Now it is the fifth month of the lunar calendar, and the weather near Yongzhou Prefecture is quite stuffy. Today is a fine, sunny day, and by afternoon, with the strong sun, there's a bit of steam rising on both sides of the official road along Xiao River.
This is really tough for the 2,000 Green Camp soldiers under Yu Jiong's command!
Although the provision of Taofu, the leader of the Green Camp, is better than that of most Green Camp soldiers, it is still Green Camp. Not eight flag heavenly troops...... How much money can they earn per month? What's the point in giving up their lives? Before this expedition to Guilin, Yú Wànqīng's banner had "three unmovable" provisions - it would not move when it was too hot, too cold or raining!
The meaning of "not moving" is that they are not to march or conduct military drills!
Of course, when the weather is neither too hot nor too cold nor it's raining, they don't move around much either. If they can manage to conduct a drill every ten or eight days, that would be considered quite good.
Otherwise, it wouldn't be the case that they couldn't march in formation and were making odd sounds all the way.
"General Yu... isn't it about time? They've been walking all day!"
"General Yú, I can't go on any longer... It's so hot today, let the brothers rest for a while!"
"General Yú, you must treat your soldiers as your own children! We can't go on anymore..."
"General Yú, please, have a heart..."
Hearing the cries and shouts of the older soldiers below, Yu Wanqing's nose was about to be twisted in anger as he rode with dozens of strong Guoshaha on horseback.
He hasn't been unfair to these soldiers in his daily life! Although he takes a share of the empty posts and a sip of the soldiers' blood, he never forces them to undergo rigorous training, and it's rare for them to conduct drills throughout the year.
He also knows that most of the banner bearers have their own livelihoods - some do small businesses, some are craftsmen, some grow vegetables, some rear ducks, and some follow the Chen Jing Tian Tai Association big shots to collect protection fees... After all, Yú Wanqing doesn't care!
A man as accommodating as he is, how many officials in today's Qing Dynasty are there?
But why did these brats collapse at the critical moment?
They are almost at Yetao Town, and why did they start complaining?
This is a crucial moment for General Yú Wanqīng to establish his reputation! If he can kill hundreds of female Nü Ba at Yetao, according to the "multiply by ten" reporting rules of today's Qing court officials, he can report thousands of victories. As for those Ba being women...... they don't need to be reported. In the eyes of General Yú, men and women are the same, as long as they are traitors, all victories will be multiplied by ten.
With these several thousand victories reported, if Bao Qibao loses Lingling as well, then his own return to the post of Taofu in Hunan is assured. Once he's in Hunan, he can look for another opportunity to gain control over a province and a prefecture...
No, we must not lose heart! We must fight this battle well!
Just as Yu Wanqing was about to say something to boost the morale of his troops, he suddenly heard three gunshots from the front of the formation. This scared General Yu, who is a Wushu graduate with great martial skills, as this year bird guns are common on battlefields.
He hurriedly looked forward and saw that the gunshots came from a small village ahead.
The official road from Shuangpai Town to Yetao Town passes through this small village, so it seems that the Long Tractors have set up ambushes in the village!
His personal troops of Guoshaha are all true elite fighters. The moment the gunshots rang out, they automatically split into two groups: one drew their sabers and short guns and charged forward - General Yú knew that his banner bearers were unreliable, and when it came down to actual battle, if anything went wrong, he could only rely on his dozens of close confidants who were part of the Guoshaha to act as the core and hold back the front lines, not to engage in combat with the Long Tractors, but to control the frontline troops so they wouldn't "flee upon seeing enemies".
The other half of the Guoshaha formed a circle around General Yú Wanqing, surrounding him along with Taobiao Officer Wu Shibin and Lord Huang Shijie Huang - if the brothers going forward couldn't stabilize the troops, they would have to protect General Yú and escape.
At this moment, there were several more gunshots in front, indicating that a fight was happening.
General Yú Wanqing dare not continue to sit on his horse, that would be too obvious a target. He quickly dismounted and, at the same time, gave orders to his Taobiao Officer Wu Shibin: "Old Wu, go to the front and take a look... Today's advance force is made up of Zhuang Dingxiang's Xunshou troops, they won't last long!"
The Officer Wu is a middle-aged man over forty, with a muscular build, a full beard, and looks rather fierce. However, the enemy in front is the incredibly fierce Taiping Army!
Officer Wu thought of cursing the ancestors of General Yú's family for a while in his heart, then reluctantly led his dozen or so personal guards to charge forward with determination.
