Book 1: War
Chapter 3: Of Conquerors and Guardians Part 1: The Siege of Laofung
The morning sun beamed inside Avani's tent; the bright radiance disturbed her. She squinted her shut eyes and groaned, unhappy that the sun woke her up. She hadn't gotten much sleep over the scare she had last night. Just as she slowly sat up, she felt groggy, and her vision was blurred. In front of her tent facing the other direction was the invasive past life she met yesternight. He sat meditating; she let out a soft yelp as she covered her mouth to not alert anyone nearby. They already thought she was crazy; Avani questioned the spirit, "Wh-what are you doing here?!"
"I thought I told you to gun kai!" she exclaimed.
"A good meditation in the morning helps you concentrate, young earthbender. Maybe you should try it sometime," responded Hansuke. He ignored her when she told him to get lost not too long ago.
"Did you not hear what I just said?" she repeated herself. Avatar Hansuke took a gander at the irritated Avatar staring blankly.
She drawled the words out slower for him, "Gun...Kai!"
The heavyset Air Nomad yawned as he passed by her tent. He heard the foul mouth of the young woman. He paused for a brief moment and called out to her concerned, "Uhh...Avani?"
From inside, she froze in her place she wasn't quiet enough, and someone heard, the round shadow that blocked the sunlight continued with their inquiry, "Are you okay in there?"
"Good morning, Fangzhu," greeted the girl from inside the tent. She ignored his question. Her tone seemed a tad bit annoyed at someone. But he wasn't sure if it was with him because he disturbed her morning rituals or if indeed someone was inside the tent with her.
"Who were you talking to before I showed up?" he asked her.
"No one..." Avani sighed then said, "You wouldn't understand Fangzhu."
They both heard the bell rung by the mess hall servers. It was time for breakfast. Fangzhu shuffled away upon the bell's second ring; at this point, several men crawled out of their tents sheepishly. Some had already zoomed there and waited in line for their food. Zuqiu stretched and yawned as he appeared and stood in line. The young man smacked his lips while the nobleman behind him did some push-ups while he awaited his turn.
More men showed up for breakfast while the Avatar dressed inside her tent. She exited her tent and tied her hair into a bun. She headed for the mess hall area then found herself last in line. What made the experience even worse she was behind one of the soldiers who refused to bathe since he came to the camp. He stunk of rancid garbage; Avani pinched her nose the second the smell made her feel queasy.
She assumed to herself, "Isn't there a grooming rule here where you need to bathe daily? This guy reeks of week-old meat!"
"Really? I think he smells like lavender," commented a voice behind her.
"Smells like lavender?" she blurted out; she spun around to face the person behind her. She took a step back, frightened when she saw Hansuke right behind her.
Avani bumped into the soldier in front of her, the man turned around, "You think I smell like lavender? By Tiandi's beard, I was not expecting such a wonderful compliment!"
"What? No! Ugh!" she growled in denial.
"It was...him!" she pointed to Hansuke; he glimpsed behind her but saw no one. He expressed a face of confusion; there was no one there. She muttered to herself, "Gods, please help me! He's making me seem like I'm crazy!"
The line shrunk further, and eventually, she was at the front. The servers gave her a bowl with millet, and that's what she ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. After she received her meal, she joined her new friends. Not even a second after she sat down, Zuqiu brought up last night, "So the word is around camp is that you had an intruder in your tent last night."
Avani lowered her head in embarrassment and sighed, "I knew this would come back to bite me in the rear. Yeah..." she paused.
"What of it?" she said.
"No, nothing, I just heard the rumor and wanted to know if you were okay," he answered.
"Who was in your tent this morning, Avani?" bugged Fangzhu.
Airen chewed on his millet and said nothing but continued to listen in on the conversation. Avani made an excuse and lied to the Air Nomad, "I swear to Yun, it wasn't anyone. I was having...a dream."
She thought the soldiers wouldn't understand; a familiar voice to her right asked her, "Why do you have to lie to them? Just tell them the truth, Avani."
Her head darted to the right, and she hissed, "I'm not lying to them!"
Airen, Zuqiu, and Fangzhu halted their chewing and stared at her; the Air Nomad broke the silence inquired, "Lying to us about what? Why are you deflecting the conversation?"
Avani slammed her eating utensil on the table; she gritted her teeth in anger, then lifted herself off the table and stomped away.
