"The Yellow Turbans are on a rampage, burning, killing, and pillaging. The people are living in misery!"
"And now, our allied town, Da Liu Town, has been surrounded by the Yellow Turbans and is in danger of falling. They've sent us a plea for help. Tens of thousands of our brethren within the town are waiting for us to rescue them!"
"I have summoned you all here today for this very matter!"
"Dispatch the troops and crush the bandits!"
In the Lord's Residence, Xiao Jing spoke with righteous passion, his words making no secret of his hatred for the Yellow Turbans, nor his solidarity and sympathy for Da Liu Town.
Regardless of their true feelings, upon hearing Xiao Jing's speech, the two messengers from Da Liu Town played their parts perfectly, their eyes welling with tears and their faces etched with gratitude.
"But… but… Village Chief Xiao, our village is short on grain. If the soldiers are fighting on empty stomachs, how can we…"
As shrewd as his age suggested, Guo Yun easily read Xiao Jing's intentions. He played his part perfectly, his face full of feigned hesitation as he voiced his "concern."
"Uh…"
Upon hearing this, a hint of hesitation also surfaced on Xiao Jing's face as he spoke.
"That is indeed a problem…"
Seeing Xiao Jing's hesitation, the two messengers began to sweat anxiously and hurriedly cut in.
"Village Chief Xiao, we have grain! We have plenty!"
"Yes, yes! As long as Village Chief Xiao agrees to help us, grain and supplies will be no problem…"
The messengers stammered in a rush.
Seeing the messengers' desperation, Xiao Jing and Guo Yun exchanged a glance, a knowing smile touching their lips.
"In that case, then…"
"Muster the troops! We march!"
...
Da Liu Town was only 15 kilometers from Wild Mountain Village as the crow flies, but in reality, Xiao Jing and his troops marched no less than 30 kilometers.
After all, the mountain roads were difficult to traverse. Wild Mountain Village was nestled deep in a valley of Black Bull Mountain.
Da Liu Town, meanwhile, was situated on the edge of the plains near the southwestern foot of Black Bull Mountain. A few miles south of Da Liu Town lay Xiahe Village, home to vast, mature grain fields.
Although it couldn't compare to the Central Plains, it was a rare, fertile area in Shanwu County. It was precisely these grain fields that allowed Da Liu Town and Xiahe Village—two large towns each with populations over ten thousand—to thrive.
It was worth noting that even though Xiahe Village was very close to Da Liu Town and would surely be next if the town fell—as the saying goes, "when the lips are gone, the teeth grow cold"—they simply stood by and watched, ignoring Da Liu Town's pleas for help.
After all, both towns were based on agriculture, and they had often fought over water sources in the past, leading to deep-seated resentment.
"Lord Xiao, Da Liu Town is just ahead! If we go a little further, we'll be able to see the Yellow Turbans. Shouldn't we proceed with caution?"
There was something particular about the two messengers Da Liu Town had sent to request aid.
There was a head envoy and his deputy.
The deputy envoy, Liu Guan, was the only son of Da Liu Town's largest landowner, Liu Ming...
The head envoy, named Niu Yang, was the one who actually called the shots.
Throughout the journey, it was Niu Yang who had been explaining the situation and analyzing the battle, while the deputy envoy, Liu Guan, remained silent, essentially serving his purpose as a mascot.
At the head of the army, Xiao Jing sized up the two messengers before him.
Da Liu Town's plea for aid had been too urgent, and Wild Mountain Village, still developing, lacked the capacity to send scouts to infiltrate Da Liu Town.
Therefore, his understanding of these two messengers could only be based on observation.
'Still, I can see quite a few things just by looking…'
Liu Guan looked utterly lost, the very picture of a spoiled fop—clearly just a mascot for this little escape.
That Niu Yang, on the other hand, seemed quite capable.
'Proceed with caution?'
Xiao Jing narrowed his eyes, gazing at the Yellow Turban encampment in the distance.
To call it an encampment was a stretch; it was just a thousand-odd tents, scattered about in disarray.
The only thing in the entire Yellow Turban camp with any real defensive value was the circle of wooden fences around the perimeter...
Scouts, barricades, pit traps, arrow towers… there were none.
What left Xiao Jing not knowing whether to laugh or cry was that he even saw old men, women, and children in the Yellow Turban camp...
