Chapter 6: Guard The Camp
On the sixth day of the tenth month of the Shu Tian Calendar year 23, the warfare in the Southern Border, like a smoldering fire ignited by a cigarette butt, burned long enough before suddenly bursting into bright flames with a bang.
On the beacon tower of the Great Warehouse in the military camp, crimson flames leaped, and blue smoke drifted into the sky, entering the clouds like ink, instantly turning the white clouds into dark clouds, with lightning flashing within.
Xuan Chong looked up at this phenomenon. When the clouds turned dark, the lightning and thunder in the sky corresponded, like characters jumping between keyboard commands and the display screen.
Wu Fei recited the incantation for Yao Calculation of Killing Intent from the military classics.
Wu Fei stared blankly at the beacon tower, as if thinking of some wondrous combination, seeming like he could grasp it with one more step closer—yes, just a bit closer, think a bit more.
The bugle horn in the camp interrupted Wu Fei’s random thoughts. As the garrison commander of the Great Warehouse, Wu Fei began to focus his attention on what he should be doing.
Seven days after Zhao Tu arrived, the atmosphere around the Great Warehouse changed. The scouts sent out could hardly probe beyond five li anymore, as encounters with crossbow bolts and javelins increased. If not for Wu Fei arranging more alcohol and meat, and raising the scouts’ bounty by more than three times, no brave men would have gone out long ago.
According to the records in the Military Classics, “courage” is key in defending a city. When soldiers with “remaining courage” venture out and return, the officers and soldiers in the city hearing their boasts is more effective than the commander motivating them a hundred times on the platform. Once “remaining courage” is gone, the garrison unable to leave the city faces unknown external situations, with morale extremely unstable.
Wu Fei’s soldiers were not some battle-hardened elites; they were laborers recruited from the countryside, in a Schrödinger’s state between “daring to fight” and “not daring to fight.” When the foreign race was weak, they were fierce as tigers, seeing the foreign race as sheep and themselves with Heaven’s Mandate shining brightly. But when the foreign race was strong, without generous tragic heroes holding it together, they instantly turned into sheep waiting to be slaughtered.
The negative textbook for stubbornly defending a city is those fools who fancy themselves masters of strategic planning.
This bunch of literati closed the gates, drinking and reveling to pass the boring time, thinking it was not too late to climb the city walls and supervise the battle when the enemy attacked! As a result, when the enemy reached the city, morale had already collapsed irreparably, and they dared not come to the city walls. Because there were no officers and soldiers on the walls as imagined to block the cannon stones for them.
Wu Fei’s military treatise bamboo slips also recorded that the general is the courage of the soldiers; if the general is lazy and tired, the soldiers follow suit and slack off. Even the sturdiest city has countless vulnerabilities in the hands of a weary general.
History books record those generals who, facing great enemies, remained “calm and laughing,” stabilizing hearts. This all had one premise: the camp was arranged impeccably without flaws, allowing them to eat and drink as usual.
Xuan Chong thought he could not achieve “calm and laughing” composure; he could not avoid tension in major events. But methodical, orderly dull tasks, he could still do well!
…Two hours after igniting the beacon tower…
More and more Snake People began emerging from the shrubbery. The Snake People commander confirmed that the granary they planned to sneak attack was already alert, so they stopped hiding.
A large swath of shrubs toppled crookedly, and Snake People matching the color of their surroundings suddenly appeared outside this originally quiet camp area.
These Snake People began closing in around the main camp, the nearest point less than five hundred paces away; from the fortified village walls, one could hear the “rustling” sounds, on a scale like summer field insect chirps—not very loud, but everywhere on the surrounding open wilderness.
Wu Fei had already issued the curfew. The camp strictly forbade noise; soldiers not on sentry duty entered tents to sleep and rest.
The camp’s cooking squad was the busiest, working twelve hours nonstop in shifts, lighting fires to cook, steaming basket after basket of rice and flour. After softening the rice and flour, they wrapped it with pickles and meat bits, baked it dry in the stove, then cooled it in the well; this way it wouldn’t spoil for three or four days. Now they had to ensure food could be taken anytime.
