Chapter 104: Troops March on Xuanzhou

In 908 AD, spring.

Jiangnan's fields were a expanse of new green, full of vigorous vitality.

But a murderous aura broke this tranquility.

Twenty thousand elite soldiers clad in Wang Family specially-made plate armor, wielding divine crossbows and firearms, under Wang Po's personal command, marched out of Yangzhou, vast and mighty, advancing toward Xuanzhou.

At the forefront of the army was a unit of three thousand Iron Pagoda heavy cavalry, both man and horse fully armored, only their eyes showing, like moving steel fortresses, filled with a suffocating sense of oppression.

At the army's center was the Divine Machine Battalion, equipped with the first batch of firearms. The soldiers' faces showed a hint of curiosity and tension. They knew how powerful those black iron tubes could be, but they had never tested their actual lethal power.

The army's banner was no longer the former official flag representing the Pacification Commissioner, but a huge black xuanniao flag embroidered with a soaring dragon and dancing phoenix 'Wang' character.

The Wang Family finally bared its fangs.

News reached Xuanzhou, where Military Governor Tian Zu was drinking and making merry with a gang of boon companions.

"Report! Sir Military Governor, the Wang Family of Yangzhou has mobilized its entire army of twenty thousand, marching to attack our Xuanzhou! The vanguard has already reached Dangtu!"

A scout came rushing in, stumbling and crawling.

"What?" Tian Zu shoved aside the singer in his arms, drunkenly rose to his feet, and said, "Wang Family? Have they taken the wrong medicine? Dare they come fight me?"

Tian Zu, a man of humble origins who relied on sheer strength, had raised a troop in the chaotic times and occupied Xuanzhou. He was arrogant and contemptuous of others, regarding no one.

In his view, the Wang Family was nothing but a rich clan living off ancestral wealth in Jiangnan, idling away their days. Though he'd heard they had recently formed some sort of guard army and built a turtle-shell fortification, what of it? Could they compare to his tens of thousands of brothers who lived by the blade?

"Hahaha!" a deputy general beside him also laughed loudly, "Sir, I think the Wang Family is tired of living! Perfect—our brothers are short on funds, and they've come knocking themselves; we won't refuse the gift."

"Exactly! I've heard the Wang Family is rolling in wealth—their stronghold piles gold and silver like mountains, and every woman is as beautiful as a celestial being! Let's go to Yangzhou and give them a 'Yangzhou Ten Days'!" another officer added with a lewd laugh.

"Good!" Tian Zu, his blood heated by their words, slammed the table and bellowed, "Pass my orders! Gather all troops; we'll meet the Wang Family's brats at Caishiji and have some fun!"

"Let them know whose territory the Yangtze really is!"

Caishiji, located downstream of the Yangtze, is a mandatory passage from Xuanzhou to Yangzhou. Here the river narrows, the current rushes, the terrain is perilous, easy to defend but hard to attack—a contested spot for military strategists.

Tian Zu intended to use the terrain to his advantage, to await the weary enemy, and deliver a crushing blow to the Wang Family army here.

He quickly mustered his thirty thousand troops, deploying them along the south bank of Caishiji. Warships thickly lined the river, banners fluttering, giving quite an imposing appearance.

Yet after three days of waiting, the Wang Family army still did not appear.

"What's going on? Where are the Wang Family people? Are they afraid and dare not come?" Tian Zu asked impatiently from the shore.

"Sir, the scout reports that the Wang Family army has set up camp thirty li away, with no intention to attack."

"They've camped?" Tian Zu blinked, "What medicine is Wang Po selling in his gourd?"

He couldn't figure it out, but he didn't dwell on it. In his view, the Wang Family army were merely raw recruits who had never seen battle, frightened by Caishiji's natural barriers and unwilling to attack—which was normal.

"Hmph, no matter what tricks he plays!" Tian Zu sneered, "Pass the order: let the brothers eat and drink well these days, treat it as a riverside outing. When they can't hold out, they'll naturally come to die."

But he did not know that, on this night when he let his guard down,

a war capable of overturning his understanding was about to begin.

That night, the moon was dark and the wind high.

Upon the Yangtze, a thick river fog rose.

The Wang Family army's main camp.

Wang Po (Wang Xiu) stood in the central command tent, gazing at the sand table showing Caishiji's terrain, his eyes calm.

"Head of Family, everything is ready." Wang Tian whispered at his side.

"Good." Wang Po (Wang Xiu) nodded, "Convey my orders."

"Order the First Corps to feint attack frontally, drawing Tian Zu's main force's attention."

"Order the Second Corps, led by Wang Tian, to board our newly built shallow-water speedboats, carrying firearms and hand grenades, under cover of night and river fog, to slip downstream to the enemy's rear and strike straight at their navy camp!"

"Order the Third Corps to serve as reserves, ready at any time to cross the river and expand our gains!"

"Also, tell the brothers of the Divine Machine Battalion." Wang Po (Wang Xiu)'s eyes flashed with excitement, "Whether their treasure is a mule or a horse, we'll see tonight! Don't fear wasting ammunition—give them a hell of a pounding!"

