Chapter 89: Battle Of Chong Shui
On the sixth day of the tenth month, just as Wu Fei was attacking Chang County, the Northern Army of the Wu Family Army began the decisive battle north of Chong Shui.
Before the decisive battle began, Wu Hanluan rode the Winged Tiger and air-dropped into the large camp that Wu Fei had set up in the north. The squad leaders in the large camp then hurried over one after another to report their numbers to the Marshal.
At this time, 30,000 troops were gathered here. The food and grass that Wu Fei obtained from Yu City was supplied in reverse to feed the large army here. In addition, the southern region was too chaotic, and many heroes who joined the Wu Family Army, so the laborer troops that were formed had the sounds of daily rotation training echoing through the mountains and rivers. The battle formation condensed killing intent, stabilizing the mountains and rivers north of Zhenzhou.
And facing the army led by Wu Hanluan in the south, at the place where the 5,000 blood army had gathered, it was filled with a twisted, irritable style. The stones and soil were red, the wildflowers by the roadside had no leaves, isolated flowers were red and white, with patterns like skull heads, and some insects were flying, but all were headless.
Wu Hanluan used the telescope to look at the south. He asked a disciple from a noble family who had fled north and joined the army: “Is the rebel king now without anyone to advise him?”
This disciple from a noble family who had escaped from Lelang City three days ago: “This fiend is tyrannical beyond compare in history; no one is willing to stay with him!”
Wu Hanluan nodded, but showed no joy at all, silently thinking to himself: “If really no one is willing to go with him, then why are these thousands of mad troops gathered now?”
…Green and red clashing…
After Prince Lelang left the city, he was like a madman. The supplies his large army needed were only one kind: human heads. As long as they chopped off human heads, hunger and wounds were eliminated, so they killed everyone along the way. In the villages they swept, there was not even plundering.
What did villages ravaged by thugs look like these days? The dead corpses had even their clothes stripped clean. If possible, the thugs would find a depression to throw the corpses into, cover them with a layer of soil; if not, they dragged them to corners out of sight, face down. As for edible livestock like chickens and dogs, there was not even a scrap left.
And in the places killed by Prince Lelang’s blood army, the corpses were decapitated and placed horizontally and vertically in various conspicuous places like children playing with grasshopper corpses. Chickens and dogs were similarly smashed to death, with organs ruptured and scattered all over the ground. This scene even made the most brutal thugs feel creepy.
Thugs were accustomed to corpses and to licking blood from the blade, but most were forced onto this path by livelihood. Those brutal ones who received “blessing” killed to gather “fighting power.” Just like players in a game after killing an NPC gives experience.
Prince Lelang’s blood army only needed heads, hanging the chopped-off heads around their necks. Each day, the heads supplied them with a surge of blood-red power, making them neither hungry nor thirsty, possessing endless fighting power.
After continuously collecting human heads, Prince Lelang finally arrived in the north, facing this Da Yao corps that had intruded into his territory.
Prince Lelang sat on the war chariot, which was made of pure copper. On the left and right positions of the war chariot, his attendants held long-handled golden mallets, and pulling the war chariot were eight blood-red war horses whose heads had mutated into the forms of lions, tigers, dogs, bears, leopards, and such.
Prince Lelang felt Wu Hanluan gazing at him across the battle formation, and a surge of anger rose in his heart—this anger was not present even when previously killing other noble families. He had anticipated this battle for a long time and deliberately saved it for last.
As the drumming began, the blood army charged, and behind them, five alligator turtles carrying red cannons fired human head cannonballs, striking into the Wu Family Army battle formation.
Perspective shifts to the other side.
The grassroots non-commissioned officers around Wu Hanluan were also methodically waving flags.
Since the non-commissioned officers brought by Wu Fei were all paired with Wu Family disciples, Wu Hanluan was very tolerant of these non-commissioned officers before the battle: Follow the counter-shooting procedure as in training. Armored soldiers form ranks, crossbowmen queues file out from the gaps in the square formation following the flag bearer’s guidance.
And the Wu Family Army artillerymen in the queues at the rear attached soul paper runes to the projectiles and fired them toward the enemy.
When red projectiles and incendiary projectiles crossed each other in the air, the killing intent between the two formations collided like sea waves, exploding and pushing against each other. On the ground, the battle formations clashing head-on also affected the sky, creating a gray-white cloudless band.
