Chapter 621: Blood Waves Surge and the Enemy Line Crumbles (Nine-Thousand-Character Chapter)

Liu Zhiyuan's hurried retreat north of Jize County had been carefully planned.

The key factor was that he could rely on Jize County town to stockpile grain and fodder.

And when Zhang Zhao pursued from the Zhang River, his grain and baggage would inevitably have to cross the Zhang River once more, doubling the transport burden.

Moreover, outside Jize County town he had already built several simple stockades, and with the army relying on these stockades, supplemented by wagon barricades and chevaux-de-frise, they could effectively block the Zhou cavalry.

Yet although Liu Zhiyuan had indeed prepared a second plan, the entire Hedong army was still badly shaken.

Because originally they had assumed that even if this anvil-and-hammer tactic could not gain as great an advantage as expected, the carefully selected four thousand men still should not have been defeated so disastrously.

Though the Hedong army still numbered over forty thousand, in truth Hedong's elite troops amounted to only about ten thousand of Liu Zhiyuan's own yabing guards, five or six thousand Zhangde Army men under Guo Wei, and over three thousand Wujie Army men under Shi Hongzhao. What remained were the four thousand men scraped together by Bai Zairong and the others.

Apart from these twenty-three thousand, the rest were odds and ends with a very low rate of armor coverage.

They had never imagined that four thousand Hedong elite troops, fighting a thousand-odd Zhou imperial guards, would collapse in a single clash.

Part of it was certainly Bai Zairong fleeing early, but even before Bai Zairong fled, the Hedong army had already been on the verge of collapse.

And Wang Yin had not held back; he had genuinely been unable to win, and in the first exchange had been pushed back so hard he could not hold his ground.

From the distance came the sound of horns several pitches higher than ox horns—the distinctive sound of conch-shell horns.

Hedong did not border the sea, so on this campaign the Zhou army used conch horns throughout, to avoid confusion with Hedong's horn signals.

Shi Hongzhao stood atop the wall of Jize County town, brows tightly knitted. The sun had long since set, and the only ones still blowing horns could be those detestable Zhou scouting riders.

They had followed all the way from the Zhang River, badly mauling the Tuyuhun cavalry covering Hedong's rear, and even now were still using horns to fix their general direction.

It would probably not be long before they had clearly made out the positions of the Hedong army's several camps outside the town.

Shi Hongzhao turned and walked back in some irritation. Passing several houses, he faintly heard low moans and weeping from within.

The moans came from wounded soldiers hurt by the Zhou army today. In the battle by the Zhang River, Hedong casualties had reached a thousand, though most had either died in battle or been captured; only a few were here.

The weeping came from the women of Jize County town. The people of Jize County had not been as fortunate as those of Pingxiang County. The Hedong army had not had time to run wild in Pingxiang County, but once they entered Jize County town, they immediately had time to spare.

As soon as they entered the town, each officer had staked out a district, and gold, silver, grain, cloth, women, able-bodied men, and even livestock such as donkeys and mules were at once divided up completely.

The weeping women were those hidden away by the officers, to be given as rewards to yabing guards who fought bravely below and to those tending the wounded. Presumably it was only because the night was deep that these women dared to weep.

Shi Hongzhao shook his head, but this was not because he felt any compassion. In this age, soldiers harming the common people was in fact the norm.

He, Shi Hongzhao, would never think these soldiers had done anything wrong; he merely felt that hearing women weep late at night was somewhat unlucky.

And there by the Zhang River, Zhang Zhao had just arranged for the entire army to cross the river.

Tonight the Zhou army camped by the Zhang River. It was, after all, only a dozen or so li from Jize County town, and breaking camp at dawn tomorrow would be entirely in time.

Compared with the chaos and panic of the Hedong army, the Zhou side was far more solemn and composed.

In today's great battle, Hanshan Du had lost seventeen men killed in action or later dying of wounds, and Yinqiang Du had lost thirty-nine killed, with over three hundred wounded.

The great majority had been hurt in the exchange of crossbow fire. The Hedong army truly deserved its reputation as the finest warriors of the Five Dynasties; even now that it was in decline and its equipment had fallen behind, it had still held firm and exchanged five volleys of heavy crossbow fire with Hanshan Du.

"Young lord, Song Zheng can follow you no longer!"

As an old-timer of the Yuan Cong faction, Song Zheng opened his toothless mouth, his eyes red-rimmed as he looked at Zhang Zhao.

But he was not dying. Rather, his right knee had been smashed by a mace blow from Wang Yin's yabing guards. He had also taken a heavy blow to the mouth, his jaw had been dislocated, and nearly all his front teeth had been knocked out, so that his speech now whistled somewhat.

