Chapter 2194 - Meeting at Sanjiang Market

By the time Yang Zeng's troops completed their half-day mountain climb, they had secured Luming Pass and occupied Sanjiang Market, located five kilometers below the pass.

With the Fubo Army controlling Luming Pass, they had effectively blocked the Eight Row Yao's northeastern route to harass Lianzhou. A squadron monitoring the four stockades in Yonghua Township sealed off the southeastern approach to Yangshan. Combined with the already recaptured Lianshan County seat, they had established the initial framework of an encirclement against the Eight Row Yao.

The Eight Row Yao concealed in the mountains would prove difficult to root out and destroy. However, with their fighting men currently deployed in the field, an opportunity presented itself to eliminate them wholesale.

Once these active forces were annihilated, the remaining women, children, and elderly would pose no threat. Yang Zeng's riot suppression strategy followed a pragmatic sequence: first the sword, then diplomacy. Defeat and annihilate the Eight Row Yao's active forces, then proceed with recruitment and pacification.

That evening, the reconnaissance squad Yang Zeng had deployed finally rendezvoused with the reconnaissance team from Huang Chao's Li-Miao Company. Subsequently, the two commanders met at Sanjiang Market.

Yang Zeng dispensed with dinner to study the Lianzhou situation with Huang Chao. The Eight Row Yao uprising appeared formidable on the surface, but intelligence gathered during their advance revealed a different reality. The Eight Row Yao's main strength consisted of fighters from their own stockades plus some coerced commoners. Total forces numbered at most four or five thousand. Not only did they field few troops with inferior weapons, but they also lacked siege equipment. Many times they couldn't even overcome relatively well-fortified village stockades. Actually capturing Lianzhou City remained pure fantasy. Successfully maintaining the current siege already pushed the limits of their capabilities.

"If they cannot take Lianzhou, why continue surrounding the city?" Huang Chao asked. "Are they attempting to besiege the point to strike reinforcements?"

"I think that's impossible," Yang Zeng shook his head. "Chief, consider this: for Yao uprisings throughout history, the Governor of Liangguang at most mobilized troops from two provinces for joint suppression. Even if reinforcements this time consisted of Guangdong Ming troops rather than our Fubo Army, the Eight Row Yao would still lack the capacity to destroy them."

"Then perhaps it's a feint to the east while attacking in the west." Huang Chao advanced another theory.

"To be honest, that doesn't seem likely either." Yang Zeng had already grasped the general process of how Huang Chao and others recaptured Yangshan. "If we're discussing feints, the largest city in the Lianyang region is none other than Lianzhou itself. Feinting toward Lianzhou while attacking east could only aim to plunder local Han villages. Yet judging from conditions in surrounding settlements, aside from attacking several Han villages to requisition grain, they've conducted no large-scale stockade-breaking operations. Furthermore, why would they incite the Yonghua Township Yao to assault Yangshan? Yangshan City's defenses prove far weaker than Lianzhou's, and its wealth surpasses ordinary stockades. The Eight Row Yao would profit more from attacking it themselves."

"You're suggesting their original objective was indeed Lianzhou?" Huang Chao looked puzzled.

"Not entirely." Observing Huang Chao's doubtful expression, Yang Zeng felt a flash of pride. Opportunities to hold forth before a Chief came rarely. He immediately recognized the impropriety of such an attitude and shifted to a respectful demeanor. "The Yonghua Township Yao should constitute a diversionary force. The attack on Lianshan likewise aimed to pin down government troops. Their purpose amounts to creating disruption on multiple fronts, dispersing incoming suppression forces. All to avoid interference with their assault on Lianzhou..."

"But didn't you just say..."

"I suspect the Eight Row Yao leader understands perfectly well that force alone cannot capture Lianzhou. His purpose likely involves compelling the city's inhabitants to pay 'ransom' or satisfy certain demands through siege and supply interdiction. Alternatively, he may possess some ingenious stratagem for taking Lianzhou City."

What precisely motivated them remained unknowable. The Eight Row Yao had lived for generations in remote mountains; roads were treacherous and they maintained perpetual isolation. Apart from occasional small peddlers conducting trade, outsiders rarely dealt with them.

To handle Yao unrest smoothly during the Guangdong Campaign, the External Intelligence Bureau had long sought to infiltrate intelligence personnel into the Eight Row Yao's interior. Such recruitment efforts proved unsuccessful. First, Yao people generally distrusted Han people—even establishing contact proved extremely difficult, much less recruiting and training intelligence assets. Second, Yao people divided into numerous branches with intense xenophobic tendencies, while customs and languages varied dramatically. Even fellow Yao, unless native to the Eight Row region, could scarcely penetrate their communities. The External Intelligence Bureau's intelligence on the Eight Row Yao, beyond materials extracted from the Great Library, consisted of fragments from Han merchants who had visited the region. Valuable intelligence remained exceedingly scarce. Consequently, determining Yao mentality and combat patterns for military operations became exceptionally challenging.

Yang Zeng's assessment rested on this meager intelligence foundation. Huang Chao found it persuasive, yet sensed something missing. However, having received no tactical command training, he deemed it more prudent to trust Yang Zeng, the "professional."

"Regardless of their objective, our primary task is securing Lianzhou." Yang Zeng stated. "I've already dispatched reconnaissance parties under cover of darkness. We aim to annihilate the Eight Row Yao's main force beneath Lianzhou's walls."