"Jeez, what's gotten into her?" wondered Zuqiu.
Fangzhu shrugged. Airen whistled, then used both of his indexes and middle fingers and separated them away from one another. This was a familiar gesture to indicate that someone was a bit loopy. Airen said, "Today'sToday's going to be a long day for her. First, she's arguing with herself, now on an empty stomach on a training day? Yikes!"
Laofung, Tsinghua province, Haijun Kingdom
A massive army waited hidden about five to six li away from the towering walls of the great city Laofung. Tents and bonfires were strewn about the long stretch of land that surrounded the capital city. About thirty ma from where they settled was the border between the Tsinghua province to the north and the East Hu Xin province to the South. For the past year-and-a-half, the Oma Kingdom has attempted its best to contest the region. But their progression has been thwarted by crucial operations from the Yanzhao.
Some men closer to the border ransacked merchant caravans and slaughtered the Haijunese traders when they refused to submit. The bodies were left to rot and become pickings to carrion birds and scavengers. What goods were taken sustained the individuals who stole from the carts. Killing the vendors was to prevent the city from knowing they were near.
The slave soldiers wore no armor at all; they were stripped bare to their uniforms and held in chains by men riding on the backs of tamed Rhino Rams. Large pack animals with curved horns on the sides of their heads and a sharp horn on its snout. There had to be at least be forty men riding these beasts, each pulling a line of twenty-five slave fighters. A significant number of the slaves fainted due to exhaustion, one of the riders barked, "Get up! You don't have the right to rest, you filthy, insolent animals!"
He hopped off his mount and grabbed his whip. He began to whip the first few slaves. The searing pain from the strikes of whip woke some of them up from their resting state. A short, bald, burly, dark tan-skinned quinquagenarian with jade green-colored eyes and a long mustache that twirled at the ends entered the big tent where he convened with his subordinates.
He and three others surrounded a table made of earth; each commanding officer will manage their own division. All three were colonels given authorization by the Lieutenant-General to lead groups of thirteen-thousand soldiers.
"What are you planning, General Bu Lu?" questioned one of the men.
"I was going to have you attack head-on, but sources inside the city say the Provincial Guard isn't big enough to defend the city. We can take them on," answered the Lieutenant-General.
"I've hatched an idea in my head, we split the fifty-one-thousand men, into four groups each of you will command twelve-thousand-seven-hundred-and-fifty men," he resumed.
"Look...here, here, over there, and this spot here..." he pointed at as he dipped his brush into the inkpot and marked each one.
"This first point is mine, but you three will split into the north, west, and east. This will overwhelm them; when I mentioned, they don't have enough men, I meant it. Now let the blood flow!" finished Bu Lu.
His eyes dashed to the left and right when he asked his juniors, "Do you have a sufficient amount of artillery and siege weapons?"
All of the colonels nodded, the short older general smiled, "Well then, let us begin!"
Simultaneously, Colonel-General Shili and Governor Guodong stood across from each other in front of a table with a map pinned to it. However, they didn't expect a battle to commence soon. They have seen increased activity from scout briefings. The small structure they found themselves in was a war room for Governor Guodong. He attended meetings with General Liehou ever since he took a seat in the Council of Five.
The map that rested on the table was a chart of the province of Tsinghua, with a smaller plan nearby detailing everything within the city's walls. Markers were placed on the maps; the gray ones on the southern half of the map were the invasion forces. While the golden pieces were the defending armies of Laofung. The crest of the elephanda was embroidered on the governor's hanfu, the light tan-skinned man with a black topknot and a dangpo jin headdress on his head cleaned his spectacles with his purple robes to see clearer. Before he placed them back over his jade-colored eyes, he looked up to the general sent by the Earth King. The albino Colonel-General lips moved but emitted no sound; The general called out to him as, for some reason, he seemed to be focused on other matters, "Governor."
"Huh?" he fixated his gaze on the general again, "My apologies, I've been daydreaming about other things today," apologized the governor.
Liehou repeated his question, "How many Provincial Guard do you have stationed in the city?"
"About forty-thousand men, we also have the militia, but that's only about five-hundred civilian soldiers," answered Guodong.
"That may just be enough to defend the city anyway, I have my men spread all across the region. But I did plan ahead and have requested for extra twenty-thousand men coming this way. I don't think they're needed though, we should be able to do this," commented Shili.
