Chapter 1085

The northwest wind grew ever fiercer, the fire fed by it grew ever stronger, but the gale sped up the dispersal of smoke and mist; already seven warships had forcefully reached Duck Mouth, nearly five thousand Da Yong soldiers landed successfully, and the hidden earth tunnels, bamboo spears and other ambushes on the shore wounded many as soon as they stepped ashore, while the enemy's cold arrows killed nearly a thousand more.

The guerrilla general Tang Fang rode a black horse, his halberd sweeping in the air as he shouted loudly, 'Don't panic, brothers, archers, get ready!' The chaotic scene gradually calmed; after all they were trained soldiers, and under Tang Fang's command they reorganized their formation, five hundred archers began to attack the enemy's hidden positions.

Xiong Tianba and his men lay in ambush on the high ground; at this moment Liang Yinghao led five hundred brothers, after setting fire to the reed rafts, to meet up with Xiong Tianba, who chuckled and said, 'Liang Elder Brother has arrived!'

Liang Yinghao gave him a sideways glance and said, 'Call me uncle!'

Xiong Tianba said, 'If you can beat me, call me uncle; you stay here and hold the position, I'll go kill that leading general.'

Liang Yinghao grabbed him and pulled him back, whispering, 'The military advisor ordered us to wait and hold our ground.'

Xiong Tianba said, 'Can't wait any longer—capture the bandit by capturing their leader first; if we don't kill that bastard, more will keep landing ashore.' He had already broken free of Liang Yinghao's grip, swung onto his horse, raised both hands with the great hammer, and shouted loudly, 'Hold! Boys, give cover for this general, I'm going to take that scoundrel's head!' As he spoke, he kicked his spurs, the huge black horse beneath him let out a long neigh, dragging Xiong Tianba, like a black whirlwind, charging toward the enemy.

Liang Yinghao realized it was too late to stop him, turned and said, 'Futong, you lead three hundred men into the river via the underground tunnels and seize their warships!'

'Yes!'

Seeing their own archers gradually gaining control of the situation, Tang Fang and the other commander Lü Dacheng both felt relieved; Tang Fang was about to order his troops to advance and seize the high ground. Once the high ground was taken, they could successfully control the situation at Duck Mouth, and subsequent warships could land smoothly from here.

Suddenly a cry rang out from within the ranks; the two turned to look and saw a black whirlwind speeding down from the high ground—it was a dark, ugly-looking commander wielding a pair of great iron hammers, charging alone into their formation. It was the incomparably brave Xiong Tianba, who feared none of the flying arrows scattering everywhere; his pair of great hammers flew back and forth in his hands, for he wore the phosphorous-fire armor Hu Xiaotian had given him, needing only to shield his face and chest with the hammers. At first the archers tried to shoot him down in front of the formation, but they never imagined that their continuous volley would all miss. Then they remembered the tactic of shooting the horse first, and aimed arrows at his black steed beneath him; the black horse took several arrows, fortunately none hit vital spots.

In the blink of an eye, Xiong Tianba had already charged into the formation. His great hammer swung left and right in wild blows, as if entering an empty land—those soldiers it touched died, those it met perished.

Lü Dacheng let out a loud shout, spurred his horse out of the ranks, and swung his goose-feather blade at Xiong Tianba's neck. Xiong Tianba leaned back, his spine almost flat against the horse's back, the blade swept past, and he quickly sat upright. A hammer strike landed on Lü Dacheng's chest; this blow shattered his sternum, his body flew lightly off the horse's back, already spitting blood in midair, and when he fell into the crowd he was already breathless.

Tang Fang saw Lü Cheng unable to withstand even a single move from the opponent, and secretly drew a cold breath; at this moment Xiong Tianba had already charged toward him. When Tang Fang had been directing the battle earlier, Xiong Tianba had already marked him as his target, and this sortie's purpose was precisely to take out that leading fellow. Though Xiong Tianba was reckless, he also understood the principle of capturing the bandit by capturing their leader first.

Tang Fang, with no alternative, braced his halberd and charged at Xiong Tianba; his fine steed was exceptionally spirited, horse and rider as one like a black streak of lightning flashing toward Xiong Tianba, the halberd's edge icy and sharp, forming a straight bolt of light before him.

Xiong Tianba squeezed his legs, his mount moving to meet Tang Fang; he did not rush to attack, and as the two were about to close, he opened his left arm, the horses crossed legs—Tang Fang's thrust aimed at his chest was dodged, the halberd spearing out empty from under Xiong Tianba's left armpit; Xiong Tianba clamped his left arm, raised his right hammer, aiming straight at Tang Fang's face—boom! Tang Fang's head exploded from the hammer blow, brains and blood mist spraying everywhere.

The surrounding soldiers were completely dumbfounded by Xiong Tianba—what kind of person is this, that neither of the two chief commanders could last even a single exchange against him? Xiong Tianba laughed loudly, and at that moment the surrounding rabble surged forward, spears seeking to impale his mount, but Xiong Tianba swung his hammer and knocked them flying.