Skull cannonballs landed in the Wu Family Army formation, with large numbers of personnel blasted away by the shattering shockwaves. Moreover, relative to the shockwave spreading over a dozen steps, the skull cannonballs also shot out cold phosphorus bone fire upon landing, covering a two-step radius around the impact point. The unlucky ones tainted by this poisonous flame trembled and turned into dry bones.
In the outer area of the skull cannon shockwave, a laborer soldier who had just joined the Wu Family Army fell to the ground coughing blood after spinning a few times in the air, then arduously crawled up. Feeling the pain on his body quickly subside, with only two blisters added to his skin, he rejoined the queue.
Here, the Wu Family Army catapults and cannons immediately counterattacked those giant alligator turtles dragging the skull cannons.
Compared to the skull cannons, the Wu Family Army cannonballs had a higher level of accuracy. The cannons targeted the massive alligator turtle giant beasts, while the catapult projectiles covered the areas where the skull cannons were, blasting away a swath of blood army trying to reload the skull cannons.
However, the mad army’s endurance was also extraordinary. Among the unlucky ones hit, except for a few directly pierced, most were knocked flying. The blood army knocked flying looked at their twisted and deformed limbs, straightened the broken bones, and reset the dislocated joints. With the red “fighting power” flashing on their bodies, they recovered again.
One mad army who recovered first tried to continue operating the skull cannon, but a Wu Family Army projectile landed precisely again. This time, the man was smashed apart. Hands, head, arms scattered, like porcelain with existing cracks, shattering into pieces with a clang.
In the first round of shelling, the Wu Family Army successfully suppressed Prince Lelang’s mad army skull cannons with projectiles using yellow millet drunk paper runes.
But the mad army also began charging under the cover of skull cannons. Facing this fanatical charge oblivious to death, the Wu Family Army heavy crossbows began lobbing heavy arrowheads round after round. Unlike the southern border period where one round felled a large swath, these blood army, though pierced with arrows, kept running.
Looking closely, the foremost mad army in the first wave had skulls propped on their bodies. After each round of hits, the skulls on the mad army would shatter— the skulls were like peach substituting for li corpse; as long as the skull heads weren’t shattered, they could still run.
The bows and crossbows thus fired five rounds, and the non-commissioned officers from the southern border could hardly believe it: their side’s such powerful firepower still couldn’t stop these lunatics? —This was a battle intensity never seen in the southern border, but seeing Wu Hanluan still standing under the command flag, they didn’t continue panicking, hurriedly blowing whistles to have the bowmen and crossbowmen withdraw, with the armored braves moving up to hold the line.
Soldiers recruited from miners, as well as the elite Wu Family disciples of the Northern Army, formed the first rank to hold the front, while locally recruited laborers formed the rear ranks, creating a “pin pin pin” array of nine square formations total. This formation ensured the width of the elite square formation in the front rank, while allowing the weaker soldiers to appropriately bear pressure. Rows of long weapons faced outward, dense like thatch.
After the two military momenta clashed, the mad army’s killing shouts bubbled like boiling water “gurgle, gurgle,” while the Wu Family Army’s hundred-man connected qi “hey ha” was crisp like firecrackers exploding.
The mad army charged up; the first one was riddled with holes, but then came the second, third, fourth. Great sabers and wolf-tooth clubs smashed continuously. Soon, some in the Wu Family Army lost their weapons, but the miners’ awareness of all-loss-if-one-fails from the mines still kept the line holding, continuing to shout and thrust. Likewise, the Wu Family front-rank queue, with their own commander watching, showed no sign of retreat—dead meant entering the ancestral hall, fleeing meant lonely wild ghost. No one on the battlefield acted like cowards.
After the first rank of elites held, the laborer square formations on the relative rear watched the front soldiers fighting bloody even with brains chopped out, so facing the mad army that circled around, they too gritted their teeth and charged. After the laborers stabbed dead the first mad army, the blood hatred for families slaughtered by mad army also emerged, with red light bursting from their eyes, beginning the slashing.
Wu Hanluan clearly noticed this. He threw out the command flag, and with the drumming, all laborers’ chests began heaving, a surging sound like cicada cries echoing from within. The blood-red eyes of the berserk laborers faded from their pupils, replaced by memories of family instead of fear. The laborers gripped their spears, determined to survive.
Blood flowed in the clash of the two formations, gradually pooling into small rivers.
…Just as the battle drums began, shift time to one day prior…
East line: Wu Hengyu, marching along the waterway, mounted Wuzhui, while at the same time horse carts and armored soldiers were walking along the shore.
