Chapter 44, Armor-clad Expedition

  The next morning, Zu Chao got up very early and, with the help of several maidservants, he put on a heavy suit of scale armor for the first time. This style of armor was quite old-fashioned, with lamellar armor on top and plate armor below, weighing nearly twenty kilograms in total. If not for his solid physical foundation built up through daily practice, wearing such medium-sized armor would be difficult to sustain in battle.

  This set of armor does not have a matching helmet, most Han soldiers used leather helmets or jiǎn bóu as the main headgear, only generals would wear helmets.

  The ancestral home had never produced a real general, so the helmets stored in the warehouse were pitifully few. Even Zu Zhao just casually picked up a leather cap he usually wore and put it on, then tied his sword and stepped out of the door. He still had some thoughts in his mind, not only to design a good horse harness, but also to think of ways to improve armor, try to improve the skills of smelting and forging, and make more practical, stronger defensive capabilities, and at the same time more economical plate armor.

  Upon arrival at the backyard, more than 50 fully armed men from the Zu family had already gathered. These men were mostly wearing leather armor, with a few wearing simpler iron armor commonly seen in Han military. Although the Zu family was large and wealthy, privately storing armor was highly taboo, not to mention secretly forging armor and weapons. Most of the armor stored in the warehouse was collected by their ancestors during their time in the army, such as taking advantage of the military's equipment renewal to claim that some armor was damaged by insects, or collecting spoils from battlefields after fighting against the Huns. Of course, some leather armor was also made later on the estate itself.

  It is indeed a standard in terms of weapons, apart from swords and daggers, almost everyone has a short horse spear. The short horse spear is equivalent to the long horse spear used by the Han army cavalry, which is mostly five to eight feet long, a common long-range weapon for cavalry. Although the short horse spear is not that long, it also has a length of nearly ten feet, making it suitable for both infantry and cavalry.

  Yesterday, several uncles who actually led the team also got up early. Zulang was wearing a scale armor similar to Zu Zhao's, and was loading his quiver with arrows. When he saw Zu Zhao appear, he nodded slightly in acknowledgement.

  Zu Zhao called over one of his disciples and instructed him to put the modified horse gear on his own mount, and had another disciple go and urge those who hadn't arrived yet to hurry up and get ready. After finishing giving out orders, he came over to Zu Ling's side.

  "Uncle, I plan to bring some people to Linzhi at noon and meet up with Ah Cheng and Ah Bao."

  "Why must the young master gather everyone like this? Didn't you say we were waiting for news from the county government?" Zu Ling understood what Zu Zhao meant, and he immediately put down his work, stood up straight and said seriously.

  "The county government will respond sooner or later, I'm just worried that Ah Cheng and Ah Bao won't be able to keep up. Don't worry, Uncle, with Han Zhuangshi leading the way, nothing will go wrong." Zu Zhao replied calmly and steadily, intentionally making his tone sound very calm, not only showing his confidence but also conveying a sense of unquestionability.

  "A Zhao, I know you're anxious, but since we've already made plans yesterday, we should follow them. What if something unexpected happens and we split our troops in two, what if we can't support each other?" Zu Ling said without showing any intention of backing down, even taking on a tone of an elder teaching a lesson.

  Just as Zu Zhao was about to continue speaking, a shout came from outside the back door of the courtyard.

  "Aji is back."

  Before long, a lone figure appeared outside the gate. Zu Qi rode his horse through the gate and before it had even come to a stop, he leapt down from the saddle. He handed the reins over to a groom and then followed several young attendants as they led him in three strides that felt like two to where Zu Zhao and Zu Ling were standing. As was customary, he first greeted Zu Ling before hastily turning to face Zu Zhao.

  "Your Excellency, yesterday I summoned Ah Cheng and the others, and passed on all the words. Ah Cheng found a few local acquaintances, and set off for the county suburbs last night. I waited for them all night, but by dawn they still hadn't returned, so I hurried back to Xuwu myself." Zu Ji spoke breathlessly, barely managing to get the words out.

  "What? Ah Cheng and his men going out to catch thieves at night, such recklessness is truly unacceptable." Zulüng's face changed color as he listened to Zuji's words, and he sternly admonished.

  "Ah?" Zuji was somewhat flustered, momentarily stunned and speechless.

