Chapter 707: First Contact in Battle

The sound of horse hooves came the next afternoon.

At first it was only a faint tremor.

It came from the ground.

The youth on the lookout post stared for a moment;

then he bellowed at the top of his lungs.

"East! There are horses to the east!"

"Many!"

The bronze gong was frantically struck.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The camp instantly tensed up.

"Everyone! Up the wall!"

"Form the formation we practiced yesterday! Quick!"

Xu Da's roar drowned out the gong.

The able-bodied grabbed their weapons and ran toward the earthen platform behind the wooden wall.

Their movements were frantic;

but no one shrank back.

Zhu Yue quickly climbed onto the eastern wall.

He shaded his eyes with his hand and looked out.

On the distant horizon;

a plume of dust was rapidly approaching.

Ahead of the dust;

were dozens of dark specks.

they were cavalry.

"Archers, onto the wall!"

"Spear team, block the gap!"

"Women and children, retreat behind the stone formation!"

Orders were issued one after another.

Tang He led thirty able-bodied men equipped with iron spearheads;

forming three ranks directly behind the eastern wooden wall.

This was the direction most likely to be charged.

Xu Da then commanded the only dozen or so bows;

distributed at several high points on the walltop.

The bows were crude hunting bows.

The arrows were sharpened bamboo poles.

The sole advantage was;

the arrowheads had been repeatedly tempered in ash;

barely counting as hard.

The sound of horse hooves grew louder.

The ground trembled noticeably.

Within the dust;

the cavalry's outlines became clear.

About thirty horsemen.

wearing leather armor;

wielding sabers.

Behind them followed a dark mass of infantry;

estimated at about two hundred men.

The column halted outside the camp, about one li away.

A cavalry officer rode out from the ranks;

He narrowed his eyes, surveying this abrupt camp on the riverbank.

The wooden wall.

The moat.

Swaying, tense shadows behind the wall.

"It really has become something..."

He spat.

"Lord Wang is just being overly cautious."

"A bunch of mud‑legged peasants; they pile up a dirt ring and call it a city?"

He raised his hand.

"Infantry, advance!"

"Archers, suppress the formation!"

"First, shoot holes in the wall for me!"

Infantry began to advance.

About fifty archers followed behind;

After entering a range of a hundred paces;

They nocked arrows on their bows.

"Raise shields!"

Zhu Yue shouted.

Behind the wall, some hastily made wooden shields were raised.

They were rough.

They were heavy.

Anything that could block was better than nothing.

Swish—

Arrows rained down.

Most stuck in the wooden wall.

A few went over the wall top;

Were blocked by the wooden shields.

They made a dull thudding sound.

Some unlucky ones were grazed by arrows that slipped through gaps;

A suppressed groan of pain rose.

"Hold steady!"

"Don't expose your heads!"

Zhu Yue pressed close to the battlement.

He observed the enemy formation.

Archers were firing arrows to provide cover.

Infantry were quickly approaching;

They had already charged within fifty paces.

They carried crude ladders;

And several people were embracing a thick log;

Obviously intending to ram the gate.

"Archers!"

Zhu Yue barked low.

"Aim at those lifting the ladders and the ram!"

"Fire!"

On the wall top, a dozen hunting bows were released simultaneously.

Bamboo arrows flew out.

The force was insufficient.

The aim was also poor.

But the distance was close enough.

Several miserable cries rang out.

In the group lifting the ladders, two or three fell.

The speed of the ram also slowed a bit.

"Fire again!"

The second volley of arrows flew out.

Another one or two fell.

But the enemy had already reached the edge of the moat.

"Pour fire oil!"

Xu Da roared.

Several clay jars were hurled out with effort.

They smashed into the crowd at the moat's edge.

The jars shattered.

Inside, the black, sticky liquid splashed out.

It was a crude combustible refined from coal, mixed with grease.

"Torches!"

The oil-soaked torches were lit;

And thrown down.

Boom—

Flames rose.

Although not large;

But it instantly ignited anyone and clothing that touched the liquid.

A shrill wail rose.

The attacking force fell into momentary chaos.

But the cavalry officers behind were already swearing.

Charge forward! Don't be afraid of the fire!

They don't have much oil!

Go! Put up the ladders!

Sure enough.

Only a few oil jars had been thrown down.

The flames were quickly extinguished.

The ladders slammed heavily against the wooden wall.

Spears!

Tang He's voice was already hoarse.

Thrust!

The first rank of spears fiercely stabbed out from the gaps in the battlements.

The few soldiers at the very front were caught off guard;

Having their leather armor pierced by the iron spearheads;

They screamed as they fell off the ladders.

But the people behind immediately stepped in to replace them.

Blades flashed.