"Can you not speak properly? What do you mean, 'can follow no longer'? You've injured your leg, not died in battle.

Do you want to go to Xuzhou and serve as an inspector under Ma Yaozi, or go to Guanzhong and take a post as county sheriff? Say now, and I'll have Guo Tiance arrange it shortly." Zhang Zhao gave Song Zheng an exasperated glare.

Song Zheng chuckled, then looked at Zhang Zhao somewhat guiltily. "Sage, your servant wishes to return to Shazhou."

"Return to Shazhou? Are you worried that with a bad leg it will be hard to hold office? What is there to fear? I permit you to choose two personal guards, and wherever you go they can push you along."

Zhang Zhao was somewhat surprised. Although Shazhou was where they had started out, it was far too remote; even migrants from Guanzhong were rarely willing to go to Shazhou.

But Song Zheng shook his head firmly. "Your servant has actually long wanted to go back, but kept thinking that the realm was not yet settled, and that I must still follow the Sage in punishing the separatists.

Now that I am wounded, it is just the right time to return. The parents of Luo Fengma and the others are all in Shazhou, and if I go back, I can at least look after them somewhat."

Luo Fengma had fallen at Poluzhou, north of Shule, one of the earliest batch to be killed.

And Luo Fengma's parents were even more of a worry. The old couple were advanced in years and clung to their native soil, absolutely refusing to leave Shazhou. The gold and silver they had been rewarded they had mostly given away to poor relatives, and even now they insisted on herding sheep in Shazhou themselves.

Zhang Zhao had even issued an edict for them to come live in the Eastern Capital, and they had traveled three months to get there, only to stay five days, say that having seen Chang'an and Luoyang they had no regrets left in this life, and then go back to herding sheep.

In fact, among the martyrs' families of Zhang Zhao's Yuan Cong faction, there were several other elderly couples like this, all unwilling to leave Shazhou because of the language barrier and different customs.

"Your servant was originally born a slave soldier of the Cao clan, and never imagined he could have a day like this. By rights this life belongs to the Sage. It is only that as the years grow many, I wish to return to my hometown, to properly teach my son there, so that he may fight again for the Sage."

Zhang Zhao nodded heavily, then glanced at Man Xiong, who now had a few strands of gray-white hair on his head, and suddenly realized that many of the men in his Hanshan Du were beginning to grow old.

Back when they had gone to Anxi, Zhang Zhao's age had counted as young; most of the others, like Song Zheng, had already passed forty.

The military officers of his Zhang Zhou were nearing the time when a new generation must be promoted, and the process of unifying the realm had to be accelerated, while this elite force under his command was still at its peak.

After attending the cremation ceremony for the fallen warriors and visiting the wounded, Zhang Zhao still could not rest.

Because the scouting troops of the Right Yulin Guard had already brought back reconnaissance information, the Wangyi Bureau had also prepared maps, and all officers above the rank of Chief Supervisor of each army and guard had already assembled.

Zhang Zhao studied it carefully. Liu Zhiyuan had arranged his forty thousand troops in a diamond formation.

At the front was a large stockade capable of holding two or three thousand troops; at the very rear was Jize County town; and on the two flanks were two defensive stockades, each with tall arrow towers.

Of course, it was not a very regular diamond, but rather a very flattened diamond.

And within this diamond formed by one town and four stockades, the Hedong army had used trenches, chevaux-de-frise, and wagon barricades to form a defensive line blocking cavalry raids.

Inside, a large number of carts had been deployed, and the able-bodied men of Jize County had also been organized, able to quickly transport supplies and evacuate the wounded.

Li Cunhui had personally gone forward to scout the situation, and he was now explaining it to Zhang Zhao and the other officers.

"After the Right Yulin Guard followed the Hedong army to Jize County, we chose not to continue harrying the several hundred cavalry covering Hedong's rear, but instead tried to probe one of the stockades.

Only then did we discover that the trenches and wagon barricades on the flanks, combined with the arrow towers, very easily restrict the cavalry's speed. It seems the Hedong army's idea is to make us assault the front.

But the front stockade has chevaux-de-frise stretching on and on, and there is also a large stockade from which troops can be shifted at leisure; cavalry would be very hard to employ."

Bai Congxin scratched his head as well. "On the flanks there are arrow towers, fortified camps, and trenches; it seems they don't want our cavalry to strike from both sides and cut off their rear.

And the front has many chevaux-de-frise. This is still the same old routine—adapting to the terrain to restrict cavalry, intending to fight us on foot."

