The Farang

Chapter 24

They have been marching for a full moon now. The long trek started in Yunnan. These men are the best trained fighting force in all of the Ming Empire. Their base lay just behind the twenty meter high walls of Kunming. These men didn't waste their time with such trivial tasks as keeping guard on the wall or doing reconnaissance or act as messengers, they spend their time training for those very special tasks that are of the utmost importance. Their purpose is to kill and to be the best in the world at killing. They serve at the emperor's pleasure and wherever he commands them to go they do it without question. And this time he sent them to the South. After the Ming had defeated the hated Mongols, they had unified China under their rule and now the time has come to expand the Empire once again, the next target is Ayutthaya.

The two hundred men dressed in their dark blue vests made from interwoven silk and velvet, and leather armor on top, together with their brass helmets painted in dark brown are a formidable sight indeed. But now, in this strange country they are unsettled. This land is very different from theirs. They are experts in fighting in the hills and mountains in Yunnan and in the plains of central China and Mongolia, but the jungles here and this terrible heat, this is something completely new for them. The thick clothes that protect them so well in battle now act live ovens up against their bodies. And the moisture and the heat in the air make their weapons seem heavier that they are. They were never trained for this kind of thing. A relieve was that they didn't take the heavy cannons that they normally use. That would have slowed down their advance and it would have been simply impossible for the horses to pull them in this kind of weather.

They have arrived at the destination last night. Their agent Ghao had been waiting for them as arranged. When they got to this little open patch in the middle of the jungle most of the Chinese soldiers had dropped haphazardly from exhaustion, desperate for some rest.

"Come on. Wake up you lazy pigs. The day has started. Stand up or I will have all of you whipped." Ghao runs around the group of soldiers cracking his whip angrily at them.

He is startled by a battle cry. He turns his head toward the tree line. "They are everywhere."

Lightly dressed men, with only a simple shirt and a red scarf tied around their forehead, jump out of the jungle swift like monkeys, brandishing curved broad swords.

'What is happening? Where did they come from? This is not a part of the plan. How did someone find out where we are and what we are intending to do. That stupid fat pig must have made a mistake. He will pay for this if it's the last thing I do.'

Ghao is stunned by the new developments. The questions are flooding his mind. The plan had been perfect. He had worked for a very long time to get all the pieces in place. Reaching the Ming emperor had not been easy and convincing him to send his elite force was even harder. And now this happens. Will all his effort go to waste again and because of that disgusting greedy fat pig Anantachai.

The lightly dressed men with their broad curved swords quickly surround the stunned Chinese. 'Some elite force you are.' Ghao returns back to the moment and starts mobilizing his men. "Get up and fight. We mustn't let them defeat us. Fight for your emperor, fight for your lives."

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