Chapter 82: Immovable as a Mountain

The government troops formed two layered formations, one left and one right, west of the prefectural city's north gate, fighting as they withdrew.

The famine refugee army deployed ten large battalions, armed with weapons from the prefectural city's county storehouses, and likewise launched assaults in waves.

When one large battalion was routed,

the surviving famine refugee soldiers were beaten until they wailed for their parents, faces streaked with tears — yet when they looked toward the riverbank, not a single one would flee.

They simply picked up their weapons, wiped away blood and tears, sought out their Lion Camp squad leaders to reorganize, and at a position further back, prepared to join the next assault.

Because their parents, wives, and children were carrying grain on their backs and shoulders, crossing the river from the riverbank.

This was a transaction — a transaction completed inside the prefectural city.

Of all the grain, Lion Camp took not a single speck.

Each person could designate parents, wife and children, brothers, or close friends, who would carry the grain out of the city, cross the river, and enter the mountains.

The rest were reorganized by Lion Camp, commanded by ten squad leaders, and armed with weapons from the county storehouses.

They would attack all enemies who blocked their way.

On a mound of earth piled up behind the formation from war carts and grain sacks, Liu Chengzong observed the situation.

This government force, numbering only a little over a hundred, was decently equipped.

They looked to be the banner troops the prefectural city had previously drilled to coordinate with Li Bei's operations.

They formed their battle array like a stone mountain, letting the famine refugee battalions crash against them while they themselves stood towering and unmoved.

The battle had lasted until now; the ten large battalions had already taken turns charging twice, leaving several dozen famine refugee casualties before the formation.

And on the government troops' side, apart from Liu Chengzong seeing them drag two corpses back into their formation, the famine refugees had achieved no other results.

But government troops were men, and men grow weary.

A formation made of men cannot be as solid as rock.

They had not eaten their fill and were already exhausted.

Liu Chengzong called down from the grain mound, "Are you ready?"

"Has the moment come?"

Cao Yao, donning a suit of chainmail taken from the county storehouse, handed the magistrate's bird gun to his side and hefted a large crossbow, saying, "Been wanting to play with this for a while."

Divine Arm crossbows procured from the county storehouse.

This very item — Yang Yanchang had originally wanted to sell them to Liu Chengzong, two dan of grain apiece.

They had seized seven of them from the county storehouse.

Three specifications: the lightest at ninety jin, the middle at one hundred twenty jin, the heaviest at one hundred fifty jin.

Liu Chengzong jumped down from the grain mound, also put on chainmail, and likewise picked up a crossbow, mocking, "With your strength, can you even draw that?"

"Tch. If you can span it, I can span it."

Cao Yao said this as he wrapped a cloth around his hand, braced the crossbow with his foot to draw the string, his face and head flushing crimson from the strain. "It's locked!"

Liu Chengzong took the cloth pad and likewise spanned a crossbow with his foot, saying to those around him, "There are five or six hundred garrison troops to the west watching. No one get bogged down in the fight later — once we help the battalions punch a gap, we withdraw."

They numbered over forty men, essentially still the same crew who had seized the city gate and stormed the county yamen.

Each man was paired with two prisoners carrying shields and short weapons, forming three-man squads to serve as the assault force for tearing open the battle line.

Cao Yao glanced that way and laughed. "Three or four li — enough for us to get a hit in. Zhang Xiong's here; weren't you just looking for him?"

"I am looking for him, but my brother hasn't arrived yet. They have cannons over there — we'd have no way to fight back if it came to blows."

A short while later, Liu Chengzong and the others had all readied their weapons and gear. The forty-odd men formed a single unit and, under his leadership, strode onto the battlefield.

Li Wanqing, commanding the ten large battalions attacking in sequence, saw this scene and ran behind the lines to boost morale, telling each squad leader, "Third, Fifth, and Eighth Battalions assault! The remaining six battalions, prepare!"

The Ninth Battalion was still engaged with the enemy; they left behind a few corpses and withdrew once more. The famine refugee soldiers no longer had the strength to mount another assault.

Their stamina was even worse than the government troops'.

Very soon, the nine large battalions each spread apart, barely discernible as three battalions forming the vanguard and six battalions pressing the attack in a sweeping formation.

The government troops also sensed that the famine refugees were preparing for a decisive battle, and each man forced himself to alertness.