Shouts of killing rose from behind, yet it was Liang Yinghao leading a thousand soldiers down from the high ground as reinforcements; one side's morale soared like a rainbow, the other suffered losses and casualties, and the camp instantly fell into chaos. Xiong Tianba seized the chance to charge into the enemy's archer formation, fighting ever more fiercely, his body drenched in blood like a deity descending to earth, wherever he went none could withstand him.

The Da Yong troops, having just landed, were frightened by their ambush and fled before the wind; some ran west along the riverbank, some tried to flee back to the big ships, while Futong leading his three hundred brothers had already sneaked from the pre-dug earth tunnels to the Yong River bank, they each seized a warship and, from the high deck, shot down the Da Yong soldiers who were turning back downstream.

These Da Yong troops were now utterly disordered in formation; although they still had three or four thousand men, facing the fifteen hundred led by Xiong Tianba and Liang Yinghao they had no power to resist, and after the two chief commanders were slain they were leaderless, each fighting on his own, with no will to continue the battle.

Three scout ships were trapped by iron chains and lodestones; originally meant to lead the fleet and clear a path, these scout ships had become obstacles to the fleet's advance—there were scout ships and pontoon bridges blocking the front, while an endless stream of burning rafts floated downstream from behind, the entire fleet was encircled in a sea of fire, boulders continually rained down from the sky, and of the fifty warships almost all were ablaze; within less than half an hour, seventeen warships had already sunk in the river's midstream from fire or from having their hulls pierced by boulders.

Tang Boxi looked around at the warships everywhere belching black smoke and flames, feeling a faint ache in his head; he kept reminding himself not to underestimate the enemy, yet in the end he still committed the grave error of never imagining he would face such fierce resistance and obstruction.

With a boom, a huge rock struck the left warship's deck, snapping him back to reality; the boulder falling from high altitude had tremendous destructive power, actually piercing straight through the hull, river water gushed out from the large hole, soldiers scrambled in panic from the deck into the Yong River, by then many had already frozen to death in the icy water, and soldiers who had just jumped into the water collided with burning wine-cup rafts, the scene was horrific beyond bearing.

Tang Boxi bellowed, 'Ram it open!' He waved the command flag; Duck Mouth's forced landing was blocked, the rear rafts kept drifting downstream without cease, the forward passage was barred by three scout ships, and they were trapped in this spot, fully exposed to the enemy's stone-throwing range. To turn the tide they first had to escape their predicament—ramming warships into the pontoon bridges, which for the warships was undoubtedly a suicidal act, but they had to pay the price to break out of here.

After Tang Boxi gave the order, three warships advanced side by side at full speed, ramming into the pontoon bridge beside the scout ships; one warship struck an iron anchor, tearing a large hole in its forward hull as water rushed in, its bow appearing to sink toward the river's center, Tang Boxi immediately ordered another warship to ram the stern of that doomed vessel; the successive impacts finally broke the pontoon bridge, all three pontoon bridges were breached, and Tang Boxi's side paid the price of two warships.

The three scout ships remained stuck to the iron chains and lodestones, while Tang Boxi directed the surviving twenty-one warships to proceed one after another through the reopened waterway toward Xia Sha Port.

Tang Boxi stared at the distant Dongliang Jun, grinding his teeth, his eyes nearly bursting; he thought to himself, 'If I only manage to capture Dongliang Jun today, I will surely slaughter every one of you Kang troops, not leaving a single one alive.'

Hu Xiaotian stood on the arrow tower, watching the approaching Da Yong navy; he raised his right hand in a downward sweeping motion, and five hundred soldiers moved simultaneously, opening the wooden barrels already piled on the shore and pouring the tung oil into the river, the surface quickly becoming covered with an oil film.

Hu Xiaotian secretly sighed, not knowing how long the ecological damage from this would take to recover, but at a life-and-death juncture there was no room for hesitation—only these extreme measures could be used.

After adjusting the aim of the catapults and siege crossbows, they renewed their attack on the river fleet; the Da Yong troops had no counter to this immensely powerful weapon, and over the short stretch from the pontoon bridge to Xia Sha Port another five ships were sunk. Upon hearing the battle report, Tang Boxi's face turned ashen; he had brought fifty ships and thirty thousand elite marines, yet before even landing at Xia Sha Port he had already lost more than half, leaving only sixteen warships and fewer than ten thousand soldiers—a loss unprecedented in his military career; even if he managed to win by luck today, the cost of this battle would be unprecedented and would become the greatest disgrace of his life.

The oil film already covered half the river surface; Hu Xiaotian saw the sixteen warships approaching and curled his lips in a faint smile—Yu Tianxing was a rare strategist, most of this plan had been designed by him, Zhu Guanji was a marvel of heavenly talent and earthly wisdom, and if it weren't for his having beforehand considered the flaws in Yu Tianxing's plan and offered suggestions, the outcome of today's battle would be hard to predict. Hu Xiaotian took a long bow from a nearby soldier, nocked a rocket, and that soldier lit the rocket with a torch.

The bow arched like a full moon; although Hu Xiaotian's archery was unskilled, his target was the oil slick on the river surface—such a large target that even with his eyes closed he could hit every shot. (To be continued~^~)