Feng Hui was more familiar with this sort of thing than Bai Congxin and Li Cunhui. He stepped up beside Zhang Zhao and spoke.

"Sage, this is the great square formation for defeating cavalry with infantry that the Zhu Liang army favored in years past. They have built stockades on both flanks. If our cavalry strikes at the two flanks, it will be blocked by the wagon ramparts and archery towers and will find it extremely difficult to break in. Your servant judges that there must also be powerful weapons like the fuyuan crossbow inside.

If we attack the front, the troops garrisoned in this great stockade are certain to be elite soldiers, and it will not be easily taken.

If we bypass it, the elite troops in the great stockade can raid us on all sides. If we assault it by force, the Hedong army can move aside the chevaux-de-frise and come to its support. It will be very hard to fight!"

After hearing this, Zhang Zhao studied the map carefully again. Something about it felt familiar, and then it suddenly dawned on him—wasn't this just the layered formation? The one he had used at Poluzhou in Shule.

The only difference was that the forward cluster of archers had been turned into a great stockade, and the chevaux-de-frise on the two flanks had become trenches and a wagon rampart.

They had given up the ability to strike out from the two flanks, and instead relied mainly on the great stockade to check a frontal cavalry charge. The troops on the two flanks could move aside the chevaux-de-frise and sally forth as circumstances allowed.

Just as Zhang Zhao thought of this, Bai Congxin, who had been muttering a few words a moment ago, suddenly realized it too. He abruptly looked toward Zhang Zhao.

"Sage, isn't this the layered formation for defeating cavalry with infantry? The core of it is still to check the cavalry's speed, and then use bows and crossbows for missile fire.

Perhaps the Hedong army lacks bows and crossbows, so they built a great stockade to hold their elite troops, using it as a wall on one side and as a force to strike when the moment comes on the other."

At that point Bai Congxin suddenly stopped speaking, because after the great battle at Poluzhou in Anxi, he and Zhang Zhao had analyzed the weaknesses of this layered formation.

The conclusion they had reached was that the only flaw of this formation, which gave up mobility, was that it feared ranged weapons with even greater mobility and superior range.

And as it happened, the Zhou army had exactly that—the camel whirlwind catapult, which could be moved at any time and fired rapidly.

At that thought, Zhang Zhao and Bai Congxin exchanged a smile.

Feng Hui and the others had never seen the power of the camel whirlwind catapult, because the thing was simply too expensive to maintain, and Zhang Zhao had been reluctant to use it.

He had brought it along on the campaign against the Southern Tang, but given the Southern Tang army's fighting ability, there had been no need for it at all.

This golden finger that Zhang Zhao had invented—at one point he had even wanted to abandon it, because in the present Zhang Zhou, the camel whirlwind catapult was almost completely useless.

Historically, the thing had appeared because the Western Xia needed it to use against the Song army. In use, cavalry first restricted the movement of the Song heavy infantry, and then the camel whirlwind catapult was brought up to pound them.

But in Zhang Zhou, the Zhou army was strong in both infantry and cavalry. The Meng Shu, Southern Tang, and other states basically had only infantry, and the quality of their heavy infantry could not compare with Zhang Zhou's. The Khitan, like Zhang Zhou, excelled in cavalry.

Therefore the camel whirlwind catapult had never found a use. It was the most useless of useless things—yet unexpectedly, here it had found its moment.

When Zhang Zhao explained the camel whirlwind catapult to Feng Hui and the others, everyone was overjoyed. The Hedong army's stockade had been built with large amounts of timber and a small amount of earth and stone, so its defensive strength was actually not great, and it would be hard-pressed to withstand bombardment by the camel whirlwind catapult.

They would simply smash their great stockade first, blast the Hedong army out, and force them to come out and seek battle on their own initiative.

On the fourth day of the sixth month, Zhang Zhao delayed two more days, waiting until all the camel whirlwind catapults had crossed the river, and only then led twenty thousand troops to the north of Jize county town.

Before that, the entire stretch of land from the Zhang River to the north of Jize county had become an arena for dogfights between the cavalry of both sides.

Zhang Zhou sent out the elite cavalry of the Left Imperial Guard, and the Hedong army also abandoned its usual practice of using Tuyuhun cavalry, instead sending out more than a thousand elite riders of the Hedong young lord's guard.

Along the road as Zhang Zhao led the main army forward, riderless horses could be seen everywhere, the ground was covered with bloodstains, and Hedong cavalrymen lay abandoned in the wilderness. The ferocity of the fighting between the two sides was plain to see.