"I'll send orders to keep the militia in their homes then; the Provincial Guard should be able to handle this," added Guodong. The Colonel-General hovered his hand over the chart. The pieces below trembled and lifted up. Each stone marker equaled one division or thirteen-thousand three-hundred-and-thirty soldiers.
"Why don't we deploy a battalion of men from the southern gates, and behind them a line of trebuchets?" suggested Guodong.
"Hmm..." muttered Shili, his hand rested on his chin as he rubbed the right side of it with his index. He continued his response, "I like that idea, but I thi-" he was interrupted by the ominous banging of a watchtower's drums.
He quickly headed out of the war room to the outside, the short, plump governor right behind him. When they set foot in the courtyard, guards ran to their governor's sides and grabbed him. The beating of the drums was louder outside of the small building. The men clenched their hands on their leader's shoulders and shouted, "Sir! Invaders are assaulting the capital from the east!"
"They're attacking?! They're attacking! We didn't have enough time!" he screamed his head off.
"Take him to his bunker, I'm taking over from here on out!" barked General Liehou.
The southern gates nearest to the governor's siheyuan were rocked by projectiles. The walls felt the shockwaves from the big rocks that hit the first set of gates. The loud banging of the alarms drowned out the panicked screams of women running with their children to safety. Citizens ran off in random directions as the nobles hurried to their own underground bunkers.
An estate guard approached the Colonel-General and gave him a bird with a message. The bird was hurled into the sky; the creature soared through the air and headed north. Ten minutes later, the second-in-command, a lieutenant-general stationed in Laofung, raised his arm to gesture to the beast it was safe to perch on his arm. After reading the message, he heard the watchtowers in the War Center repeat the safe beat sequence as all the others.
Men ran to their barracks to prepare for war, Shili rushed to the War Center on ostrich horseback. Four divisions of men stood in standard formations. Their orders were made aware weeks before as the new military exercises were cemented in their minds. The colonel-general shouted, "Remember that not all of you will return from this siege. May Yama lead you to the afterlife, brothers! Now defend your home!"
The four divisions split, each of them headed north, east, SouthSouth, and west. The alarms of the north began to ring, "They're attacking the northern gates; we can't let them in," shouted General Shili.
He mounted an ostrich horse and headed to toward the southern gates. Clouds of smoke engulfed the walls. The city guard rushed the citizens into their homes and joined estate guards in doubling patrols around nobles' domain.
Meanwhile, General Bu Lu watched the entire invasion from the rendezvous point. The twelve-thousand-seven-hundred-and-fifty soldiers that marched in from the north set up their first round of attacks. The colonel watched as his artillerymen dropped boulders into the pockets of the trebuchets. He raised his left arm into the air and waited for the right moment, the defenders rushed onto the walls. One of them stumbled on the stairs while the others sprinted up them to reach the top.
The men got right to work and loaded their cannons with cannonballs, the northern colonel swung his arm down, the engineers slammed their meteorite hammers onto the levers. Each trebuchet launched its projectile, a line of the twenty flew in their trajectory paths, only a few hitting the wall successfully. While others exploded as they hit the ground, crumbling to bits and pieces for the benders. The invaders ran for the walls while others pushed fire carts toward the gates.
These were wooden carts full of blasting jelly explosives, safeguarded by a body shield of iron with a slot near the top for the driver to view their path. However, two men were guarding alongside the fire carts. A flash of lights sparkled from the top of the walls, ringing the ears of the men below. Cannonballs struck their mark while a small number of them plummeted to the earth. Half of the front two lines of explosive carts blew up, killing anyone nearby in a ten yingchi radius.
While the cannonballs fired, three counter-projectiles slammed into the wall, another making a dent in the northern ramparts' defenses. Two went over the wall, and one crushed five men on it, while a cart driver reached the gates. His hands shook as he was filled with anxiety. He dropped his spark rocks and picked them up before rubbing the stones together to throw sparks onto a torch. He tossed the torch at the cart and ran for his life.
A volley of arrows was sent off by wall archers when they arrived, the storm took down men, impaling them to the ground. While the cart exploded, trebuchets launched their boulders and caused a piece of the lower-left gate to be blown off. Behind the second set of wooden gates that held off the intruders were eight-thousand troops with a few earth sages that padded calmly through their lines as they blessed the guardians.