'So these are the Yellow Turbans?'
Xiao Jing said, somewhat amused.
Niu Yang detected the scorn in Xiao Jing's voice and, alarmed, hastily tried to reason with him.
"My Lord, you must not underestimate the Yellow Turbans! Don't be fooled by their lack of discipline; they are very powerful. One moment of carelessness…"
Hearing this, Xiao Jing didn't object. Instead, he turned to Zhou Cang and Xu Tai behind him and laughed heartily.
"Haha, is that so? But from what I see, these Yellow Turbans look incredibly weak…"
Exasperated, Niu Yang continued to plead earnestly, "But there are so many of them…"
To be honest, Niu Yang had recently heard something about Wild Mountain Village. Apparently, it was the 'Number One Village Under Heaven'!
But he had scoffed at this reputation, thinking, 'It's just the delusional self-congratulations of some backwater villagers!'
Therefore, even though he was here to request aid from 'Wild Mountain Village', he harbored a faint sense of superiority—the arrogance of an official.
If even Da Liu Town couldn't hold back the Yellow Turbans, he naturally assumed there was no way Xiao Jing's force of just over 300 could possibly resist them.
'Just as I thought—arrogant country bumpkins. Sigh. Oh well, if we can just hold Da Liu Town, I'll count it a success!'
Sighing inwardly, Niu Yang continued to plead helplessly.
"My Lord, the Yellow Turbans have the advantage in numbers. We should avoid a direct confrontation for now. Let's go to Da Liu Town, meet up with the town master, and use the strong city walls to hold them off…"
Before Niu Yang could finish, a gruff voice cut him off.
"They're nothing but a bunch of worthless curs!"
"No matter how many ants there are, they cannot hinder my lord's path in the slightest!"
Zhou Cang snorted coldly, his voice dripping with contempt as he shot Niu Yang a disdainful look.
Beside him, Xu Tai nodded in deep agreement.
"My Lord, I am willing to make a military pledge! I will crush the Yellow Turbans before us for you!"
Zhou Cang dropped to one knee, his voice ringing with conviction as he requested the order to attack.
"We are also willing to follow General Zhou! We volunteer as the vanguard to smash the Yellow Turbans!"
Behind Zhou Cang, Li Ye seized the opportunity, his eyes glinting with fervent ambition as he quickly echoed the request.
Seeing Li Ye's move, the other militia commanders from Wild Mountain Village cursed him under their breath before they, too, began clamoring for the order.
After all, Zhou Cang had already completely won them over with his sheer power. He was a Tier Seven expert going up against enemies whose strongest was merely Tier Four—what did numbers even matter?
It would be as easy as slicing melons and chopping vegetables.
They refused to believe this pathetic-looking Yellow Turban Army, which didn't even know how to make a proper camp, could possibly have anyone capable of 'battle formations' or 'large-scale stratagems'!
This was practically free merit, served up on a platter!
"Haha, excellent!"
With all the commanders from Wild Mountain Village kneeling and clamoring for battle, Xiao Jing felt a deep sense of satisfaction. The army's morale was high and ready for a fight. He praised them enthusiastically.
Niu Yang, who had been skeptical of Xiao Jing from the start, was completely dumbfounded by the scene.
"Ah!"
'Have these people lost their minds? Do they have a death wish?'
'How are they going to fight over 3,000 Yellow Turbans with just over 300 soldiers?'
Madness! Utter madness!
Niu Yang didn't understand Xiao Jing's true strength. As a civil official, although he could sense that Zhou Cang and Xu Tai were not ordinary, he had no concrete sense of just how powerful they were.
At this moment, he felt only one thing: these people were crazy! Completely and utterly insane!
'Town Master! I'm afraid I'm about to fail you…'
Seeing that Xiao Jing's entire army seemed to dismiss the three thousand Yellow Turbans as a non-issue, a sense of tragic indignation welled up in Niu Yang's heart.
'How dare you? How dare you all?!'
'You have a mere handful of generals, all of them braggarts! Barely three hundred soldiers, half of them green recruits! Where do you get the nerve to look down on three thousand Yellow Turbans?'
'You must know, Da Liu Town started with over 200 Tier Two infantry, and even they couldn't stop these bandits…'