The cool morning breeze brushed across banner after banner. The Zhou army was arrayed on three sides, in seventeen large and small square formations.

Between the square formations, dozens of drum and music troupes advanced with the army, playing great drums and barbarian pipes together, while the soldiers sang loudly.

"From ancient Dunhuang come divine generals; the distant tribes all gaze up in reverence. Loyal to the dragon court, their names long since on the Unicorn Terrace. Only grieved that the tribes cut us off, our heartfelt pleas hard to utter. Sooner or later we shall destroy the wolf tribes, and together bow before the sacred face."

Do not underestimate this "Pusaman: From Ancient Dunhuang Come Divine Generals." This lyric dates from after the Tibetans seized Shan, Liang, and the other prefectures, when Yan Chao led the soldiers and people of Shazhou in holding Dunhuang, the last stronghold in Hexi. It was the military song of that time.

After Yan Chao was poisoned and the Tibetans completely occupied Hexi, the Tibetan slave-owning elite forbade the surviving Tang people of Hexi from speaking the Tang tongue or wearing Han clothing, and burned great numbers of books bearing Chinese characters.

To preserve their unity and shared hatred of the enemy, and to keep from forgetting the language and writing of their ancestors, most of the border people of Hexi learned Tang speech and Chinese characters from songs like this one.

Of the twenty thousand men who had now come, apart from Feng Hui's six hundred Silver Lance Guards and the two thousand-odd yabing guards of the three military governors—the Zhongwu Army of Xuchang Prefecture, the Guide Army of Guide Prefecture, and the Taining Army of Jining Prefecture—all the rest were trusted sons of Zhang Zhou from Hexi and Longyou, so every man could sing it.

The resounding military song was sung over and over, and even after each unit reached its designated position, it did not stop.

Meanwhile, the Left Imperial Guard elite cavalry serving as scouts and pickets had already begun driving off the Hedong Tuyuhun outriders who came close. The main forces had not yet engaged, but the light cavalry on the perimeter had long since been fighting until their heads were broken and blood flowed.

At last, amid the singing, the yellow silk canopy symbolizing the Emperor's personal presence, the silver-bordered Three Stars banner symbolizing the army's commander-in-chief, and the great silver-white banner with hanging golden tassels were raised. The singing abruptly ceased, and twenty thousand soldiers shouted "Long live" three times in unison.

Next, the great drum, which required more than ten laborers to move, was struck. With each beat of the great drum, the smaller drums arrayed in sequence sounded in an unbroken roll.

Amid the drumming, the silver-white banner with the golden coiled dragon of the Hanshan Army, the main force, rose high, and the cavalry and infantry of the Hanshan Army shouted "Shatter the enemy line!" three times.

After the three shouts of the Yulin Guards were finished, the great drum continued to beat. This time what was raised was the silver-white banner with the golden flying dragon of the Right Yulin Guard, and the soldiers of the Right Yulin Guard also shouted "Yulin!" three times.

Next, the recognition banners of the Left Imperial Guard, the Right Imperial Guard, the Silver Lance Guards, the Zhongwu Army, and the other units were raised one by one, and the drumming began to intensify.

The left and right army commanders of the Hanshan Army, Zhang Zhaozhong and Zhang Zhaojiu; the Commander of the Right Yulin Guard, Li Cunhui; the Commander with the rank of General-in-Chief of the Left Imperial Guard, Bai Congxin; the Right Imperial Guard Commandant and Army Supervisor Hu Guang; and the Commander of the Silver Lance Guards, Feng Hui—each dispatched the orderlies they were accustomed to using to Zhang Zhao's side.

These orderlies had a high degree of tacit understanding with their commanders, which better ensured that on the chaotic battlefield, each commander clearly understood the orders coming from the commander-in-chief.

Once all the recognition banners of the various armies had been raised, for a time the banners blotted out the sky, orderlies shuttled back and forth, and dust rose on all sides above the battle formations, at once setting the grim, killing atmosphere before a great battle.

Just then, fierce cheers came from the distance. It turned out that the elite cavalry of the Left Imperial Guard had completely routed the thousand-odd Tuyuhun cavalry the Hedong army had sent out.

Yang Guizhong, a squad leader of the Left Imperial Guard cavalry, came galloping up holding the head of a Tuyuhun general and flung it before Zhang Zhao to boast of his achievement.

Zhang Zhao laughed heartily twice. "Yang Guizhong is matchless in valor! Grant him twenty bolts of Shu brocade and promote him one rank!"

