HUS Chapter 70: He Came Rushing In
HUS Chapter 70: He Came Rushing In
January 4
Canglang Gorge lived up to its name. The mountain walls on both sides looked as if carved with axes and chiseled with blades.
An axe had split open the yellow earth, chiseling a gap in this green mountain ridge.
The valley was long and deep. Wind passing through the gorge was much more fierce than outside.
Over a hundred retainer soldiers from Feng'an Estate were already lying in ambush on both sides of the gorge.
During farming off-seasons, hunting was their common means of supplementing household income.
During this time, they not only practiced excellent archery but also mastered many methods for concealing tracks and setting traps.
Now, all these methods for dealing with alert wild beasts were put to use.
Zhao Laosan clung like a gecko to a protruding section midway up the cliff.
This place was dozens of zhang high from the ground, and the protruding width could barely fit one foot yet he stubbornly held steady with both hands gripping rock crevices.
From this angle, he could see the movements outside the valley at the first moment.
He pressed there, his gaze like an eagle's, staring at the gorge entrance.
Over a hundred retainer soldiers lay in ambush on the steep cliffs on both sides.
They held hunting bows, wood axes, lassos, and stacked stones still covered with mud.
"They're coming!"
Zhao Laosan's eyes suddenly lit up. He looked up and blew a sharp whistle, then quickly moved away.
At the valley entrance, over twenty riders guarding eight large carts slowly entered.
Past this mountain pass, they would enter a Xianbei tribe's territory.
Their hearts finally relaxed.
"Wait!" The lead rider suddenly reined in his horse, a vague feeling of unease rising in his heart.
Those retainer soldiers had improvised many traps and mechanisms for catching wild beasts using local materials. However, their techniques were very clever. They could deceive even wild beasts, so naturally they wouldn't leave any flaws.
But this leader just had a feeling of unease, although he also wasn't clear where this feeling came from.
"Chief, something suspicious?" A rider urged his horse closer and asked in a low voice.
That leader didn't answer, only staring fixedly at a particularly narrow section ahead with the heaviest shadows.
His right hand began slowly gripping the blade handle at his side.
At the cliff top, Kang Zhengyang knew they couldn't wait any longer.
"Attack!"
He shouted sharply. Beside him, Kang Zhengyi immediately pushed down a huge boulder.
Kang Zhengyang also drew his hunting bow, aiming at that leader.
"Rumble rumble..."
"Crash crash..."
From the mountain walls on both sides, stones large and small wrapped in mud and sand crashed down.
At the front of the valley path, several large trees with cloud-like canopies slowly toppled down.
With a boom, the dense tree crowns completely blocked the mountain path.
Some stones piled on the cliff were supported by wooden sticks.
As long as the wooden sticks were pried with steel forks, piles of stones crashed down like hail with sounds like a mountain collapsing.
"Ambush! Scatter quickly! Protect the goods!"
That rider leader shouted loudly. Fortunately, he twisted while shouting, so he avoided his vital throat.
Kang Zhengyang's arrow only struck his shoulder.
This leader's reaction was also quick. With one roll, he tumbled off his war horse, avoiding the second arrow that followed.
The gorge was too narrow, only allowing two carts to pass side by side.
In such a narrow space, they couldn't effectively scatter at all but the stones and arrows from above could pour down freely.
These mountain goods transporters' skills were far superior to the retainer soldiers', but unfortunately, they had no place to use them.
No matter how quick their movements, they couldn't be faster than galloping and roaring boulders, much less faster than mechanically powered arrows.
A rider was struck by a huge boulder and immediately fell along with his horse.
One cart was hit by a large stone. The cart shattered, and the farm goods on it scattered all over the ground.
Another large cart's wheel was struck by rolling stones, breaking five spokes and getting stuck.
The horse pulling the cart was startled and neighed, wanting to escape but could only circle in place.
These mountain goods transporters reacted very alertly. Survivors quickly pressed against the roots of the mountains on both sides, trying to avoid rolling stones and arrows this way. However, those damned retainer soldiers threw down pouches woven from rattan.
Those pouches bounced like balls, smashing the beehives inside to pieces.
These were nests of hornets, ground wasps, and tiger-headed wasps that the retainer soldiers had found in the valley.
They carefully picked them down, used local vines to make pouches, and enclosed them inside.
Once these things were thrown out, the beehives were damaged, and the enraged bee swarms stung anyone they saw.
"Ah, ahah~"
Originally hiding under the cliffs, they had already avoided rolling stones and arrows, but before they could catch their breath, the bee swarms came.
Those who were stung covered their faces with both hands and screamed in pain.
They wanted to flee forward, but rolling stones and arrows continuously fell from the air.
Although these mountain walls on both sides were steep, there were still gentle slopes that could be climbed.
So survivors could only charge up from here but along this short mountain path, lassos, pitfall traps, wooden arrows strung on tree branches, and crude spiked collision boards began to take effect.
These mountain goods transporters could be considered people who had experienced great storms, but this time they really had a butcher's hands slip and get gored by a pig.
They only had about twenty-some people in total. After being schemed against by over a hundred people using pre-prepared methods, they immediately suffered heavy losses.
By the time Kang Zhengyang's ranged attack methods were exhausted, there were only a few people left who could still fight with blades, and each person was wounded.
"Kill!"
