Chapter 149 Flawless Victory

The entire caravan was shrouded in the gradually dissipating smoke of battle. Yoshikawa and the martial artists from the Yangwei Escort Agency had not yet fully recovered from their panic, and even Cao Chen’s legs were still trembling slightly as he tried to comfort the crowd. Although they were seemingly out of danger, no one dared to be entirely certain.

The goods of the entire convoy had not suffered heavy losses. Only the horses of a few carriages had panicked during the explosions, colliding with and overturning one another. However, the protective personnel of the entire convoy, including the Yangwei Escort Agency, had suffered nearly fifty percent casualties. Until now, they had no idea who had set the ambush against them, nor even a rough estimate of the enemy's numbers.

From beginning to end, only a dozen people, including Ding Li and Aguda, had shown themselves. Yet neither Cao Chen, Yoshikawa, nor anyone else truly believed that these were the only enemies they had faced just moments ago. Whether there had been fifty, eighty, or even a hundred of them, no one knew the answer. All they knew were their comrades lying dead around them, while the agonizing screams of the wounded continually echoed in their ears.

Just as the emotions of the crowd were beginning to stabilize, the sound of hoofbeats rising from the rear of the convoy startled everyone back into a state of high alert. As they turned their heads, one terrified face after another was revealed. Even the daredevils of the Yangwei Escort Agency, who usually boasted of being fearless, had hands that trembled slightly as they gripped their weapons. With the sound of hoofbeats growing clearer, everything that had happened moments before now lingered in their minds like an inescapable nightmare, impossible to shake off or drive away.

While Cao Chen, still shaken with lingering fear, was considering how to deal with the firecracker-wielding bandits who had returned, his trusted aide atop a nearby mount suddenly spoke up tremulously. His tone lacked certainty, and his face wore an expression of utmost caution, fearing that his warning might be misplaced: "It, it seems to be Fushu. The garrison of Fushu..."

"Who knows if they are bandits in disguise?!" Cao Chen glared angrily at his trusted aide, suddenly feeling that he was overthinking things. After all, those were regular garrison troops; if bandits saw them, they would have fled long ago, let alone dared to raid the military. He let out a few cold snuffs, refusing to admit his misjudgment out loud. Under the circumstances, the aide did not dare say any more. He shrank his neck and cast his gaze back toward the approaching garrison. As the banners of the Fushu Town garrison gradually came into clear view before everyone, Cao Chen suddenly spat heavily to the side and cursed with extreme anger: "Damn it all! What were they doing earlier?! The bandits have already run off, and now they finally show up! A bunch of good-for-nothings!"

"Tr, true..." Seizing the opportunity, the aide who had spoken earlier nodded and offered a flattering remark, then changed the subject and cautiously asked Cao Chen in a low voice: "However, once the garrison arrives shortly, what, what should we say?"

"What else can we say? Could it be that we had nothing better to do and slaughtered each other here?!" At this moment, Cao Chen was like a landmine, ready to detonate at the slightest touch. After glaring viciously at his aide, Cao Chen felt he had lost his composure too much. Sweeping his gaze across the surrounding wreckage, he clenched his teeth and gave stern instructions to his trusted aide: "Go down and give the orders. When the garrison arrives and asks questions, none of you bastards dare flap your tongues too much! Just say the ambushing bandits were a massive force, too numerous to count, and that we fought to the death to achieve this outcome!"

"Understood!" Having served Cao Chen for a long time, the aide agreed concisely without the slightest hesitation. A peculiar, astute glint flashed in his eyes. He cupped his fists heavily toward Cao Chen, turned his mount, and quickly rode off to convey the orders to several subordinates.

At this moment, Yoshikawa also arrived at Cao Chen’s side with a few die-hard confidants. They exchanged no words; after a single, profound look, the two men nodded slightly in unison, then urged their mounts to walk slowly toward the rear of the convoy.

The newcomers were indeed the garrison troops of Fushu Town, and their leader was Captain Fan Ying, who had left Fushu Town in the early hours of the morning. However, Fan Ying's force was no longer the dozen or so riders he had with him when he parted ways with Ding Li and the others at dawn; it was now a cavalry troop of nearly a hundred men. These were his core subordinates, who had rendezvoused with Fan Ying outside the city after daybreak.

Of course, the reason Fan Ying arrived so "timely" was inextricably linked to his prior agreement with Ding Li. Once the appointed hour arrived, Ding Li would lead his men in retreat, and Fan Ying would appear at the head of his soldiers as a timely rescue. Naturally, let alone Cao Chen and his men, even Fan Ying's own subordinates were unaware of this. Along the way, someone had even raised the question of why Captain Fan was not leading everyone back to the city or finding a place to rest at midday, but instead pushing relentlessly in the direction of Guangzhou Prefecture.

Yet, when the garrison saw the plundered convoy of the Cao Clan Trading Company before them, everyone could not help drawing a sharp breath of cold air. Of course, some secretly rejoiced in their hearts: the battle was clearly already over, meaning their side completely avoided having to fight to the death with the rogue forces roaming this region. Moreover, Captain Fan might even receive commendations for appearing in time to frighten away the bandits. Though they might not win the battlefield renown forged by real blades and spears, an unearned commendation was still something to be very happy about.

