Chapter 129: Chapter 108: The Movement of the Five Poisons Sect
Translator: 549690339
On the second day, the city gate, which had been closed for two full days and nights, finally opened early in the morning.
However, there were still no civilians daring to venture out on the streets of the city.
People outside the city gate seemed to have sensed something wrong too, and nobody guarded the entrance.
Lu Yuan, riding his own date-red horse and wearing armor, led his four hundred-strong army out of the city after making sufficient preparations.
In yesterday’s battle, since the leaders with the highest martial prowess had been encircled and killed beforehand, the seven allied families were caught off guard.
On the other hand, the county soldiers had excellent equipment and had made advance preparations. Moreover, they were led by martial artists who had practiced Inner Strength and third-rate experts to charge forward, making them invincible.
So the casualties of his subordinate soldiers were not high.
In the end, only seven unlucky souls died, and about ten others were injured. These wounded soldiers and some others were left in the county town by Lu Yuan to guard the home.
As for the rest of the well-conditioned county soldiers, they were led out today, ready to eliminate Miao People’s villages.
At this time, the soldiers’ morale was high, left hand holding a knife, right hand holding a bow, wearing a leather armor, stepping steadily, and following the County Captain on their journey.
It is no wonder they were so excited.
Before leaving the camp today, the County Captain had distributed the rewards for the battle of yesterday. All soldiers were granted ten silver tales, and officers were promoted accordingly.
With the reward money in their hands and the exhilarating battle experience from the day before, these new soldiers, though inexperienced, had gained an impressive momentum.
At least.
As for the Miao People…
Being mountain folks themselves, these soldiers had no shortage of interactions with them on ordinary days, and couldn’t be more familiar with their impoverished background.
They were somewhat brave and dared to kill people with a momentary burst of energy.
But were they worse off?
Not to mention that they now represented the official position and righteousness of the court, which gave the soldiers a natural sense of superiority.
Furthermore, with the excellent equipment, assembled army formations, and the boost of confidence from yesterday’s great victory, their belief was even more resolute.
For this expedition, everyone firmly believed that they could eliminate the Miao people.
As Lu Yuan rode his horse, his senses had been sharply upgraded to the first-rate realm. Naturally, he could keenly detect the high spirits of the surrounding soldiers, so he couldn’t help but nod slightly: “With high morale, this battle is sure to be won.”
Just like the lower-ranking soldiers, he also believed that the task of eradicating the Miao people would not pose any problems in this battle.
With such a large number of troops, high spirits, and himself as a first-rate expert leading the charge, and a surprise attack at that, if they could lose with such a luxurious lineup, it would be a real surprise.
So this battle would never have any accidents unless the Miao People had hidden some trump cards or found external help.
“However, the chances of that are too slim. In this remote county town, no matter how strong those countryside Miao People are, how much background could they hide? What help could they find? ”
Lu Yuan thought about it for a moment before breaking into a smile at his own thoughts: “Just my unnecessary worries.”
There won’t be any problems this time, and there can’t be any problems.
On the other side.
Just as the county town dispatched troops to eliminate the remaining three Miao surnames,
in one of the three Miao settlements, the White ethnic village, the elders of the clan gathered in the largest hall to welcome an esteemed guest from the mountain.
“Elder White Eye, it’s not that our clan does not want to cooperate with the Holy Sect. It’s just that a new County Magistrate has arrived in the county town just the day before yesterday. And he didn’t come alone, he brought five hundred official soldiers.
With so many soldiers guarding the city, even if we exhausting all of our adult men, we still can’t take down the county town.”
In the meeting hall, an old man with a wrinkled face said to a middle-aged man dressed in white robes with pale eyes.
This man in white robes was the elder known as White Eye.
At the same time, he was an elder of the Five Poisons Sect in the eyes of the Jianghu people and the Five Holy Sect in the eyes of the Miao people. The first time the Shengmuiao came down the mountain, they took advantage of the unguarded Wugang County town. However, they hadn’t occupied the county town for long when the relief army from the prefecture came and drove the Shengmuiao out.
But in these days, the Five Poisons Sect had heard that due to an earthquake in Xichuan, a group of Qiang people in the region couldn’t survive there and decided to rebel.
Afterward, they attacked cities and towns everywhere, causing a huge uproar after occupying many prefectures and counties, making it difficult for the local authorities to control the situation.
As of now, two prefectural cities in Xichuan have fallen and more than ten small county towns have been captured, with the local officials unable to control the situation.
Therefore, the prefecture petitioned the court to send troops for reinforcement. However, at the moment, the court was dealing with invasions from Liang in the north, Jinghai Country in the south, coastal pirates, and frequent rebellions in various places.
With this situation, there were not enough troops to spare for Xichuan.
As a result, they looked around and noticed that Dongting Prefecture had a relatively stable situation and a capable force of county soldiers.
Therefore, an imperial decree was issued, ordering 30,000 Dongting county soldiers to march west and assist Xichuan County in suppressing the Qiang rebellion.
That’s why Sun Siwen was appointed to his position this time. Although the prefecture knew that Wugang County had chaotic people, they could not dispatch any military protection. They could only provide three thousand silver tales for him to recruit his own troops and take up his new position.
It’s because once the 30,000 county soldiers left, there were no more firefighting teams available for emergency support throughout Dongting Prefecture.
The Five Poisons Sect, which had been instigating the Miao people to rebel all this time, saw this situation and, with the heavy pressure gone, immediately detected an opportunity to rise up again.
So on the one hand, they gathered the Shengmuiao in the mountains, while on the other hand, they dispatched messengers everywhere, preparing to incite the Shumuiao in various places to launch a massive rebellion together.
This time, Elder White Eye came down the mountain with the intention of uniting the three Miao surnames within the county to attack the county town together.
But now, just as he made contact with the local Miao people, he heard such sudden news.
Elder White Eye frowned: “How come there are so many soldiers suddenly? I remember that all the county soldiers in the jurisdiction were withdrawn, weren’t they? Where did these people come from?”
The old man who spoke before shook his head: “I’m not sure about the specifics. However, many people in the city did indeed see the five hundred soldiers. Our chieftain is now meeting with the chieftains of the other two surnames to discuss the future administration of the county with the new County Magistrate.
A few days ago, he even sent someone back to inform us that the new soldiers didn’t look like they could be easily provoked and appeared to be an elite force.
He warned us that people in our clan should stay quiet these days, not cause any trouble, and avoid attracting the attention of the soldiers.”
The old man from the White Miao clan informed Elder White Eye of everything he knew and then kindly reminded him, “There are five hundred Yue State Soldiers, and they have the protection of city walls. To defeat them, we would need at least four to five thousand people.
Though all three of our Miao clans can gather that many men, there are also those large Yue families and Jianghu factions within the city, and these forces can gather one to two thousand people as well.
They are all Yue people and won’t help us Miao people.
If we besiege the city, we might arouse the resistance of the city’s Yue people.
This time, they are prepared. Like last time when we launched a surprise attack at the county town, capturing it easily won’t be possible anymore..”