Blades, blood spray, spearpoints, fire—under the fierce sun, the raging battle stretched on and on along the stone wall outside Zhu Family Manor.
Arrows streaked across the sky, embedding themselves in shields, in earth, in flesh. Shouts and wails merged into a single roar; a man shouting one moment might be a corpse the next. Those trying to scale the wall were doused with boiling water, their bodies blistering as blood seeped from beneath the skin. Men struck by blade or spear tumbled from the wall—some broke arms or legs, others their necks. The people of Zhu Family Manor used long wooden poles to hurl rattan fireballs outward, landing on the heads of Liangshan soldiers who couldn’t dodge in time, the flames rolling as they burned.
Every kind of wound, blood spraying freely, severed limbs everywhere. On the eastern side of the wall, someone fell from above, unable to steady himself, the broken tibia of his shattered shin already protruding through the skin—before he could even scream and pull away, boiling water poured down on him from above. Liangshan soldiers grabbed onto Zhu Family Manor villagers and leapt down from the wall together; once they hit the ground below, other Liangshan soldiers swarmed in and hacked the villager to pieces. Villagers trying to rescue their comrades hurled stones and arrows, and archers below returned fire upward in kind.
It was a scene of pure carnage, countless such moments playing out along the stone wall. From a distance, dozens of wooden ladders hung against the wall, waves of people surging up and falling back down. The uneven terrain around Zhu Family Manor’s wall meant the crude ladders Liangshan had hastily built over these days were of uneven quality too—some jutted out from the wall and were pushed back by the defenders’ poles, others were too short, forcing clusters of men to shift positions while arrows rained down, leaving the wounded and dead scattered, blood pooling everywhere.
Whether scheme or open strategy, whether the warfare of wits was fought fair and square or through deceit and mockery—by this point, none of it made any difference anymore. Everything would now be tested against the most direct, undeniable result. All the maneuvering both on and off the field had been in preparation for this very moment; only when strength finally clashed without reservation would all those preparations become real, tangible force.
As over ten thousand men surged against a wall defended by three thousand, Liangshan’s side did, in fact, unleash something approaching their absolute peak strength. Zhu Family Manor was like a precarious reef amid raging waves, battered relentlessly by the tide of bodies, and though the defenders held a tremendous advantage, the initial ferocity of the assault was staggering as well.
The wave of human bodies, the rain of arrows, ladder after ladder carrying malice ever closer—several elite Liangshan units, led by their chieftains, charged forward heedless of death, while another group pushed forward with a massive log, preparing to ram the gate. That mere two-zhang outer wall, that distance of a single arrow’s flight, felt like a thin thread stretched taut across everyone’s heart, trembling constantly, as if it might snap at any moment.
With doubt gnawing at every heart and morale wavering, no one would easily switch sides at this point—for the individual, each person’s thought was likely “I won’t retreat,” but only when thinking of the group as a whole would the thought shift to “I won’t retreat, but will others waver?” Regardless, in this first moment of battle, everyone still fought with the conviction that they had to defeat the enemy.
And on Lin Chong’s side and among the other chieftains, this same consensus had already formed. Only by breaking Zhu Family Manor now and killing that vile enemy on the other side could Liangshan possibly secure any hope for the future. So from the very first moment, they organized their most trusted men and launched the fiercest possible assault on the wall—several chieftains of formidable skill even charged up personally, only to be forced back again and again.
Against Liangshan’s assault, Zhu Family Manor, having prepared thoroughly, put up the fiercest resistance right from the start. Boiling water, fireballs, stones, arrows—these inflicted enormous casualties on Liangshan’s soldiers immediately. Any chieftain who charged up came under attack from every direction; no matter how skilled, none could withstand such an onslaught by force alone under these conditions. Combined with the constraints of terrain, the points of heaviest attack were limited to just a few locations, and Luan Tingyu, Zhu Biao, and other capable fighters ran back and forth between them, backed by more than forty crossbows firing continuously. Several mid- and small-level chieftains, caught in the crossfire, fell wounded or dead, driven from the field.
The wounded chieftains were carried to the rear, gathered together with the generals held in reserve there. “White Flower Serpent” Yang Chun, “Golden Coin Leopard” Tang Long, “Little Overlord” Zhou Tong, “Long-Armed Ape” Hou Jian—all had already suffered serious wounds within the first quarter-hour of the assault. “Tiger Struck by Arrows” Ding Desun had been shot down, his corpse dragged back—thinking of his nickname now, no one could bring themselves to laugh. Only “Brocade Leopard” Yang Lin had pressed the attack atop the wall without retreating, trying to buy time for the soldiers behind him, until Luan Tingyu caught up with him; amid concentrated crossbow fire from behind, Luan Tingyu’s staff crushed his skull, and not even his body could be recovered.