The rice balls’ taste was inevitably poor. But Wu Fei saw in the military treatise: swallowing a rice ball keeps the soldiers’ vital energy enduring longer.
…As a good student, during an exam paper, one does not abandon any scoring point…
Before the total assault, the Snake People’s one or two javelin throws outside the Great Warehouse did not make Wu Family Army’s flags flutter in disorder. Soldiers on the high platform learned from returning daily scouts that within a thousand zhang, those shrubs could not hide more than thirty Snake People.
According to the rigid rules of the military treatise, all surrounding trees should be cleared. It was not that Wu Fei did not want to, but in this Southern Border area, it was hard to clear all trees; after a night rain, shrubs grew wildly.
As Snake People kept sending small troops to provoke, Wu Fei ordered: Snake People fewer than two hundred did not need to blow the horn, so as not to disturb the brothers sleeping in camp.
Wu Fei could not achieve soothing hearts by “hosting a banquet in camp” with unwavering poise. But he could guard his shift, letting others sleep peacefully.
…After the moon rabbit and Golden Crow swapped shifts twice more…
Finally, the local Snake People leaders could not hold back; they had completed full assembly, displaying their totem leather in the direct south direction.
The totem was entirely leather-made, with vivid symmetrical colors, similar to a Thangka, its center depicting a pair of male and female snakes with tails intertwined; this Snake People Tribe was called the Ye Chao Clan.
The Ye Chao Clan’s shaman rode a giant beast like the Spinosaurus from Jurassic movies, appearing outside Wu Fei’s fortified village. Of course, on the high platform built in the Great Warehouse, Wu Fei also gazed at the Ye Chao Clan’s army.
The two sides were now separated by merely five hundred paces!
From small holes pre-left under the fortified village barriers, some short soldiers crawled out, carrying packages and quickly running fifty paces outside the fortified village gate; before the Snake People javelin throwers charged up, these soldiers scattered strings of caltrops connected by straw ropes. Then, as the Snake People javelin throwers approached, the fortified village gate opened, ranks of crossbowmen ran out in formation, stopping at the fixed ground line marked outside the village per flag orders; then in pairs, one sat down with feet bracing the bow arm, pulling the string with hands and kicking legs to draw it, while the other loaded heavy bolts; with triggers pulled together, a click sounded, followed by the unified whoosh of bolts piercing the air.
Visually, ranks of arrow rain shadows hung in the air, casting a layer of killing intent filter over heaven and earth.
The Snake People who had just run one hundred twenty paces, about thirty in total, faced fifty bolts falling from the sky and instantly lost a third.
The foot-braced crossbowmen, relying on the caltrops ahead as obstruction, continued drawing strings and firing.
After twenty breaths, this probing wave of Snake People routed; thirty came, only twenty withdrew, most with arrowheads embedded—these arrowheads had been soaked in golden juice last night.
……
On the high platform, Wu Fei heard “hissing” beside him. Turning, it was the Snake Woman “Xiao Qing” making the sound. At this moment, this Snake Woman stared hatefully at the Ye Chao Clan’s main flag; Wu Fei now understood why this female Snake Person had come to serve the Wu Family Army loyally.
Last night, this Snake Woman bared her heart, recounting her tragic past: her tribe was the “Cui Xi Tribe,” a powerful clan in the Southern Border ten years ago, but later exterminated by the Ye Chao Clan, all killed, so she surrendered to the Wu Family as slave and servant, waiting for a chance at revenge.
Now on the high platform, accompanying the Young General Wu Fei, Xiao Qing glared hatefully at the distant enemy clan, but her peripheral vision still fell on Wu Fei.
Still last night, from her perspective, after recounting her tragedy, the only surprise was that Wu Fei showed no sympathy or pity, as if hearing ordinary military intelligence. This disappointed her greatly.
She now thought of revenge; after all, her archenemy was right before her eyes—what after successful revenge?
