Sweep Yuan

Chapter 40 First to Deliver a Head

There were only a few hundred archers in Suzhou City, but there was a garrison of a thousand households outside the city. By now, they should have already retreated into the city and adjusted their defenses. It would be impossible to replicate the story of Xuzhou and steal the city again.

However, Kublai Khan, the Yuan emperor, once felt the difficulty of attacking Han Chinese cities and "ordered officials to destroy the fortifications along the Huai River," and later ordered "the destruction of cities in Xianghan and Jinghu."

In practice, the area of ​​destruction continued to expand, eventually leading to the complete destruction of the city's defensive structures in the former territory of the Southern Song Dynasty.

Although Suzhou was not within the scope of the "destruction order" at the time, the prevailing environment was that not repairing the city walls was "politically correct," and the city walls had long been neglected and were in a state of disrepair.

Peng Erlang and Zhao Junyong will most likely rely on the large number and courage of the Red Turban soldiers to force their troops to attack the city like ants.

Since Shishan responded to the order of Commander Li and led his troops here, he was naturally prepared to attack the city and deplete his own strength, but that did not mean he was willing to be the first to charge.

Compared to the Xuzhou Red Turban Army, which had limited combat power, the "Red Heart Battalion" was formed in a shorter period of time, was poorly trained and lacked equipment, especially bows and crossbows and armor. It was difficult for them to suppress the counterattack of the defending army, and they themselves lacked effective protection. If they were to rush to the top, they would inevitably suffer heavy casualties.

Although morale has improved after the training at Chulan, it is still far from enough to win the hearts of the soldiers. If Shishan disregards the lives of his soldiers in order to win the prize, he can expect to be deserted by his own people.

However, with the army engaged in military operations, and Peng and Zhao being the superiors who truly had the power to force Shishan to his death, Shishan, no matter how unwilling he was, could not reveal his true thoughts to them. He immediately stated:

"This humble general is willing to be the first to charge into battle for the army!"

"Hahaha, good!"

Peng Erlang laughed somewhat exaggeratedly, as if his plan had succeeded, but then glanced at Shishan before loudly announcing:
"I knew Deputy Commander Shi wouldn't be a bad guy; he's a tough guy who dares to fight tough battles! So, is this settled?"

Since it concerns life and death, it's impossible to "just settle it like that." Moreover, Peng Erlang's words clearly left room for maneuver, so why shouldn't Shishan quickly take advantage of the situation?
"Since I have agreed to be the first to charge, could you two generals grant me a request?"

Seeing that Shi Shan understood his meaning so quickly, Peng Erlang readily said:

"speak!"

"This humble general is willing to die for the two generals, but our troops are few in number and lack armor and weapons, so our ability to attack fortified positions is really limited. I suppose General Peng wouldn't let my men attack the city with just a broken plank, would he?"

Peng Erlang gave Shi Shan a look that said, "This kid really didn't disappoint us," then turned to Zhao Junyong with a smile.

"Old Zhao, you have the most armor and crossbows among the troops this time. Why don't you share some with Deputy Commander Shi?"

Among the generals of Xuzhou, Zhao Junyong was the most cunning. He could easily see through Peng Erlang's elaborate scheme.

Just as Lao Peng said, Zhao Jun used the most armor and crossbows under his command, but he also had a large number of men. His commanders and officers all complained that they didn't have enough equipment, so how could they possibly give it to Shi Shan, an outsider?
In chaotic times, strong soldiers and sophisticated weaponry are the foundation for a good man to establish himself and build his empire.

A few days ago, when Wen Sijiu sent spoils of war into the city, Zhao Jun gave him two leather armors in return, which caused great displeasure among his personal guards. If he were to forcibly distribute the equipment of his own troops to the "Red Heart Battalion" this time, some of them would probably curse on the spot.

But that's why people say Zhao Junyong is an old fox.

Even if he was unwilling to provide the equipment, he didn't need to go back on his word; his subordinates would naturally refuse Shishan's request on his behalf. Thinking of this, Zhao Jun feigned generosity and said:

Confucius said: "A craftsman must first have the right tools if he wants to accomplish something. A few bows, crossbows and armor are nothing special!" Xue Xian!

"Your subordinate is here!" "Remove your armor and crossbows and hand them over to Deputy Commander Shi—"

"General!"

Sure enough, before Zhao Junyong could finish speaking, his generals jumped out to help their commander.

"General, you're really giving outsiders too much face! War isn't a theatrical performance. What's the use of dressing up nicely? Even if you're dressed in red, will you not be bloodied when you get chopped down by the Tartars? When it comes to conquering cities and capturing strongholds, you still have to look to us old brothers from Xiao County!"

"Yes, General! We've trained for so long, why should we let this Tartar—a big talker—get there first?"

"That's right, the first place belongs to us old brothers from Xiao County, no one can take it from us!"

Watching Zhao Jun's men argue heatedly over being the first to charge, Peng Erlang felt a surge of secret pleasure and laughed loudly:
"Hahaha! When it comes to fighting tough battles, we still have to rely on Old Zhao. Let's settle this matter then!"

Although he was secretly annoyed that he had fallen into Peng Erlang's trap and suffered a loss in silence, Zhao Junyong really had no intention of lending equipment to Shishan. Moreover, he had never been afraid of such a dangerous thing as attacking Xuzhou, so why would he be afraid of attacking Suzhou?

But in order to motivate his subordinates, Zhao Junyong still pretended to be annoyed and scolded them:

"You're all yelling so loudly, just wait until we fight this bad battle, and see how Grandpa deals with you!"

"If we've fought a bad battle, why should the general clean up our mess? I'll just cut off my own head and bring it to the general."

"Hahaha--"

The "scramble to climb" during the march was just a minor incident and could not affect the power distribution among the Red Turban leaders in Xuzhou. However, it allowed Shishan to see up close the huge rift that had long existed in this emerging force.

In fact, wherever there are people, there will be conflicts of interest, and no team is an invincible and perfect whole.

Take Shishan for example, how many people can he truly control now? Yet, there's no shortage of infighting and power struggles among his generals.

The difference is that during the expansion phase when the business is steadily growing, minor conflicts are not enough to prevent the team from moving forward.

However, if the team leader fails to unite the team and find ways to eliminate or bridge these conflicts, these internal conflicts will evolve into fatal risks once the team's progress slows down or even encounters setbacks and stops.

Shi Shan secretly lamented the lack of team cohesion, while Zhao Jun, who had suffered a hidden loss, was determined to seek revenge overnight.

Considering that the "Red Heart Battalion" was newly established and lacked sufficient training, making it difficult to attack key positions, Zhao Junyong suggested that it be reorganized into the rear guard to observe the movements of the main army and increase its marching experience.

Well, basically, it means making this little fox follow the army around and get its ass kicked.

Although Peng Erlang and Zhao Junyong had a disagreement over the power of discourse, he had already won a round in the siege, so he naturally wouldn't refute Zhao's face again for the sake of Shishan, an outsider who had no one to rely on.

Shishan had finally managed to gather what little he had, and he never expected to lose it all in this battle. He was happy to play the coward and fall behind so that he could learn the marching and camp-building techniques of the various units along the way.

What was frustrating was that with over ten thousand people marching on dirt roads, the dust was immense. In just half a day, the once bright red uniforms of the "Red Heart Battalion" were completely stained with dirt.

(End of this chapter)