Chapter 95: Sickening to the Extreme

The artillery duel on the official road raged from the hour of the Ox into the hour of the Tiger.

Only when both sides had exhausted their powder and shot did the infantry under Mobile Corps General Lu Cheng finally circle around and creep up the ridge; under the cover of flying-rocket cannons, they closed in for slaughter with this enemy force that had ambushed them.

Both units believed the other to be bandits, which gave each an immense psychological advantage — even when the fighting turned bitter, neither showed the slightest fear.

The battle was punishingly hard. In the end, Lu Cheng even climbed the hill in person to oversee the assault. At last, relying on superior numbers, he completed an encirclement along the ridge. Three columns of government troops attacked in unison twice, thoroughly routing this enemy force.

The spoils were not bad: countless suits of armor and weapons captured, plus nine medium cannons and three burst, useless pieces.

More importantly, they had seized the bandit chief, which would secure the merit for this expedition.

With that, even the families of the fallen soldiers could wait for the court to disburse their pensions.

Thinking of this, Lu Cheng's mood was excellent. The wound on his shoulder where a lead ball had struck no longer hurt after being dressed with medicine, and even the surviving company commander from Jingjiagou looked a few degrees more agreeable to him.

Clapping the company commander on the shoulder, he said with emotion, "I wronged you earlier. The rabble led by Liu Chengzong is exceedingly fierce and vicious — tight formations, fighting to the death without retreat.

For you to survive their assault with only two hundred men is truly no small feat."

The company commander vaguely sensed something was off.

During the day at Jingjiagou, the bandit chief had been ferocious, true, but the bandit soldiers had been nowhere near this ferocious.

Those brigands scattered and fled the moment a flying-rocket cannon shelled them. And at night, they should have been even more prone to collapse — how could they fight even more savagely after being shelled by flying-rocket cannons?

And where did bandits get so many cannons?

But from the superior's tone, he seemed unconcerned with the earlier defeat and its blame. To the company commander, that was what mattered most.

Officers at every level reported the casualties among their men, making Lu Cheng secretly thank his luck.

Not counting the lightly wounded, his troops had already suffered over one-third casualties. Adding those lost during the day at Jingjiagou, his losses approached half.

This battle had been far more perilous than he had imagined, won almost entirely by his soldiers' grit — they had clenched their teeth and endured.

Government troops killing bandits possess a very strong psychological advantage.

Only that could have given them the morale to hold on and win.

The captured bandit chief kept cursing without pause. The Mobile Corps General removed the shoulder-guard that had been pressing on his wound and draped a short robe over his right shoulder.

As he walked toward the captive, he was still counting on his fingers: the bandits numbered just over four hundred. Reckoning the merit to report upward, quite a few of his subordinates could earn an official rank.

"Liu Chengzong! You've got quite the temper — still cursing and swearing even after being captured, shouting that I'm the bandit. Have you gone soft in the head from soldiering at Yuhe Fort? Take a good look at who I am!"

Lu Cheng strode over, seized the captive bandit chief's topknot with his left hand, and yanked it upward. The moment he saw the bandit chief's face, he froze.

He shoved the head back down.

He glanced left and right, his face full of suspicion, and rubbed his temples. Then he reached out and pulled the bandit chief's head up again.

Damn it — why was it still this face?

He knew this face. It was Company Commander Bao from Yanshui Pass. The year before last, when Lu Cheng was promoted and held a banquet, this man had come to drink.

Company Commander Bao, who had been cursing nonstop, also froze. The obscenities clogging his throat came to an abrupt halt. His mind couldn't turn the corner for a moment, and he could only stare blankly at Lu Cheng.

Lu Cheng asked, baffled, "How the hell is it you, you bastard?"

"Lu… General Lu? When did you turn bandit?"

"You're the damn bandit! Instead of resting easy at Yanshui Pass, you come all the way to this goddamn mountain to set up cannons and blast your own grandpa!"

Lu Cheng was beside himself with rage. The fury in his heart climbed up his windpipe, swelling until his head felt ready to burst. "Bandit — bandit — bandit your mother!"

Company Commander Bao was no clay figurine without a temper, especially with his unit nearly wiped out in the fight. For a moment, he stiffened his neck and cursed right back at Lu Cheng.

