Qiang Jin Jiu (Author : Tang Jiuqing 唐酒卿)

Chapter 99 : Thank You Gift

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Han Cheng captured several deserters from the Imperial Army one after another. All of them were covered in filth and were so starved that they looked sallow and emaciated. After making several enquiries, he found out about the predicament the Imperial Army was in, but still, he did not dare to act rashly and advance his troops without careful consideration. This was because a 20,000-men strong Imperial Army was not a small number. He was continually weighing his chances of winning against Xiao Chiye in a head-on battle. 

“The Imperial Army’s performance at the Nanlin Hunting Grounds was out of the ordinary. They killed many a number of people when they vied with us for the city gate patrol back then.” Han Jin sat inside the tent and looked at the deserters below. “Now that you people have followed Xiao Chiye into defecting from the capital, how can you simply just break up at the drop of a hat?” 

“To reply Your Excellency, we can’t go far.” The army deserter who was kneeling at the foot of Han Ji’s seat said, “We fled all the way here, far away from civilization with no villages or shops in sight. We have no food nor camping site. Cizhou lies ahead of us, and there’s also the Qidong Garrison Troops if we look south. It’s obvious we are going to be caught in an encirclement like a dumpling being wrapped.”

Han Cheng thought it over for a moment carefully and asked, “Are there many deserters?” 

The deserter said, “When I fled, there were about a few hundred. The Imperial Army is now like duckweeds in a muddy ditch that will scatter at just one strike. It won’t be able to withstand a blow!” 

Han Jin wondered, “And Xiao Chiye didn’t think of a way? I heard that he strictly enforces military law. The soldiers under his command are all very afraid of him.” 

“Your Excellency doesn’t know this, but…” Having spoken for so long, the deserter swallowed his saliva and said, “can you give me some rations first? I fucking ran for the entire way, and I’m now so starving I can’t explain it clearly!”      

Han Jin motioned for the men to give him some rations, and the deserter began to gobble it down on the spot. As he chewed on his food, he said, “They are afraid of him! In the past, we brothers had nowhere to go in Qudu, and so we had no other choice but to follow him, and we ended up offending the various masters of the Eight Great Training Divisions. Now that he even went on to become a traitor, how would we still dare to continue following him?”

Han Jin noted that all these deserters did indeed seem to be down and out. What’s more, they were captured back. It did not look like they were faking. He could not help but make some mental calculations carefully in his mind. First, he got the men to take the deserters out. Then he began to deliberate over the battle strategy in his tent with his advisors.

Among the advisors was a man called Gao Zhongxiong, who had been the person taking the lead back then when the Imperial College had stirred up a disturbance. As he had offended Pan Rugui and was thrown into prison with no one to vouch for him, he gave up the idea of an official career and threw in his lot with Han Jin. He was a high-spirited scholar full of patriotic fervor who abhorred traitors to the state all his life. Shen Wei, Pan Rugui, and the likes were all men he held in contempt. And now, hearing that Xiao Chiye had fled the state after carrying out an assassination, he was even more worked up, unable to condone it. 

Gao Zhongxiong pointed at the map and said, “Since Xiao Chiye is already at the end of his rope, we cannot tolerate him being on the run within Zhongbo’s territory. The Viceroy has a strong army with sturdy horses and Dancheng to fall back upon. In my view, there’s no time to lose. We will be able to deploy troops to pursue and attack him shortly. As long as he is captured before he enters Cizhou, it’d be a meritorious service rendered.”