The whole army roared with delight. Then the great drum sounded again, and each army and guard also beat its great drum. All the armies shouted in unison: "Wu-hu! Wu-hu!"—and then the entire army advanced, pressing straight toward the Hedong army's great formation.

Liu Zhiyuan, watching from Jize county town as the Zhou army came on in step, rank upon rank, bearing spears and halberds and carrying long lances and clubs, felt the pressure multiply. He immediately ordered the drummers to beat the war drums.

The Hedong army also shouted "Wu-hu!" in unison and advanced to the left and right ends of the great stockade. The light infantry in the trench and wagon-rampart and archery-tower combinations on the two flanks also began to prepare, swords in hand and bows and arrows on their backs.

The Hedong army used the great stockade as the dividing line. On the left were Murong Yanchao's five thousand men, made up of Liu Zhiyuan's trusted yabing guards, with an armor-wearing rate of over sixty percent and extremely strong fighting power.

On the right were Shi Hongzhao's five thousand men. Half were his own Wujie Army, and the other half were picked brave men drawn from the various armies. Their armor-wearing rate was at least half, and their fighting power was also far from weak.

According to the battle plan agreed upon before the fight, Murong Yanchao and Shi Hongzhao beat their army drums, and ten thousand men formed ten square formations, also advancing in step in linked formations. Together with them went another ten thousand men from the various armies, whose fighting power was somewhat weaker.

To shrink behind the stockade from the very start—that was not the way of a Five Dynasties warrior. Who would turn coward that early?

At the very least, they would only make such a plan if the field battle went badly. Besides, they had the advantage in numbers.

Within the square formations, junior officers with superb archery skills from both sides came forward with bows and crossbows at the same time. When they had advanced to within two or three hundred paces, they halted, and the strong bows and powerful crossbows in their hands began shooting fiercely at the enemy.

Although there were still more than two hundred paces, strong bows and powerful crossbows were still very effective against enemies not wearing heavy armor, and the enemy in the distance looked like a dense mass—there was no need to aim at all.

Scattered screams rang out in twos and threes. In every unit there were unlucky men struck by bow and crossbow bolts in places their armor plates did not cover, and there were even the extremely unlucky who were shot in the eye or the face.

As the distance closed, more and more officers were qualified to come forward, and both sides advanced with shouts of "Wu-hu," the damage growing greater and greater.

Seeing that the Hedong army had sent out at least several hundred elite archers and crossbowmen, Zhang Zhao immediately ordered the great war drum beaten and raised the battle flag ordering the Right Yulin Guard elite cavalry into action.

Li Cunhui, who had been watching Zhang Zhao's orders all along, immediately ordered Left Army Supervisor Wen Chongle and Right Army Supervisor Yue Saonu to each take five hundred elite cavalry and set out, attacking the Hedong troops who had come out of the formation from both left and right.

On the Hedong side, the war drums also sounded. Left Cavalry Army Supervisor Liu Ci and Right Cavalry Army Supervisor Li Tao went into battle, each also leading five hundred elite cavalry to intercept them.

The central army was still a hundred and sixty paces from contact, and the cavalry on both flanks had already begun their charge.

Zhang Zhaojie (Qiong Re Duojin) stood right beside Zhang Zhao. Zhang Zhao pointed at the cavalry tangled in combat in the distance and said to Zhang Zhaojie.

"These are the only elite cavalry Hedong has, and they are no inferior to our own. Moreover, the Hedong infantry have not advanced far from their formation, so we must not alarm them.

Go now and assemble over a thousand elite cavalry. Do not commit them yet. Wait until the Hedong infantry have advanced a hundred and fifty paces beyond their lines, then strike suddenly. First defeat the Hedong elite cavalry, then tear apart the Hedong infantry formation."

Zhang Zhaojie immediately accepted the order and went to assemble the cavalry detachments of the various army guards.

On the battlefield, the two sides had already closed to within a hundred and fifty paces, and the elite archers of each army loosed marker arrows marking the hundred-and-twenty-pace line.

This signaled that once the soldiers of both sides crossed the hundred-and-twenty-pace line, a sky-filling rain of arrows would descend upon them.

They soon reached a hundred and twenty paces. The commanders of every unit shouted "Halt!" in unison, and the bronze gongs rang out. The whole army halted, and every soldier at once set down his lance or spear and instead took up a mulberry-wood longbow, nocking an arrow to the string.

Then the horns sounded twice — du, du — and the soldiers roared as one: "Kill!"

At once ten thousand arrows flew as one, the front ranks shooting directly and the rear ranks shooting in arcs.