  Zu Zhao's face was equally stern, he didn't expect Ah Cheng and the others to be so anxious, although he had asked Ah Cheng and Ah Bao to go ahead and investigate the clues first, but it wasn't necessary to set out at night.

  "What time did you arrive in Linz yesterday?" he asked Zu Qi immediately.

  "It was noon when we arrived. However, at that time, A Cheng and the others had gone out, only A Bao was there, and we didn't see A Cheng until the afternoon. After telling them what Da Gong Zi said, they were eager to go to the county suburbs for a walk." Zu Ji hastily said.

  "A Cheng is really impatient." Zu Zhao restrained his emotions and said seriously.

  Zu Ji looked at Zu Zhao and then at Zu Ling, for a while he didn't know what else to say.

  "Uncle, this is my fault. Although we don't know what's going on with Ah Cheng and the others right now, to be on the safe side, I think we should hurry over immediately, at least someone will be there to take care of things. Even if things have already gone wrong, perhaps there's still room for rectification." After a moment's thought, Zu Zhao said resolutely.

  Zu Ling sighed and knew that saying more would be useless. To ensure the safety of A Cheng and A Bao, he could only set off ahead of time. In fact, he also knew that whether or not there was an official document from the government did not affect the actions of the Zu family. Since Chen County had already sent a document to the county government of Ling Shi, it was unlikely that the county government would ignore it. It was just a matter of going through some formalities on the surface.

  "Alright then. The young master will gather everyone first. I'll go inform them in the courtyard."

  Having said that, he turned around and walked away quickly.

  Zu Zhao turned around and asked Zu Ji: "How are you? Do you want to go back and rest for a while?"

  Zu Ji patted his chest and said with a serious expression: "Don't worry, young master, I've been looking forward to today."

  Zu Zhao nodded and said: "Alright, hurry up and put on your armor."

  Zu Ji excitedly responded with a "yes" and was about to leave when Zu Zhao reminded him again, "Go invite Big Brother Han over too."

  Zu Ji nodded: "Got it." After finishing speaking, he quickly ran towards the back door corridor.

  Before long, the news reached Zulei, Zukui and others who followed Zuling to the backyard. These uncles had gloomy faces, and when they saw Zu Chao, there was an undeniable accusation in their eyes. Although Zu Chao's recent performance has been full of surprises, not only outstanding but also increasingly arbitrary. However, as the eldest son of the Zu family, they were not suitable to speak too harshly as uncles.

  For Zuxiao, on the surface it seems that he indeed lost some calculations, but even so, the result of the development of things is not any different.

  He let Acheng, Abao, and Azhong go ahead to gather information not only to quickly understand the specific situation of the thieves but also to use the information obtained from their actions to urge Zhuang Shang to organize an action as soon as possible. He knew that Chen County was a smooth and non-confrontational person and guessed that his grandfather would stick to the rules and follow procedures, which would lead to delays and mistakes, thus missing the opportunity to destroy the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and gain fame.

  He briefly introduced the situation to several uncles, and after actively acknowledging his mistake again, he changed the subject to the main topic, starting to arrange the route of the horse and the deployment after arriving at Lingzhou County. Just then, Handan followed Zujun and rushed over. Zu Zhao introduced Handan to the uncles, only saying that he was a righteous man who had recently gotten acquainted with him at Anyang Pavilion, without saying anything else.

  Zu Feng brought back a map of Lingzhi County yesterday, which is still at the Zhuang's place and is now spread out in front of everyone.

  Han only glanced at the map, pointed out a shortcut with his finger, and said: "This place is mostly flat, and we don't have to go through the county town and nearby villages. We can roughly conceal our tracks." He then pointed to a place northeast of Lingzhou County and said, "From here on, it's a dense forest, and the forest is very large. The bandits must be hiding inside, but searching for them will be extremely difficult. Once we alarm the bandits, they will disperse and retreat in all directions. Unless we have enough manpower, it will be hard to surround and pursue."

  After hearing Han Dang's words, everyone had their own thoughts.

  Zu Li let out a sigh and said with concern, "What you said is extremely true. It seems that we must ask the county government and Ling County government to join forces to support us, only then can we possibly capture all the thieves."

