Chapter 43: Waylaying the Imperial Troops

Over the following days, Li Gui led the Yushan forces down the mountain day after day, shattering all the manors and estates they had previously spared out of caution. The powerful gentry clans were exterminated, and all their grain and property were thoroughly confiscated.

Because the yields were so massive, the Yushan stronghold was forced to construct several new, specialized large warehouses exclusively for storing various supplies.

Now, the Yushan bandits were each petty fortunes in their own right, purely from the spoils distributed among them.

Having laid eyes on gold and silver, every single bandit had turned into a militant zealot. Already, numerous brothers were chattering about helping the stronghold breach Yishui County City and making Brother Li Gui the magistrate.

Fortunately, Li Gui still kept a clear head. He knew very well that they merely wanted to break into the city for a shopping spree without paying a dime—it was purely out of selfish greed rather than loyalty to the grand chieftain.

Fighting a war to sustain a war always worked this way: it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality. Once a precedent like this was set, putting on the brakes again would be extremely difficult.

Li Gui was firmly convinced that as long as they kept expanding and winning continuously, they would inevitably forge a formidable army capable of fighting, daring to fight, and skilled at fighting.

The problem, however, was that no one could keep winning forever. Should they suffer even the slightest setback, this army would likely turn around and bite them.

Instead of listening to their instigation to attack a meaningless county city, Li Gui began a thorough reorganization.

The Yushan stronghold no longer lacked weapons and equipment, so the military branches naturally had to be perfected accordingly. Spearmen, saber-and-shield soldiers, and archers were all to be fully equipped.

The stronghold began holding grand military competitions within the ranks. Those skilled in archery were pulled out to serve as archers; those with high martial prowess were formed into separate elite units as frontline regulars; the weaker ones became reserve forces; and the worst performers were relegated to auxiliary troops, supply trains, and mess cooks, with their treatment adjusted accordingly.

Since there were no matchlocks or cannons in the military at this time, the auxiliary troops essentially did odd jobs and received the worst treatment.

Those who were demoted were naturally unwilling to accept it, but faced with Li Gui's massive battle-axe, no one dared to utter nonsense.

While military discipline elsewhere traditionally boasted seventeen prohibitions and fifty-four capital offenses, in Li Gui's camp it was reduced to just three words: chop, chop, chop. There were no other punishments.

Moreover, although military discipline in other armies was strict on paper, execution was extremely flexible. Whether someone was executed depended entirely on their relationship with the commanders or the severity of the offense.

But here at the Yushan stronghold, anyone who fell into Li Gui's hands would receive "impartial justice"—a split of the axe.

In the face of death, everyone is equal.

Aside from the reorganization, daily drill and training were never slackened in the slightest. Anyone who dared to be lazy or shirked their duties was summarily eliminated, demoted to auxiliary troops, and given the absolute minimum standard for merits and rewards.

Driven by the prospect of those few slivers of silver, every single man trained as if his life depended on it, not daring to slack off in the slightest.

***

On this day, Zhu Fu hurried back up the mountain, travel-worn and weary. As soon as he entered the main hall, he called out impatiently:

"Brother, the prefectural army has already set out! In a day or two at most, they will reach Yishui County City!"

When persuading Li Yun in the city earlier, Zhu Fu had learned that Magistrate Ding had once again requested reinforcements. Upon returning, he had informed Li Gui, who then dispatched men in disguise to slip into the prefectural city with a merchant caravan to secretly investigate the mobilization of the prefectural army.

The confidentiality measures of the Great Song leaked like a sieve. An event as major as troop deployment was precisely the hot topic eagerly discussed by city residents.

Spies didn't even need to bribe any officials; they just needed to sit in a teahouse, chat for a while, and some well-informed local would eagerly show off all kinds of state secrets.

Of course, whether secrets of this caliber were true or false was hard to say; one could only rely on personal judgment.

After the spies intercepted useful information, they immediately dispatched carrier pigeons. Once Zhu Fu had collated the reports, he came up to brief Li Gui.

