“A wager?” Zheng Chiyuan asked. “How shall we wager?”
“I have left some Black Armoured escorts at the dock to guard the cargo ships. I can call thirty of them here, and have them cooperate with twenty female soldiers. You may send five hundred troops to block them. If you can stop them, I will agree to give you one hundred heavy crossbows and one hundred catapults!”
Jin Feng said, “If you cannot stop them, I will give you fifty of each. How about that?”
“Only one hundred if I win?”
Zheng Chiyuan was very dissatisfied with this bet.
“General Zheng, to be honest with you, heavy crossbows are extremely troublesome to manufacture. When Lord Qing was defending Xichuan City, I only sold him a few dozen.”
Jin Feng said, “As I came in, I already observed. The number of your warships that can mount heavy crossbows and catapults is definitely fewer than a hundred. One hundred would be more than you could use. Any more would simply be wasteful.”
This was a line that Jin Feng and Qing Xinyao had agreed upon long ago.
If anyone asked how many heavy crossbows Qing Xinyao had bought, Jin Feng would say a few dozen.
He was not afraid of Zheng Chiyuan sending someone to inquire.
“Well… very well.”
Zheng Chiyuan nodded and agreed.
Aside from being led along by Jin Feng’s topic, he also did not believe that his five hundred men could fail to stop the opponent’s fifty.
“General Zheng, when do you think would be suitable for this contest?”
Seeing that Zheng Chiyuan had taken the bait, Jin Feng asked with a smile.
“General Jin is the guest who has come from afar. I will follow your arrangements.” Zheng Chiyuan replied.
“Better to choose today than wait for another day. How about today?” Jin Feng laughed.
Upon hearing this, Da Liu nearly burst out laughing.
He knew Jin Feng was about to trick someone again.
But thinking of the serious consequences of ruining Jin Feng’s plan, Da Liu secretly pinched his own thigh hard, forcibly suppressing the laughter.
“Today? Would that not be too rushed?”
Zheng Chiyuan looked up at the sky outside, somewhat hesitant.
It was already mid-afternoon. By the time personnel were arranged and the field cleared, it would probably be dark.
“General Zheng, the brothers from my escort agency are still hanging on Crab Pincer Island, enduring hunger and cold at the hands of the water bandits. Every extra day they wait, my heart suffers another day of torment!”
Jin Feng said earnestly, “I hope the general will understand!”
“Very well. For the sake of those words alone, General Jin, today it shall be!”
Zheng Chiyuan finished speaking and called in his deputy, instructing him to clear the field and assemble the men.
Jin Feng also had Da Liu arrange for a personal guard to go to the nearby civilian dock to summon the Black Armoured escorts and female escorts.
The civilian dock was right beside the naval camp, yet it was not until dusk that the guard finally brought the people over.
“Why did it take so long? Keeping General Zheng waiting like this.”
Jin Feng winked at the guard, but his tone sounded reproachful.
“I am sorry, sir. It was necessary to rearrange the duty roster, which delayed things a little.”
The guard explained with his head lowered.
“It is fine. It was not too long a delay.”
Zheng Chiyuan waved his hand, but his eyes were scrutinising the arriving escort team.
The escort team consisted of thirty men in black armour and twenty female soldiers.
Regardless of gender, all the escorts stood with backs straight as rams, and their formation was perfectly aligned.
In contrast, although the naval troops also stood straight, they somehow lacked that certain something.
Even before any fighting, in terms of momentum, the escorts had already completely overwhelmed the naval troops.
“Worthy of the special operations team forged by General Jin. Truly extraordinary!”
Zheng Chiyuan praised, “May we begin now?”
“Of course,” Jin Feng said. “However, to prevent accidental injuries, please have everyone use wooden swords.”
“That is only proper.”
Zheng Chiyuan beckoned, and a lieutenant immediately had men carry over several baskets.
The navy often conducted drills, so they naturally had plenty of wooden swords.
The female escorts also removed the arrowheads from their bolts.
Once the wooden swords were distributed, the sky had turned completely dark.
The contest officially began.
With a command from the platoon leader, the escorts quickly formed a triangular battle array.
The thirty male escorts in black armour formed the outer layer, while the female soldiers with crossbows were inside.
They readied themselves for combat.
The naval lieutenant also led five hundred troops to surround the escorts completely.
The escorts had killed bandits and cavalry. The naval troops had killed water bandits and pirates.
Both sides were veterans who had seen blood. Although it was only a standoff and formal combat had not yet begun, the drill ground was already filled with a thick aura of killing intent!
Dong! Dong! Dong!
The muffled sound of war drums rang out!
The naval lieutenant was about to lead his troops in an attack on the escorts when he suddenly saw black lumps flying out from the escorts’ triangular formation.
“General Zheng, you had best cover your eyes.”
From a distance, Jin Feng shielded his own eyes with his arm while reminding him.
“Why?” Zheng Chiyuan asked, puzzled.
Seeing that neither Jin Feng nor Da Liu nor the others answered him, but instead all covered their eyes, he half-believingly raised his arm as well.
A black lump also landed at the lieutenant’s feet, startling him.
Looking down, he saw it was a section of bamboo tube.
At the end of the bamboo tube, a fuse hissed and sparked, already burned to its limit.
“What is this?”
The lieutenant was about to bend down to pick it up when suddenly his vision went brilliantly white.
Then he could see nothing at all…
“All personnel, attack freely!”
The leading escort platoon leader shouted loudly. The escorts immediately broke formation, each holding a wooden sword and charging into the temporarily blinded naval ranks.
The wooden swords, coated in red dye, slashed across the necks of one naval soldier after another, then moved on to the next target.
Whether male or female escorts, all their movements were swift and rapid, without the slightest hesitation.
The naval troops were at that moment completely enveloped in the terror of blindness. They had no power to resist and could only allow the escorts to do as they wished.
After the ambush by Danzhu’s five thousand troops, Zhang Liang had discovered how effective this method was. Upon returning, he had required the escorts to drill it repeatedly.
Now the escorts were thoroughly practised. Each one knew exactly who their target was and what they should do.
In just a few minutes, all five hundred naval troops had their “throats slit”, without a single exception.
Zheng Chiyuan, watching from afar, saw his soldiers all turned into blind men. He immediately turned and glared angrily at Jin Feng. “What did you do to them?”
He only had five thousand troops in total. If five hundred were blinded at once, even he could not bear it.
“General Zheng, do not worry. They have only been momentarily dazzled by a sudden strong light, like staring at the sun at noon.”
Jin Feng explained with a smile, “They will recover in a little while.”
Hearing Jin Feng say this, Zheng Chiyuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He then protested, “General Jin, doing this is cheating!”
“General Zheng, in face-to-face combat, how can you call this cheating?” Jin Feng countered.
“You have this… this light-emitting weapon. Why did you not mention it beforehand?”
“General Zheng, war is not a children’s game. It is a life-and-death struggle. If you had a secret weapon, would you announce it to the enemy in advance?”
“I…” Zheng Chiyuan was choked and could say nothing.
