Chapter 15
Han Xuanzhi fell to the ground, watching the soldiers fleeing in panic past him, he began to feel afraid.
"Young Master, escape!" Huang Sanyuan helped him up, "The situation is beyond saving, there is still time to escape."
Ear-splitting explosions and flying rocks made adrenaline surge. The fallen were right beside him, their blood clouding his vision.
"Yes, escape." Han Xuanzhi stood up, "Every famous general in history has grown from failure. This hardship will not bring me down. Steward Huang, you shall witness the path of my military glory. This is your honor."
Huang Sanyuan blinked and looked at Han Xuanzhi in amazement, the explosion's fire illuminating his determined face.
"To hell with you!"
Huang Sanyuan kicked him away and turned to escape, regretting his association with such a fool. You handle your own fate! I, old Huang, need to save myself.
As the saying goes, soldiers in defeat are like a falling mountain. Once their will to fight is destroyed, everybody thinks only of their own survival, not the outcome of the battle.
In the canyon above, Cheng Dalei threw down all the boxes of explosives, finally collapsing on the ground, panting heavily.
"Boss, we...we've won!" Xu Shenji shouted excitedly.
"We've won?" Cheng Dalei couldn't believe it. They had been working non-stop for five days, hardly getting four hours of sleep daily. The labor was all for this moment, but when it actually arrived, it felt too surreal.
"Boss, get up," Xu Shenji shouted.
"Didn't we already win?" Cheng Dalei said weakly, "Can't I rest for a while?"
"What else can we do... Plunder... Plunder!" Xu Shenji roared.
Cheng Dalei couldn't quite appreciate Xu Shenji's mindset, honed by his impoverished life. Wasn't the area at the foot of the mountain full of treasures - sabres, spears, soldiers' armor, their rations... there were even horses! Qin Man almost drooled when Cheng Dalei promised to give him a horse.
Cheng Dalei mounted his horse with his axe in hand and shouted, "Ling'er, beat the drum!"
Xu Shenji readied the horse carriage, with Lin Shaoyu as the guard, and Xu Ling'er in her red dress, she beat the war drum, the sound echoing to the heavens.
The drumbeat pounded in Cheng Dalei's chest, generating a surge of valor within him. The axe in his hand felt a lot lighter as he shouted with a raised hand, "Plunder!"
They raced down the slope. The battle on the slope above was heading towards a conclusion with Qin Man having the upper hand.
Although Qin Man was fighting against a hundred, the cavalry had been marching for a day and a night, they were exhausted. The death of their leader was a heavy blow. So, in terms of fighting spirit and fighting power, Qin Man far surpassed them. Qin Man himself was an unusually outstanding mountain bandit.
"Charge, plunder!"
With the echoing drumbeats, Cheng Dalei brandished his axe and charged. Seeing Qin Man holding his own against a hundred, he was full of admiration, "What a one-man army!"
This was the straw that broke the camel's back. The cavalry's will to fight was completely shattered as they fled every which way.
"If you want to live, get off your horses, we only want the horses, not the men!" Cheng Dalei shouted, eyeing their horses. It would be a huge wealth if he could loot them all.
Xu Shenji's eyes lit up, "The boss really knows his stuff!" He also started to shout, "Dismount to spare your lives, dismount to spare your lives."
The cavalry had no will to fight left. Although they outnumbered Cheng Dalei's men, seeing that Qin Man stopped fighting the moment they dismounted, they jumped off their horses and fled in all directions.
"Think Tank, Qin Man, contain the horses. Shaoyu, follow me and help me grab a sword…"
Everyone has a dream. Lin Shaoyu wants to be a hero, Han Xuanzhi wishes to be a general. Who hasn't dreamt of being in white robes, brandishing a sword and traveling the world on horseback, like Cheng Dalei?
...
The bandits were hidden in the forest, each nervous and uneasy. With a thousand soldiers from Black Stone City, no fort in Mount Qingniu could withstand them. Thinking about forming an alliance was even more out of question.
At this exact moment, a roaring sound rang out, causing the band of thieves to exchange panic-stricken looks, completely clueless about what was going on.
Before long, the soldiers of Black Stone City were seen fleeing from the canyon like madmen. This left the band of thieves even more puzzled, with no one knowing what was going on.
"Big Brother, what do you think is happening? How could Frog Fort hold off a thousand men?" asked Gao Feibao.
"I don't understand either," replied Gao Feihu, not much wiser than his brother.
Gao Feibao shook his head and sighed deeply. "Life really is unpredictable."
Smack!
Gao Feihu slapped him on the head: "Why are you, a mountain bandit, sighing about life? Did you forget our line of work—to rob those bastards?"
"Right, right, my brothers, let's rob those bastards!"
All the bandits hiding in the woods in the surrounding outposts suddenly understood. What else could mountain bandits do, if not rob? The weapons in their hands, the dry rations on their body, the armor they were wearing – was that all? The boots on their feet, the hairbands tying up their hair, the clothes they wore... Do you know how poor bandits are? It's not unheard of for an entire family to share a single pair of pants.
Flying Tiger Village, Apricot Blossom Ridge, Doghead Hill, Baldhead Slope... Not many people were brought out from each place today; on average, only about twenty or thirty. However, when dozens of these outposts gathered together, the number became terrifying.
The people of Black Stone City were already defeated, and now these mountain bandits swooped in like flies to a fresh wound.
Large swords, iron spears, Wolf Fang Clubs, even hoes, and sickles... Essentially, every type of weapon was present. This group of people rushed forward in a frenzy.
"Hand over your weapons!"
"I haven't bought new shoes in years. Give me your boots..."
"Get down and take off your pants!"
The soldiers were on the verge of tears: "Big Brother, I'm not into that kind of stuff. I'll give you anything you want, but can you leave my chastity alone?"
"To hell with you, who wants to steal your chastity? I want your pants!"
Han Xuanzhi was scampering around in panic. What's worse, there was a bandit with a big axe chasing him from behind.
What was even more absurd was that he was shouting something while chasing: "My sword... my sword... my sword..."
On the verge of tears, Han Xuanzhi thought, I know you're cheap, but can you stop shouting? There are so many people, why the hell are you chasing only me?
Horse hooves echoed from the front. One hundred stout men rode on tall horses, each with expressions as stern as stone.
Only the man at the lead was dressed in plain clothes, with a dagger at his waist. Temperament is a peculiar thing. Over a thousand men were collectively chased away by just one man, Cheng Dalei. But when they came across these hundred, Cheng Dalei immediately dismounted and hid in the grass.
"Sheath your spears, ready your daggers," the plain-clothes man ordered coldly.
Shing!
The unanimous sound of daggers being drawn filled the air. One hundred iron daggers were held firmly in their hands, with no bandit daring to approach. Everyone had the same feeling: with just these one hundred daggers, any band of bandits on Mount Qingniu could be wiped out.
Upon seeing this, Han Xuanzhi felt like he had been saved. Without caring for anything else, he rushed over, shouting and yelling.
"Counselor Xue save me, Counselor Xue save me, they are bullying me, they are all bullying me."
The iron dagger was slightly raised, creating a cold glint as it slashed through the air, brushing past Han Xuanzhi's throat.
He staggered a bit, stunned, as he looked at the man in the plain robes. In the end, he couldn't utter a single word and fell to the ground with a thud.
And so, the path of a once-famed general came to an end.