Chapter 285: The Ambush

Sun Chuanting said slowly, "The time and the moment are about right."

As he spoke, he waved his hand behind him, and Zhang Hu walked over to Sun Chuanting's side like a mountain.

Glancing back at Zhang Hu, Sun Chuanting said heartily, "The moment is about right. Take your men and go. Once you're up there, open a breach directly and take Luzhou City."

"Sir, rest assured, I'm off now." Zhang Hu acknowledged, clasped his fists, turned, and left.

Zhang Hu had three thousand men. These three thousand had been carefully selected by Sun Chuanting from the new army—they were his personal guards, every one of them a top-notch fighter. At the same time, these men all had clean backgrounds; most were mountain folk who had lost everything to disasters and commoners who had fallen on hard times.

The earlier wave of sacrificial attacks had already worn Luzhou City down considerably. Now it was the turn of these well-equipped elites to go up. Once they charged up there, Sun Chuanting believed Luzhou City should be just about done for.

Qi Yuangong naturally heard Sun Chuanting's orders as well and knew the time was about right.

In fact, looking at the heavy gloom of the dusk sky, if this wave couldn't take the city, then today was finished—they could only wait until tomorrow to keep fighting.

Just at that moment, Liao Sanniang from not far away quietly crept over.

Seeing this, Qi Yuangong walked straight to Sun Chuanting's side, hand pressing on the saber at his waist, watching Liao Sanniang warily.

The reason was simple: during the assault just now, Liao Sanniang's people had suffered heavy losses. Especially some who had been killed by their own side—that is, by the hands of the supervision squad. Who knew whether this Liao Sanniang might fly into a rage out of humiliation and strike at Sun Chuanting directly? If that really happened, then he himself would be in deep trouble, so Qi Yuangong had to protect Sun Chuanting.

As for this scene, Liao Sanniang seemed not to notice it at all. She came straight to Sun Chuanting's side and said respectfully, "Sir, our people have spotted enemy scouts creeping this way. They should be men from the rebels."

"Do you know how many there are?" Sun Chuanting asked unhurriedly, as if he had expected this all along.

"We don't know that for now." Liao Sanniang thought for a moment and said, "But the Sang brothers should know—the two of them have already engaged those scouts."

Sun Chuanting nodded, indicating that he understood.

Turning his head to look at Qi Yuangong, Sun Chuanting said with a smile, "Everyone's been pressed into the assault on the city. If rebels really do come, I'm afraid we'll have to rely on you."

Qi Yuangong was unconcerned and said with a smile, "Then let's just wait for them to come."

In fact, if Qi Yuangong were sent to pursue, he would have some hesitation. After all, there were no good horses right now, and if they really had to run through mountain trails, his men wouldn't be well suited for it.

But if the enemy came to attack them, Qi Yuangong truly had no fear. Even if three times or five times the number of enemies came, he didn't care. As for why Qi Yuangong was certain the rebels wouldn't send more men—because he felt the rebels didn't have that many people.

Did they really think people just fell from the sky?

Aside from Sun Chuanting, who could raise such a large force in such a short time?

Luzhou City, atop the city wall.

She Yin's face was full of anxiety. If this kept up, his side really wouldn't be able to hold on. The Ming army was charging like madmen.

He said with some anger, "Where is Fan Long now?"

The people standing beside She Yin all looked bewildered—at a time like this, who knew where Fan Long was?

Even Fan Hu dared not speak, because he didn't know where his elder brother was either. The fighting on the city wall was now fierce, and Fan Hu also recalled what his elder brother had said: "We shouldn't have sent people out. Everything should prioritize stability."

In his heart, She Yin also regretted it now. The reason was very simple—Luzhou City's situation was dire. If Fan Long were here, he would still have eight thousand men in hand and at least wouldn't be as desperate as he was now. But as things stood, Luzhou City was already in peril, and if this continued, it would be disastrous.

Just at that moment, the Ming army below the city seemed to undergo a change. A contingent of troops, led by a tall, burly man, advanced directly toward Luzhou City.

They moved very fast, clearly full of energy, and the group quickly closed in on the city wall.

They also carried scaling ladders, except their ladders were different from those of the other Ming troops. Likewise, they wore armor, but basically no leather armor; their weapons also looked finely made. Clearly they were different from the previous troops—these men were the Ming army's elite.

"Hold! Hold!" She Yin shouted loudly, while also sending Fan Hu up to the front.

This time the Ming army's assault was extremely fierce. They set up their scaling ladders, braved the arrows, and charged straight up.

The tall, burly man was Zhang Hu. Holding a huge shield aloft, he climbed the scaling ladder with agile movements and charged straight up toward the city wall.

People hurled stones down from above, but they all bounced off the shield, and Zhang Hu's body didn't even sway an inch.

By the time Zhang Hu rapidly charged onto the city wall, he suddenly hurled the shield in his hand outward, and in an instant a swath of rebels on the wall was swept down.

Zhang Hu leaped from the ladder onto the city wall, and the great saber in his hand immediately began to swing as he charged straight at another cluster of rebels gathered on the wall.

The Ming soldiers who had charged up behind Zhang Hu followed, then also surged forward ferociously to kill.

Fierce combat erupted on the city wall in an instant, as both sides engaged in a desperate struggle for control of the wall.

