Chapter 254: Sitting on the Ground

Zhao Jin first raised his spear forward, then everyone in the first row resolutely raised their spears forward. The veteran squad followed suit in sequence. Zhao Jin heard footsteps rising on his right and saw Lu Da leading his squad forward, drawing level with Zhao Jin's side. Over twenty men raised their spears forward in unison. More and more recruit squads came running over, raising their spears on both flanks of the veteran square, standing firm and pointing forward!

Liu Cheng, at the head of the cavalry unit, had already raised his arm. The entire cavalry unit had slowly advanced two steps. Hearing the roar from the opposite side, a contemptuous smile appeared on Liu Cheng's face, and the faces of the cavalry comrades beside him also showed disdain.

But watching the spears ahead being raised one by one and pointing forward, their tips glinting in the morning light, the entire Zhao Character Battalion suddenly transformed into a forest of steel blades. The smile on Liu Cheng's face vanished, his arm slowly dropped, the cavalry unit followed and halted, and the expressions on those cavalrymen's faces changed too.

The sky brightened a little more. Zhao Jin and the others squinted slightly. The raised spears trembled a little, then steadied, pointing firmly ahead just like that. Only the veteran squad knew how to execute the "repel cavalry" command, but facing a cavalry charge for the first time, no one knew if the veteran squad could perform it properly. For now, though, they still had to hold their spears raised like this.

The cavalry unit did not move, the Zhao Character Battalion did not move. The two sides remained deadlocked like this, neither budging. The spears on the Zhao Character Battalion's side began to tremble. The horses on the cavalry side grew restless, and the riders began to call out low commands to their mounts.

"Lads..." Liu Cheng prepared to raise his arm and give the order again. He did not believe that on flat open ground, any infantry could withstand a cavalry charge.

"Tiger Lord, the sky's this bright already. We need to hurry and find a mountain hollow to hide in, or there'll be big trouble!" someone suddenly spoke up behind him.

A large force not belonging to the authorities could only move when the roads were empty and few people were about. On the way here, they'd had the assistance of Cloud Mountain Temple, but after just sweeping away Cloud Mountain Temple's monk soldiers, they could only rely on themselves now.

"... These brats have already been scared out of their wits. When we come back, we'll wipe them out completely..."

Liu Cheng turned his head and swept a glance back. He saw it was two junior headmen saying this, and the others were all looking over as well. Liu Cheng's face darkened, and his arm started to rise again.

"Tiger Lord, we swept away those bald donkeys of Cloud Mountain Temple today. When we go back, Ninth Master will surely reward us handsomely. Then we can just send someone over, and these little whelps will definitely kowtow and beg for mercy. Why waste the effort today?"

"Tiger Lord, this cavalry unit is Ninth Master's lifeblood. Losing over twenty brothers today is already trouble. If we get tangled up further and the old man gets angry, none of us can bear the consequences... and the brothers won't be easy to pacify either!"

Another person spoke. Liu Cheng's movement froze in place. In the end, he let out a long breath, and his arm dropped limply. He had already heard the sound of someone drawing a blade from its scabbard.

Liu Cheng knew why everyone was so "mindful of the bigger picture." He had known it since he threw in his lot with Kong Jiuying ten years ago. Back then, he had already discovered that the military toughness of those years, the killing aura from after they turned bandit, had all been worn away during these years of wealth and comfort. Guarding such a vast estate, dealing with the authorities, making local strongmen bow their heads — the grease and benefits were endless. Everyone had acquired property, taken wives and had children, become masters. With such a comfortable life to live, who would still want to sleep in the open, risk beheading, and taste blood? It was only those of them who had drifted elsewhere who still had some fire in their blood. Back then, they had said privately that the ones here had been raised into dogs, and only their own group was still like wolves. But what about after all these years?

Think about that three-courtyard residence at home, the several women kept in the house, the several children running wild all over the courtyard, and the shop he had secretly purchased over in Jining Prefecture. If, by some chance, the worst happened — who would end up with all these things?

Wealth and comfort are the grave of heroes. Although their fathers' generation had been fierce generals and stalwart soldiers of military households, everyone had long since been raised soft. Surprise attacks and quick battles were still doable; casualties could be endured, because no one could predict them. But if it came to a face-to-face bitter fight, a battle of strength, everyone hesitated and hung back. Take, for example, that dense thicket of spears before their eyes. Everyone knew that charging into it would mean death and injury, and very likely it would be oneself. Who was willing to advance?

And besides, these little whelps were simply too tenacious. Facing a force far superior to their own, they had actually managed to fight to this state. What if... better not even consider the what-ifs of starting a fight. If they really drove forward, they might end up being done in by their own people...

Liu Cheng pondered in silence for a long while. He looked again at the Zhao Character Battalion ahead. The spears were still pointed this way, the formation hadn't budged an inch. He sighed and said, "We've crippled Cloud Mountain Temple today. Going back, we can report to Ninth Master. These little whelps — we'll wipe them out next time. Move out!"

"Tiger Lord is wise! Let's move out!"

"That lower temple where we were staying should be empty. It's plenty fat there. Let's go sack it before we leave..."

Over there, Liu Cheng turned his horse around, and the cavalry unit followed him, filing away. They started at a slow pace, then ran faster and faster. The large force departed in a cloud of dust, leaving behind only a field full of corpses.

"They just... left like that..." someone in the Zhao Character Battalion's formation murmured. Watching the cavalry unit that had departed on its own after just a brief standoff, no one could believe it.

"... Will they come charging back..." Everyone still remembered clearly the scene of the cavalry unit's sudden raid on the Cloud Mountain Temple monk soldiers, and they feared this force might turn back halfway.

