Chapter 269: Array
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
From the beginning, Fang Weis.h.i.+’s main strategy was to convince the Dragon King to negotiate for peace with the Golden Roc Fort.
“Now is the best time. The Great Snowmountain had won the first battle and proved its strength. With such prestige, I am sure that the Golden Roc Fort would be open for negotiations,” said Fang Wens.h.i.+, as he excitedly walked around in the tent. The fatigue of these past few days seemed to have been swept away.
“Let’s wait, this is just a sneak attack, we haven’t confronted the Golden Roc Fort head on.”
“This is what we agreed on since the beginning, Dragon King, you’re not changing your mind are you?” Fang Wens.h.i.+ looked at the Dragon King with suspicion. This master was still too young. He was still lacking in the temperament of ruthlessness as well as foresight.
“No, I hope for another victory for easier negotiations.”
Fang Wens.h.i.+ shook his head. He was precise with small details, but he could also clearly see the big picture. “Dragon King, you should know that the more you win, the harder it is to negotiate. The victory will cause the confidence of the Great Snowmountain swordsmen to inflate. How can they agree to negotiate then?”
Gu Shenwei was silent, what the military counselor said was exactly what he had in mind. In these past few months, he had been fighting alongside these swordsmen, which gradually gave him a more in-depth understanding of these people. Their hatred for the Golden Roc Fort was no less than his own, but this was also maintained at such a strong momentum due to Golden Roc killers adding fuel to the fire each day.
This was a large group of wild bison that could destroy everything in their path. It was almost impossible to turn their direction unless there were mountains and rivers in front of them.
Gu Shenwei was not afraid to talk about underhanded ploys, but he also did not know how to explain these tactics to some of the fighters. The negotiations for peace were only a temporary means to expand their strength. The ultimate goal was still to annihilate the Golden Roc Fort. He understood that the Great Snowmountain swordsmen wouldn’t understand this.
“Let me speak with them.” Fang Wens.h.i.+ understood that the Dragon King was in a tight spot, thus he volunteered to persuade the Great Snowmountain swordsmen. His experiences in Shu-lik has increased his confidence. “As long as several chiefs nod, the rest will be easy.”
Gu Shenwei still did not speak a word. The military counselor knew too little of the Great Snow Mountain. Chiefs were not kings. Although their status was high, they had no absolute power. The mountain people followed their orders out of respect, not obedience. Even the Dragon King had to borrow “divine powers” in order for everyone to follow him out of the Great Snowmountain.
“We cannot be hesitant about this.” Fang Wens.h.i.+ was a little anxious. Some words that he had already said to the Dragon King needed to be repeated again, “The Great Snowmountain is now sandwiched between the Golden Roc Fort and the Shu-lik Country. This is too dangerous, one wrong move and we can lose everything. The Shu-lik are using us as their sharp knife for killing by opening their roads for us to pa.s.s. They’re hoping to see losses on both sides: the Great Snowmountain would be completed exhausted, and Golden Roc Fort’s power and influence to decline. We can only survive through the gaps by patching up all our flaws as soon as possible. Dragon King, you know all these things. You have said that you want to fight for the Western Region, not for a personal vendetta.”
Gu Shenwei has never hesitated like this. After thinking about it, he was not like a decisive killer. He admired the military counselor very much and felt that he had not found the wrong person. Fang Wens.h.i.+’s words were extravagantly clear and were logically said to the King of Shu-lik. However, he was willing to betray the original agreement with an arrogant heart and not a hint of embarra.s.sment could be found.
“Just one battle,” Gu Shenwei decided as he could no longer hesitate. The military counselor laughed, “The Great Snowmountain will have to face an open head-on battle with the Golden Roc Fort, and then I will persuade everyone afterwards.”
Fang Wens.h.i.+ was sighing and could only accept the Dragon King’s order. “We must win this battle no matter what, at least we must not lose. Otherwise, no one will take the Great Snowmountain seriously, and negotiations for peace won’t even be mentioned.”
