Hot flashes

Zhou Heng looked in the direction he pointed. Although that hillside was better than the front, it was still covered with rocks and shrubs and was not easy to walk on.

More importantly, there is an open area of ​​nearly a hundred paces from here to the foot of the stockade wall, which is completely exposed to the range of arrows shot from the stockade wall.

"See that open space?" Zhao Heita seemed to know what they were thinking. "When you rush over, don't hesitate, don't stop, and definitely don't look back! With arrows, the more afraid you are, the more they'll find you! Understand?"

"Understood..." came the sparse reply, lacking confidence.

Zhao Heita didn't waste any more words and made a preparation gesture.

Ahead, the soldiers of the Xuanzi Battalion were already lined up, shields raised, spears like a forest, and began to steadily advance towards the mountain path. The war drums sounded, and shouts of battle suddenly erupted, shattering the silence of the mountain forest.

Almost simultaneously, a sharp clapper sounded from the stockade wall, and figures ran about in a panic.

Immediately, several huge stones were pushed off the stockade wall, rolling down along several obviously smooth grooves on the mountainside with a thunderous roar, crashing into the Xuanzi Battalion's attacking force with terrifying force!

"Make way!" shouted the officer leading the Xuanzi Battalion.

The soldiers were well-trained and raised their shields to block or dodge to the sides.

The boulder slammed into the shield array with tremendous force, producing a dull and terrifying impact. Although most of the impacts were blocked or avoided, one or two unlucky ones were grazed and fell to the ground screaming in pain.

Zhou Heng lay prone behind the bushes, his scalp tingling with fear. Those rolling stones were incredibly powerful, and... incredibly fast!

His gaze unconsciously followed yet another boulder that had been pushed down.

The stone hurtled down a groove that was wider and deeper than the others, moving at a significantly faster speed, and rushed almost straight toward the center of the Xuanzi Camp's formation, causing considerable chaos.

"Now!" Zhao Heita roared. "Ding-class battalion, follow me!"

There were no rousing war drums, only subdued commands. Zhou Heng and his team of nearly a hundred men, like a group of startled rabbits, suddenly leaped out of their hiding place and ran wildly towards the side slope!

Footsteps, panting, the clash of weapons, shouts of battle from the distance, the rumble of rolling stones... all these sounds mingled together, assaulting Zhou Heng's eardrums.

His mind went blank, leaving only instinct—run! Run after the people in front of him!

The hillside was steeper than it looked, with jagged rocks and tugging at clothes. Zhou Heng stumbled along, his lungs feeling like they were about to explode, but he dared not stop. People around him kept falling, cursing as they got up and kept running.

We were getting closer and closer to that desolate wasteland.

The bandits on the stockade wall seemed to have spotted them. Exclamations rang out, and a few scattered arrows began to fly towards them. Although they were still far away and their accuracy was poor, the "whoosh" sound of arrows piercing the air was enough to frighten them.

"Charge! Don't stop!" Zhao Heita's roar rang out from ahead.

Zhou Heng gritted his teeth, preparing to charge forward, but his gaze inexplicably drifted back to the battlefield in front of him.

Another wave of boulders was being pushed down. His gaze involuntarily followed one of them.

The stone rolled along a... strange path. It was fast at first, but then it seemed to hit a protruding rock at the edge of the groove, slightly changing direction and slowing down. Finally, it rolled almost halfway before getting stuck, posing no threat whatsoever.

Meanwhile, the stone in the other groove moved smoothly and accelerated all the way, smashing hard into the shield of the Xuanzi Camp.

An absurd yet crystal-clear thought struck Zhou Heng like lightning into his fear-ridden mind:

Those grooves... are key!

Just like some kind of track game he used to play, or a golf course design he had seen—the smoothness of the path, the slope, and the obstacles determine the ball's final power and landing point!

The reason those rolling stones in front posed such a great threat was that the bandits had already worn the main grooves smooth and cleared the obstacles! The groove that had just gotten stuck was clearly defective or poorly maintained!

