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Chapter 1088: Nothing But Ba Mountains

Kaixian County.

In later eras, it would be known as Kaizhou.

Its population was diverse: forty percent Han Chinese, ten percent Miao, Yi, and Zhuang ethnicities, and the remaining fifty percent were "Ba people," primarily the Tujia.

However, the Tujia people of Kaixian County were not under the direct command of Qin Liangyu.

Qin Liangyu's authority extended only to the Tujia of Shizhu, not to Kaixian.

The Tujia Pacification Commissioner of Kaixian County was named Ran Ke.

Unlike Qin Liangyu, Ran Ke was not a general zealous for national affairs, willing to shed blood and sacrifice his life for the Great Ming Dynasty. He was a typical minor chieftain, content to guard his own small patch of land and live a quiet, peaceful life.

He believed in sweeping the snow from his own doorstep, not bothering with the frost on others' roofs.

Thus, when the rebel army invaded Sichuan, reaching Daning Prefecture, he did not deploy his troops. When they attacked Kuizhou City, he likewise offered no aid. Even when Ma Xianglin led the White Pole Soldiers in pursuit of the enemy through Kaixian County, Ran Ke lent no assistance.

Now, however, the rebels had arrived directly at his doorstep.

Ran Ke, clad in mountain-patterned armor, stood atop the battlements of Kaixian County. Around him were numerous Tujia soldiers. Though not White Pole Soldiers themselves, their weaponry was very similar: long wooden staffs steeped in tung oil, crafted with a small iron spearhead at the tip.

The spear shafts were remarkably long, yet not heavy, each tipped with a small iron spearhead.

Facing the approaching rebels, they locked their long spears together, extending them forward to form a terrifying bristling phalanx.

Yet...

The rebels produced a Three-Eyed Arquebus and, with three sharp "bangs," fired it directly into their spear formation.

Ran Ke's troops suffered heavy casualties.

The local militia, led by the Kaixian County Magistrate, suffered similarly grievous losses.

Kaixian County's already modest city walls now stood precariously on the brink of collapse.

A Tujia soldier rushed to his side, shouting, "General, we can't hold out much longer! We must abandon the county seat and retreat to the Ba Mountains!"

The Ba Mountains were the ancestral homeland of the Ba people.

The Sichuan region contained countless Ba Mountains; indeed, every peak here was considered a "Ba Mountain." Each one gave rise to a chieftain, carving out an independent territory.

Ran Ke let out a frustrated sigh. "Have our reinforcements still not arrived?"

The soldier desperately replied, "There are no reinforcements! Hou Liangzhu, the Regional Commander of Sichuan, is dead, and the authorities won't come to our aid. We sent for help from Xinning County, but their magistrate has no troops. The chieftains who *do* have troops say we didn't help them when the rebels attacked, so they won't help us now!"

Ran Ke cursed, "Damn it all!"

This was, to say the least, an awkward predicament.

Ran Ke peered out, watching the surging rebel tide outside the walls. He sighed. "So be it. As things stand, we can only retreat to the Ba Mountains. The county magistrate has a duty to defend the land and must hold the city to the last, but we chieftains do not."

Though he said this, many Tujia common folk still resided within the county seat.

As a chieftain, Ran Ke still felt a measure of responsibility for his people. Abandoning the county seat would mean the slaughter of its inhabitants and the burning of the city. For a long time to come, his mountain stronghold would lose all external support, facing severe difficulties in terms of food and daily necessities.

He would not abandon the county seat unless absolutely desperate.

Just as he prepared to issue the retreat order...

Suddenly, shouts of battle erupted in the distance. A thousand-strong army materialized seemingly out of nowhere. Leading them was a formidable general, a gleaming sword held high in his right hand, while his left brought a strange iron tube to his lips. He roared, "Your Lord Rabbit has arrived! Rebels attacking Kaixian County, prepare to die!"

With that, the peculiar army swiftly charged forward.

The rebels, engrossed in their assault, were thrown into disarray by the sudden attack from behind. They hesitated, unsure whether to continue besieging the city or turn to face this new enemy.

The rebel chieftain roared commands, but their command structure proved inflexible. Half the rebel force turned to meet the new threat, while the other half continued their assault on Kaixian County.

A barrage of "bang-bang-bang" musket fire erupted, followed by the deafening "boom-boom-boom" of hand grenades exploding. From the city walls, Ran Ke could only see white smoke billowing everywhere in the distance.

Chaos then engulfed the rebel ranks.

Some shrieked in panic, others fled in disarray, trampling their own comrades.

Beneath the city walls, pandemonium reigned.

The siege forces dissolved into chaos as well, and the pressure on Kaixian County's defenses instantly eased significantly.

Ran Ke was overjoyed. "No need to retreat! We don't have to retreat! Reinforcements have arrived! Excellent! Hold fast, everyone, hold on for dear life!"

After a brief scramble, the bandits managed to turn their Three-Eyed Arquebuses toward the reinforcements. However, before their arquebusiers could even get within range, a volley of musket fire from the newcomers mowed them all down.

Seeing that these newcomers were formidable opponents, the bandits immediately broke and fled, performing their traditional "art" of scrambling into the mountains.

The peculiar reinforcements pursued for a short while, but perhaps due to their musket-armed soldiers being ill-suited for mountain chases, they only drove the rebels into the hills before breaking off the pursuit.

Subsequently, the leading "Lord Rabbit" approached Kaixian County.

Ran Ke quickly yelled, "Open the gates!"

The county magistrate ordered the city gates opened, and Ran Ke hurried out to greet him. "This humble officer is Ran Ke, Pacification Commissioner of Kaixian County. May I inquire, General, what is your esteemed name?"

Padi Tu chuckled. "My name is Padi Tu, Captain of the Shaanxi Relief Militia's Third Company."

"What?" Ran Ke was utterly baffled. He had only ever heard of government troops providing relief, never a civilian militia. What kind of arrangement was this?

Padi Tu laughed again. "Look at your face! Can't a militia come to help? Tsk, tsk! I just learned a really cool saying from a very learned brother. Listen up—'Every common man bears responsibility for the fate of the world.' Pretty cool, right?"

Ran Ke's facial muscles twitched awkwardly. "It's... decent, I suppose... quite cool."

Padi Tu beamed with delight, patting his shoulder. "Hahaha, as long as it's cool! Your Lord Rabbit is the coolest!"

Ran Ke was speechless.

The venerable Pacification Commissioner, the de facto emperor of the Tujia in Kaixian County, had been rendered utterly speechless by Padi Tu in just a few remarks, not knowing how to even begin a conversation.

Padi Tu then asked, "How long have you been troubled by these bandits here?"

Ran Ke sighed. "The rebel army arrived half a month ago. For a while, they merely roamed the nearby mountain villages. But in the last two days, they've gone mad, suddenly launching an assault on the county seat."

Padi Tu frowned. "That's likely because they've plundered all the mountain villages outside the county seat. With no more food to steal, they had no choice but to attack the city itself."

Ran Ke conceded awkwardly, "Yes... The city is now filled with refugees who fled the villages, and many others have sought refuge in the Ba Mountains."

Padi Tu blinked. "Uh... there's a Ba Mountain here too? I passed a village earlier, and their villagers also said their mountain was called Ba Mountain."

Ran Ke swept his hand across the surrounding peaks. "These are *all* Ba Mountains," he stated.

Padi Tu groaned. "Aargh! You can't do that! Outsiders already get lost so easily. If you don't even give these mountains proper names, creating so many with the same name, how are us outsiders ever supposed to find our way around?"