  Zu Ke nodded and said in agreement, "That's right. Although my family has many young men, at most only a hundred or so can go on this trip. It's difficult to surround such a large forest with these few young men, it's like climbing the sky."

  Zu Ling said helplessly: "It's just that the situation is urgent, and I'm afraid we can't wait for the county government to send someone."

  Zulei said: "Even if you can't wait, you have to wait."

  At this time, Zu Zhao, who was standing by, spoke in a calm and unhurried tone: "The bandits have only over 40 people, while we have over 100 men with excellent equipment. It doesn't make sense to be so cautious. Although it's right to want to capture them all at once, the bandits are just some rural village women. We can still achieve a surprise victory if we use a little strategy."

  Regardless of their identity and status, everyone present is a member of the gentry, so naturally they have much better personal qualities than ordinary commoners. Everyone also knows that those who believe in the Taiping Dao are almost all poor farmers from the lower classes, who are usually honest but lack cultural knowledge, and are at a disadvantage in every way.

  Zu Lei glanced at Zu Zhao subconsciously and asked: "Ah Zhao, so you have a plan."

  Zu Ke eagerly followed up with a question: "Where is Ji Yang going?"

  Zu Zhaowu was not flustered, pointing to the forest on the map and said: "We can pretend to be suspicious of the enemy's momentum, set up doubts on three sides and ambush on one side, drive the enemy to escape into the ambush circle. This is a surefire way to capture them."

  Very simple words, yet they made everyone present brighten up at once.

  Since the forest is dense and the number of bandits is not large, it's not necessarily true that they can see the situation more clearly than us. Moreover, most of the bandits are peasants by origin, and there is almost no possibility of them seeing through the ruse, so this plan is quite feasible.

  Zu Zhaung continued: "This plan is nothing more than turning passivity into initiative, and turning hidden enemies into visible ones. By waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out, even if there are some minor flaws that prevent us from capturing them all at once, it's still possible to inflict heavy casualties on the bandits."

  Zulüng sighed and said: "The young master's plan is indeed excellent."

  Although Zǔ Lì also thought it was a feasible solution in his heart, years of actual combat experience told him that nothing can be taken for granted, and everything must be done flawlessly to achieve results. Often, the expected 100% effect would only yield 60% actual effect when implemented; to achieve a 100% success rate, one had to plan for an effect of at least 120%.

  He said, "Although the forest is dense, the bandits must be more familiar with it than we are. How can we be sure that we can force them to flee into our ambush? What if they have another way out? Wouldn't we be wasting our efforts?"

  Everyone looked at each other in dismay, and suddenly felt that Zulei's words were not unreasonable. Although there were many places where it was inaccurate, since the possibility had been raised, a perfect solution had to be thought out to thoroughly prevent accidents from happening. The current situation was no trivial matter, if things went wrong, it would be a big mess, and someone could lose their life at any moment.

  Han Dang, who had been quiet until now, spoke in a calm and unhurried tone: "In my opinion, the bandits chose to hide here because it's convenient for them to escape northwards into the desert wilderness. The land is vast and sparsely populated to the north, making it difficult to be surrounded, and they can cross the border into Hu territory at any time. Even if the government troops were to pursue them, they wouldn't dare to do so recklessly, fearing that it would provoke an attack from the Hu people."

  He paused for a moment, and before everyone could react, he continued: "If it were me, I would set up the ambush on the north side. In addition, there should be a team of cavalry responding from the south. In other words, to successfully force the enemy to surrender, we must have two fake armies and two real armies. The enemy will see the grand flags and drums in the south and will surely turn to escape to the north. Once they enter the ambush circle, the troops pursuing closely from the south will work together with the ambush troops, and it will be enough to annihilate them."

  Zu Zhaowang glanced at Han Dang subconsciously and showed great admiration, it seems that the famous general of Eastern Wu in history was indeed not in vain.

  Zu Ling, Zu Li, and Zu Ke were also astonished by this seemingly rough man. They had expected that Han would be familiar with the local situation in Linyuan County, and it was only natural that he could make such an analysis, which was not fabricated out of thin air. In their hearts, they more or less acknowledged this arrangement.

  Zu Zhao looked up at the sky and said, "Later, Zhang's brothers from Anyang Pavilion will arrive with their men. Now, let's go inform Ah Huan, he'll definitely join us to Lingshi. With this many people, 150 won't be a problem. Moreover, it's mid-autumn now, there must be thick fog every morning and night, we can take advantage of the fog to move, and our troops will surely become suspicious."

