CHAPTER 65
The Mongol commanders knew of the Baron’s intent to lead a massive raid because they all saw the widely distributed videos of a guy in a red suit saying so. Which made it easier to dismiss because, as far as anyone knew, the Baron didn’t speak Chinese or Japanese, and another guy wearing a red suit was marauding in the Stans. And they had multiple videos of that guy blowing flame out of his boot wands.
In contrast, every Mongol new agency broadcast stunning videos of a massive American armada sweeping across Mongolia with a vanguard of traitorous Indians. Now that was real. It’s hard to fake burning cities and thousands of Mongol eye witnesses.
So, with the Khan leading an armada west, the governors needed to identify the greater threat: a quarter million deadly Americans, or a speech by a guy in a red suit talking about leading quads from a dozen kingdoms.
So the leadership sent every possible quad in China north to confront the Americans because the threat of a Grand Raid seemed ridiculous. Mongol authorities also assumed that any dead Mongol was murdered by local Chinese, and so retaliated almost at random. Terrified locals called upon militia, quad relatives, and criminal organizations to protect them. Which led to more Mongol reprisals. But, out-numbered 100-to-1, vengeful Chinese overwhelmed local garrisons, police stations, and government offices. Cities became battlegrounds and rural areas became graveyards.
Then came the raid. And it was grand.
Instead of attacking on the next full moon, as stated in the video, a few hundred battalions from several kingdoms struck Mongol air bases the night before. Short-range units hit units just across the border, while the marathoners struck deeper to maximize surprise.
The crowds massing for the invasion saw videos of burning air bases before they even left home. Mobs poured over the border in a killing frenzy that overwhelmed the Mongols who had not fled.
Several million more Chinese now took the opportunity to kill Mongols and take their stuff. Those without wands used swords, arrows, and spears. Chaos and anarchy ruled the streets. Criminal gangs and ex-military raided on a larger scale in front of the invasion forces. Triads finally got their revenge on Imperial Guards. Foreigners serving in Mongol units killed their comrades and looted their barracks to raid on their own. The richer the Mongol, the sooner he died.
In China, as the raiders moved inland, more Mongol units banded together to push them back. But what they didn’t do was wait until they had sufficient force. Instead, they made themselves targets for the foreign battalions. The invading mobs got bombed a lot, but the battalions behind them then wiped out the Mongol bombers.
Billy and his marathoners targeted western Mongolia, his near-marathoners struck central Mongolia, and the Koreans destroyed everything in eastern Mongolia. Dozens of caravans flowed east to Peking like rivers of riches.
His half-marathoners plundered the corridor between Peking and the port city of Tianjin, 120 kilometers away. The Americans captured every seaworthy ship in the harbor to transport their loot. Barges full of Mongol wealth sailed down river to the harbor.
As the weeks passed, more and more raiders returned home with all the valuables that they could carry. As the rest pressed inland, the greater territory spread them out ever thinner.
After a month, the tide turned. The invaders finally faced superior forces, who pushed them back towards the coast. Billy sent his non-marathoners home since they were too loaded down to fight. He used the marathoners to bomb the larger units, but did not stick around to eliminate them. Billy advised the other commanders to also return home while they could, and distributed a video urging all Chinese to leave northern China or face the Khan’s wrath.
Over a million northern Chinese fled to Korea, the closest refuge. At Billy’s suggestion, the Korean king used them to build mountaintop fortifications to deter the Khan.
Formation flyers still killed disorganized mobs, but this time in reverse. The Mongols progressed slowly, however, because they killed all non-Mongols on general principal. Millions of them. Rather than search door to door, the Mongols found it faster to simply flatten every building in their way. If they stayed in a killer mood long enough, the Mongols would depopulate northern China.
Everyone seemed shocked -- shocked! -- that the Mongols didn’t bother to distinguish pro-Mongolian Chinese from the rebels. Except for Billy, who needed to physically separate Mongols from non-Mongols.
When they didn’t have bombs, Billy looked for enemy divisions to gang up on. Mongols that spent the day targeting civilians would suddenly face fifty thousand disciplined marathoners. With plenty of food in the cities, Billy spent the next month surprising or overwhelming enemy forces, which gave millions of non-Mongols time to get away.
But what Billy didn’t do was stand his ground. He couldn’t surprise the same units twice, so once he attacked one, he moved on to the next. While this slowed the Mongols, it did not stop them. But Billy never intended to liberate China. He just wanted to “drain the swamp,” as his father phrased it. That was the whole point of this entire campaign. And it worked better than he imagined.
Until the Mongols realized how much wealth they were losing. That’s when they decided that killing everyone took too long. Now they leaped ahead unpredictably, trying to stop their valuables from leaving their lands.
Suddenly, Billy had too many targets. He struck as many as he could, until they started surprising him. In war, those who surprise, win, while the surprised die.
So Billy let his marathoners go home rich, except his best American battalion which guarded the last wagon train entering Peking.
Now Billy looked forward to a safe vacation with his wife and kids.
Then a scout saw fifty thousand enemies approaching the Gobi Desert, probably to intercept his golden caravan and burn whatever ships had not yet sailed.
Oh hell.
Billy led his last battalion north and poisoned every water hole within flying distance. The enemy already arrived at the largest water source on the northern side, so the Americans had to fly over a thousand kilometers at night to reach safety. Weaker quads would have been trapped between poison water and angry enemies.
Billy gave the Mongols a head start before he left to find them. He attacked them for an hour to wake them up, then slept far away under a blanket that resembled sand. At dawn, midday, and sunset he shot whoever stayed on the ground to exhaust them.
By dawn they apparently discovered that every water source in front of them was poisoned, forcing them to return the way they came. Billy naturally harassed them the entire trip.
Since blasts grow wider the farther they travel, Billy knocked the weary from the sky. The advantage is he could smack down several every heartbeat. Those with enough wit flew away from comrades since Billy targeted those in clumps. Billy didn't mind -- he had plenty of weary targets to keep him occupied.
The exhausted, sleepy, dehydrated Mongols were no match for the Americans waiting for them at the oasis. The marathoners wiped out ten times their number without suffering a single casualty.
But angry Mongols now flew between them and the route back home. They couldn’t stay, yet had nowhere to go.