A special thank you to my patrons:
—Cain, kevin Williams, Jose Sierra, Salim, Archer, Acedia, kurtis newman, Nhoxious, Tom89, Nithin Samuel, Soumya Ranjan Pathy, Bob.
You can read 50 chapters ahead of everyone on p@treon.
P@TREON - [email protected]/lessaservantofcosmos
(just replace the "@" with "a")
ps: Please support me on P@treon. I can really use your help!
—————————————————————
The White Wave soldiers assigned to guard duty on Yong'an County town's walls were the old, weak, and bullied—those generally disliked. The robust, strong soldiers, those with a little power, had mostly seized civilian houses, now sleeping soundly in warm beds, embracing the original owners' wives and daughters.
Therefore, the White Wave junior officer who should have been on duty today was also lazily asleep somewhere in a civilian house within the city.
The few White Wave soldiers huddled in the gate tower were startled awake by the sound of Huang Cheng's thrown wooden claw hitting the ground. But the torches for illumination had been extinguished long ago. Though they strained to look around, everything was pitch black; they couldn't see a thing.
An older White Wave soldier tightened a tattered, hole-riddled cloth around himself, then fumbled in his clothes for tinder and flint, trembling as he tried to relight the torch. But he hadn't accounted for the damp spring chill. The torch, its oil burnt out, extinguished, then eroded by night mist, couldn't be lit quickly, wasting some tinder.
"Tch! Unlucky!" The old White Wave angrily threw down the torch, calling over a young White Wave shivering nearby, hugging himself. "Silly idiot, your eyes are good. Go check if there's anything in the gate passage?"
The young White Wave soldier grunted "Oh," and turned to descend the wall.
"Hey! You idiot! Just climb the battlement and look! No need to go down, damn it!"
The young White Wave soldier grunted "Oh" again, turned back, ran to the wall's edge, actually climbed onto the parapet, holding on and craning his neck to look down into the gate passage…
Huang Cheng and the others were already curled up in the shadow at the wall's base, not daring to breathe loudly.
The young White Wave soldier, unafraid of losing his grip and falling, earnestly stretched his head, peering into the pitch-black gate passage again and again. Indeed seeing nothing, he pulled back, climbed down, chuckled foolishly twice, and said, "Didn't see anything over here…"
The other White Wave soldiers collectively sighed in relief, relaxing.
But then the young White Wave soldier started walking towards the other side of the wall…
"Silly idiot, what are you doing?" the old soldier asked.
The young White Wave soldier chuckled, pointing to the other side. "This… this side's gate passage hasn't been checked yet!"
The old White Wave was torn between laughter and tears. "Huh? You silly idiot, not so silly after all, knowing there are gate passages on both sides? Alright, come back. No need to check over there!"
The young White Wave soldier grunted "Oh" again, walked back, and said seriously, "I… I'm not an idiot!"
"Alright, alright! You're not an idiot!" the old White Wave brushed him off.
Seeing nothing wrong outside the city and distracted by the young soldier, the group lost interest in further inspection, returning to huddle in the sheltered corner of the gate tower.
Beneath the wall, Huang Cheng waited quietly for a while. Hearing snores resume, he softly let out a long breath…
After another moment, Huang Cheng tugged the rope, placed his feet against the wall, strained his arms, and cautiously climbed upwards, soon disappearing over the wall's edge.
Moments later, another rope slid down from the wall, followed by four more men climbing up.
Huang Cheng emerged halfway over the wall, waved slightly, then ducked back. The soldiers below silently began gathering at the gate.
Defenses atop the wall were as lax as seen at dusk. Even the long stairway down from the wall was unguarded.
Huang Cheng, with four skilled men, followed the shadows along the parapet, descended the wall, and reached the gate passage.
Inside the gate passage, four or five White Wave soldiers were sleeping. Perhaps because it was more sheltered, perhaps feeling more secure knowing the gate was closed, these White Wave, covered in rags, slept more soundly and deeply.
