Chapter 48: The Battle of the Squabbling Novices
Again, two massive boulders soared through the air, once more clearing the ramparts.
This time, even more people craned their necks to watch the colossal stones carve paths through the sky.
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
The two immense stones once again crashed into the bandit ranks, unleashing a cacophony of screams and howls.
The momentum of the bandit charge faltered, many hearts suddenly turning towards retreat.
Witnessing this, the villagers' courage surged. Many who had been trembling moments ago now found their hands steady, their hearts calm. They burst into raucous laughter, bellowing, “Hahaha, that’s exhilarating! Smash those cowardly idiots to oblivion!”
“Keep it up!”
“Li Da, Gao Yiyi, keep going!”
The villagers defending the ramparts, along with Bai Yuan's household guards, couldn't help but turn their heads to watch the two blacksmiths...
Bai Yuan erupted in a fury: “Where are you looking? Keep your eyes on the outside of the wall! Archers, prepare to fire!”
His roar snapped the villagers back to attention. They turned their gaze beyond the walls and saw to their horror that a group of the most ferocious bandits had already charged to within ten paces of the ramparts.
“Fire! Fire!”
Bai Yuan shrieked, his voice raw.
Bai Yuan’s household guards reacted swiftly, drawing their bows in an instant. Four or five arrows hissed through the air, thudding into several bandits.
Li Daoxuan clapped. “Excellent archery!”
However, he quickly realized that the bandits hit by arrows weren't falling; they continued to push forward. The portrayals in television shows, where a single arrow means instant death, were pure fabrication. The reality was that 'three arrows couldn't match one blade, and three blades couldn't match one spear.' Arrows, in actual combat, were almost laughable in their effectiveness.
The villagers' light bows could only poke small, bloody holes in the bandits.
Several mountain bandits also drew their bows, returning fire towards the wall. Swish, swish, swish—dozens of feeble arrows arced into the sky...
Li Daoxuan had originally intended to observe from the sidelines, but seeing the bandits fire arrows, he couldn't hold back. My little villagers barely have any armor yet, how painful it would be for them to get shot with a bloody hole!
His protective instincts kicked in. He couldn't resist extending his hand, forming a barrier in front of the villagers. The bandits' arrows struck his palm, only to be deflected by his skin, thickened 200 times its normal density.
(Note: Human skin on the palms and soles is the thickest, reaching 3-4 millimeters. Thickened 200-fold, this would result in super-thick skin measuring 60-80 centimeters.)
Only Gao Yiye could perceive the colossal hand shielding the villagers from the arrows. The mountain bandits, however, simply assumed their arrows had been stopped by the city wall. They remained blissfully unaware that the villagers had activated a cheat code, clung to a powerful patron, and were brazenly bending the rules.
Above, two more massive boulders flew overhead...
The bandits in the rear were once again sent scattering in terror by the bombardment, but the most ferocious among them had already reached the foot of the wall. Several bandits worked in unison, heaving a long siege ladder against the ramparts.
Bai Yuan roared, “Throw stones! Pour boiling oil!”
Bai Yuan’s household guards immediately grabbed the pre-stacked stones and began flinging them indiscriminately at the base of the wall.
The impact of these stones was far greater than that of arrows; each one that struck a head would instantly split it open. The fierce bandits below the wall suffered terribly from the onslaught.
Behind them, the already organized village women, bent under the weight, carried kettles brimming with boiling oil, climbed the wall, and passed them to the guards.
The guards took the kettles and poured the scalding liquid in a wild torrent onto those below. Once empty, they set the kettles behind them, and the women quickly retreated from the wall with their empty containers... Behind the wall, large and small cauldrons bubbled furiously, ceaselessly heating more oil.
The women returned to the cauldrons, refilled their kettles, and once more carried them up to the wall. This was fine rapeseed oil, and pouring it onto people like this pained the women dearly. Each kettle they sent up felt like a knife carving into their hearts.
After several exchanges, the timid ordinary villagers had finally settled their nerves. With war cries echoing around them and boulders soaring overhead, their once-trembling limbs inexplicably found a newfound strength.
Gao Chuwu darted to the edge of the wall, hoisted a large stone, and hurled it down with all his might. “I’m here!” he bellowed.
Zheng Daniu shouted, “Me too!”
Dozens of villagers swarmed forward behind them, crying, “We’re here to help too!”
Initially, a mere dozen or so household guards had been haphazardly fighting, their efforts clearly insufficient. But as the villagers joined in, the situation immediately shifted. Large stones and small stones, big kettles of oil and small kettles of oil—a frenzied barrage rained down on the base of the wall.
The first wave of ferocious bandits to reach the wall was instantly shattered and routed. The group carrying a battering ram, intending to force the gate open, was bombarded so heavily that they abandoned their ram, threw down the log, and fled in disarray.
However, the bandits carrying the siege ladders persisted. They didn't approach the wall directly, but instead began raising their ladders several meters away. At this distance, the catapults couldn't reach them, falling stones missed, and boiling oil couldn't be poured effectively.
Indeed, they managed to erect their ladders. Then, with a resounding clatter as they tilted forward, the crude bamboo ladders crashed against the edge of the wall.
Several villagers immediately rushed forward, intending to push the ladders over.
Bai Yuan bellowed, “Don’t try to push them! You’ll be lucky to budge those things! Those with spears, move closer and prepare to impale anyone climbing up the ladders!”
Before the battle, he had meticulously explained countless times how to handle every conceivable situation to the villagers. But once the fighting began, all of it flew out of their minds. Few did as he instructed, leaving Bai Yuan fuming, leaping about and cursing incessantly.
Fortunately, the terrain offered an immense advantage!
The bandit army, too, lacked organization and discipline, simply floundering about.
In the midst of the chaos, a fierce bandit scrambled up a ladder, one hand gripping the rungs, the other wildly swinging a hatchet.
But how long could a hatchet be?
A villager raised a long bamboo spear, its tip sharpened to a point, and thrust it at the bandit. With a shriek, the man plummeted from a height of two *zhang*, landing flat on his back with a dull thud.
Between the spear wound and the fall, the wretch clearly wouldn't survive.
However, the next bandit to climb up was different. He was a towering, burly man, wrapped in thick cowhide armor. A villager raised a bamboo spear and thrust it at him, but the man didn’t even bother to dodge.
The sharpened bamboo struck his chest, but couldn’t pierce the heavy cowhide.
The villager’s strength wasn't enough. The single thrust of the bamboo spear failed to dislodge the man from the ladder. With one hand still gripping the ladder, he raised his broadsword and, with a *crack*, severed the bamboo spear.
The villager, startled, quickly retreated.
The man vaulted onto the city wall with a flourish, and roared with laughter: “My name is One Blade! Remember it well, for today I’m going to slaughter every single one of you!”
Figures flickered before his eyes, as several villagers charged at him.
One Blade showed no fear. Wrapped in thick cowhide, ordinary weapons couldn't harm him. He wasn't afraid of fighting a group of villagers at all. Just yesterday, during the assault on Bai Family Fortress, he had single-handedly cut down five household guards—that was how formidable he was.
He brought his blade down on the first villager who rushed him.
“Clang!”
The blow, though aimed at the man’s chest, resounded with the clash of metal.
One Blade stared in astonishment. “Iron armor!” he exclaimed.
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