Chapter 221: Stability
"Kill!"
Knives, swords, and spears clashed against each other as blood splashed all around. Slashes, stabs, and cuts were made as everything was thrown into a wave of chaos. After several skirmishes, the soldiers backed away due to the heavy losses sustained. The pirates seemed to have gone into a frenzy while they defended their stronghold and managed to push back wave after wave of soldiers.
"Fifth wave, charge!"
"Sixth wave, get ready!"
A mound of dead corpses had piled up beneath the wall. Most of the wall had been stained with blood. Cai Yuan Zhen had a stoic expression on his face as he issued order after order. He didn"t allow the slightest moment for the pirates to rest and recover.
Group after group of soldiers charged up the wall. The group of pirates that defended their fort had already been reduced to half after some time. The sounds of fighting had been reduced as well. After every single attack, the soldiers chipped away at the dwindling numbers of pirates. As the number of pirates were reduced, the more heated the fighting became.
"This is true military tactics. This is the way it"s supposed to be done." Pei Zi Yun watched on and gained a clearer understanding. Regardless of whether it was a defensive battle or an offensive battle, strategies would have to be made when there was time to rest and regroup.
However, when it came to such skirmishes between foot soldiers, there was only one move in the book. That was to use numbers to an advantage.
Under such battles, it was to use all the men and weapons at your disposal and throw them against the enemy. The first side which fails to keep up would lose.
The sound of people as they cheered could then be heard atop the wall. There were less than a hundred pirates atop the wall, to defended the stronghold. At this point six teams of soldiers had gone in, and more than half of them had already died.
"These men atop the wall are true soldiers!" Cai Yuan Zhen spoke out fiercely. With a wave of his hand, another group entered the fray. The sounds of metal armor clanging against their bodies could be heard as a loud shout of courage rang out.
The sound of people just moments before death was deafening. An acrid stench of blood wafted in the air and dissipated across the entire island. Soon after, the doors to the stronghold burst open as the soldiers cheered in elation.
"We"ve breached it!"
Bodies upon bodies of pirates lay strewn across the ground. Seeing that escape was impossible, a pirate ran over and fell to his knees, "Please spare me. I surrender..."
A section leader raised his swords and stabbed him as he shouted out in anger, "You defended and resisted us for so long. Only to surrender now that you"ve lost? Die!"
Another stab ran through his body and blood seeped out. This pirate screamed out in pain and crawled on the ground before he breathed his last and died.
Seeing that the pirates had been overcome, Chen Pu then spoke out happily, "Your Excellency Pei, the battle has been concluded. We"ve managed to strike the pirates at their stronghold and emerge victorious. If the Governor finds out about this, he would be elated. He might even be rewarded by the Imperial Court."
"But for now, you can order the soldiers to be at ease and spare survivors."
When Pei Zi Yun heard this, he smiled and didn"t reply for some time. He then turned around to instruct Cai Yuan Zhen, "Since his Excellency Chen suggested this, send out word not to kill anyone who surrenders."
Cai Yuan Zhen glared coldly at Chen Pu and cursed deep down, "What a b.a.s.t.a.r.d official!"
But he had no choice except to
acknowledge, "Yes!"
Immediately, an order was issued, "Spare anyone who surrenders. Do not kill them."
With these words, the resistance of individual pirates was reduced. After some time, a section leader then reported, "Your Excellency, within the stronghold, there are a couple of pirates who refused to surrender and still wish to resist. There"s a Daoist among them. Several of my soldiers were killed by them and others suffered injuries. Please advise us on our next course of action, your Excellency."
When Pei Zi Yun heard this, he laughed out loud. "Let’s take a look."
At this point, several soldiers surrounded a segregated mansion within the stronghold and constantly observed their surroundings for any sign of movement. Upon observation, this mansion had walls that were tall and had a signboard which read, "Dragon King Mansion". It was almost like a fortress within the stronghold. It was no wonder the soldiers couldn’t take them down.
At this point, another section leader reported, "According to the captives we who we interrogated, this is the living quarters of the pirate leaders. There are around fifty more pirates beyond these walls."
Cai Yuan Zhen then spoke out, "What’s so difficult about that? They’re all doomed bandits. Let’s all gather some dry twigs and firewood to throw over the wall. We shall then set it afire."
Pei Zi Yun was taken aback and asked, "Where did you learn such methods from?"
"Master Top Scorer might not know this. But when we were fighting for peace under the imperial banners years ago, this was how we broke beyond walls."
"But you couldn’t do that within the city, for the fire will spread won’t it?" Pei Zi Yun observed and asked.
"There are usually many innocent civilians within the city, and thus we won’t use such methods in cities. However, this stronghold isn’t a city."
