It was dusk when Pan Wei began to move his people out of Nanping. Since Pan Wei realized that Feng Jin would assign people to keep an eye on him and his men, after some discussion with his supporters, they decided to leave Nanping openly.
They were about to leave Nanping, along with 1,500 of their men when Feng Jin and Yan Liu along with about 500 of their men stopped them.
"Master Pan Wei, are you leaving Nanping?", Feng Jin asked threateningly.
Pan Wei smiled coldly, "Yes, I am."
Feng Jin's face darkened, "We're in the middle of battle and you're running away? How dare you!"
Pan Wei calmly replied, "Yes, I'm quite aware that we're in the middle of battle. That's why I wonder, is there anyone here dare to stop us from leaving Nanping? You might have better arms, but can you split your men to fight on three location at once?"
Yan Liu snorted, "Hmph..., we already wiped the zombies out."
Cao Meng laughed, "Really? Then why you only bring hundreds of men to stop us here? How many people you send to guard your rear? How many men you send to guard Jianzhou Bridges? We have 1,500 men here, although only hundreds have guns we still outnumbered you at least three times, do you really want to stop us that badly?"
Yan Liu shouted angrily and drew his sword, "You think I'm afraid of you lot?"
Feng Jin grabbed Yan Liu, "Wait..."
After that he turned to Pan Wei, "Master Pan Wei, I know we have some miss understanding in the past, but shouldn't we forget about it now and focus on the enemy in front of us?"
Pan Wei just laughed, "He's your enemy, not mine. He want Nanping and I'm leaving, why would he think of me as an enemy? Move aside, let us leave."
Feng Jin was trembling in anger, "You... you... Pan Wei... Cao Meng.... I'll make sure you regret your action today. Once I finished with Zhang Hu, you better pray I would never see you again..."
Pan Wei snorted, "Screw you!"
Without waiting for an answer, Pan Wei move forward and signaled his men to follow. Although Feng Jin's anger was through the roof, he didn't dare to stop Pan Wei. Just as Pan Wei and Cao Meng said, they could not afford to fight another front. Since Pan Wei and his supporters left them, his men now numbered at 2,000. Yan Liu who envy Pan Wei's strength, wanted to prove that he was stronger than Pan Wei and long for a chance to fight him, but Feng Jin pulled him aside and he didn't dare to disobey Feng Jin.
They could only watch, as Pan Wei and his men passed them.
Feng Jin muttered, "This... must be Zhang Hu's doing..."
Suddenly something flashed on his mind, "Yan Liu! Zhang Hu is the one behind this. Once Pan Wei left Nanping, he will definitely send his army to attack Nanping. Quickly! Move our men to defend the bridges!"
Yan Liu could sense the urgency in Feng Jin's voice. He nodded his head and quickly led his men to Jianzhou Bridge.
Feng Jin still muttering to himself, "Zhang Hu... Pan Wei... I'll kill you all..."
He was angry but he didn't realize, his anger was the result of his fear. Deep inside his heart, he dreaded the worse. Instinctively he knew, Zhang Hu already defeated him the moment Pan Wei agreed to leave Nanping. He only had 2,000 men to defend Nanping, while according to his spies Zhang Hu had more than 18,000 men at Zhanghu Town. He didn't know, how many men Zhang Hu brought with him but simply by looking at the number, it was impossible to win this battle.
With each step he moved closer to Jianzhou Bridge, his fear raised even more. He was few hundred meters away from his defense line at Jianzhou Bridge when his feet refused to take another step.
Several men who accompanied him didn't dare to say anything, secretly they were wondering of Feng Jin's apparent hesitation.
When the one who lead was losing his confidence, of course it would affect those who followed him. From their position they could hear Yan Liu's booming voice, instructing their men to keep their alertness high. Every one could feel the tense in hi voice. One man affected another, within minutes, every one were on their toes.
It was on that situation when suddenly, hundreds or maybe thousand torches was lit on the other side of the river.
Previously there was no light at all from Zhang Hu's side of river, now suddenly there were many torches burning. From their side of river, Feng Jin's men saw many people jumped to the river, not one or two but hundreds, rows over rows of people jumped into the river.
"What? Are they crazy? They're trying to cross the river by swimming?", murmured could be heard.
Suddenly someone shouted, "No, look there are so many of them. They already close !"
The couldn't see well with the poor lighting, with the moon on the sky they could see shadows of Zhang Hu's men on the river. It could be said that the river was filled with thousands of them. They almost reached their side.
Yan Liu and other leaders shouted "Shoot ! Shoot ! Shoot them, don't let them land!"
The silent night filled with the sounds of explosions and shootings. At the same time, some of Zhang Hu's men, began to push their iron shield toward the bridges.
"Unit A, defend the bridges! Unit B and C, defend the shores!", Yan Liu shouted at the top of his lung, coordinating their defense.
While Feng Jin stood on his track, suddenly he realized that he couldn't win the battle without Pan Wei's men. He thought his base was impenetrable but now he wondered, how he could assume that? He was too narrow minded, there was a bridge and he thought Zhang Hu could only cross the river through the bridge. No matter how many people Zhang Hu had, they all had to go through the bridges, as long as he had enough ammunition they would kill them all. But the fact was, there was no rules that prevented Zhang Hu from crossing the river by swimming or other means.
An army without leader, how could they win the battle? Feng Jin and the other leaders were busy at intern conflicts, they relied on their defensive position without making actual plan to thwart Zhang Hu's movement. They didn't proactively prepared their defense, but rather reacted according to Zhang Hu's action. Their chance to win came when Pan Wei charged into Zhang Hu's army with his armors. It might be crude and seemed silly, but it almost succeed. Unfortunately, Feng Jin's army didn't support him.