Beneath a large tree, physicians tended to the wounded chieftains while Wu Yong sat there, his gaze fixed intently on the changes atop the stone wall. Beside him, Li Kui, covered in blood down half his body, was being bandaged by a physician, yet still cursed periodically despite it all.
In the earlier assault, as one of Song Jiang’s most trusted men, he too had charged with the greatest ferocity. The two-zhang wall, with ladders available, posed no real challenge for a man of his skill—but once he’d charged up, before he could unleash any real slaughter, he’d come under concentrated fire from over a dozen crossbows on the other side. He himself had taken only two arrows, but the soldiers who’d charged up alongside him had been picked off the moment they appeared. In the end, he’d leapt back down from the wall, crushing one of his own men in the fall, and now could only retreat to have his wounds treated, seething with frustration.
By this point, Xi Junyu had also come over. Wu Yong asked for his opinion, but he had little to offer at this moment. With everything now driven to the edge of the blade for a real reckoning, aside from pressing the assault with full force, there wasn’t much room left for scheming. But… this, in truth, was only the situation from Liangshan’s side.
What truly troubled the chieftains wasn’t the chaos of the current fighting itself—if the battle simply continued this way, Zhu Family Manor’s fall could still be anticipated. What made everyone feel danger and unease was the constant shouting coming from within Zhu Family Manor, even amid this fierce fighting. The battlefield was awash in noise, and from this distance the voices came only faintly, but if one listened carefully, the content could always be made out—and the shouting had never once stopped since the fighting began.
There was talk of Liangshan’s repeated setbacks in this campaign, of the court having long had its eye on Liangshan, of the Wuru Battalion now having turned to attack Liangshan’s marsh stronghold directly, of Red-Haired Devil Liu Tang’s death, of a great chieftain’s defection. After running through all this, the voices would then shout: “Don’t you believe this! Think about what’s happened in camp these past few days, look at the people around you…”
“Those brothers who were released—don’t hesitate any longer! The faster you turn against them, the faster Liangshan collapses! There’s no saving you now——”
“If you don’t act, someone else will! Just now, someone already secretly surrendered to us, sent over two heads—look and see whose leader is dead——”
“Kill one Liangshan man and come over immediately, and you’re cleared! Guaranteed in the name of the Right Chancellor himself, the government won’t pursue this matter further! Kill two, get twenty taels of silver! Kill a chieftain, fifty taels——”
Voice after voice shouted excitedly from within the stone wall, aimed at every direction of the battle. Earlier in the assault, there’d even been shouts of “Yang Lin is dead! Yang Lin’s been killed! Everyone look!” When Li Kui, wounded, was forced to retreat, they’d shouted: “Black Whirlwind Li Kui ran away! Black Whirlwind Li Kui ran away! Come and see, everyone! The Black Whirlwind fled——” This was the real reason Li Kui had been shaking with fury.
Under normal circumstances, such shouting would have had no effect at all—everyone would have found it laughable. But at this moment, no one had any thought of laughing—only fear and pressure, because everyone with any knowledge of warfare knew that such calls would inevitably have an effect on Liangshan’s current forces. Everyone had understood this from the very start of the battle, but now that it was actually happening, it made everyone’s nerves tremble just like that stone wall itself.
Long, drawn-out schemes and open strategies alone had never been enough to sow internal strife before battle began—suspicion could always be suppressed for a time by anyone. But war has always been this way: when the choice between life and death is pressed right up against you, even the smallest wavering can trigger a chain reaction deciding the fate of thousands upon thousands. Liangshan’s men understood this too, which was why they had no choice but to stake everything on their fivefold numerical advantage, sending their great chieftains out at once to rally morale. In this kind of battle, both sides were locked in a war of attrition.
Fact and rumor poured out fiercely from Zhu Family Manor, one moment claiming “Inspector Guan has surrendered,” the next claiming “the brothers from Erlong Mountain refuse to advance, your Liangshan is tearing itself apart.” Some men charged up the wall only to find their retreat cut off—inside, more than a dozen crossbows aimed their way, and someone shouted through a megaphone: “Kill someone and you can defect! Kill someone and you can defect!” Two men who’d been standing back to back exchanged a glance, just like the scene between Guan Sheng and Yan Qing on the hillside moments before—only a moment’s hesitation, then one finally struck with all his might, killing his own comrade, then stood there dazed and lost. From inside came the shout: “Throw down your weapon and come over! Throw down your weapon and come over! You’re safe now! You’re safe now!” Outside the wall, Little Li Guang Hua Rong drew his bow and loosed an arrow, but Luan Tingyu knocked it aside with a laugh.
