Flourishing of the Ming Dynasty Novel - Chapter 86

Chapter 86 The Reinforcements Are Here?
When the battle in Guangling County was in full swing, several fast horses were also desperately chasing after the time. Naturally, they were scouts in the army, Li Xian and the others, who had been ordered to go to the nearby city to borrow troops to petition.

The three of them left the city before the Meng people arrived at Guang Ling. Then, they split up into three groups and called for help from Yuxian in the east, Hunyuan Prefecture in the west, and Datong Prefecture City. They believed that as long as one of the reinforcements could arrive at Guang Ling by tomorrow, Guang Ling’s dangerous situation would be greatly alleviated. Therefore, for the sake of Guang Ling’s safety, they had used all of their strength to rush towards the target they had chosen as quickly as possible.

When one of them arrived near Hunyuan Prefecture, it was already completely dark. This era was no match for later generations. After nightfall, only the specks of light from the stars and moons shone on the earth. Once that speck of light was covered by clouds, then nothing could be seen.

This was the situation tonight, but the scout didn’t have the slightest intention of suspending his footsteps. He continued to push his horse forward. He almost rushed out of the mountain path a few times, or hit a big tree beside the road. He didn’t have the slightest hesitation. Fortunately, his luck was not bad, and he finally arrived in front of the ancient and tall city wall of Hunyuan Prefecture.

The sound of galloping horse hooves was especially striking in the silent night, alarming the defenders of the city. In an instant, several torches suddenly lit up and a vigilant shout sounded out, “Who is it? Halt quickly and report your name!” Under the reflection of the flames, there was a faint flash of cold light on the city wall. It was the light reflected by the arrows. Obviously, as long as the people from the city didn’t follow their orders and stop, dozens of sharp arrows would immediately greet him.

Although Hunyuan Prefecture was not as dangerous as Guang Ling County, it was still a border area. Naturally, one had to be careful. In the past, there had been a sudden attack on the city by the Mongol people and the nearby bandits. This made all the soldiers guarding the city especially vigilant and cautious.

The scout hurriedly stopped his horse and shouted, “I am Guang Ling scout Chang Wu. I have been ordered by my family to come and ask for help! There are thousands of Dazi attacking our Guang Ling City, so I hope that you brothers can do me a favor.” As he spoke, he took out his wooden scout token and held it high in the air.

Seeing that he was alone and that there was no unusual movement behind him, the garrison felt a little relieved. However, he still asked doubtfully, “You said that Dazi invaded Guang Ling? How is this possible?”

“This matter is absolutely true. It’s related to a border matter. How dare I, a small scout, fabricate it at will? I’m also afraid that the clan will rely on Lord Chief’s orders and arrows.” Chang Wu hurriedly explained loudly.

The city wall fell silent for a moment before hanging a basket, “Sit inside and we’ll pull you up.”

Without any hesitation, Chang Wu dismounted from his horse and walked forward barehanded. When he arrived at the gates, the bamboo basket landed at the bottom. He raised his leg and stepped in to greet him, and the basket began to slowly rise.

However, when the bamboo basket reached a distance of about ten meters from the city wall, it suddenly stopped. After that, the defenders on top shouted, “Throw the arrows and tokens up first so that we can examine them before pulling you up.”

Good fellow, these defenders also have some schemes, luring people up first and then attacking like this. In this way, once he discovered that the other party’s identity was different, he would be able to easily resolve it.

Chang Wu smiled, not angry at all. He immediately waved his hand and threw the two items into the city. Only after the defenders of the city inspected did they confirm his identity as a Guang Ling scout and pull him up with a smile. When he reached the upper city, a man with the appearance of a leader cupped his fists at him, “It’s related to the safety of the city. Please don’t blame me, brother.”

Chang Wu forced a smile and said, “Alright, I can save the truth. However … I, Guang Ling, am in danger now, so I hope that brother can bring me in and ask for help.”

“Naturally, I will bring you to see our Lord Qian.” As he spoke, the man made a gesture of invitation and led Chang Wuzhi into the city.

After a cup of tea, the two of them arrived in front of the command post next to the northern city wall. After the announcement, the two of them smoothly entered and saw Qian Zongyu, who was stationed here, in the hall.

After hearing Chang V’s report and verifying his identity, Yu Guangrong’s expression immediately became serious. “How dare Dazi attack our county like this? How dare you lead an army to attack our county? How dare you! Don’t worry, I will prepare my troops now and bring people to rescue them tomorrow morning!”

However, Chang Wu warned uneasily, “But Lord Qian … Isn’t this too late? Right now, I, Guang Ling, am only five hundred men, and there are thousands of enemies attacking. I hope that Lord Qian can send troops early and rush to the rescue as soon as possible …”

“It’s already midnight. I’m afraid it’s inappropriate to gather troops now. Don’t worry, I’m only half a day’s journey from Hunyuan Continent to Guangling. In short, with Liu Ba, we can definitely wait for reinforcements to arrive.” Yu Guangrong insisted.

