Chapter 350: Bitter Battle

"Put the wounded down, grab a weapon, and follow!"

Adjutant General Pang, commander of the Anqing Garrison Battalion, gripped a waist saber as he sprinted across the battlefield under the blazing sun, shouting at every Fire Soldier he passed along the way. Most of these Fire Soldiers were searching for casualties. Roughly a hundred Fire Soldiers from the three companies were active in the area between the post road and the battlefield. As troops primarily tasked with logistics, they wore no armor; an iron-tipped carrying pole barely qualified as a weapon.

Thanks to Pang Yu's long-standing habit of appearing at training exercises, nearly every soldier recognized him. Hearing his order, the Fire Soldiers along the route dropped their stretchers one after another, snatched up weapons from the ground, and fell in behind him. The column at his back steadily lengthened.

A faint southeast wind stirred the stifling air. Pang Yu ran into the wind, skirting the corpses on the ground. He did not head directly for the Central Army; instead, he first fell back to the post road.

With the fighting so fierce, the Roving Bandits had come ashore at multiple points in the Central Army's sector. Most of the civilian laborers waiting on the post road were already terrified. Some were fleeing south along the paddy ridges, while many others stood frozen in place, at a complete loss.

Mr. Hou and several Clerk Officers were near the casualty area; one of them was even holding an umbrella. The moment Mr. Hou spotted Pang Yu, he hastily stretched out a hand. Pang Yu ignored him entirely and strode past them at a run. "All Anqing Battalion men, grab weapons and kill bandits with your commander!"

Having shouted that, Pang Yu turned and bellowed at the civilian laborers on the ground. "Anyone with the guts to kill Roving Bandits — all of you, follow me! Five taels of silver per man! Dead or wounded, you get the same comfort compensation as a battalion soldier of my camp! Priority enlistment after the battle! I am — your humble officer is the Adjutant General of the Anqing Garrison Battalion! My word is good! Anyone who wants to kill Roving Bandits, grab a weapon and follow me!"

With that, Pang Yu took the lead and ran toward the Right Wing, shouting breathlessly along the post road the whole way.

A tall, powerfully built civilian laborer let out a great roar. "I'm going to avenge my father! Kill the bandit spawn!"

His shout still ringing, he snatched a waist saber from the ground and merged into the stream of people behind Pang Yu. Most of these civilian laborers were locals. The Roving Bandits had ravaged Anqing for two years; the vast majority of the laborers had lost kin or friends to the bandit chaos. One after another, they picked up blades and spears from the road, shouting oaths of vengeance as they joined. Once the first few took the lead, more and more laborers sprang into action. The weapons on the ground were quickly snatched up; those who came later hefted carrying poles and merged into the human current behind Pang Yu. The column was filled with frenzied cries of "Kill the bandits!"

From the Left Wing all the way to the Right Wing, Pang Yu shouted at the top of his lungs. The force behind him swelled larger and larger — from the original fifty-odd men to three hundred, then to four hundred. A mixed tide of soldiers and civilians surged across the post road and swept toward the Central Army.

No more usable manpower remained along the way. Pang Yu ran at the head of the column. Ahead lay the Right Wing and the Central Army, locked in melee. Wang Zenglu's recognition banner held its position at the post road. Corpses lay everywhere on the ground. Garrison Battalion soldiers clustered there in dense, overlapping layers. Above the heads of the front ranks, a thicket of blades flickered and flashed; for the moment, there seemed no immediate danger of being overrun.

The Central Army, however, appeared to be in graver peril. Roving Bandits had come ashore at multiple points. Behind them, large numbers of foot soldiers were still rushing forward through the paddies and along the ridges. Fighting was underway right at the position of the adjutant general's recognition banner and the Five-Direction Banners.

The post road — the Right Wing's most critical sector — was still under Wang Zenglu's control. Pang Yu felt a slight measure of relief. Near the recognition banner, however, were several dozen Roving Bandits. The flag bearers and drummers were almost all engaged in the fight. By now, the entire line was in combat; every last soldier had been committed. The recognition banner and the surrounding Five-Direction Banners no longer served much command function. They were more a spiritual symbol — but still vitally important.

Pang Yu decided to prioritize rescuing the Central Army's recognition banner. Shouting orders, he led the way toward the banner's position. The Fire Soldiers and civilian laborers behind him let out war cries. Men kept surging past Pang Yu. As they closed on the fighting, Guo Fengyou broke into a long-striding run ahead of him, followed by his own guard detachment.

Just as they were about to crash into the melee, Pang Yu slowed his steps, halted, raised his waist saber high, and roared, "Kill the bandits!"

The guards and Fire Soldiers shouted in answer and swarmed past him, followed by the frenzied civilian laborers. Two blind fools even collided with Pang Yu and nearly knocked him over. Someone — he had no idea who — steadied him just enough to keep Adjutant General Pang on his feet. The entire rear contingent swept past him and plunged into the fight. Pang Yu stood in place waving his arm until he had become the very tail of the column.

