Volume Two, Chapter Four: A Light Force Beats the Drums to Seize Puyang

Puyang County city was more than forty $li$ away from Weinan County city.

According to the later timeline, Li Shandao set out from the east gate of Weinan at around seven or eight in the morning. Because most of the troops had not slept for an entire night, they rested in place for two hours at noon. By three or four in the afternoon, Li Shandao led his forces to the western outskirts of Puyang County city.

Leaving the troops to rest in a small patch of woods, Li Shandao, Wang Xuda, and others rode closer to the city on horseback to observe the situation on the walls.

The city gates had long been closed. Garrison soldiers were scattered along the parapets, and several military flags stood unevenly. There was no wind, and they hung listlessly in the sunlight.

After observing for a long time, Li Shandao and the others returned to the troops' encampment.

Through the sparse trees, the city of Puyang could still be seen in the distance.

Gao Chounu had already unfolded a camp stool, and Li Shandao sat down facing Puyang County city.

The camp stool was low, and his saber trailed on the ground. He simply untied the saber and laid it horizontally across his knees.

After Wang Xuda and the others also sat down, he said, "Just as I guessed, Puyang must already know that we have captured Weinan. In broad daylight, the city gates are tightly shut. This is to our advantage; it helps us make a false show of force to frighten those inside the city, making them too afraid to send reinforcements to Lihu." As he spoke, his gaze swept over the faces of Wang Xuda and the others one by one, finally landing on the last man, and he smiled, "Brother Gao, what do you say? Isn't that right?"

This man had a striking appearance with a handsome beard and mustache; he was none other than Gao Xi.

Through continuous actions—such as distributing the grain obtained with money after plundering Cheng Huan to refugees and the poor—and through prolonged persuasion—such as patiently explaining the current chaotic situation within the realm—while Kang Sanzang also played a considerable role by recounting, in the identity of a fellow captive sharing the same misfortune, what he had witnessed during his trading days north and south of the Yangtze River, such as the uprising insurgencies everywhere and the populace living amidst water and fire—Gao Xi, up to this point, although he had not yet explicitly expressed a willingness to submit to Li Shandao, was no longer as resistant to him as before. Therefore, for this military expedition out of the mountains, Li Shandao had brought Gao Xi along.

Gao Xi said, "The city gates are tightly shut because the people inside still do not know the true strength of the Commander's forces. Once those inside find out that the Commander has brought only three or four hundred men to Puyang, I am afraid they won't be as frightened as they are now. What does the Commander plan to do to cope with that situation?"

Li Shandao said, "Before setting out this morning, didn't I already state my plan? If the city dares to send out troops, we will tail them and join the battle."

Gao Xi let out an "oh," glanced at Wang Xuda and the others, curled his lips, and said no more.

Although he spoke no more, his actions and expression had fully expressed what he wanted to say. His meaning was unmistakably clear: relying on these ragtag soldiers like Wang Xuda and the others, if Puyang truly sent troops out of the city, where would you find the guts to dare to tail them into battle?

Wang Xuda, Chen Jing'er, and Luo Zhong had all witnessed Gao Xi's exceptional martial prowess and knew that Li Shandao had recently been vigorously trying to recruit him. Because of this "self-evident" contempt, they let it pass and managed to endure it for the time being. However, there was one person who could no longer contain himself.

This man leaped to his feet, pointed right at Gao Xi's nose, and cursed, "Wretched bandit! You always look at us with dog eyes. Who gave you the confidence to look down on us like this? Looking down on us is one thing, but you constantly give Master Li the cold shoulder. Damn your mother, I've had enough of your attitude. Coming here to attack Puyang, before any fighting has even started, you're dampening our morale again. Damn you, come on, come on, let's you and I have a go!"

Reaching the height of his fury, the man backhanded the horizontal saber at his waist, sprang up like a bamboo shoot out of dry ground over a zhang away, and challenged Gao Xi to fight.

This man did not speak with the accent of Dongjun or Jiyun, but rather with the accent of Xiazhou and Donghai in the east.

As it turned out, this man was named Dong Falü, and he was precisely one of the hundred or so refugees assigned to Li Shandao previously. After those hundred or so refugees were incorporated under Li Shandao's command, Li Shandao organized them into one battalion and two squads. The battalion commander had not yet been appointed, but the two squad leaders had already been named. One was this Dong Falü, and the other, named Yuan Dezhen, was the man sitting beside Wang Xuda, Chen Jing'er, Luo Zhong, and the others at that moment.

Dong Falü had a fiery temper and relied on his own martial valor. From the very first time he saw Gao Xi, he could not stand his seemingly aloof and condescending attitude. Up to now, they had known each other for less than a month, yet Dong Falü had already cursed Gao Xi many times. Gao Xi did not know how to hurl abuses and simply ignored him every time; this occasion was no exception. Seeing Dong Falü cursing again, he merely turned his face away.

The more Gao Xi ignored him, the more furious Dong Falü became. Brandishing his saber, he shouted, "Come on, come on! You're big and tall, stop acting like a turtle hiding its head."

Li Shandao gave a light cough.

Gao Chounu understood Li Shandao's intention and immediately strode over to Dong Falü. Dong Falü was short, while Gao Chounu was more than a head taller than him. Bending down, Gao Chounu pressed down on Dong Falü's hand, helped him sheath his saber, and said in a muffled voice, "Squad Leader Dong, as the saying goes, 'all men within the four seas are brothers.' We are all our own brothers, so don't resort to blades and guns. Master is discussing matters with everyone right now, please return to your camp stool and sit down."

Dong Falü was practically half-carried and half-pinched by Gao Chounu back to the camp stool, where he sat down again.

