Huang Long's five hundred men collapsed into instant chaos.
The moment the sharp cracks of flintlock fire echoed through Miaogou, the rebel soldiers instinctively clutched their heads and dove for cover. No one wanted to be the unlucky bastard who caught a bullet. Some tried to run left, others bolted right, and in the narrow ravine they smashed straight into one another with heavy thuds, tumbling into heaps.
To those behind them, anyone who fell looked exactly like someone who had been shot dead.
Panic spread like wildfire.
More men crashed together, tripped, fell, and trampled one another. Shouts overlapped, orders vanished, and fear swallowed all sense of formation. In less than a blink, Huang Long's five hundred were no longer a unit at all. They were a scattered mob.
Huang Long himself nearly lost his wits. He yanked his saber free, intending to pull back, when he suddenly saw Flat Rabbit charging straight toward him, boots pounding the ground, longsword already sweeping forward.
"Rebel chieftain, halt," Flat Rabbit roared.
Huang Long's scalp went cold.
This lunatic. Has he lost his mind? With firearms blasting everywhere, he still wants to duel me?
What if one of his own men shoots him by accident and takes me with him?
Damn it. I do not want to die here.
Huang Long instantly sheathed his saber and turned to flee. Flat Rabbit raised his sword and chased after him, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Stop right there."
"I'd be an idiot if I stopped," Huang Long yelled back as he ran.
Flat Rabbit let out a heroic roar and leapt forward.
Then his foot caught on a loose stone.
With a completely unheroic thud, he pitched forward and smashed into the dirt.
Only then did Huang Long truly escape. He sprinted several hundred meters without daring to look back, finally reaching Gao Yingxiang's side. Panting like a bellows, he gasped, "We've been ambushed. Damn it. That Master Rabbit is a monster."
The remaining nine thousand five hundred Chuǎng Army soldiers were just as shaken.
From several hundred meters away, they had watched Huang Long's detachment advance, get blasted by firearm fire, then instantly collapse. Men fell everywhere, formations dissolved, and the remnants came fleeing back in disgrace.
Through drifting gunpowder smoke and dust, a single figure slowly stood up in the ravine.
Flat Rabbit.
His face was pitch black.
Literally black. When he had fallen earlier, his face had smashed straight into the dirt, leaving it smeared with mud and soot like a crude mask.
Flat Rabbit planted one foot on a rebel soldier who had been badly injured by his own comrades during the retreat. He raised his longsword high in his right hand, its tip pointing straight at the sky, while his left hand swept grandly toward the distant Chuǎng Army.
He laughed thunderously.
"Why are you running? Come back. As long as Master Rabbit stands in this Miaogou, you will not take a single step into Shaanxi."
Gao Yingxiang snorted coldly. "There is a limit to your bravado. If we simply bypass this route into Shaanxi, what good does it do for you to stand here alone?"
Flat Rabbit froze.
For a full five seconds, he stood there speechless.
Then he recovered, snorting loudly. "Bypass? What, are you afraid of Master Rabbit? Hahahaha. So the famous Chuǎng Wang is nothing more than an ordinary man after all, trembling before an unknown nobody."
Gao Yingxiang's eyes widened.
Liu Zhe was furious. Huang Long was furious. Yet neither of them dared to advance.
There were clearly firearm troops hidden on the slopes. That was undeniable. Worse still, they were armed with strange explosives.
Many of the rebels had personally experienced those weapons.
In Shaanxi. In Shanxi. In Henan. And most recently, in the disastrous Battle of Lu Prefecture.
Anyone with half a brain knew that such firearm units were impossible to confront head-on, especially when they held the high ground.
Who would be insane enough to charge straight into Miaogou?
"Big Brother Chuǎng Wang, we must avoid them for now," Liu Zhe urged. "We cannot clash directly with those firearm troops."
Huang Long added bitterly, "The moment our men hear gunfire, they scatter. We cannot fight a proper battle like this."
"And they control the high ground," Liu Zhe said grimly.
Gao Yingxiang nodded slowly. "Very well. We withdraw. Pull back two li and reconsider."
At his command, the Chuǎng Army retreated in haste.
Only after they had pulled back far enough did Flat Rabbit finally collapse onto the ground, gasping for breath. He waved weakly toward the slope. "Alright. Someone drag those injured rebels back. Labor reform."
A swarm of fresh recruits and greenhorn militia slid down the hillside, crowding around him.
"Master Rabbit, that was incredible."
"You scared off the entire Chuǎng Army by yourself."
"Master Rabbit, you're my hero."
"We captured fourteen rebels alive. All of them were injured by their own men during the chaos. Collisions and trampling."
One recruit raised his fist at a captive. "What are you staring at? Think you're tough?"
"Stop," Flat Rabbit said.
The recruit froze and immediately lowered his hand.
"Treat captives humanely," Flat Rabbit continued. "Did you not learn that rule?"
The recruit backed away at once.
Flat Rabbit patted the captive on the shoulder. "Reform well. Be a decent person."
Then he turned back to the group. "Everyone stay alert. Scout properly. Watch every ravine and side path. We cannot let the rebels sneak into Shaanxi."
"Yes," the recruits answered in unison, their morale soaring.
An hour later, Zheng Gouzi arrived with the Blue Army. Two hundred academy recruits and two thousand new militia joined up, though all were still equipped only with training weapons.
Another hour passed, and Sun Chuanting arrived.
Soon after, the Tong Pass garrison marched in as well.
With the Tong Pass troops present, proper weapons and true combat readiness were finally in hand.
Sun Chuanting asked calmly, "Where is the Chuǎng Army now?"
"In a valley a little over two li to the east," Flat Rabbit replied. "They cannot figure out our real strength, so they hesitate to advance. Scouts from both sides have met several times in the forest. Our scouts have no weapons, so they do not fight. Their scouts fear our firearms, so they do not dare press forward. Both sides just glare at each other and retreat."
Sun Chuanting nodded, then turned to the Tong Pass commander. "Did you bring the reconnaissance hot air balloons?"
"Yes."
The Tong Pass garrison, already a standard Dao Xuan Tianzun militia force, quickly unfolded a hot air balloon, ignited the burner, and sent it rising into the sky.
An hour and a half later, a detailed terrain map lay spread out before Sun Chuanting. Every mountain, ravine, and path was clearly marked, along with the precise locations of the Chuǎng Army's camps.
Sun Chuanting extended a finger toward the map and addressed the academy recruits. "Gentlemen, you are not merely soldiers. You are being trained as non-commissioned officers. This will be the first real battlefield of your lives."
"For this battle, I want all of you to think. Propose your plans to the Tong Pass garrison. Their general will decide whether to carry them out. If any plan is approved and leads to victory, the proposer will receive substantial academic credit."
The recruits were instantly excited.
Yet excitement quickly gave way to hesitation.
They stared at the map, silent.
They were new students, not veteran cadets.
Even if ideas stirred in their minds, none of them yet dared to speak.