If... if we could break the smooth surfaces of those main grooves, or throw things in to create obstacles...

The thought sent a shiver down his spine. Just then, his group had reached the edge of the open area.

The arrows raining down from the stockade walls became denser. Although the men of the T-shaped battalion were holding up their makeshift wooden shields to defend themselves, people were constantly being hit by arrows and falling to the ground, screaming in agony.

"Charge!" Zhao Heita roared, his eyes reddening as he brandished his sword.

Zhou Heng was swept up in the crowd and involuntarily rushed into that open, unprotected area.

Arrows whizzed past his head and around him, striking the earth and rocks with a "thud." He could almost smell death.

In the midst of extreme fear, the thought of the "groove" became increasingly stubborn and clear, even overpowering the fear of the arrows.

He suddenly realized that the greater the pressure the Xuanzi Battalion on the front line was under and the more attention it attracted, the higher the success rate of their flanking attack, and the greater the chance that these cannon fodder would survive!

Destroy the groove! The threat of rolling stones from the front must be reduced!

How could he sabotage it? He was barely able to protect himself, and the Xuan-character battalion was at the forefront. How could he, a mere soldier from the Ding-character battalion, possibly send a message from so far away? And who would listen to him?

Just then, Zhang Tiezhu, who was running diagonally in front of him, stumbled, tripped over a stone, and fell heavily to the ground.

Zhou Heng instinctively tried to pull him up, but saw that when Zhang Tiezhu fell to the ground, the large knife he used as his main weapon flew out of his hand and crashed with a "bang" onto a rock about half a person's height next to him, scattering a few sparks.

rock……

Zhou Heng suddenly looked at the mountain wall in front of the stronghold. The starting point of those grooves was very close to the wall, but not inaccessible. If enough heavy stones were used to smash into the grooves from the side... no, from above...

His eyes scanned the surroundings rapidly. Above the open area they were rushing across was a steeper slope, piled with jagged rocks, some of which looked unstable.

A crazy idea took shape in his mind.

He scrambled to Zhang Tiezhu's side, who had just gotten up, grabbed his strong arm, and, in extreme fear and urgency, his voice trembled as he incoherently pointed to the mountain wall in front of him and the rocky slope to the side and above:

"Zhang, Brother Zhang! Stones! Look at the path those rolling stones have made! That ditch! A smooth ditch! We have to break it! Otherwise, the brothers up ahead won't be able to hold out! Up there! Look at those stones up there! Can...can we throw them down? Smash...smash that ditch!"

Zhang Tiezhu was taken aback by what he said. He looked in the direction the man was pointing at the groove in the mountain wall in front, then at the steep slope above and to the side piled with loose boulders. He didn't react for a moment: "What? A ditch? Brother Zhou, are you scared out of your wits? We have to rush in!"

"No! No!" Zhou Heng was so anxious that the veins on his forehead bulged. He clung tightly to Zhang Tiezhu, then looked at Zhao Heita, who was not far away, wielding his sword to block arrows and trying to reorganize the formation. He didn't know where he got the courage, but he actually opened his throat and shouted at the top of his lungs in Zhao Heita's direction:

"Instructor! Instructor! Look at that trough for rolling stones! A smooth trough! There are loose stones on the side slope! Smash the trough! If you break it, the rolling stones will be ruined!"

His shouts weren't particularly loud amidst the shouts of battle and the sound of arrows piercing the air, but they were loud enough for Zhao Heita and a few veterans nearby to hear.

Amidst his busy schedule, Zhao Heita turned around and glared fiercely at Zhou Heng, his eyes clearly saying, "Why are you acting crazy at a time like this?"

But just as he opened his eyes, another boulder rolled down along the widest and deepest groove in front of him with a roar, crashing into the Xuanzi Camp at an astonishing speed. Although most of it was blocked by the shield formation, the impact caused the entire formation to shake, clearly indicating that the pressure was immense.

Zhao Heita's gaze suddenly sharpened.

