Devouring Mount Tai (2)
The sky was thick with clouds. No rain fell, but the biting winter chill pierced straight through flesh and bone. The mountain wind lashed fiercely at our collars. I stood at the head of the column without even wearing a helmet. Behind me stretched roughly three thousand troops. Men clutching ragged shields, spears, and pathetic bows. Cavalry desperately clinging to their horses. They were the sorriest bunch imaginable, yet right now every last one of them gripped their weapons tight and followed me without exception.
“If we keep heading straight, we’ll reach something like flat ground,” Yu Byeok said from beside me. “Will that be suitable for cavalry operations?”
I grinned and answered, “Operations? Fuck that. We just ram straight into them and it’s over.”
Spears patched with scraps of leather, creaking wooden shields. The equipment was absolute garbage, but the numbers were more than enough. Right now, sheer mass of bodies was all we needed. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. My stomach was still fucking starving.
“Boss! Enemies sighted up ahead!” One of the scouts came sprinting back, panting hard.
“How many?”
“No more than five hundred! They’re crouched on the slope where the mountainside levels out!”
I nodded. “Good.”
I wheeled my horse and rode out in front of the troops. The enemy in the distance was a pathetic sight. Their banners hung crooked, and the men clutching spears and bows looked like they could barely hold them properly as they huddled together. True to the name of bandit gangs, it was nothing but a cluster of worthless trash. They kept glancing nervously at one another, eyes fixed on the dirt. The wrists of those gripping their spears were trembling violently, and a few were visibly swallowing in terror. They clearly had no intention of fighting from the start. Only their so-called leader seemed to be stubbornly holding his ground. After all, these kinds of bastards only ever looked for ways to survive. Even if their leader was standing there out of fear right now, the chance to surrender had already flown.
“Listen up!” My voice rang out across the winter slopes of Taishan. “A bunch of worthless pieces of shit are cowering in the corner over there! Today, we’re going to smash their fucking skulls open!”
“““WAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!”””
The bandits roared like starving beasts.
“However,” I raised my hand, silencing them for a moment. “There’s no need to waste our strength for nothing.”
I nudged the man beside me. “You. Take the banner, go over there, and shout. Tell them to bow their heads and surrender. Give them one ke. If there’s no answer, tell them we’ll fuck them up and crush them.”
“Yes!”
The man grabbed the banner with shaking hands and marched forward. The flag fluttered wildly in the mountain wind as he bellowed in a rough voice.
“Bow your fucking heads, you bastards!! You’ve got one ke!! Get down and we’ll spare your lives!!!”
I stood behind him, quietly watching. Time passed, but the enemy didn’t budge. I tapped my scabbard and muttered, “Fuck. The fact they’re not answering right away means I can practically hear their brains spinning.”
There was no need to say more. I drew my sword. The men on horseback clenched their teeth and tightened their grips, ready. “Cavalry, forward!”
Fifty riders surged forward at my command. As the horses broke into a gallop, the men clung to them for dear life.
“Charge!!”
At the order, the sound of thundering hooves and heavy footsteps exploded across the western slopes of Taishan. The cavalry led the charge. Hooves kicked up clumps of muddy earth. Spear tips flashed like they were tearing through the winter sunlight. The worthless mob didn’t even have time to open their eyes before they were split apart. Spears punched through chests. The sickening crack of ribs shattering under hooves echoed on the mountain wind. Before they could even scream properly, the men were trampled into the mud.
“Gaaah!!”
“Uwaaaagh!!”
Their formation collapsed like a house of cards the instant the cavalry hit. I thrust my spear into the skulls of the stumbling bastards and roared, “Don’t stop!! Push through!!!”
The spearmen who followed charged like madmen. Holding their ragged shields in front, wearing leather armor that barely qualified as such, they crashed forward like a massive wave. Spear tips pierced bodies and blood sprayed. Screams and groans spread on the winter wind.
“Fuck! Spare me!”
Once their lines broke, some of them threw down their weapons and dropped to the ground. But it was far too late. The cavalry trampled them beneath their horses’ hooves.
“Too late now! Kill them all as an example!”
I too crushed the heads of those who had thrown themselves down and shouted, “It’s the boss’s order! Kill every last one!!”
