Chapter 36: Raiding the Mountain Fortress (Seeking Recommendations and Bookmarks)

  "Congratulations, General! The enemy has fled in disarray!" In the newly built large tent, Pang Gang and the other military officers gave Hao Da a round of applause with mixed feelings.

  "Haha... This victory is all thanks to the efforts of our generals and soldiers, they used their hearts. I'm just a humble official who doesn't dare take credit." Although he was very pleased with the flattery, Hao Dazhuang hadn't lost his judgment yet, and he humbly waved his hands, "Alright, since we won this battle today, issue an order to reward each soldier with one dou of grain."

  As soon as the news came out, all the troops cheered endlessly. In this chaotic year of war, what is more practical than food?

  After the camp was set up, to prevent the bandits of Dog Tooth Mountain from escaping, Hao Da also dispatched all his servants and guards to watch over the only path leading down the mountain.

  On the second day at dawn, more than 500 soldiers who had eaten a full meal gathered under their respective officers and launched an attack on Dog Tooth Mountain.

  The slope of the small path leading up to Dog Tooth Mountain was not very steep, and the bandit leader Zhou Youcai had only ordered his men to build a low wall about half a man's height in front of their stronghold. More than 100 bandits were guarding this low wall, and Bai Qi, Wu Ming, and Xin were all eager to lead the charge, each asking to be the vanguard and take the wall by storm, then pour into the bandit lair.

  Hao Dai nodded in agreement, after all, in yesterday's battle, his subordinates and Ye Bu Shou also obtained more than 30 bandit heads, the remaining 40 heads were in Pang Gang's hands. As the highest commander of this team, he still understood the principle of sharing benefits.

  After getting approval, Qi Wuming led more than a hundred garrison troops and over ten family servants to rush up the mountain along that small path, and for a time, the sound of killing shook the sky.

  The bandits were shooting arrows at the soldiers who were charging forward from behind the low wall, and although Qi Wuming ordered the soldiers in front to use their shields to block the arrows, they still lost more than a dozen men when they reached the front of the low wall. Seeing the government troops charging up, the bandits behind the low wall suddenly became anxious, knowing that if they let these troops charge up the mountain, they would be doomed. So they immediately threw down the prepared rolling stones and logs.

  Zi Wuming, shocked and angry, also ordered the soldiers to counterattack with bows and arrows. However, due to the low position of the government army, the arrowheads shot out could only fall down in front of the short wall, without any killing power, causing the soldiers behind to curse loudly.

  Under the desperate counterattack of the bandits, countless logs and rocks continued to fall, and the soldiers were unable to dodge the arrow attacks while dodging everywhere. Many soldiers were hit by logs or arrows and rolled down the mountain slope with a miserable cry. Even Qi Wuming was grazed by a falling rock on his arm, almost breaking his bones.

  Half an hour later, Qi Wuming, who was originally full of confidence, had to lead dozens of soldiers back to the camp with a humble attitude to apologize to Hao Dayong.

  "My lord, your humble servant is incompetent and has failed to capture the bandit's stronghold. Please punish me as you see fit."

  At this time, Qi Wuming had become disheveled and covered in dust, his armor was in disarray, the eight-sided iron helmet on his head was crooked, and the long spear in his hand was nowhere to be found, the whole person was in a sorry state.

  "Victory and defeat are common occurrences in military households, don't take it to heart, Qi Baihu."

  Hao Da was taken aback, he didn't expect that Qi Wu Ming, who had been full of confidence just now, would become like this in the blink of an eye. In order not to affect the morale of the troops, he couldn't blame Qi Wu Ming too much, so he could only force himself to comfort him with a few words and then asked: "Is there anyone else willing to go and take down Dog Tooth Mountain?"

  Everyone in the crowd saw the miserable state of Qi Wuming just now, and no one dared to come forward to make a fool of themselves. They all looked up at the sky with an air of disdain, ignoring him.

  Hao Dazhuang saw the appearance of the hundred households and was furious in his heart, just about to scold them, but suddenly saw Pang Gang step forward and bow: "Lord Hao, I am willing to lead my troops to take down Quanyashan and share your worries!"

  Just as Hao Dazui was about to get angry, he saw Pang Gang standing up and couldn't help but turn his anger into joy. He laughed loudly: "Good! Since Pang Baihu has come forward with a patriotic heart, this official will not stop him. This official is waiting here for the good news from Pang Baihu."

