The battle began

"The bandits' main force is here. So many, so many!" Gao Family Village's sentry was the first to cry out in alarm.

For villagers who had grown up in a little village and never ventured out to see the world, the sight of a thousand people marching together was truly overwhelming.

But Li Daoxuan glanced at them and thought it was nothing special. It was about the same scale as thirty high school classes lining up neatly for the opening ceremony of a sports meet.

Besides, these bandits' organization and discipline fell far short of high school students'. They had nothing that could even be called a formation, nor any unified commands-just a great mob of assorted scoundrels running around together. They did not even shout, "Study hard and improve every day!" as they passed the reviewing stand.

Their physical condition was also clearly worse than that of modern high school students. There was a drought, after all, and this lot had rarely eaten their fill. Every one of them was sallow, scrawny, and malnourished.

Compared with the villagers of Gao Family Village, who had enjoyed rice, flour, oil, meat, and vegetables every day for over a fortnight, their physical strength was on an entirely different plane.

But...

They had one thing the people of Gao Family Village could not match: their "ferocity."

They were bandits, robbers. They had already plundered several villages and killed plenty of people, even breaching White Family Fort, renowned throughout the surrounding countryside. They already had "combat experience," confidence, and the viciousness to hack a living enemy to death. Even splattered with blood, they would not feel sick or vomit. Even after violating women and cooking babies to eat, their hearts of stone would feel no guilt.

And those things could increase combat strength on the battlefield.

The villagers of Gao Family Village had none of them.

Seeing nearly a thousand enemies approach, the villagers, who had never fought a battle, trembled with fear. Even with San Shier and Gao Yiye constantly reassuring them, "Don't be afraid, everyone. The Heavenly Venerable protects us," they still could not stop shaking.

The bandits halted a hundred meters outside the walls. A fellow carrying a demon-headed broadsword, whose face alone marked him as a villain, stepped out and roared, "I'm the Supreme Wisdom King! You spineless wretches of Gao Family Village, I hear you think having a high wall means you can spit in my face when I offer you mercy. Originally, handing over ten shi of grain would've been enough for me to spare your shabby village. But now, death is your only way out! When the walls fall, I'll leave neither chicken nor dog alive in Gao Family Village. Fuck your mother!"

Over a thousand bandits roared his words in unison, their voices shaking the surrounding countryside.

The villagers: "..."

San Shier began to lose his nerve now, too. His body trembled slightly.

Mister Bai, however, sneered. "A pack of fools. Saying that before a battle is just telling the villagers of Gao Family Village they have to resist with everything they've got, isn't it? Bandits really are bandits. They don't even know how to attack people's resolve. To take walls this high, they should first promise benefits and use gentle words to entice the villagers into opening the gates, surrendering, and turning traitor."

San Shier said, "Scaring us works just as well. Right now, I feel my [gall trembling and heart pounding]."

Mister Bai said irritably, "Don't let a little thing like that frighten you."

San Shier said, "I'm a scholar."

Mister Bai raised his voice a notch. "So am I! Forget it. Why am I wasting my breath shouting at you?"

He turned aside and called loudly, "You two blacksmiths, when I say strike, strike!"

Li Da and Gao Yiyi answered loudly, "All right!"

Mister Bai then shouted up at the wall, "Men of the White Family, you'll take the first wave."

The dozen or so White Family retainers answered loudly, "Understood!"

Mister Bai said, "Gao Chuwu, Zheng Daniu, you'll take over for the second wave."

The two sturdy young men answered together, "Understood!"

Mister Bai bellowed, "Does everyone know what to do?"

"We do!"

"We... do..."

"I think... so..."

The crowd answered loudly, some voices firm, others hesitant. These hundred able-bodied defenders had received different degrees of training and possessed different levels of courage. Their confusion was hardly any better than that of the bandits outside.

By now, Li Daoxuan had brought over a little stool, picked up his rice bowl with toppings and his magnifying glass, and sat down outside the Scenery Box, ready to watch a grand spectacle of ancient warfare.

Outside the walls, the bandit chief, the "Supreme Wisdom King," swept his hand forward and shouted, "Charge!"

The second-in-command beside him asked somewhat awkwardly, "With walls that high, where are we supposed to charge? We can't get up anywhere, can we?"

The Supreme Wisdom King snapped, "Where are the ladders I told you to prepare? Put them against the walls and climb up, and we've won!"

"Oh, right!"

"And where's the big sharpened log?" the Supreme Wisdom King demanded angrily. "Smash through their lousy wooden gate and rush inside, and we've won!"

"Oh, right!"

The Supreme Wisdom King said, "Over a thousand against a hundred-odd-how can we lose? What are you waiting for? Charge! Just like at White Family Fort. Once we charge, we win!"

He swung his demon-headed broadsword, and the great mob of bandits shouted in unison. Brandishing all manner of mismatched weapons and carrying their hastily constructed battering ram and scaling ladders, they charged toward Gao Family Village.

Their charge frightened the villagers of Gao Family Village even more, leaving them all huddled in terror.

Gao Yiye was afraid too. Standing on the wall, her legs were a little unsteady. But she remembered something Third Madam had told her last time: "The more dignified your bearing, the more others will respect the Heavenly Venerable." Though frightened, she gritted her teeth and stood perfectly still, trying to look as composed as possible.

Just then, Mister Bai's roar rang out over Gao Family Village: "Blacksmiths, strike!"

Li Da and Gao Yiyi stood behind the wall. With it blocking their view, they had not seen the bandits charging and shouting in unison. Neither felt particularly frightened, and their limbs did not tremble. Their hands still gripped their hammers strongly. The moment they heard Mister Bai's shout, both swung their sledgehammers and smashed them down hard on the Trigger Mechanisms of the Stone-Throwers before them.

The sledgehammers struck the Trigger Mechanisms with a dull thud. The arms of the two plastic catapults whipped upward, launching two enormous stones.

The stones first passed over the wall, slicing through the air with a rushing whistle. Gao Chuwu and the others standing on the wall could not help looking up at the huge rocks flying overhead.

Then everyone's eyes followed those two stones out beyond the walls.

Watching you leave, my heart filled with endless emotion...

Boom!

The great stones landed amid the bandits, instantly flattening those they struck head-on. Their momentum unspent, both stones continued rolling forward, killing men and ghosts alike in their path and plowing two bloody furrows through the crowd.

The bandits erupted in alarm. "Mother of mercy..."

"Zhang San was right in front of me, and he got smashed into meat paste... Aaaah, aaaah..."

"My face is covered in blood..."

"Fuck your mother!"

"What is that thing?"

"How did those huge rocks come flying out?"

The bandits instantly descended into chaos!

But there were still eighteen Stone-Throwers left. The two blacksmiths moved to the next pair, raised their sledgehammers, and smashed them down hard...