As he was "taking great care" to advance, there was a continuous string of gunfire from the front, followed by cheering sounds.
"Victory! Victory!"
"The female Long Tractors ran away..."
"It's copper money, there is copper money!"
This is the cheers of Hunan Green Camp soldiers! Officer Wu Shibin's courage surged, he drew his saber and shouted forward, "Commander Wu Shibin is here, Long Tractor rebels, do not flee!"
His personal guards also picked up their pace, one by one drawing their sabers and shouting loudly, riding forward.
Soon, Officer Wu Shibin had charged into the village where the skirmish had taken place. The villagers were nowhere to be seen. In front of a courtyard that was obviously belonging to a landlord, a group of Green Camp soldiers were surrounding a tipped-over donkey cart and looting something.
His Guoshaha were all very alert; they knew there was something valuable from the scene. They rode towards the cart, shouting as they went, "Commander Wu Shibin of the central army has arrived! All of you bastards, get in line quickly!"
As the officer in charge of the banner bearers for General Yú Wanqing, Officer Wu Shibin was responsible for the banner bearers under his command. Therefore, the people who were looting the donkey cart were not only the soldiers under Zhuang Dingxiang's command, but also his own subordinates. Even if it was Zhuang himself... as a small Xun defense battalion chief, he would dare not provoke Officer Wu Shibin.
So when they heard that Commander Wu Shibin had arrived, the men could only leave the overturned donkey cart and left behind a scattered pile of copper money, several piles of colorful silk clothes and a few overturned wooden boxes. It was clear that this was a cart carrying goods, but it must have tipped over for some reason?
Just as Commander Wu Shibin was about to ask, Zhuang Dingxiang ran over and performed a kien li (a deep bow), looking very pleased as he reported, "Reporting to Commander Wu of the central army, I am fortunate to have fulfilled my duty. After fierce fighting, I have driven back hundreds of female Long Tractors, captured one donkey cart and a military flag, and killed or wounded dozens of them!"
As he spoke, he took out a red flag and unfurled it, showing the embroidered Chinese characters on it: "Women's First Army, Tenth Squad."
Commander Wu smiled and asked: "That's great, old Zhuang. You can capture flags now."
He was quite familiar with Zhang Dingxiang; they both came from hereditary Green Camps, were promoted to positions together, and started out as battalion chiefs. Unfortunately, their careers took very different paths later on.
"We didn't cut any generals, just took their flag," Zhang Dingxiang smiled sheepishly, "Big girls are soft and delicate. We can't butcher them!"
"Soft and delicate? Those Guangxi Hakka women with big feet can be soft and delicate?"
Zhang Dingxiang laughed and said, "Commander Wu, you may not know, but the female Long Tractor soldiers I encountered were not bound feet, but they were quite young and lively..."
"Look at you, you've never seen a woman before?" Wu Shibin sneered at Zhang Dingxiang.
"Indeed! Indeed!" Zhang Dingxiang laughed and said, "I would have captured some if I had known that the Long Tractors I encountered were women. They would have been a great gift to you and General Yú."
As he was saying this, there were two more gunshots from the north, followed by the sound of a Green Camp soldier running heavily, shouting as he came, "Battalion Chief! Battalion Chief... There are still quite a few female Long Tractors outside the village, including dozens on horses, and quite a few carts!"
"Commander Wu looked at Zhang Dingxiang and said, "Old Zhuang, let's go take a look together?"
Zhang Dingxiang smiled and called to his men: "Brothers, there are women outside the village... This is a great opportunity we cannot miss!"
"Yes!"
It's not clear if the sound of "Yes!" from these Green Camp soldiers was due to the fact that they had just defeated the female Long Tractors and looted some copper money and silk clothes, but it was incredibly loud.
So, General Wu Shibin led his Guoshaha and Zhang Dingxiang's dozen or so men to the north gate of the village, where they looked out. They saw that there were still dozens of donkey carts parked on the official road outside the village, and that there were at least two dozen carts. The carts were all filled to the brim. On both sides of the caravan, there were already more than two hundred female soldiers in red dresses and scarves lining up.
On the official road, there were also several dozen female cavalry riders coming, led by a rather tall woman dressed in red robes, wearing a red scarf, and holding a red plume spear. She looked quite heroic. Behind her fluttered a red flag with the characters "Deputy Director Su" written on it.
"Su San-niang..." Wu Shibin muttered low, then shouted loudly, "Quick, go report General Yú. Su San-niang, the leader of the female Long Tractors, has led over 200 of them, with dozens of carts loaded with loot. They are on the north side of the village!"
