Chapter 404: Concentric Circles

Perfect coordination yields perfect results.

Under the combined pressure of rare, enormous profit and rare, enormous danger, eight hundred lake bandits set aside their grudges tonight and executed quality tactical cooperation.

The moment the signal firework rocket rose, two to three hundred bandits wielding blades and axes vaulted the low wall at the same instant and charged into the courtyard with a roar.

Stealth and surprise meant nothing now. Scattered firearm flashes were already flickering from that long, strip-shaped, square and upright strange building in the center of the compound, so the veteran bandits, without prior agreement, let out a unified roar — a thunderous din from all directions would disrupt the defenders' judgment, make them panic, leave them unsure which direction to defend.

Things progressed smoothly. An agile adult needs less than three seconds to clear a low wall, so by the fifth second after the signal rocket launched, the second wave of manpower was already going over.

The next minute or two would be the most critical moment: the bandits had to rush into the Stone Tower and engage in close-quarters combat before the guards could form up and unleash volley fire and poison smoke.

The braves who understood this dared not waste even half a second now; all were straining to scale the wall and surge forward.

At the same time, more and more muzzle flashes appeared from the Stone Tower's windows, only there was no gunfire — the gunfire was drowned out by the earth-shaking battle cries.

Also drowned out by the battle cries were a few faint cries of alarm.

Wu Sanye was the first person over the Enclosing Wall.

Unlike the rest of that fortune-seeking rabble, Wu Sanye's charge was laced with national vendetta and family hatred, tinged with a thick shade of tragic heroism.

Ever since he had been driven to Taihu like a dog by Master Xiong, tonight's scene had played out constantly in Third Lord's dreams. He simply hadn't expected that Xiong Dao, that dog of a traitor, would meet his karmic retribution so swiftly — it made him feel as if he were in a dream.

Supporting Third Lord's reason for leading from the front, aside from revenge, was his own scheme: as the former master of Zhang Sutan, Third Lord had his own designs.

His eyes had never left this land, and he understood perfectly the reason behind the struggle between the Big Threshold and Xiong Dao, so he judged that Xiong Dao would certainly be fine. Because those lords' aim was to seize by cunning and force, not to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs — if Xiong Dao and the port were utterly finished, those southern goods would stop coming in the future; wouldn't the lords have busied themselves for nothing?

Therefore, Wu Sanye had accurately deduced: in the end, the lords and Xiong Dao would definitely reach some kind of agreement and share the port's dividends.

In that process, he, Wu Sanye, would have his chance to make a comeback: whether by attaching himself to some lord's faction, or by leveraging his merit in providing intelligence and leading the charge for the Bandit Gang, Third Lord would ultimately become someone's spokesman and swagger back to the place where he had once fought.

When that time came, he would be sure to be in high spirits, be sure to chat and laugh face-to-face with Xiong Dao, and infuriate that old dog to death!

In the blink of an eye, Wu Sanye's complex train of thought flashed through his mind, and then, mid-sprint, he let out a strange yelp and crashed into a pile of something.

This dark, indistinct pile of things had been visible to Third Lord from the moment he cleared the wall. Yet none of the brothers who had scaled the wall paid it any mind: it was just another, even lower inner wall or a stack of cargo crates.

So everyone charged forward without hesitation: tonight, all had been told that those who cowered and failed to advance could be cut down by the rear ranks, so never mind a low wall — even if it were a wall of blades, they would have to fill it with their lives right now.

The next moment, Third Lord pitched forward.

The reason for Third Lord's crash was strange: he had already adjusted his rhythm and stride, intending to plant both hands on the pile of things before him and vault over in one motion. But Third Lord's hands met empty air, and along with the steel knife in his grip, his entire body "plunged into" that pile of things.

Before he could react, Third Lord then experienced searing pain — pain shot from his hands and his cheeks, which left Third Lord deeply confused.

Only then, by the moonlight, did he realize that he had fallen into a bizarre clump of "barbed wire."

These iron wires were densely tangled together like cartwheels; at a glance they seemed solid, but in truth they were hollow, so when Third Lord had thrown his whole body forward, he had sunk right in.

And the pain in his hands came from being pierced by sharp barbs on the iron wire coils; his face had them too.

Instantly realizing he had fallen into some kind of trap, Third Lord could not help but let out a great shout, using both hands and feet, exerting his core strength, preparing to pull his body free from this strange thicket of iron wire.

Unexpectedly, he only sank deeper — the iron wire thicket offered no resistance, wobbling and trembling as it neutralized Third Lord's waist and core strength, swallowing him a bit further.

Third Lord was horrified. In his panic, he mustered the strength of his entire body, utterly ignoring the sharp pain from his hands and legs, and with another great shout, he leaped with all his might.

The next moment, a large foot stomped down on Third Lord's spine, pressing him down another few inches. Yet the one who stomped him got no advantage either: this worthy, who had originally planned to show off by stepping on Third Lord to leap over the madhouse, had completely failed to anticipate that Third Lord would sink the moment he was stepped on, and as a result, he too took a dog-eating-mud tumble, plunging headfirst into the barbed wire coils.

At the same time, the first wave of braves who had charged into the courtyard fell into the Barbed Wire Trap one after another, meeting the same fate as Third Lord.

At this moment, the scene was utter chaos.

