Chapter 309: Almost Ruined It

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Three thunderclap firecrackers rang out. This had already become the Guiyi Army's standard signal for liaison, because no one else had them, and they were loud, flashed with firelight, and were extremely convenient.

However, this was not the signal sent by Ma Shacai's force, which had just reached the west gate of Lanzhou. It was the signal sent by Wen Chongle from Weiyan Temple.

Because Ma Shacai's troops had not yet reached the west gate, the patrol soldiers of the Li clan and other tribes in Lanzhou had already been organized.

Under the faint glimmer of starlight, at the first quarter of the mao hour, they raised torches, held up pengpai shields, and charged straight for Weiyan Temple.

Weiyan Temple had originally been the palace of Xue Ju, the Hegemon of Western Qin at the end of the Sui dynasty. After Xue Ju's son Xue Rengao was overthrown by that Li Erfeng fellow, the Tang court, still haunted by fear, dreaded that another fierce man like Xue Ju might rise in Longyou.

Not only did they relocate a great number of Longyou's military-merit aristocratic families, they also tore down the walls of Xue Ju's palace and rebuilt it into Weiyan Temple.

So at this moment, Weiyan Temple was in fact a Buddhist temple that leaked wind on both sides and had no defenses front or rear. If the enemy came, they could attack from the front, back, left, or right.

"General Wen, the great hall and monks' quarters of Weiyan Temple are mostly built of fine timber, and there are no defensible strongpoints on either side. If the enemy uses fire attack, we may well be buried in a sea of flames.

I observe that the enemy has little armor, while we are fully armored and have many skilled archers. Better to take the initiative and strike out!"

Seeing the situation, Mu Shunyi ran straight over to Wen Chongle and said this.

Although this man had spent a few peaceful years in the Central Plains, he had originally been a fierce cavalry general, a meritorious officer who had followed Yelu Abaoji and his son in destroying the kingdom of Balhae. His judgment was not something Wen Chongle could match.

Wen Chongle glanced at the big-bearded Khitan in surprise, and immediately felt the reasoning was sound.

"Captain Mu, you Khitan warriors are skilled archers. You may form ranks in the rear and volley at the enemy.

Everyone, gather the armor together. Yue Saonu, you and the monk-soldier masters will wear two layers of armor and assault head-on. I will personally lead eighty riders around the rear for a surprise attack."

There was quite a bit of armor in Weiyan Temple, but this was not secretly stockpiled by the monks of Weiyan Temple. They were a Buddhist temple, and they kept monk-soldiers only to deal with provocations from fellow monks and with horse-bandits and robbers who had designs on them, not to rebel, and therefore they had no stored armor.

Part of this armor belonged to the Khitan warriors escorting Yelu Abuli, and part had been brought by Wen Chongle. Ma Shacai had deliberately given them three horses per man precisely to carry the armor.

And in order to bring the armor into Lanzhou, Long Bian had even thrown away over a thousand strings of cash worth of goods that he had purchased in Luoyang, the eastern capital.

While they were urgently donning armor over here, the Li clan men over there were not unprepared either. Just as Mu Shunyi had said, they really had prepared fire oil and firewood, intending to set the place ablaze if they could not take it.

At the same time, to guard against the archers in Weiyan Temple, they had not only equipped a large number of pengpai shields but had also dismantled a great many door panels.

The sword-and-axe men skilled in close combat all hid behind the pengpai shields and door panels, planning to push straight into Weiyan Temple and fight hand to hand, using their numerical advantage to swallow up the Guiyi Army men inside as quickly as possible.

Yue Saonu put on a suit of interlocked-ring armor, and then put on Wen Chongle's padded cotton armor over it. One could not exactly say the cotton armor was Wen Chongle's; the two of them had pooled their resources to buy it.

At present in Liangzhou, the cost of a suit of cotton armor was still rather high, each set worth over a hundred strings of cash.

With both layers of armor fully donned, Yue Saonu gripped his golden-melon hammer and leaned against the temple's main gate to rest. The Li clan men hoped to fight the Guiyi Army in close combat, but did the Guiyi Army not wish for exactly the same?

