Chapter Eleven: Night Raid

  There are three large pots on his back, which is already quite impressive. Unexpectedly, Mr. Liu ran over and I asked in surprise: "Old Master, you're also going to attack the city?"

  The old man listened and became anxious again, shouting: "Have I become so old-fashioned? You young man still lack discipline, recite it 10 times while walking!"

  He said, as he casually inserted his large gun into the rope binding on my back, and then pulled out a pose to sit in front of me on the grain cart.

  I'm in big trouble now. This old man is not someone to be trifled with and can't even be asked to leave, it's a matter of life and death. Hurriedly accompanying him with a smile all over his face, he asked: "Sir, don't be angry, by the way, what brings you here?"

  The old man jumped down from the grain cart as soon as I finished speaking and said: "I'm not looking for you, I'm just passing by you, I want to go find my granddaughter, you just carry the gun for me, I'll come back to get it later"; after finishing speaking, he hurriedly walked towards the back of my body.

  After the heavy troops came the Vermilion Bird Garrison. I had always kept a respectful distance from the elder sisters inside, and with the big sign at the entrance of their camp that read "Kill anyone who enters", I really felt like I was encountering ghosts or gods.

  Mr. Liu's granddaughter was named Qingqing. I had heard of her when I was studying under Mr. Liu. When the whole family was beheaded in front of her by the tyrant king, she didn't shed a single tear. After Mr. Liu was rescued from the city wall by kind-hearted people and brought her back home, this little girl didn't even change her expression.

  She went into the house and slept, and when she came out the next day, her hair had turned white like snow. And from then on, she never spoke again.

  When the master finished speaking, he was already crying uncontrollably. At that time, I secretly vowed to help the master overthrow this foolish ruler. But later, after inquiring, I found out that this foolish ruler had long been strangled by one of his subordinates named Yuwen. My anger then shifted entirely to this Yuwen. This little brat was quick with his hands, and when I meet him again in the future, I will definitely beat him up to vent my anger. Later, I heard that this Yuwen kid died of illness, and my pent-up anger had nowhere to go, so it was suppressed once again.

  Mr. Liu came back soon, looking like he had some good news. His wrinkled face was smiling sweetly as he put down his big gun and patted my head, saying "This time it's okay". After that, he ran off happily.

  Half a month later, we arrived outside the city of Jinling and set up a large camp 30 miles west of the city. The 50,000 imperial troops summoned by the Emperor also arrived, led by a general surnamed Li. According to reports from scouts, among Xie Zihui's 70,000 men, 30,000 were defending the city walls, while the remaining 40,000 had 35,000 people camping outside the city 20 miles east, and 5,000 cavalry troops departed westward a day before our arrival, destination unknown.

  The general has issued an order that the enemy will definitely come to raid our camp tonight. Our army will have dinner early and then rest, waiting for midnight to meet the enemy. Now I'm busy.

  After messing around for about an hour, the meal was finally ready. As I helped serve the food, I couldn't help but think of that military order. Tonight, someone would sneak into the camp. Just thinking about it made my whole body tremble with excitement, and the long-forgotten taste of bloodlust rose up again.

  But I still have to find that guy. After rummaging around the kitchen for a while, I secretly picked up that large pig-killing knife and hid it in my sleeve. After thinking about it some more, I also grabbed two cans of Sichuan peppercorn powder and stuffed them into the oilcloth pouch that I always carry with me as a chef.

  Then I filled a big bowl with rice and took out the dish I had left for myself behind the stove. (The advantage of being the cook is that I left a large piece of pork head meat for myself.) I found a quiet place to eat it up.

  After eating, I wandered around the camp in a daze to digest my food. After half a day, I found that none of my brothers were like me, they all slept soundly with a belly full of pork head meat and anxiety. I went to Li Quanyou's tent.

  After entering the account, I found that everyone was sleeping like a dead pig. I walked to Li Quanyou's bed and gently shook him, but he didn't wake up. I shook him a few more times with force, and this time he woke up. After turning over, he said: "Go to sleep quickly, if you don't sleep now, you won't be able to sleep until tomorrow night."

  I said: "I couldn't sleep, it's already more than two hours before midnight, I feel so unwell, talk to me."

