Chapter 58: Winning
Standing in the crowd, Chen Jian swung a stone ax, cleaving the head of an enemy who had pushed through the line. He glanced at his bewildered left wing and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
His clansmen had followed his orders too literally, and now they stood there at a loss.
If there was someone on the field who understood tactics, they could lead a few teams from the left to roll up the enemy flank, and the battle would be over. It was a pity that no one did. The clansmen had only memorized his commands by rote; they did not truly understand this new way of fighting.
Now the right wing was holding on, but the left wing was still waiting for his order. In three months, all he had been able to train them to do was understand the drum beats for advancing and retreating. He hadn't had time to teach them characters, let alone tactical maneuvers like turning left and right.
The four teams around him had been pressed into a bulging crescent, their front no longer facing straight ahead but tilting backward, forming an angle.
To the right was not a river, but a completely open field. The tribesmen had subconsciously shifted right, trying to prevent the enemy from getting around them, but in doing so they had also blocked the attack route for the thirty stone-ax soldiers waiting in reserve behind them.
Theoretically, if Acorn had led those men to move more than ten steps to the right beforehand, then the moment the enemy tried to surround the right wing, they could have beaten the drums and charged, crushing the enemy from the side. The assault squad could have then rolled into the enemy's rear, resulting in a perfect battle of annihilation rather than a simple rout.
But the gap between theory and reality was that his men knew *what* to do but not *why*. They hadn't fully grasped this method of warfare and were just mechanically executing his orders.
Badger had also noticed the men standing thirty steps away. He didn't understand why they hadn't moved, but his eyes were fixed only on Chen Jian. He could even see the sweat dripping from his face.
He was confident that even if those thirty men charged now, he could kill Chen Jian before they reached him. Judging from the way the man swung his stone ax, he wasn't a real hunter at all. He couldn't figure out how such a person had become their leader.
Three stone spears thrust at Badger's chest in unison. With a roar to his clansmen, he swung his stone ax in a wide arc, batting the spearheads away. His legs exploded with amazing strength as he tried to burst through the gap between two teams.
A man holding a wicker shield suddenly appeared, trying to block the space. Badger considered the effort meaningless. He swung his stone ax with both hands, smashed the wicker shield to splinters, and brought the ax down on the man's head, crushing his skull.
Chen Jian was right in front of him, with only four men around him. Badger bellowed like a beast, a challenge to this cowardly, rabbit-like man.
Three of Badger's clansmen had already squeezed through the gap. The formation on the far right had completely collapsed, becoming a chaotic melee of stone spears and axes. Two of the men had even been struck down by their own tribesmen in the confusion.
Beside Chen Jian, Hua saw the tiger-like Badger and knew this was the leader who had slaughtered his people. Screaming with rage, he charged forward with his stone axe, his younger brother and two kinsmen right behind him, determined to kill the man with their own hands.
Hua threw aside his cumbersome wicker shield and brought his stone ax down on Badger's head. But Badger met the blow with his own ax, the impact sending a numbing shock up Hua's arms. Badger's ax then slammed into his shoulder with crushing force. Searing pain shot through him as his shoulder blade broke, and his entire arm hung limp.
Badger's eyes burned with fanaticism. He was so close to Chen Jian, only ten steps away! If he could just kill him, he could completely collapse this group of stupid, slow-witted fools from behind.
The Chen Jian in his eyes tossed aside the stone ax—a weapon of war—and picked up a small stone hammer, one a child could hold.
Chen Jian glanced at him once, then turned and began to beat the war drum with the small hammer, as if he hadn't even noticed the powerful enemy at his side.
Badger kicked Hua's younger brother aside and took another step forward, but his leg was suddenly seized by Hua, the man whose shoulder he had just crushed.
Hua had only one good arm left, but he wrapped it around Badger's leg and even sank his teeth into the man's ankle.
Dragged for half a step, Badger raised his stone ax and brought it down on Hua's head. Hua heard the whistle of the ax through the air but didn't try to dodge. He took one last look at Chen Jian beating the drum and murmured, "He is alive… revenge will be ours…"
*Thump!*
The stone ax shattered Hua's skull, but his body, even in death, clung tightly to Badger's leg. At last, the two surviving kinsmen rushed over with their axes. Badger, dragging Hua's body, fearlessly met their charge, leaving a smear of blood behind him.
