Chapter 347: Heavy Armor

The Personal Guard Division's crowd swayed ahead. Yang Guangdi lengthened his stride to catch up. An earthen bank lay before him, utterly bare of grass. After yesterday's rain, the bank was covered in thin mud. Yang Guangdi crossed it carefully. Head-on he met two Fire Soldiers carrying a stretcher between them. The person lying on it was motionless. As they crossed the bank, a helmet tumbled off the stretcher, a red lacquer mark still visible on it.

Yang Guangdi ran a few steps past, then turned and ran back. He picked up the helmet and turned it over for a look. This type of helmet had only a round crown. Originally, a Team Leader's helmet had a spike on top. To save costs, Lord Pang had demanded a uniform design and ultimately canceled the Team Leader's spike, simply brushing on a red lacquer stripe to mark a Team Leader's status. The person on the stretcher was very likely a Team Leader. Whether wounded or dead, he did not know.

Clapping the helmet onto his head, Yang Guangdi glanced hastily ahead. Battle cries shook the heavens before him, a chaos of figures mingling. The Personal Guard Division seemed to be adjusting its formation, two Companies in front and two behind. Fortunately, Xu Squad Leader's build was extremely conspicuous; Yang Guangdi recognized him at a glance. That Company was on the left side of the front line, Xu Squad Leader's Mobile Infantry Squad screening the flank.

Fire Soldiers and farmers bustled all around, and no one gave him a second glance. Yang Guangdi adjusted his helmet and, tailing a few Fire Soldiers hauling the dead and wounded, entered the battlefield from below the small earthen slope where the cannons were arrayed. The stench of blood immediately assaulted his nostrils. Trampled by the men on the battlefield after the rainstorm, the ground everywhere was thin mud. Blood mixed into the mud, turning a grotesque reddish-black.

Yang Guangdi halted at the battlefield's edge, staring at the hellish scene. On a battlefield after cold-steel slaughter, broken bodies lay everywhere. Countless figures writhed upon the ground, and frenzied screams filled his ears.

Ahead, the Personal Guard Division advanced with difficulty. Men slipped and fell from time to time; those beside them did not help them up but simply pressed onward. Fallen soldiers struggled painfully to their feet, while some kept slipping repeatedly. The ground further ahead, however, had much vegetation like weeds and was not as wet and slick as here. That was where the two sides were locked in combat, countless men hacking and killing one another.

Boom—a cannon roared behind him, a peal of thunder filling his ears. Startled, Yang Guangdi looked back and saw the small earthen slope right behind him. No wonder the cannon fire was so much louder than before. He hurried onward, carefully skirting the corpses and wounded on the ground as he ran.

Xu Squad Leader's back was about twenty paces ahead. He was already very close to the Roving Bandits. Yang Guangdi saw a group of men charging in from the flank, heading straight for Xu Squad Leader's position.

Anxious to deliver the armguard, Yang Guangdi jumped over a corpse, but his foot slipped. He instantly sprawled onto the ground, his head knocked dizzy. Just as his hands pushed his body up, a hand suddenly reached out from beside him and grabbed his clothes. Turning his head to look, he saw a man in his prime, a horrifying hole where his nose should have been.

The man stared at him with vacant eyes, blood still gurgling from the cavity. Yang Guangdi cried out in terror, kicking wildly at the man with both hands and feet, but that hand simply would not let go. He kicked a few more times. Riiip—a patch of cloth was torn away. Yang Guangdi scrambled forward several paces on all fours. Just as he stood up, something tripped his feet and sent him pitching forward. Looking up, he saw another face on the ground, seemingly a young Roving Bandit. Half his face was a mangled mess of flesh and blood, his skull caved in to reveal stark white bone. He was still emitting faint, whimpering groans.

Not daring to look more, he crawled onward in a panic. Beneath him was nothing but blood-soaked mud. Writhing people were everywhere ahead, agonized screams deafening. He did not even realize he had lost the Waist Saber he had just picked up.

Thwip—a Light Arrow embedded itself in the mud before him, its fletching vibrating with a buzz for a moment before stilling. Yang Guangdi sat back down in fright, panting heavily, his entire body covered in mire and bloody filth. In his terror, he raised his head and looked ahead. The Personal Guard Division was not far in front of him.

The Roving Bandits had already spotted this army newly entering the battlefield. A Headman directed men to meet them in battle. The Iron Armor formation was like a colossal lodestone. Arrows swarmed around them like locusts, clinking and clanking as they struck the Iron Armor Soldiers. Fallen and broken arrows carpeted the ground. The Iron Armor Soldiers were bristling with arrows, yet they seemed to have suffered no harm at all. The formation advanced slowly but inexorably.

Stray arrows scattered down around him. Yang Guangdi retreated two steps through the mud, then turned his head in panic, ready to flee this terrifying battlefield. Just then, he saw flashes of fire flicker on the small earthen slope. Three cannonballs flew out, and then the Cannoneers began reloading.

Yang Guangdi saw that the leftmost Cannoneer moved fastest. He stuffed in a white cloth bag and immediately rammed it down with a ramrod. The instant the ramrod thrust in, a jet of flame erupted from the cannon's muzzle, straight at the Cannoneer's bare upper body. The Cannoneer toppled backward out of the white smoke, faint flames still clinging to his head. Clutching his face, he let out an inhuman shriek of agony, rolling ceaselessly on the ground all the way down the slope.

