Chapter 153: The Constellations Gather (2)

At this moment, a soldier hurried over.

"General, the bandits of Liangshan have issued a battle challenge!"

Huyan Zhuo was startled. "What!?" He had not expected so many frustrating events to happen all at once. First, his provisions were deliberately withheld, and immediately afterward, Liangshan issued a challenge. This naturally aroused his suspicions.

*Could the Liangshan bandits have bribed the county magistrate!?* Thinking of the usual conduct of those civil officials, Huyan Zhuo felt his teeth itch with anger. Did they really think these Liangshan bandits were so easy to deal with? Did they think he had spent over a month here on a leisurely vacation?

"Going too far!" Huyan Zhuo took a deep breath. Hailing from a military family, he forced himself to calm down as much as possible, lest he truly fall into the enemy's insidious trap.

Returning to his tent, he picked up the challenge letter and read through it once.

"So this is the method the Liangshan bandits have devised to deal with my chained cavalry!" Looking at the location and time written on the letter, Huyan Zhuo rapidly cross-referenced the map in his mind to check the conditions of that area. Sure enough, there was a relatively low-lying region there, which was very likely where the enemy's scheme was laid.

As for what the scheme was, he could not guess for the time being. In any case, it couldn't be that his three subordinates had betrayed him; he trusted them as much as he trusted himself.

"Liangshan rebels, this time I will completely shatter your calculations, and then surround and annihilate you!" Although he knew the Liangshan bandits were no ordinary rabble, as someone who prided himself on being the descendant of a famous general, having been delayed here for so long, it was impossible for him not to harbor fierce anger.

The next morning, Huyan Zhuo had his chained cavalry eat their fill before leading the main army out of the camp to the designated location specified in the challenge. The Liangshan forces on the other side had also arrived.

Huyan Zhuo had originally wanted to arrive early to scout the surrounding terrain, but now that the enemy was already present, it was no longer convenient to send out scouts.

At this point, within the Liangshan army, the Black Whirlwind Li Kui stepped forward a few paces and shouted loudly, "Huyan Zhuo! Our military strategist said the time was set in the battle letter, and that is when the battle begins! If you are a man, honor the agreement. If not, start fighting right now, and your grandpa here won't fear you!"

"Hump! The Liangshan rebels have run out of tricks, daring to bring out such a clumsy and embarrassing attempt at provocation!" Huyan Zhuo sneered upon hearing Li Kui's shouts, and immediately ordered the herald to yell back:

"Liangshan rebels, do not be arrogant! Our General says that since we have accepted the challenge, we will make you lose so completely that you have nothing to say!"

Li Kui chuckled. "Good then! We start the battle right on time!" With that, he pulled a pear from his bosom, took a bite, and gestured toward the opposing army.

Once armored in the chained cavalry formation, the soldiers' movements were severely restricted. Forget about eating or drinking; even wiping away sweat was impossible, and they could only perform simple motions to execute attacks during a charge.

However, after rigorous training, they were elite troops, and such taunts naturally did not affect them.

At the rear of the Liangshan battle array, Gongsun Sheng looked up at the sky and nodded. Chanting a spell, the surrounding foot soldiers quickly erected several bronze mirrors according to his prior instructions.

"Golden Light Formation, rise!"

As Gongsun Sheng's command was issued, the sunlight reflecting upon Huyan Zhuo's side instantly intensified manifold. It was already approaching noon, and now the temperature became even more blistering than midday.

Let alone the soldiers belonging to the chained cavalry, even ordinary soldiers began to sweat profusely. In contrast, the Liangshan side, having made ample preparations, were eating and drinking from water bags and biting into pears. Some even removed their hats and fanned themselves, indulging in various ways to provoke the enemy.

Huyan Zhuo let out a cold snort and glanced at the sky. "Tricks of petty craft! Raise the cloud aura!" He issued his command, and at the wave of the battle flag, the soldiers of the chained cavalry shouted in unison. A cloud aura formed, dampening some of the intense heat brought on by the blinding light.

Huyan Zhuo knew this was merely treating the symptoms rather than the root cause, but the time agreed upon in the challenge was almost here. As long as they shattered the enemy formation when the time came, this minor expenditure of stamina would be of no consequence!

"The time has come!" The personal guard beside Huyan Zhuo said, observing the shadow of the flagpole.

"All forces, charge!" Huyan Zhuo roared at the top of his lungs.

"Kill—!" The already prepared chained cavalry accelerated and charged toward the Liangshan army.

"Retreat!" Li Kui hurled the core of his finished pear toward the chained cavalry formation, wheeled his horse around, and galloped wildly backward.

The foot soldiers and other commanders also retreated together, but this sudden movement threw their formation into disorder. After all, these were not well-disciplined troops, and seeing the chained cavalry bearing down closer and closer, they scattered in panic!