After all, the other party’s status was much higher than his, and he still had to ask for help from him. Even though Chang Wu had some objections, he could only accept it: “In that case, I hope that Lord will send troops tomorrow morning.”

“Of course. It’s been hard on you. You should go down and rest for half a night first. We’ll send some troops together before we go with you to rescue them.” Yu Guangrong said as she looked down, and QinBing stepped forward to invite him to rest outside.

After Chang Wu left, Yu Guang Rong’s expression suddenly changed. “Guang Ling was attacked and asked me to save him … Hehe.” The laughter was filled with schadenfreude.

After a while, he called someone and whispered to him, “Take a few brothers and disguise themselves as Tartars and swim around the north of me.”

“Ah? Sir, what do you mean?” The trusted aide asked in confusion.

“Broad spirit bad my good thing that day, now that something happened and want to find me to help, how can there be such a good thing in this world? However, they have all come to ask for help. If I refuse to send troops, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to explain myself in front of the Commander-in-Chief in the future. I can only use some methods. “As long as we discover that the surrounding Dazi is restless and intends to offend our Hunyuan Province, things will naturally make sense.” After saying that, he glanced at each other and said, “Why don’t you go now?”

Only then did the trusted aide nod his head and hurriedly left.

Previously, Lu Zhen had exposed Xiao Mo’s illegal activities in Guangling County, and by the way, he had also removed the cover of all sorts of dirty things in the north army. Because of Hu Sui’s protection, the generals might not be able to retaliate against him for the time being, but it was as difficult as killing one’s parents to get someone to send troops to save Guang Ling County.

When Chang V went to ask for reinforcements again early the next morning, he received a response from the Tartars outside the city, as if they were attacking Hunyuan Prefecture, and the soldiers and horses in the old city were unable to get out easily. This time, he hadn’t even seen Yu Guangrong’s face.

Faced with such an outcome, Chang V was completely helpless. In the end, he was just a small scout. He had neither the ability nor the courage to challenge a Thousand Commander, let alone a decent reason.

Helplessly, he could only borrow a horse and continue to head west, looking for help from the other guards. After learning of his reaction and whereabouts, Yu Guangrong only sneered, “The reputation of Guangling County Magistrate Lu Zhen is not very good now. I’m afraid that no one will be willing to send troops to save him.”

He had indeed said something. Not only Hunyuan Prefecture, but also Yuxian County on the other side had the same reaction. Facing the call for help, they did not move. It was as if they were going to sit idly by and watch Guang Ling fall, and they were going to teach some officials who had ruined their own good deeds a big lesson.

@ @ @ @

Let the time return to midnight. Lu Zhen, who was in the Broad Spirit City, did not know that he had actually become a public enemy of the Northern Border Army. After a bitter battle, he could not rest. He was still waiting for reinforcements to arrive at the Broad Spirit City.

Of course, apart from hoping that reinforcements would arrive soon, Lu Zhen was also trying to improve his defensive capabilities. After all, counting on others was only an illusory thing, and relying on oneself was the most realistic and reliable thing.

Although half of the Guang Ling Guards had been damaged, and even Liu Yi, the general manager, was seriously injured, he still hadn’t woken up yet, but after all, there were still thousands of civilians here. Relying on the reputation of the county magistrate, Lu Zhen, and the fact that everyone knew that there were no eggs under the nest, when the county government made a propaganda, hundreds of strong and green men had actually been summoned to the city wall. This made the originally empty Guang Ling City wall finally have some momentum.

However, these people hadn’t experienced any training in the end. When they saw the blood splattered everywhere on the city wall and the corpses at the gate, many people’s eyes revealed fear. Although they had the strength, if they really wanted to go to the battlefield, they might not be able to do much. What they could really fight against Dazi was still the defending army of less than two hundred people.

Seeing the expressions on these people’s faces, Lu Zhen’s originally high spirits fell again. At the same time, he remembered the scene from before. The Ming army relied too much on the generals to play. This kind of drawback would affect the survival of Guang Ling, a small county. If it was big, it could even shake the rivers and mountains of Great Ming.

Actually, this was a problem that had always existed in the ancient army. In the end, the soldiers were all passive and lacking in knowledge. They would only follow the crowd and obey without subjective initiative. Once the generals they regarded as their backbones were injured or killed, the psychological damage to them would naturally be devastating.

“If I could build a three-thirds system of tactics in this era like the one in the army later on, perhaps the history of Great Ming would be changed.” Looking at the pitch-black sky, Lu Zhen suddenly had this strange thought in his heart. But then he laughed again. This was not something a small county magistrate could do. Moreover, he was now in a dangerous place, and he did not even know what would happen tomorrow. So, how could he change it?

At this moment, Lu Zhen heard a burst of suppressed crying coming from the side …