"Whoa—look, they're fighting!"
From mid-air, Cheng Xu and Xing Honglang lounged on a floating cloud, watching the chaos below with the glee of two people who'd bought front-row tickets to a live-action war drama.
Down on the ground, Wang Zuogua's vanguard surged forward, crashing into Wu Zimian's disorganized troops like a black tide.
Wu Zimian had marched out with three thousand men to "suppress bandits," but he'd sold off most of his competent officers—and those officers took their private soldiers with them. What remained barely reached two thousand, and most of them had no stomach for battle.
When several thousand rebels burst from the treeline, shouting and waving stolen banners, panic spread through the ranks like wildfire.
Wu Zimian's personal guards—the only soldiers who could halfway fight—didn't charge forward; they crowded around their general like frightened ducks circling a fat goose.
At this rate, how could they possibly fight?
One push from Wang Zuogua's vanguard, and the whole formation collapsed.
Before Wu Zimian's men could regroup, war-cries erupted from all directions:
"Yichuan Miao Mei is here!"
"Yichuan Flying Tiger comes for blood!"
"Yichuan Red Wolf has arrived!"
Wang Zuogua's three lieutenants—Miao Mei, Feishan Hu, and Da Honglang—burst from the woods on three sides.
Wu Zimian's eyes bulged. "What the hell—bandits in every direction?!"
His guards shouted, "General! It's a trap! They've surrounded us!"
"My horses!" Wu Zimian cried, voice cracking. "Where are my five hundred warhorses? That's tens of thousands of taels on the hoof!"
"Forget the horses, General! Run!"
His household troops dragged him northward, hacking a bloody path through the chaos.
Across the battlefield, Zao Ying sat frozen in disbelief.
She'd just finished haggling with Wu Zimian's buyers—and now, out of nowhere, Yichuan's Wang Zuogua showed up?
This deal was cursed!
"Forget it!" she snapped. "No silver, no horses. Not my problem. Officials and bandits can kill each other—I'm out!"
She whistled sharply. "Mount up! We're leaving!"
Her horse-thieves had already gathered their mounts, ready for trouble. At her command, they vaulted into their saddles, tightening reins.
But before she could bolt, a broad-shouldered man blocked her path, grinning wolfishly.
"You must be the horse bandit Zao Ying of Yichuan?"
Zao Ying frowned. "That's me. Who are you?"
The man bared his teeth. "Name's Da Honglang. Enough talk—hand over your horses!"
Zao Ying's expression darkened. "What?! You planning to rob me now?!"
Da Honglang laughed. "Not planning, sweetheart—already doing."
With a roar, he lunged, spear flashing.
Zao Ying's saber met it with a clang. The shock numbed her arm. This brute's strong!
Her riders tried to rush forward—but a wall of spears rose behind Da Honglang, his men forming a solid hedge that cut off any chance of escape.
Zao Ying spun her horse, searching for another gap—only to see more of Wang Zuogua's troops closing in from every side, wielding sharpened poles, bamboo lances, anything that could pierce a galloping horse.
From the formation alone, it was obvious: they came for the horses. All of them.
Wu Zimian's five hundred warhorses, and Zao Ying's mounts too—none were leaving this mountain.
"Damn it!" she cursed, calculating fast. We've barely a hundred riders. Wang Zuogua's got thousands. Surrounded from all sides—our speed's useless. What now?
Up in the clouds, Xing Honglang spoke up.
"Tianzun, that horse-bandit woman—we could save her."
Li Daoxuan blinked. "Hm?"
"She's Zao Ying," Xing Honglang explained quickly. "A horse-raider from Yichuan, known for hitting officials, never commoners. Clean record, righteous heart—not like Wang Zuogua's lot. And she's fallen into his trap. If she dies here, that'd be a waste."
Cheng Xu chimed in. "Wu Zimian's already routed. If we're going to play bandit-eats-bandit, now's the perfect moment—strike while Wang Zuogua's men are still celebrating and disorganized."
Li Daoxuan lowered his hand, setting the two of them gently back among their troops.
That gesture alone meant: Go.
Xing Honglang's eyes lit up. "Tianzun agrees to save Zao Ying!"
Cheng Xu grinned. "Tianzun's always merciful—good people deserve help. No point waiting. We already saw the terrain and enemy layout from above, right?"
"Clear as day," Xing Honglang said.
"Then let's roll!" Cheng Xu's grin turned feral. "Grenadiers! Musketeers! Ready your gear!"
Ever since Xu Dafu's workshop had perfected the match-cord grenades, production had ramped up—twenty made so far. The gunmen now carried ten three-barrel divine pistols, one flintlock, and one arquebus.
Not much—but hey, they had a god in the sky. What was there to fear?
Cheng Xu's battle spirit surged. "Wang Zuogua's army has four detachments—two chasing Wu Zimian's horses, two surrounding Zao Ying. We'll break the encirclement first!"
Down below, Zao Ying and her riders galloped in desperate circles.
From Li Daoxuan's divine vantage, it looked like a storm of hoofbeats spinning inside a tightening ring of spears. With every circuit, the circle shrank. Their room to move vanished inch by inch.
Soon they'd have nowhere left to run—and those long spears would pick them off one by one.
Li Daoxuan sighed in grudging admiration. Wang Zuogua's grown fast. The old Wang only knew "Charge F2A!" Now he's mastered coordinated formations. Progress!
Zao Ying's heart sank. So this is where I die…
Then—two streaks of fire arced through the night sky.
Boom! Boom!
High Chuwu and Zheng Daniu's grenades exploded right in the middle of Da Honglang's spear wall. Flames, shrapnel, and screaming men lit up the mountain darkness.
Ming Context:
By this point in the Ming collapse, private horse-bands and mutinied troops frequently clashed for control of cavalry stock—the single most valuable military resource. Female bandit-leaders like Zao Ying appear in multiple regional accounts of the Yichuan uprisings.
Trivia:
"連老娘也想一併搶?"—literally "You even dare rob me?"—became a meme line among readers, turning Zao Ying into one of the fandom's favorite "big-sister bandit" characters.