Chapter 28: The Stormy Weather of Yu Guan (7)

  When the alarm sounded from the top of the pass, the atmosphere inside Yu Guan suddenly solidified. Li Chengzhong called out to Jia Du to form a team while quickly rushing to the top of the pass wall. He took a look outside and saw a group of Khitan cavalry approaching in the distance, wearing colorful leather jackets, looking very disorganized, but everyone held knives and guns, especially the twenty or so people in front, with bows and arrows hanging from their horses, with fierce expressions on their faces.

  The Khitan people stopped about a hundred paces below the pass and slowly formed a two-row cavalry formation. In the center of the front row, a man with a leather helmet and leather armor, with a mustache, was pointing at the city gate and discussing with those on his left and right.

  Li Chengzhong turned his head and looked at Meng Xuxing and Jiao Chengqiao beside him, both of whom shook their heads, indicating that the distance was too far and they couldn't shoot.

  Both sides were sizing each other up on the pass, with no movement. Li Chengzhong turned his head to look at the militiamen standing on the wall of the pass, who were all holding wooden spears, their faces pale and many of them trembling with fear, clearly having been terrified to the extreme.

  It can't go on like this, if it continues, the first to collapse will be these robust civilians. When they turn around and run away, it will inevitably trigger even greater chaos, and maybe their own army will also disintegrate. Li Chengzhong didn't dare hesitate anymore, and hastily instructed Feng Dao to take charge of the city wall, while he himself led Jiang Miao, Wang Dalang, Meng Xuxing, Jiao Chengqiao and other military officers down from the city gate.

  Inside the school grounds, the Jia Du Fang team had already finished their preparations. After Li Chengzhong came down, he saw that everyone was a bit tense, so he forced a smile and said: "What are you afraid of? There are only over 40 Khitan people coming, and only half of them can fight! We have almost a hundred people! One last reminder to you all, before you turn around and run away, think carefully about whether it's you who runs fast or the four-legged horses that run fast?" After finishing speaking, he waved his hand and led the way towards the outside of the city gate.

  Jiang Miao closely followed Li Cheng, while the other officers joined the ranks. With these old soldiers from the southern expedition, at least they could ensure that the army would not collapse instantly.

  Zhong Si Lang took a deep breath and, following the method they had practiced countless times over the past two days, stepped out in time with the circular marks on the ground. He was the first one in the front row, and as soon as he moved, the soldiers behind him habitually followed suit. Before long, all of the troops had exited the city gate and each person stood on the circular marks they had practiced standing on countless times before, quickly forming a very neat three-row formation.

  The sudden deployment of Jia Du's troops outside the city gate caught the Khitan people off guard, and many horses began to stamp their hooves restlessly on the spot, only not making a bigger commotion under their masters' control. They had been rampaging outside the pass for a year, and countless times they had raided down to the foot of Yu Guan City, never encountering any decent resistance, not even the garrison inside the city gate had ever come out to respond to battle once, so suddenly they were all at a loss, and even the knives, guns and arrows on their horses hadn't been taken off, just staring blankly as Jia Du led his troops out of the city gate, then quickly formed up in ranks.

  At this time, the two sides were fifty steps apart and could clearly see each other's faces. Li Chengzhong stood at the forefront of the Jia Du team, staring at the big bearded Khitan in the front row directly opposite him. The big bearded man also stared with a pair of copper bell-like eyes, sizing up Li Chengzhong from head to toe.

  Li Chengzhong, who had experienced the brutal battles of Bei State and Wei State, was no longer the same as when he first crossed over. Having witnessed too much slaughter, he would not feel fear, terror, excitement or thrill when facing the enemy again. This didn't mean he wasn't tense, but rather that he had developed adaptability, a state that could be described in two words: "habit".

  Li Chengzhong was worried that his troops were a brand new team, except for a few old officers, all of whom were young refugees who had never been baptized by war. These young refugees still had great fear of the Khitan people in front of them. Li Chengzhong was worried that the Khitan people opposite would launch a charge without care, and if such a situation occurred, he estimated that there was a 90% chance that his troops would collapse instantly.

  Li Chengzhong didn't dare to continue like this, he smiled at the opposite Khitan Big Beard, his left hand pressed on the waist knife, his right hand clenched into a fist and raised high, shouting: "Raise your guns!"

  The entire row followed the procedure they had practiced countless times before. The first row immediately held their wooden spears level, directly facing the Khitan people in front of them. The second row placed their wooden spears on the shoulders of their comrades in the first row. The two teams of sword and shield soldiers and one team of archers in the third row also reacted accordingly, preparing their weapons at hand. Everyone was very familiar with this procedure, having practiced it repeatedly for the past two days, so it looked very neat and tidy.

  On this side, Jia Du made good preparations. The Khitan people on the opposite side immediately became noisy and hastily held their knives and guns in their hands. Several skilled archers took down their bows and arrows, loaded the arrows, shouted at Jia Du while casting sideways glances at the big-bearded man in the middle, waiting for his command.

  Li Chengzhong let out a loud shout: "Kill!" The armor immediately followed with a burst of shouts: "Kill!" Along with the shouts, the armor took a step forward in unison. Next was the second "Kill!", the armor column closely followed and advanced again. Then came the third...

  At the first shout, Jia's voice was still a bit awkward. By the third shout, the brothers' voices were all released, startling the Khitan warriors' war horses to retreat in disarray.

