Chapter 75: Relentless Onslaught!

Yang, the Brigade Commander, looked up at the gates of the Ten Kings’ Fortress, cursing inwardly. He had been personally promoted by Sima Cao and was even more trusted than Commander Du, which was why he had been sent to Lingyang Mountain for this affair.

No one knew better than he what sort of place this was—the largest bandit stronghold in Qingyang, indeed in all of Xuanzhou! The Ten Kings’ Fortress had indeed started out as a den of mountain bandits, but more than twenty years ago, they forged connections with a certain powerful figure in Xuanzhou. From then on, while they still mingled with the outlaws of the greenwood, their main business was no longer robbery.

Their cooperation with Xuanzhou’s local gentry was remarkably close. For instance, if a shipment needed to evade taxes, once it left the city, it would be declared as having been “robbed” by the Ten Kings’ Fortress—thus, no tax could be collected. Then there was the matter of smuggled goods, forbidden by the authorities: as soon as these goods entered the borders of Xuanzhou, the bandits from the fortress could quietly sneak them into the city.

And those were the more honest jobs. Beyond that, the Ten Kings’ Fortress took on all sorts of dirty work as well. Their partners were originally prominent local families, and any government official with a shred of conscience found the collusion between local gentry and bandits intolerable.

Those officials who refused to work with these “local snakes” would, in the end, meet mysterious deaths at the hands of the mountain bandits. Over the past twenty years, at least one prefect and five county magistrates had died at the hands of the Ten Kings’ Fortress!

And there were countless other tangled partnerships besides.

Because of all this, Xuanzhou’s local powers would never allow anything to happen to the Ten Kings’ Fortress, certainly not to let them be wiped out by local constables. The powers in the province were doing everything in their power to protect the fortress—this “black glove” that did their dirty and difficult work!

Of course, if it truly came to the worst, the leaders of the fortress could not be allowed to fall into the hands of Li Yun—or rather, into the hands of Xue Song, the new county magistrate of Qingyang. Who knew if this newcomer would be foolish enough to investigate the bandits, and if he did, whether he might, in a moment of zeal, report everything to the court?

At present, while the court was somewhat lax, if someone brought this matter to its attention, the local gentry of Xuanzhou would be in enormous jeopardy—if they survived at all, it would cost them dearly. At worst, they would lose everything.

That was why Sima Cao, one of the principal beneficiaries, was so anxious to dispatch troops and have Yang handle the matter.

But when Yang arrived at Lingyang Mountain, he discovered that the Qingyang government troops had already ascended the mountain. He was just about to relieve the young hotheads of Qingyang and take over the Ten Kings’ Fortress when he was blocked on the mountain road—by the very people of the fortress!

Were they mad?

That was Yang’s first thought. He glared up at the fortress and shouted, “We are provincial troops of Xuanzhou! Who are you?”

He meant to remind the bandits on the mountain that they were, in a sense, on the same side.

Liu Bo, hiding behind a slope, replied without hesitation, “I’m your ancestor from the Ten Kings’ Fortress!”

“You dogs of the damn court, if you’ve got the guts, come up here and fight your grandpa with real blades and real guns!”

His words sent the bandits of Cangshan Stronghold, gathered near the fortress gates, into raucous laughter. Some troublemakers joined in, shouting, “Come up! Come up!”

Yang’s face turned ashen. He gazed at the fortress, his expression dark and uncertain. There were only two possibilities now.

The first was that none of those who knew the inside story were present in the fortress, so these lackeys couldn’t tell friend from foe.

The second possibility…

Yang looked up at the fortress, his face growing even grimmer.

The second possibility was that the people now inside the fortress were no longer the original bandits of the Ten Kings’ Fortress!

If it was the first, then the fortress hadn’t fallen and he could report success. If it was the second, then he had arrived too late.

Recalling that he had seen no sign of the Qingyang troops along the way, Yang took a few steps forward, hiding behind a large tree to avoid arrows from the slope, and called out, “Are you perhaps brothers from the Qingyang county yamen, playing a joke on me, Yang?”

“If you’re impersonating bandits and attacking government troops, that’s treason!”

At this, Li Yun, hidden behind the slope, frowned slightly. This fellow was truly sharp—he’d guessed nearly the whole truth from mere clues.

But unfortunately, he was still wrong.

Liu Bo shouted back, unafraid, “I’m your grandpa! If you’ve got the guts, come up here and see who’s the better man!”

Yang could bear it no longer. He waved his arm and barked, “Charge! Wipe out these bandits!”

He had brought over a hundred men up the mountain, and with no resistance on the road, they’d arrived smoothly at the fortress gates. At his order, though fearful, the provincial troops drew their weapons and, mustering their courage, rushed up the mountain.

