Chapter Thirty-Nine: Luring the Snake out of its Hole

  Before Wang Pu could speak, the sly man had already taken a step forward and bowed down to the ground, singing: "Huang Xiyong, the Pushing Officer of Jining Prefecture, pays his respects to the General."

  Wang Pu furrowed his brow and asked: "Are you really the Pushan of Jining Prefecture?"

  Huang Xiyong said with a respectful tone: "Indeed."

  "Why is it like this?"

  "This subordinate had no choice, three days ago, the White Lotus bandits captured Jining, and all the officials in the city either died or fled. I was lucky to have escaped with my life by hiding in a toilet in the backyard of the government office, and later disguised myself as a refugee and slipped out of the city. Fortunately, I met General Wang's troops here, otherwise, I really don't know how long I would have survived, alas."

  "What did you say?" Wang Pu's face changed, and he asked, "Have the White Lotus bandits already captured Jining?"

  "Can't it?"

  "Can this mob of rabble actually capture Jining?"

  Huang Degong and Li Zushu, who were standing beside Wang Pu, also changed their expressions. The Grand Canal, which runs through the two capitals in the south and north, passes through Jining City. If Jining is captured by the bandits, the entire Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal will be cut off. If this nail is not removed, Wang Pu will not be able to reach the capital by waterway, let alone transport grain from the south to the north!

  If this news were to spread to the capital, wouldn't the entire city of Beijing be in an uproar?

  Huang Xiyong said, "The three generals are unaware that the White Lotus Sect in Shandong has already made contact with the bandits in Henan. The Li Zicheng's rebel army has also sent a contingent of elite troops to Shandong, and only then did the White Lotus rebels become a force to be reckoned with!"

  "Has the bandit chief sent his elite troops?" Li Zushu nodded, "No wonder, nowadays the bandits are not like they used to be. In the past, they were just a group of wandering thieves who couldn't accomplish anything. But since last year, they've recruited some capable people and changed their strategy. They no longer kill and plunder randomly, roaming all over the place."

  Chang Yanzeng asked Wang Pu, "General, if Jining has indeed fallen, then the water route is impassable. Should we disembark here and take a detour via Qingzhou to reach the capital?"

  Nanjing General Huang Degong suddenly said: "General, I have a sentence that I don't know whether it should be said or not?"

  Wang Bodao said: "Speak."

  Huang Degong said: "If this Jining city cannot be taken back, the Grand Canal will be cut off, and the grain from the south cannot be transported to the north. In recent years, the northern regions have been plagued by severe droughts, and millions of civilians and soldiers in the capital and the nine border provinces are relying on the grain from the south to survive. If this grain cannot be transported, the consequences will be unthinkable!"

  Wang Pu nodded secretly in his heart. This yellow robe's words showed such insight, enough to prove that this person was not just a mere martial artist.

  Huang Degong continued: "Moreover, I think that now is the best time to recover Jining, because the bandits have just occupied Jining and are not yet stable. If we wait for a few more months until the imperial court sends everyone to come and suppress them, by then the bandits will have already stabilized their foothold in Jining, and it will be much more troublesome."

  Wang Pu thought for a moment and asked Huang Xiyong: "Huang sir, how many bandits are there in Jining city?"

  Huang Xiyong said: "The White Lotus rebels attacking Jining number at least several tens of thousands."

  "Tens of thousands of people?"

  Wang Pu hesitated for a moment.

  Standing behind Wang Pu, Zhen Youcai, who had not spoken much, suddenly lowered his voice and said: "Most of the rebel soldiers are old and weak, and among the tens of thousands of rebels, there are at most 3,000 to 5,000 people who can fight. If the general can retake Jining in one move and unblock the canal road, this will be a great achievement."

  Wang Pu's heart skipped a beat when he heard this. If he could make another great achievement on his way to the capital, why not?

  Wang Pu's gaze fell on Huang Degong, and he asked in a deep voice: "Huang Zanjiang, how confident are you that we can retake Jining?"

  "General, you really plan to retake Jining?" Huang Degong exclaimed with great joy.