"Yes! Head of Family!"

……

At the zi hour.

At the south bank of Caishiji, inside Tian Zu's main camp, all was quiet.

Most soldiers had already fallen asleep; only a few patrolmen remained by the river, yawning wearily.

Just then.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Suddenly, the Wang Family army's camp on the opposite bank erupted in war drums and soaring firelight!

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

Tian Zu's camp instantly exploded into chaos.

Tian Zu leapt awake from sleep, hastily donned his armor, and charged out of the tent.

"What's happening?"

"Sir! The Wang Family army… the Wang Family army has begun crossing the river!"

Tian Zu ran to the riverbank and saw hundreds of Wang Family warships, under cover of night, surging toward the south bank; silhouettes moved on deck, and shouts shook the heavens.

"Damn it! They really dare to come die!" Tian Zu cursed, then immediately ordered, "All warships, intercept at once! Archers, shoot them down hard!"

A chaotic water battle unfolded on the river surface.

Tian Zu's forces, though superior in numbers, faced Wang Family's sturdier warships, whose soldiers also wielded longer-range crossbow bolts; for a time the fight was indecisive.

Tian Zu focused all his attention on the frontline battlefield.

He utterly failed to notice that, behind him, a ghostly flotilla was silently pulling up to his navy camp.

Wang Tian led five thousand Wang Family elite infantry armed with firearms, who landed ashore like phantoms.

"Divine Machine Battalion, ready!" Wang Tian drew the saber at his waist and whispered the command.

One thousand soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion immediately formed three horizontal ranks.

They pulled from the cloth bags on their backs one after another black, fist-sized clay pots, each with a fuse stuck into it.

This was the first-generation 'hand grenade' secretly developed in the Wang Family workshop.

"Fire!"

The soldiers used a striker to light the fuses in their hands.

"Throw!"

As Wang Tian gave the order.

Over a thousand smoke-emitting clay pots were hurled fiercely into the defenseless Tian Zhi naval camp.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

A series of earth-shattering explosions instantly rang out!

The firelight illuminated the entire night sky as if it were day!

The blast's huge shockwave and countless shards of pottery, like the grim reaper's scythe, madly reaped everything in the camp.

Tents were torn apart, warships set ablaze, sleeping soldiers hadn't even realized what was happening before they were blown to bloody fragments, limbs flying.

The entire naval camp instantly turned into a hell on earth!

Tian Zhi, on the front battlefield, heard the massive explosion from the rear and was completely dumbfounded.

"Rear... rear! What's going on? Did thunder strike?"

Before he could react,

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Wave after wave of even denser, bean-frying-like booms came from the rear!

That was the Wang Family's Divine Machine Battalion, which after throwing the hand grenades began firing volleys with firearms!

Although the firearms of this era had poor range and accuracy, at such close range their firepower against the stunned, defenseless enemy was devastating!

Lead bullets tore through the air and tore through the enemies' bodies.

Wails rose and fell one after another.

Tian Zhi's army collapsed completely.

They were terrified out of their wits by this unheard-of, unseen 'demonic sorcery'.

"Heaven... heavenly punishment!"

"There are demons! The Wang Family knows sorcery!"

The soldiers discarded helmets and armor, fled in all directions, wishing their parents had given them two fewer legs.

Tian Zhi watched his own army scatter like headless flies, then looked across the river to see the Wang Family's main force advancing across the river.

He knew he had lost.

He lost in a bewildering way, utterly defeated.

"Withdraw... withdraw quickly," he muttered, turned his horse, and joined the fleeing ranks.

At the Battle of Pick Stone Shoal, the Wang Family won a complete victory.

Tian Zhi's 30,000-strong army was crushed by the Wang Family at minimal cost.

The news spread, shaking the world!

Everyone was terrified by the Wang Family's fearsome 'new-style weapon'.

And Wang Po (Wang Xiu) gave Tian Zhi no chance to catch his breath.

He led the great army forward, advancing unstoppably like a bamboo splitter.

Inside Xuan Prefecture city, some defenders remained, but when they learned the Wang Family army was already at the city gates, their fear instantly overwhelmed their courage.

These defenders didn't even dare think of resistance; they simply opened the gates and surrendered to the Wang Family.

At the same time, Tian Zhi was fleeing in panic. He never imagined his own subordinates would betray him at this moment.

These former confidants ruthlessly cut off his head and presented it to the Wang Family to exchange for their own wealth and honor.

In just half a month, the entire Xuan Prefecture region had been brought under the Wang Family's control.

Wang Po (Wang Xiu) stood on the Xuan Prefecture city wall, looking down at the officials and generals kneeling on the ground below. Each one was pale, terrified, having completely lost their former dignity.

Yet Wang Po's face showed no trace of pride.

This was merely a beginning; more challenges awaited him. The Wang Family's rise had just begun, and the road ahead remained rugged and difficult.