"There is nothing more to be said. Elder Brother Xu has entrusted us with such an important mission as harassing and attacking Puyang, and we must complete this mission brilliantly. Elder Brother Gao is not wrong either. Right now, the gates of Puyang city are tightly shut because they do not yet know our actual strength. Once those inside find out that we only have three or four hundred men, the city might actually dare to send out troops. Although even if they do send troops, we are not afraid, it would be best if we could frighten the city into not daring to sortie, as that would save the most trouble. On the way to Puyang, I already told you that once we arrive outside the city, we will split our forces into two groups, each finding a suitable location to the west and south of Puyang city. From afar, we will beat drums, wave banners, and stir up dust with tree branches to deceive those inside the city so they cannot figure out how many of us have actually come..."

Just as he was speaking, a commotion came from far off in the direction of Puyang County city.

Li Shandao did not pay attention at first; he merely lifted his eyes for a glance and prepared to continue speaking. But the eyelids he had raised had barely lowered when he suddenly jerked his head back up. Following that, he instinctively stood up, raised himself on tiptoes, and strained his eyes to gaze into the distance.

Except for him, who was sitting facing Puyang County city, the rest, including Wang Xuda and the others, had their backs or sides turned to Puyang County city.

Seeing him suddenly behave like this, Wang Xuda and the others were all stunned for a moment. Immediately afterward, those with quick reactions, such as Chen Jing'er, also turned their heads to look toward Puyang County city. With this turn of the head, Chen Jing'er and the others all stood up as well.

The annoyance caused by their dissatisfaction with Gao Xi vanished instantly. Dong Falü was both startled and overjoyed, crying out, "What is this?"

Wang Xuda was also a mix of surprise and delight, letting out an "Ah" and saying, "Second Lang, could it be that chaos has broken out in the city?"

They saw that upon the ramparts of Puyang city several miles away, there were now many other people besides the garrison guards. Because it was far away, it was difficult to distinguish clearly, but they could see that those extra people were obviously launching an attack on the garrison guards, and the two sides were already engaged in a chaotic melee.

Chen Jing'er, being quick-witted, guessed aloud, "Second Lang, could it be that the chivalrous men and heroes inside the city saw our troops arrive and are therefore acting as insiders?"

Li Shandao narrowed his eyes, trying his best to gaze at the city walls, and said, "Before we set out, Elder Brother Xu did indeed tell me that he had a few good friends in Puyang city. But Elder Brother Xu didn't say that these friends of his would act as insiders inside the city to help us capture it, did he? He only said that after he conquered Lihu and arrived in Puyang with his main force, he would contact his good friends in the city."

Chen Jing'er said, "Who's to say? The people currently fighting on the city walls might very well be Elder Brother Xu's friends in Puyang!" He asked Li Shandao, "Second Lang, what should we do now?"

That's right, what should they do now?

Should they seize this opportunity to change the pre-arranged plan, abandoning the focus on mere harassment and turning instead to directly attacking the city?

Or should they still stick to the original plan?

Choosing the latter would naturally be the safest course, but it would inevitably mean losing the possibility of seizing this opportunity to capture Puyang in one fell swoop.

Choosing the former, however, would certainly open up the possibility of capturing Puyang, but it would inevitably mean taking a risk.

And not just an ordinary risk, but an extremely huge risk.

First, the troops Li Shandao brought numbered less than four hundred, and nearly half of them were newly recruited men whom Xu Shiji had only assigned to him that very morning when they split forces upon setting out from Weinan. In other words, this nearly half was truly a mob of rabble who could only fight when things were going well; if they fell into a bitter struggle, they could not be relied upon in the least. In fact, if they truly fell into a bitter struggle, even the two squads led by Dong Falü and Yuan Dezhen could not be counted on, and perhaps even the "old troops" of Wang Xuda and Chen Jing'er might not be dependable either!

Second, this trip to Puyang was only meant to be a "harassing attack." Not to mention large-scale siege equipment like scaling ladders, they hadn't even brought a single ordinary ladder. Under these circumstances, how could they seize the opportunity to turn around and attack the city?

Li Shandao's thoughts raced like lightning, and within a split second, he made his decision.

He shouted an order to Gao Chounu: "Fetch my armor!" Fixing a fierce, murderous stare upon the crowd, he said aggressively, "Damn it, such a great opportunity has been placed right before our brothers' eyes! If we can seize this chance to capture Puyang in one fell swoop, it will be a merit reaching the heavens! Brothers, let's go fuckin' do it!"

Last time, because of Hou Youhuai, the plan to plunder the temple in Suanzao County had fallen through at the very last moment. This opportunity, no matter what, could not be let slip.

Wang Xuda was greatly shocked and said, "Do it?"

Luo Zhong was also shocked and said, "Second Lang, how do we do it? We have only three or four hundred men, and no ladders."

Dong Falü shouted with a ferocious grin, "Right, Second Lang is right! Let's do it! With me here, what need is there for ladders?"

Li Shandao turned to consult Chen Jing'er and Yuan Dezhen, saying, "What do you two say?"

In terms of temper, Yuan Dezhen was more reticent than Dong Falü; in terms of guts, having once been a refugee who had even eaten human flesh, he regarded his life even less than Dong Falü did. He did not answer Li Shandao's inquiry with words; instead, he drew his saber and used his action to give his reply.

Chen Jing'er flashed a grin and said, "It's not too dangerous!"

After a brief regrouping and the boosting of morale, Dong Falü bounded forward like a gibbon, and hundreds of men rushed out of the woods, charging toward the walls of Puyang. The afternoon sunlight was brilliant, the golden wheat in the fields on both sides of the official road rippled like waves, dust billowed into the air, and wave upon wave of battle cries surged forward like a tide.

"Charge into the city, loot the wealth, and eat meat—let's go fuckin' do it!"