Chapter 767: This Man, Also Demoted
The newly appointed Shaanxi Governor, Lian Guoshi, rushed forward with anxious urgency, leading the Xi'an Right, Front, and Rear Guards, along with militia volunteers.
His heart was pounding; Wuguan Pass could not afford to be lost.
As he approached the northwestern outskirts of Wuxi, forward scouts reported that the rebels had already reached Wuguan Pass and were preparing to attack it.
Lian Guoshi was baffled by this report. "Attack the pass?" he wondered. "Hadn't the Wuguan garrison fled? Why would the rebels need to attack it then? Since they arrived before me, they should have occupied the pass and used its defenses against *my* forces."
The scout replied, "There's a garrison inside Wuguan Pass! They're not the local garrison troops, but a contingent of household guards and militia, whose origins are unknown. I was too far away, and they displayed no banners on the walls, so I couldn't discern more."
Lian Guoshi was utterly perplexed. "Household guards and militia from who-knows-where?"
Never mind. As long as they're fighting the rebels, they're allies.
Lian Guoshi urged his troops to advance swiftly. The three Guards and the militia volunteers ran, puffing and panting, their legs aching with exhaustion.
When they finally reached Wuguan Pass, they heard a tremendous roar from ahead. The rebels had begun their assault.
The sheer volume of the sounds drained Lian Guoshi's face of all color.
How many rebel soldiers must there be? At least fifty or sixty thousand, surely?
Then, he heard the gunfire. A relentless volley of "bang, bang, bang" from the arquebuses. Thousands of shots seemed to ring out in the blink of an eye. Immediately, the rebels' imposing battle cries transformed into wails of terror, cries of alarm, and desperate shrieks...
Then came the clang of retreat gongs from the rebels!
Lian Guoshi realized: The rebels had been repelled.
So fast!
Although Lian Guoshi was a civil official, he knew that warfare was typically a slow affair – a back-and-forth siege, with both sides dragging things out. A battle often lasted from sunrise to sunset, after which both armies would withdraw to rest, ready to fight again the next day.
But that last engagement—wasn't it unbelievably quick?
From the start of the fighting to its end, it seemed to take no more than a few breaths.
Lian Guoshi was utterly bewildered.
Never mind. He needed to go and see the situation for himself.
He quickly urged his subordinates forward. Soon, they reached the base of Wuguan Pass. A subordinate walked to the gate, looked up, and shouted loudly, "Which garrison holds the pass? We are the anti-bandit army personally led by His Excellency Lian Guoshi, the Governor of Shaanxi. Garrison atop the pass, quickly state your name!"
Luo Xi's head popped up abruptly over the battlements. "This humble general... *cough*... I am the former commander, Luo Xi. Ah, so it's Your Excellency, the Governor! Quick, quickly open the gate and invite His Excellency inside!"
Luo's household guards opened the pass gate and invited Lian Guoshi and his entourage inside.
Lian Guoshi walked up to Luo Xi and asked curiously, "Former?"
Luo Xi looked a bit embarrassed. "Uh... this humble general has already been dismissed from office."
Lian Guoshi thought carefully. Right, he had some recollection of this matter. This man seemed to be a military general who had been dismissed from office alongside the previous Shaanxi Governor, Wang Shunxing. His offense was the same as Wang Shunxing's: spreading outlandish claims and misleading His Majesty.
What foolish things had he said back then? Oh, right. He had claimed that a thousand arquebusiers, in the span of ten breaths, fired four volleys and repelled Mongol cavalry.
It was for *that* that he had been dismissed.
Lian Guoshi felt a pang of sympathy for this Luo Xi. He sighed. "So it was General Luo who defended Wuguan Pass. Although General Luo has been dismissed from his post, he remains loyal to the court and willing to serve His Majesty. I am deeply pleased by this. Just now, though I didn't witness it firsthand, I heard some sounds, and it seemed..."
Luo Xi chuckled wryly. "Just now, the rebel chiefs, the Full-Sky Star and the Sweeping King, led fifty thousand rebels in an attack on Wuguan Pass. This humble general led his household guards... *cough*..."
He had originally intended to say he also brought some household guards on loan from Shi Jian, but on second thought, Shi Jian probably wouldn't want too many people knowing about it. After all, Shi Jian hadn't been dismissed yet and was still working within the established system.
So Luo Xi took all the credit himself. "My household guards brought out their arquebuses, fired two volleys in five breaths, and routed the rebel army."
Lian Guoshi thought to himself: *Two volleys in five breaths? This fellow... no wonder he was dismissed!*
"No, wait!"
That battle just now, it really *did* seem like two volleys in five breaths. Although I didn't see it with my own eyes, I heard it through the walls. After that initial "bang, bang, bang" from the arquebuses, there was a brief pause, just a few breaths, followed by another barrage of "bang, bang, bang," and the rebel army retreated, crying out in terror.
This man... he didn't seem to be lying?
A sense of absurdity welled up in Lian Guoshi's mind.
Wang Shunxing had been dismissed for reporting on the great iron vehicles. Yet, he had personally seen these great iron vehicles, proving Wang Shunxing hadn't lied.
And now Luo Xi had been dismissed for reporting four volleys in ten breaths. But he had just personally heard him fire two volleys in five breaths, and this man didn't seem to be lying either.
So, their dismissals... were somewhat...
Uh!
He walked to the eastern wall of Wuguan Pass and gazed out. Outside, on the open ground, he could still see numerous rebel corpses. The battle had only just concluded, and the battlefield hadn't even been cleared. Across the vast expanse of open ground ahead, nearly a thousand rebels lay prone.
Some were undoubtedly dead, but others were still groaning, writhing, or crawling...
This was a sight that could not be faked.
For a moment, Lian Guoshi was at a loss for words.
Just then, the eastern gate of Wuguan Pass opened. Padi Tu led a large group of militia soldiers out, ready to begin clearing the battlefield.
As Padi Tu walked, he lectured the green recruits trailing behind him: "Listen up, everyone! The most important thing to watch out for when clearing the battlefield are those rebels pretending to be dead among the corpses. If you let your guard down, one might suddenly spring up and stab you to death with a blade... So whatever you do, don't..."
He hadn't even finished his sentence, when a blood-stained corpse in front of him suddenly sprang up. "I'll fight you to the death!"
The man swung his blade at Padi Tu.
Padi Tu swayed his body to the side, instantly drawing his ancestral treasured sword, and roared, "My Heaven Rabbit Rending Overlord Sword!"
With a wet thud, his sword plunged into the man's chest.
Padi Tu swiftly pulled his long sword back, struck a theatrical pose as he completed the move, wiped the blood from his ancestral blade on his clothes, and slid it back into its sheath.
The new recruits exclaimed, "Wow! Rabbit Lord is amazing!"
"What was that ultimate move? So powerful?"
"My admiration for Rabbit Lord is like a surging river, endless and continuous!"
Padi Tu beamed with pride. "Hahahaha! See? That's what an old soldier can do! You rookies should all pay close attention and learn!"
Not far away, Zheng Gouzi couldn't help but shake his head with a smile. *This guy can only fool these new recruits. Every veteran in Gao Family Village knows that his 'ultimate move' is just a fancy name for a haphazard strike. It was just a blind cat catching a dead mouse!*
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