Chapter 17: The Final Card Revealed

Li Nian charged in, just as Li Yan had predicted.

However, two thousand newly recruited soldiers, having re-established their defensive line, now blocked his path. Li Nian frowned, staring at an officer before him who wielded a heavy broadsword as tall as a man. He then looked at these two thousand recruits, their eyes a mix of fear, indifference, encouragement, and bravery. For some reason, a sense of foreboding rose in his heart.

"Charge! Follow me and slaughter them!" Li Nian roared, leading over a thousand armored infantrymen in a fierce assault.

But they had only covered half the distance when, at the command of the officer with the long sword, arrows fell like rain. Li Nian was forced to raise his heavy shield high, pushing forward against the barrage. By the time he had managed to organize his men into a shield wall, he was met with a forest of menacing spear tips thrusting toward them. Forced once more, Li Nian roared, leading his elite warriors into the heart of the enemy formation behind his massive shield.

To Li Nian’s slight relief, these two thousand infantrymen were indeed a green spear-wall formation. As he broke through the first layer, the soldiers failed to regroup quickly, allowing him and his elite core to tear through and penetrate their ranks. Suddenly, the entire infantry formation wobbled. With more and more of Li Nian’s armored warriors pouring in, the line appeared on the verge of collapse.

Just as Li Nian began to relax, a thunderous shout rang out: "Do not panic! Form up, hold the line!"

"Xu Yanqi of the Broadsword is here! That enemy commander, dare you test my hundred-pound blade?"

With that, a long sword as tall as a man swung down with crushing force. A veteran of the Chuang Army before Li Nian raised his blade to block, but the impact of the heavy weapon forced the veteran to his knees, blood spraying from his mouth. Xu Yanqi charged forward with a savage grin. Behind him, as the two thousand recruits cheered, a forest of long spears materialized once more.

Li Nian’s heart sank. He realized that breaking this formation in a short time would be impossible. "Hold the line! Form up! I’ll stake everything on this too!"

***

Meanwhile, a thousand paces to the north, Liu Zeqing was gathering his troops with an ashen face.

Liu Kui, whose hearing had been damaged by the thunderous roar of battle, returned alongside Liu Kecheng and Ruan Yingzhao. Their expressions were awkward, as if they had just caught a glimpse of something private. Liu Kui, unable to gauge his own volume, bellowed at the top of his lungs: "Lord Qin said he knows a single log of golden nanmu wood costs fourteen hundred taels! He has prepared twenty-eight hundred taels for your Excellency, saying it is enough to buy you a coffin of golden nanmu!"

"That bastard surnamed Qin, he goes too far!" Liu Zeqing roared, pointing at Liu Kui. "And you, get out! Get out of my sight!"

Liu Kui stood there, blank and terrified, unable to hear a word. It was only when his personal guards pulled him away that Liu Zeqing’s ragged breathing finally began to calm. Suppressing his fury, he stood on a high mound, looking toward the southern battlefield and letting out a cold, mocking laugh: "Heh... heh..."

At that moment, the two thousand raw recruits were clashing with Li Nian’s thousand elite soldiers.

"Does that Qin Xia really think those two thousand rejects scraped out of brick kilns can defeat Li Yan’s battle-hardened troops?" After his cold laugh, Liu Zeqing suddenly roared, "I will wait for him to die, and wait for him to crawl before me, begging for mercy!"

Liu Kecheng and Ruan Yingzhao exchanged uneasy glances, not knowing what to do. Suddenly, Liu Kui, who had just left, returned. He shouted anxiously, "Your Excellency! Your Excellency! The Chuang Army is in pursuit!"

The group looked back in alarm. Indeed, Wu Yi was leading over a thousand Chuang soldiers in hot pursuit. Liu Zeqing froze, then broke into a shrill, hysterical shriek: "Li Yan, you despicable villain!"

***

At the same time, Li Yan, mounted on his horse with over two hundred men, threw six severed heads before the three thousand soldiers under his command. He scanned the crowd and declared: "I have only one thing to say: break the government forces, and riches shall be yours! Anyone who retreats will be executed without mercy!"

As Li Yan spoke, Qin Daluo shuddered, his eyes filled with immense resentment, yet he was forced to shout along with the other officers: "We obey your command!"

Shi Jiulang and Jiang Bu also shouted, "We obey your command!"

With those words, the three thousand men broke into chaotic cheers and surged toward the government’s artillery position.

The situation was now extremely perilous. The right flank was essentially shattered; although the two thousand recruits had provided support, they had only delayed the total encirclement and annihilation of Liu Zhen’s forces. Zhu Cailang was well aware of the capabilities of these recruits, and he understood even better that the thousand armored soldiers led by Li Nian were a truly formidable force.

To others, using such green troops to face a thousand elite Chuang soldiers was undoubtedly like throwing an egg against a rock. Yet, Zhu Cailang believed these two thousand recruits would bring him a sufficient surprise.

"Are we really lacking in officers? Xu Yanqi... a military jinshi of the Great Ming. I trust my judgment!"

Currently, Zhu Cailang seemed to have only Liu Quan’s artillery unit by his side. The three Hongyi cannons and seven Falconet guns were operated by artillerymen who lacked any close-combat capability.

While the firepower of the cannons was terrifying, artillerymen without the ability to fight in melee were merely a spectacle once the enemy closed the distance. Qin Daluo and the other two Chuang officers were now charging with their three thousand men. Liu Quan worked with tense, rapid movements to load the cannons. When the enemy had closed to within two hundred paces, the ten guns roared!

Beside him, Old Seventeen gripped the sword at his waist even more tightly, his personal guards ready to whisk Zhu Cailang away at a moment's notice.

The cannon fire erupted, and six of the ten shots found their mark. Six bloody paths were plowed through the ranks of the Chuang Army.

But Zhu Cailang merely smiled faintly: "One hundred paces. Old Seventeen, let us clear the line of sight."

Old Seventeen did not understand what the "line of sight" meant, but he nervously shielded Zhu Cailang as they moved aside. Li Yan, seeing Zhu Cailang in his bright, ornate armor, laughed loudly: "Soldiers! The enemy commander is running again! The Chuang Army will be victorious!"

Qin Daluo let out a strange cry: "The Chuang Army will be victorious!"

"The enemy official is fleeing again! Victory! Absolute victory!"

Zhu Cailang, standing on his horse, moved only thirty paces to the side before stopping. The artillery position he had chosen was at the highest point of a small, convex hill. Being a hill, it naturally had varying elevations. The artillery was on the highest point, with slopes falling away to the north and south. These slopes were not steep, but rather quite gentle.

And so...

When Zhu Cailang gave the order, and his gaze swept over the hill, Li Yan suddenly froze. A force he had never seen, and never known, slowly emerged. Atop their heads, the beast-faced helmets revealed a glimpse of their ferocity.