  After shouting three times and taking three steps forward, everyone stopped. They had completed the training actions, and what was left was to give the command "turn around" and then continue back to the city gate. But...the Khitan people were right in front of them, and returning to the city gate now seemed unlikely. What to do? Everyone was at a loss, with a lingering sense of fear amidst their confusion.

  Li Chengzhong had some regrets, if he had known earlier, he would have added two more rows to the third row of horizontal lines, and then Jia could have continued to shout "kill" twice, and then taken two steps forward. But now, he can only wait, waiting for the opponent's decision to attack or retreat.

  He saw the Khitan big beard raise his right arm, slowly lifting it into the air, and his heart tightened, thinking that he was finished. His opponent only needed one impact, and his armor would definitely be knocked back to its original shape! He helplessly waited for the attacking gesture from Big Beard's right arm, and then prepared to accept the result of failure. Perhaps, he would become an unsuccessful case of crossing over, and be buried here forever.

  The big-bearded man raised his right arm in the air, then swung it back, and the two rows of Khitan cavalry turned their horses' heads one after another, following behind the big-bearded man, leaving the city of Yu Guan.

  Li Chengzhong watched the Khitan people disappear into the distance, took a deep breath, secretly called it lucky, then turned around and smiled at Jia Du who was standing in front of him like a wooden chicken, shouting: "Turn back!" Jia Du followed the formation they had practiced countless times, under Li Chengzhong's command, returned to the city gate, until Li Chengzhong said "dismiss", suddenly bursting into a thunderous cheer.

  Inside the city, the enthusiastic emotions of the people affected the civilians on the city wall, and they also began to cheer. The entire Yu Guan was filled with joy. This battle did not fire a single arrow, nor did it harm a single Khitan person, but the Khitans turned around and ran away in front of everyone! Those who had not experienced being plundered and killed by the Khitans, fleeing all the way, could not understand the excitement and excitement in the hearts of these refugees. They had too many unbelievable things to shout about, too many grievances to vent, and this emotion even made many people burst into tears on the spot.

  Feng Dao came down from the city gate and asked Li Chengzhong: "If the Khitan people really rushed over at that time, what would you do?"

  Li Chengzhong shook his head and smiled: "If we really rush over, we have no way out, we can only fight hard, but the hope of success is not great. I'm afraid Li Mou will die here." Looking at the Khitan soldiers cheering below the city wall, his confidence suddenly increased: "But after today, there will be no more 'ifs'. The Khitans missed this opportunity and will never have a second chance like this!"

  Feng Dao led half of the civilians to start cutting wood and building a gate, while the other half took turns standing guard on the city wall. After going through this confrontation with the Khitan people, these civilians seemed to have suddenly gained a lot of courage, among them several brave ones even actively asked to join the army. They didn't dare come find Li Chengzhong, so they went to look for Jiang Miao, and Jiang Miao asked Li Chengzhong if he could recruit soldiers from among these civilians.

  Li Chengzhong thought for a moment and still refused. Before breaking the system, he had to honestly accept the constraints of the system. He was currently still a member of Pingzhou Army and an officer trusted by Zhou Zhiyu, the military commander. Rather than taking the initiative to recruit soldiers on his own, it would be better to wait for Zhou Zhiyu's arrival and make a straightforward request. Surely Zhou Zhiyu wouldn't refuse.

  In order not to disappoint these civilians, he announced that after the military commander Zhou Zhiyong arrived at Yu Guan, he would make a request to recruit willing civilians into his own troops, and hoped that everyone would wait patiently.

  Feng Dao wrote down the details of today's events and sent them separately to the office of the military commander and the office of the governor. The letters were sent out overnight, and it was expected that they would reach the hands of the two superiors by the second night. There was no boastful language in the letter, just a straightforward account of the facts, but he believed that after the two superiors read it, they would understand Li Chengzhong's merits and also speed up the dispatch of reinforcements.

  Actually, there was no need for Feng Dao to write a letter urging them on, the second batch of reinforcements arrived soon after. The reinforcements were two teams from the Left Camp's Second Battalion, led by Zhang Xingzhong and Zhou Kandao, both old acquaintances of Li Chengzhong. According to the orders of General-in-Chief Zhou Zhiyue, these two teams would be placed under the command of Li Chengzhong, the Inspector-General of the First Battalion of the Left Camp, upon their arrival. Accompanying the Second Battalion were also fifty civilian laborers who formed a transportation team, dispatched by the Governor's Office and put at Feng Dao's disposal. These laborers brought not only food, fodder, and military equipment but also tools such as axes and mallets; among them were several skilled craftsmen from Pingzhou City who were good at building houses. According to these craftsmen, Governor Zhang had specifically sent them over to help repair the gatehouse and city towers of Yu Pass, even going so far as to retrieve the original blueprints for the pass's fortifications from the storage archives of the Pingzhou Prefectural Office and bring them along.

  With the help of these civilians, the construction speed of the Yuanguan gate has doubled. In less than three days, the massive gate was already built, and the scaffolding in the city gate tunnel was also set up. It only needs to be hung up and installed, and then coated with black lacquer. In addition, the burnt-down city tower on the pass wall has been cleared, and a new base point has been determined according to the drawings. Once the gate is sealed, construction can begin in full force.

  Feng Dao was in charge of all these matters, and Li Chengyu did not pay much attention to them. What he was now concentrating on was how to train the nearly two hundred new soldiers to meet the second attack that the Khitan people might launch.

  ;