"I'm not from some Jun School, nor am I as educated as you," I said coldly. "Cut the nonsense. Commander, what are you doing? Are we fighting a war or playing house? With such a small force, you dare to launch a frontal assault? What if the enemy encircles you from both flanks?"
"Hah, what do you know! I'm afraid they won't even come out!" The commander stroked his beard and said heartily. "Do you know that I have three hundred arquebusiers hidden within my ranks? These were personally sent by His Highness the Little King of Hell. We are deliberately exposing this weakness to lure the snake out of its hole! You know the Little King of Hell's intelligence, don't you?"
So that's how it was. No wonder I thought the Little King of Hell wouldn't be so foolish as to attack a city of three thousand with only three thousand men. It turned out to be a test of the new firearm troops.
"Is His Highness in the army?" I looked around, unable to find him. The Little King of Hell didn't have the purple aura; his presence was indistinguishable from ordinary ghosts, making him hard to detect.
"His Highness is not here. Master Wu, I, Chengguan, advise you not to meddle in affairs that don't concern you. Don't think you've become a god of war just because you won one battle. You're still too green when it comes to fighting! Stand aside and learn something!"
I didn't know why he was so angry with me. Even if this was a simulated battle for the Little King of Hell, he shouldn't have belittled me like this. I guessed that this big-bearded commander's career hadn't been going well. Wasn't he from the legendary first cohort of Heipu? Why was he only leading such a small force? Perhaps his peers were already commanding tens of thousands of soldiers as grand commanders. That's why he harbored such hostility towards someone like me who had risen rapidly.
I couldn't be bothered to argue with him. I smiled, jumped off the command platform, and stood aside to watch the show, while also looking for the arquebusiers in the ranks.
I searched all around but couldn't find them. Within my field of vision, including the besieging formations in the distance, they were all armed with cold weapons. Even their usual arquebuses were nowhere to be seen. I wondered where they were hidden and how their battle plan was designed.
A few minutes later, the big-bearded commander ordered the besieging formations to retreat. He had no choice but to withdraw, as they couldn't break through and would only suffer more casualties.
As soon as the imperial army retreated, two cavalry units indeed charged out from the north and south gates of Longmen City, intending to pursue and crush the imperial army.
The big-bearded commander immediately ordered the arquebusiers into action. Some soldiers threw down their cold weapons, dug up the turf, retrieved G98 rifles from underneath, and quickly formed two lines, opening fire on the charging cavalry.
The two cavalry units, totaling perhaps a thousand men, and the two arquebusier units, totaling three hundred, should have been able to defeat the enemy. However, because the big-bearded commander's order came a little late, by the time the arquebusier units completed their first volley, firing fifteen hundred rounds, and were in the process of reloading, the two cavalry units had already reached their front lines. The fifteen hundred rounds fired previously, perhaps due to the arquebusiers' unfamiliarity with the G98 and their standing posture, didn't inflict heavy casualties on the enemy, taking down only about two hundred men and horses. The remaining seven to eight hundred cavalry instantly swarmed into the imperial army's formation, engaging in close combat with the pure infantry.
At the same time, the rebel main infantry force surged out from the east gate, the main entrance. Under the three-sided encirclement, the morale of the imperial army clearly faltered. At close range, the arquebusiers' G98 rifles became ineffective and could only be used as spears. The tide of battle instantly turned, and within minutes, the imperial army began to show signs of defeat.
The big-bearded commander shouted loudly from the command platform, ordering them not to retreat, to hold their ground, to flank around to prevent being cut off, and so on. However, due to the din of battle and the scattered formations, his commands were not effectively carried out.
Suddenly, a volley, no, a wave, of cold arrows rained down from behind the enemy's infantry formations. I reacted quickly, picking up a shield and raising it.
*Bang, bang, bang.* After a volley of sounds, the rain of arrows stopped. I looked at the shield; it was pierced by four arrows. Then I looked at the command platform, where dense arrow shafts resembled a reed marsh. The big-bearded commander had died in battle.
But a scout, who was clever, had hidden beneath the command platform. Seeing his leader fall, he crawled over and said to me, "Master Wu, we have no deputy commander. Please take charge quickly and save our brothers!"
"It's already lost, how can we save them? Let's sound the retreat and withdraw. Run as much as you can, scatter and run. Anyway, their cavalry isn't that numerous," was the only advice I could offer.