Chapter 25: Heavy Mountain Fortress, Heavy Mountain Fortress
Yang Zhengshan saw that the fire had died down and shouted again, “When facing the enemy who has invaded our land, we can only do one thing, and that is to kill!”
“Use our long guns to kill our way out and create a path for our parents, wives, and children!”
He kicked a nearby iron gun and pointed at the young men below, shouting, “Kill!”
“Kill, kill, kill!”
The young men, with bloodshot eyes, raised their long guns and let out a loud, angry roar.
They were frightened and angry, frightened by the scene of their parents, wives, and children being slaughtered, and angry at the enemy’s invasion.
The sound of their roar echoed through the cold wind, lingering on for a long time.
The villagers around them also clenched their fists, their eyes reddening as they watched the scene unfold.
Yang Zhengshan stood among the crowd, silently watching the scene, his eyes flashing with a different kind of emotion.
“He has the talent of a general!”
Yang Zhengshan, standing above, listened to the passionate roars, a hint of a smile appearing at the corners of his eyes.
What is the most important thing for an army?
Yang Zhengshan thought it was faith.
The young men in front of him were like blank sheets of paper, and the first thing he needed to do was to instill faith in them.
The faith to protect!
Faith was the reason and motivation to fight, and it was the foundation of fearlessness.
Feeling that it was almost time, Yang Zhengshan pressed down on his gun and said, “Stop!”
When the noise stopped, he took a deep breath and said, “You have understood why you are fighting, and now you need to use your blood and sweat to forge a city wall for your parents, wives, and children!”
“The upcoming training will be tough and difficult, are you prepared?”
“We are!”
“Very good! Then let’s start with the formation drills!”
Yang Zhengshan began his formal training.
Formation drills were the foundation, the start of building military discipline.
With faith established, the next step was to build military discipline, and once these young men could follow orders without question, they would be ready for battle.
In fact, for these young men, training for battle was the easiest thing to train, as they had all practiced the Yang family’s gun technique.
The Yang family gun technique was developed on the battlefield, and with its foundation, training for battle would naturally become easier.
The specific training process didn’t need to be elaborated on, as Yang Zhengshan drew on his own military experience and combined it with his original body’s experience in the military to create a decent training method.
While the young men were undergoing training, the entire Yang Family Village was also in a state of busyness.
Yang Zhengshan led the villagers in manufacturing wooden horses, digging trenches, and reinforcing the outer walls of the village. He also sent over a dozen young men to Longqing Mountain to find a temporary residence.
If they could defend Yang Family Village, that would be best. If they couldn’t, they could at least hide in Longqing Mountain and avoid the Hu tribe’s slaughter.
As time passed, news about the war on the borders continued to arrive.
On the eighteenth day of the first month of the twenty-third year of the Chengping era, the Hu tribe gathered a large army of 50,000 outside the Heavy Mountain Fortress.
On the twenty-second day, the Hu tribe launched an attack, but was repelled by the defenders of the fortress.
From then on, the Hu tribe would launch an attack every two or three days, but each attack would be somewhat half-hearted.
On the third day of the second month, the Duke of Ning, Zhang Shouwang, stood on the city wall of the Heavy Mountain Fortress, gazing out at the endless Hu tribe camps outside.
The vice generals and generals stood beside him, their faces grave as they looked out at the camps.
Zhang Shouwang, nearing sixty, had a long, flowing beard that fluttered in the cold wind. His eyes were particularly deep, as if they held a sorrow that couldn’t be washed away.
“Their goal is not to break through the Heavy Mountain Fortress!”
He stroked his long beard, saying it with certainty.
The vice general, Ji Fei, looked puzzled, “If it’s not to break through the Heavy Mountain Fortress, then why have they gathered an army of 50,000?”
Although the Hu tribe had been launching frequent attacks on the Heavy Mountain Fortress, each attack seemed half-hearted, and they would retreat as soon as they suffered some casualties.
Zhang Shouwang couldn’t guess what the Hu tribe’s goal was.
These were different times.
Twenty years ago, the Da Rong Imperial Dynasty was at its peak, and the Heavy Mountain Fortress was strong and prosperous. It was able to defeat the Hu tribe’s main force in one battle. But now, the dynasty was in decline, and the national power was weak. The nine border towns had long since fallen into disarray.