Two mid-ranking military officers, one standing and one kneeling, cursing each other out — it made the surrounding soldiers utterly miserable. They were exhausted and sleepy, wanting nothing more than to find a spot and get some sleep, fast.

After a long while, the two men cooled off, replayed the day's events, and finally reached a conclusion.

They had been played.

Cunning.

Far too cunning.

So cunning that Lu Cheng felt disheartened. During the time they had spent blasting each other, Liu Chengzong had surely already fled dozens of li to the south.

With over two hundred wounded soldiers, they could chase until the Year of the Monkey and the Month of the Horse and still never catch up.

"Even bandits have to sleep. The men are spent. Let's head to your Yanshui Pass first."

By now, Lu Cheng and Company Commander Bao could not stand the sight of each other, but there was really no other choice. Yanshui Pass was just ten li away, and his soldiers needed a place to rest properly.

He ordered the Yanshui Pass garrison untied and said, "Gather the bodies. We'll go inside the pass and sleep. Tomorrow, the wounded will stay in the pass; the rest will continue pursuing that bandit with me."

Compared to Lu Cheng, who was so angry he was nearly grinding his teeth to dust, Company Commander Bao was in utter despair.

Most of his soldiers had died in this battle, and he still had no idea how to report this matter to the court. For now, he could only obey Lu Cheng.

Looking back at the broken remnants gathering corpses in the dark night — the dozen-plus cannons and his dejected brothers — Company Commander Bao exhausted every curse he knew in his lifetime inside his heart.

He had charged out of the pass in high spirits, hoping to earn some merit so his superiors would allocate more grain, fodder, and supplies. Who could have imagined it would end like this?

Back when he was still a common soldier, Company Commander Bao had thought the most sickening thing in the world was unpaid wages.

Later, he learned there were many things more sickening than unpaid wages — like having no rations, or earning merit with no reward.

Only now did he truly understand what it felt like when Disgust opened the door for Disgust's mother.

Fighting their own people, losing, getting captured — and worst of all, they had fired first.

All the sickening things bundled together!

A bunch of soldiers who had stayed up half the night, marched, and fought a battle, now had to transport seventeen cannons and over three hundred corpses. In one double-hour, they advanced only six li.

By the time they reached Yanshui Pass, the sky at the horizon was already turning white.

As they approached the pass, gazing at the gate crouching in the darkness like a giant beast, Lu Cheng's heart gave a sudden, inexplicable lurch.

He said to Company Commander Bao, "That bandit couldn't have taken Yanshui Pass while we two were fighting, could he?"

Company Commander Bao shot him a white-eyed glare, as if to say: this general still thinks tonight's affairs aren't sickening enough.

But on second thought, he too was terrified of such a thing happening. If Yanshui Pass was lost as well, he could simply cut his own throat in front of the gate.

"Uh… send two men over to take a look. See if it's our people up on the pass."

Before long, the scout sent to assess the situation returned, his face troubled as he reported: "General, Li Laosi and those artillerymen are up on the wall. They asked me how his younger brother is doing."

"Ah."

Commander Bao sighed, waved his men back to the pass, and only then said to Mobile Corps Commander Lu: "Li Laosi's younger brother was also an artilleryman. Your men killed him."

What could Lu Cheng say? He said nothing at all. Inside, he finally felt relief — this long, grueling day had been an immense trial for anyone's spirit.

All he wanted was to find a somewhat clean bed and snatch two hours of sleep.

They walked on another four or five hundred paces, now able to make out the figures atop the pass wall, when they suddenly realized the gate had not been opened.

Someone on the wall shouted down: "General Lu, you've had a hard journey!"

"Your troops are quite thoughtful..." Lu Cheng started to say, then suddenly froze. "How do they know I've come?"

The man on the wall drew his blade and swept it forward, his voice carrying faintly to Lu Cheng's ears: "Liu Chengzong is here, and has been waiting a long time. This road is closed!"

Amid the roar, fire flashed along the parapet.

Four General Cannons thundered from the wall in succession, their shells shrieking as they tore through the ranks, gouging four bloody lanes of scattered limbs and severed arms.