Chapter 1591: The Siege Begins
Chapter 1591: Chapter 1591: The Siege Begins
Beside the Sifu Inn, in the Carriage Inn, Rong people were also hiding. Seeing the Sifu Inn closed off by officials and soldiers, they realized they had been exposed, so they decided to go all out; they immediately spilled pine oil and set the place on fire.
Thick smoke quickly rolled over the Sifu Inn and the Carriage Inn, and the Rong people’s Company Commander led the Rong people to start killing.
There were two Rong army units hidden in the county town. The one Xie Cheng and his group surrounded was specialized in setting fires and killing to create chaos.
The other unit was specifically tasked with burning granaries and killing officials.
Xiao Lu had just tried to deliver a message to this Rong unit, telling them to quickly attack the county grain warehouse.
But now that the plan had failed, the message wasn’t delivered.
However, the hidden Rong Company Commander saw thick smoke rising from the Sifu Inn side and knew something was wrong, and immediately split his Rong people into two groups heading to the government office and the granary in the north of the city.
Unfortunately, their luck was bad and just as they dashed out of Huai Xiang Alley, they ran into Liugou.
Liugou smelled them and excitedly howled: "Awoo awoo!"
The long, high-pitched howls of the wolf echoed all around. Qin San Lang and his group heard it and immediately rushed towards Huai Xiang Alley.
Qin San Lang instructed, "Old Bao, take thirty brothers to block the back alley and don’t let them escape. Zhang Tu, lead thirty brothers to block here, don’t let them get out of the alley!"
"Yes!" Old Bao immediately led thirty soldiers to the back alley.
Zhang Tu had ten Shield Soldiers block the alley entrance with iron shields, while ten others readied their bows and arrows, and the remaining ten raised broadswords; if the Rong people managed to evade the archers’ arrow rain, they would be responsible for cutting them down.
Qin San Lang led the cavalry and in a blink was upon the Rong people, swinging his knife up and down, and after a spree of chopping sounds, killed a dozen Rong people who had yet to react.
These clever Rong people had, for convenience, dressed as commoners without armor, and Qin San Lang’s group had sharp knives that could split a half head in one strike.
The Rong Company Commander was shocked, shouting for a retreat.
The Rong people retreated as they threw poison at Qin San Lang’s group.
"Put on masks, hold your breath, and charge through!" Qin San Lang shouted, and before finishing his words, pulled up the thick cloth hanging at his neck to cover his entire head, urging his horse briskly towards the depth of the alley.
Xiao Yu had said that the Rong’s Poison couldn’t remain unchanged, and in case they changed the poison, when the Rong people spread it, they should immediately put on masks, hold their breath for a while, to minimize inhaling the poison.
This way, even if the Rong people changed to a new poison, the Detoxification Pills could still help them hang on for some time.
Qin San Lang followed the advice.
The soldiers did the same, and after pulling up their masks, they charged forward, soon crossing the poison-filled area to attack the Rong people, cutting off a few heads.
The Rong Company Commander panicked, fearing too many of his warriors would die, and immediately led the Rong people back to their residential house, ordering archers to shoot poison arrows at Qin San Lang’s group: "Shoot these Great Chu scoundrels!"
Whizz! Whizz!
A barrage of poison arrows flew over, but Qin San Lang had long guessed they would shoot. He had already ordered the Shield Soldiers to form ranks in the front and to dismount to evade poison arrows.
"Pine oil, set fire!" Qin San Lang didn’t have time to stall with these Rong people and was also worried that the poison Xiao Yu made would run out, so he switched to a fire attack.
"Yes." The soldiers responded, immediately taking out cloth and pine oil, fashioning rockets and handing them to the archers.
The archers drew bows and fired arrows toward the Rong people’s hiding residence.
Whizz! Whizz!
Rocket flames roared, landing on the stacks of dry firewood in the residence and igniting quickly.
Even worse, the Rong people’s dwelling was packed with pine oil meant for setting fire to the town and some was ignited by the rockets, the flames soared higher than the courtyard walls.