“We must win this battle.” Gu Shenwei fully grasped their situation. He had once led two hundred cavalrymen to break through the barracks of eight hundred machetemen. Now that he had gathered two thousand swordsmen, he was not afraid of the four to five thousand enemies.
Scouts had been able to find out that the Golden Roc Fort army was still dominated by machetemen. These machetemen came from all around the world. Many of them had low level kung fu and were not even qualified to live in Jade City. These days, they had been training in the camp. Although their numbers were high, they did not dare to make a challenge.
The swordsmen who joined later were strong, but the glory of the 200 pioneers made them green with envy. After just resting for one day, several chiefs came to see the Dragon King together and strongly demanded an immediate battle.
“We can’t wait any longer. With our current momentum, we would be able to charge into the Golden Roc Fort within ten days.” Even the usually composed one-eyed chief, Long Xiaos.h.i.+, was full of confidence and seemed impatient.
Fang Wens.h.i.+ was on the sidelines and secretly shook his head. If this battle was victorious, the biggest resistance to the negotiations for peace would not be the Golden Roc Fort, but rather, it would be the swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain.
Gu Shenwei waited for another three days to allow the tired swordsmen from afar to rest. At the same time, he arranged for tight security in the camp. They had to guard against the Golden Roc Fort’s specialty in a.s.sa.s.sinations.
Just as the Great Snowmountain was ready to go to war, the commander of the Golden Roc Fort was the first to send a letter of challenge.
There were about a thousand words written in the letter, and the letter was written in a convoluted manner. Only Fang Wens.h.i.+ could understand it, and he even praised its contents. Then he explained to everyone, “The morning after tomorrow, both sides are to engage in an array of battles 30 miles from their camps. ‘To hunt’ means to battle.”
The chiefs were stunned and scrambled to be the main attacking force. Everyone wanted to take the merits for defeating the main force of the Golden Roc Fort.
The Golden Roc Fort’s commander was named Dugu Xian, and he was also a barbarian. Gu Shenwei has never heard of such a person in the fort. It was rumored that Dugu Xian was a general of a small country who had been recruited by the Stone Castle. He was quite formidable in the art of military formations.
No one within the Great Snowmountain, including Gu Shenwei, paid any attention or value to this opponent. Fang Wens.h.i.+ praised this person’s literary talent, but he did not regard him as a great general.
The battle site was a flat and narrow gra.s.sland. The north side was close off by the towering Sky Mountains. There was a large river flowing along the south, which was called the Peac.o.c.k River. On the other side, the gra.s.sland gradually transitioned into the Gobi Desert.
In order to figure out how to fight this battle, Gu Shenwei listened to the opinions of many people but ultimately decided to follow his own ideas. The swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain did not understand the art of war, and Fang Wens.h.i.+ had many battle arrays in mind, all of which were learned from ancient books. One was more complicated than the previous one, which caused Gu Shenwei’s brain to swim in confusion, not to mention the simple swordsmen.
This was his arrangement: The left wing, that is, the place closest to the mountains, with swordsmen from the Greatsword Peak and the Smallsword Peak with a total of about 600 people; The right wing, close to the riverside, would be guarded by the Danduo Peak of more than 600; More than 400 from the Canopy Peak to be sandwiched in the middle. A total of 1,600 cavalrymen, each of them was equipped with a round s.h.i.+eld that can protect the upper body. This was because the Golden Roc Fort was likely to have a large number of archers.
Gu Shenwei wanted to personally partic.i.p.ate in the battle. This was the duty of the leader of the Great Snowmountain. However, under the strong suggestion of Fang Wens.h.i.+, he stayed on a small hill less than half a mile behind.