Pang Yu gulped two breaths, then brought up the rear. After just a couple of steps, he spotted a wounded Roving Bandit on the ground. Without a word, Pang Yu strode up and hacked at the man's neck. The first blow did not sever it. Pang Yu hacked several more times until the neck finally gave way. He grabbed the head by the hair and hoisted it high, letting the blood drip down over his shoulder. It instantly stained his battle robe red. Only then did he walk toward the recognition banner.

Under the surging, unstoppable charge of over four hundred fresh troops, the Roving Bandits attacking the recognition banner fell back before even making contact. The retreat quickly turned into a rout. All of them were driven back into the paddies. The foot soldiers on the paddy ridges found their path forward blocked and were instantly trapped, unable to advance or retreat. Government troops reached the riverbank and loosed volley after volley of arrows. The Roving Bandits on the ridges began leaping into the paddies as well.

Some Fire Soldiers and civilian laborers pursued them straight into the paddies, shouting and yelling as they hacked down the bandits floundering helplessly in the mud. Yang Xueshi was already fighting in person, still wielding the weapon he knew best — his bow. The quiver at his waist was empty. He was picking up arrows from the ground at the paddy's edge and loosing them nonstop at the bandits mired in the water.

Only after firing ten arrows in quick succession did Yang Xueshi return to the recognition banner. He steadied himself. The men who had just charged past his eyes were mostly unarmored soldiers and civilian laborers; for a moment, he could not fathom where they had come from.

Then he saw Pang Yu striding toward him. The heroic and imposing adjutant general wore a set of breathable chain mail. In his right hand he carried a dripping waist saber; in his left, a severed head. His entire body was covered in blood and grime.

"Your Excellency came to our aid in person! This lowly one deserves death ten thousand times — Your Excellency, are you wounded?!" Yang Xueshi, once he got a clear look, was badly startled and hurried to Pang Yu's side.

"In the heat of bitter battle, such things are unavoidable. A few trifling wounds are not worth mentioning." With an air of nonchalance, Pang Yu tossed the head aside and stepped beneath the recognition banner.

Yang Xueshi hastened to follow. The soldiers all around gazed at Adjutant General Pang with deep admiration. They had heard many times of Adjutant General Pang's valor, and it was all true. Pang Yu returned to the command position. Out of habit, he felt at his belt for his telescope — and grasped empty air again.

"Your Excellency, your telescope was dropped during the fierce fighting just now."

Pang Yu turned his head. It was one of his regular personal soldiers, holding the telescope out in both hands. Pang Yu still could not recall the man's name, but now he gave him an extra glance or two. It seemed this was the very man who had steadied him earlier.

With a nod, he took the telescope. Pang Yu hastily swept his gaze toward the Chema River Market Town. In the paddies directly in front of the recognition banner, the Roving Bandits had collapsed into utter disorder. But in the other paddy areas and within the market town itself, large numbers of Roving Bandit foot soldiers still remained. On the post road, dense ranks of Red Jacket Bandits were still assaulting the Right Wing. That was likely Liu Guoneng's veteran camp. Several points along the center line were still locked in melee.

"Clerk Yang, I am placing these troops I brought under your command. Organize them at once and drive every last Roving Bandit who has come ashore in the Central Army sector back down." Pang Yu glanced back, then said to Guo Fengyou, "Go help the artillery get into position as quickly as possible."

……

In the market town on the west bank of the Chema River, the streets and alleys were already jammed with crowds. Liu Guoneng's mount was so hemmed in it could not take a single step. He needed to reach the bridgehead immediately.

Many people along the riverbank had already spotted the government troops on the opposite shore. Because the crowd was so dense, word of Zuo Liangyu's arrival was spreading like wildfire. In truth, the vast majority of people in the market town could not even see the situation on the opposite bank — which only made them more panicked.

Liu Guoneng could already feel the terror spreading through the crowd. He needed to personally control the bridgehead to prevent the bridge from being clogged by these foot soldiers, so as to preserve the veteran camp's line of retreat. To the various Roving Bandit camps, the most precious asset was not family dependents, rations and pay, or foot soldiers — not even the horse soldiers. It was the veteran camp.

The Ming State had a vast territory and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of manpower. Servants and foot soldiers could always be found. But a veteran camp was not so easily replaced. Every man in it was a seasoned fighter of many years' campaigning; each one was precious.

A group of trusted followers hacked and whipped a path clear, barely opening a route for Liu Guoneng to reach the west end of the Chema River's wooden bridge. Only then did his heart ease slightly. At the bridgehead, there were no buildings to block the view, and Liu Guoneng could see the situation on the opposite bank.

