“The bandits of He Yang have come!” Old Zhang dashed into the village while shouting all the way.

Hearing this shout, the ordinary villagers were utterly terrified, especially those “short laborers” who had just come to Gaojia Village recently.

These people had not experienced the battle against the Supreme Bright King or the night attack on Gaojia Fortress.

They didn’t know that in a fight at Gaojia Village, the Deity would step in to protect his own, causing them to panic massively right away. Many immediately hid back into their plastic houses and shivered inside.

Cheng Xu was startled too. In fact, he hadn’t seen the Deity intervene either.

Though when he was almost killed by the Imperial Guards, the Deity seemed to have acted, but at the time, mud and stones were flying about, and he was laughing wildly, never quite figuring out how he was saved.

But in any case, he had to emerge.

Cheng Xu leaped to the front instantly and intercepted Old Zhang: “Bandits have come? How far are they? About how many men?”

Old Zhang said, “The bandit army is climbing up from the eastern slope, still four or five Li away from Zhengjia Village via mountain paths. The numbers aren’t clear; I ran ahead to report so the village could prepare.”

Cheng Xu silently calculated: four or five Li uphill was a tough climb. From Zhengjia Village to Gaojia Village was another six Li of cement road, so the bandits wouldn’t arrive soon, giving them over an hour to get ready.

He waved his arm at once and said, “The civilian militia, gear up, then assemble at the village entrance and wait for my next command.”

The militia’s over a hundred members immediately ran home to arm themselves.

The earliest forty-six to join had cotton armor already. They donned the armor, grabbed a crossbow, a quiver of arrows, and picked up a spear with a wooden shaft and iron spearhead— soon, they were fully equipped.

Those who joined later had no armor—they just had armor plates sewn onto key parts of their cotton coats for protection. But they did have crossbows, arrows, and spears with wooden shafts and iron spearheads.

While they armed themselves, Cheng Xu shouted, “Hurry, public sun chariot! Take me to Zhengjia Village.”

The two new pilots scrambled over, ready to start the sun chariot.

Cheng Xu was about to board when he saw Xing Honglang running down the slope, followed by her thirty or forty salt smuggler subordinates: “Instructor He, wait for me. I’ll come with you to check out the bandit army too.”

Cheng Xu said, “This is Gaojia Fortress’s business.”

Xing Honglang chuckled, “My men say they spotted Erchun.”

She lifted her injured arm: “The wound on my arm here was bestowed by Erchun.”

At that, Cheng Xu said nothing more, sprang onto the sun chariot, and waved to Xing Honglang.

Xing Honglang glanced at the strange vehicle and told her followers, “All aboard, follow me together.”

The salt smugglers chorused in response, “Yes, boss.”

After that, she also darted onto the public sun chariot, and a large group of salt smugglers squeezed in together.

“What’s this weird chariot? It holds so many people.”

“Incredible, all of us got on, and it actually accommodated us.”

“Oh, it’s moving.”

“Seriously, this thing still moves with so many people on it.”

The salt smugglers were amazed, like rustics dazzled by unfamiliar splendor.

The sun chariot started moving, rolled onto the cement road, and soon reached the edge of Zhengjia Village.

Xing Honglang and Cheng Xu jumped off and told the chariot pilots, “You two hurry back to Gaojia Village. The militia should be ready in gear; bring them over here.”

After speaking, the two ran toward the top of the eastern slope.

At the summit, Old Zhu and two militia rookies had been monitoring the eastern slope all along. As soon as the leaders arrived, they immediately asked softly, “How’s the situation?”

Old Zhu pointed downhill: “Boss, look over there.”

Both leaders looked toward the eastern slope. Without looking, they hadn’t realized; looking now, they got quite a shock. A large bandit army on the eastern slope had formed into a long, snaking line on the narrow mountain trail as they climbed upward.

Cheng Xu and Xing Honglang spoke almost simultaneously: “Eight thousand!”

After speaking, the two exchanged glances, each seeing the worry in the other’s eyes.

Too many!

Cheng Xu couldn’t help muttering, “How can there be so many? Months ago, Bai Shui Wang Er rebelled with only a few hundred men. When the Supreme Bright King emerged and started causing trouble, it was only a little over a thousand. Now, less than half a year later, bandit armies numbering in the thousands are constantly popping up. It’s utterly baffling.”

Xing Honglang couldn’t help but frown either. “The other day, I ran into Erchun. He only had three hundred men. My men and I charged them and scattered them easily. How are their numbers so large again now in the blink of an eye? It seems Fan Shanyue and Sui Fengxiong have joined forces with him.”

Hearing their discussion, Li Daoxuan also couldn’t help but sigh lightly: Where exactly is ‘this’? As the situation spirals further out of control, tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands will emerge. In the end, Li Zicheng even commanded a million troops.

This was still the early days of the peasant uprising. Their numbers are still in the mere thousands. Don’t panic now—you’ll have plenty more to panic about later.

Xing Honglang whispered, “Instructor He, what do you think?”

Cheng Xu glanced downward and saw mixed within the bandit ranks the occasional grandmother, leaning on her walking stick, slowly making her way up the slope.

They’ve even brought grandmothers. What exactly are you asking me to think?

His heart pounding wildly with panic, he couldn’t help but curse under his breath: “Stone and mud! The militia isn’t properly trained yet. Just a little over a hundred men. Even adding your thirty or forty, it won’t make a difference. We need to withdraw.”

Xing Honglang also thought they should withdraw. Just as they prepared to turn back, the rumbling sound of the public sun chariots echoed. Two public sun chariots arrived at Zhengjia Village, one after the other.

The lead chariot was driven by Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu, transporting half of the militia.

The chariot behind was driven by two new drivers, transporting the other half of the militia.

The whole militia group had arrived!

Once this group arrived, they looked around, spotted Instructor He prone on top of the eastern slope looking down, and hurried over.

As soon as Gao Chuwu saw Xing Honglang, he lowered his head and said pitifully, “I…”

Xing Honglang cut him off: “Spare me the talk, I don’t have time to listen.”

Zheng Daniu, however, moved to Cheng Xu’s side, peeked down the slope with half his face exposed, and after one glance, gave two low chuckles: “Isn’t this a great chance to throw rocks at them? Even though I’m dumb, I know we have the terrain advantage.”

Cheng Xu shot him a scornful look: “The bandit army is large and powerful; we shouldn’t confront them head-on. We should avoid provoking them and withdraw, smoothly, now. We can still make it back to Gaojia Village to organize all the villagers to retreat toward the county town. If we start throwing rocks, it’ll only slow our own withdrawal down. If we keep throwing, they’ll reach the mountaintop by then, and we won’t have time to get the villagers to run with us.”

Zheng Daniu argued, “We can’t run! If we run, the village’s wheat field is finished. We have to hold them off.”

Cheng Xu retorted, “Didn’t you hear me? The bandit army is large and powerful; we cannot engage them directly.”

Zheng Daniu countered, “We have the Deity’s blessing. How could we possibly be unable to engage them?”

Cheng Xu asked sharply, “The Deity even manages battles?”

Zheng Daniu insisted, “Yes! The Deity gave us catapults, large cannons…”

Hearing this, Cheng Xu’s eyes lit up. He looked down the slope again, and just like that, the grandmother who had been climbing… vanished, turning into light.

Do you believe in light?

A grand soundtrack swelled. Cheng Xu, War God of Chengcheng, revived at full health and full state. He waved his hand commandingly: “Everyone, prepare large stones! Upon my order, smash them to smithereens!”