xymnovel Chapter 29 Moyai Village
Chapter 29 Moyai Village
5:00 AM (卯时).
Before dawn, the Liubai camp had already begun to move.
Old Gui, along with two quick-footed men, set off at midnight last night, taking a mountain path to scout ahead towards Moyazhai. By the time the main force set off, they had already been crouching in the mountain hollow for two hours.
Shen Bai didn't wait for them to return.
"Wait while you walk."
He ordered Iron Shield to lead the main force behind them, while he and Lin Yu led a group at the front, keeping their pace neither too fast nor too slow.
After walking for two hours, the old ghost suddenly appeared from the roadside.
He was covered in dew, and there were several bloody marks on his face, whether from tree branches or something else, it was hard to tell.
"The village is still there."
He lowered his voice.
"No way."
Shen Bai stopped.
How many people?
"I didn't count them exactly. A rough estimate is fifty or sixty," Old Gui said. "About twenty horses. They're all in the village, not scattered."
"What about the terrain?"
"A plateau in the valley. It's long from east to west and narrow from north to south. The road leading into the mountains is on the east side, and there's a cliff on the west side. Below the cliff is a stream; the water is scarce in the dry season, but passable. There's a gap on the north side, big enough for one person to pass through, which serves as a back entrance. The main entrance is on the south side, with a ten-foot-high earthen wall and a building on top. Someone was keeping watch up there last night."
He drew several lines on the ground with a twig.
"The main gate is difficult to breach. The road to the east is narrow, with slopes on both sides, making it difficult to deploy an attacking formation. The opening to the north is too narrow; even with a large number of people, it's impossible to squeeze through."
What about the western cliff?
"The cliff isn't high. But we can't attack it head-on; we have to go around to the top and press down. But it'll take two hours to get around there, and we don't have enough time."
Shen Bai looked at the drawing on the ground.
"What do you think of the south main gate?"
"We can fight," the old man said, "but people will die."
Lin Yu listened from the side without saying a word.
Shen Bai stared at the map on the ground.
"Surround three sides and leave one open."
He uttered four words.
Old Ghost glanced at him.
"Surround the south?"
"Surround them on the south, ambush them on the east, and block the north," Shen Bai said. "The west is a cliff; they can't jump down. Running north is a dead end, and running east leads into the mountains, but the eastern path is narrow; we'll bury our men there."
He drew an X on the east side with a twig.
"They wanted to survive, and there was only one way—to squeeze through the gap to the north. But the gap was narrow, and it would become chaotic if too many people entered."
"Then what?"
"Then we broke down the door from the south."
Shen Bai stood up.
"The south gate is the main attack direction. I'll lead my men to press them head-on, not rushing the attack, just keeping them in check, making them think we're just testing the waters. When they're all huddled together at the northern breach—"
He paused.
"The iron shields will press down through the breach in the north."
Old Ghost understood.
Iron shields pressed down from the north, driving people south. Shen Bai was guarding the main gate on the south side; once they squeezed through, they would be trapped like turtles in a jar.
How many men are lying in ambush on the east side?
"Thirty," Shen Bai said. "That's enough. The road to the east is narrow; thirty men can block their retreat. The group that ran into the mountains will intercept them halfway."
"What about the rest?"
"Follow me and attack head-on."
Old Ghost fell silent.
He looked into Shen Bai's eyes.
Shen Bai was also looking at him.
"Any objections?"
"No." Old Ghost stood up. "I'll go relay the order."
Lin Yu also stood up and patted the dirt off his clothes.
"I'm going to the east."
He led thirty men ahead of him, heading east.
Iron Shield didn't say anything, and led his fifty men northwards.
The two teams parted ways in the morning mist.
Shen Bai stood there, watching them disappear into the woods.
"Wait until they're in place before making any moves."
He said to the old ghost beside him.
"No rush."
---
9:00 AM (巳时).
Moyazhai.
The sun rose, but the mountain mist had not yet dissipated, shrouding the valley entrance like a thin cloth.
Shen Bai stood on the hillside, looking down at the village below.
The village wasn't large, even smaller than Liubai Camp. The walls were made of rammed earth and weren't high, with a small building on top, where people were walking around. A few people were squatting at the base of the walls, sunbathing.
He looks very relaxed.
They didn't expect anyone to come and attack.
Chen Qingzhi squatted down next to him.
"Did you see that?"
"Um."
Shen Bai pointed to the east side of the village.
"They keep the horses over there. In that fenced-off area."
Chen Qingzhi looked in the direction he was pointing.
The horse pen is in the southeast corner of the village, enclosed by a wooden fence, with about twenty horses tethered inside. Some people are feeding the horses, while others are sitting beside them, lost in thought.
"The fight's over, the horses are ours."
Chen Qingzhi said with his head down.
Shen Bai stood up.
"Pass down the order."
"beat."
---
The first volley of arrows landed on the upper floor.
Before the people upstairs could react, one was shot down on the spot, and the other rolled down and hit a pillar, unable to get up for a long time.
The earthen wall suddenly became chaotic.
Some people shouted, some ran, and some hid behind the arrow stalks.
Shen Bai didn't let anyone rinse it.
He held back. He fired one volley of arrows, then stopped.
The villagers had no idea how many people had come from outside.
They looked at the wall, at the door, and into the valley to the east.
After looking for a long time, I only saw a few people standing on the hillside.
Didn't move.
Just stand there.
The people in the village began to stir.
Someone was shouting, "It's government troops!"
Someone shouted, "How many people?"
No one could answer that.
The people upstairs shouted down, "Close the gate!"
The door panel behind the earthen wall was pushed over and bumped into.
Shen Bai saw them close the door.
