Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 79 Fighting Without Hesitation
As Tuoba Niugang of Changchengtun approached Beiyuan County with his people, he was greeted by several herders who had returned from grazing their livestock.

"Brother Niu, where are you headed? The city's in chaos right now, don't go to the garrison!"

Li Gongcheng, also a local herdsman, stood on the ground admonishing Tuoba Niu and the others.

Upon hearing this, Tuoba Niu quickly asked, "What happened? Have the Mongols attacked? Or the Khitans?"

Neither the Mongols nor the Khitans were good things for Tuoba Niu.

Li Gongcheng shouted, "No, they are from the mountain farms!"

Mountain farmers?
Tuoba Niu and the women and children beside him who were going to seek refuge with the Shan Nong tribe all looked at the group in front of them in surprise.

"What happened?" Tuoba Niu wanted to know what had happened. Could it be that the mountain farmers' rebellion had been discovered and they had been arrested?

Considering the Arctic Warrior's indiscriminate arrests and killings, Tuoba Niu felt it was normal for the Arctic Warrior to attract the attention of the garrison.

Li Gongcheng sighed and said, "I heard that the garrison sent three thousand men to attack the Shan Nong tribe, but the Shan Nong tribe's fierce general, Bei Jiwu, defeated the entire army, killing and wounding more than a thousand people. The rest fled back to the city. This happened this morning, and now the city gates are closed, preventing us from getting close."

"You must not go near the garrison, they might come to conscript men!"

After finishing his sentence, Li Gongcheng complained, "Life is so hard. We finally had two or three years of peace, and now things are going to get chaotic again. I hope the mountain farmers can be pacified soon."

Tuoba Niu said, "I have to send people to the countryside to take refuge. If more than a thousand people die, the troops in the county's garrisons will definitely not be enough. If the Mongols march south at this time, the situation at Changchengtun will be even worse!"

Li Gongcheng was startled. They all lived nearby, and if something happened in Changchengtun, they wouldn't be able to escape either.

"Brother Niu, where did your family go to seek refuge?"

Li Gongcheng began to pester Tuoba Niu, wanting to get to the bottom of things.

Tuoba Niu didn't want to waste words with this person, so he said, "I'll go and stay with my friends in the countryside to the south."

Li Gongcheng quickly asked, "Where is it?"

Tuoba Niu found this kind of person annoying, so he simply rode his horse forward.

"We'll talk about it later. I'll go out and take a look first. Let's go!"

Li Gongcheng felt embarrassed that Tuoba Niu was ignoring him.

"What's so great about you? You're just a worthless bastard who doesn't even know who your father is!"

After muttering a few curses under his breath, Li Gongcheng quickly caught up with the others and went home to herd sheep.

***
Kitahara Mamoru

Li Wenjin, a former village head who had been collecting taxes in the countryside, was having dinner with a group of his colleagues.

Besides his subordinates, a low-ranking soldier was specially invited to the dinner table.

"Arctic Warrior, has your younger brother always been this fierce since he was a child?"

Li Wenjin held the porcelain wine pot with both hands, pressed the spout, and poured a cup of wine for Bei Jiyong.

Beiji Yong had never been so valued before, and hurriedly said, "Sir! My younger brother and I have been estranged since childhood, and I really didn't know anything about his rebellion!"

People sitting and standing nearby smiled.

Shi Wenyuan, dressed as a middle-aged scholar, said with a smile, "Don't be afraid. Your brother is so good at fighting, our people can't do anything to him."

"As long as your brother is still alive, even if the commander wants to cause you trouble, he'll have to think twice."

Beiji Yong breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"Thank you very much, Lord Shi!"

Li Wenjin, the centurion, is the highest-ranking official here. The flag chief is the centurion's subordinate. However, Shi Wenyuan can write and do arithmetic, and he is good at strategizing, so he is the one who often comes up with ideas here.

Li Wenjin picked up her chopsticks to eat, then picked up her wine glass and said, "Come on, let's have a drink. If we run into your brother in the future, you stand there and talk to him. We'll run away first."