Yu Li was using her knowledge of the waters to mark the hidden reefs in the river. Rows of ships carrying military supplies advanced with the main force.
In the waters where Yu Li was, schools of large carp jumping upstream happened to pass by. One large carp seemed to sense Yu Li’s call, plopping onto the boat head. Yu Li rode the water waves to this ship, bent down to hug the big fish, pressed her ear to its mouth to listen carefully, then stuffed in a piece of zongzi rice and released it back into the river.
After releasing the big fish, Yu Li looked up at the sky. As she gathered magic power in her pupils, red and green Evil Moon appeared in the sky, spinning rapidly, creating a vortex in the sky, with the vortex end descending from the Nine Heavens, its tail pointing exactly at the forward battlefield.
Wu Hengyu received Yu Li’s divination result: “The mad army ahead has suddenly accelerated, charging straight at Wu Hanluan’s large camp.”
Sensing the urgent situation, Wu Hengyu immediately ordered the whole army to accelerate, all cross the river, taking only one day’s dry rations.
After the whole army crossed the shore, Wu Hengyu ordered the ships carrying food and grass to return, raised the Star River Spear to lead toward the forward battlefield.
…Time returns to now…
While Wu Hanluan’s force was battling, Wu Hengyu’s reinforcements were rapidly arriving. Wu Hanluan’s large camp, after two hours of bloody battle with the mad army, had casualties of four to five hundred on both sides. Weapons had sustained massive damage from clashing.
The Wu Family Army was still holding their breath, because if they didn’t clash weapons hard against the enemy, the enemy’s weapons would hit their own heads.
Due to the warfare being too intense, the battle formation had begun appropriate adjustments. Exhausted queues withdrew to replenish food, rest a bit, then return to battle. As for the mad army side, it wasn’t much better; their first rank, continuously stabbed down in the bloody battle and shot by high-ground crossbow bolts, had all hanging skull heads shattered. Red smoke began rising from their bodies, the red marks on their skin gradually fading with the smoke, like incense about to burn out.
In this stalemate, the Wu Family Army had the last breath, the mad army’s anger expended, their howls no longer as fierce as at the start.
Both armies now lacked one last breath, just that final surge—whoever held it would win it all. So far, both armies’ casualties were only a small part of the whole, but once collapse led to pursuit, it would be winner takes all.
Prince Lelang personally joined the battlefield and deployed his subordinate alligator turtles. These massive giant beasts entering the field prompted Wu Hanluan to also deploy the Golden Bull. The wooden mechanism legs strode forward, while the alligator turtle’s abdominal iron wheels accelerated rolling.
The two colossal beasts completed the first impact, fecal stench and blood stench mixing, stinging the eyes of surrounding soldiers.
The alligator turtle’s huge steel mouth bit off large layers of wood, while the Golden Bull sprayed a mouthful of yellow soup during its open maw. The result: after clashing, the Golden Bull limped, its mechanism creaking, while the alligator turtle retched with its bloody maw, then had its tongue hooked by nearby halberds playing guerrilla.
…Both sides fought to the last breath; whoever knocked out the last breath would win…
At the battle’s most intense moment, Prince Lelang charged straight at Wu Hanluan. Wu Hanluan under the grand banner rode his mount to meet him.
The two surges of killing intent spread like shockwaves from colliding trucks, covering hundreds of zhang and drawing eyes across half the battlefield.
After Wu Hanluan clashed long weapons once with Prince Lelang, he spat blood from his mouth, the Winged Tiger retreating a dozen steps. Prince Lelang also retreated a few steps but shook his head and bared his teeth to charge again.
Wu Hanluan glanced at his grand banner, then handed command to his own disciples. He gritted his teeth, drove the Winged Tiger out of the main formation to skirmish wildly with Prince Lelang. After breaking from the lines, they chased and pursued in a hundreds-of-meters radius arc circling the battlefield.
This actually wasn’t shameful; Wu Hanluan occasionally turned back to land hits on Prince Lelang—it was a dragging saber ploy. Truly shameful was dismounting, dropping weapons, and fleeing.
Wu Hanluan dodged several waves of blood army soldiers trying to intercept him. But as pursuit continued, the Winged Tiger’s stamina waned, and collisions with Prince Lelang increased.
Everyone on the battlefield could see Wu Hanluan was slightly inferior in skill. The mad army was re-energized, hacking down many in the Wu Family Army formation, which teetered on collapse.
