Chapter 292: Trying to Rob Even *Me*?
“Wow! They're fighting!”
Hovering in mid-air, watching the spectacle, Cheng Xu and Xing Honglang were thoroughly enjoying the show.
They watched as Wang Zuogua's vanguard from Yichuan County charged, and the government troops immediately fell into disarray.
Wu Zimian had originally led three thousand men to suppress the bandits. However, he had accepted bribes to release many military commanders, who in turn took their private retinues with them. This reduced Wu Zimian's forces to barely two thousand.
Furthermore, these two thousand soldiers had low morale and little will to fight. Their minds were entirely focused on avoiding battle.
Seeing several thousand bandit soldiers surge out from the forest, their true numbers unknown, Wu Zimian's subordinates immediately panicked.
Wu Zimian's household guards, the only ones who could be called elite troops, did not charge forward to meet the enemy. Instead, they tightly encircled Wu Zimian, protecting him.
Given this situation, how could they possibly fight a decent battle?!
Wang Zuogua's vanguard needed only one charge to utterly shatter Wu Zimian's outer formations. Before the Ming troops could even recover, shouts echoed from all directions simultaneously: “Miao Mei of Yichuan is here!”
“Great Red Wolf of Yichuan is here!”
Wang Zuogua's three great generals had attacked from three other directions.
Wu Zimian saw this and exclaimed, “Damn it, how are there bandits everywhere—front, back, left, and right?!”
His household guards frantically cried out, “General, this is terrible! The bandits have encircled us without us even realizing it.”
Wu Zimian demanded, “What about the horses? Where are my five hundred good horses? They're worth tens of thousands of silver taels!”
The household guards pleaded, rushing him, “There's no time for the horses now, General, run!”
A group of household guards shielded Wu Zimian, desperately fighting their way north.
Meanwhile, Zao Ying couldn't help but feel utterly bewildered.
She had just finished negotiating a price with Wu Zimian's household guards. What the hell was Wang Zuogua of Yichuan County doing suddenly popping up like this?!
Zao Ying thought to herself, ‘Forget it! At worst, I'll just abandon this deal. I didn't bring any silver anyway, and I stumbled upon this business by chance. Let the officials and bandits fight; I'll just smoothly slip away.’
She quickly called to her subordinates, telling them to mount their horses and retreat.
The bandits' horses had originally been scattered around the village, grazing. When Wu Zimian's men arrived, they had rounded up their horses, preparing for a potential battle at any moment. Now, upon receiving Zao Ying's command, they swiftly swung onto their saddles.
Just as Zao Ying was about to gallop away, a fierce man blocked her path, stopping her horse. He grinned widely and roared with laughter, “You, woman, are the Yichuan horse bandit, Zao Ying, aren't you?”
Zao Ying replied, “Indeed. And who might you be?”
The man cackled. “I'm Great Red Wolf of Yichuan County! Let's cut the pleasantries. Hand over all your horses.”
Zao Ying paused, slightly stunned. Then, her face contorted in fury. “Damn it! You're trying to rob *me* too?!”
Great Red Wolf laughed heartily. “Not trying—already doing it.”
With that, he raised a long spear, and with a whoosh, he thrust it towards Zao Ying.
Zao Ying drew her saber and parried. With a clang, she deflected the spear, but her arm went numb. Great Red Wolf certainly possessed immense strength.
Her bandit subordinates behind her tried to rush forward, but they saw a large mass of bandit soldiers surging up behind Great Red Wolf. All were armed with long spears, forming a dense spear wall. It completely blocked the path of Zao Ying and her group of horse bandits.
She reined in her horse, attempting to charge in a different direction, but she saw Wang Zuogua's men everywhere, from all sides, all carrying long spears, or sharpened long wooden staffs and bamboo poles...
Their formation made it clear from the start that they were here to seize the horses!
They were determined to take both the five hundred warhorses from the government troops and Zao Ying's own horses.
“Damn it,” Zao Ying muttered under her breath. But in her mind, she was quickly calculating: ‘The situation is bad. My men are few, just over a hundred. Wang Zuogua has thousands. He's encircled us from all sides, rendering my cavalry unable to charge and costing us our advantage.’
What was she to do?
Just then, Xing Honglang spoke up: “Heavenly Lord, we could save that female horse bandit.”
Li Daoxuan raised an eyebrow, silently questioning.
Xing Honglang quickly explained: “Her name is Zao Ying. She's a renowned horse bandit from Yichuan County, a true ‘greenwood hero’ with no history of misdeeds. She always targets corrupt officials and never preys on common folk. She's not like Wang Zuogua and his ilk. See, Wang Zuogua is even attacking her now. She's been inexplicably ambushed in this mess, and it would be a shame for her to die here.”
Cheng Xu, beside her, added: “Wu Zimian's forces have already been routed by Wang Zuogua. If we're going to turn the tables on these bandits, now's the perfect time to strike. We should act while Wang Zuogua's forces are still celebrating their victory and haven't yet reorganized their formations.”
Li Daoxuan slowly lowered his hand, placing both of them back in front of their subordinates.
This single action was a command for them to move immediately!
Xing Honglang rejoiced: “The Heavenly Lord has agreed to save Zao Ying!”
Cheng Xu replied, “The Heavenly Lord has always been benevolent. He is always willing to lend a hand to good people. Since that's the case, there's no need to wait. We clearly saw the surrounding terrain and Wang Zuogua's troop deployment from up in the sky, didn't we?”
Xing Honglang nodded. “Crystal clear.”
“Then let's go!” Cheng Xu grinned, chuckling. “Grenadiers! Firearm soldiers! Get ready!”
After Xu Dafu successfully produced the Hand Grenades, mass production immediately began. Blacksmiths and gunpowder workshop apprentices worked together, having already produced twenty Hand Grenades. As for the firearm soldiers, they were already equipped with ten Three-Eyed Arquebuses, one Flintlock Rifle, and one matchlock rifle...
This wasn't a large quantity, by any means. But with the Heavenly Lord watching from above, what was there to fear?
Cheng Xu, brimming with fighting spirit and seeing no reason for caution, waved his hand and laughed heartily: “The bandit army is split into four divisions. Two are pursuing Wu Zimian and seizing the government's warhorses. The other two are besieging Zao Ying. We'll first break Zao Ying's encirclement.”
Zao Ying was swirling around in a frenzy.
She and her subordinates had horses, which meant speed. But with spear formations bristling on all sides, no matter how fast they were, they couldn't break through. They could only circle within the enclosure.
From Li Daoxuan's vantage point, he could see Zao Ying and her group galloping in circles, constantly revolving within the enormous encirclement.
With each rotation, the encirclement tightened a step, making her maneuvering space smaller and smaller. If this continued, she would soon be unable to move at all.
The inevitable outcome would be being stabbed off her horse by a spear...
Li Daoxuan couldn't help but inwardly praise: ‘Wang Zuogua has certainly grown quickly! The old Wang Zuogua was clueless, only knew how to order a full frontal charge. But the current Wang Zuogua understands how to divide and conquer, using spear formations to press cavalry.’
Tsk, tsk, tsk!
Zao Ying's heart had sunk to rock bottom, feeling certain this was where she would meet her end.
Just at that moment, Cheng Xu's contingent arrived.
The first to arrive were the Hand Grenades hurled by Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu.
After new improvements, ordinary people could throw a Hand Grenade tens of meters, while the powerhouses Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu could hurl them over sixty meters.
Two grenades arced through the sky, landing in the midst of Great Red Wolf's spear formation.
“Boom! Boom!”
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