  Zu Ling nodded in agreement: "That's right, we don't necessarily have to act during the day."

  Zu Zhaodecided resolutely: "In that case, let's proceed with this plan. Ling Shu and Li Shu, the two of you will lead more than 50 people as the first branch of the real army. I'll join forces with Zhang Yuan and Zhang Yu, the two brothers, to form the second branch of the real army, and set an ambush in the northern desert. It's a lot of trouble for Big Brother Han to guide us, so just follow my team."

  Han nodded in agreement.

  Zu Zhao continued to arrange: "Ke Shu leads a virtual army from the east, and when the time comes, Ah Huan will lead another virtual army, circling back to the west face, responding to each other from afar. The virtual army has few people, but Lin is vast, at that time, it can be tied to the horse's tail with branches, running back and forth repeatedly, using dust, hoofbeats and firelight to create a dazzling technique."

  Zhang Fei's way of setting up a decoy troop was effortless this time. In any case, having mobilized so many troops and called upon the entire ancestral home's fine equipment for this campaign, if they still couldn't take down just a few bandits, it would truly be a loss of face.

  Several uncles were originally dissatisfied with Zu Zhao's arbitrary arrangement of the troops, but after hearing about his plan to set up a decoy army, they also felt that this was indeed a simple and feasible method. It seemed that although the young master was autocratic, he was not without strategy. So everyone did not raise many objections and responded one after another.

  The arrangements were made, and several uncles went to gather the clan's children and assign them to teams. Zu Zhao also sent one of his sons into the city to find Zu Fan, telling him to bring people directly to the Heyang Pavilion on the east side of the official road after noon. Through these few days of contact with Zu Fan, he believed that Zu Fan was not a pedantic person and would definitely arrive as scheduled.

  Before long, another servant came from outside the back door and announced that the Zhang brothers from An Yang Pavilion had arrived.

  After all, it was a matter of righteousness and mutual assistance, so Zu Zhao made a special trip to the gate to welcome them. Zhang Yuan and Zhang Yu, the two brothers, were fully armed, and there were less than thirty people who came with Anyang Ting's youxia children, but everyone was dressed in full attire, equipped with mounts and long-handled cavalry weapons. Although they didn't have the iron armor of the Zu family's sons, this formation was more than enough to deal with ordinary bandits.

  "Gentlemen, I'm deeply grateful for your assistance this time. Please, allow me to express my thanks in advance." Zu Zhao stood at the gate and bowed his hands in greeting.

  Zhang Yuan and Zhang Yu, the two brothers, dismounted first, followed by the others who also jumped off their horses one after another. They stood upright, looking quite majestic, completely unlike the idle wanderers often seen roaming around rural towns.

  "Brother, since you've invited me, we naturally have nothing to say. It's just a pity that there are always some despicable people who call each other brothers on ordinary days, but when it comes to making an effort, they disappear without a trace. It really loses face for me, An Yang Ting, and Zhang Mou is ashamed."

  Zhang Yuan was a minor celebrity in Anyang Pavilion and throughout Xu Wu County, with many connections thanks to the Zhang family's influence. This can be seen from the fact that when he practiced at Xihua Bridge, all those who responded to his call were equipped with their own horses. Although the north is known for its martial spirit and many people are of nomadic origin, not everyone can ride horses freely.

  However, at the usual gathering at Xihua Bridge, Zhang Yuan's companions were quite numerous, often numbering thirty or fifty people. Today, although there were over thirty people present, it was clear that more than ten of them were new faces, and many of the familiar wandering heroes were absent. In comparison, some good Samaritans from the Zhang family clan had heard about going to a neighboring province to capture horse thieves and volunteered to come along.

  "It is said that after a long time, one can see the true heart of a person. Brother Wen Yi doesn't need to worry too much about it. We are chivalrous and righteous, we do it for ourselves, not seeking anything else. You all follow me into the village first." Zu Zhao was quite straightforward in this matter, speaking directly without beating around the bush. In his opinion, when it comes to distinguishing people, there's no need to be hypocritical or pretentious; those who can walk together are fellow travelers, and those who cannot are just strangers.