The sky was now fully bright. Those campfires had all gone out. The area around He Village was flat and open for miles, and they could clearly see the cavalry unit moving far away. It looked like they had truly left.

"Gone..." Even the consistently steady Chen Sheng said, his voice trembling.

"Gone!" "They're really gone!" Voices rang out from the veteran square and the recruit squads, rising one after another. More and more people were saying it.

"We won!" Very quickly, the words changed to this one.

"We won!"

"We won!" Everyone was shouting, everyone was shouting wildly. The battle that had started when night fell yesterday — over a thousand enemy infantry, two hundred cavalry, and several dozen archers, breaking through the high courtyard walls where the Zhao Character Battalion was entrenched, then both sides locked in brutal hand-to-hand combat, an entire night passing — now, at last, there was a result.

Defeating the monk soldiers of Cloud Mountain Temple, forcing back Kong Jiuying's cavalry unit — even though they had ultimately turned on each other in the end, even though the cavalry unit had left without a fight in the end — this was still victory, a genuine, true victory!

"We won, we won..." Someone shouted a couple of times, then couldn't help but burst into sobs. Others followed, wailing loudly. This was escaping from the jaws of death. What had sustained them in facing the cavalry unit moments ago was a surge of bloody courage. Once the cavalry unit left, many people only then remembered what this meant. If the cavalry had charged — what then?

The release after extreme tension is the easiest thing to make people lose control of their emotions. Many people wept aloud, but even more were laughing, shouting. They had realized their own strength, knew that they could win, and win against such a strong enemy at that. Victory, they'd won — of course they should laugh!

Zhao Jin's body went limp. He could no longer hold onto his spear and sat straight down onto the ground. This movement startled Chen Sheng beside him into quickly reaching out to support him. But after this entire night, who was any more relaxed than anyone else? Even with Chen Sheng's robust physique, he was somewhat unable to hold up. It would have been better not to try to help — the moment he extended his hand, he ended up sitting on the ground himself too.

Both of them were wearing heavy armor. Sitting down so directly like that would certainly cause injury. Fortunately, the formation was dense, and there was more than one person helping to support them, so they more or less lowered them gently to the ground. The two sat on the ground, exchanged a glance, and couldn't help but burst into loud laughter.

Zhao Jin's laughter was almost soundless — his throat was far too hoarse. By this point, there was naturally no need to maintain any formation. The whole group of companions gathered around, while the others were still cheering and shouting wildly. Some sat on the ground, some lay on the ground. The sound of snoring could even be heard. They were utterly exhausted.

Only Zhao Jin and his companions could still act somewhat naturally. They had killed quite a few people and experienced victory before. Compared to these new and old household retainers who had never seen snow, they could be considered able to keep their composure.

"Big Brother, what are you laughing at?" Dong Bingfeng opened his mouth to ask. There was fatigue in his voice too, but his face, after lifting his visor, was also full of smiles.

It was just idle chatter. Zhao Jin waved his hand, and the smile on his face turned into a wry one. He answered, "This whole night of fighting was a complete mess. Whether defending or sallying out, there were far too many things we didn't anticipate. If the enemy hadn't also been from the jianghu, we would have been in big trouble."

The defense of all sides, how to evade arrows, the preparation of boiling water — they hadn't even had runners to relay orders in the formation. It was only fortunate that the enemy hadn't targeted this whole series of gaps.

"From the jianghu? Those people were stronger than government troops..." An old cavalryman was sitting nearby. Hearing this, he couldn't help but reply.

"The more you do, the more experience you gain. Next time, we won't make these mistakes!" Zhao Jin's words could not quite be said to be an answer or just talking to himself.

"Someone's coming out from the village!" someone on the other side shouted loudly, no one knew who.

In last night's battle, the able-bodied men of He Village's tenant households had been forced to fill in the moat and attack. Some had died at the hands of Cloud Mountain Temple, and some at the hands of the Zhao Character Battalion. With this chain of cause and effect between them, the mutual hostility went without saying.

Hearing that people were coming out from over there, those sitting on the ground and lying on the ground all struggled to climb up, grabbed the weapons at hand, and barely formed up into ranks.

With the experience of this entire night, everyone in the Zhao Character Battalion, from top to bottom, placed incomparable importance on formation. Although they didn't understand the reasons why, they understood clearly that as long as everyone stood in neat formation, the enemy had no way to deal with them, and their own side could kill the enemy at ease. Having gained such experience, they naturally followed it by instinct.

Over a hundred people came out from the village. There were no elderly, weak, women, or children to be seen — all were able-bodied men, carrying and holding all sorts of household implements, walking quickly in this direction. Zhao Jin had also already stood up. Liu Yong beside him jogged over, went to a position where he could see clearly, peered over, then turned around and came back.

"Big Brother, it's those cattle and horse merchants." Liu Yong had already thoroughly familiarized himself with the entirety of He Village and had a rough mental count of all the figures there.

"Stay cautious and on guard. Last night, neither Cloud Mountain Temple nor that cavalry unit got any advantage against this group of merchants. Those inside collaborators are probably all staying over there too," Zhao Jin said in a solemn voice.

In the whole of He Village, the mule and horse market was a system unto itself. The cattle and horse merchants were wealthy and powerful, and had their own armed force. The mule and horse inn and the related area where they stayed were beyond the reach of most people. As long as they paid their rent and likin on time and didn't stir up trouble in the village, He Village and the cattle and horse merchants kept to their own business, neither interfering with the other. Most likely, this had been the protocol even when He Weiyuan was still around.