Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan
/ Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan Volume 11 Chapter 1 part1
Book 11 Chapter 1 - Troubles Inside and Outside
Shang Xiuxun and Kou Zhong walked over to Xu Ziling, who was standing at the bridge, manning the rudder. Xu Ziling laughed calmly and said, "Shang Changzhu, there are still five more li before we reach Jingling, this is the golden opportunity to gather intelligence about the enemy. Look! There are several dozens army camp on that hill over there.”
The two turned their eyes toward the hill Xu Ziling pointed to. Indeed they saw the small hill several li away from the left back was covered with army camp, at least seventy, eighty tents.
Kou Zhong pretended to be shocked; he grabbed Xu Ziling's shoulders and said in a trembling voice, "You should have realized that your skill in steering the boat is still in apprentice level. You are glancing to the left and right instead of focusing your heart and mind in doing your job, in case the boat crashed into something and capsized, won't our Yangzhou's Two Dragons' illustrious name go down the drain?”
Shang Xiuxun laughed involuntarily, "Everybody is nervous as hell, but you are still in the mood to joke around,” she said, "Be careful or else some bad things might happen!”
Suddenly they heard hoof beats from the right bank. Seven or eight Jianghuai Cavalry were chasing them along the coast, pointing their halberds at them while cursing and swearing, so that the already tensed atmosphere was growing even more tensed.
Xu Ziling's gaze moved from Liang Zhi, Xu Yang, and the others, who were standing in formation on the deck, toward the riverbanks. He saw abandoned farmlands, rubble and remains of destroyed hamlets, scorched forests; a desolate sight to behold. He could not stop a strong sense of sadness from welling up in his heart.
This moment the cargo boat turned around a sharp bend, the enemy riders were obstructed by a forest, and were falling behind.
By the time the boat reached a straight river course again, the city Jingling appeared ahead. Their target in sight, even the high and mighty Kou Zhong also held his breath.
At the upper reaches of the river outside the city moored more than thirty warships, each one was approximately one and a half time bigger than their cargo ship. The flags above the ship were fluttering in the wind, spears and lances flickered brilliantly; it was quite an intimidating sight.
Ashore army camp was everywhere, sealing the southeast side of Jingling so tight that not one drop could trickle through. The troop arrangement was breathtaking that those who saw it were overwhelmed.
Shang Xiuxun shouted tenderly, "Cast the anchor!”
Xu Ziling shook his head and said, "If we cast the anchor here, we will get caught in hard battle and would be annihilated for sure. Our only chance is to take risks by breaking through the enemy's ship formation, going straight toward the pier outside the city. Only then will we have a chance to live.”
Kou Zhong ran his eyes over the enemy's warship formation. He nodded and said, "This is called ‘to do the least expected'. It seems dangerous, but it is in fact the most viable solution.”
A gust of wind happened to blow, like a speeding horse the boat slid across the water, rushing toward the enemy's ship formation.
Shang Xiuxun thundered tenderly, "Prepare the fire arrows!”
Kou Zhong saw that on the enemy's ships, everybody was also pulling their bow, aiming their arrows at this boat, and thus they were like a fat sheep entering the tiger's den. Suddenly he had a brainwave and could not stop himself from shouting, "Set the boat on fire!”
While everybody was stunned from hearing this strange order, he already pounced toward the bridge and kicked the kerosene container.
Luo Fang was the first to regain his composure; hurriedly he lifted another container and threw it to the bow. The container broke, the kerosene splashed on the deck.
‘Bang!
Flames immediately rose up; the entire bow became a fire curtain, while spitting out a big cloud of thick smoke. Aided by the wind, the smoke was blown toward the enemy's ships.
It was only now did Liang Zhi and the others understood. Hurriedly they feed the fire with bits and pieces that the blaze grew in intensity. Even Shang Peng and Shang He, two old men, also joined the operation to burn their own boat.
In the midst of the war drums, the sky was filled with arrows raining down toward them.
Kou Zhong raised his arms and called out, "Brothers, shield formation!”
‘Bang! Bang! Bang!'
The cargo boat leaned to the left and back to the right, wood fragments splattered everywhere, nobody knew how many hits they suffered from the catapulted rocks from the enemy ships.
Quickly everybody took shelter behind the shield formation blocking the enemy's arrows.
‘Crack!' The main mast broke, the sail happened to fall forward, toward the blazing fire at the bow of the boat.
The flame rose up to fill the sky, very soon the sail and the mast were engulfed in flames, increasing the intensity of the fire and thickened the smoke rolling up toward the enemy ships. The situation was extremely chaotic.
‘Boom!'