Especially the Heavy Mountain Fortress, which had not experienced a large-scale war in twenty years. The soldiers had grown lax, and they were no longer as mighty as they once were.
Furthermore, their attention to the Hu tribe had also relaxed over the years. They didn’t have an accurate count of the Hu tribe’s military strength, nor did they know their bottom line.
Under such circumstances, they were unable to accurately grasp the Hu tribe’s movements and goals.
“We’ve been too lax over the years!”
Zhang Shouwang’s eyes were filled with sorrow and helplessness.
He came from a noble family, but he had spent decades in the military and had witnessed the Heavy Mountain Fortress decline from its former glory.
He thought about the past, and then looked at the current state of the Heavy Mountain Fortress. The mountains and rivers were still there, but they no longer had the same grandeur.
Facing an enemy of 50,000, he dared not venture out to engage them, and he felt a sense of sadness.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t change the Heavy Mountain Fortress, nor could he change the current situation.
The problem didn’t lie with the Heavy Mountain Fortress, but with the imperial court.
The war on Black Cloud Mountain had brought glory to the Da Rong Imperial Dynasty’s northern borders, but it had also created internal conflicts.
As a result, there were many unjust cases, and the once-strong Heavy Mountain Fortress had declined.
There were too many past grievances, and it was hard to explain them all.
Just as Zhang Shouwang felt a sense of powerlessness, a urgent report came in.
“Report, there’s smoke rising from the beacon tower at Zhang River Fort!”
Zhang Shouwang and the generals’ faces changed, and they looked towards the west.
They saw a column of smoke rising straight up into the gray sky, looking particularly conspicuous.
However, this was just the beginning, and Zhang Shouwang’s eyes suddenly narrowed as his brows furrowed.
Column after column of smoke rose, and in the blink of an eye, the entire western sky was filled.
The Heavy Mountain Fortress referred not to the Heavy Mountain Pass, but to the entire defense system stretching from the eastern coast to the three peaks of the Thousand Layer Mountain Range, a total of over 800 li.
With five beacon towers, ten outposts, thirty strongholds, and a hundred cities, it formed the border defense system.
Now that the western beacons were lit, it meant that a large number of enemies had invaded.
“It’s a single column of smoke!” Ji Fei’s face darkened, his expression grim.
Whenever the Hu tribe invaded, if there were fewer than 500 people, a single beacon would be lit. If there were fewer than 5,000 people, two beacons would be lit. If there were between 5,000 and 10,000 people, three beacons would be lit, and if there were over 10,000 people, four beacons would be lit.
Now that the western beacon towers were all lit with a single column of smoke, it didn’t mean that there were fewer than 500 people invading, but rather that there were many small groups of enemies infiltrating.
If it were a single group, the beacons would form a line, extending towards the Heavy Mountain Fortress, rather than spreading out like this.
Zhang Shouwang looked back at the enemy camps below.
The 50,000-strong enemy army was still stationed in the camps.
“Their goal is small-scale pillaging!”
At this point, Zhang Shouwang finally understood the Hu tribe’s goal.
The 50,000-strong army below was just to attract attention and pin down the defenders of the Heavy Mountain Fortress, and if he dared to mobilize the defenders to surround and attack the infiltrating enemy, the 50,000-strong army would launch an all-out attack on the fortress.
“Yes, they don’t dare to engage in an all-out war with us, they just want to plunder resources!”
Zhang Shouwang’s eyes drooped, and a sense of gloominess welled up in his heart.
This situation, although it could avoid a full-scale defeat, would still put the nearby civilians in harm’s way.
The many small groups of enemies would infiltrate and plunder, and even if they sent troops to surround and attack, they wouldn’t be able to eliminate them all.
“Pass down the order, let the Left Vanguard and Right Vanguard of the Prefectural Banner split up and attack, surrounding the enemy!”
Zhang Shouwang issued the order.
The Five Camps of the Prefectural Banner were the last elite troops of the Heavy Mountain Fortress, totaling around 15,000 soldiers, including the Left Vanguard and Right Vanguard, which were both cavalry units.
Since the enemy was infiltrating in small groups, they could only split up and surround them.
Infantry couldn’t catch up to the enemy’s horseback riders, so Zhang Shouwang could only use his most elite cavalry units, hoping to eliminate more of the enemy.
“Yes!”
Two generals walked out, saluted, and accepted the order.
Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter