I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 53: Killing the Snake at Mangdang and Fighting the Bandits Again

Zhao Zi said that he was now an eighth-rank county magistrate, and that he was in the richest, top-tier county. Naturally, the arrangements for the return trip were completely different from when he first arrived.

Zhao Zi said that there was no need to discuss with anyone, he could just make the decision on his own and notify everyone to implement it.

The journey from Bianzhou to Songzhou took about ten days due to the scorching weather. After arriving in Songzhou, we rested for three or four days to recover. This section of the road was all along the plains and busy areas, so there were no accidents at all. It was very safe.

Anyway, he has three months to take office, so there is no need to rush.

The reason for the slow march was, on the one hand, out of consideration for the soldiers, to travel less in the hot weather, covering less than fifty li a day. On the other hand, Zhao Zicheng wanted to give Lu Da and Coach Zhang more time to send a letter to Hebei, so that Lin Chong could rejoin them as soon as possible.

Zhao Zicheng guessed that Lin Chong might have left Chai Jin's place and gone to Liangshan Lake, but he couldn't be sure and preferred to be safe. He also couldn't explain the source of his information, so he decided to go to Chai Jin first to confirm it, rather than having the messenger walk hundreds of miles and then run back.

The messengers he sent to Hebei to deliver secret letters dared not delay these days, and had to travel at least one or two hundred miles every day on horseback. For this, Zhao Zicheng even allocated a good horse and gave the messenger a generous reward, and instructed the messenger not to skimp on food and drink during the journey, and the horse also had to be fed with beans, wheat bran, and even a few eggs every day.

When sending the messenger, Zhao Zicheng couldn't help but think in his heart that it would be great if Dai Zong was under his command.

Unfortunately, the real world lacks those fantasy elements. Even if Dai Zong surrendered to him, he wouldn't be able to travel 800 miles a day on his own two legs. At best, he'd be able to run faster than the Greek messengers at the Battle of Marathon.

After Zhao Zicheng and his party had rested and recuperated in Songzhou, they finally abandoned the ship and went ashore, and began to cross Mangdang Mountain from southwest to northeast, preparing to enter the territory of Pei County, and then turn to Pengcheng and Xuzhou.

His team consisted of more than seventy or eighty people, among whom there were more than ten prominent figures, and the other sixty or so were ordinary soldiers.

The sixty-odd soldiers were divided into three groups. The first, numbering approximately twenty, consisted of the household servants brought by Murong Yan. The second, largest group, numbering around thirty, consisted of veterans of the Imperial Guard hand-picked by Yang Zhi. Finally, there were a dozen or so former Yangtze River pirates who had been selected and initially reformed by Zhao Zicheng after Li Jun and his group surrendered.

When they first brought the flower and stone convoy to Bianjing, they brought over 300 men with them, but many of them were only temporarily under Yang Zhi's command and were not his personal soldiers. After Yang Zhi was transferred, not all of those soldiers and sailors could go with him, so being able to take around 30 of them with him was already considered a favor to the Palace Marshal's Office.

Fortunately, because Zhao Zicheng and Yang Zhi had made meritorious services before and had connections, the Palace Marshal's Office did not hold them back in terms of weapons and equipment when releasing them. Therefore, the more than 30 people that Yang Zhi took away were well-armed.

Although the Song Dynasty's military equipment was poor, it was not short of money. The court's arsenal accounts were always in deficit, but as long as your troops were favored, you could still receive priority and full equipment.

In the Water Margin, when Hu Yanzhuo led his cavalry to attack Liangshanpo, he was able to obtain weapons and armor very smoothly because Gao Qiu had specially authorized him to do so, and he received a lot of excellent equipment in full.

In a nutshell, whether you lack equipment in peacetime depends entirely on whether you have connections with those above you.

Those with connections will not lack equipment, and your troops will not need to take on empty accounts. As for those without connections, they will start to lack equipment in peacetime.

Once a full-scale war breaks out, you will be short of equipment regardless of whether you have connections or not, because all the empty accounts will be exposed and it will be impossible to cover them up.

