The Great Rebel at the End of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 097 Night Raid

Back at the county office, Hong Chengchou did not remove his armor. He simply sat down and had someone bring him a towel to wipe his face. Then, while eating, he pondered the gains and losses of today's battle.

On the surface, Hong Chengchou's first battle seemed to have no major problems. Both his pre-battle preparations and his on-the-spot command were commendable.

For a civil official to lead troops into battle for the first time and achieve this level of success is something to be proud of.

However, this battle also exposed some of his shortcomings in military affairs. If he had more experience, his command during the garrison would have been better, his casualties would have been less, and the results would have been greater.

But that's all for later. We need to learn from our experience, but right now it's more important to face the enemy forces outside the city and their continued attacks tomorrow.

Hong Chengchou did not have many troops at his disposal, and Hancheng was a small city.

If the rebel army suffers a great loss today, and is fully prepared and builds more weapons tomorrow to launch a full-scale attack, it will be difficult for them to hold Hancheng as firmly as they have today.

Moreover, the fact that we were able to achieve this today is inseparable from the thorough preparations made before the battle. However, after this battle, most of the defensive equipment has already been used up.

Although they could still find ways to collect and brew the gold syrup, the logs and stones were running low. It was uncertain how long they would last if the enemy attacked from all sides tomorrow. If they ran out, they would have to rely on manpower to replenish them, which would inevitably lead to a sharp increase in casualties. Even if the main force on the city walls collapsed, Hong Chengchou wasn't entirely confident that Hancheng could be defended by the hastily assembled yamen runners and able-bodied men.

After thinking for a moment, Hong Chengchou ordered someone to invite Magistrate Fang Yongzhong and Commander Liang over.

The two arrived shortly afterward.

Hong Chengchou didn't beat around the bush and directly ordered Fang Yongzhong to lead men overnight to prepare more rolling logs and stones, as well as collect gold slurry and other materials, in order to prepare for the defense of the city the next day.

The latter isn't a big problem; if the former really comes to the worst, we can demolish the houses in the city. Although doing so would be against the natural order, and people would have their houses demolished and be displaced, there's no other way in the current situation.

Hong Chengchou instructed wealthy families in the city to help resettle the people whose houses had been demolished. All housing losses would be charged to the government, and once the rebel army was defeated, the government would compensate them at market price or help rebuild their homes. Fang Yongzhong knew how to deal with anyone who dared to obstruct or resist the order.

Upon hearing the order, Fang Yongzhong inwardly groaned. Several buildings had already been demolished, and now more were to be demolished; this was no easy task. But there was no other way now; defending Hancheng was the most important thing.

Once Hancheng falls, the city is destroyed and people die; what's the point of talking about houses then? Fang Yongxin knew perfectly well what was more important. After giving the order, he hurriedly left to make arrangements.

After Fang Yongzhong left, Hong Chengchou turned his attention to Liang Jun.

"Are you alright now?"

"My lord, it's just a minor injury, it won't prevent me from fighting on the battlefield." Liang Jun grinned, deliberately raising his arm to move it, gesturing for Hong Chengchou to see.

"Liang Jun!"

"Your humble servant is here!"

"I ask you, do you have the guts?" Hong Chengchou stared intently at Liang Jun and asked, word by word.

Liang Jun was taken aback, then immediately patted his chest and said, "As a centurion, when have I ever retreated from the battlefield? In today's battle, I personally killed more than a dozen enemy soldiers. Is Your Excellency trying to humiliate me by asking this?"

Seeing Liang Jun's slightly flushed face, Hong Chengchou laughed heartily and softened his tone: "Good! Your words are enough."

He got up and walked to Liang Jun's side, patted his uninjured arm hard, and said seriously, "The question I asked you earlier was because there's something important I need you to do tonight."

"Sir, whatever your command, I will go through fire and water, even unto death!" Liang Jun answered without hesitation. After speaking, he hesitated for a moment and then asked, "The important matter you speak of, sir, is it perhaps a plan to launch a night raid on the enemy camp?"

"Hahaha!" Hong Chengchou laughed loudly.

Although Liang Jun was only a minor commander, he was quite knowledgeable and brave in battle, and Hong Chengchou had a very high opinion of him. Since Liang Jun had thought of this, Hong Chengchou did not hide it and immediately nodded, saying, "You are right, I did indeed plan a night attack."

Hong Chengchou said, "Although we repelled the enemy in today's battle, their forces are numerous and their numbers are vast. In comparison, our garrison in Hancheng is small, and our defensive equipment is insufficient. If we proceed as planned and wait for the enemy to be fully prepared before attacking again tomorrow, the casualties will likely be even greater. Even if we hold Hancheng tomorrow, these two battles will have severely weakened the city. If the enemy continues their relentless attacks, Hancheng will be in grave danger!"

He paused for a moment, then continued, "As the art of war says, if a city is defended by simply holding its ground, it will eventually be trapped in an isolated city and lose the initiative. You come from a military family and are familiar with warfare, so you should understand this principle."

Liang Jun nodded. Hong Chengchou was right; a city could not be defended indefinitely. While holding out might seem the safest option, it meant handing over all the initiative to the enemy. They could then surround the city however they wanted and attack however they wanted, leaving the defended city to simply follow their lead and react passively.

