Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 17: You've fallen into my trap! (Please read on)

At around four o'clock in the afternoon of that day, in Xujiatai Village, at Zheng Yong's home.

Zheng Yong is now only 25 years old and alone. He once had a wife, but she died of plague two years ago. His family is so poor that he has no money to marry again.

Two years ago, there was a severe drought in Huaixi, and his family's harvest was poor, so they could not pay taxes. The court did not care and provided neither relief nor tax exemption. As a last resort, Zheng Yong's father could only borrow money from the court at high interest.

Yes, that's right. One of the most outrageous policies of the Yuan Dynasty was that the government openly offered usury, and the annual interest rate was as high as 100%. In addition, the interest was compounded, so once the people borrowed, they were simply unable to repay the loan. I don't know how many families were ruined as a result.

However, the loan sharks were all those Seljuq officials. The Mongolian emperors of the Yuan Dynasty were obsessed with enjoyment. Whenever they were out of money, they would let the Seljuq people lend money to the people to make money. This was also the reason why Zheng Yong hated the Yuan court so much.

During the Chaohu Uprising, Zhang Desheng, whom he once knew, asked him to go with them, but he hesitated and did not go.

Zheng Yong was a smart man. When he heard that the leader of the Chaohu Red Turbans was Miss Jinhua of the Maitreya Sect, and that her master was Peng Yingyu who had rebelled more than ten years ago, he immediately felt that this group of superstitious people would not be able to accomplish anything. Later, it turned out to be as he expected.

However, when Zhang Desheng came to his house again yesterday, he sensitively noticed that something was different.

This kid actually knew how to conceal his words and keep secrets, and his tone was very confident and reassuring, which made Zheng Yong realize instantly that something might have changed in the Chaohu Red Turbans.

Maybe a reliable person has come, maybe they have some detailed plan. Now the Chaohu navy is in a miserable situation. They were beaten and huddled in the lake and dared not come out. But now they dare to come out and move around. He doesn't believe that they have no support.

So after thinking carefully for a moment, Zheng Yong agreed.

In fact, he was alone and had no worries. He had long planned to join the rebel army, but he felt that the Chaohu Red Turbans were unreliable, so he had not taken any action.

If the original historical trajectory was followed, Zheng Yong would have to wait until the next year when Guo Zixing started an uprising in Haozhou before he joined the army and met Zhu Yuanzhang, who also joined the army.

After wiping the sharpened machete dry and attaching the long handle of the hoe, the weapon was ready. Since he had agreed to jump into Chaohu Lake, he naturally had to make preparations in advance.

At this moment, someone suddenly came to the outside of his courtyard wall. The fence could not hide the person at all, and Zheng Yong recognized the person at once.

"Brother Zhang?"

Zhang Desheng nodded, "It's me, Brother Zheng, we agreed on this yesterday."

Zheng Yong was slightly surprised. He thought it would take a few days, but he didn't expect the other party to come so soon. "I'm always free. Are you ready?"

Zhang Desheng was stunned when he heard this, then he smiled and said, "I guess I can't hide it from you. Yes, I'm ready."

Zheng Yong smiled and said, "Just tell me, what do you want me to do for you?"

"Recently, a man named Zhima Li started an uprising in Xuzhou. He raised an army of over 100,000 and conquered many counties near Xuzhou. Monk Peng also started an uprising in Huangzhou Road, Huguang. We need to come out and make some noise to support Monk Peng.

"But we were scared by Zuo Junbi, so we had no choice but to send some food to Monk Peng, so we are short of food now."

Zheng Yong frowned when he heard this, he didn't understand what he meant.

"and then?"

"Then Zuo Junbi found out about our food shortage, and he was looking for an opportunity to deal with us. We were starving and looked for food everywhere. Now we found Brother Zheng, who was loyal and helped us raise several hundred stones of food.

"So today, Brother Liao sent me and Brother Tonghai to pick up the grain. As long as Zuo Junbi gets the news, he will definitely not miss this opportunity and will definitely hunt us down."

Zheng Yongting's eyes became brighter and brighter. "So you guys prepared an ambush in advance?"

Zhang Desheng didn't say anything, just nodded.

"Are you sure?"

"We must win, we can't lose again!" Zhang Desheng said with a firm expression.

"Good plan. What do you need me to do for you now?" Zheng Yong asked quickly.

"Brother Zheng is helping us raise food, so of course he has to go with us now, but we have to find someone to inform Zuo Junbi. Do you have any brothers you can trust?"

"There are two, Xi Guobao and Zhang Huzi."