  Li Quanyou smiled and said: "You think you can join the Dragon Team with this kind of performance? You're not just unsteady, you're scared stiff! But it's okay, I was like that too when I first took over as a commander; the enemy army came at me like a tidal wave." As he spoke, he glanced around and said in a low voice: "I wet my pants. Look at Wei San'er, the first one to take over; his pants were full of it, but after this battle is over, everything will be fine."

  I didn't find what he said embarrassing at all, and I asked: "Then what if we can't get through this period?"

  Li Quanyou hummed softly and said: "You underestimate us too much. Remember my words, there is absolutely no one in the world who can kill us off in a single battle. What are we? Do you still remember what we shouted when we left the camp? We are fierce soldiers, and under heaven, there is no more ferocious soldier than us. You just keep telling yourself that, come however many, I'll f**king kill however many. And this time, just follow behind me, don't run around blindly."

  After finishing speaking, he pointed to the empty bed next to him and ignored me. I fell onto that bed, touched the pig-killing knife in my sleeve, and silently recited: "However many come, I'll kill that many of them." And then I fell asleep.

  I couldn't sleep soundly and woke up before midnight. I sat on my bed, gazing at the moonlight outside, its gentle glow illuminating the ground. The quiet atmosphere felt wonderful. I drew out my trusty large knife and admired it in the moonlight. Suddenly, I was inspired to compose a poem: "Initially entering the battlefield, my heart secretly trembles with fear, but as I break through the enemy lines, my blade shines brightly." As I thought of this, I couldn't help but smile wryly at my treasured sword. Before I could think of the next line, a thunderous battle cry pierced the air.

  Like a rabbit that has been shot and darts underground, I saw others in the tent getting up slowly and unhurriedly. Several of them even took out small copper mirrors to reflect the moonlight.

  Li Quanyou tidied up his armor while glancing at the slaughter knife in my hand and asked, "You took this thing from the kitchen, didn't you?"

  I said: "No, it was stolen from the kitchen"

  He nodded and said: "This thing is okay, but you have to fight close combat, it's not enough if you're far away."

  Handing over the shield in his hand, he said: "Take good care of this and follow me. Once the battle begins, I'll go grab another shield."

  I gratefully accepted it and followed the crowd out of the big tent. Outside, rows of people were using bows and arrows to shoot at the approaching enemy army. The enemy's arrows came down like rain, and the people on the periphery held up tower shields to protect themselves. We raised our shields above our heads and quietly waited for the commander's order. Suddenly, I saw the high-ranking official wearing iron armor and holding a tower shield, his eyes narrowed and motionless. When he heard the sound of urgent drums coming from afar, he shouted loudly: "Brothers, follow me!"; after finishing speaking, he turned around and ran away.

  I was stunned at the time and stood still on the ground, staring blankly at people running back and forth around me, the heroic spirit in my chest turned into a big question mark. Is this the infamous fierce corpse that shakes the heavens?

  Just as I was about to go crazy, Li Quan gave me a strong push and pulled me along to run, I also started running like a headless fly, ran for more than 5 miles, the pursuing soldiers behind stopped chasing, only to see the commander's flag waving in front, the people around shouted and turned back to kill.

  The enemy army saw us approaching and came to meet us, but we turned around and ran away. This time, we were chased for over ten miles. The bunch of fools at the back couldn't run anymore, just as we were about to retreat, we charged forward again. The enemy wasn't stupid either, they quickly regrouped and waited for us to charge forward. When we got within a distance of one and a half arrows from the enemy army, we stopped moving. Over 100 people rushed out from behind our formation, holding iron-tipped longbows and shooting arrows that flew into the enemy's formation like flying dragons, instantly knocking down dozens of them.

  The enemy's side also had arrows falling like rain, but they couldn't reach us. When we shot down over 300 of them, they yelled and charged up, still the old trick, keep running.

  After running for more than 10 miles, a shocking shout came from the rear of the enemy's formation, and in an instant, the rear team of the enemy army was scattered. The 30,000 Tang soldiers behind us intercepted and killed them as they came up. It wasn't until then that I understood why we had been running like rabbits all over the ground. With Lord Shang's order to kill, the bloodthirsty impulse in my chest surged up completely. Wielding the pig-killing knife in my hand, I also let out a mad howl and charged forward.