In an instant, the sky seemed filled with a frenzied swarm of bees driven from their nest, as countless arrows came flying from the enemy. Yet there were few screams — only the ding-ding-clang of arrows glancing off armor.

At a hundred and twenty paces, for troops on both sides clad in heavy armor, the fear brought by arrows about to be loosed was far greater than the actual killing power.

The army's horns sounded for two rounds, and when the commanders of each unit checked, the killing effect was not strong.

At this point the bronze gongs rang again, and the drumbeats changed from heavy strikes to a continuous, urgent patter. The soldiers at once put away their bows, took up their spears and lances and other close-combat weapons again, and with whooping cries pressed forward.

"Pass the order to every unit: shoot again at sixty paces, and pay no heed to the Hedong army!"

Zhang Zhao likewise issued the order at once. The orderlies around him raced off one after another, carrying Zhang Zhao's command down the line.

Eighty paces. At this distance, the two sides could already make out the rough shapes of the enemy, and men with especially sharp eyes could even see faces clearly. The pressure was immense.

The Hedong army could not hold. They sounded their bronze gongs again and blew their horns, and a rain of arrows poured out toward the Zhou army.

One armored soldier of the Hanshan Du was struck by seven or eight arrows in succession. He screamed in agony as blood welled from his neck and chest, and the searing pain made him pitch forward and collapse to the ground.

But so as not to disrupt the formation, he forced himself by sheer willpower to roll outside the square, then took out a wooden mouth-bit, clamped it between his teeth, and bit down hard, lest his screams disturb the others.

Zhang Zhaozhong (Man Xiong) stood at the very front of the whole unit. For ease of command, he wore no face guard, and at that moment an arrow drifted in from afar and struck Zhang Zhaozhong square in the face.

Zhang Zhaozhong shuddered violently. The soldiers to either side stared in dread at this, the bravest warrior in the Hanshan Du.

Zhang Zhaozhong swayed twice, yet did not let out a single scream. His nephew, seeing this, moved to come check on him.

Zhang Zhaozhong shoved him away, then abruptly snapped the arrow off and pulled it out, bringing a chunk of flesh and blood with it, and flung it to the ground.

He was unlucky, for the odds of being struck in the face like this were minuscule. But he was also lucky: the arrow had entered through the left side of his face and pierced through his cheek without injuring any other flesh — even his teeth were barely damaged.

Man Xiong pulled out the arrow, hurled it to the ground in fury, then beat his chest with both fists and, his face covered in blood, turned and roared twice at the soldiers.

The soldiers at once pounded their left fists against their chests in response, and for a moment their morale blazed like a rainbow.

On the Hedong side, they had loosed three volleys at eighty paces. Though they had brought down a fair number of Zhou soldiers, they had not dealt a serious blow, and their hearts began to pound with unease.

The rate at which a strong bow could be drawn in a short time, and the speed at which a heavy crossbow could be reloaded — those were fixed quantities. Now that they had expended their strong bows and heavy crossbows, it was the other side's turn.

Amid fear and anxiety, the soldiers' forward pace actually slowed by a few fractions. Liu Zhiyuan at once ordered the great drum for a full-army assault to be beaten.

The Hedong soldiers, already in the grip of terror at the prospect of being shot to pieces by the enemy's bows and crossbows, simply began their charge with loud, roaring shouts.

Clang! The Zhou army's bronze gong rang out, and drums and horns sounded. At sixty paces, the whole army's bows and crossbows loosed as one — especially the divine-arm crossbows, whose power was far greater than a bow's and whose rate of fire was far faster than a traditional crossbow's.

The Hedong army's full assault had come on ferociously, but suddenly they were struck by a Zhou army in which nearly every soldier was an archer. Under the storm of arrows, armored men in black iron lamellar armor fell in an unbroken stream, and the front of their formation was swept empty.

But once the charge began, the martial ferocity of the Hedong men took over. Let the arrows fall like rain — they were going to charge regardless. Many of the Hedong armored soldiers at the very front were stuck so full of arrows they looked like hedgehogs, some even limping as they ran, yet still they did not stop.

Their furious charge achieved excellent results. The Zhou army, which had planned to loose five volleys before attacking, was reached after only the third volley and had no choice but to begin hand-to-hand combat early.

At this moment the Zhou army's bronze gongs rang out, and then drums and horns surged again. The soldiers cried "Ho! Ho!" to intimidate the enemy, and at the same time, gripping their long spears and infantry lances, they slammed into the foe.

In an instant, the ranks of thrusting soldiers stretched out to both sides, and along the line of contact between the two armies, it was as though two rows of teeth had suddenly sprouted.

