Chapter 2224 - Breaking Out

You Ciren directed the soldiers' breakout, dashing now to the front, now to the rear, shouting encouragement and waving his saber and pistol to rally them.

After more than ten minutes of close combat, everyone was drenched in blood. Pan Tianshun was covered head to foot—impossible to tell whether the blood was his own or the bandits'. Though advanced in years, he fought without mercy, his great saber cleaving left and right. Before long, he had carved a bloody path through.

The attacking bandits were numerous but accustomed to easy victories; when they met stiff resistance, their will to fight collapsed. After suffering repeated casualties, those who had charged began to fall back. They retreated to a distance and fired muskets and arrows.

With the bandits momentarily beaten off, the party reached the crossroads. The street was littered with corpses and debris. A short distance farther, they encountered a squad from the Second Squadron that had been holding the intersection. The fires had not brought an attack here, but construction sites filled the town—bamboo, timber, rush mats, and straw everywhere—and the flames were spreading fast. Forced to abandon the intersection, the squad had clashed with scattered bandits on the way and, in the chaos of fleeing townspeople, killed more than a few.

"Even with all the construction sites and dry materials, it shouldn't burn this fast!" said the squad leader, his face blackened by smoke. "I smelled burning tung oil. They must have planned this."

"Casualties?"

"Five wounded—all minor. They can still move."

"Fall in with us," You Ciren said. "Have you seen anyone else?"

"No. The men reported seeing the green signal rockets for general withdrawal, but I didn't see them myself. I didn't dare go far..."

"You did right!" You Ciren's spirits lifted—thanks to this squad's hesitation, he now had ten more combat-ready troops. A quick glance told him the Yao squadron had lost heavily: between killed, wounded, and scattered, nearly a third were gone.

During the brief respite, You Ciren ordered: "All squads—check the wounded. Anyone who can't walk, make a stretcher immediately. Move!"

"Sir! The County Magistrate's wounds are critical!" The medic tugged at his shirt. "He won't last like this!"

"What?!" You Ciren whirled around. Two Yao soldiers were propping up Wang Chuyi, who had completely lost the ability to move. Blood dripped steadily from his clothes; in the moment they had paused, a small pool had already formed beneath him.

"Why haven't you stopped the bleeding?"

"I can't!" The medic was frantic. "I just bandaged him—two major wounds: one in the right chest, depth unknown, not bleeding much; the other in the thigh, bleeding nonstop. The Elder said this might be a femoral artery injury—but it doesn't quite fit..."

"Don't recite your damned textbook at me!" You Ciren snapped. "Can he still be saved?"

"I applied a tourniquet—slowed it temporarily, but it's not completely stopped." The medic stammered. "If we get him back in time, maybe—the Mobile Medical Team arrived in the county seat just yesterday."

You Ciren moved close to Wang Chuyi. His face was deathly pale, his hands ice-cold. The prognosis was grim. You Ciren waved. "Four men—carry him. Move!"

They found two bamboo poles from a nearby building, threaded two jackets through them, and fashioned a crude stretcher.

The pause lasted no more than five minutes before the column resumed its march toward the edge of town. Dalang Market was not large—from the crossroads to the nearest gate, the south gate, was only two hundred meters. By now, the streets were deserted; the attacks had ceased. But the entire town was an inferno. Freshly repaired buildings and stockpiled construction materials blazed; black smoke billowed; sparks swirled in the air. The scorching heat beat down on the column. The soldiers gritted their teeth against the heat and smoke, forcing their way forward. At last, they burst through the gate.

Outside the gate, corpses lay strewn about. You Ciren spotted five or six headless bodies in National Army uniforms and felt a chill. Clearly, the enemy had attacked here and successfully driven off the defenders. Looking at the dead, it was obvious the enemy was far more numerous than he had estimated. Multiple intelligence sources had indicated Sun Dabiao commanded about two hundred men—his core force had been mauled by the Eight Pai Yao uprising and now numbered at most forty or fifty veteran bandits.

So many! You Ciren thought bitterly. I was careless.

"Sir, what do we do now?"

"Retreat toward the county seat!" You Ciren said. "Stay alert."

The enemy might well have set ambushes along the road. Sun Dabiao had not burned his own stronghold just for this. He must expect more.

The column set off at a run. No urging was needed; everyone knew the danger. Only by linking up with the main force in the county seat could they be safe.

Before they had gone more than a few li, they encountered several stragglers from the south-gate squad. You Ciren called them over—only three, all wounded, all unarmed.

