Chapter 232- Taking Down Er'Shi Ridge Part 2
Translator: TeamTWO
Editor: Nora
Er'Shi Ridge, mountain bandit stronghold, Hall of Brotherhood.
"What's the situation?" questioned the boss. The forceful and angry aura he emitted choked everyone, “Who has the courage to attack our mountain stronghold?"
"It's a proper army, with more than 1,500 men. They used fire arrows to burn our first roadblock." Goutou had received firsthand information.
"Heh, such nerve!" The boss became furious when he heard that the enemy had less than 2,000, “Order the brothers to kill them at the second roadblock."
"Yes!" The military advisor ran down to send the orders.
At the foot of the mountain, Zhao Sihu looked at the burning roadblock and didn't make a move.
Inside the roadblock, the mountain bandits that couldn't escape in time let out screams of pain, as the fire burned them alive. Although some of them escaped, their backs had caught on fire; they tumbled around on the ground and asked their allies for help.
The burning roadblock had similarly stopped Zhao Sihu and his forces from attacking.
The fire burned on for a whole hour before it slowly stopped. Zhao Sihu ordered his men to obtain twigs to extinguish the fire, which would clear a road for them to enter.
20 minutes later, the force continued their advance.
On the way, they didn’t see a single mountain bandit; they had all retreated to the second roadblock.
Zhao Sihu knew that the real test was going to come.
He looked at this roadblock built out of rock, the fire attack weren’t as effective anymore. This roadblock was hard to attack but easy to defend. With his current troops, breaching this place was harder than ascending the heavens.
The mountain bandit chieftain stood on the wall and shouted, “Who are you, to dare break my roadblock and attack my stronghold?"
"I'm the one that's going to take your life. You are all shameless and lack conscience. You steal from the mountain barbarians; you all don't deserve to live."
"Haha," the mountain bandit laughed like he had heard a joke, “With only you, you want to do the work of the heavens? Haha, it's better if you go home and feed your kids!"
"Haha haha," a bunch of mountain bandits also laughed loudly, mocking the troops.
Zhao Sihu didn't make a move, but he shouted back, “Cowardly tortoises; what's there to be proud of? Do you dare to come out and fight with your grandpa?"
The soldiers supported their major and mocked the bandits, hurling abuse at them. The threw out anything bad that they could think off.
"You!" The mountain barbarian chieftain was furious, “Shoot the arrows, shoot them, kill them!"
When the archers received this order, they started raining arrows at the enemy troops.
Zhao Sihu had prepared his troops for this, and the sword-shield soldiers raised their shield to block the arrow rain. They slowly backed off until they got out of range.
"Haha," the chieftain grew complacent, “Now, who's the coward?"
As a general that Ouyang Shuo had placed his faith in, Zhao Sihu wasn't simple. When he saw the mountain barbarians not fall for it, he took a look at the wind direction and thought of a plan. He ordered his troops to cut down the wet twigs and douse them in alchemical fire oil. The sword-shield soldiers braved the arrow rain to pile the twigs under the roadblock.
The mountain bandits didn't recognize the alchemical fire oil. When they saw these actions, they didn't know what their enemy was trying to do.
After his soldiers returned, Zhao Sihu ordered the archers to fire and ignite the twigs.
In a moment, smoke rose from the twig mountain. The wind was just nicely blowing toward the roadblock, which blew smoke into it and fogged it all up.
The chieftain finally realized that the enemy had tricked them, “Despicable, it's this method again!"
The thick smoke covered the entire roadblock; the mountain bandits found it hard to bear with it, and felt that breathing was very difficult. They had no choice but to leave the wall and back off.
Zhao Sihu grabbed the chance to order the troops to attack the roadblock.
Before they attacked, he ordered the troops to wet a cloth and cover their nose and mouths.
The mountain bandit were busy taking care of themselves. Without the interference of the archers, the Shanhai troops quickly took the gate down. Zhao Sihu ordered the archers to remove the twigs and the sword-shield soldiers charged in.
The mountain bandits were like headless flies in the smoke. When they saw the enemy chase in, they became like birds fleeing from a bullet, as the sword-shield soldiers chased them around as they ran.
The thick smoke slowly faded away; Zhao Sihu had successfully taken down the second roadblock.
Mountain stronghold, Hall of Brotherhood.
"Report!" the messenger ran inside the hall, “Boss, the enemy has taken down the second roadblock; they’re advancing toward the third one."
"What?" the boss stood up, which instantly shook the floor, “Heipi that useless junk. How did he lose a roadblock so quickly!"
