Chapter 782: Chapter Twenty‑One: Majestic

As we went on we encountered a tall, big man blocking the road, who turned out to be a horse thief called Golden‑haired Dog, having stolen a precious horse to give to Liangshan's Song Jiang as a contribution for joining. At that point Bai Lang could not help but say, "The lord of Liangshan is Chao Gai, Heavenly King Chao; why does a horse‑thief like Duan Jingzhu keep the stolen horse instead of presenting it to him? You can't say otherwise—speak to people as people, speak to ghosts as ghosts." Bai Lang's words were rather choking.

"In that case, why don't you give me the horse? I can recommend you to Liangshan," Bai Lang said with a smile, but the horse thief retorted, "The horse was seized by someone." Bai Lang burst out laughing, "The horse you stole was taken by others—black eating black." Duan Jingzhu simply claimed he had said the horse was meant for Song Jiang, yet the Zeng family who seized it spewed vulgarities. Let Song Jiang deal with it himself. Bai Lang recalled that Chao Gai died in this episode, so he postponed his plan to go to Bianjing, intending first to rescue Chao Gai.

Given Song Jiang's circumstances, it is unlikely he would openly burn Chao Gai— that arrow remains doubtful, yet there is no evidence that Song Jiang had someone do it covertly.

In the Hall of Righteous Unity the horse thief only praised the horse, while the people of Zeng Tou City spewed vulgarities, so Song Jiang dispatched Dai Zong to investigate. A few days later he returned and reported, "In this Zeng Tou City there are over three thousand families. Among them is one called the Zeng Family Mansion. Its master was originally from the Great Jin Empire, named Zeng Changzhe, who fathered five sons known as the Five Tigers of the Zeng family. The eldest is called Zeng Tu, the second Zeng Can, the third Zeng Suo, the fourth Zeng Kui, and the fifth Zeng Sheng. There is also a teacher, Shi Wengong, and a deputy teacher, Su Ding. In Zeng Tou City they have gathered five to seven thousand men and horses, erected a fortified camp, built more than fifty trap carts, and vowed that they would not coexist with us, determined to capture all the leaders of our mountain stronghold as rivals. That thousand‑mile Jade Lion Horse is now ridden by Teacher Shi Wengong."

Chao Gai, enraged, immediately intended to lead troops to attack Zeng Tou City, but Song Jiang could not dissuade him. Bai Lang replied, "It should be so; Heavenly King Chao must act, otherwise how can he be called the lord of Liangshan?" Thus Chao Gai summoned more than twenty heads, mustered five thousand men and horses, and descended the mountain. As they marched, a sudden gale snapped Chao Gai's battle flag; before the flag could fall, Bai Lang slapped the flagpole, thrust it upward, nailing it into the broken segment, so the flag kept fluttering.

Afterwards they gathered the flag for the expedition, just in time to replace the flagpole. Yet the omen remained unfavorable, and Wu Yong and the others kept urging, but Chao Gai finally would not listen: "Heaven, earth, wind and clouds—nothing strange. In this warm spring, if we do not take him now and wait for his momentum to build before marching, it will be too late. Stop blocking me; I must go anyway!" Thus they set out, and Bai Lang volunteered to be the vanguard commander.

Upon reaching Zeng Tou City they first surveyed the terrain, and Chao Gai drew a sharp breath—indeed it was a perilous, easily defended yet hard to attack spot. After turning, a fierce cavalry of seven to eight hundred men emerged from the forest, led by a valiant figure in a polished bronze helmet, chainmail, brandishing a pointed steel spear, riding a charging warhorse—Zeng Kui, the fourth son of the Zeng family. Bai Lang paid him no heed; it was Lin Chong who surged forward to duel Zeng Kui.

The scoundrel even boasted that his timing was perfect, taking everything to hand over to the authorities—yet they failed to notice that the people of Zeng Tou City were no better, splitting loot on the spot and robbing along the way, being northern bandits. Lin Chong fought him for ten exchanges without a clear result; the Zeng family ruffians realized they could not defeat Lin Chong, and after another five exchanges they feigned a spear thrust and fled into the forest… Chao Gai then withdrew to the camp, agreeing to postpone the fight until the next day.

At daybreak the next day, Chao Gai's five thousand troops formed a formation on the flat plain before Zeng Tou City, beating drums to invite battle. At this moment Bai Lang was clad in a decorative paper armor—merely for show and actually useless. He wore no helmet, only a tied‑hair purple‑gold crown with two long plumes, and brandished a horse lance at the front. When the opposing cannon fire sounded, a large force of men and horses emerged, arranged in a line of seven heroes: in the middle stood Teacher Shi Wengong, at the front Deputy Teacher Su Ding, at the rear the eldest Zeng son Zeng Tu, on the left Zeng Can and Zeng Kui, on the right Zeng Sheng and Zeng Suo, all fully armored.

Shi Wengong rode the Jade Lion Horse, which to Bai Lang looked like a Northwestern great horse, standing two hands taller than an ordinary Song horse—a truly fine steed. "Hope it isn't castrated; Great Song loves to castrate good horses, so the breed keeps getting worse," Bai Lang mused, as the enemy began their war chants, pushing out dozens of trap carts to force the Liangshan men into the carts and deliver them to the authorities.

Chao Gai, so enraged his spirit seemed to leap three times, vaulted onto his horse and brandished his spear, only to see Bai Lang raise his long spear, block the head of Chao Gai's horse, and with a smooth yet powerful thrust halt the warhorse dead in its tracks. "Heavenly King, do not be angry; let me first break the formation and bring this foul‑mouthed scoundrel to you for judgment!" Having said so, Bai Lang charged straight toward Zeng Tu. Several cavalry from the Zeng troops surged forward, but Bai Lang stabbed them down with a single motion, leaving no opponent before his horse.

One of the Zeng Five Tigers broke out attempting to block Bai Lang, but after a single move his hand went limp and his tendons slackened—he simply could not overcome Bai Lang. Seeing Bai Lang about to finish him, Shi Wengong was forced to swing his painted halberd and charge. Su Ding also acted; the two hurried to seize Bai Lang's horse lance, surrounding him for a fierce kill, but after two exchanges their defeat was clear—they could not stop Bai Lang's lance at all. They dared not retreat; if either stepped back, both would be speared by Bai Lang.

The Zeng Five Tigers surged forward, circling Bai Lang like a revolving lantern, fighting fiercely—among the Liangshan leaders, Chao Gai stared straight ahead, now even more astonished by Bai Lang's might. It seemed as if the White Tiger Star Lord from the heavens had descended to the mortal realm, devoted to battlefield combat. The seven fought without toppling a single Bai Lang; instead Bai Lang's horse lance swooped like a dragon, encircling the seven within the formation, each drenched in sweat, flustered, and terrified as Bai Lang cut them down.

The golden trumpets sounded the retreat; Shi Wengong and his men fought to the death, finally creating a brief opening, allowing the seven on horseback to flee while Bai Lang seized the moment to strike, and Chao Gai's five thousand men surged forward, the Zeng army suffered a crushing defeat and fled. Yet some among them, versed in tactics, had pre‑positioned a crossbowman whose rain of arrows halted the Liangshan cavalry's pursuit. Bai Lang swaggered back, and Chao Gai personally offered wine, "Today I finally perceive my brother's tiger might!"

Bai Lang, the world‑renowned fierce general with hanging eyebrows and tiger whiskers, smiled as he fondly stroked his tiger whiskers and drained the celebratory wine in one gulp. "Tomorrow we'll annihilate them completely!" Bai Lang declared, his spirit soaring, and the Liangshan men were likewise roused. They awaited tomorrow to each carve out merit by crushing Zeng Tou City.