Chapter 58: Rout

Zhou Xiong suddenly dashed forward several steps into the crowd, swinging his iron hammer in a half-circle sweep. With the meter-and-a-half hammer shaft plus the length of his arm, several bandits within a two-meter radius around him were struck, collapsing to the ground amid screams of agony.

Seeing Zhou Xiong's unmatched ferocity, the bandits panicked and scattered to both sides; the heavily armored infantry under Zhou Xiong's lead charged recklessly, and in a matter of moments broke a gap in the shield-bearing bandits' formation. The spearmen and sword-shield men behind quickly followed up, thrusting with spears and hacking with blades, widening the breach.

Although this round of attack by the government army's armored soldiers killed few bandits, its destructive power and deterrent effect were considerable. The two-hundred-man charge forced the shield-bearing bandits to retreat to both sides, exposing the unshielded bandits hidden behind them.

Rolling Earth Dragon was right in the front ranks. Seeing the ferocity of the government army's armored soldiers, he knew that if he didn't plug the gap in time, his men would likely rout backward. He gritted his teeth and roared: "Follow me!" Then he raised his long-handled saber high and charged at the government armored soldiers, with a crowd of fierce bandits shouting and following close behind.

Rolling Earth Dragon charged up to a heavily armored infantryman, swinging his saber with both hands in a diagonal slash at the man's neck. The armored soldier raised his wolf-tooth mace to parry, and Rolling Earth Dragon's hands went numb—his arms instantly lost strength and his long saber flew into the air. The government soldier's mace then swept horizontally at his body. The bandit behind Rolling Earth Dragon reacted with lightning speed, grabbing his belt and dragging him back half a step. The mace whistled past mere inches in front of him, and Rolling Earth Dragon broke out in a cold sweat—in that split second, his life had nearly been lost.

A bandit seized the opportunity to pounce forward, slamming a short hammer hard into the government soldier's waist and abdomen. The armored soldier winced in pain and bent over slightly, spitting out a large mouthful of blood that splattered right onto the face of the bandit who had wounded him. The bandit's eyes were instantly blinded by the blood, and a leaf-headed hammer smashed into his shoulder. With a scream, half his shoulder was crushed and he collapsed.

A long hooked-sickle spear hooked the wounded armored soldier's calf. The bandit holding it yanked backward with all his strength, and the soldier lost his footing and fell to the ground. Before he could get up, several blades and spears came down on his face, and the soldier died on the spot.

Rolling Earth Dragon switched to a new long saber, his eyes bloodshot as he hacked forward desperately. Under his leadership, the mass of bandits charged ahead fearlessly. Though the heavily armored infantry were valiant, they were far too few in number and were soon surrounded by the large bandit force, mired in a bitter struggle.

He Shixian saw the government armored soldiers trapped in a heavy encirclement and immediately sent his personal guards to relay orders to the cavalry on both flanks: close in and assault the flanks of the government square formation. Once the flanks were broken open, the infantry facing a cavalry charge would have no choice but to die.

Receiving the order, the bandit cavalry not far away swiftly charged from both sides toward the government army's flanks.

The Sichuan troops, who had not yet joined the battle, were divided into two groups of roughly three thousand each, led respectively by Regional Commander Qin Yiming and Mobile Corps Commander Gao Qixun. Their purpose was to shield the two flanks of the Tianxiong Army. Seeing the bandit cavalry charging, the two men each gave orders—from both camps, a thousand infantrymen stepped forward holding anti-cavalry pikes facing the bandit horsemen, a thousand shield-bearers guarded the flanks with their shields, and over a thousand archers formed square formations close behind.

The government army's anti-cavalry pikes were nearly four meters long. The front-row spearmen planted the butt ends into the ground, stepping on them with one foot while steadying the shafts with one hand, their sharp points angled toward the approaching enemy. The rear rows rested their pikes on the shoulders of the soldiers in front, forming a porcupine-like square formation in an instant.

Gao Qixun sat on his horse holding a spear, positioned over a hundred paces to the rear-flank of the pike formation, with a dozen or so personal guards around him—all of them wearing eager, ready-to-strike expressions.

