Chapter 474: Ambush
Chapter 469 of "The Great Ming in the Box" commences with: Twenty li south of Pingyang Prefecture, at Sunjia Gorge.Deputy General Li Huai was fleeing in... Donât miss the next part!
Twenty li south of Pingyang Prefecture, at Sunjia Gorge.Deputy General Li Huai was fleeing in disarray, his armor discarded.
Not long before, he had clashed with a detachment led by Wang Jiayinâs forces.
The group attacking Pingyang Prefecture wasnât Wang Jiayinâs main army, but a ten thousand-strong unit headed by Nan Ying Eighth Great King. None were elderly, weak, women, or childrenâthey were all able-bodied fighters.
The reason was simple: during their breakthrough past the officialsâ encirclement, the elderly, weak, women, and children had been abandoned in Hequ County. Now, Inspector Wu Shen was sending these thirty thousand stragglers to Gaojia Village.
Gaojia Village would soon welcome another large group of promising labor offenders!
With their vulnerable dependents gone and no need to wait for supply troops, the bandits moved swiftly. Where they once covered thirty li a day, they now swept seventy or even a hundred li with ease, turning âhundred-li raidsâ from military feats into routine.
Deputy General Li Huai had only eight hundred soldiersâfar from elite troops. Against ten thousand hardened bandits, defeat was inevitable. His forces were decisively crushed faster than he could blink. All he could do was flee, no other thoughts possible.
âThrough Sunjia Gorge! Twenty li to Pingyang Prefecture! Faster!â Li Huaiâs men yelled as they squeezed through the narrow Sunjia Gorge in a frantic stampede.
He didnât know that north of the gorgeâs exit, Wang Er and Shi Jian lay in ambush with two hundred Militia Soldiers.
The militia formed an inverted V formation, encircling the gorgeâs exit.
Two hundred smoothbore guns aimed directly at the opening.
They waited in tense silence.
A clamor of voices drew closer. Suddenly, figures emerged from the gorgeâs mouth: Li Huai, disheveled, leading several hundred soldiers in complete disarray. Some glanced back with terror before redoubling their effort to run.
Hundreds of paces behind them, the fierce-faced Nan Ying Eighth Great King roared with laughter as he pursued them: âCowardly dog officials! Turn and fight! Hahaha!â
âAfter I catch you, Iâll crush Pingyang Prefecture and slaughter every last one of you mangy curs!â
His booming threats lived up to his reputation as a bandit chiefâa theatrical menace unlike anything ordinary men would utter.
Li Huai cursed his rotten luck: commanding fewer than eight hundred subpar soldiers, heâd faced this nightmare force. Now his legs spun like windmills as he burst from Sunjia Gorge. Spotting woods ahead, he sped toward them with his guards, hoping cover would aid their retreat.
But before theyâd taken two steps under the trees, figures tackled them. Both Li Huai and his guards hit the dirt.
Li Huaiâs heart leapt to his throat: Ambushed by banditsâthis is the end.
Instead, a young yet steady voice spoke beside his ear: âGeneral Li, fear not. We are officials here to reinforce you.â
Li Huai: âAh!â
He blinked. Only then did he notice their attackers wore uniformsâorderly gear as crisp as any officials, unlike the banditsâ chaotic equipment. Relief settled faintly: âWhich outfit are you with?â
The young man replied: âI am Shi Jian, a Captain serving Shaanxiâs General Wang Chengen.â
Li Huai sighed, then tensed again: âCaptain? So you have⌠merely a hundred men?â
âRest assured. Iâm transferring troops for the General, so my command exceeds a hundred.â
Elated, Li Huai asked: âHow many, then?â
Shi Jian: âTwo hundred.â
Li Huai: âPfft!â
What good will two hundred men possibly do?
He barely stopped himself from screaming the words aloud.
Shi Jian laughed and said, âGeneral Li, donât worry. Call your men to a halt in this grove, and then watch our performance.â
Hearing him speak so confidently, with an air of sure victory, Li Huai became a bit skeptical: Did this guy really have a plan? But what could two hundred men do? Ah, there was no time to think so deeply now. If he truly fled back all the way to Pingyang Prefecture, he would still be held accountable afterwards. If they could stop the bandits here for a while, and temporarily repel them, his report could be written less embarrassingly.
Li Huai gritted his teeth and said, âAlright!â
At that moment, there were still pursuers behind them; they could catch up soon. Li Huai had no way to call his own men properly; he could only plant his flag, stopping the commanderâs banner from fleeing in disarray forward.
Some soldiers were still fleeing forward, ignoring the commanderâs banner, but part of them naturally gathered around the banner.
Of course, the bandits also charged toward the commanderâs banner!
Nan Ying Eighth Great King looked from afar and saw Li Huaiâs commanderâs banner stopped in a grove, no longer running; the banner peeked out from the treetops, and many officials were gathering in that direction.
He couldnât help but burst into laughter: âLi Huai, not running anymore? Still wanting to fight a decisive battle against me in this small grove? Hahaha, your grandfather has come to take your dog life.â
The bandits took large strides and charged toward the grove.
Of course, they werenât all stupid; they understood the principle that a grove could easily harbor ambushers. While charging toward the grove, they also mentally prepared for the enemyâs ambushers to suddenly rush out.
The resultâŚ
From the grove, no one rushed out; only a volley of bullets flew out.
âFire!â
At Wang Erâs command, the Gaojia Village Militia opened fire!
Only a hundred were the first to fire.
âBang bang bang bang!â
A burst of chaotic gunfire sounded, and immediately over a dozen bandits at the front fell.
Nan Ying Eighth Great King was stunned for a moment, then immediately laughed: âI thought Li Huai had some amazing strategy, but it was just about a hundred firearms?â
Although his naked eye couldnât see where the firearm soldiers were hidden, just by listening to the sounds, he could roughly determine that the opponent had only about a hundred firearms. The sparse gunfire was very clear.
âDonât be afraid⌠Charge!â
As soon as Nan Ying Eighth Great King finished saying this, bang bang bang bang, a second round fired.
Again, about a hundred firearms roared, and another large group of bandits fell.
The mouth of Sunjia Gorge wasnât that wide to begin with; not many bandits could surge out of the gorge at once. After these two bangs of firing, many of the bandits who had charged out had fallen, and their momentum suddenly weakened significantly.
The bandits behind were suddenly a bit bewildered!
In that brief moment while they were stunned, the Gaojia Village Militia was frantically loading.
The hundred firearm soldiers who fired the first round took less than thirty seconds to complete the loading and once again raised their firearms.
âBang bang bang bang!â
Once again, a hundred firearms roaredâŚ