The Rong Company Commander cursed in rage, and to avoid being burned alive, he led the Rong people out fighting.
But just as they set foot outside the residence, they were met head-on with a rain of arrows.
Whizz! Whizz!
Sharp arrows pierced the air, striking the bodies of the Rong people, and many were hit by arrows. Before the Rong Company Commander could react, another wave of arrows rained down on them.
Such repetitive and seamless actions forced the Rong people with no way out.
The Rong panicked, and a warrior said, "Sir, we will be trapped and killed here."
Smack! The speaking Rong was slapped by the Silver Tent Company Commander, who cursed, "Fool, they can’t possibly have too many long arrows, wait till they run out of arrows, then we charge out."
There was some sense to this, but Qin San Lang, who looked naive, was indeed sneaky in battle. After firing three waves of sharp arrows, retreating the Rong people, he had the archers stop firing, creating the illusion that their arrows were depleted.
When the Rong people again charged and attacked joyously, dense arrow rain came slaughtering them once more.
Whizz! Whizz! Another group was injured.
After repeating this three times, the Rong Company Commander couldn’t bear it anymore, and recklessly charged out, fighting with Qin San Lang’s group.
In the end, Qin San Lang and his group won.
The Rong Company Commander’s head was chopped off.
But before dying, he sneered at Qin San Lang in a mocking tone and said in Da Rong Language, "Great Chu villains, you will ultimately lose, and become slaves to our Da Rong warriors!"
Qin San Lang, with a grim face, cut off his head, and said to Old Bao arriving from the rear of the alley, "Go to the granary in the north to help Bu Fang; this Rong Company Commander’s smile just now was strange, I guess there are also people arranged over there to set fires."
"Yes!" Old Bao immediately led thirty brothers rushing to the north granary.
When they reached the granary, Bu Fang and his group were fiercely fighting with Rong people led by two Section Leaders.
The Rong people were tall, skilled horseback riders, trained in the field, having learned the art of killing and plundering since childhood, making them far more capable in battle than Bu Fang and his southern soldiers. Bu Fang and his men were pushed back relentlessly.
"Hold on, Bu boy, your uncle is here!" Old Bao rushed forward with the soldiers.
Bu Fang rejoiced, and with Old Bao’s help, two hours later, they had wiped out the Rong people attempting to set fire to the north granary.
The sounds of battle cries in the county town lasted almost a full shift hour. The townspeople were terrified, and County Magistrate Luo was scared to death, continuously praying to God, "Please let Company Commander Qin win."
He didn’t want to end up like County Magistrate Lin, with his whole family suffering.
Luckily, Qin San Lang’s group prevailed, and Squad Leader Shi came back with the good news: "Sir, Company Commander Qin has killed all the Rong people in town, we’ve won!"
"God bless!" County Magistrate Luo clutched his heart, took a deep breath, and was almost moved to tears in joy: "Quick, have the big kitchen prepare a meal, to welcome and honor Company Commander Qin and his men!"
"Yeah." Squad Leader Shi responded, rushing to the government office’s big kitchen, instructing the miscellaneous soldiers to prepare a meat meal to entertain Company Commander Qin and his men.
So when Qin San Lang’s group returned to the government office, they were served a hot meal with meat and vegetables.
But they ate so much that County Magistrate Luo was moved to tears...three whole pigs, nearly a thousand pounds of flour, and six large vats of sorghum porridge were gone!
That’s not all, after eating, Company Commander Qin said, "County Magistrate Luo, we have hundreds of brothers outside the city who haven’t eaten yet, please have the big kitchen make another meal, in the same quantity as we had, so I can send some people out to deliver it for them."
County Magistrate Luo: "..."
Is what you’re saying even human speech?
To fight a battle and eat us out of our government office pantry, is that what you intend?!
However, County Magistrate Luo had to nod and agree, because Yao Chief Commander’s courier came reporting: "Lord Company Commander, the Rong people are already at Shiming Town, Yao Chief Commander and they have started fighting, the townspeople of Shiming Town are heading towards the county town to flee, open the city gates and let those people enter."