"Good!" Li Gui gently set aside the huge stone lock he was holding, casually grabbed a towel to wipe away his sweat, and ordered, "Gather the lads! We set out immediately to set up an ambush midway. We must utterly crush them!"

The men on the mountain had long since been driven nearly insane by the grueling training. Hearing that they were going down the mountain to fight a battle, every single one of them was as excited as if they had taken a tonic, rubbing their fists and palms in eager competition.

Only Li Gui knew that the enemies arriving this time were a regular army, entirely different from the rabble led by Liang Wansheng previously.

Yet he offered no warning, choosing instead to watch coldly from the sidelines.

He also wanted to see whether these soldiers, fed on vast amounts of gold and silver, could truly stand against a regular army.

The troops were assembled swiftly, equipped with dry rations and drinking water. Aside from leaving behind the elderly and weak to guard the mountain, the Yushan bandits poured out in full force.

Yizhou was a land of many mountains, with four major mountain ranges traversing the territory from north to south: Mount Lu, Mount Yi, Mount Meng, and Mount Ni.

There were also numerous tabular mountains formed by water erosion, locally known as "Gu." Traditionally referred to as the Seventy-Two Gu of Yimeng, there were actually over a hundred of them. The majestic sights of a hundred Gu were not only a major wonder across the land of China but also extremely rare worldwide.

The consequence of having so many mountains was twofold: aside from abundant local produce, mountain roads were difficult to traverse, and the terrain was exceptionally favorable for ambushes.

From Yizhou City to Yishui County, there was only one dilapidated official highway capable of accommodating a large army. Thus, Li Gui didn't need to rack his brains searching for a mandatory bottleneck; he simply found a dense woodland along the highway, split his forces into several squads led by their respective commanders, had them belly down in the undergrowth, and patiently wait.

It was currently late autumn, but the lingering autumn heat was still fierce. Not only was noon stiflingly hot, but there were also countless biting mosquitoes, and a few men were even bitten by snakes due to sheer inexperience.

Fortunately, they had arrived to set up their ambush well in advance. Otherwise, with all these miscellaneous troubles erupting at once, the ambush would have failed to achieve its purpose and instead pointlessly depleted their combat strength.

***

The group of bandits had never partaken in an ambush before and harbored numerous complaints about it.

They would rather have blocked the middle of the road and fought the enemy head-on in a grand, open battle than lie suffering in the grass like this.

Had Li Gui not organized his guards into a督战队 (proctor squad) early on, keeping a constant eye on them and strictly forbidding random movement or chatter, they would likely have been discovered by the enemy forces from afar.

Li Gui's proctor squad wasn't prepared for minor issues like this; rather, they were there because he feared that the moment battle commenced and they suffered a setback, the ranks would collapse.

Li Gui had warned the proctor squad in advance: anyone who dared show cowardice in the face of battle, shouted chaotically to disrupt military morale, or fled backward during combat was to be executed without mercy!

After waiting in the forest for a day and a half, the men finally spotted scattered cavalry galloping wildly down the highway.

Li Gui knew these were military scouts, specially sent ahead to reconnoiter the road and guard against ambushes.

This showed that the commanders of this army were extremely cautious, deploying scouts even while marching within their own prefecture.

However, it was patently clear that these scouts themselves were not competent. They didn't bother to investigate diligently at all, merely casting a few hasty glances to the left and right before spurring their horses past.

Who would ever believe that a band of mere bandits would dare to ambush the imperial forces?

Another half-shichen later, the main army finally arrived. Moving in a majestic, imposing formation, they marched past the spot where the ambushers lay hidden.

Li Gui scanned their banners and roughly estimated there were at least six battalions—a force of three thousand men.

These men marched strictly according to the vanguard, center, and rear-guard configuration. If any section came under attack, the others would undoubtedly respond in coordination. They were by no means comparable to the Yushan stronghold's rabble, who only knew how to line up and thrust spears.

As the vanguard passed and the center drew near, Li Gui nodded to the drummer beside him and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Lads, form up and kill the enemy!"

With that, Li Gui sprang into the air, vaulted onto his horse, whipped the mount into a frenzy, and charged straight toward the densest cluster of banners.