Chapter 577: Troubles

Bang!

On the battlefield's flank, two aggressive cavalry squadrons collided with the most ferocious momentum, breaking through each other's seams.

"Hill-Crossing Sparrowhawk" Gao Jie wheeled his horse around, casually touched the top of his head, glanced back at the Chuang Army cavalry following him, then lowered his eyes to the iron cudgel in his palm and burst out laughing, his face wearing a savage, cruel grin of post-disaster relief.

In the collision just now, the plume of his phoenix-wing helmet had been flicked off by an enemy rider's lance, but he had also knocked down three enemy riders; still, the Chuang Army cavalry had failed to gain the upper hand in the clash — he had brought only a hundred-odd riders to block Zuo Liangyu's household troops, and in that single pass, it looked like over thirty riders had been unhorsed.

The Ming cavalry opposite were in visibly much better shape — they had nearly two hundred riders to begin with, and in one pass had lost only a dozen-odd, and even among those, several who had fallen wounded were scrambling up and running back toward their own squadron.

Gao Jie, however, was not the least bit anxious; he even planted his iron cudgel on the ground to rest his numbed, tingling hands, leisurely waiting for those few fallen Ming cavalrymen to run back.

In this age, just staying alive was a struggle, so people didn't much want to live; but when it came to dying, they felt they still had some unfulfilled wish — so when they charged into battle, each was more eager than the last.

No other reason — their lives were cheap.

Of course, that was the mindset of most of the Chuang Army cavalry around him; as for Gao Jie himself, his view of death was far more complicated — since he knew he was bound to die sooner or later, and not just a physical death but a social death as well, he was almost itching to die in battle.

Gao Jie's troubles came from love.

He was enamored with a woman — a woman utterly perfect: not only stunningly beautiful, but also intelligent and sensible, a rebel-army veteran skilled in battle, who kept the army's logistics in perfect order, a rare capable wife; and what was more, such a woman happened to be in love with him — wasn't this a blessing from heaven?

Unfortunately, there was still one flaw: she happened to be Li Zicheng's wife.

Emotions are not something ordinary people can control, and a moment's indiscretion had led to an irreparable mistake.

Gao Jie and Li Zicheng were sworn brothers who had shared life and death; he probably understood Li Zicheng even better than Li Zicheng understood himself.

Li Zicheng was a man who did great things, able to restrain his desires and indifferent to his wife; Gao Jie was different — unable to restrain his desires, incapable of doing great things, only capable of doing people.

But Li Zicheng took rivals in love very seriously, because it concerned his reputation, and reputation concerned doing great things... the last pair of illicit lovebirds hacked to death — Gao Jie had taken a swing of the blade himself.

He knew he didn't have long to live; the day the adultery was exposed, he would be hacked to death by a flurry of blades.

So Gao Jie lived every day in terror and utter bewilderment, having no idea what to do: suicide — no reason for it; strike first and kill Li Zicheng? Even less reason — even setting aside his life-and-death bond with Li Zicheng, just being in the peasant army, if he did such a thing, he'd have no place to stand.

So in truth, at this very moment, deep down he was vaguely hoping that some fierce warrior on the other side would do him a favor and spear him dead right here — he'd get a good sleep, no more worries.

Besides, if he died here, Gao Jie felt he wouldn't count as a man of low morals: I slept with your woman, I'll pay you back with my life.

Precisely because of this, Gao Jie unhurriedly waited for the government cavalry opposite to regroup, watching as they reformed their charge formation; only then did he cast a distant glance toward the mountain where Li Zicheng was — he clearly saw nothing, yet a mocking smile appeared on his face — before raising his hand to point at the enemy riders, lifting his iron cudgel, and turning to his subordinates: "Follow me — we charge again!"

Compared to the crazed, death-wishing Chuang Army cavalry, the mental state of the vast majority of government cavalry could be described as extremely healthy.