The best way to defend a city is to first deploy a troop outside the city to cooperate with the defenders inside.

Once the enemy launches a full-scale attack on the city, the defending troops outside the city can be mobilized in time to catch the enemy off guard, forcing the enemy to divide their forces to defend against a surprise attack instead of attacking the city with all their might.

Moreover, when necessary, troops outside the city can also play a role in restraining or even cutting off the enemy's supply lines. In this way, the garrisoned city has the flexibility and initiative to defend itself, making the defense much easier.

The problem is that Hancheng has far too few troops. Even if Hong Chengchou brought five hundred men, together with Liang Jun's troops, they would only number a thousand.

The temporarily assigned yamen runners and able-bodied men could only serve as auxiliary troops and could not be of great use to the main force. Therefore, even though Hong Chengchou was aware of this, he could not spare more troops to be stationed outside the city as a diversionary force when he was stationed there.

But now it's different.

Although our side suffered considerable casualties in today's battle, the enemy's losses were even greater. More importantly, this battle boosted the morale of the government troops and greatly increased their hope of defending the city.

Hong Chengchou decided that since the city had been successfully defended today and the enemy forces outside the city were completely unaware that the small city of Hancheng would dare to take the initiative to attack, he should take advantage of the darkness and launch a surprise attack.

Hong Chengchou told Liang Jun that he had clearly seen from the city wall that the rebel army outside the city was actually just a rabble.

Despite the fierce attack today, it lacks any real strategy, and even the bandit leader's command ability is weak. Moreover, these peasants, who have only recently put down their hoes, have no real fighting skills; they're mostly acting on sheer guts.

In addition, they had been starving and freezing, and suffered from night blindness, making them completely unable to fight in the field. Otherwise, the bandit camp outside the city wouldn't have been brightly lit with campfires everywhere.

Having just finished this battle, the rebel army outside the city was probably planning to fight again tomorrow, but they would never have expected that Hancheng would launch a night attack.

This gave Hong Chengchou the best opportunity. If he planned it properly, he could leave the city at night and give the enemy a good beating. He didn't need to kill the enemy, but only disrupt their camp.

Hong Chengchou judged that if this plan succeeded, the enemy camp was highly likely to break out. If this happened, the enemy army would suffer heavy losses without Hancheng expending too much effort. In this way, the enemy army would no longer have the ability to continue attacking Hancheng. Hancheng could not only continue to hold out, but might even be able to take this opportunity to expand its gains, kill the enemy leader, and achieve a great feat.

After listening to Hong Chengchou's words, Liang Jun was filled with excitement and patted his chest, asking Hong Chengchou to entrust him with this task.

He assured that he would personally lead his men out and turn the enemy army upside down.

Seeing that Liang Jun's morale was so high and his troops were capable of fighting, Hong Chengchou nodded with satisfaction.

He summoned Liang Jun to do this important task.

In addition, Hong Chengchou formally promised the Liang army that as long as they could defend Hancheng and repel the rebel army in this battle, the Liang army would be the first to achieve merit, and Hong Chengchou would then petition the court for credit on their behalf.

Let alone a mere commander of a thousand households, even a deputy commander or a vice commander would be within reach. If Liang Jun were willing to leave his local garrison and follow him in the future, Hong Chengchou would entrust him with important responsibilities. At that time, positions such as assistant general, deputy general, or even commander-in-chief would be possible.

This windfall made Liang Jun even more excited, and he immediately set out to arrange the night raid.

But Hong Chengchou still stopped him and carefully explained the preparations and key points of the night raid. A night raid sounds simple, but it is not so easy to pull off.

The number of troops Liang Jun led could not be large, but they had to be elite, and how to fight and disrupt them was of paramount importance.

After some discussion and finalizing the details, Hong Chengchou gave him the transfer order, allowing him to freely select soldiers from the army, whether they were garrison troops or soldiers from the capital garrison he brought. As long as the Liang army took a liking to them, they would have to obey his command.

And so, Liang Jun hurriedly left with the token.

More than half an hour later, the news came that, according to the plan, Liang Jun had selected eighty-one people from the army, making a total of eighty-two people including himself.

Carrying weapons and tinder, they quietly opened the south gate of Hancheng. The group emerged from the south gate carrying grass in their beaks and disappeared into the darkness, quickly vanishing from sight.

The rebel army was located to the north of the city, so the Liang army deliberately marched out from the south to avoid attracting the rebels' attention. They intentionally circled around outside the city before launching a night raid.

After Liang Jun led his men out of the city, Hong Chengchou, unable to sit still in the county government office, simply went to the north gate of the city wall, staring at the enemy's camp in the distance, and waited quietly.

They waited until midnight. By the third watch of the night, the guards accompanying Hong Chengchou were getting bored and almost dozing off when Hong Chengchou, who had been staring into the distance, suddenly had a glint in his eyes.

"They're here!" Hong Chengchou laughed.

He saw with his own eyes that several balls of fire suddenly appeared around the camp in the distance.

Then, more and more of these flames appeared, and soon they merged into one.

Meanwhile, a jumble of sounds could be faintly heard from the camp – shouts of killing, cries of alarm, sobs, and desperate screams, rising and falling in waves.

The rebel camp was thrown into chaos! Liang's army had won!