Chapter 73

"Sir, it's not good, it's not good at all!"

On this day, Lin Sha was flipping through books in the main tent of the temporary camp when his subordinate guards suddenly burst in, shouting and looking as if something terrible had happened.

"I'm not dead yet, so why are you panicking? Has the sky fallen?" Lin Sha was displeased, slamming the book on the table with a loud thud that echoed like thunder in the ears of the panicked guards, making their faces turn pale and their expressions fearful as they repeatedly begged for forgiveness.

"Hmph, be more careful in the future. Always being so jumpy, what kind of decorum is that?"

Lin Sha picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip, letting the guard stand there for a while before slowly asking, "What happened, to have you so flustered?"

"Sir!"

The guard's panic had subsided, and he respectfully replied, "Just now, news came from the headquarters of the general. The other battalions of the Yunnan army were all defeated in the campaign to suppress the rebellion of the local chieftains!"

"All defeated?"

The fine porcelain cup from Jingdezhen paused in mid-air as Lin Sha turned, his face full of surprise, his mind still reeling from the sudden shocking news. "All defeated? How did they lose?"

"Sir, according to the messenger from the headquarters..."

The guard, full of admiration, thought to himself that the sir indeed had great composure. He gathered his spirits and recounted the story vividly, as if telling a tale.

It turned out that the other battalions of the Yunnan army had slowly made their way to western Yunnan. Seeing that Lin Sha's unit had won two major battles in just half a month, they were filled with envy, jealousy, and resentment, and at the same time, they looked down on the rebel chieftains. If even a new recruit like Lin Sha could perform so well, the rebels must be weak.

With this mindset, they rushed to the western Yunnan battlefield, heading straight for the most severe areas of the rebellion and fighting separately. Naturally, they didn't fare well on the rebels' home turf!

The dense mountains and forests negated the Yunnan army's well-trained advantages. Fighting in the thick forests against the fierce rebels, it was a miracle if they had a good outcome.

As a result, all the troops suffered heavy losses, with the worst one nearly being completely wiped out, returning with less than one-fifth of the original number of soldiers!

The news reached Hu Guozhu first, naturally drawing his intense anger. After demoting the leaders of the defeated battalions, he began to think about how to remedy the situation.

Lin Sha's recent victory reports, which had been sent urgently a few days earlier, suddenly came to mind. Hu Guozhu immediately reviewed them carefully, and after reading, he clapped his hands in approval, startling his close aides.

Previously, he hadn't realized how difficult the rebellion was to handle. Now, with a comparison, Lin Sha's achievements over the past half month—traversing a hundred miles and winning two consecutive battles, killing over two hundred rebels (Lin Sha hadn't yet adapted to the military's habit of exaggerating in reports)—with his own losses being less than a hundred, stood out even more.

When the victory reports first arrived, he hadn't thought much of it, assuming that as a new recruit, Lin Sha was bound to be inexperienced in command, and that winning two battles and eliminating only about two hundred rebels wasn't much.

But now, with the stark contrast to the other battalions' heavy defeats, Lin Sha's performance truly shone!

With the young and plump Hu Guozhu Jr. adding fuel to the fire and speaking highly of Lin Sha, Hu Guozhu decided to give Lin Sha more responsibility, leading to the messenger from the headquarters.

"Oh, what did the messenger from the headquarters say?"

Lin Sha's eyebrows twitched, putting down the teacup he was playing with and sitting up straight, asking in a serious tone.

"The messenger from the headquarters didn't say it outright, just conveyed the general's intentions!"

The guard respectfully replied, "Does Sir have the confidence to quell the rebellion in western Yunnan? If so, how long will it take, and how much support from the headquarters is needed?"

As he spoke, his voice trembled slightly, glancing at Lin Sha, who remained calm, his expression becoming even more respectful. "If Sir lacks confidence, the headquarters will issue a formal order to retreat."

After speaking, he stood quietly to one side, and the main tent fell into a deathly silence.

"It seems General Hu holds me in high regard!"

Lin Sha pondered for a moment, touched his nose, and chuckled, breaking the slightly oppressive atmosphere in the tent.

"Sir, what do you mean..."

The guard's eyes lit up, looking at him with eager anticipation.

"Of course, we will fight on!"

Lin Sha smiled lightly, picked up the teacup, and drank it in one go, his face full of determination. "Sir, our strength, isn't it a bit..."

The guard opened his mouth but didn't say the word "weak."

"Isn't there support from the headquarters?"

Lin Sha chuckled, waving his hand nonchalantly. "Did the messenger from the headquarters specify how much support General Hu can provide?"

"The messenger said that the defeated troops are all under your command, Sir!"

The guard lowered his head, his eyes shining with joy.

"Good, I accept this mission!"

Lin Sha's face lit up with excitement as he slapped the table and sprang to his feet, pacing around the empty meeting area of the main tent, cracking his neck with a series of pops. "The men have rested enough; it's time to get some exercise!"

Thus, Lin Sha easily took on the heavy responsibility of quelling the rebellion in western Yunnan, his status and power expanding rapidly.

...

Rumble...

Banners fluttered and drums thundered. At the foot of a mountain in western Yunnan, in a dense valley, the cries of battle shook the sky as two forces fought to the death.

As the saying goes, pick the softest persimmon to pinch. Lin Sha had just taken command of over a thousand demoralized, leaderless, and spiritless defeated troops. Despite his efforts to integrate his two battalions as the core, dispersing them among the hastily taken over thousand defeated troops, the short time had not yet shown significant results.

The rebel chieftains in western Yunnan had recently inflicted heavy losses on the government forces, riding high on their success and rampaging through the region, causing chaos and destruction.

As the main commander of the rebellion suppression in western Yunnan, General Hu Guozhu was under immense pressure, and Lin Sha, the front-line commander, naturally faced frequent harassment.

With no other choice, he hastily led the troops, who had been trained for less than a month, out to patrol the edges of the rebel-infested areas, luring the rebels out and setting up ambushes. Finally, he managed to trap a group of about two hundred rebels in the valley.

He knew this was somewhat dishonorable, but to boost the remaining courage of the defeated troops, he needed a series of victories to lift their morale. After a few wins, he could then take on the main rebel forces.