Young and old, novice and experienced soldiers stood firm; some were nervous, others ready and battle-hardened. Fortifications shook, the men behind the walls saw flashes of light from the outside take over the skies above. The colonel swung his arm down again, another load of boulders soared through the air. The boulders cut through the barrage of arrows, only a bit of them getting through. The arrows that made it through broke when they collided with armor, some killed their targets or wounded them, and the rest hit the ground or were blocked by shields or weapons. The projectiles crashed into the northern ramparts once more, another fire cart is shoved into the first gates with earthbending.
The northern front gates parted down the middle, the right gate detached from its hinges producing an echoing thud. The first gates of the western walls were falling apart after they caught fire from a rocket. A platoon of twenty earthbenders rushed in with a long ram made of earth, bombardiers and archers lined the inner-ramparts. They carried linen sacks filled to the brim with iron-casted balls with wicks at the end of each one.
After using a torch to light wicks, they dropped the bombs below, the slave soldiers protected the barbarians that lifted the ram. A bomb went dud, the man who threw it facepalmed while those below guffawed in laughter. While they mocked the novice defender, it shredded the men in the front and a small number of slave soldiers. One of the barbarian's screams of agony rung in the ears of the archers on the inner-ramparts; He stilled lived, but he was dying of blood loss. His arm severed and shredded to bits by the shrapnel bomb.
Five earthbenders outside the gates lined to the right and left the gates where they couldn't be detected. They ran in rose walls that blocked the bombardiers to buy time to allow their brothers-in-arms to advance. One of the bombardiers attempted to throw a shrapnel bomb, but a wall covering the openings blocked it. Several men squealed in fear as another grabbed it and placed it inside the barrel of his cannon. The sound was muted by the cannon's barrel—a sigh of relief and a wipe of their foreheads.
"Collapse the walls and drop incendiary and flash bombs!" screamed one of the men. The walls cracked from the inside and crumbled—large pieces falling on the men below, causing injury and at least two deaths.
The earthbenders pushed forward, ignoring the destruction of the defending walls, "Heave!" the leader yelled.
In unison, the others shouted, "Ho!"
The gates shook, but it wasn't enough to bust the second gates open. While the city guard lacked military-experienced, they were ordered by the Captain of the City Guard to join ranks with the Provincial Guard, increasing the numbers of defenders in the city. Meanwhile, men who sat like turtle ducks in the War Center prepared one-hundred horned condors for battle. These were going to be used to thin the herd who broke the fortifications and barricades.
In the east, the front gates caved in on each other; a cloud of dust and smoke filled the hall that led to the second set of gates. The men on the right dropped flash bombs to blind their attackers while the men on the left ignited and hurled shrapnel shells. The barbarians were blinded by sudden flashes all around them; they didn't last long when the shrapnel tore them apart. Thirty men fell to the shells, but like ants with food, thirty more filled their spots.
Their replacers stepped over the corpses of their shield brothers. One of the recruits tripped over a corpse and fell next to another face-to-face. The fallen barbarian's face was unrecognizable. The young soldier began to cry as he wailed hysterically. Another shrapnel bomb is tossed near the private, but a bold warrior shield slammed the shell, deflecting it back at its original tosser.
The explosive killed half the archers and bombardiers inside the inner-rampart, caving in a portion of the roof as well. The battering ram moved in, a flare from the right side went off, archers ran on the walls' rooftops. They began to pelt arrows in the halls filled with savage warriors, the young man continued to cry on the ground. As bodies fell next to him, a barbarian hit by an arrow in the lung collapsed near him. The warrior released a tear as he extended his hand out to the young man signaling for aid.
A glaive tosser rolled near the busted gates at an angle, the lever was pushed to the opposite end. The machine hurled a large iron arrow at the left side of the halls, puncturing the rampart barrier. Benders ripped the large arrow out of the wall, resulting in the walkway toppling on itself. The bombardiers and archers that positioned themselves there fell from a great height. Their enemies rushing in for the kill, an archer on the left roof released a flare. This signaled the archers nearby to use incendiary arrows.
On the westside, soldiers shoved a fire cart toward the gates when an arrow hit it. Suddenly, the driver and the two men by his side were blown into smithereens. A line of cannons fired off into the field, barricades fortified trenches that hid land mines scattered inside. The first barricades were crushed by a bender; his shield brothers jumped down into the trenches to avoid cannon fire. Much to their regret, they were immediately blown to bits.
"Watch out for the landmines!" yelled the western colonel.
