his men, and therefore worth robbing.
Robbery, assault, murder, arson...

Once the evil in human nature is unleashed, it is difficult to rein it in. Even if Guo Zixing was willing to give some money and grain to appease the various rebel armies, at this point no one could control their subordinates.

The saying goes that the law does not punish the masses, but there were too many perpetrators, and even Guo Zixing's own men secretly participated.

After all, no matter how good the food and drink are, you'll get tired of it if you eat too much. Nothing beats the delicate and tender young ladies from wealthy families.

At this point, Guo Zixing finally regretted not heeding Shao Rong's advice and raising an army on his own.

The unrest in the city lasted for three full days before it subsided slightly, but the leaders then began arguing endlessly about who should be ranked.

Guo Zixing followed the example of Liu Futong and Sesame Li, proclaiming himself Commander-in-Chief and appointing four leaders, Sun Deyan, Yu Er, Lu Da, and Lao Pan, as generals.

Sun Deyan, however, questioned Guo Zixing's qualifications to be marshal, arguing that his forces were only slightly fewer than Guo Zixing's.

Although Yu Er and other leaders also disliked Sun Deyan, they were even more disgusted by Guo Zixing's behavior after the city fell. They all stood behind Sun Deyan and forced Guo Zixing to step down.

Guo Zixing is a man of great talent and character; how could he possibly submit to others?
The two sides were deadlocked, but shocking news came from the north: the Red Flag Battalion had crossed the Huai River and was already besieging Haozhou City.

(End of this chapter)