Insufficient balance

  Behind is the "Ghost Gate Pass", the grain fleet has gone through countless hardships to barely make it out, and naturally do not want to turn back. Moreover, most of them are people from Lingnan, who are unfamiliar with the terrain and the Yellow River, and it's not easy to run away while transporting so much grain and taxes.

  However, the bandits are indeed afraid that the fleet will be exhausted as Xue Chongxun said. The grain ships are all large ships, and if the bandits want to attack strongly, they will have to pay a heavy price, and if they really do so, they may only be able to scuttle the ship.

  The river pirates on the shore consulted with each other for a while, then shouted: "Alright, you send someone down, and we'll retreat one hundred and fifty steps."

  Xue Chongxun looked down from the deck and saw that the river pirates had made some arrangements. Some people carrying bows and arrows occupied the high ground, while others retreated to a distance of one hundred and fifty steps and gathered together. He decisively ordered: "Quickly set up the landing board, let all the previously arranged people go down, and immediately form a battle formation! Hurry up, fearing that the pirates will change their minds and attack us before we can stabilize our footing!"

  "Fang Yu said: 'Lang Jun, swords and bows are not long-eyed. You control the overall situation on the boat, and I'll take care of things below.'"

  "Cut the nonsense, get going! If you're going to do it, then do it with all your might!" Xue Chongxun shouted. Fang Yuzhong had no choice but to turn around and leave the boat with the other strong men, only saying to San Niang: "Protect Young Master well!"

  Xue Chongxun walked behind, turned his head and said to the previous reminder: "Remember what I said, as soon as the fight starts, ring the bell immediately and let everyone rush up."

  "It's a matter of life and death in this one battle, General Wei Guo can rest assured!"

  When everyone had disembarked, the bandits on the opposite empty ground shouted: "How about negotiating?"

  But unexpectedly, Xue Chongxun suddenly shouted: "Form an array!"

  The thieves in the distance suddenly cursed loudly, "Damn it, you want to fight us to the death!" "You don't want to live, eggs hitting rocks..."

  The bandits did not immediately attack, and Xue Chongxun again contemptuously cursed: "A mob!"

  After this delay, the people on the ship's side had already formed six rows. The front row was made up of nine bow and crossbow guards under Xue Chongxun, followed by two rows of sailors with knives and bows, one row of guards with knives, and two rows of sailors with knives.

  Xue Chongxun secretly pulled out a gold hairpin from his sleeve, hid it in the palm of his hand and made a gesture of covering his mouth, but kissed the pin instead. He hoped it would really be a good luck charm.

  A moment later, he slowly pulled out a gleaming horizontal knife from his waist, the shiny blade reflecting the sunlight like a narrow mirror.

  "The bandits on the other side shouted: 'Kill them for me!' and then wielded various weapons to swarm over."

  Xue Chongxun held his sword horizontally and pointed forward, shouting: "Advance! Anyone who retreats a step will be beheaded!" The crowd shouted in unison, and the six rows moved forward together. Although they had not trained together before, their footsteps were somewhat disorganized, but the basic formation was still maintained.

  The river bandits also advanced towards this side, they didn't have any formation to speak of, some dragged their knives on the ground as they walked, others carried their weapons on their shoulders, a large group of them swaggered and cursed as they swarmed towards this side, no different from a gang of thugs.

  "Whoosh! Whoosh!" Ordinary arrows shot from the river bandits' side into the air, but they didn't have enough range and temporarily didn't hurt anyone.

  At the fifty-step mark, Fang Yu took out a large black lacquered chopping knife and shouted: "Release the arrow!" The chopping knife in his hand was rarely taken out normally, its length was similar to that of a horizontal knife, but it was wider and thicker, with a straight blade, looking very heavy.

  Fifty paces had already fully entered the shooting range, and the crossbowmen launched a round of shots. The arrows whizzed into the dense crowd of river bandits, almost without exception hitting their mark. The river bandits were also sporadically using long-range attacks to advance. Finally, they approached within twenty-odd paces, and Fang Yuzhong let out a loud shout of "Kill!" With both hands wielding his chopping knife, he led the charge forward.