To the soldiers, Zuo Liangyu was not only the number-one great man under heaven, but also the best general under heaven: as long as a soldier did his soldier's job well, Zuo Liangyu would do everything in his power to do a general's job well — even if the present Great Ming lacked the conditions, he would exhaust every means to create good conditions for his soldiers.

A law-abiding soldier had it very comfortable under Zuo Liangyu — he didn't covet glory, wouldn't throw soldiers into doomed battles, and merit always brought reward.

And a soldier willing to violate discipline had it even more comfortable under Zuo Liangyu: as long as the soldier could satisfy Zuo Liangyu's needs, he would punish as required but wouldn't, like other generals, just chop a man dead with a crack.

They might have been a bit numb, but they were not the least bit depressed, nor did they have the slightest self-destructive tendency; they harbored an infinite love for life and simply could not fathom how the beggar horsemen opposite, at a three-for-one exchange ratio, dared to launch a second charge.

People felt a bit creeped out, but after all, these were Zuo Liangyu's elite household troops; the long lances and long shafts that were meant to break had already broken, so one by one they could only draw their bows and loose a wave of arrows, then draw their sabers, raise their maces, and charge to meet Gao Jie.

Only this time, their formation was a bit scattered, and in the charge, people all veered away to avoid Gao Jie.

This fellow was like a monster — never mind that his armor was thick and sturdy, taking a few arrows or a hit from an ordinary short weapon as if nothing had happened; he also held an eight-foot-long iron cudgel crosswise before him — a glancing blow could smash a horse's head, and anyone it touched was swept off their horse, unable to rise.

And to make it worse, he was at the very front, seeking collisions like a man tired of living, and his mouth was unbearably foul — every man he swept off his horse drew a shouted curse.

Another round of clashes, a string of shrewish curses, audible across the entire flank battlefield.

Gao Jie was vented, feeling great; the centurion of the household cavalry was so infuriated he refused to play his game anymore — he wheeled around at once and ordered his cavalry to exploit their numerical advantage, abandoning formation assaults to scatter and fight in loose, one-on-one skirmishes.

On the mountain, Li Zicheng clenched his fist and laughed loudly: "Hill-Crossing Sparrowhawk really is something!"

With Gao Jie stirring things up like this, the reserve force Zuo Liangyu had sent to break the siege was thrown into disarray; Li Chengdong's pincer attack on the outer perimeter met no resistance, forcibly tearing a gap in the encirclement and letting out more and more of Zhang Yichuan's peasant army — Li Zicheng's strategy had succeeded.

On the western side of the battlefield, the general sealing the pocket formation, Wang Yuncheng, saw this scene and cursed furiously: here he was, still tying the pocket shut, and the damn pocket turned out to be leaking!

Just then, to the east, Zuo Liangyu once again ordered his men to signal with flags.

Zuo Liangyu was not anxious; he saw the battlefield with perfect clarity — though the situation looked quite unfavorable at the moment, in reality the right wing, the center, and Wang Yuncheng's pocket-sealing force were all fine; the only problem was that small gap opened on the left wing.

He watched Li Chengdong leading troops past one wooden palisade after another on the left wing, and inwardly even admired this young rebel officer's courage — clearly a master of sneak attacks, daring to storm a military formation with just a hundred-odd riders, and actually managing to break through; he'd make a fine enforcer.

Under the waving battle flags, Wang Yuncheng in the west had been about to lead his Liao cavalry in a direct charge at Zhang Yichuan's center; seeing the flag signal and hearing the drum command, he could only flick his saber resentfully and order his defense line to contract.

At once, Zuo Liangyu's entire formation began to move: the two sections of the torn gap on the left wing each dragged their wounded and withdrew east and west in overlapping formations, voluntarily opening the encirclement; seeing this, the five battalions of Zhang Yichuan's force trapped inside launched an even fiercer assault southward.

But at the same time, Zuo's right-wing troops also began abandoning their palisades and pressing south with violent force, squad after squad of infantry charging again and again in columns like hounds chasing sheep.