Li Wenjin raised his glass with a smile, and Bei Jiyong quickly said, "You're joking, sir. It wouldn't be good if Commander Qianhu heard us."

Upon hearing this, Li Wenjin almost burst out laughing.

After casually wiping his mouth, Li Wenjin said, "This time, seven or eight hundred people died, nearly a thousand were lost, and a commander and a team of elite soldiers were also killed."

"Let me tell you the truth, our Beiyuan Guard was completely decimated by your brother alone. Think about it, how many guard posts are there in the whole county now? All of them together only have a little over 5,000 people. Now more than 1,000 people have been lost. The remaining guards have to guard several exits and also guard against the Mongols and Khitans."

"It wasn't just ordinary soldiers who ran away today; the general and two commanders also fled. Luckily, a few of us stayed here, or we might have been stabbed too."

Shi Wenyuan laughed and said, "Your brother has become famous overnight. The people who came back this afternoon said that the Hu people in the garrison have directly surrendered to Beijiwu. Now they have more than a hundred cavalrymen. With a famous general like Beijiwu, our garrison may not be able to stop them."

Beiji Yong is in a very awkward position, not knowing how to handle the problem with his younger brother.

When he learned that Arctic Martial had killed and kidnapped villagers and taken them to the mountains, Arctic Yong's first feeling was that he was uneasy and afraid of being implicated by Arctic Martial.

But now Arctic Martial Arts is doing things a hundred times worse than before, yet Li Wenjin and others, who should be Arctic Martial Arts' enemies, are laughing and drinking with him.

Beiji Yong didn't have that kind of heart. He felt like he was walking on thin ice, afraid that these people would cut him up and eat him the next day after they had just finished eating together.

While Li Wenjin and his men were indulging in food and drink, General Hong Enzhong quickly sent a message to Jinzhou.

Beiyuanwei was a border garrison, responsible for defending a county.

There are also more than a dozen garrisons along the entire northwestern border, which work together to defend against the invasions of the nomadic tribes in the northwest.

Beiyuan Guard was an affiliated guard post of Tongzhou Guard, and together with Gaoliu Guard, it served as a strategic stronghold of Tongzhou Guard. Tongzhou Guard was the gateway to Jinzhou and a key military fortress.

Jinzhou is ruled by the Prince of Jin, who is in charge of the military affairs of the entire Jinzhou, and the three guards of Tongzhou are all under the Prince of Jin's jurisdiction.

The messenger rode at breakneck speed, changing horses but not his rider at each post station along the way. He set off in the afternoon and arrived at Tongzhou Guard, eighty li away, by evening. Tongzhou Guard was very close to Beiyuan Guard, except that the Prince of Jin's residence was located more than five hundred li south of Jinzhou.

The Three Guards of Tongzhou will not help the Three Guards of Jizhou, but they certainly cannot sit idly by when something happens on their own doorstep.

Cen Tianrui, the commander of Tongzhou, summoned several commanders.

"There are bandits causing trouble in Beiyuan Guard. They claim to be the chief of the mountain farmer tribe. They took advantage of the fact that the government troops had not yet formed ranks when they were sent to suppress them and launched a surprise attack on the vanguard. According to the Beiyuan Guard commander, this mountain farmer named Beiji Wu is brave enough to be a thousand men and ten thousand men cannot stop him."

"The Northern Plains Guard has lost over a thousand men. Zhifu, you and Weiming each lead a thousand men to provide support! Do not advance rashly!"

Niu Zhifu and Ma Weiming quickly stood up. "Yes, sir!"

Both men were middle-aged men around forty years old, and they had been working with Cen Tianrui for five or six years.

Cen Tianrui further reminded them, "There are many Hu people in Beiyuanwei. Now there are rumors that some people are responding to the Northern Martial Alliance. You two must remember to make a decisive decision!"

Niu Zhifu and Ma Weiming both knew what this meant.

"As ordered!"