Seen from afar, those lances and spears churned and twisted without cease. The bright red blood against the black-and-white armor stood out with shocking clarity, as though the very earth were bleeding.

The breakthrough point was still at the Hanshan Du, where modao glaive glaive glaives churned and flesh and blood flew, displaying utter savagery.

But the Hedong army had learned from experience: trading blows with the Hanshan Du's modao glaive glaive glaives using spear thrusts was useless. The thing was to rush straight in and stab. Restraining the modao glaive glaive glaive was mainly a matter of keeping it from getting started.

Unfortunately for them, this time they had run into an even harder opponent!

One Hedong armored soldier had just thrust his spear into Man Xiong when Man Xiong's modao glaive glaive glaive came down from the highest heavens.

A blow delivered with Man Xiong's strength was utterly different from one delivered by anyone else. Even Zhang Zhao could not match Man Xiong with the modao glaive glaive glaive.

The keen blade tip slashed across the Hedong soldier's armor plates, and the tremendous impact made him scream, after which he vomited blood and collapsed limply to the ground.

Man Xiong roared in fury, lunged forward another step, met the oncoming thrust, and brought his blade down.

This time the enemy soldier also roared, and his spearhead slammed hard into the iron plates of Man Xiong's cloth-faced iron armor, jolting Man Xiong so badly he staggered, a sharp pain shooting through his chest and belly.

But that pain only stoked Man Xiong's ferocity further. His next blow was faster and heavier, every ounce of strength in his body concentrated into the blade.

Thud! With a dull sound, the blade sliced through the armor plates at the neck and smashed into the Hedong soldier's throat. He did not even grunt. His neck twisted at a grotesque angle, the sinew and bone snapped, and he died on the spot.

Visibility on a battlefield is actually very poor, especially after adrenaline surges — everything beyond the fighting itself seems to dim. Thus the banner is the best guide for the direction of advance.

Under the assault of Man Xiong and the other Hanshan Du armored soldiers, the Hanshan Du's silver-white banner with the golden coiled dragon charged ever more fiercely, and the morale of the surrounding troops swelled ever higher. With wild shouts, they drove the Hedong army steadily backward.

At last, after two quarters of an hour of savage hand-to-hand combat, the Hedong army could hold no longer. They fell back again and again, retreating several dozen paces before slowly steadying their line.

But the Zhou army had pursued too far in this wave. Many men, drunk on the killing, had charged far ahead, and the front and rear had become somewhat separated.

Seeing this, Shi Hongzhao stripped off his outer leather coat, personally donned armor, and led his yabing guards in a fierce counterattack.

And when the soldiers saw their commander's banner begin to advance, the retreating Hedong army summoned its courage and surged back.

On the other side, Murong Yanchao saw this as well and had men raise the great banner as he personally advanced to push back. The Zhou armored soldiers at the front were nearly spent, and those behind had not caught up, so they were actually driven back.

But in this back-and-forth, the formations of both sides fell completely apart — you were in the midst of us, and we were in the midst of you.

At such a moment, no one else stood out; only the commanders beneath their great banners were conspicuous.

The Hedong army fought with desperate fury and, led by Shi Hongzhao, charged toward the Hanshan Du's silver-white banner with the golden coiled dragon.

The Zhou armored soldiers likewise grew frenzied and charged in waves toward the great banners of Shi Hongzhao and Murong Yanchao.

The situation grew more chaotic and the fighting more ferocious. The orderly thrusting vanished. The armored soldiers drew out great axes, iron hammers, and heavy clubs — weapons better suited to close combat and better able to smash armor — and even grappled with one another on the ground in tangled heaps.

The armored soldiers lying on the ground almost all clutched long daggers in their hands. The two men rolled in the bloody mud, finishing each other off by prying open armor plates or lifting the neck guard and stabbing inside.

From the high ground, Zhang Zhao saw that the moment had come and immediately ordered word sent to Zhang Zhaojie: strike the Hedong army now, at this very moment!

Zhang Zhaojie received the order and set out, gathering the mounted champions Li Cunhui, Zhao Kuangyin, Wang Shenqi, Cui Huxin, Shen Nianban, and the rest.

Five hundred elite cavalrymen, armored themselves and with their horses in half-armor, suddenly launched a charge at the Hedong army. Their target was none other than Hedong's foremost fierce general, Shi Hongzhao.

Liu Zhiyuan, in fact, had also held men in reserve. At his command, the Hedong army's last five hundred Bingzhou elite cavalry also moved out. They too had a target, charging straight at the Savage Bear.