At around five o'clock in the evening of that day, a young man from Feixi ran towards Luzhou City, exhausted. Before the gatekeeper could stop him, the young man shouted loudly.

"Quick, hurry up and pass the message for us. We have important military information to report to General Zuo. Those red-headed people from Chaohu have come ashore!"

Two minutes later, Zuo Junbi came in front of him.

"What's your name? You said the Chaohu Red Scarf has landed? Where is it?"

"In reply to Marshal Zuo, my name is Zhang Huzi, and the Red Turbans are in Xujiatai Village in Feixi."

"What are they doing there?" Zuo Junbi asked puzzledly.

Zhang Huzi panted for a while, then said, "There is a man named Zheng Yong in the village. A few days ago, a stranger went to his house to talk. Yesterday, I found out that Zheng Yong and Zhang Sheng, who was arrested by the imperial court, were old acquaintances. The Red Turbans came to him to raise food.

“I wanted to file a complaint with the authorities yesterday, but it was too dark and I didn’t make it in time. I didn’t expect them to be so quick today and have already collected the food and are ready to ship it away.

"Please gather the troops quickly, Marshal. When I arrived, they were loading the trucks. They might be heading to Chaohu Lake right now. If we are slow, they will run away."

Zuo Junbi knew that the Chaohu Red Turbans were short of food recently, so when he heard that they were going to the countryside to raise food, he did not suspect anything. Fortunately, he had made preparations in advance and had kept his soldiers on standby these days, which was now really used.

So he immediately gave the order.

"Jia Chou, Ye Sheng, select your men and set off to Feixi immediately. Yin Congdao, select three thousand infantrymen and set off as well. Jun Fu, you and Zhang Huan stay at home to defend the city."

"Yes!"

The generals immediately accepted the order and were all very excited. They had been waiting for several days, staying in the military camp every day and unable to go anywhere. Today they finally caught these pirates. Now that they are on shore, let's see where you can run.

While Zuo Junbi was gathering his men, he asked Zhang Huzi, "Did you see how many of them came?"

"There are so many people, maybe as many as three or four thousand. If they hadn't been so numerous and keeping a close eye on me, I would have come to complain to the authorities long ago. The lives of these water ghosts have nothing to do with us. They have taken away all the food in our village. How are we going to survive this winter?" Zhang Huzi performed with all his might, which immediately made Zuo Junbi laugh.

"You are good. I will definitely reward you handsomely when we catch the rebel leader this time." "Thank you, Marshal. Thank you, Marshal." Hearing the blank check from the other party, Zhang Huzi immediately showed more joy, but then became worried.

"General, there are thousands of rebels from Chaohu. Is it enough for us to bring 3,000 people? Should we bring more soldiers? What if we can't defeat them?"

Zuo Junbi burst out laughing when he heard this, but didn't blame him. He just laughed.

"Hahahaha, that bunch of rabble in Chaohu Lake would have no choice but to run away if they saw us. If they didn't have boats and stayed in the lake, we would have killed them long ago. We don't need so many of them. These three thousand soldiers are enough. You quickly lead the way."

"Yes, the Marshal is mighty!"

Zhang Huzi and Zuo Junbi ran all the way towards Feixi. Since most of them were infantry, they didn't run very fast. But Zhang Huzi urged them to run faster, saying that if they slowed down any further, they might fall into the water.

Zuo Junbi thought so too. How could he let go of the opportunity he had finally seized? So he ordered the troops to march faster. The 3,000 tired soldiers gasped with their tongues hanging out.

Zuo Junbi was worried that the Red Turbans had really let them escape, so he ordered the infantry to pursue them closely, and asked Jia Chou and Ye Sheng to lead the cavalry to conduct reconnaissance and harassment to see if they could stop them for a while.

The two men lived up to everyone's expectations and indeed found a group of people on the road from Xujiatai to Chaohu. Although there were only two battalions, the troops were scattered and had many flags, so it looked like there were thousands of people.

When the cavalry encountered the infantry convoy, Jia Chou originally thought that it would be the same as before, and he could just charge into the formation and make the enemy run away. But this time it was different. This group of Red Scarves seemed to have changed their equipment. They threw away their hoes and replaced them with long bamboo poles.

There was also a kind of bamboo with branches and leaves, which was probably more than two meters long. It was all laid horizontally facing outward, and the horses did not dare to charge.

Some of them, relying on their strong armor and sharp swords, insisted on charging into the convoy. They were immediately caught in the combined attack of the Mandarin Duck Formation, and were stabbed off their horses and killed on the spot.