He glanced quickly at the rocky slope Zhou Heng was pointing to, then at the "smooth gullies" on the mountainside in front of him. His years of experience living on the edge made him realize something instantly.

Disrupt the launch trajectory! Even just interference!

"Wang Laowu! Take a few men and go to that slope over there! Find some loose rocks and smash them into those smooth ditches! Quickly!" Zhao Heita ordered decisively, pointing to the side and above, while simultaneously continuing to parry arrows with his sword. "The rest of you, cover! Keep charging!"

Wang Laowu reacted extremely quickly, immediately selecting several strong men, including Zhang Tiezhu, to break away from the charging group and crouch down to sneak towards the rocky slope to the side and above.

Zhou Heng was also pulled over by Zhao Heita: "You go too! Point out which ditches you mean!"

Zhou Heng scrambled to catch up with Wang Laowu and the others. Arrows continued to rain down on the open ground, but with clear instructions, the fear seemed to be temporarily suppressed.

They quickly climbed up the rocky slope. From this vantage point, they could see more clearly the polished grooves on the mountainside, especially the two largest and straightest ones.

"Just those two! The brightest and straightest ones!" Zhou Heng shouted, pointing downwards from behind a rock.

"Damn it, it's really slippery." Wang Laowu spat and, together with Zhang Tiezhu and the others, found several loose-looking, appropriately sized boulders. Using knife sheaths and wooden sticks as levers, they tried their best to pry them open.

"One, two, three—heave-ho!"

A rock weighing several hundred kilograms was pried off its original position and rolled down the steep slope with a rumble, roughly aligning with the starting section of a main groove.

"Bang!"

The boulder did not crash directly into the groove, but instead struck the rock wall above it, breaking into several pieces. The fragments fell into the groove with a clatter, partially blocking the passage.

Almost simultaneously, the bandits on the stockade wall seemed to have discovered their intentions, shouting and cursing, and sending some archers to shoot at the rocky slope.

"Lower your head!" Wang Laowu shouted sternly.

Zhou Heng covered his head and huddled behind a large rock. Arrows pierced the stone with a "thud" sound, scaring him out of his wits.

"Keep going! Don't stop!" Wang Laowu roared.

Zhang Tiezhu and others then pried open another stone.

This time, the stone's trajectory was more precise, smashing directly into the middle of another main groove. Although it didn't completely block it, it clearly damaged the smoothness of the groove, and a large section of the rock wall was scraped off.

On the main battlefield, the pressure on the Xuanzi Battalion was noticeably reduced. The newly pushed boulders either slowed down and deviated from their course due to the obstruction of the channel by loose rocks, or simply got stuck.

The officers of the Xuanzi Battalion seized the opportunity and roared as they advanced a great distance, almost reaching the foot of the stockade wall!

"Well done!" Zhao Heita, seeing the results in the open area below, was greatly encouraged. "Brothers, push forward! The gate is about to open!"

The morale of the Ding-shaped battalion's assault troops soared. Braving the arrows, they finally crossed the most dangerous open area and reached the foot of the stockade wall. The makeshift siege ladders were erected, and the soldiers began their swarming assault on the city.

On the rocky slope, seeing that his objective had been achieved and that they were attracting more and more arrows, Wang Laowu immediately ordered, "Retreat! Back to our unit!"

Zhou Heng had wanted to run away for a long time, and upon hearing this, he was the first to scramble down the slope.

Just as they slid to the bottom of the slope, they heard a loud crash and shouts of battle coming from the direction of the village gate—the Xuanzi Camp, with the help of the Dingzi Camp on the flanks, had managed to smash open the not-so-sturdy village gate with a battering ram!

"The door's broken down! Charge in!"

The bugle call for the final assault has sounded.

Zhou Heng slumped behind a rock, watching the tide of soldiers surge into the mountain stronghold, listening to the sounds of clashing weapons, screams, and roars coming from inside. He felt completely drained, with only his heart pounding wildly.