Chapter 660: The Rebels Cross the River
North of Mengjin County, on the banks of the Yellow River, at the easternmost edge of Xiaolangdi.
Dawn was just breaking when a vast flotilla of small boats appeared on the north bank of the Yellow River.
A massive host of rebels began their crossing.
Leading the vanguard were Xu Chenglong's remnants of the Xiaolangdi water bandits, all piloting small sampans.
Hot on their heels were the forces of the South Camp Eight Great Kings and Zhang Xianzhong, the West Camp Eight Great Kings. These were the true vanguard of the rebels, commandeering merchant ships, fishing boats, and even government warships looted from along the banks of Shanxi.
A little further back came the main armies of Chuǎng Wang and Zijing Liang.
Finally, a segment of the army remained on the northern landmass. That was the Dashing General, ordered to cover the rear; if Xu Dingchen's forces, the Governor of Shanxi, gave chase, the Dashing General would engage them to buy time.
They had deliberately chosen the dim light of dawn, when visibility was poor, hoping to evade the government scouts.
But they had clearly overestimated their stealth.
The naval battle erupted into a furious crescendo almost instantly.
“Loose arrows! Loose arrows!”
“Kill those damned government soldiers!”
“We must break through their blockade! We have no retreat!”
“Board them!”
The river blazed with firelight, as flaming arrows set the dawn alight.
Dao Xuan Tian Zun, with Gao Yiye, was lying prone in the grass a considerable distance away on the southern bank, gazing out at the river through a telescope.
Gao Yiye rarely participated in warfare!
Aside from the earliest battles of Gao Family Village and the campaign when the Guyuan rebels attacked Chengcheng County, Gao Yiye had almost never been present on a battlefield.
So when she looked through the telescope and saw a small wooden boat engulfed in flames from burning oil, its crew scorched, leaping into the river, only to be shot dead in the water by arrows from other boats, she couldn't help but feel a surge of nausea.
“What a fierce battle!” Gao Yiye whispered. “Can the government forces win?”
“They won't.”
Li Daoxuan had read historical accounts that this battle would see the rebels successfully enter Henan.
Of course, that was assuming he didn't intervene.
With Gao Family Village as a butterfly's wing, the outcome was no longer certain.
They watched as a torrent of rebel warships surged forward, entangling with the government vessels. The government forces were quickly overwhelmed, outnumbered.
The soldiers led by Qin Renhong were merely Henan's garrison troops, their combat strength far inferior to the renowned generals like Cao Wenzhao, He Renlong, and Ma Xianglin who were suppressing bandits in Shaanxi and Shanxi. They couldn't even compare to Zuo Liangyu.
How could he possibly withstand the rebels?
At the height of the battle, Qin Renhong suddenly heard the grating sound of grappling hooks on his ship. He spun around to look, and saw a ferocious bandit had already leaped onto his flagship. The bandit flashed a wicked grin, roaring with laughter: “The South Camp Eight Great Kings has arrived! Qin Renhong, hand over your dog's head!”
The name 'South Camp Eight Great Kings' startled Qin Renhong. This was a bandit among bandits. Official gazettes frequently mentioned this man, describing him as savagely bloodthirsty, brutal, and vicious in combat.
Now that the man himself stood before him, Qin Renhong's legs trembled uncontrollably; he dared not engage in combat. He bellowed: “Men, quickly, throw this fellow off the ship!”
A large group of government soldiers swarmed him.
The South Camp Eight Great Kings wielded a waist-saber, parrying and thrusting; several government soldiers couldn't gain an advantage against him. He held his ground by the ship's rail, as more ferocious bandits immediately began scrambling aboard, one after another, via ropes.
Qin Renhong knew trouble was brewing. He hastily ran towards the stern, seeking an escape skiff.
To his dismay, several grappling hooks flew onto the stern as well, and with a flurry, a group of fierce bandits leaped aboard. Their leader, grinning widely, declared: “My name is Zhang Xianzhong, the West Camp Eight Great Kings! Remember it well. When you report to the King of Hell, don't misstate my name. I am Zhang Xianzhong, the West Camp Eight Great Kings; the one before was the South Camp Eight Great Kings.”
Qin Renhong's heart sank with a thump. Damn! He'd actually remembered it wrong. The official gazettes had described Zhang Xianzhong, the West Camp Eight Great Kings, as brutal and vicious, not the South Camp Eight Great Kings.
Zhang Xianzhong brandished his waist-saber and charged.
Qin Renhong clumsily parried, attempting to meet the charge. In fewer than three moves, Zhang Xianzhong's saber hacked into his neck, sending blood spurting far and wide—
Gao Yiye lowered her telescope. She whispered, “Heavenly Lord, the government forces lost.”
Li Daoxuan nodded. “Indeed, they're about to rout.”
No sooner had they spoken than the government forces began to scatter. The remaining government warships all fled towards the south bank, and soon, these ships ran aground on the sand. The surviving soldiers aboard them desperately scrambled ashore, fleeing inland.
As they fled, they discarded their helmets and armor to lighten their load.
The Magistrate of Mengjin County, who was organizing the local militia on the bank, was swept up by the fleeing government soldiers. The morale of his militia wavered, many militiamen trembling with fear.
“Your Honor, there are so many bandits!”
“The river is covered with their ships!”
“We can't possibly hold them back, can we?”
“Perhaps we should retreat to the county seat and defend there?”
The Magistrate of Mengjin County felt utterly numb. He wasn't particularly skilled in warfare, but military treatises claimed that defending a riverbank was easier than defending a city.
Just then, he suddenly saw the young hero Xiao Qiushui and his wife Tang Fang emerge from the nearby tall grass. They seemed utterly unfazed by the rebels, and slowly walked towards him.
The Magistrate of Mengjin County stared, bewildered.
Li Daoxuan asked, “Why aren't you fleeing? What are you still doing standing here?”
The Magistrate of Mengjin County, trembling, replied: “The military texts say... to strike them mid-crossing... is the best tactic... I am waiting for half the bandit army to cross, then I will strike them.”
Li Daoxuan countered, “The bandit army numbers two hundred thousand in total. Are you going to wait until a hundred thousand of them have crossed before you attack? Can your handful of militiamen defeat a hundred thousand bandits?”
The Magistrate of Mengjin County fell silent, speechless.
After a moment of thought, he realized his error.
The Magistrate of Mengjin County let out a cry of alarm, “Retreat! We're falling back to defend the county seat!”
In a flash, the militia had also completely vanished.
Li Daoxuan spread his hands. “Good, all the obstacles are gone. Next, it's our people's turn to make their entrance.”
The moment he uttered those words, three thousand local militiamen, armed with the cast-iron versions of Chassepot Rifles, charged forward from behind, instantly taking over the position abandoned by the Mengjin Magistrate.
The militiamen also carried numerous sandbags. They dumped these sandbags onto the ground, stacking them up, and in an instant, a series of low sandbag walls appeared.
The riflemen hunkered down behind the sandbags, and their defensive position was thus established.
Jiang Cheng, the commander of the new Henan militia, shouted loudly: “Everyone, load your bullets...”
He was, in fact, a new commander himself. He had never commanded rifle troops before. Both he and his unit were fresh recruits, and the entire contingent was, well, rather green.
The soldiers hastily began loading their first paper cartridges.
Some hands trembled, dropping bullets onto the sandy ground. They frantically searched for them.
Others tried to load them in backward. Feeling something was amiss after inserting them, they hastily pulled the cartridges out to reload them properly...
Utter chaos!
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