"Boss, it seems like the enemy general isn't simple," military advisor Goutou noted.
"En." The boss finally paid attention, Come, follow me to the final roadblock. I want to see who is coming."
"Yes!"
The boss personally let 4,000 elite troops and rushed to the third and strongest roadblock. It was like a iron fortress placed on the path, a total castle.
Zhao Sihu looked at the third roadblock. He knew that it was impossible for him to take it no matter what he did.
The boss appeared on top of the castle and shouted down, “Who are you? Say your name and I won't kill you."
Zhao Sihu laughed. Such a small mountain bandit leader, yet he still dared to talk about the rules of Jianghu, truly amusing. Zhao Sihu wasn't fazed, “Listen up, we are from the Shanhai City army, it's time for you to surrender."
"Ha? Shanhai City? What's that, such nerve." The boss had never heard of any Shanhai City.
"Heh, what an idiot." When Zhao Sihu saw that even the boss had appeared, he knew that he had completed the mission. As such, he shot the signal bullet.
When it reached the sky, it burst open in mid-air.
"What are they doing, are they calling for reinforcements?" The mountain bandits didn't understand.
Er'Shi Ridge, back of the mountain.
The main force had waited in the back mountain for two hours. Finally, they saw the signal and stood up, “Attack!"
"Kill!" the troops came out from their hiding spots and charged into the mountain stronghold.
Before they left, Ouyang Shuo ordered the Guards to wake up and untie the pair of unlucky couple.
After he woke up, he looked at Ouyang Shuo, shocked beyond words. Then, he stammered, “Yo … yo … you, who are you? Ho … how did you get here?"
Ouyang Shuo shook his head in disappointment. On the other hand, the girl was calm and asked, “Are you here to destroy the mountain stronghold?"
"That's right. I'm the lord of Shanhai City and the mountain barbarian tribes asked me to help them destroy this mountain stronghold. Can you lead the way?" Ouyang Shuo explained the reason why they were here.
When she saw that it was their saviour, she became so delighted she teared up, “I know the route, follow me."
Under the leadership of the girl, things went smoothly, and they directly entered the core area of the mountain stronghold.
At that point, the boss had moved more than half of the combat mountain bandits to the roadblock. When the remaining ones saw the troops, they were astonished.
Apart from the guards, a large portion of them didn't carry weapons. They would only get their weapons from the arsenal during operations.
Hence, the elite Shanhai City troops faced a bunch of barefisted Mountain bandits.
A slaughter, this was the only description of the battle that ensued.
Out of the participating soldiers, there were 2,000 mountain barbarians. The bandits had bullied a large portion of them before. As the saying goes, when one sees their enemy, their eyes will become red.
At that moment, all the mountain barbarian soldiers were furious, as they killed anyone that entered their sights, be it combat mountain bandits or non-combat ones. They cruelly murdered anyone that tried to escape.
When Ouyang Shuo heard the news, he ordered the troops to prevent the slaughter.
Time was very precious, and they needed to clear out all the combat mountain bandits before those at the roadblock returned. Where would they find the time to waste on the non-combat one?
Furthermore, the military weren't killers. Unless forced, he didn't want them to act against innocent people.
After they entered the mountain stronghold, Ouyang Shuo directly ordered the Guards unit to take control of the main gate. The archers took over the archer towers to prevent reinforcements.
Blood rained on the mountain stronghold; some of the mountain bandits hobbled to the roadblock, “Boss, boss. It’s bad; it's very bad."
The boss felt that Zhao Sihu's lack of movement was very strange. After he heard this report, he had a bad premonition. He quickly ran up and grabbed the collar of the mountain bandit and furiously asked, “Speak! What happened in the stronghold?" He nearly strangled the mountain bandit.
"Cough, cough." The mountain bandit was half scared to death, “Boss, a large army has appeared in the mountain stronghold."
"How? Where did they come from? How many people?"
"Many. We couldn't count; they came from the back mountain." The mountain bandits had rushed here, so how could they’ve bothered to count?
"Back mountain?" The boss had experienced more surprises today than ever before in his life. He muttered, “The back mountain is a cliff. How did they come up?"
The military advisor remained calm and reminded, “Boss, what we need to do now is to make a choice. We must choose whether to assist the mountain stronghold or directly go down the mountain."
"Correct." The boss calmed himself down, “It's not an option to go down. The road is too small, so the enemy just has to block the road and we are dead." The boss felt frustrated, the advantages of the ridge had become the thing that left them no way out at this crucial moment.
"Let's return and fight them!" The boss chose to launch a final fight.