Chapter 797: Grew Up Eating Fish
The moment the man in white shouted, a ripple of confusion spread through the rebel ranks.
"Damn it, he saw us!"
"Impossible! From this far, and we're hidden so well, how could he possibly see us?"
"This must be a tactic. He sees these perilous mountain woods and suspects an ambush, so he just shouted a random challenge. If we lose our composure and reveal ourselves, then we'd play right into his hands."
The leader's words resonated, and the rebels' spirits lifted. "Exactly, exactly! This is definitely a ruse, trying to flush us out."
They remained perfectly still, prone in their hiding spots.
The man in white was, of course, Bai Yuan. After shouting a few times, he looked up at the hillside. It remained silent and serene; not a single rebel head emerged.
He let out a soft sigh: "Alas!"
Zhang Yingchang came up from behind. "Mr. Bai, you've already tried such a ruse, yet no heads have popped out from the hillside. Evidently, there's no ambush. We can press on."
Zhang Yingchang: "..."
He mumbled internally, *Is this man utterly insane?*
Bai Yuan shook his head. "Alas, these rascals lack all decorum! I've extended my greetings to them, yet they fail to return the courtesy. Truly, no refinement whatsoever."
Zhang Yingchang retorted, "No one cares about that!"
Bai Yuan again lifted the tin megaphone, shouting towards the hillside: "Then I shall act."
The hillside remained silent and seemingly secure.
Zhang Yingchang was nearly driven to tears by exasperation. *This man is utterly insane! He's shouting at a deserted, empty hillside!*
Bai Yuan calmly set down the tin megaphone and produced a curious metal tube, fitted with two glass lenses. He brought the tube to his eyes and scrutinized the hillside through it for several moments.
Lowering the tube, he gestured to a nearby retainer. "The rifle!"
His retainer presented him with a bespoke firearm. Its barrel was noticeably longer than standard military issue, its craftsmanship superior. The rifling wasn't straight, but spiraled. The stock was embellished with a golden grip, intricately inlaid with several pieces of fine jade.
Bai Yuan took the firearm, aimed at the hillside, and issued orders simultaneously: "All soldiers, prepare yourselves. In a moment, rogues will spring from the hillside. Then you may fire."
Everyone chorused, "At your command!"
No sooner had he spoken than Bai Yuan's finger depressed the trigger.
A gunshot rang out. From a patch of tall grass, where no one had seemed to be, a cry of agony erupted. Then, a rebel's corpse tumbled down the slope, crushing a swathe of ferns as it went, like a macabre game of grass-sliding.
A shockwave of disbelief rippled through the rebels on the hillside.
"Damn it, can he *really* see us?"
"How is that possible? From so far away!"
"How could his firearm possess such range? And such accuracy?"
"It must be a lucky shot, a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse. It's still a trick, an attempt to deceive us."
At this moment, Zhang Yingchang was utterly dumbfounded. *Wait, there were rogues on that hillside? And he killed one with a single shot from his gun? What in the heavens kind of marksmanship is this? So accurate? That distance must be several hundred paces, surely? What in the world is going on?*
Bai Yuan casually passed the firearm aside. Without a word, his retainer took it, rapidly reloaded it, and then handed it back to him.
Bai Yuan, with practiced grace, raised his weapon and fired again.
Another scream echoed, and yet another rogue tumbled down the hillside.
At this point, the rebels, still prone, finally broke.
Their leader bellowed, "We've been exposed!"
Someone shouted, "Chief, should we counterattack?"
"Counterattack, my foot! Our firearms and repeating crossbows can't reach that far! Damn it! Get up, relocate..."
The rebels scrambled from their concealed positions, desperate to flee.
But by standing, they instantly became living targets.
While Bai Yuan was shooting, the Gao Family Village Militia soldiers were already primed. Their firearms were loaded. The moment a rebel showed their face, what reason was there *not* to fire?
"Bang bang bang!"
A burst of gunfire rang out, and the militia soldiers unleashed a volley.
Their aim was nowhere near as precise as Bai Yuan's, but with so many firing, the chances of a hit naturally soared.
Screams tore through the air from the hillside, and in moments, a swath of them crumpled.
"What the hell? Why? Their firearms shoot further than ours?"
"At this range, we can't even return fire!"
"Forget it! I'm fighting back!"
A few foolish rogues started firing back. Gunfire erupted with sharp cracks, as bird guns and Three-Eyed Arquebuses fired wildly at the militia, interspersed with the thrum of repeating crossbows, their bolts whistling through the air...
But their desperate volley was utterly futile. Smoothbore bullets and crossbow bolts simply couldn't cover such a distance. The laws of physics, after all, could not be defied.
Moreover, smoothbore firearms only gained combat effectiveness when wielded in organized ranks, firing in volleys. Rebels scattered haphazardly on a hillside, firing haphazardly, one shot at a time, offered little advantage.
The rebels' bullets and arrows began to arc downwards mid-flight, landing harmlessly in the no-man's-land between the two forces.
But the militia's bullets continued their relentless advance, accurately and mercilessly felling the rebels one by one on the hillside.
"This fighting is pointless! Retreat, retreat!" The leader roared in desperation.
"Run!"
The rebels once more scrambled to their feet and fled. The hillside was a chaos of figures scrambling uphill, desperate to crest the ridge and disappear.
But each time a militia firearm barked, another figure would be struck in the back, tumbling down the slope.
Their morale shattered!
Zhang Yingchang, who had been utterly dazed moments before, now snapped to attention. As a general of the highest rank (zongbing), he certainly knew how to seize an opportunity. Witnessing the rebels' complete collapse, Zhang Yingchang would not let such a golden chance slip by. He waved his hand and bellowed, "Pursue them!"
His personal guards surged forward first, their blades flashing, cutting down several rebels with brutal efficiency. The garrison soldiers behind them, witnessing "our overwhelming advantage," thought, *What was there to fear? Charge!*
Garrison troops were famously unreliable in pitched battles, but they excelled at turning a victory into a rout. Hordes of Henan garrison soldiers, howling like wolves, charged up the hillside, caught up to the rebels, and hacked them relentlessly.
It didn't take long. The rebels left over two hundred bodies behind, while the remaining seven hundred or so fled towards Luoshi County town.
"Hahahaha! A complete victory! An absolute triumph!"
Zhang Yingchang was ecstatic. He had been suffering constant defeats in recent days, which had left him questioning his very existence. But today's engagement was a thoroughly gratifying triumph. He could once again report his exploits to the imperial court.
He strolled back to Bai Yuan, beaming, cupping his hands in a respectful salute. "Mr. Bai, you are truly a miracle worker! How in the world did you
How did you possibly spot their ambush?"
Bai Yuan smiled. "I grew up by Horseshoe Lake, eating fish since childhood. My eyesight is naturally excellent."
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