Chapter 49: Luring by Pretending to be Weak

  After sweeping the battlefield and burying the bodies, the Jingwei camp settled down on the spot. The soldiers set up their tents, cooked meals, and after a long day of marching and another big battle, it was time to take a good rest. Those who had followed Xu Wei from the beginning, had already put on an air of old veterans, doing what they should be doing. Only those young and inexperienced recruits, who had just experienced their first battle, would gather together, excitedly discussing the recent fight.

  After arranging the sentry patrol, Xu Wei returned to his tent, put the big knife back in its scabbard and placed it on the table. He sat down quietly thinking about the gains and losses of today's battle. Although the incident occurred suddenly, the troops reacted quickly enough, but the troops were not well-trained, and the military quality of the soldiers was not high, which needed to be further strengthened. The lack of equipment was still the most troublesome problem for him at present. Today's battle did not require strong armor, even if there was a batch of crossbows, the results would have been expanded by at least one fold or more. But strong bows and hard crossbows were the weapons that the Song Dynasty government controlled most strictly, and for the Jingwei camp, they were still unattainable.

  "Vice Envoy Xu has arrived, accompanied by Li Guan." The guard outside the tent loudly reported.

  Xu Wei ordered them to come in. Since Li Guan and his men had defected to Xu Wei, they were incorporated into Zhou Xiong's unit. Xu Wei knew that Li Guan was somewhat capable, but he refused to be content with being an ordinary soldier, so he deliberately suppressed him. Sure enough, when Li Guan came in, his face was gloomy, and after saluting the commander, he stood aside without making a sound.

  Xu Wei ignored him, poured himself a bowl of water and took a big gulp. Then he took out the military deployment strategy written by Xu Sheng to study it carefully. Li Guan saw this, opened his small eyes wide and asked with cupped hands: "I don't know what task Vice Envoy has summoned me for?"

  Xu Wei continued reading his book and casually asked: "How was today's harvest?"

  Li Guan said with a hint of pride: "Killed three bandits and seized two horses."

  "Hmm, okay." Xue Wei said indifferently and continued reading without another word. Li Guan was at a loss for what to do next, seeing his attitude, he hesitated again, then carefully probed: "Vice Envoy summoned me, just asking about the harvest?"

  Xu Wei folded the page and put it on the table, sighing: "There's something urgent that I wanted to ask you to take care of, but I'm afraid you..."

  Before he could finish speaking, Li Guan hastily interjected: "Your Excellency, I can dive into water and jump into fire at your mere word!"

  Xu Wei looked at him seriously and said, "It's indeed a matter of life and death. If we succeed, I guarantee your position will not be lower than the head of the city guards. But if we fail, you'll lose your own life and drag down the entire camp with you. How about it? Do you have the guts?"

  Li Guan heard him say that, and for a moment he did not respond. It was clear that this matter would inevitably have great risks, and if things went wrong, it could even be life-threatening. But wealth and honor are sought in danger, this is the way of the world, those who are timid will starve to death, and those who are brave will die from exhaustion. If he didn't take a chance, wouldn't he always be just a low-ranking soldier with no future?

  At this thought, he burst out: "Please instruct the deputy!"

  "Good!" Xu Wei slapped the case and stood up, "I didn't misjudge you! Listen carefully, after nightfall, I will release those surrendered bandits. Most of them will surely return to Wang Shan's place. You choose the most capable ones to mix in with them, go to Wang Shan's bandit camp to gather information. Remember, the primary task is to find out their defense layout, troop strength, equipment, and grain storage location, especially pay attention to where the bandit leader Wang Shan is located. After finding out, you come back alone, leave the rest as insiders."

  Li Guan's face tightened, and he exclaimed, "Does the deputy commander want to raid the camp?" The Jingwei Camp had only over 600 troops, while the other side had more than 10,000. The difference in military strength was indeed too great!

  Xu Wei sneered, "You must have a good idea of the bandit's military strength. He ambushed me today and suffered a great defeat, his morale must be low. He definitely won't expect me to raid his camp tonight. As long as you can gather information, when the time comes, I'll attack from within and outside the camp, even with 100,000 soldiers, what can he do?"

  Li Guan thought to himself, if he could defeat an army of 10,000 with just a few hundred soldiers, the merit would be immense! If he succeeded, he would be the first to receive credit, and as a result, he would not only get promoted but also be heavily relied upon. He accepted the task immediately and bid farewell to Xu Wei after being repeatedly reminded to be cautious and not underestimate the enemy.

  Xu Wei immediately ordered all officers above the rank of battalion commander to enter the account and discuss the matter of raiding the camp. Yang Yan and Ma Tai had a great time killing today, but when the bandits came to attack, they still had some fear, after all, the other side had two thousand people surrounding them, several times more than us. However, once the battle started, the bandit cavalry actually charged straight into the middle array, without even making a detour, and after being blocked, they became disorganized and were wrapped up like dumplings. The infantry in the back was even more unbearable, and let Ninth Brother lead less than 100 horsemen and Ma Tai's cavalry unit, and they actually defeated more than 1,000 bandits, causing them to flee in disarray. With this kind of face, how can they still come to mix with us? Therefore, the two strongly supported the raid on the camp!

  Those four, including Hong Cheng and Fang Er, were all old veterans of the Western Army. They had fought in many battles and after careful analysis of the enemy's situation, they also expressed their support. After all, this temptation was too great. Think about it, if we can defeat more than 10,000 bandits with just 600 men and horses, what a great achievement that would be! The two brothers Zhou Xiong and Zhou Ji had always followed Xu Wei's lead without question.

  Zhang Qing has always been steady and cautious, after considering all aspects, he also expressed his support. At present, the situation of Jingwei Camp is embarrassing, a big victory is needed to attract enough attention from the superiors, so that there will be an opportunity to turn things around. The plan has been decided, Xu Wei made arrangements, just waiting for nightfall to start taking action.

  Today is August 14th, and the moon should be full. But for some reason, it was sunny during the day, but at night it's pitch black. In the Jingui camp, there are no lanterns lit, nor any fires burning, only the patrolling soldiers walking back and forth. The rest of the people have all retreated into their tents to sleep.

  Zheng Cheng and his men were captured, surrounded by about twenty Han soldiers. They all sat on the ground. Today's battle really broke his courage, until now he didn't understand how more than 2,000 people couldn't beat a few hundred people? Moreover, they launched a surprise attack, supposedly catching them off guard, should have won with one blow, but unexpectedly ended up defeated and captured. It seems that Xu Ji was indeed not an ordinary person.

  The soldiers were strictly ordered not to speak, but some individuals still took advantage of the guards' distraction to whisper to each other.

  "Where is your brother from?"

  "Originally from Qingzhou, I've been wandering around Jianghu for years. Heard that Shandong is in chaos and came to join the crowd, but..."

  "Ah, what bad luck! Still don't know if I'm dead or alive. Well, why don't we take advantage of the darkness..."

  "Shut up! Are you trying to get me killed?!"

  Just as they were talking, someone shouted loudly: "You come over! The commander has something for you to do!" Those twenty or so guards immediately moved towards the source of the sound. Among the surrendered rebels, there were some clever ones who, taking advantage of the darkness and plucking up their courage, crawled forward stealthily on the ground to eavesdrop.

  "The commander has given orders...... Those damned bandits...... Must not be allowed to stay...... Will surely cause trouble in the future......"

  .......................

  Although votes are still not many, Mo Ran thought about it again and again. Since the words have been spoken, they must be fulfilled. Here comes the fourth update.