bullyxtreme Chapter 78 The Cicada Awaits
Chapter 78 The Cicada Awaits
In the midst of the chaos, someone still remembered Cui Shi and rushed to the sedan chair to call out.
"Your Excellency, we must retreat immediately! We've fallen into a bandit ambush!"
He called out for a long time, but no one answered. He reached out and lifted the curtain of the sedan chair, only to find that there was no one inside, except for a green official robe.
Cui Shina was an extremely shrewd man. He and his former master, a group of more than ten people, were robbed by bandits, and he was the only one who survived. There was a reason for that.
As soon as the shouts of battle rang out, the kid realized something was wrong and immediately darted away, running backwards in a flash.
It will probably be difficult to find him now.
The fact that there was no one in the sedan chair was also seen by most people.
"The master has run away, let's run away too!"
"Run for your lives!"
Morale had completely collapsed, and everyone was only concerned with escaping, with no thought of resistance whatsoever.
In fact, if they could just calm down, they would find that the enemy was neither more numerous nor stronger than them.
As long as we proceed in formation, even if we retreat, we won't suffer many casualties.
But they had completely lost their courage; there were no rational people left among them.
Cui Shi, dressed in a servant's clothes, ran away silently, cursing Li Chong in his heart.
"Damn it, I shouldn't have trusted him. Bandit suppression? Is he even cut out for it?"
His only thought now is to escape back to Yanggu, quickly grab the money, and prepare to run away.
If news of Li Chong's death gets back, he won't have a chance anymore.
Little did he know that Li Chong and his men were watching him from the hillside.
"I knew I couldn't trust him. Even if he had just held out for half a quarter of an hour, I could have surrounded him."
Li Chong was also cursing.
After managing to settle things in the village, Li Chong left Jia Zhuo, an old acquaintance, with a group of women and children to clean up the mess, and then led the rest of the people down the mountain without stopping.
They finally found Du Heng's trail and saw him lying in ambush with Cui Shi's troops.
Li Chong had planned to attack from behind after the two sides started fighting, and he was sure he could easily win by attacking from both sides. But who would have thought that those people were so useless.
Li Chong couldn't help but say, "I knew they were a bunch of good-for-nothings, but I didn't expect them to be this good-for-nothing."
Zhongmei pointed down: "Isn't that your pageboy? He can run faster than anyone else."
"We'll deal with him when we get back!" Li Chong shook his head and looked back at the main battlefield.
At this point, it could hardly be called a frontal battlefield anymore. Du Heng and his bandits were chasing and killing everywhere, often one of them could chase three or four people, and they were extremely arrogant.
Xue Ming couldn't contain himself any longer: "Your Excellency, aren't we going to attack? Too many people have already died."
Li Chong's expression was solemn, but he still raised his hand to stop Xue Ming.
"Wait a little longer, wait a little longer."
Right now, Du Heng and his group are riding high. Even if they manage to break out, they might not be able to win unless they have a numerical advantage.
Even if they win, it will probably be a Pyrrhic victory.
As for hoping that those terrified officers and soldiers would turn back to help, Li Chong did not hold out any hope.
Their reaction made Li Chong hesitant to place his hopes for victory on them.
To win with minimal cost, you must endure.
Hu Changyong, unaware of Li Chong's considerations, couldn't help but remind him, "Hey, those dying down there are all your own soldiers. Are you really just going to stand by and watch?"
Li Chong said expressionlessly, "We must strike while the iron is hot. A second attack will weaken the momentum, and a third will exhaust us. If we attack now, we will only encounter the enemy at their strongest. Not only will we fail to rescue them, but we might also lose our lives."
"Our only chance of victory is to wait until Du Heng and his men become even more rampant and their pursuit becomes more scattered before we make our move. Pass down the order: once the fighting begins, we must not hold back and focus on inflicting casualties on the enemy."
Hu Changyong glanced at Li Chong, concealing his shock. These officials are ruthless; they just watch their own people get killed.
He didn't know that Li Chong was also forcing himself not to look away.
Those people died because of him, and Li Chong couldn't possibly feel no remorse.
But he was even clearer about who he was responsible to and who his true allies were; Li Chong made that distinction very clearly.
With chaos looming, he had no room for excessive compassion.
The group just watched, watching Du Heng laugh wildly, watching the soldiers scatter and flee, with dead and wounded everywhere.
Finally, Du Heng and his men had no more scruples and split up to hunt down the government soldiers, their formation completely disintegrating.
Some of the bandits had even started stripping off the clothes and searching for valuables on the corpses. The most conspicuous sedan chair was also not spared, with three or five bandits surrounding it, trying to find something of value.
"Isn't this where the official sits? How come he doesn't have a single copper coin?"
"Nonsense, have you ever seen an official carry money on their person?"
"That's true. It's bad luck. I was hoping to find some loose change."
"Are you stupid? Isn't this sedan curtain worth anything? This fine material is enough to make you a dress and get you a wife!"
So, a group of bandits started dismantling the sedan chair again.
"Pfft!"
A white knife went in, a red knife came out, and several bandits died on the spot.
With a cold face, Wu Song continued running towards his next target, carrying his long sword. Behind him were dozens of men with high morale.
By this time, Du Heng's men had long since lost their vigilance and had almost all dispersed. They were caught off guard by the sudden attack.
Several people died before anyone started shouting.
"Second Master, someone's attacking! Quickly... Ah!"
The body fell, revealing the figure of Wu Song behind it.
Raising his long sword high, Wu Song shouted, "The government troops have arrived! Drop your weapons! Those who surrender will not be killed! Anyone who resists will be killed without mercy!"
Xue Ming and the others also shouted, and for a moment the mountains and forests were filled with the sound of surrender.
Gradually, Cui Shi and the others who were fleeing for their lives also stopped. The group looked at each other, unsure whether they should go back to check.
"Cui Shi? You didn't go into the mountains, did you? The master didn't tell you to come with him, so when did you show up?"
He was a new friend that Cui Shi had met at the yamen.
Cui Shiqiang chuckled, "Just arrived, I just arrived."
"Where is the master? Everyone was running away just now, and we didn't see him."
Cui Shi naturally couldn't answer, but after being reminded by this person, he suddenly realized something and turned around to look behind him.
After a moment's hesitation, he called to the others, "How about we go back and take a look? Maybe the master has led his men back to fight his way out?"
Hearing calls for surrender everywhere, many people were tempted.
If I just run away like this, it will be hard to explain when they blame me later.
What if they actually win?
Seeing that even Cui Shi, a trusted confidant of the county magistrate, had turned around and walked back, the others hesitated and followed, but still looked like they were about to slip away if things went wrong.
At this point on the main battlefield, Li Chong and his men had gained the upper hand, forcing Du Heng and his group to fight together.
"Your leader is right here. Why don't you surrender now? What are you waiting for?"
Li Chong had Deng Meng brought up, parted his hair to make him easier to see.