CHAPTER 124: CHAPTER 118: ATTACK AGAIN

Someone ran back and said, "General, they have no reinforcements, our people saw them cleaning the battlefield."

Upon hearing this, Shi Le was even angrier, stomped his foot and said, "We’ve been deceived!"

"General, let’s kill our way back!"

Shi Le looked at the already exhausted soldiers, pondered for a moment, and said, "Let everyone rest for a while, eat something, and wait until dawn to go."

With a malicious look in his eyes, he said, "Do they really think a word will scare us off, they underestimate us too much."

In Zhao’s Fortress, everyone dragged the stones from under the city gates up to the city walls, while carpenters were banging away with planks and wood, but the majority of people lay sprawled on the ground, deep in sleep.

As the morning light appeared, women and children pushed out meal carts. Seeing them in slumber, they did not wake them but nudged to find their husbands and fathers. If they found them alive, they breathed a great sigh of relief and handed the meal to them;

If they found them among the corpses lying to one side, they quietly tidied up the bodies, tears falling one by one, but they did not cry out loud.

Zhao Hanzhang stood silently watching for a while, then turned her head and hoarsely ordered, "Wake everyone up, eat a hearty breakfast, and prepare for battle."

Everyone couldn’t help but look at Zhao Ming.

Zhao Ming said, "Listen to the Third Lady."

Just as everyone was about to retreat, Zhao Hanzhang suddenly said, "Wait."

Her gaze swept over them, finally settling on Zhao Ming, "Uncle, the most taboo thing in an army is having two commanders, so before the official battle, I need you to confirm one thing with our clan: from now on, everyone inside and outside the fortress is under my command."

Zhao Ming: ... Is her burning ambition already unrestrained?

But he just paused for a moment before nodding, "Alright!"

He turned his head to the representatives of each family and said, "Pass down the order, from now on, the Zhao Family only listens to the directives of the Third Lady."

The representatives of each family were shocked, and someone exclaimed, "Fifth Brother, how can this be?"

Zhao Ming did not explain why, he just darkened his face and sternly said, "This is an order, pass it down!"

The representatives glanced at Zhao Hanzhang, but ultimately retreated and passed the order down.

Zhao Hanzhang nodded with satisfaction, grabbed two large buns, and went up the city wall, gnawing on them while watching the rising sun.

Fu Tinghan brought up two bowls of water and handed one to her.

Zhao Hanzhang took it and drank a sip, "Our advantage is that we have cavalry, I plan to use them to the fullest extent."

"So?"

"I’ve already sent someone out to meet them and have them speed up," Zhao Hanzhang said, "Shi Le also has a horse at his disposal, I’ve decided to have a fight with him."

"Can you defeat him?"

Zhao Hanzhang looked down at her hand, clenched her fist, and said, "Not yet, so I’ve decided to bring Uncle Qianli along."

"If both of us are entangled with Shi Le, no one will command the cavalry."

Fu Tinghan understood, "You want me to do it?"

Zhao Hanzhang nodded, "You’ve seen us train, haven’t you? Using drumbeats to convey information, you can oversee the whole situation from the fortress, what I need is for the cavalry to intersperse and disrupt their offensive."

"Only by breaking their confidence can we negotiate with them."

Fu Tinghan thought for a while and nodded, agreeing, "Alright." He did indeed remember the meaning of the drumbeats and could command.

Zhao Hanzhang gave him a radiant smile, "I’ll find you a drummer, you instruct him on how to play."

However, Zhao Ming directly told her, "There isn’t one."

Zhao Hanzhang was incredulous, "In such a big fortress, with so many servants, you don’t even have a drummer?"

Zhao Ming: "The servants are for defending the fortress, and usually primarily focused on farming, they’re not actual soldiers going into battle, why would there be a dedicated drummer?"

Zhao Hanzhang: "I have, and there are three of them!"

Zhao Ming rubbed his forehead, "Fine, I’ll play then, what’s your plan for this battle?"

Zhao Hanzhang said, "Gather everyone together."

Zhao Ming then had someone ring the bell, and the clansmen and servants, who just had their fill, came onto the street with their respective weapons.

Zhao Hanzhang felt a headache seeing they couldn’t even line up properly.

Zhao Ming said, "Most of these people are untrained, and many of the servants have died in battle."

The ones holding swords and standing now were the farmers working in the fields, before today, they might not have even fought a fistfight, let alone killed or battled.

Zhao Hanzhang asked loudly, "Who can use a spear?"

More than twenty servants stepped forward, Zhao Hanzhang nodded, and asked again, "Who’s familiar with using shields?"

Only seven or eight servants stepped up.

Zhao Hanzhang continued asking, "Who has learned phalanx formations?"

This time, no one came forward.

Zhao Ming hurriedly said, "Third Lady, people usually just practice with swords, who practices military formations?"

Zhao Hanzhang then smiled at everyone, "It’s alright, we have time to array our troops now."

Zhao Hanzhang divided the spear soldiers and personally set up the formations.

As they hadn’t practiced phalanxes before, she didn’t make it complicated, directly letting them form a group of five most familiar to them, "You just wait here in this formation, acting on my command."

Everyone complied.

Ji Ping, who went out to greet people, returned with someone, "Third Lady, Zhao Chuangzhu and the others have arrived, per your orders, they’ve all hidden in the forest outside."

Zhao Hanzhang nodded, "Very good, you may retreat now, eat your meal, and prepare later to coordinate with Zhao Ju from the inside and outside."

"Uncle, I’ll leave the city wall to you."

Zhao Ming nodded, "Alright."

He took the remaining people up the city wall.

As the sky brightened, Shi Le was also looking at the sun, he wiped his mouth and asked, "Anything happening over at Zhao’s Fortress?"

"Just now, two horses entered the fortress, then the gates closed tight, and no one else has entered or exited."

Shi Le pondered, "Let’s go. Today, we must take Zhao’s Fortress."

"Zhao Changyu is famously wealthy, this is his clan, the fortress must be full of endless gold, silver, and jewels, robbing him is worth ten others, this loss of life is worth it, let’s go!"

As everyone heard, they became spirited, immediately grabbing their swords and following.

After a full day of fighting yesterday, they also accumulated some siege tools, like timber to ram the gates of the fortress.

This time, Shi Le didn’t wait for his subordinates to charge first but was the first to lead, riding in front to draw fire, letting others carry timber over the trenches to hit the gate.

Zhao Hanzhang peeked to take a look, drawing the bow and shooting, killing the one at the front carrying the timber, ordered, "Ignore Shi Le, first kill those carrying the timber, do not let them approach the gate!"

Thus, arrows bypassed Shi Le, raining down on those carrying timber and the disorderly charging troops.

Zhao Hanzhang notched another arrow, aimed at Shi Le, who was evading and deflecting arrows, the arrow flew out, Shi Le noticed it, slashed it down, saw Zhao Hanzhang on the city wall, and raised his broadsword towards her, "Young little girl, weren’t you going to duel me? Come down then."

Zhao Hanzhang laughed at him, loudly replied, "Don’t rush, I’ll come down soon."

After saying so, she signaled to continue shooting arrows and throwing stones at the charging men.

Shi Le could only keep charging, retreating, and charging again. They were numerous and fearless of death, soon reaching the gate after several charges, and with a few collisions with the timber, the gate began to sway and become unstable.

Zhao Hanzhang nodded at Fu Tinghan and Zhao Ming, turned around, and grabbed a long spear to head downstairs.