The sounds of "thrum! whoosh! thrum! whoosh!" rang out as dozens of agile Khitan warriors climbed up onto the upper story of Weiyan Temple's great hall, seized the high ground, and poured arrows down like raindrops upon the slowly advancing Li clan patrol soldiers.

These warriors, whom even Yelu Bei had insisted on bringing with him when he crossed the sea to the Later Tang, were all the finest hunting and fishing warriors of the northeastern mountains and forests.

The kingdom of Dongdan extended from Liaoyang in the west to the vast lands northeast as far as Haishenwai and beyond—the very territory where the Jurchen Jin kingdom would later rise.

Among Yelu Bei's personal guards, many were of Bohai raw-Jurchen origin. They crossed mountains and ridges and scaled tall buildings as if walking on level ground.

For a time, screams rang out continuously among the Li clan patrol ranks. Their pengpai shields and wooden shields could block arrows shot flat or lobbed from the front, but they had not expected these Khitan warriors to climb onto the temple roof and shoot down at them.

Moreover, the Khitan warriors would often shoot first at those holding torches. Before long, the ranks fell into darkness, and few dared keep holding torches. Unable to bear the casualties, the patrol soldiers quickly retreated in the darkness.

The first wave of attack ended just like that, with much bluster but little result.

But although they had ended it, Wen Chongle chose not to end it. Horses' eyesight is somewhat better than that of humans. At the first quarter of the mao hour, people might still see only blurrily, but horses could already clearly make out the road conditions.

The urgent sound of hoofbeats rang out. With their torches gone, the Li clan patrol soldiers could only dimly sense, in the haze, that hoofbeats seemed to be coming from everywhere.

Some wondered whether their own side's cavalry outside the city had entered, while at the same time fearing that the enemy's cavalry had charged in.

And as they retreated in the dark, they shoved and jostled one another in utter confusion.

The area around Weiyan Temple was quite open. Wen Chongle led more than sixty cavalrymen in constant circles around the Li clan patrol soldiers, shouting back and forth. When they encountered a small group, they charged in and hacked; when they encountered a large group, they loosed a volley.

Several sharp whistles sounded. Yue Saonu spat into his palm, gripped his golden-melon hammer, and pressed tightly together with the armored soldiers beside him.

A few armored soldiers with especially good eyesight led the way at the front. Nearly a hundred of them squeezed together and groped forward as one body.

Among the Li clan patrol soldiers, the commander Li Dalang used his unsheathed hengdao saber to strike and curse, and with great difficulty managed to steady the situation.

He felt somewhat ashamed. Several hundred men had advanced with pengpai shields and wooden boards, yet after losing only a dozen or so men they had retreated, and had even been frightened into panic by the sudden sound of enemy hoofbeats.

"Light the torches! Light all the torches! Silang, take your skilled archers and find those Liangzhou men shooting from hiding.

If dawn comes and the people outside the city enter to see we still haven't taken Weiyan Temple, where will you put your faces? Anyone who dares retreat—his whole family will be driven out of the city!"

Among the Li clan, those who could serve as patrol soldiers inside the city enjoyed treatment more than ten times better than those outside.

The patrol soldiers inside the city had basically been freed from production. They only needed to return home to help during the busy farming season; the rest of the time they could train in martial arts as semi-detached soldiers.

Moreover, the brick and stone houses inside the city were far more comfortable than the mud hovels and tents outside.

At that moment, amid Li Dalang's furious roars, the Li clan patrol soldiers finally calmed down. Torches were lit one after another, and no cold arrows came from the enemy's skilled archers. Li Dalang let out a long breath of relief in his heart.

But suddenly, he noticed something very wrong! Not far from them, under the torchlight, countless gleaming armor scales reflected the firelight, dazzling Li Dalang until his vision swam.

"Strike!" Yue Saonu roared, and called to the dozens of armored soldiers behind him as they suddenly charged forward.

At this moment, only a few of the Li clan patrol soldiers were holding up pengpai shields, and the distance between the two sides was already within thirty paces.

Yue Saonu was the first to charge furiously forward, smashing directly into the chaotic crowd of Li clan patrol soldiers. The spearmen had no time to raise their spears before Yue Saonu was upon them.

