Chapter 160: Pursuing the North (Part Nine)

Wang Fan spurred his horse to a gallop, his mind in complete turmoil, unable to comprehend the chaotic thoughts swirling within him. He simply let the warhorse carry him toward Shanyang City.

A dozen personal guards clustered closely around him, fleeing headlong.

These guards were all brought along by Wang Fan, making them outsiders among the Mayi Yueqi cavalry, an elite unit primarily composed of weathered local veterans. Some were domestic servants of the Wang family seeking to carve out a military career, while others were relatives who had entered the ranks in hopes of gaining some advantage through Wang Fan's position.

Upon joining the Mayi Yueqi battalion under Wang Fan, Wang Rencong had enforced military discipline with an iron fist, requiring grueling drills every third day without fail.

Wang Fan was an honest man who executed military orders with absolute obedience. Not a single scheduled drill had ever been missed or delayed. For the relatives and Wang family servants who had joined him in search of an easy life, the reality was sheer torment: the saddles chafed their bottoms, the heavy armor strained their bodies, the martial training exhausted their sinews and bones, and the din of war drums and gongs deafened their ears. Their days were miserable beyond description.

Yet Wang Fan himself was incorruptible and deeply caring toward his soldiers—for Wang Rencong had carefully vetted his kinsmen when selecting them as commanders.

Every single coin of military pay and grain provision was allocated directly to the troopers in the camp, leaving Wang Fan himself with clean hands and not a single cash to his name. How could such a lifestyle ever satisfy the followers who had accompanied him?

Right now, however, those dozen personal guards stuck close to Wang Fan, protecting him thoroughly. This was not out of loyalty to their superior, but rather to ensure that when Wang Rencong inevitably demanded accountability, Wang Fan would be there to take the blame for everyone!

Behind them came the sounds of rising clamor, causing the guards to herd Wang Fan forward even faster, utterly disregarding the exhaustion of their mounts.

The veterans of the Mayi Yueqi battalion had also utterly broken. If the force pursuing them was not the main army of Liu Wizhou, who could possibly believe it? Only by reaching the safety of Shanyang City could they finally draw a breath of relief. With its towering walls and mountains of stored grain, Shanyang City would surely be able to withstand Liu Wizhou's irresistible vanguard, wouldn't it?

Escaping into Shanyang City was the first priority; once Wang Fan was safely delivered inside, everyone else would be able to slip away as well!

Ahead on the road, another column of troops appeared, a mixed force of infantry and cavalry numbering around five or six hundred men.

In this era, large armies advanced under the severe constraints of road capacity and logistical supply lines. Massive forces of tens of thousands rarely marched as a single monolithic block; instead, they moved in staggered echelons separated by set distances, allowing them to provide mutual support while enabling commanders to manage reasonably sized marching groups.

With the vanguard scouts and the Mayi Yueqi battalion clearing the way ahead, this following column was much heavier: one regiment of cavalry for protection, one regiment of infantry hauling baggage. Further back in the marching formation, the proportion of infantry and supply wagons grew steadily larger, eventually converging outside Shenwu City to sustain either a pitched field battle or a protracted siege.

A few of the fleeing vanguard scouts were intercepted along the road. Whether because they had previously offended the commanding officer of this marching column or for other reasons, they found their path blocked. Dozens of infantrymen leveled their long spears to encircle them, shouting for the riders to dismount.

Along the perimeter, scattered cavalrymen lingered, eyeing the intercepted scouts intently. Having barely escaped with their lives, the vanguard scouts were hardly willing to throw them away here; they shouted frantically that they were carrying vital military intelligence to Shanyang City and that obstructing them was a grave crime punishable by death.

Both sides traded sharp retorts, devolving into a chaotic din.

Eventually, the vanguard scouts drew their straight sabers, their eyes bloodshot with desperation.

"If you don't clear the path right now, these blades of ours won't show any mercy! What does it matter if we cut down a few of you? When this reaches the Governor, the blame will fall entirely on you lot—you unextinguished Mayi convicts!"

With the flashing blades complemented by the riders' tangled beards and ferocious expressions, the threat carried a genuinely terrifying weight.

The dozens of Mayi infantrymen were indeed somewhat intimidated, subconsciously stepping back by a pace.

Most of these Mayi Yingyang garrison infantry had been drafted from the common peasantry, originally honest and hard-working farmers. Unable to afford the exemption tax, they had no choice but to don this tiger skin and risk their lives for Wang Rencong.

Such a status left them at the very bottom of the hierarchy in Wang Rencong's army. Ordinarily, they wouldn't dare meet the haughty gaze of the elite Yueqi scouts. Yet seeing these scouts fleeing in a panic, some infantry had stepped forward to question them about the situation ahead. Instead of answering, one of the scouts had carelessly knocked down a popular squad leader and trampled right over him with his horse, instantly arousing universal fury and leading to the dozen long spears surrounding them.

Seeing the infantry cower at their threats, the vanguard scouts let out a smug snort and twitched their reins to move on.

A platoon leader, who had been tending to the wounded along the outer edge, suddenly sprang to his feet and roared, "Back down? Why should we back down?"

In his early thirties with several menacing scars across his face, this platoon leader was a seasoned core veteran of the Mayi Yingyang garrison who had clawed his way to his rank through multiple bloody battles.

He strode into the center of the crowd, ripped off his helmet, and pointed at his own head while glaring at the scouts. "Cut right here!"

The vanguard scouts tightened their grips on their sabers, their facial muscles twitching, yet they did not swing.

It was not out of pity for some motherless platoon leader, but rather the fear of reigniting public outrage; if all these surrounding infantrymen swarmed them, they would never escape!

Emboldened by the platoon leader's defiance, the dozens of infantrymen leveled their spears and closed the circle once more.

"Damn your military intelligence! You hurt one of our men and think you can just walk away without an explanation? Where is the logic in that? We Mayi folk are not so easily trampled!"

Realizing the situation had escalated, the cavalry officer watching from the sidelines finally decided to step in and mediate. Although he held no fondness for the vanguard scouts, they belonged to the same overall force, and maintaining a shred of camaraderie would make future encounters easier.

However, a sudden remark from the infantry platoon leader made the cavalry officer freeze in his tracks.

"What kind of military intelligence delivery is this? Does anyone flee while delivering intelligence like this? You've dropped your armor, lost your long weapons, discarded your bows and arrows, and kept only a single saber just so you could run faster! What on earth happened ahead? Do you idiots intend to drag all of us to our graves with you?"

Cornered as the realization set in that the more routed battalions there were, the lighter their own individual blame would become, the vanguard scouts finally broke their silence.

"Both the vanguard camp and Wang Fan's battalion have been completely shattered! Liu Wizhou's Heng'an armored cavalry have arrived! We are racing back to Shanyang just to report the news!"

An absolute silence fell over the surroundings. The platoon leader merely shook his head in disbelief. "Did Liu's garrison troops fly down from the heavens? The southern exit from Yunzhong is still blocked by thousands of heavy troops!"

The moment the words left his mouth, the thunder of hooves echoed from further up the road.

A dozen riders came fleeing in wild panic. Just like the vanguard scouts before them, they had stripped themselves of all encumbrances, looking even more wretched without even a sidearm left on their persons!

At the center of this fleeing cluster, instantly recognizable to all, was none other than the Mayi Yueqi battalion commander, Wang Fan!

And right behind them, billowing clouds of dust rose into the sky, obscuring an uncountable host of cavalry thundering relentlessly toward this very spot.

The vanguard forces had indeed collapsed, falling apart like a crumbling mountain!