  Both sides clashed, and soon they were engaged in close combat. The flash of the knife was accompanied by a scream that sounded like a ghostly wail, with blood flying everywhere. The crossbowmen on Xue Chongxun's side put away their crossbows, drew out their horizontal knives, and charged straight into the enemy ranks, breaking through the formation in an instant. Xue Chongxun raised his horizontal knife and also pressed forward tightly with his men.

  The horizontal blade is very handy, not too heavy, but the thick back construction is very powerful, with no light and airy feeling. When chopping, it's clean and neat. Xue Chongxun's eyes are full of excitement, and the instinct of a good fighter is exposed without a trace.

  The comrades on both sides of the advancing formation were all his own, and his courage greatly increased. Xue Chongxun had just charged into the enemy group when he let out a loud shout, grasping the hilt with both hands, and "whoosh" - one knife chopped down towards the bandits in front of him, immediately seeing blood splashing everywhere. The horizontal knife was extremely deadly against people without armor protection, almost every knife strike being fatal.

  "Lord Lang, spear on your left!"

  This man squeezed in, Xue Chongxun saw the long gun coming, grabbed it with one hand, and firmly held it down. Then his body turned around the gun handle, and he slashed down with a backhand knife. White brain flowers and red blood flew wildly in the air, splashing him all over, and the smell of blood on his face made people feel very nauseous. The blood stained his hands, sticky.

  Xue Chongxun looked up and saw that the formation of the first two rows had already become disordered, and they were rushing about in all directions among the bandits, killing wildly. He only saw Fang Yuzhong, a robust man with a square face, covered in blood, like a bear roaring loudly, wielding a large chopping knife that danced in the wind.

  "Block me and die! Advance, defeat the enemy!" Xue Chongxun roared, his hands holding a horizontal knife upright on his shoulder, stabbing and chopping anyone in sight.

  "Whoosh!" Xue Chongxun suddenly felt a strong gust of wind passing by his ear, and his heart skipped a beat. He instinctively sensed that an arrow was flying towards him from behind. A moment later, he saw the bandit who was about to charge at him clutching his eyes and letting out a loud cry, dropping his weapon and falling to the ground. When Xue Chongxun turned around, he saw Zhang Wulang taking another arrow from his quiver, nodding at him in approval.

  Just as he turned back, Xue Chongxun saw that several grain ships had successfully landed, and many people were swarming down from the ship with sticks, knives and guns. Xue Chongxun was overjoyed: "Our reinforcements have arrived, the enemy will disperse immediately, let's open up and kill! Kill!"

  A mob of rioters suffered a shock and were originally unable to form an army, seeing more people rushing over, many people turned around and ran away. Xue Chongxun led his men to take advantage of the situation and launched a surprise attack, charging in with knives, one knife per person, it was really enjoyable, like cutting melons. The bandits immediately dispersed in all directions, with countless deaths and injuries.

  "He Sanwa has been shot!" Just as the battle was about to end, a guard shouted loudly, "Lang Jun, Lang Jun! Sanwa wants to say something to you!"

  Xue Chongxun wiped the knife on his clothes and put it back in its scabbard, then ran over towards the shouting. He saw that the hired guard whom Fang Yuzhong had instructed was shot in the chest with an arrow, lying in someone else's arms, mouth full of blood, but not yet dead.

  Xue Chongxun walked up to him and squatted down, He Sanwa immediately grasped Xue Chongxun's hand tightly and said: "Lang Jun, I'm selling my life to you, the old and young at home..."

  "You're dead, I'll raise your family." Xue Chongxun grabbed his hand and immediately turned back to shout, "Quickly call Li Guishou!"

  "Fang Yu Zhong led his men to surround the mountain top. No need to attack, just call on the people above to surrender and disarm."

  At this time, Li Gui and Zhang Yue and others all came down from the boat, looking at the corpses all over the ground and those who were not dead yet wailing and moaning, everyone lost their color.

  Xue Chongxun shouted: "Mr. Li, save this man first, he's the only son of his mother, and there are still wives and children at home." Li Gui's hands came up and busily treated the injured person.

