Not only was Qing Muluan watching the scene below, every single Changxin soldier behind her was craning their neck to see.
The reason she had managed to rally the troops so smoothly, apart from A-Mei’s ruthless enforcement of discipline, was mainly that the soldiers had spotted reinforcements. They had seen hope of rescue.
Most of the rank-and-file were farmers by origin. Recognising their own regimental banners was already impressive; the vast majority could not identify the flags of Guangyuan prefectural troops and assumed everyone Jin Feng brought was an escort master.
In the earlier bandit-suppression campaigns, the Changxin soldiers had long been awed by the combat strength of those veterans.
Twenty male soldiers paired with forty female soldiers, operating trebuchets and heavy crossbows, could inflict massive casualties on the bandits every time. Calling it one against ten would be no exaggeration.
If the two thousand men who had just arrived were all escort masters, what was there to fear?
Yet several officers looked deeply worried.
Ordinary soldiers might not recognise prefectural banners, but the officers did, and they knew full well how weak those troops were.
As for the bandits on the mountain, they regarded Jin Feng’s movements with utter contempt.
After seizing the trebuchets and heavy crossbows, they had tested them repeatedly and long ago worked out their effective ranges under different conditions.
From where Jin Feng stood, it was simply impossible to hurl stones onto Wulang Mountain.
While everyone harboured their own thoughts, the three trebuchets manned by the female soldiers were fully loaded.
Zhang Liang glanced back, saw Jin Feng give a slight nod, and shouted coldly, “Fire!”
Under the gaze of all, the soldiers responsible for loading poured oil over the jars in the throwing baskets.
Then they lit them with fire folds.
The next instant, three female soldiers swung their hammers simultaneously and smashed the triggers.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Seven burning jars streaked through the air with a howl and landed precisely on two heavy-crossbow positions.
Crash!
The jars shattered, splashing burning oil in all directions.
Both heavy-crossbow positions erupted into roaring flames.
Every heavy crossbow the bandits had deployed on Wulang Mountain was swallowed by the fire.
Although the crossbows contained plenty of steel components, many parts were still wooden. Once engulfed by intense flames, they were as good as ruined.
“How can their trebuchets throw that far?”
The bandit leaders gathered on the mountain were stunned speechless.
They could not understand it. The Zhenyuan Escort Agency trebuchets looked smaller than the ones they had captured, yet their range was more than half again as great.
How could the bandits know that the trebuchets they had seized from Qing Muluan were only the most basic model?
Those had the advantages of simple construction, easy operation, and the ability to hurl many stones at once, making them devastating against dense formations.
Their drawbacks were large size, difficult transport, and limited range.
The three machines Jin Feng was using now were improved versions stored in his rear-mountain arsenal. They fired lighter projectiles and were more complex to operate, but they had far greater range and pinpoint accuracy.
“Excellent!”
Every Changxin soldier on the mountain roared with excitement.
Qing Muluan and the guards behind her all let out long breaths of relief.
For days they had been completely pinned down by the bandits, unable even to attempt a breakout. The main threat had come from those heavy crossbows and trebuchets.
Since Jin Feng could destroy the crossbows, he could surely deal with the trebuchets too.
Sure enough, after eliminating the crossbows, the female soldiers did not stop. Under Jin Feng’s direction, they began reloading and winding for another volley.
“Quick! Move all the trebuchets to new positions!”
The bandit leaders realised Jin Feng’s intent and frantically bellowed orders to relocate their machines.
But before the messengers could even reach the trebuchet positions, the next wave of strikes arrived.
With the sound of shattering jars, the bandits’ trebuchet positions were also engulfed in flames.
At this point, every trebuchet and heavy crossbow the bandits had taken from Qing Muluan was gone.
These two volleys dealt a devastating blow to bandit morale.
Panic appeared on many faces.
Down below, Captain Xiao stared at the two patches of fire on the mountainside and unconsciously clenched his fists.
His greatest fear had been that Jin Feng would order the prefectural troops into a costly frontal assault just to rescue Qing Muluan.
Now it was clear Jin Feng had indeed kept an ace up his sleeve.
“We won’t have to throw our lives away after all.”
Captain Xiao quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Beside him, Zhang Liang asked Jin Feng, “Young master, shall we send someone to call for surrender again?”
The breath Captain Xiao had just released immediately caught in his throat.
The last man sent to parley was not even cold yet. Sending another now would be suicide.
Suddenly a flash of understanding struck Captain Xiao.
When prefectural troops fought bandits, they never bothered with calls for surrender. They simply attacked.
Earlier, when Zhang Liang told him to send a man, Captain Xiao had found it odd but assumed it was just old army habit.
Now he understood.
The first call had not been about surrender at all. It was to locate the bandits’ heavy crossbows and trebuchets!
This second call would be to confirm whether any more were hidden.
Realising this, Captain Xiao felt no resentment towards Zhang Liang. On the contrary, it seemed perfectly reasonable.
He too had seen battle and knew its brutality. Like Zhang Liang, he understood that people would die in war.
If a few deaths could reveal the enemy’s dispositions, it was worth it.
Even sacrificing an entire hundred-man company would be worthwhile.
Captain Xiao was already mentally reviewing which centurion had been disobedient lately.
But then he saw Jin Feng shake his head. “No need. The bandits have no more trebuchets or heavy crossbows.”
Jin Feng understood the same logic as Zhang Liang and Captain Xiao.
That was why, despite his reluctance, he had not stopped Zhang Liang earlier.
Each suppression team had been issued a fixed number of trebuchets and heavy crossbows.
They had already recovered some from the Double Camel Peak bandits at Tiger Roar Ridge. Counting the fireballs just now made it easy to calculate exactly how many the bandits had possessed.
Since it was now confirmed that none remained, there was no need to test further with lives.
“What next, then?” Zhang Liang asked tentatively.
“For the rest, Brother Liang, you’re in charge. No need to check with me.”
Jin Feng answered.
Previously, Zhang Liang had always stayed in the village overseeing training of veterans and female soldiers. Jin Feng had valued him primarily for his loyalty.
But during this campaign, Jin Feng had discovered that Zhang Liang was also exceptionally capable at devising battle plans and commanding troops.
The entire Tiger Roar Ridge operation had been planned by Zhang Liang alone.
And it had been a resounding success.
Jin Feng’s earlier victories against superior numbers had relied on superior weapons and terrain. This time, however, the bandits were scattered all over Wulang Mountain. Large-scale kills with trebuchets and crossbows would be difficult.
Under these conditions, a direct assault was the only option.
Jin Feng knew full well he lacked the ability to command a battle involving several thousand men, so he handed full authority to Zhang Liang without hesitation.
“Yes, sir!”
Zhang Liang did not stand on ceremony. He accepted with a crisp acknowledgement and went off to find Captain Xiao.