Huang Cheng and the four soldiers stealthily approached these White Wave, exchanged glances, then simultaneously pressed down the White Wave heads and cut their throats with blades.
The hissing sound of spraying blood was piercingly loud in the silent night. The White Wave soldiers' death struggles knocked over spears beside them, which clattered to the ground.
Huang Cheng and the others had no time to worry about this. After eliminating these soldiers, they immediately rushed to the gate. Two on each side, four men together strained to pull out the two thick horizontal bars from the stone sockets on either side of the gate…
The sound of the bars being pulled finally alerted the guarding White Wave soldiers on the wall to the enemy's location. They frantically shouted, sounding the alarm.
But it was already too late. The gate opened a crack. Soldiers outside swarmed in, signaling Fei Qian's distant troops while pushing the gate open wider…
Seeing the circling torchlight in Yong'an's distant gate passage, Fei Qian knew they had succeeded. He ordered all troops to charge towards Yong'an's west gate to support Huang Cheng and the others.
Shouts of battle filled the sky, thoroughly awakening the sleeping Yong'an County town. Many White Wave soldiers rushed out panicked from various civilian houses but found they couldn't locate their units, didn't know exactly what had happened. Frantic like ants on a hot pan, they ran around aimlessly…
In contrast, Fei Qian's troops had very clear objectives: first, the county government office; second, Yong'an's storehouses. Anyone appearing on the streets now was definitely a White Wave bandit—kill them all!
Fei Qian's troops swiftly entered the battlefield, forming lines, advancing along the streets into the city.
The fighting spread from the city's west, gradually expanding…
By now, Huang Cheng was nearing the city center, heading for the government office.
Originally, the White Wave weren't concentrated in one place; now they were even more scattered. White Wave soldiers emerging were cut down one by one by Fei Qian's troops searching the streets.
To the east, the sky began showing hints of grey. The long night was about to end…
A robust White Wave soldier was awakened from dreams by battle cries. Hearing the sounds growing louder and closer, he frantically threw off the covers, leapt from bed, grabbed clothes nearby, wrapped them hastily around himself, picked up his war blade, and with a panicked expression, ran to the courtyard gate. Not daring to open it rashly, he only slid the bolt slightly, opened the gate a crack, and peeked out.
After just a couple glances, he suddenly heard light footsteps behind him, a gust of ill wind. The robust White Wave hastily dodged aside, looked back, and saw a half-grown girl with disheveled hair dragging a firewood chopper behind him. Seeing the chop had missed, she screamed, raised the chopper again, and swung with all her might!
"Damn your mother!" The robust White Wave didn't understand why this originally timid, mouse-like girl, whom he had bullied at will, had suddenly found courage to resist. In his daze, he was nearly struck. Enraged, he slashed back, cutting the girl down, spat hatefully, pulled open the courtyard gate, and ran out…
The girl's scream drew Huang Cheng's attention. He was leading troops clearing White Wave from the streets. He hurried forward a couple steps, suddenly colliding with a robust White Wave soldier at a corner. Without thinking, he slashed!
The robust White Wave also slashed. Clang! Their blades met, spraying sparks.
Taking advantage of their locked blades, Huang Cheng lifted his foot and kicked!
The robust White Wave dodged aside but saw a soldier behind Huang Cheng thrust a spear. Unable to dodge in time, his left side was pierced. "Ah!" He bent over, strength instantly leaving his arms…
Huang Cheng twisted his waist, swinging down, his blade striking the robust White Wave's neck, instantly severing the head. It tumbled to the ground, bounced, hit a courtyard gate, spun twice, and stopped.
The half-naked, half-grown girl lying in the courtyard's blood pool saw that head. Her eyes widened, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly. Then she slowly closed her eyes…
The east grew brighter, whiter. Finally, a brilliant red sun leapt above the horizon, piercing the clouds, casting a ray of sunlight upon Yong'an City…