As more and more Ming soldiers charged up, a crowd began slaughtering each other on the wall, and the battle grew ever more intense.

Everyone knew that this time had come for the decisive battle.

Down below the city, Sun Chuanting watched this scene and nodded with satisfaction.

"This should be about enough—they can't hold out much longer." Sun Chuanting said to Qi Yuangong, "It looks like everything is going smoothly. We'll be able to eat dinner inside the city tonight."

Being able to win made Qi Yuangong happy. But after this battle today, he had gained a new understanding of Sun Chuanting. This Lord Sun was extraordinary, and he had also won Qi Yuangong's respect.

Qi Yuangong said with a smile, "With you strategizing from within the tent, sir, there's naturally no problem."

"Strategizing is hardly the word—there's still another battle to fight." Sun Chuanting said with a smile, while pointing with his hand toward the distance. There, the Sang brothers could be seen running back in a sorry state.

The two men came before Sun Chuanting and stopped. The big fat man, Sang Shen, was gasping for breath heavily, while Sang Ba beside him also didn't look well.

Upon seeing Sun Chuanting, Sang Ba quickly said, "Sir truly works wonders with your calculations—there really was an ambush. We went out ten li and found nothing; only after going all the way out thirty li did we spot people, and then we were pursued from behind by the enemy. Luckily we ran fast, or we wouldn't have had our lives to come back and see you, sir."

"Well done." Sun Chuanting patted Sang Ba on the shoulder and asked with a grave expression, "How many men do they have?"

"It looks like around ten thousand." Sang Ba said quickly.

Upon hearing this, Sun Chuanting let out a sigh of relief. He turned to look at Qi Yuangong and said, "These men should be coming to rescue Luzhou City. Now we have two choices."

"The first is to give up our advantage, pull the men down, and wait for the enemy to attack. This approach is more stable—we won't be caught off guard, and we won't be caught between two fronts."

"The second method is to fight on both fronts. You don't need to worry about what's happening on the city wall—these ten thousand men are yours to handle."

Qi Yuangong looked at Sun Chuanting and said with a smile, "We've just been watching them fight all this time, and the brothers don't feel too good about it in their hearts—all the credit's been snatched away by others. Give me these ten thousand men, and I'll take care of every last one of them."

"Alright, go on then." Sun Chuanting said with a smile.

Qi Yuangong led his men and deployed their formation on the spot, waiting for the enemy to arrive.

Luzhou City, atop the city wall.

Seeing the Ming army forming ranks on the ground not far below the city, Fan Hu's face lit up with joy.

Although they had been beaten back step by step and seemed about to be pushed off the city wall, he was still delighted.

Running to She Yin's side, Fan Hu quickly said, "Young Master, my elder brother has come!"

Upon hearing this, She Yin's face was also full of surprise and delight. He stood up and asked, "Where is he?"

She Yin had already been preparing to flee—the moment the city walls fell to the Ming army, he would take his men and slip out through another gate. He didn't care about Luzhou City anymore; his old man was the Great King, and he certainly couldn't afford to lose his own life here.

Now that he heard Fan Long was coming, this meant there was a chance to turn defeat into victory.

"The Ming army has thrown all its main forces into attacking the city, leaving only five or six thousand men below the walls. I just saw them forming ranks—clearly our reinforcements have arrived." Fan Hu said excitedly, "As long as my elder brother can break through those five thousand men, they'll be forced to pull their troops back from the walls, and we can turn the tide and win."

Hearing this, She Yin was overjoyed and quickly said, "Spread this good news immediately—tell the soldiers below that if we hold on just a little longer, we can fight our way out of the city. Go personally to oversee the defense—you must hold the line!"

"Yes, I'll go at once." Fan Hu acknowledged and hurried off with his men to direct the defense.

Below the walls of Luzhou, Qi Yuangong could already see the figures of the rebel army approaching. Clearly, the enemy had also learned of Luzhou's situation and had quickened their march.

At the front of the rebel ranks, Fan Long's face was grim.

The reason he had pulled his army back thirty li was precisely to avoid being discovered by the Ming army. But unexpectedly, Ming scouts had still crept up on him, and though he had pursued and killed along the way, he hadn't managed to wipe them all out.

Sending scouts along the road, he discovered that Luzhou City was already on the verge of falling. He had originally planned to use this scheme, but now he couldn't afford to worry about that. Looking at the Ming army formation before him, a hint of joy appeared on Fan Long's face—along with a faint trace of anger.

Five thousand men? Did they think five thousand could stand against him?

Watching the fierce fighting atop the walls and the Ming soldiers packed along the battlements, Fan Long knew that if he had arrived any later, Luzhou City would have been lost.

Even now that he had come, there was no time to waste. If he couldn't quickly break through these five thousand men and capture the Ming commander, Luzhou City probably couldn't be saved either.

Fan Long raised his hand and shouted loudly, "Charge! Capture the Ming commander alive—promotion of three ranks and ten thousand taels of silver!"

After saying this, he swung his hand down sharply.

The great army charged toward the Ming formation, gnashing their teeth.

Qi Yuangong stood before his formation, leaning on his blade, watching the rebels charge—a cold sneer spread across his face.

Infantry without cavalry charging a formation—truly laughable.