Fan Ying, who knew the full truth behind what had happened to the Cao Clan convoy, masked it exceedingly well. While still far from the caravan, he drew his sidearm and ordered everyone in his command to maintain high alert and be ready for combat at a moment's notice. His officers and soldiers cooperated fully, striking a rigid posture of preparing for battle. It was only when they were a mere hundred paces away from the convoy, following Fan Ying's signal of raising his saber and slowing his horse's pace, that the entire cavalry troop gradually reduced speed and finally came to a halt at a distance of sixty to seventy paces apart.

Only after seeing clearly that the newcomer was Fan Ying did Cao Chen finally let out a breath of relief, the heavy boulder pressing upon his chest slowly settling down. Although their factions differed, Fan Ying was, after all, a regular garrison captain of Fushu Town, and Cao Chen had no fear that the other party harbored any illicit motives.

After cupping his fists in salute from the saddle, Cao Chen leaped off his mount and strode quickly toward Fan Ying. Fan Ying merely returned a slight salute from horseback and, without dismounting, urged his horse directly forward to meet him, speaking loudly at the same time: "Pardon me, Brother Cao! Fan is on official military business and it is inconvenient to dismount for formal greetings!"

"Naturally, naturally! Captain Fan is too polite!" Although Cao Chen was deeply displeased by Fan Ying's actions, he could find no fault with them. Furthermore, a vague intuition told him that the departure of those firecracker-wielding bandits was somehow connected to the arrival of Fan Ying's troop. Recalling the signaling arrows used by the bandits and their flawless, meticulous ambush, Cao Chen realized it was entirely possible that countless accomplices of the firecracker bandits still lay along the road Fan Ying had traveled.

Otherwise, the firecracker bandits would not have suddenly retreated when holding the absolute upper hand.

Of course, this was merely Cao Chen's wishful thinking and conclusion. More than that, Cao Chen was simply willing to believe this interpretation, or rather, his analysis naturally leaned toward it because, in this way, his own responsibility would be minimized. Although the convoy's goods had not been plundered, the accompanying guards had suffered nearly fifty percent casualties—a heavy responsibility nonetheless, and Cao Chen desperately needed to find a way to absolve himself.

"It seems... this is the work of rogue bandits roaming the nearby area once again!" Fan Ying's sharp, glowing gaze quickly swept across the battlefield, and a surge of secret astonishment gripped his heart. He had not expected that Ding Li, leading a mere thirty men, could push a heavily armed trade convoy of over two hundred men to such a desperate state. Although it had been a pre-arranged ambush and surprise attack, Fan Ying was still secretly startled. Yet, his expression remained earnest, even tinged with a faint trace of hatred—a special kind of hatred that could only be displayed when facing marauding bandits.

"Captain Fan speaks the truth! It is indeed a band of outlaws, and they were thoroughly prepared! It looks like they came fully equipped!" Hearing this, Cao Chen quickly seized the opportunity to shift the blame entirely onto the firecracker bandits. Not only that, but he also exaggerated the account he gave Fan Ying, infinitely magnifying the number and strength of the bandits, and even transforming ordinary firecrackers into special explosives capable of crippling a sturdy warhorse.

To this, Fan Ying naturally scoffed inwardly, cold laughter echoing in his heart. Having inspected the scene alongside Cao Chen, how could Fan Ying fail to understand? Judging from the fragments of firecrackers on the ground, they were entirely ordinary New Year firecrackers. Yet, inwardly, Fan Ying also found it somewhat amusing, never imagining that Ding Li would use such a method to clear the path before a charge. After all, to the unprepared, the explosion of clustered firecrackers still held a certain deterrent effect; even if the lethality was very limited, people subconsciously harbored a self-preservation instinct, especially toward things that went bang. After all, in all his years, during every festive season when firecrackers blazed everywhere, Fan Ying had never seen nor heard of anyone who, upon lighting a firecracker, simply stood in place waiting for it to detonate.

Subsequently, Fan Ying dispatched men to make a detailed tally of the convoy's casualties and losses, while sending a small squad to comfort the Cao Clan guards and the martial artists of the Yangwei Escort Agency. Following that, he sent a fifty-man squad into the surrounding woods to conduct a search, claiming he wanted to see if any suspicious clues could be found.

Cao Chen and Yoshikawa were not idle either, arranging for their respective subordinates to gather the corpses of their fallen comrades. Both men repeatedly expressed their gratitude to Fan Ying, though the subtext in Cao Chen's words made Fan Ying fully understand: he simply did not want Fan Ying to report the incident truthfully and explicitly. No matter how formidable Cao Chen claimed the firecracker bandits were, the stark fact before them was that Cao Chen and Yoshikawa had suffered nearly fifty percent casualties, yet not a single corpse of the firecracker bandits had been found at the scene. If a casualty-free battle like this leaked out, Cao Chen worried whether his young master, Cao Xiangming, would let him off lightly.

"There's a body here!" A cry of surprise suddenly rang out from within the woods. Moments later, a squad leader ran out in a flurry, first cupping his fists in a salute to Fan Ying, then straightening his posture to report in a loud voice: "Captain Fan! We found a buried body inside the woods! We checked it briefly; it looks like the person died not long ago! The soil used to bury them is still loose!"

"Is that so? These outlaws are audacious indeed; they actually had time to bury their comrade's corpse!" Fan Ying feigned a moment of startled realization, turned to cast a puzzled look at Cao Chen, muttered a few words while shaking his head, waved his hand toward the squad leader, and strode toward the woods: "Let's go! Take us to have a look!"