Anxious.
Chaos.
The door panel wasn't aligned with the groove, it got stuck for a while, and it took a lot of effort to push it in.
Shen Bai's lips twitched slightly.
They didn't look like an army. They looked like a hastily assembled group of farmers.
"They don't know how many of us there are," Old Ghost leaned closer.
"It's what's scary when you don't know."
Shen Bai said.
"Wait until they're scared before you attack."
---
I waited for half an hour.
The people in the village began to move north.
Shen Bai saw them.
Some people ran north from the base of the south wall, some herded north from the horse pen, and some pointed and talked on the top of the wall.
They discovered people to the east.
Not many, but there are some.
They started to get scared.
Shen Bai heard someone shouting, "Go north! Get out from the north!"
The gap to the north.
A narrow passage, only wide enough for one person to pass through.
They all crowded over there.
Shen Bai smiled.
---
The gap to the north.
Iron Shield stood on the slope, looking down at the group of people.
They were pushing and shoving their way through the gap, already a dense, jostling mass. Those in front couldn't get in, and those behind kept pushing. Someone fell, was trampled over, and screamed in pain.
The iron shield didn't move.
He is waiting.
Wait until they all squeeze in.
almost.
He uttered a single word:
"beat."
Fifty people pushed down the slope.
It's not "恖" (chōng). It's "压" (yā).
Like pushing down a wall.
The group of people squeezed through the gap were primarily those at the very front. Those who were bumped, slashed, or trampled were all mixed together in a chaotic mess.
Those behind were still pushing their way in.
Things have already gone wrong.
Someone started shouting, "There are people behind us! There are people behind us!"
Someone shouted, "There's no way out ahead!"
Some people simply threw down their knives and squatted on the ground, not moving.
The road to the north is completely blocked.
---
South.
Shen Bai heard the commotion from the north.
Shouts of battle.
Screams.
He didn't move.
"Get ready."
He said to the people around him.
"They're coming this way."
really.
They couldn't get out from the north, and there were people blocking the way from the east. Their only way out was to rush towards the main gate to the south.
Shen Bai saw the crowd pouring out of the village.
They didn't run out; they were squeezed out.
The person in front was being pushed by the person behind, unable to even raise their knife; the person behind was being blocked by the person in front, unable to run away.
It was a complete mess.
Shen Bai raised his hand.
The archers stood in formation behind them.
Once the crowd is within range.
They've entered firing range.
Shen Bai's hand fell.
Arrows rained down.
A large part of the crowd collapsed.
But the people behind them kept pushing forward.
Shen Bai drew his knife.
"Follow me."
---
Old Ghost was at the very front.
His knife is sharp.
When the first person rushed into the crowd, there was a man in front of him holding a knife, his hand trembling.
Old Ghost didn't stop.
With a flash of light, before the man's knife could even strike, his neck was already split open.
He didn't stop, and continued to rush forward.
The second person. The third person. The fourth person.
His knife was covered in blood.
It's not his.
Lin Yu came around from the east.
He didn't have many men with him, but they were all strong and capable.
He cut in from behind the crowd, like a knife plunging into tofu.
The shadow of the gun flickered.
One. Two. Three.
The iron shields pressed in from the north, driving the crowd south.
Shen Bai pushed forward from the front, blocking the crowd in the middle.
Three hundred people surrounded fifty or sixty people.
To catch a turtle in a jar.
---
Half an hour.
ended.
The ground was covered with people.
The living knelt on the ground, the motionless lay on the ground, some were crying, some were shouting, and some sat blankly, as if they hadn't yet realized what had happened.
Shen Bai stood in the middle of the crowd.
There was blood on his knife.
Several corpses lay at my feet.
He didn't look at those people.
He was looking for something.
"Where's the grain?"
He asked the old ghost.
"In the village," Old Ghost said. "There's a good amount of grain stored in the granary on the east side. And there are more than twenty horses in the stable."
"How long will this food last?"
"Enough to feed 300 people for two months."
Shen Bai wiped the blood off the knife.
"Take them all."
He turned around and walked into the village.
He took two steps and then stopped.
What did he see?
---
On the east side of the village, near the cliff, there is a low stone house.
It doesn't look like anyone lives there.
The door was locked, and the windows were boarded up.
Shen Bai walked over.
The door was made of wood and was already rotten. He struck it twice with the back of his knife, and the door cracked.
It was very dark inside.
He went inside.
There is grass on the ground.
It wasn't a bed, but straw spread on the ground, like a place for people to sleep.
He stopped.
Light from outside shone through the door and fell on the floor.
There's something in the haystack.
Something.
He squatted down to look.
are people.
Lying down.
It is not moving.
He was lying face down on the ground, covered in blood.
Shen Bai reached out and turned the person over.
His face was ashen. His eyes were sunken, and his cheekbones were prominent, making him look like a dried-up corpse.
But it wasn't a corpse.
There's still air.
very weak.
But there are still others.
Shen Bai saw his hand.
There was a pale silver line on my wrist.
He pulled his hand back.
"Old ghost."
Old Ghost walked in from outside.
"Call Shen Anning over."
When the old ghost saw the person on the ground, his expression changed.
He didn't ask.
He turned and left.
---
When Shen Anning came in, Shen Bai was already standing at the door waiting.
She glanced at the person lying on the ground.
Her expression changed.
suddenly.
Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but then she didn't.
Shen Bai looked at her.
"know?"
Shen Anning remained silent.
She walked over and squatted down next to the person.
She reached out and touched the man's face.
The person didn't move.
Eyes closed.
Breathing is shallow.
"Uncle Meng."
---
(End of Chapter Twenty-Nine)