With such a small group of men, Yang Zhi took away thirty high-quality bows and ten exquisite crossbows from the armory of the Palace Marshal's Mansion, and each person had a long and short weapon. The long weapons were mainly spears and broadswords, and the short weapons were ordinary waist knives and maces.

They even received ten sets of infantry armor weighing sixty kilograms, ten sets of cavalry iron armor, and twenty sets of leather armor. However, when traveling, they had to drag the heavy armor off and put it on the cart, otherwise they would not be able to move at all.

In order to carry the luggage and supplies, Zhao Zicheng and his party also prepared more than a dozen carts, twenty or so pack horses, draft horses and donkeys and mules. Those pack horses were also fleeced according to the law when they were in Tokyo.

The Song Dynasty was in dire need of high-quality war horses, but civilian draft horses were not in short supply. This was especially true in the late Song Dynasty, where Wang Anshi's horse protection laws had been in effect for many years. Although poor implementation by the government meant that the civilian households ordered to keep horses rarely produced high-quality war horses, a large number of inferior horses were produced, unsuitable for fighting but usable only for carrying cargo and pulling carts.

……

The team of seventy or eighty people, with only five or six people riding war horses, was pulling a dozen carts and followed by more than seventy infantrymen. They marched eastward from Songzhou, changing their slow pace by water in the past few days and began a forced march.

On the first day, they walked a full seventy or eighty miles from Songzhou to Dangshan County in the neighboring Shanzhou, and entered the city to rest before dark.

The sudden acceleration of the forced march caused some complaints from the soldiers, who had been resting for a while. Yang Zhi, Lu Da, and Li Jun were also a little puzzled.

Zhao Zicheng patiently explained, "We can go slower by water, so we don't have to worry about being spotted. I also deliberately let everyone rest up before going by water, so that we can speed up now. We will stay in Dangshan County for another day tomorrow to recover our strength and adjust the soldiers to the best condition. The next morning, as soon as the city gates open, we will leave the city and cross Mangdang Mountain."

Yang Zhi has also traveled a lot for many years and is quite cautious in this regard. He understood it immediately after hearing it and said that he would strictly follow it.

The next day, Zhao Zicheng spent some money to treat his soldiers to wine and meat to boost their morale and adjust their state. Everyone was mentally prepared, knowing that Mangdang Mountain had always been a place with many thieves. They had to be careful and be ready to encounter thieves at any time.

On the third day, July 16th, early in the morning, around five o'clock in the morning, the city gate of Dangshan County had just opened, and Zhao Zicheng's team set out again.

By dawn, around noon, the team had walked more than ten miles and entered the Mangdang Mountain area.

The entire Mangdang Mountain area is only about 60 to 70 li wide, so theoretically it could be crossed in a day. However, if you were carrying a heavy load, you might have to camp overnight in the mountains, but in any case, it would definitely be possible to cross it in two days.

Zhao Zicheng started the march after gathering his strength and was fully prepared. He planned to rush through the dangerous area in just one day.

The group walked for another whole morning, struggling to walk more than twenty miles in the mountains. The sun was at its highest point in the seventh month of the lunar calendar. The sun was extremely strong. Even though there were many trees in the mountains for shelter, the heat was still unbearable.

Although the soldiers' morale had been boosted by the rewards of wine, meat, and money the previous day, the scorching heat was unstoppable. Zhao Zicheng demanded that they cross the mountain as quickly as possible, without stopping, and some soldiers even collapsed from heatstroke as they marched.

Yang Zhi was very ruthless in this regard. When he was escorting the birthday gift, he did not allow the porters to rest in the hot environment and they had to travel all day. Now when he saw people suffering from heatstroke, he still strictly followed the order and just threw those suffering from heatstroke onto the cart and let the rest continue on their way.

But in this way, some soldiers with weak wills would try to be cunning and pretend to fall down when they saw their comrades who had fainted from heatstroke could get a ride, and soon there were not enough cars.

Among the crowd, Li Jun was more cautious, while Lu Da was more sympathetic, so they all tried to persuade him in various ways: "My Lord, it is so scorching hot. Why not rest until the hottest part of midday, so that the soldiers can catch their breath before marching?"

