Chapter 1170: Do We Go Into the City to Seize Them?

In those forty paces, a sharp whistle rang out among the ranks of the Xuzhou bandits. In that instant, the chaotic formation ceased to be chaotic. Layer upon layer of spears rose within the ranks, row after row pointing forward. At the very front, the Xuzhou bandits raised their firelocks in volley and began to fire. Row after row of firelocks roared, the explosions continuous, white smoke billowing everywhere.

The firelock retainers did not raise their muzzles to aim at the cavalrymen on horseback. They simply rested them on their forked rests and fired level as normal. But they were close enough to one another, and firing in volleys of two or three ranks, the entire unit executing grand rolling fire. Nearly every horse at the very front was struck.

The mounts of the government cavalry were hit. Those killed outright simply collapsed to their knees and dropped dead. Their charge had already reached too great a speed, the momentum too immense. Once they fell, there was no stopping their forward surge. They tumbled forward just like that. The cavalrymen on horseback had no time to free their feet from the stirrups and rolled together with their horses. In a few violent tumbles, bones snapped and broke, killing them.

Horses are, after all, far sturdier than the human body. Some, struck once, were not mortally wounded. But the mounts, maddened by pain, reared up with wild screams. To make such a motion while charging forward at full speed was equally catastrophic. The riders were either thrown off and trampled by the hooves coming from behind, or they fell together with their mounts. Their fate was no better than the former. Only by this point, it was already too late to rein in the momentum.

Even the horses that were struck, dying or gravely wounded, legs broken in the leaping and crashing, still carried the inertia of their mad forward dash. They simply charged onward, only their speed growing slower and slower. The firelock retainers of Zhao's Camp who dared to open fire within forty paces also dared, immediately after firing, to scatter to both flanks instead of instinctively dodging backward. Just like that, they parted layer by layer, revealing the comrades behind them.

The firelocks roared on without cease, yet the charge of the government cavalry could not be halted. The rear portion fared slightly better, but those who had already begun the charge could only go forward. Some, seeing the disaster ahead, desperately tried to wheel their horses aside to dodge. But the result of a horse changing direction at full charging speed was a fall, which then either threw the formation into chaos or left them trampled mercilessly by the mounts of their comrades.

In truth, this process was very short, yet to every man caught within it, it felt unbearably long. The firelocks fired without stopping. The corpses of cavalrymen and horses piled up before them. Those charging from behind were continuously tripped by these corpses. Just like that, under death and grievous wounds, the momentum slowed. At last, the roar of the firelocks ceased, and the formation came to a halt a hundred paces from the battle line of Zhao's Camp. The entire government cavalry force was already a tangled mess.

Some men clambered up from the ground. Some struggled to control their mounts. Others still tried to wheel their mounts around and flee.

"It's an ambush!" someone had already shouted.

"These Xuzhou bastards are still tigers. Let's get out of here!" Morale rises easily, but it crumbles just as fast. Though the cavalrymen Qin Daning led were the elite of the government army, aside from the few hundred riders who had come from Nanjing, the rest were all panicked birds who had already tasted defeat. They were fine when the wind was at their backs, but how could they possibly hold steady at a moment like this?

Cold sweat beaded on Qin Daning's face from sheer fright. He was a man who had seen action on the border garrisons and believed he had witnessed every kind of scene. Yet he had never imagined such devastatingly sharp firearms. Still, he could roughly gauge their range. They were now over a hundred paces away; they should be beyond further slaughter. The method now was to reorganize the formation. A routed cavalry force would bring great trouble just the same.

"Brothers, fall back, fall back…" Qin Daning shouted from horseback. The personal guards and close attendants around him shouted along. Their shouts were ordinary, when suddenly, a muffled boom and rumble sounded in the distance, like a clap of thunder. But it was deep winter — how could there be thunder?

A shriek sounded from the right front of the cavalry formation, rapidly closing in. The sharp-eyed could even see an iron ball flying toward them. The cavalrymen nearest that side desperately tried to dodge, but they were still half a beat too slow. Half a man's body exploded into a spray of blood and flesh. The mount, terrified, reared up with a long scream. Seven cavalrymen were pierced through by that single cannonball, each man's upper body blasted apart. Finally, the cannonball struck a horse, smashing the rider's thigh into pulp. But that did not mean the rider's luck was good. The horse was smashed to the ground by the cannonball's immense force. The saddle had dispersed the ball's power somewhat, but the horse's body was already bent and broken.

"Cannons! The bandits have cannons!" This frantic cry was no longer from Qin Daning, the Mobile Corps Commander of the Grand Coordinator's Standard Battalion. Qin Daning's face was covered in cold sweat. He no longer knew how to handle the situation before him. Weren't cannons supposed to be something only the imperial court's government armies possessed? How did these Xuzhou bandits have them? And how had the enemy calculated so precisely, fixing their cannons on that position beforehand, so that the moment they opened fire they could strike his own cavalry with such accuracy?

The booming sounds rang out one after another. The shriek of cannonballs tearing through the air intertwined. The government cavalry formation had already fallen into complete chaos. Everyone wanted to evade and scatter, but both sides of the road were filled with the carts, horses, and baggage that Zhao's Camp had "abandoned" during their "flight." How could they spur their horses over them in such haste? Moreover, not far to the formation's left was the Grand Canal. The water was shallow in winter, but still deep enough to drown a man. The formation grew more chaotic, more entangled, unable to disperse.

The cannonballs landed in the middle of the formation. Every single cannonball carried away the lives of several men, even a dozen or more. Horses panicked and lost control, continuously throwing their riders from their backs. Some horses were even struck directly by cannonballs. Sturdy warhorses weighing several hundred jin were actually sent flying by the impact. Though they did not fly very high, it was still enough to crush the men nearby to death.