“This is the confrontation between the two military armies, not gangs from the jiang hu.” Fang Wens.h.i.+ was bitterly persuading the Dragon King. “The commander-in-chief has to control the overall situation, and there is sufficient reserve power on hand. You would only be able to take on about 100 on your own if you charged in, you can’t guarantee victory for the entire army with this.”
After riding up the hill, he was able to clearly see the whole battlefield. However, Gu Shenwei had only 100 or so from the Luoshen Peak as guards and for protecting the commander-in-chief’s banner. The banner was made from Gu Shenwei’s black robes that had been stained with blood, which was recognized as a sacred object in the hearts of all the swordsmen, and was attached to a thick and long flagpole.
There were still more than 300 swordsmen staying in the military camp. As this kind of embarra.s.sing task was not willing taken up, it could only be decided by lottery.
The swordsmen of the Great Snowmountain obeyed their traditions. The children of the Long family and the most courageous warriors were on the front lines. Behind them were the swordsmen of other surnames. There was no clear front line, but everyone decided how much s.p.a.ce they needed.
The opposing army was more formal.
Gu Shenwei was looking from far away. The Golden Roc Fort had more numbers than the Great Snowmountain, about 4,000 total. Their formation was extremely neat. The first two rows were archers. The last five rows were infantry with pikes. On the left wing, they arranged a team of light cavalry. Their numbers were small, estimated about six or seven hundred with hundreds of flags of different colors fluttering in the wind.
Commanding a war was completely different from being a killer. Gu Shenwei believed that the Great Snowmountain would definitely win, but his heart was not at ease. He hoped to be at the front line. Although observing from the sidelines was necessary, it led him to have a feeling that things were not under control. He was not used to being on the sidelines as he greatly preferred the style of surprise attacks and pursuits.
Fang Wens.h.i.+ said to him that the art of war was extraordinary and ordinary. The Dragon King’s plans belonged to “extraordinary” and cannot be used all the time, it was still the “ordinary” that ultimately determined the victor.
Gu Shenwei thought that the military counselor was right.
The swordsmen were already a little anxious, and they were shouting loudly at the opposing army. Heavy swords banged on s.h.i.+elds with the other side following up with banging from their drums, which caused loud uproars.
The Golden Roc Fort was set up in a defensive formation as they waited for the Great Snowmountain to launch their offense.
“Would you like to make a bet?” Gu Shenwei asked the military counselor beside him. “I can guarantee that we can break through the Golden Roc Fort’s formation with just one charge.”
Fang Wens.h.i.+ stretched his neck and looked in front. “Not necessarily, I can see that Dugu Xian’s military formation does have holes. Although it is still not comparable to those famous ones from ancient and modern times, it is still not so easily disrupted with just one charge. I’ll bet with you… one hundred taels. I only have this little money, I am the cheapest counselor in the world, and you are the stingiest master.”
If he hadn’t forgotten how to smile, Gu Shenwei would laugh out at this moment. “You’ll definitely lose. Perhaps Dugu Xian is very capable in the art of military formations, but he doesn’t understand these machetemen. It won’t take long for us to break through them. Machetemen would not risk their lives so easily, they would shoot two rounds of arrows from their bows and turn to flee.”
It was about time, the screams of the Great Snowmountain swordsmen were getting louder and louder, and Gu Shenwei took a deep breath and blew into the horn which was hanging from his chest.
The low-pitched horn sounded like a gentle and powerful wind, and it felt as if the breath of the G.o.ds had whisked through the crowd. More than 1,600 cavalrymen galloped, trampling the innocent ground as they rushed toward the enemy. 1,600 round s.h.i.+elds protected their masters, and 1,600 heavy swords swung from their masters’ hands. It seemed as if a behemoth was opening its giant mouth to swallow its prey.
On the first day of September, at the foot of the Sky Mountains by the Peac.o.c.k River, both the Great Snowmountain and the Golden Roc Fort launched their first frontal battle. The 37 years of peace in the Western Region was broken on this day, and a few people thought that the impact of this small-scale campaign would be so great.