Within the army formation, Battalion Commander Wu's resolve began to waver.

He had already cursed furiously countless times. Plenty of friendly troops were clearly right beside him.

If only Zhang Xiong would lead his troops in a flanking charge, this force made up of famine refugees would collapse immediately.

It was plainly a battle that could not be lost no matter how it was fought.

Yet, of all things, Zhang Xiong was even more immovable as a mountain than he was.

Battalion Commander Wu was so furious his silver teeth nearly ground to dust, his resolve shaken to the core, as he stared fixedly at that unit sheltering in the shade by the western city wall.

With such a disgrace to the army at his side, leading his men in a bloody fight had become utterly meaningless.

The cruelest part was that he knew with absolute clarity in his heart: only a dead end remained for him.

If he could not defeat the famine refugees, he would die; if he defeated the famine refugees and Zhang Xiong came to seize the spoils, he would still die.

Even if he fled — even if the famine refugees let him flee — Zhang Xiong would later turn around and, as the villain filing the first complaint, accuse him of desertion.

His unit had been scattered by roving bandits last time; if he fled again now, with both crimes punished together, he would still die.

"Being sent to Yan'an Prefecture by the Regional Commander is the worst cursed luck in eight lifetimes... Brothers!" Battalion Commander Wu shoved his helmet's brim high and shouted, gripping his blade: "Hold the line!"

His subordinate company commander also gave the order: "Pikes up! Sword-and-shield men, ready!"

Row after row of pike formations were set, but the banner troops' arms trembled; they could no longer hold the eighteen-foot pikes steady, the spearheads wobbling ceaselessly.

The sword-and-shield men crouched low, hunkering beneath the thicket of pikes.

Some held shields in their left hands and blades in their right, their right hands also gripping their last remaining javelins.

Some had no javelins left and could only go shield-left, blade-right, half their heads exposed above their round shields.

Their eyes were locked dead on the famine refugee battle line — disordered, yet surging forward like an avalanche.

Fifty paces. No arrows were loosed.

The bowmen and crossbowmen had long since emptied their arrow quivers; they could only grip their waist sabers and stand behind the formation, waiting to join the fight.

At twenty paces, a few scattered arquebus shots rang out.

The three-eyed guns were already spent; the quick gunners fixed bayonet-heads onto their long-barreled firelocks.

At ten paces, the last few javelins were hurled.

All missiles and arrows were exhausted.

The famine refugee ringleaders on both wings shouted and charged the flanks.

The famine refugees pried long spears from the hands of the dead on the ground, snapped them short, and hurled them screaming into the formation.

Stones, clods of earth, axes, and clubs flew through the air.

Men once more swung their weapons desperately to deflect the spears, squeezed in beneath the pike wall, and clashed at close quarters with the saber-and-shield men.

Then more famine refugee masses surged forward, throwing the formation's banner troops into chaos.

Screams, roars, howls, cries for help, and shouted orders mingled at the front line of battle.

Men surged forward like a tide, then fled in scattered trickles.

At that very moment, a more tightly organized squad appeared at the center of the battlefield.

Liu Chengzong, shouldering a heavy crossbow, was flanked by Guo Zhashi and the veterans.

Cao Yao and Gao Xian, likewise protected in the center, advanced shoulder to shoulder with him.

They pushed forward to twenty paces; seven Divine Arm crossbows, shielded by shield-bearers, loosed their bolts at the front of the army formation.

The crossbow bolts shot through the crouching saber-and-shield men, punched bloody holes into the pikemen behind them, traced thin lines of blood through the air, and pierced into a second man.

The long pikes could no longer hold; pike and corpse together crashed down heavily onto the saber-and-shield men in front.

The heavy crossbows were dropped to the ground; Cao Yao snatched up a matchlock from those beside him, blew the match cord bright, and fired another shot into the formation.

Gao Xian loosed several arrows in quick succession from his bow, dropping two banner troops.

Cai Zhongpan, on the right wing, held his saber in his lowered left hand while leveling a hand cannon in his right; he pulled both triggers as he walked forward.

The two dragon-head levers dropped one after another — bang, bang — two shots rang out, spewing powder smoke before the formation.

Liu Chengzong drew his goose-wing saber; shielded by the shields, he parried aside several thrusting spearheads and, with the clinking rattle of his mail armor, dragged his blade and vaulted into the formation.