Unfortunately, this was his final line because a cannonball took his head clean off his fresh corpse. His junior officer gave an ear-splitting shriek as he witnessed the death of his superior. Then he barked orders to fire cart drivers that hadn't left yet, "Take benders with you to close the trenches and rush the gates with the carts!"
Arrows propelled through the air, hitting the body shields fastened to fire carts, one of the drivers panted as he hurried his cart to the gates. The skies turned blue to shades of orange and dark gray as a storm of arrows and cannonballs showered from the heavens. Enemies were pelted with fire arrows and iron balls, one of the cannonballs split a shield in half and took down the shieldbearer with it. Knocking the wind out of the warrior and breaking his ribs. Healers dashed to him and dragged him away to the infirmary.
"Lather the boulders with oil and light them!" the lieutenant-colonel ordered.
All of the engineers nodded, and the rest soon copied. A cannonball dismantled one of the trebuchets. As two fire carts neared, one of them rolled over a landmine, and both of them incinerated in a few miao. Volleys from the left and right walls fell toward the southern battlefield, as some projectiles made it over the walls. Crashing into buildings and landing in the courtyards of noblemen. One of them almost crushed some men, but the earthbender imploded it into a cloak of dust.
The second eastern gates that separated the Oma Kingsmen and the Haijun Kingsmen broke open. The benders dropped their battering ram and rushed in. The Laofung guard roared and charged into battle as their enemies overflowed into the Market District. The clashing and slashing of steel could be heard for many yingchi as weapons collided and parried against each other and cut through armor and flesh. The twangs of bows echoed from the roofs above, while bones were broken by blunt weapons. Rockets fired from the second floors of some restaurants in the area eliminating smaller numbers of invaders.
Somewhere in northern Pingyao
Avani stood side by side amongst several of her shield brothers lined up in groups of twenty soldiers. They formed rectangles and in front were First Lieutenant Er Baoshou and Captain Qishi Shauige. The two groups in front of Captain Qishi were compiled of earthbenders. The two to the left of Qishi's were in front of First Lieutenant Er, made up of non-benders and Fangzhu, despite being a bender.
Both men announced the rules to troops, "Every day you will wake up and line up in these formations, forty benders, and forty warriors. You will stand idle, with your hands at your sides and in silence. In these first few days, we will focus on making sure you know the formations of battle. Because in three months, you will join the main armies here in the region."
"If you fail basic formations, then we have no use for you," finished Shuaige.
"We are organized; we are not like the barbaric savages of the Oma Kingdom. They are unorganized, disordered armies are defeated armies!" Baoshou added.
"I will be training the benders, while the First Lieutenant will concentrate on the warriors," said Shuaige.
"Warriors! Here are three barrels full of wooden staves to my left. Each one of you will take one for training. I will show you how to properly wield a weapon and how to use one offensively and defensively. I hope that by the end of today you will know how to wield a staff and have a proper stance!" shouted Baoshou.
Some warriors encircled one of the barrels, "Halt! I didn't say you could go!" yelled the First Lieutenant. He pointed to the men who froze in formations. The ones who ran to the barrels felt humiliated. They returned once they were all settled. He then said, "Now you can go!"
At the same time, Shuaige paced to his left and to his right as he gazed upon all the troops' faces. Avani being front and center with Airen, the last one on the right of the second row. He further announced, "We're going to show you some military forms of earthbending. Whatever you've learned from earthbending academy, you can throw out the window."
Avani questioned the Captain, "I'm already a master, why do I need to learn this?"
Shuaige walked up to her breaking her personal space, and repeated himself, "Whatever you've learned in earthbending academy, you can throw out the window."
She remained silent and then thought to herself, "That's fine, I'll just outshine you in training."
The warriors all held a staff in between both hands and waited in their formations. Baoshou had his and demonstrated while he instructed, "Alright men, the first move we're going to learn will strengthen your hands."
"This will also improve your muscle memory and serve as blocking. Follow my movements we're going to twirl the staff," Baoshou resumed as he slowly twirled the stick in front of the soldiers for all to see. As he repeated the process, he sped himself a bit and spun faster and faster. The men copied their superior, as did Fangzhu. However, he was far more experienced than the rest as he learned to do this back at the Baiyan Air Temple.
Baoshou glimpsed over to the airbender, he stopped himself and pointed at him, "Look over at our Nomadic friend; he's spinning it with ease."
