Novels online

Chapter 47: The Battle Begins

“The main rebel army is here. So many, so many!” The scout from Gao Family Village shrieked, his voice laced with terror.

For villagers who had spent their entire lives within the confines of their small hamlet, never venturing far from its borders, the sight of a thousand men moving as one was truly overwhelming.

Li Daoxuan, however, merely spared a glance. *Hardly impressive,* he mused. It was roughly the scale of thirty high school classes lined up for an athletic meet's opening ceremony.

Yet, these mountain bandits lacked the organization and discipline of modern high schoolers. There were no discernible formations, no unified commands, just a chaotic horde of ruffians scrambling together. And certainly, no one bellowed "Study hard, improve daily!" as they passed a hypothetical podium.

Their physical condition was also markedly inferior to that of contemporary students. Enduring drought and perpetual hunger, they were a gaunt, sallow-faced lot, clearly suffering from malnutrition.

Compared to the villagers of Gao Family Village, who had enjoyed a steady diet of rice, noodles, oil, meat, and vegetables for over half a month, the bandits' physical strength existed on an entirely different plane.

But...

There was one quality the Gao Family Village residents simply couldn't match: their "aura."

They were bandits, robbers. They had pillaged countless villages, slain many, and even breached the renowned Bai Family Fortress. They possessed "battle experience," an unshakeable confidence, and the sheer brutality required to hack a living opponent to death. Spattered in blood, they wouldn't flinch or vomit. With hearts of stone, they would rape women and even cook infants without a shred of remorse.

The villagers of Gao Family Village had none of them.

As nearly a thousand enemies drew near, the villagers, who had never seen battle, trembled uncontrollably. Even with San Shier and Gao Yiye's ceaseless assurances of, "Don't be afraid, everyone, the Heavenly Lord protects us!" their bodies continued to shake.

The bandit army halted about a hundred paces from the village walls. A figure wielding a sinister saber, whose face practically screamed villainy, stepped forward and bellowed, "I am the Supreme Bright King! You pathetic dolts of Gao Family Village, I hear you're arrogant, thinking your tall walls make you untouchable. Originally, I might have spared your wretched village for ten *shi* of grain. But now, you face nothing but death! When this wall falls, I swear Gao Family Village will be razed, with not even a chicken or dog left alive! You're utterly screwed!"

Over a thousand bandits echoed his words in unison, their roar shaking the very earth.

The villagers stood speechless, their faces paling further.

Even San Shier began to quail, a slight tremor running through his frame.

Mr. Bai, however, let out a cold laugh. "What a pack of fools! Spouting such threats before a battle—aren't they just telling the Gao Family villagers they *must* fight to the death? Bandits, indeed! They don't even understand psychological warfare. To conquer such a formidable fortress, one should first offer incentives, use soft words, and lure the villagers into opening their gates or defecting."

"Well, it *is* still effective if it frightens us," San Shier retorted, "I'm feeling quite 'heart-stoppingly terrified' right now."

"Don't be so easily scared by trivialities!" Mr. Bai snapped, clearly annoyed.

"But I'm a scholar!" San Shier protested.

Mr. Bai raised his voice by a third. "So am I! Oh, forget it, why am I even yelling at you?"

He turned away, calling out loudly, "You two blacksmiths! When I shout 'Smash!' you smash!"

Li Da and Gao Yiyi boomed their assent, "Yes, sir!"

Mr. Bai then roared up at the battlements, "Bai family retainers! You take the first wave!"

The dozen-odd Bai family guards responded with a resounding, "At your command!"

Mr. Bai continued, "Gao Chuwu, Zheng Daniu! You two will hold the second wave!"

The two sturdy young men chorused, "At your command!"

"Does everyone know what to do?" Mr. Bai bellowed.

"Yes!"

"Ye-es..."

"I think so... yes..."

The crowd responded, some voices firm, others wavering. The hundred young, able-bodied defenders had undergone varied training, their courage differing widely. In their own way, they were hardly more organized than the bandits outside.

By this point, Li Daoxuan had already settled into his small stool, a plate of rice in one hand, a magnifying glass in the other. He sat outside the diorama box, ready to enjoy a grand spectacle of ancient warfare.

Outside the city, the bandit chief, "Supreme Bright King," waved his hand and roared, "Charge!"

His second-in-command, looking slightly awkward, ventured, "Such a high wall, where are we supposed to charge? We can't climb any of it, can we?"

"The ladders I told you to prepare?" the Supreme Bright King snapped, furious. "Set them against the wall, climb up, and we win!"

"Oh, right!"

"And what about those sharpened logs?" the Supreme Bright King raged. "Smash open their pathetic wooden gate, charge in, and we win!"

"Oh, right!"

The Supreme Bright King bellowed, "Over a thousand of us against a hundred of them—how can we lose? What are you waiting for? Charge! Just like at Bai Family Fortress, we charged, and we won!"

With a swing of his sinister saber, the mass of bandits roared in unison. Wielding an assortment of haphazard weapons, and hoisting improvised battering rams and ladders, they surged towards Gao Family Village.

Their charge only deepened the villagers' fear, sending them huddling together in a terrified clump.

Gao Yiye was terrified too; her legs felt like jelly on the battlements. But she recalled something Mrs. San had once told her: "The more composed your demeanor, the more people will respect the Heavenly Lord." So, despite her fear, she gritted her teeth, stood motionless, and tried her best to appear calm.

Just then, Mr. Bai's roaring command echoed over Gao Family Village: "Blacksmiths! Strike!"

Behind the protection of the wall, Li Da and Gao Yiyi couldn't see the bandits' synchronized roar and charge, so they felt no fear. Their hands, still strong and steady despite wielding heavy hammers, didn't tremble. The moment they heard Mr. Bai's shout, both men swung their massive hammers in unison, smashing them down onto the mechanisms of the catapults before them.

The hammers struck the mechanisms with a dull thud, and the two plastic catapults lurched, launching two enormous stones skyward.

The stones soared first over the battlements, slicing through the air with a whistling rush. Gao Chuwu and the others standing on the wall couldn't help but crane their necks, watching the immense projectiles arc overhead.

Then, their gaze followed the two stones as they flew out over the city.

CRASH!

The massive stones plummeted into the bandit ranks, instantly crushing any foe they struck head-on. Their momentum unspent, the two boulders continued to roll forward, indiscriminately mowing down men and scattering bodies, plowing twin trails of gore through the panicked crowd.

A great cry of alarm rose from the bandits: "Oh my God..."

"Zhang San was just smashed into a pulp right in front of me... Waaah! Waaah!"

"My face is covered in blood..."

"Son of a bitch!"

"What *was* that?!"

"Huge stones, flying out of nowhere!"

The bandit army erupted into instant chaos!

But there were still eighteen catapults left. The two blacksmiths swiftly moved to the next pair of machines, hefted their massive hammers, and brought them down with brutal force...

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