The fool Jia Chou kept yelling at the cavalry to attack, but Ye Sheng felt something was wrong. In the past, the Chaohu Red Turbans would have run away when they saw them, but this time they had the courage not to run away and even fought back and forth with them.

However, changes soon occurred on the scene. The group of red scarves actually split into two teams. One team formed a formation and retreated while marching, while the other team escorted the convoy and escaped at an accelerated speed.

Ye Sheng suddenly felt bad. Damn, these rebels have learned to take turns covering each other?

"Go and tell Marshal Zuo to hurry up. We can't delay for long."

"Yes!"

The two sides fought while running, and Zhang Desheng and Yu Tonghai suffered a total of more than a dozen casualties, most of whom were shot by arrows. However, the two did not abandon their soldiers. Instead, they kept throwing the sacks of food on the carts to the roadside and let the injured soldiers sit on the carts.

This scene immediately aroused the courage of the soldiers. They knew that they would not be abandoned, so they fought even more bravely.

Jia Chou was also very angry this time. None of his men who dared to charge the formation came back. Of course, as long as he didn't charge, the Chaohu Red Turbans could do nothing to him. After all, cavalry ran fast and the large infantry formation did have an advantage, but it was useless if you couldn't catch up.

But the order he received was to entangle this red scarf. If he didn't attack, would he escort it all the way? They were not bodyguards!

When the two sides fought to the edge of a woods, Zuo Junbi's main force of 3,000 infantrymen in the rear finally caught up.

Zhang Desheng looked behind him while riding on his horse and immediately shouted.

"Damn it! The main force of Zuo Junbi's bandit gang has caught up with us. We have thrown away all the food. We must first go to the village, set up a defensive formation, and send people to Chaohu Lake for help!"

He shouted very loudly, and Ye Sheng and Jia Chou had been following nearby, so it was hard for them not to hear him. When they heard that the other party was about to enter the village, they did not want to continue the attack despite the huge casualties, but turned their horses' heads and returned to Zuo Junbi.

"General Zuo, they are going to enter the village to form a defensive formation, and they have sent people to call for reinforcements."

"Don't worry about the reinforcements. I will defeat a mob like them even if there are twice as many of them. Attack the village immediately and don't give them a chance to form a battle formation."

Then Zuo Junbi stood up on the stirrup and shouted loudly to his soldiers.

"One boulder of rice for every head you chop off. Killing the leader of the bandits will increase your rank by three. Kill them all!"

"Kill!"

Upon hearing the "high" bounty, the Yuan army, which had just been exhausted and breathless but had been holding back for several days, suddenly rushed into the village like crazy, with no formation or command at all.

When Jia Chou heard that he was promoted three levels, he was unwilling to be left behind. He didn't even bother to take care of his cavalry and immediately urged his horse to rush into the village.

The infantrymen also rushed in.

Zhang Desheng and Yu Tonghai abandoned all food, carried the wounded and retreated along the predetermined route, forming a battle formation to resist while continuously leading the government troops into the village.

Ye Sheng had been left behind, and his cavalry had already rushed into the village, but he always felt that something was wrong.

Seeing the sacks discarded along the road, he finally realized that Chaohu had been short of food recently and had been trying to get food everywhere. This time they came to transport food, but after encountering the enemy this time, they abandoned the food too decisively. Just threw it away?

Ye Sheng swung the long spear in his hand and stabbed at a sack. With a casual slash, a big hole was instantly cut in the sack, and a lot of rice husks and sand scattered out of the sack.

"Fake???"

"not good!"

At this moment, a deep and long bell sound suddenly rang out from the mound on the east side of the village.

Dang——dang——dang——

Three bells rang, and countless red scarves suddenly appeared everywhere. They raised their weapons and shouted as they charged towards Zuo Junbi's main force that was trapped in the village.

"Kill!"

"Kill Zuo Junbi and capture Luzhou City! Follow me!"

"Ambush from all sides?!"

Ye Sheng was startled because thousands of Red Scarves suddenly emerged from the woods behind him, holding their weapons and surrounding the village entrance. He was forced into a desperate situation, and even though he knew the village was a big pit, he had no choice but to go in and join the main force.

Zuo Junbi, who had been trapped in the center of the village, saw that the Red Turbans were "retreating step by step" and could only be suppressed by the government troops. He thought he had it safe, but when he heard the three bells and the sudden shouts of killing from all directions, he suddenly realized that there was chaos all around, with only rural houses. He didn't even know where his own army was or how many enemies there were.

"Fuck you, you've fallen into a trap!"

(End of this chapter)