"Thank you, I've trained with staves for decades of my life," smiled the Air Nomad.
Some of the ones with the attention spans of squirrel rats ceased their spinning and watched the Air Nomad. While others returned to the exercise, he spun it on his back then rolled it onto his head's crown. Jumping, the staff turned again, and then he caught it with his hands as he resumed the exercise.
"I didn't tell you to stop!" he shouted to the distracted men.
"My arms hurt," drawled a recruit.
Shuaige yelled at the benders, "I know you slackers know the basic form, the Ma Kiu, or ostrich horse stance!"
The benders quickly shifted in the basic stance and widened their legs apart. Avani yawned and rolled her eyes, and slowly repeated the motion. Qishi shouted, "Ding Kiu!"
He stayed put in the stance and only raised his palms in front of him and facing away from him. The men repeated.
"Wan Kiu!" he screamed. Shuaige folded the fingers on each hand except the index fingers, and the men imitated him.
"Jai Kiu!" he shouted again; he balled his fists while still in front of him. The curled fingers of his fists faced down; the men and Avani did the same.
Returning to Baoshou, some of the recruits chuckled at the amazement because they got the hang of the staff twirl. Even one of them duplicated the freestyle moves performed by Fangzhu. He attempted to spin it over his head, it collided with that of another's, and both of the young men's hands started to throb in pain from the violent vibrations.
"Next time, don't do that in formation; you can do tricks on your own time!" disapproved the First Lieutenant.
Fangzhu promised to the young man, "If you'd like, I can show you after training is over."
The recruit nodded and smiled. The men's leader spoke to them again and the recruits faced in the direction of the First Lieutenant, "We're going to learn some blocks and strikes, men!"
"Right foot forward, both hands wrapped around the staff, make sure those fingers are facing away from you. Position your hands close on the grip but not too close! Quickly swing it to the left at an acute angle. Release your right-hand cock it back, then jab forward!" instructed Baoshou.
The warriors mimicked his movements; most of them simultaneously finished with their jab while some lagged only one or two yi. He commanded them after they safely followed instructions, "Let's do this ten times; I want to see you all doing it naturally!"
The benders were learning a final stance he showed them further, "Lifting a boulder out of the ground is elementary, soldiers! We start off with Ma Kiu, shift into Deing Kiu, lifting the boulders out of the ground, we change to Jik Kiu without losing concentration, then we punch forward!"
"Spread out!" yelled Qishi.
All of the benders spread out, repeating the motions like their superior. As Shuaige repeated the forms, he shouted the stances. When the men started in Ma Kiu, Avani went through it quickly and tore a head-sized rock out of the ground and threw it forward. Shuaige got in Avani's face again and shook his head at her in disapproval, "No! No! No! You are not acting alone here. You're doing it with your brothers-in-arms!"
"What did I say about disorganized armies, men?!" he barked.
"Disorderly armies are defeated armies!" they repeated in unison.
"I'm already better than them. Why can't I sit this one out?" Avani argued with Shuaige.
"You are a private in this company; you will train, eat, sleep, and live like the rest of the men! Is that understood?" he countered.
Avani rolled her eyes at him, "Don't you roll your eyes at me! Are we clear?!" he shouted in her face.
She conceded to him, although she felt she didn't even mean it, "Yes."
"Now continue Ma Kiu, Deing Kiu, Jik Kiu, punch!" he repeated. The men and Avani resumed their training as told.
Back in Laofung, bodies piled on each other, the armors distinguished which warrior belonged to which army. The invaders' numbers shrunk, as did the natives, although the fight was far from over. In the southern gates, a battering ram finally gave way and broke the second gates down. Ten thousand defenders watched as the doors caved in on each other. The men roared and charged into the fight without giving the front line a much-needed breather. The warriors lunged with their blades forward as the earthbenders tossed boulders, directed tremors, and lines of jagged pillars at the attackers.
The arches on the roofs of estates struck down their enemies with volleys of arrows. Rockets were fired off the walls of the city. A bit of the advancing military was inside the city, with many still outside. A sea of gold and silver glittered in the sunlight that shined down upon them. Rows of flaming projectiles swung in from outside the walls, the trebuchets were rolled farther down onto the battlefield. Boulders drowned in oil and blazing with torchlight went over the barrier, crashing into more structures and destroying the roads. The city guard joined the governor's estate guards and reinforced their protection over the siheyuan.