A portion of the braves who had luckily freed themselves from the barbed wire were continuing their charge according to plan, behind them a large mass of trapped men struggling and shouting; between the courtyard wall and the barbed wire, many lake bandits who had no idea what was happening were still burying their heads and shoving the people in front of them; and on the outermost wall top, fresh forces continued to pour over in an endless stream.

The human tide surging in from all directions quickly converged in front of the barbed wire into a great circle. At this time, by the light of the moon, the increasingly dense muzzle flashes, and a few lit tinder sticks, the bandits finally saw the true face of the barbed wire.

At this point, even greater chaos erupted: some in the frontmost row were desperately pushing backward, trying to evade the entangling iron wire, while the people behind them shoved forward regardless, trying to trample over their comrades' bodies to get across.

As these two human tides wrestled, the savior finally appeared.

Comrade Chief Wind Scout Qiao Shiqi, though initially outside the wall, had immediately and keenly detected something wrong — miserable howls were coming from within the wall. Rich experience in mass combat allowed Qiao Shiqi to quickly distinguish the growing number of miserable screams amid the scattered gunshots and deafening roars.

"Not right, an ambush?" His heart gave a thump, and he immediately took a running start and personally scaled the wall top.

Standing on the wall top and observing for about ten seconds, Qiao Shiqi grasped the general situation: a circle of strange brambles, or something like iron caltrops, was blocking the troops' path.

And at this moment, the third group of two hundred lake bandits was already in the process of scaling the wall. In other words, the majority of the Hufei's main force had already entered inside the Enclosing Wall.

"Shopkeeper Qiao, we can't retreat, we have to charge!" At this moment, Niu Jinluo, who had followed Qiao Shiqi onto the wall top, also saw the crux of the matter and promptly reminded Comrade Chief Wind Scout.

Nonsense, of course they couldn't retreat!

It was merely a strange cheval de frise; they could break through by sacrificing some men — the Taihu Bandits were now riding a tiger and couldn't get off; they couldn't possibly be scared into retreat by a mere cheval de frise, could they? How would they explain themselves when they got back?

After confirming once more that the scattered, gradually increasing muzzle flashes opposite did not resemble an ambush, Qiao Shiqi immediately bellowed at the men below him: "Front row, fill the cheval de frise! Those who disobey will be executed!"

As he roared at the top of his lungs, the Shopkeepers standing on the wall top also roared in unison: "Front row, fill the cheval de frise! Those who disobey will be executed!"

And so, the men in the front row who heard the shouts could only curse their luck, wrap both arms around their heads, and throw themselves onto this strange cheval de frise. Any who were slow to react and still tried to squeeze backward were immediately cut down from behind with a single blade and kicked into the barbed wire.

Though they lacked a fearless revolutionary spirit, the Taihu Bandits still used their brutal pit-filling tactic to tear open N number of breaches in the outer ring of barbed wire. The next moment, the dammed-up troops instantly found release, and nearly five hundred men, trampling over the corpses of their comrades, howled as they surged over the first Concentric Circle of iron wire.

At the same time, the last two hundred lake bandits outside the courtyard wall also scaled the wall one after another.

By now, Wu Sanye had become a zongzi.

His whole body was wrapped in iron wire, pressed to the very bottom by the corpses above him, his chin forced against the ground, with absolutely no possibility of breaking free.

Never mind breaking free, Third Lord now found it hard to even move... The wounds all over his body from the iron wire piercing him caused him agony worse than death; the slightest struggle made the blood flow constantly. Knowing full well that if he thrashed about any more, he would bleed to death before anyone could rescue him, Third Lord could only curse and watch the show for now.

Fortunately, his luck tonight wasn't bad; aside from one gash, the rest of Third Lord's face was unmarred, which counted as a blessing amidst misfortune.

Just as Third Lord was resigning himself to his bad luck, he felt a slight weight press down above his head, all the wounds on his body ached in unison, and another pair of legs appeared before him: the last group of lake bandits had also crossed the barbed wire and were now howling as they charged.

At the same moment, Xiong Dao, standing on the rooftop, received a report from the outer perimeter hidden sentries via the Walkie-Talkie: the enemy forces had all entered the base.

Lu Cheng, who also heard the Walkie-Talkie report, turned his head at this moment; the two exchanged a glance and nodded simultaneously.

And so, Wu Sanye, that iron-wire-wrapped zongzi, gaped wide — on the distant Stone Tower's Roof, two bright "lamps" suddenly blazed forth.

The cylindrical Searchlights illuminated the large mass of lake bandits breaking through the second Concentric Circle with perfect clarity, and at the same time, a tremendous roar came from the Stone Tower's roof: "All units, fire at will!"

The next moment, a volley of gunfire erupted simultaneously from all the windows on the Stone Tower's second floor. After the dense gun flashes flickered, the crowd swept by the Searchlights instantly looked as if smashed by a giant hammer, collapsing backward in swathes with a great whoosh.

And then, something even more terrifying appeared.

In Third Lord's panic-stricken pupils, at the eastern and western corners of the rooftop, two bright, spindle-shaped streams of continuous flame suddenly burst forth. At the same time, the roaring, rapid succession of explosions blasted into Third Lord's ears; even though the field was now filled with screams, they could not drown out those two enormous roars.

Along with the roar came string after string of red dots visible to the naked eye. These red dots plunged one end into the dense crowd sandwiched between the concentric circles — in an instant, flesh and blood flew everywhere, severed limbs scattered in all directions, and the 7.62mm bullets achieved their largest effect in this one moment, easily piercing one human body after another without the slightest mercy.