Chapter 557: Little Ma Chao |
All the common people in Jiangzhou City were wide-eyed, waiting for a show.
With their limited vision and knowledge, they truly could not imagine how the deities would help them improve their transportation capacity.
Then, they saw a huge shovel extending down from the clouds.
Digging and digging in the small river channel…
The common people of Jiangzhou: “Wow!”
“The Fen River… has become wider!”
“The water has also deepened.”
“Oh heavens! So amazing, what divine power is this?”
“The deity actually used a shovel to dig? Why not cast a spell to blow it up directly?”
“The powers of this Dao Xuan Deity are also terrifying, not weaker than our Jiang King.”
“After all, he’s still a deity; deities are always very powerful.”
Amid the discussions of the common folk, the Fen River’s channel was forcibly widened by half, turning it into a medium-sized river about forty or fifty meters wide, with much deeper water.
Naturally, the river water in the newly dug channel was turbid, looking quite frightening.
But if it settled for a few days, it would return to its usual beautiful color.
When the channel was completed, the huge shovel and the golden hand slowly retracted into the sky. The silicone Deity standing on the south city tower then slowly rose into mid-air, looking down at the earth and addressing all the common folk: “In a few days, large boats will arrive from downstream to assist you all.”
After speaking, he swiftly flew up into the sky and disappeared into the clouds.
The common people gazed up at the sky; the low cloud vanished, and now rain drifted in the air. What had just happened seemed unreal, but when they looked down, they saw the widened river channel and Qin Changqing, battered beyond human form.
What had just occurred was not a dream!
It was real!
No one knew who began cheering first, but then all the common people of Jiangzhou cheered together.
…
Puxian.
Zijin Liang (Wang Ziyong)’s main army was stationed outside Puxian.
He had taken over from Wang Jiayin.
After Wang Jiayin was killed by Zhang Liwei in the Battle of Xicheng Mountain, all of Wang Jiayin’s main forces flocked to Zijin Liang. Combined with Zijin Liang’s own troops, they became a vast and imposing force, the strongest faction among the current rebel armies.
Acting alongside him was King of Disruption (Gao Yingxiang).
Their armies combined came close to one hundred thousand men.
However, this hundred thousand men besieged Puxian for several days and actually failed to capture it!
Puxian was a county town without city walls; back in the Third Year of Chongzhen, when the Shaanxi rebels crossed the river and entered Shanxi, they had already breached Puxian once, flattening the county’s walls.
In theory, such a town should have been very easy to attack.
However, this time, the hundred thousand bandit army unexpectedly encountered tough resistance here.
Zijin Liang stared at the dilapidated city ahead, his brows furrowed deeply: “Have our men retreated again in defeat?”
“Mm!” the King of Disruption came closer and sighed: “We can’t break through. The officials defending inside are too fierce—they fight more desperately than most officials we’ve encountered before, fearless in battle. When our men face off against them, their morale vanishes as soon as the fighting starts.”
Zijin Liang: “…”
He strained his eyes to gaze into Puxian County and saw a general in silver armor standing atop a pile of rubble in the ruins. He couldn’t help cursing bitterly: “Little Ma Chao, Ma Xianglin! That damned fellow.”
At the same time, the general in silver armor frowned, staring grimly in Wang Jiayin’s direction with a stern face.
He hailed from Sichuan, and his name was Ma Xianglin. He was the son of Qin Liangyu, the renowned first female general of the late Ming period.
Because he liked to wear silver armor, ride a white horse, and often charged alone into enemy formations to take enemy generals’ heads, he was called “Zhao Zilong” or “Little Ma Chao” among the troops.
In the Battle of Shanhaiguan in 1621, Little Ma Chao fought against the Jurchens and was struck in the eye by a stray arrow, losing sight in one eye, so he got the new nickname “One-Eyed Ma.”
In the Third Year of Chongzhen, One-Eyed Ma was ordered to lead the white pole troops from the river to reinforce Liaodong. He fought several fierce battles against the Jurchens there, guarding the construction of Daling River City. Only after the city was completed did he lead the Sichuan troops back to Sichuan.
But on the journey home, passing through Shanxi, he encountered a surge of banditry.
So, he stayed in Shanxi with his wife, Zhang Fengyi, and joined the siege and pursuit battles against Wang Jiayin, then later participated in the campaign to suppress Zijin Liang.
The city of Puxian, which had no walls, could withstand several days and nights of attacks from the bandit army solely due to the desperate fighting of the white pole troops from the river.
However, after days of desperate fighting, the white pole troops also began to feel somewhat overwhelmed.
Ma Xianglin turned his head and asked: “Is there any news of the reinforcements?”
His wife Zhang Fengyi, also a general, clad in military attire, replied: “No news. Our scouts can’t break out. Outside, one hundred thousand bandit troops besiege this small county town tightly, so no messages can get in or out.”
Ma Xianglin said: “That is indeed awful.”
Defending a small town without walls was extremely difficult, vulnerable to surprise attacks day or night, against adversaries who outnumbered them.
The numerous side could rotate their rests and attack whenever they desired.
The smaller side had to steel themselves to hold out stubbornly, so that even rest became a luxury. In this situation, dragging things out each day made everything harder.
“The reinforcements from the court will arrive soon, so endure a while longer.”
Ma Xianglin had to comfort his wife in this way.
Just then, a sentinel perched high up suddenly shouted: “Reinforcements have arrived! To the east… thousands of reinforcements are slowly advancing through heavy rain. I saw tens of thousands of bandit troops divide off to confront them.”
These words made Ma Xianglin and his wife rushing with pride. Both hurried to climb up high, quickly reaching a hastily built watchtower to gaze eastward.
The rain was heavy, blurring vision and preventing sight from extending far, yet they could glimpse the surge of a large force… tens of thousands from the Zijin Liang Army heading east, while in the thick curtain of rain to the east, only a fuzzier silhouette of an army could be seen.
Forget about clearly seeing their weapons—even their banners were indistinct.
Ma Xianglin could dimly make out that the army numbered only in the thousands.
“The reinforcements aren’t many,” Ma Xianglin showed worry on his face: “They’ll struggle to save us, and might end up defeated by the bandits instead. We could even have to fight our way out to rescue them.”
No sooner had he spoken than a great clamor erupted from the east—likely the bandit troops under Zijin Liang raising a vocal charge, preparing to attack.
But their noise quickly fell silent.
Because a louder, more piercing sound of firearms arose, incredibly dense, showing there were many firearms. After a chaotic series of bangs, the shouts of the Zijin Liang Army transformed into wails of desperation…
“Roar!” The Zijin Liang Army scattered and fled westward…