He had no time to scold them for their wretched state. "What happened at the south gate?"

"We don't know," one soldier said miserably. "We were on guard; suddenly, fifty or sixty bandits came charging out of nowhere—first arrows, then muskets. The squad leader was killed first. We fired a few volleys and switched to bayonets, but we were scattered almost immediately."

Afterward, they dared neither re-enter the town nor head back to the county seat alone. They hid in the roadside woods, hoping to wait for the main force.

"You're soldiers—how could you lose your weapons? Is this any way to act?" In truth, You Ciren had little regard for these National Army troops who had only a few months' training. "Help carry the stretchers!"

Wang Chuyi had fainted along the way but was jolted awake by the rough road. The column was constantly harassed by bandits; every so often they had to stop and fight a skirmish.

"Ugh..." Wang Chuyi groaned. The pain seemed to be intensifying; he felt a strange chill, his head spinning—he could barely keep his eyes open.

"You're awake?" asked the stretcher-bearer behind him.

"Where... are we..." Wang Chuyi murmured.

"Hold on, County Magistrate—we're almost at the county seat. There's a Mobile Medical Team there, with Elder doctors!" The medic tried to reassure him. "Don't worry."

"Tell... You Section Chief... he was right... I was wrong..." Wang Chuyi sensed his life slipping away. Yet he felt neither grief nor fear—only overwhelming regret. "Tell him... this is a fight... to the death..."

"Stop talking, sir," the medic said. "Once we get you to the city and bandaged up, you can tell Section Chief You yourself."

Wang Chuyi slowly shook his head. He wanted to say more, but the dizziness grew worse; not a word would come. He closed his eyes and soon lapsed back into unconsciousness.

Indeed, the bandits had set ambushes along the road. The vanguard fought repeated skirmishes; sometimes the enemy crept up from behind. If not for the two squads—twenty-odd rifles—firing in alternating volleys, forcing the enemy to keep their distance, the archers and muskets alone would have bled them dry on the road.

They fought and marched, and by dusk, with less than two kilometers to the county seat, the bandits finally withdrew. Only then did You Ciren allow himself to breathe. If the fighting had dragged into nightfall, marching in the dark would have been far more dangerous.

Luo Yiming had suppressed Zhang Tianbo's uprising in the county seat, nearly annihilating the bandits—though Zhang Tianbo himself had escaped. The fires the bandits set, however, took him several hours to fully extinguish. The blaze had consumed half a block, adding to the already devastated county seat's misery.

He knew the enemy almost certainly had another move planned and was frantic with worry for Wang Chuyi's party. But with only one squadron in the city, he was unable to send a rescue force. He dispatched several scouts toward Dalang Market to deliver a message and gather intelligence, and sent couriers racing to Qinglian Market to alert the Li-Miao Company stationed there.

But the scouts returned with no news. Not until about four in the afternoon did one scout finally come back with several National Army soldiers, reporting that Sun Dabiao had set fire to Dalang Market, that County Magistrate Wang's party was trapped, and that the Second Squadron had been completely scattered and was retreating in fragments.

Luo Yiming paced in agitation, helpless. Thereafter, trickles of Second Squadron personnel and small groups continued to arrive from the direction of Dalang Market. Their accounts matched the first report—but no one knew the fate of County Magistrate Wang or the Yao squadron. Only half an hour earlier had they picked up several Yao squadron soldiers and learned that Sun Dabiao had fully defected and that Wang Chuyi had been ambushed by bandits in Dalang Market.

This news was dire indeed. Luo Yiming, heedless of the city's depleted garrison, immediately dispatched a platoon to advance toward Dalang Market and attempt a rescue.

The platoon had not gone far before encountering Wang Chuyi's party. Though the column had suffered few casualties on the retreat, a full day of continuous combat under extreme mental strain had left everyone's strength nearly spent. Some men collapsed the moment they saw the relief force.

Seeing reinforcements, You Ciren felt a weight lift. He had been worried that Sun Dabiao had also prepared something in the county seat—the man had been buying land and building in the city, with many people coming and going. If he had hidden a strike force here as well, the county seat's defenses would have been in grave peril.

"Thank heaven the county seat is safe!" You Ciren entered the city and, without pausing to rest, ordered Wang Chuyi taken to the Mobile Medical Team for treatment. He himself hurried straight to the yamen to find Luo Yiming.

(End of Chapter)