When the east gate came under attack, Qin Ran was in the rear residence of the county office, embracing Hua Xiangrong, the courtesan champion of Tianxiang House, in pleasant dreams. His callused hands, even in his dreams, kept kneading and stroking her jade-like snow-white delicate body, causing Hua Xiangrong to murmur protests of dissatisfaction in her sleep, yet unable to move his thick, hairy arm away.
In his dream, Qin Ran vaguely heard some commotion. The alertness developed over many years immediately awakened him. His eyes snapped open, and like a wild beast encountering a formidable enemy, his hair stood on end as he listened intently to the sounds outside.
Hua Xiangrong was startled awake by Qin Ran’s movements. Half of the thin silk quilt stuffed with cotton wadding had slipped to the floor, exposing her alluring fragrant shoulders and jade-white arms.
Not yet knowing what had happened, she lazily yawned. Seeing the dim darkness outside the window with only a faint bluish light filtering in, she murmured “It’s still early,” and her plump, slender thigh was about to wrap around Qin Ran’s thick waist to sleep beautifully again. Unexpectedly, Qin Ran suddenly pushed her away. She tumbled from the bed, her snow-white, full buttocks hitting the brick floor, creating wave-like tremors.
Unfortunately, Qin Ran no longer had leisure to appreciate this worldly beauty before his eyes. Grabbing the halberd from beside the table, he pushed open the window. The guards keeping watch in the courtyard were still drowsy and unalert. He banged the halberd against the window frame, shouting orders: “Black Bull, Li the Donkey—go outside and see what’s happening!”
Qin Ran wore heavy armor, cumbersome to don. With Hua Xiangrong’s flustered assistance, he finally managed to dress. Walking out of the courtyard, the guards outside still hadn’t figured out what was happening. They only knew that several streets and alleys in the city had simultaneously caught fire. Even several horse stables where they kept their warhorses had been infiltrated. Now smoke billowed and flames soared. Two to three hundred startled warhorses had charged out of the stable compounds, running wildly through the streets and alleys—quite an alarming scene.
Qin Ran sensed the commotion at the east gate was most clamorous. The disturbances elsewhere should be caused by enemy scouts who had infiltrated, intended to confuse and mislead.
Even within the city, military orders transmitted chaotically and slowly. Seeing the disturbances spreading extremely fast, Qin Ran couldn’t wait for his subordinate commanders to lead their elite troops to rendezvous. Speed was of the essence in warfare—he couldn’t even wait for his men to lead more warhorses from the stables. He first led the hundred-some guards assembled in the rear residence of the county office toward the east gate.
Less than a hundred meters after Qin Ran led his troops from the county office, he collided with Kong Xirong, who was leading his troops fiercely westward along the long street from the east gate. Both sides clashed in fierce combat.
Qin Ran was also a renowned warrior of exceptional courage in the Chuzhou army. Taking the lead, he collided with Kong Xirong, who wore heavy armor and wielded a horse-cleaving saber while spurring his horse forward.
Without exchanging words, after meeting face to face, both roared loudly, spurring their warhorses to swing their sabers and halberds in furious slashing and hacking. Where blade met halberd, a stream of sparks flew.
Then the armored soldiers from both sides surged forward. In an instant, both men’s warhorses were stabbed down by the long spears in the opposing soldiers’ hands, blood spattering and flowing amid continuous agonized neighing.
Kong Xirong’s thigh, along with his armor skirt, was pierced through by a sharp spear thrust by one of the enemy officers. Fortunately, the armored soldiers behind him protected him in time. Several stalwart warriors holding iron shields blocked over a dozen spear thrusts for him with resonating “clang clang clang” sounds.
From this instant of engagement, one could see that many of Qin Ran’s personal guards were skilled fighters. Their spear thrusts were both fast and fierce. Kong Xirong’s shoulder also took two saber slashes.
However, the force of saber slashes couldn’t compare to spear thrusts. The shoulder armor cast from refined steel was relatively thick—though slashed with two marks, it hadn’t been cut through.
Kong Xirong couldn’t move easily, but he didn’t retreat either. On the long street, narrowed to just over two zhang wide by the shops on both sides, he limped forward with his soldiers, one slash after another, fiercely hacking at the halberds, spears and iron shields before him.
Two to three hundred people fighting in such a narrow space—agile movements were completely useless, and even skilled fighters’ abilities were suppressed. It mainly came down to comparing strength. Once an iron shield was knocked askew or the shield-bearer stumbled and fell, they could only watch helplessly as five or six sharp spears thrust forward. Without comrades promptly covering with shields, even thick heavy armor might not suffice.
Speaking of martial prowess and individual physical strength, Qin Ran’s guards were somewhat stronger, even more disciplined, with more skilled fighters. In just over a dozen breaths, seven or eight men around Kong Xirong had been cut down, their bodies riddled with bloody holes.
However, those behind Kong Xirong were all grief-stricken soldiers fearless of death. Though seven or eight had been cut down, those behind charged forward even more ferociously, without the slightest hesitation or pause—only regretting the street was too narrow for more people to squeeze into the front lines to fight.
The streets and alleys were too narrow. Some impatiently climbed onto rooftops, trampling and shattering roof tiles, hurling short spears down violently or directly leaping down with their own flesh and blood.
The Chuzhou army was already formidable as tiger warriors, but apart from the Silver Halberd Guards beside Prince Xin, Qin Ran had never seen any force that could attack so desperately and recklessly as those before him.
