Chinese Generals Summoning System

Chapter 13: Hired Bandits

Although he couldn’t use the system’s hidden quests to quickly increase the number of generals under his command, gaining a 3-point boost to each of his three stats at once—along with a 100% chance to summon a second-tier general—was already a huge surprise for Liu Ji. One shouldn’t be too greedy! Liu Ji immediately stopped thinking about how to complete the other hidden quests and had the system display his current stats. He then saw that his stats had changed to 11 in Strength, 61 in Intelligence, and 28 in Leadership. The increase in Strength to 11 was crucial for Liu Ji. Now, when summoning a third-tier general, his success rate had risen to one in thirty-two—effectively doubling his chances. Moreover, Liu Ji, who had previously been rather frail, now possessed stamina and strength on par with other ordinary teenagers his age. Liu Ji had originally intended to immediately summon the second-rate general awarded by the system, but at that moment, the battle situation shifted, causing him to temporarily shift his attention to the main gate of Tuweizi. The leader guiding these bandits in their attack on the village was Kao Shan Diao Xu Yunba, a sworn brother of Yinyun Biao. Seeing that the assault on the earthen fort had stalled—with some of his men driven out and others cut off from reinforcements and facing certain doom—Xu Yunba immediately ordered dozens of archers to rain arrows down on the entrance to the earthen fort. At that moment, the main gate of the earthen enclosure was guarded not only by the caravan’s escorts but also by even more fierce bandit soldiers. However, Kao Shan Diao Xu Yunba paid no heed to the casualties among his own men and continued to order the archers to fire. In the blink of an eye, a large number of the caravan’s guards and the bandits at the earthen fort’s main gate fell under a hail of arrows. Even Gong Du was struck by two arrows, but his high-quality armor helped him block them, leaving only two shallow scratches on the surface. “Quick! Use the carts to block the gates of Tuweizi again!” shouted Zhang Baohong, the steward of the Zheng family’s merchant caravan. A group of cart drivers and laborers from the caravan immediately braved the enemy’s arrows and pushed the other two cargo carts to the entrance of the earthen enclosure. Both carts were piled high with bales of cloth; together, the carts and their cargo stood nearly as tall as a man, finally blocking the bandits’ hail of arrows. Next, several archers from the caravan’s escort began firing arrows at the bandits outside through the gaps between the two carts at the entrance, while more archers from the caravan stood on empty carts pressed against the inner wall of the earthen rampart. Leaning out from the rampart—which stood over two meters high—they fired arrows at the bandits outside, targeting the bandits’ archers in particular. Xu Yunba, known as “Mountain Eagle,” saw that the gate of the earthen enclosure had once again been blocked by two large carts, and that several of his own archers had been struck down. His brow furrowed instantly, and he ordered the infantry and elite soldiers under his command who were responsible for the assault to temporarily withdraw, along with his archers. Xu Yunba reasoned that since they couldn’t take down the Zheng family’s merchant caravan in one fell swoop, he might as well let his men eat something before launching another all-out assault—after all, they’d been here since early morning and hadn’t had a bite to eat yet! If it hadn’t been for the sudden appearance of a formidable warrior with exceptional martial arts skills, perhaps that fierce assault during the negotiations—when the enemy was off guard—could have wiped out the Zheng family’s caravan. However, the intelligence provided by the client had made no mention of such a skilled fighter being among the caravan. Xu Yunba made a rough estimate: in that fierce assault just now, he’d lost at least a hundred men, including several valuable archers. It seemed this job was going to be a tough one! However, aside from the Zheng family merchant caravan’s goods, horses, weapons, and armor, his older brother Yin Biao had already received 3,000 taels of gold from the client as payment for this job. Even if he lost another two or three hundred men under his command, this job wouldn’t be a loss. What tempted Xu Yunba the most was that, according to the client’s intelligence, this Zheng family caravan included two stunningly beautiful courtesans whom the Zheng family had purchased for 5,000 taels of gold from Qinhuai City in Suzhou. Not only were these two stunning courtesans masters of music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, and dance, but they were also identical twins. The client’s specific instruction was that these two courtesans must under no circumstances be allowed to enter the territory of Yongzhou. Suzhou’s Qinhuai City is the most famous red-light district in the Great Jin Dynasty, home to numerous renowned brothels. These brothels purchase attractive young girls and train them from a young age in the arts of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, as well as poetry, song, and dance. Once they come of age, they become the brothels’ star attractions—and these two stunning courtesans are the star attractions of one such establishment. Xu Yunba was a man utterly obsessed with women. As soon as he heard of a pair of stunning twin courtesans valued at 5,000 taels of gold, he immediately volunteered to his elder brother, Yin Biao, to take on the task of eliminating the Zheng family’s merchant caravan. He promised his elder brother that the two of them would split the twins—one for each of them. Xu Yunba then led 240 cavalrymen and 1,000 infantrymen to block the Zheng family’s caravan’s only route into Yongzhou,However, being bandits, they did not wait patiently for the Zheng family’s caravan to arrive. Instead, they began raiding the surrounding areas, committing every conceivable atrocity—killing, burning, looting, and plundering. The bandits that Liu Ji and his father, Liu Hao, had encountered a couple of days earlier were none other than Xu Yunba’s men. Because Xu Yunba failed to keep his men in check, the Zheng family’s merchant caravan became aware of their presence and quickly turned back. However, the caravan’s movements had already been detected by the bandits’ scouts. Xu Yunba immediately mustered his forces and, following the markers left by the scouts, pursued them all night long, finally intercepting the Zheng family’s merchant caravan in this village. Inside the village, Liu Ji asked Gong Du, who was covered in blood, with concern, “How are you? Are you hurt?” Gong Du smiled and said, “My lord, rest assured. All this blood on me is from the bandits; I’m not hurt at all.” Liu Ji breathed a sigh of relief and said, “That’s good! When the bandits fired their arrows just now, my heart was in my throat. Thank goodness Gong Du’s iron armor is so sturdy!” At that moment, Zhang Baohong, the steward of the Zheng family’s merchant caravan, walked up to Liu Ji, clasped his hands in a traditional salute, and bowed deeply. “Young Master Liu, we owe it all to your personal guards for turning the tide. Otherwise, if that large band of bandits had charged into the earthen enclosure, the consequences would have been unimaginable!” Liu Ji had no time for pleasantries with Zhang Baohong and immediately asked with concern, “Manager Zhang, it seems this band of marauders was specifically targeting your caravan. I wonder if there’s any way for your caravan to call for reinforcements? This earthen enclosure probably won’t hold them off for much longer.” Zhang Baohong gave a wry smile and said, ““Young Master Liu, we’re too far from the Zheng family’s territory here. If we want to call for help, our only option is to send someone on horseback to seek aid from the nearest government office. However, the bandits have over 200 cavalrymen; it’ll be very difficult for the messenger to escape their pursuit. Even if the messenger manages to break through, the nearby government office might not have the strength to rescue us. Sigh—” Liu Ji furrowed his brow and replied, “Manager Zhang, since reinforcements are out of the question, we can’t just sit here and wait to die. We must find a way to break out!”