Chapter 246: The Gong Sounds Suddenly

246. Chapter 246: The Gong Sounds Suddenly

"…A brat who hasn't even grown all his hair yet, trying to act like the rest of us…"

"…Why wait for those bald donkeys? We can just circle around once ourselves and take this place…"

He could make out some of the words drifting over. Suddenly, another burst of raucous laughter erupted from the horse troop, and someone shouted, "Brothers, once we crack this manor open, fifty percent goes to the higher-ups, and fifty percent we split among ourselves!"

These words came through crystal clear. The cheers that followed were deafening. Then, from up ahead, came the shouts of men and the neighing of horses — someone had spurred their mount and leaped across the trench.

"…When cavalry encircles a camp, the sound of hoofbeats is a weapon in itself. The ground shakes, and it strikes terror into your heart. Truth is, arrows and flying stones can't kill that many. What really does you in is when the camp falls into chaos and they charge in, then…"

Zhao Jin recalled the accounts of his second uncle, Zhao Zhenxing. Down below, the vanguard of the horse troop had already reached the street, and the riders behind were filing up in a steady stream. The hoofbeats, which had quieted for a moment, now thundered to life again.

"This is just too…" Zhao Jin shook his head. They were a force of the wilds, after all — no one paid attention to countless details. That trench could be leaped in a single bound, sure, but filling it in would have made things much easier. A trench was still a trench; one careless move and a horse could easily stumble into it. Not to mention, these men had heard the howling from inside the courtyard and just swaggered right in.

More and more horses surged onto the street. Just as Zhao Jin had predicted, they intended to encircle the compound. By now, the He Manor was utterly silent, as if the buildings lining both sides of the street had never been inhabited. Who would dare show their face at a time like this? The residents of He Manor could only curse themselves — when they'd gotten word this afternoon, they'd thought Zhao Jin's people were just putting on a show to scare them. Who could have imagined a large band of mounted brigands would actually come, and with a presence even more imposing than the hundred-plus men He Manor fielded during the New Year?

A mounted brigand band this size could wipe He Manor off the map with ease. When that happened, who could possibly escape? All they could do now was hide in their homes and pray to gods and Buddhas.

Though the roads around the He family compound were wide, they could only fit four horses abreast. On the north and west sides, even three horses was a squeeze. Some of the riders in the troop had bows drawn and arrows nocked, but the rest had taken out rope slings about two feet long, each with a round stone cupped at one end, and were swinging them in circles.

The sun was about to set. The fading afterglow bathed the riders outside the courtyard in a layer of gold. Inside the courtyard, blocked by the high walls, many spots had already grown dim. Yet this very light made Zhao Jin, standing atop the watchtower, all the more conspicuous. Bathed entirely in radiance, he turned around and pressed his hand downward, signaling everyone to take cover.

From the watchtower, he could see clearly. Though this band of riders looked disorderly, their equipment was far from poor. Never mind the uniformity of their lances and sabers — nearly half the troop wore some kind of armor. Chainmail, leather armor, even iron-scale coats could be spotted. That was truly something.

Everyone had already taken cover behind walls and barricades. Seeing Zhao Jin's hand signal, they couldn't help but shrink back a little further. The moment Zhao Jin made that gesture, the air filled with whistling — arrows loosed, stones hurled. Zhao Jin spun around and threw himself flat.

The volley of arrows wasn't too bad. Some flew wide, some struck the barricades, and a scattered few were blocked by men raising wooden shields. But those flying stones were trouble — not because of their speed or angle, but because there were simply too many.

Even behind cover, a few unlucky souls got hit, their heads immediately split and bleeding. This time, the screams were real. But these screams didn't last — after one cry, they clenched their jaws and endured. They could still stand; there was no need to wail!

The archers outside were restrained with their shots. After one volley, they stopped. But a second wave of stones was soon hurled inside. A few more men in the courtyard were struck, and pained shouts rang out again.

Flying stones weren't as fast as arrows. When one came at you, you could dodge on instinct, so fatal wounds were rare. But pain and bleeding were unavoidable. As more and more people got hit, a restlessness began to stir within the courtyard.

Zhao Jin's heart was tense as well. He kept glancing ahead, then behind. The He family compound was truly large. The surging riders had only just filled the street on the south side and were only now starting to turn onto the west side.

The wooden shields on the watchtower clanged loudly as stones struck them. Fortunately, it was hard to gauge the arc when hurling stones upward, so the tower itself wasn't in serious danger — but getting caught in the barrage was only to be expected.