Yang Guangdi froze in place for a moment. Only when that Cannoneer tumbled to the bottom of the slope and out of sight did he start crawling back. He had barely crawled two steps when he discovered that the man with a hole in his face was now crawling straight toward him.

Yang Guangdi's mind went blank. He turned around again and crawled toward the Personal Guard Division. Ahead, battle cries shook the heavens. Piercing shrieks punctuated the chaotic din. On the left, a jumble of figures mingled, fighting back and forth endlessly. Yang Guangdi could not tell them apart; he only knew to keep heading toward the Personal Guard Division.

The further he advanced, the denser the corpses became. Yang Guangdi was practically crawling over bodies. Many more people seemed to have appeared around him. Yang Guangdi stopped and lay prone on the ground.

Raising his eyes, he saw the towering Xu Squad Leader right ahead. Two Iron Armor Soldiers behind him were drawing bows and shooting. The rest were heading straight for a group of Roving Bandits coming from the flank. With a single glance, Yang Guangdi spotted the missing piece of Auxiliary Armor on his left arm.

Yang Guangdi immediately raised his hand and shouted, "Xu Squad Leader, your armor!"

The battlefield was a din of noise. How could Xu Lengzi possibly hear? Yang Guangdi waved his hand a few times, then suddenly sensed something wrong. He looked at his left hand. It was empty. The armguard had long since vanished to who knows where.

The Personal Guard Division's four Companies had formed a two-front, two-rear formation. The main formation's Skirmisher Squads from each Company screened their respective flanks. Facing Xu Squad Leader's Skirmisher Squad were roughly thirty Roving Bandits, commanded by a mounted Red Jacket Bandit. The Red Jacket Bandit was shouting at the top of his lungs, and the surrounding Roving Bandits kept up a steady fire of arrows.

Yang Guangdi had lost the armguard. Now he could only pray that Xu Squad Leader was fated to live long and would not be wounded in the arm. Xu Squad Leader had no idea anyone cared about him so much. He was advancing step by step toward the Roving Bandits ahead. These Iron Armor Soldiers did not move with large motions; their movements were somewhat slow.

Xu Squad Leader walked at the very front. Arrows flew at him like raindrops; at least twenty were stuck in him. Yang Guangdi's mouth went dry, but Xu Squad Leader looked as though he was uninjured.

Two Personal Guard Division archers were also returning fire. Men in the Roving Bandit crowd kept getting hit by arrows. The Roving Bandits had no armor at all and immediately suffered casualties. They shouted and yelled, their voices betraying panic. Two Throwing Axes flew out from the Roving Bandit throng and slammed into Xu Squad Leader's chest. Two dull thuds rang out, and they fell to the ground. Xu Squad Leader did not even pause. Just as Yang Guangdi was rejoicing, a Bone Mace came flying. Clang! A loud ring as it struck Xu Squad Leader square on the head. Xu Squad Leader's head snapped back, and his body halted. The Roving Bandits all stopped moving, holding their breath and waiting for this giant to fall.

After swaying twice, however, Xu Squad Leader moved again. He freed one hand and adjusted his Face Armor a few times. Shaking his head, he slowly resumed his walk forward. Holding his Long Spear in both hands, he walked directly toward that group of Roving Bandits. The few Roving Bandits in the front row shouted and hurled their Swords and spears at him in a flurry. The Heavy Armor blocked them all.

The few Roving Bandits at the front began to retreat. The Red Jacket Bandit brandished his Waist Saber and bellowed. Yang Guangdi could not understand what he was shouting. The Roving Bandits howled in unison and charged at the Skirmisher Squad. Xu Squad Leader halted his steps and directly skewered the Roving Bandit facing him with one thrust of his spear. The other Heavy Armor Soldiers followed up, fighting the Roving Bandits to his left and right.

The fighting on this small battlefield was fierce. Line Spears and Long Spears crossed and thrust past each other; Waist Sabers hacked and slashed at one another. Yang Guangdi's eyes widened. The Personal Guard Division's soldiers did not defend at all. The Heavy Armor on their bodies blocked nearly every attack. Their blades focused solely on stabbing and killing the Roving Bandits.

The Roving Bandits in the front row fell one after another, beaten into continuous retreat by the Iron Armor Soldiers, yet the battle still raged. Xu Squad Leader's Long Spear had two men skewered on it. Another Roving Bandit grabbed the spear shaft and held it fast. After tugging a few times, Xu Squad Leader suddenly abandoned his Long Spear, drew the Short-Handled Axe from his waist, and barreled straight into the Roving Bandits like a bear.

The Roving Bandits facing him were caught off guard. They had never imagined anyone would dare to charge headlong into blades and spears. They hacked at Xu Lengzi in haste. Xu Lengzi did not even use the Small Shield strapped to his left arm, letting those blades and spears hack at his body. He strode up to the Roving Bandit directly in front of him, clamped a hand around his neck, and brought the Short-Handled Axe chopping down repeatedly onto the Roving Bandit's skull.

Yang Guangdi could only see a silhouette from behind. The swinging axe flickered in and out of view above Xu Squad Leader's head. White brain matter and blood mixed together and splattered in all directions.

The mounted Red Jacket Bandit yanked his horse's head around and fled. The remaining Roving Bandits scattered in a rout, each fighting to escape.

Yang Guangdi said dumbly, "The Personal Guard Division is truly formidable!"

The Iron Armor Soldier formation of the Personal Guard Division's main body was like a silent monster. To the beat of the Step Drum, it advanced slowly and inexorably toward the breach.