This suicidal fighting style instead made Qin Ran and the tiger-like wolves around him feel intimidated.
“Roar!”
An arrow struck Kong Xirong’s neck. Though it only grazed the skin, when he reached up to touch it, his hand came away covered in blood. Smearing it on his face, he roared even more ferociously, displaying extraordinary tiger-like courage.
Everyone wore Chu military uniforms. The opposing side merely distinguished themselves with white scarves tied around their necks. Initially, Qin Ran had thought to defeat this attacking force with the most courageous posture, driving them back in silence. After fighting for a while, he discovered the enemy was truly difficult to chew through, and it became awkward to call out and ask which force dared to provoke the Chuzhou army’s tiger whiskers.
Though no single location in the city could accommodate two thousand elite troops and over two thousand warhorses together, fortunately they had requisitioned residences near the county office to serve as military camps.
Seeing this oncoming enemy force was truly impossible to chew through, Qin Ran retreated thirty to forty paces to a large compound requisitioned by the Chuzhou army as barracks. He was forced to lead his remnant troops into the compound, thinking to organize forces from elsewhere to drive out the attackers who had entered the city.
“Where did this enemy army come from? Have we found out clearly?”
Qin Ran shouted the question at the guards around him.
“Not clear. There were scattered remnant soldiers who escaped from the east gate. Initially they were mistaken for foraging troops returning after being attacked. Without suspicion, they opened the gate and let them rush in.” The guards replied in confusion.
“Dog shit! All a bunch of idiots whose sons will be born without assholes!” Qin Ran cursed furiously. But seeing the clamor outside the compound growing louder, more fires breaking out, and the compound’s main gate being pounded violently, he climbed to the high roof of the main building. From there he saw enemy troops like a flood entering from the east gate, without the slightest pause, instead dispersing directly into teams of thirty to fifty men, charging fiercely through the various tributary alleys deep into Danyang city.
Seeing this scene, despair welled up in Qin Ran’s heart.
The attacking enemy’s advance was too fast.
Most of the defending troops still hadn’t figured out what was happening. Those with quicker reactions had just finished donning armor and forming up to provide reinforcement, but upon reaching the streets and alleys, they collided head-on with the enemy and were quickly scattered and routed.
Apart from the compound beneath his feet and the other three city gates not yet affected, nowhere else could organize proper defense, let alone counterattack. Most defenders still hadn’t figured out from which gate the attackers had breached, much less determined which faction they were fighting…
How could this battle still be fought?
Even Qin Ran couldn’t help feeling panicked.
He had only two thousand defending troops in Danyang, but at this moment he saw that the attacking enemies who had already charged in from the east gate were approaching two thousand in number. Beyond the city walls blocking his view at the east gate, who knew how many more enemy troops were waiting to charge in.
Seeing the enemy had absolutely no intention of leaving even a few troops at the east gate to reorganize their formation, Qin Ran suspected the number of attacking troops breaking in far exceeded his imagination.
Where had this enemy army come from?
Anning Palace’s forces in Jinling?
That didn’t seem right. How many scouts did the Chuzhou army have watching Jinling? How could they have let such a large force slip through?
Xinchang Marquis Li Pu’s troops?
That wasn’t right either. Even if that ball-less coward Xinchang Marquis Li Pu and Chen Mingsheng dared break with them, if they squeezed dry all the remaining garrison households of Taowu, they’d have fewer than three thousand able-bodied men available.
Judging by the earth-shaking battle cries outside the east gate, there were at least another two to three thousand troops outside the city!
Had the prefectures and counties south of Danyang pledged allegiance to Anning Palace and assembled local prefecture and county troops to attack Danyang?
Yue and Hang prefectures had elite Imperial Guard troops stationed there, but the distance was still far. While Hu, Xiu, Chang and Su prefectures were closer to Danyang, could the local prefecture camps of these prefectures really fight this well?
Qin Ran’s heart faltered. He worried that with the slightest hesitation, he himself would be surrounded in the city, never to fight his way out again.
After waiting a while longer, seeing attacking troops still continuously entering through the east gate, he jumped down from the roof. Leading his guards and the two hundred-some elite troops billeted in this compound, he charged out through the rear courtyard, repelling dozens of attackers surging from tributary alleys, fighting while retreating toward the north gate. At the same time, he sent men to notify the other defending troops in the city to exit through the gates and rendezvous with him.
Qin Ran fought his way bloodily out through Danyang’s north gate, first retreating to the southern slope of Mount Shunwang over five li outside the north gate—a mountain whose main peak was only a dozen zhang high, stretching east to west for just over two li. Only then did the slightly scorching early sun rise from the forest treetops to the east.
The attacking troops were still busy controlling Danyang city and mopping up remnant soldiers within—no forces had yet pursued from Danyang city. Qin Ran caught his breath slightly. While dispatching men to report to Dantu city on the Yangzi River and to Jingshan Hermitage at the southeastern foot of Mount Baohua, he rallied the remnant soldiers who had fled in panic from Danyang city at the southern foot of Mount Shunwang.
Besides the troops who had scattered in other directions, Qin Ran saw only seven to eight hundred remnant soldiers and four to five hundred warhorses around him. His heart constricted with pain, tears welling up—he hadn’t even figured out who the enemy was before inexplicably losing Danyang city, with over half his troops lost.
These were all sons of Chuzhou, brothers who had followed him for many years. He didn’t know how to account for this to Commander Rao Geng, how to face Prince Xin.