…In the northwest direction, another surge of killing intent quietly approached, startling birds to fly north…
Just as Wu Hanluan felt it hard to avoid exiting the battle formation range, colorful lights suddenly appeared in the distance—Wu Hengyu had arrived, along with twelve wing shadows in the sky with him: the Wu Family Army’s current most elite air combat beast formation, the Guiche flock.
Wu Hengyu activated acceleration, charging straight at Prince Lelang. The Guiche in the sky dispersed, flying to multiple corners of the battlefield. Below, Wu Family Army soldiers first startled at the giant beasts flying in, then confirmed they were friendly, boosting morale greatly. Under each squad leader’s lead, they launched the final push against the mad army.
Seeing Wu Hengyu, Prince Lelang turned his war chariot, but Wu Hengyu impacted from the side. Under the intense killing intent shock, the war chariot met the Star River Spear and was immediately flipped on its side. Prince Lelang tumbled off, hurriedly surging killing intent in his arms to flip the chariot back. The two guards holding golden mallets on the chariot were pierced dead by Wu Hengyu. Prince Lelang hastily drew an iron hammer, but Wu Hengyu flicked it flying like a cannonball, smashing a nearby mad army personal guard blocking the way.
Wu Hengyu loudly said: Father Marshal, please return to the main formation; leave this to me. The sky Guiche said nothing, wings directly sweeping past Wu Hengyu and Wu Hanluan toward the battle formation front.
Wu Hanluan didn’t stand on ceremony, immediately returning to the main formation to command. The Winged Tiger at this moment was like a cat, wings unfolding with a whoosh and fierce flap, leaping twenty steps to dodge a block by a steel-armored blood ox knight, then bouncing up again upon landing to evade a formation of blood army halberdiers, even brushing past, iron tail whipping mid-air to burst an unlucky one’s head, thus safely gliding back to the main formation unscathed.
As for Prince Lelang wanting to pursue, he was held by Wu Hengyu. Wu Hengyu swept his spear horizontally, poking apart the war chariot’s brass canopy bit by bit, then looked down at Prince Lelang with a “that’s it?” “Stay and spar!” gaze.
Prince Lelang was furious; in theory, fury boosted his combat power, but even boosted he was still beaten. In just three moves, the other hammer was also flicked flying. Prince Lelang directly mounted a leopard-head horse and rapidly fled the battlefield.
Wu Hengyu was entangled by dozens of other blood army, unable to pursue immediately, but while slashing blockers, he didn’t forget to laugh heartily and mock the false king.
Meanwhile, the Guiche had found positions; each Guiche’s nine heads had one main head wearing a red crest, far more majestic than the others.
When the other eight heads began spewing brown toxic smoke, the main head, after the ground toxic smoke spread into a “ring-shaped shockwave,” unleashed a faster, more concentrated jet of flames hitting the ring-shaped shockwave, igniting it.
The toxic smoke had swept the mad army gathering spots, perfectly covering like egg batter evenly spread on a griddle at a street stall making multigrain pancakes. These mad army, already collapsing in heaps, activated full-body blood power to brace, but with the explosion spreading! They instantly turned into red embers.
The twelve Guiche breaths felled over a thousand blood army. In an instant, mad army morale collapsed; post-explosion survivors shed color like dye, the red on their bodies turning to oily sludge peeling off, beginning to flee like pigs and dogs.
At this time, rumbling hoofbeats arrived on the ground; the thousand cavalry led by Wu Hengyu had charged in. Wu Hengyu’s Wuzhui descended from the air into mounted combat mode, becoming the army’s anchor to guide cavalry into the enemy formation. When killing intent gathered into a twenty-zhang heavy hammer above his head, it hammered the already routed mad army into total camp rout.
This thousand cavalry charging Prince Lelang’s routed soldiers was like bulldozers; everywhere they went, all were stabbed down, turning into writhing meat patties under hooves. From high above, the cavalry didn’t scatter enemies—they trampled straight over, like stomping a carpet. Only a few scattering managed to evade the cavalry pursuit.
Of the troops Prince Lelang brought, not one in ten survived this battle!
…This battle clarified the overall situation…
Of course, Wu Hanluan wanted to play dumb.
Unlike Wu Fei’s situation in the Yongzhou area, where after consecutively occupying several cities like picking up bargains, the entire south bank of Yongshui had entered a state of bloodless surrender.
The warfare in Chong Land was in a stalemate. Of course, such a stalemate war was under Wu Hanluan’s control, because! Wu Hanluan had another plan: great governance requires great chaos first—need to wash it clean first.
There were too many noble families in Zhenzhou.