  Wang Pu said with a sigh, "I eat the king's salary and am loyal to the king's affairs. The bandits have attacked and occupied Jining, cutting off the grain transportation, and the people and soldiers of the nine borders of the capital are worried about running out of food. How can I, as a general, just stand by and do nothing?"

  Huang Dekong clasped his fists and bowed, saying solemnly: "Even if the White Lotus rebels have tens of thousands of troops, I only need three thousand elite soldiers from my own unit to retake Jining!"

  Wang Pu said in a low voice: "There is no joking in the army."

  Huang Degong replied: "I am willing to set up a military order!"

  "Alright." Wang Pu waved his hand and said to Zhen Youcai, "Youcai, bring the map over here."

  Zhen Youcai stepped forward two steps, took out the map from his pocket and spread it on the deck. The crowd gathered around him immediately. Huang Xiyong pointed to the map with his hand and said to the crowd: "Gentlemen, please take a look. This is our current location. Three miles north of here is Lüqiao Town, and fifty miles north of Lüqiao Town is Jining City."

  Huang Degong said: "It's only fifty miles from here to Jining, and we can get there in two hours if we hurry!"

  Zhen Youcai said: "The key to the problem is whether the thieves in Jining City know that we have arrived at Lubei Town?"

  Wang Pu asked: "What do you think of having talent?"

  Zhen Youcai said, "Among these refugees, it's impossible that there aren't any spies from the bandits. I think the bandits will soon find out about this and set up an ambush in Jining to wait for us to deliver ourselves into their hands."

  Huang Degong said: "Even if the enemy has set up a heaven and earth net, I can still pierce him like a sieve!"

  Wang Pu nodded and said: "It's good that Huang Can has confidence, but we still don't know the details of the enemy's situation. This battle can't be fought recklessly, we need to come up with a foolproof plan."

  Zhen Youcai's eyes rolled around and he said: "General, I have a plan."

  "What plan?"

  Wang Pu now truly appreciates Zhen Youcai more and more. This time, Wang Pu and his two hundred or so household servants were able to return alive to the Great Ming, and they were even able to plunder a huge amount of wealth from Korea. Zhen Youcai deserves the credit!

  "Draw the snake out of its hole!"

  "Draw the snake out of its hole?" Huang Degong nodded, "If we don't have to attack the city, it would be best to annihilate the enemy troops in the wilderness. The only fear is that the enemy troops inside Jining City won't come out easily."

  Zhen Youcai sneered and said: "It depends on whether our bait is enough to lure people in."

  Li Zu said hastily: "Mr. Zhen, stop being mysterious and just say it straight out, this is killing me."

  Zhen Youcai said: "The plan of the villain is like this, tonight a large army will be stationed in Lubei Town, and tomorrow at dawn they will divide into three routes. General Chang and General Li will lead 2,000 brocade-clad imperial guards to escort the prisoner's cart and silver cart to take a detour via Qingzhou Prefecture towards the capital, while General Huang will lead 2,000 elite soldiers to secretly ambush in Lubei Town. The general will lead the remaining thousand elite soldiers to sail southward by boat, thus confusing the bandits in Jining City into thinking that General Huang's 3,000 elite soldiers have already returned south."

  "What a great plan!" Huang Degong exclaimed, "This way, the bandits in Jining City won't be able to escape even if they want to, unless they are not tempted by the large amount of gold, silver and jewels that the general is carrying! If the bandits really dare to come out of the city to rob us, they will fall into our ambush and suffer a pincer attack, hahaha!"

  Chang Yán Líng said: "However, really taking the captive Jian Nu and the silver cart onto land, isn't that too risky?"

  "This is just a trick, of course." Zhen Youcai smiled and said, "In fact, there's no need to take the real slave captives and silver carts onto land to take risks. The bandits don't know what the slave leader looks like anyway, so it's fine to have any soldier pretend to be him in the prisoner cart. As for the silver carts, it's even simpler - just prepare two boxes of gold and silver beforehand, and tomorrow let the porters pretend to accidentally knock them over. As for the other boxes, just fill them with stones."

  Wang Pu's eyes scanned the crowd and he shouted: "Did everyone hear that? Let's do as Mr. Zhen said!"

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