The most direct way to deal with the recurring troublemakers, both Hu and Han, is to kill them all!
As long as they are all killed, there will be no problem. We can just bring in more people from the mainland later.

The two men gathered their troops overnight. Since it was difficult to set off at night, they cooked breakfast early and assembled the two thousand men around five or six in the morning.

Two thousand men who set out from Tongzhouwei could only march fifty li a day at most, and it would take them at least two days to reach Beiyuanwei.

In addition to Tongzhou Guard, a thousand men from Gaoliu Guard were also urgently heading to Beiyuan Guard to provide support.

Neither of the reinforcements arrived by the next day.

Beijiwu waited in Hutou Town for a whole day, until three or four o'clock in the afternoon.

"You guys decide what to do."

Beijiwu rode up to the prisoners on the acre and asked them for their thoughts.

Everyone looked at each other, and soon a man stood up.

"I'm willing to follow the chieftain!"

"I do too!"

The two Han Chinese men knew they had to make a choice.

Surrender or die.

Beijiwu said directly, "Those who are willing to follow me to attack Beiyuanwei, stand up and walk to the side of the road. Those who are not willing, stay where you are."

Following Arctic Martial's command, the more than two hundred people standing on the ground quickly moved toward the roadside.

After about ten seconds, there was no one left in the spot.

Arctic Martial discovered that surrendering to the army was a very normal thing in this era.

"You've all surrendered, aren't you afraid the imperial court will kill your families?"

Lang Wubing shouted, "We can't kill them all, and the hundreds who died are all together with so many of us who are still alive. They probably can't tell us apart."

Meng Hetong explained, "Clan chief, the court only kills the families of surrendered generals. Ordinary soldiers like us don't have the chance to surrender unless we are defeated. If we are defeated, we are considered dead and no one will say anything more."

Beijiwu nodded. "You're right, we really can't manage it all."

After learning about the soldiers' plight, Beijiwu said, "Give them horses and weapons!"

Ögedei rode his horse from afar, followed by a Hu man.

“Master, I have brought someone with me. He says he is one of your men.”

Beijiwu looked over and saw that it was Tuoba Niu, who had just left a few days ago.

Seeing so many people around Beiji Wu, Tuoba Niu said excitedly, "Chieftain! I came here specifically to serve you after hearing about your uprising!"

Beijiwu said irritably, "What's the use of just one person?"

Tuoba Niu immediately said, "Chieftain, rest assured, I have already contacted the people of Sanghe Village in the south, and about fifteen Xianbei households are willing to join you in raising an army!"

Beijiwu thought this person was still useful. "Alright, let them come over. This time we will only attack the county town and will not harm the people. After we occupy Beiyuanwei, we will reward you according to the rules of the Shannong tribe."

Mu Chuanliang felt that this rebellion was too frivolous. "Clan chief, there are still several thousand people in the county. We will send just these people over. If they hold their ground, they can wait for reinforcements."

Upon hearing this, Wokoji laughed and said, "Don't worry, chieftain. As long as we announce that the city plans to hold out for several months, the city will surely descend into chaos!"

"Why is there chaos?" Arctic Martial didn't understand. Generally speaking, border fortresses are very resilient.

Ögedei said with a smile, "Once besieged, they will definitely hold out. At this time, the people in the city are like sheep. For hundreds of years, every city has been afraid of this. As long as we can coordinate from the inside and outside, we will definitely be able to break through that city wall!"

No one else objected to this statement. Whether they were Hu or Han, they all knew that Ögedei was right.

This is also why many people would rather die than have their family members come to fill in for them.

Arctic Martial felt a bit irritated when he heard about cannibalism again.

"No need for all that trouble. Let's go straight to Beiyuanwei. I've seen the city walls of Beiyuanwei; they're only twelve meters high. Let's go straight there. If they don't open the gates and surrender, we'll build a ladder, and I'll lead you in to fight our way out!"

"Now take up your weapons and mount your horses! Reach Beiyuanwei before nightfall!"

(End of this chapter)