Only eight steps away! These weird drumming sounds couldn't change anything!
Thirty steps away, Song, who had been waiting anxiously, finally heard the drumbeat for the charge. There were still a few friendly tribesmen in his direct path, but he and the men around him let out a war cry, raised their wicker shields, and ran forward at full speed.
Just as in training, they were to smash through whatever was in front of them. Thirty men shouted in unison, and the thirty-step distance vanished in an instant. As they neared the enemy, they braced their wicker shields against their shoulders and, ignoring individuals, simply crashed into the enemy line.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
The line of men slammed into the enemy's flank like a solid wall, shattering the chaotic battlefield. Seven or eight men were knocked to the ground, but Song and his men didn't stop to finish them off with their axes. Just like in training, after knocking them down, they kept charging another ten steps forward. There, they reformed their line and turned to re-enter the battle from the opposite direction.
After three rows of men had stormed through, Badger's people had completely broken. They had never seen such a method of fighting. The shock of the dense, coordinated impact was like a mountain suddenly moving toward them. Their men were bowled over, completely unable to stop the charge.
Ten steps away, a panting Song had already led the team to regroup. But there was nothing left in front of him to attack. The enemies on the ground were scrambling to escape, only to be trampled or stabbed by spears.
The enemy had lost all courage to fight. Their last sliver of hope had been utterly shattered by the thirty charging men. They could no longer bear the slaughter and fled wildly in all directions.
Surveying the scene, Song, for the first time, acted without waiting for the sound of a drum. He yelled at his clansmen, ordering them to scatter and chase down the fleeing enemy.
Badger killed one more man, but he heard the sounds of collapse behind him. Looking back in shock, he saw his clansmen were in a full rout. Except for himself, not a single one was facing the enemy. They all showed their shameful backs.
The outcome was decided.
"No!"
Badger raised his head and roared. The moment he did, a feathered arrow flew from a distance and pierced his throat.
A sweet, coppery taste filled his mouth. He couldn't make a sound, but with his last ounce of strength, he searched for his killer. He finally saw him in the distance—the same man on the horned deer who had nearly shot him yesterday.
He waved his arms, wanting to tell Chen Jian, who was now close at hand: "You are not a warrior! You are as weak as a rabbit! You only know how to tap on that little stone hammer…"
His strong body collapsed to the ground. He died without understanding why this weak man had become their leader, or why strong hunters obeyed his orders.
Chen Jian walked up to Badger, cut off his head with a stone ax, and impaled it on the tip of a spear. He held it high for the entire battlefield to see.
A great cheer erupted from his clansmen. The last pockets of resistance completely lost their courage.
Without pausing to check his casualties, Chen Jian stared at the village not far away, where more than 200 women and slaves remained. He beat the war drum again, signaling to the tribe to break formation, move freely, and occupy the village without delay!
However, at the same moment he gave the order, the village fence was suddenly thrown open. A group of slaves was pushed out. They ran in every direction, crying and searching for their loved ones, their bodies still bound with ropes and vines. Their panicked rush threw the soldiers who were about to enter the village into disarray.
Inside the village, Hongyu led the few remaining clansmen and several allied foreigners onto the horned deer. She opened the fence of the sheep pen, threw aside everything they couldn't carry, and opened the back gate of the village, preparing to escape.
The moment those thirty men had charged, she knew her tribe had lost. It was impossible to win. Even if Badger had killed that Jian, the tribe still could not have won.
So she had made a decision: open the main gate, push the slaves out, and let their chaos buy her time.
If the men were gone, she could find new ones, even if they were these foreigners who were now bound to her. As long as she didn't die, as long as her people didn't die, another group of children would grow up before she was old. They wouldn't know who their fathers were; they would only remember that their mother had raised them.
These foreigners who followed her had no way out. They had killed their own kin in front of her tribe, so even if they returned, they would never be accepted. Their only path to survival was to follow her.
They had horned deer and there would be acorns in the autumn; she and the remnant of her tribe could survive. There were seven or eight men, which meant there would be children. She could completely control these seven or eight stupid men. She only needed them to impregnate her and her kinswomen. Once the children were grown, these men could die.
But just as she was about to leap out of the fenced enclosure, a roar like a tidal wave rose from behind her—a word she couldn't understand.
The bodies of the foreign men around her froze. A chill ran through Hongyu's heart, and a terrible premonition rose within her.
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