novelAbuy Chapter 33 Awakening at 5 AM to Observe the Battle
Chapter 33 Awakening at 5 AM to Observe the Battle
The daytime of the second day felt extremely long to Gao Huaide.
He would look up at the sky from time to time. White clouds drifted slowly by, while the sun remained high in the sky, as if it had never changed its position.
The soldiers who stayed on the mountain were not idle. They buried wooden stakes to block the mountain road, set up barricades in the access passages between the fences, and scattered a pile of barbed wire on the relatively gentle slopes.
However, these defensive measures were of limited effectiveness; the city wall, stretching for nearly a thousand paces, was riddled with gaps and could not be completely sealed off. Whether it was an enemy attack or civilians trying to escape, they could easily leap over it.
Fortunately, there was a cliff more than ten feet high to the north, so we didn't need to worry about it. Hundreds of soldiers from the prefecture guarded three sides, which was enough to keep watch at every step.
Gao Huaiyuan assigned a group of soldiers to protect his cousin. Regardless of how the state troops were deployed, the leader of the group lined up dozens of steps behind the front line, and ten soldiers separated Gao Huaide from the front.
After the squad leader finished assembling the team, he immediately ran over to ask the young master for instructions.
What knowledge could Gao Huaide, a child who had never seen battle, possibly have? This time, Gao Xingzhou did not forbid him from carrying weapons. He shoved his spear into the ground, crossed his arms in front of his chest, and with his chest out and belly protruding, he did not look weak.
"You don't need to worry about me, just focus on the battle."
"Yes, sir! With Lu Qian and the Nine-Headed Bird looking after the young master, I am naturally at ease."
Lu Qian should be referring to Lu Qian. I wonder why Fu An has the nickname "Nine-Headed Bird". Isn't he a dried bird head? Gao Huaide couldn't help but feel curious.
"The soldiers are positioned here for two reasons: first, to prevent the laborers from panicking and attacking the formation from behind; second, in case any garrison troops from the front lines desert..."
Lu Qian gestured as if he were cutting someone's throat.
Gao Huaide now understood that his cousin had sent out this group of elite soldiers not only to protect him, but also to act as a supervisory force.
"The mountain is such a big place, what if we escape somewhere else?"
Lu Qian laughed and said, "As long as the young master is safe, what does it matter if a few state soldiers and laborers escape?"
Fu An interjected, "Morale is a strange thing. If you really fight to the death, you're not afraid even if the enemy outnumbers you several times over. But if you lose your fighting spirit, no matter how many soldiers you have, they're useless; they're just pigs and sheep waiting to be slaughtered."
……
After an unknown amount of time, the sun finally moved westward, slipping off the horizon and leaving only a deep red afterglow.
When distributing the evening meal, Li Jidu summoned the leaders of the laborers from various counties and gave them a speech.
"Bandits may attack in the next couple of days, so don't panic. Just stay inside the city walls, and everything will be fine afterward. If you run around and crash into the army, don't blame me for being ruthless."
Jinming Town was a superior town, and the people were managed by county officials and village chiefs. Everyone nodded and agreed to Li Jidu, a sixth-rank town general and a member of a prominent local family in Yanzhou.
Gao Huaide watched from afar, chewing on dry biscuits with hot soup. Compared to last time, it seemed to taste better; at least it didn't hurt his teeth anymore, and he wouldn't make the fool of swallowing salted soybeans whole.
The sun sets and the moon rises; darkness falls.
When it was time to rest, Gao Huaide asked, "What if we fall into a deep sleep and the enemy launches a night attack?"
"Vigilance is highest at the beginning of nightfall, as the enemy will not attack at this time; they will most likely wait until four or five in the morning."
Lu Qian explained, "The best time to launch an attack is when it's just before dawn, when those on night duty are drowsy and half asleep."
Fu An spread out a felt blanket: "Young master, sleep soundly. There are spies watching over you, nothing will go wrong."
Gao Huaide lay down, but thinking about the possibility of an enemy attack at any moment, he tossed and turned and couldn't sleep. So he chatted with the two men, asking how he had been doing in Youzhou.
"What else can ordinary people do? Commander Liu said that since the people are reluctant to spend their copper coins, they make coins out of clay and exchange them for the real money in everyone's hands, which they then hide in their own homes."
"Then he blamed everyone for buying tea, saying it was giving Yang Xingmi of Huainan and Qian Liu of Wuyue money for their military expenses, so he banned tea from entering the country from Jiangnan. But Youyan doesn't produce tea, young master, guess what happened?"
"What's wrong?"
"They pick leaves from the mountains and force people to sell them as tea, creating an internal cycle of self-production and self-sales, and call it a great favor, expecting the people to be grateful to them. They really think everyone is a fool." (Note 1)
"As a result, his son stole his concubine, he was imprisoned for several years, and ultimately could not escape death. It was truly a case of karma."
Lu Qian recounted Liu Rengong's bizarre governance, which Gao Huaide found utterly unbelievable; it was simply too much of a scourge on the people.
"Whether it's a division or a reunification, it's all a matter for those above. If you ask me, at least the fate of Commander Liu set an example for other military commanders. It's good that there are checks and balances between them. If the country is unified and a tyrant emerges, they will be even more unscrupulous in exploiting the people."