…Wu Fei’s mind was all on the war; after all, one wrong step now could be fatal…
On the high platform, Wu Fei sat in a chair watching the five hundred Snake People Tribe troops charging to assault his Great Warehouse.
Behind the barricades, laborers wearing “Alligator Dragon Hide armor” gripped long spears tightly, relying on the earth wall before their chests in strict formation. These old farmers feared going out to fight these mountain monster-level Snake People, but now relying on wooden fences for blocking, in neat formation poking at Snake People obstructed by fence barriers, they had some courage.
Xuan Chong began reviewing history for summary: Snake People currently could not be considered a “unified ethnicity”; to form “ethnicism,” they needed to maintain a “great righteousness” internally to ensure rules, under this rule system protecting the basic rights of the weak and allowing the strong to normally gain interests by obeying order.
Currently, Snake People tribes fought each other, with victors “slaughtering” and “sacrificing” the defeated. That is, internally disordered.
At this, Wu Fei glanced at that seductive female Snake Person from last night before him; since Snake People were not an “ethnicity,” she could abandon her original form without burden, accept the Qi Ling Dan, and join the Wu Family.
……
Gongs and drums boomed like thunder, and the Snake People began charging for a strong assault.
Wu Fei looked at the dense mass of surging Snake People, smiled coldly, and swung down his command flag; on the camp drill ground, counterweight catapults behind the earth walls activated one by one.
In the basket directly ahead of the catapult, about five hundred kilograms of counterweight blocks were loaded, slowly raised via labor-saving pulley groups.
As the rope suspending the counterweight blocks was cut, the blocks fell, driving the long rear lever to swing violently. A rope on the lever tied a ten-kilogram burning block; this block emitting sulfur smoke arced beautifully toward the Snake People charge area outside the main camp.
The burning block landed and shattered, countless small burning fragments splashing over ten zhang; four or five Snake People twisted into lumps under the flame stimulus. The assault formation thus fell into great chaos.
Laborer archers behind the fortified village foot-kicked three-stone crossbows, adjusting direction per flag commands and the whistling arrow’s sky trajectory for volley fire.
Clusters of bamboo arrows began lobbing toward the Snake People; though Yao People’s arrow power was inferior to the muscle-packed Snake People javelins, sharp arrowheads without armor protection could still pierce even if muscles were like silverback gorillas.
At the fortified village perimeter, in the Snake People formation, the vanguard were those three-meter pythons with patterns; facing the uniform falling arrowheads, they kept halting.
Lobbing precision was not high—one in twenty—but as Snake People entered the caltrops and bamboo spike zone, speed slowed, and arrow rain hit rate surged.
Three Python People severely wounded, pale organs spilling from snake bodies, finished off by a few arrows from Zhao Tu on the high platform, crashing down.
After three incense sticks, the Snake People troops very reluctantly piled up before the camp fence, hacking the wooden fence with stone axes while enduring long spear thrusts from the farm soldiers behind; Snake blood dyed the faces of spear soldiers at the fence front red.
……
After fierce fighting for a full three incense sticks, Wu Fei picked up the “Qian Kun Flags,” sensing instability in the Yao Calculation of the four directional flags in the army—that is, the Snake People witchcraft masters had begun activating.
As bloodied frontline soldiers supported each other retreating, they suddenly felt the soil underfoot moving; looking down, lost souls all around—bowl-thick snakes emerged like earthworms after rain.
Before the laborers could react, these snakes chased and bit fiercely; bitten ones went dark before the eyes, then limbs numbed.
On the high platform, Wu Fei’s expression tightened; though prepared psychologically for encountering “witchcraft, magic, Daoist Arts” in battle, actually facing it still sent chills. The “magic” his troops now faced was called “Swarm Snake Feast,” covering over two hundred meters; this snake venom was not instantly fatal but put soldiers into weakened state immediately.
The laborers thriving at the first barrier had morale collapse. Some began scrambling back to the second defensive line, while Snake People beyond the wooden fence, unhindered by farm soldiers, hacked open a passage to surge in.
Wu Fei’s Great Warehouse was a military outpost; such single outposts had no “Master” units. Otherwise, they could dispatch accompanying Masters to magic battle the Snake People shamans. Even counter-kill.
