Chapter 1198: First Volume, Chapter 1198: The Battle of Maguan Village

First Volume, Chapter 1198: The Battle of Maguan Village

Because they were too close, there was no way to dodge—the spear pierced through, and Ma Changqian was killed instantly, blood spraying everywhere.

Chen Yanzong pulled out his spear and didn't even deign to glance at Ma Changqian; such insignificant rabble, dead or alive, didn't matter.

Shouldering the spear, he stared coldly at Maguan Village before him, his tone utterly icy.

"Kill them all! Leave not a single soul alive!"

"A village is worth one thousand liang of silver; a large village like Maguan should be worth at least one thousand five hundred liang!"

"When we collect the reward, every comrade gets his share."

Compared to Wu Heli, that rigid, outdated fool, the soldiers of Nan Jing clearly respected Chen Yanzong far more; under his lead, the soldiers erupted in ecstatic roars.

Like a pack of wolves, they surged toward Maguan Village.

Just then, Chen Yanzong suddenly felt a dark shadow descending from above, followed by a thunderous bellow beside his ear.

"Filthy bandit! Give me back my father's life!"

Crack!

With a sharp snap, Chen Yanzong felt as if struck by a mad bull—he was flung clean off his warhorse.

Ma Hong, who had been hiding in the tree branch, watched his father die before his eyes; an unprecedented rage instantly consumed his reason.

Clenching his teeth, he suppressed his fury, waited until the enemy reached beneath the tree, then leapt down, driving his long spear straight into Chen Yanzong's chest.

The massive impact knocked Chen Yanzong off his horse, but Ma Hong's crude long spear could not pierce Chen Yanzong's armor.

The sudden attack threw the scene into chaos.

Chen Yanzong scrambled to his feet, saw the copper basin hanging on the attacker, and immediately realized the man was nothing but a militia soldier.

He drew his waist saber and slashed at Ma Hong.

Ma Hong retreated backward, grabbed his father's shoulder with his left hand and pulled it back, while swinging the broken spear with his right.

Judging from his posture and technique, he was almost certainly a veteran who had seen battle.

"Kill him!"

Chen Yanzong was furious—this operation was supposed to be as easy as cutting melons, smooth and flawless.

But this unexpected turn disrupted his plan; he flew into a rage, burning to tear this obstructing fool into a thousand pieces.

There was a vast difference between civilians who had served and those who hadn't.

Those who had endured real combat would have a far higher chance of survival, no matter who they faced.

Conversely, civilians who had never set foot on a battlefield—even the strongest—were nothing but lambs to professional soldiers.

Just as Chen Yanzong's soldiers prepared to stab Ma Hong to death with their spears, arrows suddenly shot out from within the village.

Ding-ding-dang-dang!

These arrows were astonishingly accurate; though all were standard diamond-shaped arrowheads, and though only Chen Yanzong wore full armor, the rest of the cavalry wore only light armor.

The diamond-shaped arrowheads still inflicted casualties.

More potent than their lethality, however, was the psychological terror of the cold arrows.

Chen Yanzong's cavalry were instantly terrified—just from the archery alone, they could tell these were trained soldiers, not ordinary civilians.

Even Xiao Mazi hit a cavalryman with an arrow; though the short shaft was like a tickle, it proved beyond doubt that the villagers of Maguan Village were no lambs to be slaughtered.

"Ambush!"

"General, retreat! There's an ambush inside the village!"

Hearing the shouts behind him, Chen Yanzong flew into a rage, shouldered his spear, grabbed the reins, and tied his warhorse to the great Huai Shu tree at the village entrance.

He snapped: "What's there to fear?"

"These rabble may have served, but they have no proper weapons or armor—dismount, charge in, and slaughter them!"

Hearing this, the cavalry calmed down.

Since the villagers of Maguan had received military training, they could not charge in on horseback—too easy to be ambushed.

Dismounting and advancing on foot, their numbers and armor would still let them massacre the village.

A hundred men dismounted and surged into the village under Chen Yanzong's lead.

At this moment, Ma Hong had dragged his father's body back into the courtyard; he wiped his tears, said nothing, turned, and sprinted out, running toward the Ancestral Hall while shouting to mobilize.

"All intruders are bandits—stay alert! Defend the village lanes! Do not cluster together!"

Street fighting was Ma Hong's only chance; otherwise, with such a vast gap in weapons and armor, no matter how brave they were, they would only die facing the bandits.

Ma Hong charged to the Ancestral Hall in one burst of energy, lifted the stone slab at the entrance, dug a few handfuls with bare hands, and pulled out a long wooden box from underground.

He opened the box and pulled out three spearheads.

These were standard-issue infantry spearheads.

Many villagers in Maguan had served; among them were some hardened veterans who deserted but brought back their weapons and armor.

Every time, Ma Hong's father never delayed—he immediately turned the armor and weapons over to the Official Residence.

Though those deserters could only remain fugitives, their actions were enough to save the lives of all the villagers of Maguan.

But…

Ma Changqian had been cunning—he did not turn in all the armor and weapons.

The Official Residence inspected armor with extreme strictness; no one could hide it. But infantry spearheads were different…

Ma Changqian lied that these were the only weapons found; the local authorities, considering Maguan Village's longstanding lawfulness and that only infantry spearheads were missing, dropped the matter.

Thus, Ma Changqian secretly kept three infantry spearheads.

He hid all three beneath the stone slab at the Ancestral Hall's entrance—in case bandits in armor ever came to sneak attack the village, these three spearheads would be his insurance.

"Father! Thank you!"

"If you hadn't foreseen this, today would have been disastrous…"

Ma Hong wiped his tears, gripped the spearhead, and ran back to the Street, shouting: "Second Brother! Elder Third!"

"You two bastards, where the hell did you go?"

Soon, two massive men appeared before Ma Hong.

"Big Brother, what's wrong?"

Ma Hu and Ma Dahai were Ma Hong's own brothers; Little Pockmark was the son of Ma Hu, the Second Brother.

Ma Hong handed the spearheads to the two of them, keeping one for himself.

"Father… is dead!"

What?!

Upon hearing this, Ma Hu and Ma Dahai froze for a moment, then burst into rage.

"Damn enemy soldiers—I'll crush their dog heads!"

"Big Brother, we must avenge Father, or I won't recognize you as my brother!"

Ma Hong waved his hand and roared: "Enough talk—get the spearheads mounted! The enemy soldiers are all clad in Light Armor, and their leader wears Heavy Armor."

"The weapons the other villagers hold can't pierce armor—tonight, whether we survive or not depends on us three brothers!"