/
Chapter 73: Water Bandits 3/3
Leng Qian left the Pei courtyard but stayed in the stronghold. He will be watching in the shadows, and report to his lord the current situations of the stronghold.
Back to the Hall of Brotherhood, under Watersnake’s encouragement, Blackdragon’s forces were losing their grounds and were at the edge of losing it all completely. Blackdragon was furious and scolded out his anger, “Goddammit, how is the reinforcement not here yet.”
“It is still in the morning, the third leader will not be in the barracks, we still have to wait.” His strategist cautiously said from the side.
“Shit, if we keep on waiting, they will only be here to collect our dead bodies.”
And just as Blackdragon had said, before his reinforcement could arrive, Watersnake had already broken through into the Hall of Brotherhood. Blackdragon and his remaining troops were surrounded. The victorious Watersnake, proudly and complacently said, “How is that, brother. Kneel before me, and kowtow to me. Acknowledge me as your elder brother, your leader, and I will spare your life.”
Blackdragon was a man with his own pride, how could he withstand such an embarrassment and humiliation, “Pui! You can kill me or do anything you like, but you want me to kowtow to you? Keep on dreaming!”
“I offered you a wine of mercy and yet you chose a wine of punishment, then don’t blame me for being ruthless!” Watersnake, angered by the answer, had a twisted face and somber tone, he then gave the killing order, “Kill him!”
Under the rain of arrows, Blackdragon died, and following his death, the rest of his troops surrendered.
The battle of the Hall of Brotherhood, the stationed squadron had 32 casualties, 68 surrendered, while Watersnake’s 2 squadrons had 58 casualties, 12 seriously injured, and the rest 130 were still combative. Including 45 elite raiders, most of his troops were still well preserved.
At this time, Pei Donglai had led 2 squadrons of reinforcements to the Hall of Brotherhood.
But it was too late, Watersnake had his men gathered at the front door, he said loudly to the reinforcements, “Brothers, the once mighty leader is now gone. From now on, I am the new leader in this stronghold, you all have to think wisely, Do you want to follow my lead, or follow an outsider like Pei Donglai?”
Pei Donglai brought 200 men along with him, but there were only 10 elites among them. Even if the reinforcement had a slight advantage in numbers, but they were equal in strengths, moreover, Watersnake had the geographical advantage.
As soon as Pei Donglai heard of Blackdragon’s death news, he shouted in great sadness, “Brothers! Watersnake is a rebel, a traitor, he ambushed the Hall of Brotherhood, killed the mighty leader, such a man of dishonor must be killed by everyone!”
Sadly, not everyone was a man of honor like himself. Most of the bandits had decided to side with Watersnake, over 50 of them had joined forces with him and only Pei Donglai’s loyal troops were left.
Watersnake laughed out loud, “It seems like they support me more. Pei Donglai, you outsider brat, leave now when you can, I spare you your life.” The truth was he did not want to start another war with Pei Donglai to avoid any more casualties. He had claimed himself as the leader, of course, he was unwilling to suffer any more losses.
“Kill them!” Pei Donglai’s loyal troops were all remarkable and brave.
Watersnake smiled with a sneer, “Hmph, you just don't know when to accept a person’s nice offer. Brothers, engage!”
With the 50 additional bandits, Watersnake thought he had the victory with him, he gave up his geographical advantage and led his troop out of the Hall of Brotherhood, directly engaging Pei outside out the hall.
Not far away from the battlefield, Leng Qian witnessed the war and had decided it was the appropriate timing. Quietly, he walked to a secluded corner, pulled the trigger and sent out the attack signal, then he immediately rushed to the stronghold’s main gate.
Right outside the stronghold, were Ouyang Shuo and his squadrons, who shadowed themselves in the woods, waiting for the signal.
While they were waiting patiently, Ouyang Shuo pulled General Shi aside, and gave him an order, “General Shi, I am giving you a secret mission.”
“Yes my lord!”
“When we attack later, no matter what the situation is, your first priority- Exterminate their mighty leader. Blackdragon is an evil man, yet he had saved Pei Donglai before. In order to avoid any unforeseen events, it is better to quickly kill him.”
“Rest assured my lord, I promise he will not live longer than today.”
Ouyang Shuo nodded his head and returned back to the command post. Little did he know, the Blackdragon he was concerned of was already dead by Watersnake’s hands. Just within 10 minutes, he saw Leng Qian’s signal.
Ouyang Shuo was startled, and immediately mounted his horse, with a low deep tone, he said, “Depart!” The infantry squadron in the front and the cavalry at the back, they moved towards the stronghold.
The stationed guards and patrols were stunned as the vast and mighty armies appeared before their eyes. They had little or only a few guards on the post, most of the combatants were caught in the battle of the three leaders, how on earth should they withhold the Shanhai military?
It took a little effort to capture the main gate. Leng Qian came rushing from the side, he said excitedly, “Greetings to my lord.”
Ouyang Shuo nodded his head, and he quickly said, “What is the situation in the stronghold?”
“My lord, everything was going as expected. Watersnake occupied Hall of Brotherhood and killed Blackdragon. Pei Donglai and his men are raging a war with Watersnake, attempting to avenge Blackdragon’s death.” Leng Qian quickly summarized the situation.
Ouyang Shuo exhaled in relief when he heard that Blackdragon had died, “Good, snipe and clam fights, the fisherman gets both, let’s go!” This time, the infantry and cavalry squad switched position.
When the military reached the Hall of Brotherhood, the bandits were all shocked, no one had seen it coming. Watersnake, realizing the situations were getting worse, he decisively shouted, “Brothers, enemies had intruded us, let us stop and defend ourselves together!”