Several wooden spear shafts were chopped off.

Second rank! Go!

The first rank retreated.

The second rank leveled their spears and stabbed again.

The top of the wall instantly descended into chaos.

The soldiers relied on their armor and ferocity;

continually climbing upward.

The defenders relied on the battlements and spears;

desperately stabbing downward.

People kept being struck by blades and falling.

Nor did people stop screaming as they fell.

Zhu Yue did not stay on the wall to command.

He brought Xu Da and another ten or so of the most skilled;

straight for the camp's sole wooden gate.

Behind the door.

That thick battering ram was being struck by more than ten soldiers working together.

Thud!

Thud!

The door bolt groaned under the strain.

Wood chips flew.

Ready!

Zhu Yue said quietly.

Behind the door;

The twenty able-bodied men Tang He had arranged beforehand held their breath.

They gripped sharpened long bamboo poles in their hands.

They stared intently out through the door crack.

Thud!

Another violent impact.

The door bolt finally broke.

The gate was slammed open a gap.

Kill them inside!

The soldiers outside the gate shouted excitedly.

They forced open the broken door leaves.

Then.

What greeted them was a dense barrage of bamboo spears thrusting out from the shadows behind the door.

Pfft! Pfft!

The five or six at the very front were instantly turned into sieves.

Those behind, frightened, hastily retreated.

Block the door!

Zhu Yue shouted.

The pre-prepared heavy wooden boards studded with spikes were quickly lifted up;

wedged in the damaged door frame.

temporarily sealing the breach.

But the pressure on the eastern walltop kept increasing.

Government troops had already climbed onto the walltop.

A blade's light flashed;

A defender's head flew up.

Blood spattered.

"Retreat! Fall back to the second earthen wall!"

Zhu Yue knew he could no longer hold his ground.

"Fall back in rotation!"

"The spearmen will cover the rear!"

The order was given.

The defenders on the walltop began to go along the constructed wooden walkway;

They retreated toward the second, cruder earthen wall inside the camp.

The spearmen fought while retreating.

They used a dense spear formation to block the pursuers.

Government troops climbed over the wooden wall;

howling as they gave chase.

Both sides became locked in a melee on the narrow open space inside the camp.

At that moment.

The opportunity Zhu Yue had been waiting for arrived.

"Light it!"

He roared toward the stone formation.

Beside the stone formation;

Several ready youths instantly threw their torches into the previously dug shallow pit.

The pit was filled with dry straw and coal powder.

Boom——

A wall of fire sprang up instantly.

It was not tall.

But it was enough to block sight and passage.

More importantly,

The moment the flames rose,

the blade-and-plow marks on the stone formation;

seemed to glow faintly for an instant.

It was very weak.

Barely perceptible.

The few government troops at the forefront;

their steps stumbled inexplicably.

as if they suddenly felt dizzy.

Although they quickly recovered,

but this momentary delay;

gave the defenders a chance to pull away.

"Fall back behind the earthen wall!"

The defenders all retreated into the second line of defense.

Government troops were blocked by the wall of fire;

they could not pursue for the time being.

The cavalry commander outside the wall flew into a rage.

"Trash! A bunch of trash!"

"Two hundred plus can't beat a thousand mud‑legged peasants!"

But he also saw that;

the enemy had long been prepared.

The fortifications were layered one over another.

The resistance was unusually stubborn.

If the fighting continued,

even if we could win,

our thirty cavalry and two hundred infantry

would likely lose more than half.

In the distance,

behind the camp's earthen wall,

Zhu Yue was counting the casualties.

Nine were dead.

More than twenty were wounded.

The price was heavy.

But...

They withstood the first wave.

Moreover.

They killed or wounded at least thirty or forty soldiers.

Outside the wall.

The soldiers were gathering the corpses and the wounded.

Cursing and grumbling.

Yet they did not immediately organize the next attack.

The cavalry commander stared, his face ashen, at the camp that was smoking yet still standing.

Finally.

He waved his hand fiercely.

"Retreat!"

"Go back and report to Lord Wang!"

"These rebels…… are tough."

The sound of hooves rang out again.

This time they were heading away.

Behind the wall.

The survivors sat slumped on the ground.

They gasped for breath.

Many had blood on their hands and faces.

They couldn't tell whether it was the enemy's;

or their own.

Zhu Yue leaned against the earthen wall.

Gazing at the distant smoke and dust gradually dissipating.

This pass;

was temporarily over.

But everyone knew.

This was only a skirmish.

Next time they come;

there definitely won't be just this few people.

He turned around.

He looked toward the stone formation.

He looked toward the fire wall that had not yet been fully extinguished.

That moment's abnormality just now…

Was it an illusion?