Over on that side, Yan Qianli was trembling uncontrollably, so much so that the bronze gong in his hands kept rattling. Zhuang Liu, in contrast, remained perfectly steady where he was, glancing back at Zhao Jin from time to time.

"…Beg for mercy and surrender, and there's still a way out…" The voices outside kept drifting in. "…All of you young ones, wash your asses clean…" A burst of arrogant laughter followed.

The thunder of hoofbeats, the whistle of arrows and flying stones, the filthy taunts, the unbridled, arrogant laughter, and the pained cries from within the courtyard — all of it filled the ears of everyone inside. Most of them couldn't see what was happening beyond the high walls and could only endure this passive beating. Gradually, their tempers began to fray.

The best moment would be when the entire horse troop had moved onto the streets outside the compound walls. But the riders outside were slow, and the agitation inside was growing. Zhao Jin hesitated for a moment, then barked in a low voice, "Strike the gong!"

Yan Qianli fumbled in panic, nearly dropping the mallet, but still managed to strike it — Clang! Clang! Clang!

Amid the chaos, the gong rang out bright and clear. Everyone heard it. Even the horse troop outside faltered for a moment, because from the very start until now, the He family compound had been utterly silent. The screams, everyone thought, were only natural. But a gong sounding out of nowhere — no one knew why, yet everyone knew something was about to happen.

Many had been crouching so long that the gong caught them off guard — they didn't react immediately. But the next instant, they all sprang up at once, drawing bows and nocking arrows to shoot downward!

The archers were spread along all four sides, but the horse troop was only on two sides right now. Fortunately, there were more archers on the south side. Though they couldn't maximize the kill count, every archer was firing from an elevated position. The riders down below on the street had no cover whatsoever. And on that southern street, packed in from front to back, aside from twisting their bodies, they didn't even have much room to dodge or flee.

The riders weren't moving fast, so shooting them down held little difficulty. Besides, how far could the distance between the wall top and the street possibly be? Not to mention that they were frozen in stunned shock. In that instant, they were nothing but live targets!

Arrows tore through the air with a shriek, and immediately, screams and panicked shouts followed. But these sounds were far sparser than the howls that had come from the He family compound moments before — because here, many of the shots were instantly fatal!

The veteran riders Dong Bingfeng had brought lacked stamina, but they still had enough strength to draw a bow and loose a few arrows. And they shot fast and true. Before the men below could react, many of them had already fired more than one arrow, each one claiming a life. Once they'd shot, no one bothered to check the results — they all hastily ducked back down.

The moment the gong sounded, Zhuang Liu drew his bow and nocked an arrow. At the same instant, Zhao Jin stood, swung his arm, and hurled the short spear in his hand downward with all his might. At such close range, the force of his throw far exceeded that of any bow, to say nothing of the spear's own weight.

The riders beneath the watchtower all tried to dodge, but it was simply too sudden. After the gong, they'd only had time to react on instinct. The short spear flew, piercing through one man's shoulder and bursting out from the ribs on his other side — it had skewered him clean through. The man toppled straight off his horse. His mount, spooked, reared up on its hind legs, throwing the immediate area into chaos.

The riders around that man, seeing this, were scared out of their wits. The quick-thinking ones kicked free of their stirrups and dismounted to take cover. The slower ones lashed their horses frantically, trying to charge their way out. But no matter how they reacted, it only made the scene before them more chaotic.

After that single throw, Zhao Jin had just ducked back behind the wooden shield when he saw that Zhuang Liu had already loosed a second arrow. What incredible speed. Zhuang Liu didn't draw to a full bow — he pulled to about seventy or eighty percent and released, but at this distance, that was more than enough.

Peering through the gaps in the shield, he saw that every one of Zhuang Liu's arrows killed an enemy. The first struck an eye socket. The second pierced a throat. The third drove in through an ear!

In the time it took others to loose two arrows, Zhuang Liu had loosed three. Those veteran riders Dong Bingfeng had brought weren't fast, but they excelled in accuracy. They drew to a full bow, and every shot found its mark!

It was only after those veteran riders had loosed their second arrows that the chaotic horse troop below finally came to their senses. Their own archers drew and nocked, while the others, heedless of anything else, simply hurled whatever weapons they had in hand. At this range, something was bound to hit.

"Strike the gong! Strike the gong!" Zhao Jin shouted at Yan Qianli beside him. This time, Yan Qianli didn't hesitate — he struck the bronze gong with full force.