The northern entrance to the city had enemy soldiers pouring in for the past two hours. Many ran into the residential areas where commoners lived. Often times the denizens were left alone because they'll rule them by force. There were occasional civilians slaughtered when they attempted to rise up and attack the Oma Kingdom soldiers. Many Oma Kingsmen filled the streets as they fought with the city guard and the Provincial Guard. General Shili awaited in the War Center when messenger birds flew in.
After reading some messages, he padded over to the siege commander, "Deply the siege weapons, our enemies have breached the walls!"
The siege commander released a flare, the engineers and artillerymen teams moved on into the city in their machinations of war. He approached the air officer, "I need one-hundred bombardiers recalled immediately. I want them mounted on the horned condors. They were already readied for this reason."
The junior officer sent messenger birds off in all four directions of the city. Men were recalled out of the South and the West as they handled their struggles far better than the North or East. Half an hour passed when one-hundred bombardiers returned. They were outfitted and equipped with all the necessary tools they needed for air warfare. Their flying beasts were readied with barrels full of oil and crates full of shells. A coordinator was positioned in front of all one-hundred as he signaled them to send off. Twenty-five headed in all four routes, the Oma Kingsmen soldiers spectated in confusion as some of them stopped for a brief pause. They eyed the flock of creatures that flew in from the center of the city. The distracted men were immediately killed, and those who ignored the horned condors didn't know what hit them.
The bombardiers soared through the skies above in five rows of five for each direction, over the invading troops' vastness that assaulted their city. They cut the harnesses of the barrels and allowed them to drop to the ground below. Incendiary devices flashed from above and engulfed all those caught in the oil.
This drastically plunged the numbers by the hundreds; however, it wasn't enough. The advancing north was slowed down by the firebombs. The middle-class district of the commoner's section of Laofung was barricaded with thick walls of earth. It would take several earthbenders to tear the fortifications down.
The South was currently being controlled by the defenders while the east had trouble, although the waves of bombardiers easily kept the armies in check. One of the fliers in the east was shot down by a glaive tosser. The bombardier's mount imploded while he fell to his death; all the bombs that fell with him could now be used by his enemies.
The west kept things under control for some time; they stalled the Oma Kingsmen in the city's farmlands. Some of the fields were destroyed in the carnage, but not enough to affect significantly the farmers who owned them. More men were recalled from the east to deploy more siege weapons.
Guandi, Zhoukou province, Haijun Kingdom
Gan stood near the edge of a cliff that overlooked the valley below a vast city protected by walls was beyond. Passed all that he could view the watery horizon, the capital city of Guandi was built on a beach in southern Zhoukou province. The afternoon rolled in, the searing hot sun of Zhoukou province bore down on his slightly wrinkled skin.
Brigadier-General Yun placed his hand on Gan's shoulder, the quinquagenarian turned his attention to the young general who joined his view. He questioned the barbarian mercenary, "Are you ready?"
"I was born ready; my men are ready. It's time we show Shuicheng the might of the Oma Kingdom," answered Gan.
"I like your style; they won't know what hit them, luckily, I've got eyes in the city," added Gan.
"They're massively outnumbered; we'll take the city in a matter of hours, I hope," grinned Gan.
Yun wondered, "How many?"
"Less than ten thousand," he responded.
"And of the militias?" Yun asked.
"Are you afraid of untrained farmers?" Gan questioned Yun, but the brigadier-general ignored him.
"I'm taking control of your men. However, I want to request a recon mission for you. Take four of your best with you, assassinate the governor, by the time we take the city, he'll already be dead," mentioned Yun.
Gan nodded to the mission, "Here's a map of the city, and we'll be fitting your chosen with disguises," added Yun.
Meanwhile, Baoshou set up targets for the warriors, "Target practice! Grab yourselves a bow and a quiver with practice arrows; your goal is to strike the targets."
"Bows are self-explanatory weapons; they're easy to use, although you want to be in the ideal effective ranger for the average archer. Which is about ninety to one-hundred-and-eighty chi," added Baoshou.
He grabbed a bow and notched an arrow from his quiver onto the bowstring. Baoshou aimed at his target, once he released the arrow, the men were awestruck when he hit the mark dead-center. Zuqiu, on the one hand, was excited for range training since his father prepared him for it. When he wrapped his hand around a bow, he felt at peace. All forty archers lined up; Zuqiu and Fangzhu were among the forty. They all held a position in front of their targets within a ninety chi range. Pulling the bowstrings, they were commanded to release their arrows.