Zhao Zicheng surveyed the surroundings. They had already reached the peak of the main ridge of Mangdang Mountain, and the road began to descend not far ahead. At the summit, the trees were relatively bare, offering little shelter from the sun. Zhao Zicheng pointed with the tip of his whip, "Climb over the mountain and reach the low, shady area in the valley ahead. Then you can rest."

Lu Da looked at the terrain and found that what the young master said made sense. After crossing the top of the mountain and reaching the northeast side of the mountain, there would be a little shade from the mountain and it would be cooler.

He, together with Yang Zhi and Li Jun, patiently explained and boosted morale. They walked a few more miles and barely made it over the top of the slope and turned to the north. The soldiers surrounded the carts in a circle and immediately rested.

Zhao Zicheng carefully observed his surroundings. He had expected Mangdang Mountain to be a rugged, mountainous landscape, but after crossing the main peak and reaching the northern slope, he hadn't expected the terrain to drop rapidly. The mountain also contained swamps, ponds, and lakes of varying sizes, creating a complex terrain. In the distance, he could even see a dilapidated temple or something similar.

It was his first time in this place, and he quickly realized that his preconceived notions were flawed.

"I didn't expect that the Mangdang Mountain, which is said to be so dangerous, is not a pure mountainous ridge. There are swamps, ponds and lakes mixed in. The terrain is complex, but not dangerous at all." Zhao Zicheng sighed casually to his confidants.

Yang Zhi and Lu Da had not received much education, so they could not express their feelings in response to Zhao Zicheng's sigh.

Murong Yan, however, came from a family of scholars and had read a lot. After hearing this, she immediately said, "What's so strange about this? Didn't Taishigong write in the Records of Emperor Gaozu that 'Emperor Gaozu was a village headman and sent his disciples to Mount Li. He thought that they would all be dead by the time they arrived. So he went to Fengxi Lake, stopped to drink, and at night he released the disciples.'

The southwest side of Mangdang Mountain borders Dangshan County, and the northeast side is adjacent to Feng County. Now that we've crossed the main peak, we should be in Feng County. This area of ​​the Mangdang Mountain region is dotted with swamps and lakes, perhaps the 'Fengxi Lake' where Liu Bang freed his corvée convicts.

Zhao Zicheng studied history, and after being reminded by Murong Yan, he immediately came to his senses and couldn't help but smile: "In ancient times, Liu Bang was here and he freed the prisoners. Now I, Zhao Zicheng, am here and I allow the soldiers to take a lunch break to escape the heat. I can be said to be as magnanimous as the ancients."

Zhao Zicheng was chatting and laughing with Murong Yan. Some of the soldiers who were resting nearby still felt hot, so they went to wash in the mountain streams and ponds, and some tried to fetch mountain water to drink.

Seeing this, Zhao Zicheng immediately stopped them, saying, "Don't drink the mountain water! Didn't we fill our water bags when we set out this morning? We even brought so many extra water bags, have you drunk them all?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Zhi and Lu Da also hurriedly carried out the order and went to investigate the situation. They returned to report, saying, "There's enough drinking water, but some soldiers think the water in their leather water bags has been exposed to the sun for half a day and is scalding. They want to quench their thirst with some freshly drawn mountain water from the shade. That would be more refreshing."

Zhao Zicheng, upon hearing this reason, refused in strict accordance with military discipline: "How can you drink the water from the mountain swamps in the scorching heat? In the middle of summer, there are already many snakes, insects, and venomous mosquitoes. If you sit here for a while, you will be overwhelmed by the mosquitoes. How dare you drink the raw water here? Anyone who dares to violate military orders and drink mountain water will be severely punished with twenty military sticks when he returns!"

On this point, Zhao Zicheng was absolutely clear. If there was no water to drink, it would be understandable to avoid dying of thirst. But if the water in the skin bag was too hot and not pleasant to drink, what kind of excuse is that?
Ordinary soldiers do not understand common sense of medicine and physiology, but Zhao Zicheng does. He must be responsible for the health of the soldiers, especially to prevent infectious diseases in the team, and infectious diseases caused by diet and mosquitoes must be strictly prevented.