They could only throw down their spears, draw their single-edged swords from their waists, and slash while continuously shouting for the sword-and-axe men behind them to come forward.

In the dense crowd, Yue Saonu instantly took three or four cuts, and then a great axe chopped down onto his back as well.

Yue Saonu could not help but let out a scream. Had he not been wearing a layer of cotton armor and a layer of interlocked-ring armor, that blow would likely have taken his life.

Amid the intense pain and his own screams, Yue Saonu swung his golden-melon hammer and knocked down two or three Li clan patrol soldiers around him in quick succession.

Relying on the time gap and the breach he had created, the other armored soldiers also swarmed in.

The Khitan warriors who had jumped down from the upper story, under Mu Shunyi's command, also drew their bows and shot in rapid succession at the rear ranks of the Li clan patrol soldiers.

Having lost the cover of pengpai shields and wooden boards, the Li clan men were exposed to the tremendous killing power of the Khitans' strong bows.

At this time, Wen Chongle's cavalry force also wheeled back around. They continuously threatened, charged, and loosed arrows, driving the outermost Li clan patrol soldiers away from the main body, like peeling an onion, steadily reducing the numbers of the enemy formation.

The battle instantly descended into the fiercest close-quarters fighting. More than eight hundred Li clan patrol soldiers and over three hundred Guiyi Army soldiers and monk-soldiers fought in a tangled mass. Neither side knew the other's exact numbers, and under the dim starlight they fought blindly with only limited visibility.

Outside the west gate of Lanzhou, Ma Shacai did not wait for Wen Chongle to open the west gate and welcome him into the city. Instead, he heard three thunderclap firecrackers sound from within the city.

This was Wen Chongle sounding a warning. Ma Shacai instantly knew the situation was urgent. He stood up on his horse's back and looked around in all directions.

Lanzhou's city wall was about seven or eight li in circumference, but fortunately the west and south gates were fairly close together, separated by less than one li.

Ma Shacai made a snap decision and roared at Yuchi Jing: "The infantry from Yucheng Town will form ranks on the spot! Cavalry, follow me and ride around the city! Wang Tongxin, you and Cui Huxin hold the very front!"

Yuchi Jing did not hesitate for a moment upon hearing this. He planted the great recognition banner of the Guiyi Army directly behind them, and under the cavalry's cover, more than four hundred heavy infantry swiftly donned their armor.

They placed their horses in the rear formation, thrust their modao glaive glaive glaives into the earth beside them, then drew their powerful bows and crossbows. A proper-looking bow-and-crossbow formation took shape at once.

Seeing the infantry formation complete, Ma Shacai immediately led the cavalry off, galloping around Lanzhou's walls.

He guessed that the Lanzhou Wenmo cavalry outside the city would certainly want to enter the city at the first opportunity to reinforce those inside — and that was his best chance to break them.

The Li clan patriarch was actually not as foolish as Wang Tinghan thought. The moment he received word that troops from Liangzhou had arrived, he chose to leave the city.

However, when he learned that Ma Shacai had fewer than a thousand men, he immediately changed his battle plan.

It had to be said that the mobilization capacity of the Lanzhou Wenmo tribe was still extremely formidable. In less than two days, they had mobilized more than six thousand cavalry.

Although they were basically all unarmored nomadic riders, the numbers had at least been made up, and they looked very intimidating, at the very least.

The moment the Li clan patriarch saw Ma Shacai begin riding around Lanzhou, he immediately realized that Ma Shacai intended to intercept their force entering the city.

After all, the battle at Weiyan Temple inside the city was the key to deciding victory or defeat in this war.

Because although Ma Shacai and his men had brought armor, they had not brought supplies. All the food and fodder along the way had been obtained by raiding the small tribes north of Lanzhou.

The Li clan patriarch could of course see that Ma Shacai and his men, having crossed the steep Hongchi Ridge and Yema Ridge in succession, could not possibly have brought large quantities of supplies.

As long as they were kept from entering Lanzhou, then even just by attrition, these Liangzhou troops could be worn down to death.

They had at least several hundred sets of armor. If he could seize those sets of armor, his Li clan tribe would have the capital to stand against the people of Liangzhou.

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