Chapter Sixty: Internal and External Coordination

Two thousand bandits from the Tashan Rouge Tiger bandit gang, led by Yan Zibei—the younger brother of their chieftain, the Rouge Tiger Yan Ziying—set out before nightfall and headed straight to storm Fushan County City.

Yang Fuli sighed: "The Tashan Rouge Tiger bandits are much more formidable than the Cishan Baldy bandits. Fushan County City is in grave danger!"

"Commander Yang, surely you don't expect us, the Zhang Village Militia, to intercept a force of two thousand bandits from the Tashan Rouge Tiger gang?"

Zhang Chen cursed Yang Fuli inwardly: *Old Yang, you came all the way from the county seat just to deliver this intelligence with malicious intent. Your Embroidered Uniform Guard carrier pigeons are quite impressive; sell me a few of those eagles, Old Yang, I'll pay you a high price.*

"Not selling. We don't have many to spare."

Yang Fuli shot back mentally, then said aloud: "If you move the Zhang Village Militia into the county seat, you should be able to hold it. For the sake of the thousands of innocent souls inside the city walls, Zhang Chen, put aside your grudge against Magistrate Tian!"

"I figured you'd come up with all sorts of reasons to refuse moving the Zhang Village Militia into the city. After all, that stubborn magistrate didn't issue an order to summon us."

Yang Fuli took a sip of water: "Tian Xuewen is both virtuous and capable, a genuinely qualified magistrate. If Fushan County City falls to the bandits and the citizens are slaughtered, the magistrate will likely face execution and the confiscation of his entire estate."

"Old Yang, spare me the moral blackmail. The Zhang Village Militia has never received a single copper coin of military pay from the imperial court; we have no obligation to defend Fushan County City. More importantly, once we rout the Rouge Tiger bandits, there is a very high probability they will turn around and attack Zhang Village. After all, in the eyes of bandits, our village is also a juicy piece of meat."

Cursing Yang Fuli under his breath, Zhang Chen shook his head: "Tell Old Tian that, provided the safety of Zhang Village is guaranteed, I will lead the militia to engage the bandits outside the city walls."

"Having your word is enough." Yang Fuli stood up. "I must return to help defend the city. I'm leaving now."

"Brother Yang, take care!" Zhang Chen gave Yang Fuli's shoulder a friendly punch. "Keep a close eye on the city gates. I've heard that down south, when Japanese pirates attacked county seats, they would send hundreds of agents disguised as locals to slip into the city in advance, working from the inside out to seize the gates."

"Send hundreds of agents into the city in advance to work from the inside out and seize the gates."

Historically, the rebel armies of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong had used this exact tactic to breach countless walled cities.

"This warning is timely indeed. I must hurry back." Yang Fuli spurred his horse and galloped back toward the county seat.

Old Li Laowai, an veteran hunter from Zhang Village, owned a remarkably smart hound named Dahai.

Tonight, Liu Mingyi, a scout from the Zhang Village Intelligence Department, was patrolling near Fushan County City accompanied by Dahai.

At the very beginning of the Zi hour, Dahai returned bearing a letter.

***

Old Li Laowai removed the letter tied to Dahai's front left leg and handed it over to Zhang Chen.

Liu Mingyi, the scout from the Zhang Village Intelligence Department, had sent back crucial intelligence via Dahai.

At the exact midpoint of the Zi hour, the two thousand bandits of the Tashan Rouge Tiger gang, led by Yan Zibei, had descended upon Fushan County City and immediately launched an assault on the East Gate.

There was commotion inside the city as well; internal accomplices must have simultaneously attacked the East Gate from within.

In other words, during daylight hours, a large contingent of bandits had already sneaked into Fushan County City.

At this moment, the bandits inside the city were coordinating with those outside, attacking the East Gate from within and without.

"My warning to Yang Fuli went to waste." Zhang Chen shook his head. He ordered Zhang Er'an to lead the Zhang Village Militia Reserve Battalion to secure Zhang Village and Liu Village, while he personally led the main force toward Fushan County City, located more than ten li away.

