bullyxtreme Chapter 25 Winning with Fewer People
Chapter 25 Winning with Fewer People
Li Sheng nodded in satisfaction, a slight smile playing on his lips.
These bandits had just breached the fortified village and were busy dividing up grain, looting, and indulging in pleasure. They had thrown their swords and spears aside and had long since lost all sense of vigilance. To attack them now would be to strike where they were unprepared, as the art of war dictates. Strike first and you will prevail; strike later and you will suffer.
Furthermore, these bandits were, in the end, nothing more than a rabble.
When things are going well, they're like wolves and tigers, but once they start looting, their minds are entirely on gold, silver, valuables, and women. They don't care about forming ranks to fight back. By the time they realize it, a knife is already at their throats.
Although our side has only twelve men, they are well-organized and can catch the enemy off guard with a single charge.
And the leather armor everyone was wearing. Although it was just old stuff taken from county soldiers, from a distance it did look somewhat like that of government troops.
When the time comes, shouting "The government troops are coming!" will give us two advantages. First, we'll have more confidence—we're the officials, they're the bandits, so it's perfectly legitimate to kill them without feeling guilty. Second, bandits are most afraid of government troops surrounding them, and hearing that shout will immediately put them in a panic. This combination of amplification and deconstruction will increase our chances of victory by 30%.
The most crucial factor is manpower. We only have twelve men, while the bandits number over a hundred. If we divide our forces to encircle them and set fires in all directions, we will only scatter our meager strength.
Instead, we should make a fist and focus our punches on one spot.
In this way, at the moment of the battle, their twelve men were facing only three, five, seven or eight bandits, which turned into a situation of the strong bullying the weak and the many attacking the few.
That's how military strategy works. There's never been a case of "the few defeating the many" or "the weak defeating the strong." Twelve against a hundred might sound like the weaker side, but if the fight goes well, the stronger side is actually the one that wins.
Li Sheng took a deep breath, lowered his body, held the halberd in his right hand, and swung his left hand forward.
"Follow me. Let's go."
Twelve figures, like unsheathed blades, silently moved towards the fortified village.
The bandits inside the fortified village were still celebrating, and no one noticed the strange occurrences in the village.
Li Sheng took a deep breath and gripped the iron halberd in his hand tightly.
Then he stood up.
"The government troops have arrived! Bandits, prepare to die!"
His voice boomed like thunder, exploding in the morning air.
At the same time, he swung his iron halberd fiercely, sweeping away two bandits who were venting their lust on women at the door.
The two bandits didn't even have time to scream before one's chest caved in and the other's neck snapped. They rolled more than ten feet away and died on the spot.
"kill!"
The eleven men behind him shouted in unison and followed Li Sheng into the fortified village.
Chaos erupted instantly inside the fortified village.
The bandits who were dividing their loot looked up. It was still dark when they saw a group of people wearing leather armor and carrying spears emerge from the morning mist. They were terrified.
"Soldiers! It's soldiers!"
"Run!"
Some people threw down their weapons, grabbed the stolen food and money, and ran away.
Some reacted quickly, grabbing weapons and rushing forward.
But many more people are still in a state of panic and confusion.
Liu Wu had already climbed to a sentry post at the entrance of the fortified village, took the bow from his back, and, from his elevated position, nocked an arrow and fired.
"Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—"
Three arrows were fired in quick succession, so fast that their trajectories were almost invisible.
Three bandits fell to the ground instantly. Although the bullets did not hit any vital organs, they were enough to terrify the surrounding bandits.
"Archers! Run!"
The scene became even more chaotic.
Li Sheng took the lead, wielding an iron halberd and charging straight into the most densely populated area of the bandits.
With a horizontal slash of the iron halberd, a bandit's ring-pommel sword was knocked away, and he was swept more than ten feet away, spitting blood and unable to get up.
With a vertical thrust of the halberd, another bandit's spear was deflected, and a gash was slashed across his chest by the halberd tip. He fell to the ground screaming in agony.
He was agile and his reactions were faster than a normal person's. Every move he made was just right to avoid the blades coming at him, and every swing of his halberd was precisely aimed at the bandits' weakest points.
Wherever Li Sheng went, he was utterly invincible!
These bandits were usually fine when they had the upper hand, but now that they were suddenly attacked by Li Sheng and his men, it was already a miracle that their limbs didn't go weak.
Most of them scattered and fled in terror, and the walls of the fortified village could not stop them.
At that moment, a loud shout came from inside the fortified village.
"Zhang Kuo, the Taiping Colonel, is here! Brothers, engage him immediately! Don't run! They don't outnumber us!"
Zhang Kuo's roar exploded from the depths of the fortified village, its booming sound drowning out most of the cries.
This guy is indeed quite capable.
Instead of losing their composure during the surprise attack, they quickly assessed the situation.
He glanced around, his gaze quickly locking onto Li Sheng's direction, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes.
"Follow me! They only have this many men. Kill the leader, and you'll get a ten-stringed coin reward!"
Zhang Kuo roared as he charged toward Li Sheng with his knife.
His dozen or so trusted bandits quickly gathered around him.
These men were all seasoned bandits who had followed Zhang Kuo on several "big deals," their hands stained with blood, and they were far bolder than ordinary thieves.
Although they were also caught off guard by the surprise attack, they quickly regained their composure under Zhang Kuo's command, picked up their weapons, and began to flank Li Sheng.
"Brothers, follow me and kill!"
Zhang Kuo roared and slashed down at Li Sheng's head with his ring-pommel sword.
This strike was powerful and heavy, the blade cutting through the air with a sharp, swift wind.
Zhang Kuo was able to raise a force of over a hundred men in the chaos of war, which shows he truly possessed considerable skill. This strike, in both power and angle, was far beyond what ordinary bandits could achieve.