Kang Zhengyang raised his blade. He and Kang Zhengyi holding his steel fork led the charge down first.
The retainers on both mountains responded in unison and also charged out.
The battle entered close combat, and the retainer soldiers used military formation tactics.
They formed groups of three to five, with long weapons, short weapons, ranged weapons, and even rattan shields, coordinating seamlessly.
Using coordinated combat ability, although their individual martial skills were inferior to their opponents, they displayed very strong combat power.
Bamboo spears stabbing, wood axes chopping, rope lassos pulling, shields blocking, cold arrow shooting...
The surviving enemies numbered only five or six. How could this battle be fought?
When they fell one after another, they had only successfully killed one retainer soldier.
This was only because this retainer soldier stepped on a loose stone and actively tumbled beside them.
"See if anyone's still breathing. Kill them all!"
After a fierce battle, Kang Zhengyang leaned on his blade and issued orders sternly.
Those retainer soldiers didn't need instruction and were already searching for survivors.
Those who had been struck by rolling stones or arrows and were fortunately still gasping, as soon as they were seen, people immediately rushed up and delivered a blade strike.
Li Quanxin walked panting to a cart covered and tied with lacquered cloth. This cart was the one whose wheel was smashed, with broken spokes, stuck in place.
He didn't cut the rope. This finger-thick hemp rope, the whole rope was valuable.
Li Quanxin wiped his bloody hunting knife on his shoe sole, then stuck it in his waist, untied the rope with bare hands, then excitedly lifted the lacquered cloth...
What met his eyes was neither silk and satin nor gold and silver jewelry. What were these things?
After just one glance, Li Quanxin's eyes widened.
As a hunter, he completely didn't recognize what was being transported on this cart.
"Corps Commander, Corps Commander, come quickly. Look what's on this cart!"
Kang Zhengyang was standing not far from him. Hearing the shout, he picked up his blade and walked over.
"Corps Commander, look quickly. What's loaded on this cart?"
Kang Zhengyang walked to the cart and looked inside.
Looking at those neatly stacked, bundled fragments, Kang Zhengyang was also initially puzzled.
Suddenly, he reacted at once, and his expression changed dramatically.
"Corps Commander, what is thi..."
Before Li Quanxin finished speaking, Kang Zhengyang swiftly covered it with the lacquered cloth again.
A few retainer soldiers who had just checked the vicinity once and found no more survivors were about to come look when they saw Kang Zhengyang's expression was extremely ugly.
A trace of cold swept from Kang Zhengyang's tailbone, shooting straight to the crown of his head.
All of Kang Zhengyang's body hair stood on end.
He knew that this time, they had probably provoked a terrifying figure they absolutely couldn't afford to provoke.
...
Kang Zhengyang was knowledgeable.
He had a set of worn armor bestowed on his father by the Yu family, which he treasured.
Usually, he only took it out for maintenance and was absolutely reluctant to wear it.
He had now recognized that the cart was loaded full of armor.
The reason hunter Li Quanxin didn't recognize it was that the armor was all disassembled parts.
What these large carts carried were mostly lamellar armor, a type of cavalry armor.
In addition, there were several more ornate bright-light armor sets worn by generals.
Disassembling armor into parts allowed for more effective use of cart loading space.
Using his own armor set as reference, Kang Zhengyang estimated that these four large carts carried about one hundred sets of armor.
This was a hundred sets!
In this current era, blades and spears weren't prohibited, nor even bows and arrows but armor and crossbows were things that any ruler strictly prohibited civilians from possessing.
It was really because armor and powerful crossbows played too great a role on the battlefield, with too obvious an enhancement to combat power.
Although the Eight Clans of Longshang each governed separately and weren't a unified country, regarding control of armor and crossbows, their attitude was highly consistent.
In their territories, any civilian secretly possessing or selling armor or crossbows would be executed upon discovery!
And these mountain goods transporters, just this one time, had privately trafficked about one hundred sets of armor.
One hundred sets of armor could match at least five hundred unarmored cavalry.
More importantly, armored cavalry charges could easily tear through unarmored cavalry formations.
So its effect on a battle couldn't be simply measured in one-to-how-many ratios.
With just two hundred elite armored cavalry, one could influence the outcome of a medium-sized battle.
Any of the Eight Clans of Longshang, if they discovered such large-scale armor transactions in their territory, would treat it as a major threat and investigate thoroughly.
Otherwise, even they would feel uneasy.
What Kang Zhengyang feared was: what kind of person had this capability to conduct such large-scale armor transactions?
And how could the strength of such a person be something he, a mere estate corps commander, could resist?
Yes, he could report this matter to the Clan Head. The Clan Head would certainly take it seriously, but would the Clan Head send people to protect him continuously?
Someone who could produce one hundred cavalry armor sets for trade, wanting to quietly kill him would be extremely easy.
Such a powerful enemy, still hidden in the shadows. He was doomed!
Kang Zhengyang stood blankly before the cart, his mind in chaos for a moment.
At this time, a burst of rapid horse hoofbeats suddenly came.
Kang Zhengyang couldn't help but shiver with a cold shudder.
He suddenly raised his head and saw Yang Can and Leopard Head leading seven or eight guard martial masters, galloping into the valley on horseback.
Kang Zhengyang looked at them like a little sheep that had fallen into a pit, watching another little sheep come hopping toward the trap...
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