Stolen story; please report.
Now Feng Jin could only regret his poor judgment, he watched many Zhang Hu's men almost reached the shores, fortunately he had machine guns to prevent them from reaching the shores alive. He simply stood there and watched, his mind was numbed.
On the Jianzhou Bridge itself, Zhang Hu's men kept moving forward and now they began to return the fire. They steadily moved closer and closer, when they were about 100 m away from Feng Jin's defense line, a man burst out of Zhang Hu's army, with a sword raised high on his head. He ran in zigzag, so fast that his body blurred like a shadow. Despite his speed, how could he avoid tens of bullets who shot him from many different direction, but any bullets would be stopped few millimeters before it hit his body. It was Huang Wen.
"That's him... that's the one who defeat Pan Wei...", Feng Jin spoke to himself,as if daydreaming.
Huang Wen closed the 100 meters distant in less than 10 seconds. He saw someone jumped out of the enemy's front line and charged forward to block his path.
"C'mon! Let's fight!", Yan Liu roared as he swung his sword.
But Huang Wen had another mission from Zhang Hu, he stepped aside and avoid Yan Liu's sword. He jumped forward and rolled on the ground. Without reducing his speed, he passed through Yan Liu who lost his balance from his excessive attack.
Huang Wen leaped back on his two feet and kept running, his target were Feng Jin's machine gunners.
Yan Liu quickly turned and chased, "You! Come back here!"
Huang Wen rolled his eyes in his mind when he heard Yan Liu.
He already reached Feng Jin's defense line. He had 30 seconds of protection after he activated Invisible Shell, he used about 10 seconds to close the distance. Now he had about 20 seconds to engage Feng Jin's men.
He didn't even care for Yan Liu who chased him from behind and not for good reason. Yan Liu only ran for few seconds before he was hit from behind. He wasn't Huang Wen who had a defensive skill or Pan Wei who had armors imbued by magic. He only had tremendous strength and courage without brain to think clearly.
What happened then, would be happened to Zhang Hu's army if no one could stop Pan Wei. At close range, Huang Wen's speed simply overwhelming and the morale of Feng Jin's men already low to begin with. They pose no threat for Huang Wen, after few seconds, they became so disorganized that some even accidentally shot their own friend.
And that wasn't the only threat for Feng Jin, because almost at the same time, Zhang Hu's 10,000 men attack from Nanping, another 2,000 men attack from a smaller bridge, west of Jianzhou Bridge and another 2,000 men attack from a smaller bridge north-east of Jianzhou Bridge. 4,000 men at Jianzhou Bridge was led by Huang Wen and soon caught up with their leader.
It was a total annihilation.
One by one, those with authority among Feng Jin's army was killed. Feng Jin was no where to be seen, the army had lost their leaders and lost their will to fight. It took one day and one night for Zhang Hu to march his army from Zhanghu Town to Nanping. He spent a day to put all his men on position.
It took less than an hour to completely annihilated Feng Jin's army.
---- o ----
West of Jianzhou Bridges, two men were seen standing on the bank of Minjiang River. Several wooden dolls and manequins passed them by. It was Cao Meng and Pan Wei.
Cao Meng watched all kind of roundish debris floated on the river and murmured, "So Feng Jin's machine guns were shooting dummies while Zhang Hu moved his men through the bridges."
Pan Wei stood silently and listened to the noises from Nanping. Few minutes later there were nothing but silence.
"Its finish.", said Pan Wei.
Cao Meng nodded his head, "Feng Jin had ambition but didn't have the ability."
Pan Wei asked, "Do we?"
For a long time Cao Meng didn't say anything, finally he said, "We still have chance to prove that we do."
Pan Wei said, "It seemed we shouldn't continue with our plan to attack the winner of this battle."
Cao Meng nodded his head, "Yes...., Feng Jin.... he's just too weak for Zhang Hu. You can't even compare them two."
Pan Wei, "Now, what should we do if Zhang Hu betray us?"
"Let's leave two hundred men here, to receive supplies and ships from Zhang Hu in case he keep his words. If he doesn't and he even try to kill us, then we won't be here. As long as we live, there will be a way for us.", Cao Meng answered.
Pan Wei nodded his head, "You're right, at this moment, there is nothing we can do if Zhang Hu decide to betray us."
Cao Meng said, "Come, let's find a safe place for us to spend the night."
---- o ----
Meanwhile at Nanping around 1,000 of Feng Jin's men decided to surrender after they lost their leaders. Yue Rang quickly organized everything. They used an abandoned warehouse to keep their captures. Defense line around the shore were set. Thousands was tasked to clear the bodies. Those who are injured were receiving treatment. Team leaders must reported their casualties. And many other job.
It took hours and at the end, they found Feng Jin's body near the shore. Someone must have shot him during that chaotic battle. They suspect there was a chance that it was done by his own men but there is no way to prove it and no one cared anyway.
At Zhang Hu's side there were 455 men died and 189 severely injured. Feng Jin and the other was too tense to realize that it wasn't Zhang Hu's men who floated on Minjiang River. Huang Wen's charge also played an important role. It wasn't possible before the changes, but now it wasn't too far fetched if they say one man could worth 10,000 soldiers.
With Nanping secured in his hand, Zhang Hu sent 5,000 men to Zhanghu Town and brought their people to Nanping. A week after leaving Fuzhou, Zhang Hu set his base on Nanping, securing the whole city for him and his people.
Next : Chapter 55.