At the sound of the gong, the archers all hastily ducked back down. Those few veteran riders ducked even faster. To survive this long on the battlefield, one's instinct and skill for fleeing and hiding often surpassed even the ability to kill.

But on the battlefield, blades and arrows showed no mercy. Zhao Jin watched an archer below the watchtower — after the gong sounded, the man still wanted to loose one more arrow at the enemy outside. But before his own arrow could fly, a shaft from an angle pinned him in the neck. He didn't even let out a scream, just toppled backward off the platform, face up to the sky.

What a pity. Zhao Jin sighed inwardly. That man was one of Qian Yong and Tao Gui's crew. These martial artists from the jianghu — they just weren't disciplined enough.

"Don't look back! Don't look back! Keep moving forward! Circle back around, circle back! Otherwise we'll all be trapped and suffocated here…"

Someone on the street was bellowing. In the midst of panic, there was always a clear-headed one. But before the man could finish, an arrow shot into his mouth, the arrowhead bursting out the back of his skull!

Zhao Jin turned his head from the watchtower to look — and saw that on the other watchtower, Dong Bingfeng was hurriedly ducking back into cover.

That man's shouting had finally had an effect. The riders at the front began lashing their horses madly to charge out. Once the front moved, those behind started moving too. The horse troop accelerated along the street, their formation beginning to scatter.

Yan Qianli, who moments ago had been scared out of his wits, now found his courage. He kept looking at Zhao Jin, waiting for the order to strike the gong. In his eyes, the riders out on the street right now were nothing but targets, free to be shot down at will.

But Zhao Jin never gave the order. In that sudden volley just now, the archers among the horse troop hadn't suffered many casualties. And once they'd recovered, many had already positioned shields at their sides. Their archers had also drawn and nocked, ready to counterattack at any moment.

If they exchanged fire now, Zhao Jin had the advantage — both in numbers and in the elevated position. But he hesitated, and still did not order the gong struck. Those veteran riders were, after all, elders to him and Dong Bingfeng; casualties among them would be very awkward. And every single archer in his own hands was a precious resource — they absolutely could not be wasted.

More crucially, Zhao Jin felt that the critical moment had not yet arrived. These two hundred riders were fearsome in open-field battle, but in a siege, they weren't worth mentioning. Even if they dismounted to fight on foot, two hundred men held no advantage here. It wasn't yet worth trading archers with them. The real trouble, he suspected, had yet to arrive…

The atmosphere in the courtyard was calm. The household troops were each at their posts, waiting for orders with composure. The fear and tension they'd felt when the enemy first attacked, the oppression from the arrows and arrogance outside, the relief when Zhao Jin had toyed with the enemy, the blood-boiling thrill of the ambush volley — and finally, the death of that comrade, struck by an arrow, which had sobered them all.

That archer who'd been shot — because he came from the jianghu and possessed archery skills, his manner had inevitably been a bit arrogant. The past few days of training hadn't been able to correct it. On top of that, he hung around with Qian Yong and Tao Gui, forming a little clique, so the others had always treated him with a degree of wary respect. Just moments ago, watching him spiritedly shooting down enemies, those with more complicated thoughts couldn't help but mutter inwardly that this man would probably become even more insufferable in the future.

Who could have imagined that such a spirited, standout figure would, in the blink of an eye, be shot in the neck and finished off? According to prior arrangements, someone had already gone up to drag the body away. Watching that cold corpse dragged past before their eyes, seeing the ashen, contorted face, everyone couldn't help but tremble.

Yet this trembling and fear quickly subsided — so quickly that even the household troops themselves didn't notice it. In that short span of time, every one of them had experienced so many emotional swings that they'd unconsciously grown somewhat accustomed to it. They finally realized: this was a battlefield. People died here. Each of them gained a measure of understanding. Fortunately, they were behind high walls, not breaking down on a true bloody battlefield — no weeping, no vomiting. They still had the chance to think. Though such a change might not be of much use, it was still a change nonetheless.

The rumbling hoofbeats gradually faded into the distance. It was clear they had made a wide circuit around the He family compound and were circling back to the open ground on the east side. Zhao Jin took one look, turned his head, and shouted, "Bingfeng, get to the east wall! Zhuang Liu, you too! Any archers who can make it over there, go! Shoot down everyone within range!"

On the eastern open ground, over a hundred riders still hadn't managed to charge in. After all, the street was only so wide, and circling to encircle the compound could only go in one direction. They were all staring dumbfounded at the chaos on the street. Veterans of the wilds naturally knew you couldn't get too close when attacking a fortified residence — you should at least keep an arrow's distance away.

