Chapter 320: Night Raid
Scout skirmishes in the dense mountain forests were always exceptionally perilous.
Cheng Xu felt a pang of worry for the ten scouts he had dispatched.
Among them, only Shi Jian had gleaned some basic scouting experience from his time with the salt smugglers, bringing along two or three comrades. The rest were novices, embarking on their first mission, and Cheng Xu truly feared for their safety.
He particularly hoped Padi Tu wouldn't do anything foolish during such a critical operation.
However, even as his worries mounted, four scouts reappeared, escorting two prisoners, their faces beaming with triumph.
Cheng Xu murmured, "Oh? Looks like the greenhorns are gaining the upper hand."
The four scouts approached Cheng Xu. "Instructor He," one reported, a grin spreading across his face, "we've brought back two enemy scouts."
Cheng Xu seized on the phrase "brought back." Usually, if they were aiming for praise or bragging, they'd declare, "We captured two enemies," not merely "brought back" two.
Having often embellished merit reports in his past, Cheng Xu understood the subtle nuances of such phrasing.
"No!" the four shook their heads. "Padi Tu caught them. He's still up ahead; he just told us to send the prisoners back first."
"What?" Cheng Xu exclaimed, utterly astonished. "Padi Tu did that?"
The four chuckled. "Padi Tu's ears are incredibly sharp. That fellow can hear the slightest stir in the forest from a surprising distance."
Cheng Xu was momentarily speechless. *Is that guy really some kind of rabbit-spirit?* he wondered.
Still, he decided, now wasn't the time to dwell on such thoughts. With two prisoners before them, a thorough interrogation was, of course, in order.
After a round of whips and cudgels, the two captives divulged the situation on the mountain. Red Wolf, leading four companies under Wang Zuogua, roughly 1,500 strong, lay in ambush on a mountain peak to their front-right, awaiting the militia to march into the valley so they could unleash a hail of rocks.
Cheng Xu let out a chilling chuckle. "Prepare the entire army! We're launching a night raid on that bastard, Red Wolf."
People in ancient times often suffered from nutritional deficiencies, leading to night blindness, which made night attacks a rare tactic.
But the Gao Family Village militia was not afflicted by night blindness!
Li Daoxuan was meticulous about the militia's diet, ensuring they ate well and maintained a balanced intake of nutrients.
He would crush vitamin tablets into powder, entrusting them to the mess hall staff to mix into the militia's meals.
Consequently, very few of these soldiers suffered from night blindness.
With their scouts already dominating the field, not launching a night attack against Red Wolf would be a disservice to their current advantage.
As soon as darkness fully descended, Cheng Xu quietly led his troops, setting off.
A bright moon hung high in the sky, but the dense forest canopy blocked its light. The militia advanced through the woods with silent, careful steps, making it impossible for Red Wolf's sentries on the mountaintop to detect them.
After a period of stealthy movement, Cheng Xu encountered Shi Jian on the hillside.
Cheng Xu whispered, "What's the situation up ahead?"
Shi Jian reported, "We've killed quite a few of the enemy scouts. They're too scared to come out of their camp now."
Cheng Xu smirked. "So, the entire perimeter is ours, then?"
Shi Jian nodded.
Cheng Xu then asked, "Where's Padi Tu?"
Shi Jian pointed upwards. "He's even further ahead. His hearing is truly remarkable; in this complex terrain, his ears are more effective than his eyes. The enemy scouts can't even get close to him."
Finishing, a peculiar expression crossed his face. "Could he be... a rabbit spirit?"
Cheng Xu laughed, chiding him, "If he were truly a rabbit spirit, wouldn't the Heavenly Lord have dealt with him long ago? Could any demon possibly deceive the Heavenly Lord's divine sight?"
Shi Jian conceded, "That's true."
Cheng Xu continued to lead his troops up the slope. Before long, Red Wolf's "encampment" came into view.
It could barely be called an encampment; it was more like "a disorganized mob of bandits huddled together for the night."
Red Wolf clearly lacked any fundamental knowledge of military marching, campaigning, or setting up a proper camp.
This was the true "wild style" of a roving bandit force. Over a thousand men were simply scattered through a patch of woods, with a few groups patrolling as sentries, while the others lay or sat haphazardly amongst the trees.
Some, looking like characters straight out of a wuxia novel, sat propped against large trees, a sword cradled in their arms, a conical hat shading their faces. If a modern transmigrator were to see them, they would surely feel compelled to muse about lonely wanderers and fated encounters.
Cheng Xu found himself stifling a laugh at the bandits' formation.
He raised a hand, signaling the militia behind him to take cover where they stood.
A thousand men melted into silence behind him, not a single sound escaping their ranks.
In terms of training, the militia utterly eclipsed the roving bandits by a mile.
Cheng Xu summoned the captains of the ten "hundred-man companies," whispered a few instructions, then chuckled grimly. With a wave of his hand, he commanded, "Prepare to move."
Meanwhile, Red Wolf sat beneath a large tree, his face etched with frustration. The loss in the scout skirmishes meant that the "Bai Family Fortress Militia" had surely discovered his position. There was no way they would foolishly march through the valley, granting him the opportunity to rain down rocks upon them.
Red Wolf cursed under his breath. "Our scouts are seasoned outlaws, men who've long walked the jianghu! How could they be outfought in these woods by mere household guards from Bai Family Fortress? Have you all wasted your years in the jianghu? Now the situation outside our camp is completely dark to us; we can't even tell what the Bai Family Fortress forces are doing. How utterly useless are you?!"
The circle of junior captains around him meekly endured the dressing down, their faces flushed with shame.
Ordinarily, their poor combat skills could be excused – after all, they were outlaws, not trained soldiers, so losing a frontal engagement had its justifications. But to botch a skirmish in the very domain they specialized in, the "back alleys and hidden paths," was simply inexcusable.
One junior captain muttered, "Tomorrow, at daybreak, we'll stop playing these sneaky games. We'll just charge the Bai Family Fortress Militia head-on, damn it."
Red Wolf rolled his eyes. "Charge? What good would that do? Our detachment only has 1,500 men, and Bai Family Fortress has around a thousand. We might not even win a direct fight. We need to wait for Big Brother, Second Brother, and Third Brother to encircle them from the other directions. Only then, with a four-sided assault, can we ensure a foolproof victory."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a whistling sound cut through the air. A dark, indistinct object soared through the nocturnal forest and landed with a thud beside their group. It looked like a small club, a sputtering fuse burning on its surface.
The surrounding junior captains exclaimed in surprise, "What is that?"
Red Wolf, however, didn't hesitate. He instinctively rolled to the ground, scrambling into the nearby bushes.
"Boom!"
The hand grenade exploded!
Tiny iron pellets and jagged shards of metal shot outwards in all directions. The junior captains, their minds still reeling, were struck multiple times, their bodies collapsing limply to the ground.
At the same instant, "boom, boom, boom" grenade explosions erupted throughout the forest. In the blink of an eye, dozens of detonations shook the night.
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