Chapter 1309: A Xuzhou-style Victory

The main body of horse bandits outside had already circled around once, their hoofbeats halting at several points. Head Instructor Gao's heart rose into his throat; he thought they were likely about to dismount and charge inside. He could see the guards with fowling pieces sprinting close along the wagons, quickly stopping at one side and clambering aboard one after another. Seeing this, Head Instructor Gao couldn't help cursing aloud, "What damn use is that thing! Even throwing a rock out would be better!"

The men with fowling pieces mounted the wagons, and then men carrying pudao actually jumped up after them, standing right behind the guards holding the fowling pieces. What was this about? He saw the guards bunching up close, forming a row atop the wagons, and there were even men with fowling pieces down below the wagons standing ready. This routine completely baffled Head Instructor Gao.

Just then, he heard the clang-clang of a gong — it was the lookout guard on the high platform built from cargo striking it. The moment the gong sounded, all the screens in front of the fowling-piece guards were shoved aside. These guards rose up with their fowling pieces, while the men with pudao behind them all raised their blades.

The gong sounded again. The fowling pieces fired in succession, the noise like firecrackers going off. Gunpowder smoke hung thick. Through it, Head Instructor Gao vaguely saw a pudao chopping downward — could it be they were killing their own? But Head Instructor Gao knew this volley had done good damage. Outside, horses were screaming in pain, men were shrieking, and there were furious curses and panicked shouts.

Right at that moment, the fowling pieces from below the wagons were handed up. The gong gave the order, and another thunderous volley rang out. Outside was again a chorus of howling and wailing. Then the fowling-piece guards turned and dismounted one after another, while the men with pudao stepped up to take their place, raising the screens and such again. Guards carrying long spears also began mounting the wagons, and the guards from each merchant company who could shoot bows were ordered up as well.

The fowling-piece guards who had come down were all frantically reloading their pieces without pause. Someone kept shouting orders: "Steady your heart, keep your hands firm! Powder charge neither too much nor too little! The lead ball and black powder must be tamped solid! Don't forget to pull the ramrod out!"

"Bandits to the right, over two hundred of them, dismounting and charging!" Hearing the man on the high platform yell this, Head Instructor Gao's hands were clenched so tight sweat nearly dripped. At a time like this, what was the point of saying left or right — how many of them could even tell left from right!

He heard someone shout, "Second squad, third squad, with me!" The guards concealed in various covered positions immediately split off a detachment, grabbed their weapons, and ran after a squad leader. This wagon-circle fort was not small; a thousand-odd guards couldn't cover every angle. By the time they reached that side, horse bandits had already torn aside the screens and were clambering onto the wagons. Head Instructor Gao gritted his teeth, thinking they'd been breached after all.

"Form ranks and thrust!" came the shouts and battle cries. The horse bandits, each one a vicious, murderous fiend, brandished their blades and axes. Clambering up, they could hardly bring bows with them. The bandits' faces all bore smug expressions — once they broke in, everything would be settled. They never imagined that the guards inside the circle fort would thrust at them with leveled long spears.

You'd think that traveling merchants and escort runners would consider a pudao a long weapon; how could they be carrying long spears — wasn't that breaking the rules? But short blades against long weapons put you at too great a disadvantage. What's more, these guards truly stood shoulder to shoulder in ranks, advancing like a solid wall. Not only could the bandits find no opening, but their own men were being speared dead and wounded one after another. Those who jumped down from the wagons were all speared to death; those still atop the wagons couldn't hold their footing. There was no way out but to retreat and flee. The moment they fell back, the men with bows rushed up. Who wouldn't jump at the chance to kick a man when he's down and grab easy credit? Over two hundred had charged in; they fled back out leaving a heap of corpses behind.

"Brothers, now you see the benefit of drilling in formation every day! When you stand firm in ranks, with your own brothers front and back, left and right, your heart doesn't panic — then you fight the enemy and are never defeated!" someone called out in a muffled voice.

Head Instructor Gao felt only impatience. He thought, are you fighting a battle or giving a lecture on martial arts? At this moment of life and death, why so much useless chatter? Hurry up and get ready to move! But outside had already gone quiet; he could even hear the hoofbeats fading into the distance. He could hear someone atop the wagons reporting numbers with considerable excitement: "At least a hundred and some dozen dropped on this side." "At least a hundred on my side too."

At first he listened in confusion, then it dawned on him — they were reporting the enemy kill count. Head Instructor Gao suddenly relaxed. Even if over twelve hundred horse bandits had come, with over two hundred dead in the first wave, this battle was already won. The ones bold enough to charge first were surely the fiercest ringleaders. With those men shot dead, the ones behind might not dare press on. Besides, he'd heard both Mongol and Chinese shouted just now — they definitely weren't one gang. A bunch of different groups thrown together; after losing so many men, how could they possibly keep fighting?

No wonder his own company's head merchant had been so calm — he'd known they had this level of confidence. He turned his head to look, only to find Head Merchant Zhou also brimming with excitement. Noticing the gaze from beside him, Zhou kept repeating, "Young master Sun has real promise, young master Sun has real promise!"

Outside grew quieter and quieter. The hoofbeats rumbled away into the distance. Head Instructor Gao knew the bandits were about to withdraw. In that moment, he truly felt the wild joy of a narrow escape from death. Cheers also rang out inside the circle fort. But what no one expected was that the Sun family guards began forming up in ranks, shouting for the other men to move the four wagons in front of them aside. The Sun family guards then simply marched out. Had they gone mad?