"There aren’t many civilians here within the pirate stronghold. But just think, this person calls himself the Dragon King, and earned a huge sum of money over the past ten years. Won’t it be a pity to raze everything to the ground?" Pei Zi Yun looked across and asked plainly.
At this point, Cai Yuan Zhen seemed to have changed his mind as he laughed, "Then let’s fight our way in."
"There’s a Daoist inside. If you force your way in, it won’t be successful." Pei Zi Yun then continued, "Fetch me some light armor to wear. I don’t need heavy chain armor for protection."
When Chen Pu heard this, he stood up and spoke, "Master Top Scorer. You’re the leading general of this battle, and shouldn’t risk your life unnecessarily."
"That’s not the same. Besides, do you think I wasn’t being serious? No. This is the result of careful deliberation. Attacking the mansion and forcing your way in wasn’t going to achieve success. Doing so would see tens of men dying. How many men do we have left now?"
"Let’s not forget, we still have our naval troops outsides, and we have maintain and upkeep some level of morale without sending too many people to their deaths."
Pei Zi Yun spoke out as he waved a hand, "But I shan’t take too much risk as well. The minute I enter the mansion and open the gates, you have to respond quickly and charge your way in."
"Yes!" Everyone around echoed their sentiments.
The official then took a step forward, "I am willing to enter the mansion with Young Master."
The section leader’s eyebrows were raised as he shouted out, "Me too!"
"No. You shall wait along with the rest of the men and enter when I’ve opened the gates. Besides, you won’t be able to scale this wall anyway. If you use a ladder, then what’s the difference between this and attacking the mansion? You would die either way."
As he spoke, he put the leather armor on himself and prepared for battle. A command was shouted out as the soldiers started to stand in formation, and formed two rows, leaving a gap down the middle. Pei Zi Yun charged down the gap in the formation and arrived at the door. Just then, his body leapt up into the air as he kicked off against the stone walls and flew high up into the sky. Everyone present was astonished. He was wearing heavy leather armor and still managed to be as agile as a cat. He had leapt a considerable distance, and most of them had never seen anyone with such skills.
"Who was this person?"
They then watched on as he charged through, the gleam of his sword became visible. Instantly, five or six bandits who resisted him fell to the ground. The pirates behind were visibly shocked, "Who on earth is he?"
"This person is Pei Zi Yun." The Daoist exclaimed, "Combine our Dao arts and martial arts to kill him together!"
Pei Zi Yun drew his sword and slashed his way through. A pirate slashed in his direction, which Pei Zi Yun parried effortlessly. The second their blades contacted each other, an immense wave of energy coursed through the blades and into the pirate’s body. He spat out large mouthfuls of blood and stumbled to the ground. In the next moment, he saw a shadow move past him in a blur. "Pu" could be heard, and he died in the next moment.
All of a sudden, a large group of pirates charged towards him. One of them was wearing armor as he drew his sword. He condensed all his energy into his sword, causing each stroke to roar and crack in the air like thunder and lightning. At the same time, several Daoists burst forward and started casting spells at Pei Zi Yun, "Binding Technique! Paralysis Technique!"
Pei Zi Yun didn’t seem to pay them any mind at all. His shadow seemed to have fused along with the light reflection from his blade, as he flowed through the group of pirates. "Zhng zhng zhng!" The sounds of swords clanging against one another could be heard. The group of Daoists then watched on as their spells slammed into Pei Zi Yun. They celebrated for they knew that was the end of him. In that second, the wind froze in midair, and the lightning halted.
However, Pei Zi Yun moved from that very spot right at the last second, as his shadow disappeared.
"Ah...." Fang Zhi shouted out all of a sudden. A red line formed across his right cheek, as his face split open. His teeth could even be seen from the deep gash in his cheek. Blood flowed down freely across his face. Although the wound wasn’t grave, it proved how dangerous Pei Zi Yun was. This was clearly an attempt at mockery.
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d. You bunch of useless people." Fang Zhi shouted out. When he turned around to look, he saw several Daoists bent over, vomiting blood.
"Cheap idiots. Have you forgotten, I was granted the imperial banner, which means the Imperial Qi is protecting me." Pei Zi Yun shouted out, "Before I attacked, I’ve already consulted the Emperor for his permission. All these Dao arts are completely useless against me, and a clear defiance against the dynasty."
Even before he could finish speaking, his physical form turned into a ray of light as he dashed his way across the battlefield. Fang Zhi was taken aback by his frightening display, and yet there was nothing he could’ve done considering his reaction time wasn’t fast enough. All he could do was watch on helplessly. The next moment, he gave a shout, as he drew his sword and charged forward.
"Zhng zhng zhng!" The clanging of swords rang repeatedly. Several strokes later, it became apparent that Fang Zhi was unable to hold his own as he retreated and rolled away to avoid a lethal blow. When he got up, the gleam of a sword ran down his chest. The strike was bold and hard, as a red line of blood formed across his entire torso.