On the hillside, Liu Bo and his men loosed another volley, felling several soldiers. Then Liu Bo clapped Li Yun on the shoulder and said quietly with a chuckle, “Second Brother, you’d better not show yourself.”

Li Yun looked at the fortress and said, “I’ll wait inside. If it gets tough, retreat back here.”

The chief of the stronghold’s eyes gleamed with ferocity. “If it comes to it, we’ll wipe them all out!”

Liu Bo grinned. “Don’t worry, Second Brother. We’ve seen these Xuanzhou soldiers before at Cangshan—they’re no better than the last lot.”

With that, Liu Bo stood up and waved his arm. “Brothers, for Old Master Tong!”

“Fight these government troops!”

Though clever, Liu Bo was no stranger to violence. Raised in the stronghold, he’d participated in many raids and knew everything a bandit should. At his shout, after a volley of arrows, the gates of the fortress swung open and some forty Cangshan bandits charged out, howling.

The mountain path was narrow, so only seven or eight could attack at a time. The bandits struck fiercely and without hesitation—the first swing of their blades aimed straight for the face, causing the soldiers to roll aside in terror, narrowly avoiding the blows.

But as the path sloped, those who rolled fell to the ground, bringing down more soldiers behind them.

By now, three or four soldiers had been wounded and lay writhing in pain.

Yang remained behind his tree, glancing at the attackers—at least forty men, enough to dispel most of his doubts. It was unlikely that Qingyang constables could disguise themselves as bandits in such numbers.

As he pondered this, the soldiers in front, terrified, retreated. Over a hundred men were forced back by forty bandits, step by step.

Yang kicked one of them furiously. “Useless cowards!”

He took one last look at the fortress, waved his hand, and barked, “The Ten Kings’ Fortress is hard to take. Withdraw for now and reconsider our plans!”

They had never come to destroy the bandits—only to trouble the Qingyang constables. Not finding the constables there meant the situation was already beyond their control.

Yang’s order was delivered with crisp decisiveness. The Xuanzhou soldiers withdrew smoothly and swiftly from Ten Kings’ Peak—so quickly that even Liu Bo was caught off guard.

When the government troops were far away, Liu Bo returned to the fortress, scratched his head, and said to Li Yun, “Second Brother, these soldiers are pitiful. At this rate, I feel confident we could take Xuanzhou City itself.”

Li Yun shot him a look and replied, annoyed, “Sima of Xuanzhou commands ten brigade commanders and a thousand men.”

“Besides, what use would it be to take Xuanzhou?”

He glanced at the retreating soldiers and said coolly, “Don’t be fooled. They may be poor at attacking, but in defense, they are much tougher.”

He clapped Liu Bo on the shoulder. “Ninth Brother, you and Skinny Monkey keep watch over the fortress. I’ll slip down the back path and deal with these government troops.”

Liu Bo nodded, and Li Yun took a familiar guide from the stronghold. They moved swiftly down the mountain path.

These men had grown up in the mountains; such trails were second nature. By the time Li Yun reached the foot of Ten Kings’ Peak, Yang and his troops were still descending.

Li, the chief constable, changed into black clothes, called Chen Da and Huang Yong, who had been resting at the foot of the mountain, and the three waited at the path’s mouth. Before long, they saw the returning Yang.

Li bade Chen Da wait aside, then stepped forward, clasped his fists, and asked, “Are you the provincial reinforcements?”

Yang looked Li Yun up and down. “You must be Li Zhao, the chief constable of Qingyang?”

“I am.”

Yang frowned. “Didn’t you go up the mountain to suppress the bandits last night? Why are you down here now?”

“My good fellow…” Li Yun asked, “How should I address you?”

“My surname is Yang, given name Heng. I am the brigade commander of Xuanzhou.”

“So it’s Commander Yang himself.”

Li Yun sighed, his expression somber. “Commander Yang, you may not know. Last night, we did climb Ten Kings’ Peak and fought the bandits all night, but they were too fierce—we were no match for them. Fortunately, some locals guided us, and in the second half of the night, we escaped down the back path.”

He turned to Yang, his face brightening. “I was just about to go to the province to request reinforcements, and here you are, Commander Yang! With so many men, have you wiped out the Ten Kings’ Fortress?”

At these words, Yang’s face turned black as thunder. He clenched his fists, held back for a long moment, then finally replied, “The bandits are ferocious, and the fortress is easy to defend and hard to take. This cannot be rushed. We must…”

Yang exhaled, looking at Li Yun with deep suspicion in his eyes.

“We must reconsider our plans.”