Chapter Ten: The Opening Gambit

Wusheng Town, Dongming County, Shandong Garrison Command.

Zhu Cilang scanned the crowd and declared sternly, "Today’s battle is one that must be fought and won. If we succeed, I shall report your achievements to the Son of Heaven, ensuring your merit is recognized. Promotions and titles will surely follow! However, I must speak plainly: those who dare to disobey orders will be shown no mercy. In my army, there is no place for personal sentiment—only military law."

"Understood!" the officers, including Liu Zeqing and his men, answered in unison.

Seeing this, Zhu Cilang’s expression softened slightly. With a hint of a smile, he addressed Liu Zeqing: "General Liu, you are a veteran of the ranks. You shall lead the vanguard against the rebel Chuang army. Do not worry about their numbers; I have ordered all the pack horses and mules in the camp to be concentrated, and Liu Zhen will lead his cavalry to assemble on your left flank. They can mount or dismount at any time to support your advance. Your right flank will be bolstered by two thousand elite infantry from the Linqing Battalion. You need only focus on the center."

Upon hearing this, Liu Zeqing’s smile became somewhat strained. Concentrating all the pack animals—was this not merely a precaution to prevent him from fleeing? And these flanking forces—were they support, or were they guards to ensure his compliance?

Liu Zeqing grumbled inwardly, yet his outward appearance remained that of a loyal and capable general. "Yes, my lord. I shall not fail your expectations."

Under Zhu Cilang’s command, the combined forces of the Shandong Garrison and the Linqing Battalion sprang into action. The camp was a scene of clamor and chaos. Zhu Cilang himself rushed about, and beyond the basic deployment of troops, he spent most of his time trying to restore order and return each unit to its designated place.

The truth was that the camp was in utter disarray, and the source of this disorder was not the Shandong veterans, but Zhu Cilang’s own Linqing Battalion. No matter how composed Zhu Cilang appeared or how well he had trained his men, expecting a force with only half a month of drills to react with precision on the battlefield was a pipe dream.

As the war drums sounded and the enemy approached, the three thousand soldiers under Zhu Cilang’s command fell into total confusion. Although orders had been issued and passed down to the officers, the Linqing Battalion remained a mess. Despite the thunderous shouting of the officers, the soldiers either stood frozen in a daze, wandered aimlessly like lost souls, or, emboldened by the chaos, simply snuck away as deserters.

Zhu Cilang watched this scene with a grim expression. Beside him, Chang Zhilang was equally stunned and blurted out, "My lord, should we send the veteran soldiers back to take charge?"

Zhu Cilang shook his head. In truth, the chaos within the Linqing Battalion was largely his own fault. He had recalled most of the veteran instructors he had previously assigned to the unit. While the mid-level officers were still experienced veterans, the lower-level squad leaders were mostly promising recruits who had only undergone rudimentary training. Without the steadying hand of experienced veterans to anchor them, the battalion had lost its cohesion.

Just as Chang Zhilang looked on with worry, a roar suddenly erupted from the camp: "You dare disobey military orders? Do you no longer value your heads?"

The shout caused the soldiers to turn in unison. They saw a man standing there, holding a heavy crescent-blade polearm in one hand and three severed heads in the other—heads with eyes still wide open in shock. These men had every reason to be shocked, for they were deserters.

Recognizing the man, someone cried out: "It’s Madman Xu! It’s Xu of the Blade!"

The soldier known as Madman Xu tossed the heads aside and roared at the unruly troops: "Deserters die! Defiance of orders means death! Ignoring commands means death!"

After those three shouts, a hush fell over the camp. Then, as if sparked by a single person, the soldiers scrambled back into position behind their squad leaders. The officers finally breathed a sigh of relief and began barking orders to their subordinates. The Linqing Battalion’s deployment, at least, was no longer delayed.

The man called Madman Xu saluted Zhu Cilang from afar, hoisted a massive flag emblazoned with the characters "Linqing Battalion," and marched toward the left flank. On the other side, Liu Zhen led several dozen cavalrymen to screen the infantry as they moved out to form their lines. With Liu Zeqing’s five thousand troops marching out to form the center, the Linqing Battalion finally managed to array itself for battle.

Across the field, the rebel Chuang army had also finished forming its ranks.

At a single glance, both Zhu Cilang and Liu Zeqing recognized the formidable nature of their opponent. The Chuang army was no longer the weak, ragtag force it had been years ago. After a series of victories that swept across the Central Plains, they had evolved. Most notably, this was no longer a host of refugees, but a force of capable combatants without the burden of the elderly, women, or children.

This meant the rebels had begun a conscious reform of their military system. Indeed, as Zhu Cilang had anticipated, once the Battle of Kaifeng concluded and Li Zicheng swept through Shaanxi, he would establish the Great Shun Dynasty and formalize his military structure. As Li Zicheng’s strategist, Li Yan was the pioneer of these changes. Furthermore, unlike Zhu Cilang, Li Zicheng had the advantage of the Henan famine and continuous victories, which forced or enticed countless government soldiers to join his ranks, further bolstering the rebels' strength.

All of this meant that the enemy Zhu Cilang faced today was far more difficult to handle than he had imagined. Zhu Cilang gazed at the enemy lines and signaled the attack.

*Boom! Boom! Boom!*

The drums sounded the command to advance. Liu Kecheng and Ruan Yingzhao looked toward Liu Zeqing. Liu Zeqing caught their gaze and offered a faint, sinister smile. "We must put real effort into this battle!"

"Advance! Attack!" Liu Zeqing ordered with a cold sneer. At this moment, he believed he had seen through Zhu Cilang’s true hand. The young commander relied on him for every engagement, and victory was impossible without his Shandong troops. A sense of anticipation rose in him, fueled by the thrill of being the one to eventually expose the boy’s true colors.

Suppressing his emotions, Liu Zeqing looked at his most capable subordinate and said, "Liu Kecheng, you shall lead the vanguard!"

"Understood!" Liu Kecheng replied, his voice sinking as he realized the implication. Surrounded by thirty of his personal guards, he led his troops forward. However, compared to the Linqing Battalion, the Shandong troops were even more chaotic. Their formation was crooked, and after barely ten paces, they faltered, eventually abandoning any pretense of order altogether.