The first wave of foot soldiers sent to intercept had been driven back in rapid succession. Men kept leaping off the official road and fleeing into the paddies and the river channel. Then Liu Guoneng saw people along the riverbank in the west-bank market town jumping into the water and swimming desperately for the east bank. In the streets, some of the foot soldiers and servants were beginning to shout in panic. Even the team commanders could not control them. Order was disintegrating.

Liu Guoneng's head swiveled back and forth several times between east and west. He knew the consequences of a rout right now. Aside from the veteran camp and a small portion of the foot soldiers, he would be able to take nothing with him. He would also have to evade a likely interception by government troops from the Taihu direction before he could escape into the Yinghuo Mountains.

The losses would be catastrophic. He wanted to stake everything on one throw. If he could just break the government troops' Right Wing, he could turn defeat into victory, fully occupy the west-bank position, and join forces with the Western Camp, Cao Cao, and Old Huihui. Even if Zuo Liangyu came, he would be no match for so many camps combined. That way, Liu Guoneng could preserve the vast bulk of his strength and supplies.

But if he failed to break the government Right Wing, and Zuo Liangyu cut off the road to the east, then Cao Cao and the Eight Great Kings might be able to flee toward the Mountain Pass — but he himself would be trapped by government troops at both ends inside the market town. Total annihilation would be certain.

He had one other option. He currently held the advantage of being close to the bridge. Before the government vanguard cut off his retreat, he could send an endless stream of foot soldiers to hold them back while he himself led the veteran camp away. If he delayed any longer and Zuo Liangyu's rear forces arrived, the chance would be gone forever.

Everything came down to time. If he had just one more quarter-hour, he would be far more at ease. But that vanguard of Zuo Liangyu's attacking from the opposite bank was not giving him much time at all.

Headmen of every rank were driving the foot soldiers across the bridge. Now and then, someone who wandered off course was cut down, sowing chaos all around. The pace of crossing remained slow. The crowds waiting in the streets were growing increasingly restive. Liu Guoneng had fought a hundred battles — the vast majority of them defeats. He knew the expressions on these foot soldiers' faces all too well: bewilderment, terror, and hesitation. What came next was basically collapse and a desperate scramble for their lives.

A horse soldier from the veteran camp came galloping from the post road, lashing a path open with his whip. He reached Liu Guoneng's side and said, "A wave of government reinforcements has arrived. The Central Army position has been driven back."

Liu Guoneng's face was dark and he said nothing. A trusted aide beside him, the Great Banner bearer, said in a low voice, "Master, we can't hold. If we head east now, there's still time."

Liu Guoneng ground his teeth. "This whole Susong business is one giant trap. How do you know Zuo Liangyu isn't coming from Taihu? If we run east, won't we run straight into him?"

That general officer froze for a moment, then said, "If we throw everything at breaking the Right Wing, and Cao Cao and the others abandon us and run, we'll be the only ones trapped in this death ground. Then we're dead for sure. Cao Cao can run to Old Huihui's position. We can't get through that way. Our only sliver of hope lies east."

Liu Guoneng's eyes flickered; he was still torn with indecision. Suddenly, from the west came a succession of cannon blasts — fired from the government troops' Central Army position. An instant later, a section of earthen wall not far ahead exploded with a boom, dust and debris flying everywhere. The surrounding foot soldiers collapsed in a heap amid the smoke and dust.

Liu Guoneng was jolted. The cannons on the east side had been silent for a long time. Although only one cannonball had landed inside the town in this salvo, he had heard at least three reports. The other two shots were likely striking the veteran camp on the post road. The new cannons had probably been brought by the government reinforcements. The several hundred government troops engaged at the start on the east side had only possessed two cannons. Judging by what he was seeing now, the reinforcing troops could not number fewer than a thousand. Such reinforcements could only have come from the west — which might mean Zuo Liangyu was attacking from Erlang Town, and Old Huihui had already been routed.

The moment this thought surfaced, a wave of alarm swept through Liu Guoneng. If Zuo Liangyu were not behind them, how would a mere three thousand government troops dare to launch an active assault on so many large camps? If Zuo Liangyu was behind them, then all those strange occurrences earlier suddenly made sense. Susong had been a trap from the very beginning. This garrison battalion had been here solely to pin down all the camps while Zuo Liangyu delivered the death blow.

Even as he pondered, the second cannonball arrived swiftly. Screams erupted at the bridgehead. Foot soldiers shoved their way onto the bridge deck, pushing and jostling in a frantic scramble to cross. Men kept tumbling into the river, sending up great splashes of water. In the market town, many servants who could not squeeze near the bridge leaped from the riverbank into the water and swam desperately for the east bank. The river was dotted everywhere with swimming figures.

In the west-bank market town, a roar of chaos rose from the crowd. It had reached the breaking point.

"Sound the horn! Order the veteran camp to pull back! Cross the river and get to the horses!" Liu Guoneng suddenly drew his blade. "Clear the road!"