The bandits, covered in a blood rage and excited by Watersnake’s words, shouted fearlessly. Only Pei Donglai was shocked and suspicious, he never thought the Shanhai troops were waiting outside the stronghold. That said, whatever happened today were all under Shanhai Lord’s control and watch.
Ouyang Shuo said with a sneer, “ Surrender and you will be spared, Resist and you will be killed!”
“Ptooey! Brothers, follow me and fight!” Watersnake shouted a war cry and charged forward.
Seeing that a war is inevitable, Ouyang Shuo’s blood boiled in excitement, he too, shouted a war cry, “Charge!” Captain Lin Yi led his Cavalry Squadron, following Shuo’s footstep, and shouted: “Protect the Lord!”
From the moment Watersnake decided to resist, the outcome had already been decided. They were, after all, water bandits, a land warfare was not their main battlefield, and was also fatigued due to the three leaders battles. Whereas the Shanhai military was ready, energetic and were troops of land warfare, how could the bandits match the Shanhai military?
Ouyang Shuo and Lin Yi fought in the front line, serving as the spearhead, the whole cavalry squadron was like sharp knives, piercing through and splitting the bandits into two parts. Following their back was the sword-shield infantry squadron, reaping the bandits like crops.
The bandit formation was broken into pieces, the bandits regained their consciousness and fear swept through all of them. Ouyang Shuo seizes the opportunity and shouted again, “Surrender and you will live, resist and you die!”
“Surrender and you will live, resist and you die!” His troops repeated after him.
Krang
. Finally, someone couldn’t withstand the pressure, threw his weapon and surrendered. It was like a contagious disease, once the first one surrendered, the rest followed.
As for the one-day mighty leader Watersnake, he had already been shot dead by General Shi’s arrow. Blackdragon was dead, and now Watersnake died in his hands, General Shi considered himself to have adequately accomplished his lord’s secret mission.
“Hahaha~~~I am now a Rank 9 Elite~~ Wahahaha~~” An inappropriate laughter was heard from the cavalry squadron.
Ouyang Shuo turned his head, only to see the cavalry sergeant Zhao Sihu was laughing out loud, and Zhang Daniu, at the side, was jealously staring at him. Who knew that Zhao Sihu managed to level his rank faster than Zhang Daniu, achieving Rank 9 earlier.
Ouyang Shuo summoned the two, he said while laughing, “Nice, finally there is a result. Zhao Sihu!”
“Yes!”
“I hereby appoint you as the Acting Captain of the Infantry Squadron, you will officially be the Captain after the class change.”
“Thank you, my lord, I will not disappoint you!”
“Zhang Daniu!”
“Yes!”
“I hereby appoint you as the Vice-captain of the Infantry Squadron and Lieutenant of the 1st Platoon.”
“Thank you, my lord, I will not let you down!”
Lin Yi stood aside, gave a wry smile and asked: “My lord, you had just taken away the cavalry squadron’s two most excellent sergeant, what am I supposed to do now.”
“What to do? Cold mix1!” After a little joke, Shuo with an earnest tone said, “There is a need to focus on the next generation, uncover more new talents, and promote them appropriately to the right post.”
“Understood!”
After the little interlude, Ouyang Shuo had arranged a cleanup for the aftermath of the battle, “Li Mingliang!”
“My lord!”
“Lead a team, and bring the non-combative bandits to the front square of Hall of Brotherhood.”
“Understood!” Li Mingliang rode off with the cavalry squadron 1st platoon.
“Liao Kai!”
“Sire!”
“With your platoon, stay on guard and watch after the captives.”
“Yes my lord!”
“Zhao Sihu!”
“Yes my lord!”
“Bring your men, seal off the storehouses, arsenal, and the stronghold’s main gate. Exterminate anyone that goes near it.”
“Yes, sire!” Zhao Sihu then leads Infantry Squadron 2nd Platoon to the storehouses, arsenal and main gate.
“Zhang Daniu!”
“My lord!”
“Lead the Infantry Squadron 1st Platoon, coordinate on guarding and watching the captives, no mistakes are allowed!”
“Yes my lord!”
After Ouyang Shuo finished giving his orders, only then he had the time to pay Pei Donglai a visit, “I have long heard of General Pei’s ability and talent, It is a pleasure to see you in person.”
Pei Donglai held a poor face and said in a deep voice, “General of the defeated, how am I to be praised.”
“Sigh
 This battle’s loss was not your fault, you didn’t have to blame yourself for it. Watersnake is now dead, you have avenged your savior, and repaid your debt, you have done everything you could. A man of honor like you serves the battlefield, earns meritorious deeds
. not spending the rest of your life in this small stronghold. I intend to recruit you as Shanhai Town’s navy commander, with the title of ‘General’. I hope you would consider and accept my offer.” Shuo took a deep bow as he finished his sincere speech.
Pei Donglai was moved, he quickly slid to the side avoiding Ouyang Shuo’s bow, and he knelt down with one knee on the ground, and exclaimed in delight, “Sire is so kindhearted, I will swear my loyalty to my lord!”
Ouyang Shuo went and picked him up, with a bright smile, he said, “With you, it is worth more than thousands and millions of armies.”
_Cold mix_ _1_ __ ć‡‰æ‹Œ _: A mandarin joke._ 怎äčˆćŠžïŒŸ _(what to do?)_ ć‡‰æ‹ŒïŒ _(cold mix!) As both of the words ends with the sound of “ban”._
*[Long Taos]: side characters in Chinese operas who perform acrobatics and fight scenes
*[12.47 to 13.07]: don't ask me about the tree sap
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!