Cheng Xu completed the mobilization, having all militia soldiers perform a final check of their equipment and rations.
But he then called Gao Yiye and led her over a hill to a secluded spot with no one around. Only then did he look up at the sky and say, "Tianzun, this lowly one has a question."
Li Daoxuan had guessed he had something to ask when he pulled Gao Yiye away from the crowd. "Ask."
Cheng Xu said respectfully, "Gao Village currently has just over four thousand people. Even adding the few hundred from Bai Family Fort, the total barely reaches five thousand. Given this strength, is it too early to turn against the court? Even with Tianzun's aid from the sky, we might win one battle, a hundred battles, be ever-victorious... but we don't have enough talent to govern the world. Seizing the realm would be easy for Tianzun, but properly ruling it? With our mere five thousand people, it's far from enough."
Li Daoxuan laughed. "Do you think I intend for Gao Village to rebel now?"
Cheng Xu: "Huh? Isn't that the case? A Guerrilla General is no minor official. Once we eliminate him, Gao Village will certainly attract the court's attention. It won't be possible to hide and enjoy ourselves in our secluded paradise anymore."
Li Daoxuan: "Who says it was Gao Village that did it? You are clearly the Guyuan rebels."
These words left Cheng Xu stunned.
Several seconds later, he suddenly slapped his forehead, enlightened. "Right! I'm wearing mountain-pattern armor. My five hundred militiamen are all armored, carrying hand crossbows, iron-tipped spears, and waist swords. Each looks more like an official soldier than the last. Why should I claim to be from Gao Village? When we attack Li Ying, we just need to say we're the Guyuan rebels!"
Li Daoxuan: "Correct, exactly. Our Gao Village is full of good, law-abiding people. How could we possibly attack official troops? That's absolutely impossible. Fighting official troops—only fearless border troops would do such a thing."
Cheng Xu: "Hahaha, Tianzun, Tianzun, you Venerable One…"
He forcefully suppressed the second half of his thought: …really enjoy toying with mortals.
Saying that out loud would be somewhat disrespectful. He'd keep it to himself.
Li Daoxuan could guess from his tone what he wanted to say and couldn't help but smile. Playful, I insist on being playful. I refuse to be one of those stiff, boring, pretentious immortals.
Now with no more concerns, Cheng Xu hurried back to the militia. "Everyone prepare a mask to cover your faces. Remember, I'm not Drillmaster He anymore. You call me 'Old Ghost of Guyuan,' or you can call me 'Ghost Battalion Commander,' that works too. Heh heh heh…"
Saying this, he felt a sudden surge of pride. Before, he was just a ninth-rank patrol officer with a little over a hundred men under him, with no path for promotion, thinking his life would end like that.
Who would have thought that after joining Gao Village, he'd grow bigger and bigger. Now commanding five hundred men, he could call himself a battalion commander. Just thinking about it felt pretty good.
A blessing in disguise, indeed.
Life is sometimes so full of sighs!
He pointed at Gao Chuwu. "You change your name to Big Blockhead."
Then pointed at Zheng Daniu. "You're Stupid Ox."
Then pointed at Flat Rabbit. "You… forget it… next!"
Flat Rabbit: "Huh? Huh huh? Why skip me when it's my turn?"
All five hundred-plus men looked at him sideways.
Cheng Xu pulled out a self-drawn map, looking left and right. After some thought, he said, "If we run from Gao Village's direction to attack Li Ying, it'll be easy to trace afterward. So, we first take the path through Huanglong Mountain, then emerge from the mountains to deal with Li Ying. Let's go… to the train station…"
The five hundred soldiers arrived at the train station, waiting for a train from Bai Family Fort to Gao Village.
Now, several trains ran daily between Bai Family Fort and Gao Village, mainly to facilitate Bai Family Fort residents coming to the "Gao Village Commercial District" to purchase goods.
Although Bai Family Fort now had water and Horseshoe Lake had been revived, their supplies were still not as abundant as Gao Village's, especially goods made by artisans: kitchen knives, farming tools, wooden basins, bamboo baskets, clay pots, cotton cloth, etc.—Bai Family Fort lacked all these in large quantities.
A few Bai Family Fort artisans even came to Gao Village to "find work," taking the morning train over and returning on the evening train.
Cheng Xu led the militia, waiting quietly.
"Woo! clackety-clack!"
A train pulled into the station. The Bai Family Fort villagers getting off were startled by the hundreds of armored militiamen on the platform. "Wow, what are you all doing? You scared us to death!"
Cheng Xu said with a serious face, "The militia is under Tianzun's orders, carrying out a secret military mission. You must immediately forget you saw us here. If you leak the militia's whereabouts, Tianzun will punish you."
This scared the Bai Family Fort villagers. They quickly covered their mouths and made themselves scarce.
Cheng Xu's group boarded the train and soon arrived at Bai Family Fort.
Bai Yuan was quite surprised to see the militia arrive. After a brief chat with Cheng Xu to understand the situation, he said quietly, "Wang Zuogua's followers from Yichuan are still active in Huanglong Mountain. Drillmaster He, don't go too deep into the mountains. Enter, then immediately turn southwest to exit the mountains. You can then reach the official road leading to Fengyuan Town."
(Ming Context: Wang Zuogua was a rebel leader active in the border region of Shaanxi during this period. His forces, like many others, took advantage of the mountainous terrain of the Huanglong range to evade government troops, making the area a volatile and dangerous zone.)
Li Daoxuan watched from the sky as Cheng Xu's group entered Huanglong Mountain…
His field of vision had just expanded to the southern slopes of Huanglong Mountain. So, once Cheng Xu's group entered the mountains, they left Li Daoxuan's sight. He felt a little worried, afraid they might run into Wang Zuogua in the mountains.
Fortunately, Cheng Xu didn't go deep into the mountains. As soon as they entered, he had everyone put on their masks, smear mud and dust on their armor to look travel-worn, as if they'd come a long way. Then they emerged from a small valley to the southwest, returning to Li Daoxuan's field of view.
This time, when they emerged, they were no longer the militia.
Cheng Xu raised a hastily made, tattered banner with a large character "Ghost" written on it. Flat Rabbit also held up a banner: "Return Our Hard-Earned Wages." The group then swaggered towards Fengyuan Town.
The militia's best scout, Shi Jian, along with a few followers, went ahead of the main force by two li to scout.
Meanwhile…
Guerrilla General Li Ying, who had looted his way into Fengyuan Town, was sitting in the wealthiest local gentry's home, eating roast chicken with his legs crossed, utterly content.
The gentry stood to the side, a forced smile on his face, but inwardly cursing Li Ying's ancestors eighteen generations back.
He'd been robbed of a considerable amount of wealth by Li Ying. It hurt.
A scout ran in from outside, panicked. "Report, General! Terrible news! The Guyuan rebels are attacking Fengyuan Town!"
Li Ying's chicken leg dropped to the ground. "What the hell? What did you say?"