vstars Chapter 96 Miscalculation
Chapter 96 Miscalculation
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Liang Xiaoming walked beside him and quietly asked, "Switching the goods shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Liu Ye replied, "It should be fine. The rebel guards didn't notice anything amiss. By the time they realized what was happening, we'd already be out of the city..." He said this partly to Liang Xiaoming, and partly to reassure himself.
After answering Liang Xiaoming, Liu Ye suddenly remembered something and felt a chill run down his spine; his heart began to pound. He abruptly stopped: "Oh no, I forgot something after all this calculation..."
Liang Xiaoming was startled and quickly asked, "What's wrong? Don't scare me."
Liu Ye's hands and feet were ice-cold as he stared blankly at Liang Xiaoming: "I forgot to take Bai Lian and her disciples with me..."
Liang Xiaoming patted his chest and let out a long breath: "I thought it was something serious... It's just two women from the White Lotus Sect. A real man shouldn't worry about not having a wife. You already have a woman at home, and I don't. Why are you still thinking about these two women of unknown origin? I'm not trying to be mean..."
Liu Ye interrupted him: "That's not what I meant... They're in the governor's office, and they might accidentally reveal our whereabouts..."
Liang Xiaoming was skeptical: "Didn't you say they wouldn't oppose you? How could they leak your information?"
Liu Ye stamped his foot in frustration: "They certainly wouldn't intentionally betray me, but I didn't tell them my plan beforehand. My apprentice is fine, but if my master is confused and searching for me everywhere, the deception will be exposed immediately. If the guards discover that Sun Yuanhua has been switched, the consequences will be unimaginable..."
"What should we do then?" Liang Xiaoming was also starting to panic.
Liu Ye estimated the distance between the governor's office and the West Gate, and decisively said, "There are still several streets between here and the West Gate. If we walk slowly, we will definitely be caught up by the rebels once the matter is exposed. We have no choice but to take a gamble and run towards the South Gate as soon as possible. Don't be afraid of being exposed."
So the group stopped hiding and gathered together, then started running. Suddenly, fifty or sixty people were running wildly, creating a magnificent spectacle that stunned passersby.
Sun Yuanhua was getting on in years, and being a civil official, he was used to a life of luxury. After running for a short distance, he couldn't keep up. He said to Liu Ye, panting heavily, "Brother Liu... I... I really can't run anymore... Why don't you take these barbarians and go first? Anyway, Kong Youde won't make things difficult for me..."
The news that Li Jiucheng and Kong Youde were willing to let Sun Yuanhua return to the capital was all fabricated by Liu Ye. Leaving him alone at this time would definitely be dangerous. Moreover, Liu Ye had gone to great lengths to rescue him and the Portuguese, so he was naturally unwilling to give up halfway. Upon hearing this, he ordered without hesitation: "Lin San, get a few team members to take turns carrying Lord Sun as they run."
Lin San agreed, waved to summon several burly team members, and regardless of whether Sun Yuanhua was willing or not, they quickly lifted him up and placed him on the back of one of the team members, and then continued running wildly.
Sun Yuanhua was so jostled around that he could barely speak: "...Brother Liu...judging by this...stance, it doesn't seem like they're returning to the capital...it seems more like they're fleeing...fleeing for their lives..."
Liu Ye didn't answer him at all, pretending not to hear him. Now was not the time to tell him the truth; he would explain it to him slowly after they got away.
Dengzhou had only recently fallen. Although the large-scale looting had stopped, the city was still under the control of the rebels. There were not many pedestrians on the streets, and only a few rebels occasionally passed by. This group of several dozen people ran wildly and immediately attracted the attention of a small group of passing rebels. A leader stepped forward and shouted, "What are you doing? Stop right there!"
Liang Xiaoming panicked and turned to Liu Ye, asking, "What should we do?"
Liu Ye gritted his teeth. If he got bogged down by these rebels, whether it was extortion or blackmail, he wouldn't be able to break free anytime soon, and things would get complicated if it dragged on. He might as well go all out and fight his way out. So he shouted, "Draw your weapons and charge out!"
Upon hearing this, Lin San ordered all his men: "Everyone, fix bayonets!"
Upon hearing the order, the fifty guards quickly took out the Patriot rifles, which were wrapped in layers of cloth, from their backs and secured them with bayonets.
Seeing that something was wrong, the rebel leader drew his katana and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Brothers, these people have firearms! Grab your weapons and charge!"
The rebel soldiers were all seasoned veterans, experienced and quick-witted. They drew their weapons and charged forward, shouting.
The incident happened suddenly, and the two sides were too close. There was no time to proceed with the orderly line-up shooting, so the guards had no choice but to engage in hand-to-hand combat. At Lin San's command, all the guards raised their rifles and charged towards the enemy.
Although the rebels numbered only about twenty, they were all veterans of the Dongjiang region. They had witnessed the might of the Tartars in Liaodong and had killed many government soldiers in Shandong, so they naturally didn't take the enemy seriously. In their view, as long as they rushed in for hand-to-hand combat, these guys wielding muskets who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere would surely collapse, so they weren't particularly afraid of an opponent who outnumbered them twice as much.
But the ensuing battle was completely beyond their expectations. Fifty guards, lined up in two neat rows, jogged forward. As soon as they made contact, a volley of thrusts threw them into disarray. Seven or eight rebels were stabbed, while the enemy was almost unharmed.
The remaining rebels, instead of being intimidated, were driven to madness, brandishing their katana and charging forward recklessly. They were no greenhorns; they knew perfectly well that if they didn't fight, they would either not act at all, or if they turned and ran, they would suffer an even more gruesome death.
After the two sides were locked in a stalemate, several guards were wounded under the relentless attacks of the rebels, but the second rank immediately replaced them, and the bayonet formation of the first rank maintained a sufficient manpower advantage.
Sun Yuanhua and the Portuguese watched in disbelief from the rear. Wu Duowang muttered to himself, "My God, these men remind me of the Swiss lance mercenaries: skilled in hand-to-hand combat, disciplined in formation, and calm under pressure."
Upon hearing this, Sun Yuanhua asked him, "Swiss mercenaries? What's the difference between Western soldiers and Ming Dynasty spearmen?"
Wu Duowang replied, “Yes, Lord Sun, Switzerland is just a small country in Europe, but they treat war as a profession. The mercenaries in this country fight only for money. The biggest difference between them and the Ming Dynasty’s infantry is that they do not emphasize individual bravery, but rather the formation in battle. As long as such soldiers are equipped with a certain number of matchlock guns and cannons, they can defeat the armies of most European kings.”
Sun Yuanhua trusted Wuduowang's words; these barbarians rarely lied about such matters. Gazing at Liu Ye ahead, Sun Yuanhua fell into deep thought—clearly, this young man who kept calling himself a merchant was not as simple as he claimed. The men who could contend with the brutal rebels were far beyond the scope of ordinary merchants' guards.