Amidst the thick smoke and raging flames, nobody knew which enemy ship they hit, but the speeding cargo boat suddenly spun like crazy. The stern hit another enemy ship first before the cargo boat finally entered the enemy ships formation.
Three Ranch warriors were shaken by the collision and were thrown onto the deck. Two others had their chest pierced by the enemy's arrows and were thrown into the river.
The surface of the river was covered in heavy smoke, while the flames were raging. The boat was rocking wildly, the people were tumbling down; it was hard to distinguish one thing from another.
Yet Xu Ziling was as calm as ever. Even though he was unable to see, relying on the last thing he saw, he steered the boat, which front half was completely engulfed in flames, continuing downstream.
Brandishing the Moon in the Well, Kou Zhong parried a steel spear thrown from behind the smoke threatening Shang Xiuxun's back. And then he cried out, "Burn the stern as well!”
Shang Xiuxun looked back toward the stern, and sure enough, she saw two sets of flame soaring into the sky, while the shouts and the screams shook the heavens.
‘Boom!'
The entire vessel leaned sideways so deep that it appeared that it was going to sink into the bottom of the river. By the time it eventually leveled up, they were through the enemy's ship formation and reached the expansive waterfront outside the city of Jingling.
Xu Ziling steered the still speeding boat toward the shore while thundering, "Prepare to abandon the ship!”
‘Bang!'
The aft was hit by another catapulted rock; wood splinters flew. The already-fraught-with-damages cargo ship could not endure anymore; finally it gave up and leaned sideways to capsize.
Shang Xiuxun shouted tenderly, and led her people jumping toward the shore. The others did not dare to tarry, immediately they followed her out of the cargo ship.
Arrows still rained down on them like a storm. Because as they were leaping into the air they could not help exposing themselves, even though Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling, Shang Xiuxun and the others had outstanding skill, they could only protect themselves. Immediately five Ranch warriors were hit by the arrows and fell into the river. The tragic scene was nearly unbearable to behold.
In this kind of situation, Shang Peng and Shang He, two veteran martial art masters from the Ranch, really showed their true skills. Together with the First Manager Liang Zhi, they formed a triangular formation [orig. pin-character (品) formation] in the air with Shang Xiuxun in the middle, protecting her from the shooting arrows, until they landed safely on the shore.
With the previous lost of lives, the remaining warriors numbered only eleven people. As soon they had their feet firmly on the ground, they flew away toward the Jingling's city gate.
The war drums continued, two units of Jianghuai Army, about three hundred men each, rode out of the army camps by the river outside the city, charging toward them from two sides.
The sound of hoof beats shook the heavens, the murderous aura soared high into the sky.
Before the enemy's cavalry arrived, their arrows already reached them.
If Kou and Xu, two boys, used their vortex of energy to launch the Bird-Crossing Technique, although it might not necessarily be better than Shang Xiuxun's lightness skill, to escape from this critical situation was not a difficult matter. But the two of them were outstanding heroes. They already jumped out of the group to meet the enemy coming from two directions, so that their route would not be blocked by the enemy and they fell into bitter siege.
Between the dock and the Jingling city gate was an open space of several hundred zhang wide. Du Fuwei was setting up his camp on both sides of the river; they erected two sturdy wooden forts surrounded by wooden fence with traps and trenches, as well as platforms to shoot arrows from as their defense facilities, practically cutting off water and land routes to the city of Jingling.
The sergeants of the city defense witnessed how they managed to break through the enemy's ship formation with worn-out and broken-down cargo boat, and how they successfully landed on the shore. They immediately burst into earth-shattering cheers, so that those who heard it had their blood boiling.
However, although every one of them had bow and arrow in their hands, due to the fact that these people were far out of range, they could only cheer to boost their morale, while at the same time lighted the fire beacon to notify their commander, Fang Zetao, to rush over and take charge of the situation.
Seeing Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling exerted themselves to fight the enemy, Shang Xiuxun wanted to turn around to join them, but Liang Zhi and the others desperately stopped her. Shang Peng, who never liked to speak, thundered, "If Changzhu turns back, none of us would be able to climb over the city wall alive.”
Shang He also joined in, "It is because of Kou and Xu, two heroes, defend our back that we have a sliver of chance to live.”
Shang Xiuxun realized that they were speaking the truth; without any better option she fought her tears and continued fleeing toward the city gate.
This moment Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling braved the arrow rain while cutting off the enemy's vanguard troops.
Kou Zhong soared into the air. The Moon in the Well turned into a streak of yellow lightning, chopping down on the four, five spears thrust toward him. The treasured blade reflected the brilliant sun shining down overhead, adding an irresistible momentum to his strike.
Chapter end
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