  "Yes, sir!"

  Pang Gang turned around and went down the hill, summoning the soldiers from Wang Hai Fortress. He shouted loudly: "Brothers, the bandits are rampant! The officials have ordered us to suppress the bandits. In this battle, we will advance without retreating. We must attack the mountain stronghold and kill all the enemy troops!"

  "Kill all enemies! Kill all enemies!"

  The soldiers had been training for several months and were eager to make a name for themselves on this day. Moreover, after yesterday's battle, the soldiers were even more confident, so their morale was very high. After hearing Pang Gang's words, they all raised their weapons and shouted loudly.

  Pang Gang was fully armed, wearing a set of cotton armor inside and a suit of chain mail outside. He drew his curved knife and led Wang Zhi and thirty bird gunners towards the top of the mountain, while Da Zhuang followed behind with thirty long spear holders.

  As the crowd had just reached halfway up the mountain, about 150 steps away from the short wall, the bandits behind the wall began to throw down boulders and logs. The large stones and logs, as thick as a sea bowl, rolled down the slope with a rumbling sound. Pang Gang led the soldiers in dodging left and right, avoiding the rocks and logs. Although the road up the mountain was not too narrow and there was still room to dodge, three soldiers were caught off guard and hit by stones, getting injured.

  Pang Gang was furious and immediately ordered his men to move forward and suppress the bandits who dared to show their heads.

  "Knock knock knock knock......"

  A burst of white smoke rose, and behind the low wall, a miserable cry was heard. The bandits did not expect that the bird guns of the government soldiers could shoot so far, and they were frightened to quickly retreat their heads. Pang Gang took advantage of this opportunity to lead the soldiers to advance more than 30 steps forward.

  At this time, the soldiers were less than a hundred steps away from the low wall. Pang Gang saw that he was in a hurry and ordered the bird gunners to stop and divide into three rows to suppress the bandits with dense lead bullets in the original place. The dense lead bullets hit the low wall, making a "pa" sound. The distance of one hundred steps was already very close to the low wall. Under the firepower pressure of nearly sixty bird gunners, the bandits behind the low wall were miserable and dared not show their heads slightly. They would be beaten by dense lead bullets. More than a dozen bandits who did not believe in evil were now lying on the ground and had become corpses. The remaining bandits could only stare at the back of the low wall.

  "Brothers, follow me to kill the bandits!"

  Seeing the bandits being suppressed, Pang Gang waved his hand and dozens of long spear soldiers rushed forward. Da Zhuang took the lead, running at the forefront with his horse, his long spear dancing with a loud whooshing sound.

  Because he was wearing a suit of armor weighing over 30 kilograms, Pang Gang, who had not yet gotten used to wearing such heavy iron scales into battle, fell behind. When he ran to the back of the low wall, he found that Da Zhuang and dozens of long gun soldiers had been surrounded by hundreds of bandits, with several long gun soldiers already injured and lying on the ground, being protected by their comrades.

  "These bastards! Have they forgotten all their usual training?" Seeing this scene, Pang Gong's anger surged up at once, and he shouted loudly: "All soldiers hurry up and form a battle array!"

  The soldiers, who were in a fierce battle, suddenly heard the familiar command in their ears and reflexively shook off their opponents. They quickly formed a formation of ten people in a row, like they did in their daily training. The soldiers in the front row held up their long guns to their foreheads and confronted the bandits swiftly.

  Just like in previous training sessions, Pang Gang shouted loudly: "Raise your guns!"

  "Kill."

  "Raise your guns!"

  "Kill!"

  At the sound of Pang Gang's command, the long guns rose one by one as if they were training as usual, and stabbed forward in unison. At this moment, they didn't care how many bandits were in front of them, nor did they care about their knife skills being so exquisite or their marksmanship being so agile. They just listened to Pang Gang's order and raised their guns together to stab forward.

  Cries of agony kept coming, "Puchi, puchi!" The sound of spears piercing flesh was chilling. These bandits who were used to killing people without batting an eye were now being skewered by these soldiers who had only trained for three months. The result was that each and every one of them was stabbed through the heart, their bodies torn apart as they lay on the ground, screaming in agony.

  The two completely different effects of the formation and non-formation left everyone on both sides stunned. The long gunners looked at their guns in a daze, with the tips of their guns dripping with fresh blood onto the ground. This discovery made the faces of most of the long gunners turn somewhat pale...