"Zuo Liangyu is no easy opponent — how quickly he shifts his formation."

On the hillside, Li Zicheng stared at the battlefield, watching as the torn encirclement opened up in mere moments and Zhang Yichuan's troops streamed out through the gap in a continuous file — clearly a heaven-sent chance for a counterattack, yet battalion after battalion of peasant troops fled south and west from the battlefield like headless flies; even those few units that turned back to fight the government troops could gain no advantage in the clash.

Li Chengdong's bunch fought like mad dogs within the formation, fiercely brave, but their numbers were simply too few.

When the government troops were caught off guard, he could still fight; now that the government troops had received Zuo Liangyu's orders and were contracting their defense east and west, Li Chengdong's hundred-odd men had no way to form up and pursue.

This made Li Zicheng on the mountain wring his hands and sigh — a golden opportunity squandered just like that; he could only watch as Zuo's army, originally a wild-goose formation spreading from west to east, faintly transformed into a "Constant Serpent" formation stretching from northeast to southwest, its shape gradually growing orderly.

Most critically, the moment they were slightly clear of danger, the previously panicked morale of Zuo Liangyu's entire army quickly stabilized; the well-trained government veterans seized this chance to adjust soldier positions at the squad and company level, placing the wounded and exhausted at the rear of the formation to ensure the front still projected powerful intimidation.

In contrast, the five-battalion soldiers of Zhang Yichuan's force, as they burst from the gap, ran in utter disarray — the two trailing battalions were even chased and slaughtered by the government troops for a spell, suffering heavy casualties.

Li Zicheng cursed furiously: "Expand, expand — they can't even read the banners and drums, expand your grandpa's head!"

In such a rapidly shifting situation, it could hardly be said that Zhang Yichuan's army possessed anything resembling command at all.

Because the efficiency of transmitting orders to Zhang Yichuan's five battalions was far too low: the one battalion he originally had were all Chuang Army veterans who had once shared a camp with Li Zicheng, and over two hundred officers among them could basically understand military orders and read some banners and drums — but after the expansion, squad leaders had become company commanders or even centurions, and even that wasn't enough.

Which meant that basic-level command relied entirely on man-to-man supervision.

Zhang Yichuan did issue commands, but in this situation, having commands was worse than having none: a flag order sent out — half the officers understood it, half didn't — the result was half moved, half didn't.

By the time a bunch of fleet-footed messenger boys ran an order to the five battalion colonels, telling them to organize a counterattack from the gap and expand the gains, the battlefield situation had already changed — Zuo's army had already shifted from a pocket formation to a broad horizontal line.

The five battalion colonels had all wanted to regroup outside; receiving the order, they could only attack Zuo's army again like the man who marked his sword — yet in fact, Zhang Yichuan's new order to gather the routed troops and regroup had already been issued.

Watching from the mountain, Li Zicheng was nearly going mad, furious beyond belief — he wasn't just angry that Zhang Yichuan's force had expanded so crazily they'd made themselves stupid; in his heart, he was even angry at Zuo Liangyu, cursing Zuo Liangyu to hell and back.

He just kept thinking: you, Zuo Liangyu, have barely over five thousand men in total — why the hell are you splitting your forces?

With the current strength of Zhang Yichuan's five battalions, there was no need for Zuo's army to split at all — just fight them together, casually change formation, and Zhang Yichuan's army would fall into chaos on its own; you could rout him with ease.

"Idiot! A pair of idiots!"

Li Zicheng wanted nothing more than to jump down and command the battle for Zhang Yichuan; nameless fury surged up inside him — to be honest, even back when Han Jin'er and Gai Hu had rolled into one bed while he was away from home, he hadn't been this angry.

In the end, Li Zicheng was so furious he lashed his horsewhip and said, "Tell Cliff-Turning Hawk and Li Hezi to pull back and stay by Sweeper King's side. What a load of crap."