But now, Wu Fei flung his command flag; a startling thunder cracked where dark clouds swirled in the sky.
On the Snake People priest side, upon hearing the thunder, one spat a mouthful of blood violently.
On Wu Fei’s side, seeing the snakes emerging from underground terrified back in by the thunder, he breathed a sigh of relief. Continued commanding the army in combat.
Military strategists’ Killing Intent could counter magic. The Killing Intent accumulated these days in Wu Fei’s garrison camp could summon several killing thunders. This thunder did not kill directly but dispersed the yin spirits of spellcasters.
Under the gong and drum beats, the reserve troops in the main camp moved. Soldiers lined up waiting at each military tent entrance, upon their squad flag mobilized, marched in unison to the front; this stomping was spontaneous, as stomping feet prevented snakes and insects climbing up, shaking them off.
As soldiers’ Killing Intent-filled steps approached, bringing extra magic-dissipating effect. The “Swarm Snake Feast” magic’s colorful venomous snakes summoned from deep earth now fled into shrubs en masse, their colorful venom patterns fading like washed clothes, turning into wisps of toxic smoke dissipating. The decolorized snakes—oh, just ordinary non-venomous grass snakes.
At the frontline, bitten soldiers constantly stomping finally stabilized. Morale somewhat recovered, began facing Snake People charging into the second defensive line.
The battle line began counter-pushing, and Wu Fei nodded, confirming he had it steady.
Because, only these five hundred Snake People. No other Snake People in the surrounding mountain forests. Such a small number of Snake People could never complete destroying the Great Warehouse. Now, just make the Snake People leave more snake heads as merit.
…After Wu Fei issued orders, the four directional flags in the military camp changed accordingly…
Zhao Tu led men up to relieve the retreating soldiers, while frontline troops timely abandoned part of the second line; upon retreat order, the front laborers fled in panic.
Without discipline during flight, they would uncontrollably roar, spreading panic and causing rout. This was like junior high students boisterously dashing out the school gate after class.
But now Zhao Tu led his team coming head-on, like the director suddenly appearing at the door.
All retreating teams suddenly hushed, quickly lowering heads to dodge to the sides.
Zhao Tu engaged half an incense stick, giving the retreating teams time to reform; under Wu Fei’s order, Zhao Tu also withdrew fighting while retreating, fully opening the gap.
…Perspective shifts a hundred zhang away, to the ceaseless scale-skin clash…
On the Snake People commander side, White Scales recovered coughing blood, gazing at this large gap, feeling the change brought true joy; yet unaware, his pupils were entirely blue.
“Charge in!” White Scales issued a low-frequency hiss; all Snake People stood eagerly, slithering into the breached Yao Person camp gap. But they ignored that the retreating Yao Person camp seemed too quiet inside.
…Three incense sticks later…
After Snake People charged into the pre-left main camp gap, the large burly Snake People blocked spear thrusts with bodies, while small ones carried fire pots, lit them hurriedly, and threw burning fireballs. But these fireballs smashed on the Great Warehouse roof peak, flames stopping at the outer sacks, as if the warehouse was fireproof.
Yes, anticipating enemy night raids, Wu Fei had soldiers fill remaining sacks with soil, stacking them outside the granary.
Hmm, historically, corrupt officials allegedly used soil to fake grain in sacks, instead protecting some grain in warehouse fires.
If enough Snake People charged in, say two or three hundred, they could enter the warehouse, dig open soil bags, and still successfully burn it. But now, entering meant entering a meat grinder.
With gong sounds ringing, more and more farm soldiers formed “square formations,” like mobile fortresses, beginning to divide and squeeze the Snake People, fighting fiercer.
Turns out those squad leaders always felt they could not earn merit under Wu Fei, pent-up with anger; now trapping turtles in a jar, seizing these great heads, they grinned, licking bloody lips, bullying the surrounded Snake People.
The camp turned into a huge trap; groups of long spears like teeth chewing meat bit together until the last Snake Person fell.