"Go! Go quickly!" There was no longer any need for Qin Daning to say these words. The personal guards and close attendants under his command directly reached out, seized their commander's reins, wheeled his horse around, and headed back. The government cavalrymen in the rear ranks had also mostly turned their mounts around by this time. Without any order, every man wanted to flee. Who cared about military orders at a time like this? They only hated that they hadn't been born with a few extra legs.

The moment his mount broke into a run, the chill wind it stirred jolted Qin Daning back to his senses. That killing trap meant for the Xuzhou bandit chief — it seemed it had likely failed. These Xuzhou bandits were truly intractable. No wonder the troops from every quarter had been so hesitant to advance. He had wrongfully blamed the men of South Zhili before.

He had not run forward more than a few paces when Qin Daning instinctively yanked hard on the reins. Years of riding had trained him to have excellent reflexes. But at this moment, all Qin Daning wanted to do was curse. Though the cannon fire from behind had grown sparse, every single blast still made his heart leap in terror. If he wasn't going to flee far from this death trap, why the hell was he stopping his horse?

Before Qin Daning's curses could leave his mouth, he saw the reason. Up ahead on the main road, a company of cavalry was waiting there. And more cavalry were converging from every direction, some even disembarking from boats on the Grand Canal. From a distance, it was a dense, dark mass, like a high wall blocking the road. Judging by this momentum, his own force certainly could not win a fight.

Before he could even understand what was happening, he saw a single rider from the opposite side galloping toward them. This threw the already panicked formation into even greater chaos. But everyone also knew that running was no longer an option. If the enemy intended to annihilate them, they certainly would not send just this one rider over.

"Surrender, or die. I will count to twenty right here. This offer expires when the count is done!" the approaching rider shouted at the top of his voice.

Only then did everyone see clearly. So the Xuzhou cavalrymen were not wearing black padded cotton coats, but steel armor, along with woolen cloaks. Seeing this full set of equipment, everyone knew they could not win a fight.

"Brothers, we…" Qin Daning was truly unwilling to surrender. He had just raised his voice to shout a few words when he saw the hostile glares cast at him by the men and horses around him. He cursed, and heedless of the others' reactions, called for his personal guards and fled. Qin Daning had with great difficulty climbed to the position of Mobile Corps Commander of the Grand Coordinator's Standard Battalion. He still wanted to achieve merit and establish a career. If he surrendered to bandit soldiers, he would never be able to clear his name in this lifetime.

By all rights, they were at least comrades-in-arms, with one side surrendering and the other fleeing. But just as he had wheeled his horse a few steps, he heard the miserable screams of his personal guards beside him. It turned out the men around him had already struck. Did they mean to drag him into surrendering along with them? Qin Daning let out a torrent of abuse, swinging his blade to parry the attacks from his side. Before he could counterattack, he was directly tackled off his horse and thrown to the ground, dazed and disoriented. All he heard was the elite troops from Wolf Mountain shouting: "Heroes of Xuzhou! The bandit general Qin Daning has been seized by us!"

The government cavalrymen who had come on this raid offered not the slightest resistance at this moment. Following instructions, they threw down their weapons, covered their heads, and crouched beside their mounts. Some raised their heads to look and discovered even more men surging out from the encampment. Only then, with chagrin, did everyone realize that Zhao's Camp had set an ambush here. As for the guide who had delivered the message, he had already taken a cannonball; even his corpse was no longer intact.

The retainers and patrolmen worked together, moving the corpses of men and horses to the side. The tenants from the manor farms naturally came to search for anything useful. The prisoners were bound and marched away. Weapons were loaded onto large carts, and the horses were gathered together in one place.

The dejected government army prisoners were strung together by ropes into a single line and led away toward the north. The mounted retainers of Zhao's Camp who had cut off their retreat had also drawn near by now. Most of the prisoners did not dare to raise their heads.

Qin Daning, however, boldly took a look at these cavalrymen. The horses were fine horses — young and robust. The men were fine soldiers. Even just standing there, one could see their usual training and condition. What made Qin Daning, the Mobile Corps Commander of the Grand Coordinator's Standard Battalion, twitch uncontrollably at the corner of his eye was that suit of armor they wore. He had endured until this rank just to get himself a set of mountain-pattern armor, with a suit of chainmail underneath. On the battlefield, it was enough to protect against arrows and saber slashes. Yet the armor worn by these common cavalrymen of the Xuzhou bandits looked like iron plates, assembled piece by piece. Where had they gotten so much iron? Could it be wood? But the sheen told him it was not. Qin Daning wanted to look more closely, but was shoved hard from behind and had no choice but to keep walking forward. As he walked, he thought to himself: he had heard the Xuzhou bandit chief was not yet thirty. How was that possible? Such a vast enterprise, such seasoned military command — how could it be the work of a young man?

What Qin Daning did not realize was that Zhao Jin was standing right at the side, and had even glanced at him a few times. And that Dong Bingfeng, the son of the turncoat battalion commander who oversaw Qingjiangpu, was right beside Zhao Jin.

"You are to assemble your forces and head south right now. Smash apart whatever Grand Coordinator's Standard Battalion and Wolf Mountain troops are there. I reckon those bastards inside Yangzhou City still haven't thought to run. Drag them out of the city!" Zhao Jin gave the order. Dong Bingfeng hastily acknowledged it.

After a pause, Dong Bingfeng asked, "Big Brother, if they are inside the city, do we go in to seize them?"

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