After rambling on for a while, Gao Huaide gradually relaxed and drifted off to sleep.
……
In a daze, he felt someone pushing him, which jolted him awake: "They're here?"
Fu An had already donned his armor, and the soldiers not far away were also in formation, weapons in hand.
Looking around, Gao Huaide saw that the night was deep and he could not see anything unusual.
Lu Qian pointed to the foot of the hillside, where a few tiny, flickering lights were barely noticeable unless one looked closely.
However, once it came into view, the firelight seemed to possess a magical power, firmly attracting Gao Huaide's gaze and making it impossible for him to look away.
The firelight circled around the mountain path several times, but finding no trace of the guards, they hesitated about their next move.
The enemy didn't linger for long; they quickly left a few fires at the foot of the mountain, while more fires slowly moved up the slope.
Gao Huaide's mouth was dry: "Why aren't our troops lighting fires?"
"The enemy is in the open while we are in the dark, isn't that perfect? Once the two sides engage in battle, we'll light torches to intimidate the enemy."
Gao Huaide looked ahead and saw only darkness. However, he could imagine that Li Jidu's men had secretly made preparations for defense.
If it were daytime, it would only take a short while to climb from the bottom to the top of the slope. However, Gao Huaide felt that a long time had passed, and there was still no movement at the bottom of the slope, which made him feel extremely anxious.
In the seemingly calm but actually tense atmosphere, he could even hear his own heart pounding. A sense of anxiety lingered in his chest, making him feel suffocated and wanting to shout to release it.
"kill!"
A shout came from not far away, and Gao Huaide almost thought that he had lost his temper and actually shouted it out.
The lit torches proved otherwise.
The garrison troops were divided into three ranks, with the rear rank holding torches high and the front two rank advancing with their guns, and had already begun fighting the enemy.
Under the cover of night, the enemy troops stealthily made their way up the slope, until they reached the dark city wall, which was only a few dozen steps away.
Just as they were preparing to launch an attack, scaling the city wall and scattering the laborers, causing widespread destruction, they were suddenly confronted by several rows of figures, their formation neat and distinct. They were immediately taken aback, and upon meeting them, several of them were stabbed to death.
Immediately, flames appeared, and the enemy general was greatly shocked.
The one who led the troops disguised as bandits to attack was Li Yijun, the younger brother of Li Yimin, the prefect of Suizhou, and the military commander. The two were half-brothers of Li Yichao, the military governor of Dingnan.
Under the torchlight, Li Yijun could see that the defending troops were prepared. However, at this point, there was no way to retreat, so he ordered his men to form a battle line and attack.
"Charge! They don't outnumber us."
Thousands of people fought on the hillside, a dark mass covering the area, spears flying everywhere like a forest, while the opposing side also raised their spears to thrust.
This was the first time Gao Huaide had witnessed a battle between two armies. Although the scale of the battle was not large, it was enough to shock the young man's mind.
Fu An, standing to the side, looked disdainful and laughed, "Young master, don't be fooled by how fierce the beating is; actually, not many will die."
Gao Huaide looked closely and indeed saw that the spear shafts were clashing, seemingly densely packed, but most of them missed their targets. The few that did hit the soldiers were protected by their armor and did not cause much damage; there was no scene of corpses strewn across the battlefield as he had imagined.
The soldiers in the front row were all clad in iron armor, while those in the back row wore battle robes.
"It is said that hundreds of years ago, wearing 30% armor was considered elite. Nowadays, with increasingly sophisticated forging techniques, most regional military governors have their own weapons workshops, and they can now equip 60% of their troops with armor. The equipment of the garrison troops is worse, probably around half." (Note 2)
"When their strength and spirit are almost exhausted, and one side begins to flee, the casualties will suddenly increase. A spear thrust from behind will knock them down, and then their head will be cut off—it's very effortless."
Fu An was usually a hanger-on, always running around flattering people, with a sleazy appearance. But now he spoke of killing and beheading so casually that Gao Huaide was slightly surprised.
"The Zhangwu Army has been at peace for too long and is practically a bunch of weaklings. Unlike the Zhenwu Army, which is stationed on the border and has to fight the Khitans from time to time. Look, young master, Li Ji has been driven back."
Gao Huaide watched the battle intently and noticed that our army was fighting and retreating, with the battle line slowly moving backward, while the enemy was advancing step by step, trying to flank us from both sides.
The wooden fences and antlers that had been set up earlier served to hinder the enemy's advance. Some people stepped on the barbed wire, and the sharp spikes pierced their feet, causing them to howl in pain.
The soldiers in the rear threw out their torches and retreated up the mountain.
"Huh? We've lost the torch, it's pitch black, how are we supposed to fight?"
The torches fell to the ground and were stomped out by footsteps, but Gao Huaide could still see them clearly. The faces of the enemy soldiers with their hair cut into braids and their earrings with gold rings became even clearer.
He was so engrossed in watching the game that he didn't realize dawn had broken. The darkest hour before sunrise had passed, and the sky brightened in no time.
The retreating soldiers regrouped. Gao Huaide quickly counted them, and just as Fu An had said, there were very few casualties.
On the contrary, commotion gradually arose within the city walls behind them.