"They're coming!"
As the torchlight drew closer to the foot of the mountain, the villagers' hearts pounded. A few impatient men asked, "Can we make our move now?"
Jiang Pan replied, "Not yet. Wait until they're halfway up the mountain. They can easily avoid us now while they're at the base. The halfway point is the most treacherous, the best time for us to act."
The bandits, unaware of the preparations on the mountaintop, thought the villagers were foolish for fleeing up the mountain. Although the mountain was indeed steep, they were bandits, weren't they? Surely they could climb it.
"Brothers, the food, water, and women are all at the summit. Let's charge up there! Kill the men, take the women, and enjoy ourselves for a few days!"
"Hooray!"
The bandits, excited like jackals, surged towards the summit.
On the mountaintop, the women trembled, backing away. Some children started to cry but were quickly silenced by their parents.
Jiang Wan saw the torches reach the spot she had marked. She tugged on Jiang Pan's hand, signaling him to act.
Jiang Pan gave the order, "Push!"
The villagers immediately stepped forward and pushed the rocks they had piled up that afternoon down the mountain. Their stones were stacked densely, like a wall. Once pushed, they tumbled down one after another in a continuous stream.
The bandits heard the rumbling from the mountaintop and looked up, but in the darkness, they could see nothing. Only when the stones entered the torchlight did they cry out in alarm, "Falling rocks! Dodge!"
But how could they dodge so many stones? Moreover, they were on the steepest part of the mountain; a single misstep would send them tumbling down. Soon, many bandits were either struck by rocks or, in their haste to avoid them, lost their footing and fell down the mountainside like dumplings.
The mountain wasn't high, but that was only in comparison to the surrounding peaks. From the halfway point to the base was a drop of a hundred meters or more. The mountain was steep and littered with rocks; a fall would at best leave one stripped of skin, if not dead.
After all the stones had rolled down, the bandit leader surveyed the scene and saw that half the torchlights had been extinguished. He was furious. Damn it, they hadn't even touched the "mud legs" and half their men were gone! How humiliating!
"Put out the torches first!" Carrying torches at night was like being a living target.
The bandits quickly stomped out their torches, and the forest plunged into darkness.
Those on the mountaintop panicked slightly. "We can't see anymore, what do we do?"
Jiang Pan said, "Don't be afraid, we'll put out our fires too!"
The villagers scrambled to extinguish their bonfires, and the bandits halfway up the mountain could no longer see the situation on the summit.
A little magpie flew up from the mountainside and chirped a few times on Jiang Wan's shoulder. Jiang Wan quickly tugged on Jiang Pan's hand. Jiang Pan squatted down and brought his ear close.
"Father, those bandits know a small path up the mountain. They've already sent a few people along that path."
Jiang Pan asked urgently, "In which direction?"
Jiang Wan pointed to the other side of the mountain. That was the direction of the cliff.
Jiang Pan didn't doubt her and immediately led a few men in that direction. Upon arrival, they saw several dark figures climbing the cliff in the moonlight.
"Truly desperate men. Since they dared to come, they won't be leaving alive!"
Jiang Pan immediately led his men back to fetch stones and hurled them down. The bandits clinging to the cliff heard the noise, looked up, and in their terror, jumped down desperately. Several screams echoed from the bottom of the cliff.
Jiang Pan instructed his men, "You stay here and guard against them sending more people up this way. Watch carefully, and if you notice any suspicious movement, throw stones down!"
"Yes!"
The bandits, upon hearing that their flanking force had been eliminated, cursed furiously. But after only a few curses, they heard whistling sounds from the mountaintop.
"What was that?"
The bandits looked up and saw something flying towards them in the darkness.
"Ah—"
A hapless bandit cried out and fell, but someone pulled him up.
"Boss, Niu Er has been hit by an arrow!"
"What? An arrow? Those mud legs have arrows?"
The bandit leader was startled and hurried to look. "This isn't an arrow! It's a sharpened stick!"
"But how could a stick injure someone from this distance?"
No one answered their question. The whistling sounds, and the occasional screams and exclamations, made them tremble with fear. The bandits dared not advance further and retreated.
As they retreated, the attacks from above stopped. The bandit leader waited for a while, finding no further activity from above. He said, "They've probably run out of weapons. Let's charge!"
However, as they reached the halfway point again, another rumbling sound came from the mountaintop.
"Dodge quickly, it's stones again!"
The bandits scattered, but some were still hit by falling rocks, injured, and rolled down the slope. They were forced back to the foot of the mountain. The bandit leader, looking at his men, either injured or dead from the fall, roared in fury, "Are these people really just mud legs? Why are they so alert? How did you gather your information!"
The man who had been responsible for scouting, his head wrapped in bandages, replied, "Boss, they really are just mud legs."
The bandit leader kicked him and roared, "Count the men and see how many we have left!"
Soon, someone came back with a report: "Boss, we have less than fifty men left. The second boss… is severely injured, and his chances are slim…"
The second boss was the leader's own brother! Upon hearing that his brother was seriously injured, the bandit leader lost all reason. "Damn it, these accursed mud legs! Someone, set the mountain on fire and burn them all to death! Avenge our brothers!" He no longer cared about food or women; he only wanted those mud legs dead!
"Yes!"
The bandits immediately started a fire at the foot of the mountain. The dry conditions caused the flames to leap up, spreading up the slope. The bandit leader watched the great fire spread up the mountain and couldn't help but laugh maniacally. "Burn to death, you mud legs! When the fire dies down, I'll climb the mountain and eat roasted human flesh!"
Seeing that they had indeed set the mountain ablaze, the villagers on the mountain calmly found clothes or strips of cloth, soaked them in water, and covered their mouths and noses. The raging fire reddened half the sky, with billowing smoke and intense heat, warming the villagers who had been shivering on the mountaintop.
Jiang Pan saw that the elderly and children were exhausted. "Everyone take turns to rest. Since the bandits can't climb up until the fire dies down, let's take this opportunity to rest."
Everyone thought about it and agreed. The mountain was covered in dense vegetation; it would take a long time for the fire to die out. They then sat down, leaning against each other, and dozed off. The bandits at the foot of the mountain, seeing the fierce blaze, believed that even if the people on the mountaintop weren't burned to death, they would be choked to death, which pleased them greatly.