Huyan Zhuo sneered inwardly. Rebels were nothing but rebels; he had worried far too much!

With the chained cavalry in the lead and ordinary infantry following behind, in the blink of an eye they crashed into the Liangshan battle array, ruthlessly slaughtering the Liangshan rebels and venting the pent-up rage of these past days and moments ago.

Caught up in the bloodlust of the charge, the chained cavalry sped faster and faster, almost looking as though they intended to capture Li Kui and the other commanders right then and there.

They failed to notice that the Liangshan foot soldiers in front of them were parting their paths, intentionally redirecting their momentum to encircle the infantry behind them. In the blink of an eye, they had actually opened up a considerable distance between themselves and the rear troops!

Just as the chained cavalry were about to catch up to Li Kui and the others, gongs sounded from both flanks, and hook-sickle spears suddenly emerged from the grassy terrain on either side!

The unique cloud-aura effect of the hook-sickle spear formation pierced directly through the cloud-aura protection around the legs of the chained cavalry horses, striking the beasts' legs directly!

With a coordinated pull from both sides, the horses' legs were instantly snapped.

The buckling of the horses on the flanks inevitably dragged down and tripped the horses in the center.

Combined together, the entire military formation was utterly shattered.

Men and horses collided, and under the weight of heavy armor and the force of momentum, the soldiers suffered heavy casualties, not a single horse remaining intact!

"Hehe! Lads, follow your grandpa to slaughter the imperial dogs!" Li Kui had long grown impatient. Wielding his twin broadaxes, looking like a black bear standing atop a horse, he led the Liangshan foot soldiers charging toward the bewildered imperial troops in the rear.

For the imperial infantry in the back, the collapse of the vanguard chained cavalry happened far too suddenly. One second they were still pursuing the enemy rebels, and the next, the formation collapsed like a falling mountain.

Heavy armor and horses piled together, gleaming like a reflective mound under the glaring light. Only the faint wails and neighs emerging from within made one involuntarily shudder.

Li Kui took the lead, his inner breath empowering his steed until it moved like the wind, charging directly over the corpses of the chained cavalry toward the infantry behind. His twin broadaxes swept up dark arcs of light, slicing through men and armor alike wherever they passed.

In the rear, Huyan Zhuo naturally realized something was gravely amiss. Once the chained cavalry formation was broken, it was virtually impossible to salvage. Since the Liangshan bandits had laid such a treacherous trap, it certainly wouldn't be limited to merely breaking his cavalry.

"Do not panic! Do not panic! Form up quickly to resist the enemy!" Huyan Zhuo knew he had lost this engagement, but there were still soldiers stationed in the main camp. At worst, he could fall back to the county town, regroup, and fight another day.

"General, it's terrible! The rebels are raiding our camp!" At this moment, a horse galloped over swiftly. The soldier looked panicked, not even carrying a weapon in his hands.

"What! Before I left, I instructed you all to strictly guard the camp. How long has it even been? Could the main Liangshan army have surrounded and attacked the camp?!" Huyan Zhuo was both shocked and furious.

"It was that surveillance official... seeing the rebel general Lin Chong personally leading the attack, he directly surrendered!" The soldier said, gnashing his teeth in hatred. Clearly, defending from within the walled city would have made it very difficult for Lin Chong to break in, but that civil official, terrified by Lin Chong's terrifying prowess, had directly opened the camp gates to surrender. The Liangshan forces had slaughtered their way into the camp, causing heavy casualties among their comrades. How could he not feel hatred?

Huyan Zhuo's expression shifted through a myriad of emotions before he finally let out a heavy sigh. Given the circumstances, they could only retreat far away and pray the Liangshan bandits would not press their advantage.

"Retreat—!"

Back in Qingzhou territory, the local county official stared at the intelligence brought by his subordinates, his expression twisting constantly. "These rebels go too far! They go too far!"

There were three mountains in the area—Mount Taohua, Mount Baihu, and Mount Erlong—and their bandits maintained friendly ties. Somehow, they had coordinated to come down from the mountains together to plunder, gracefully calling it "borrowing grain"!

Under normal circumstances, giving them some wealth and provisions would have sufficed to send them packing. But this time, goodness knows what got into them; not only did all three mountains join forces, but their appetites were extraordinarily huge! If they really complied with the bandits' demands, the county's treasury would be completely emptied!

Dispatching troops to fight them had proven useless, as the rebel commanders possessed peerless martial arts prowess, far beyond what these nameless local officers could hope to resist. If the civil official hadn't possessed a shred of sense and promptly ordered a retreat to defend the city, they probably would have lost the city entirely!

At that moment, a minor clerk hurried in. "My lord, a contingent of people claiming to be General Huyan Zhuo and his defeated remnants have arrived and wish to enter the city!"