Fang Zhi was scared out of his mind, seeing such a blow being delivered so mercilessly to him. At this moment, a pair of samurais rushed over and shouted out in anger. They a.s.saulted Pei Zi Yun’s flanks. Each and every blow dealt was deadly and violent. This was a fight to the death, and all parties knew this.
"Cloud Form!" Instantly Pei Zi Yun burst forth with such intense speed, that it was akin to the speed of light. A samurai warrior charged towards the moving shadow which was Pei Zi Yun. Only after the third step, he crashed and crumbled to the ground. The other warrior slashed wildly in the air, unable to connect any of his blows. Before he could turn to where Pei Zi Yun was, a loud sound rang out as his head was severed from his neck.
Fang Zhi took advantage of this distraction and turned around to flee. Before he could even travel a few meters, a sword was plunged into his throat.
"The Dragon King has died, the Dragon King has died." The pirates around watched on and shouted out helplessly, seeing such a hopeless situation. Their morale was clearly shattered as they retreated warily. However, several others seemed to have been driven to insanity as they charged towards Pei Zi Yun, disregarding their own safety.
Pei Zi Yun whistled as he met their advances without retreating. When they finally reached striking distance, he struck out, and the first of three pirates fell to the ground. At the same time however, he felt an impact on his chest as his armor trembled. He had finally been struck by a sword, and had pierced through the armor.
"So what if you managed to strike me?"
"I have the protection of my armor, Dao arts, and the protection of the Emperor to defend myself."
"Blinding Light Technique!"
A ray of bright white light exploded, causing the tens of pirates to lose their vision temporarily. Pei Zi Yun was generous with his sword strokes and dealt them out without hesitation. Seven or eight men fell to the ground and perished. At this point those who had dared to risk their lives were already dead. Everyone else felt a certain chill run down their hearts. Pei Zi Yun retreated towards the entrance and tugged it, as the sound of metal clanging rang out.
"Boom!" He kicked down the door and the group of soldiers who were ready, rushed in immediately.
"Die die die!"
The entire army of soldiers spilled through the entrance like water and overwhelmed the remaining pirates within the mansion. Most of the pirates were extremely discouraged and had their morale completely shattered at this point. Just several moments ago, each of them were full of confidence and fighting spirit, willing to fight to their deaths. At this point however, some of them had fled for their lives.
"A failing army is like a mountain falling and crashing." Pei Zi Yun thought of this sentence. When a side loses, such matters couldn’t be helped.
"Bring me the bow!" Pei Zi Yun felt a certain fire in his chest. He had received several gashes and cuts earlier. When he looked down however, he realized his leather amour wasn’t badly damaged.
Someone hurriedly brought over a bow for him.
Pei Zi Yun glanced around and saw a Daoist making his escape. Pei Zi Yun whipped out an arrow, as the bow string tensed up.
"Xiu!" The arrow arched high up into the air, and darted towards its target. The next moment, "pu" could be heard from some distance away. This was the sound of the arrow as it penetrated flesh.
Thirty meters away, the Daoist’s heart had been pierced through from his back. He didn’t even have time to scream as he fell to the ground, face first.
Pei Zi Yun whipped out another arrow and nocked it into his bow. He then adjusted the angle and accounted for wind before he locked onto another target.
The bowstring turned taut.
"Xiu, pu!"
Fresh blood spurted out, as another Daoist fell to the ground. This arrow went through his head, as a mixture of white and red liquid seeped out from his head. The Daoist shouted out in agony, as he fell to the ground.
"I surrender, please spare me!" Another Daoist fell to his knees and begged.
"Xiu, pu!"
All the soldiers who had gathered around Pei Zi Yun were full of admiration. Within the stronghold, there were ma.s.ses of blood, gore, and corpses. There weren’t many enemies that remained. Some of them started screaming out in fear, while they tried to escape. Others grabbed torches and tried to raze the entire stronghold, and attempted to take as many soldiers along with them as they could.
"Kill these arsonists!" These were the extreme pirates, and were killed off first by the soldiers.
"I surrender, please spare me!" Some other pirates knew they had no other option left, and fell to their knees. They had seen what happened to those who tried to flee. Chen Pu then whispered, "Master Top Scorer, you can accept their surrender and spare them."
Everyone then turned to them at this point, quietly waiting and watching to see Pei Zi Yun’s decision.
Pei Zi Yun smiled and spoke out plainly, "Sure. Tie them all up together. We shall interrogate them."
"Spare those who surrender, spare those who surrender!" Hearing this order, the rest of the soldiers echoed it. As soon as word got out, the rest of the enemies within the stronghold decided to stop resisting, and threw their weapons down to the ground and fell to their knees. The sounds of killing ceased as well.