However, Li Sheng did not even take a step back.
He gripped the halberd's end with his left hand and the middle with his right, holding the shaft horizontally to block the blow.
"clang--"
The clashing of metal exploded out in a piercing sound.
Zhang Kuo felt a violent tremor in his hand, his entire arm went numb, and his ring-pommel sword nearly flew out of his grasp.
He was horrified. His strike had been at least 70-80% of its force, something an ordinary person couldn't withstand. Yet this young man had not only caught it but hadn't even flinched.
What the hell is this kind of superhuman strength?
Li Sheng did not give him a chance to catch his breath.
As he parried the ring-pommel sword, Li Sheng kicked out with his right foot, striking Zhang Kuo squarely in the abdomen.
The kick was as fast as lightning. Zhang Kuo had no time to dodge and was sent flying backward, crashing heavily into the courtyard wall behind him.
"puff--"
A mouthful of blood spurted from Zhang Kuo's mouth. He felt as if his internal organs had shifted, and his vision went black.
"Big brother!"
Several trusted bandits rushed forward with cries of alarm. Some went to help Zhang Kuo, while others drew their knives and slashed at Li Sheng.
Li Sheng swept his iron halberd horizontally, the shaft whistling through the air as it struck the foremost bandit in the chest. Before the bandit could even scream, he was sent flying as if hit by a galloping horse, knocking over the two men behind him.
Three or four bandits rushed forward at the same time, raising their swords and spears.
Instead of retreating, Li Sheng advanced, his body swaying as he dodged a slashing blade aimed at his head. With a backhand flick of his halberd, the tip sliced open the throat of the second bandit. Amidst the splattering blood, his left hand had already loosened its grip on the halberd shaft, his five fingers forming a claw as he seized the wrist of the third bandit. With a sharp twist, a crisp crack resounded, and the bandit's wrist bone shattered, causing him to scream and fall to his knees.
The fourth bandit was so frightened that he turned and ran, but Li Sheng struck him on the back of the head with the shaft of his halberd and knocked him unconscious on the spot.
From the moment Zhang Kuo charged to the moment the four bandits fell to the ground, it was only a matter of three to five breaths.
At this moment, Liu Wu had already emptied his quiver of arrows and charged forward with his spear.
Zhao Hu, Li Shi, and several other core brothers also scattered the bandits around them and quickly moved closer to Li Sheng.
"Brother Sheng!"
Liu Wu rushed to Li Sheng's side, thrusting his spear forward and piercing through a bandit who was trying to attack from the side.
"I'm fine."
Li Sheng's voice remained calm as he looked at Zhang Kuo, who was still coughing up blood in the corner.
"Protect my flanks, kill the bandit leader first!"
The group quickly formed a small formation around Li Sheng, with Liu Wu on the left, Zhao Hu on the right, and Li Shi behind, protecting Li Sheng in the middle.
The four worked together seamlessly, defeating the bandits who surrounded them one by one.
Li Sheng strode towards Zhang Kuo.
Zhang Kuo struggled to stand up, but Li Sheng's kick was too heavy. His lower abdomen felt like it had been branded with a hot iron, and every movement caused him to break out in a cold sweat from the pain.
Seeing that he was seriously injured, some of his trusted bandits still wanted to fight to the death to protect their master, while others had already begun to shrink back.
"Stop him! Stop him right now!"
Zhang Kuo roared hoarsely.
Five or six bandits, steeling themselves, charged forward.
Li Sheng's iron halberd was like a dragon; the tip of the halberd pointed, stabbed, picked, and deflected, while the shaft swept, smashed, cracked, and parried. Every move was clean and crisp, without the slightest superfluous action.
Where the halberd blade passed, blood spurted out; when the halberd shaft struck, bones broke and tendons snapped.
Liu Wu and his two companions provided support from the flanks, blocking the bandits who attempted to flank them one by one.
In a short while, Zhang Kuo had fewer than three trusted confidants left standing around him.
Li Sheng stepped forward, raising his iron halberd high, its blade gleaming coldly in the morning light.
"The ringleader is hereby beheaded!"
The halberd blade fell.
Zhang Kuo's eyes widened, and he didn't even have time to let out a complete scream.
Fresh blood gushed out.
Li Sheng grabbed Zhang Kuo's head, raised it high, and his voice boomed like thunder over the fortified village.
"The bandit leader is dead! Those who surrender will not be killed!"
"The bandit leader is dead! Those who surrender will not be killed!"
Liu Wu, Zhao Hu, and others shouted in unison.
Inside the fortified village, the bandits who were still putting up a fight saw Zhang Kuo's head, and it was as if their spines had been removed; their fighting spirit collapsed instantly.
"Big brother's dead! Run!"
Some people took off running, even throwing away their knives, and fled desperately towards the outside of the fortified village.
Some people's legs were so weak that they couldn't even stand up, and they knelt down with a "thud," throwing their weapons to the ground.
"I surrender! I surrender!"
"Don't kill me! I surrender!"
More and more bandits knelt down and surrendered, spreading rapidly like a plague.
A few who were slower were caught up by Li Sheng's local militia and stabbed to the ground with a spear.
The battle is over.
From the moment Li Sheng stormed into the fortified village to the moment Zhang Kuo was beheaded, the entire process took no more than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
Of the twelve men, none died.
Only two people sustained minor injuries: one had a cut on his arm, and the other had a scraped forehead.
Li Sheng stood in the courtyard of the fortified village, holding Zhang Kuo's head in his left hand and leaning on the ground with his halberd in his right.
His leather armor was splattered with blood, but not a single drop was his own; it was all the bandits'.
His breathing was steady, his gaze calm, as he looked around.
This battle was a resounding victory!