But just moments ago, the archers had all been firing from the south side of the He family compound, while these men had been pressing forward without pause. In the chaos, they'd hastily reined in their horses, their attention wholly absorbed by the street. They'd forgotten they had gotten far too close.

As soon as Zhao Jin gave the order, from the veteran riders to the archers of Zhao Battalion, everyone scrambled down from their various positions and rushed toward the eastern platform. Moments ago, there had been mortal danger. Now, it was a chance to earn money and silver — every hit meant income.

The hoofbeats still echoed around the He family compound, but the archers had already mounted the eastern platform. Without a word, they drew and loosed.

The carnage this time wasn't as great as before — after all, the distance was greater, and those men were on extreme alert, noticing the slightest movement. But it was still effective. Amid the shrieking through the air, three men were struck in vital spots and toppled stiffly from their horses. Four more were hit by arrows and, crying out in pain, spurred their horses and fled into the distance. Another three unlucky ones had their mounts shot. The horses, maddened by pain, threw the riders from their backs. Unable to kick free of the stirrups in time, they were dragged along the ground — their injuries would not be light…

After that scene, the cavalry of this horse troop shouted and yelled in chaos, retreating again in the opposite direction. The companions who had circled back from that side came over and got tangled up with them — a complete mess.

A surprise attack only works when you catch the enemy off guard. The horse troop's formation was already scattered to begin with, and after the initial panic, they all swerved to evade eastward, galloping a hundred and fifty paces away — far beyond reach from this side.

"... I hit four..."

"... Four arrows in total, and you didn't miss a single shot — wait, one of your arrows went wide!"

Whether it was Zhao Character Battalion's own archers or the veteran cavalry Dong Bingfeng had brought, everyone was jubilantly discussing the results of the fight. Even the veteran squad and recruit squad who had been standing by in the courtyard to help were beaming with delight. The shock and horror from seeing one of their own archers shot dead earlier had largely dissipated.

Compared to the clamor below, Zhao Jin up on the watchtower had a face as grim as water. He had been observing the street outside the wall the entire time.

They came in a noisy uproar and left in a noisy uproar. It hadn't taken long. Though the sun had set, the lingering twilight was still bright enough to see everything clearly.

Corpses lay strewn across the street in disorder, and a few horses lingered there, pacing restlessly. The ground was a scene of wreckage and chaos — some were dead, others gravely wounded, groaning as they crawled. There were those who couldn't even crawl anymore, just screaming in agony where they lay. They might not necessarily have been gravely wounded by arrows, but once they fell to the ground, their companions had no time to avoid them. Trampled by men and horses alike, it was hard not to end up gravely wounded.

"... five... six..." Zhao Jin counted under his breath. That volley of arrows just now had left twenty-one corpses on the street from this horse troop, along with six dying, gravely wounded men — and that was not counting the three dead and seven wounded on the open ground to the east.

With the sudden volley from the courtyard wall and the unexpected strike from the east, their own archers and veteran cavalry had loosed around eighty-odd arrows in total. To achieve such results was quite impressive. More enemies than these had been hit, but those with light wounds who could still run certainly wouldn't have stayed behind here.

A horse troop of over two hundred men, before even engaging in a real blade-to-blade fight, had over twenty shot dead by their side, with nearly ten more stripped of fighting ability — while they themselves had lost only one man, and no one was wounded. This was truly a bargain. A faint smile appeared on Zhao Jin's face.

Swoosh — an arrow shot down from the watchtower on the other side. A gravely wounded enemy who had been crawling instantly went still. Zhao Jin turned his head to look — it was Dong Bingfeng, who had climbed back up.

"Leave them alone!" Zhao Jin shouted toward that watchtower.

Dong Bingfeng paused, startled, but still put away his bow. Zhao Jin looked back down. Dong Bingfeng's arrow had scared the wits out of the remaining gravely wounded enemies, and it had somehow given them a burst of strength — they were now howling and crying for help at the top of their lungs.

One gravely wounded man takes several people to tend and look after. Even if the enemy were hard-hearted enough to ignore them, the wretched cries of their comrades and the guilt of leaving them to die would still deal a heavy blow to morale.

How had he become so ruthless? The thought suddenly struck Zhao Jin, and he couldn't help but twist his mouth. It was just that on the battlefield, after seeing so much iron and blood, the heart naturally hardened.