In the eighth year of Chongzhen, when troops had killed their superior over pay demands, Hong Chengchou had shown leniency and not punished the rioting soldiers, instead issuing several months of back pay. But because he remained wary of the Sichuan troops' pay riots, when he led his forces into northern Shaanxi he left the Sichuan troops behind. Later the court appointed Qin Liangyu's younger brother Qin Yiming as Regional Commander, using Qin Liangyu's prestige to keep them in check. They were subsequently transferred to serve under Lu Xiangsheng, and under his combination of kindness and severity, the Sichuan troops' morale was completely renewed and many of their bad habits were reformed.

In this battle outside Chuzhou city, Lu Xiangsheng again arranged for the Tianxiong Army to take the vanguard, with the Sichuan troops merely shielding the flanks. This deeply dissatisfied the Sichuan troops, who believed themselves valiant and skilled in battle, deserving to charge ahead as the vanguard to earn merit and reward money. Being relegated to a reserve force protecting allied troops felt like a waste of their talents. Several Battalion Commanders and Company Commanders approached Qin and Gao, asking them to petition the Regional Commander to swap positions with the Tianxiong Army. Qin Yiming was soft-natured and didn't want to offend either side, but Gao Qixun was no pushover—relying on the personal authority he had built up daily, he cursed out those officers soundly before the matter was dropped.

The bandit cavalry numbered some five hundred riders. By the time they charged to within a hundred-odd paces of the government army, the pike formation was already set. Seeing the forest of gleaming pikes, the bandits' scalps went numb and their horses slowed abruptly. Their nature was to plunder the innocent—they had no desire to trade their lives for silver. Normally in such situations they wouldn't charge head-on, but now the two armies were locked in fierce battle. If the cavalry faltered in fear of the enemy, morale would be badly damaged, and if they lost, the big chieftains would not let them off. But to assault the government square formation, this pike wall was simply impossible to bypass.

Dust kicked up by the fierce fighting blotted out the sky. When the bandit cavalry, whose view had been blocked, charged forward, they discovered that the government cavalry was waiting two li beyond the infantry formation, hidden all along by the foot soldiers' ranks. To avoid being spotted by the enemy across the field, they hadn't even raised their banners—a large wedge formation of red-armored riders glared menacingly. Once the order to charge was given, they would plunge into the bandit formation moments later. They were merely waiting for the bandit ranks to be broken open.

The bandits in the front ranks were scared out of their wits, reining in their horses desperately. The warhorses curved in an arc dozens of paces before the pike wall and began turning back. Gao Qixun reacted swiftly and bellowed: "Arrows!"

The archers, who had long since drawn and nocked their arrows, released their fingers at the command. Over a thousand arrows flew forward, and the bandits who were slowing to turn were immediately met with screams. Several dozen bandits were either hit directly or had their mounts struck by arrows. Those who had already completed their turns whipped their horses desperately in flight. Though the rear-rank bandit riders didn't understand what was happening, years of tacit coordination took over—most began wheeling their horses and fleeing before even entering the government archers' range. Thus the second volley of arrows only killed or wounded a few bandit riders.

Gao Qixun cursed loudly: "Turtle sons! Faster than rabbits they run!"

Lu Xiangsheng noticed the battle had entered a stalemate. The bandit army, which normally avoided hard fighting with government troops, was acting completely out of character today. Relying on outnumbering the government forces several times over, they had stubbornly withstood the enormous impact of the heavily armored infantry. Especially the nearly ten thousand bandits in the front ranks—they had fought with bloodlust, engaging the government soldiers in desperate hand-to-hand combat. Of the two hundred heavily armored infantry, several dozen were already dead or wounded, and the spearmen's formation was beginning to loosen under the bandits' assault.

Lu Xiangsheng gave the order decisively: "Grenadiers, forward! Cavalry, prepare to charge!"

The hundred grenadiers in the rear formation split into two groups and, under the command of two Company Commanders, strode forward rapidly toward both sides of the pike formation. Because the heavily armored infantry had already cut deep into the bandit ranks, the bandits avoided their edge and surged to both sides, packing together in dense masses.

The spearmen's square formation was only three ranks deep, with the last rank a mere ten paces from the bandits, ready to advance at any moment to fill the gaps left by fallen comrades in the front. As the battle wore on, the spearmen's casualties grew steadily heavier.