Not many actually managed to charge up that stone wall in the end, but plenty below could witness such scenes unfolding. Excited shouts rang out from within the estate: “You’re safe now! You’re safe now, brother! The government won’t pursue this against you, and there’s a reward too! Come, tell everyone your name… Liang Er! His name is Liang Er——”
The fighting hadn’t even lasted half an hour before such calls began ringing out repeatedly across the battlefield. From this side came another: “Brother, tell everyone your name… Ye Guhcheng! His name is Ye Guhcheng——”
“…Lu Xiaofeng! Brother Lu Xiaofeng has come over to us——”
“…Kill just one man and you can come over! Brothers, kill on the wall! Then hurry inside! You’ll be fine——”
“Watch out for that Hua Rong scoundrel’s sneak attacks——”
Then another voice began shouting: “Brothers, we can’t win this! They’re scheming against each other, tearing themselves apart… when we charged up, Wu Song’s men wouldn’t advance… they want to wait until Chieftain Song’s men are all dead so they can seize the leadership… I had no choice, all my brothers who came up with me are dead——” This voice was hoarse with strain, utterly wretched.
And another shouted: “The government already sees us as rebels… brothers, come over, kill your chieftain and go home a rich man, we fell for their trap, look at the men around you, everyone already knows… only three days, just three days, and they’ve reduced Liangshan to this—how can Wu Yong possibly out-scheme him——”
No one could tell for certain how much of this shouting was true or false. But whether believed or not, over these three days, everyone’s psychological resolve had already crossed past the point of unwavering certainty. Men who charged up the wall began watching their own comrades warily, fearing that if surrounded by the enemy’s superior numbers, the man beside them might be forced to turn their blade against them instead. In this kind of life-and-death combat, once hesitation set in, fighting strength was already on the verge of collapse.
Amid this assault of over ten thousand men, the plague spread further with every shout that carried on. Chieftain after chieftain organized their assaults, rallying their trusted men: “Think of your families up at Liangshan—they’re just trying to divide us!” Wave after wave of attacks were organized this way, but as the battle wore on, the ratio of casualties, under the constant barrage of shouts from behind the wall, kept tipping further and further.
On the slope here, Song Jiang and the others could only grit their teeth and watch this unfold across the battlefield, uncertain in their hearts how long their fivefold advantage could hold. By now, once soldiers scaled the wall, their combat effectiveness had already degraded to an extremely weak level—even when some fearless master managed to break open a gap for eight or ten men to charge through, the moment Zhu Family Manor’s villagers surged forward, these soldiers would begin to crumble. Some would look back, and if their comrades behind had fallen too far behind, they’d immediately jump back down off the wall.
Several chieftains had already begun asking Xi Junyu for his opinion. With Wu Yong now visibly useless, everyone began pinning their hopes on the judgment of Liangshan’s other strategist. Xi Junyu could only point toward a certain spot on the battlefield, gesturing for everyone to look.
Not far off, beneath a large tree, Wu Yong sat there, one hand gripping the grass beneath him tightly, trembling, his gaze fixed on that same spot.
Occasionally, that cluster of iron shields would appear atop the stone wall.
“Thunderbolt Hand of Primal Chaos,” Lei Feng—everyone understood this was the name of the man who remained constantly behind that great iron shield formation.
In three days, against overwhelmingly disadvantageous odds, he had used a nearly sorcerous campaign of psychological warfare to drive Liangshan to this point. No one dared underestimate the man behind that iron shield anymore. He patrolled the battlefield, occasionally coming over to check on the fighting. Some had tried charging up to kill him, but the wall of iron shields protected him tightly on every side, flanked by several skilled fighters, along with over twenty handheld crossbows nearby, unleashing volleys at anyone who approached—almost no one could withstand it, and with only a ladder or two to work with, there was no way to break through to him at all.
“But… if we kill him, there might be a way to break this deadlock…” Xi Junyu said, looking in that direction.
Over there, Wu Yong sat silently beneath the tree, his heart also waiting for some turn of fortune to appear.
He wasn’t entirely a useless strategist—it was just that from the very start, he’d had no way to guard against the enemy’s schemes. Liu Tang’s ambush and injury had indeed made him wary of the enemy’s various small tricks. But as things had begun to worsen, he had indeed planted one quiet contingency, now his final hope, waiting to bear fruit…