The bandits charged forward in a frenzy, slaughtering everything in sight. The clumsy formation was shattered beyond recognition. All that remained was a gruesome battlefield littered with the corpses of bandits.
“WAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!”
Those who sensed defeat tried to flee up the mountain ridges, but the cavalry chased them down and cut them to pieces.
“Spare me!! I surrender! I surrender!!”
A few slammed their heads to the ground and screamed. But the destruction that had already begun would not stop. I tightened my grip on the spear and looked down at the ruined battlefield, muttering, “Worthless pieces of shit. The moment you try to use your heads, you all die.”
I watched quietly as the bandits began looting the corpses. Since we had won, I could understand the madness for now. It was fine today. Loot was the natural reward of victory. But if these bastards later lost their minds, ignored my orders, and started pillaging on their own, that would become a real headache.
I called over Yu Byeok, who was waiting nearby. “If anyone starts disobeying orders later… get ready to crack their skulls immediately.”
“Just give the word and it will be done,” Yu Byeok answered shortly.
No matter how much they were bandits, anyone who defied my orders was no different from the corpses lying here. That was why I had to keep the reins pulled tight at all times.
While I was lost in thought, the battlefield was ruled by the madness of blood and greed.
“How many got away?” I asked, still not letting go of my spear as I turned to Yu Byeok.
“Almost none. The cavalry chased them to the end and trampled every last one,” Yu Byeok reported calmly.
I smirked. “Fuck. If they wanted to run fast, they should’ve at least had quick legs.”
The ground was littered with blood and bodies. Men whose heads had been smashed while fleeing. Men who had thrown themselves down only to be crushed under hooves. Men turned into bloody pincushions by spears. It was pure hell. I slowly walked across the corpses sprawled on the ground.
“Ptui. I wish the rest would just surrender right away instead of trying to think with their heads.” I spat. “Don’t make it annoying by resisting like idiots.”
Yu Byeok nodded and added, “We brought three thousand men. Unless they’re a few hundred bandits or Yellow Turbans like this time… they’ll all be scared shitless and bow their heads.”
I chuckled briefly. “That’s how it should be.”
The winter wind blew past, washing away the thick stench of blood. And that washed-away stench spread across the entire western region.
Pacifying the west took longer than expected. The worthless bastards hid in narrow valleys or used the rugged mountain terrain to resist.
“Gaaaah!!”
Those pathetic fucks hid behind rocks and hurled stones. One unlucky cavalryman took a rock straight to the head and fell from his horse. I ground my teeth at the sight.
“Fuck! A cavalryman gets hit by a rock and falls off?! Wipe them out immediately!!”
Yu Byeok calmly issued orders and crushed the hidden resisters. Even so, at night some would crawl out of the forest, fling a few stones or loose a single arrow, then flee.
“Ha, those retards are crawling out again.”
It took an entire week to hunt down and eliminate every single one of them. I looked at Taishan and spat.
“Fuck. I thought it’d be over in a day or two since there was nothing special, but these worthless pieces of shit are eating up way too much time.”
Yu Byeok reported from beside me, “All the scattered resistance has been eliminated. The ones who surrendered have been tied up and sent south.”
I nodded. “Good.”
The west was now more or less cleaned up. The surrendered men were dragged away in lines with their heads hung low. They didn’t beg for their lives or struggle to escape. They simply knelt and nodded the moment an order was given.
Western Taishan. No other bastards’ banners remained.
“Next is the east,” I said, turning my horse. “The east shouldn’t be much, right?”
“They say it’s weaker than this group. Split into several smaller bands,” Yu Byeok answered concisely.
“Good. Then,” I tapped my scabbard and grinned. “This shouldn’t even take a week.”
Three thousand troops. There had been some losses, but we had replenished them. After the fighting ended, we replaced broken spear shafts and gathered new shields from the main camp. Torn leather armor was crudely tied back together with string, and broken spears were swapped for usable ones lying on the ground. Through the suppression battles, even the cavalry had learned to keep at least a small sense of balance on horseback. As expected, even though they were bandits, after trampling scattered resistance for a week in the west, these bastards had gained some actual experience.
Conquering the east shouldn’t take as long as the west had. I drew my sword and shouted.
“Move out! We’re going to fuck up the rest of these worthless pieces of shit!!”
“““WAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!”””
The starving beasts roared once more as they began crossing the mountain again.