  Zhang Wulang returned after chasing the bandits, put away his bow and arrow, walked to Xue Chongxun's face, emotionally said: "It's like pulling dead branches! This is still a minority attacking the majority, Duke Weiguo, I, Zhang Wulang, admire you!"

  Xue Chongxun said calmly: "I told you earlier, a bunch of mobs, thinking it's just a street fight?"

  Zhang Wu Lang immediately knelt down on the ground, clasped his fists and said: "Zhang is willing to follow Wei Guo Gong's side to make achievements, please accept me."

  Zhang Yue ran beside him hastily said: "You're not following the fleet? Not returning to your hometown?"

  "A man's ambition is in the four directions; if he doesn't achieve something first, what's the point of returning to his hometown?"

  Zhang Jiuling also came up and supported Wu Lang, saying: "This kind of thing you have to discuss with everyone, things are not as simple as you think."

  Xue Chongxun naturally understood Zhang Jiuling's meaning.

  But Wolong didn't think as much as Zhang Jiuling, and said firmly: "Duke Weiguo, please take me in, even if it's just as a guard or attendant, I'm willing to serve with all my might."

  Xue Chongxun glanced at several people in the Zhang family, helped Wu Lang up and said: "The ugly words are spoken ahead of time. What your brother (Zhang Jiuling) said, you should think about it carefully. It's not what you thought."

  Wolong said: "The Duke of Weiguo has a life-saving kindness! A great man, once spoken, how can he speak randomly? I am willing to follow the Duke of Weiguo's side!"

  At this moment, a dozen or so bandits on the mountain gave up their futile resistance and were disarmed and pressed down. Xue Chongxun took a look at those people and said to Wulang: "Go ahead, you go and kill those people first, then follow me."

  "Zhang Yueyan hastily said with a serious expression: 'Xue Lang, Wu Lang! They have already put down their weapons. Although they are thieves, they are also human lives. Hand them over to the authorities and that's it!'"

  Another person who was on the same road as Zhang Yue said: "Robbing official grain and handing it over to the government is also a capital offense."

  Xue Chongxun looked at Zhang Wulang with an expressionless face and said, "If you are like your uncle, having a surplus of benevolence but being insufficiently decisive, then forget it." Everyone's expressions all froze, immediately sensing the ruthless side of Xue Chongxun.

  "Wu Lang frowned and said, 'I won't kill the women and children, but how can we not kill the bandits? They are bandits even if they put down their weapons!' After speaking, he stood up and picked up a horizontal knife from the ground. At this time, other guards and strong men surrounded the captives with their weapons and shouted, 'Kneel down!'"

  The captives cried out for mercy, and Gorō walked up to the group of bandits with a fierce look on his face. He suddenly swung his sword down, and blood flew everywhere as one of them fell to the ground. The other bandit's eyes widened in terror as he tried to get up, begging for mercy: "Great hero, spare my life! Ah!" But Gorō's sword had already pierced his abdomen, and with a couple of twists, the man let out an ear-piercing scream.

  Xue Chongxun gave the order: "Everyone, take action and cut them down to make things easier." The crowd then raised their weapons and rushed forward, with miserable cries rising and falling. On the empty ground, corpses were strewn about, and blood stained the mud and sand red.

  Everyone fell silent, and many people rarely saw blood, looking at this scene was frightening. However, they didn't blame Xue Chongxun much, it was originally a matter of life and death.

  At this time, Li Gui calmly said: "You kill people, I save people. This person has not been seriously injured and has fainted due to excessive blood loss. His life should be safe. In that case, the Duke of Wei will go east, and I will take this man back to Chang'an and have him treated by a good doctor along the way."

  The man he was talking about was He Sanwa, the guard of Xue Chongxun. As soon as the words fell, Fang Yuzhong and others all breathed a sigh of relief.

  After a while, Zhang Yue and others who were in charge of the fleet gathered some crew members to dig graves and bury the bodies of the dead slaves. The dead sailors' bodies were taken away, as people at that time wanted to be buried in their hometowns where they could rest in peace.