"I have no objection to lifting the siege, but casualties shouldn't be excessive. After all, recruitment and pacification remain our focus..."

Yang Zeng disapproved intensely in his heart. Without bloodying the enemy, how could one recruit and pacify? Throughout history, when armies clashed, attempting peace negotiations before crippling the enemy invariably invited future catastrophe.

Yet the other party held senatorial rank. Open contradiction would prove impolitic, so he answered "Yes" perfunctorily several times.

Zhen Huan felt somewhat restless. He hadn't expected to actually encounter Bi Da outside Lianzhou City. Though merely a hurried glimpse, it sufficed to set his imagination running wild. Bi Da probably hadn't noticed him, absorbed in conversation and laughter with her companions. In the two years since their parting, Bi Da had grown more captivating—her mature aura proved especially attractive.

Yet Zhen Huan disciplined himself against dwelling on Bi Da. He had accepted the mission to lead his brothers on nighttime reconnaissance, determining the Yao forces' encampment locations and approximate troop strengths.

Years of combat enabled him to quickly rein in his emotions—failure to do so could cost him his life on the battlefield within minutes. Of the good brothers who had departed the stockade with him originally, few still drew breath.

Several years had passed since he'd led his brothers to enlist with the Australians, driven by his pursuit of Bi Da. Yet since that parting by the river, he had never again laid eyes on the woman who haunted his thoughts day and night.

Though serving under the same Australian banner, Bi Da remained impossibly distant. Before descending from the mountains, Zhen Huan possessed no conception of the Senate's true scale. In his former understanding, Australians amounted to something resembling the Great Sea Lords merchants spoke of—commanding perhaps a dozen ships and at most several thousand men. Given sufficient time, reunion would inevitably occur.

After leaving the mountains, however, he recognized how narrow his vision had been. Military service seemingly opened a door to a vast new world. Through these years his footsteps had covered all of Hainan Island; he'd even boarded ships beyond his wildest dreams to travel to Kaohsiung for "punitive actions" against local natives, witnessing the world's grotesque diversity outside the mountains, observing countless human joys and sorrows, even experiencing numerous life-and-death crises. His knowledge had evolved far beyond that of the "Little Overlord" from the stockade. He had even taken leave to return to his village stockade, yet found he no longer shared a common language with its inhabitants. His sole lingering concern for stockade life had always been Bi Da.

Never had he imagined encountering her on this Yao region battlefield in Guangdong! Right by the river where they'd made camp, the woman who occupied his every thought walked and conversed with several men and women wearing naturalized cadre uniforms.

After years of separation, Bi Da's appearance had changed little. Only her hair had been cut short; she wore an administrative staff uniform and carried a canvas bag—in every respect indistinguishable from the "female cadres" ubiquitous on Lingao's streets.

Though the woman who had haunted his thoughts for years stood less than tens of meters away, and he had fantasized countless times about their reunion, rehearsing his words over and over in his mind, when she actually appeared before his eyes, Zhen Huan found himself at a loss—timid from approaching the one he loved.

Remembering he'd accepted orders for reconnaissance, he refrained from disturbing Bi Da and quietly withdrew.

For this reconnaissance mission he brought only five soldiers from the Li-Miao Company. The reconnaissance target comprised both banks of the Xingzi River beneath Lianzhou City. Under night's cover, Zhen Huan's squad commandeered a small boat discovered by the river, rowing north into the Xingzi River before landing quietly north of Lianzhou City.

They lingered only briefly near Lianzhou's walls before proceeding north toward North Mountain. According to Yang Zeng's assessment, the Yao forces would likely position their main strength where concealment and support for various gates proved most feasible. Yanxi Mountain fit these criteria perfectly. As a commanding height, it offered easy observation of activity within the city. Dense forest facilitated troop concealment. And it enabled support to various gates within half an hour.

Sure enough, the reconnaissance team discovered the Yao forces' main encampment on Yanxi Mountain's slopes. The Yao fighters obviously possessed no understanding of concealing smoke and fire. Firelight flickering through the forest betrayed their position.

Zhen Huan led the squad in a slow approach toward the firelight. Noticing a raised hillock near the encampment, he directed the squad to infiltrate there.

He cautioned the point man: "Watch your feet!"

Whether from his Li heritage or years of mountain combat, he knew mountain peoples' combat habits intimately: they often arranged hunting traps and ground crossbows around encampments. Fubo Army squads had repeatedly suffered such losses during punitive operations in Hainan and Taiwan. Getting caught meant not only severe injury or death for the victim but also alerting enemies within the camp.

Indeed, less than a hundred meters from the encampment, the point man discovered a bamboo spike trap. Though its depth barely exceeded the calf, concealed fire-hardened bamboo spikes could easily pierce through a soldier's foot and leg. Even without poison, one would end up half-crippled. Moreover, these spikes were commonly coated with the arrow poison Liangguang Yao people customarily employed.

They dismantled the trap carefully. Within a few paces they discovered a tripwire—the trigger mechanism for a ground crossbow. After removing the tripwire, they soon located a third trap. In merely a hundred meters of approach, they encountered over a dozen various traps. Zhen Huan felt secretly alarmed: The enemy maintains high vigilance!