"Tell Sweeper King: when Zuo Liangyu's staggered formations retreat, do not pursue. Reform quickly — three in front, two behind, array five camps to tangle with them. Wait for me to strike their flank and rear with the hooked cavalry, then teach him the taste of enemies at his belly and back!"

"Also send fast riders to inform Chaos King and Scorpion Block of the battle here... We're coming down the mountain!"

He could see it clearly from here: Zuo Liangyu had earlier built a stockade on the northern hillside, and there were still wounded soldiers left behind on the battlefield. More importantly, his soldiers needed heads, so he would definitely not withdraw to Qinzhou Garrison City. He was certain to form up with his back to the mountain and continue fighting Zhang Yichuan. So next, he would surely use staggered formations to pull back slightly to the safer foot of the hill.

After all, judging by the troop quality of Zhang Yichuan's five camps, it looked very easy for Zuo's army to drive them from the field.

Gao Jie had already pulled his troops back long before receiving the order. Carrying a huge iron club and wearing heavy armor, he could only fight hand-to-hand for one quarter of an hour — and that was with a horse change midway. The moment he felt his strength fading, he hurriedly led his mounted troops away.

The household troops of Zuo's army on the other side had no desire to fight him either. He rampaged through the battle formation like a tyrant crab, and when they saw him leaving, Zuo's household troops did not even try to stop him. Not one of them so much as shot an arrow — that would have been disrespectful to the iron club.

When he received Li Zicheng's order, Gao Jie was searching through the chaos of battle for Li Chengdong. But the little brat was easy to find — he was right where he had been killing people, chopping off heads, with a whole ring of them tied around his waist.

Whether he had killed them or not, the heads were all chopped off by him regardless.

Li Chengdong was a youth. In the early years, when he had first risen up and joined the peasant army, he was timid and got bullied, and no one gave him clothes to wear. Day after day, he wore a tattered cotton coat over a child's bellyband, which was how he got the nickname Li Hezi.

A hezi is a woman's bellyband wrapping the chest.

Later, ever since he killed his first man, there was no stopping him. He fought desperately to prove his ferocity and lethality. In battle, he never led more than one or two hundred men, charging wherever the danger was fiercest, like a mad dog. In daily life, whoever called him Hezi, he would turn on them in a rage.

But Gao Jie had been kicking him around since he was small, and was himself a notoriously fierce and unruly figure in the Dashing Camp. Not only did he call him Hezi, he made sport of him daily, and the kid dared not so much as fart.

Li Chengdong was squatting on the ground chopping heads, his body caked in bloody mud like a red clay monkey. Gao Jie spotted him and — wham — kicked him flying into a somersault.

Startled and frightened, Li Chengdong gripped his blade and raised his hand to strike, but the moment his eyes reached Gao Jie's face, it was as if he had seen his natural predator. He was so terrified he dared not move.

"Get your ass up, quick. No one's giving you a reward for a waistful of heads. Dashing General wants us by Sweeper King's side. Move it."

With that, Gao Jie looked away from him and turned his horse toward Zhang Yichuan's central army. Behind him, Li Chengdong actually did roll once, then grabbed his heads and chased after him.

"Old Company Leader, what does Dashing General want us at Sweeper King's for?"

"Why do you ask so many questions? Hurry up and take those heads off your waist — they're an eyesore." Gao Jie rode ahead on his horse while Li Chengdong ran alongside, chasing. He heard Gao Jie say, "Hezi, you love chopping heads so much, you might as well go join the government troops."

Li Chengdong did not even think: "Wherever Old Company Leader goes, I go. Whatever you tell me to do, I'll do."

"Then go join the government troops."

Gao Jie glanced sideways at Li Chengdong and laughed uncontrollably on horseback. "You really are a fool. You've killed so many government troops — how could you possibly join the government troops?"

Li Chengdong just grinned foolishly beside him.

But he did not notice the smile slowly fading from Gao Jie's face as he sighed softly and muttered to himself.

"Having killed so many government troops... how could one possibly join the government troops?"