When the two groups of grenadiers arrived, they formed a single line. At the Company Commanders' loud commands, they blew on their hand-held slow matches to ignite the fuses of the Heaven-Shaking Thunder grenades. After silently counting five or six breaths, they hurled the two-jin grenades forward with all their strength.

Because the original clay-jar Heaven-Shaking Thunders shattered on impact without exploding, under Chongzhen's direction the Embroidered Uniform Guard had scoured the realm for craftsmen skilled in casting bronze, using pig iron to cast thin outer shells. Apart from being somewhat larger, they were now essentially similar to modern hand grenades.

These grenadiers were strictly selected—not only for great strength, but also for composure and carefulness. If a man lacked steadiness of mind and panicked in battle, if the fuse was lit too early or the grenade wasn't thrown hard enough and landed in their own formation, the results would be vastly different.

For safety's sake, the Heaven-Shaking Thunders made by the Ordnance Directorate had longer external fuses that took nearly ten breaths to burn out. The grenade had to be thrown five or six breaths after ignition, so that it would explode almost instantly upon landing—the lethality went without saying. If thrown immediately after lighting, it would continue burning for several more breaths after landing, and in a dense crowd the fuse could easily be stamped out, rendering the grenade useless.

The latter scenario was even more terrifying, since they were throwing from behind their own formation. Many men, in their panic, would suddenly lose all strength. If a Heaven-Shaking Thunder landed among their own front ranks, the consequences would be devastating—their tight formation would collapse in an instant. After all, this wasn't the dispersed skirmish line of a modern firearm era; cold-weapon formations required density to be lethal. When the grenades were issued, the Ordnance Directorate specially sent several of the craftsmen who made them to provide instruction, and the selected grenadiers drilled daily until the motions became instinctive before they were deemed battle-ready.

A hundred Heaven-Shaking Thunders flew over the spearmen's heads and landed among the densely packed bandit ranks dozens of paces away. Many bandits were struck by the falling grenades, and before they could react, flashes of fire burst forth, followed by a chain of deafening explosions. Severed limbs flew in every direction. The improved black powder's explosive power was no small matter—besides the terrifying killing power of the shell fragments, the crushed iron bits and porcelain shards mixed inside also sprayed outward, inflicting massive casualties on bandits who wore not even cloth armor. Many had their faces riddled with fragments, their eyes blinded by the flying shrapnel, screaming and clutching their faces. Bandits outside the blast radius who escaped the fragments were still stunned senseless by the tremendous shockwaves. Rolling Earth Dragon and Skin-Li Needle were both blown to death on the spot.

The tremendous explosions and the bandits' screams echoed across the battlefield. The bandits in the front ranks locked in desperate combat with the government soldiers faltered in their movements. Some even ignored the spears thrusting at them, looking up at the sky—the bright sun hung overhead, and the azure sky was utterly cloudless.

The government soldiers, having witnessed the power of the Heaven-Shaking Thunders in daily training, were instantly invigorated by the explosions. They thrust their spears forward with renewed force, and the distracted bandits, startled by the blasts, fell with screams as the spears struck home.

The great mass of bandits surging from behind heard the explosions and saw the hellish scene after the smoke cleared—their hearts nearly stopped from terror.

"Heavenly Grandfather is striking thunder!"

"The government soldiers are casting sorcery!"

"Run, run!"

Amid the panicked shouts, someone turned and fled first, and the panic spread like wildfire. The bandits in the front and middle formations began routing en masse. The cavalry leaders who had ridden back earlier had already told He Shixian and Gao Shentong in the rear formation that the government cavalry was waiting behind the infantry lines. Now the distant explosions rang out, and the smoke and dust they kicked up blotted out the sky. Before they could even figure out what was happening, tens of thousands of fleeing bandits came sweeping toward them. He Shixian, mounted on his horse, could already see the figures of the government cavalry beginning to appear in the distance. He sighed and said: "We're leaving! We've lost today!" He wheeled his horse and galloped north, his trusted followers spurring their mounts close behind. Gao Shentong gritted his teeth, shouted "Go!" and whipped his horse to chase after He Shixian, while his subordinate chieftains also led their men in flight.