Zhang Chen insisted on commanding the troops in person. Qi Guoshu tried to dissuade him, but seeing it was futile, he simply shook his head and murmured a quiet prayer: "Heaven protect the master and bring him back safely. Amitabha, merciful Buddha, truly merciful!"

"The master makes a fair point. The great enterprise of Zhang Village has only just begun; it is not yet time for him to step back."

Zheng Laotie cursed himself quietly: *Why on earth can't I forge the flintlock the master described? It's driving me mad! No, I must go back and continue my experiments.*

Traveling without torches, the Zhang Village Militia pressed forward under the cold moonlight and dim starlight, arriving outside Fushan County City by the fourth quarter of the Zi hour.

To their great regret, just a quarter-hour earlier, the two thousand external bandits and the five hundred internal agents had successfully overwhelmed the Fushan County local garrison alongside militias from neighboring villages like Mazhuang and Shunqiao, capturing the East Gate of Fushan County City.

"The bandits from outside have already flooded into the county seat," sighed Liu Mingyi, the scout. "There is no longer any large-scale, organized resistance within the city. Operating in small groups of twos and threes, the bandits are currently raping women and pillaging gold and silver treasures."

"Our Zhang Village Militia didn't arrive too late."

Ordering Wang Shumeng to take seven hundred men and secure the outside of the East Gate, Zhang Chen glanced at him: "Bandits will soon try to break out, and most of them will be carrying gold and silver. Shumeng, dispatch men to the other three gates—do not let a single bandit escape!"

"Understood!" Shouting his reply, Wang Shumeng snapped a crisp, textbook military salute. *The master led us to the county seat at a steady, unhurried pace. It almost seemed as though he deliberately allowed the bandits to break in and plunder the city.*

*The master is a good man; how could he possibly condone the sacking of Fushan County City?* Wang Shumeng instantly berated himself: *Our Zhang Village is too poor. Even if the master intentionally allowed the bandits to loot Fushan County City, he is entirely in the right. The bandits loot the county's gold and silver, and our militia loots the bandits' gold and silver—that is a marvelous arrangement!*

***

Had the militia marched at a double-quick pace with torches blazing, they likely could have reached Fushan County City before the bandits seized the East Gate.

Unaware that Wang Shumeng harbored a sliver of suspicion toward him, Zhang Chen smiled. He divided the remaining eight hundred men of the Zhang Village Militia into more than a hundred small squads of five or six men each.

Ordering these squads to enter the city and hunt down the bandits—who were distracted by looting and rape and thus possessed low combat effectiveness—Zhang Chen, accompanied by his fifty-man personal bodyguard squad, his close guards Zhang Min and Li Dahui, also stepped through the gates into the county seat.

Once inside, Zhang Chen and his retinue marched straight toward the county yamen.

Fires set by the bandits illuminated the county seat as bright as day.

In truth, a mere fifty men at each gate—two hundred in total—would have sufficed to seal off the exits and trap every single bandit inside the city.

Yet Zhang Chen had deliberately limited the clearance force entering the city to eight hundred men.

Among these eight hundred militia members, over two hundred were natives of Zhang Village who possessed a commendable degree of discipline.

Days prior, during his very first engagement upon arriving in Zhang Village, Zhang Chen had led the local militia to slaughter nearly three hundred Cishan bandits and repel the rest.

At that time, over five hundred villagers had fallen in battle, and most of the surviving young men of Zhang Village had sustained injuries.

Fortunately, Zhang Chen had concocted a miraculous anti-inflammatory pill capable of preventing infection; barring fatal wounds, nearly all the wounded young men of the village had made full recoveries.

A few days ago, when the Zhang Village Militia underwent its first expansion, aiming for a total of eight hundred men, almost none of the local young men were willing to enlist.

Later on, after recruiting thousands of able-bodied men from elsewhere, Zhang Chen prepared to expand the militia to fifteen hundred. By then, the sentiment in Zhang Village had shifted entirely, and numerous local youths eagerly signed up.

After all, the Zhang Village Militia provided three square meals a day and disbursed military pay every single month.

More importantly, Zhang Chen—the sole landlord of the village—had voluntarily recalled most of the farmland leases from his tenant farmers, returning the land directly to the people of Zhang Village.