Yang Zhi and Lu Da hurried to carry out the order, and An Daoquan, who was a military doctor, praised Zhao Zicheng from the bottom of his heart after hearing his strict order:
"Your Excellency is truly knowledgeable and considerate of the soldiers. I, too, feel that in the height of summer, the raw water from the mountains and swamps is absolutely unfit for drinking. Who knows what miasma or poison might be brewing..."

Unfortunately, only a very small number of people with medical knowledge, such as An Daoquan, could immediately understand Zhao Zicheng's painstaking efforts. Most soldiers who could not read just passively carried out orders, but they might not be convinced in their hearts.

Zhao Zicheng rested for a moment and noticed the temple hidden behind a few small swamps ahead. Bored, he took Murong Yan and Yang Zhi with him and rode around to see what was going on, leaving the soldiers to rest.

When he got closer, Zhao Zicheng discovered that the temple had already fallen into disrepair and even the plaque was gone. Fortunately, there was still a stone tablet, and he could identify it through the words that had not yet been erased from the stone.

Zhao Zicheng identified it and found that this temple was a supporting hall for the mausoleum of King Xiao of Liang. It should have been abandoned since the end of the Han Dynasty. No wonder it fell into ruins.

Zhao Zicheng took a quick look around and found nothing to commemorate, so he turned his horse back and prepared to meet up with the army.

But at this moment, something unexpected happened.

In a valley behind the tomb of King Xiao of Liang, there was suddenly a loud shout, as if someone and a horse were about to rush out.

There were also sporadic shouts from people on the high slopes in the distance on both sides, as if there were ambushes in all directions, but no one knew how many people there were.

The soldiers brought by Zhao Zicheng, even the elite imperial guards selected by Yang Zhi, and the servants of the Murong family, were all a little panicked when they suddenly encountered an accident.

Zhao Zicheng and the other two had to act decisively and gallop their horses as fast as possible to reunite with the main force.

Just as Zhao Zicheng was riding his horse back to his army, a huge snake suddenly scurried out from the gate tower of the Liang Xiaowang Mausoleum behind him. It was unknown whether it was domesticated or wild, but it flew straight towards the back of Zhao Zicheng's head.

There were also a bunch of inexplicable poisonous snakes, insects and creatures in the mountains, perhaps released by the thieves to confuse the enemy. They were running around in a panic. Although they were not fast and were not under human command, they looked creepy.

Fortunately, Zhao Zicheng had been practicing martial arts for several months, and his ears and eyes were sharp, his eyes and hands were quick, and his sword and knife skills were also skillful.

He heard a hissing sound behind him, and without thinking, he used the Qin King's sword-carrying posture, drew out the sword from above his left shoulder, and swung it diagonally upwards. The snake flying towards his back was directly cut into two pieces.

As he finished drawing his sword and slashing the snake, a shout came from behind him:
"The Lord of Mangdang Mountain, the devil Fan Rui, is here! You must immediately abandon your treasures, carts, and horses, and I will spare your lives!"

Zhao Zicheng felt relieved when he heard the thief's identity. He had already galloped back to join the soldiers while he was still beheading the snake.

After returning to the battle group, he turned his horse back and saw that there were indeed at least a hundred bandits, perhaps even several hundred, lying in ambush and blocking his way. However, these bandits were all in tattered clothing and their equipment was tattered, so they should not be feared.

"The Devil King Fan Rui? Water Margin doesn't mention how skilled this thief is in martial arts, only that he uses evil magic and Taoist techniques to play tricks. If it was a thief with real strength, I'd be wary of him. But after all my years of studying science, how can I possibly see through this kind of trickery?"

Zhao Zicheng sorted out the strengths and weaknesses of both the enemy and himself in his mind, and he was no longer afraid.

What the other party relies on is either a trick or snakes and insects. I just killed a snake with my bare hands, and it looked quite big. Why am I still afraid of him now?

Anyone who can kill a giant snake in seconds in Mangdang Mountain must be no ordinary person.

(End of this chapter)