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Chapter 1199: Preparing for War

Chuang Tatian was so furious he almost laughed. A few mere fishermen, had they gone mad? "I may not have proper ships, only rafts, but with a thousand men spread across the water, as far as the eye can see, nothing but rafts – how vast a scale is that? Do a few tiny fishing boats really dare to prance before me?"

Chuang Tatian commanded, "If they approach, greet them with arrows."

A bandit under his command replied, "At once! But... Boss, it's hard enough for us to stand steady on these rafts; the arrows we shoot might not be very accurate."

Chuang Tatian scoffed, "Just have more men shoot at once; someone's bound to get lucky and hit something."

The rebels prepared themselves, ignoring the small boats, and continued their crossing.

The river here was about a mile wide, and crossing it on rafts would take some time. The rebels rowed with strenuous grunts for a long while, but they hadn't even covered half the river's width.

Just then, the small boats that had been watching them from a distance suddenly cheered loudly: "They're here! They're here!"

Chuang Tatian frowned. "What's coming?"

His subordinate stammered, "Uh? Over there... a fleet of ships is coming."

Chuang Tatian turned his head and was instantly startled. He saw a fleet of ships approaching from downstream on the Yangtze River. At the forefront were three oddly shaped vessels, with neither sails nor oars, yet they moved incredibly fast.

Behind these three ships was a chaotic assortment of various vessels.

There was the imperial river patrol fleet, ordinary merchant cargo ships, and all sorts of strange and peculiar fishing boats—large and small, with diverse designs...

Before the ships even arrived, the people on board roared in unison: "Villains, don't even dream of crossing the river!"

"We'll never let you ravage the south bank of the Yangtze!"

"Go feed the fish at the bottom of the river!"

When Chuang Tatian saw this spectacle, he was utterly terrified. Just moments ago, he'd thought his thousand men on a vast expanse of rafts were numerous. Now, he felt like they were nothing more than a swarm of small shrimp.

"Quick! Retreat to the shore, quickly!" Chuang Tatian shouted desperately.

In fact, he didn't need to give the order; the rebels were already retreating. Any fool knew rafts were no match for proper ships on the river. Moreover, they were northern Shaanxi soldiers; fighting a naval battle on the Yangtze against southern troops—what kind of madness would give them such courage?

"Run!"

Each man flailed his wooden board wildly, desperately paddling towards the riverbank.

But rafts were, after all, just rafts. Their speed was significantly slower than proper ships. The vast fleet of ships quickly surged forward.

"Fire arrows!"

The rebels could only fight like cornered beasts, desperately firing arrows at the ships.

But the rafts swayed violently, and the northern soldiers on them couldn't even put strength into their shots. Arrows wavered erratically, striking with no force.

"CRASH!" Gao Family Village's electric boats were the first to ram two rafts.

The rebels on the rafts fell into the water, thrashing, creating a wide spray of water.

"Cast the nets! Haul them in!"

"Don't waste these labor reform candidates!"

"It would be quite useful to capture them and have them repair the river embankments!"

Gao Family Village had already entered the industrial age, and its demand for labor far exceeded that of an agricultural society. Seeing all those "young, strong laborers" struggling in the water, how could they not quickly haul them out and put them to use?

Fishing nets dropped from the large ships, scooping up the rebels in the river as if fishing, a single cast bringing in a whole catch.

Chuang Tatian saw this sight and was stunned.

He had previously thought these were imperial troops come to intercept their crossing. Now he realized, it seemed these weren't imperial troops; imperial troops wouldn't be so keen on taking prisoners alive.

"Who exactly are these people?"

"Boss, look, they have a multicolored flag on their ships."

"What? Is that the formidable firearms unit?"

Chuang Tatian was deeply shaken. It seemed they had truly shown mercy. Otherwise, if those large ships had brought out their strange firearms and blasted away at the rafts indiscriminately, his men on the rafts would have nowhere to hide, facing certain death.

Gao Family Village's electric boats set an example. The imperial river patrol fleet and the civilian-requisitioned vessels that had come with them also adopted the same tactics. Slightly larger boats could simply charge and capsize the rafts, then cast their nets.

However, smaller boats couldn't ram the rafts, as the rebels might use the opportunity to board.

Thus, the small boats had to employ their own tactics...

The fishermen on the boats stripped off their clothes, revealing their dark, muscular physiques. They laughed heartily, "Back in my day, I had a nickname too, 'Wave Tumbler' Little Zhang Shun! Hahahaha! Let me show you the swimming skills of a twenty-year veteran fisherman..."

With that, the man plunged into the water with a splash. With a single dive, he was instantly beneath a raft. The raft immediately began to shake violently. The northern soldiers on board had never seen such a tactic. Terrified by the rocking raft, they cried out in panic. Soon, the raft capsized, and the northern soldiers fell into the water. After a few more seconds, having swallowed too much water, they temporarily lost consciousness, were pulled out of the water by the fishermen, and taken to a nearby boat to be tied up.

Chuang Tatian knew he was finished. He raised his hands on the raft: "I surrender! I surrender!"

Shi Kefa's detachment, having the fewest troops, also marched with the utmost caution.

Unlike the other two routes, his subordinates didn't have several Gao Family Village generals, nor did they possess advanced weaponry like the First Regiment. Thus, they needed to be even more careful.

Scouts were sent out far ahead, and hot air balloons constantly hovered above.

They didn't aim to kill many enemies, but only to prevent the rebels from escaping the encirclement through his path.

Whenever a village or small town was discovered, Shi Kefa would immediately move in, first having his soldiers construct defensive fortifications, before considering any further advance.

"Report! Zuo Liangyu's army has appeared in Yingshan County," the scout from the front reported. "Zuo Liangyu routed the rebel Chuang Tatian and assimilated five thousand rebels from Chuang Tatian's command. His total strength now exceeds fifteen thousand."

Shi Kefa snorted. "Though his forces are numerous, they are nothing but a rabble. His truly capable fighting men amount to only three thousand from his main detachment; all others are not worth fearing."

His subordinate pointed out, "Commissioner Shi, while we also have over ten thousand men under our command, our truly capable fighting men are only the one thousand from the Gao Family Village Militia. All others are not worth fearing, either."

Shi Kefa said nothing.

This was a bit awkward!

"Report! Zuo Liangyu is moving in our direction. His scouts have already discovered us."

Although Zuo Liangyu had many faults, he was still, after all, a major Ming general, and his military strategy and tactics were not bad. Once his scouts made contact, Zuo Liangyu immediately pinpointed the position of Shi Kefa's army.

Soon, Zuo Liangyu's messenger arrived. "Commissioner Shi, what is the meaning of this? As the Governor of Anlu, you've abandoned the Anlu region and come stirring up trouble in Huguang? How is this different from rebellion? If this general reports you to the imperial court, you'll be in deep trouble."

Shi Kefa scoffed. "Hoarding troops for personal power, harming the common people. You, of the Zuo family, don't you have any idea how many of your men are soldiers and how many are bandits? This official has come to Hubei to suppress bandits, and that means annihilating both you and the rebels."

After exchanging heated words, both knew the other had no intention of a civil discussion. So, a fight was inevitable.

With fewer men, Shi Kefa ultimately dared not launch a frontal assault. He scanned the map and pointed to 'Baimao Town,' dozens of miles west of Yingshan County. "We will construct a defensive line here and meet Zuo Liangyu's challenge."