"Release!" commanded Baoshou.
Forty arrows flew toward their targets; some of the arrows didn't reach their mark as they hit the ground in front of them. Either close to the archer's feet or further away, some hit the target's edge or near the bullseye. Zuqiu's arrow plunged on the bullseye, while Fangzhu's went straight through because he enhanced the speed with airbending.
Baoshou stopped the men so that he could inspect the targets. He shook his head when he saw some never made it near the mark. There was only one impaled right into the center of it; he glanced back to see the young man standing with the bow still in hand was Zuqiu. He approached the teenager, "You, boy, you're a natural. Where did you learn how to shoot?" he questioned Zuqiu.
"I was taught by my father, Sir. Captain Muchang Fen of the Duryajian Provincial Guard, he was originally from Suzhou City. But he retired and move to Yafao to become a farmer," revealed Zuqiu.
"Impressive, your father taught you well. You will do him well as a skilled archer on the battlefield. I'd like to study your archery closely after training today, if you don't mind," nodded Baoshou, then he requested to give a closer look at the boy's skills.
"Maybe I can give you some tips to iron out your skills," he added.
Zuqiu would be delighted, he smiled. Baoshou shouted at the non-benders, "Again! Notch those arrows, aim, and release the bowstring!"
Forty benders stood in rows by Shuaige while he instructed similarly. Ranged earthbending, as he called it, "You've seen your average archer is normally a non-bender correct?"
They all nodded, "But have you ever seen an earthbender snipe a target from a further distance?" he questioned them. They all waited silently then shook their heads.
"This next move was invented over two-hundred years ago by a soldier that was nicknamed Ying Yan. He was born with the eyes of a loris hawk; not only was he a great sniper, being able to eliminate targets from great distances with a rock, but he could also do it at night. Sadly, the man passed away, but his legend lives on," began Shuaige.
"TodayToday we're all going to honor Ying Yan; in those crates, you will find a stone that can fit in your hand. You could toss the rock, or you can hold it correctly in your hand and strike the target dummies that are three-hundred chi away from us," resumed Shuaige.
Shuaige widened his stance with his legs both past the shoulder length, sort of crouched. The hand that held the rock rested inside the other and wrapped around the hand that held the stone. Shuaige lifted his front leg slightly before he stepped down and hurled the rock. While Shuaige's feet were planted to the ground, this allowed his bullet to pierce through the air at an incredible speed and inflict significant damage to the target.
The rock flew through the air and lopped off the head of the dummy clean off. He described the form in detail, "Widen your stances, you will hold your rocks like this, and wrap your free hand around your other hand. Make sure you're feet are planted, you lift your front leg a bit, and if you have balance issues, you keep your arms near your chest. Otherwise, lifting them up and over your head will give you more power. You'll then step forward and hurl the projectile over your head and at your target like so!"
At the same time, a row of defenders in the farmlands of Laofung hurled stones unseen from the barricades at the Oma Kingdom soldiers. The invaders were significantly reduced over the past fourteen hours of combat—many falling to bombardiers, Haijun warriors, archers, and snipers. The western invaders ignited a flare. Many in the farmlands witnessed the outburst and pointed at it. One of the men ducked under a swing of a warhammer, and shield slammed his opponent. He took a gander back when he heard the echo of the explosion. Seeing the green flare, he dug his sword into the neck of the Haijun warrior and then fled the farmlands.
Those who occupied the farmlands realized their numbers had dwindled, so they too fled. Some of the siege weapons were abandoned, while others were recovered by those who fled the city. A watchtower near the center of the noble estates saw this and several of the enemies fled the area. He began to beat the drums in a sequence that alerted all the nearby towers to repeat the sound. General Shili received another message, one coming in from the west, "The invaders have released a green flare; it looks as if they're retreating. I believe we've won the assault!"
He neared the closest tower and relayed the information to them. The message was shared across the city once more, this time differently. Enemies from the east also pulled out, as did the north, until they met the fresh reinforcements coming in from Zhong Tai province. The remaining three thousand men were slaughtered by the twenty-five thousand who came to aid Laofung. The reinforcements, only losing four-hundred soldiers, eliminated the intruders. Most of the retreaters didn't fight back.