The thunder of hooves shook heaven and earth. Even amid the fierce slaughter, Shi Hongzhao heard the sound of cavalry charging in. Sensing danger, he immediately ordered his yabing guards to halt their charge and instead form a spear wall in defense.

Zhang Zhaojie arrived with the force of a thunderbolt, but Shi Hongzhao had already completed a basic formation and still had five or six hundred men.

The moment the Zhou elite cavalry arrived, the Hedong army loosed crossbows and bows together, and the spearmen showed no fear. The whole steel hedgehog did not budge in the slightest.

Seeing this, Zhang Zhaojie led his five hundred riders to veer away rather than charge in, wheeling in a great circle around them. Using the acceleration of the galloping warhorses, they poured out their arrows at close range.

Because Shi Hongzhao's yabing guards had to draw their bows at long range to slow the Zhou cavalry's charge, most of their arrows fell short.

The Zhou elite cavalry, by contrast, shot at close range, and their accuracy and armor-piercing effect were far better.

After just one pass, Shi Hongzhao's yabing guards had suffered heavy losses. Zhang Zhaojie wheeled around in a wide circle and came back again. This time the contrast was even more stark, yet the elite yabing guards of Shi Hongzhao still held.

From atop the walls of Jize County, Liu Zhiyuan watched the Zhou elite armored cavalry circling Shi Hongzhao and attacking him without pause. He stamped his feet in agitation and urgently ordered Bai Zairong, held in reserve, to pick elite troops and sally out at all costs to rescue Shi Hongzhao.

On the other side, Liu Zhiyuan's Hedong elite cavalry had surrounded the Savage Bear, but things were not going well for them at all.

For although the Savage Bear had only three hundred men around him, Dunzhu was there too, and the three hundred men held nearly twelve hundred white-shaft throwing spears among them.

Once the two hundred men here had steadied the line, a volley of white-shaft throwing spears dealt a devastating blow to the oncoming Hedong elite cavalry. In a single clash, the Hedong elite cavalry lost nearly thirty riders.

When cavalry face elite heavy infantry united in purpose and utterly unshaken, charging straight in is simply that futile and hopeless.

The Hedong elite cavalry charged twice, lost nearly fifty riders, and then very sensibly withdrew.

By the time Liu Zhiyuan sent out Bai Zairong, it was already too late. After four consecutive charges, Shi Hongzhao's yabing guards finally broke.

On the fourth charge, the spear-wielding spearmen suddenly collapsed, and Zhang Zhaojie was the first to charge in.

In his despair, Shi Hongzhao erupted with terrifying fighting strength. With a tiger's roar, he hurled the spear in his hand, striking Zhang Zhaojie square in the chest and very nearly knocking him from his horse.

Li Cunhui, behind Zhang Zhaojie, saw this and spurred forward at full speed, bringing his lance down on Shi Hongzhao's head with a single blow. Shi Hongzhao screamed, his body spinning in a full circle before crashing heavily to the ground.

Li Cunhui laughed aloud and immediately leaped from his horse to pin Shi Hongzhao down, but he had not expected Shi Hongzhao to be feigning. Shi Hongzhao seized Li Cunhui by the neck, wrapped his legs around Li Cunhui's waist, and reached for the long dagger at his belt.

Unfortunately for him, Li Cunhui's hand was faster. He drew a fine steel dagger, pried open the plates of Shi Hongzhao's lamellar armor, and stabbed wildly inside.

The other Zhou officers and soldiers arrived as well, cut down the last of Shi Hongzhao's yabing guards, and together stabbed Shi Hongzhao into a bloody sieve.

Among them, Zhao Kuangyin was the calmest. He paid no attention to Shi Hongzhao, but rushed forward and cut down Shi Hongzhao's recognition banner, sending it toppling to the ground.

As the great banner of this foremost fierce general of Hedong fell, the confidence of the more than twenty thousand Hedong troops on the battlefield instantly collapsed. Wailing and weeping, they fell back.

Fortunately, at this moment Bai Zairong, sent by Liu Zhiyuan, reached the front line. He immediately began directing the sealing of the chevaux-de-frise, barely managing to recover some of the lost ground.

On the city wall, Liu Zhiyuan was helpless, able only to watch as wave after wave of Zhou troops swept over the various chevaux-de-frise, trenches, and wagon fortifications the Hedong army had laid out.

In an instant, Liu Zhiyuan's legs went weak. He knew the entire Hedong army was finished.

Although some could still flee back to Jize County, and the Zhou army was few in number so a few stockades could hold for the time being, they would never again have the confidence to contend with the Zhou army.

Related