The cheering inside the wagon-circle fort came to an abrupt halt. Head Instructor Gao even saw Sun Chuanting take up a long halberd and stand in the front rank of the formation. Ahead of him were only a few rows of fowling-piece guards. What in the world were they doing? A full Presented Scholar, a grand official who had served in the capital — why wouldn't he think of living a peaceful life? It seemed he really had lost his mind.

As it happened, the spot where Head Instructor Gao and Head Merchant Zhou were positioned faced directly toward this gap. They could see the horse bandits outside had already retreated, but now they had halted in the distance. While cursing them for courting death, Head Instructor Gao climbed up onto the cargo pile along with Head Merchant Zhou. For some reason, the scene made one feel less tense — it stirred a powerful curiosity.

They could see the distant horse bandits shouting and charging back, heading straight for this gap. They came closer and closer. Head Instructor Gao suddenly felt fear and dread. He thought about seizing the chance to grab a horse and flee, but a glance around told him there was no opportunity. He could only grit his teeth and stay atop the cargo pile, secretly preparing to fight to the death. At a juncture like this, he couldn't let outsiders look down on a man who came from Tiger-Killing Fort.

The horse bandits drew near. Head Instructor Gao clearly saw the long spears of that orderly formation trembling. What kind of tactic was this? Then he realized — they were shaking because they were too afraid to hold them steady. And they still went out to play the hero like this! This time he'd really have to fight for his life!

The Sun family fowling-piece guards, however, kept their nerve admirably. They didn't fire wildly and recklessly the way government troops did; they simply held motionless. Even Head Instructor Gao grew anxious, thinking, hurry up and fire, even just for the noise — it would steady the heart and maybe scare the horse bandits a bit.

Still they didn't fire. Just then, a single fowling piece went off, then another beside it. They weren't even in range yet. He could hear someone in the formation roar in fury. What happened next baffled Head Instructor Gao and everyone else even more. They saw a guard with a long spear step forward and directly spear a fowling-piece guard to death. Another man threw down his fowling piece and fled for his life; he'd run only a few steps before an arrow struck him in the back of the head and he sprawled dead on the ground ahead.

Everyone in the circle fort who saw this held their breath. Each person felt an unbearable oppression. Those with a bit more awareness realized that the oppressive feeling came not from the horse bandits drawing steadily closer, but from the harsh severity of the Sun family guards. The feeling made it hard to breathe. Everyone was born of parents and raised by them — why go to such extremes?

They came closer and closer. A great shout was heard, and the fowling pieces fired. After the first rank fired, they turned and ran to the rear, not caring whether the horse bandits just a few dozen paces away might close in. The second rank did the same. All they saw were the charging horse bandits toppling over continuously. When the thunder of the fowling pieces ceased, though some horse bandits still charged forward, they were now sparse and scattered, their speed greatly slowed.

With furious roars and bellows, the Sun family guards' long spears pressed forward in overlapping layers. Who would dare crash into that? Who would be willing to? They'd all become bandits to get rich, not to throw their lives away. They frantically wheeled their mounts — if they didn't fall, they were hit by fowling pieces or arrows. Only two horses actually crashed into the spear wall.

He could see long spears snapping, but not a single man moved. The horse bandits atop their mounts were panic-stricken; they threw down their weapons as if trying to surrender. In the end, they were pierced through by long spears until they looked like sieves. After that, no more horse bandits charged forward. All they could see in the distance was a scattering rout — fleeing without looking back, each man for himself, dispersing in every direction!

The Sun family guards still blocked that gap, their formation showing no sign of shifting. The guards from the various merchant companies who had joined the fight, however, were beside themselves with excitement. Standing atop the wagons, they had seen everything clearly. Now they all burst into cheers. Hearing their cheers, the head merchants and clerks who had not dared to peek outside finally realized the danger had passed. First they cautiously poked their heads out, then they joined in the shouting.

Only then did Head Instructor Gao discover his palms were soaked with cold sweat; even his body felt sticky. This truly was a narrow escape from death. His whole body felt weak. Head Instructor Gao suddenly found he couldn't hold his blade — it clattered straight to the ground. After steadying himself, Head Instructor Gao couldn't help but cheer out loud. No one could have imagined this outcome. Who could have thought that a few hundred Sun family guards, relying on fowling pieces and long spears, could defeat over a thousand horse bandits?

After his emotional sigh, Head Instructor Gao immediately thought of something else. Earlier, his words toward the Sun family had not been very polite. With so many wolves and tigers in their employ, if they took offense, wouldn't that be huge trouble? He'd have to go over and apologize and make amends soon. Just as he was thinking this, he saw the Sun family guards part to both sides. The hundred-odd mounted guards who had been waiting on standby inside the wagon-circle fort now charged out, pursuing in the direction of the horse bandits' rout. If it had been earlier, Head Instructor Gao would certainly have thought it rash and arrogant — how did they know the bandits weren't feigning retreat to set a trap? But now, Head Instructor Gao was full of confidence too. The horse bandits weren't worth mentioning; chasing them down would mean more kills.

The mounted guards returned not long after they had gone out. They didn't seem to have scored many kills, but they had rounded up quite a few of the horses outside and such. The eyes of every knowledgeable man in the various companies twitched. Just those two hundred intact horses alone, taken back to Shanxi, could be exchanged for a huge sum of money. Some even wondered — could the Sun family's purpose here have been precisely this scheme? But no matter how they thought about it, it couldn't be...

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